Eating in the land of carbs
Some of you have heard my stories about eating in Argentina - all beef all the time - and the fibre/vegetable withdrawl that I went through when I was travelling there. Well Peru is exactly the same but replace meat with rice and potatoes. I realized very early that Peru was not exactly going to be vegetarian-friendly; despite the plethora of vegetables, lentils and beans grown here...they don´t eat them! I have a new theory about why much of the produce in North America comes from South America: they don´t eat it so the only alternative is to export.
In one of the photos you will see a picture of a meal my host mum cooked for us and her family (I took it for you Gloria). After over a year of pushing healthy eating at HHS, that food plate (and now Frisbee) is burned into my brain. In essence: half your plate should be vegetables, one quarter starch and the other protein. This particular dish was half white rice and half french fry-tuna hash...and there was a side of white (croissant) bread. From a public health perspective, Peru must be a diabetes gold mine.
That being said, the food is fairly tasty...although, you´ll be hard pressed to find a dish that doesn´t include meat, cheese, milk and potatoes (and of course rice). My "travellers diet" has been somewhat compromised by the massive quantities of carbs and the incredibly cheap baked goods sold everywhere.
There are somethings that you should NEVER do when you don´t have a VERY firm grasp on the language...getting a haircut is one of them.
I should have realized that it would end badly when instead of pulling out scissors, the 50-something hairdresser started blow drying/styling my semi-wet hair. But I was stubborn; I desperately needed a hair cut, I wanted to practice my Spanish and the price seemed right - only 6 soles, $2.20. You know how people say that somethings are too good to be true, well this was too cheap to be good. I may be exaggerating slightly, but I think it looks like a grown out mullet. Off the back, she took only half an inch. Off the front...about 4. From my chin, my hair now makes roughly a 45 degree dissension to the "party in the back". Apparently "layers" has a whole different meaning in Peru.
The debate now rages: do I risk another hair cut to try to match the front (bringing along a bilingual helper) or would a hat be a better investment. Clearly I need more Spanish school...
Venturing into one of the deepest canyons in the world:
Mike and I decided to do the colca canyon trek without a guide because all the books and people we talked to said that doing it yourself perfectly safe and easy. And so, with our not-to-scale map in hand, we boarded the bus at 1 am on Friday night. Not only was the bus freezing, but whenever it neared even the smallest village or turned a bend on the zig zaggy road, the driver would lean on the horn. (I´ve since learned that on the buses here, the horn is foot pedal; this makes being really irritating that much easier). Also, as we stopped in these little towns, more and more people crowded onto the bus. Around 2:30 am Mike and I woke up to this obviously impoverished Peruvian woman sitting on the floor next to me and starring at Mike and I.
Buses in Peru are never places where you feel completely safe. However, when I packed for this trip, I took only the things that if they got stolen, it wouldn´t be the end of the world. The memory card for my camera is the exception to this...especially when I forget to back up the pictures. So, as I tried to sleep on the frigid honking bus with the semi-sketchy lady sitting next to me, I decided that she could steal my camera if she wanted, but my memory card would be safely stashed in the ever useful hidden travellers pocket...my bra. At 5:45 Mike wakes me up because we have reached Cruz del Condor, the viewing point for Condors at the start of the trek. We stumbled out of the bus, I was barely able to open my eyes because my contacts were so dry and at 3000m + it´s cold at 6am.
The sun wasn´t up yet and there were no birds in sight, so I walked a bit down the road to go pee. By the time I got back, the mountains and sky looked totally magical, a definite Kodak moment in the making! I went to take a picture, realized that my memory card wasn´t in there and tried to retrieve it...but...it...wasn´t...there. In retrospect, I´m not sure how I didn´t throw up on the spot. 5 weeks of photos, all of Machu Picchu, were on my memory card. I thought it must have fallen out on the bus (meaning that the semi-sketchy woman would have won), so the park official was trying to call ahead to the next town while I rechecked my pockets over and over again. Mike, totally calm despite the fact that I´d just erased our trip, suggested I retrace my steps. Back I went to the pee spot...and there it was! No I didn´t pee on it, it was in the middle of the road, but I´m now convinced that good camera karma is the most essential thing to have when you´re travelling.
Condors are these huge birds with a wing span of about 3 meters (10 feet). Around 630 or 7 they came out to feed. Now remember, Mike and I didn´t have a guide and knew nothing about these birds. It was really awesome to see them at a distance, but when they started flying 10 meters above our head, we were a bit concerned that WE might be breakfast... With my hiking/bird-defence stick in hand, we vamos-ed out of there and set off for the official entrance to the trek which was supposed to be 45 minutes away. An hour and 15 minutes later, we found it (TIP#1: Peruvians ALWAYS underestimate time), but the path seemed to end 100 meters from the start. For about 20 minutes we tried to figure out where to go and then decided that the path next to this random aqueduct must be it...unfortunately it was about 40 meters down and the sandy mountainside was not that easy to descend. Take a look at the photo of Mike bouldering down the last few meters...
