So the second day I awoke with a stomach that seemed to be out to get me, which is nothing too atypical for Bolivia, but really sucks when you have 10 hours of offroading on your schedule for the day. The first day, we became acquainted with several traditional Andean musicians. And heard their CDs on repeat for the whole drive. Naïvely we hoped for a new selection the second day, but soon were disappointed to hear the same traditional Bolivian songs about 'La Patria' blaring. It was the same 15 songs over. And over. All. Day.
Our first stop was an amazing view, at almost 5000 meters. I wasn't really supposed to get out of the car because it was too cold and not good or something, but I hopped out long enough to take a picture. Then we visited a ghost town, which was very eerie, but again I pretty much slept through it. Apparently it used to be a mining town thought to be possessed by the devil, which was actually poisonous gases realized from the mines.
The desert was expansive, with towering mountains in the distance in assorted colors that made them look like sunsets. Llamas became more and more sparse as we got deeper into the arid landscape, but vicuñas still roamed and animals that be described no other way but as jackalopes. We came across another huge but shallow lake every few hours, always filled with clans of flamingoes and sandpipers hopping about. At one of these lakes there was a hot spring and we stopped for lunch, which I had to excuse myself from early to digest alone in the car after a single roll of bread.
After lunch I started feeling better, until we stopped at the geisers, which were more like giant muddy craters with soccer ball-sized bubbles bursting up...they looked like the awesome purple villain in the My Little Pony movie. The colors varied from crater to crater, depending on the chemicals, but they all smelled like rotten eggs and emitted thick, hot steam, which was painful in the cold, windy air. They made me absolutely nauseous, but by the time I realized I wanted to vomit, I was too far into the maze of walkable pathways through the geisers and I had to call Luis, the cook, to help me out.
Fortunately, I had time to recover in the unmoving car because just after leaving the site we got a flat tire. Kelly and I sat in the car while they changed it, while everyone else got out and looked around at the wind blown sand (and not much else). But our capable driver, hair as glossy as ever, handily fixed the damage and we were off, praying to not get another flat.
We drove through the Dalí desert, which looks just like his surrealistic paintings, minus the melting watches. Alien-like natural rock formations and rolling mountains against bright blue skies. It was beautiful.
That night we stayed in a similar-looking town, in that I wouldn't call it quite a town, in much more comfortable beds that were just as cold. The little girls in the town became attached to our group and sang us songs. Then they hammed it up for the camera with the adorable kittens roaming around town, the perfect photo op for our whole group. It's hard to imagine what it would be like living in such a remote area. We said goodbye to them in the morning and were off to the Laguna Colorada (red lake), one of the highlights of the trip.
The tour is known for passing by several colored lakes (from natural chemicals), the biggest being the red lake, where we started the third day of travel. Flamingoes were everywhere, clouds of pink and white over the red water. We also, during the middle two days, saw a green lake that looked like a giant opal, and a yellow lake that was the strangest color I've ever seen. We had lunch by the yellow lake, which was filled with 3 species of flamingo. Then we noticed that they were all pooping, little spurts that shot from their behinds whilst they continued digging with their beaks for food....it ruined the magic a bit.
At night we finally got to shower, though we had to pay for it. Our accomodations were made of salt - salt walls, floors, tables, chairs, everything. It was like living in a litter box, but slightly more pleasant. We played cards with another group after dinner, until they turned off the electricity at 10.
We decided to wake up for our last day at 5 so that we could see the sun rise over the salt flats. Our driver was less than pleased by our decision, but it was his fault for giving us the choice.
We drove out to the flats, where I imagined all the jeeps gathered for an amazing viewpoint of the interminable white nothingness that is the flats. I didn't quite realize how large the largest salt flats in the world would be, at 10,582 square kilometers. This is also the size of Los Angeles County.
The salt flats look like dry snow, if that makes any sense. The flats were formed 40,000 years ago with the explosion of a volcano and have the worlds largest lithium reserve and some 10 billion tons of salt (thank you, wikipedia). Water running underneath the flats forms small ridges crisscrossing the terrain and everything looks small and distant. Because it is. There are several 'islands' within the flats, basically big dead coral reefs covered with cactus. Several cacti had signs dating them: one was 900 years old, another died in December 2007 at 1208 years, may he rest in peace. We got to explore one island while our breakfast was prepared, and after breakfast we drove out to another desolate area (of which there are many to choose) to take the famed pictures as there is no perspective on the planar salt.
Conchita, Kelly and I took pictures for about half an hour playing with perspective, since you can make it look like one person is very small. Kelly was a tiny dancer in my hand, we walked on Conchita's back, etc. While we did this, the men all searched for ojos del agua (eyes of the water), which are salt crystals that you can dig out. After a half hour, Rene the driver told us that we were taking pictures in the wrong place. Awesome. So we moved to the better place, and Rene set up some excellent scenes, including Conchita driving a shoe with me flying off the back and me hatching out of a broken egg shell. Then he arranged us all in the ground in a circle to form a star. The shocking part was when he unexpectedly grabbed our ankles and spread our legs apart...I was so surprised that I said 'Oh!', which everyone was taken a bit back by. We all couldn't stop cracking up and making gynocologist jokes after that.
We made one last stop in Uyuni after the salt flats, and bought some souvenirs. We also happened to run into Kevin, our amazingly bearded friend who we met in La Paz and hopefully will see again when he comes to Buenos Aires.
For the car on the way back, Luis had bought new CDs, a godsend to us all. We had memorized by this point the words to such love-torn songs as 'Una Copa de Vino' and 'Ojos del Cielo' as sung in the traditional style with violins and panflutes. The first was an oldies CD, and we all gave our best for the Four Seasons and Diana Ross. Then was Michael Jackson, and then a mega-CD with 177 songs from the 80s. I think our best perfomance was of 'I Come from a Land Downunder,' making Luis officially regret his decision to cater to us with this purchase.
Showing posts with label by Leah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label by Leah. Show all posts
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Salt Flat Tour: Day 1
The primary reason we came to Bolivia was to do the salt flat tour, a standardized 3 day trip that leaves from Uyuni in a jeep that inevitably breaks down in the desert during the journey and is led by a surly driver who doesn't speak English. But we were told that the trip, that is 10 hours a day of driving with minimal stops to get out and see rocks in the desert, was more than worth enduring all this. We were slightly confused as to why, but figured we should trust the general consensus and sign up.
Fortunately, we got the tip off that tours leave from Tupiza, and not just Uyuni (which is supposedly the worst town on earth with streets lined with nothing but tourist agencies competing to offer the worst salt flat tours possible). In Tupiza, there is one tour company, Tupiza Tours, and it has a good reputation for quality of food, drivers, jeeps, tour guides, etc. The only problem is, the tour is one more night. And more expensive. But we thought it worth it and we were (obviously) right.
