Waking up at 3:30 am has become all to frequent on this little vacation Leah and I are taking, and doesn´t get easier each time you do it. This time was particularly challenging because it was pitch black and raining, making it difficult to move around and pack up. Fortunately, we had a giant, delicious cake waiting for us at breakfast. Our chef certainly had outdone himself.
We got up so early because there was a huge race to get in line to enter the gateway to the last segment of the trail. I mean, HUGE competition. Luckily Alex knew what was up and got us there nice and early, so we were 2nd in line behind a group of about 10 people from the UK. After standing there for about an hour in pitch darkness, they finally let us through and the last brutal hours of our journey had begun like horses out of the starting gate.
About ten minutes in we came across a girl who apparently had sprained her ankle, which was a big reminder to us to be careful. Not heeding that warning at all, I proceeded to wipe out on a giant rock and still sport the giant bruise covering my entire left hip 9 days later.
It literally poured the entire 3 hour hike to Machu Picchu, completely ruining the point of getting up bright and early to see the sun rise at the sun gate, which was where you supposedly got your first glimpse of the city. All we saw was cloud and rain. whooooo. But when we finally arrived the feeling of accomplishment was so great that I got over the weather. We took tons of pictures and once the weather cleared up, it became an absolutely beautiful day.
Machu Picchu was every bit as awesome as I expected it to be and am so glad we forced ourselves to go through with it. We returned to Cusco later that night and proceeded to fall asleep in our beds by around 9 pm or so, despite the loud partying going on around us. We even got a roommate who had also just finished up with the trek and was so happy that we were sleeping and just collapsed in his bed and passed out when we did. Now that this was done, we had the jungle to look forward to and believe me, we had NO IDEA what was coming.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
INCA TRAIL: day 3 - finally, a rest
On day 3 we woke up at 6 am for breakfast. We were both incredibly sore. I had a blister on my foot that I figured would be fine and my back and knees had definitely felt better. Breakfast was awesome, fried bananas, omelettes, you know, the usual fantastic breakfast. As soon as we started hiking it began to rain again, but we didn´t mind because today was a short day (only 10 km!!!) and we would be able to rest before Machu Picchu the next day.
The day´s hike was a lot of ups and downs on original Inca stonework, which is always impressive. We both agreed that the Inca people must have had tiny feet, because the steps were incredibly short and hard to walk up. Porters came running by us all day, but we were way ahead of the other groups who had stopped after the first mountain the previous day.
We rested at a very cool ruins site and learned all about the history of Machu Picchu. Then we descended another 6 km down the slippery, sometimes imaginary stairway and tried not to bother the porters. The person who hears/sees a porters coming has to yell ¨Porter!¨ as loud as they can and then you have to scramble over to the mountain side and hopefully get out of their way in time. I don´t know how those guys do it. They jump nimbly from rock to rock like mountain goats. It´s incredible to see. Most porters separate and individually arrive at the campsites, but not our red army. They stuck together through the entire trek and in the same order. That way we could cheer on Jose, the head porter and last in line, every time they passed us.
Leah and I plowed ahead of our group in the rush to get to camp and finally take a shower. The others stopped at some ruins, but we figured we had plenty to see tomorrow and we were smelly! We were the first hikers at the camp, but unfortunately, there were still hundreds of people there. They had all taken a bus up that day and planned to make the walk to Machu Picchu the next day with us, which I personally think was pretty lame. We took our luke warm showers (glorious) and realized it was only 11:30 am, so we wrapped ourselves in our tents to read and nap until snack time.
Later on we played cards, and I would like to say that we finally found a game that Phil Alexander sucks at. It´s called Cabeza de Mierda, or Shit Head, and was introduced to us by our guide Alex. It´s pretty complicated, so I won´t go into detail, but Phil Alexander held the crown of Shit Head for the rest of the evening, which was hilarious. I was also able to purchase a coke zero and curbed my carbonation addiction for another day.
At dinner our chef outdid himself by creating a tucan out of a cucumber and a chinchilla our of a giant radish. We took lots of pictures with them, which he found very amusing. Then we had to plan a speech to give our porters, along with a tip, which they greatly deserved. We never would have made the hike without them. It was an awkward but fun time and we actually started to get to know our porters. My favorite was Juan, who served us our food. He was always humming and singing and loved it when Leah and I occasionally broke out into ¨Total Eclipse of the Heart.¨
We went to bed pretty early because we had to be up by 3:30 am for our final day, when we finally reach the glorious Machu Picchu!
The day´s hike was a lot of ups and downs on original Inca stonework, which is always impressive. We both agreed that the Inca people must have had tiny feet, because the steps were incredibly short and hard to walk up. Porters came running by us all day, but we were way ahead of the other groups who had stopped after the first mountain the previous day.
We rested at a very cool ruins site and learned all about the history of Machu Picchu. Then we descended another 6 km down the slippery, sometimes imaginary stairway and tried not to bother the porters. The person who hears/sees a porters coming has to yell ¨Porter!¨ as loud as they can and then you have to scramble over to the mountain side and hopefully get out of their way in time. I don´t know how those guys do it. They jump nimbly from rock to rock like mountain goats. It´s incredible to see. Most porters separate and individually arrive at the campsites, but not our red army. They stuck together through the entire trek and in the same order. That way we could cheer on Jose, the head porter and last in line, every time they passed us.
Leah and I plowed ahead of our group in the rush to get to camp and finally take a shower. The others stopped at some ruins, but we figured we had plenty to see tomorrow and we were smelly! We were the first hikers at the camp, but unfortunately, there were still hundreds of people there. They had all taken a bus up that day and planned to make the walk to Machu Picchu the next day with us, which I personally think was pretty lame. We took our luke warm showers (glorious) and realized it was only 11:30 am, so we wrapped ourselves in our tents to read and nap until snack time.
Later on we played cards, and I would like to say that we finally found a game that Phil Alexander sucks at. It´s called Cabeza de Mierda, or Shit Head, and was introduced to us by our guide Alex. It´s pretty complicated, so I won´t go into detail, but Phil Alexander held the crown of Shit Head for the rest of the evening, which was hilarious. I was also able to purchase a coke zero and curbed my carbonation addiction for another day.
At dinner our chef outdid himself by creating a tucan out of a cucumber and a chinchilla our of a giant radish. We took lots of pictures with them, which he found very amusing. Then we had to plan a speech to give our porters, along with a tip, which they greatly deserved. We never would have made the hike without them. It was an awkward but fun time and we actually started to get to know our porters. My favorite was Juan, who served us our food. He was always humming and singing and loved it when Leah and I occasionally broke out into ¨Total Eclipse of the Heart.¨
We went to bed pretty early because we had to be up by 3:30 am for our final day, when we finally reach the glorious Machu Picchu!
INCA TRAIL: day 2 - a little sore and nervous
The first thing we were told about the Inca Trail is that day 2 would be the hardest. This is because you had to climb 5 km up a mountain, pretty much vertically, and at the ridiculous altitude level of 4200 m. So when we woke up at 530 am we were pretty apprehensive. Fortunately, a friendly porter served us coca tea in bed, which I, unused to such luxuries, spilled all over my sleeping bag. Breakfast was incredible. Cocoa, biscuits with jam, fruit salad, porridge, and fresh pancakes. Leah and I had hoped to possibly lose some weight on our hike, but after a day of meals we realized this was definitely not going to happen.
