Peru is no default

Due to only having 90 days on our tourist visa in Ecuador and needing to be in Quito for our return flight home, Colin and I were obligated to leave the country for about 3 weeks.

I am so glad.

Peru.

We took a 34 hour bus ride from Mantanita, Ecuador to Lima, Peru. After a lot of dozing, a lot of reading, and about 7 "shoot 'em up" movies, we were here. Lima is the capital of Peru and a gigantic coastal city. The traffic, smog, and hectic feel of the place caused us to reconsider staying. We jumped in a taxi the next morning headed for the airport and bought a couple of last minute tickets to Cusco.

Cusco. This is the city we have been waiting for! It is a smaller, cleaner, (dare I say) prettier version of Quito.

Coca leaves.You can make tea with them or chew on them to help your body adapt to the 11,000ft altitude.

Once the capital of the entire Incan empire, this picturesque mountain city is the perfect combination of charm and wilderness. There are numerous museums, cathedrals, markets to explore.  And llamas.

 

There are many ruins from the Incan and per-Incan societies surrounding the city. Colin and I spent about an hour on a couple of rather grumpy horses on our way to see some sights.

One of the highlights of our cusco trip...actually our entire trip in general is this person right here....

We met Erika at the Donkey Den in Ecuador and planned to meet up with her here in Cusco. There are times when you cross paths with someone and you know that this is the beginning to something beautiful. We are so grateful to have her as a friend. She has been traveling nonstop for the last year and a half and has inspired me in how to become a better traveler and a better human being.

 

 

Colin helping deshell some dinner. :)

We thought the name of this loca beer was quite funny..."Cerveza."

 

Getting a roof top hair cut is always the best way to go.

Last year Erika volunteered at a program about 30 minutes from Cusco. It's an after school program for the local children. She went back to visit for a few days and we joined her. What a blessing for us! Great food, fun people, and KIDS! So cheerful and happy to see us. So content with what they have. Colin and I have been very blessed to be able to do what we do and see what we see. This was a humbling reminder to be thankful for what and who we have in our lives.

 

Here we are in the back of a station wagon taxi. Gotta love Peruvian tranportation!

Super fun and colorful ways to teach recycling at the local school we helped with.

Unique foods found only in this area of the world.

Colin, Erika, myself, and another friend, Hayden, will all be headed to Machu Picchu. Lots of pictures to come..... :)

Peace, friends.Whether you are in California, Nebraska, Kansas, or any other state or country. We are glad and thankful you are in our lives. Blessings.

Donkey Den

For 9 days, Colin and I were the (for the lack of a better word) managers at a guest house in the tiny beach town of Santa Marianita. Wow.

There is a wonderful website that we highly commend for anyone who wants to travel.

www.helpx.net

Sign up and pay a small fee and suddenly you are connected with hundreds and hundreds of hostels, hotels, farms, homes, etc. that are looking for travelers that can work a few hours a day in exchange for a room and at least one meal a day.

Colin and I found a guest home on the coast that looked amazing, contacted the woman that runs the place, and hopped on a bus the next day headed to Santa Marianita.

Linda is an American woman that retired and moved to Ecuador 8 years ago. She wanted a home on the beach. She started by building a little house, then added on and on and on and next thing she new she was running a guest home.

Linda. So welcoming and loving to us. An incredible woman to have built this place on her own.

Linda is also a huge animal lover and it becomes apparent as soon as one enters the property. No less than 5 happy dogs will greet you and there are at least 7 to 40 sleepy cats that might give you a moment out of their napping to meow and demand a bit of attention.

 

The sweet dogs of Donkey Den.

While we were there we basically ran the place. We were given all the keys, the cell phone, the money box. In a way, we were given total freedom to run the guest house. We helped clean and prep rooms for guests, make sure the guest had everything they needed. We also did some pretty big projects like sealing concrete and treating bamboo of newly constructed buildings.

 

Amazing breakfasts everyday at the Donkey Den.

 

Sophie and Erika. The two other helpers that left early to let us move in. I am so glad that we got to meet them both. We are planning to see Erika in Peru, and hopefully we will be Sophie in England one day! Also, our friend Erika has a wonderful travel blog, you should check it out! www.herhappytrails.com

There were times that it became a little overwhelming. Dealing with complaints about things that are out of our control. Yuck. Also, we saw a lot of misunderstandings and frustrations between the locals and the expat community. The language barrier between home owners and local workers was devastatingly evident. It was more than frustrating for Colin and I to see wonderful local people who work hard for their living, being judged as over-charging or cheating a client due to the language barrier.

What stood out to us is the importance of understanding, kindness, grace, and patience...and while we had frustrations, we are grateful that we also saw these things. Linda was so kind and welcoming to her volunteers. We saw grace and understanding as two other volunteers left earlier than planned, giving us space to move in. (Thanks Sophie and Erika!) and we saw much grace from the locals as they listened to us stumbled over words while trying to communicate in Spanish!

Colin enjoying a Cuban. Thanks, Danny.

Stephanie and Rieka....other wonderful volunteer we worked with.

An uninpiring photo of a very inspiring guy. Dennis was a friend we made ast the Donley Den. Fluent in Spanish, English, and German. He helped Linda create the Donkey Den as it is today.

Waiting to flag down the bus.

Four other volunteer came in while we were there, so we decided to continue down the coast. We stayed at Mantanita for 2 night. It's a fun beach fiesta town where we were able to catch the tale end of an international surf competition. Australia won. Despite being shocked by our hostals bad electrical lining and being caught in a small riptide, all was great!

Loving the beach in Montanita.

 

One of our favorite restaraunts in Mantanita. All this for 7 dollars.

Last breakfast in Ecuador. Delicious!

And now we are in Peru!! Cusco is incredibly beautiful. More on that next time!

The amazing view from our hostal in Cusco.