We walked for about 30 minutes, not seeing any other tourist or local, constantly trying to figure out where the actual path we were supposed to be on was, crawling-ish through caves. At some point we decided that we were definitely going the wrong way. So we turned around to go back, through the cave/tunnel, and after about 15 minutes ran into a proper guide. Apparently the trail head started in the next town...another hour in the direction that we had just come from. So back we went through the cave (again!) and ended up at Cobanaconde. By this point it was around 12. The original trek that we wanted to do was 7 hours and involved descending the mountain on this side of the canyon, climbing half way up the mountain on the other side, walking between towns, descending again and staying in The Oasis at the bottom. BUT it was noon and we had already walked for 15 kms and, to be completely honest, I had lost all desire to see the other towns or climb any mountains. So we did a very dusty and very hot 3 hour walk, going down 1000 meters to the Oasis.
And it truly was an oasis. Unlike the mountainside we had just descended, at the Oasis there were trees and lush grass, a turquoise swimming pool and a bar serving cold cervasas! Our reed hut was 10 soles each ($3.50) and was right next to the waterfall that fed the swimming pool...heaven. Well almost. Although during the day the canyon was an oven, at night it was freezing...and reed huts are not exactly insulating. Despite 3 wool blankets, 3 layers of clothing and my hat, Mike almost had a bed mate in the middle of the night.
Sunday morning we got up early so that we could do the hike in the morning before it got really hot. TIP #2: Try to get in shape before you go to Peru. Carrying an extra 5 or 10 lbs/kilos REALLY sucks when you´re lugging it up a mountain side at 3000 meters. 3 and a half hours later we arrived dirty, smelly and probably dehydrated back at the bus having somewhat concurred Colca Canyon.
South is not synonymous with hot
I knew that I was coming to South America in their winter however in my haste to leave Sweden, I didnt do enough research abut temperatures. Even though Peru is a lot closer to the ecuator than Canada or Sweden, when you live at 2500+ meters in the winter...it´s COLD. At night it gets down to somewhere between 0 and 8 degrees which wouldn´t be so bad if the houses had insulation or heating...which they don´t. And concrete blocks don´t exactly have a cozy feel to them.
Also, Arequipa is in the desert. I haven´t seen rain for at least a month (Susan, I finally understand what you meant when you said that you missed rain in Australia). TIP #3: If you´re coming here, bring LOTS of moisturizer.
I joke that I´m allergic to Peru, but I think it might be partly correct. Between how dry everything is here, the lack of trees and rain and the inessent pollution, I have been "sick" for a month.
Other notably funny occurrences:
Yesterday, enroute to the hair massacre, I walked by a semi-briefcase like thing sitting on the sidewalk. It was only when it started clucking and crowing did I realize that in this instance, the leather satchels contained chickens.
Did you know, according to my Spanish teacher, that only "the gays" eat yogurt and granola for breakfast? Seriously. What would she think of Vancouver?
On one of the city buses Mike and I were on enroute to volunteering, the driver "power napped" at every traffic light. It´s also common on these buses for passengers to get off while the bus is still moving. I haven´t mastered/tried this trick yet.
Last night I went to a Peruvian birthday party. They brought sharing drinks to a whole new, public health nightmare, level. Plus, there was confetti, party hats, balloon animals and to many of the peruvians, the floor of this person´s house was a giant ashtray.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Machu Picchu and tu pollo está en mi mochila
Part 1: The story of Kirsty´s mittens
So I had this "ingenious" idea that some of the presents I would bring back would be bought with the recipient in mind, but would fill some need of mine throughout my journey. Washed and wrapped, these gifts would not only provide the person/people with some memento of my trip but would come complete with a terrific story! Kirsty´s mittens were going to visit Machu Picchu even though she couldn´t be there. In retrospect, maybe this wasn´t the most generous of plans, but it sounded good to me.
Cusco was cold, especially at night and with the prospect of going up another 1000+ meters, I thought I should get some gloves. Plus, my friend Kristy likes mittens; ergo two birds, one stone.
We left for the 5 day trek on June 27 at 4:45 in the morning. Well actually it was 5:15 because the tour company couldn´t find our hostel... not exactly the best of starts. We then took a 3 hour bus ride to our starting point. Our travelling companions were two women from Quebec (what are the chances? I know) and two women from Argentina. The first morning the weather was amazing and the views were stunning. We started hiking through the mountains, a slow climb from 3300 to around 4000 meters where our camp would be at the foot of a glacier (or two). One of the Argentine women was having some troubles dealing with the hiking and the much thinner air so after lunch she rode a horse to the camp.
