Quito - where the earth dividing line, EQUATOR is!

I was fascinated by the beauty of this beautiful country once again throughout my bus journey from Banos to Quito, the mountains seemed to be travelling with us all this time. I experienced a beautiful sunset from inception to the end and it was an amazing experience. I took loads of pictures, not very good one as I wanted to see and feel it more through my naked eye than through the lenses of the camera. But I am not very good with words and expressions, so I do not even know how to describe the beauty I saw, the feeling I felt and the pleasure I got! When I got down from the bus, I had to look for a taxi and found one immediately although the ride from there to the hotel seemed very long, may be I was kind of tired after the bus ride. I did not close my eyes for a moment other than my regular blinking throughout the journey; it was too beautiful to miss even a bit of it! The hotel address was a bit confusing and it took me few minutes to figure out the right hotel. Anyway, the reception representative told me that the room I would be given is just for that night and next morning I have to be moved to a different room. I was okay with that. The hotel had nice breakfast and nice internet service with a beautiful garden at the back. I was hungry and was not sure if I should walk several blocks to get some food or just stay close and eat locally. There was a place next door and it seemed like another hotel but had a nice big restaurant in it. They were open and I was hungry, so it clicked well. I had a nice chicken soup and then a dessert, flan. The soup was pretty good and the amount was a lot almost two people could eat. The soup was yummy and it was made out of the stock of an entire chicken, the large piece of chicken was also part of the meal and I had to take it out of the soup as it was so much for me! I tried this type of soup in Santiago, Chile. It reminded me of a chicken soup I had there in the other side of the river where the restaurants were not at all crowded but the food was great.


Something very interesting happened in the hotel I went to eat. I asked at the desk if they had any tour guides or brochure for Quito city tour. They showed me some and I took them and was going through those while eating my meal. Then I asked a few questions about the tour, the manager or the front desk guy came and asked me if I would be interested for a tour all day tomorrow by his own car, it would be less expensive than the regular tour. I thought for a moment and realized that was not a bad idea!

So, next morning he picked me up from my hotel and in the car was also his wife. That was very sweet of him to bring his wife along as I was feeling a bit awkward just going for touring with a stranger! He introduced me to his wife and she seemed nice, she did not speak much as she could only speak Spanish and I could only speak English! But we had a nice communication three ways and he interpreted her words to me and mine to her. It worked quite well. We drove all the way from the hotel to the Mitad del Mundo (Spanish: Middle of the World). It is a tract of land owned by the prefecture of the province of Pichincha, Ecuador. It is located in the San Antonio parish of the canton of Quito, north of the center of Quito.

The grounds contain the Museo Etnográfico Mitad del Mundo, a museum about the indigenous ethnography of Ecuador. The 30-meter-tall monument, built between 1979 and 1982, was constructed to mark the point where the equator passes through the country in the geodetic datum in use in Ecuador at that time. A line down the center of the east-facing staircase, and across the plaza, was meant to mark the equator, and countless tourists over the years have had their pictures taken straddling this line. In the modern datum of the World Geodetic System (WGS84), which is used in GPS systems and computer mapping products like Google Earth, the equator is placed about 240 meters north of the marked line. This discrepancy is partially due to increased accuracy but primarily due to a different choice of mapping datum. Similarly, the line marking the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich in England is roughly 100 meters from the exact zero of longitude as indicated by GPS receivers.

The pyramidal monument, with each side facing a cardinal direction, is topped by a 4.5 meter diameter, 5-ton globe. Inside the monument is a small museum that displays elements of indigenous Ecuadorian culture, such as clothing, descriptions of the various ethnic groups, and examples of their activities. Mitad del Mundo contains other attractions such as a Planetarium, an amazing miniature model of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and restaurants. On weekends, Mitad del Mundo's Central Plaza is host to varied musical and cultural presentations for tourists.

A small town surrounding the monument at the Museo Etnográfico functions as the tourist center, replicating a colonial Spanish town and called "Ciudad Mitad del Mundo" (Middle of the World City).

This was one of the reasons for me to come to Quito, I took lots of picture and me standing on the equator line, it was fun.

