Huanchaco-A Peruvian Beach Town

I'm not so sure if either of us has been away from the Pacific Ocean for so long, therefore we were so excited to get to Huanchaco.  It is a pretty cool little beach town with not much to do but lay on the sand...which is exactly what we wanted to do especially after being up in the mountains in the cold for months!  It just so happened there was a huge international long boarding competition that kept us entertained on the beach while we played chess and drank beer.  The waves were surprisingly HUGE.  Each night we would go to the local "mercado" and buy tons of veggies to stir fry for ourselves and have dinner on the roof terrace - another spot we had all to ourselves!

These canoe type boats were used by the locals to fish, regulate the long board competition, and glide on the waves.

The crowded beach during the surf competition.

Piccarones...mmm similar to donuts but fluffier with a molassas tasting sauce made of fig leaves and boiled sugar.   mmm!

Mike enjoying the piccarones by the water.

Our room was the only one on this roof terrace...we enjoyed many meals up there with a view of the ocean and privacy!

 One of the beautiful plazas.

I want one!  Too bad it won't fit in my backpack...This mirror was in the lobby of our hostal. 

This part of the house belonged to the owners of the hostal.  It was very spacious and sparse - beautiful.

Cotopaxi Lights!

Flashing back to Ecuador...I wanted to write and post some pictures of the garden lights Mike designed and installed during our stay at Secret Garden!  He was asked by the owners of Secret Garden to use his artistic ideas to design garden lights that would tie in with the eco-friendly theme of their establishment.  He came up with a brilliant design using old tomato sauce jars, steel plumbing, and the help of locals to do the metal work.  He created nine different lights, all operating on a single switch, and placed them throughout the property.  It made such a difference once the lights were installed - it was no longer pitch black at night and during the day the light fixtures add a lot to the facade of the Secret Garden.

You can see more photos as well as his other work on his website that recently went live...take a look!  www.mikerubin.org

THE AMAZON

Our journey down from Ecuador to Peru was unlike many of the other "mochilera's" ("backpackers" in Spanish).  We found our way far from the "gringo trail".... these terms are so nice, aren't they?!  Once we left Quito we made our way to a town called Coca, on the cusp of the Amazon jungle.  We made friends with a Spaniard, David, who luckily was taking the same "arduous" journey as us down the river to reach Peru.  Each day we encountered at least a 6-10 hour boat ride, and I am NOT talking about sitting on a luxurious boat!  We were either in a canoe that always seemed like it was about to sink with a motor that seemed like it was always about to fall off, a metal boat with a huge engine operated by the Peruvian Military, or a cargo ship packed with hammocks filled with people.  

Our backs have never hurt so bad in our lives!

First hostel we made it to from Coca...10 hours away we made it to Rockefuerte!  It was strange because it looked so much like my grandma's house, in a good way.  $6 a night wasn't bad either!

Making our way to the Peruvian border in a canoe with 3 other travelers we met along the way.

Pantoja, Peruvian Military base...The military let the 5 of us travelers sleep at their base free of charge because we agreed to have them take us down river (10 hours) for $450...yes, that is USD.  Unfortunately, as we all had ideally planned in our heads, cargo ships weren't frequently going down the river in this part of the jungle.  We were able to catch a cargo boat later in our trip, luckily.

 After lots of evaluation from the military we were allowed to enter the base.  This is the view from the "hut" we were allowed to stay in.  Good thing we brought our own hammocks because these weren't provided.  Neither were bathrooms!

The military surprised us with dinner.

Sunrise in the Amazon on board the boat that the military took us on.

We were surprised by the number of people that live along the rivers in the jungle.  This is my favorite photo of a typical hut and boat that can be seen right and left.

IQUITOS!  Our destination was the city of Iquitos, Peru in the middle of the jungle.  This is the largest city in the world that is unreachable by car!  It was really an amazing city with a great vibe.  Practically everything in the city has been brought by cargo ship, which made it a very interesting place.  We stayed here for about a week with our friends Josie and Jarryd that we met back at our volunteering gig in Ecuador.

These are some photos from the Belen Market in Iquitos, Peru.  There was an assortment of alligator meat, monkeys you could BUY for $10 USD, parrots, dead turtles, disgusting fish...etc etc.  This town was also extremely interesting because during "wet season" the water level rises about 12 feet.  We happened to visit during dry season and were able to walk through the streets like normal.  During wet season the village is only accessible by boat.

The village of Belen.  During wet season all the houses on the river float about 12 feet higher with the water level.  The houses that exist on land are built on long stilts so that when the water level rises they can take boats through the neighborhood.

One of these buildings was a "disco" which was a floating building.  Our tour guide told us that when the disco is packed the whole building sinks and people are drinking and dancing with water up to their thighs!

Me, Josie, Mike and David on our canoe tour through the village.  It was interesting to see how the people treat their environment - which was actually extremely depressing.  People through their plastic bottles directly into the water from the shore or boats.  They take trash bags filled with trash and dump them into the water.  They have floating toilets set up on the river and go fishing and eat the fish they catch directly next to it....our tour guide told us that they DO NOT sell the fish in the nearby market from this river....that isn't true because we saw people fishing there....gross!

We went to an animal refuge in the jungle.  I was really looking forward to seeing monkeys until I saw that they looked like this!  I was terrified!

AHHH

Beautiful butterflies fluttered around the refuge.  This is the front.

This is the back.

The hustle and bustle of our cargo ship being loaded with everything you can think of.

Accommodations.

View from our boat.

View from my hammock.  Three full nights of being on the boat with blasting rap music + kylie minogue + "be my lover wanna be my lover" + sweltering heat + cramped quarters...

Sunset in the jungle.