Cali, Columbia

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I´m in Cali, Columbia now. I will write about it when I leave here. Until then I will be updating the pictures on the slideshow as they are taken. For the full album go to www.picasaweb.google.com/jnevedal and check them out!

Quito, Ecuador

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Got to Quito early in the morning after quite the bus ride from Mancora, Peru. The main highway running north and south through Ecuador is far from smooth or strait and definitely made it hard to sleep. Besides the fact that my seat did not recline because I was right up against the bathroom. We where also stopped three separate times for the bus and it´s passengers to be searched for drugs and whatever else.

We took a taxi from the terminal to the center and burnt some time at the Internet cafe waiting for mike´s peace corp friend to get out of work so we could bring our bags and belongings to his house. After we got our things situated we got some food and just took it easy for the rest of the night.

The following couple days we explored the city as much as possible. One highlight was the cathedral that dominates the skyline of Quito. We paid our two dollars to explore the whole thing and even got to climb all three towers all the way up to the tops. They let you stand out on the top of the steeple, outside and without any ropes or rails on a 2 foot area. Kind of sketchy but a very beautiful building and impressive as always as most of the cathedrals and iglesias usually are.

Unfortunately I broke my camera on the first day in Quito and had to borrow a lot of pictures from mike and kilo or borrowed their cameras to take pictures. we definitely did a lot of walking around to shop for a new one. It turned out to be a good way to see the city because apparently they people in Quito don´t believe in quality cameras. (I´m done complaining now.)

The rest of our stay in Quito was great and was refreshing to stay with friends in an actual house and not having to deal with the other occupants of a dorm room. Thanks Wes! Off to Cali, Columbia!

Mancora, Peru

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We finaly got to Mancora and didn´t waste time getting to the cevicheria to get a large plate of ceviche and eight large beers between the four of us. Oh, yea... Denise (mike´s other half at the time) decided to come along for the beach and then had to go back down to Arequipa where she is from but not until we all left. So then off to the beach where we spent the rest of our first day and most of the others.

Life for us in Mancora consisted of one or more of the following every day: Wake up(whenever that may be), go to the market for some fruit for breakfast and some other things for later, go to the bakery for dounuts or empanadas, go back to the hostel, get in the water for a long time and then lay out(repeat as needed), watch the sunset, party or just chill and drink matte(a traditional argentinian tea in which everyone shares a common cup as a social thing), sleep. Like always we quickly made friends and what characters they were.

We went to a full moon party down the beach on thursday that week and I stayed out until 10:30 in the morning at which point I would have rather died than felt the hangover I felt. Especialy because it was my second hard party day in a row. Well after a week there and the ever closing date of christmas we decided to leave and get on our way to Quito, Ecuador on the 13th.

Arequipa.... Again.

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So off we went twelve hours by bus, bound for Arequipa... again. This bus might I add, was a sweatbox from hell. They apperently didn´t know how to control the heaters. ANYWAY, Logisticly it is a whole lot easier than taking a direct route back to Lima to get the next connection to Moncora. Besides we knew people there so why not hang out a bit?

We only planned on staying one night. One night turned into two and eventualy five. I heard it was a cool city and had only spent the one night previous to Cusco there. After spending a night partying in that city and realizing that the most beautiful people of Peru live in Arequipa, we all decided to stay a little while.

Arequipa has a pretty good nightlife that we enjoyed every night without fail, and is not an expecive place in general, which is always a good thing. One day we even went horseback riding for around $5 for an hour which I am sure wouldn´t happen in the US. Mike´s horse was quite the crab ass and tried to buck him off half the time. Otherwise it was a blast and we jst went out in the country side for a while. For the last half of a mile or so we did a full on gallop back to the ranch. Good times.

We spent the rest of the time hanging out with new and old friends and enjoyed our time there as much as rock stars would.

After we had our fill of Arequipa... again, we grabbed a bus(14Hrs) to Lima... again and spend two hours there before getting on the next (14Hr) bus to Moncora.