Arrived in Cusco on Wednesday May 15. The flight coming in to Cusco was kind of crazy. The plane was dipping between the mountains through the valley. I was hoping there was a space to land. After settling in at the hostel (Hitchhikers Backpackers Hostel) we wandered around the city. It's really beautiful. A mix of old Incan and colonial buildings from the Spanish times (the 1500's). We caved when we saw a Starbucks and enjoyed our coffees there with wifi. First...

I love waking up in the morning to the sound of the rain outside. By the time we went down for breakfast it stopped and we met Juan again for a visit to Anaconda Island where a tribe of Quechua Indians live. We explored the whole island, learning about their agriculture and other cultural traditions. We found plantain, papaya and cacao orchards and ate from all the fruits. The cacao fruit was really refreshing. The cacao seeds inside the fruit are covered in a wh...

Slept to the sound of night birds, frogs, crickets and whatever was out there in the dark. I love it! After an amazing breakfast of eggs, muesli, two kinds of fresh fruit, rolls and butter and great coffee, we met our guide Juan for a full day of trekking through the jungle. Juan is from the local Quechua tribe and only spoke Spanish and Quechi but thanks to Sivanne (again) and Omer's 35 year old Spanish making a comeback, we were able to understand everything he...

Travel day to the jungle. Sadly we left Banos and caught a four hour bus to Tena. Should I mention that these long, bumpy bus rides are torture when you can't stop to go to the bathroom. I am usually spending these days not drinking a drop of water. When I noticed he was taking a particularly long break in Puyo, I ran out to the high grass beside the bus stop to take a pee! We arrived in Tena which is already at a much lower elevation and immediately felt we were...

Last day in Banos and we decided to be lazy and hang out in town all day. We had a great fish lunch in the market at Esteban's mom's fish restaurant. I had shrimps with rice which was delicious. omer and I walked to the bridge where they do the bungee jumping (or swinging as they call it here) but nobody was jumping today. We bought our bus tickets to Tena and tomorrow we are heading to the jungle! Can't wait but I am going to miss Banos. We had a great Shabbat ...