Our Favorite Place

By far, the question we are asked most often is "what was your favorite place?"  This is also the most difficult question to answer.  In the last eight months, we've been in twenty three countries, six continents, and have slept in over seventy-eight different places.  The places we've been and the things we've seen are so diverse that it is practically impossible to pick one that was our favorite.  It's even hard to narrow it down.  We've tried to break it down into categories, such as best "ancient site," or best "water-based site," but how do you compare Petra to ancient Rome or Iguazu Falls to Milford Sound?  Even narrowing it down further to, for example, "waterfalls," is difficult.  Iguazu Falls was absolutely amazing but icy blue Gullfoss, surrounded by snow, was incredibly beautiful.  How about limiting it to a favorite within each country?  Even that has its problems.  Within Australia, we visited Uluru, I rode a camel, played with kangaroos and koalas, and saw the world famous Sydney Opera House.  Within Tanzania, we hiked to the top of the highest mountain in Africa and also saw zebras and wildebeests migrating across the Serengeti.  The places and experiences are simply incomparable to one another.  The only thing I can say is that the world is an amazing place and I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to see so much of it.

Belize: Caye Caulker

We had so much trouble getting our airline tickets to Belize straightened out that we seriously considered skipping Belize and flying home early.  I am very glad we decided not to.  There was, as usual, some delay and a little confusion at the check-in desk in San Salvador but by this point, half an hour to be given boarding passes seemed like nothing.  Our flight was delayed about an hour but we still made it to Belize City in time for our connecting flight to the small island of Caye Caulker, where we spent the entire week.  Our flight was on a small, eight passenger plane and took eleven minutes.  We had amazing views along the way of the Caribbean Sea.

Ready to board

The Caye Caulker airport was nothing more than a dirt landing strip and a small building that appeared to serve as offices for the few companies that fly there.  We were greeted by a man with only one good eye and very few teeth who helped pull our bags off of the plane.  We then waited about five minutes for our taxi, which was actually just a golf cart.

Caye Caulker Airport

Iguana at the airport

There are no cars on Caye Caulker.  Everyone gets around by walking or golf cart.  After all, the island is only five miles north to south and less than one mile east to west.  We easily could have walked to our hotel from the airport, but since we didn't know our way around yet and didn't really want to carry the big bags any distance at all in the 95 degree weather with 85% humidity, we went with the taxi.  Our driver, Lou Lou gave us a tour as we drove.  There are only three main streets on Caye Caulker - front street, middle street, and back street.  Front street, is the nearest to the sea and takes you directly to "The Split", where everyone hangs out by the water.  Here are a few shots from around the town. 

Our favorite sign

Fire Station

Laundromat

Drinking is fun

Throughout the week, most of the time we just relaxed, and there is no better place for relaxing than Caye Caulker.  Nobody is in a hurry.  In fact, the unofficial island motto is "go slow."  Everyone is friendly.  There's not a lot more to do than snorkel, dive, sit on the shore, or enjoy the amazing fresh seafood.  We went for a few walks past the village to the mangrove forest and saw all kinds of lizards, including a few giant iguanas, running around.  We tried to avoid the midday sun but often before or after noon we would go down to the Split and hang out.  The water must have been 80 degrees and was crystal clear.

Testing the waters

Hammocks on the dock

Simon reading at The Split

Caye Caulker is known for its amazing snorkeling as the second largest barrier reef in the world is just a short distance away.  You can actually see waves breaking over the reef from the island.  So, even though we were quite happy with just hanging out, we couldn't miss the opportunity.  Simon did a half day diving trip with a small group.  I was wishing I had learned to dive at some point, but after the snorkeling trip we took, I can't imagine I would have enjoyed the diving any more.

On my birthday, we joined a sailing/snorkeling tour with Ragamuffin Tours.  There were about ten of us on the trip and we had three snorkeling stops along the way.  On our first stop we spotted a massive manatee and actually got pretty close to it.  The second stop was at Shark and Ray Alley where we swam with a ton of nurse sharks and southern stingrays, in addition to some huge fish.  Our guide caught a few sharks and rays so that we could touch them as well.  It was quite unnerving to have sharks swimming less than a foot away at times, but was an amazing experience.  Our last stop was at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve where we saw some beautiful coral, all kinds of fish, an eel, and my favorite, sea turtles.  For the trip back to the island, our guides, Ish and Chris, put up the sail and we cruised back while snacking on chips and ceviche and drinking rum punch.  It was a really incredible day.

Catching a shark

Our guide holding a stingray

Sea Turtle

Swimming among the fish and coral

Simon going deep

Me diving

After seven days, it was finally time to say goodbye to island life and bring our trip of a lifetime to a close.  We decided to splurge on our final meal and each had a full lobster meal (for just $15) at our favorite Caye Caulker restaurant, Rose's Grill and Bar.