After breakfast we set off at our own pace and were told to meet up at a rest stop. We walked in three groups. The New Zealanders, Amy and Callan, in the lead, Leah and I in the middle, and Phil and our guide, Alex, bringing up the rear. This 90 minute walk was fairly difficult, much steeper than the previous day. We tried not to take too many breaks, but did feel quite winded when we finally arrived at our rest place. I indulged in a snickers and Leah had a twix, because we had obviously earned them, right? Then we went to play with the llamas in the field and psych our self up for the 2nd half of dead woman´s pass, which was going to be a real bitch.
This 2nd part was possibly the most grueling thing I have ever done, besides one swim practice in high school where I had to do 18 200 IMs at a ridiculous pace, but I digress. The actual walking itself would not have been nearly as difficult if not for the altitude. You literally couldn´t breath. We noticeably lost stamina as the air thinned, so we decided to take some altitude medicine and chew coca leaves (1% cocaine alkaloid). I have no idea if it helped, because we were still panting like dogs the entire way. We had to stop every 20 meters, but made sure we chose a landmark ahead of time to rest at, so we could at least make it that far. Looking back, the distances between those landmarks got shorter and shorter as we made it up the mountain.
FINALLY we reached the peak of Dead Woman´s Pass. We still have no idea why it´s called that. We heard at least 6 different stories, including women falling off over the side and that the mountain looks like a dead woman. Anyways, we relaxed at the top, laughing to ourselves about how easy it was going to be going down the other side of the mountain compared to climbing up. We were so naive. Since we were way ahead of schedule, we rested for a long time before beginning our descent down to our lunch spot, 6km below.
They way down was EXTREMELY challenging. For those of you who know me, I have terrible knees. Apparently that runs in the family, because Leah started developing severe pain after a while as well. So we basically hobbled down these ridiculously steep rocks to the bottom. And yes, I did slip and fall numerous times. About halfway down it began to rain, which was the perfect excuse for us to use our awesome hats we bought. They were excellent shields from the rain, and I have never regretted purchasing them. Amy and Cal, (who finished 25 minutes before us), said they could spot our hats from far off and that we looked like hobbits with our hats, ponchos, and walking sticks and walking through the green, rolling mountains of the Andes.
Lunch was great, obviously. We had a small salad, lomo saltado (shredded beef w/fried, onion, and tomatoes), corn soup, garlic bread, fried chicken, and quinoa with veggies. Then it was time to continue walking. I think it should be mentioned that all the other tours were done for the day. They only walked 10 km and covered Dead Woman´s Pass. For some ungodly reason that I will never know, Llama Path decided that we should continue on and go up and down another mountain for another 6 kms. I still don´t know how we did it. There were beautiful lakes and Inca ruins on the climb up which made it easier, but I was so glad when we reached the top.
I think the funniest part of the day was when we were resting on top of the second mountain. Leah and I were chilling with Amy and Callen when we decided to pull out the candy we had bought in the town the day before. Leah opened up her reeses cups and offered me one. I bit into it and saw that the peanut butter inside was not the normal light brown, but an off white color. I was grossed out and gave it back, even though it tasted fine. Leah finished them up and was studying the package when she noticed something in the corner. Reeses was holding a contest! Entries would not be accepted past Oct. 31! Oct. 31 OF 2006! That candy was well over 2 years old and I laughed at Leah as I ate my rather hard skittles, which turned out to have expired 6 months before. Needles to say, I will be checking the wrappers before I buy things in remote Peruvian towns, that is a promise.
We made our way down the second mountain and were the first to arrive in our campsite. It had been raining the entire afternoon and looked like it was never going to stop. Both of our sweatshirts were soaked, so we had the porters hang them in the kitchen to dry, since they never would outside. Then we tried to wash ourselves in the zipper space between our tents and the outside with our doggie bowl of hot water. It was difficult and resulted in more wet items that would probably never dry.
We played cards and had snacks (hot chocolate, popcorn, fried wontons) until dinner, which we were not hungry for at all. This consisted of soup, chicken drum sticks, pasta, mashed potatoes, and veggies. For dessert there was a chocolate pudding with sprinkles.
Once it got dark finding the bathroom was quite a challenge. Leah went first and proceeded to step in a giant puddle on the way there. With that warning in mind, I figured I would be fine. Well, I didn´t step in any puddles, but I did get completely turned around and just stood still in the dark trying to figure out where I was for about ten minutes. It was quite an exciting day and Leah and I finally turned in, sore and beaten, at around 8 pm.
After breakfast we set off at our own pace and were told to meet up at a rest stop. We walked in three groups. The New Zealanders, Amy and Callan, in the lead, Leah and I in the middle, and Phil and our guide, Alex, bringing up the rear. This 90 minute walk was fairly difficult, much steeper than the previous day. We tried not to take too many breaks, but did feel quite winded when we finally arrived at our rest place. I indulged in a snickers and Leah had a twix, because we had obviously earned them, right? Then we went to play with the llamas in the field and psych our self up for the 2nd half of dead woman´s pass, which was going to be a real bitch.
This 2nd part was possibly the most grueling thing I have ever done, besides one swim practice in high school where I had to do 18 200 IMs at a ridiculous pace, but I digress. The actual walking itself would not have been nearly as difficult if not for the altitude. You literally couldn´t breath. We noticeably lost stamina as the air thinned, so we decided to take some altitude medicine and chew coca leaves (1% cocaine alkaloid). I have no idea if it helped, because we were still panting like dogs the entire way. We had to stop every 20 meters, but made sure we chose a landmark ahead of time to rest at, so we could at least make it that far. Looking back, the distances between those landmarks got shorter and shorter as we made it up the mountain.
FINALLY we reached the peak of Dead Woman´s Pass. We still have no idea why it´s called that. We heard at least 6 different stories, including women falling off over the side and that the mountain looks like a dead woman. Anyways, we relaxed at the top, laughing to ourselves about how easy it was going to be going down the other side of the mountain compared to climbing up. We were so naive. Since we were way ahead of schedule, we rested for a long time before beginning our descent down to our lunch spot, 6km below.
They way down was EXTREMELY challenging. For those of you who know me, I have terrible knees. Apparently that runs in the family, because Leah started developing severe pain after a while as well. So we basically hobbled down these ridiculously steep rocks to the bottom. And yes, I did slip and fall numerous times. About halfway down it began to rain, which was the perfect excuse for us to use our awesome hats we bought. They were excellent shields from the rain, and I have never regretted purchasing them. Amy and Cal, (who finished 25 minutes before us), said they could spot our hats from far off and that we looked like hobbits with our hats, ponchos, and walking sticks and walking through the green, rolling mountains of the Andes.
Lunch was great, obviously. We had a small salad, lomo saltado (shredded beef w/fried, onion, and tomatoes), corn soup, garlic bread, fried chicken, and quinoa with veggies. Then it was time to continue walking. I think it should be mentioned that all the other tours were done for the day. They only walked 10 km and covered Dead Woman´s Pass. For some ungodly reason that I will never know, Llama Path decided that we should continue on and go up and down another mountain for another 6 kms. I still don´t know how we did it. There were beautiful lakes and Inca ruins on the climb up which made it easier, but I was so glad when we reached the top.
