My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

My sister and her husband traveled around for a month...I learn so much from her emails. Thought it would be nice to post for anyone interested.




Hola!!!

Woody and i have been in ecuador for about 30 hours and it is amazing! chaotic, but beautiful. we arrived in quito yesterday at 2pm. The cab ride was themost unnerving drive o of my life. 40 mph through crowded city streets, almost killing a few pedestrians and using the curb if need be.Our hostel was beautiful: new, clean, friendly, $17 including breakfast. Our window framed a 600 yr old gothic church with a volcano catching clouds behind it. We walked around quito´s old town (where we were staying, and a unesco world heritage site) and rested at the hostel with new friends we just made.

Today we arranged a 3 night stay at a beautiful amazon jungle lodge. we cant wait to see monkeys!!! we have to take a canoe to the lodge, no roads!

Now we are in the famous market town Otavalo. It is quaint, indigenous and touristy. perfect for our first day out of the city. We had a wonderful 4 course ecuadorian meal with cocktails for a measly 16 bucks! i love it here. Tomorrow morn we will wake early to join the market festviities. then... **thomas and reilly stop reading*** we hope to see a cockfight tomorrow night. We still cant believe we are here....

Jan- we decided not to go to the beach town. too long of a bus ride. more beaches in peru.

itinerary:
1/12: Otavalo Market
1/13 Leave otavalo, stop at hot springs in Pallapacta, to the Amazonian recreation town of Tena.
1/14 white water rafting in Tena maybe
1-15 Fancy Jungle lodge with pool, cocktails, jungle activities, butterfly zoo-- Casa del Suizo in Ahuano
1-16 casa del suizo
1-17 casa del suizo
1-18 leave the lodge and go to hot springs in Banos... maybe stay in nearby town of Rio negra... free B&B offered by friendly costa rican New Yorker on the plane.
1-19 scenic bus ride around volcan chimborazo, stay in urbinas refuge.
1-20 Take craziest train ride in world, switch backing down a mountain. ël nariz del diablo¨: nose of the devil. Riobabmba- Alausi
1-21 Stay in colonial (most beautiful city in ecuador) Cuenca. check out inca ruins.
1-22 In transit to Peru, stay in Loja or Vilcabamba
1-23 Peru!!!! Stay in Piura
1-24 Sacred lakes of Huancabamba... up high in mist shrouded mountains.
1-25 huancabamba
1-26 in transit to Trujillo, maybe stay in piura
1-27 Trujillo, largest precolonial ruin and beach!!! with oldest surfboard in existence... made of woven reeds
1-28 Fly to Cuzco
1-29 Cuzco ruins
1-30 Town of aquas calientes, more hot springs... a few miles walk from Macchu Picchu
1-31 Macchu Picchu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2-1 In case Macchu picchu is cloudy yesterday.
2-2 Lake Titticaca -hight navigable lake in world. border of bolivia.
2-3 floating islands of titicaca, completely made of bouyant reeds. indigenous live here.
2-4 arequipa- beautiful moutain colonial town
2-5 fly to lima
2-6 Leave south america for california... stopover in san salvador.


things may change. our only reservation is for the jungle. everything else will be at our whim.

love you and miss you!!!

tammy and woody take ecuador!

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

Woody and I are alive and very well. We arrived in to Tena yesterday afternoon to find that the power was out in one of the biggest towns in ecuador´s rainforest. Some say it is caused by the volcano in Banos blowing the powerstation. So we got to eat dinner in the dark by candlelight in the amazon. nice. It´s sweltering and humid, but lovely. The drive here was amazing as we drove on dirt roads over the andes. Green meadows and rocky cliffs. We watched lightning bugs and listened to bats from our balcony last night, which overlooks the Rio Tena. We even got to sleep under a mosquito net. Today it was pouring. We almost went riverrafting but thought the rivers were not their best with flood debris. Instead we went to a plant and animal reserve and played with monkeys. They were alllowed to raom free, but stay around for the food. We each had a monkey on our shoulder. I played with a tapir and agouti (like a raccoon with a tapir snout). It was awesome to play with monkeys and not be afraid. we even pet baby caimans. The power is still out. Tomorrow we take a bus and a canoe to our luxury jungle lodge. It will be amazing. After the lodge we hope to chase the erupting volcano. :)

Weve changed our plans a bit and will probably end up going to galapagos after Banos and cuenca.