Side note: (this is for you Jorge): neither of the Argentine women were fluent in English so a Canadian clique was quickly forming. Not wanting to exclude them, I thought I would try to ask them some basic questions in Spanish; I should have waited until after I started language school though... What I wanted to ask is "Are you sisters?" ¿Estan hermanas? What I instead asked was: Tu estas hombres? Are you....men? Whoops. Luckily they (cousins, not sisters or men) understood that I'm just a non-fluent gringo and not intentionally insulting.
So anyways, after making it to camp just before dark, we trekkers gorged on a pre-dinner mountain of popcorn (who knew it would be a 4000m staple???) and then hid in our warmer tents before dinner. About 20 minutes later, our somewhat frantic guide was opening Mike and I´s tent and asking Mike (the first/second year med student) to come see what was wrong with the Argentine woman. She was on oxygen, unable to get up and on 7x the recommended dosage of altitude sickness medication that most people are prescribed. Mike went into doctor mode like a pro but at 4000 meters, what can you actually do? It took 2-3 hours for a truck to eventually show up to take her to the hospital and by then the oxygen had long run out and she was in and out of consciousness. It was definitely a scary way to start our trek. I won´t keep you in suspense, she is totally fine now. Once she got to a lower altitude with more oxygen she recovered and after a few days of rest, she joined us at Machu Picchu. Unfortunately in the frenzy, we lost two travelling companions and our english speaking guide...plus Kirsty´s mittens were possibly zipped into the Argentine woman´s sleeping bag and never to be seen again. So much for that plan...
Day two we followed the cook. The cook, for those of you familiar with this term (Ed) was king of the Turkish Wait-Up. Plus he didn´t speak english and to top it off, we had the worst weather imaginable that day. Day two is a climb to 4650m (15 300 feet) and it´s supposed to have this incredible view of the salkantay glacier. Unfortunately, our morning started off with some rain and fog. This progressed, as we climbed higher, to snow. By the time we ran (literally) across the pass, Mike and I were getting pelted with hail. When we stopped for lunch, I was convinced that I would never be warm again.
Part 2: These feet were not made for walking.
We of course got warm again. Later that day we descended into the upper part of the jungle and it felt almost tropical in comparison to the frigid mountain pass. However, going down more than 2000 meters in a matter of hours is hard. For most people, their feet and knees are grumbling by the end of the day; my feet were no longer speaking to me.
Day 3 we had another 400 or 500 meters to go down, but this time we had joined up with another tour group and had a spanish speaking guide and a swiss translator. Thankfully, this jungle experience did not come complete with a snake sighting and the guide told us tons about all of the damage that the flooding and mudslides had done to the region. We emerged from the jungle into a little town for lunch and to watch the Spain-Portugal game. Unlike in most Peruvian cities/towns, there weren´t just dogs roaming around this one, but pigs and chickens too. In fact, I definitely saw a pig chasing a dog trying to get it´s bone...
A death-defying mini-bus ride later (complete with multiple avril Levigne songs) we arrived at our final campsite. By this point, our guide had reappeared and this "camp site" had a tienda, toilet with a flush and loud speakers playing...Bryan Adams. (Of all the Canadian content to play....) Both tour groups then took off to the hot springs. It was the first day the springs were back up and running since the land slides had closed the road. The reopening was accomplished by plowing/bulldozing a path for cars through the debris. Mike and I both agree that it may have been wise for it to stay closed...especially when 8 guys had to get off the bus to move a rock from underneath the bus so that we could keep going.
Day 4. Instead of another grueling mountainous trek (since we had Machu Picchu the following day), a few of us opted for the bus ride to Hydro Electric and then a leisurely 10km walk along the train tracks. With my feet back in Birkenstocks, I could have walked for days. This wasn´t necessary though since we reached Aguas Calientes (two words I´ll never forget Jorge), the town at the base of Machu Picchu just after lunch time having completed the 75 km trek.
Part 3: What goes down, must go up: The never ending stairs.
Day 5 (Canada Day!!!). Mike and I, as some of you know, rarely opt for the easy routes. We instead chose to do things like wake up at 4am so that we can start hiking (in the dark) at 4:15, up to the entrance of Machu Picchu. Think of doing the grouse grind but having it start at 1200 meters and doing it with headlamps... The rush to the top was so that we could get a ticket to hike another mountain (gluttons for punishment I know), Huayna Picchu which overlooks the city of Machu Picchu.
