Peru05

Mission: Peru

Ah, back in South America. United Airlines sucks. 2 flights and 6.5 hours of delays. I just walked the 8 block area to find a cheaper hostal for tommorrow, but now I need to sleep. It is hard to wander around with 70lbs of gear on no sleep, so I am getting ripped off. But now I have my bearing of this area and found a hostal for 30 soles for a double room.($5 per person) My first meal was awsome for $2. My Spanish is rough, but I will get better with time and sleep. They understand me, but I have trouble understanding them. As for now, nothing interesting other than dumb airport stories. I will say that I have never seen so many tourists while in south America. I kind of want to leave Lima, to get away from that. But, they probably think the same thing when they see me. Until tommorrow. Now I need a beer and a bed. Bye......

6/29

6/30

Greetings all. After 14 hours of sleep, my spanish is a little better. But everyone is very patient with me. I met a bi lingual english teacher from california that has been showing me around. Just looking around, and hangin out. So far I have only seen downtown Lima. It is very old, and run down in places, but alot of character. Internet is about 30 cents per hour, alittle better than the node. Still just figuring out the city and chillin out. I will check back soon......

7/04

So, John is here. We have been hanging out and making plans. We saw Batman yesterday (good flick) Lima is crazy. There are so many tourists and many levels to the tourist economy. At any given time there are 5 people watching you to get you to spend money. From legitamate buisness, to kids asking for a "propina" which means tip. But they mean, just give me $$. I wish i could help more people down here, but I can't. Tonight we will take a night bus South to Nasca, from 10:30pm to 5:30am. We might spend a day in Nasca, but then on to Arequipa. I can't wait to get to a smaller city, the air quality is horrble here, as Lima has 10 million people. I have some good pictures of anti-Bush grafitti...not hard to find. It seems like everyone gets it (except american voters (or so the computer results show�?)) I am not sure when I can get back online, but will update ASAP. Happy 4th o July.......

7/05

Wheww...Nazca is more like the South America that I remember. Much more tranquil here. It is alot warmer than Lima also and the sun comes out here. I had only known of Nasca from PBS before a few days ago. This morning we chartered a six person airplane and flew over the famous "Nasca Lines". It was an amazing experience. If interested check the link to the left. And I hope to have some of my own photos online by August. Tommorrow we will see another sight here and then a night bus to Arequipa. There is a transportation strike in Arequipa, and many roads are shut down by protestors. If we can get there, we will leave by train to Puno, in the Lake Titticaca area. That is all for now. Be mindful of the force, chao........

nasca lines

7/06

Today we saw a very new archeological site that was 30km by dirt road from Nasca. It has only had 4 months of work over the last 2 years. There is alot of dirt to move, and you need to use your imagination to visualize the ancient city. In 20years I can come back and see how close my imagination was. The site is so new that I found pottery that was painted and a piece of a drinking glass. The drinking glass was on top of the main pyrimid temple, and the museum had nothing like it. The pottery was alot more fine-grain than the others, and the lip was painted. A high priest probably drank from that about 1300 years ago. It was hard to leave it where I found it, but that is where it belongs until a detailed excavation can be done. Tonight we will take a bus to Arequipa from 11:30pm-7:30am. We heard that the strike is still on, roads are blocked, and that we might have to walk from about 20km outside the city. However, I am sure we will find a taxi or collectivo service that wants to cash in on the strike. The town of Nasca (Nazca in english) is very quaint and charming. Alot of tourist that don't speak any spanish come here, and make me feel better (however, my spanish is getting better by the day). Stay tuned...........

Cahuachi

7/08

We arrived in Arequipa yesterday morning with no blockades. If we had arrived a day earlier, we would have had to walk 15 km. This town is great. It is the second largest city in Peru, but it is much more layed back and friendly than Lima. Today we split up to run around town and get some supplies. Tonight we are going out on the town, maybe to learn some salsa dancing. Then tommorrow we are going to start a 6 day trek in Colca Canyon. I can�t wait to get in the wilderness for awhile. I might update tommorrow, but if I don�t it will be after the 6 day trek.......