By the way, the cockfight was great. The locals were frinedly and excited and we went with a very large group of gringos. great times in Otavalo.

love and miss you,
tammy lynn

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

Hey Everybody!!

I write to you from Banos less than 5 miles from the crater of an erupting volcano, Tunguruhua.
Woody is upstairs in our hotel room, which looks out onton a beautiful waterfall which helps feed the hot springs that give this town its name.
He´s enjoying watching simpsons in spanish. we´re awaiting tremors as the Gamavision newscast reports from our parking lot.

But let me first start with our past few days in the jungle....
The lights finally came on in Tena for our last night. The next day we hopped a bus to puerto ahuano.
As the bus pulled up to a river, we couldnt help but think `oh god, are they going to attempt to take this on a barge?`
They didnt. we reached the end of teh road. from here, only river travel.
a man with a ´casa del suizo´ shirt met us as we walked off the bus. http://www.casadelsuizo.com/ing/home.html
he handed us life vests and pointed to a homemade wooden canoe with a motor. it was about 20 feet long and 3 feet wide, with a canopy.
we boarded the canoe and zoomed down the muddy river Napo, which meets with the amazon in Brazil. Truly thrilling.
In 5 minutes, we gazed upon the bamboo balconies of our lodge. our room was beautiful and wooden with a balcony overlooking teh river.
they offered us lemonade and showed us to a table for 2 with a sign that says `Familia Tammi`.
The dining room was open air and connected to the pool deck which overlooks the Rio Napo. Palm trees and wooden carvings of parrots everywhere.
As we ate our grilled bananas, pollo, and rice, a blue parrot walked in.
Not much of the staff spoke english so we were pushed out to Ecuador´s largest butterfly farm before we got to swim in the pool.
They walked us out of high security gates into the native quechua village of Ahuano. past the school was the´`mariposium`.
we walked into the screened in area to find flowers and butterflies eevrywhere. paradise.
In our group was 3 kids from chile who spoke perfect english and agreed to do the tour in english for us. the guide showed us caterpillars and cocoons.
one species has chrome and gold cocoons, the other has a cocoon that looks exactly like a dead leaf. ecuador loves the study of ecology and ecosystems.
after the tour, we went back to the lodge and drank every type of fruity cocktail at our pool bar, in the pool. foot long bats flew around the pool.
The next day we were forced out of bed at 830 am for breakfast and then an adventure. we just wanted to relax!
instead we took the canoe upriver to the lodge´s jungle preserve and went on a 2 hour muddy hike with rubber boots.
it was raining and VERY hot. our guide was great, but spoke no english. we were given a 19yr old female swiss interpreter.
we walked up creeks, climbed a canopy tower, listened to monkey calls and swung on a tarzan rope, (vines have been deemed dangerous).
then we took the canoe across the river. our guide threw a bunch of logs together, tied some rope and said ´get on!´
we took the bear grylls raft 20 minutes back to the lodge. no piranhas were sighted. although a very ugly spider ran across woodys foot.
That afternoon the sun came out and we took the canoe to the quechua village. girls washed their hair in the river and naked babies played in docked boats.
we were shown the ancient tradition of making chicha (alcohol) out of yucca and sweet potato. we tried it.
Then we got to use a blow gun to try to hit a monkey effigy. Next we walked through the jungle past natives to the village center.
6 yr olds try to sell us their necklaces and give us palm origami flowers. we were given a lecture on native ceramics making.
we see the positive effects our lodge has on the village.natives can keep their culture but live well.
Once again we wake early in the morning. this time we go to a rescue center for jungle animals, mostly products of poaching.
we see capybaras (until a 6 inch long spider tried to jump on me), turtles, ocelots, jaguarundi, pigharee, parrots,monkeys, and agouti.
we learn the dark side of monkeys.... after communing with people, when they get older they tend to go crazy and kill.
once, one spider monkey got loose and killed 20 baby monkeys, popped their heads off and then ate the arm of a squirrel monkey.
we learn that parrots can live til 75 (double human life expectancy here), but are sold to europe for 5000 dollars. 9 out 10 will die in transit.
we see the ant that can leave you crying for 10 hours. there were even `gizmos`, pygmy marmocets. strange things.
Then we take the canoe upriver on the rio Arapuno to go tubing for half an hour down small rapids and through the deep jungle. turtle sighting.
we finally get time off and take a heat-induced nap for the afternoon. at night, the quechua villagers put on a native show.
woody is pulled into dancing with the group.
This morning we left the lodge at 730 am for an 8am bus to Misahualli, small town with a monkey infestation in the town square.
the bus drops us off and have to walk a mile in the heat with backpacks on to the town square where monkeys have taken over.
They are playful, but will do anything to steal your possesions. one threw a water bottle at woody from a tree branch.
we watched another play on top of the bus stop canopy for 10 minutes with a coffee cup lid. our first WILD monkeys.
on to a bus to tena, then transwfer to a bus to banos...a 4 hour ride through the jungle and up the eastern side of the andes.
every half mile is a waterfall. The moutnains are spectacular... but it was the worst bus ride yet.
it was crowded with 15 people standing and shoving every time they got on and off. half way through, the entire bus complained about our open window.
NO AC in the jungle. a crowded bus. do the math. our bus driver forced our window closed. by the time we got to banos the windows were too fogged to see through.
We couldnt figure out why the window had to be shut. as we were sweating in shorts and short sleeves, the locals wore pants and leather jackets.
the bus smelled of greasy hair, i call it the south america smell. it was horrible.

