LA LLEGADA
My flight got in early to the airport in Santiago and Marcela got there a little late. The two of us being the fast-moving people we are, we both started searching for each other in opposite directions. She went up and down the airport scrutinizing every tall gringo she could find and I went up and down the airport scrutinizing every short chilena I could find. I eventually came up with a plan: walk to the Holiday Inn across the street and use their internet (the airport used to have an internet cafe but it is now gone) and look up her phone number. As I was doing this, I saw her from the distance. This is where we ran towards each other in slow motion with some kind of 80s ballad playing in the background.
DE LA RAJA, WEÓN
That night I had my first Chilean once in nearly 3 years. ¡Espectacular po! We watched Chayanne rock the Viña concert on TV and crashed at her friend Carlos´s house. The next day I went with her to her job as a medical technician in the prestigious University of Chile Hospital´s lab. Marcy has requested half-days at work for this whole week so that we can hang out. We ate some huge completos (I almost wrote panchos, now that I`m argentino...) and a bunch of empanadas de queso, then walked around Santiago´s big Recoleta cemetary, looking at the graves of former presidents, war heroes, rich people, poets... Salvador Allende´s grave was one of my favorites. Very humanistic in design, with loads and loads of fresh flowers people had put there that day. We spent the afternoon sleeping in the sun at her rooftop pool (did I mention she has a sweet apartment?) then hung out with some of her friends from Valdivia. I remembered them all. Everybody looks really good - I think time has been good to all of us.
(Also I dropped off Francisco´s iPod to him. Fue exitosa la entrega.)
Today I slept in late, tidied up the apartment a little (Marcy´s joke of the day was that she has an American domestic servant), started a little sewing that I have to do (fixing my favorite jeans, my defunct Peruvian backpack, putting little flags on my big backpack...), and purchased tickets to the Dream Theater concert this Saturday (METAL PESADO YEAH!!). In the afternoon we flew around town on her motorcycle (fue bakán po gueón, te juro) and I bought bus tickets back to Buenos Aires for next week. Then we had a power siesta after eating a pizza between the two of us. Tonight we went out with her amazingly funny friends Gabi and Asunción and then danced down the street singing reggaeton songs. All the big hits from Honduras recently arrived here for South American summer.
Our Santiago itinerary: Tomorrow Cajón del Maipo, ice cream, and going out at night. Friday night is a big big dance party. Saturday is heavy metal arena rock with Dreamtheater. Sunday we´re going to work out still. Monday I catch a 20-hour bus back to my Buenos Aires querida.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
bolivia
LA PAZ
Our first night in La Paz, Judith and I satiated our rocking imperialist appetite (asterisk) by going to Hard Rock Cafe La Paz, eating a ton of food, and buying t shirts. After eating all manner of weird stuff in our last few days in Peru, we were ready for something more Hard Rockish. We stayed at LOKI, an Irish party hostel with a heart of gold.
The second day, we celebrated Judith's birthday at the hostel (cake and all) and then we sampled the La Paz night life by going to a sweaty, packed dance club and getting drinks spilled on me by a really drunk Irish guy, then going to (and very quickly leaving) a sketchy "after hours" place. During the day we walked around the Witches' Market, which actually is what is sounds like. For some reason they sell loads and loads of mummified alpaca fetuses (asterisk. death metal), love potions, fake Chinese remedies, stones to bring good luck, postcards with Evo Morales on them, etc... Also mixed in with the witch stores are a ton of amazing artesan music stores with handmade Bolivian guitars, charangos, mandolins, flutes, ... the works. I went with some cool kids from Oregon and Judith had to leave for Santa Cruz/Buenos Aires/USA/Germany.
I met up with Lauren, a WM classmate currently working in La Paz along with her diplofamily. We went out to get Thai food and compared notes on funny South American experiences.
