10-22-08
The bus was actually pretty comfortable. My seat was broken so it went down way further than it was supposed, almost to a full bed. I was happy about this mistake. We watched about 5 movies went to bed and slept on and off until noon the following day. The bus arrived at 1:30 and we went straight to another bus which would take us up to the Sheraton where my dad and uncle are staying. Well I am idiot and it turns out they don´t arrive until October 23. Oh well, we made it to Iguazu safely and now have an extra to enjoy the town...or update a blog which is exactly what I have been doing for about 5 hours. Off to meet my dad and uncle Tom. More later...
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Salta, land of empenadas and steak
10-18-08
So after the night bus 10 of us, Jonathon, Jason, Unger, myself, Sara, two Aussies, Ryan (American we met on bus to Uyuni) and Fabbienne and Nadine(two swiss girls we met on bus to Uyuni as well), took a mini bus into Salta. The hostel we wanted to stay at originally was far away from everything so we went to the next option in the Lonely Planet book. That hostel had gone out of business so we had the driver take us to his friends hotel. It was clean and quiet. We decided it was time to experience Argentinian steak and went to a small restaurant down the street from our hotel. The steak was ok but it wasn´t anything to write home about...yet. We then went to Balcarce ST which is the main area where all the bars were. We had some drinks and then went back to the hotel and went to bed.
10-19-08
I woke up late the next morning and wandered around town. Unger, Ryan and I went to a place called Dona Saltena and had empenadas. Yes we are obsessed but these ones are baked so a little healthier. Went back to the hostel took a nap (it is standard in Argentina to take a siesta, and it is really hot in Salta). Woke up watched some TV and headed back to Balcarce to go to a restaurant we had seen the night before. I ordered steak again (figure I will give Argentina a couple of chance). The steak arrived on its own plate and mashed potatoes arrived on a separate plate. The steak was between 24-30 ounces and cost about $7 US. I cut into and my knife went through very easily. I took one bite and almost cried. This was up there with some of the best meals I have had in my life. The only seasoning was a little bit of salt to bring out the natural flavor of the meat. I was in heaven and it only cost $7, well about $11 after the potatoes and drinks. Not that any restaurant would dream of serving a steak this size in the states, but if they did it would easily be more than $50. So we finished this heavenly meal and now understand why Argentinians consume more beef than any other country in the world. We got some ice cream to wash down our steaks and went to the hotel satisfied and tired.
10-20-08
We woke up the next day and Unger and I ran around Salta for a while to reserve a flight to Ushuaia, which is the southern most town in the world. We have now determined a route in Patagonia, but more on that later. We ate some more empenadas took a nap and then cooked dinner for everybody. It was chicken, with pasta in a tomato cream sauce. Pretty good. Fabienne and Nadine invited us for a drink and nobody else wanted to go so I went with them. Had a couple of drinks and then came back and went to bed. All in all it was a good day.
10-21-08
We woke up and packed to leave Salta. The Swedish girls, Ellinor and Karin who went on the Salkantay trek had arrived the night before so Jonathan and I went to lunch with them. We went back to the hostel, gathered our belongings and Sara, Unger and I were off on our 22.5 hour bus journey to Iguazu falls to meet up with Ken and Tom (Aka my father and uncle).
So after the night bus 10 of us, Jonathon, Jason, Unger, myself, Sara, two Aussies, Ryan (American we met on bus to Uyuni) and Fabbienne and Nadine(two swiss girls we met on bus to Uyuni as well), took a mini bus into Salta. The hostel we wanted to stay at originally was far away from everything so we went to the next option in the Lonely Planet book. That hostel had gone out of business so we had the driver take us to his friends hotel. It was clean and quiet. We decided it was time to experience Argentinian steak and went to a small restaurant down the street from our hotel. The steak was ok but it wasn´t anything to write home about...yet. We then went to Balcarce ST which is the main area where all the bars were. We had some drinks and then went back to the hotel and went to bed.
10-19-08
I woke up late the next morning and wandered around town. Unger, Ryan and I went to a place called Dona Saltena and had empenadas. Yes we are obsessed but these ones are baked so a little healthier. Went back to the hostel took a nap (it is standard in Argentina to take a siesta, and it is really hot in Salta). Woke up watched some TV and headed back to Balcarce to go to a restaurant we had seen the night before. I ordered steak again (figure I will give Argentina a couple of chance). The steak arrived on its own plate and mashed potatoes arrived on a separate plate. The steak was between 24-30 ounces and cost about $7 US. I cut into and my knife went through very easily. I took one bite and almost cried. This was up there with some of the best meals I have had in my life. The only seasoning was a little bit of salt to bring out the natural flavor of the meat. I was in heaven and it only cost $7, well about $11 after the potatoes and drinks. Not that any restaurant would dream of serving a steak this size in the states, but if they did it would easily be more than $50. So we finished this heavenly meal and now understand why Argentinians consume more beef than any other country in the world. We got some ice cream to wash down our steaks and went to the hotel satisfied and tired.
10-20-08
We woke up the next day and Unger and I ran around Salta for a while to reserve a flight to Ushuaia, which is the southern most town in the world. We have now determined a route in Patagonia, but more on that later. We ate some more empenadas took a nap and then cooked dinner for everybody. It was chicken, with pasta in a tomato cream sauce. Pretty good. Fabienne and Nadine invited us for a drink and nobody else wanted to go so I went with them. Had a couple of drinks and then came back and went to bed. All in all it was a good day.
10-21-08
We woke up and packed to leave Salta. The Swedish girls, Ellinor and Karin who went on the Salkantay trek had arrived the night before so Jonathan and I went to lunch with them. We went back to the hostel, gathered our belongings and Sara, Unger and I were off on our 22.5 hour bus journey to Iguazu falls to meet up with Ken and Tom (Aka my father and uncle).
Uyuni...Home of the world´s largest salt flat
10-16-08
So the second we arrived in Uyuni we got hit up by a guy to do a tour of the Salt Flats. This was our plan so we followed him back to his agency. We booked a 2 night three day tour of the Salt Flats and surrounding areas. 2 hours later we were in a Toyota Landcruiser that was probably about 7 or 8 years old and in pretty good condition. Same story as always 19 people have died on these tours since May. But we made sure the driver did not smell of alcohol and the person sitting in the front seat had the job of making sure the driver did not fall asleep at the wheel. Little did we know we were traveling with about 100 gallons of gasoline above our head so we figured later this is why a collision between two jeeps killed everybody in both jeeps. You can just as well die walking down the street in the states. You never know what might happen so you can´t let a couple of deaths scare you out of doing something. At least this is the mentality you have to try to take in these countries. So the first thing we did was head straight for the train cemetary which to my understanding is where all the trains for the past 100 years or so in this area are retired. It was pretty interesting. I wasn´t sure what the point was but it was a nice stop. We then went to the Salt Flats which are 12000 square km of salt that goes about 10 meters or 30 feet deep. It is an incredible amount of salt. We were told that this whole area used to be a prehistoric sea but that didn´t really explain why all the salt was here. Anyway it was awesome. We stopped for lunch on an "island" called fish island. The lunch was steak and rice and it was actually really good. We were pleasantly surprised. We contined on to where we would be staying that night. We dropped our belongings off at the hotel and went to these caves that housed fossilized kelp. This was pretty cool since we were about 10,000 feet above sea level looking at kelp. We then went to another cave that supposedly used to have mummies in it but according to our guide the mummies disappeared in 2003. Kind of strange but that is what he said. We watched the sunset and then went back to the hotel, which happened to be made out of salt bricks. Right down the the beds everything was salt. It was great to stay here except that salt got on everything. Dinner was chicken and potatoes which once again was very good. After the Salkantay trek we were believing it was impossible to cook for a large group of people since Salkantay had 3 cooks and the food for 11 of us was crap. This was one lady cooking for 17 and the food overall was very good. It just takes a woman´s touch I guess. We played some cards and went to bed early.
10-17-08
We woke up at 5:30 and drove through a very interesting fossilized coral field. On our way to the second site the other jeep we were driving with got a flat tire. Their spare tire was worn bald so they had to use ours. So now two jeeps are traveling through barren wilderness with no spare tires. Great. After that we drove to lunch and viewed Flamingos feeding in a very shallow lake. I´m starting to think all the Flamingos that were supposed to be in the Galapagos moved to Bolivia to get away from the tourists. Flamingos in the Galapagos=4, Flamingos in Bolivia=a billion. After lunch we went to a blue lake that had Flamingos. We drove through a river bed in which the other jeep got stuck in the mud so we helped push them free. The other jeep had some problems on this day. Then we stopped at these very interesting rock formations. The photos posted explain them better than I can. We continued on to a lake that is completely red. The guide told us that it is red because there is bacteria in the lake that when stirred up by the wind it turns red. This is also the nesting area for about 40,000 Flamingos so we saw a lot more. We stayed at a hostel about 20 minutes from the lake.
10-17-08
We woke at 4am and went straight the these steam geysers that were close to the hostel. It was windy so it looked more like boiling pools with steam coming out of them than geysers. I still enjoyed it. We then went to the hotsprings which I decided against because there were already about 40 people crammed into this little pool. We ate breakfast and continued on to another area of the desert which inspired many of Salvador Dali´s most famous paintings After this we headed to a turquoise lake (same reason for being turquoise as the red lake, just turquoise) and then headed back to the other side of the red lake. We then continued on for about 6 hours back to Uyuni. It is a lot of driving in 3 days, but absolutely the most incredible tour I have been on. For $70 you cannot beat this tour. At this point Bolivia is my favorite country and am so glad I did not listen to the news and decided to go there. At no point did I feel unsafe. That night we took a night train from Uyuni to Villazon which was awful. Every couple of seconds it sounded as if somebody was hitting the side of the train with a huge piece of metal. Next stop Argentina.
So the second we arrived in Uyuni we got hit up by a guy to do a tour of the Salt Flats. This was our plan so we followed him back to his agency. We booked a 2 night three day tour of the Salt Flats and surrounding areas. 2 hours later we were in a Toyota Landcruiser that was probably about 7 or 8 years old and in pretty good condition. Same story as always 19 people have died on these tours since May. But we made sure the driver did not smell of alcohol and the person sitting in the front seat had the job of making sure the driver did not fall asleep at the wheel. Little did we know we were traveling with about 100 gallons of gasoline above our head so we figured later this is why a collision between two jeeps killed everybody in both jeeps. You can just as well die walking down the street in the states. You never know what might happen so you can´t let a couple of deaths scare you out of doing something. At least this is the mentality you have to try to take in these countries. So the first thing we did was head straight for the train cemetary which to my understanding is where all the trains for the past 100 years or so in this area are retired. It was pretty interesting. I wasn´t sure what the point was but it was a nice stop. We then went to the Salt Flats which are 12000 square km of salt that goes about 10 meters or 30 feet deep. It is an incredible amount of salt. We were told that this whole area used to be a prehistoric sea but that didn´t really explain why all the salt was here. Anyway it was awesome. We stopped for lunch on an "island" called fish island. The lunch was steak and rice and it was actually really good. We were pleasantly surprised. We contined on to where we would be staying that night. We dropped our belongings off at the hotel and went to these caves that housed fossilized kelp. This was pretty cool since we were about 10,000 feet above sea level looking at kelp. We then went to another cave that supposedly used to have mummies in it but according to our guide the mummies disappeared in 2003. Kind of strange but that is what he said. We watched the sunset and then went back to the hotel, which happened to be made out of salt bricks. Right down the the beds everything was salt. It was great to stay here except that salt got on everything. Dinner was chicken and potatoes which once again was very good. After the Salkantay trek we were believing it was impossible to cook for a large group of people since Salkantay had 3 cooks and the food for 11 of us was crap. This was one lady cooking for 17 and the food overall was very good. It just takes a woman´s touch I guess. We played some cards and went to bed early.
10-17-08
We woke up at 5:30 and drove through a very interesting fossilized coral field. On our way to the second site the other jeep we were driving with got a flat tire. Their spare tire was worn bald so they had to use ours. So now two jeeps are traveling through barren wilderness with no spare tires. Great. After that we drove to lunch and viewed Flamingos feeding in a very shallow lake. I´m starting to think all the Flamingos that were supposed to be in the Galapagos moved to Bolivia to get away from the tourists. Flamingos in the Galapagos=4, Flamingos in Bolivia=a billion. After lunch we went to a blue lake that had Flamingos. We drove through a river bed in which the other jeep got stuck in the mud so we helped push them free. The other jeep had some problems on this day. Then we stopped at these very interesting rock formations. The photos posted explain them better than I can. We continued on to a lake that is completely red. The guide told us that it is red because there is bacteria in the lake that when stirred up by the wind it turns red. This is also the nesting area for about 40,000 Flamingos so we saw a lot more. We stayed at a hostel about 20 minutes from the lake.
10-17-08
We woke at 4am and went straight the these steam geysers that were close to the hostel. It was windy so it looked more like boiling pools with steam coming out of them than geysers. I still enjoyed it. We then went to the hotsprings which I decided against because there were already about 40 people crammed into this little pool. We ate breakfast and continued on to another area of the desert which inspired many of Salvador Dali´s most famous paintings After this we headed to a turquoise lake (same reason for being turquoise as the red lake, just turquoise) and then headed back to the other side of the red lake. We then continued on for about 6 hours back to Uyuni. It is a lot of driving in 3 days, but absolutely the most incredible tour I have been on. For $70 you cannot beat this tour. At this point Bolivia is my favorite country and am so glad I did not listen to the news and decided to go there. At no point did I feel unsafe. That night we took a night train from Uyuni to Villazon which was awful. Every couple of seconds it sounded as if somebody was hitting the side of the train with a huge piece of metal. Next stop Argentina.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
La Paz...site of the most terrifying road on the planet
10-7-08
We took a bus to La Paz the next day. Once again we were slightly nervous about now going to a bigger city to see how "angry" the natives were at their president and how welcoming they would be to tourists. About an hour into our trip we had to stop and pay $1B to take a boat across a channel of Lake Titicaca. We all got into a boat and the bus was loaded into a barge. We looked at this rickety old boat and said there is no way that this boat was going to carry our huge bus across the channel. The boat had a 45 HP motor in it. Somehow it managed to get across, we piled back into the bus and continued on. When we got closer to La Paz we started seeing signs in support of the president, Evo Morales. We took this as a good sign because if you are happy with your president maybe you won´t riot. I mean everybody in the US loves Bush and we don´t riot (sarcasm)(on a side note I have yet to meet a foreigner who wants Mccain to win). The taxi didn´t know where our hostel was so it took a little while before we finally figured out where we were going. We arrived in the hostel called Wild Rover and realized just like Cusco we were outnumbered, this time by Irish people instead of English. We ate dinner at the hostel, played some pool and went to bed.
