Ushuaia, Argentina

Next stop: the end of the world! We hopped on our last and final South American bus ride to Ushuaia, arguably the southernmost city in the world. Situated on the Beagle Channel, the town was most commonly used as a navy base for the Argentine Navy but has grown to become a major town for travelers instrested in hiking and is currently the departure point for 80% of cruises sailing to Antartica.

Typically we’ve able to find accomodation upon arrival, but in this case, we were SOL (shit out of luck). After an hour of going from hostel to hostel, all of which had “WE’RE FULL TONIGHT” signs taped to the front door, we stumbled upon the Posada del Penguino Hotel. Did they have a room for us? No, however they did have an open floor in the middle of the hallway for us to sleep on. We paid AR270 or $45 USD and that was after the “I feel bad for these kids” discount! It was undoubtedely the most expensive accomodation we had paid for which is ironic because we technically didn’t even have a room. Regardless, we were thankful that we were not sleeping on the streets (although Ali was seriously considering it) and on the upshot it came with a delicious spread of fresh fruit, pastries, toast, coffee & tea in the morning.

Luckily we got a mattress shortly after this picture was taken.

The first day was spent exploring the Beagle Channel by boat and pretending that the Penguin look-a-likes were the real deal. Not quite the same but the panoramic view of the snow-capped mountains helped us forget that we were not going to get a chance to walk with our tuxedo wearing friends…on this trip at least.

Like Penguins, but they can fly!

The pointiest mountain top we’ve ever seen!

Life is tough for these sea lions.

Bali in Ushuaia.

Our second day in Ushuaia was spent hiking through the mossy landscape and sandy beaches of Tierra del Fuego National Park. The park is approximately 12km from the city and cost us AR150 which included a round-trip bus ticket and the park entrance fee. We have three words for our experience: totally worth it! It took us about 3.5-4 hours to hike the whole loop because of how frequently we stopped to take photos of the incredibe landscapes, wild horses and flora and fuana of the mountain slopes. Indescribable really…but no worries, there is never a shortage of photos on our blog! : )

Tierra del Fuego National Park.

Over the river and through the woods.

Guindo Trees parasite.

Ben goes all Rocky on me.

Horseing around in the wild.

Mountains in the distance.

We decided to save ourselves the time and physical stress by flying to Buenos Aires to catch our flight to continent two on our RTW adventure. Next blog post, South East Asia. Ciao for now!

Bariloche, Argentina

Bariloche, Argentina. This has all around been the most beautiful place we’ve visited. Beats the Sacred Valley in Peru (sorry guys), Machu Picchu included, beats Bogota and Medellin in Colombia, and we even think it beats the stunningly jaw-dropping powerful view at Iguazu falls. In fact it was just beautiful enough to turn our reservation of two nights at the awesome Alaska Hostel into 11 nights with a camping trip in-between. Next time you’re thinking about a vacation in the Alps, check out Bariloche first. It’s absolutely gorgeous with a quaint ski town vibe, the hostels will run you a whopping $20 a night in the 8-bed but really nice dorm room (much better than it sounds for you non-travelers), and while we couldn’t regularly afford the ten to fifteen dollar all you can eat steak BBQ style parillas, I’m sure it won’t wreck a shorter vacation’s budget. It’s a homey little Swiss cabin-town that wound up in the mountaineous backcountry of Argentine Patagonia.

Seriously, so beautiful!

Too much happened during this time to squeeze into a post (100% not a lazy thing), but we’ll cover the major hits. As previously mentioned, we reserved two nights in a log cabiny-type hostel and headed over on the bus as soon as we got our bearings in town. The Bariloche bus stop sits just up the lake shore from the main “downtown”, if you can call it that. We took the bus through town, and then 7.5 kilometers up the lakeside road to our stop, just downhill of Alaska hostel. It was a 10-minute bus ride and then a five-minute walk uphill to the place, but it was one of the few hostels with availabilities left and we were actually quite keen on the idea of it being outside of the main town area. It’s a log cabin style home in a small hillside neighborhood overlooking Nahuel Huapi Lake. The 360-degree snowcovered mountain view was stunning, and with the sunlight welcoming us from 6:00AM to 11:00PM it stayed cool and crisp during the day and just a bit nippy through the night. The dorm room had great heating and comfy beds and blankets and with great staff to top it off they really made you feel at home, even with the other 25 random guests sharing space and company in a log cabin in the mountains. Better yet was the spacious kitchen equiped with three separate ovens and stoves and two large sinks. There have to have been five-groups of anywhere from three to five people all cooking and preparing meals for New Years Eve dinner, and we never ran out of cooking space. So if you’re ever in town…

Waiting to catch the bus in Bariloche has its peaks!