COCHABAMBA
Straight from dinner I caught a kind of shabby night bus (not even semi cama) to Cochabamba, where I was immediately received by Ale's momma, brother, cousin, cousin's boyfriend, and a Brazilian film student who was visiting. Mamá Ruth brought me all around Cochabamba and the surrounding area, introducing me to the whole extended family and holding my and Victor Hugo's hands, like her two boys. We went to a Peach Festival in a nearby town, climbed up to the Cristo statue, went to Ale's aunt's consultorio/house, ate anticuchos, drank chicha durazno, listened to music, talked film with Vio and Dan... I also got a driving tour of Cochabamba from Victor Hugo, who showed me the plaza central (complete with burn marks left on the prefecture from when the campesinos came and stormed the city a little over a year ago), the prado, the young people prado where they cruise and go to clubs, and the Isla, where you can buy amaaaazing after party food. I also met Ale's grandma, who is such a beautiful lady. I told her about how much we loved getting her Bolivian bread in college. Before I left, she had brought me a giant plastic baggy full of those delicious circular loaves...Oh man!! Ale, tu familia es tan pero tan encantadora!!!! Mom, Momma Ruth sends you big hugs and invites you to visit when you come to South America.
I can't believe it was just one day! It was easily the best day of this trip so far!
LA PAZ parte dos
I am now back in La Paz, having taken a much more comfortable and ritzy night bus with Vi and Dan, who are heading farther west tomorrow to film some more footage. In a few hours I will get on a LAN plane and most likely fall asleep for 5 hours, then wake up in Santiago de Chile where Marcy is waiting for me.
And I will bring Ale's cousin's iPod to him, without fail.
Hasta Chilito, queridos lectores.
Our first night in La Paz, Judith and I satiated our rocking imperialist appetite (asterisk) by going to Hard Rock Cafe La Paz, eating a ton of food, and buying t shirts. After eating all manner of weird stuff in our last few days in Peru, we were ready for something more Hard Rockish. We stayed at LOKI, an Irish party hostel with a heart of gold.
The second day, we celebrated Judith's birthday at the hostel (cake and all) and then we sampled the La Paz night life by going to a sweaty, packed dance club and getting drinks spilled on me by a really drunk Irish guy, then going to (and very quickly leaving) a sketchy "after hours" place. During the day we walked around the Witches' Market, which actually is what is sounds like. For some reason they sell loads and loads of mummified alpaca fetuses (asterisk. death metal), love potions, fake Chinese remedies, stones to bring good luck, postcards with Evo Morales on them, etc... Also mixed in with the witch stores are a ton of amazing artesan music stores with handmade Bolivian guitars, charangos, mandolins, flutes, ... the works. I went with some cool kids from Oregon and Judith had to leave for Santa Cruz/Buenos Aires/USA/Germany.
I met up with Lauren, a WM classmate currently working in La Paz along with her diplofamily. We went out to get Thai food and compared notes on funny South American experiences.
COCHABAMBA
Straight from dinner I caught a kind of shabby night bus (not even semi cama) to Cochabamba, where I was immediately received by Ale's momma, brother, cousin, cousin's boyfriend, and a Brazilian film student who was visiting. Mamá Ruth brought me all around Cochabamba and the surrounding area, introducing me to the whole extended family and holding my and Victor Hugo's hands, like her two boys. We went to a Peach Festival in a nearby town, climbed up to the Cristo statue, went to Ale's aunt's consultorio/house, ate anticuchos, drank chicha durazno, listened to music, talked film with Vio and Dan... I also got a driving tour of Cochabamba from Victor Hugo, who showed me the plaza central (complete with burn marks left on the prefecture from when the campesinos came and stormed the city a little over a year ago), the prado, the young people prado where they cruise and go to clubs, and the Isla, where you can buy amaaaazing after party food. I also met Ale's grandma, who is such a beautiful lady. I told her about how much we loved getting her Bolivian bread in college. Before I left, she had brought me a giant plastic baggy full of those delicious circular loaves...Oh man!! Ale, tu familia es tan pero tan encantadora!!!! Mom, Momma Ruth sends you big hugs and invites you to visit when you come to South America.
I can't believe it was just one day! It was easily the best day of this trip so far!
LA PAZ parte dos
I am now back in La Paz, having taken a much more comfortable and ritzy night bus with Vi and Dan, who are heading farther west tomorrow to film some more footage. In a few hours I will get on a LAN plane and most likely fall asleep for 5 hours, then wake up in Santiago de Chile where Marcy is waiting for me.