I think the funniest part of the day was when we were resting on top of the second mountain. Leah and I were chilling with Amy and Callen when we decided to pull out the candy we had bought in the town the day before. Leah opened up her reeses cups and offered me one. I bit into it and saw that the peanut butter inside was not the normal light brown, but an off white color. I was grossed out and gave it back, even though it tasted fine. Leah finished them up and was studying the package when she noticed something in the corner. Reeses was holding a contest! Entries would not be accepted past Oct. 31! Oct. 31 OF 2006! That candy was well over 2 years old and I laughed at Leah as I ate my rather hard skittles, which turned out to have expired 6 months before. Needles to say, I will be checking the wrappers before I buy things in remote Peruvian towns, that is a promise.
We made our way down the second mountain and were the first to arrive in our campsite. It had been raining the entire afternoon and looked like it was never going to stop. Both of our sweatshirts were soaked, so we had the porters hang them in the kitchen to dry, since they never would outside. Then we tried to wash ourselves in the zipper space between our tents and the outside with our doggie bowl of hot water. It was difficult and resulted in more wet items that would probably never dry.
We played cards and had snacks (hot chocolate, popcorn, fried wontons) until dinner, which we were not hungry for at all. This consisted of soup, chicken drum sticks, pasta, mashed potatoes, and veggies. For dessert there was a chocolate pudding with sprinkles.
Once it got dark finding the bathroom was quite a challenge. Leah went first and proceeded to step in a giant puddle on the way there. With that warning in mind, I figured I would be fine. Well, I didn´t step in any puddles, but I did get completely turned around and just stood still in the dark trying to figure out where I was for about ten minutes. It was quite an exciting day and Leah and I finally turned in, sore and beaten, at around 8 pm.
INCA TRAIL: day 1 - excited and ready to go
Leah had the brilliant idea of buying a journal to document events during our epic hike across the Inca Trail, so Kelly will be copying most of the posts from that along with her own additions.
Our first day on the Inca Trail started bright and early when we were told to meet in a plaza at 5 am. Unfortunately, the transportation didn´t show up until around 6 am, which gave us plenty of time to watch the sky change colors and meet the people we would be walking with. We have a small group that consists of Leah, Phil, a couple from New Zealand, and me. Something told us that this couple was a bit more experienced than us considering they were carrying all their own stuff for the entire trail and we had hired 4 porters between the 3 of us.
The bus finally arrived and we tried to sleep for the 2 hour ride to km 86, the starting point of the trail. We stopped in a little town to have some breakfast and buy any supplies we still needed. Leah made the wise decision to purchase some peanut butter cups (the first we had seen in 8 months!) while I got some skittles.
Once we got to km 86 we waited in a line to show our passports and enter the trail. There was a weird shaped thing on the ground near the front. Leah told me it was a dead flower, but in reality it was a squashed tarantula with purple stuff oozing out. What a welcome to nature. Anyways, we gained entry to the trail and had to cross the most rickety and teetering bridge I´ve ever seen. I personally think it was a final test to scare off weak, unsure people, so obviously Leah and I breezed right through it without a problem.
Quote from Leah´s journal: ¨The mountains towered around us like I couldn´t have envisioned. We were truly specks in a tumbling and intimidating landscape. Clouds hid the mountain tops in the morning til the afternoon sun revealed their true grandeur.¨
She will probably delete that, but I think it´s hilarious and fitting. Lunch was great, it was basically on a farm in a fenced in area, even though farm animals wandered around freely. There were lots of chickens, ducks, and dogs. There was also a little boy wandering around chopping at things with a machete. It was a little unsettling, so we steered clear. The food was awesome and way better then we expected, with a 3 course dining service which included an avocado salad, soup, and pasta with vegetables. There was also a ketchup incident which involved Leah running out of the tent crying and almost throwing up, but we survived.
After lunch I got my first experience with an ¨inca toilet.¨ This was basically just a hole in the ground. I was hesitant to use it at first, but after being told this was the only option for the next 4 days, I allowed Leah to coach me through it and was successful.
We walked a little bit, then learned some Incan history while resting in the grass. We had a great view of some ruins about half the size of Machu Picchu. As we got up, our guide kicked over a rock and there was the previously mentioned black widow, huge and terrifying. This was much more terrifying than the giant purple centipede we saw earlier in our day.
The second part of our day was more of a challenge since the hike was at more of an incline. Everyone was drenched with sweat and I thought we were doing pretty great until I saw our porters, who had passed us hours before carrying all of our stuff, sitting around and drinking beer and waiting until they saw us. Once they knew our location, they packed up and passed us again on the way to the campsite. The only perk was some of the younger guys weren´t wearing shirts, which is always appreciated.
Our campsite was absolutely beautiful, but freezing. We were surrounded by mountains and could see the dreaded ¨dead woman´s pass,¨ which we would be climbing the next day. We washed up in our individual ¨dog bowls¨ filled with hot water, then we all gravitated towards the kitchen tent where there was warmth, light, and hot chocolate. Dinner consisted of fried trout, veggies, rice, soup, and Leah´s absolute favorite: banana flambe.
We were introduced to our 10 porters and were told that they were all married accept for the one 19 year old who has had 3 serious girlfriends! We decided early on that we loved our porters, because every time we left or arrived at a resting point they would applaud us. Even though we felt that we didn´t earn their applause on the first day, it really was quite a moral booster.
The stars were absolutely incredible and we gazed at them as we applied icyhot to all of our aches and pains. I was a little nervous about the sleeping arrangements, this being my first real time camping, but our tent was cozy and warm and we slept great.
Our first day on the Inca Trail started bright and early when we were told to meet in a plaza at 5 am. Unfortunately, the transportation didn´t show up until around 6 am, which gave us plenty of time to watch the sky change colors and meet the people we would be walking with. We have a small group that consists of Leah, Phil, a couple from New Zealand, and me. Something told us that this couple was a bit more experienced than us considering they were carrying all their own stuff for the entire trail and we had hired 4 porters between the 3 of us.
The bus finally arrived and we tried to sleep for the 2 hour ride to km 86, the starting point of the trail. We stopped in a little town to have some breakfast and buy any supplies we still needed. Leah made the wise decision to purchase some peanut butter cups (the first we had seen in 8 months!) while I got some skittles.
Once we got to km 86 we waited in a line to show our passports and enter the trail. There was a weird shaped thing on the ground near the front. Leah told me it was a dead flower, but in reality it was a squashed tarantula with purple stuff oozing out. What a welcome to nature. Anyways, we gained entry to the trail and had to cross the most rickety and teetering bridge I´ve ever seen. I personally think it was a final test to scare off weak, unsure people, so obviously Leah and I breezed right through it without a problem.
Quote from Leah´s journal: ¨The mountains towered around us like I couldn´t have envisioned. We were truly specks in a tumbling and intimidating landscape. Clouds hid the mountain tops in the morning til the afternoon sun revealed their true grandeur.¨
She will probably delete that, but I think it´s hilarious and fitting. Lunch was great, it was basically on a farm in a fenced in area, even though farm animals wandered around freely. There were lots of chickens, ducks, and dogs. There was also a little boy wandering around chopping at things with a machete. It was a little unsettling, so we steered clear. The food was awesome and way better then we expected, with a 3 course dining service which included an avocado salad, soup, and pasta with vegetables. There was also a ketchup incident which involved Leah running out of the tent crying and almost throwing up, but we survived.
After lunch I got my first experience with an ¨inca toilet.¨ This was basically just a hole in the ground. I was hesitant to use it at first, but after being told this was the only option for the next 4 days, I allowed Leah to coach me through it and was successful.
We walked a little bit, then learned some Incan history while resting in the grass. We had a great view of some ruins about half the size of Machu Picchu. As we got up, our guide kicked over a rock and there was the previously mentioned black widow, huge and terrifying. This was much more terrifying than the giant purple centipede we saw earlier in our day.