now we are in Banos for the night. sleeping under the threat of a volcano that has attempted to erupt for the past 9 years, but recently has tried harder.
The other night we could see smoke from our pool at the lodge. At 5 am we will take a dip in the just cleaned hot springs ofthe town.
Tmorrow morning we will go to a nearby town Patate, in safe distance, for a view of the volcano. we are too close to see it from here.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/18/content_7444862.htm
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/americas/features/article_1387372.php/In_photos_Ecuador_Volcano_Erupting

Everything is great. we are still feeling very healthy... although we had a scare the other day when i found a 3 mm long green `parasite` with cilia covering it in our water filter from our tap water.
it is a shocking moment to find an animal in the water you shower in. now i look at local babies and understand high infant mortality rates.

we wont be going to galapagos, because it complicates our trip way too much. bus travel is slow around here.
we will be flying over the nazca lines though.

my spanish is improving more quickly than i could have ever expected. i can understand spanish much better than french after 8 yrs of study. we´re getting by.

we love you and miss you.
tammy lynn & woody

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

The next day, we got on an 8 hour bus ride to the colonial town of Cuenca. The ride went past 6 volcanoes and beautiful farm land.

We got a sight of Volcanoe Chimborazo´s glacier (closest point to the sun on earth).

Finally we arrived, but everything was closed since it was a sunday. we got pizza and saw the film ¨The big white¨(in english). great film.

We woke up, and hit the town. We walked up and down beautiful colonial streets, arranged a flight to cuzco (for tomorrow), and booked a tour to the national park for today.

Every now and then the city can get to us, with chaos, traffic, diesel fumes, and water balloons....

we took some rest and went to our reservation for the nation´s delicacy ¨cuy¨ :roasted guinea pig. It comes with a head and claws. delicious!



Today we woke early for our tour to Cajas National Park. It is 15 çmiles out of town, but gorgeous.

It is the ecuadorian Tuolumne meadows (think rehearsal dinner). We first went to the continental divide where on either side of us the rivers drained ineither the Atlantic or Pacific.

Thepark is known for its 250 named lakes at over 12000 feet. We went on a 3 hour hike through paramo (subalpine meadows) with large rocks jutting into the sky.

We even went through a polylepis forest, which loosk like a magical forest. The tree is also the highest altitude tree n the world because we´re at the equator.

The tour included a tasty meal of fresh trout at a nice restaurant. After lunch we went to the lower elevation part of the park 11000 ft.

The hike was around a big lake with an emphasis on bird and flower watching. I saw 4 types of orchid and many bromeliads in the trees.

They even had my favorite flower, indian paintbrush.

We were told that there was a slight chance of seeing the elusive moutnain toucan, but noone expected it.

As we were walking through the forest i saw a large shadow and movement in a tree above... I found the toucan. Everyone thanked me for spotting this amazing treat.

Not only did we see it, but it jumped from tree to tree 7 times so we could see it from every angle. We saw a wild toucan!!!!!!!!!