Ali’s knee started to bother her (it must be contagious) shortly after arriving in Bariloche, and though we got a good first hike in around a short circuit hiking trail in the Nahuel Huapi National Park, right on the lake, we took the next few days to catch up on sleep and just soak in the view. While Ben hiked off on his own and gashed his shin being dumb, our first real adventure had to have been our casual but legit afternoon bike tour.

This particiular viewpoint was absolutely breathtaking!

Bariloche, Argentina.

Bariloche is a town that receives its fair share of tourism, and thus has a significantly structured list of tourist attractions. Though we typically aren’t for the pre-planned and hand-packaged tourism experience, a few of the options still took our fancy. The first was this bike ride. It’s a little over priced, but everything in Patagonia costs 50%-100% more than the rest of Argentina. So we paid just over $20 a person to rent mountain bikes and ride around a recommended 25km loop of the most scenic area on the main peninsula. You spend nearly the entire time on the blacktop, but the majority is lacking in traffic and allows for a smoother ride and a more comfortable way to enjoy the scenery. The bikes are nice, and come with a helmet and lock, which came in handy for stop-off cliffside viewpoints, as well as taking a break to let the rain storm pass while enjoying our included free beer sampler from the local brewery Gilbert’s. Well we tried to let the rain pass. The storm seemed no more likely to pass on by even after our beer sampler, pints and bowl of peanuts. Nor after the empinadas. Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches. The next hour turned into surely the most uncomfortable bike ride we will ever (hopefully) experience. We still had well over 10km to go, and we were just entering the hilly section. We rode those 10km in a torrenchial downpour on the what could not even be described as a shoulder of the two-lane road in the hillside covered home stretch, in somewhere between 40 and 50 degree temperatures. It was New Years Eve and we were afraid all the grocery stores would be closed by the time we made it to our hostel and back out for dinner supplies, so we also had to stop at one of the few proper grocery stores in the area. We literally mopped ourselves through the store attracting more than a common stare. But we picked up our pasta and booze and sloshed back into the rain. Only the final two or three kilometers remained, and we decided we’d power through rather than locking the bikes and leaving them to bus back in the rain. On our final climb into the neighborhood the clouds split and the sun shone through, and the rain stopped as we trudged up the steps into the cabin. Some things in South America are right on time!

Ali pre-misery.

It’s too bad that the free tasting didn’t include a beer this size!

It’s still only 6:45PM on New Years Eve, and we’re soaked and freezing cold and the sun is far from setting. The night is still young. After defrosting in the shower and lying down for a bit we decided we’d get started on dinner. We enjoyed our nightly Argentine ritual of opening a bottle of red wine (we just open them…we don’t actually drink a bottle each night…), and got to work on dinner. I’ve honestly been thoroughly impressed with our on the budget foreign-food option cooking improvisation, but this one was probably our worst…Overcooked spaghetti and marinara sauce (Ali was not cooking)…But hey, it was 10PM on New Years Eve in Patagonia and the sun was still up, the night was young! By the way, if anyone did not know, as I did not, Patagonia is an area that covers land in both Chile and Argentina, with various cities and provinces within it.

While hanging out in the kitchen we started chatting with Paul and Rebecca, another young couple from the States (Denver to be precise), who (whom?) we had quickly become good friends. They’re even more legit though, and are on a 12-month ‘round the world trip. We’re jealous. We had met up with them for a local brewery’s happy hour a few days prior, and Ali even had a propper doc’s opinion on her bum knee, as this cool couple consists of two licensed doctors. Thanks Paul for your expertise!