Our next destination was supposed to a volcano but I realized that Anthony, right? If I remember the name of the guy correctly, and his wife stayed outside the attraction area waiting for me and I was there for about 3-4 hours. I also watched the show inside the planetarium. I felt bad for them even if they did not seem to be upset. The good thing was that Anthony brought his wife, I think she was Sandra, if I recall correctly. They had some nice time together and also he felt good that he is with his wife on his day off and also making a bit of side income. May be, I do not need to feel that bad! Anyway, now we decided that the Volcano idea can be dropped as it would take long to drive there and besides, I am more interested to see the old town and all the beautiful establishments, squares, monuments and churches than the Volcano. I did not want to miss seeing the main part of the city which is a big attraction for outsiders. I have seen Volcanoes in North Island in New Zealand and also near Puerto Varaas, Chile. It was another 40 minutes drive as this place is out of Quito and a secluded area by itself.

The very first thing we went to visit was a beautiful architecture Gothic church and we went inside it was gorgeous, I took lots of pictures, it is so huge and so nice and peaceful inside! Then we drove through the city and reached to a place where all the main squares are and several official buildings and monuments and another very pretty church. We also went inside a convent that was very well kept and I had a quick tour inside that. Again the couple waited outside during the time I was inside. Anthony warned me that I should be careful about the camera as there can be pickpocketers and thieves around and they always target the tourists as they have dollars (even if US$ is the official currency for Ecuador, Da!), traveler’s checks, foreign passports, expensive camera and other gadgets. I took his advice well and started carrying my little backpack bag in the front like a baby! We stopped at quite a few stops on the way to the parking garage where he kept his car. So, I was talking to Sandra in my mui mui pokito Spanish and she was doing the same with her little sweet English. It was a 20 minutes walk and we enjoyed each other's company quite a bit. I took quite a few picture of this couple and promised them that I would email those. I am so bad, I should have done that although I am pretty sure that I still have their contact and therefore, I can do that, now, it is better than never!

After coming back to the hotel I gave Anthony the amount he asked for and I added lots of tips in that as I thought that it was the best way for me to visit Quito as I was on my own. I felt very good! I still had few hours to look around the close-by areas near my hotel and I found some good food place around. I found some amazing stores that had unique gift items and some very unique pieces made locally. In fact most of them were made out of some breakable material and I was only carrying my backpack. Therefore, I decided to not buy much except for my magnets and small souvenirs. I have to either come back here or have my friend, Mayra who is from Quito and now lives in NJ, bring some items from these stores when she visits here. In fact, it is time to leave Quito and I am flying back very early morning for my flight, already arranged a taxi and off to the airport. This is the last day of my almost 3-month long travel to South America. My mind and eyes are full of memories and images from all over South America. I started in Brazil, and then traveled through Uruguay, Paraguay (just a little bit), Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. I only saw a portion of the beauty these beautiful countries have and hope to come back some other time when I CAN but the experience I have gained will last until the last day of my life. I was lucky to be with a group and not travelling by myself, but I was also lucky that my language barrier was not a obstacle for my travelling as the tour managers in the four back to back trips I did were all great people, nice personality and extremely helpful and great resource for any and all type of information. I would suggest my travel lover friends to use GAP adventures if they feel like traveling but do not want to go through the hassel of putting the plan in detail but have an overall idea. Also, the mix in the group is very interesting, there were 65 years old in the team and also 18 years old, but it blended fine as one common goal of everyone who comes here is to see, to know, to experience new places, new culture and people from all different backgrounds. The world in your mind opens up so much while traveling that it amazes you every time you experience something new. I loved it all even if at times I felt a little discomfort, felt a bit homesick and missed family and friends but most times I just kept myself awake NOT to miss a bit of it!

My next trip is in planning stage, I am thinking Eastern Europe and Central Europe, countries or rather cities in mind are Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Bled, Krakow, Warsaw..............