On the otherside of the lake we walked through a field of WILD llamas and alpacas (though they were reintroduced into ecuador in the past after going extinct.).

While looking at the llamas, a footlong lizard squrimed by. a great day.



Tomorrow we hop on on a 6am bus for the peruvian border through banana-land. From there we catch a taxi to Tumbes.

We catch a flight at 8pm, spend the night in Lima, peru and catch a flight to cuzco at 9 am.

Then...... MACCHU PICCHU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



we feel great still. we´re working on our tans.... on a cold cloudy day, i can get still get a sunburn in half an hour! amazing ecuador.



love you and miss you,

woody and tammy

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

Hey everyone,
It's been a while so there's a lot to tell....

This week started horribly. The day after we visited the national park in Ecuador, we had to catch a bus at 6:30am to the peruvian border.
Once at the peruvian border we were supposed to walk over a bridge and enter a new country.
The first problem was when we were trying to leave our hostel that morning, no one was awake and we were locked in.
I had to knock on every unnamed door looking for an employee. When we got to the bus station we had to chase our bus screaming and waving.
6 hours later and 1 hour spent fixing our bus brakes in the heat, we made it to the border....
Lonely Planet failed me. They offered a single paragraph on how to cross 'the worst border in south america'.
Our bus dropped us off at Ecuador immigrations so we could get an exit stamp,
then we were súpposed to somehow go 3 miles to the border bridge and then another ten miles to peru immigrations.
We were so lost so we allowed a native to be our guide through the process. We've been here long enough to know that when someone helps theyre actually stealing from you.
we watched our belongings and accepted the sacrifice for his knowledge and protection.
The border towns dont have atms and we needed peruvian money so we had to exchange a little on the black market with a guy our guide brought us to...another red flag.
we inspected the bills, held them to the light, checked watermarks and holograms...
we had never seen one before so we figured if they cant purify water in this country they probably couldnt make such great hologrmas on fake money.
we were wrong. he tried to get us to exchange more but we only lost 40 bucks to counterfeit money.

The border is a bazaar of theives on a bridge. It was the single most scary experience of my life. We had knives in pockets and eagle eyes.
After we made it over the border through the help of our original guide's friends, who only ripped us off by asking too much for their service,
we were dropped off at a restaurant in the horrible town of tumbes. we hadnt eaten all day and woody complained of extreme hunger and stomach pain.
the restaurant was as real as u get. there were 2 options of food. we ordered the soup and chicken (we are so sick of chicken!!).
woody realizes the bone in our soup is a chicken claw. ...in our soup.
Then woody{s stomach pains escalated but the restroom lacked flushing capability, toilet paper or water.
he went across the street to buy some TP, when he learned that our only money was 'falso'.
he had to trek to the atm 1/2 mile away for money and then tp.
after this horrible welcome to peru we took refuge in the only nice place in town, the bar at a 5 star hotel.
they knew we were using them for saftey and didnt mind. very nice hotel. we gulped down water and tried to get woody to feel better before we went to the airport.
Our flight was the flight to fly through the airport. it was small and unorganized. we started second in line but when poeple started getting checked in they started pushing and yelling to the front.
we became tenth in line... we were only lucky because an ecuadorian-floridian man stood up for us and shouted for us. woody was in misery.

Finally the flight. 2 hours to Lima. Woody has already puked 3 times before the flight. he had to not drink water so he wouldnt get nauseous.
In lima, our ecuador-florida man shared a taxi with us and got us a great deal at the nearest hotel to the airport. he was our angel.
we had been so nervous about Lima, 8 million population, worst crime in peru or ecuador.
our friend arranged the same taxi to pick us up in the morning for our next flight. woody is doing better. no more puke, lots of gatroade and crackers.
The lima airport was beautiful and we considered ourselves lucky for such an easy time in a horrible city.
We arrive in Cuzco airport (inca capital) to a folkorico band playing my favorite 'el condor pasa'. We both hold back our tears of joy.
We take a taxi to a very nice hostel in the most amazing neighborhood. safe, clean, ancient, beautiful. cuzco is paradise. finally.
it{s only noon when we check in and are offered coca tea to relieve altitude sickness by our hostel... it was very relaxing.
i promised woody a day of nothing. we laid in bed and watched anything that was in english all day long.
The next day we walk around a little and arrange our macchu picchu trip. we love cuzco and cant believe we're on our way to macchu picchu.