10-8-08
We woke up and played some more pool while eating breakfast. A balanced breakfast in this country consists of bread, butter, jam and coffee or tea. Very healthy. Anyway back to pool. For the record Jonothan and I are beating Unger and Jason 7 games to 1. Pretty bad especially for how good Unger is supposed to be at pool. Now he says it is because the table is crooked but I say adapt. We left the hostel and walked down the main street. We researched biking down the most dangerous road in the world. Don´t ask me why, but plummeting off a 2000 foot cliff doesn´t sound like fun. Especially when the US embassy is barely functioning in Bolivia so in the odd event you survive the fall, even with the nearest helicopters in Chile and Peru, you probably won´t be getting airlifted out since I´m assuming all of this would have to go through the embassy which as I have just said is not currently fully operational. Well we decided to go anyway. I figure I´ve always wanted to fly. This is probably the closest I will come and who knows, maybe I can reach out and grab a tree or something. We reserved with the best company called Gravity Assist. More on this later...if I live. If not, this will be my last post. We went up to the witches market. Pretty interesting place. You can buy llama fetuses that supposedly people place under the foundation of their homes for good luck. Seems kind of strange to me, but hey, if they think this is lucky who I am to tell them differently. After the market we went and ate Chinese food and then went back to the hostel, watched Zohan, absolutely awful movie and went to bed.
10-9-08
So we heard that in Bolivia they don´t call them empenadas. I read that they call them Saltenas. So of course, pretty standard for us, we went in search of the best saltenas. Now my travel book had a place so we started walking. 30 minutes later we arrived at the spot on the map where the book said to go. Of course, no Saltenas. So we asked a lady where to go. She gave us a spot that was about 20 minutes away from where we were. So we started walking. We then asked somebody else who gave us another place that was totally in the opposite direction of where the lady had said. Now there are Saltena stands everywhere in the city. And they all look exactly the same. So finally we just walked into a restaurant and ordered some. They are baked instead of fried, like empenadas, so that is good. And they have some kind of liquid in them along with the meat. Well they were really good. I ate two thinking we would go in search of another Saltenas place. One the way up the street we stopped an got two donuts each. Then we went to Gravity Assist (the place we would be doing the bike trip from) since the guy in the store told us he knew of the best place to go. He walked us up the street and on the way explained that they have Saltenas and then this other food called Tucumanas. Now we paid the lady our $4B which is about $0.50 and she gave us a fried thing that looked exactly like empenadas. We went over the the table that had about 10 different sauces and started digging in. I bit into my Tucumana and discover the outside is very similar to empenadas, but the inside consists of beef, chicken, hard boiled egg, onion, and more. It tasted incredible. To make a long story short, we went back every day we were in La Paz and had the same incredible experience. And yes I did just write the equivilent of a novel explaining how we went in search of breakfast and then ended up spending the next few hours getting fat. So after that experience we went back to the hostel and started playing cards. About 2-3 hours later we decided we were hungry and ordered a pizza. When the delivery guy game the pizza would not fit through the door so he had to tilt it sideways. It was the biggest pìzza I had ever seen. We did not eat it all in one sitting so I think I´m safe from getting heart disease or having a heart attack. We did finish the pizza before the end of the day though so maybe not. Goodnight, I feel sick.
10-10-08
Today was the day I was sure I would die. The Gravity Assist bus picked us up at 7:30am. We drove 45 minutes to the top of some mountain outside of La Paz. The views were incredible. I figured, hey I get to see all of these mountains around me, it was worth the $85, now lets go back to La Paz. We unloaded the bikes and put on our uniforms. Now some of the other groups that were there had full helmets with facemasks, armpads, kneepads, etc. We were given basically skateboarding helmets. Now our guide explained to us that when you fall 700 meters a facemask, kneepads, elbowpads, etc are not going to help you survive so I felt better knowing that these other groups were not more equipped than we were, they just had the illusion they were. Now for a little background about this road we were voluntarily biking down. The road is 65km which is about 40 miles. You descend 3200 meters which is about 10,000 feet in this time period. The first 22km is on smooth concrete road and you descend about 1700 meters during this section. The next 33km is on this nasty gravel road where at times the road is no more than about 9-10 feet wide. Sounds like fun right? Now our guide explained this road was not just named "the most dangerous road in the world" so that tourist would come ride bikes down the road. This road is actually the most dangerous road in the world. A few years back they proposed building a newer safer road and in order to do that they had to study the current older road and take some statistics. It turns out that in 3 years of study on average 150 people per year died on this road, which is about 1 person every 2-3 days. When we pulled up we saw a sign that said 43 people had died on the road since February (this number probably would be higher, but the new road is now in place so most people take that road). Now if these statistics didn´t scare us off 2 local buses had driven off the cliff 2 days earlier killing 9 people. So yes I know probably at this point I should have just decided not to go. But I had already paid and the choice now was either take the Gravity Bus down the road (not a chance that was happening) or put my life in my own hands and ride the bike. I chose to ride. Now before we could leave we had to participate in a very important local ritual, bless pachamama aka mother earth. In order to do this we had to pour the equivilent of moonshine onto our front tire, pour some on the road and then touch some to our lips. Now our guide told us that while we just touch the alcohol to our lips and did not drink a number of truck drivers tend to take 3 or 4 swigs of this crap while they drive down and up the most dangerous road in the world. As if the road wasn´t going to be challenging enough, now we had to dodge drunk drivers as well. The first section known as the¨"tarmac" was the paved section and we were flying. Our guide said we were probably going about 70-80kph which is about 50mph. We were passing cars and buses. I enjoyed it very much. I didn´t even pay attention to all the crosses lining the road because I was having way to much fun. We then stopped before the gravel road so that our guide could brief us about the safety and tell some stories. I will not go into details about the various people who had gotten off their bike and stepped right off the cliff or who had been riding to fast and just flew right off the cliff. The point our guide was getting at was that if you don´t ride like an idiot you will be fine. So then we were off and it was intense. You had to focus to make sure you didn´t hit any rocks and of course stay on the road because the alternative was sure death. It was an adrenaline pumping couple of hours and I had a great time. We reached the bottom and nobody died. It was a good day. We ate lunch at an animal rescue center that had monkeys, dogs, birds, and other animals. We then took the bus back up the road of death which to me was the most terrifying part of the whole day, but the bus made it up without any problems. To get a small idea of what the road was like here is a youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwAGQ9XZne4
10/11-10/14
The next few days we just basically relaxed. We went to the Bolivia-Peru soccer game which of course we cheered for the home team. Bolivia won 3-0 and we were happy along with the locals. We also went to watch wrestling. It is very similar to WWF wrestling in the sense that it is totally fake and totally bad. The only difference is that men fight women and the crowd is likely to get a person thrown on them or soaked, both of which happened to us. Now the interesting thing is that we got tickets that were considered VIP because they were ringside. I realized after that the locals are too smart to sit any closer. One female wrestler took a beer that belonged to a guy in our group, drank some of it and spit it all over him. It was really gross. 2 minutes later she dumped a two liter bottle of peach juice all over us. Gross as well but at least she didn´t spit it. The next day Jason left to hike Huayna Potosi which is a 6000 meter mountain outside of La Paz. I was going to go but decided not to. I don´t know why I didn´t go, I just didn´t. We decided to wait for him before leaving for the salt flats. We took a night bus to Uyuni the day he got back. Now I know the next thing I´m going to talk about it getting repetitive but this is how I lived it so this is how I´m going to present it. We went to the bus station the day before we were set to leave. There are only two bus companies that go to Uyuni direct. We went to one and asked the lady all the questions. She said it was a new bus, with seats that folded down almost flat. We looked at here and said "do you promise this is our bus", and she said "yes, it is very comfortable, with a bathroom, etc." So we were happy because had a promise and the two ladies seemed very nice and would not lie to us. We arrived the next day, showed up at the window and the same two ladies told us that bus was not coming. It was another bus that was older and did not have a bathroom. We were not happy but not surprised. We got some money back from her and waited for the bus that arrived about an hour late. It was crap and I didn´t not sleep that well since 90% of Bolivia´s roads are not paved and this happened to be the case with this road. Next stop Uyuni.
We took a bus to La Paz the next day. Once again we were slightly nervous about now going to a bigger city to see how "angry" the natives were at their president and how welcoming they would be to tourists. About an hour into our trip we had to stop and pay $1B to take a boat across a channel of Lake Titicaca. We all got into a boat and the bus was loaded into a barge. We looked at this rickety old boat and said there is no way that this boat was going to carry our huge bus across the channel. The boat had a 45 HP motor in it. Somehow it managed to get across, we piled back into the bus and continued on. When we got closer to La Paz we started seeing signs in support of the president, Evo Morales. We took this as a good sign because if you are happy with your president maybe you won´t riot. I mean everybody in the US loves Bush and we don´t riot (sarcasm)(on a side note I have yet to meet a foreigner who wants Mccain to win). The taxi didn´t know where our hostel was so it took a little while before we finally figured out where we were going. We arrived in the hostel called Wild Rover and realized just like Cusco we were outnumbered, this time by Irish people instead of English. We ate dinner at the hostel, played some pool and went to bed.
10-8-08
We woke up and played some more pool while eating breakfast. A balanced breakfast in this country consists of bread, butter, jam and coffee or tea. Very healthy. Anyway back to pool. For the record Jonothan and I are beating Unger and Jason 7 games to 1. Pretty bad especially for how good Unger is supposed to be at pool. Now he says it is because the table is crooked but I say adapt. We left the hostel and walked down the main street. We researched biking down the most dangerous road in the world. Don´t ask me why, but plummeting off a 2000 foot cliff doesn´t sound like fun. Especially when the US embassy is barely functioning in Bolivia so in the odd event you survive the fall, even with the nearest helicopters in Chile and Peru, you probably won´t be getting airlifted out since I´m assuming all of this would have to go through the embassy which as I have just said is not currently fully operational. Well we decided to go anyway. I figure I´ve always wanted to fly. This is probably the closest I will come and who knows, maybe I can reach out and grab a tree or something. We reserved with the best company called Gravity Assist. More on this later...if I live. If not, this will be my last post. We went up to the witches market. Pretty interesting place. You can buy llama fetuses that supposedly people place under the foundation of their homes for good luck. Seems kind of strange to me, but hey, if they think this is lucky who I am to tell them differently. After the market we went and ate Chinese food and then went back to the hostel, watched Zohan, absolutely awful movie and went to bed.
10-9-08
So we heard that in Bolivia they don´t call them empenadas. I read that they call them Saltenas. So of course, pretty standard for us, we went in search of the best saltenas. Now my travel book had a place so we started walking. 30 minutes later we arrived at the spot on the map where the book said to go. Of course, no Saltenas. So we asked a lady where to go. She gave us a spot that was about 20 minutes away from where we were. So we started walking. We then asked somebody else who gave us another place that was totally in the opposite direction of where the lady had said. Now there are Saltena stands everywhere in the city. And they all look exactly the same. So finally we just walked into a restaurant and ordered some. They are baked instead of fried, like empenadas, so that is good. And they have some kind of liquid in them along with the meat. Well they were really good. I ate two thinking we would go in search of another Saltenas place. One the way up the street we stopped an got two donuts each. Then we went to Gravity Assist (the place we would be doing the bike trip from) since the guy in the store told us he knew of the best place to go. He walked us up the street and on the way explained that they have Saltenas and then this other food called Tucumanas. Now we paid the lady our $4B which is about $0.50 and she gave us a fried thing that looked exactly like empenadas. We went over the the table that had about 10 different sauces and started digging in. I bit into my Tucumana and discover the outside is very similar to empenadas, but the inside consists of beef, chicken, hard boiled egg, onion, and more. It tasted incredible. To make a long story short, we went back every day we were in La Paz and had the same incredible experience. And yes I did just write the equivilent of a novel explaining how we went in search of breakfast and then ended up spending the next few hours getting fat. So after that experience we went back to the hostel and started playing cards. About 2-3 hours later we decided we were hungry and ordered a pizza. When the delivery guy game the pizza would not fit through the door so he had to tilt it sideways. It was the biggest pìzza I had ever seen. We did not eat it all in one sitting so I think I´m safe from getting heart disease or having a heart attack. We did finish the pizza before the end of the day though so maybe not. Goodnight, I feel sick.
