After such a perfect excursion to the Colca Canyon it would have been nice to just take it easy and soak it all in once back in Arequipa, but unfortunately I had to keep going...so I went straight to the bus terminal for another night on a bus!
My next destination was Nazca, which I reached at the unpleasant time of 5, while still asleep. I tried to fight off the touts and just do my own thing, and ended up at some desolate office waiting room killing time before the agency opened for the day to book my flight over the famous Nazca lines...
well, I had never been entirely sure whether or not I should visit them and spend $30-40 or more on a 25 minute flight, and in the end I did...which I am still not sure was a good idea! haha
The lines are very mysterious and one could say it's been a mystery for so long that people should want to see them at all costs...I just felt like I was going to be ripped off no matter what, ajd I'm pretty sure I did in the end! The lines were interesting, but I didn't expect the plane to get so close from both sides and turn on each side to get closer...that didn't go down too well with what I had put in my stomach, so I ended up missing the last two figures! haha
Just like most people visiting the lines, I tried to get out of Nazca just as quickly as I has come in, as I was trying to combine it with sandboarding at Huacachina!
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Monday, January 18, 2010
Arequipa (Peru) & Colca Canyon
Crossing the border at nightfall wasn't the only required step to get to Arequipa...some of us had to get off the bus in Puno and get on a different one of course...which was quite uncomfortable, but it seemed like I had barely fallen asleep when the bus stopped and there we were, in Arequipa at 3.30! How convenient! To make matters worse, the terminal is over 3km away from the center, so people had no choice but taxi it...unless you wanted to spend the following 2 hours in the terminal till the local buses started running, that is...
I decided to head to Misti House and crash there till the morning...after 2 straight nights on buses, any mattress will feel heaven!
Arequipa is a beautiful, pleasant and modern city! I have to say that Sucre's white colonial architecture impressed me more, but at the same time I wish I had spent more time in Arequipa...people seemed more "modern and sophisticated" than anywhere else in Peru (except Lima), the whole city just had a good vibe all around!
I went to visit the Convento de Santa Catalina, named after Santa Caterina da Siena, which was wonderful on many different levels! Its colors, alleys and courtyards make it look like a city within the city center, and it was well worth the 30 soles! On a side note, I think it had the best bathrooms I've seen in all of Peru, airport included!
I decided, on a whim, to take the 2-day hiking tour of the Cañon del Colca, the world's deepest canyon (although this is disputed with another nearby canyon, Cotahuasi), more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA!
Not planning it beforehand was not such a great idea, as I was not prepared or rested enough to wake up at 3 the next morning and hike 7-8 hours!
Nevertheless, this last minute excursion ended up being one of the highlights of my whole trip!
Our minibus showed up at 3.30 to drive us out of town to the famous Cruz del Condor, a breath-taking spot where we first saw the depth of the canyon, although the main attraction was of course the condor! Considering what my luck had been at MachuPicchu I was definitely not expecting to see any condors, so I was taken aback when as soon as we showed up...there they were, doin their thing in the air, using the various winds to get around...it was beautiful!!! Pictures definitely do not do it any justice, so I also took pictures of the photographs for sale there! haha Unfortunately, the whole scene was ruined by a bunch of dumb tourists who thought it was a good idea to make strange sounds to the condors...ugh!
Later on, our guide told us a bit more about condors in general...very little is known because they're very reserved and do their best to avoid human contact...they're usually about 1m high and their wings can spread to about 3m...there are theories according to which they are "friends" with foxes, who eat other dead animals and then signal to the condors where these are...our guide even said that sometimes the condors get to the corpses when their flesh has already fermented, and that is how condors get drunk...he said he had seen one with his own eyes!!!
We started our hike at the top of the canyon and walked downhill for about 4 hours to the bottom of it, crossed the river and then walked some more to a little town where we stopped for lunch! After lunch we did some more hiking, got wet trying to cross a river, and then continued in the rain till the oasis in the middle of the canyon...it is a green, lush patch of land in the middle of arid, desert-like rocks...its best feature is the amazing number of beautiful pools...that was definitely the best part of the 2 days, together with the views and sighting condors! Once we did make it to the oasis after having crossed yet another bridge, I made a run straight for the pool...what a beauty! The setting already made it extremely special, plus one side was carved out of a natural rock that came up over the pool itself and could be used to dive off of (or at least I did! haha), and then the opposite side had terracotta vases pouring water into the pool!
