Quito

For our first week in Quito we stayed in the Old part of town, famous for being one of the best preserved historical centres in Latin America - and one of the first ever appointed UNESCO World Heritage sites. For the most part we spent our days lazily wandering through the windinf streets, enjoying the cobbled pathways and crooked cafes. We spent time in each of the cities many plazas, especially enjoying one where locals had gathered to play chess with one another. 

 

 

The city is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes looming on the skyline, and in some parts of town you can see the roads and houses ascending rapidly into the surrounding landscape. One particularly charming aspect of Old Town Quito is that every Sunday the roads are closed to cars, and only open for bicycles and public transport - making it the perfect time to stroll the streets. As it occurs on a Sunday, you are likely to cross paths with various religious processions on their way to Church, making the streets sing with worshippers and thick with incense. 
 

One of our finest discoveries in Quito was the cosy Cafe Modelo, the oldest cafe in Quito (opened in 1950). They served cheap and tasty foods, with big smiles and warm eyes - and we came back many a time to sample their delicious chicken tomales, served wrapped and cooked in a banana leaf, humitas - the Ecuadorian tomale - served in a sheath of corn, and the gringas, a cheesy tortilla covered in guacamole and tomatoes. We also went there one evening for a lasagne!

 

While we were in Quito I turned 23, and Dave made sure it was a very special day. He started by decorating our hotel room for midnight, with balloons and streamers (almost with correct english...) and woke me up with a beautiful collection of presents - this llama bracelet and ninja turtle hat being among my favourites.

  

 

We spent the day going up the Teleferico, a cable car which reaches up 4000m in to the Pichincha Mountain complex, close to the Volcanoes. At the top we admired the views of the giant city clustered below, and on the opposite side the rolling hills and mountains. We blew bubbles across the open vistas, making the scene even more magical. 

Upon return it was time for cake, so we headed to La Ronda, said to be the oldest street in Quito, and selected two large pieces of chocolate mousse cake. In doing so we were shown the process in which the chocolate is tempered, and were filmed for a new video promoting tourism in Ecuador. We retired to the hostel and ate our cake while drinking pink fizz. Later that evening we went for a fancy meal at a restaurant called Vista Hermosa, which delights with panoramic views of Old Quito while dining.

 

 

The next day the celebrations continued - we moved to the New part of town, to an area called La Mariscal, the centre of entertainment and backpacker hub, and that afternoon the clouds parted, rainbows sprung from the sky as it rained glitter, and Charlie appeared on winged horseback from the heavens. He came armed with a bottle of tequila and a multipack of wotsits (with a packet of Max Paprika for Dave), and we stayed up late in to the night, tasting the various shots Quito had to offer from numerous bars. Needless to say we woke up feeling worse for wear, but we ploughed on and went off exploring. We relaxed and laugh in the Parks between Old and New town, where artesans flock to sell their paintings, artwork and handicrafts, and then decided to head to the neo-gothic Basillica on the edge of Old Town. Building work on the Basillica started being talked about in 1883, the first stone was placed in 1892, and the building although incredibly impressive still remains unfinished. The legend has it that when it is completed, the end of the world will come...

 

We decided to commence the tour of the towers, which was a real challenge - my tummy was feeling especially fragile already! The steps to the top were rickety and extremely high, with little room for an error in footwork. Once we reached the top we felt we had been pushed to our limits for the day - but the spectacular view was definitely worth the trauma! Feeling like we had achieved something in the day we slowly ambled back towards our hostel, taking in the surroundings, and somehow ended up back at base with two bottles of very nasty cheap rum. 

 

 

With a similar feeling hanging over us the next morning, we were glad it was a Sunday - so we went to Old Town for a peaceful adventure, taking Charlie to Cafe Modelo to show off our local knowledge. We decided the best way to face the day would be with cold beers for lunch, and then we made our way to the Museo de la Ciudad - an excellent museum housing displays showing the history of Ecuador. 

 

The next day it was time for us to part ways for a short while, as Dave and I headed to the Cloud Forest region to work on an Ecological Farm for a couple of weeks, and Charlie went on his own adventures with various family members. 

Hot sand on toes

The final stop on our tour of Peru was the town of Mancora in the North. Known mainly for tourism, nightlife, surf and beaches, it did not disappoint. We arrived on the first of June, and stayed for the whole month! The Kokopelli hostel had been recommended to us by many people, and we applied to work there as bar staff. For the first week we were there they had no need for staff, so we were guests, and we were met there by our two wonderful friends, Aled and Caroline (both individually of Parque Machia and Cusco fame) and also Rinku who Aled had met in Montanita. We all instantly got along, and the five days and nights we spent together were spent relaxing by the beaach or pool, splashing about and being silly, eating delicious seafood and cakes, and drinking and dancing the nights away. It was hard to say goodbye to them when the time came - but plans were made to meet up in the UK (hopefully for a New Years reunion!)

After they left, Dave and I moved in to the staff dorm and started working at the Kokopelli bar. Here we began to experience the real Mancora, and if we thought we'd partied the previous week, we were blown out of the water for the next three.  It was one of those times where everyone working and living together instantly clicked, and we formed a hilarious family. Eating, sleeping, working and playing together, and having a bar to create our own concoctions was the perfect recipe for a good time - though I still feel sick imagining the tabasco cocktail creation. We can now make some mean Mojitos!

The bar staff put on different nights each evening, ranging from Poker nights, Ping Pong tournaments (that got so epic - the rivalry between Dave and Manu was extremely tense), party nights and 'shot competition' nights (each of us took it in turns judging this, 10 plus shots made by guests of the hostel - our job was great!). 