The second part of our day was more of a challenge since the hike was at more of an incline. Everyone was drenched with sweat and I thought we were doing pretty great until I saw our porters, who had passed us hours before carrying all of our stuff, sitting around and drinking beer and waiting until they saw us. Once they knew our location, they packed up and passed us again on the way to the campsite. The only perk was some of the younger guys weren´t wearing shirts, which is always appreciated.
Our campsite was absolutely beautiful, but freezing. We were surrounded by mountains and could see the dreaded ¨dead woman´s pass,¨ which we would be climbing the next day. We washed up in our individual ¨dog bowls¨ filled with hot water, then we all gravitated towards the kitchen tent where there was warmth, light, and hot chocolate. Dinner consisted of fried trout, veggies, rice, soup, and Leah´s absolute favorite: banana flambe.
We were introduced to our 10 porters and were told that they were all married accept for the one 19 year old who has had 3 serious girlfriends! We decided early on that we loved our porters, because every time we left or arrived at a resting point they would applaud us. Even though we felt that we didn´t earn their applause on the first day, it really was quite a moral booster.
The stars were absolutely incredible and we gazed at them as we applied icyhot to all of our aches and pains. I was a little nervous about the sleeping arrangements, this being my first real time camping, but our tent was cozy and warm and we slept great.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Quickie
So Leah, Uncle Phil and I are headed into the jungle bright and early tomorrow morning. We plan on having a bunch of posts about our adventures with that and Machu Piccu. I will however give you a few highlights of the trail:
1. Near Death Experience - Our guide flipped over a rock and pointed to an object on the other side of it. We thought he said, ¨Look, black beetle,¨ so we leaned in to get a closer look. In reality, he said, ¨look, black widow!¨ We literally ran away screaming. Or maybe it was just me. But either way, being so close to something so deadly was a little intense.
2. Grunting noises and sweat - As Leah and I walked up a 4200 m mountain for about 5 km, we got a lttle tired. The altitude was extremely high so we could barely breath. As a result, we had to pant and make crazy grunting noises to get air in. We would sit down every 20 meters and just pant. Everyone thought we were crazy. And once we got to the top Leah took off her backpack and had a ridiculous giant sweat stain soaked through her sweatshirt. Don´t worry, we took a picture.
3. Our Amazing Hats - Leah and I decided we wanted the most obnoxious hats we could find to wear on our trek. And we found them. Those combined with our alpaca sweaters made us look just like matronly old women going out to garden. They were perfect in the rain, and when we were hiking down a mountain, our friends who finished before us said they knew we were still alive because they could spot our hats from kms away.
Anyways, promise to have better updates later. Hopefully we will make it back alive from the jungle and not get eaten by spiders or something.
1. Near Death Experience - Our guide flipped over a rock and pointed to an object on the other side of it. We thought he said, ¨Look, black beetle,¨ so we leaned in to get a closer look. In reality, he said, ¨look, black widow!¨ We literally ran away screaming. Or maybe it was just me. But either way, being so close to something so deadly was a little intense.
2. Grunting noises and sweat - As Leah and I walked up a 4200 m mountain for about 5 km, we got a lttle tired. The altitude was extremely high so we could barely breath. As a result, we had to pant and make crazy grunting noises to get air in. We would sit down every 20 meters and just pant. Everyone thought we were crazy. And once we got to the top Leah took off her backpack and had a ridiculous giant sweat stain soaked through her sweatshirt. Don´t worry, we took a picture.
3. Our Amazing Hats - Leah and I decided we wanted the most obnoxious hats we could find to wear on our trek. And we found them. Those combined with our alpaca sweaters made us look just like matronly old women going out to garden. They were perfect in the rain, and when we were hiking down a mountain, our friends who finished before us said they knew we were still alive because they could spot our hats from kms away.
Anyways, promise to have better updates later. Hopefully we will make it back alive from the jungle and not get eaten by spiders or something.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
General updates...
We continue to survive our travels, though internet has been making it difficult to update. I will give you all the shortest version possible to try to update before we embark upon the Inca Trail TOMORROW at 5 am (disaster...).
Jan 7 - We sadly had to leave Pucón, so our amazing new Uruguayan friend who worked at the hostel walked us to the bus and we had our first day bus trip so far - 9 hours to Santiago. We arrived in Santiago at about 6 and pretty quickly ditched our initial plan to stay up at a bar until it was time for the airport when we were discouraged by the lack of enthusiasm for the nightlife on a Wednesday. So instead we had a good dinner and enjoyed the comparable (to Buenos Aires) cleanliness of the city and booked a hostel so we could shower and sleep for a few hours.
Jan 8 - Waking up at 3 is not something I advise and something that frankly we've had to do too much of on this trip. But we survived Santiago airport with some Dunkin Donuts and were off to Arica, the beach border town in the north of Chile. I thought the most fascinating part of this town was the billboard-sized instructions written on the seawall about how to clean seafood and advice that lemon juice does not kill bacteria. We walked about, took advantage of all the fruit juice, and got to bed early in the largest hostel dorm room I've ever seen.
Jan 9 - On to Peru! We boarded our train to cross the border into Tacna, Peru. It was just one train car and an hour ride through the desert. We were greated by colorful signs boasting that Tacna is the first region free of fruit flies! Also they are free of a certain fever, which was advertised about town. They are a proud people. We bought bus tickets to Arequipa, and asked 4 separate people (including the driver and the girl who collects tickets) if we were, in fact, on the ten o'clock to Arequipa. Which we assuredly were until 10:30 when someone got on the bus and claimed out seats. At which point the mistake was unearthed and confusion ensued, and we had to wait 2 hours. It was not a good first impression of Peru.
In Arequipa, we tried out couchsurfing for the first time (the website you can use to make a profile and stay at local's houses for free). Yvan, our host, picked us up at the station with 3 friends and took us to his comfortable house in the hills surrounding the city. He taught us how to make Pisco sours, the official drink of Peru, which involve pisco (grape alcohol), lime juice, and raw egg whites. We taught them how to play Kelly's amazing drinking game and a good time was had by all.
Jan 10 - We were served breakfast by our wonderful hosts, then taken into the city center to have a look around. Plaze de Armas of Arequipa is the most beautiful central plaza I have ever seen in all my wordly adventures, highly recommended if you have a chance. We also wandered around a giant monestary, then met up again with our host to eat guinea pig, at which point a rather non-discreet photoshoot ensued. The guinea pig, called cuy, was deep fried and to be eaten with fingers. Not very meaty, but low in cholesterol we're told. Then we went to fix our backs with some $5 per hour massages and were off on our sleeper bus, which we were unpleasantly surprised to discover doesn't come close to Argentine standards (though the dinner was delicious).
Jan 11 - Kelly and I arrived several hours late on the 16 hour bus from Arequipa. Relaxed in our amazing hostel in Miraflores neighborhood, called Backpacker Family House. We tried to relax in the common room but some tool put Lost on TV, an important plot episode that Kelly hadn't reached and he refused to change the channel. We were saved by Pedro, the hostel owner, trying to gather people together to go to some park that was described as having 'fountains with synchronized lights and music.' Since we are not 8 years old, this didn't enthuse us, but agreed to go anyway to get away from the revealing twists and turns of the Sun and Jin Season 4 plot line (Alison, I know you know what I'm talking about). We went with 2 Swedish boys, a Brazilian girl and an Argentine boy and ended up enjoying ourselves by getting the whole crew into swirling through the park to classical music and soaking each other in the fountains, much to the bemusement to the swarms of Peruvian families out for a family Sunday night. We were greated at the hostel with Pedro's pisco sours and were all ready for Phil Alexander to arrive from his flight - and so the group travel began.
