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To Peru and beyond!
This spring break, I had the very exciting experience of traveling to Peru, Equador, and the Galapagos Islands. It was an extreamly fantastic opportunity and I heartily reccomend our travel company, Adventure Life.
We started out in Lima, Peru. It was crowded and smelled like fish, but it was still very beautiful, with gorgeous beaches and a classy airport. The next morning, we flew to Cuzco, Peru. It was absolutely lovely, with a picturesque cathedral and charming village square. When traveling to a third-world country such as Peru, it is best to learn how to say "no". Hundreds of the Kechwa people, or the native people of Peru, would come right up to us to sell their goods, usually postcards or alpaca sweaters. We spent a day sampling tea, hanging out in the churches, and sipping Inca Kola, the customary Peruvian pop.The next day, our guide Teddy collected us and we left Cuzco, heading in the direction of Machu Pichu, the legendary Incan palace. On our way to the town of Ollyantatambo, we stopped at a weaving community, an open-air market, and an Incan agricultural temple called Moray. When we arrived in the town of Ollyantatambo, we climbed in the Incan ruins they had there and ate dinner at a charming riverside resturaunt featuring Andean singers. The next day, we took a train to Aguas Callyentas, or, as the Kechwa prefer, Machupichu town. After checking into our hotel, we boarded a bus and took a narrow, switch-back road up the mountainside to Machu Pichu. By the way, Machu Pichu is a legendary Incan ruin site. It somehow evaded the Spanish Conquestadors and was in remarkably well-preserved condition when discovered in the early 1900s. We spent the afternoon walking around the place with Teddy next to the wild llamas of the mountainside. This site is a truly awe-inspiring place, and there is no wonder why it is currently one of the new seven wonders of the world. The next day, we returned to Cuzco, sampling ethnic dishes such as alpaca and guinea pig. We spent a few more days in Cuzco before flying to Quito, Ecuador. There, we found a delightful botanic garden to hang out in, as well as a hip and classy cafe to eat dinner in.
The next day, we flew from Quito to Baltra Island of the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos, for those who do not know, are a cluster of islands of the coast of South America in the Pacific Ocean. It was there that Charles Darwin made his controversial evolutionary statements, but I cannot debate that here. After meeting our guide, Martine, and our nine other shipmates, we boarded the Yacht Fragata. In the Galapagos, miniature private cruise ships are common, and ours was exceptionally wonderful. We sailed to Santa Cruz island for a brief nature walk and swim, and then set sail for Genovesa island. The next day, we went hiked, snorkled, swam, and hiked some more along Genovesa island. We saw hundreds of birds, fish, sea lions, and one very cranky hammerhead shark, who darted out from the bottom of the ocean to scare us. Then we sailed to a couple other islands for the next few days, seeing sea lions, lava lizards, frigate birds, blue-footed boobies (yes, this is their name), finches, iguanas, tortoises, turtles, and three types of sharks. On the fifth day, we flew back to Quito.
This was a truly wonderful vacation, and I strongly reccomend it to any adventurous explorers in the world!
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