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D&G's 2023 AdventureD&G's 2023 Adventure
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D&G's 2023 Adventure

March - October 2023
Amazing trip to South America and Europe! Read more
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  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    11
    Day 7

    Baños

    March 24, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    After a good buffet breakfast in our hotel, we headed out for a morning of canyoning! We drove to a waterfall where we climbed up beside the waterfall and then descended down two separate waterfalls (one 15m and one 20m) before heading across to another two waterfalls. We were lowered down sliding down the first one together by the guide and enjoyed a few refreshing moments in the water before then being propelled down a 45m waterfall where the guide was able to lower us as slow or as fast as he liked - he opted for the latter! Such an amazing experience and way to start the day!

    We then headed off for a short "easy" hike up to La Cruz de Bellavista which was a stunning viewpoint where you can see all of Baños and how the city sits completely within mountains. We made a slight detour on the way up but overall ascended approx 300m from the city level of 1800m to the viewpoint of 2100m - incredible! It was classified as an easy hike on the town map but we would not consider it to be so! Worth it though!

    We then had a short walk around the town before heading to the hot springs/spa with some of the group. The water comes directly from the natural waterfalls and then heated to various different temperatures in different pools throughout the complex. We started in a 38 degree pool and then progressed to a 42 degree which was quite hot but nice! We then went to the hottest pool (which not many people were in!) and apparently was 60 degrees! Daniel managed to submerge from his shoulders down for about a minute (he came out very red!) whereas everyone else only last a few seconds! Thankfully there was a cold water pool right next to it to cool down in!

    We then went back to the hotel before heading out to dinner at a pub where we enjoyed burgers and then went dancing and clubbing with the group :) There was lots of spanish music but they did play the macerna quite a few times (I think for us tourists) and Gab started a congo line! It was quite a late night dancing but we have a lot of time to sleep on the bus tomorrow!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 8

    Travel from Baños to Cuenca

    March 25, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    After only a few hours sleep from the night before we jumped on a private bus to take us to Cuenca at around 8am.

    Our journey was extended because we had to turn around as members of the local community were protesting on one of the roads which meant we had to take an alternate route through the mountains. It was pouring rain and we were passing trucks on the edges of cliffs that we couldn’t see the bottom of - definitely got the adrenaline running! It took us an extra 3 hours to get to lunch (at around 3.30pm). We had planned to see an archaeological site in the afternoon but because of the delay we did not do that. After our stop, the clutch on the car needed to be fixed so we made another stop (it kept getting better!)

    We thankfully arrived safely in Cuenca by 9pm (we were originally supposed to arrive around 4pm). We had a much needed shower and night's sleep.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 9

    Cuenca

    March 26, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    We enjoyed a day exploring Cuenca which is Ecuador's 3rd largest city. Daniel woke up and had a buffet breakfast at the hotel but Gab stayed in the room and did some yoga (after feeling a bit sore after over 14 hrs on the bus yesterday!)

    We then walked with the group to the main square where we saw some school children marching. Our guide, Guido, explained that because of the strong military culture in Ecuador, parades of this type very common thing and usually occur every Sunday.

    We then visited the local markets and tried some different local fruits (some which are quite different to fruits we have at home!) . We then went and saw the meat stalls at the markets - they sell and eat all parts of the animal. We had some pulled pork for a snack at the markets then went back to the hotel to check out our bags.

    We then went back to the main square and went to the top of the main cathedral which is considered the largest in Latin America. We walked around town for a bit. There were a lot of markets around and all of the churches were very busy with Sunday masses and parades.

    Some of our group, organised a bus to the National Park. The national park was incredible, the landscape was so picturesque and one of the lookout points was over 4100m! The last stop at the National Park included a chocolate shop/Cafe where Gab enjoyed a hot chocolate with baileys and churros.

    We then walked around the shops before heading for a quick dinner at a sports bar before boarding the night bus to Mancora, Peru at 8pm. Goodbye Ecuador - it has been amazing!!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 10

    Mancora

    March 27, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    We arrived at 6am on the night bus after crossing the border into Peru and then had a quick nap before breakfast.
    We met the group in the lobby and went for a walk along the beach and swim in the other side of the Pacific Ocean - the sand is a lot darker and water a lot warmer than Sydney beaches!
    We then went back to the hotel to meet our new tour guide, Andre, who would be taking us all the way through to La Paz, Bolivia. We tried out the local Asian fusion restaurant with some yummy tuna poke bowls and local beers :)
    We had a lesson on making the Peruvian national drink - Pisco Sour (pisco, sugar cane liquor, egg whites and lime) - at the bar at our hotel before heading out to watch the sunset over the ocean (and enjoying another Pisco Sour of course!)
    We went to a pizza place recommended by our guide for some awesome wood-fire oven pizza and played some pool/table tennis before turning in for the night.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 11

    Mancora

    March 28, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    We started the day with a run along the beach (a little bit cooler today!) and then breakfast at the hotel. We then went back down to the beach to watch some of the others who had chosen to do surf lessons and had some fun swimming and watching them (Daniel also scored a body board and went for a board!).
    We then went for a yummy lunch right on the beach before heading back to the hotel for salsa lessons - we still need a few more!
    We were very sweaty and hot after the salsa lesson so we hung by the pool at the hotel and then walked with the group to see the sunset from the beach before getting a tuk tuk ride to a soccer pitch to play against some locals/friends of our tour guide - Daniel had a lot of fun and was very sweaty! Gab cheered him on!
    We then went out for a late dinner before joining the group on the rooftop bar of the hotel for drinks :)    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 12

    Mancora

    March 29, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    After a busy day yesterday, we had a later breakfast at the hotel and went for a long walk together along the beach before it was too hot. It is pretty quiet around Mancora - we suspect that people have cancelled/changed their trips to Peru because of the political unrest and natural disasters.

