Hike

After a nice, heary brakfast at the hotel, we set out for a hike in the sussounding mountains.  There is a huge volcano overlooking the town, but it has been obscured by clouds.  We had beautiful views of the town as we hiked.  The town architecture is not all that attractive, since it has been oblitterated by volcano eruptons in the past, but the valley is quite pretty and the greenery of the tropics makes it quite pleasant.  Lots of agriculture here - Ecuador is the largest exporter of fresh flowers (roses and carnations, mostly), but the local frams are mostly tomatoes and fruit farms.  The hike was quite lovely - inspiring views, farms, farmers, and pretty well-marked trails.  Spent most of the day hiking, then went down to the motel room to nap.

Dinner was pretty good - I had a nice steak (lots of cows here) and Allegra had trout.  Two American girls blabbed on and on about their Ecuadorian boyfriends - luckily we got out of there before their third round.

By the way - for the worriers out there - Anywhere outside of Quito is pretty safe - we walk here at night - lots of people out enjoying life....

¡Banos!

Got up and headed to the bus station, which maps showed convenetaly located a few bocks away from our hotel in the Old Town.  When we got there, there was a problem - no buses.  The policeman told us to take the trolley (bus rapid transit system) to some place we never heard of.  Went to the trolley, and the person told us to take it to that stop, but there did not appear to be that stop on the map.  Confused, we gave up and grabbed a taxi.  Turns out the new bus station is about a 20 minute drive outside of Quito.  It has to be the most amazing bus station I have ever seen  -gleeming steel and glass.

We grabbed a bus to Banos, a tourist destination for both locals and foreginers about 4 hours outside of Quito.  The ride was nice - we went through the highlands, with peaks of the volcanic peaks every now and then (it is kind of cloudy here).

Banos is quite nice - in a subtrpical valley about half way between the highlands and the Amazon basin.  It is famous for it´s "baths" - mineral baths that you pay a buck for.  We found an awesome motel room with wrap-around windows facing  the steep peaks and the hotel garden.  After dinner, I went for a quick dip in the baths.  It was quite nice - about hot tub temp, but there were also cold pools that you could dip in.  Lots of Ecuadorians milling about with their families.

Had a nice peaceful sleep for the first time in days....

Wasted Day

Started the day with a trip on the tram up one of the volcanoes surrounding Quito.  Expensive, but a lot of fun.  The City was laid out beneath us and we could see everything, including the planes landing at the airport several thousands of feet beneath us.  The tram went up to about 12,000 feet.  At first glance, this seemed like on e of those tourist boondoggles that the developing world is quite good at - we seemed to be the only ones there.  However, on our way down, the lines were forming and people were heading up at a steady rate.  Apprantly, the place is mobbed on the weekends.

After the volcano, we headed to to the tourist ghetto (Mariscal) and shopped for a Galapagos tour.  Wasted a lot of time doing this, but eneded up getting a half price deal (not that cheap to begin with, though) on a decent boat.  Our travel agent was great - we go the sweetest cabin on the boat, but we have to pretend it is our honeymoon.

Food here is not as good as Lima - we´ve had enough meat, potatoes, and rice to last a lifetime.

¡Quito!

After a not so good night´s sleep, we headed out into the street of old town Quito.  It is quite a beuatiful city - lots of colonial archeticture and people wandering about (during the day, of course).  We wandered the plazas (lots of them) and went to some chruches and museuems.  Quito is pretty high in altitutude (a little under 10,000 feet) and surounded by mountains, some of them volcanoes.  It is also pretty dry - similiar to Cusco, in many ways.

We went out to dinner while it was stilll dark.  There were still some people walking around, but the shops cloase up not long after sunset and people did a lot of looking at their watches.  The place we ate dinner at was literally two blocks away from our hotel.  The first block was fine (still a fair amount of people), but the secind block was deserted and made us a bit nervous.  The guide book suggests taking a taxi for a block or two, if need be, and I can see why.  The taxi drivers are what makes the City operate after dark.  I think the problem is more physcological than anything else - people think it is dangerous, so they don´t go out, there fore the streets are empty and it is really sketchy.  Perception is everything, and I think the perception of unsafety is preventing a critical mass of people from taking the streets back.

Transit

Oh my God - didn´t have to leave early for our flight to Quito.  Strolled through Lima and then had a big lunch.  I had fish and garlic - wanted to make sure the person sitting next to me on the plane stayed as far away as possible (unfortunatley, this included Allegra).  Our filght went to Panama City first (free ticket), which was mobbed - "Hub of the Americas¨" apparently.

Got into Quite late on Sunday night.  Took a taxi to the Hotel in "El Centra," Lima.  No one was on the streets, except for the occasional groups of young men.  When we got to the hotel, the driver told us to wait in the car while he got th security guard.  The gurad came to the car, hand on gun, and usheredus into the hotel.  I must admit, it was really freaky and scary.  Quito feels safe during the day, but certainly not at night.

Cerviche

Left Cusco early for a flight back to Lima.  This early thing is getting out of hand.  In Lima, we decided to try the "cheap taxi" route.  We got one, but it was about to fall apart and we had a couple of instances were we almost feared for our lives - but we saved three bucks!

Went out to lunch at an upscale restaurant.  I think I mentioned the cerviche before, but, good god, it is excellent in Lima.  We had one with shrimp and some sort of whitefish.  They used a slightly creamy sauce and hot peppers.  I think Seattle needs a Peruvian style cervicheria - it would be mobbed.  I told the waiter I loved hot food - I don´t think he beleived me and brought out some special hot sauce for me to try.  He was surprised I ate it and we had a good conversation - nothing like the love of spicey to break the cultural`/language barrier.

Strolled down to the waterfront and watched the surfers.  Some pretty cool public art in Lima, as well.  On the way back to the hotel, we stopped into the supermercade, which was the Whole Foods equivalent.  We bought good bread, cheese, ham, and wine and ate in the garden of the hotel.

Pottery Barn

Today is the day to hang out in Cusco, since our flight back to Lima is not unitl tomorrow and we´ve seen pretty much everything (that we want to see, that is). One thing we didn´t do was the Inka Musuem. Decided we might as well. It was, surprise, full of pre-columbian pottery. Pre-columbian pottery in Peru is like calligraphy in China, Renissance art in Italy, espresso stands in Washington State - you defnitly continue to appreciate them despite trpeated viewings, but the wonder starts to ware thin around piece number 5,000.

The novelty of empenadas has not worn off yet, though. I see them as the hamburger of South America - we´ve had some great ones, some with too much bread, some with too little meat, some too greasy, some not greasy enough. Most of the other Peruvian food here in Cusco is wearing thin, though. We went to a place that was kind of a mexican/hamburger place. We don´t usually eat at backpaer, bannana pancake places, but the sheer amount of bread and portatoes we´ve had in the past week has sent us looking for alternate cusines. It was nice to have some beans. the fiber is much needed. Looking forward to the food of Lima....