Cuenca (Ecuador) - National Park of Cajas - photos 2

National Park of Cajas 30 km from Cuenca:

- Please let me know how many of you thought that the first photo was taken in Scotland or in the North Yorkshire Moors? Well that what we thought when we saw the landscape!! And specially the lagoon "Toreadore". Typical flora made of moss and also very boggy! Lee was wearing open sandal and that was not REALLY the kind of shoes to wear. If you have seen the face of the guard parks when they saw his shoes!!!! Amusing!
- Here you say "well somethings wrong, that can't be in Scotland, they don't have llamas!!" yep so welcome to the Andes in Ecuador!!!
- Lots of parts of the trail were very muddy and we were using the roots of the tree to avoid to be all over covered by mud!! Lots of fun to find the best way...,
- Lee is taking the same picture than you can see on the right. In front, it is Margot a French girl who was following the same trail than us. The marking of the trail was like usual: nothing when it is difficult to find the way and easy when you had the path in front to you!!! I think we were both happy to have done the 5hrs trail together, we could have been lost by now!!
- This is my picture!! Superb reflection of the of the mountains and the clouds on the lagoons...Lee has got the same picture but mine is better!! lee says " vas chier Manu"

Cuenca ( Ecuador) - photos 1

Cuenca in Ecuador:

We finally reached Ecuador after a couple of days spent in sunny Mancora. We left Mancora at 2pm and the journey was supposed to be 8 hrs but after delays on the road, waiting for the bus and at customs we arrived at 11.30pm at Cuenca after an epic bus ride from Huaquillas (Ecuador customs) to Cuenca! I like driving fast (please ask Stu for that!) but the bus driver was absolutley "loco" (crazy)!!! What an experience!
Cuenca (2550m), situated centre south of Ecuador, is the third city in Ecuador and considered the most beautiful in the country but the old town in Quito is supposed to be superb too...I will let you know later...The city was obviously full of colonial houses and buildings and was really superb! It is a fusion between 3 cultures: Canari, Inca and Spanish so showed a very rich architecture. Due to its proximity to mountains and its wealth, it was like a swiss town in the outlying area with lots of superb chalets!

- The "catedral vieja" or "El Sagrario" or the old cathedral was built in 1567 by the Spanish. The church has been now restored in order to create a religious art museum (open to the public),
- The "catedral nueva" or "catedral de la Immaculada Conception" was built end of the 19th century and since 1976 it is acting as the current cathedral of Cuenca,
- The church of Santo Domingo view by night with nice coloured lights. Its the second biggest church in Cuenca and was built over 20 years in the early 20th century. For the story, the lights were changing colours from red, blue, green to purple but I had not realised that! So I took a first picture without flash giving a blue colour to the church then I took a picture with the flash and the colour came red! I thought that my flash was able to modify the colour!!! You know when you are travelling your brain is quite on sleep!!!
- A very beautiful colonial builing, main office of a bank,
- Inside the "Casa de la Mujer" or "house of the woman" where lots of small artesanal shops can be found.

Mancora - photos 2

Mancora:

- First and second pictures: Main activities on the beach; horse riding and kite-surfing.
- Lee and one of the 2 "BIG" fishes he caught. You can see the happiness on his face because until now he had caught only baby fishes! At least he was proving he had not lost his fishing touch!
- Fishing at sunset. Superb colours, mild temperature...great!
- Lee's fish. We did not know what kind of fish was that but the emerald colour of the eyes and the colour of the body made us thinking that was not an eatable fish. And look how furious it is!!! Lee put them back in the water after I took the pictures of course!!! We tried to find what type of fish it was but unfortunately Google failed...

Mancora - photos 1

Mancora:

The hottest surf spot in Peru!! So obviously we could not miss that! Except that the waves were quite small and Lee was of course very disappointed. Nice beach, full of "gringos" but nice and relaxing atmosphere.

- Mancora beach with a central rock formation. On the right, bodyboarders could be seen (not in the picture due to low tide). On the left of the rocks, 20 or more surfers were usually waiting for the waves. Lee has got more pictures than me on surf,
- Why this picture, you are going to ask me...well that was the first time since we reached the pacific coast that I was having a paddle!! I used to bathe in the warm water of Mediterranea sea so the water has to be acceptable warm for a paddle,
- Lee ( or is it Daniel Craig?) going for a swim in this beautiful blue colour water. I had just only a paddle as I found the water still a little too cold...I know what you are going to say!!!
- Superb sunset on the beach with in the background the pier,
- View from the balcony of our hotel. Not too bad...

Chiclayo - photos 2

Chiclayo - Tucume:

In the site of Tucume, north of Chiclayo and Lambayeque, 26 major pyramidal structures and platforms can be observed. The site was a major regional centre, maybe even the capital in the area for the different civilisations Lambayeque/Sican, Chimu then Inca. The discovery of the pyramids was accidental. People were looking for gold and found instead the pyramids!

- Overview of a part of the site. The pyramids are not well defined but due to the erosion, they look like piles of sand and stone,
- 2 miradores allow nice views of the site. The picture is taken from the highest mirador. The first mirador can be seen in front of the picture,
- Close view of a pyramid. Works are on-going to obtain more details about the functioning of the site and the lives of its inhabitants,
- A moto-taxi. This kind of taxi is found mainly in the hot places in Peru and is very practical for short distance as the bumping, noise and vibrations make a long journey very painful. As in Tucume the temperature was reaching 30C, we had a little ride...
- Tucume main Plaza with its colonial chuch.