We had talked about going out and finding a bar and/or some live music for New Years, but they were on to something better and were generous enough to invite us with. They had met an x-professional snowboarder/professional chef from Italy who had a house on the water and had invited them to join for his private New Years party. Because that happens every day…We were in and were picked up by their mutual friend for a ride to the house. The word house is an understatement, as the man had personally designed and built the mansion himself bit by bit, putting work in to it over the course of 20+ years. It was trully a work of art, and had the lakeside mountain backdrop view to top it off. We arrived not long before the ball dropped, and were shuffled into the open kitchen to join the other 40 local guests for a champaigne toast. That night beers and wine were on the house. Which later turned into our lovely new friends covering the tab.

As the night went on and we had more drinks we started pondering how we would make it back to the hostel. It was a solid five kilometers and the buses weren’t running until 6:00 at the earliest. We got dropped off at the end of the street by a friend’s friend, and as there were eight of us piled in a sedan, I logically rode in the trunk. A younger Swiss lad had offered to let us hang out at his uncles house and have a glass of wine until we needed to leave. We said why not, and were welcomed by nine farming herd-dogs. The five of us sat down, had a glass of wine and plenty of Mate, and attempted to stay up and chat until dawn. But this was the reality:

One of us woke up an hour or two later (maybe 5:30AM at this point) and decided we should better go try our luck. We walked down the long driveway and realized no bus would be passing down this street. But sure enough, just around the corner, came an old pickup truck with two teenagers in the front. We asked if we could hop in and they said sure. We’re hoping they were up early on their way to work…We got back to our hostel around 6:00AM and crawled right back in bed. Twas the most intersting and awesome New Years experience yet. Thanks again Rebecca and Paul.

In the words of Borat, “GREAT SUCCESS!”

Bariloche serves as the base of a ski town in their winter, and during these summer months the lift-side revenue is hiking and biking tourism on the barren slopes. The Cerro Catedral main lift runs (wind permitting…) daily from 8:00-4:30 and every day there were solid lines of visitors wanting a lift to the top. There is a restaurant on top, as well as hiking trails, but most just do it for the amazing panoramic view. We, however, rode it for the ride to the bottom. There is a network of downhill mountain bike trails that they groom each summer, and after hitching a ride to the top with your rented downhill bike attached to the lift, it’s no pedalling and all downhill from here. I don’t think we quite realized what we were getting in to, but it helped clue us in when we donned our gloves, motocross helmets and body armour. Literally. Body armour.

Ride or die!

TGFBA (thank goodness for body armour!)

And yes Andrew, there was a dragon at the bottom that we had to slay.

Ali fell on our first decent, and jammed her already bum knee between the bike and a rock pretty good. She’s obviously a trooper though and rode on with her recently earned goose-egg. Ben delayed his wipeout until later in the afternoon, but definitely won the more dramatic fall. Really not sure what happened there, but the result was a beautifully quick over the handlebars and flat on the back wipeout. The nice external frame of the backpack helped cushion the fall (thanks Dad), not to mention I was, and apparently for a reason, wearing body armour. I got the dirt out of my mouth, stretched, and hopped back on and we continued to enjoy the day. This was also a bit pricey, costing $30 just for the unlimited lift pass (one ride cost $15), and another $80 or so for the bikes and gear, but they were top of the line bikes, and you really felt like you were coasting down the mountain regardless of the rocks and roots that pepper the trails. It was an adrenaline rush and a cool experience. Chalk up another success in Bariloche.

Crash and burn.

Chair lift to the top of Cerro Catedral.

Next on our list would obviously be skydiving. Ben had never been, and we figured that there would be no better place to top the view than falling to Earth in Bariloche. Along with downhill biking, our skydiving attempt was not successfull on our first try due to high winds. But the next morning we returned, and were able to jump. We rode to 10,000ft in the tiniest 1-seater hot-pink plane we’ve ever seen, and after 25-minutes of ascent, Ben was out the door. Ali quickly followed, and the following 20-seconds of free fall were some of the best views we’ve ever witnessed, when tears weren’t streaming across your eyes. It flew by way too quick, but was an absolute rush and worth every penny.

So pumped!

“Time to die” as Ali’s non-English speaking instructor continuted to say.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all!