Our tour guide met us at the top and the first 2 hours inside the city were spent learning about all the temples, how and why they constructed so many terraces (300+ meters worth on the side of the mountain), the architecture, the way they used stones and their shadows in relation to the sunrise at certain times of the year etc etc. During this lesson, the entire mountain was in the middle of a thick cloud. Only around 9am did the clouds start to clear out and the city revealed itself in a manner befitting it´s allure and mysticism. The stone work, the design, it´s all incredible and pictures (still not posted) do not do it justice.
By 10 pm Mike and I wanted another perspective of the city. The best way to do this: climb another mountain. It was hard, especially considering the fact that we had already hiked up one mountain that day plus Peruvian trails are ever so much steeper and sketchier than Canadian (or Swedish) paths so it was mildly nerve racking getting to the top. The views were amazing though. The mountain range surrounding Machu Picchu all looks completely untouched and the perspective you get of Machu Picchu really makes you marvel at how (and why) the Inca´s built a city there.
We decided to take an alternative path to get back to Machu Picchu and visit the Temple of the Moon on the way. What we didn´t know was that this path would make the way up look tame. At one point we shuffled around a rock face on a 2-foot (60 cm) ledge while holding onto a rope with nothing behind us. Definitely the most terrifying thing Mike and I have done to date. Plus, the temple of the moon, cool...but not worth it! Also, when you´re going down, you think you´ll just have to walk around the mountain and you´ll get back to the bridge to Machu Picchu. Wrong again. More stairs. Another 40 minute hike up to the bridge.
We made it back to Machu Picchu by around 1, just in time for a few more stairs and some pictures from the "post card picture" viewpoint bfore having to head into town to catch our train. On the bus back to town (yes the punishment ended at the top), we had some time to reflect. The Inca´s: were they geniuses before their time or totally insane? I mean really, who builds a city ON TOP of a mountain??? I think that mountain should steal Grouse´s slogan: Mother Nature´s Stair Master. The Inca´s must have had the best gluts of all time. No wonder the Spanish wanted them extinct.
Part 4: School´s in for the Summer.
After the trek, Mike and I decided to take it easy for the weekend and head to Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world, for the weekend. We went on a boat tour of these floating islands made completely of reeds. 400 or so years ago, a bunch of people were trying to escape the Inca´s so they made boats and lived on the lake. Over time, the boats got tied together and are now islands with a few thousand inhabitants. While interesting, they´re extremely touristy. After the history lesson, one woman invited us into her house (which had a solar powered light and TV) and tried to get me to try on and take a picture of myself in her "traditional" clothes...
I also caught a cold in Puno so we left pretty quickly and headed for Arequipa. The city is, as it seems many cities in Ecuador and Peru are, nestled in the mountains/volcanoes. Apparently it has some of the best food in Peru and the world´s deepest canyon is just a couple of hours away. Mike and I decided to settle here for language school (I was getting tired of making an ass of myself) plus it will be nice to not have to repack every day. We´re living with a family and the mother is so sweet. Yesterday she walked us to school to make sure we didn´t get lost. I felt like a kindergartner all over again!
The city feels much less touristy than some of the others that we´ve been in, plus it´s nice to have a family looking out for us. My feet finally consented to going for a run (and being in shoes) so Mike and I tried to find a less busy route to take. "Toto, I don´t think we´re in Canada or Sweden anymore." The pollution and lack of sidewalks were definitely obstacles. We´re going to see if there´s a park or track somewhere close. Despite the available nature, Peruvians are definitely not the most active of people. My marathon training may be taking a summer hiatus.
So I had this "ingenious" idea that some of the presents I would bring back would be bought with the recipient in mind, but would fill some need of mine throughout my journey. Washed and wrapped, these gifts would not only provide the person/people with some memento of my trip but would come complete with a terrific story! Kirsty´s mittens were going to visit Machu Picchu even though she couldn´t be there. In retrospect, maybe this wasn´t the most generous of plans, but it sounded good to me.
Cusco was cold, especially at night and with the prospect of going up another 1000+ meters, I thought I should get some gloves. Plus, my friend Kristy likes mittens; ergo two birds, one stone.
We left for the 5 day trek on June 27 at 4:45 in the morning. Well actually it was 5:15 because the tour company couldn´t find our hostel... not exactly the best of starts. We then took a 3 hour bus ride to our starting point. Our travelling companions were two women from Quebec (what are the chances? I know) and two women from Argentina. The first morning the weather was amazing and the views were stunning. We started hiking through the mountains, a slow climb from 3300 to around 4000 meters where our camp would be at the foot of a glacier (or two). One of the Argentine women was having some troubles dealing with the hiking and the much thinner air so after lunch she rode a horse to the camp.
