Before embarking on this little road trip, we spent countless hours reading and researching about probably every pertinent topic you can think of. One of the recurring themes from other overlanders that we happened upon again and again was how to prepare yourself for, and subsequently wiggle away from, crooked cops and military looking to … Read more →

Inca Kola is a source of Peruvian national pride and a Peruvian icon. It is intensely bright yellow, and tastes somewhere between bubble gum and cotton candy. Created in 1935 by José Robinson Lindley, Inca Kola has been Peru’s top selling soft drink since 1970, meaning that for nearly thirty years Peru was one of … Read more →

The Sacred Valley of the Incas, roughly thirty kilometers as the crow flies north of Cusco, represents the original Inca heartland. This breathtaking, steep-sided valley is cut by the Urubamba River (also called Vilcanota, or “sacred river,” in Quechua) and flattens at its base to a fertile agricultural plain. A tour of the valley’s scenery, … Read more →

The Sacred Valley of the Incas, roughly thirty kilometers as the crow flies north of Cusco, represents the original Inca heartland. This breathtaking, steep-sided valley is cut by the Urubamba River (also called Vilcanota, or “sacred river,” in Quechua) and flattens at its base to a fertile agricultural plain. A tour of the valley’s scenery, … Read more →

The Sacred Valley of the Incas, roughly thirty kilometers as the crow flies north of Cusco, represents the original Inca heartland. This breathtaking, steep-sided valley is cut by the Urubamba River (also called Vilcanota, or “sacred river,” in Quechua) and flattens at its base to a fertile agricultural plain. A tour of the valley’s scenery, … Read more →

The final day of our odyssey from Cuenca to Cusco was a bit more relaxed than the previous three. We woke up just before six so we could go downstairs and tragically fail at buying World Cup tickets – apparently in round one of ticket sales six million people applied for the roughly one million … Read more →

About 20 miles west of Cuenca on the highway to Guayaquil lies El Cajas National Park. Originally established as a National Recreation Area in 1977, it was promoted to a National Park in 1996. The origin of the name El Cajas for this jagged highland area is not entirely clear; alternate explanations link it to … Read more →

We are planning on visiting El Cajas National Park this week. About 20 miles east of Cuenca, El Cajas is a rugged landscape of peaks, valley, lakes, and alpine tundra set between 10,000 and 14,600 feet. Our research for the visit has brought to our attention the supposed existence of Ecuador’s own version of bigfoot. … Read more →

I know, I know, it sounds like a cheesy, touristy thing to do, but at only five bucks a head an open-air double decker bus tour of Cuenca will let you cross a slew of historic sites off your list of things to see. There are at least two different routes that depart at slightly … Read more →

In brief, Las Lajas Sanctuary is a Gothic revival basilica located in the Colombian town of Ipiales, just a few miles from the border with Ecuador. Built between 1916 and 1949, the church lies at the bottom of a canyon spanning the Rio Guáitara. There are some purported miracles/sightings of the Virgin Mary that inspired … Read more →