Chiclayo - photos 1

Chiclayo

Chiclayo is the fourth largest city of Peru and it is capital of the Lambayeque region. It is known as one of the most friendly town in Peru and for that it is known as "the capital of friendship" or "the Pearl of North". We met nice policemen here who were in charge of the tourist information office. After 1h30min spent in the office, we knew everything about Chiclayo and around. Except that we lost so much time that we missed an afternoon for visiting!!! The Lambayeque region is known for the pyramidal ruins left by the Moche and Lambayeque/Sican civilisations.

- First and second pictures: Christmas decorations in the main square. All the tree decorations were made by kids and different schools. Superb!
- Pimentel beach at 12km from Chiclayo. It was supposed to have some surf following the guide book...only fishmen!!
- Typical small boats called "caballitos" like in Huanchaco.
- Lee had been photographing this boat for at least 10min!! Not sure why but as I don't have the photographer's mind I obviously CAN'T understand!!!

Trujillo - Huanchaco - photos 2

Trujillo - Huanchaco

Continuation of the visit of the ruins of the Moche and Chimu civilizations.

- The City of Chan-Chan was the largest Pre-columbian city in South America. Chan-Chan was build by the Chimor (the kingdom of the Chimu) at around AD850 and as the imperial capital of the Chimu. It is severely threatened by El Nino phenomenon (due to its closeness to the sea) earthquakes and looters. So to preserve the ruins, covers can be seen all around the site like in the picture. On the wall, typical architectural design,

- The Temple site. It is where the Emperor was buried,

- Typical wall in the Huaca de la Luna from the Moche civilisation. The Moche were in Peru from AD100 to AD800 and their religion was based on human sacrifices. The face drawn in the picture is called the "decapitator" frequently depicted as a spider but sometimes as a winged creature or sea monster,
- Huaca (temple) de la Luna on the first plan with lots of ruins to be still excavated. On the background the Huaca del Sol , a pyramidal adobe structure, had been the largest pre-Colombian structure in Peru but was partly destroyed by the Spanish conquistadores,
- Other detail of the paints found in Huaca de la Luna. Very well conserved.

Joyeux Noel!!! Merry Christmas!!

Un tres Joyeux Noel envoye depuis la cote pacifique de lÉquateur. Soleil et plage au programme de ce jour avec bien sur, la dinde de Noel pour garder la tradition!!

Merry Christmas from the pacific coast of Ecuador. Sun and beach for today activities with of course the traditonal turkey on the table!!

Trujillo - Huanchaco - photos 1

Trujillo - Huanchaco:

Huanchaco is situated on the Pacific coast of Peru and it is well known by the surfers. We decided to stay at this small village because the hostal was cheaper here than in Trujillo which is the main closer town and the third largest town in Peru. And because of the surf too...Lee could test his new camera on surf pictures. Trujillo was one of the first cities founded by the Spaniards (1534)and was named after the birthplace of Pizarro. The city was the starting point of our visit of the ruins from the Chimu and the Moche pre-columbian civilizations.

- Huanchaco beach well appreciated by surfers. On this picture, the big waves are missing...,
- With his "caballito de totora" or reed fishing boat, a local was taking a tourist for some surf,

- Lee was happy with his fish but as you can see that was STILL a small fish (again!). Lee put it back in the water,
- The pyramidal temple of "Arco Iris" or "rainbow" or also called "Huaca Dragon" north of Trujillo. This temple from the Chimu civilisation is made from mud and clay and was the first establishment of the Huari culture,
- This dog is from the Hairless Peruvian dog family whose origins are from the peruvian pre-Inca cultures. We found 2 or 3 of them in each site we visited. They have sometime a pad of blond hair in the fore-hand. Very cute...

Huaraz - photos 2

Huaraz:
North of Huaraz, part of the Huascaran National Park, at the bottom of the 2 highest mountains in Peru, the Lagunas Llanganuco (3850m) show their beautiful blue colours.

- The "hembra" laguna or "female" lagoon Chinancocha is the most impressive well situated between the two mountains, Mount Huascaran (6768m) and Mount Huandoy (6160m),
- The beautiful turquoise colour of the Chinancocha laguna is coming from the grounded up rocks suspended in the water which are caused by glacial movement. These reflect the light giving the green-blue colour,
- Superb rainbow on the laguna,
- The two lagunas. In front the "male" laguna or laguna Orconcocha is smaller than the Chinancocha and less spectacular. In the back, the second laguna.
- This waterfall looks small but was very impressive due to its height. We were already at 3850m...

Huaraz - photos 1

Huaraz.
After a visit to the sea with Lima, welcome back in the Andes and the Ancash region whose capital is Huaraz situated at 3091m altitude. This peaceful town is the departure point for the visit of the Huascaran National Park which includes most of the White Cordillera with the highest snow-capped mountain in Peru, the Mount Huascaran (6768m). During the twentieth century, the region was affected by several natural disasters and mainly the area of Huaraz and Yungay. The latest town was totally destroyed by the earthquake and avalanche in 1970 (18000 people perished).
- The Plaza de Armas with the inscription "Huaraz Paraiso Natural" or "Huaraz Natural Paradise" and we have to agree,
- Superb scenery while we were going to visit the Churup Lagoon (4600m) (north of Huaraz). Finally we never visited this lagoon as we left late Huaraz and we lost time finding the entrance of the footpath...which was clearly signposted!!!
- Lee is taking pictures of the beautiful landscape with his new camera which was in the Christmas parcel. The nine days waiting in Lima were worth it well for Lee anyway! And for me too as at least he will stop using my camera!!!
- One of the snow covered mountains of the White Cordillera, the Mount Churup (5495m),
- Lee with his new friend, Danish the pig! While he was taking pictures with his wide-angle lense, Lee did not realise that the pig was very close and he ended with a huge dirty spot on his trouser (right leg, the black spot you can't miss!)!! That made us a good laugh!!