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.
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