Chilled

Had an unexpected but most welcome surprise tonight: the staff at Hostal de Sammy decided to throw a free BBQ for us! Great first night in Santiago: lovely home-cooked dinner of steak, salad, and chips; and an esky (or, as the kiwis working there called it, a "chilly-bin" — sorry Honour! :P) full of cold beers. The barbeque took place out on the back patio of Sammy's, where the guests and staff alike were able to sit and shmooze, in the pleasant (although slightly chilly) atmosphere of the Santiago evening.

There's only one thing you want to do, the day after a stint of mountain-climbing: nothing. And nothing is exactly what I did today. After I got back from the Cotopaxi climb yesterday, I didn't hang around in Quito very long: headed straight to the bus terminal, and hopped on a bus north to Otavalo. And today, I discovered that Otavalo is the perfect place to spend a Friday resting, blogging, reading, and eating some cheap local food. R&R in Otavalo: just what I needed.

For a little Sunday morning excursion, I decided to visit "La Mitad del Mundo" (lit: "The Middle of the World"), the famous spot where you can stand on the equator, 25km north of Quito. Mitad del Mundo is one of the most famous and popular attractions near Quito — and like everyone else who goes to see it, I didn't consider it one of the "must-do" things for my trip, but it was kinda cool to go there.

For my final full day in Baños, I decided to try out what the town has to offer, in terms of river rafting. Sadly, due to the excessive amount of recent rain, the water levels are currently too high to do the full-day, Class IV-V rafting that I'd like to do. However, half-day Class III-IV rafting is still being offered. So I signed up for this package (with one of the many rafting agencies in town), and this morning I headed off to the Río Pastaza for two hours of rafting fun. Not the greatest of my three rafting trips to date (the ones that I did in Cusco were better), but better than nothing.

Took it easy for my first day in the land of Ecuador today. Apart from eating, sleeping, and blogging, Patrick and I just did some laid-back exploring of the town of Baños, and checked out what's on offer activity- and tour-wise around here. Baños is a beautiful little town: only 12,000 people — but I'd say it could accommodate that many people again, in tourist numbers. It's also in a beautiful part of the world — lush green, jungle-covered mountains and waterfalls all around — and it seems that there's no shortage whatsoever, of things to keep oneself busy around here. Don't know when I'll be able to tear myself away from this place, but it won't be anytime soon.

Since Máncora is only 2 hours south of Tumbes (Peru's northernmost major town), you would have thought that it would be fairly easy to find some transport from one to the other. But apparently, on Sunday afternoon, this is not the case. Einat and I ended up waiting over an hour for a combi, and even then, we only just managed to squeeze onto one (it was already ridiculously overcrowded, and we just made it worse). There were also no afternoon buses to be found. Anyway, at least we eventually made it out of this funny little beach resort town, and got to Tumbes, which is the gateway to Ecuador.

What can I say, except "the beach: it's good to be back"? :P

I made the most of my first day at the beach, after four beachless months in South America, in the best way possible. By doing not very much. Read a book. Met some girls. Swam in the ocean. Sunbaked all afternoon. Ate a mountain of delicious ceviche (raw seafood, soaked in lemon juice — you can find it every 5 metres or so, here in Máncora). Slept a bit. As we say back home (and by "we", I have no idea who I'm referring to — probably very few people), I chillaxed. Perfect way to end my time in Peru. Stuff the mountains. I'm sitting on the beach this weekend.

After finishing up at the Brüning Museum, Kate and I continued on to the ruins of Túcume, which are also close to Chiclayo, about ½ an hour further up the road from Lambayeque (as the combi goes). Interesting Moche ruins, although they really are the most ruined ruins I've seen so far in Peru: they're supposed to be pyramids, but really, they just look like big mounds of dirt. Anyway, it's a nice walk to them, from the town of Túcume; and the scenery from the lookout is very pleasant there.

After getting back down from Punta Union, the rest of the hiking in day 3 of the Santa Cruz hike was very pleasant. From lunchtime onwards, it was all downhill, through the Huaripampa river valley, to the camp of Paria. Beautiful scenery, much-improved weather, and a steady pace all the way. Plus, I bumped into my friend Angel.

This afternoon, had my second trip to the cinemas, so far on my trip (last time was in La Paz). Chris, Sharon, a few random Israeli guys, and myself went to the upmarket shopping mall of Larcomar — which is built into the side of Lima's cliff-ridden shores, very cool construction — and watched the new Transformers movie at the screens there. Very nice cinema, and an excellent movie. Although it was (obviously) chock-full with special effects, predictable romance, and a hair-thin plot, it was still much better than I expected.