We woke up the day of our tour and partook in the amazing free breakfast at Hotel Mitru. Then we were introduced to our tour group, first to Conchita, a Dutch girl traveling by herself. This was interesting because Conchita, in South American Spanish, is a rather strong euphamistic word (literally, it means 'little shell,' but it is understood to be a reference to female anatomy in the stongest term possible), and so her introductions to our driver and cook were fun to watch as they did double takes. Next we were introduced to Bob, who pronounced his name Boob but was really named Chuck (I still don't understand) and Daniel, American retiree friends traveling together. Our driver, Rene, was quickly commended by us for his stunning mane of hair, and then we met our cook, Luis, who was only 21. And then we were off for 4 days of unpaved desert roads.
We drove a few hours, then made our first stop for about 10 minutes to look out at some scenery. Red, candle-like structures as tall as mountains in canyons out into the distance. Then we got back in the car and drove for a few more hours...generally the theme of the trip.
We lunched by a vast pasture, surrounded by hundreds of llamas. Kelly and I entertained ourselves by chasing the llamas while the food was prepared. We then sat down to a fabulous picnic with lots of fruits and veggies and sandwiches. The main course were delicious tamales filled with, what else, but llama meat. They were fantastic, though the scene was a bit morbund.
After lunch, we passed lots of llamas in the fields. Who owns these llamas? That's what I want to know. But they all have brightly colored pompoms on their ears to mark them. We also saw a llama just giving birth, the baby not even able to stand yet. It was the cycle of life in action...and the cycle of my lunch. We also saw wild vicuñas, which are an animal similar to llamas and deer, with long necks, that are endangered and only found in the remote areas of the Andes.
The 'road' got even rockier and the constant bumping induced me to announce that my stomach was making a llama licuado (milkshake) which, hours later, turned into full on stomach sickness. But we can go more into that on day two.
At night, we stopped in a desolate group of houses (because I wouldn't quite say town) on cement beds. I have no proof but the pain in my body that they were actually cement. At night, temperatures dropped to about freezing, lower than those we experienced on the Inca trail. We had no sleeping bags, just some wool blankets, so we put on every article of clothing we owned and shivered through the night. Good times were had by all.
Fortunately, we got the tip off that tours leave from Tupiza, and not just Uyuni (which is supposedly the worst town on earth with streets lined with nothing but tourist agencies competing to offer the worst salt flat tours possible). In Tupiza, there is one tour company, Tupiza Tours, and it has a good reputation for quality of food, drivers, jeeps, tour guides, etc. The only problem is, the tour is one more night. And more expensive. But we thought it worth it and we were (obviously) right.
We woke up the day of our tour and partook in the amazing free breakfast at Hotel Mitru. Then we were introduced to our tour group, first to Conchita, a Dutch girl traveling by herself. This was interesting because Conchita, in South American Spanish, is a rather strong euphamistic word (literally, it means 'little shell,' but it is understood to be a reference to female anatomy in the stongest term possible), and so her introductions to our driver and cook were fun to watch as they did double takes. Next we were introduced to Bob, who pronounced his name Boob but was really named Chuck (I still don't understand) and Daniel, American retiree friends traveling together. Our driver, Rene, was quickly commended by us for his stunning mane of hair, and then we met our cook, Luis, who was only 21. And then we were off for 4 days of unpaved desert roads.
We drove a few hours, then made our first stop for about 10 minutes to look out at some scenery. Red, candle-like structures as tall as mountains in canyons out into the distance. Then we got back in the car and drove for a few more hours...generally the theme of the trip.
We lunched by a vast pasture, surrounded by hundreds of llamas. Kelly and I entertained ourselves by chasing the llamas while the food was prepared. We then sat down to a fabulous picnic with lots of fruits and veggies and sandwiches. The main course were delicious tamales filled with, what else, but llama meat. They were fantastic, though the scene was a bit morbund.
After lunch, we passed lots of llamas in the fields. Who owns these llamas? That's what I want to know. But they all have brightly colored pompoms on their ears to mark them. We also saw a llama just giving birth, the baby not even able to stand yet. It was the cycle of life in action...and the cycle of my lunch. We also saw wild vicuñas, which are an animal similar to llamas and deer, with long necks, that are endangered and only found in the remote areas of the Andes.
The 'road' got even rockier and the constant bumping induced me to announce that my stomach was making a llama licuado (milkshake) which, hours later, turned into full on stomach sickness. But we can go more into that on day two.
At night, we stopped in a desolate group of houses (because I wouldn't quite say town) on cement beds. I have no proof but the pain in my body that they were actually cement. At night, temperatures dropped to about freezing, lower than those we experienced on the Inca trail. We had no sleeping bags, just some wool blankets, so we put on every article of clothing we owned and shivered through the night. Good times were had by all.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Travel buddies in Sucre
We have come upon a rather ironic travel situation in Bolivia, because the very same blokes whom we snidely criticized behind their backs for not being prepared when crossing the border happen to be our two new travel companions. We befriended them when they surprisingly showed up at our hostel in La Paz, and then we convinced them that traveling south to Sucre would be a good idea, and then we would continue on to the Salt Flats in southwest Bolivia.
We took the overnight bus to Sucre, on which they showed an amazing Wesley Snipes movie, Passenger 57, which entertained Kelly and me for a good portion of the ride. After the excitement of the movie, I found it impossible to sleep and therefore we spent a good portion of the day sleeping in the hostel once our room was ready. Since we got in so early (7 am), we had to entertain ourselves until check in at 11, which we handily did by watching House Bunny, a truly ridiculous movie that we bought during our binge purchase on our way out of La Paz (where DVDs are about 50 US cents).
Sucre has a classier feel to it than La Paz, with less women in traditional wear and more variety in stores and museums. We went to the history museum, which was a big disappointment as it didn't clear much up in terms of the revolution, and we climbed one of the hills to have a beautiful look of the city as its settled in the mountains. On our second night, we stumbled into a restaurant that turned out to be affiliated with the local university and our student cards got us a 50% discount on the whole bill. We ordered tons of food and fresh fruit juices and then went back for dessert and still didn't break $3 USD per person. This country is impossibly cheap.
After dinner we played ping pong and foosball at what I can only assume is a university sponsored locale and went to bed early. Today we planned to go see a dinasaur park, but it's raining too much so instead decided to move on to the next town and start our tour of the salt flats, the major destination in Bolivia. However, as our new traveling group couldn't agree on whether to start the tours in Uyuni or Tupiza (long story), we split up, and Kelly and I are heading tonight to Tupiza to do the tour, afterwhich its all back to Buenos Aires!
We took the overnight bus to Sucre, on which they showed an amazing Wesley Snipes movie, Passenger 57, which entertained Kelly and me for a good portion of the ride. After the excitement of the movie, I found it impossible to sleep and therefore we spent a good portion of the day sleeping in the hostel once our room was ready. Since we got in so early (7 am), we had to entertain ourselves until check in at 11, which we handily did by watching House Bunny, a truly ridiculous movie that we bought during our binge purchase on our way out of La Paz (where DVDs are about 50 US cents).