And I will bring Ale's cousin's iPod to him, without fail.
Hasta Chilito, queridos lectores.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
machu picchu, valle sagrado, bolivia
MACHU PICCHU
This was clearly the peak of my Peru trip. Judith and I woke up at 5am, got on the first bus to Machu Picchu, hiked through the fog, then climbed up to the top of Waynu Picchu (the "nose" of the face shaped mountains behind the ruins) just in time to survey the now-tiny Machu Picchu below us as the fog cleared. We took the long way down, climbing down slippery ladders and ancient rock Inca stairs. No words I write will do justice to the place, so get ready for photos soon.
VALLE SAGRADO
After seeing the coolest ruins in the hemisphere (maybe the world), Valle Sagrado was mostly about climbing up some cool mountains. My favorite were the ruins in Pisaq, perched ontop of a mountain that oversees the river and the serpentine roads that a colectivo would later take us up and back to Cuzco, past the roadblocks, miraculously. These buses cost about 75 US cents. We were the only non Peruvians in it. Rock.
GOODBYE CUZCO
My last night in Cuzco was spent with Judith and 3 guys from New York we met who were really fun. The guys were deadset on eating cuy (guinea pig) so that is just what we did. It was the foulest thing Ive ever eaten. It looked like a tiny tiny roast pig except with little rat teeth and claws and a rat tail. OK, it was pretty much like a rat. Im sorry to say I have photographic evidence of this too. The alpaca curry, however, was phenomenal.
HELLO BOLIVIA
We took a super super sketchy overnight bus from Cuzco to Puno and bonded with Chilean fellow travelers by complaining about the "direct" bus with "reserved" seats and "secure" baggage (read as, 4 plus stops in the night, packing locals into the stairwells, not letting us into the bus bathroom and making us pee outside, the persistent smell of old socks farts and llama, and the fact that the bus was from a different company than the vendor claimed to be...RIDICULOUS! HAHAHA!) I didn't sleep well at all last night. It didn't help that visions of sugarplum cuy were dancing in our stomachs all night...
That said, we made it to Puno and ignored the very forceful hawkers for about an hour until we could catch a bus (less sketchy than our now lowered expectations) to take us over the border. I am pleased to say that I had all my documents in order for the now-required visa that (only) Americans have to apply for to enter Bolivia (it's a populist thing, talk to Evo about it...) and they processed it at the border in about a minute, with no under-the-table fees or anything. Good job, Bolivia!
I now write to you from La Paz, where I've found a hostel and am getting ready to chill a little. 2 days to Cochabamba, 4 days to Chile. Rock and roll.
This was clearly the peak of my Peru trip. Judith and I woke up at 5am, got on the first bus to Machu Picchu, hiked through the fog, then climbed up to the top of Waynu Picchu (the "nose" of the face shaped mountains behind the ruins) just in time to survey the now-tiny Machu Picchu below us as the fog cleared. We took the long way down, climbing down slippery ladders and ancient rock Inca stairs. No words I write will do justice to the place, so get ready for photos soon.
VALLE SAGRADO
After seeing the coolest ruins in the hemisphere (maybe the world), Valle Sagrado was mostly about climbing up some cool mountains. My favorite were the ruins in Pisaq, perched ontop of a mountain that oversees the river and the serpentine roads that a colectivo would later take us up and back to Cuzco, past the roadblocks, miraculously. These buses cost about 75 US cents. We were the only non Peruvians in it. Rock.
GOODBYE CUZCO
My last night in Cuzco was spent with Judith and 3 guys from New York we met who were really fun. The guys were deadset on eating cuy (guinea pig) so that is just what we did. It was the foulest thing Ive ever eaten. It looked like a tiny tiny roast pig except with little rat teeth and claws and a rat tail. OK, it was pretty much like a rat. Im sorry to say I have photographic evidence of this too. The alpaca curry, however, was phenomenal.
HELLO BOLIVIA
We took a super super sketchy overnight bus from Cuzco to Puno and bonded with Chilean fellow travelers by complaining about the "direct" bus with "reserved" seats and "secure" baggage (read as, 4 plus stops in the night, packing locals into the stairwells, not letting us into the bus bathroom and making us pee outside, the persistent smell of old socks farts and llama, and the fact that the bus was from a different company than the vendor claimed to be...RIDICULOUS! HAHAHA!) I didn't sleep well at all last night. It didn't help that visions of sugarplum cuy were dancing in our stomachs all night...