Banos - A small town surrounded with greens and mountains on one side

People come here to get spa, massage, manicure, pedicure and all types of pampering, you name it, it is there. I was dying to have a nice relaxing massage and when I came here I felt that thee weather the atmosphare and the look all of them are in favor of my massage desire. We went for a nice dinner whre the food was local and tasty, goo choice by Manuel again. Next day morning I have few hours as i am leaving 2 days earlier for Quito then the rest of the team. In fact, Banos would be my last day with everyone in the travel group. So, next day morning, without wasting much time, Nicole and I went for a massage and we both loved it. Mine was a massage lady and she was quite good but Nicole's was a man, she asked for a female but they did not have any other female available for the service. She initially did not like the idea but loved the massage, may be, you can ask her about the experience:) I was relaxed and fresh. Now it is time for me to explore little bit of Banos and then time to say goodbye to evereyone. I found Banos to be a very small town with a nice park type set up in the middle of the square and lots of trees, long and high ones. The mountains are at the back of our hotel and it really looks very pretty. Anyway, time to leave all. I decidec to skip the last part of the trip of 4 nights of camping in the Amazon forests in a lodge. This could be a different experience but I was restricted to get yellow fever vaccination due to my medication and that puts a binding in me going there inside the Amazon. I would hopefully do that some other time in my life if I can. I did not take a chance on medical ground as you never know what can cause what!!!!!!!!!!
My team was quite small in this trip so, it was Nicole, Rachel, John and the Canadian guy, oh, i can't recaall his name at this very moment, but I know it, oh!!! and ofcourse our very nice and very efficient and cute tour manager, Manuel. They all came to drop me off at the bus station where I was taking a 5 hours bus ride to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Adios Amigas to my travel group........

Cuenca - The most beautiful city in Ecuador

After two bus rides and a taxi ride, we reached Cuenca around 8 pm in the evening. The city looked quieter than we expected even if it was a Saturday night. We went to a near by mall where we ate at Burger King, this is probably the first time in my entire trip I had fast food and that also from an American chain. It tasted good after a long time. I had some ice cream afterwards but it was not that great. Going back to the hotel, Rachel and I planned to go out for dancing with few other guys. We had a little adventure in getting a parking, one of the hotel caretakers was driving us that night and the large lines for the clubs were interesting to see. The music was mostly Ragae and it was very crowded. My dance partner was a pretty good dancer and we danced for sevelar hours and got home late, almost at 4 in the morning. We were exhausted and just went to sleep immediately. Next day morning we saw Cuenca in daylight and it is truly a beaautiful city, it is supposed to the most beautiful cities in Ecuador. The buildings were colorful. Nicole, my on and off roommate for this part of the tour was with me and we walked through lots of attractions like statues, nice churches, old buildings, colorful monuments, stores and houses. There was a bazaar area which was a bargain place for anything and everything. I found a very nice tender coconut to drink and even the inside stuff was so good! Nicole was surprised at my obsession with tender coconut water. I was carrying it and walking with it until I properly finished my drinks. Then I told the seller to break it so that I can eat the soft layers inside, oh, I gotta tell you, it was so delicious and I felt like taaking some with me while coming back to the USA. The place we went for dinner today was alright, nothing outstanding, but it did fine for the appetite. We watched a movie that night, I cannot remember the name now, but you all know that movie, it is an animaation movie and was the 2nd part of something similar before. It was not a good mivie at all but was something fun to remember about as we saw it in Cuenca. We did a lot of walking throughout the old and the new portion of the city. During the weekend the city is kinda dead other than the Saturday nights and Friday nights in some areas. We did not see much traffic sometimes no traffic, during Sunday while we were walking through the streets of Cuenca. I found some cool copies of Gayasamin's paintings in mud.

We are going to Banos tomorrow. Until then.......goodbye 

Crossing border of Peru and going to Ecuador

This was a memorable experience for me as I almost got stuck in Peru for not having an entry stamp in my passport. Not sure how that was possible. I was standing on a long line in Puno, the first entry point of Peru and after all the waiting, they took my form and passport but returned the passport without a stamp. My mistake was not to check if they put the stamp or not, I almost took it for granted that they would, that is what they took my passport for. But the reality was, they never stamped the passport. That means I have been in Peru for the last 24 days and visiting all the places but my status is ILLEGAL!!!! US citizens do not need any VISA for entering Peru but need a stamp in the passport. Many many thanks to the team leader, Manuel for getting me out of the immigration office after 3 hours of continuous persuasion with the officer in charge. Finally, they gave me an entry as well as an exit stamp for the same day which makes my Machu Pichu Stamp invalid as it is dated before my entry date of Peru according to my passport. But nothing else could be done, technically they could put me in the jail for getting into the country illegally!!!!!!!!!