The rooms were pretty basic houses made of mud, they didn't look like they had bricks...what they did have were plenty of little holes for all sorts of insects and spiders to thrive in...that's why I didn't dare point my flashlight at any wall before going to bed...I just didn't want to know!
The next morning our hike back up to the top of the canyon started at 5.30, and again we were lucky to have gorgeous weather so that we could admire the beauty around us!
After over 3 hours we made it back up, had a rinvigorating breakfast, then parted ways with our guide and got on another minibus to Chivay...where we visited the hot springs, different pools going from 34 C to about 42 C...in the latter I dove in as if it were a normal pool, except it felt like a boiling pot ready for pasta! It felt great though!
The excursion would have already been more than memorable if it had finished that way, but the big cherry on top was the unbelievable sunset we were lucky to witness on our bus ride back to Arequipa...words cannot describe it!
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I decided to head to Misti House and crash there till the morning...after 2 straight nights on buses, any mattress will feel heaven!
Arequipa is a beautiful, pleasant and modern city! I have to say that Sucre's white colonial architecture impressed me more, but at the same time I wish I had spent more time in Arequipa...people seemed more "modern and sophisticated" than anywhere else in Peru (except Lima), the whole city just had a good vibe all around!
I went to visit the Convento de Santa Catalina, named after Santa Caterina da Siena, which was wonderful on many different levels! Its colors, alleys and courtyards make it look like a city within the city center, and it was well worth the 30 soles! On a side note, I think it had the best bathrooms I've seen in all of Peru, airport included!
I decided, on a whim, to take the 2-day hiking tour of the Cañon del Colca, the world's deepest canyon (although this is disputed with another nearby canyon, Cotahuasi), more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA!
Not planning it beforehand was not such a great idea, as I was not prepared or rested enough to wake up at 3 the next morning and hike 7-8 hours!
Nevertheless, this last minute excursion ended up being one of the highlights of my whole trip!
Our minibus showed up at 3.30 to drive us out of town to the famous Cruz del Condor, a breath-taking spot where we first saw the depth of the canyon, although the main attraction was of course the condor! Considering what my luck had been at MachuPicchu I was definitely not expecting to see any condors, so I was taken aback when as soon as we showed up...there they were, doin their thing in the air, using the various winds to get around...it was beautiful!!! Pictures definitely do not do it any justice, so I also took pictures of the photographs for sale there! haha Unfortunately, the whole scene was ruined by a bunch of dumb tourists who thought it was a good idea to make strange sounds to the condors...ugh!
Later on, our guide told us a bit more about condors in general...very little is known because they're very reserved and do their best to avoid human contact...they're usually about 1m high and their wings can spread to about 3m...there are theories according to which they are "friends" with foxes, who eat other dead animals and then signal to the condors where these are...our guide even said that sometimes the condors get to the corpses when their flesh has already fermented, and that is how condors get drunk...he said he had seen one with his own eyes!!!
We started our hike at the top of the canyon and walked downhill for about 4 hours to the bottom of it, crossed the river and then walked some more to a little town where we stopped for lunch! After lunch we did some more hiking, got wet trying to cross a river, and then continued in the rain till the oasis in the middle of the canyon...it is a green, lush patch of land in the middle of arid, desert-like rocks...its best feature is the amazing number of beautiful pools...that was definitely the best part of the 2 days, together with the views and sighting condors! Once we did make it to the oasis after having crossed yet another bridge, I made a run straight for the pool...what a beauty! The setting already made it extremely special, plus one side was carved out of a natural rock that came up over the pool itself and could be used to dive off of (or at least I did! haha), and then the opposite side had terracotta vases pouring water into the pool!
The rooms were pretty basic houses made of mud, they didn't look like they had bricks...what they did have were plenty of little holes for all sorts of insects and spiders to thrive in...that's why I didn't dare point my flashlight at any wall before going to bed...I just didn't want to know!
The next morning our hike back up to the top of the canyon started at 5.30, and again we were lucky to have gorgeous weather so that we could admire the beauty around us!
After over 3 hours we made it back up, had a rinvigorating breakfast, then parted ways with our guide and got on another minibus to Chivay...where we visited the hot springs, different pools going from 34 C to about 42 C...in the latter I dove in as if it were a normal pool, except it felt like a boiling pot ready for pasta! It felt great though!