The party nights were themed each week, and we went all out decorating the bar and pool area, and in true girl fashion, Yesh and I decorated ourselves! We all worked hard until the bar closed, and then partied hard at the beach, or wherever the night took us (normally one place, unless it was Saturday...).

After one Saturday night dancing through the sunrise, we were winding down back at the hostel when Manu woke up for his morning reception shift. He then took the time to educate Dave and I about the traditional Argentine tea, Maté, which is made of brewed herbs and served in a special vessel, with a silver straw  (which you are not meant to touch unless you own it!) The tea was very hot and quite tasty, I think one of those that the more you drink the more you enjoy it. We were especially honoured because it was actually the last of Manu's Maté and he chose to share it with us! I returned the favour by making Manu a builders brew using my PG tips, which I think he appreciated.

We ate delicious food, the sushi was a particular favourite of ours - incredible to watch being made, to see the finish product, and to taste...unbelievable. Before we left David our bar manager went to loads of effort to cook a giant barbeque for us, with rolled meat, ribs, steaks, mashed potato and loads of salad, which was delicious and felt like a family meal! One night we even caught our own crabs... Having spent the day at the beach, we came back to find Yesh and Manu cutting up old mosquito nets. They refused to tell us what they were doing, but insisted we went with them to the beach at sunset. As a group of us made our way towards the rocks it became clear - we were crab hunting! Manu showed his skills by procuring the biggest and best crabs, and when we were satisfied (and it was getting dark) we made our way back, boiled them in a kettle and ate them. 

The time spent in Mancora felt like a montage of music videos, happy healthy people having great times in beautiful weather, and going wild when the sun went down. We saw so many beautiful sunsets across the ocean, and laughed all day every day. The memories and friends made will never be forgotton (they made sure of that with the parting gift of Kokopelli t-shirts and little notes!).

Raiding the lost city of Kuelap

Please listen to this while reading!

In 2012, the BBC broadcast a programme led by Dr Cooper which explored the Lost Kingdoms of South America. We were already off on our adventure by then, but recieved a fair few e-mails from people recommending sites for us! We decided it would be pretty terrible if we missed the city of Kuelap, especially having already missed Tiwanaku in Bolivia due to riots - even though its location seemed somewhat trecherous! 

 

We headed North and to a higher altitude to the city of Chachapoyas, translated as 'Warriors of the clouds'. All the accounts we had read of people previously exploring the site of Kuelap involved broken journeys and long difficult hikes, so we expected the town to be relatively desolate and untouched by tourism. However, when we got there we were greeted by people offering us their hostels to lay our bags, and a row of tourist agencies offering tours. We settled in to a private room and proceeded to sleep for the whole day, as the overnight bus journey to the isolated city had been pretty turbulant and uncomfortable. We had intended to bypass the tourist agencies and make our own way to Kuelap, stopping in various un named villages and making good use of the camping poles, but when we spoke to others that had done the tour we found it would actually be cheaper for us to combine our transport and guide and go with the tour - so we arranged one for the next day. 

The tour left early, and was a group of about 10 people. The journey was long, and we didn't see a single one of the promised collectivos transporting groups of DIYers, so were happy we'd chosen the security of the tour! When we arrived it was clear that the site does not recieve many visitors - there was no ticket office, or hoards of tourists, it was pleasantly peaceful and undisturbed. As we walked up the grassy hill discussing various things we had heard - Kuelap was the original inspiration for Indianna Jones, Raiders of the Lost Arc...and therefore the inspiration for Temple Run...The Grandfather of Machu Picchu... our guide told us a little of the brief history of the site. It has been dated back to the 6th century AD, and has mostly been described as a type of fortress - possibly used as defence against Huari people, and various other hostile groups. There are very little accounts describing the uses of Kuelap, or the people that inhabited it.

Soon our eyes were met with the looming outside walls of the fortress. Overlooking the Utcubamba Valley, the structure looms over 19m high and stretches across 600m across the clifftop. It is both intimidating and inviting, and we felt so lucky to be there. When we entered it only got better - the ancient passageways were overgrown with moss and crumbling away in parts, adding to the overal sense of mysticism and ancient wonder. The air was ripe with the feeling of discovery, and with each new turn our imaginations were fuelled by the dazzling surroundings - high up in the cloud forest, everything covered in a thick coating of living green, birds of the amazon perching and skwalking from their trees, the sun beating hot upon our backs but the thick felt of rain in the air. 

 

The site is so lacking in information that speculation and imagiation run wild among the ancient stone walls. Decorations and wall carvings can be interpreted in any way you chose (though it is easy to see themes running through the ancient civilisations of South America - snakes, pumas and triangles are everywhere!) There have been numerous human remains, both mumified and left alone found deposited in a couple of areas in the site, though it seems most of them have been moved several times before they were found and so it is difficult to find any real evidence for what happened at the site. 

 

 

At one area there are structures which have been reconstructed to how archaeologists believe they would have all looked when Kuelap was inhabited in its hey day. The roundhouses are adorned with tall straw roofs. The houses are in close proximity, and to imagine them all with the rooves atop of them really brings a different view again to the place and makes it easier to imagine as a hub of people interacting together. The combination of this picture of a defensive fort and a place where people lived together in harmony is strange, but to be expected of a place so thick in the forest.

 

 

 After a couple of hours wandering around, we exited the site through the South Side, the high walls reaching over us and the corridor narrowing sharply so that we had to walk single file - an ancient self defence mechanism which was pretty effective!

 

And then, as we left, it started to rain.