From Lima to the Amazon to the Andes

  Well we have been putting off our posts for too long. We´ve been in Peru for almost two weeks now and a lot has happened since Lima. After about two days in the Peruvian capital we got a bit tired of the big city scene. With about 8 million inhabitants, Lima is like Los Angeles at twice the density. So we got on a bus to the town of La Merced in the Amazonian Basin. The nine hour bus ride took us through the slums of Lima and some of the poorest villages we´ve ever seen. It was quite the eye opener.
  The town of La Merced is not exactly a tourist destination; nobody speaks any English and there are no white people. Let´s say we stood out a little bit. Of course we didn´t come here for the white people, but really La Merced was intended to be a waypoint on the course to the first farm we would be WWOOFing at. Once in La Merced we were finally able to call the owners of the farm, whom we had previously been in email contact with. We learned that our more recent emails had gone to their spam folder, and they thought we weren`t going to volunteer with them anymore. Essentially, they weren`t able to accept us anymore, and we would not be going north of La Merced. We were, however, able to take a tour into the Amazon from La Merced and see a waterfall there. On the way, we got to wade in the stream, do some rock and vine climbing, and slide down a waterfall like a waterslide.
  After some time on the internet trying to decide where we we would go next we chose Huancayo, which is between La Merced and Cusco and is in the beautiful central Andes. The city is 10,650 feet above sea level and way off the beaten tourist path. We stayed at a wonderful hostel there and also really enjoyed the historical and natural attractions. We were in Huancayo for 5 days and visited very interesting geological formations, called ¨Torre torre,¨ went to a beautiful city park with intricate rock work, visited two different sites with pre-Incan ruins, went to a large church/monestary, and figured out Peru`s complicated public transportation system.
  Here´s a quick crash course in what we´ve learned about Peruvian transportation. Our first challenge was the ¨combi.¨ This could be any bus or van driving around the city and nearby towns with the toll collector hanging out the side door, shouting out names of destinations we couldn´t understand. As far as we could tell, these are basically private operations (anybody who can retrofit a van) whose goal it is to cram as many people in a vehicle as possible and take as many detours as possible to be assured of doing so. And if your destination comes sometime before the end of the line, god help you in figuring out where to get off. Most of where we went to around Huancayo required one or more combi rides.
  The second thing we learned was the ¨colectivo¨ system. Basically its like a combi, but a taxi. If you flag down a taxi to take you somewhere, it may cost you let´s say 8 soles. Now if you´re willing to wait around for 6 or 7 minutes and let the driver cram as many people as possible into a taxi (nine is our current record), it will only cost you s/1.50.
  After another 9 hour bus ride, we arrived in Ayacucho last night. So far the town seems very laid back and we plan to spend a few nights here before continuing on to Cusco. The internet is not so reliable here, but hopefully we will put another post up before another 10 days goes by

Megan and Kyle

The Adventure Begins

Whoa. As of about 24 hours ago, Kyle and I are finally in Peru. We stayed last night and will be staying tonight at a hostel in Lima, which has been a great place to get our bearings. Today was quite an interesting day, though. Let me tell you, getting a cell phone in Peru is about 15 times more difficult than in the US, which was not aided by our non-fluent Spanish.

Also, in case you were wondering, embassies are not open on Sundays.

After much wandering around Lima today, we did make some progress, however. We have a bus ticket booked for tomorrow morning heading to La Merced, which is in (or near?) the Amazon. It is also near Oxapampa, where our first WWOOFing stop will be. We´ll be spending a few days in La Merced exploring the wilderness (which I am sure will be much more beautiful than Lima...); we are very excited about this next step in our adventure.

Adios!!
Megan y Kyle