Our final big adventure here was looking to be a hike to El Frey. El Frey is a point off around the ridge from Cathedral Mountain, slightly south of the Lake, and is the first refugio along a long network of community run and supported camp site lodges. El Frey was about an 11 km-hike through the beautifully rugged mountain landscape. We passed through three distinct areas of hillside wooded desert, followed by a denser stream-crossed forest, with the final 2km ascent passing up through the treeline and to the small valley-lake on top of the mountain. The area is completely surrounded by spire-topped mountain peaks. After hearing from a passing group that the refugio (large two-storey wooden cabin with a kitchen on the bottom and a big dorm room on top) and it’s surrounding camping zone (free with your own gear) were quite full, and that a very large school-group of kids had just arrived to camp, we decided that we would set up our tent in a nice open area along a stream, about an hour shy of arriving at El Frey. We were happy we did, as the woods were beautfiul as the sun wound down (or really as the Earth spun) and it was as peaceful as could be imagined. The coolness enclosed in the thick surrounding woods however quickly turned into a coldness, and we spent most of the night shivering under our blanket. Never underestimate the cold in a tent…

First part of the hike to El Frey.

The sun was still up and we were already freezing our butts off…

We decided we would wake up early the next morning and hike the rest of the way to the top. How we slept until 1PM in a tent without a sleeping pad we will never know.

We hiked the final hour to the top, and were instantly satisfied with the journey. It really is stunning up there. There is a small circular lake sitting in this tiny valley at the top of the mountains, with hundreds of individual spires of granite rock thrusting up into the sky. It was like a castle wall around our camp, and the stars seemed about as bright as they could have been had we been in a castle that night. Miles and miles from the closes small town and at an elevation of about 1700 meters, the night sky in the Andes is absolutely spectacular. Each camp spot had a hand-built rock wall to help protect it from the face of the nightly wind, but even that allowed for a hurricane experience simulation. Throughout the entire night we went through repeated stages of 10-minutes of light breezes followed by 6-minutes of intense violently windy shaking. We had no fear for our lives whatsoever, but we were fifty-fifty on whether or not we’d have a tent over our heads when we woke up. This video shows a brief glimpse of what we experienced that night.

It was a hike to get to the top.

Can you spot the refugio?

Before nightfall we explored the valley a little, and even went for a brief swim in the lake. But again at this elevation and in 30-degree temperatures and a brisk wind, the 50 degree water was more than a bit nippy. I also got a little overzealous and scrambled and bouldered my way up to the top of the tallest-closest spire. There were a few spots, including mounting the spire itself, where I was actually a little nervous, but the view from the top could not have been more rewarding.

In-SPIRE-ing.

If anyone enjoys hiking and climbing this is the place to go. We hadn’t had enough with two nights, but with less than a week to get down to Ushuaia and head back to Buenos Ares for our South American departure, we had to head back to town and get a move on.

We look forward to the opportunity to visit Bariloche again some day, and highly recommend it to anyone passing through Argentina.

Ollantaytambo, Peru (Part Dos)

While we hadn’t planned on spending more than a few days in one place, we are glad that we did as it gave us the opportunity to fully immerse ourselves in the culture and live as locals for a few weeks. Hey, we even got the local’s discount at the best restaurant in town (and I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Ben is friends with the owner).

For those of you that have followed our blog, there is sort of a pattern that you may have picked up on by now; we’re not big planners and are more fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants travelers. We also like to do things for free. This mostly works out in our favor, or as Jim Vazquez would say, “mooostly.” Our favorite experiences so far have, for the most part, been by accident or a last minute opportunity that just happened to present itself. Case in point:

1. “So You Think You Can Dance?” Peruvian Style

While walking around one night, we saw a large crowd gathered in the Plaza and kids of all ages running around in traditional Peruvian costumes and so we decided it would be worth checking out. As it turned out, we had arrived in Ollantaytambo just in time for the annual school dance competition where each grade competes against one other with their own uniquely choreographed performance that paints a picture of a traditional Incan story.

Our co-worker at Apu Lodge, Pancha was at the competition and told us that this was just the warm-up;  the real competition was the next morning and would be an all-day event. The next day we walked over to the schoolhouse, located at the edge of town to watch the kids from Ollantaytambo perform. While it was apparent that we were the only gringos there, nobody seemed to mind!

Pancha’s son, Jose Julian shows us his moves.

One of our favorite moments was when the bull, made up of two boys underneath a black sheet ran awkwardly after the bull-fighter as they tried not to trip over each others feet. Meanwhile, a local dog became quite curious about this bull and ran after him trying to nip at its tail. This caused quite a scene and was very comical to watch: dog chasing bull, bull chasing boy, boy running for his life.