That said, we made it to Puno and ignored the very forceful hawkers for about an hour until we could catch a bus (less sketchy than our now lowered expectations) to take us over the border. I am pleased to say that I had all my documents in order for the now-required visa that (only) Americans have to apply for to enter Bolivia (it's a populist thing, talk to Evo about it...) and they processed it at the border in about a minute, with no under-the-table fees or anything. Good job, Bolivia!
I now write to you from La Paz, where I've found a hostel and am getting ready to chill a little. 2 days to Cochabamba, 4 days to Chile. Rock and roll.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
ollantaytambo, aguas calientes
Wunderteam update: The Fellowship is breaking, Frodo! No, it`s cool. Linda stays in Cusco to do her volunteer practicum thing for a month or so. Lena and Alex have decided to extend their stay in Cusco so that they can keep on salsatanzen and go to the Inka Trail when it opens at the start of March.
About the author:
I, the person with the dual time/money limitation, hear the rumor that all the transport workers will start a huelga at the beginning of this coming week, and set out this morning dead-set on making it to Machu Picchu. Judith, also under the time restriction of having to see things and somehow make it to her Buenos Aires to Colorado flight in a week and a half, comes along. We break the cardinal ¨book ahead of time¨ rule and take a precarious high-speed taxi ride, shared with a German guy, through the beautiful green valleys between Cusco and Ollantaytambo.
Adventure
At Ollantaytambo, we eat a trout lunch and climb up the terraced Inka fortress that once set the stage for a major Inca victory over the Spanish, wherein they flooded the ground below and threw things at the Spanish until they went away. There we meet an eccentric Brasilian flute player wearing medieval boots, who dances and riffs on the beautiful acoustics of the ancient rocks.
We then board a train that takes us through a valley so deep that we have to stick our heads out of the window to see the sky for most of the ride. It is lush, green, almost jungle-like, nothing like the dry Andean route my imagination had painted for me. We share the ride with two Chilean doctoral students and compare notes on Peruvian literature.
I am now in the impossibly touristic Ewok village that is Aguas Calientes. At 4:30am I`ll wake up, eat, and board the 5:30am bus that will take us up to Machu Picchu, lo máximo, the tourist site to beat all tourist sites, the archeological capital of the Western Hemisphere, the ancient ruins that tell Stonehenge, ¨Ché flaquito, vos sos un tarado.¨ (My Machu Picchu speaks porteño.)
Photos to come.
About the author:
I, the person with the dual time/money limitation, hear the rumor that all the transport workers will start a huelga at the beginning of this coming week, and set out this morning dead-set on making it to Machu Picchu. Judith, also under the time restriction of having to see things and somehow make it to her Buenos Aires to Colorado flight in a week and a half, comes along. We break the cardinal ¨book ahead of time¨ rule and take a precarious high-speed taxi ride, shared with a German guy, through the beautiful green valleys between Cusco and Ollantaytambo.
Adventure
At Ollantaytambo, we eat a trout lunch and climb up the terraced Inka fortress that once set the stage for a major Inca victory over the Spanish, wherein they flooded the ground below and threw things at the Spanish until they went away. There we meet an eccentric Brasilian flute player wearing medieval boots, who dances and riffs on the beautiful acoustics of the ancient rocks.
We then board a train that takes us through a valley so deep that we have to stick our heads out of the window to see the sky for most of the ride. It is lush, green, almost jungle-like, nothing like the dry Andean route my imagination had painted for me. We share the ride with two Chilean doctoral students and compare notes on Peruvian literature.
I am now in the impossibly touristic Ewok village that is Aguas Calientes. At 4:30am I`ll wake up, eat, and board the 5:30am bus that will take us up to Machu Picchu, lo máximo, the tourist site to beat all tourist sites, the archeological capital of the Western Hemisphere, the ancient ruins that tell Stonehenge, ¨Ché flaquito, vos sos un tarado.¨ (My Machu Picchu speaks porteño.)