Jan 12 - Went to lunch and some Liman ruins (pre-Inca), then a juicebar. I visited a chiropracter and fell ill to Peruvian stomach. Went to Tio Mario's for dinner in Barrancas neighborhood at night where Kelly downed a plate of cow hearts on skewers (called anticuchos, very traditional).
Jan 13 - Toured downtown Lima all morning with a guide. Beautiful colonial city with ancient wooden balconies and cheery yellow plazas. Kelly napped while dad and I walked down the cliff that runs above the beach, filled with manicured parks with tiled benches reminiscent of Gaudi's Parque Guell in Barcelona. Sat in a restaurant in the mall built into the cliff and had a fruit juice while dad downed 3 pisco sours. Walked back to discover Pedro, the hostel owner, was making Pisco sours for the group, so dad gathered everyone around then tipsily rallied the group to a dinner in Parque Kennedy, where I had the best club sandwich of my life.
Jan 14 - Fly from Lima to Cusco. Wanted to try oxygenshots in airport, but too intimidated by lady at counter. Our hostel, LOKI, has 138 beds and a really nice bar and cheap, delicious food. Kelly and I are in a marital suite, kind of awkward. Our friend Zara, who we know from BsAs, is working here, so it's been good to see her. Took her out to a delicious dinner, I had osso bucco in dark beer sauce with pumpkin ravioli with mint seasoning. Phil Alexander agrees that this is probably one of the top 20 restaurants he's been to ever, so we went back for lunch today.
With that, I'll let Kelly take it!
Jan 7 - We sadly had to leave Pucón, so our amazing new Uruguayan friend who worked at the hostel walked us to the bus and we had our first day bus trip so far - 9 hours to Santiago. We arrived in Santiago at about 6 and pretty quickly ditched our initial plan to stay up at a bar until it was time for the airport when we were discouraged by the lack of enthusiasm for the nightlife on a Wednesday. So instead we had a good dinner and enjoyed the comparable (to Buenos Aires) cleanliness of the city and booked a hostel so we could shower and sleep for a few hours.
Jan 8 - Waking up at 3 is not something I advise and something that frankly we've had to do too much of on this trip. But we survived Santiago airport with some Dunkin Donuts and were off to Arica, the beach border town in the north of Chile. I thought the most fascinating part of this town was the billboard-sized instructions written on the seawall about how to clean seafood and advice that lemon juice does not kill bacteria. We walked about, took advantage of all the fruit juice, and got to bed early in the largest hostel dorm room I've ever seen.
Jan 9 - On to Peru! We boarded our train to cross the border into Tacna, Peru. It was just one train car and an hour ride through the desert. We were greated by colorful signs boasting that Tacna is the first region free of fruit flies! Also they are free of a certain fever, which was advertised about town. They are a proud people. We bought bus tickets to Arequipa, and asked 4 separate people (including the driver and the girl who collects tickets) if we were, in fact, on the ten o'clock to Arequipa. Which we assuredly were until 10:30 when someone got on the bus and claimed out seats. At which point the mistake was unearthed and confusion ensued, and we had to wait 2 hours. It was not a good first impression of Peru.
In Arequipa, we tried out couchsurfing for the first time (the website you can use to make a profile and stay at local's houses for free). Yvan, our host, picked us up at the station with 3 friends and took us to his comfortable house in the hills surrounding the city. He taught us how to make Pisco sours, the official drink of Peru, which involve pisco (grape alcohol), lime juice, and raw egg whites. We taught them how to play Kelly's amazing drinking game and a good time was had by all.
Jan 10 - We were served breakfast by our wonderful hosts, then taken into the city center to have a look around. Plaze de Armas of Arequipa is the most beautiful central plaza I have ever seen in all my wordly adventures, highly recommended if you have a chance. We also wandered around a giant monestary, then met up again with our host to eat guinea pig, at which point a rather non-discreet photoshoot ensued. The guinea pig, called cuy, was deep fried and to be eaten with fingers. Not very meaty, but low in cholesterol we're told. Then we went to fix our backs with some $5 per hour massages and were off on our sleeper bus, which we were unpleasantly surprised to discover doesn't come close to Argentine standards (though the dinner was delicious).
Jan 11 - Kelly and I arrived several hours late on the 16 hour bus from Arequipa. Relaxed in our amazing hostel in Miraflores neighborhood, called Backpacker Family House. We tried to relax in the common room but some tool put Lost on TV, an important plot episode that Kelly hadn't reached and he refused to change the channel. We were saved by Pedro, the hostel owner, trying to gather people together to go to some park that was described as having 'fountains with synchronized lights and music.' Since we are not 8 years old, this didn't enthuse us, but agreed to go anyway to get away from the revealing twists and turns of the Sun and Jin Season 4 plot line (Alison, I know you know what I'm talking about). We went with 2 Swedish boys, a Brazilian girl and an Argentine boy and ended up enjoying ourselves by getting the whole crew into swirling through the park to classical music and soaking each other in the fountains, much to the bemusement to the swarms of Peruvian families out for a family Sunday night. We were greated at the hostel with Pedro's pisco sours and were all ready for Phil Alexander to arrive from his flight - and so the group travel began.
Jan 12 - Went to lunch and some Liman ruins (pre-Inca), then a juicebar. I visited a chiropracter and fell ill to Peruvian stomach. Went to Tio Mario's for dinner in Barrancas neighborhood at night where Kelly downed a plate of cow hearts on skewers (called anticuchos, very traditional).
Jan 13 - Toured downtown Lima all morning with a guide. Beautiful colonial city with ancient wooden balconies and cheery yellow plazas. Kelly napped while dad and I walked down the cliff that runs above the beach, filled with manicured parks with tiled benches reminiscent of Gaudi's Parque Guell in Barcelona. Sat in a restaurant in the mall built into the cliff and had a fruit juice while dad downed 3 pisco sours. Walked back to discover Pedro, the hostel owner, was making Pisco sours for the group, so dad gathered everyone around then tipsily rallied the group to a dinner in Parque Kennedy, where I had the best club sandwich of my life.
Jan 14 - Fly from Lima to Cusco. Wanted to try oxygenshots in airport, but too intimidated by lady at counter. Our hostel, LOKI, has 138 beds and a really nice bar and cheap, delicious food. Kelly and I are in a marital suite, kind of awkward. Our friend Zara, who we know from BsAs, is working here, so it's been good to see her. Took her out to a delicious dinner, I had osso bucco in dark beer sauce with pumpkin ravioli with mint seasoning. Phil Alexander agrees that this is probably one of the top 20 restaurants he's been to ever, so we went back for lunch today.
With that, I'll let Kelly take it!
Cusco!
Okay, it´s been pretty hard to blog lately because of the high demand for internet and lines at the hostel, so some of our posts may be out of order and really long because they have taken days to finish, but I´m sure you can handle it.
Cusco is fantastic. After our first day we got up bright and early to explore and learn about the city. There are several sites to visit here, including many ancient ruins and churches that date back over 600 years ago. Leah and I decided that we are going to be getting plenty of ruins along the Inca Trail, so we wanted to stick to the museums and churches within the center of the city. UNFORTUNATELY that is impossible without buying a ten day pass for 130 soles (about 50 bucks) to see every site possible within two hours of the city. We went to several museums, hoping to pay an entry fee and enjoy the delights of the exhibits, but were told we could not unless we bought the huge pass. Please believe that we fully plan on writing a letter to the city of Cusco telling them what a stupid idea it is to make everyone pay for that pass.