Sucre has a classier feel to it than La Paz, with less women in traditional wear and more variety in stores and museums. We went to the history museum, which was a big disappointment as it didn't clear much up in terms of the revolution, and we climbed one of the hills to have a beautiful look of the city as its settled in the mountains. On our second night, we stumbled into a restaurant that turned out to be affiliated with the local university and our student cards got us a 50% discount on the whole bill. We ordered tons of food and fresh fruit juices and then went back for dessert and still didn't break $3 USD per person. This country is impossibly cheap.
After dinner we played ping pong and foosball at what I can only assume is a university sponsored locale and went to bed early. Today we planned to go see a dinasaur park, but it's raining too much so instead decided to move on to the next town and start our tour of the salt flats, the major destination in Bolivia. However, as our new traveling group couldn't agree on whether to start the tours in Uyuni or Tupiza (long story), we split up, and Kelly and I are heading tonight to Tupiza to do the tour, afterwhich its all back to Buenos Aires!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
La Paz times
We showed up in La Paz with 2 nights booked at LOKI, our favorite hostel chain, and planned on then doing 1 night of couchsurfing before continuing on in Bolivia. Somehow, 2 nights at LOKI turned into 6 nights, but we've bought our bus tickets so we're leaving tomorrow, theres no turning back.
Here's how it happened: we made friends! The hostel is huge, just as the LOKI in Cusco was...theres room for more than 100 guests and there's a very active bar and restaurant inside that trickily lets you charge to your room so you just don't know what you're spending. Of course, we started friendless in the new city, per usual. We walked into the bar on our first night and ordered 2 diet cokes, were accused of being too wild by the bartender, and then were too tired to make the effort to make friends in the overwhelmingly Aussie crowd. We walked into our 5 person dorm room and the other 3 people were already sleeping, at 1030 at night, so we thought it best to turn in and weather out the snores coming from the bunkbed in the corner.
Our luck changed when we heard Zara (our Australian friend who we met in BA and stayed with in Cusco) was coming to work at LOKI. So that friend was locked in. As we sat catching up with her in the bar, my attention was caught by a guy walking into the room, and would you believe it? It was one of the stupid American boys who were on our bus from Puno and had their passports confiscated at the border. I looked up at him and shouted, "You made it!", which he was taken aback by but then recognized us. We then proceeded to spend the entire afternoon with this guy who was not at all the asshole we expected, but really quite the conversationalist.
The 3 of us decided to go to the Oxygen Bar in the hostel, pretty much as a joke...but I mean, how many people can really say they've been to the world's highest oxygen bar? We were breaking records. This is where we met our next friend, Kevin, another American traveler finding himself on the southern continent. Kevin decides that Indian food sounds like a good idea, so we do somemore record-breaking by going to the world's highest Indian restaurant (there's a lot of this type of record-breaking in the world's highest city). It was way better than Argentine Indian food because it was actually spicy. I ordered llama tikka masala, because it seemed like a one-time opportunity (llama is not the most flavorful meat, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it). That night we hung out with some random guys, who turned out to be a bit too crazy for us. The final straw was when they couldn't understand how to play the card game BS, their minds were to feeble I think.
The next day we went with our new, large group of friends to the coca museum. Which is not that exciting, but mildly interesting. We walked around the street markets and saw the city, which is like San Fransisco in terms of its topography (but not so much in terms of architecture). Women here wander around in the traditional clothing, with odd hats that seem to be a combination of a top and a bowler hat and traditionally bright rainbow shawls. In the market, they sell llama fetuses and snake skins for potions and spells. I was just surprised by how big a llama fetus is (it's like a cat with a long neck).
In the following days we saw various museums and tourist sights. On one of the pedestrian streets, a boy of about 5 years came running at us with his penis hanging over the top of his pants. That was right by Plaza Murillo, which is a beautiful yellow colonial plaza with all too many pigeons. We went to one museum that started with a display of carnaval costumes, then went to rooms with miniature dolls portraying battle, market, and cantina scenes, then a room with military weapons, then came the under the sea room. What? You know, just sharks and deep sea fish models hanging in a net in a tiny room, then onto the ancient Incan gold and silver pieces. Their museum curation seems a bit out of whack. Another museum we went to had a really interesting exhibit on the traditional masks used during carnaval. I didn't realize how devoted Bolivia was to its traditional dances, but there are some that are only danced in very specific regions to this day. It was also fascinating to note how Asian they looked and to think of the influence of that culture from thousands of years ago. Thank you, Bearing Straight.
We've also been taking in the nightlife of La Paz. A typical night starts at LOKI, where we converse with a variety of people, then the crowd moves to a bar or club. The best was when we went to Mongo's, which was empty when we arrived but we quickly changed that thanks to requesting some Sexy Back and Maneater. We all danced for hours, despite not having nearly enough oxygen. Tonight we hope to repeat this feat and go out of La Paz with a bang.
Here's how it happened: we made friends! The hostel is huge, just as the LOKI in Cusco was...theres room for more than 100 guests and there's a very active bar and restaurant inside that trickily lets you charge to your room so you just don't know what you're spending. Of course, we started friendless in the new city, per usual. We walked into the bar on our first night and ordered 2 diet cokes, were accused of being too wild by the bartender, and then were too tired to make the effort to make friends in the overwhelmingly Aussie crowd. We walked into our 5 person dorm room and the other 3 people were already sleeping, at 1030 at night, so we thought it best to turn in and weather out the snores coming from the bunkbed in the corner.
Our luck changed when we heard Zara (our Australian friend who we met in BA and stayed with in Cusco) was coming to work at LOKI. So that friend was locked in. As we sat catching up with her in the bar, my attention was caught by a guy walking into the room, and would you believe it? It was one of the stupid American boys who were on our bus from Puno and had their passports confiscated at the border. I looked up at him and shouted, "You made it!", which he was taken aback by but then recognized us. We then proceeded to spend the entire afternoon with this guy who was not at all the asshole we expected, but really quite the conversationalist.
The 3 of us decided to go to the Oxygen Bar in the hostel, pretty much as a joke...but I mean, how many people can really say they've been to the world's highest oxygen bar? We were breaking records. This is where we met our next friend, Kevin, another American traveler finding himself on the southern continent. Kevin decides that Indian food sounds like a good idea, so we do somemore record-breaking by going to the world's highest Indian restaurant (there's a lot of this type of record-breaking in the world's highest city). It was way better than Argentine Indian food because it was actually spicy. I ordered llama tikka masala, because it seemed like a one-time opportunity (llama is not the most flavorful meat, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it). That night we hung out with some random guys, who turned out to be a bit too crazy for us. The final straw was when they couldn't understand how to play the card game BS, their minds were to feeble I think.
The next day we went with our new, large group of friends to the coca museum. Which is not that exciting, but mildly interesting. We walked around the street markets and saw the city, which is like San Fransisco in terms of its topography (but not so much in terms of architecture). Women here wander around in the traditional clothing, with odd hats that seem to be a combination of a top and a bowler hat and traditionally bright rainbow shawls. In the market, they sell llama fetuses and snake skins for potions and spells. I was just surprised by how big a llama fetus is (it's like a cat with a long neck).