The excursion would have already been more than memorable if it had finished that way, but the big cherry on top was the unbelievable sunset we were lucky to witness on our bus ride back to Arequipa...words cannot describe it!
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Ica & Huacachina (Peru)
Ica was initially to be just the transportation hub for my visit to Huacachina, but I ended up spending a bit more time there than expected...it's also the main city for the region, which made it sadly famous in 2007 for a terrible earthquake, which actually hit Pisco (that I'd visit later on)...I guess I was expecting less than Nazca, so I was surprised by how much bigger and "busier" it was...I ended up eating at the local vegetarian restaurant (run by the local Seventh Day Adventists, like usual) twice in two days, both on my way in and on my way out!
My mototaxi ride into Huacachina left the center of Ica, went up some sandy hills and then ended up at the oasis, which seems to be in the middle of the desert, some 5km outside Ica.
It was of course very hot and sunny, a big change from most of my time in Peru and Bolivia, and during the daytime people just seem to relax by a pool or away from the sun!
Huacachina used to be the playground and escape oasis for the Peruvian elites, now its setting is still impressive, but the oasis itself is very dirty! (Locals still take advantage of its waters though...)
It's now a famous spot on the Gringo Trail to chill out and go 4-wheeling and sandboarding on its giant and vast surrounding sand dunes! I got there just in time to get on the last, and supposedly the best - as the sand is not so hot anymore, tour of the day in the afternoon...our buggy was carrying 9 people, plus the driver and his helper...the ride up and down the dunes was a lot of fun! It's a bit like a rollercoaster at times, combined with the dunes and the sand, which make it similar to ski slopes.
After some fun in the buggy and some pictures (damn sand everywhere!) it was time to brace the sandboards and get ready...for the first one everyone went down lying with their stomach on the board, which seems to be the easiest way to ger some adrenaline going! I was curious as to what it felt like to try to stand as if I were snowboarding, so I first tried that...well, it was very hard to get the board to keep gliding! Apparently, after a few turns the wax wears out, and it's not smooth anymore...so you you either go straight down the whole dune, or put up with getting stuck, your front foot sinking in the sand, and so on...of course we did see some guys from other groups who did it no problem and even made it look super easy while at it...oh well!
Out of our four descents, I tried standing twice and lying down twice, and I have to say the latter was much more fun and a lot less work, although I was honestly expecting a little more adrenaline and speed!
The rest of the night was spent trying to get as much sand off everything as possible...but everyone knows sand is very sneaky, so it's to this day a very daunting task!
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My mototaxi ride into Huacachina left the center of Ica, went up some sandy hills and then ended up at the oasis, which seems to be in the middle of the desert, some 5km outside Ica.
It was of course very hot and sunny, a big change from most of my time in Peru and Bolivia, and during the daytime people just seem to relax by a pool or away from the sun!
Huacachina used to be the playground and escape oasis for the Peruvian elites, now its setting is still impressive, but the oasis itself is very dirty! (Locals still take advantage of its waters though...)
It's now a famous spot on the Gringo Trail to chill out and go 4-wheeling and sandboarding on its giant and vast surrounding sand dunes! I got there just in time to get on the last, and supposedly the best - as the sand is not so hot anymore, tour of the day in the afternoon...our buggy was carrying 9 people, plus the driver and his helper...the ride up and down the dunes was a lot of fun! It's a bit like a rollercoaster at times, combined with the dunes and the sand, which make it similar to ski slopes.
After some fun in the buggy and some pictures (damn sand everywhere!) it was time to brace the sandboards and get ready...for the first one everyone went down lying with their stomach on the board, which seems to be the easiest way to ger some adrenaline going! I was curious as to what it felt like to try to stand as if I were snowboarding, so I first tried that...well, it was very hard to get the board to keep gliding! Apparently, after a few turns the wax wears out, and it's not smooth anymore...so you you either go straight down the whole dune, or put up with getting stuck, your front foot sinking in the sand, and so on...of course we did see some guys from other groups who did it no problem and even made it look super easy while at it...oh well!
Out of our four descents, I tried standing twice and lying down twice, and I have to say the latter was much more fun and a lot less work, although I was honestly expecting a little more adrenaline and speed!
The rest of the night was spent trying to get as much sand off everything as possible...but everyone knows sand is very sneaky, so it's to this day a very daunting task!
