We left Nasca on June 17 on an overnight bus to Arequipa. It sucked. We were seated in the back of the bus. It was smelly, hot, and uncomfortable. I woke up multiple times with claustrophobia because my legs were trapped by the reclining seats in front of us. It was horrible. We arrived in Arequipa around 5 in the morning. We elected to stay at the Casa de Avila, but we were leaving that morning for a 2 day tour of Colca canyon. The hotel was a converted colonial mansion. They were so very kind and the allowed us to store our bags and to rest in one of the common rooms until breakfast. We then were picked up for our trip to Colca canyon. The road to Colca Canyon Wild vicuña on the side of the road The trip out of Arequipa took about an hour because of traffic. We then began our climb. The drive took us up past 15,000 feet elevation. We stopped at the highest point to see the volcanos, stacked rocks, and domestic Llamas and Alpacas. We arrived in Chivay in time for lunch. T...
Day of the Dead in Ecuador is known as Día de los difuntos. On November 2nd, All Souls Day is celebrated in Ecuador and over the Andean region, with unique manifestations of religious cultures. Throughout the country people visit the memorial parks to honor their departed. Indigenous communities massively visit cemeteries keeping an old pagan tradition of taking along the favorite food dishes to share with their loved ones by their graves. They eat quietly and slowly in a solemn ceremony, sharing food among the families. Some of them circulate around the cemetery exchanging foods. They give food as a reward for those who pray for their departed. The ancient belief is that the soul visits its relatives during these days and should have plenty of food to be fed and be able to continue further on its journey to the afterlife. The typical food for All Souls Day is "guaguas de pan”, (pronounced wa wa de pan) accompanied by a beverage called "colada morada". These food...
Jesse James is a local who runs a private taxi service called Members Only Maxi Taxi . Jesse has an outstanding reputation and is known by everyone in the expat community here in Trinidad. He is the one who picks us up from the Airport when we arrive for the first time. He also runs many tours. A group of us from school went on his Taste Trini Tour. All 9 of us met at the school at 7:30 am on a Saturday and the adventure began. We started in Port of Spain and made our way east to Mayaro. Here is a rough map of our trip. We stopped multiple times. Most times Jesse jumped out, bought the food, returned to the van and passed out portions. I sat in the co-pilots seat. It became my job to document what we were eating both by name and by picture. I also helped out cutting portions and passing the plate. By lunch we were so full. It was tough to contemplate eating the Roti. The sites were amazing. It was so interesting to listen to Jesse tell us about Trinidad and the places we were pa...
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