Luckily, we were able to hire a guide who walked us through the city and told us all about the history. The main thing about Cusco is the "Inca Walls." We were expecting a huge temple or something constructed by the Incas centuries ago, but in reality, pretty much everything in the city is constructed from Inca Walls. These buildings have survived several earthquakes and centuries of erosion and are still standing and looking pretty amazing, so we were impressed.
That night we had a couchsurfing gathering at a bar, so we rested and enjoyed the hostel food (it´s amazing) and got ready for our first night out in Cusco. We were late arrivals, obviously, but there were about 15 people sitting around and chatting when we got to our meeting. We know a couple of people that we had met in Lima, but it was basically a group of strangers. Being me, I headed straight to the bar and got us some drinks to hopefully ease the awkwardness. Then we went and sat directly in the middle of everyone.
Thankfully this was a games bar, so with a little encouragement, we got a group of people to play jenga with us. We were surrounded by a bunch of guys from Chile on summer vacation from school, all very nice and all WAY too good at jenga. After about the 8th time we ruined the tower, I introduced my amazing drinking game (if you have played it you know what I´m talking about). Everyone loved it and we had a huge group going, but then happy hour ended so we decided to go to the clubs.
The first club we went to was boiling hot, but great because they played 80s rock and some hip hop. The most memorable moment was when this ridiculous ripped man jumped up on the bar and began dancing to "I´m Too Sexy." Everyone cheered, especially when he stripped down to his underwear. It was pretty hilarious. From there we went to a different club that played cumbia music and the Chileans we were with tried to teach us how to dance the cumbia, but obviouly failed.
The next day we woke up at about noon and the weather was pretty terrible. Leah and I were on a mission to find these colorufl, striped pants that everyone, both tourist and native, wears. We went to a market that was pretty fantastic and had thousands of the pants we wanted. We each bought two pairs and then wandered through the meat section and almost threw up at the skinned bull´s head just chilling out in the open.
After that we went and harassed the people at Llama Path, the company that we are doing the Inca Trail through. We asked this poor guy so many absurd questions, I´m sure he hated us. Then we went to this amazing pre-columbian museum. I say amazing because the descriptions of every artifact were each three paragraphs long and written by the most pompous asshole ever. These are our two favorites:
"The symbolic realism achieved in the physical representations of the two reptilians is truly startling. One finds oneself virtually deprived of the rudimentary elements of esthetic appraisal required to assimilate the magnitude of these extraordinary objects."
AND
"Attempting the exercise of viewing them through the eyes of someone who lived centuries ago one would be surprised at one's own reflection in these images, where the unfinished detail is completed by our vision, converting them into exponents of delicacy of form, grace and movement. Again, esthetics show a leaning toward harmony, whilst beauty remains bound to time."
I mean, can you really understand this? Imagine an entire museum written like this. It is pretty fortunate Leah, Phil, and I were intelligent enough to handle it. It was also fortunate that no one else was in the museum so when we laughed obnoxiously loud we didn´t disturb anyone.
Our night was pretty much the same as the night before. There was a live rock band at our hostel and then we went on to some dance clubs.
Today was pretty stressful and long. We had a list of things to get for our trip, so we headed to a market that sold really cheap things. We each bought alpaca sweaters, hats, and mittens for ourselves, and if you are lucky, we might have bought stuff for you... ANYWAYS we met the two other people we will be traveling with on the trail. Unfortunately, they seem pretty fit. We hired 2 porters to carry our stuff, while THEY are carrying their own stuff. After that we went to a book store in an attempt to buy books that were mentally stimulating and thought provoking. Instead, realizing all there was was harloquin romances, we bought the trashiest books we could find including Leah´s purchase and my personal favorite, Hard Warm Rain. We resisted buying the bachelor of the month books, our favorite being about a Texas Ranch owner who was attacked by sex starved women.
So we leave tomorrow for the Inca Trail, hopefully we will survive, WISH US LUCK!
Cusco is fantastic. After our first day we got up bright and early to explore and learn about the city. There are several sites to visit here, including many ancient ruins and churches that date back over 600 years ago. Leah and I decided that we are going to be getting plenty of ruins along the Inca Trail, so we wanted to stick to the museums and churches within the center of the city. UNFORTUNATELY that is impossible without buying a ten day pass for 130 soles (about 50 bucks) to see every site possible within two hours of the city. We went to several museums, hoping to pay an entry fee and enjoy the delights of the exhibits, but were told we could not unless we bought the huge pass. Please believe that we fully plan on writing a letter to the city of Cusco telling them what a stupid idea it is to make everyone pay for that pass.
Luckily, we were able to hire a guide who walked us through the city and told us all about the history. The main thing about Cusco is the "Inca Walls." We were expecting a huge temple or something constructed by the Incas centuries ago, but in reality, pretty much everything in the city is constructed from Inca Walls. These buildings have survived several earthquakes and centuries of erosion and are still standing and looking pretty amazing, so we were impressed.
That night we had a couchsurfing gathering at a bar, so we rested and enjoyed the hostel food (it´s amazing) and got ready for our first night out in Cusco. We were late arrivals, obviously, but there were about 15 people sitting around and chatting when we got to our meeting. We know a couple of people that we had met in Lima, but it was basically a group of strangers. Being me, I headed straight to the bar and got us some drinks to hopefully ease the awkwardness. Then we went and sat directly in the middle of everyone.
Thankfully this was a games bar, so with a little encouragement, we got a group of people to play jenga with us. We were surrounded by a bunch of guys from Chile on summer vacation from school, all very nice and all WAY too good at jenga. After about the 8th time we ruined the tower, I introduced my amazing drinking game (if you have played it you know what I´m talking about). Everyone loved it and we had a huge group going, but then happy hour ended so we decided to go to the clubs.
The first club we went to was boiling hot, but great because they played 80s rock and some hip hop. The most memorable moment was when this ridiculous ripped man jumped up on the bar and began dancing to "I´m Too Sexy." Everyone cheered, especially when he stripped down to his underwear. It was pretty hilarious. From there we went to a different club that played cumbia music and the Chileans we were with tried to teach us how to dance the cumbia, but obviouly failed.
The next day we woke up at about noon and the weather was pretty terrible. Leah and I were on a mission to find these colorufl, striped pants that everyone, both tourist and native, wears. We went to a market that was pretty fantastic and had thousands of the pants we wanted. We each bought two pairs and then wandered through the meat section and almost threw up at the skinned bull´s head just chilling out in the open.
After that we went and harassed the people at Llama Path, the company that we are doing the Inca Trail through. We asked this poor guy so many absurd questions, I´m sure he hated us. Then we went to this amazing pre-columbian museum. I say amazing because the descriptions of every artifact were each three paragraphs long and written by the most pompous asshole ever. These are our two favorites:
"The symbolic realism achieved in the physical representations of the two reptilians is truly startling. One finds oneself virtually deprived of the rudimentary elements of esthetic appraisal required to assimilate the magnitude of these extraordinary objects."
AND
"Attempting the exercise of viewing them through the eyes of someone who lived centuries ago one would be surprised at one's own reflection in these images, where the unfinished detail is completed by our vision, converting them into exponents of delicacy of form, grace and movement. Again, esthetics show a leaning toward harmony, whilst beauty remains bound to time."