The next morning we catch our train to Aguas Calientes, the gateway town to machu picchu. It was a wonderful train ride through moutnains and jungles at 10000 ft.
Woody has gotten better, but both of us dont exactly have normally functioning digestive systems anymore. a supermodel would die for my appetite and metabolism.
you wouldnt believe the waterfalls. we arrive to find that the town is much much more beautful than it gets credit for.
hostel above the raging river. We check out the hot springs or 'aguas calientes' in town. a gross experience. no hygiene rules. we run out of there.
Asleep by 8pm. Our alarm goes off at 4 am. Time to hit the trail. at first, we worried about banditos on the way to the trail....
then we see the other 20 early morning hikers. It was pouring raining and our stomachs were too empty for such a hike, but we did it.
incas love stairs. stairs for a mile. non stop. we reach the top to find a lot more stairs. but now were surrounded in one of the greatest archeological finds in the world.
The clouds wind through the majestic moutnains. we manage to avoid the crowds. we walk up and down every stairwell, into every room, on every terrace.
at 2pm the sun shines bright. we take a break, or a nap for a little while. Then we wait for the crowds to dissipate to get THE picture.
We come down at 4pm, have dinner and sleep. We have the next day in aguas calientes to do nothing, other than eat or macchu picchu the town has nothing.
its raining so we find a bar that offers a tv and dvd player and bootleg collection. we drink mojitos and watch bad movies.
at night we hit the town for the firsxt time on our trip. we foudn the disco teque and danced for hours.
we met 2 brazilian girls and 2 argentinian guys and hang out all nite in discoteques. great time dancing! wonderful company.

we barely made our train this morning....slept through the alarm. that would have been a very time consuming and expensive mistake.
the train dropped us off halfway to cuzco in the ruin town of ollantantambo. we get lunch and take a taxi to cuzco.
were back in our beloved neighborhood in our beloved hostel. The past few days have made up for our border days 800 times over.
Our motto: the moutnains are always better. Machu picchu puts the beauty of yosemite to shame. we foudn peace in peru.

Tomorrow we have a reservation with a shaman to try to reach enlightenement on top of a mountain. it's an all day ceremony.
the shaman is of a thousand year old Chavin heritage. then to Lake titticaca. we have a week left.
other than the town of tumbes, peru is wonderful.

we love and miss you,
tammy lynn &woody

ps theres some pics on myspace. this computerisnt working well enuf to include them here.

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

Hola,

I hope everone is doing well. we're doing excellent at Lake Titicaca....

A lot of strange events have happened since the ast email.
We met with the shaman and had a wonderful and magical experience. Our ceremony was in the mountains surroundng Cuzco over the Quenqo ruins.
We watched a shephard woman with her sheep all day while sittng in a cave.
The next day we met with shaman again to ask questions and to concude our ceremony.
we spent the rest of the day enjoying cuzco.

Yesterday we had a great morning relaxing in our hostel waiting for ou laundry to finish. once it did, we hit the road to Puno at Lake Titticaca.
It was supposed to be a 6 hour ride straight through the heart of the andes. The day was beautiful, the mountais outstandng.
We were just dozing off when, for the first time this trip, our bus swerved violently, there were noises and a bump.
We were startled awake and catching out breath and heart beat while the bs was stopped on the side of the road.
We thought th problem was a tight curve with 2 passing buses. That´s when the peruvian man behind me says 'Un hombre blah blah' makng a throat slashing hand symbol.
Thats when woody looked out the window to find motionless man in the middle of the highway 50 feet behind the bus.
Our bus hit a man and killed him.The bus drivers of both buses rushed out and carried him to the undercompartment of our bus.
Literally a foot below our feet laid a dead man. The bus turned aroudn and brought the body to the nearest police station 2 miles back.
we waited outside the bus for an hour not knowing what was going on. The only english speakers were an argentinian couple who spoke very little.
The front of the bus had a sort of cattle catcher which was completely bent back. We finally got back on the bus and continued our trip.
The south americans gave us strenght by not thinking too hard about death. It was still a very shocking experience.