In the following days we saw various museums and tourist sights. On one of the pedestrian streets, a boy of about 5 years came running at us with his penis hanging over the top of his pants. That was right by Plaza Murillo, which is a beautiful yellow colonial plaza with all too many pigeons. We went to one museum that started with a display of carnaval costumes, then went to rooms with miniature dolls portraying battle, market, and cantina scenes, then a room with military weapons, then came the under the sea room. What? You know, just sharks and deep sea fish models hanging in a net in a tiny room, then onto the ancient Incan gold and silver pieces. Their museum curation seems a bit out of whack. Another museum we went to had a really interesting exhibit on the traditional masks used during carnaval. I didn't realize how devoted Bolivia was to its traditional dances, but there are some that are only danced in very specific regions to this day. It was also fascinating to note how Asian they looked and to think of the influence of that culture from thousands of years ago. Thank you, Bearing Straight.
We've also been taking in the nightlife of La Paz. A typical night starts at LOKI, where we converse with a variety of people, then the crowd moves to a bar or club. The best was when we went to Mongo's, which was empty when we arrived but we quickly changed that thanks to requesting some Sexy Back and Maneater. We all danced for hours, despite not having nearly enough oxygen. Tonight we hope to repeat this feat and go out of La Paz with a bang.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Jungle Day 4 and 5
Last night was treacherous indeed. We dined on a log and fried the fish we had just caught. Then we used the 'natural' toilets, down a long jungle path, and hopped in our tents while admitting as few bugs as possible. Our tent was for 2 people, and it was literal: no room even for minibackpacks, twas a matirimonial bed in the wilderness. When we were both in and settled, a beetle appeared. Then ants of all sizes, from bags that had been left outside on the ground all afternoon. The retaining walls broke and Kelly let loose, holding nothing back of her ture jungle emotions. Having had the exact same breakdown on the log crossing the river earlier in the day, I commiserated and was actually impressed she had made it so long in this laugh-or-cry situation.
We made ourselves calm down from the hysteria because the tent was overheating and we couldn't breathe. Sleep overtook us until about 11 pm, when I found myself awake and Kelly whimpering... 'Leah? Are you awake?' We were trapped in the storm of the century, with wind tearing at all sides of the tent and rain blasting us. We started screaming, the worst of our thoughts getting the best of us. What if a branch fell onto us? We clung to the ground. We noticed water leaking in the sides and scurried to close all zippers. Then we lied there in sheer panic for a while until a David Sedaris audiobook put me to sleep.
In the morning we could not possibly have been more reluctant to make one last jungle trek, but we survived and hopped on the long boat for a pleasant 8 hour river ride...very Amazon Trail, my favorite childhood computer game.
We were staying at the same ecohostel we stayed at our first night, the one with the cockaroaches. We knew what to do this time: don't throw bananas in the trash. We though we were golden, until Kelly opened her backpack after dinner and a roach scurried over her fingernail. The Oreo wrapper from earlier in the day. She watched as it and a few friends scurried out of the pack and under my bed, as I yelled for her to kill them, as I was farther away and occuppied brushing my teeth.
What followed was chaotic screaming as Kelly took out her plastic bag used for laundry and could see roaches crawling inside. She ran outside, leaving me in with the roaches and her sneaker, trying to kill as many as I could get to. We called Marco in to help, and he picked up a roach with his hand, then threw it on the floor screaming, 'Kill it, kill it!', which did not make things easier for me. Then he threw one onto my legs, and that was it. I left the hut until Marco assured us they were all gone. Carcasses literred the floor as we fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, I woke up to pee. I ducked out of my net and turned on my flashlight, and saw massive hoards of ants scurrying around the roach bodies. The floor was clean in the morning, and we enjoyed our 8 hour ride back to Cusco. Jungle? Never. Again.
We made ourselves calm down from the hysteria because the tent was overheating and we couldn't breathe. Sleep overtook us until about 11 pm, when I found myself awake and Kelly whimpering... 'Leah? Are you awake?' We were trapped in the storm of the century, with wind tearing at all sides of the tent and rain blasting us. We started screaming, the worst of our thoughts getting the best of us. What if a branch fell onto us? We clung to the ground. We noticed water leaking in the sides and scurried to close all zippers. Then we lied there in sheer panic for a while until a David Sedaris audiobook put me to sleep.
In the morning we could not possibly have been more reluctant to make one last jungle trek, but we survived and hopped on the long boat for a pleasant 8 hour river ride...very Amazon Trail, my favorite childhood computer game.
We were staying at the same ecohostel we stayed at our first night, the one with the cockaroaches. We knew what to do this time: don't throw bananas in the trash. We though we were golden, until Kelly opened her backpack after dinner and a roach scurried over her fingernail. The Oreo wrapper from earlier in the day. She watched as it and a few friends scurried out of the pack and under my bed, as I yelled for her to kill them, as I was farther away and occuppied brushing my teeth.
What followed was chaotic screaming as Kelly took out her plastic bag used for laundry and could see roaches crawling inside. She ran outside, leaving me in with the roaches and her sneaker, trying to kill as many as I could get to. We called Marco in to help, and he picked up a roach with his hand, then threw it on the floor screaming, 'Kill it, kill it!', which did not make things easier for me. Then he threw one onto my legs, and that was it. I left the hut until Marco assured us they were all gone. Carcasses literred the floor as we fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, I woke up to pee. I ducked out of my net and turned on my flashlight, and saw massive hoards of ants scurrying around the roach bodies. The floor was clean in the morning, and we enjoyed our 8 hour ride back to Cusco. Jungle? Never. Again.
Jungle Day 3
In the middle of the night last night, I was awakened by torrential downpours, which is a cliche I have used before, but now I know that I have never meant it. The lightning and thunder were constant, for at least an hour we were in the most devastating part of the storm. It sounded just like Iguazú falls on the corrugated metal roofing. My mosquito bites were killing me, and I lied halfawake for a few hours going in and out of dreams that everything I owned was drowning.
At 630 am, Marco woke us up. There was a large group of squirrel monkeys in the tree on the camp's edge; the same place we spotted a pair of red macaws the night before. The squirrel monkeys were like squirrels with long, thin tails and flat faces, and they were hanging out with 2 capuchin monkeys for protection. They bounced around in the branches, circling the camp and eventually diving for the bananas we left out for them.
Our breakfast was a delicious cake with fresh mango, after which Kelly and I braved the shower stalls where bats hung from the rafters. Smelling wonderfully, we quickly covered ourselves in Fush!, our Argentine bug repellant. But Fush! was no match for the jungle, where clouds of mosquitos tirelessly trailed us.
Our first interaction with the animals came from a wild turkey, who rushed up behind me and pecked my leg. It was uncomfortable. Kelly thought this was laughable but she shortly got hers in a stealth turkey attack.