Side note: (this is for you Jorge): neither of the Argentine women were fluent in English so a Canadian clique was quickly forming. Not wanting to exclude them, I thought I would try to ask them some basic questions in Spanish; I should have waited until after I started language school though... What I wanted to ask is "Are you sisters?" ¿Estan hermanas? What I instead asked was: Tu estas hombres? Are you....men? Whoops. Luckily they (cousins, not sisters or men) understood that I'm just a non-fluent gringo and not intentionally insulting.
So anyways, after making it to camp just before dark, we trekkers gorged on a pre-dinner mountain of popcorn (who knew it would be a 4000m staple???) and then hid in our warmer tents before dinner. About 20 minutes later, our somewhat frantic guide was opening Mike and I´s tent and asking Mike (the first/second year med student) to come see what was wrong with the Argentine woman. She was on oxygen, unable to get up and on 7x the recommended dosage of altitude sickness medication that most people are prescribed. Mike went into doctor mode like a pro but at 4000 meters, what can you actually do? It took 2-3 hours for a truck to eventually show up to take her to the hospital and by then the oxygen had long run out and she was in and out of consciousness. It was definitely a scary way to start our trek. I won´t keep you in suspense, she is totally fine now. Once she got to a lower altitude with more oxygen she recovered and after a few days of rest, she joined us at Machu Picchu. Unfortunately in the frenzy, we lost two travelling companions and our english speaking guide...plus Kirsty´s mittens were possibly zipped into the Argentine woman´s sleeping bag and never to be seen again. So much for that plan...
Day two we followed the cook. The cook, for those of you familiar with this term (Ed) was king of the Turkish Wait-Up. Plus he didn´t speak english and to top it off, we had the worst weather imaginable that day. Day two is a climb to 4650m (15 300 feet) and it´s supposed to have this incredible view of the salkantay glacier. Unfortunately, our morning started off with some rain and fog. This progressed, as we climbed higher, to snow. By the time we ran (literally) across the pass, Mike and I were getting pelted with hail. When we stopped for lunch, I was convinced that I would never be warm again.
Part 2: These feet were not made for walking.
We of course got warm again. Later that day we descended into the upper part of the jungle and it felt almost tropical in comparison to the frigid mountain pass. However, going down more than 2000 meters in a matter of hours is hard. For most people, their feet and knees are grumbling by the end of the day; my feet were no longer speaking to me.
Day 3 we had another 400 or 500 meters to go down, but this time we had joined up with another tour group and had a spanish speaking guide and a swiss translator. Thankfully, this jungle experience did not come complete with a snake sighting and the guide told us tons about all of the damage that the flooding and mudslides had done to the region. We emerged from the jungle into a little town for lunch and to watch the Spain-Portugal game. Unlike in most Peruvian cities/towns, there weren´t just dogs roaming around this one, but pigs and chickens too. In fact, I definitely saw a pig chasing a dog trying to get it´s bone...
A death-defying mini-bus ride later (complete with multiple avril Levigne songs) we arrived at our final campsite. By this point, our guide had reappeared and this "camp site" had a tienda, toilet with a flush and loud speakers playing...Bryan Adams. (Of all the Canadian content to play....) Both tour groups then took off to the hot springs. It was the first day the springs were back up and running since the land slides had closed the road. The reopening was accomplished by plowing/bulldozing a path for cars through the debris. Mike and I both agree that it may have been wise for it to stay closed...especially when 8 guys had to get off the bus to move a rock from underneath the bus so that we could keep going.
Day 4. Instead of another grueling mountainous trek (since we had Machu Picchu the following day), a few of us opted for the bus ride to Hydro Electric and then a leisurely 10km walk along the train tracks. With my feet back in Birkenstocks, I could have walked for days. This wasn´t necessary though since we reached Aguas Calientes (two words I´ll never forget Jorge), the town at the base of Machu Picchu just after lunch time having completed the 75 km trek.
Part 3: What goes down, must go up: The never ending stairs.
Day 5 (Canada Day!!!). Mike and I, as some of you know, rarely opt for the easy routes. We instead chose to do things like wake up at 4am so that we can start hiking (in the dark) at 4:15, up to the entrance of Machu Picchu. Think of doing the grouse grind but having it start at 1200 meters and doing it with headlamps... The rush to the top was so that we could get a ticket to hike another mountain (gluttons for punishment I know), Huayna Picchu which overlooks the city of Machu Picchu.
Our tour guide met us at the top and the first 2 hours inside the city were spent learning about all the temples, how and why they constructed so many terraces (300+ meters worth on the side of the mountain), the architecture, the way they used stones and their shadows in relation to the sunrise at certain times of the year etc etc. During this lesson, the entire mountain was in the middle of a thick cloud. Only around 9am did the clouds start to clear out and the city revealed itself in a manner befitting it´s allure and mysticism. The stone work, the design, it´s all incredible and pictures (still not posted) do not do it justice.