The story does not end here. I was the only US citizen in the travel team so I always had to fill out extra forms and stuff in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia where everyone else(mostly from UK and Australia and Canada) were done with their immigration in a minute. It is unfortunate but may be, it is because the way US Immigration treats the people from most of these South American countries! My earlier team leader, Ale said that she studied in California for a year with an exchange program and still was denied for a visitor visa for the US in the later years and she would love to visit NYC if she could come to the US. She seemed very upset for being rejected by the US immigration for her visa even if she paid $140 non-refundable. Same story with few others from Bolivia and Peru, Manuel said the same. He stood for hours to get an interview with US Consulate in Lima, his $140 was taken but after the 2 hour long interview, they rejected him for the visa and suggested to rather visit Europe!!! So, Manuel, Ale and many other young stars who have love for places like NYC without even being there are not able to come and visit due to the strict immigration process to visit the US, sometimes not making any sense, why?????

BTW, when my things were sorted out fine in the border of Peru, I was all set for entering Ecuador but Nicole, an Australian girl who was traveling with us realized that they did not put a stamp on her passport in the Peru border while exiting! So, while entering to Ecuador, the immigration officer would not put the entry stamp on her passport without the exit stamp of Peru. We basically took lot of things for granted just the way the US, UK, Australia and most other West European countries work, but this was South America! We should have kept our expectation low and made our efforts better to avoid such situations. This was one of the best learnings during this trip. If I was traveling on my own , I would have been more careful to make sure I watch, observe and notice everything but I guess I depended on our team leader more than I should have. It really was not his responsibility by anyone's standard. Good learning!

Mancora - A beach town in the north of Peru

We got to Mancora early morning, around 6 am. It was still dark and the hotel was not ready but the resort we stayed was amazingly beautiful. It was probably one of the most beautiful hotels/ lodges in my entire journey. The sea was right in front of it. I saw the lights of dawn coming up and the sunrise, it was pretty although nothing could beat the sunrise I saw in Paraty, Brazil! It was very quite as everyone was sleeping. Nicole and I got our room but I did not feel sleepy at all. I went for a walk on the beach and it was very pleasant. I saw the scorpios running around and coming out of their home and then going back in. I tried to follow them but they are too fast or I am too slow! I saw some birds flying around the seashore. Few men were doing their morning exercise. I came back to the hotel and rested for some time. We met at noon for lunch and get some info about the town. The beach started getting crowded and by the afternoon it was very crowded, almost like Bondi beach in Sydney or Point Pleasant in NJ! But this looked even more crowded as it is a small beach compared to those. Lots of surfers were surfing there. The weather was very hot and quite humid as well. Nicole and I went to the town center and had some lunch, it was not good, probably wrong chice, anyway it was okay for once. We then had icecream and also checked out all the shops there. I bought a yellow dress with halter neck, it was Nicole's choice, I was reluctant with the color but liked the style. But then at first Steve and Tanya (a married couple from England who were having their 15 months long honeymoon around the world) and later Tavern and Elle (they were my travel mates and happened to like each other) passed me while I was trying the dresson and they all voted for the yellow dress and i kind of liked it as well. So, I bought that. We stopped by at a jewellry store and there was a lady who could do braids. I asked how much for my hair if I wanted to do them allover my head. She said it would be only 40 Soles (equivalent to 12 USD) and I was very excited to get my hair braided for the first time like that. We went back to the hotel and then came back around 3ish and it took her almost 3 hours to do all the braids and she did it very nicely. I was so happy and so excited to see those braids. Everyone said it suited me well. I got a lot of tan, so I looked very South American , I suppose! I put on my new yellow dress and Nicole was wearing a new dress in green that she bought on the same day. So, we both got very dressed up to go for dinner with all the others in the team. I probably did not mention about Nicole, she is from Queensland, Australia but lives in London now. She got her hair braided from London before coming to this trip, her hair is blonde and short but she got extentions with highlights, those looked so good on her! I loved her braids. I wanted to do mine anyway but her braids definitely inspired me even more. She has been a good company since Lima. Next day, I went back to the stores again and bought two more dresses, one is red and one is purple, they are both beautiful, I was missing my cloth shopping so I had to do this:) I ran out of money twice so I had to withdraw money from the ATM and them get changed into smaller notes from the bank. I also discovered a place where they were selling strawberry juice, so I had one inside the restaurant and took away another one. They were so yummy. I am not a big strawberry fan but I had strawberry juice several times in different places in South America and they were excellent, I became a big fan by now. Rachel, an English girl who is also my team member since I started my trip from Brazil loves strawberry juice, so I was planning to bring her back to this place. Yes, later in the day I came back to the shops with Rachel and also had my third strawberry juice for the day! We

went for dinner at a place quite nice but we went for dessert to the same place that we had dinner the night before and it was the lemon pie, OMG, it was still so yummy, one of the best I ever had. Rachel and Nicole had another one to share after their first one.