Photos to come.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Travel itinerary
Tomorrow we leave for El Valle Sagrado, then go on to Ollantaytambo, then to Aguas Calientes, then to Machu Picchu. I will be back to Cuzco from Machu Picchu by Tuesday night.
Next Wednesday night, I will get on a night bus from Cuzco to Copacabana/La Paz. From there I will visit Isla del Sol, La Paz, and Cochabamba.
I will fly out of La Paz to Santiago de Chile on Monday, February 25th.
(This is the plan right now. I`ll let you know if it changes.)
Rock! More photos to come.
Next Wednesday night, I will get on a night bus from Cuzco to Copacabana/La Paz. From there I will visit Isla del Sol, La Paz, and Cochabamba.
I will fly out of La Paz to Santiago de Chile on Monday, February 25th.
(This is the plan right now. I`ll let you know if it changes.)
Rock! More photos to come.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
lake titicaca
A joke, told by a guy who lives on Uro, also known as Islas Flotantes:
El Lago Titicaca se divide entre dos países, Peru y Bolivia. Peru tiene la parte Titi y Bolivia la caca.
Wunderteam took a boat tour of the islands today (we were the only non-Peruvians). Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, the Uro people decided they wanted to get away from the warring Collacas so they got a bunch of totora reeds and pretty much wove a giant island where they have lived ever since. It´s crazy, right?
When you stand on the floating island it kind of feels like a waterbed. They make their houses out of the same woven reeds too, and they also eat the inside of the reeds for food, which they serve up alongside the chickens and ducks and fish and other stuff that they eat. Their boats are also woven and have puma heads on the front - they look viking -like. Over time the people living on Uro have intermixed with Aymara-speaking settlers, but they pretty much live the same way they always have, out on their giant floating island, except that now they move beyond subsistence by selling handmade (a relative term) touristic items.
Cultural commodities and underwater basket weaving. Where am I?
Tomorrow we leave for Cuzco via bus. We`ll actually be at a lower altitude when we finally reach Machu Picchu.
In preparation I am about to eat at a restaurant called Machu Pizza.
El Lago Titicaca se divide entre dos países, Peru y Bolivia. Peru tiene la parte Titi y Bolivia la caca.
Wunderteam took a boat tour of the islands today (we were the only non-Peruvians). Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, the Uro people decided they wanted to get away from the warring Collacas so they got a bunch of totora reeds and pretty much wove a giant island where they have lived ever since. It´s crazy, right?
When you stand on the floating island it kind of feels like a waterbed. They make their houses out of the same woven reeds too, and they also eat the inside of the reeds for food, which they serve up alongside the chickens and ducks and fish and other stuff that they eat. Their boats are also woven and have puma heads on the front - they look viking -like. Over time the people living on Uro have intermixed with Aymara-speaking settlers, but they pretty much live the same way they always have, out on their giant floating island, except that now they move beyond subsistence by selling handmade (a relative term) touristic items.
Cultural commodities and underwater basket weaving. Where am I?
Tomorrow we leave for Cuzco via bus. We`ll actually be at a lower altitude when we finally reach Machu Picchu.
In preparation I am about to eat at a restaurant called Machu Pizza.
puno
We took another nice Cruz del Sur bus yesterday which took us from Arequipa up to Puno, the closest major Peruvian city to Lake Titicaca.
My stomach is now officially better! And I bought altitude sickness pills which seem to work for us so far.
This morning I went to the Bolivian consulate to see how many hoops I need to jump through to be able to cross the lake. The answer: not so many. $100, a 4x4 photo (just got it), a letter of invitation or hotel invitation, an itinerary (haha, fuera yanquis!), and proof that I have enough many to leave the country once I enter. They gave me the formulario.
I called Alejandro´s mom today and she said she could write me a letter of invitation for the visa if I need. In the next few days I`ll figure out if I have the tiempo and the ganas to go to Bolivia. It would be really cool to see Mama Grageda. If not, maybe en otra ocasión.
Here in Puno they are still in the midst of all day and all night parades and marching bands and fancy costumes for the Virgen de Candelaria celebrations. Last night we joined the revelers in the dry Andean cold to watch parades go by as far as the eye can see in both directions, up steep hills and past angry tour bus drivers. Puno is not much to look at but the fiestas are pretty cool.