By 10 pm Mike and I wanted another perspective of the city. The best way to do this: climb another mountain. It was hard, especially considering the fact that we had already hiked up one mountain that day plus Peruvian trails are ever so much steeper and sketchier than Canadian (or Swedish) paths so it was mildly nerve racking getting to the top. The views were amazing though. The mountain range surrounding Machu Picchu all looks completely untouched and the perspective you get of Machu Picchu really makes you marvel at how (and why) the Inca´s built a city there.
We decided to take an alternative path to get back to Machu Picchu and visit the Temple of the Moon on the way. What we didn´t know was that this path would make the way up look tame. At one point we shuffled around a rock face on a 2-foot (60 cm) ledge while holding onto a rope with nothing behind us. Definitely the most terrifying thing Mike and I have done to date. Plus, the temple of the moon, cool...but not worth it! Also, when you´re going down, you think you´ll just have to walk around the mountain and you´ll get back to the bridge to Machu Picchu. Wrong again. More stairs. Another 40 minute hike up to the bridge.
We made it back to Machu Picchu by around 1, just in time for a few more stairs and some pictures from the "post card picture" viewpoint bfore having to head into town to catch our train. On the bus back to town (yes the punishment ended at the top), we had some time to reflect. The Inca´s: were they geniuses before their time or totally insane? I mean really, who builds a city ON TOP of a mountain??? I think that mountain should steal Grouse´s slogan: Mother Nature´s Stair Master. The Inca´s must have had the best gluts of all time. No wonder the Spanish wanted them extinct.
Part 4: School´s in for the Summer.
After the trek, Mike and I decided to take it easy for the weekend and head to Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world, for the weekend. We went on a boat tour of these floating islands made completely of reeds. 400 or so years ago, a bunch of people were trying to escape the Inca´s so they made boats and lived on the lake. Over time, the boats got tied together and are now islands with a few thousand inhabitants. While interesting, they´re extremely touristy. After the history lesson, one woman invited us into her house (which had a solar powered light and TV) and tried to get me to try on and take a picture of myself in her "traditional" clothes...
I also caught a cold in Puno so we left pretty quickly and headed for Arequipa. The city is, as it seems many cities in Ecuador and Peru are, nestled in the mountains/volcanoes. Apparently it has some of the best food in Peru and the world´s deepest canyon is just a couple of hours away. Mike and I decided to settle here for language school (I was getting tired of making an ass of myself) plus it will be nice to not have to repack every day. We´re living with a family and the mother is so sweet. Yesterday she walked us to school to make sure we didn´t get lost. I felt like a kindergartner all over again!
The city feels much less touristy than some of the others that we´ve been in, plus it´s nice to have a family looking out for us. My feet finally consented to going for a run (and being in shoes) so Mike and I tried to find a less busy route to take. "Toto, I don´t think we´re in Canada or Sweden anymore." The pollution and lack of sidewalks were definitely obstacles. We´re going to see if there´s a park or track somewhere close. Despite the available nature, Peruvians are definitely not the most active of people. My marathon training may be taking a summer hiatus.
Dear women trying to sell me a massage on every corner of Cusco: NO GRACIAS!
I survived another Ecaudorian bus ride from Cuenca to Guayquil to collect Mike, unfortunately, his plane and pilot were not as considerate as my bus driver and his flight was 3 hours delayed. The floor of the airport is not all that comfortable to sleep on, however, as I learned from the English girls sitting next to me, the police don´t mind if you buy a few beers and drink on the floor. Oh Ecuador.
Guayaquil to Lima: Not wanting to cheap out on a bus and risk god knows what, we took a nice reputable bus company that took care of all the border formalities, food and entertainment for the 20 hour bus ride. However, even reputable companies a) forget people at the Ecuadorian border...and then reverse on the highway to go back and pick them up and b) don´t carry enough food for when the bus is EIGHT hours delayed. Imagine, being stuck in a construction-induced traffic jam in the middle of the desert, just north of Lima and the movie they chose to put on is Legion. If you haven´t seen it, don´t bother, but to summarize it's about the apocalypse, zombies, horror...all taking place in the desert. The stewardess was a genius.
Lima: Mike and I had incredibly low expectations of Lima, and we were actually pleasantly surprised. (But really, it can only go up from "Lima is a hole, leave as quickly as possible". The reason we liked it may have had something to do with no longer being on a bus and also the vegetarian/organic oasis that we stumbled upon (naturally). Plus, our hostel was all eco friendly with plastic bottle chandeliers, couches made from old bathtubs and a delicious breakfast. Sadly (sort of) Lima was a short stop over before our next bus ride.