I would definitely miss this place as it was the perfect beach town and summer weather although it got a bit too hot during the second day but the nights were pleasant.

We will be going to cross the border of Peru and go to Ecuador tomorrow.

Trujilla, Huanchaco and Chan Chan - West of Peru

We took a bus and went to Huanchaco which is a fishing village in the west of Peru by the coast line. It is also very popular for surfing. Our hotel was right by the shoreline and sitting at the balcony you could see the waves coming and hitting the shore. Our team leader, Manuel took us to a nice restaurant for lunch and the food was really good. I walked around the place after lunch, then surfed in the net for some time. I was looking for an ATM to draw some money. It charged me 10 bucks for drawing money but did not even prompt me about it, just took my money! I bought some magnets as I collect them from all over the world wherever I go. But when I gave a note of 50 Soles to the shopkeeper in the store to pay for my magnet, she did not have any change, so she went to look for change from other stores and finally it took her almost 25 minutes to get some change. I realized that the sale was quite poor in most of the souvenir stores, probably it was not the peak season for tourists, I suppose.

We went to the neighboring towns in a guided tour next day and stopped at the city center of Huanchaco. There was a nice square in the middle as most of the south American cities. The buildings were nice and colorful and the designs and architecture was quite interesting. We then went to see some pre-colombian archeological sites.

The amazing archaeological city of Chan Chan is located just a few miles outside of the city of Trujillo. The valley in which it is found is known as the Moche Valley, and in terms of importance, Chan Chan figures among the most prominent historical sites in all of Peru. The Chan Chan ruins are spread over a fairly wide area. Chan Chan was very interesting among the other archeological sites in Peru. It was all made of mud, so they had to protect those from damage by rain and erosion by covering them properly. Part of it was remaining of the original built but most of it was restored afterwards copying the form of original built. Both Huanchaco and Chan Chan are within Trujilla. The meaning of Chan Chan is probably Soul Soul, as the locals think, but the word comes from Pre-Inca time, so it cannot be confirmed.

We had some nice dinner at one of the beach restaurants and went to the bus station for our night bus to the next destination, Mancora.

Lima - The capial of Peru

We came to Lima from Nazca and it was not that far , only three hours of bus ride. A lot of our team members were finishing their trip in Lima , so we had a big get together there. Leah, Katie, David and quite a few others went back to their home from Lima. Nicole , a new girl joined us from Lima so, now we are only six and the team leader. Tavern, a Canadian guy who has been traveling with us since Brazil left Lima to meet his girl that he met in the trip in Huanchaco a day earlier than we would go there as Elle, the girl in question was teaching there in a school! We had a bit of drama in the last evening in Lima between two girls and we all witnessed it, I won't mention any names but it went a bit dirty than you would think!

Lima is quite a big city. I was quite surprised to see the city center and it was huge! We went to a museum with Catacomb in it. Catacombs are ancient, human-made underground passageways or subterranean cemeteries composed thereof. Many are under cities and have served during historic times as a refuge for safety during wars or as a meeting place for cults. The first burial galleries to be referred to as catacombs lie beneath San Sebastiano fuori le mura, in Rome. The derivation of the word itself is disputed and it remains unclear if it ultimately derives from the cemetery itself or from the locality in which it is found. There is no doubt however that the San Sebastiano catacombs are the first to be referred to as such.

We went to another museum where they showed all the demonstration of different types of punishment and it was quite disturbing and strange to visit! We saw a number of churches from outside as well as from inside and they were all beautiful in their design, articraft and architecture and interiors. In all over South America the Catholic churches are a huge part of each of these countries and a lot of money had been spent for building these churches. Some of them even have large amount of gold-plated metal inside. There was this shopping mall right by the sea where we went for clubbing and then went there again next day. It was really beautiful but quite pricy. Leah bought some clothes from there and I helped her in choosing them.