UnBULLievably funny.

This little girl was all smiles during her grade’s performance.

2. Sweat Lodge, Regret Lodge

Another very unique experience that we had while Ollantaytambo was the opportunity to participate in a Sweat Lodge, a spiritual ceremony for some that took place in a dome-shaped structure covered with tarp and leaves that is located on the grounds of Apu Lodge. It was exactly as it sounds, a lodge where people sit and sweat for hours as the temperature rises with each hot stone that they place in the hole located in the very center. It’s similar to a sauna but a bit more enjoyable due to the fact that the ceremonial leader beats a drum and chants while encouraging everyone to sing along. It was quite strange at first but we got the hang of things and the weirder noises we made, the more less we thought about how hot it had become.

It was all fun and games until Ali drank the water. Since we are in fact in South America, most things are conducted in Spanish so someone did not get the memo that the cup of water being passed around, in the pitch black tent while everyone was singing and chanting was actually water for pouring on yourself and not for hydration purposes. As it turns out, the water was from the river aqueduct built by the Incans that runs through town. This particular river also happens to be where all of the sewage from the Sacred Valley runs into and is 100% guaranteed to make you sick as a dog as Ali found out at about 2 a.m. Two words: No Bueno.

3. Salineras and Moray and Chinchero, Oh My!

Our friend and co-worker, Ruth asked us for our help by having us go with her and the Ollantaytambo Tours group to take “professional” photos of the archaeological sites, as well as their fleet of vehicles and drivers to allow them to create an official website. The request could not have been more welcomed as we were hoping to visit at some point for our own travel experience. I guess you could say our “professional” photos sold for 160 soles, as this is the typical price for the tour of Salineras, Moray and Chinchero (all very worth the price!).

Our favorite, Salineras is a pre-Incan salt mine where their original processes are still used today. A 50kg bag of hand-refined and recovered salt sells for a salty 25 soles, or the equivalent of $9 USD! The image of the 350 salts pools was breathtaking and seemed to be from another world. We definitely recommend a visit if you’re ever in the Sacred Valley.

The views outside the Sacred Valley are unreal.

A salt mine worker carries a 50kg bag of salt ready to be sold.

Working at Salineras is not an easy job.

Ali catches Samir, Ruth’s son perfecting his “blue steel” during our stop at Chinchero.

Incan archeological terraces at Moray with Ruth and Samir.

Ben playing photo hunt.

4. Hike to Heaven, Decent from Hell

Our third to last day, we decided to hike Pinkuylluna Mountain with the goal to reach the flag placed at the very top, a flag that can only be seen from the Plaza square. How we were going to get up there was unclear, but we packed up our backpack with the essentials and were on our way. The views were incredible and only got better the higher we climbed, and the number of ruins we sighted at such a high altitude was astounding. Those Incans were pretty badass.

This should have been a good indication of what our hike would be like; scary!

The view of the flag from the plaza (you may need a magnifying glass).

Photo op!

Our view overlooking the Sacred Valley.

As we approached the top of the mountain, we were shocked to realize that the flag was still was light-years away (or so it seemed at the time), not to mention on a completely different rock formation. WARNING: If you are Ben or Ali’s mom, you won’t like the decisions made and we recommend that you skip to the bottom to avoid having heart failure! ; ) By this time, we had been hiking for over 2 hours and could now hear the flag flapping in the wind, making us more determined than ever to reach the top. But how? After about 20 minutes of contemplating our options, rock climbing was the only answer we could come up with besides giving up, and so we slowly (and carefully) climbed our way down one very steep and sharp rock formation and up another. Our muscles ached, our eyes were watery and faces burned, but the sense of accomplishment we felt as we reached the flag was well worth the exhaustion.

Ben climbing to the flag. Can you spot them both?

So close yet so far…

Ben paving the Rocky road to victory.

Victory is ours!

Taking in the view.

Time to rest…not!