I mean, can you really understand this? Imagine an entire museum written like this. It is pretty fortunate Leah, Phil, and I were intelligent enough to handle it. It was also fortunate that no one else was in the museum so when we laughed obnoxiously loud we didn´t disturb anyone.
Our night was pretty much the same as the night before. There was a live rock band at our hostel and then we went on to some dance clubs.
Today was pretty stressful and long. We had a list of things to get for our trip, so we headed to a market that sold really cheap things. We each bought alpaca sweaters, hats, and mittens for ourselves, and if you are lucky, we might have bought stuff for you... ANYWAYS we met the two other people we will be traveling with on the trail. Unfortunately, they seem pretty fit. We hired 2 porters to carry our stuff, while THEY are carrying their own stuff. After that we went to a book store in an attempt to buy books that were mentally stimulating and thought provoking. Instead, realizing all there was was harloquin romances, we bought the trashiest books we could find including Leah´s purchase and my personal favorite, Hard Warm Rain. We resisted buying the bachelor of the month books, our favorite being about a Texas Ranch owner who was attacked by sex starved women.
So we leave tomorrow for the Inca Trail, hopefully we will survive, WISH US LUCK!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Climbing the volcano in Pucón, Chile
We have many updates, but this will focus on our final day in Pucón and more updates will follow tonight hopefully. On Tuesday, we were able to climb the volcano, having been turned away on Monday due to bad conditions. But we were more prepared and well rested this way and our weathered guide told us that conditions were perfect as he looked towards the clear blue southern sky.
Let me preface our experience by saying that fun is not a word I would use to describe climbing this particular volcano. We started at the rocky base with the inert chairlift dangling above us in heavy snow clothing and just plowed forward and upward. For me, this was the hardest part, sliding on gravel and very steep slopes, and we were all quickly drenched in sweat. After about an hour or 2, we arrived at the top of the chairlift, where we saw a few other groups hop of the chairs that had magically started to work. This was frustrating. So we, the tired group, were also the slowest group going up the mountain. This produced mixed feelings in me: relief because they would be hit by falling rocks first and able to advise us, and fright because if any of them lost their step, they would slide down into our group (I was seriously doubting all of our ability to actually use the provided ice pick in a panicked situation).
I also want to say that I'm sure this hike is wonderful when the weather is clear and you can see the lake and mountains in the distance. But all we could see were clouds. The 5 hour hike was certainly strenuous, but not unbearable, it was actually boredom that made me want to turn around. I just had nothing left to think about. I spent hour 1 preoccupied with extreme fatigue, hours 2 and 3 going over in my head exactly what to do with my ice pick if i slipped, and hour 4 calculating travel time to Perú. And then I was spent.
At one point as we neared the crater on top we were pelted by hail and wind so strong that it threatened to blow us over as we stood planted in the footprints of the hikers before us. All groups were forced to turn around merely 200 meters or so before reaching the top because there was too much smoke coming out and too many boulders falling. So we began our descent, sliding down the volcano on our butts using our ice picks as a brake. Which was kind of fun, until somebody ran into my back and broke my camera screen.
Moral of the story: only climb the volcano if the weather is perfectly clear and the views merit the journey...otherwise go rafting or eat some Antarctic krill empanadas.
Let me preface our experience by saying that fun is not a word I would use to describe climbing this particular volcano. We started at the rocky base with the inert chairlift dangling above us in heavy snow clothing and just plowed forward and upward. For me, this was the hardest part, sliding on gravel and very steep slopes, and we were all quickly drenched in sweat. After about an hour or 2, we arrived at the top of the chairlift, where we saw a few other groups hop of the chairs that had magically started to work. This was frustrating. So we, the tired group, were also the slowest group going up the mountain. This produced mixed feelings in me: relief because they would be hit by falling rocks first and able to advise us, and fright because if any of them lost their step, they would slide down into our group (I was seriously doubting all of our ability to actually use the provided ice pick in a panicked situation).
I also want to say that I'm sure this hike is wonderful when the weather is clear and you can see the lake and mountains in the distance. But all we could see were clouds. The 5 hour hike was certainly strenuous, but not unbearable, it was actually boredom that made me want to turn around. I just had nothing left to think about. I spent hour 1 preoccupied with extreme fatigue, hours 2 and 3 going over in my head exactly what to do with my ice pick if i slipped, and hour 4 calculating travel time to Perú. And then I was spent.
At one point as we neared the crater on top we were pelted by hail and wind so strong that it threatened to blow us over as we stood planted in the footprints of the hikers before us. All groups were forced to turn around merely 200 meters or so before reaching the top because there was too much smoke coming out and too many boulders falling. So we began our descent, sliding down the volcano on our butts using our ice picks as a brake. Which was kind of fun, until somebody ran into my back and broke my camera screen.
Moral of the story: only climb the volcano if the weather is perfectly clear and the views merit the journey...otherwise go rafting or eat some Antarctic krill empanadas.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Fruity Chile
So I would just like to make a cuisine-oriented comment, as I suppose many of you might expect.
The food here is WAY more awesome than Argentina. More variety and quality. Pretty much the only way I think Argentina can hold a candle is with their grass-raised cattle, but I'm pretty steaked-out at this point and welcome the many changes, which include: salads without corn! quality bread! seafood! turkey! and fruit!
The fruit is particularly exciting, as in Argentina there are pretty much only bananas. Here all the fruit is fresh and delicious and dirt cheap. I bought 5 plums and 4 nectarines for LESS THAN A DOLLAR. It was a pricing miracle.
They are also obsessed with pineapple, which I am not about to argue with (it is in fact so omnipresent that Kelly has 'piña' always on the mind and keep referring to Viña, the town we were in, as Piña...see lower entries). When we found A&W rootbeer in the Jumbo supermarket (and caused a scene), we sought vanilla ice cream so as to introduce the Chileans to rootbeer floats, but all we could find was pineapple ice cream. Literally, rows of it, and it was all that was left. Very odd.
Now we are off to indulge on giant empanadas filled with Antarctic Krill for lunch.
The food here is WAY more awesome than Argentina. More variety and quality. Pretty much the only way I think Argentina can hold a candle is with their grass-raised cattle, but I'm pretty steaked-out at this point and welcome the many changes, which include: salads without corn! quality bread! seafood! turkey! and fruit!
The fruit is particularly exciting, as in Argentina there are pretty much only bananas. Here all the fruit is fresh and delicious and dirt cheap. I bought 5 plums and 4 nectarines for LESS THAN A DOLLAR. It was a pricing miracle.
They are also obsessed with pineapple, which I am not about to argue with (it is in fact so omnipresent that Kelly has 'piña' always on the mind and keep referring to Viña, the town we were in, as Piña...see lower entries). When we found A&W rootbeer in the Jumbo supermarket (and caused a scene), we sought vanilla ice cream so as to introduce the Chileans to rootbeer floats, but all we could find was pineapple ice cream. Literally, rows of it, and it was all that was left. Very odd.
Now we are off to indulge on giant empanadas filled with Antarctic Krill for lunch.
White Water Raftng!
So it´s about 6 am right now. Leah and I got up at 3 15 am to prepare to climb Mt. Villarrica at 4 am, but apparently the weather wasn´t up for it, so we are going to try again tomorrow. Luckily the group of girls we are with are all UW alums, with half being from Ann Arbor. It honestly doesn´t get much better then a bunch of Michigan badgers.