After everyone left, next day Rachel, Jenny (an English girl who traveled with us some part of the journey and then left. She came to visit Rachel on the way to take a flight from Lima. She stayed with us in our room and three of us went out for dancing after coming back from dinner with the boys (David and John, David is a going to-be school teacher, John is an architect, both from UK). The food was great but the service was not. The first place where we went for dancing was a Karaoke place but was pretty dull, so we went to the MiraFlores area where we went the night before with rest of the group and then checked out few places. Most of the places were pretty dead because it was a Sunday but we got into one place which seemed alright. Rachel met a nice Israeli guy as his dance partner, a cute Peruvian guy was dancing with Jenny and i first danced with a Peruvian guy and then an Israeli guy (his hair was literally stinking!), so I showed an excuse of knee pain ad came back to the table we were sitting at. It was fun dancing although not as much fun as in Cusco or in Montevideo!

We left Lima the next day and took a bus to our next destination, Huanchaco, a fishing village in the north of Peru.

Nazca - where the famous Nazca lines are

We came to Nazca by a bus ride from Arequipa. The area where the hotel was located, looked pretty bad, almost outside the town after a large slum area. But the hotel seems alright. We were there only for a day and the whole idea is to fly through in a scenic flight to see the Nazca lines. It was a bit pricy but we all decided to do that as there was no other way of seeing the Nazca lines. The Nazca Lines are a series of geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches more than 80 kilometres (50 mi) between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. Although some local geoglyphs resemble Paracas motifs, these are largely believed to have been created by the Nazca culture between 200 BCE and 700 CE. There are hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks or orcas, llamas, and lizards. I got a picture of the monkey while flying but the plane was way too bumpy for taking pictures. We all felt sick due to the bumpiness but we all survived fine without throwing up. I have taken helicopter and scenic flight rides before and they are never pleasant as they are so small and bumpy but I did it again, probably I won't do it again anywhere else. But then, I think I said that before also. My sister says why do you pay for a ride that makes you feel sick. Her point is valid but then you could not see some amazing stuff otherwise!

Arequipa - The White city of Peru

We took a flight to Arequipa from Cusco and it was quite pleasant, not that eventful. However, we were all little late for the boarding and all of our names were called as everyone else boarded already. Most of the people were nervous to fly within South America as we have been doing overland travel so far. this was my second flight in South America, so I felt alright as i was fine with the first one to La Paz. Arequipa is called white city as most of the main buildings in this city are made out of a particular type of lime stone and that is white.

We had our first meal in a burger place and the food was quite good for the price, the city was nice to walk and the main square has a Cathedral on one side of it. We did not spend much time there when we first got there. We had dinner in a Crepe place as Manuel suggested and yes, it was really good crepe , I had a fruit and creme crepe.

Our plan was to go to Coporaque where we would stay 2 nights as it was near Colca Canyon. We would come back to Arequipa for an additional day after we finish our trip to Colca Canyon and Colca Valley.

As planned after visiting Colca Canyon, we came back to Arequipa again. I took a walk around the city on my own and found a salon where they would charge only 30 soles (Equivalent to 10 USD!) for shampoo, conditioning, wash, blow dry and straightening of my hair. So, I got a chance to pamper myself that evening. Later on, we all went out for dinner together. My stomach was not that great so I only had a soup that night. Next morning, we had the entire day to us and our bus-ride was not until 9 pm at night. So, Leah(a Canadian girl from Van Couver, BC) and I went to visit the famous Santa Catarina Convent that Manuel (our tour guide) suggested me to visit. It was about 25 minutes walk to the convent from our hotel and the convent was quite interesting, it was painted in lots of different colors, the rooms of all the nuns were kept and preserved pretty well, even their belongings were displayed as part of the museum. It was the first convent that I visited in so much detail. Their way of their living, cooking, praying, dining -everything was well captured in the presentation or display. It was a mixed feeling to visit a place like that as they went through a lot of hardship in their life.

Leah and I both realized that the Crepe place called Crepisimo was right across the road from the convent where we had dinner the first night in Arequipa. Leah wanted to straighten her hair in the same salon I did the day before and in the mean time I went to use the internet during that time. We both wanted to come back to have a late lunch cum dinner at Crepisimo, so we did. When we were about to finish our food, the rest of the team just got in to the crepe place for food, we all loved the food there. Our next destination is Trujilla, it is a fishing village in the north of Peru.