Ok, off to see about seeing some islands on the lake. TOmorrow morning we leave for Cuzco and then Machu Picchu.
I will let you, and the State Department, know if I`m going to Bolivia sometime in the next 4 days. If not, I may take a direct flight to Santiago to finish out my vacation in my muy querido Chilito, taking warm showers and eating high quality pastel de choclo.
Word.
My stomach is now officially better! And I bought altitude sickness pills which seem to work for us so far.
This morning I went to the Bolivian consulate to see how many hoops I need to jump through to be able to cross the lake. The answer: not so many. $100, a 4x4 photo (just got it), a letter of invitation or hotel invitation, an itinerary (haha, fuera yanquis!), and proof that I have enough many to leave the country once I enter. They gave me the formulario.
I called Alejandro´s mom today and she said she could write me a letter of invitation for the visa if I need. In the next few days I`ll figure out if I have the tiempo and the ganas to go to Bolivia. It would be really cool to see Mama Grageda. If not, maybe en otra ocasión.
Here in Puno they are still in the midst of all day and all night parades and marching bands and fancy costumes for the Virgen de Candelaria celebrations. Last night we joined the revelers in the dry Andean cold to watch parades go by as far as the eye can see in both directions, up steep hills and past angry tour bus drivers. Puno is not much to look at but the fiestas are pretty cool.
Ok, off to see about seeing some islands on the lake. TOmorrow morning we leave for Cuzco and then Machu Picchu.
I will let you, and the State Department, know if I`m going to Bolivia sometime in the next 4 days. If not, I may take a direct flight to Santiago to finish out my vacation in my muy querido Chilito, taking warm showers and eating high quality pastel de choclo.
Word.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
estas alturas
An update from Arequipa, Peru´s second biggest city.
There are now 5 total in our group: Lena, Alex, me, Judith, and now Linda, a Dutch student we met at Huacachina. We got into the city early in the morning and went to see the Sanctuary Museum, where you can see a frozen Inca girl (we saw Sarita but there`s also one called Juanita). Sarita was a human sacrifice made to the volcanoes. We also saw the Monastery of Santa Catalina, once a home to party-girl nuns who fraternized with their servants a lot until a strict Mother Superior type was sent there in the late 1700s.
We spent the past two days on a tour of the nearby canyon country. We saw the Cañon del Colca, saw giant condors flying around, saw pre-Incan burial grounds with bleached bones everywhere, ate alpaca meat, saw the Wititi love dance (performed like clockwork for tourists), went to hot springs, and saw beautiful green valleys covered with pre-Incan and Incan terraced hillsides. Also, all of us got some killer altitude sickness, despite all of the disgusting mate de coca we kept drinking at rest stops. 4 out of 5 of our group got the same stomach bug, but yesterday I also got a fever and started shivering uncontrollably. They took me to the hospital in Chivay and the doctors fixed me up and gave us all medicine. We´re now back in Arequipa rehydrating and taking medicine and feeling so much better than I was before.
If all goes according to plan, I`ll be off to Puno tomorrow to check out Lake Titicaca. Then from Puno our supergroup will continue on to Cuzco/Machu Picchu.
Altitude here in Arequipa: about 2300 meters or so
Altitude for the tour: over 4000 meters
There are now 5 total in our group: Lena, Alex, me, Judith, and now Linda, a Dutch student we met at Huacachina. We got into the city early in the morning and went to see the Sanctuary Museum, where you can see a frozen Inca girl (we saw Sarita but there`s also one called Juanita). Sarita was a human sacrifice made to the volcanoes. We also saw the Monastery of Santa Catalina, once a home to party-girl nuns who fraternized with their servants a lot until a strict Mother Superior type was sent there in the late 1700s.