Rose's menu

Rose's kitchen

The next morning we took an hour long water taxi back to Belize City and our final taxi ride to the airport.  It was hard to leave the tropical paradise we had made our home for the last week and even more difficult to come to terms with the fact that our around the world adventure was actually ending, but we were still excited to get home and see our family and friends.  Caye Caulker was the perfect end to an incredible trip.

El Salvador: San Salvador

We never intended to spend any time in El Salvador.  It was simply a connection between Lima and Belize City.  However, because the airline improperly made changes to our ticket, we had to wait three more days to get to Belize.  After spending six hours at the check-in counter at Lima, we finally worked out the tickets and made the most of the situation by getting a 24 hour lay over in San Salvador, where my cousin had just moved.  We were able to see where she lives, have some nice meals together, and we experienced the daily San Salvador thunderstorm.  She happened to be moving into her new apartment that day so we also ran some errands with her to pick up home supplies.  I did not expect to find a Wal-Mart and Sears in San Salvador and definitely did not expect them to be classier than the Wal-Mart and Sears at home.

View from the apartment

Hanging out in casa de caballo

Since we only had one day, we did not do any sight-seeing in San Salvador.  I did not know what to expect, but the tropical area was beautiful, and I would love to get to explore the volcanoes and nearby beaches.  Hopefully we'll be able to head back for a longer visit in the near future.    

Peru: Iquitos and the Amazon

Iquitos was our jumping off point for our five day, four night Amazon adventure.  We arrived in Iquitos late and went straight to bed.  In the morning, we woke to a downpour, but were lucky (or maybe not so lucky since the humidity just kept rising) in that this was the only rain we had throughout our Amazon trip.  We were picked up by our tour company, met our guide, Jorge, and after some initial admin, like renting the very important rubber boots for jungle walks, we boarded the "Muyuna Lodge I" boat and began the three hour ride to our "jungle lodge".  After just a few minutes we were cruising up the Amazon River.  We had one stop on the way to the lodge at a small Amazonian village where the driver had to use the phone to check in with the office.  We stood on the dock for a few minutes and a pod of grey dolphins swam by.  We watched the dolphins jump and splash before boarding the boat again and continuing our journey.  The Muyuna Lodge is located on the Yanayacu River, a tributary to the Amazon.  When we reached the Yanayacu, we had to switch to a smaller boat.  During the dry season, the Yanayacu is only a few feet deep in some places so the larger speed boat used on the Amazon could not make it all the way.

Simon at our stop on the way to the lodge, showing off the sweet life jacket

The trusty speedboat

Making the final stretch of the journey on the shallow Yanayacu River

We had our own bungalow with a private bathroom.  Mosquito netting surrounds the bungalow instead of solid walls to let the breeze in and keep the critters out.  There was a small rip in our door, but surprisingly we didn't have mosquito trouble because of it.  We just had to deal with one bullet ant before he got to us.  There was no electricity at the lodge and at night the staff brought small gas lamps to each room.  We did have running hot water and flushing toilets, which we thought was pretty luxurious considering we were in the middle of the rainforest.

Muyuna Lodge (we stayed in the bungalow that is second in from the walkway)

View from our bungalow

Every day of our trip was filled with activities.  We went out in the morning, sometimes before and after breakfast, after lunch and had a night activity after dinner.  Until the afternoon on our second day, it was just Simon and I in our group.  On the second day, two more couples of about the same age, joined us.  The activities included "jungle walks," piranha fishing, caiman "hunting," canoeing, a tour of the local village, and swimming in the Amazon River with pink dolphins.  Sometimes we would just load up in the small boat and cruise up and down the river watching the different birds fly by while the fish jumped alongside (and sometimes into) the boat.

A sloth hanging in a tree by the river

San Juan de Yanayacu Village

Piranha fishing was definitely our favorite activity.  We anchored the small boat in the shade and using traditional fishing poles and raw meat as bait, started pulling in the piranhas.  In addition to piranhas, we caught dogfish and oscar fish.  One of the dogfish was dropped under the boat floorboards when it was being taken off the hook.  Once we ran out of bait for the piranhas, Simon asked if we could use the dogfish and see how long it took the piranhas to strip it down.  After about 15 minutes, nothing was left but the head.  The only drawback of the fishing was that I had not yet learned about the damage the biting flies can do.  I wore sandals (our guide said they would be fine) and the biting flies had a feast on my feet.  Insect repellent did not deter them.  I had more than 25 bites on my feet that all swelled up and hurt worse than any mosquito bite I have ever experienced.  Almost 4 weeks later, some of the bites are still flaring up and itching.  Needless to say, after the piranha fishing outing, I always wore shoes.  