We spent the next 6 or 7 hours walking in the jungle, tracking footprints and drinking water from vines. It's amazing how well you could survive in the rainforest with just a machete. We saw many colorful birds, insects, and even more monkeys (including night monkeys). At lunch, we went to a salt lick and sat as quitly as possible as a herd of wild pigs came to feed. It was a small group - about 40 or 50 - and they were easily startled, making significant rucus when a branch snapped.
Unfortunately, sitting drew too many bugs, so we left and had a picnic. We trekked to our campsite where our boat was meeting us. To do so, we had to cross many streams, which was normally fine until we reached a deep one with logs suspended for crossing. I was fine until I put a foot on it and termites poured from every crevice. Phil and Kelly got across, with hesitation, but I froze. It was terrifying and I unfroze only enough for my knees to start uncontrollably shaking. Marco chopped down a really tall, thin tree to use as a pole and I made it, and we were off.
Now we're at our camp for the night which involves 2 tents, a boat, and a bench. And lots of bugs. We went fishing, but Phil did not participate because of the giant sores forming on his calves because he neglected to follow advice and wear pants. I caught 3 fish, mostly sardines, and Marco caught 2. Kelly caught nothing, and almost lost her sanity as we both got fed up with mosquito bites.
At 630 am, Marco woke us up. There was a large group of squirrel monkeys in the tree on the camp's edge; the same place we spotted a pair of red macaws the night before. The squirrel monkeys were like squirrels with long, thin tails and flat faces, and they were hanging out with 2 capuchin monkeys for protection. They bounced around in the branches, circling the camp and eventually diving for the bananas we left out for them.
Our breakfast was a delicious cake with fresh mango, after which Kelly and I braved the shower stalls where bats hung from the rafters. Smelling wonderfully, we quickly covered ourselves in Fush!, our Argentine bug repellant. But Fush! was no match for the jungle, where clouds of mosquitos tirelessly trailed us.
Our first interaction with the animals came from a wild turkey, who rushed up behind me and pecked my leg. It was uncomfortable. Kelly thought this was laughable but she shortly got hers in a stealth turkey attack.
We spent the next 6 or 7 hours walking in the jungle, tracking footprints and drinking water from vines. It's amazing how well you could survive in the rainforest with just a machete. We saw many colorful birds, insects, and even more monkeys (including night monkeys). At lunch, we went to a salt lick and sat as quitly as possible as a herd of wild pigs came to feed. It was a small group - about 40 or 50 - and they were easily startled, making significant rucus when a branch snapped.
Unfortunately, sitting drew too many bugs, so we left and had a picnic. We trekked to our campsite where our boat was meeting us. To do so, we had to cross many streams, which was normally fine until we reached a deep one with logs suspended for crossing. I was fine until I put a foot on it and termites poured from every crevice. Phil and Kelly got across, with hesitation, but I froze. It was terrifying and I unfroze only enough for my knees to start uncontrollably shaking. Marco chopped down a really tall, thin tree to use as a pole and I made it, and we were off.
Now we're at our camp for the night which involves 2 tents, a boat, and a bench. And lots of bugs. We went fishing, but Phil did not participate because of the giant sores forming on his calves because he neglected to follow advice and wear pants. I caught 3 fish, mostly sardines, and Marco caught 2. Kelly caught nothing, and almost lost her sanity as we both got fed up with mosquito bites.
Jungle Day 2
Fortunately, in the daylight, insects fled and our room was clear. We had breakfast and went for a walk to see the coca plantation, which is legal to grow in small quantities, plus pineapple and banana trees. We found a berry that makes a coral stain which Maro used to give Phil warrior facepaint and Kelly and me lipstick.
We had a 2 hour drive and then a 6 hour boat ride. The boat was extremely long, yet wide enough for only 2 people. The breezy ride felt amazing, and we passed great egrets and black cormorants and vultures feasting on dea tapirs and capayberras. We stopped for lunch at a natural hot spring, which was situated in the curve of a brook that fed into the river.
Now we have arrived at our ecolodge, where we lie weating in our netted beds to avoid the bugs and the sun. It is painful.
.....several hours pass.....
Tonight was a step closer to nature than I was ready to take (and I have a feeling tomorrow night might be one step too far). As dusk came, we took a walk in the jungle. We ate assorted wild fruit and waded through streams in our knee-high boots. Marco spotted a cayman from about 20 meters away in the pitch black. He saw the reflection of it's eyes and declared it to be medium-sized. Then he escaped up river, threw his clothes off on a sandbar, and waded down to the cayman to catch it. We waited, flashlights off, with his machete lying in the river bed by us. A lot of good it was going to do there. But Marco stepped on a branch and the snap scared away the cayman, so he promised us one for tomorrow night.
We saw some spiders, but no tarantulas, and mad our way back for a candlelit (and candlecooked, by lack of electricity) dinner. After Phil and Marco played chess and Kelly and I took shelter in our mosquito nets.
We had a 2 hour drive and then a 6 hour boat ride. The boat was extremely long, yet wide enough for only 2 people. The breezy ride felt amazing, and we passed great egrets and black cormorants and vultures feasting on dea tapirs and capayberras. We stopped for lunch at a natural hot spring, which was situated in the curve of a brook that fed into the river.
Now we have arrived at our ecolodge, where we lie weating in our netted beds to avoid the bugs and the sun. It is painful.
.....several hours pass.....
Tonight was a step closer to nature than I was ready to take (and I have a feeling tomorrow night might be one step too far). As dusk came, we took a walk in the jungle. We ate assorted wild fruit and waded through streams in our knee-high boots. Marco spotted a cayman from about 20 meters away in the pitch black. He saw the reflection of it's eyes and declared it to be medium-sized. Then he escaped up river, threw his clothes off on a sandbar, and waded down to the cayman to catch it. We waited, flashlights off, with his machete lying in the river bed by us. A lot of good it was going to do there. But Marco stepped on a branch and the snap scared away the cayman, so he promised us one for tomorrow night.
We saw some spiders, but no tarantulas, and mad our way back for a candlelit (and candlecooked, by lack of electricity) dinner. After Phil and Marco played chess and Kelly and I took shelter in our mosquito nets.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Jungle Day 1
Our 5 day too-long journey into Manu Park reserve will also be transcribed from the journal I kept. Here we go:
Jan 24
What one might label as a hostel is not what one would find in our eco'hostel' in Manu park. Already drenched with bug bites from our lunch break in the cloud forest, I'm sitting ensconced in white netting on my bed in the reed hut Kelly and I will share tonight. The netting hangs in a square, and we appear to be frozen in giant blocks of ice that will not melt despite the heat and humidity.
The day started off at 630 am when we met Marco, our guide. He pulled up a half hour late in a pickup truck with our driver and cook. The math did't work. Where would we all sit? After trying 4 in the back of the cab and discovering that 3 Americans made this a big snug, the 2 peruvians squeezed in the front.