We spent the past two days on a tour of the nearby canyon country. We saw the Cañon del Colca, saw giant condors flying around, saw pre-Incan burial grounds with bleached bones everywhere, ate alpaca meat, saw the Wititi love dance (performed like clockwork for tourists), went to hot springs, and saw beautiful green valleys covered with pre-Incan and Incan terraced hillsides. Also, all of us got some killer altitude sickness, despite all of the disgusting mate de coca we kept drinking at rest stops. 4 out of 5 of our group got the same stomach bug, but yesterday I also got a fever and started shivering uncontrollably. They took me to the hospital in Chivay and the doctors fixed me up and gave us all medicine. We´re now back in Arequipa rehydrating and taking medicine and feeling so much better than I was before.
If all goes according to plan, I`ll be off to Puno tomorrow to check out Lake Titicaca. Then from Puno our supergroup will continue on to Cuzco/Machu Picchu.
Altitude here in Arequipa: about 2300 meters or so
Altitude for the tour: over 4000 meters
Thursday, February 7, 2008
oasis
Hey, readers!
Wunderteam versiòn 2 (Me, Judith, Lena and Alex)
or, alternately, El rey y sus 3 alemanas (this is what they dubbed me in Pisco)
has now made it to earthquake-ravaged Pisco (a 7 point something quake hit it hard in August and they`re still rebuilding). Around Pisco, we went to the Islas Ballestas, these giant rocky islands covered with sea lions, penguins, seagulls, and loads and loads of birds. The whole island is dyed white from the bird crap (called guano, incidentally, a highly valuable early export for Peru).
We also made it out to some Inca/Wani ruins called Puchacamac. It is currently inhabited by French tourists.
We then took a long bus ride over to Ica and from Ica took a taxi to an oasis called Huacachina, stuck in between giant sand dunes on all sides. It`s a small green area with a little lake, palm trees, a handful of taxis, every second building is a hostal (varying in levels of sketchiness but all with a pool for some reason). From the town you can get a ride on a dune buggy that will take you far out into the dunes and then go sandboarding down gigantic and unforgiving sandy hills. This is exactly how we spent yesterday. Yesterday night we worked on getting sand out of all those body parts we never knew we had and then got some pisco sours and so-so food. Anything with palta (avocado) is good for me (mayonnaise cancels it out though).
GUERRA DEL PACÌFICO
Being in Peru is funny because everything I thought was typical of Chile is also typical of Peru. Pisco sours, alpaca socks, etc... Peruvians hate Chileans. It`s funny. All of the clothing stores here are Chilean, all the fashion models, etc.
Tomorrow, we`ll take a night bus to Arequipa, then we`ll go on the Lake Titicaca and later Machu Picchu via Puno and Cuzco, respectively. It`s nice indulging the travel bug and it will also be nice to get back home to Argentina, where nobody calls me ¨mìster¨ or tries to give me fake bills.
Saludos desde el oasis,
Charly Mochilero
Wunderteam versiòn 2 (Me, Judith, Lena and Alex)
or, alternately, El rey y sus 3 alemanas (this is what they dubbed me in Pisco)
has now made it to earthquake-ravaged Pisco (a 7 point something quake hit it hard in August and they`re still rebuilding). Around Pisco, we went to the Islas Ballestas, these giant rocky islands covered with sea lions, penguins, seagulls, and loads and loads of birds. The whole island is dyed white from the bird crap (called guano, incidentally, a highly valuable early export for Peru).
We also made it out to some Inca/Wani ruins called Puchacamac. It is currently inhabited by French tourists.
We then took a long bus ride over to Ica and from Ica took a taxi to an oasis called Huacachina, stuck in between giant sand dunes on all sides. It`s a small green area with a little lake, palm trees, a handful of taxis, every second building is a hostal (varying in levels of sketchiness but all with a pool for some reason). From the town you can get a ride on a dune buggy that will take you far out into the dunes and then go sandboarding down gigantic and unforgiving sandy hills. This is exactly how we spent yesterday. Yesterday night we worked on getting sand out of all those body parts we never knew we had and then got some pisco sours and so-so food. Anything with palta (avocado) is good for me (mayonnaise cancels it out though).
GUERRA DEL PACÌFICO
Being in Peru is funny because everything I thought was typical of Chile is also typical of Peru. Pisco sours, alpaca socks, etc... Peruvians hate Chileans. It`s funny. All of the clothing stores here are Chilean, all the fashion models, etc.