7/10

Well, we haven�t left for the canyon yet. We are very lazy. Maybe it is the altitude, maybe we are just lazy, but we are definatly leaving tommorrow. Sundays are so hard to get stuff done. They are so frickin� religious down here. Everything is closed, including grocery stores and movie theatres. But for some reason all the jewlery stores are open. I guess thats the way jesus wants it. We will need to spend the night near the canyon to get used to the altitude again. We will be at about 5000 meters at the highest point of the trek. I have some great new alpacha wool clothes that will be very warm. (I hope I spelled clothes correctly this year, I know how offended some people can get) I am going to sign off now, adi�s.......

7/21

Wow, 10 days to explain.....hmm. Ok. Last time I said that we would leave the next day. I was alittle fluish, so we waited one more day. Then we took a 3 hour bus trip to the small town of Chivay. Very high altitude, cold and hard to breath the first day. The coca tea helps alot, but is only legal in Peru and Bolivia. We visited some hot spring baths just outside of town that were amazing. There were alot of tourists there, but relaxing none the less. The next day we took a two hour bus to Cruz del Condor, a lookout point. Rather than take a bus, we decided to walk the last 15 km to the tiny town of Cabanaconde. We didn�t start until 2pm and ended up in the dark. Crossing a terraced farm area, I twisted my bad ankle quite badly. It was wrapped, so I could keep walking. But since it was weak, I kept twisting it over and over. At one point John stopped for navigational purposes, and I dropped to the ground as soon as I stopped walking. He decided to leave his backpack and run the last 2 km to get a taxi. Unfortunatly the town is so small, they have no taxis. So he had to get an ambulace. It wasn�t anything terrible, I just couldn�t carry my pack anymore. So I faked it a little, so the medics didn�t feel like I was wasting their time. But John said that they had to find a guy in town, to get the keys to the ambulance.. It cost me 50 soles, only 15 $U.S., But my budget is $21 a day. Kind of sucked, but oh well. They gave me some ibuprofin (however u spell that) with warm tap water. I should not have drank that water. It rocked my stomach really bad, so I had to spend a day resting my ankle and re-hydrating.

Cabanaconde The next day I felt a little stir crazy, and lucky for me, a huge fiesta was going on. During the day, there was alot of fuzbol, and eating in the plaza. But the night was alot more active. It was called "La Fiesta Virgin del Carmen". I have no clue what it was, but it was really fun. We were in a parade like dance around the center plaza for at least an hour. A local girl and her cousins from Lima knew where to be and when to be there. So we had a great view of the fireworks tower when it went off. The tower went for about ten minutes, and was really cool. Firework are alot more fun without the safety regulations. They shot all over the place. The next morning, they were building 4 towers for the 2nd of 5 nights of fiesta. But my ankle was better, and we had to get camping.