10-10-08
Today was the day I was sure I would die. The Gravity Assist bus picked us up at 7:30am. We drove 45 minutes to the top of some mountain outside of La Paz. The views were incredible. I figured, hey I get to see all of these mountains around me, it was worth the $85, now lets go back to La Paz. We unloaded the bikes and put on our uniforms. Now some of the other groups that were there had full helmets with facemasks, armpads, kneepads, etc. We were given basically skateboarding helmets. Now our guide explained to us that when you fall 700 meters a facemask, kneepads, elbowpads, etc are not going to help you survive so I felt better knowing that these other groups were not more equipped than we were, they just had the illusion they were. Now for a little background about this road we were voluntarily biking down. The road is 65km which is about 40 miles. You descend 3200 meters which is about 10,000 feet in this time period. The first 22km is on smooth concrete road and you descend about 1700 meters during this section. The next 33km is on this nasty gravel road where at times the road is no more than about 9-10 feet wide. Sounds like fun right? Now our guide explained this road was not just named "the most dangerous road in the world" so that tourist would come ride bikes down the road. This road is actually the most dangerous road in the world. A few years back they proposed building a newer safer road and in order to do that they had to study the current older road and take some statistics. It turns out that in 3 years of study on average 150 people per year died on this road, which is about 1 person every 2-3 days. When we pulled up we saw a sign that said 43 people had died on the road since February (this number probably would be higher, but the new road is now in place so most people take that road). Now if these statistics didn´t scare us off 2 local buses had driven off the cliff 2 days earlier killing 9 people. So yes I know probably at this point I should have just decided not to go. But I had already paid and the choice now was either take the Gravity Bus down the road (not a chance that was happening) or put my life in my own hands and ride the bike. I chose to ride. Now before we could leave we had to participate in a very important local ritual, bless pachamama aka mother earth. In order to do this we had to pour the equivilent of moonshine onto our front tire, pour some on the road and then touch some to our lips. Now our guide told us that while we just touch the alcohol to our lips and did not drink a number of truck drivers tend to take 3 or 4 swigs of this crap while they drive down and up the most dangerous road in the world. As if the road wasn´t going to be challenging enough, now we had to dodge drunk drivers as well. The first section known as the¨"tarmac" was the paved section and we were flying. Our guide said we were probably going about 70-80kph which is about 50mph. We were passing cars and buses. I enjoyed it very much. I didn´t even pay attention to all the crosses lining the road because I was having way to much fun. We then stopped before the gravel road so that our guide could brief us about the safety and tell some stories. I will not go into details about the various people who had gotten off their bike and stepped right off the cliff or who had been riding to fast and just flew right off the cliff. The point our guide was getting at was that if you don´t ride like an idiot you will be fine. So then we were off and it was intense. You had to focus to make sure you didn´t hit any rocks and of course stay on the road because the alternative was sure death. It was an adrenaline pumping couple of hours and I had a great time. We reached the bottom and nobody died. It was a good day. We ate lunch at an animal rescue center that had monkeys, dogs, birds, and other animals. We then took the bus back up the road of death which to me was the most terrifying part of the whole day, but the bus made it up without any problems. To get a small idea of what the road was like here is a youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwAGQ9XZne4
10/11-10/14
The next few days we just basically relaxed. We went to the Bolivia-Peru soccer game which of course we cheered for the home team. Bolivia won 3-0 and we were happy along with the locals. We also went to watch wrestling. It is very similar to WWF wrestling in the sense that it is totally fake and totally bad. The only difference is that men fight women and the crowd is likely to get a person thrown on them or soaked, both of which happened to us. Now the interesting thing is that we got tickets that were considered VIP because they were ringside. I realized after that the locals are too smart to sit any closer. One female wrestler took a beer that belonged to a guy in our group, drank some of it and spit it all over him. It was really gross. 2 minutes later she dumped a two liter bottle of peach juice all over us. Gross as well but at least she didn´t spit it. The next day Jason left to hike Huayna Potosi which is a 6000 meter mountain outside of La Paz. I was going to go but decided not to. I don´t know why I didn´t go, I just didn´t. We decided to wait for him before leaving for the salt flats. We took a night bus to Uyuni the day he got back. Now I know the next thing I´m going to talk about it getting repetitive but this is how I lived it so this is how I´m going to present it. We went to the bus station the day before we were set to leave. There are only two bus companies that go to Uyuni direct. We went to one and asked the lady all the questions. She said it was a new bus, with seats that folded down almost flat. We looked at here and said "do you promise this is our bus", and she said "yes, it is very comfortable, with a bathroom, etc." So we were happy because had a promise and the two ladies seemed very nice and would not lie to us. We arrived the next day, showed up at the window and the same two ladies told us that bus was not coming. It was another bus that was older and did not have a bathroom. We were not happy but not surprised. We got some money back from her and waited for the bus that arrived about an hour late. It was crap and I didn´t not sleep that well since 90% of Bolivia´s roads are not paved and this happened to be the case with this road. Next stop Uyuni.
In the Copa, Copacabana
10-5-08
So we finally left Cusco. We took a night bus from Cusco to Copacabana, Bolivia. Ok its not the real Copacabana in the song but still called Copacabana. 5 of us took the night bus which included Unger, Sara, me, an English guy named Jonathon, and an American named Jason, who grew up in Sacramento, went to Berkeley and happens to know some of the same people I know in Monterey. Small world. Anyway the bus seemed nice although for the 20th time this trip the we were lied to. The bus we had reserved was a double decker bus and of course this bus was older than the bus in the photo and was only one story. For this reason I decided to find the best seat which was the very front because it has the most leg room. The bus was empty, so no big deal right? Wrong. Some Peruvian lady got onto the bus thiry minutes late and told me first to move my backpack which I had locked to the seat for safety reasons. Then proceeded to ask me if I thought maybe one of the other 20 open seats would be preferable. Jonathon, who was sitting in the seat next to me asked her if she thought one of the seats would be good for her. She smiled and said that she preferred this seat. So I decided, screw it, and moved. At least my new seat didn´t have anybody sitting in the seat in front of it. Wrong again? It turns out that my new friend (the peruvian lady) had asked the bus company to keep the approximately 30 people on the bus waiting for her friends to show up from Machu Picchu. So not only were they almost an hour late but they decided to sit in the ¨best seat¨on the bus, the one right in front of me. Needless to say I was a little upset and decided my knees were not moving so every time the guy tried to put his seat all the way back his chair ran into my unmoving legs. Problem solved. So finally the bus left an hour late. Only in Peru...and Ecuador...and soon to find out Bolivia. Well we were off, ready to avoid getting stoned to death in Bolivia, since according to the media, all Bolivians are violent and riots are happening in the streets throughout the country. About an hour into the ride, the bus stopped and my friend and her two late friends got out and went into a Panaderia (bakery for anybody who doesn´t know basic spanish). At this point all the passengers (at least the white ones, this could be standard procedures since the locals on the bus did not look surprised) were in shock. Not only did this lady and her friends have the nerve to show up to the bus late, but now they were buying bread? At 11pm, buying bread. Well she gets back on the bus with her huge back of bread and a smug look on her face. Jonathon turns to her and says "Do we need to stop for eggs and milk too?". She wasn´t amused. I thought it was funny. Now that all the shopping had been completed we were off. I took a sleeping pill and had a relatively nice sleep, even with the chair in front of me slamming into my legs and the bus driver taking turns like we were trying to win a Nascar race. We finally arrived early the next morning at a turnoff and the bus driver told us this was our stop. All the tourists got off the bus and were transferred to a small van. Not very comfortable. We were driven to the border. Now I typically picture borders and fenced off areas with lots of security, guns, etc. Not in Bolivia. We could have, and maybe should have walked right though into Bolivia. But since we are honest Americans ready for our fate we walked right into that office and took our punishment for being American like men. A tear might have escaped my eye as I passed the nice gentlemen $135 for my Bolivian visa, but I am a man so I wiped it away quickly. On the bright side of things, he smiled and stated that my visa was valid for 5 more years so if I happen to be passing through Bolivia in the next 5 years I don´t have to pay again. Yay for me. We then got into another van and headed for Copacabana. It is a nice little beach town on Lake Titicaca (highest navigable lake in the world, whatever that means). We decided to rent a boat and go fishing. 7 of us (met two Aussies from Salkantay) piled into this boat with a stick attached to a 2 by 6 board for oars. Oh and the thing had sails. Now the seven of us combined knew as much about sailing as we do about astro-physics (I´m not even sure how to spell it) but oh well, its Bolivia, where there is no speed limit and mothers teach there children to pee on busy streets and not aim elsewhere when people are walking by (Unger had a very close call). We didn´t catch anything, the wind was blowing away from the shore, which made our return trip very enjoyable and tiring, but all in all it was an enjoyable adventure. We ate Mexican food, drank some wine and went to bed. And by the way, so far so good. No angry Bolivians with stones or guns trying to kill us. As a matter of fact earlier in the day we saw a bunch of cars sitting on the street with incense burning and the cars decorated with flowers and other things. A very nice man came up to us and explained that every saturday and sunday everybody drives there car up here and has the car blessed for safety. The interesting thing is that after the blessing they celebrate by drinking alcohol and then driving home. Now in the states this is illegal but as I learned and will be explaining more in depth later, Bolivia has different views about drinking and driving. But my point is that the man who told us about the event was very nice and welcomed us to Bolivia.
10-6-08
We woke up the next day and went to Isla del Sol which is an island off the coast of Copacabana. We paid $25 Boliviano which is about $3.50 to go. The boat was nice, sort of and it took about 2 hours to get there. Now we were under the impression, based on what the guy at the hotel told us, that the boat, 4 hours of hiking and the return trip were part of that price. It turns out we had to pay $10 Boliviano to do the 4 hour hike. Halfway through the hike another man stopped us and had us pay $5B since he was from a different community. He promised this was it for payments. About 1km before the boat another man stopped us to have us pay $5B more since he too was from a different community. Now in total the day cost about $7 US and I probably would have payed more since it was a beautiful island and hike, but it is still bothersome to be lied to and it seems it is pretty standard to lie to tourists in these countries. The boat almost died on the way back. I´m pretty sure when we weren´t looking the driver was kicking the motor. It took a long time to get home but all in all "vale la pena", it was worth it. We got back and raced up this hill to watch the sunset. Jonathon and I did the poor man's view which was about 2/3 of the way up since Copacabana is at about 12000 feet and altitude still gets to me when I sprint up a mountain. But it was incredible. Unger and Jason (later nicknamed action man because he is always climbing up things, or doing something active) made it to the top. Went down, ate a pizza, watched some little kids play soccer and then went to bed.
So we finally left Cusco. We took a night bus from Cusco to Copacabana, Bolivia. Ok its not the real Copacabana in the song but still called Copacabana. 5 of us took the night bus which included Unger, Sara, me, an English guy named Jonathon, and an American named Jason, who grew up in Sacramento, went to Berkeley and happens to know some of the same people I know in Monterey. Small world. Anyway the bus seemed nice although for the 20th time this trip the we were lied to. The bus we had reserved was a double decker bus and of course this bus was older than the bus in the photo and was only one story. For this reason I decided to find the best seat which was the very front because it has the most leg room. The bus was empty, so no big deal right? Wrong. Some Peruvian lady got onto the bus thiry minutes late and told me first to move my backpack which I had locked to the seat for safety reasons. Then proceeded to ask me if I thought maybe one of the other 20 open seats would be preferable. Jonathon, who was sitting in the seat next to me asked her if she thought one of the seats would be good for her. She smiled and said that she preferred this seat. So I decided, screw it, and moved. At least my new seat didn´t have anybody sitting in the seat in front of it. Wrong again? It turns out that my new friend (the peruvian lady) had asked the bus company to keep the approximately 30 people on the bus waiting for her friends to show up from Machu Picchu. So not only were they almost an hour late but they decided to sit in the ¨best seat¨on the bus, the one right in front of me. Needless to say I was a little upset and decided my knees were not moving so every time the guy tried to put his seat all the way back his chair ran into my unmoving legs. Problem solved. So finally the bus left an hour late. Only in Peru...and Ecuador...and soon to find out Bolivia. Well we were off, ready to avoid getting stoned to death in Bolivia, since according to the media, all Bolivians are violent and riots are happening in the streets throughout the country. About an hour into the ride, the bus stopped and my friend and her two late friends got out and went into a Panaderia (bakery for anybody who doesn´t know basic spanish). At this point all the passengers (at least the white ones, this could be standard procedures since the locals on the bus did not look surprised) were in shock. Not only did this lady and her friends have the nerve to show up to the bus late, but now they were buying bread? At 11pm, buying bread. Well she gets back on the bus with her huge back of bread and a smug look on her face. Jonathon turns to her and says "Do we need to stop for eggs and milk too?". She wasn´t amused. I thought it was funny. Now that all the shopping had been completed we were off. I took a sleeping pill and had a relatively nice sleep, even with the chair in front of me slamming into my legs and the bus driver taking turns like we were trying to win a Nascar race. We finally arrived early the next morning at a turnoff and the bus driver told us this was our stop. All the tourists got off the bus and were transferred to a small van. Not very comfortable. We were driven to the border. Now I typically picture borders and fenced off areas with lots of security, guns, etc. Not in Bolivia. We could have, and maybe should have walked right though into Bolivia. But since we are honest Americans ready for our fate we walked right into that office and took our punishment for being American like men. A tear might have escaped my eye as I passed the nice gentlemen $135 for my Bolivian visa, but I am a man so I wiped it away quickly. On the bright side of things, he smiled and stated that my visa was valid for 5 more years so if I happen to be passing through Bolivia in the next 5 years I don´t have to pay again. Yay for me. We then got into another van and headed for Copacabana. It is a nice little beach town on Lake Titicaca (highest navigable lake in the world, whatever that means). We decided to rent a boat and go fishing. 7 of us (met two Aussies from Salkantay) piled into this boat with a stick attached to a 2 by 6 board for oars. Oh and the thing had sails. Now the seven of us combined knew as much about sailing as we do about astro-physics (I´m not even sure how to spell it) but oh well, its Bolivia, where there is no speed limit and mothers teach there children to pee on busy streets and not aim elsewhere when people are walking by (Unger had a very close call). We didn´t catch anything, the wind was blowing away from the shore, which made our return trip very enjoyable and tiring, but all in all it was an enjoyable adventure. We ate Mexican food, drank some wine and went to bed. And by the way, so far so good. No angry Bolivians with stones or guns trying to kill us. As a matter of fact earlier in the day we saw a bunch of cars sitting on the street with incense burning and the cars decorated with flowers and other things. A very nice man came up to us and explained that every saturday and sunday everybody drives there car up here and has the car blessed for safety. The interesting thing is that after the blessing they celebrate by drinking alcohol and then driving home. Now in the states this is illegal but as I learned and will be explaining more in depth later, Bolivia has different views about drinking and driving. But my point is that the man who told us about the event was very nice and welcomed us to Bolivia.