We drove for about an hour on the highway, and then that was done. Nice while it lasted. What followed were many hours of gravel and pot-holed single-lane dirt roads edging along Andean cliffs. It was terrifying as we swerved through mud and backed up to avoid oncoming trucks. We passed farming women in colorful traditional woven clothes herding sheep, cos, and pigs out of our way. We stopped in the smallest town imagineable for breakfast, where we sat at a communal picnic table and were ladeled chicken soup. Not able to stomach the chicken so early, we left it and bought some orange cake...then squeezed back in the truck's cab for more bumpy hours of ascent.
Descent was also bumpy. Climate changed rapidly as we switched over to the eastern side of the mountain and entered the cloud forest. After several hous going down, we got out and walked to look for monkeys, which it turns out I am not skilled at spotting. I was looking in all the wrong places - turns out you're supposed to look across the river, way out in the distance. Marco spotted wooley monkeys there, which just looked like black specks to me. Sometimes they moved. I wasn't impressed.
Along the walk we saw plenty of hummingbirds and orchids. Also a cock-on-the-rock, which is a highly endangered bird that I think is only found in this region. So we felt pretty special.
Kelly spotted movement in a tree up ahead - Capuchin monkeys. We slowly approached but didn't get close until Marco ran to the truck and back to get bananas for bait. Capuchins are much less shy than wolly monkeys, so they were very close. There ended up being a whole treefull of them, about 15, some with babies on their backs and one very intimidating male. We fed them bananas on short sticks, getting withing a meter of them. They spread out a bit and I threw a piece of banana at one; it arcehd high and he held out his little monkey palms together, like a beggar, and awaited the fly ball. The other monkeys were jealous so this became a favorite game. That was pretty much as exciting as the drive got.
After dinner, when we looked up at the stars (which were amazingly brilliant), a bat almost took Kelly's head off. Fortunately, the bats were doing a good job, because mosquitos were uncommon. But it was all too noticable as we turned on the light that cockaroaches they were not hunting.
Kelly's eyes darted around the room, counting as many as possible, as mine moved toward the mosquito netting around my bed, which was being invaded inside and out by a colony of ants. Kelly screamed and I jumped, narrowly avoiding a cockaroach scurrying towards my foot.
We collected ourselves using reason: if everyone else can sleep in the presence of these insects, so can we. So I went to the bathroom to wash my face. At this point, I remember the banana peel sealed in a plastic bag I had deposited in the trash earlier. It was now being swarmed by ants, traversing the entire bathroom, even the toilet. Four to six cockaroaches clung to the plastic, and Kelly ran. We could barely sleep.
Jan 24
What one might label as a hostel is not what one would find in our eco'hostel' in Manu park. Already drenched with bug bites from our lunch break in the cloud forest, I'm sitting ensconced in white netting on my bed in the reed hut Kelly and I will share tonight. The netting hangs in a square, and we appear to be frozen in giant blocks of ice that will not melt despite the heat and humidity.
The day started off at 630 am when we met Marco, our guide. He pulled up a half hour late in a pickup truck with our driver and cook. The math did't work. Where would we all sit? After trying 4 in the back of the cab and discovering that 3 Americans made this a big snug, the 2 peruvians squeezed in the front.
We drove for about an hour on the highway, and then that was done. Nice while it lasted. What followed were many hours of gravel and pot-holed single-lane dirt roads edging along Andean cliffs. It was terrifying as we swerved through mud and backed up to avoid oncoming trucks. We passed farming women in colorful traditional woven clothes herding sheep, cos, and pigs out of our way. We stopped in the smallest town imagineable for breakfast, where we sat at a communal picnic table and were ladeled chicken soup. Not able to stomach the chicken so early, we left it and bought some orange cake...then squeezed back in the truck's cab for more bumpy hours of ascent.
Descent was also bumpy. Climate changed rapidly as we switched over to the eastern side of the mountain and entered the cloud forest. After several hous going down, we got out and walked to look for monkeys, which it turns out I am not skilled at spotting. I was looking in all the wrong places - turns out you're supposed to look across the river, way out in the distance. Marco spotted wooley monkeys there, which just looked like black specks to me. Sometimes they moved. I wasn't impressed.
Along the walk we saw plenty of hummingbirds and orchids. Also a cock-on-the-rock, which is a highly endangered bird that I think is only found in this region. So we felt pretty special.
Kelly spotted movement in a tree up ahead - Capuchin monkeys. We slowly approached but didn't get close until Marco ran to the truck and back to get bananas for bait. Capuchins are much less shy than wolly monkeys, so they were very close. There ended up being a whole treefull of them, about 15, some with babies on their backs and one very intimidating male. We fed them bananas on short sticks, getting withing a meter of them. They spread out a bit and I threw a piece of banana at one; it arcehd high and he held out his little monkey palms together, like a beggar, and awaited the fly ball. The other monkeys were jealous so this became a favorite game. That was pretty much as exciting as the drive got.
After dinner, when we looked up at the stars (which were amazingly brilliant), a bat almost took Kelly's head off. Fortunately, the bats were doing a good job, because mosquitos were uncommon. But it was all too noticable as we turned on the light that cockaroaches they were not hunting.
Kelly's eyes darted around the room, counting as many as possible, as mine moved toward the mosquito netting around my bed, which was being invaded inside and out by a colony of ants. Kelly screamed and I jumped, narrowly avoiding a cockaroach scurrying towards my foot.
We collected ourselves using reason: if everyone else can sleep in the presence of these insects, so can we. So I went to the bathroom to wash my face. At this point, I remember the banana peel sealed in a plastic bag I had deposited in the trash earlier. It was now being swarmed by ants, traversing the entire bathroom, even the toilet. Four to six cockaroaches clung to the plastic, and Kelly ran. We could barely sleep.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
INCA TRAIL: day 4 - well gang, we made it!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Days 2 & 3: Viña del Mar, Chile
Kelly spoke to soon as she closed her posts declaring us non-sunburned, as she managed to miss 2 large spots on her back that now gleam an irritated red.
We took the 10 pm bus from Mendoza after showering in the bus station. We were again on the top floor of the double-decker in the front seat: the death seat. Fortunately we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of us (except when we were passing trucks and had buses coming straight at us, which happened twice) because we were winding around the edges of mountain cliffs that surely would have made me nauseous if visible. We also had an extremely obnoxious woman with hot pink lipstick across the aisle from us who jabbered away all night. At about 2 am we crossed the border, having to wake up and get out to go through customs. Not so fun. And not at all warm...we were rather unprepared for the freezing weather atop the Andes mountains. We shivered our way in a half-sleep through various security points and then off we went.
We arrived in Viña del Mar at 4:30 in the morning, an hour and a half before ETA. Without cell phone or Chilean currency, we were trapped in the freezing station, fighting sleep and waiting for Dominic, my friend who we're staying with, to come save us. It was the best exercise in patience I have ever undergone.