Lima to Cusco: Again, with another 20 hour bus ride to look forward to, we paid a few more soles and went with the best. The vegetarian options for meals, bathrooms with toilet paper and running water and on board bingo were DEFINITE pluses. However, the movie choice for bedtime: Legion. You have got to be kidding me. Apparently the baby sitting directly in front of us felt the same way only her protest (unlike our card-playing one) was to cry, or more specifically, screech, every 30 minutes ALL NIGHT LONG. Expensive buses should ban kids...or make it mandatory that they are mildly sedated. Oh, and that bus was 4 hours delayed so it was 24 hours in total...
Cusco at last: Mike, like me, is not so good with the little details. These little details would have included knowing that the major festival of the year was the day after we got here. Awesome coincidence right??? It was, EXCEPT that we had only booked one night at our hostel and the prospect of homelessness was not so awesome. Thankfully (I heart good karma) we had booked into a hostel where all the proceeds go to running social projects for street kids...I guess they didn´t want to add any more people to their helping list so they let us stay on.
Cusco is a wicked city. Nestled in the mountains, everywhere you look is picturesque. Plus, there are so many Inca ruins to see all over the place, the city is just soaked in history. The one downside is that the central square is essentially in a bowl...so everywhere you go is uphill. Literally, you can´t go anywhere without climbing some stairs. After 2 days of searching for an eco-conscious/ethical/student budget friendly agency (not an easy task), we´re headed on a 5 day trek to Machu picchu on Sunday. Mike´´s goal is to pet a llama, mine is to not be the weakest link on the 4650m pass (or to fall off it).
My camera and I have not been getting along lately (hence the lack of pictures), but they are coming! Plus, today I bought a battery charger so that it can stop telling me that there is no power. Sidenote: I´m pretty sure that the owner of the store also buys stolen cameras...there is no way the homeless looking Peruvian man standing next to me owned or understood how to use the digital camera with a menu in Chinese. The camera karma continues...
Hope all is well, Happy Canada day (Mike and I will think of you from the top of Machu Picchu!)
Guayaquil to Lima: Not wanting to cheap out on a bus and risk god knows what, we took a nice reputable bus company that took care of all the border formalities, food and entertainment for the 20 hour bus ride. However, even reputable companies a) forget people at the Ecuadorian border...and then reverse on the highway to go back and pick them up and b) don´t carry enough food for when the bus is EIGHT hours delayed. Imagine, being stuck in a construction-induced traffic jam in the middle of the desert, just north of Lima and the movie they chose to put on is Legion. If you haven´t seen it, don´t bother, but to summarize it's about the apocalypse, zombies, horror...all taking place in the desert. The stewardess was a genius.
Lima: Mike and I had incredibly low expectations of Lima, and we were actually pleasantly surprised. (But really, it can only go up from "Lima is a hole, leave as quickly as possible". The reason we liked it may have had something to do with no longer being on a bus and also the vegetarian/organic oasis that we stumbled upon (naturally). Plus, our hostel was all eco friendly with plastic bottle chandeliers, couches made from old bathtubs and a delicious breakfast. Sadly (sort of) Lima was a short stop over before our next bus ride.
Lima to Cusco: Again, with another 20 hour bus ride to look forward to, we paid a few more soles and went with the best. The vegetarian options for meals, bathrooms with toilet paper and running water and on board bingo were DEFINITE pluses. However, the movie choice for bedtime: Legion. You have got to be kidding me. Apparently the baby sitting directly in front of us felt the same way only her protest (unlike our card-playing one) was to cry, or more specifically, screech, every 30 minutes ALL NIGHT LONG. Expensive buses should ban kids...or make it mandatory that they are mildly sedated. Oh, and that bus was 4 hours delayed so it was 24 hours in total...
Cusco at last: Mike, like me, is not so good with the little details. These little details would have included knowing that the major festival of the year was the day after we got here. Awesome coincidence right??? It was, EXCEPT that we had only booked one night at our hostel and the prospect of homelessness was not so awesome. Thankfully (I heart good karma) we had booked into a hostel where all the proceeds go to running social projects for street kids...I guess they didn´t want to add any more people to their helping list so they let us stay on.
Cusco is a wicked city. Nestled in the mountains, everywhere you look is picturesque. Plus, there are so many Inca ruins to see all over the place, the city is just soaked in history. The one downside is that the central square is essentially in a bowl...so everywhere you go is uphill. Literally, you can´t go anywhere without climbing some stairs. After 2 days of searching for an eco-conscious/ethical/student budget friendly agency (not an easy task), we´re headed on a 5 day trek to Machu picchu on Sunday. Mike´´s goal is to pet a llama, mine is to not be the weakest link on the 4650m pass (or to fall off it).