10-6-08
We woke up the next day and went to Isla del Sol which is an island off the coast of Copacabana. We paid $25 Boliviano which is about $3.50 to go. The boat was nice, sort of and it took about 2 hours to get there. Now we were under the impression, based on what the guy at the hotel told us, that the boat, 4 hours of hiking and the return trip were part of that price. It turns out we had to pay $10 Boliviano to do the 4 hour hike. Halfway through the hike another man stopped us and had us pay $5B since he was from a different community. He promised this was it for payments. About 1km before the boat another man stopped us to have us pay $5B more since he too was from a different community. Now in total the day cost about $7 US and I probably would have payed more since it was a beautiful island and hike, but it is still bothersome to be lied to and it seems it is pretty standard to lie to tourists in these countries. The boat almost died on the way back. I´m pretty sure when we weren´t looking the driver was kicking the motor. It took a long time to get home but all in all "vale la pena", it was worth it. We got back and raced up this hill to watch the sunset. Jonathon and I did the poor man's view which was about 2/3 of the way up since Copacabana is at about 12000 feet and altitude still gets to me when I sprint up a mountain. But it was incredible. Unger and Jason (later nicknamed action man because he is always climbing up things, or doing something active) made it to the top. Went down, ate a pizza, watched some little kids play soccer and then went to bed.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Back in Cusco
9/30 - 10/5
We went back to our original hostel for the night since we got in after 10pm. We woke up the next morning and moved to Loki Hostel which is bigger and has more people. Loki is an awesome hostel. The building is 450 years old. The beds were pretty comfortable. We had originally planned to stay one night but Sara ended contracting pneumonia and had to stay at the hospital for two nights. Loki is a relaxing place that overlooks the center of Cusco. The only problem is that I feel like I am in England and not Peru because 75% of the people staying here are English. We are currently working out plans to go to Bolivia. We have talked to a lot of people and although it is recommended not to go there by the US media we have found out that the areas of the country we would like to see are safe. We feel comfortable going to bolivia and are very excited to see the sites there. More later.
We went back to our original hostel for the night since we got in after 10pm. We woke up the next morning and moved to Loki Hostel which is bigger and has more people. Loki is an awesome hostel. The building is 450 years old. The beds were pretty comfortable. We had originally planned to stay one night but Sara ended contracting pneumonia and had to stay at the hospital for two nights. Loki is a relaxing place that overlooks the center of Cusco. The only problem is that I feel like I am in England and not Peru because 75% of the people staying here are English. We are currently working out plans to go to Bolivia. We have talked to a lot of people and although it is recommended not to go there by the US media we have found out that the areas of the country we would like to see are safe. We feel comfortable going to bolivia and are very excited to see the sites there. More later.
Sheer Exhaustion
9-26-08
So the 4am wakeup wasn't too enjoyable. The taxi was late so we could have probably slept in till at least 4:20. We were taken to a market where we met the rest of our group. The van they had hired only had 9 seats and we were eleven so me, an Australian named Glenn, and Karin (one of the Swedes). I slept in the taxi, 1. because i was tired, and 2. because I didn't want to be awake to see our crazy driver drive off a cliff. We arrived about 25 minutes before the rest of the group (again I was trying to figure out why the taxi drove so fast since we were so far ahead of the rest of the group). We met the rest of the group, ate breakfast, and started our trek. We started in the town and walked along the road most of the first day. Although walking along a road where trucks and vans past was not the greatest experience the views of the Andes were indescribable. 19km (12 miles) later we arrived at our campsite. We had views of both the Salkantay Mountain and another enormous glacier mountain. It was cold that night and we were all exhausted so we played some cards, ate dinner and went to bed very early.
9-27-08
We woke at 6am and hike 4 miles up to the highest point we would hike during the trip. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and we were not able to have a full view of the Salkantay Mountain but we did get an idea of how big it was. We were 4600 meters which is about 15000 feet above sea level. We continued on and hike and additional 14-19km (9-12 miles)(our guide was a little funny about the numbers so we are not sure exactly how far we hiked, but it was far. We arrived at our second campsite and the sky opened up about 10 minutes later. It poured all through the night.
9-28-08
We awoke extremely tired from two days of difficult hiking. We hiked through the jungle and along a river. The scenery was amazing and although we started seeing some bugs around the hike was still very nice. We arrived at our campsite which was abolutely infested with bugs. They were everywhere and absolutely loved Unger. He had a cloud following him around everywhere we went. A van took us down to the hotsprings at Santa Teresa. It was relaxing after 3 days of hiking. The night was definitely the worst night of sleep since the ground was uneven and there was a lot of noise since our campsite was next to a road. We all woke up eaten alive. I have bug bites all over my arms and lets and 5 days later there still big welts and they itch a lot. We found out they are sand flies which in my opinion are worse than mosquitos.
9-29-08
The last day was the worst day of the trek. The guide did not give us the option of doing the first half of the hike in a van or walking and it was along a road with lots of cars kicking up dust. We ate lunch at the hydro-electric power plant where the train station starts. We spent the second half of the day walking on train tracks. It got very repetitive, difficult and boring. We did however see our first glimpse of Machu Picchu very far below the mountain, so that was nice. After 4 days of hiking and 70-80km which is about 45-48 miles of hiking we arrived in Aguas Calientes. We had an option to climb up another mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu but I decided I was a little too tired. Unger and Elli went. I ate lunch and relaxed. We went to dinner with the group and had pizza.
9-30-08
We woke up at 4:20am and waited for the bus to Machu Picchu. We were able to get on the first bus. We got in and went straight to Huayna Picchu mountain which is the famous mountain that is behind Machu Picchu in all the pictures. They only allow 400 people up each day so we were happy to be the first people up the mountain. It was a difficult time since we were all still tired from our trek but the views at the top made it worth it. We stayed up there for about an hour and then went back down to meet our guide for the tour of Machu Picchu. Unger and I decided only to do part of the tour and instead just sat there and looked at the incredible ruins from a lookout point at the top of the ruins. We then walked down to Aguas Calientes, ate lunch, checked internet, and met the group for happy hour at a bar down the street from the hotel. We caught the train to Ollantytambo and then caught the bus into Cusco. Overall the trip was a success and I was happy I was able to accomplish it.
So the 4am wakeup wasn't too enjoyable. The taxi was late so we could have probably slept in till at least 4:20. We were taken to a market where we met the rest of our group. The van they had hired only had 9 seats and we were eleven so me, an Australian named Glenn, and Karin (one of the Swedes). I slept in the taxi, 1. because i was tired, and 2. because I didn't want to be awake to see our crazy driver drive off a cliff. We arrived about 25 minutes before the rest of the group (again I was trying to figure out why the taxi drove so fast since we were so far ahead of the rest of the group). We met the rest of the group, ate breakfast, and started our trek. We started in the town and walked along the road most of the first day. Although walking along a road where trucks and vans past was not the greatest experience the views of the Andes were indescribable. 19km (12 miles) later we arrived at our campsite. We had views of both the Salkantay Mountain and another enormous glacier mountain. It was cold that night and we were all exhausted so we played some cards, ate dinner and went to bed very early.
9-27-08
We woke at 6am and hike 4 miles up to the highest point we would hike during the trip. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and we were not able to have a full view of the Salkantay Mountain but we did get an idea of how big it was. We were 4600 meters which is about 15000 feet above sea level. We continued on and hike and additional 14-19km (9-12 miles)(our guide was a little funny about the numbers so we are not sure exactly how far we hiked, but it was far. We arrived at our second campsite and the sky opened up about 10 minutes later. It poured all through the night.
9-28-08
We awoke extremely tired from two days of difficult hiking. We hiked through the jungle and along a river. The scenery was amazing and although we started seeing some bugs around the hike was still very nice. We arrived at our campsite which was abolutely infested with bugs. They were everywhere and absolutely loved Unger. He had a cloud following him around everywhere we went. A van took us down to the hotsprings at Santa Teresa. It was relaxing after 3 days of hiking. The night was definitely the worst night of sleep since the ground was uneven and there was a lot of noise since our campsite was next to a road. We all woke up eaten alive. I have bug bites all over my arms and lets and 5 days later there still big welts and they itch a lot. We found out they are sand flies which in my opinion are worse than mosquitos.
9-29-08
The last day was the worst day of the trek. The guide did not give us the option of doing the first half of the hike in a van or walking and it was along a road with lots of cars kicking up dust. We ate lunch at the hydro-electric power plant where the train station starts. We spent the second half of the day walking on train tracks. It got very repetitive, difficult and boring. We did however see our first glimpse of Machu Picchu very far below the mountain, so that was nice. After 4 days of hiking and 70-80km which is about 45-48 miles of hiking we arrived in Aguas Calientes. We had an option to climb up another mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu but I decided I was a little too tired. Unger and Elli went. I ate lunch and relaxed. We went to dinner with the group and had pizza.
9-30-08
We woke up at 4:20am and waited for the bus to Machu Picchu. We were able to get on the first bus. We got in and went straight to Huayna Picchu mountain which is the famous mountain that is behind Machu Picchu in all the pictures. They only allow 400 people up each day so we were happy to be the first people up the mountain. It was a difficult time since we were all still tired from our trek but the views at the top made it worth it. We stayed up there for about an hour and then went back down to meet our guide for the tour of Machu Picchu. Unger and I decided only to do part of the tour and instead just sat there and looked at the incredible ruins from a lookout point at the top of the ruins. We then walked down to Aguas Calientes, ate lunch, checked internet, and met the group for happy hour at a bar down the street from the hotel. We caught the train to Ollantytambo and then caught the bus into Cusco. Overall the trip was a success and I was happy I was able to accomplish it.
Cusco
9-22-08
We woke up early and went to the airport to catch our flight to Cusco. They almost bumped us from the flight. Unger had a standby ticket and I had a real ticket but of course I would not abandon my friend so I was willing to wait if he had to wait. But instead we were able to get the last two seats on the plane, in which we sprinted across the tarmac and raced to our seats just as they were closing the doors. We arrived in Cusco, took a taxi to our hostel and walked around Cusco for a few hours. Highlight of the day was finding a restaurant called Mijunachis. It had 3 menus that ranged from 10 soles ($3.00) - 15 soles ($5.00). The menus were three courses which included an appetizer, soup, and entree, and also tea or lemonade. We ordered Alpaca (our first time trying this food). It tasted kind of like beef but probably a little gamier. We ultimately ate there 4 more times during our stay in Cusco. Great city.
9-23-08
Sara and her friend Elli were checking into the hotel as we were waking up. We decided we wanted to continue to get acclimitized by walking around the city some more (on a side note I had been taking altitude sickness pills for two days and they caused blurry vision which I thought was altitude sickness. It wasn't fun not being able to see for two days but once the pills wore off I got my vision back) We took Elli and Sara to Mijunachis and they liked it too. We started looking for a tour operater so that we could do the Salkantay trek. We went to South American Explorers and they recommended a company called Quechuas. The owner seemed like a nice guy and quoted us a price of $210 for 4 nights, 5 days, entry to Machu Picchu, hotel on the last night and train back to Cusco. This price was a lot better than the $430 that Unger and I almost spent to do the Salkantay Trek. We decided to book the trip that would leave on September 26. We went back to the hostel relaxed for a little while and then went to the store to buy food since Unger and I were cooking dinner for the girls that night. We made chicken and pasta but the pasta turned out soggy and clumpy (Not our fault, we didn't have a strainer). We then decided to watch a movie. We started Hostel which I thought was completely appropriate since we were staying in a hostel in South America but when we got to the point in the movie where the guy cuts the kids achilles tendons I was forced by the other three to turn the movie off. We watch 40 Year Old Virgin instead; not a bad second choice.
9-24-08
We wanted to do some excercise to make sure we were ready for our trek. We took a taxi up the the ruins that are about 6 miles from Cusco and then hike down the mountain stopping at about 4 or 5 sets of ruins on the way (a little advice if you are ever in Cusco: don't leave your hotel wearing just shorts and a tee shirt because the weather can change very very quickly. We left and it was about 80 degrees and by the time we got to the top of the mountain the wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped. I ended up buying an alpaca sweater which I very much overpaid for. Peruvian crafts people = 1, Brian = 0) The ruins were interesting and we got lost several times and had to ask for directions on how to get to the next ruins. I'm pretty sure we left Unger in charge of directions. The last set of ruins we encountered before Cusco were incredible. There were 3 tiered walls that probably went up about 100 feet or so. It started to rain so we made our way back to Cusco. We met the Swedish girls and went to a restaurant called Kusikoy. We proceeded to order our entrees and Unger, Sara, and I decided it was time to sample the little Peruvian delicassee, Kuy. We had actually decided earlier in the day, hence the restaurant's name Kusikoy. Now this is a very special dish and takes about 40 minutes, since I guess they put it on a rotisseree or something. We ate our entrees and about 10 minutes later the waiter brought the little critter out. Now, the best part about this meal is that they don't filet, skin, remove paws, head, etc. The cook the little guy up, full body intact and serve it just like that. It arrived with teeth still intact as well and a huge pepper in its mouth. I thought it was a nice touch. I can't really explain how it tastes so I will just say that it tastes like the dark meat of chicken, with a little bit of a difference. I enjoyed it but will probably never eat it again. Scratch that off my list of things to do before I die. I am unhappy to say that the most expensive meal by far I have eaten in South America was a rodent. The good news is that I didn't get sick.
9-25-08
It was a very uneventful day. We wanted to try to conserve some money, since at the moment with Machu Picchu and Galapagos we are haemorrhaging money. So we hung out at the hostel, went to the store to buy water and snacks for our hike, ate at Mijunachis, and returned to the hostel. We met with our guide so we could go over a little pre-trek information and then I went out to dinner with an Irish girl we had met in Quito who happened to be staying at the same hotel in Cusco. I had to finish packing up before our 4am wakeup and I barely slept about 2 hours.