as the trip conitnued the moutnains got more majestic. Tetons eat your heart out. we watched the sunset over a dozen glaciers.
2 hours late we made it to titicaca. We lucked out by them having a large festival this weekend because there wee still restaurants open and a parade in the street.
a cacophony of high school marching bands. we ha d a long day so we went to sleep.

today we woke, had apple pie for breakfast and went to the lake. Our boat took 20 minutes to get to the floating islands of lake titicaca.
Hundreds of years ago the Uros tribe moved to the center of the lake to avoid attacks from more hostile tribes.
The piled the reeds from the lakes to create artificial islands. Their homes are constructed out of the same reeds and are mobile so they can move their home to the strongest spot on the island.
we spent over an hour learnng about the tribe and the islands. Then we took a boat made completely out of reeds to another island where they have a restaurrant and a lodge.
Tititcaca is at 13,500 feet and is the highjest navigable lake in the world. we were able to see the mountains of bolivia from our boat.

itwas a great day to follow such a strange one.
tomorrow we got to arequipa, a city of white made out of the ashes of the nearby volcano el misti.
then we fly to lima, then we fly to california.

miss and love you,
tammy lynn

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

Hey hey,

So after the last email from Lake titicaca, i rushed off the computer so i could see the town´s Virgin Mary statue being carried through the town center. There were people in the building s pouring rose petals on her.
A beautiful ceremony. Then she went into the church with the important procession. The next day we took our last bus ride ofthe trip.
It was amazing! We were travelling at 14000 feet through altiplano (above the grassline), paramo (above the tree line), sand dunes, and then a volcanic ash wasteland.
As we passed by a lake, i read that flamngoes could be seen in this area at this time of the area... 5 minutes later, we saw a very large flock of large pink birds....
flamingoes at 14000 feet inthe andes! amazing. Then it began to snow... it´s summer time at the equator!
As we passed through the desert int he middle of a lightning snow storm, we reached national reserve area. llamas and vicunas (llama meets deer) ran freely.
after these amazing sights, the terrain turned white... volcanic ash was everywhere. we passed through a slum where people built shanties on a side of a volcano.
then down into the ´white city of arequipa´. we got a room in the middle of beautiful old town. all the buildings are constructed out of the white volcanic ash.
we partied for the 2nd time ofthis trip. i paid for it the next day....
On our way out of town this morning, we finally got to see the famous arequpa volcanoes looming over the city. amazing.

now we´re in lima. The city we thought was of our nightmares, but instead we found the rich persons haven and have found the greatest place in peru.
beaches, parks, shopping malls, safety. Tomorrow we board a plane at 3pm to california.

i cant wait to eat a salad without fearing for my life!!! california here we come!

miss everyone,
tammy lynn

Message edited 2/7/2008 12:46:19 AM.

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

WOW!!! What a trip!!

I give them a lot of credit for doing such an adventurous trip!!

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

What an amazing adventure, just imagine the memories they are going to have

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

What an adventure!

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

I was in many of those same places last year....except for the part about reaching enlightenment on the top of a mountain.

I agree with your sister -- Cusco is paradise!

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

Thanks for reading

They live their life like this. Wait tables at National Forests, save up money, and then go on these trips.

She traveled the entire month for 2K.

They will be returning to Yosemite, packing up their Subaru and heading out to Zion for spring. Then Montana for Summer...then I think they are going to Alaska.

It drives my parents crazy. We don't think of her too often, since we really don't communicate with her. We just wait for her emails.

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

Posted by bird382

I was in many of those same places last year....except for the part about reaching enlightenment on the top of a mountain.

after reading about the theives, I was totally dreading her going to the mountain for enlightenment.

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

These are amazing!
I felt like I was there with her.

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

Thank you for sharing these! Sounds like an amazing experience. DH is dying to go see Macchu Picchu one day.

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

Thank you so much for sharing INCREDIBLE!

BTW, you and your sis look alike!

Re: My sisters emails from Ecuador and Peru

That sounds like an amazing trip!

My husband is from Ecuador and I went with him and his family for 2 weeks a few years back! It is truly an experience! I went to some of the places they mentioned- Otavalo being my favorite- ask them about the negotiations they had to make to get a good price- it is fun!
My husband lived in Riobamba and actually I loved visiting there more than Quito

I'm envious of their trip! Glad they are having such a fantastic time!