Colca Canyon Twice the depth of the Grand Canyon, and very dry when higher than the river. (Day 1) was easy going, as we had not reached the deep canyon yet. We camped on a flat spot near a farm. (Day 2) we reached the river for lunch, and we were really ready for that water. I don�t know how many of you camp, but when nature calls, you dig a hole, and well, squat over it. Right as I was doing that, a local man walked by carrying a machete. I think he was as embarrased as I was (probably not). At lunch we made some of the Tang and sugar that John mixed before the trip. I took a big thirsty gulp, and realized that something was not right. John had bought MSG made from sugar cane, not sugar. It really tasted horrible. The bag of Tang wound up in the previosly mentioned hole. After lunch, we set off, and realized that we were not on the main trail to Choco. Some trails got a little rough. Somehow, right before sunset, we found a small peak, flatt enough for a tent. It was covered with Black rocks, and looked just like Mordor. (Day 3) the rough one. Five meters from our campsite started areas where the trail had slide away, but it was the only trail. We had to cross rock slides one at a time and I can�t remember any time as an adult that I have been that scared. I was actually trembling at times. Around 1pm we landed back at river level and needed a serious break. Around 4pm we looked at the GPS and reallized that we only went 1.7 Km. in just over three hours. The trip was so strenuous that we decided that we would just stay by the river. Right near our campsite was a shack for men building a road in the area. We went to ask if we could by some fish they had caught, but they said no money would be expected. They gave us a huge bowl of rice and several small trout. We shared our whisky and chocolate, and left some potatos, carrots and cilantro with them. It was really cool and they seemed glad to meet us. They directed us to the main trail. (Day 4) We had some serious hiking to do, and a well used trail to do so. We climbed up to the town of Choco in about 7 hours. Choco was very quaint. They have no roads, so everything is hauled up by mule. They have no showers, restaurants, or plumbing. But they had internet. We stayed with a family and they gave us a room with a bamboo roof, and clay walls. She feed us for dinner and breakfast. The dinner was a pasta soup with an egg, and the best homemade cheese I have ever had! We had lost alot of time with alternate trails, and decided to head back to Cabanaconde, rather than the 4 days to another town. (Day 5) The trail down to the river was alot eaisier than going up. We had plenty of daylight to set up camp by the river. Just relaxed and played some chess by the river, until we slept. That night was so nice that we didn�t bother with a tent. (Day 6) We woke up seeing a supply caravan going over the bridge and up the trail, so we hurried to catch the truck the would catch. Only a few hours hike to the road to Caboneconde. After a very dusty 2.5 hour truck ride we were back in civilization. After a quick lunch we hit a bus back to Chivay, and had a well deserved shower, and soft bed.
This morning we got up at 6am to visit those hot springs again, and practically had the place to ourselves. Then caught a 9:30am bus back to Arequipa. And that is it. Just spent the day getting back to the city life, with laundry and internet. Ah clean clothes, gotta love em. Tommorrow we will head to lake Titticaca and see some more.........gap in page continues below

7/23

Last night we toke a night bus to Puno, right on Lake Titticaca. That was the nicest bus I have ever seen. I slept like a baby the whole 5 hours. We Arrived in Puno at 5am, and holy crap was it friggin' cold. After some breakfast and nescafe (arrgg) we headed to the port to get a tour of the Uros Islands. They are floating reed islands that were all one until a 1985 storm blew them apart. Now they are tied together. The Sceneary was beautiful, but it didn't feel right being there. They were originally built to separate themselves from the Incans. Now they have boat loads of tourists everyday. Now they just wait for boats to sell trinkets and knick knacks to all the gringos. After that, we wanted to see the funerary towers and realized that a cab would be more expensive than a tour. So we joined up with a tour and rushed through the site way too fast. Overall I enjoyed the day, but I really don't like doing it the tourist way. It seems really artificial, but in peru it is hard to avoid sometimes. This is alot different than Ecuador and especially Colombia. Alot of locals think that all gringos are stupid. Today we agreed on a cab fare, then at the destination, he decided that he meant per person.(he only got the original price) Lots of those little things that they try to pull over on you. The most common is forgeting to give you proper change, unless you mention it. After we see Cusco, and John heads home, I will be off the main tourist circle. That will be a nice change of pace. I need to start thinking about my plan. I have alot of options, and not much time left. I want to see the jungle town of Iquitos, but the only way there is by boat or plane. I don't think my budget will allow that. I also want to spent a week in Quito, Ecuador. So little time. Hasta mas tarde............

