Day 4, Passage to Callao

05 05.370 S, 81 28.110 W

We made it around Cabo Blanco. It was a little tough at the end as there were all sorts of fishermen with nets which are lit with lights that flash red, green and white. We wish we could tell where was the end of the row. At one point we tried to go around a net following the lights only to run over it instead. Luckily we did not get caught on it.

Today we have been sailing as much as possible to conserve fuel. Just before I came down to do these entries, the speed log stopped working. This is frustrating as now we don't know how we are being affected by the current. So far it has been minimal but now we will not know at all.

We have one more cape to go around and then it should be 'smooth sailing', or something like that.

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Day 3, in Peruvian waters

04 01.894 S, 81 15.761 W

We had 24 hours of great sailing, favorable current, good weather, reasonable seas. Now we are trying to get around Cabo Blanco and I am trying to remember what those 24 hours were like since now it is dark, large confused seas, gusty winds, etc.

Looking forward to being around the cape...

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Day 2 passage to Callao, Peru

02 32.247 S, 80 56.533 W

This morning we made a brief stop at Salinas. We were seeing a leak in the aft head and we wanted to check it out. It turned out to be a fitting on the top of the water heater was failing and leaking. Rich tightened it up but we will have to make a better repair in Callao. It is not a) life threatening, b) engine threatening, c) serious and d) something we can't live with. As we have been motorsailing so far, we thought we would quickly stop in and buy some more diesel. It was a good thought but when we went to the marina and found out that we had to have an agent and that we would have to check back into Ecuador, buy fuel and then check out again with at least a charge of $200 plus the agent's fee of $50 with no assurance that there would be no other fees and that this could be accomplished today so we could continue to Peru, we decided that we did not need the extra fuel and we could continue.

The whole stop cost us a few hours of time but we got to see one of the submarines of the Ecuadorian Navy. Now we are sailing across the Golfo de Guayaquil, conserving fuel and heading to Peru.

Cheers

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first night to Callao, Peru

01 14.092 S, 80 52.726 W

Our pilot, Pedro, was late this morning so we did not leave until 6:15 am. Chuck and Linda on SV Jacaranda followed us close behind. After we let off Pedro, we turn south to Peru and Jacaranda turned the opposite direction to Panama.

So far we have been motorsailing with the main and staysail. Winds have varied between 12 and 19 knots and we are close hauled. The setting current has been between .5 and 1 knot. This evening the current has slackened and the wind is not on our nose as much so we are making about 5 knots speed over the ground.
we have traveled about 60 miles since this morning. Just a little under 750 to go.

Cheers

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Heading south

This is just a quick note to let you know we are leaving Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador for Callao, Peru tomorrow morning at 5:30 am to catch the rising tide to cross the bar. Our friends Chuck and Linda of SV Jacaranda are leaving at the same time but they are headed to Panama.

Tuesday we caught a ride with Geovanny the taxi driver to the town of Manta, an hour and 15 minute drive from here. Geovanny handled taking our paperwork and passports to immigration to get them stamped. Meanwhile Rich and I did some provisioning at two of the large grocery stores. Now we have food for our journey southward. We treated him to lunch and practiced our Spanish skills. We are getting better and were able to find out about his two kids, a lawyer and a doctor, who both live in Guayaquil along with his two grandchildren. Geovanny drives not only to Manta but to Guayaquil at least three times a week. We wish we had known about him when we got lost with Cristobal.

Anyway, Windarra is prepared and hopefully we are too. It is a little over 800 miles but we will be going against the Humboldt current and into the wind as well so it may be a longer trip. We are guessing about 8-10 days but we will see.

I will try to send some reports along the way. Once we cross into Peruvian waters we need to report into Tramar at 8 am and 8 pm every day.

Cheers,
Elaine and Rich

Sent from Elaine's iPhone

Back on Windarra

We flew back to Guayaquil on Tuesday, 10/22. It was good to get back to sea level. Wednesday we got the Reina de Camino bus to Bahia de Caraquez, Puerto Amistad and Windarra. It is good to be back on the boat and sleep in our own bed. We are back to wearing shorts and tshirts after jeans, turtle neck shirts and fleece jackets of Cusco, Peru.

 

I published a trip report for Machu Picchu and Cusco for folks who might be interested in taking an inland trip. We were limited on time so we chose to fly to Cusco.

 

If you are interested in details of our trip to Cuenca, please send me an email and I will write up a trip report for that.

 

Now it is time to do some boat chores to prepare for sailing down the coast.

 

Cheers,

Elaine and Rich

Sacred Valley Tour, 10/19

Friday, 10/18, we took the afternoon train back to Cusco. The taxi driver was there waiting with a sign with our names. We were ready to go to crash when we returned to Tayta Wasi Hostel.

Saturday at 8:15 am seemed early but we were in the lobby waiting for our bus tour of the Sacred Valley. We assumed that valley meant a place lower than Cusco, which was only partially true. Our first stop was the Pisac ruins. This particular Inca site is known for its rows and rows of terraces, unbroken by stairs. Stairs would require maintenance and would be affected by erosion. Instead, flags stones were built into the terrace walls as stairs. Until recently crops were grown in the terraces but as part of the UNESCO world heritage site agreement, farming has been stopped to avoid any damage to the walls. We hiked to a hut at the top of one part of the site, passed a cliff face dotted with holes. This was an Inca Cemetary and remains were found inside, some of which had been plundered by robbers looking for golden treasures. This site guarded the Urubamba valley and a pass leading into the jungle in the northeast. On the way back down to the valley the bus stopped in Pisac in case anyone wanted to buy any souvenirs. We saw three little girls in Quechua costumes, carrying baby goats and lambs, offering to pose for picture for some coins from the tourists.

After a long ride through the valley we stopped for a buffet lunch. 2 of our fellow tour mates were from Valparaiso, Chile, so we has some conversation with them.

Back on the bus and on to Ollantaytambo ruins. This site also has the characteristic terracing, similar to Pisac as well as a religious section on top where large stones were quarried from 6 km away, dragged across a river and then hauled up a ramp to the top. The stones are very smooth and very few markings are left. After the defeat of the Manca Inca at Saqsayhuaman, they retreated to this site. The Spanish were unable to scale the terraces under the rain of arrows and spears from above. To further defeat the Spanish, the Inca flooded the lands below and the Conquistadors and their horses were helplessly mired in mud. The victory was short lived and the Spanish returned in greater force and the Manca retreated to Vilcabamba.

Our next and final stop was Chinchero at 12,342 ft. There are more Inca ruins here but we were here to see more of the Quechua culture up close. 4 women, in full traditional Quechua garb welcomed us and demonstrate some of their culture. There is a plant that they use for soap and for washing their hair which they grate and mix with water and it produces suds like you would get from dish soap. They put in some raw sheep wool and it went from a dirty brown to a clean white. They also claim it prevents grey hair which might be true as I have not seen a single Quechua woman with grey hair. Other things they demonstrated was dying wool and hand spinning. Some of their weaving is very creative. Of course they also sold souvenirs but I guess that is all part of the deal.

We returned to our hostel tired from the long day and the altitudes and crawled under our mass of blankets.

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