Tomorrow, we`ll take a night bus to Arequipa, then we`ll go on the Lake Titicaca and later Machu Picchu via Puno and Cuzco, respectively. It`s nice indulging the travel bug and it will also be nice to get back home to Argentina, where nobody calls me ¨mìster¨ or tries to give me fake bills.
Saludos desde el oasis,
Charly Mochilero
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Lima
I´ve made it to Peru! After staying up all night on Friday and having an excellent send off with my way awesome friends Renata, Ygor and Jackie, I got into a LAN Peru plane bleary eyed and slept until we landed in Lima.
In customs, I ran into Judith, a German girl I met in Uruguay. In high school she studied in Colorado and she blows me away by being more American than I am - she quotes Borat a lot and is a trip - we had an amazing time at this seaside buffet the first day there, spending a good 4 or 5 hours and eating a good 6 or 7 plates of food. She has now joined our Wunderteam (thus completely solidifying the European girl to Yankee boy majority) and will rock out with us across Peru.
Yesterday upon arriving I found out it was Día de Pisco, so I had a happy reunion with pisco sours (this time, Peruvian style - the original, even though Chile claims pisco sours as their own, just like the Pacific...ohh!).
Late last night I had a happy reunion with Lena, who now is not sick anymore (she had her wisdom tooth taken out in Honduras which had to have been an adventure) and now has rasta braids care of our Caribbean friends. We´re currently staying in the posh Miraflores barrio where they sell beautiful art and artesanry on the street and I bought a sweet Inka Cola t-shirt for 3 dollars. Today Lena and Judith and I went to the Plaza de Armas and saw a long long parade of conjuntos with drums and Andean flutes and ridiculously cool costumes. Tonight Alex flew in from Switzerland and boy are her arms tired.
Tomorrow we will reunite in the morning and then head south through Pisco (the town that is, although us going through a giant pisco sour is an interesting mental image...but I digress), on to Arequipa, from there over to Cusco, take a train to Machu Picchu, get to Puno / Lake Titicaca, etc. If they let me into Bolivia and I have time I´ll try to go see Mamá Salinas and no matter what I´ll get to Santiago, Chile for a few days to see Marci. Then back to Sweet Home Buenos Aires.
In customs, I ran into Judith, a German girl I met in Uruguay. In high school she studied in Colorado and she blows me away by being more American than I am - she quotes Borat a lot and is a trip - we had an amazing time at this seaside buffet the first day there, spending a good 4 or 5 hours and eating a good 6 or 7 plates of food. She has now joined our Wunderteam (thus completely solidifying the European girl to Yankee boy majority) and will rock out with us across Peru.
Yesterday upon arriving I found out it was Día de Pisco, so I had a happy reunion with pisco sours (this time, Peruvian style - the original, even though Chile claims pisco sours as their own, just like the Pacific...ohh!).
Late last night I had a happy reunion with Lena, who now is not sick anymore (she had her wisdom tooth taken out in Honduras which had to have been an adventure) and now has rasta braids care of our Caribbean friends. We´re currently staying in the posh Miraflores barrio where they sell beautiful art and artesanry on the street and I bought a sweet Inka Cola t-shirt for 3 dollars. Today Lena and Judith and I went to the Plaza de Armas and saw a long long parade of conjuntos with drums and Andean flutes and ridiculously cool costumes. Tonight Alex flew in from Switzerland and boy are her arms tired.
Tomorrow we will reunite in the morning and then head south through Pisco (the town that is, although us going through a giant pisco sour is an interesting mental image...but I digress), on to Arequipa, from there over to Cusco, take a train to Machu Picchu, get to Puno / Lake Titicaca, etc. If they let me into Bolivia and I have time I´ll try to go see Mamá Salinas and no matter what I´ll get to Santiago, Chile for a few days to see Marci. Then back to Sweet Home Buenos Aires.
Friday, February 1, 2008
la partida a peru
in about 12 hours i will get in a taxi which will take me to a plane which will take me to peru.
until then, i may just stay up late with my new best brasilian friends, renata and ygor, and not sleep. everything is packed up and ready to go, yayayay!
until then, i may just stay up late with my new best brasilian friends, renata and ygor, and not sleep. everything is packed up and ready to go, yayayay!
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