7/26

The Archeological capitol of the Americas, Cusco, peru. I really like Cusco. It is very easy to step off the tourist areas and get a cheap and authentic meal. Yesterday we visited Sacsayhuaman, the stronghold of Cusco. When the Spanish took the field, they owned Cusco and the Incans had to flee to Ollantaytambo. Incan masonary is second to no other country or time period. Today we saw a wall that was reconstructed in 1995, and it was much more worn and shifted than the Incan walls of the 1500's. But from a distance, they had us fooled. Today we saw a local museum and spent the rest of the day trying to rent an ATV or motorcycles. Yes, all day. We had a deal last night for $30 per day for an ATV, but this morning it was $100 per day. Then we looked into the motorcycle option, but they were all too big for me to feel comfortable on, and around $30 per day. Mountain Bikes for $10. Then right by our hostal is a shop that fixes motorcycles for locals. He is an old man ("maestro") that doesn't deal with the tourism buisness. After asking, he had 2 old motorcycles for $10 a day. Then we had to hagle the price of helmets at the touristy places for a few more hours. But now we are ready to see some serious sites. This is so the way to do it, no groups, no bus schedules, no train to Machu Picchu, no BS. Otherwise you have to wait for a crowded train($30 min) to Aguas Calientes (no roads), then pay like $200 to join a group (6 months in advance) to walk up the Inca Trail. The other tourists are going to be so pissed when thay see us ride right up to the site. So the next three days we will be doing the Cusco circle in style. More on that to come.......

7/31

A whirlwind tour of the Cusco circle. We got the motorcycles, as mentioned and headed to Pisaq. On the way, we saw two small Incan sites (Tambomahay and Pukapukara) (most nouns are in Quechua, rather than Spanish) Pisaq is a small town west of Cusco with many Inca citadels on the hill top. We toured the beautiful site for a few hours, then got a hostal. Then northeast to Ollantaytambo, a huge site where where the Incans seriously kicked the crap out of the Spanish. They took the high ground, and flooded the valley with the brilliant Incan irrigation. But of course the Spanish brought 4 times the men and took the field shortly after. Then we headed toward the famous Machu Picchu. The town of Aguas Calientes (now Pueblo Machu Picchu) has no roads, only a really expensive train. We decided to take the motorcycles as far as we could...not very far. We wound up walking the train tracks for 30km, starting at 9:30pm. Then another 5-7km climb up the the Picchu itself. We arrived at the gate right around 5:30am, and the doors open at 6am. (�perfecto!) Every one runs to a high point to see the sun come over the mountains around 7am. So we investigated the lower side with no other people. Then headed up to the main side for the sun. After a few hours we found a out-of-the-way area, that looked like it was Incan residence, and took a five hour nap. Another hour of the site and we were off to get a hostal for the night. Now...Machu Picchu is really cool, very spectacular, and a must see. But the fact that most tourists only go there, and maybe Saqsaywaman seem really strange to me. Ollantaytambo and Pisaq have much more archeological and historical importance. But the travel guides do have more pretty pictures of the Picchu. Pueblo Machu Picchu is so expensive. here in Cusco, I am paying 10 soles ($3) per night for a nice room, kitchen access, and a bathroom that is only shared with 2 other people at the most. There it was 20 soles for a bed in a dormroom. We tried to get the 5:30am train back to the motorcycles, but they said it was full (even though we saw seats) We actually jumped on the train in anger, but got kicked off very quickly. Then we got the 8:30am train.(30 frickin dollars) For some reason we can't take the local train. They fill that up until you can't breath. For some reason non peruvianos have to have a seat. I have been on buses alot worse than the local train. On the way back to Cusco we visited one last site called Moray, they are 3 terraced circles that look like stadiums. The claim is that they were for farming experiments, but the Incans had no written record, so who really knows. My motorcycle was great, but John's was not. It kept getting flooded and sputering out. Plus he got two flat tires. It got him to Cusco city limits, but he got it back to the Maestro (running with it) As for today, we woke up at the hostal that kept our bags and John had to buy a plane ticket to get to his original flight back home from Lima. He almost didn't get a flight, but he made it. I walked about 15 minutes from the airport, toward the hostal, and found this computer. I am on my own now. I will rest here for a few days, then Northward I go.......

On to a new page

(August)