To our surprise, there was one other person at the very top which was great because we really needed to find a safer way to get down as the rocks were basically climb or die. He was impressed at the way we came as it was “muy dificil” compared to the path that he took that lead you between two valleys and around the large rock formations. We figured easier and quicker was the way to go, or it would have been if we ever did find that path…

An hour and a half later, we were still fighting our way through large bushes and cacti while trying to stay upright on the mountains steep incline. At this point Ali was seriously regretting not buying new tennis shoes before the trek as she had little to no traction on her shoes, but thankfully Ben was a gentlemen and made sure she said safe (moooostly). The saddest part of all was we really didn’t get anywhere during that time; we could still hear that damn flag flapping in the wind, and sunset was only an hour away. We knew that if we did not make some serious moves we would be sleeping on the mountain, and our only viable option was to free climb directly up the rock formation back to where we had originally started. While Ben ranked it as an average M3 or M4 (for those of you who climb), instead of having a nice 8-inch bouldering pad below to break our fall, a slip of the hand or a lost footing had the real possibility of causing a serious fall down the rocky mountain. We moved quickly and worked together to find the quickest and safest (HA!) way to the top while we both did our best to make light of the situation and keep our increasing concern of our predicament to ourselves.

Recently recovered footage documents Ben’s (although the pony tail could be mistaken for Ali’s) ascent.

We made it a little past the halfway mark when the sun went down, and although hiking in the dark on loose rocks is not ideal, it gave us the most beautiful aerial view of Ollantaytambo at night that we’re sure not many tourists have experienced before. How do we know this you ask? Well, once we arrived to the bottom of the mountain, we realized that the gates had been closed and padlocked and barbed wire covered the only manageable gap between the gate and the top of the old Incan stone wall. The fact that we managed to, for the most part, safely make our decent down the mountain to only be trapped a mere 50 yds. from the warmth and comfort of our room was almost comical at this point. What made it worse however was watching everyone walk by freely while we stood trapped behind the gates just a few arm-lengths away. We figured we had spent a good portion of our day overcoming obstacles, what was one more? After consulting with Louise about our best method of escape, scaling the old Incan wall that offered very few hand holds, won out. Our obvious first stop after awkwardly climbing up and over (and lots of butt grabbing  by Louise and Ben on Ali’s accord) was to pick up two very large Cusceñas, the local Peruvian beer. Thanks again Louise, for picking up our phone call and entertaining our elaborate escape plan, as well as the tasty and much-needed alphabet soup!

The entrance (and usually the exit) to Pinkuylluna Mountain.

Ollantaytambo is such a special place and we are really grateful for the the friends we’ve met, the Spanish we’ve learned (especially Ali) and the time we’ve spent exploring the ancient ruins and Sacred Valley of the Andes Mountains. But it’s time to move on to our next Peruvian adventure, so stay tuned!

Ollantaytambo, Peru

It’s great to be back, Peru. If nothing else I’ve sure missed your avocados. I can finally attempt to prove to Ali all the claims I’ve been making the last two years about Peru’s world class avocados. And I think we can both agree I wasn’t lying! We were a little sad to leave Colombia, as well as sad to leave Fernando there at the airport (Fernando you seemed a little sad too), but have loved every minute since arriving in Peru. We’ve spent the first two weeks entirely in Ollantaytambo (other than an hour or two in the still small neighboring Urubamba), so Ali’s only Peruvian experiences stem from this one essentially large neighborhood, but we really are loving it here. The views in the Sacred Valley are heavenly, the food and drinks are cheap and delicious, and most of all the people are just amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many friendly kids in my life. From the 10 year-olds playing basketball who looked up and saw us and stopped to wave, to the girl selling street food with her mom giggling as she noticed us watching her receive a little family hygiene care on the street, everyone has just been awesomely genuine. I now remember why I’ve missed it so much.

We found the Peruvian Santa Claus!

Two girls pick some wildflowers before their dance performance.