We woke up early and went to the airport to catch our flight to Cusco. They almost bumped us from the flight. Unger had a standby ticket and I had a real ticket but of course I would not abandon my friend so I was willing to wait if he had to wait. But instead we were able to get the last two seats on the plane, in which we sprinted across the tarmac and raced to our seats just as they were closing the doors. We arrived in Cusco, took a taxi to our hostel and walked around Cusco for a few hours. Highlight of the day was finding a restaurant called Mijunachis. It had 3 menus that ranged from 10 soles ($3.00) - 15 soles ($5.00). The menus were three courses which included an appetizer, soup, and entree, and also tea or lemonade. We ordered Alpaca (our first time trying this food). It tasted kind of like beef but probably a little gamier. We ultimately ate there 4 more times during our stay in Cusco. Great city.
9-23-08
Sara and her friend Elli were checking into the hotel as we were waking up. We decided we wanted to continue to get acclimitized by walking around the city some more (on a side note I had been taking altitude sickness pills for two days and they caused blurry vision which I thought was altitude sickness. It wasn't fun not being able to see for two days but once the pills wore off I got my vision back) We took Elli and Sara to Mijunachis and they liked it too. We started looking for a tour operater so that we could do the Salkantay trek. We went to South American Explorers and they recommended a company called Quechuas. The owner seemed like a nice guy and quoted us a price of $210 for 4 nights, 5 days, entry to Machu Picchu, hotel on the last night and train back to Cusco. This price was a lot better than the $430 that Unger and I almost spent to do the Salkantay Trek. We decided to book the trip that would leave on September 26. We went back to the hostel relaxed for a little while and then went to the store to buy food since Unger and I were cooking dinner for the girls that night. We made chicken and pasta but the pasta turned out soggy and clumpy (Not our fault, we didn't have a strainer). We then decided to watch a movie. We started Hostel which I thought was completely appropriate since we were staying in a hostel in South America but when we got to the point in the movie where the guy cuts the kids achilles tendons I was forced by the other three to turn the movie off. We watch 40 Year Old Virgin instead; not a bad second choice.
9-24-08
We wanted to do some excercise to make sure we were ready for our trek. We took a taxi up the the ruins that are about 6 miles from Cusco and then hike down the mountain stopping at about 4 or 5 sets of ruins on the way (a little advice if you are ever in Cusco: don't leave your hotel wearing just shorts and a tee shirt because the weather can change very very quickly. We left and it was about 80 degrees and by the time we got to the top of the mountain the wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped. I ended up buying an alpaca sweater which I very much overpaid for. Peruvian crafts people = 1, Brian = 0) The ruins were interesting and we got lost several times and had to ask for directions on how to get to the next ruins. I'm pretty sure we left Unger in charge of directions. The last set of ruins we encountered before Cusco were incredible. There were 3 tiered walls that probably went up about 100 feet or so. It started to rain so we made our way back to Cusco. We met the Swedish girls and went to a restaurant called Kusikoy. We proceeded to order our entrees and Unger, Sara, and I decided it was time to sample the little Peruvian delicassee, Kuy. We had actually decided earlier in the day, hence the restaurant's name Kusikoy. Now this is a very special dish and takes about 40 minutes, since I guess they put it on a rotisseree or something. We ate our entrees and about 10 minutes later the waiter brought the little critter out. Now, the best part about this meal is that they don't filet, skin, remove paws, head, etc. The cook the little guy up, full body intact and serve it just like that. It arrived with teeth still intact as well and a huge pepper in its mouth. I thought it was a nice touch. I can't really explain how it tastes so I will just say that it tastes like the dark meat of chicken, with a little bit of a difference. I enjoyed it but will probably never eat it again. Scratch that off my list of things to do before I die. I am unhappy to say that the most expensive meal by far I have eaten in South America was a rodent. The good news is that I didn't get sick.
9-25-08
It was a very uneventful day. We wanted to try to conserve some money, since at the moment with Machu Picchu and Galapagos we are haemorrhaging money. So we hung out at the hostel, went to the store to buy water and snacks for our hike, ate at Mijunachis, and returned to the hostel. We met with our guide so we could go over a little pre-trek information and then I went out to dinner with an Irish girl we had met in Quito who happened to be staying at the same hotel in Cusco. I had to finish packing up before our 4am wakeup and I barely slept about 2 hours.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Lima
9-20-08
Lima was a big city. We only stayed for a few days which was good because as I have just said Lima is big and overwhelming. We woke up and found out where an American bar was (typical Americans). We walked about 30 minutes to the bar and when we saw the prices we realized we did not have enough money. So we took a taxi back to the hostel got some more money and walked to the bar...once again. We proceeded to drink beer and watch 8 hours of American football. Absolutely incredible, probably my favorite day in South America (ok that is a lie, but it was extremely enjoyable). We watch Florida stomp Tennessee and then the highlight of the day was definitely watching Georgia make ASU look stupid. Now the score was only 28-10 but Georgia was driving and decided to show some mercy at the 1 yard line by just downing the ball. ASU would not have had that much class if the roles were reversed, but Georgia does and UofA has a better record than ASU. OK enough football talk since I am traveling in South America right now and should be concentrating on Soccer or whatever other sports the rest of the world watches. Cost of food today = $7.00, cost of beer = more than food. The end...good night.
9-21-08
We woke up and the hostel owner lent (loaned? I don't know, I speak spanish now, nos presto) us some fishing poles. These were ocean rods that would about 10 feet long and were prepped and ready to catch some monster fish...or sharks. I was pumped. We walked about a mile to the water, ready to tackle a giant from the sea. We cast our lines in the water, let them soak for a while just like the pros do (about 5 minutes), started reeling in our lines and realized we were both caught on the rocks. About 15 minutes later we were both able to unhook our lines from the rocky depths of the Lima coast. Attempt number 2: I was ready. This time I cast the line so far there was no way I was caught on the rocks. Let my bait soak, just like the pros (3 minutes) went to reel my line in, and this time I had a monster...rock. I fought and fought with this rock, and finally it got the best of me and snapped my line. Oh by the way the same thing happened to Unger. We both went to put new hooks on and try again when we realized the only other hooks we had did not have holes in them. I don't know what you do with a fishing hook that doesn't have holes. But I know what we did, called it a day and walked back to the hostel, dejected from our two extreme fishing failures on this trip. I know the fishing gods are just waiting until we fly fish in Argentina, where we will reel in monster trout and set records, but it is still frustrating right now. I'm a patient fisherman though. Total trip time = 3 hours. Total fishing time = 7 minutes. We went back to the hostel and met our two Swedish friends (Ellinor and Karin) which we had met earlier in the day and decided to get some pizza with them. We went back to the hostel and they taught us how to play Yatzee before we went to bed.
9-22-08
We woke up early and went to the airport to catch our flight to Cusco. They almost bumped us from the flight. Unger had a standby ticket and I had a real ticket but of course I would not abandon my friend so I was willing to wait if he had to wait. But instead we were able to get the last two seats on the plane, in which we sprinted across the tarmac and raced to our seats just as they were closing the doors. We arrived in Cusco, took a taxi to our hostel and walked around Cusco for a few hours. Great city.
Lima was a big city. We only stayed for a few days which was good because as I have just said Lima is big and overwhelming. We woke up and found out where an American bar was (typical Americans). We walked about 30 minutes to the bar and when we saw the prices we realized we did not have enough money. So we took a taxi back to the hostel got some more money and walked to the bar...once again. We proceeded to drink beer and watch 8 hours of American football. Absolutely incredible, probably my favorite day in South America (ok that is a lie, but it was extremely enjoyable). We watch Florida stomp Tennessee and then the highlight of the day was definitely watching Georgia make ASU look stupid. Now the score was only 28-10 but Georgia was driving and decided to show some mercy at the 1 yard line by just downing the ball. ASU would not have had that much class if the roles were reversed, but Georgia does and UofA has a better record than ASU. OK enough football talk since I am traveling in South America right now and should be concentrating on Soccer or whatever other sports the rest of the world watches. Cost of food today = $7.00, cost of beer = more than food. The end...good night.
9-21-08
We woke up and the hostel owner lent (loaned? I don't know, I speak spanish now, nos presto) us some fishing poles. These were ocean rods that would about 10 feet long and were prepped and ready to catch some monster fish...or sharks. I was pumped. We walked about a mile to the water, ready to tackle a giant from the sea. We cast our lines in the water, let them soak for a while just like the pros do (about 5 minutes), started reeling in our lines and realized we were both caught on the rocks. About 15 minutes later we were both able to unhook our lines from the rocky depths of the Lima coast. Attempt number 2: I was ready. This time I cast the line so far there was no way I was caught on the rocks. Let my bait soak, just like the pros (3 minutes) went to reel my line in, and this time I had a monster...rock. I fought and fought with this rock, and finally it got the best of me and snapped my line. Oh by the way the same thing happened to Unger. We both went to put new hooks on and try again when we realized the only other hooks we had did not have holes in them. I don't know what you do with a fishing hook that doesn't have holes. But I know what we did, called it a day and walked back to the hostel, dejected from our two extreme fishing failures on this trip. I know the fishing gods are just waiting until we fly fish in Argentina, where we will reel in monster trout and set records, but it is still frustrating right now. I'm a patient fisherman though. Total trip time = 3 hours. Total fishing time = 7 minutes. We went back to the hostel and met our two Swedish friends (Ellinor and Karin) which we had met earlier in the day and decided to get some pizza with them. We went back to the hostel and they taught us how to play Yatzee before we went to bed.
9-22-08
We woke up early and went to the airport to catch our flight to Cusco. They almost bumped us from the flight. Unger had a standby ticket and I had a real ticket but of course I would not abandon my friend so I was willing to wait if he had to wait. But instead we were able to get the last two seats on the plane, in which we sprinted across the tarmac and raced to our seats just as they were closing the doors. We arrived in Cusco, took a taxi to our hostel and walked around Cusco for a few hours. Great city.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
The Galapagos Islands
I will start by saying this is the most incredible place I have ever been to in my life. It was everything I was hoping it would be and then some. Our round trip flight, $100 park entry fee, visit to four islands, food and all other misc expenses ended up costing a little under $1000. It is not cheap to get there but we did a pretty good job financially due to the fact that we did not even have a hotel or any tours booked when we showed up on the islands. I highly recommend to anybody that comes down to South America (specifically Ecuador) to go to the Galapagos. Plan the Galapagos when you are planning your budget. It is worth every penny. And unless you go during the months of April, May, or June, don´t listen to anybody who tells you you have to plan your cruise, or daytrips, or whatever ahead of time. This is completely false during non-peak season and we received 30-50% off of every trip we took by booking on the island. And you do not need to take a cruise either. People told us we were crazy not to set up a cruise, but in reality we stayed at a nice hotel for $12.50 per night and did not have to stay in a tiny stateroom with a shared bathroom and rocking ship all night. Now we were able to spend maybe $500-$700 on a cruise which is going to give you the bare minimum. If you can afford $1300 or more there are some very nice last minute cruises to take but Unger and I are poor travelers and decided just to stay on the island and do day trips.
9-13-08
We woke up early in Guayaquil to catch our 9:45am flight to Baltra Island in the Galapagos. The flight took about 1:45 minutes. The very first thing we had to do when we got off the plane was pay our $100 park entry fee, that stung a little but we knew it was coming. We couldn´t really figure out where the $100 went because because we had to pay other little fees for everything else as well. We got our luggage and jumped on the first bus (the only free bus) which took us about 15 minutes to the end of Baltra Island. We then got on a ferry that took us across a channel which took about 10 minutes and cost about $0.80, so not a lot of money, but once again where did our $100 go, because the research centers on the islands (where we would have expected the money to go) are all privately funded. We got off the boat and then took another bus about 45 minutes ($1.80) into Puerto Ayora which is the town where we would be spending the next four nights. As stated before we had no reservation and went to sit on a bench to figure out what we were going to do. Take a cruise or don´t take a cruise? was the main question we were asking ourselves. This guy on a bicycle showed up and asked us if we had any plans yet. We said no and proceed to follow him to his office which was a travel agency. He tried to sell us a 5 night cruise that was leaving 30 minutes later. Unger was ready to go if the guy would give us the right price. Luckily he would not go any lower than $600 and we didn´t think it was worth it for what he was offering (We found out later that the boat we would take called the Friendship is one of the worst boats in the Galapagos and the guide speaks very little English and Galapagos Spanish which is very much different than mainland Spanish. Also the captain is usually drunk and the engine breaks down all the time and they just fix enough so when the next group gets on the boat they don´t know any better. So once again I am glad the guy would not go any lower on the price. We went in search of an internet cafe to see if Gal, our Israeli friend, had arrived yet since he was supposed to be on the same flight and definitely was not. As we were walking out we ran into Gal and Sara (our English friend who we met in Quito and travelled to Cotopaxi with. Sara is traveling for 2 years and is the nicest and most genuine person we have met on our trip). They happened to have a hotel that had four beds so we tagged along and arrived at a lovely little hotel called Hotel Espana. They had hammocks and couches set up in the main common area and the room was clean with a private bathroom. Shortly after arrival a taxi picked us up and we went on a land tour of Santa Cruz Island. We went to Los Gemelos which are two gigantic sink wholes caused by volcanic disturbances. We then went to a farm where giant turtles live naturally. It was incredible to see the lazy, 100+ year old turtles just lounging around in the wild. The farm also had a ping pong table. Unger and I played to 2 and I think I won. He might say differently but I´m pretty sure I won. We got back in the taxi and were then taken to the lava tubes, which were formed when Los Gemelos collapsed (for the record most of this information was told to us in Spanish and Unger did only a little bit of translating so I´m happy with my progress of this language). The lava tubes are these huge caves that we walked through for about 20 minutes. At one point we had to crawl through the mud on our hands and knees (it had rained). We were then taken back to the hotel where we showered and then went up the street to the hostel owner´s uncle´s restaurant, which was basically an outdoor BBQ. I had fish, beans, and rice for $5. We went to bed early after a long day of travel and touring.