Yesterday Leah and I arrived in Pucon, Chile after a pretty much uneventful bus ride from Valpo. There was a moment of panic when our tickets weren´t collected, everyone around us was speaking portugeuse, and most of the signs on the bus were in portugeuse. Were we headed towards Brazil? Thankfully we arrived an hour early in Pucon and headed to our hostel. We were greeted by Gustavus who just couldn´t find his glasses(!!!) and was a little crazy, but very helpful. We signed up for white water rafting and settled in to our room.
In the early afternoon we were picked up by a shuttle and taken to a river where an instructer asked who was doing the baja course and who was doing the other. We were like what? and Leah asked what the difference was. He just laughed at us and it was obvious since we didn´t know the difference we were completely inexperienced. That didn´t matter though, because we chose the higher level (d4) anyway.
We were handed wet suits and instructed how to put them on. As expected, I put mine on backwords. Then we were given really cool shorts and an awesome windbreaker type coat and a helmet. Don´t worry, we have a picture of this sexy getup. Everyone was standing around sweating and had to get back into a bus for another 20 minutes, where we made friends with a german couple and a canadian with the thickest accent I have ever heard. Absolutely amazing.
We got in a raft with them and were joined by Carlos, our tough love instructor. He trained us well and by the time we got to the rapids an hour later, we were ready to go against the elements. I was in the middle, but Leah got stuck up front and basically was the leader of our raft with the other German. We battled against mini waterfalls and crazy rapids, and when pictures were being taken over a waterfall, the instructer jumped to the front and basically pushed Leah off the raft. It was kind of hilarious. (I might mention she was the only one who fell off...)
Halfway through the course we had to get out and trek through a forest because the rapids were so intense, a d6 level or something. Lets just say that the crazy water booties we wore were really not compatable with climbing and jumping down from giant rocks and hills. We did get to jump off a cliff edge though, apparently it was about 20 feet tall. Leah went before me and was like, "don´t go until I can turn around and see your face when you jump off." I waited and then jumped off with a crazy grin on my face. One of the germans told me I looked strangely happy when I was going down, so I feel like I pulled off not looking terrified.
We finished off our adventure by jumping into d1 rapids and being carried away. It was a little scary but lots of fun. We paddled our boats to shore and celebrated with beer and cookies. It was absolutely fantastic and I recommend it to anyone. Leah and I now feel like rugged adventurers (and I looking the part with my sunburnt nose). Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to climb up this volcano and make it back alive to tell you all about it!
Yesterday Leah and I arrived in Pucon, Chile after a pretty much uneventful bus ride from Valpo. There was a moment of panic when our tickets weren´t collected, everyone around us was speaking portugeuse, and most of the signs on the bus were in portugeuse. Were we headed towards Brazil? Thankfully we arrived an hour early in Pucon and headed to our hostel. We were greeted by Gustavus who just couldn´t find his glasses(!!!) and was a little crazy, but very helpful. We signed up for white water rafting and settled in to our room.
In the early afternoon we were picked up by a shuttle and taken to a river where an instructer asked who was doing the baja course and who was doing the other. We were like what? and Leah asked what the difference was. He just laughed at us and it was obvious since we didn´t know the difference we were completely inexperienced. That didn´t matter though, because we chose the higher level (d4) anyway.
We were handed wet suits and instructed how to put them on. As expected, I put mine on backwords. Then we were given really cool shorts and an awesome windbreaker type coat and a helmet. Don´t worry, we have a picture of this sexy getup. Everyone was standing around sweating and had to get back into a bus for another 20 minutes, where we made friends with a german couple and a canadian with the thickest accent I have ever heard. Absolutely amazing.
We got in a raft with them and were joined by Carlos, our tough love instructor. He trained us well and by the time we got to the rapids an hour later, we were ready to go against the elements. I was in the middle, but Leah got stuck up front and basically was the leader of our raft with the other German. We battled against mini waterfalls and crazy rapids, and when pictures were being taken over a waterfall, the instructer jumped to the front and basically pushed Leah off the raft. It was kind of hilarious. (I might mention she was the only one who fell off...)
Halfway through the course we had to get out and trek through a forest because the rapids were so intense, a d6 level or something. Lets just say that the crazy water booties we wore were really not compatable with climbing and jumping down from giant rocks and hills. We did get to jump off a cliff edge though, apparently it was about 20 feet tall. Leah went before me and was like, "don´t go until I can turn around and see your face when you jump off." I waited and then jumped off with a crazy grin on my face. One of the germans told me I looked strangely happy when I was going down, so I feel like I pulled off not looking terrified.
We finished off our adventure by jumping into d1 rapids and being carried away. It was a little scary but lots of fun. We paddled our boats to shore and celebrated with beer and cookies. It was absolutely fantastic and I recommend it to anyone. Leah and I now feel like rugged adventurers (and I looking the part with my sunburnt nose). Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to climb up this volcano and make it back alive to tell you all about it!
Happy New Year!
Leah and I ended up spending an amazing week in Vina Del Mar and getting amazing guided tours of Valparaiso, Vina, and Isla Negra from our friend Dominic.
New Years Eve was absolutely incredible. Imagine being on a beach with 50 km of coastline and about every 3 km fireworks were going off. They were all in sync with each other and better than any 4th of July display I have ever seen. After that Leah, Dominic, our other friend Carol and I proceeded to squeeze on an already packed bus to get to downtown Valparaiso. We had to shove dozens of people out of the way, but we were cut throat and sober while they were all wasted already.
When we got there, there were more people in one space then I have ever seen in my life. Everyone was just running around and being crazy, I honestly don´t know what we did from the span of 1 am to 9, we just wandered around and people watched, with a little dancing inbetween.
We slept the entire day of New Years and woke up the next day ready to be tourists. We walked the beaches of Pina and checked out a couple of museums, it was obviously a cultural experience. Our last day we spent at Isla Negra and saw the house of renowned poet Pablo Neruda, it was absolutely incredible. He built his entire house to be like that of a ship, even though he was completely terrified of sailing. He collected all sorts of things, including giant beetles from all over the world, which completely gave me the creeps. We ended our day by sitting on the rocky beaches and watching the huge waves roll in. It was absolutely incredible. We LOVED this area of Chile and insist anyone who visits goes to this area.
New Years Eve was absolutely incredible. Imagine being on a beach with 50 km of coastline and about every 3 km fireworks were going off. They were all in sync with each other and better than any 4th of July display I have ever seen. After that Leah, Dominic, our other friend Carol and I proceeded to squeeze on an already packed bus to get to downtown Valparaiso. We had to shove dozens of people out of the way, but we were cut throat and sober while they were all wasted already.
When we got there, there were more people in one space then I have ever seen in my life. Everyone was just running around and being crazy, I honestly don´t know what we did from the span of 1 am to 9, we just wandered around and people watched, with a little dancing inbetween.
We slept the entire day of New Years and woke up the next day ready to be tourists. We walked the beaches of Pina and checked out a couple of museums, it was obviously a cultural experience. Our last day we spent at Isla Negra and saw the house of renowned poet Pablo Neruda, it was absolutely incredible. He built his entire house to be like that of a ship, even though he was completely terrified of sailing. He collected all sorts of things, including giant beetles from all over the world, which completely gave me the creeps. We ended our day by sitting on the rocky beaches and watching the huge waves roll in. It was absolutely incredible. We LOVED this area of Chile and insist anyone who visits goes to this area.
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