To get in we flew from Bogota to Lima, had a five hour layover in a lounge-less and wifi-less airport (first world problems, especially after United’s 1K status), caught a taxi to Grau Avenue and then a combi straight to Ollantaytambo. The combis are privately owned and operated 3-4 row vans that carry 8-12 people as part of the typical public transportation system. The gentleman in our row started chatting with us as soon as he got in; he was a teacher at the Urubamba Elementary School. After an extremely scenic two-hour ride, we arrived at our home for what would be the next three and a half weeks. We walked up to the main plaza, asked for directions, and showed up at Louise’s door 20 minutes later. Louise is the owner of the B&B, Apu Lodge, we would be volunteering at as part of a work exchange and was putting us up in her house until the spare room at the lodge opened up. She’s an awesome lady, originally from Scotland, that planned on visiting Ollantaytambo for one day but has stayed here for what has now been 10 years. We received a very warm and homey welcome by her, her two daughters Nina and Mayu Rumi, as well as the rest of her house mates. We didn’t work more than a few hours a day while we were living with her, but this gave us a few days to pick up the responsibilities and learn the ropes while we settled in a little, as well as acclimate to the change in altitude. Bogota is decently high on it’s own and offered a nice altitude warm-up, but Ollantaytambo is located at over 9,000 feet and your lungs can really feel it.

The view from Apu Lodge.

A neighbor of Apu Lodge spends a few final moments with her sheep.

The largest Incan ruin in Ollantaytambo.

We started hiking around a few of the what must be hundreds of local mountain trails right off the bat. We had to stop to catch our breath every few minutes, but we could also reasonably blame our frequent stops on wanting to take in the magnificent views . The valleys are unreal with the drastic and dynamic mountainous landscapes that completely encapsulate the small ancient town of Ollantaytambo. The B&B sits under one of the smaller ancient Incan ruins in the area, on the Pinkuylluna mountain side, at the top of a slight hill a few minutes walk from the main plaza; just enough to offer a spectacular view over the town. It’s not far, but the old Incan cobble-stone streets will quickly wear you out on even your shortest trips. There’s a reason we make it a point to advise all the tourists before they try to hall their suitcases up from the train station at 5 o’clock in the morning, or better yet after a full day of hiking Machu Picchu. The views really are stunning here. We’re not sure if it could keep us for 10 years, but we understand the almost magical draw and how Louise has come to make it her home.

Ancient Incan storehouses on Pinkuylluna mountain.

Our first hike of many!

Hiking through the sacred valley.

Are we in Germany or Peru?

The work exchange itself has been quite enjoyable. The locals we work with are all awesome, and Pancha and Carina cook a mean lunch. Our daily chores include working at the reception area, preparing and serving breakfast on our one morning shift per week, washing (in a washing machine) and hanging laundry, picking up around the reception area, and worst of all chatting with friendly guests. We’ve met loads of awesome people and made quite a few friends throughout the last few weeks, and even plan to visit a few along our travels.

Hasta la próxima vez!

Tayrona Park, Colombia

All throughout Colombia, locals and foreigners alike told us we had to visit Tayrona. It’s a huge national park on the north-east coast, nearing the Venezuela border. It’s got a rather hefty entrance fee, especially for cheap backpackers like ourselves (about 20 USD per person, just shy our daily budget), but we found it well worth the price none-the-less. We planned on hiking in with our new traveling companions, Maarten and Sofie, spending the night in hammocks near the beach, and then hiking back out and returning to our hostel in Santa Marta which was holding the rest of our stuff for the following night. We had our one bag (which Ben’s shoulders later regretted) packed, expectations set, and laxatives flowing…we were ready for the trek (aside from dragging Marteen and Sofie to the grocery store on our way to the bus stop, because we like to procrastinate). If our clairvoyance would have only informed us to bring soap and more clothes for our one night to turn into three. That we’ll need to work on.

We’re on our way, but not before Ben gets shit on first.

Hiking in Tayrona Park with Maarten and Sofie.

Tayrona Park should with certainty be included on anyone’s itinerary visiting northern Colombia. It’s absolutely beautiful. We passed a handful of backpackers along the way, and the campsites housed plenty more, but we still felt the isolation and raw nature of the jungle while inside the park. We saw all sorts of insects, including a scorpion, ornate butterflies and moths, two still unidentified small mammal-ish looking creatures, hundreds of jungle crabs, and a wide variety of birds; though the one animal we wanted to encounter managed to stay clear of our path. Ali was even using her perfected monkey call, but maybe she forgot to translate it into Spanish…The hike took about five hours on the way in, which we later were told should have taken three (or one??), had we not taken a round-about way searching for the 12,000 Peso (6 USD) hammocks we had heard about, but the scenery and landscapes along the way were unreal. We walked through densely wooded jungles, over steep rocky inclines, across a few quite-nice jungle boardwalks, and popped out right on the beach. Not too bad for a half day hike. We did eventually find the cheap hammocks though. We set down our stuff, showered under the stars and then grabbed a beer to relax before bed (er hammock). What we were also not aware of was that the hammocks’ low prices may have been due to the fact that the fees were being split with the fleas that we shared them with. The bites weren’t terrible, but they left a nice little mark on Ali’s forehead, Ben’s nose and his feet still look a little gnarly. But knowing our luck a few dozen flea bites ain’t the worst that could have happened.