9-14-08
Sara and Gal woke up early to go diving. Now even though the owners of the hotel thought Unger and I would be able to go (with absolutely no experience, and you are supposed to be licensed even in Ecuador) Unger and I chose life over drowning and went to the Darwin Research Center to visit primarily Lonesome George (if you don´t know Lonesome George is 150 year old giant turtle who happens to be the last of his species. Scientist have been trying to get him to impregnate a similar species of turtle for some time, but at Lonesome George´s age I would be picky too. Now rumor has it that they gave him some turtle Viagra and he has impregnated I believe 3 females, so Congratulations Lonesome George. You are going to be a daddy!) We saw the Iguanas, other turtles, read about some of the history of the islands, and of course saw Lonesome George. There were a lot of tourists there so Unger and I got out of there quickly. We next walked to the opposite side of town and began our trek towards Tortuga Bay. Tortuga Bay is a beach that is only accessed by walking down a 2km (1.2mile for the only country in the world that doesn´t use the metric system) and then additional 1km on a white sand beach. We arrived at this isolated beach which had very little surf because of the rocks protecting it from the ocean. It was incredible. The weather was nice and there were not a lot of people there. I put sunscreen on and asked unger to help me out with my back. He said he would but in a little while and I wanted to go swimming so I said screw it (see photos for outcome of my decision not to wait). We tried snorkelling but the water was not clear at Tortuga bay so we couldn´t see much. We laid in the sun, ate some snacks, had some beverages and left later in the afternoon. On the way out we saw rays, sharks, finches, a bunch of iguanas and about 7 sea turtles about 20 feet from the shore. It was awesome. We met Gal and Sara and and decided to go (well Unger decided to go, I just followed with everybody else) to Las Grietas which I believe translates to "the cliffs" because that is what they were. Anyway, along with the same theme, I value my life so decided I did not want to jump the thirty feet into a very narrow strip of water. Gal and Unger did it. I'm starting to think maybe I have a fear of heights, or maybe more a fear of just jumping off those heights. I have had several dreams where i am falling off a cliff to my death so maybe my fear is warranted. Afterwards we went back to Esther´s (hostel owner) uncles restaurant. Why change a good thing?
9-15-08
So we decided to take a day trip to Floreana (an island). We had to be at the docks at about 7am and Esther and Roberta (other hotel employee) made us empenadas. They ended making us empenadas every day we were there. For some reason they liked us. I don't know why. So we went down to the dock and got in this little boat. It was a miserable ride. The boat was not very comfortable and pretty small so every wave it hit we could feel. We arrived in Floreana to see sea turtles and marine iguanas right next to the dock. We were taken up the mountain there and then hiked through a giant turtle reserve and then around some ruins. The views were amazing. We then went back to the boat and ate a pretty good lunch. I think it was fried rice. After we stopped at our first snorkelling site called devil's crown. It is a very small island off the coast of Floreana and the wild life is amazing. From blue footed boobies to white frigate birds, black frigate birds, masked boobies, pelicans, etc. We say rays, fish, sea turtles, sea lions, etc. It was amazing. We then went to Champion Island (another small island that drops off into very deep water. We saw a lot of the same wildlife there but there was an incredible amount of fish and I saw a yellow tail tuna which I tried to catch to make sushi, but it was too fast. We got home around 5pm, went back to Esther's uncles restaurant and went to the hotel for bed. Very early wakeup the next morning.
9-16-08
Woke up at 4:30am. Roberta had empenadas waiting. I promise we insisted the night before she not wake up to make them but she did anyway. We couldn't let them go to waste so of course we ate them. Boarded the boat which to our pleasant surprise was quite a bit bigger than the Floreana boat. Oh by the way we were heading to Bartolome (highlight of the trip). The boat had two floors and on the upper deck had pads set up. I definitely went right back to bed because i believe the boat ride was about 3 hours. I'm not sure the exact time but that sounds about right. I woke up about an hour into the ride and enjoyed the views of rays jumping out of the water and birds flying along side the boat. It was quite a sight. We arrived at Bartolome and I was immediately blown away. Every island is unique. I'm not going to try to explain it but my photos illustrate my point. Please view. Anyway we got off the boat and walked up the trail. It was about 30 minutes to the top. We enjoyed amazing views of multiple islands (I don't remember how many but I think it was 3 or maybe 5). We stayed up there for about 20 or 30 minutes and then headed down to the boat to eat lunch. It was fish, good. We then were taken in a dingy to our snorkelling spot. We left from a beach so different than Floreana but just as amazing. We saw thousands of fish and the highlight of the day was definitely watching about 15 blue footed boobies dive into the water at extreme speeds and then swim around to catch fish. They look so goofy on the ground but are very graceful in the air and even in the water. After snorkelling we got back in the boat and returned to Santa Cruz. We discussed going back the Esther's uncle's but found out it was closed. Esther's aunt was at the hotel and was going to make us lobster but the store she was going to buy the lobster from was closed (once again we insisted that she did not do this but once again for some reason they liked us). We decided instead to go with a big group to eat Pizza. Went to bed.
9-17-08
We woke up at a reasonable hour and went back to Tortuga Bay since Gal and Sara had not been there yet. The weather was not as good as the first time we were there but there was a blue footed boobie that we were able to get extremely close to and get some great photos. We then returned to the hotel to pick up our luggage since we were headed to Isabella for a 2 day tour. Unger and I are dumb and almost missed the boat. At times I wish we had because this boat was by far the worst boat ride I have ever been on. The boat was tiny, packed with about 18 people, had two different size engines (I swear, the smaller one did nothing), and every time we hit a wave we went flying in the air. I'm going to have permanent damage to my back and my internal organs have all shift from the impact. But when we arrived, and saw how beautiful Isabella is, we forgot about the boat ride (ok that is a lie, but at least Isabella is beautiful). We went to the hotel which was pretty nice (had TV and AC, two things we take for granted in US hotels). We were only at the hotel for a few minutes as we had a tour of the turtle reserve (yes, we saw a lot of turtles, but they are pretty cool), followed by a walk through the lagoons to try to see flamingos. We saw 3 flamingos in one lagoon but they were really far away. We then got to the last lagoon and saw one flamingo really close up. It had a broken wing and our guide told us it just hangs around at this one lagoon and is always there. This sounds really bad but we think they maybe broke the wing on purpose so that the flamingo can never fly away the tourists will keep coming back. We ate dinner at the hotel and went to bed.
9-18-08
We woke up early and took a van to Sierra Negra Volcano. The beginning was completely foggy and muddy but the top was incredible with unbelievable views. We hike to Chico Volcano which is smaller. We learned that there are 5 volcanos that formed Isabella which is the biggest of the Galapagos Islands. We ate lunch at Chico and then returned. In total we hike 10 miles which was good excercise and good warmup for Machu Picchu. At sea level I did fine. We will see what happens in Peru. We went back to the hotel, changed and hike Las Tintas which had hundreds of iguana, some sea lions, crabs, of course, and a pool where white tipped reef sharks could be seen. We then went snorkelling for the 5th time which was still great and we saw quite a bit.
9-19-08
We woke up at 5am, took the 6am boat back to Santa Cruz. Although it was the same boat there were half the people and since it was morning the sea was more calm. We were also prepared for a very long day so this was just the beginning. We went to the hotel, collected our luggage, said goodbye to Esther and Roberta, and took the 45 minute bus (which Hanne and Norman happened to be on) to the 10 minute boat which connected to the 15 minute bus ride to the airport. You can see where I'm going with this. We flew to Guayaquil which took 1 hour 45 minutes and as soon as we got off the plane collected our luggage and checked in to our next flight which was too Lima and was another hour and 45 minutes. it was the nicest plane I have ever been on and Unger and I were wishing the flight was longer since we got free snacks (doesn't happen in the states anymore) and free movies, tv shows, games, etc (also doesn't happen in the states anymore). Once we arrived we cleared customs, since it was an international flight. Unger and I are dumb and we both lost or could not locate, you choose, our entry tickets into Ecuador. The customs agent was not happy with us but let us fill out new tickets. We then got into a taxi which took us 45 minutes to Miraflores district (gringolandia II) where our hostel was. We went to bed after a very long day of travel. I already miss the Galapagos Islands.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Skip Guayaquil
9/13/08
The bus ride was terrifying as usual. But instead of the normal terror of hitting a pedestrian or car, this time it was the drive through the Andes. At times the road was barely wide enough for two cars and right next to the toad was a 1000 foot cliff. And of course if a car or truck was going too slow the driver passed him. But we did get to watch Fast and the Furious 1,2,&3 and also the beginning of Torque; four award quality movies. I think these might be the movies the Ecuadorian bus drivers watch when they learn to drive. Guayaquil was an ugly bustling city that smells bad. I'm glad we didn't spend any time there. On the plane right now waiting to leave for the Galapagos Islands. I am extremely excited as I believe this will be the highlight of our trip.
The bus ride was terrifying as usual. But instead of the normal terror of hitting a pedestrian or car, this time it was the drive through the Andes. At times the road was barely wide enough for two cars and right next to the toad was a 1000 foot cliff. And of course if a car or truck was going too slow the driver passed him. But we did get to watch Fast and the Furious 1,2,&3 and also the beginning of Torque; four award quality movies. I think these might be the movies the Ecuadorian bus drivers watch when they learn to drive. Guayaquil was an ugly bustling city that smells bad. I'm glad we didn't spend any time there. On the plane right now waiting to leave for the Galapagos Islands. I am extremely excited as I believe this will be the highlight of our trip.
We didn't even go to the hot springs
9-10-08
So we arrived in Banos which is famous for its hot springs. We spent three days there and didn't even make it to the hot springs. Oh well. The town was still a lot of fun. We woke up early and I began this blog. I got about two days worth complete and then we left to wander around town. Banos is this little town surrounded by huge green mountains on all sides. Everybody here is very nice as it is kind of a tourist town. We had some empenadas for breakfast and then rented some bikes. We began riding out of Banos and down toward the next town. Now it was enjoyable but we rode right on the road, yes the same road that the crazy bus drivers use. (We arrived when it was dark so I had no idea what the road was like. I'm glad it was dark because I would have panicked knowing the bus driver was driving as fast as he was with a gigantic cliff right next to us. Hey I'm assuming they train their bus drivers to avoid driving off cliffs, so we were probably safe) At one point we had to go through a tunnel that was pitch black. It was kind of terrifying. Next to the road was also about a 1000 foot cliff that led to a river. The highlight of the ride was the 6 or 7 waterfalls across the river. We stopped in a small town and hiked down to the river where there was a bridge across and a great view of a waterfall. We ate lunch and then negotiated with a truck driver who drove us back into Banos so I could make my 2pm Spanish lesson. The lesson was good. I got to talk with the teacher for two hours just in Spanish which was good practice. There are mostly English speaking people at the hostels so it is heard to practice Spanish. After the lesson we went to a bar to watch the Ecuador-Uraguay soccer game. They tied 0-0 (kind of boring). Not as good as being there. We went to dinner and then came back tot he hostel and played card games. A good day.
9/11/08
Today we woke up and went to this sort of farmer's market. We had fried egg, rice, chorizo, avocado, lettuce, potato cakes and beets with a cup of coffee for $2. I also purchased 3 $0.10 empenadas for later. What can I say? I like to eat. We hiked up a trail to this statue and hung out for a while. We then hiked down and stopped at the market again. Our fried Diego, from Guadalajara had never had South American empenadas before. He at 11. Unger and I each had 4. Unger and I went back to the hostel for a nap while the girls and Diego went to do a form of bungie jumping. You jump off a bridge and when the rope catches you swing back and forth. It only costs $15 and DIego was able to go twice for $20. What a smoking deal. Even with that great price I still just didn't feel the urge to go. If I'm going to plummet to my death I want to have paid more than $10 to do so. Unger and I decided to cook dinner at the hostel. We made pasta with meat sauce and melted chees. It tasted pretty good. We then went to a bar to meet my two teachers and another student (girl from Colorado). We sang Karoake (not me, but Unger sang Back Street Boys) and went back to the hostel and went to bed.
9/12/08
We woke up this morning, went and ate breakfast at the same place as yesterday and are now on a 7 hour bus ride to Guayaquil. Hopefully it will only take 7 hours (and we will live). Tomorrow we leave for the Galapagos Islands. More to report later.
So we arrived in Banos which is famous for its hot springs. We spent three days there and didn't even make it to the hot springs. Oh well. The town was still a lot of fun. We woke up early and I began this blog. I got about two days worth complete and then we left to wander around town. Banos is this little town surrounded by huge green mountains on all sides. Everybody here is very nice as it is kind of a tourist town. We had some empenadas for breakfast and then rented some bikes. We began riding out of Banos and down toward the next town. Now it was enjoyable but we rode right on the road, yes the same road that the crazy bus drivers use. (We arrived when it was dark so I had no idea what the road was like. I'm glad it was dark because I would have panicked knowing the bus driver was driving as fast as he was with a gigantic cliff right next to us. Hey I'm assuming they train their bus drivers to avoid driving off cliffs, so we were probably safe) At one point we had to go through a tunnel that was pitch black. It was kind of terrifying. Next to the road was also about a 1000 foot cliff that led to a river. The highlight of the ride was the 6 or 7 waterfalls across the river. We stopped in a small town and hiked down to the river where there was a bridge across and a great view of a waterfall. We ate lunch and then negotiated with a truck driver who drove us back into Banos so I could make my 2pm Spanish lesson. The lesson was good. I got to talk with the teacher for two hours just in Spanish which was good practice. There are mostly English speaking people at the hostels so it is heard to practice Spanish. After the lesson we went to a bar to watch the Ecuador-Uraguay soccer game. They tied 0-0 (kind of boring). Not as good as being there. We went to dinner and then came back tot he hostel and played card games. A good day.