    After our walk, we returned to the hotel to check out of our room before our next overnight bus tonight and then went on a short walk to the local markets with our guide, André. This is where all the locals buy their food (including fruit, vegetables, meat and fish - plenty of fish!!) It is much cheaper than the tourist spots of Mancora - we ordered a two course meal each (awesome soup/fresh fish ceviche and fresh grilled fish with rice and grilled banana) and a pineapple drink for the equivalent of $4AUD!

    We went back to the hotel to chill out by the pool for the rest of the day. We played card games and read our books before boarding our night bus to Trujillo at 10pm (around a 10 hour bus trip).    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 13

    Trujillo

    March 30, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We took a much more comfortable overnight bus from Mancora to Trujillo and arrived in Trujillo around 9.30am. Trujillo is the third largest city in Peru. The bus’ aircon was much better and so we able to sleep a lot better than the previous overnight bus.

    We had an early checkin to the hostel and breakfast out with the group. We explored the main square and saw one of the more famous cathedrals in South America because it was built in 1666 (devils number). It has had some bad luck being reconstructed 3 times (due to earthquakes and other disasters).

    We caught a local bus to Huanchaco beach in afternoon which is a well known surfing spot, although the water is quite dark with lots of rocks and sulfur from volcanic ash in the area. Quite different to Aussie beaches!

    We tried a local snack which is fried sweet potato donuts in a fig sauce - very yummy!

    We had another $4 two course meal (so good!) and then beers on the beach with our group for a few hours and watched the sunset. We went with most of our group to a night club along the beach for some cocktails and plenty of dancing!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 14

    Trujillo

    March 31, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    After breakfast we checked out of our rooms before tonight’s night bus.

    We then went on a full day tour of Trujillo starting with some traditional (and very interesting!) ceramic statues of the traditional ‘Moche’ people. The Moche people lived from around 50AD to around 850AD.

    We then proceeded to the pyramid of the moon where we saw the traditional mud brick construction of the pyramids and city. We learnt how the pyramid was inverted as they essentially filled in the bottom floor with mud bricks and constructed a larger floor on top when they needed more space. The mud bricks were given by different families as part of their taxes and, as such, you can see different markings on the bricks representing different families. Archaeological preservation and discovery of the rest of the city has ceased since the pandemic due to lack of funding.

    We went into the historic town of Moche for lunch and tried the traditional meals of baby goat and duck with beans and rice - goat was delicious but duck wasn’t the greatest!

    After this, we went to a horse dancing show and had a short ride the horses. The horses walk/gallop in a very different way, it’s the way they are born (not trained) and as such they are very expensive horses.

    We then made our way to the Chan Chan ruins which is a 14km2 historic city situated just outside the city of Trujillo. It once had 10 palaces and we were able to explore one of these to see the different rooms/uses of the spaces within the palace. The Moche people moved here and developed this new town near the sea which had about 14,000 inhabitants.

    We then went back to the hotel to freshen up/chill out before boarding the night bus to Lima. This night bus is the best we have been on - lots of leg space!!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    1
    Day 15

    Lima

    April 1, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We caught another overnight bus from Trujillo and arrived to our hotel in Lima around 10am. We had a quick breakfast before unpacking our bags and chilling out before meeting up with the group in the afternoon to explore the city.

    We walked down to the ocean through one of the districts, Barranco, to see some of the beaches. This district has some really cool street graffiti and artwork with lots of cafes. The beach has a lot of pebbles and have a very fishy smell to them!

    We walked back up through Barranco and across the bridge of sighs where you hold your breath as you walk across and make a wish. A bit hard to do in the hot weather!

    We then continued walking through the Barranco district and walked across town to the Miraflores district which is the expensive part of town. It is home to apparently one of the best restaurants in the world - unfortunately we couldn’t get into it! 🤣

    We went to San Roman markets for a late lunch. It used to be a local market but now it is a two floor food court with lots of options for food (Mexican, Japanese and more!) It has a lot of cool artworks on the ceiling and walls. We went to a local park where our guide, André, bought us many different traditional Peruvian desserts for us to try including purple corn pudding and other types of cakes. We also tried a purple corn drink - chicha morada. Gab really likes this one! We walked around the park and watched couples salsa dancing in the park.

    We then caught the metro bus to the national stadium and went into a park full of fountains which included a water show that had a short video of Peruvian history projected onto it - very cool! Lots of amazing colourful foundations and cool sculptures.

    We got a taxi back to the hotel, had a quick call home and got ready to go out. This was the last day of the first leg of our tour so 4 of the people from our tour are leaving so we had a big night to farewell them. We started at a hostel which had a happy hour deal for cocktails - including chilcano (which is a cocktail of pisco sour, lime and ginger ale). After many drinks there, we headed to a club for dancing!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 16

    Lima

    April 2, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    After finishing up at almost 4am at the club, we had a very chilled day today! As this is the crossover day for the end of one tour and the start of the next tour, we didn't have any activities planned.

    We had breakfast at the hotel before heading back to the room to relax for a bit and get some extra sleep. We went for a quick lunch of wraps near our hotel then went for a walk to explore the Sunday markets and got ice cream :)

    We had dinner with some of the group before meeting new members of the group to start the next leg of the South America tour - Lima to La Paz! The new group members include a guy from Australia, two girls from the UK, one girl from Germany and a girl from Switzerland.    Read more

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