Bukaru, where you can get a hammock and flea bites for only 12 COP. What a steal!

Ben prior to realizing his hammock had fleas.

Bird rock.

A little improv rock climbing.

We made it…sort of.

The next morning we hung out at the scenic beaches along the coast, and while we had just decided on staying another night with Maarten and Sofie, we quickly threw a wrench in the plans and chose to head further along the coast in search of surf. We hiked out that afternoon, leaving Maarten and Sofie to fend off the fleas on their own, and somehow this time the hike took one hour…who knows.

A nice escape from the humid forest.

We caught the first passing bus another 7Km to Costeño Beach. We had heard there was a surf-hostel there that rented boards, hammocks, and beds, and that was exactly what we were hoping for. We got in just before dark, after running the last 200 meters to beat the downpour, and grabbed a beer and dinner before bed. Costeño Beach is just as much the hostel we stayed at as it is an actual area; in that there is really nothing else there besides the hostel. They’ve got an awesome little setup though, plenty of boards to rent, a really chill vibe, an essentially private beach, and two cool Canadian brothers to run it.

Keep walking and you will eventually get there.

Our first morning there we heard the unfortunate news that there would be no surf that day. While we had already extended our little trek one night, had no soap, and had already sweated through all of our clothes, we came for the chance to surf and decided to stick it out one more night on the word that waves were on the way. And we couldn’t have been happier that we did. Later that afternoon, Ali randomly asked a group walking out of the site where they were headed. “To Rancho Relaxo”, one of the guys said. Weird. But we went; and it was awesome. We hopped in a 84′ POS Land Cruiser with 9 other people and took off. One of the Canadian brothers decided within the past year to buy a plot of land a short drive from Costeño Beach, where he has since been growing all types of fruits and vegetables, raising chickens, and learning to live off the land. They’ve built a little housing area with four basic rooms, an extremely nice open-air kitchen, as well as an area to sleep backpackers in hammocks. They have an essentially self-sufficient, yup, ranch, on the hill-sides of the Colombian coast, complete with a private waterfall and all. They have just been officially accepted into the WOOFING community too, and would love for anyone looking to volunteer for room and board and live off the land to come and join them. We wish we would have heard word earlier and had a chance to volunteer for a few days. Collum toured us around the ranch, telling us about as well as feeding us all of the fruits and vegetables he was growing, explained the challenges they had with different aspects, and ended it with a cold beer and a climb up their waterfall to the view of the coast. While the cruiser ran out of gas twice one our return trip, we made it back in time for dinner, and can add one more successful unexpected adventure to our list.

This land cruiser looks newer than it really is.

Ben enjoys fresh beans from the garden.

The waterfall at Rancho Relaxo.

Literally coasting back to Costeño Beach with our new friends…and a pineapple.

The perfect ending to a great day.

That next morning, which was our last as we were flying back to Bogota the next day, Ben woke up early to grab a board and was the first one out. The waves weren’t spectacular, and we had actually been told us it was the worst they’d been in quite a while, but they were good enough to catch some decent rides, and 8-10 others had paddled out by 10 that morning. By the time the winds picked up and turned the clean waves into annoying chop we had to checkout and be on our way. We were more than happy to arrive back to Hostal Candela y Chocolate, our at the time home away from home.  We were even happier to find that Maarten and Sophie had left us a bag of goodies, as they were just finishing off their 12-month adventure around the world. The bag of smelly clothes could not have come at a more perfect time, and we have since been wearing their clothes, after washing them of course. This longsleeve is quite comfy Maarten. Congrats to you both and thanks again!

Paddling out.

Costeño Beach.

Thanks Sofie and Maarten for the hand me downs!

It was a long “one night” trip, but we had a great time in Tayrona, climbed a waterfall in the coastal forested hills, and even caught some waves.

Not too shabby.