My big catch

One of many catches

Razor sharp teeth

Caiman "hunting" was part of the night boat rides when we'd quietly cruise down the river, guides holding spotlights and searching for the nocturnal wildlife.  When a small caiman was spotted, a guide would jump out and grab it so we could all observe it up close.  One evening, the guide crawled through the branches of a fallen tree, cutting himself up, just to get to the caiman.  On his way in, he grabbed a few frogs to keep us entertained.

Carefully touching the caiman

Baby caiman

Saying hello to the caiman

We went on multiple "jungle walks" during our stay.  In an effort to find as many different animals as we could, we went out in the early morning, on a long day hike, and at night.  Since it was the dry season, most of the animals had moved away from the river banks, and our animal sightings were few and far between.  It was excruciatingly hot and humid in the rainforest and no matter what time of day it was the mosquitoes came at us in hoards.  We learned quickly, and on our second walk we were covered head to toe with clothing.  The other members of our group laughed that we were wearing glove liners and even had our faces covered, but it did not take them long to understand why.  We were still bitten through the clothes, but considering the number of mosquitoes buzzing about, we did pretty well.  It's probably easy to guess that the jungle walks were not our favorite activities, though we did see a few monkeys, some massive termite nests, a tarantula, a scorpion spider, and a lot of unusual plants and insects.  It was also fun to watch our guide blazing a trail with his giant machete.

Learning about the trees.  Note the guide's machete being used as a pointer

Walking through the rain forest

Simon on a leaf cutter ant hill

Five days flew by and before we knew it, it was our final day of our Amazon adventure.  In the morning, before taking the boat back to Iquitos, we took the small excursion boat all the way out to the Amazon and cruised around until we found some pink dolphins.  We followed them around for a while, watching for them to surface before cutting the engine and jumping out for a swim.  Since we actually saw pink dolphins while we were in the water, we all decided we were entitled to say that we did swim with pink dolphins.

Swimming in the Amazon River

We had a few more days in Iquitos before our flight back to Lima.  We stayed at a decent hotel with a pool, which we thought was essential given the heat and humidity.  The only real problem with the place we stayed was that our room faced the street and the constant roar of the mototaxis going by was quite loud.  Since there are no roads into Iquitos, and it can only be reached by plane or boat, very few people own cars.  Almost everyone gets around by motorcycle or mototaxi and the traffic never stopped.

For the most part, we just relaxed at the pool, hoping the insect bites would stop itching.  We did venture out one day to the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm and animal orphanage.  It was a twenty minute boat ride there and back.  Once we arrived at the port, it was not difficult to find a boat willing to take us.  We felt swarmed by people offering tours and rides.  When we got to our destination down river, we had to take a mototaxi a bit further to the Pilpintuwasi entrance.  We had a guided tour of the facilities and were given information about all of the different animals.  Most of the animals have ended up there because of illegal hunting in the rainforest.  The adults are hunted, leaving the babies to fend for themselves.  Sometimes the hunters will keep the babies and try to sell them in the markets.  One of the monkeys was brought to the sanctuary by the police because it had been trained as a pick-pocket.  The animals living at the sanctuary (in addition to the many different butterfly species that are bred there) included coatis, sloths, various types of monkeys, capybaras (biggest rodent in the world), macaws, parakeets, an ocelot, and a jaguar.  Some of the animals are free to roam around, but others that are dangerous to people have to be kept in enclosures.  Unfortunately, many of the animals will not be able to be returned to the wild because they have become too used to humans.

Sloth

A monkey holding my hand with his foot

Crazy caterpillars

Simon and some roaming monkeys

We had a lot of fun during our stay in the Amazonian region of Peru, despite the heat and constantly fending off insects.  Iquitos was a unique city and the people we interacted with were all quite friendly.  We were also fortunate to have a knowledgeable and engaging guide during our stay in the rainforest.  I would highly recommend a trip to the Amazon to anyone making the journey to Peru.

Peru: Cuzco and Machu Picchu

From La Paz, we returned to Peru and made our way to Cuzco.  Cuzco is probably the most touristy town we were in throughout the entire trip.  There were a lot more English speaking visitors than other places we had been and it felt strange to suddenly understand the majority of what was being said around me.  The main square had a McDonald's, KFC, and Starbucks.  You could not walk more than ten feet without someone trying to sell you something or asking if they could shine your shoes.  Despite how touristy it was, I really liked Cuzco.  Probably because it attracts so many tourists from around the world, it seemed like it was kept up better, at least in the city center, than other places we had been in South America.  It was clean and most of the buildings had actually been completed.  The police even issued tickets to drivers ignoring the traffic laws.  There were a lot of restaurants and nice shops.  The crafts markets were huge, although every stall did seem to be selling the same thing as the one next to it.  There are Inca walls, colonial churches, and narrow cobblestone roads winding up the steep hillsides.  By the time we got to Cuzco, we were a bit cultured out, so we did not visit many of the churches or museums, but we still enjoyed wandering the streets of the capital of the Inca Empire.