We slept until 5 in the afternoon in the most comforting down bed and awoke to a delicious meal with her family. Her parents are nice and her 9 year old brother is energetic and funny, but none of them speak English so conversation can be difficult at times. Fortunately we have Kelly's sunburn to talk about all the time.
At night we went out to the Carnaval Cultural in Valparaiso, a neighboring coastal town with the biggest New Years celebration in South America and quite a lot of festivity leading up to it. We, as well as pretty much the rest of Chile, showed up for a free concert that a popular Chilean group - Shamanes - was giving. Note: we have officially left the land of cumbia and tango and are onto all reggaeton, all the time.
The crowd was so thick that I literally was forced to lift my feet at times and still was moved along with the rush of people. It was the only time in my life I have seriously feared death by trampling. But the music was fun and the dancers entertaining and Dominic and her friends taught us how to dance like a Chilean while passing the boxed wine. The next group up was Chico de Trujillo, who are apparently lesser known but play more typically Chilean beats. Dancing to this music involved a lot of jumping up and down, which was good because it was pretty darn cold out.
After the concerts everyone walked to a street with an extreme incline and chilled with all the other party-goers. This is where we had our first go at a Chilean classic - an Italiano - which is a hot dog in a GIANT bun and loaded with tomatoes and avocado (and mayo, but we got without) to look like the Italian flag. We danced with random drum circles and later sat in our own circle with Dominic and co singing Spanish songs and Kelly and I contributing beat-boxing rhythms.
The next day we slept in (her parents think we do nothing but sleep) and woke up again just in time for lunch. Dominic´s grandpa offered to take us to Concón, a small town nearby, and we got a crazy ride up and down the many hills of the coast. We stopped to get out to walk around rocks jutting out into the water, it was stunningly beautiful despite the cloudy weather, and we could see hints of the land surrounding the cove in the distance. Then we went to a nice beach and stuck our feet in, but it was literally freezing, so we went for seafood empanadas (delicious) then made our way back. We passed giant sand dunes on the way, which we promptly climbed despite the near-vertical incline (everything we do is in preparation for walking the Inca trail...) to get a great view of the ocean on the other side.
At night we relaxed at Domi's house, watched My Best Friends Wedding and ate homemade cake her mom had waiting in the oven for us. Chile is pretty fabulous.
We took the 10 pm bus from Mendoza after showering in the bus station. We were again on the top floor of the double-decker in the front seat: the death seat. Fortunately we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of us (except when we were passing trucks and had buses coming straight at us, which happened twice) because we were winding around the edges of mountain cliffs that surely would have made me nauseous if visible. We also had an extremely obnoxious woman with hot pink lipstick across the aisle from us who jabbered away all night. At about 2 am we crossed the border, having to wake up and get out to go through customs. Not so fun. And not at all warm...we were rather unprepared for the freezing weather atop the Andes mountains. We shivered our way in a half-sleep through various security points and then off we went.
We arrived in Viña del Mar at 4:30 in the morning, an hour and a half before ETA. Without cell phone or Chilean currency, we were trapped in the freezing station, fighting sleep and waiting for Dominic, my friend who we're staying with, to come save us. It was the best exercise in patience I have ever undergone.
We slept until 5 in the afternoon in the most comforting down bed and awoke to a delicious meal with her family. Her parents are nice and her 9 year old brother is energetic and funny, but none of them speak English so conversation can be difficult at times. Fortunately we have Kelly's sunburn to talk about all the time.
At night we went out to the Carnaval Cultural in Valparaiso, a neighboring coastal town with the biggest New Years celebration in South America and quite a lot of festivity leading up to it. We, as well as pretty much the rest of Chile, showed up for a free concert that a popular Chilean group - Shamanes - was giving. Note: we have officially left the land of cumbia and tango and are onto all reggaeton, all the time.
The crowd was so thick that I literally was forced to lift my feet at times and still was moved along with the rush of people. It was the only time in my life I have seriously feared death by trampling. But the music was fun and the dancers entertaining and Dominic and her friends taught us how to dance like a Chilean while passing the boxed wine. The next group up was Chico de Trujillo, who are apparently lesser known but play more typically Chilean beats. Dancing to this music involved a lot of jumping up and down, which was good because it was pretty darn cold out.
After the concerts everyone walked to a street with an extreme incline and chilled with all the other party-goers. This is where we had our first go at a Chilean classic - an Italiano - which is a hot dog in a GIANT bun and loaded with tomatoes and avocado (and mayo, but we got without) to look like the Italian flag. We danced with random drum circles and later sat in our own circle with Dominic and co singing Spanish songs and Kelly and I contributing beat-boxing rhythms.
The next day we slept in (her parents think we do nothing but sleep) and woke up again just in time for lunch. Dominic´s grandpa offered to take us to Concón, a small town nearby, and we got a crazy ride up and down the many hills of the coast. We stopped to get out to walk around rocks jutting out into the water, it was stunningly beautiful despite the cloudy weather, and we could see hints of the land surrounding the cove in the distance. Then we went to a nice beach and stuck our feet in, but it was literally freezing, so we went for seafood empanadas (delicious) then made our way back. We passed giant sand dunes on the way, which we promptly climbed despite the near-vertical incline (everything we do is in preparation for walking the Inca trail...) to get a great view of the ocean on the other side.
At night we relaxed at Domi's house, watched My Best Friends Wedding and ate homemade cake her mom had waiting in the oven for us. Chile is pretty fabulous.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas everyone!
So Christmastime in Argentina is a bit different from what we're used to. And all we really wanted was snow. But instead I went to work in a halter top and ended up sweating all night regardless.
On Christmas Eve everything is closed here because it's the Argentines bigger night of celebration instead of Christmas Day. So since Sugar was open and served food, every single foreigner in the city was there ordering hamburgers. And a few single dads with kids...very much Tim Allen, Denny's, "The Santa Clause" for those of you who know what I'm talking about. This meant that I was extremely stressed until the kitchen closed at 1 am, at which point I was able to relax a bit and hang out with Kelly and my friends who showed up at the bar. It ended up not being such a bad way to celebrate, and I think everyone there felt a certain camaraderie of the shared desire to all be in our respective homes for the holidays.
On Christmas Eve everything is closed here because it's the Argentines bigger night of celebration instead of Christmas Day. So since Sugar was open and served food, every single foreigner in the city was there ordering hamburgers. And a few single dads with kids...very much Tim Allen, Denny's, "The Santa Clause" for those of you who know what I'm talking about. This meant that I was extremely stressed until the kitchen closed at 1 am, at which point I was able to relax a bit and hang out with Kelly and my friends who showed up at the bar. It ended up not being such a bad way to celebrate, and I think everyone there felt a certain camaraderie of the shared desire to all be in our respective homes for the holidays.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Pasta pasta
When looking for dining recommendations in Buenos Aires, I always resort to www.guiaoleo.com.ar , which is what life would be like if Argentina had google maps... or any other useful, logical, modern tool for locating and rating desirable city features. What information I find there is always crosschecked on SaltShaker, the blog of an American chef living in BA. He has a closed door restaurant that I've heard is wonderful and writes useful reviews about eating in the city, so when I found out he was going to offer cooking classes, I tried to hop on. Unfortunately, they had filled up almost immediately, but I emailed him and he said if I wanted to squeeze into sporadic classes of the 10-class series, we could work something out.