9/11/08
Today we woke up and went to this sort of farmer's market. We had fried egg, rice, chorizo, avocado, lettuce, potato cakes and beets with a cup of coffee for $2. I also purchased 3 $0.10 empenadas for later. What can I say? I like to eat. We hiked up a trail to this statue and hung out for a while. We then hiked down and stopped at the market again. Our fried Diego, from Guadalajara had never had South American empenadas before. He at 11. Unger and I each had 4. Unger and I went back to the hostel for a nap while the girls and Diego went to do a form of bungie jumping. You jump off a bridge and when the rope catches you swing back and forth. It only costs $15 and DIego was able to go twice for $20. What a smoking deal. Even with that great price I still just didn't feel the urge to go. If I'm going to plummet to my death I want to have paid more than $10 to do so. Unger and I decided to cook dinner at the hostel. We made pasta with meat sauce and melted chees. It tasted pretty good. We then went to a bar to meet my two teachers and another student (girl from Colorado). We sang Karoake (not me, but Unger sang Back Street Boys) and went back to the hostel and went to bed.
9/12/08
We woke up this morning, went and ate breakfast at the same place as yesterday and are now on a 7 hour bus ride to Guayaquil. Hopefully it will only take 7 hours (and we will live). Tomorrow we leave for the Galapagos Islands. More to report later.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Hurricane Cotopaxi
9-8-08
So we didn't catch anything. And the road we took the bikes on was horrible. First a dirt road which was not very smooth and then a cobblestone road which was obviously not smooth, and not meant for bikes, or cars for that matter (I don't know what could comfortably travel on cobblestone). It was about 3 miles to the river, 3 painful miles. With the altitude and quality of the road we found the stream just in time because my lungs were ready to collapse. It was Unger, me and a couple that was traveling around the world before relocating from Canada to Australia. We have met many people but as expected not many Americans (We are currently riding the bus to Banos with 2 American girls but Americans are a rarity. I would say it is because of the economy but everything is so cheap here that now is the best time to travel) Anyway back to fishing. We finally found the raging river which was about 3 feet wide and maybe 2 feet deep. You can see right to the bottom and there were no fish anywhere. We walked up and down the stream looking and finally just dropped our lines into a deep pool. We got no bites and and decided to leave. Of course Unger tangled his line so we waited for him to untangle it. We rode back, ate lunch consisting of bread and vegetable soup. I took my first shower in 3 days and first hot shower in South America. I took a five minute nap and then read and talked to the other guests for about 2 hours. Dinner was very good BBQ chicken. Unger and I played scrabble after dinner and I crushed him. We went to bed early because in Cotopaxi everybody goes to bed early.
9-9-08
I awoke at 6:30 ready to take our day trip to Cotopaxi Volcano. 8 of us loaded into a pickup truck (four inside and four of us in the bed). It was a miserable hour and half on the same cobblestone road. It was pretty cold and the wind had picked up, so the four of us (Unger, me and the two girls we are with right now) covered ourselves with a blanket from the bed of the truck. We arrived at the base of the volcano and began our ascent. The incline was about 45 degrees and the wind was really picking up. Also there was so much cloud cover we couldn't really see anything. We couldn't look up anyway after about 50 yards because 50-60 mile per hour winds were blowing sleet into our face. The guide said we could turn around and go visit a lake instead. I thought that was a pretty good idea (understand I have never seen weather come even close to this and the guide later told us this was the worst weather he had ever seen up there) but our Australian friends Norman and Hanne were set on making it to the top. Norman is 71 who looks like he is in his 50s. So we continued on through ice and sleet and wind and finally reached the "Refuge", the building where we would be eating lunch. We ate hot soup and bread and at that point discussed going to the glacier about 300 meters further up the mountain. Now my lungs felt like I suffered from asthma and have been smoking a pack a day for years so I chose to stay. Did I mention I have a problem with altitude? But I figure there are plenty of other glaciers to see in the world. Ok, I'm an idiot and I think the altitude prevented at least half of my brain from functioning. Norman, the 71 year old businessman from Australia made it to the glacier. 46 years my senior and he made it and I didn't. I'm a little embarrassed. The highlight of the trip was the Andean wolf about 15 feet off the trail. We went back down the mountain and rushed back to the hostel to collect our bags and take the hour trip to Machachi which is about 15 miles away. I am now on a bus to Banos as stated before with Unger, Brittany, and Michelle (our new American friends). Back to civilization, sort of. It is sad.
So we didn't catch anything. And the road we took the bikes on was horrible. First a dirt road which was not very smooth and then a cobblestone road which was obviously not smooth, and not meant for bikes, or cars for that matter (I don't know what could comfortably travel on cobblestone). It was about 3 miles to the river, 3 painful miles. With the altitude and quality of the road we found the stream just in time because my lungs were ready to collapse. It was Unger, me and a couple that was traveling around the world before relocating from Canada to Australia. We have met many people but as expected not many Americans (We are currently riding the bus to Banos with 2 American girls but Americans are a rarity. I would say it is because of the economy but everything is so cheap here that now is the best time to travel) Anyway back to fishing. We finally found the raging river which was about 3 feet wide and maybe 2 feet deep. You can see right to the bottom and there were no fish anywhere. We walked up and down the stream looking and finally just dropped our lines into a deep pool. We got no bites and and decided to leave. Of course Unger tangled his line so we waited for him to untangle it. We rode back, ate lunch consisting of bread and vegetable soup. I took my first shower in 3 days and first hot shower in South America. I took a five minute nap and then read and talked to the other guests for about 2 hours. Dinner was very good BBQ chicken. Unger and I played scrabble after dinner and I crushed him. We went to bed early because in Cotopaxi everybody goes to bed early.
9-9-08
I awoke at 6:30 ready to take our day trip to Cotopaxi Volcano. 8 of us loaded into a pickup truck (four inside and four of us in the bed). It was a miserable hour and half on the same cobblestone road. It was pretty cold and the wind had picked up, so the four of us (Unger, me and the two girls we are with right now) covered ourselves with a blanket from the bed of the truck. We arrived at the base of the volcano and began our ascent. The incline was about 45 degrees and the wind was really picking up. Also there was so much cloud cover we couldn't really see anything. We couldn't look up anyway after about 50 yards because 50-60 mile per hour winds were blowing sleet into our face. The guide said we could turn around and go visit a lake instead. I thought that was a pretty good idea (understand I have never seen weather come even close to this and the guide later told us this was the worst weather he had ever seen up there) but our Australian friends Norman and Hanne were set on making it to the top. Norman is 71 who looks like he is in his 50s. So we continued on through ice and sleet and wind and finally reached the "Refuge", the building where we would be eating lunch. We ate hot soup and bread and at that point discussed going to the glacier about 300 meters further up the mountain. Now my lungs felt like I suffered from asthma and have been smoking a pack a day for years so I chose to stay. Did I mention I have a problem with altitude? But I figure there are plenty of other glaciers to see in the world. Ok, I'm an idiot and I think the altitude prevented at least half of my brain from functioning. Norman, the 71 year old businessman from Australia made it to the glacier. 46 years my senior and he made it and I didn't. I'm a little embarrassed. The highlight of the trip was the Andean wolf about 15 feet off the trail. We went back down the mountain and rushed back to the hostel to collect our bags and take the hour trip to Machachi which is about 15 miles away. I am now on a bus to Banos as stated before with Unger, Brittany, and Michelle (our new American friends). Back to civilization, sort of. It is sad.
"Si Se Puede"
Sorry it has taken so long for an update. It has been a very busy week.
9-6-08
I woke up the next day at 9am. Ate breakfast and just relaxed before the game. By noon we were dressed in our yellow Ecuador jerseys and got to cheer for "our" country against Bolivia. We took the bus about 45 minutes to the stadium. The game was incredible. Ecuador won 3-1 and all 40,000 fans were very happy. After the game we went back to the hostel (not before stopping for empenadas) and were ready to take salsa lessons. Unfortunately only about six of us were dancing, but it was still fun. The teacher said I was good, which as a white guy with 2 left feet, that is quite a compliment. After the dancing I went online to see that Arizona beat mighty Toledo and that made me happy. Although I didn't really want to go out, we decided it was our last night in Quito and went to "No Bar" which is a dance club in the new city (aka Gringo Landia). Without going into details it was a good night, followed by an awful 9am wakeup.
9-7-08
We packed up and took a truck the 30 miles to Cotopaxi Volcano. Two and half hours later (roads are not great here) we arrived at the hostel which has the most incredible view of the entire landscape and the volcano itself. The hostel is the owner's home which he bought about 2 years ago. There are a few bungalows with really comfortable bunk beds. I just basically sat in one of the hammocks most of the day and read and just enjoyed the scenery. The property has chickens, a pig, a sheep, rabbits, turkeys and guinea pig (aka cuy) which I have yet to try. All the food is home cooked and the meals have tasted great so far. We met a German family which we debated on the age of the son and daughter, but we think they were both in their early twenties. We discussed how it was interesting that they were doing a trip and staying in hostels like this, since I don't see many Americans doing something like this. They taught us how to play this card game that was fun. I lost but I was functioning on very little sleep. If I were rested I would have won easily. We went to bed early and now I am sitting writing in my journal about to take the bikes down to the river to go fishing. I'll update when I catch 10 trout. So maybe I will never update.
9-6-08
I woke up the next day at 9am. Ate breakfast and just relaxed before the game. By noon we were dressed in our yellow Ecuador jerseys and got to cheer for "our" country against Bolivia. We took the bus about 45 minutes to the stadium. The game was incredible. Ecuador won 3-1 and all 40,000 fans were very happy. After the game we went back to the hostel (not before stopping for empenadas) and were ready to take salsa lessons. Unfortunately only about six of us were dancing, but it was still fun. The teacher said I was good, which as a white guy with 2 left feet, that is quite a compliment. After the dancing I went online to see that Arizona beat mighty Toledo and that made me happy. Although I didn't really want to go out, we decided it was our last night in Quito and went to "No Bar" which is a dance club in the new city (aka Gringo Landia). Without going into details it was a good night, followed by an awful 9am wakeup.
9-7-08
We packed up and took a truck the 30 miles to Cotopaxi Volcano. Two and half hours later (roads are not great here) we arrived at the hostel which has the most incredible view of the entire landscape and the volcano itself. The hostel is the owner's home which he bought about 2 years ago. There are a few bungalows with really comfortable bunk beds. I just basically sat in one of the hammocks most of the day and read and just enjoyed the scenery. The property has chickens, a pig, a sheep, rabbits, turkeys and guinea pig (aka cuy) which I have yet to try. All the food is home cooked and the meals have tasted great so far. We met a German family which we debated on the age of the son and daughter, but we think they were both in their early twenties. We discussed how it was interesting that they were doing a trip and staying in hostels like this, since I don't see many Americans doing something like this. They taught us how to play this card game that was fun. I lost but I was functioning on very little sleep. If I were rested I would have won easily. We went to bed early and now I am sitting writing in my journal about to take the bikes down to the river to go fishing. I'll update when I catch 10 trout. So maybe I will never update.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Ecuadorian Bus Drivers
9-5-08
Today was an interesting day. We woke up and ate our $3.50 breakfast which included French Toast today. We then decided to visit "La Mitad del Mundo" (interestingly there are 2 places that consider themselves the center of the world but the actually center is on the top of a hill with nothing around it). We started by going to one bus station which sent us to another bus station which finally sent us to another station. Now all of this was in Spanish and I got bits and pieces but Unger's Spanish is really good and we definitely were told to go to three different stations. "La Mitad del Mundo" is 30km from Quito which takes about an hour by taxi and 2 hours by bus. The bus costs $0.50 total with one transfer. Naturally we took the bus. Now let me tell you something about Ecuadorian bus drivers; their mentality is "I have the biggest vehicle on the road so you better move out of the way or I will a. run over you or b. pass you going 70mph in the U.S. equivalent to a 25mph zone." We would learn later this mentality applies to all bus drivers. It was not an isolated incident. I guess the fact that we were not locals allowed us to wait for the bus to make a full stop before we got on or off. This generosity does not apply to most, as typically if the bus slows down to 5-10mph to allow passengers on or off, these people are lucky. So of course we were happy when we made it without killing anybody or dying. We first went to the most famous site, took about 20 pictures, bought jerseys for the soccer game (Ecuador vs. Bolivia), had a beer and empenada, and left. We also met a girl from Germany named Silvana who we spent the rest of the day with. We then went to the other museum that claims to be the "real" center of the world. We chose to have a Spanish speaking guide and I actually understood most of what he said so I was happy. The tour consisted of a bunch of different experiments and exhibits with water, sundials, etc. I'm not going into details but it was fun. I will mention we saw a real shrunken human head that was 150 years old and we got to try to shoot a blowdart at a cactus. Based on the fact that if you missed the cactus, and everybody does, you could possibly hit a passing tourist, I don't think this activity will be allowed in the states anytime soon. we then took another bus to the only inhabited crater in the world. We showed up and the fog was so thick you couldn't see more than 20 feet down. Luckily the fog cleared and we were able to see a good amount of the crater. We then left and caught the bus back to Quito. Luckily a passenger told us we had to get off or we would start to go around in a circle. Unluckily we had no idea where we were. So we grabbed some food (corn, mini potatoes, and mystery meat, possibly chicken) and walked in the general direction of the hostel. we found our street and got some more food (chicken skewers and mystery ball of something with something inside; it tasted ok). Got to the hostel, played "pub quiz" aka trivia, lost miserably, then went to an Irish Pub called Finns. Went to bed at 4am. The end...for now
Today was an interesting day. We woke up and ate our $3.50 breakfast which included French Toast today. We then decided to visit "La Mitad del Mundo" (interestingly there are 2 places that consider themselves the center of the world but the actually center is on the top of a hill with nothing around it). We started by going to one bus station which sent us to another bus station which finally sent us to another station. Now all of this was in Spanish and I got bits and pieces but Unger's Spanish is really good and we definitely were told to go to three different stations. "La Mitad del Mundo" is 30km from Quito which takes about an hour by taxi and 2 hours by bus. The bus costs $0.50 total with one transfer. Naturally we took the bus. Now let me tell you something about Ecuadorian bus drivers; their mentality is "I have the biggest vehicle on the road so you better move out of the way or I will a. run over you or b. pass you going 70mph in the U.S. equivalent to a 25mph zone." We would learn later this mentality applies to all bus drivers. It was not an isolated incident. I guess the fact that we were not locals allowed us to wait for the bus to make a full stop before we got on or off. This generosity does not apply to most, as typically if the bus slows down to 5-10mph to allow passengers on or off, these people are lucky. So of course we were happy when we made it without killing anybody or dying. We first went to the most famous site, took about 20 pictures, bought jerseys for the soccer game (Ecuador vs. Bolivia), had a beer and empenada, and left. We also met a girl from Germany named Silvana who we spent the rest of the day with. We then went to the other museum that claims to be the "real" center of the world. We chose to have a Spanish speaking guide and I actually understood most of what he said so I was happy. The tour consisted of a bunch of different experiments and exhibits with water, sundials, etc. I'm not going into details but it was fun. I will mention we saw a real shrunken human head that was 150 years old and we got to try to shoot a blowdart at a cactus. Based on the fact that if you missed the cactus, and everybody does, you could possibly hit a passing tourist, I don't think this activity will be allowed in the states anytime soon. we then took another bus to the only inhabited crater in the world. We showed up and the fog was so thick you couldn't see more than 20 feet down. Luckily the fog cleared and we were able to see a good amount of the crater. We then left and caught the bus back to Quito. Luckily a passenger told us we had to get off or we would start to go around in a circle. Unluckily we had no idea where we were. So we grabbed some food (corn, mini potatoes, and mystery meat, possibly chicken) and walked in the general direction of the hostel. we found our street and got some more food (chicken skewers and mystery ball of something with something inside; it tasted ok). Got to the hostel, played "pub quiz" aka trivia, lost miserably, then went to an Irish Pub called Finns. Went to bed at 4am. The end...for now
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
An Interesting Start
9/3/08
Well, after months of planning and waiting, we are finally off. I was up at 4:15am to catch my 7:20 flight out of SFO. I slept the first two hours of my flight and then decided to purchase a movie (Delta now charges $6 for movies also they charge for snacks and basically everything else. Anybody who has seen the Southwest commercial knows what I am talking about.) I arrived in Atlanta 20 minutes early but had to wait for the plane in our gate to depart, so I ended up arriving right on time, which for the airlines these days is very good. I met Unger at his gate and we are now currently waiting for the maintenance guys to repair the telephone. Assuming we arrive safely in Quito I will have more to report (hopefully interesting stuff) later. One thing to add; we finally took off. This plane is really old and loud. I hope the plane can make it the 2600 miles.
