Currency: Soles (3 Soles=$1 USD)

Cities Visited: Trujillo, Lima, Arequipa, Cusco, Ollantaytambo, Aguas Calientes, Puno

In the cities we visited, there wasn´t a central bus terminal where you can find most bus companies in one building.  Instead, there are lots of buildings that house individual bus companies. 

Buses in this country are awesome.  Although expensive, where else  can you choose between cama and semi-cama, 1st floor or second floor with movies, airconditioning, internet access, GPS tracking, security, blankets, pillows, people who serve you food, and leather seats!

If you are a woman, expect to be constantly whistled at even in the presence of your significant other.

Eat ceviche in the coastal cities, it´s fantastic! Where else can one pay $4 for a whole plate of raw seafood!!

Peru´s traffic is loud compared to Ecuador´s.  Expect Peruvians to use their horns quite liberally.

The best item to buy is an ¨alpaca¨ wool sweater.  It´s warm, fuzzy, and a great bargain at less than $10!  It may not really be made of alpaca fur, but who cares?

Cheap massages are offered in Cusco (25-30 soles).  Get one…it´ll be worth it, especially after climbing around the ruins of Machu Picchu.

If you are planning on staying in Cusco for a good amount of time, the ¨tourist ticket¨ may be a good deal.  At approximately 120 soles, you have access to 12-13 museums and ruins in and around Cusco for 10 days. 

Take Inca Rail to get to Aguas Calientes (just outside of Machu Picchu).  It´s a bit cheaper and the seats are much nicer than Peru Rail.  Plus, you get food service.  Until recently, Peru Rail monopolized the rails, but now more and more companies are opening up. 

• You can catch the Inca Rail train at Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes.  Take a collectivo from Cusco to Ollantaytambo for 10 soles.  Don´t miss the ruins at Ollantaytambo because they are pretty cool.  It´s a part of the ¨tourist ticket¨ anyway. 
• On Peru Rail, pay 12 soles to get to a city close to Cusco.  From there you will catch the train to Aguas Calientes. 
• In Aguas Calientes, stay off the tourist strip for lodging and food. 

Things we liked:

Deenaree´s list…

• Food: Ceviche
• Experience: Exploring Machu Picchu, even with (what I suspect was) food poisoning
• Something to remember: Unexpectedly eating cow hooves as part of my almuerzo at the Pisac Sunday market for a whopping 4 soles

Ben´s list…

• Food: Ceviche
• Experience: Wandering around the 400 year old streets of the Santa Catalina Monastery
• Something(s) to remember: The Incan terraces built on the side of mountains

Way back in Quito, we had a nice dinner with an ambitious Irish gap year couple who were on their way from Lima to Cartegena. The conversation moved from the best Ecuadorian food to the highlights of the Peruvian coast. They gushed about buses in Peru, beasts we are led to believe are death traps. They had less than kind words for Lima and highly recommended a little beach town in Peru called Huanchaco, the birthplace of surfing. Armed with our newly formed opinions, we had our initial itinerary for Peru set. We would stop in Huanchaco for a few days on the way to Lima and keep our time there short to see the better parts of Peru.

As a result of Couchsurfing, we ended up staying 10 miles from Huanchaco in the considerably bigger city of Trujillo. It is a livable city with nearby beaches (Huanchaco) and pre-Columbian ruins the only reasons to visit. Maybe as a result of our cool Couchsurfing pad/cafe/bar owned by the lead singer of the Peruvian metal band, Metal Inca, or our infatuation with ceviche, we loved Trujillo. The city square is lined by colorful colonial buildings, most of which are at least a century old. Ceviche in coastal Peru is different than anywhere else in the world. For 12 soles (about 4 US dollars), we were able to get a portion of raw seafood to feed us both. With clams, mussles, shrimp, squid, octopus and whitefish, we savored every bite.

During our stay, we took the time to visit Huanchaco, the original reason for our visit to the area. In general, Huanchaco left us very underwhelmed. With a long, straight approach from Trujillo, the landscape loomed like a barren wasteland. Dust was so thick in the air that even at 200 feet from the ocean, it was barely visible. Once we reached town, we were no more impressed. Cookie cutter modern buildings and pizza joints looking strikingly like Pizza Hut were only saved by the cute Peruvian kids doning wetsuits and toting surfboards twice their height. A short walk on the beach and a jaunt through town was enough for us.