The series is focused on Italian food, and I chose my first class as the second of the series: pasta. I spent Tuesday morning with two Americans, far more clued into the gastronomy world than I, and Dan, our leader. I learned an incredible amount about Italian cooking, flour, and food shopping in Buenos Aires...everything from why put a good amount of salt in boiling water (it allows you to boil the water at a higher temperature) to where to find purple corn from Chile that makes a refreshing (non-alcoholic) drink called Chicha that I've become quite a fan of. We also skimmed some of Dan's history and experience in the culinary world: turns out he used to be the manager of the wine selection for Lidia Bastianich's restaurants (she has a well-known Italian cooking TV show and several upscale restaurants...Mom and Evan: remember when we went to Becco?)
The first pasta we made we did completely from scratch (the rest we used mixers to quicken the kneading process). It's called Pici alle Briciole - basically thick peasant noodles in an agli'e olio sauce with breadcrumbs for texture. Then we made a whole wheat pasta, Langanelli con I Ceci, in a surprising garbanzo and celery sauce. Then Agnolotti, which are like half-moon ravioli, which we baked like empanadas and dipped in sauce. Finally came the gnocchi in herbed cream sauce, which almost didn't make it but fortunately was salvaged and turned out deliciously. My favorite was the Pici...it was a texture I have never before experienced. Everyone else seemed thrilled by the whole wheat pasta, which was good, but I think they were just originally whole wheat downers who were shocked that whole wheat could be so delicious....but not this girl. I knew better.
Here's Dan's post with link to pictures of our meal: http://www.saltshaker.net/20081210/magic-and-pasta
The series is focused on Italian food, and I chose my first class as the second of the series: pasta. I spent Tuesday morning with two Americans, far more clued into the gastronomy world than I, and Dan, our leader. I learned an incredible amount about Italian cooking, flour, and food shopping in Buenos Aires...everything from why put a good amount of salt in boiling water (it allows you to boil the water at a higher temperature) to where to find purple corn from Chile that makes a refreshing (non-alcoholic) drink called Chicha that I've become quite a fan of. We also skimmed some of Dan's history and experience in the culinary world: turns out he used to be the manager of the wine selection for Lidia Bastianich's restaurants (she has a well-known Italian cooking TV show and several upscale restaurants...Mom and Evan: remember when we went to Becco?)
The first pasta we made we did completely from scratch (the rest we used mixers to quicken the kneading process). It's called Pici alle Briciole - basically thick peasant noodles in an agli'e olio sauce with breadcrumbs for texture. Then we made a whole wheat pasta, Langanelli con I Ceci, in a surprising garbanzo and celery sauce. Then Agnolotti, which are like half-moon ravioli, which we baked like empanadas and dipped in sauce. Finally came the gnocchi in herbed cream sauce, which almost didn't make it but fortunately was salvaged and turned out deliciously. My favorite was the Pici...it was a texture I have never before experienced. Everyone else seemed thrilled by the whole wheat pasta, which was good, but I think they were just originally whole wheat downers who were shocked that whole wheat could be so delicious....but not this girl. I knew better.
Here's Dan's post with link to pictures of our meal: http://www.saltshaker.net/20081210/magic-and-pasta
Monday, December 8, 2008
Happy Immaculate Conception Day!
It is now 7:11 in the evening and I am just waking up. The still heat is stifling and our fans are useless...if I could sleep more I would. But I suppose I have to be awake anyway because we're making a trip to La Cabrera tonight, our favorite spot for steak in town.
I slept all day because it is Virgin Mary day or Immaculate Conception day or something along those lines...basically it's an Argentines-don't-feel-like-working day, so I have the day off. Which in parallel meant that I had a day on at the bar - we stayed open all Sunday night as if it were a Friday or a Saturday. Now that summer vacations have started and study abroad students are returning home for the holidays, the clientele has switched from a good mix of expats and Argentines to almost strictly Argie, meaning less tips and later hours for us. David, a Brazilian kitchen guy, is leaving today and will be gone for a few months (as most of us will be), and as he's the first to go, a bunch of us thought we might as well go out after work. At 7 am. It's amazing that you can do that here, but I surely won't be making a habit of it. 7:11 is too late to wake up.
Kelly and I dined last night at Sarkis, a much talked about Armenian restaurant in Palermo. Kelly, having never had Armenian/Middle Eastern food, was a bit nervous I think, but since her foray into Indian cuisine last month went so well I wasn't concerned. We showed up at 9 (on the early side in this country) and despite a huge dining room were made to wait for a spot while space cleared. The dining room was so vast that our waiter resorted to air traffic controller-like hand motions to guide us to our table from across the room.
Dinner was delicious, we got a quartet of appetizers that the waiter recommended, and then we shared a lamb entree. Which first showed up without yogurt, which I was having none of, so he brought the plate back and doused it in yogurt and pita and onion, and presented it to us with a rather exaggerated but earnest 'ta-DA!' We ate til we physically could not continue, and walked to Sugar.
***Pictures added below, to Thanksgiving dinner post
I slept all day because it is Virgin Mary day or Immaculate Conception day or something along those lines...basically it's an Argentines-don't-feel-like-working day, so I have the day off. Which in parallel meant that I had a day on at the bar - we stayed open all Sunday night as if it were a Friday or a Saturday. Now that summer vacations have started and study abroad students are returning home for the holidays, the clientele has switched from a good mix of expats and Argentines to almost strictly Argie, meaning less tips and later hours for us. David, a Brazilian kitchen guy, is leaving today and will be gone for a few months (as most of us will be), and as he's the first to go, a bunch of us thought we might as well go out after work. At 7 am. It's amazing that you can do that here, but I surely won't be making a habit of it. 7:11 is too late to wake up.
Kelly and I dined last night at Sarkis, a much talked about Armenian restaurant in Palermo. Kelly, having never had Armenian/Middle Eastern food, was a bit nervous I think, but since her foray into Indian cuisine last month went so well I wasn't concerned. We showed up at 9 (on the early side in this country) and despite a huge dining room were made to wait for a spot while space cleared. The dining room was so vast that our waiter resorted to air traffic controller-like hand motions to guide us to our table from across the room.
Dinner was delicious, we got a quartet of appetizers that the waiter recommended, and then we shared a lamb entree. Which first showed up without yogurt, which I was having none of, so he brought the plate back and doused it in yogurt and pita and onion, and presented it to us with a rather exaggerated but earnest 'ta-DA!' We ate til we physically could not continue, and walked to Sugar.
***Pictures added below, to Thanksgiving dinner post
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Video: Iguazu and Misiones
Actual video footage proof that we are still alive and kicking in Argentina...
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