My camera and I have not been getting along lately (hence the lack of pictures), but they are coming! Plus, today I bought a battery charger so that it can stop telling me that there is no power. Sidenote: I´m pretty sure that the owner of the store also buys stolen cameras...there is no way the homeless looking Peruvian man standing next to me owned or understood how to use the digital camera with a menu in Chinese. The camera karma continues...
Hope all is well, Happy Canada day (Mike and I will think of you from the top of Machu Picchu!)
¡¿Where in the world is Robin Santiago?!
So, greetings from Ecuador!
I´ve been down here for about a week and a half so far, most of that time was spent with Nat on the coast. In Montañita we were adopted by the hostel owner who took us on tours all up and down the coast, threw Nat a birthday party on our first night and cooked us dinner almost every night. When we weren´t surfing or playing beach v-ball against the locals, we were getting sucked into the hammocks that hung all over the hostel. Nat also adopted and named several of the cats and dogs that were constantly wandering around ("Bessie" the kitten...she looked like a cow and we wanted to leave a Canadian mark down there). Other interesting adventures were:
- pulling a half unconscious kid from the surf and then learning that he had no parents, slept on the street and was addicted to sniffing glue (the truly dark side of Montanita)
- walking out of our hostel one night to go get salad fixings and coming face to face with a bull ("Don´t worry, he won´t hurt you, just hit him on the bum and tell him to move" - Colorado the hostel owner. Uhhhh no I'd rather not get close enough to a bull to smack him but thanks!)
- Sleeping with the lights on...cockroaches don´t like light you know
-Ecuadorian buses. For the sake of my mother's heart, I will say no more. But those of you who have been here know what I'm talking about....
- stupid volcanos screwing up plans. It seems volcanic activity follows me where ever I go. Baños, the outdoor adventure capital of Ecuador (and my heaven) is slowly being evacuated in case of an eruption. Not to worry, I´m not chancing it...for now.
Right now I´m in the mountain city Cuenca. After dirty and busy Guayaquil, this place feels like a breath of fresh air, or it would except for the fact that it´s 2500 metters up. The air is a bit thin so I´m out of breath climbing the stairs...maybe that´s just because I´m out of shape right now though. In addition to the city being smaller, totally picturesque and dirt cheap, I´ve managed to meet a bunch of Canadians (of course) and we´re all headed out salsa dancing tonight.
Tomorrow my next travelling companion arrives. Mike and I are headed to Peru for some Machu Piccu action and then down to Ariquepa (I need to learn how to spell that) for spanish school and some treking. Depending on how quicky we can pick up español, I´d love to squeeze in a trip to the salt flats in Boliva as well before heading back to Ecuador in mid august for the 2 day mission back to Sweden.
I´ve been down here for about a week and a half so far, most of that time was spent with Nat on the coast. In Montañita we were adopted by the hostel owner who took us on tours all up and down the coast, threw Nat a birthday party on our first night and cooked us dinner almost every night. When we weren´t surfing or playing beach v-ball against the locals, we were getting sucked into the hammocks that hung all over the hostel. Nat also adopted and named several of the cats and dogs that were constantly wandering around ("Bessie" the kitten...she looked like a cow and we wanted to leave a Canadian mark down there). Other interesting adventures were:
- pulling a half unconscious kid from the surf and then learning that he had no parents, slept on the street and was addicted to sniffing glue (the truly dark side of Montanita)
- walking out of our hostel one night to go get salad fixings and coming face to face with a bull ("Don´t worry, he won´t hurt you, just hit him on the bum and tell him to move" - Colorado the hostel owner. Uhhhh no I'd rather not get close enough to a bull to smack him but thanks!)
- Sleeping with the lights on...cockroaches don´t like light you know
-Ecuadorian buses. For the sake of my mother's heart, I will say no more. But those of you who have been here know what I'm talking about....
- stupid volcanos screwing up plans. It seems volcanic activity follows me where ever I go. Baños, the outdoor adventure capital of Ecuador (and my heaven) is slowly being evacuated in case of an eruption. Not to worry, I´m not chancing it...for now.
Right now I´m in the mountain city Cuenca. After dirty and busy Guayaquil, this place feels like a breath of fresh air, or it would except for the fact that it´s 2500 metters up. The air is a bit thin so I´m out of breath climbing the stairs...maybe that´s just because I´m out of shape right now though. In addition to the city being smaller, totally picturesque and dirt cheap, I´ve managed to meet a bunch of Canadians (of course) and we´re all headed out salsa dancing tonight.
Tomorrow my next travelling companion arrives. Mike and I are headed to Peru for some Machu Piccu action and then down to Ariquepa (I need to learn how to spell that) for spanish school and some treking. Depending on how quicky we can pick up español, I´d love to squeeze in a trip to the salt flats in Boliva as well before heading back to Ecuador in mid august for the 2 day mission back to Sweden.
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