As we approached Lima enroute from Trujillo, we were tentative about how much time to spend. With less than glowing reviews, and Nazca and Cuzco looming, we were prepared for a few days to be enough. Upon arrival in the morning, we took a taxi straight to the barrio of Miraflores to check on Couchsurfing or hostels in the popular area. Upon our initial interaction with Miraflores we were immediately drawn to Lima. The high beachside cliffs, countless cafes and restaurants and seemingly laidback atmosphere reminded us both of San Diego. The analogy was complete with parasailers diving off the cliff and beachside parks providing greenspace and attractive art and fountains.

During our remaining 4 days in Lima we spent time in a few of the many barrios. All were wonderful places in their own way. Central Lima is filled with some of the most attractive old buildings we have seen in South America. Barranco is the wonderfully quaint Bohemian district filled with popular bars, restaurants and gorgeous aging houses. San Isidro is a mixed bag providing the financial center of Lima as well as posh golf courses and parks.

In the end, we were grateful for our new Irish friends advice. Maybe our experiences were different and maybe we have different tastes, but the chance to see new places and form your own opinion is priceless.

For mealtimes at restaurants, there are essentially two options: set menu or a la carte dishes.  The set menus, almuerzo at lunch and cena at dinner, are very cheap and are usually offered more at local hole-in-the-wall restaurants as opposed to tourist ones.  In our experience, prices ranged from $1 to $3 for these meals, which include soup, a entree and sometimes a dessert or drink.  You never know what is going to show up with your set menu, usually rice, potatoes  and chicken or grilled beef, but it can also include intestines, stomach lining and even chicken head!

A la carte dishes are always more expensive and are similar to ordering off of a menu other places in the world.  In most instances, the dishes are very similar to the set menus, but you are straying from the big pot that the owner has prepared in the back for everyone else.  A few specialties that we tried that are particularly different than what we have in the US are cuy and ceviche.  Cuy is roasted guinea pig and is a delicacy in Ecuador.  They are cooked in a similar way as rotisserie chickens and are typically served whole (head, claws, everything)  for at least 4 to 6 people to enjoy.  It looks a bit gnarly and it does not make a filling meal, but the meat is quite tender and tastes like less fatty duck.

Ceviche is probably a known entity, but Ecuadorian ceviche is not like that served in the US.  It is served all over the country and consists of a soupy concoction of seafood: squid, octopus, fish, shrimp or mixed.  It is high in salt and lime juice and is very tasty.  It is rumored that it is typically served raw on the coast, but all we saw seemed to be cooked.

For the most part, the drinks in Ecuador seem to be pretty similar to what we see other places.  There is lots of coca cola (sorry Mom, no Pepsi!) and some strange Fanta flavors like apple and neon green.  Many juices are served in restaurants, especially with set menus, but many of these were unknown to us and will probably stay that way.  A popular drink served everywhere is morocho, which is a sweet, white, grain-based drink.  Many spices are used and it is quite delicious most of the time.  Our favorite drink while we were there was colada morada.  This is a drink served only around the time of All Saint´s Day (in November) and consists of blackberry juice warmed and infused with spices like cinnamon and cloves.  It is similar to our apple cider and is quite delicious.

Our favorite part of Ecuadorian cuisine is the snacks.  There are always street vendors selling something and much of it is very, very good.  A common snack is the empenada.  This is much different than an empenada further south in South America.  An Ecuadorian empenada is a pillow of fluffy, deep fried dough that is usually filled with cheese. Another snack we saw often was the platano con queso.  Very simply, this is a grilled sweet banana that is sliced down the middle and topped with a small wedge of Ecuadorian cheese.

Fruit is abundant in Ecuador and much of it is also very tasty.  A very popular snack in Otavalo is the guava.  Different from guava in the US, guava in Ecuador is a mutant pea pod looking fruit.  Upon opening the pea pod, little white fruits greet you, which are very sweet and contain a large black seed in the middle.  Besides guava, street vendors are seen all around Ecuador selling a variety of fruits including mangoes and strawberries…out of wheelbarrows!!

With so much time and so much food in Ecuador, it is hard to summarize it all.  Upon looking back, we are glad to have tried the good and the bad and seen all the different ways things can be prepared and presented.  While we will miss the food of Ecuador, we are certainly glad to be through with chicken and rice almuerzos for the time being!