9/4/08
Well the good news is that I am writing which means the plane managed to survive the flight (who knows how many more flights the old fellow has left in him). Along with the rattling and other noises the plane still had ashtrays in the bathroom so I´m assuming the plane is more than 20 years old. All in all the flight was ok. (fastfowarding a bit; our taxi driver from the airport told us they are building a new airport outside of the city because the runway is too short. We coincidentally ran into our flight attendant and the two pilots while hiking a volcano in Quito and the pilot told us a story about an Iberian Airlines flight that landed, went straight through the end of the runway and came to a stop about 100 feet from a neighborhood. So now I am extremely happy we landed ok). I got ahead of myself but the story was relevant. Anyway, we arrived at the hostel which for $8/night is pretty nice. The building is very old, and the hallways and ceilings in places are narrow and low, respectively. But the view of Old Town Quito from the fifth floor terrace is incredible. Although the room is clean and bunk beds are actually relatively comfortable, I did not sleep much because some late night revelers were yelling at about 3:30am until about 4:30am. I don´t think the same noise rules apply to hostels as they do to hotels. But once again for $8 it is good. We woke up early and went up to the terrace for a relatively expensive breakfast for Ecuador standards. It was $3.50 all you can eat freshly cooked omelets, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, fruit cups, coffee, and juice. When we saw the price we said "screw it" and decided to splurge a little. After breakfast we hiked up a flight of stairs to a park called Ichimbia. Now I realize although I do exercise regularly, I should be in better shape, but man I was winded. The view was nice but I realize now it was peanuts compared to what we would see later in the day. We decided next we would go to the Basilica in Old Town. We paid the $1 entry fee and climbed to the top of the tower. On the way up we met a one-legged American ex-marine (lets call him George because I don´t think we ever got his name). George was a 61 year old fugitive who could not leave Ecuador. He is traveling in South America for two years and apparently he took a military plane into Ecuador and the guy who checked him into the country said he didn´t need his passport stamped. Well when he tried to leave Ecuador they arrested him. He sat in a holding room for a couple of hours until he decided just to walk out. He caught a lift with a couple of Colombian drug dealers driving over the border and when the police pulled the car over they didn´t even notice George and just arrested the Colombians. Now whether or not there is any truth to this story I don´t know but George seemed like an honest one legged ex-military man. After the Basilica we grabbed some coffee and walked to the main plaza. On the way I experienced the highlight of my day; my first empenada. An empenada is basically a fried piece of dough wrapped around chicken, peas and carrots. It was $1 and it was incredible. This country is really cheap by the way. We then took a taxi over to El Teleferico, which is a gondola($4) up to a hiking path that leads to a volcano. We hiked a little way and ran into a barbed wire fence. We asked a policeman working there if we could continue on and he said just climb under the fence (we found out later that people in this country don´t really view barbed wire as a way of saying "stay out"). Of course being with Unger we had to climb to the top, regardless of the storm clouds drifting our way from every direction. We hiked about a mile when we ran into the flight attendant and pilots. While talking, we saw our first flash of lightning and the pilot told of a previous trip here where he got stuck because of an ice storm. Well Unger kept an eye on the clouds and stated that it looked like it was clearing. So we continued on. About another half mile later my lungs began to feel like anvils and I believe my heart was beating at an unsafe level. So I stopped and sat down in the middle of the path. We were at about 15,000 feet so it is acceptable. Unger continued on. I turned back. an hour or so later we met at the gondola and started our descent down. 5 minutes later the sky opened up and it began to pour. I was right; going to the top was a bad idea. We went back to the hostel, attempted to read a Spanish newspaper, walked down the street and split 3 more empenadas (chicken, meat, and cheese). Did I mention they are really good. We then went into a restaurant and ordered the ¨Desayuno Completo" translated as the complete breakfast. It was 2 fried eggs on top of a piece of steak on a bed of rice with french fries, tomatoes, cucumber and avocado. It cost $2.50 and it was good.
Well, after months of planning and waiting, we are finally off. I was up at 4:15am to catch my 7:20 flight out of SFO. I slept the first two hours of my flight and then decided to purchase a movie (Delta now charges $6 for movies also they charge for snacks and basically everything else. Anybody who has seen the Southwest commercial knows what I am talking about.) I arrived in Atlanta 20 minutes early but had to wait for the plane in our gate to depart, so I ended up arriving right on time, which for the airlines these days is very good. I met Unger at his gate and we are now currently waiting for the maintenance guys to repair the telephone. Assuming we arrive safely in Quito I will have more to report (hopefully interesting stuff) later. One thing to add; we finally took off. This plane is really old and loud. I hope the plane can make it the 2600 miles.
9/4/08
Well the good news is that I am writing which means the plane managed to survive the flight (who knows how many more flights the old fellow has left in him). Along with the rattling and other noises the plane still had ashtrays in the bathroom so I´m assuming the plane is more than 20 years old. All in all the flight was ok. (fastfowarding a bit; our taxi driver from the airport told us they are building a new airport outside of the city because the runway is too short. We coincidentally ran into our flight attendant and the two pilots while hiking a volcano in Quito and the pilot told us a story about an Iberian Airlines flight that landed, went straight through the end of the runway and came to a stop about 100 feet from a neighborhood. So now I am extremely happy we landed ok). I got ahead of myself but the story was relevant. Anyway, we arrived at the hostel which for $8/night is pretty nice. The building is very old, and the hallways and ceilings in places are narrow and low, respectively. But the view of Old Town Quito from the fifth floor terrace is incredible. Although the room is clean and bunk beds are actually relatively comfortable, I did not sleep much because some late night revelers were yelling at about 3:30am until about 4:30am. I don´t think the same noise rules apply to hostels as they do to hotels. But once again for $8 it is good. We woke up early and went up to the terrace for a relatively expensive breakfast for Ecuador standards. It was $3.50 all you can eat freshly cooked omelets, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, fruit cups, coffee, and juice. When we saw the price we said "screw it" and decided to splurge a little. After breakfast we hiked up a flight of stairs to a park called Ichimbia. Now I realize although I do exercise regularly, I should be in better shape, but man I was winded. The view was nice but I realize now it was peanuts compared to what we would see later in the day. We decided next we would go to the Basilica in Old Town. We paid the $1 entry fee and climbed to the top of the tower. On the way up we met a one-legged American ex-marine (lets call him George because I don´t think we ever got his name). George was a 61 year old fugitive who could not leave Ecuador. He is traveling in South America for two years and apparently he took a military plane into Ecuador and the guy who checked him into the country said he didn´t need his passport stamped. Well when he tried to leave Ecuador they arrested him. He sat in a holding room for a couple of hours until he decided just to walk out. He caught a lift with a couple of Colombian drug dealers driving over the border and when the police pulled the car over they didn´t even notice George and just arrested the Colombians. Now whether or not there is any truth to this story I don´t know but George seemed like an honest one legged ex-military man. After the Basilica we grabbed some coffee and walked to the main plaza. On the way I experienced the highlight of my day; my first empenada. An empenada is basically a fried piece of dough wrapped around chicken, peas and carrots. It was $1 and it was incredible. This country is really cheap by the way. We then took a taxi over to El Teleferico, which is a gondola($4) up to a hiking path that leads to a volcano. We hiked a little way and ran into a barbed wire fence. We asked a policeman working there if we could continue on and he said just climb under the fence (we found out later that people in this country don´t really view barbed wire as a way of saying "stay out"). Of course being with Unger we had to climb to the top, regardless of the storm clouds drifting our way from every direction. We hiked about a mile when we ran into the flight attendant and pilots. While talking, we saw our first flash of lightning and the pilot told of a previous trip here where he got stuck because of an ice storm. Well Unger kept an eye on the clouds and stated that it looked like it was clearing. So we continued on. About another half mile later my lungs began to feel like anvils and I believe my heart was beating at an unsafe level. So I stopped and sat down in the middle of the path. We were at about 15,000 feet so it is acceptable. Unger continued on. I turned back. an hour or so later we met at the gondola and started our descent down. 5 minutes later the sky opened up and it began to pour. I was right; going to the top was a bad idea. We went back to the hostel, attempted to read a Spanish newspaper, walked down the street and split 3 more empenadas (chicken, meat, and cheese). Did I mention they are really good. We then went into a restaurant and ordered the ¨Desayuno Completo" translated as the complete breakfast. It was 2 fried eggs on top of a piece of steak on a bed of rice with french fries, tomatoes, cucumber and avocado. It cost $2.50 and it was good.
Rewind Six Months
So I was sitting in my cubicle about six months, thinking to myself; I´m 25 years old, what am I doing sitting in a call center for Chase Bank trying to sell home equity loans? Now, unless you have been living in a bubble, six to eight (possibly a little earlier; it doesn´t matter, things were getting bad) months ago was about the time the housing really burst and the economy began to free fall. So now, not only was I doing something I really didn´t want to be doing but also the money I was making from 2007 was no longer going to be going in to my pocket, but instead it would be going into trying to save the bank from completely losing control of its retail finance sector. So I began to discuss with my friend Daniel Unger (who equally hated his job for different reasons) the possibility of just up and leaving Chase and begin to travel. Now ¨"travel" and "no" are two words that do not go together in Unger´s vocabulary so his response of course was ¨"sure, where are we going?" I´m not going to bore you with the details of our discussions but we both wanted to go to a Spanish speaking country and Europe was way too expensive (see above statement about our economy; that especially applies to the value of the dollar), and also a majority of the continent, well all of the continent except on country does not speak Spanish. It just so happened that I had recently found out I was going to have a brother-in-law and he just so happens to be from Chile and so Unger and I began to discuss South America. The more research we did the better idea we got of what we would be able to do. We got a smoking deal on a flight down and flights within the continent and decided one night "screw it, lets buy these tickets and go travel. If we don´t do it now we are going to look back one day and say, "what the hell was I thinking not to take advantage of that opportunity?"" So we looked at each other, clicked submit, yes that is how you book flights in this era, and our fates had been sealed. The six months between six months ago and present went by in a blur, so that is how I´m going to explain them. Gave Chase Bank my notice the day I got back from Puerto Rico (which happened to be an incentive gift from Chase Bank, but we won´t get into that, my mind had been made weeks earlier), packed up the house in Phoenix, Unger (the good friend he is) hopped in a Uhaul truck with my car in tow and the two dogs in the car (it was not inhumane, we left the windows open and stopped frequently), arrived in Monterey, worked for both of my parents for about a month, took an 8 week spanish class, continued working just for my father, went to the gym as much as possible (didn´t help, I´m still out of shape at 14000 feet), celebrated my sister´s wedding (it was a very nice event. Sorry Lisa; I´m not going into more details about it because this is my selfish blog all about me.), and before I knew it I was in a plane from SFO to Atlanta to meet Unger and take our flight down to Quito.
So now you know my story. I will update my blog as often as possible. Disregard grammar because I am basically writing what I´m thinking and I will never have time to make sure my writing abides by MLA (or whatever it is called) standards. I would love to hear from anybody who would like to post a comment, email me at brian.kroopf@gmail.com, or of course there is facebook. There are not a lot of Americans here so any news about anything American or just a hello would be much appreciated.
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