Liz and Kev's Excellent Adventure

Since we are in Peru we could’t miss Machu Picchu (even though Liz has been there before). To get there we decided to take a 6 hour van from Cusco, followed by a two hour walk along the train tracks to the town of Aguas Calientes. This little town, only accessible by train or on foot, looks a lot like the little ski resort villages at home, which was weird since there are no roads. From here we planned to head to the Inca city for sunrise. After waking up at 3:45am and an hour or so of grueling stone steps, we made it to one of the most photographed locations in the world, Machu Picchu. Liz remembered why the first time she made the climb she said if she ever came back she’d take the bus. The city itself is amazing, with killer view, bumpin buildings and even a llama or two. Unfortunately its crawling with tourists; for every picture posted we have two that are ruined by some fool with a selfie stick. Oh well can’t say we were much different, and I would be lying if I said we didn’t take a selfie or two :) After many photos and a sneaky pack of pringles, we headed back down the two thousand steps and walked back along the train tracks to our van. By the time we got to Cusco it was almost 10pm and we were ready for some much needed sleep. The next day we did laundry and the laundry lady had to wash my socks twice because they were so disgusting, I guess that’s what 19 hours and a big puddle will do.

After swimming with the fur seals, we made our way about 4 hours farther north to Mancora. Here we did a turtle survey (basically snorkeling in the ocean trying to count and ID turtles), a beach land survey on horseback (I really need to find a job that pays me to ride horses on the beach in the tropics...), and a ocean survey out on a fisherman's boat looking for whales and dolphins with a hydrophone listening for their acoustics! Unfortunately we didn’t find much in the way of whales or dolphins but we stumbled across a pod of giant manta rays instead! The pictures didn’t really turn out, but they were incredible animals. The biggest was about 5 meters across and the smallest a measly 3 meters. They must have been in a good mood as they were taking turns leaping and soaring out of the water! Sadly all we manged to catch with the camera was the splashing part. 

We swam with the sea lions so we had to brave the waters again to check off all the boxes, this time swimming with the Galapagos Fur Seal!. These guys are much more polite than their neighbours on the other side of the island. In total there was only about 30 of theses guys this time and only the juveniles seemed interested enough in us to come check us out in the water. There was lots of swirling, twirling and leaping out of the water and splashing back into the water without any bumps or nudges this time! These guys were more curious and seemed to keep posing for the pictures! 

 This was by far one of the craziest things we’ve done one the trip so far. In the water as soon you are away from the boat the sea lions come over to check you out. And they’re loud. And freaking HUGE!! Imagine about 20, 200kg animals surrounding and bumping into you with their nose, leaping out of the water and splashing down in front of you and then popping up out of the water to bellow in your face. Not going to lie it was a slightly scary first encounter with these guys! :) A short video clip to follow!

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_Peruvian_Congress_We_call_on_you_to_pass_the_Animal_Welfare_and_Protection_Act/?copy 

We have arrived at our home for the next month, the ORCA Marine Rescue and Research base, in San Bartolo Peru! It’s a smaller beach town that apparently gets pretty bumping in the summer (down here that’s in December) but right now is in its laid back and quiet mode. No sea lion or seal rescues yet, but lots of field days planned!

Sand boarding and dune buggy day in Huacachina! Kevin opted for the snowboard option and I stuck to the traditional tobogganing style due to my previous record with a snowboard. Ended the tour with sand pretty much everywhere but it was so worth it! Snow boarding, check! Volcano boarding, check! Sand boarding check! :)

We splurged this time and spent the money to fly over the Nazca lines! It was a tiny little 5 passenger prop plane with some pretty sideways tilts to make sure we could see everything! Some are harder to see than others and sadly some of them had car tracks through them but we both managed to see all the main ones! Captions in the photos say what you’re supposed to be looking at!

Paracas National Park. After the Islas we headed to the desert on the coast. Some breathtaking beaches, endless sand and a delicious plate of ceviche in the bay to end the day! Next up the Nazca lines, stay tuned! :)

Islas Ballestas, aka the poor man’s Galapagos. We lucked out and saw dolphins, pelicans, the Peruvian boobie, penguins (!!!)  a bajillion other birds and more than a few sea lions. 

Not sure how much care they receive but the majority of them were super friendly. If you sit down for any length of time you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a cat crawl into your lap with or without an invitation. Kind of cool to see the locals, everyone from the saggy pants teenagers to adults in business suits sit down to share some love and their lunch with the cats!

quick 45 minute flight from Medellin to Bogata and a bus ride out of the city took us to the famous Salt Catheral. This section of the salt mine was turned into a series of sculptures leading down to the final cross at 180m underground. There also happened to be a school group there who apparently don't see many tourists as they seemed to find us fascinating. We had a couple of hours to wait before the tour started and if we stopped moving a crowd of children seemed to materialize around us. After an hour or so of paparazzi pictures we finally got one with a few of them!

Another Guatape adventure! Boat ride and tour around one of 80 of Pablo Escobar's old estates, topped of with an epic afternoon paint balling in his guesthouse! Kevin was the unlucky one is the group and ended up with most of his hits being on the hand, and I lucked out with only a couple painful bruises! :) Needless to say after the boys tried to split the girls up onto different teams so it was more 'fair' they ended up with a lot of close range hits in sensitive areas.... PS thanks Matt for the pictures! Hopefully there's some action shots to come!

A hike through the countryside of Guatape to an amazing little waterfall pool. At the turn off from the main road an adorable lab decided to join us for the day. She even came swimming and jumped in after us off the rock!  We also met a local who showed us the waterfall ropes and then gave us a ride all the way back to town. Love this little area!

Our climb up “The Rock” in Guatape, Colombia. 740 steps to the top, and shaky legs at the bottom. We’ve all officially found the place we’re going to buy a house! This little city a couple hours outside of Medellin, has it all! A quaint, beautiful little town on the lake, with daily max temperatures of 27-28 degrees and cooling down at night enough to curl up on the couch with a blanket. Top it off with super friendly residents and no bugs, really its a no brainer to move here! ;)