Crossing guard (Cuzco was the only place we'd been in months where they actually cared if you did not use the crosswalk)

City view from our first hostel

Temple of the Sun (Coricancha) and Church of Santa Domingo (The Spanish church was built on top of the Inca temple. Inca buildings and foundations have proved stronger than many present day Peruvian buildings)

Church of la Compania de Jesus

Plaza de Armas

Our first order of business in Cuzco was to get all of our tickets fixed for our remaining flights after a certain airline decided to go ahead and basically cancel our tickets for several flights.  Unfortunately we spent a lot of our time in Cuzco in airline offices and on the phone with customer service.  It put a major damper on our Cuzco visit, but we went ahead and booked our train tickets to Machu Picchu and tried to forget about the airlines for a few days.

To get to Machu Picchu from Cuzco, we first took a combi to the bus station in Urabamba, a small town in the Sacred Valley.  The combi was basically a mini van with extra seats added so that there is no space in the back and very little leg room.   

Transportation to Urubamba (before everyone had gotten in)

From Urubamba, we took a mini-bus that was even more crowded than the mini van.  Luckily we were not the last in or we would not have even had seats.  The mini-bus took us to Ollantaytambo, where we boarded the train to Aguas Calientes.  PeruRail advertised an "amazing" train experience to Machu Picchu.  I found it to be one of the worst trains I've been on.  The air conditioning either didn't work or was not turned on so we were sweating all the way there and the ride was bumpier than a lot of buses.  The scenery was gorgeous though and made up for the uncomfortable train.

We arrived in Aguas Calientes, the small town just outside Machu Picchu, in the early afternoon.  We bought our bus tickets to Machu Picchu for the following day and had a walk around the town, which was nicer than we expected, though like many other Peruvian towns, there were still plenty of unfinished buildings.  The town seems to depend completely on tourism to survive.  Hotels, hostels, and tourist restaurants and shops line the pedestrian roads.  Since Aguas Calientes is accessible only by train, there are no cars in town except the buses that take tourists to Machu Picchu and back.

We left for Machu Picchu at about 6:30am, opting not to rush up at 5am for sunrise with most of the crowds.  It is so common to leave early for Machu Picchu that our hotel served breakfast from 4:30am to 8am.  Even though we thought we avoided the early morning crowd, the line for the bus still wrapped around the block.  Since buses are constantly going back and forth, we only waited about 15 minutes.  The bus takes a winding road up the mountain to the entrance, where you walk through the turnstile like at an amusement park, and head inside.  The ticket provides all kinds of information about what is allowed inside and what cannot be brought in, such as no plastic water bottles and no food.  Judging from what I saw, these rules were not enforced and we wasted our money on the aluminum water bottles we purchased.

Machu Picchu was spectacular. When we first entered, we climbed up one of the terraced hillsides for a view of the ruins.  It is not just the ruins themselves, but the ruins in combination with the location that make it so amazing.  The scenery is absolutely beautiful and it is incredible to think that the Incas were able to build such a massive complex so long ago in the very remote location.   We sat for quite a while taking it all in.  It was quite surreal to be there, as Simon's desire to visit Machu Picchu is what got us thinking about travel in the first place.  After a while, we walked back down and explored the ruins.  We spent about five hours before walking back to Aguas Calientes.

Back in Aguas Calientes, we went to a bar and watched Team USA destroy Argentina in basketball.  Later that evening we went to one of the many restaurants offering a huge menu of Mexican, American, Italian, and Peruvian food.  We glanced at the menu before going in and were so amused that we decided to give it a try.  We spent a good ten minutes laughing and taking pictures of the menu.  It's nice that they tried to translate, but the translations were so bad that sometimes I found it easier to just try to read the Spanish.  

The next day, we had breakfast at a French cafe, which was really tasty, but really out of place.We killed a bit of time wandering around and then headed to the train station to start our journey back.  For some reason, the train ride back to Ollantaytambo was much smoother and so, much more enjoyable.  About half way back, the train stopped and locals tried to sell things through the windows.  A costumed dancer also got on and put on quite a show.  This was followed by a fashion show.  The purpose of the fashion show was to encourage passengers to buy PeruRail's overpriced alpaca wool clothing.

Back in Ollantaytambo we took a collectivo (another shared mini van taxi) all the way back to Cuzco.  This van, like the others, was also completely packed, but at least we did all have a seat.