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Sunday, January 17, 2010
La Paz (Bolivia), part II
I was happy to get to spend another halfday in LaPaz before leaving Bolivia altogether, as I already knew my way around quite well, and it's always nice to know where you're headed, and there were a few things I still needed to check out in the center (including shopping ); I also needed to go get my celebrative T-shirt for having survived the Death Road on a MTB and the DVD-R with the pictures and videos from that adventure! I got the chance to go back to The Point, the hostel with by far the most comfortable beds on my trip, wash up, say HI to the people who work there, and grab my DVD and T-shirt!
I am not too sure why I liked LaPaz so much...maybe because the beds were so comfy, or because I really felt at home at the hostel, or because the city's dramatic physical setting nestled between mountains, or because it's one of the highest capitals in the world, or because it's big and crazy and hectic but at the same time manageable on foot...it's a probably a mix of all that!
I had missed out on a few things on my first visit, so my first run in the morning was for salteñas, filled pastry shells similar to empanadas but juicy inside...they're usually filled with either meat or chicken only (duh!), but my LP pointed me to a few that had veggie ones...they are only served in the morning, so I had to rush, because this was probably the only city in Bolivia with veggie ones (I had asked around, getting the same "We like meat around here" replies!)...they were kind of expensive and it was hard not to burn your tongue or spill "juice" everywhere, but I had 3-4 and was happy to have tried them!
Back to the central/chaotic part of the city, I finally made my way through alleys of the typical Andean articrafts, and hats, scarves, gloves, etc...I visited the Coca Museum, which was very interesting but definitely needed a bigger space, and then went through the witchcraft market, where I saw lots of llama embryos for sale...apparently if you build a house it's good to have one of those buried on the property!
Then I wandered around the black market which was total chaos, but not as active as usual because it was Saturday...right after my LP walking tour was over, it was time to go back to the bus terminal, which was very close-by! How convenient is that?!
My night bus back to Peru involved crossig the border at Desaguadero before it closed at 20...we got in line and quickly realized it would be a lengthy process! After patiently waiting for my turn for an entry stamp into Peru, I almost started laughing when the two people at the windows in front of me were almost arguing with the officers...one lady, diligently followed by her beautiful husky, started saying that she had lost all her papers but wanted to get through anyway, while the officer kept saying that she had to pay a fine of some sort...the other story was even more entertaining! This girl, whom I had not realized was so young since she was facing the other way, showed up to the window with her papers and the officer said that in order to cross she needed both of her parents' permission since she was a minor...she kept saying she was 18...the officer would look at her papers and say she was 17...he would ask her how old she was, and she would say 18...haha it was great!!! It went on for a good 5-6 minutes...he must have asked her at least 10 times, and she said "I'm 18" at least 10 times...although I was in a hurry, it was exhilarating! At some point she somehow decided to give up, picked up her ID and left!!! Ahhh finally my turn...
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I am not too sure why I liked LaPaz so much...maybe because the beds were so comfy, or because I really felt at home at the hostel, or because the city's dramatic physical setting nestled between mountains, or because it's one of the highest capitals in the world, or because it's big and crazy and hectic but at the same time manageable on foot...it's a probably a mix of all that!
I had missed out on a few things on my first visit, so my first run in the morning was for salteñas, filled pastry shells similar to empanadas but juicy inside...they're usually filled with either meat or chicken only (duh!), but my LP pointed me to a few that had veggie ones...they are only served in the morning, so I had to rush, because this was probably the only city in Bolivia with veggie ones (I had asked around, getting the same "We like meat around here" replies!)...they were kind of expensive and it was hard not to burn your tongue or spill "juice" everywhere, but I had 3-4 and was happy to have tried them!
Back to the central/chaotic part of the city, I finally made my way through alleys of the typical Andean articrafts, and hats, scarves, gloves, etc...I visited the Coca Museum, which was very interesting but definitely needed a bigger space, and then went through the witchcraft market, where I saw lots of llama embryos for sale...apparently if you build a house it's good to have one of those buried on the property!
Then I wandered around the black market which was total chaos, but not as active as usual because it was Saturday...right after my LP walking tour was over, it was time to go back to the bus terminal, which was very close-by! How convenient is that?!
My night bus back to Peru involved crossig the border at Desaguadero before it closed at 20...we got in line and quickly realized it would be a lengthy process! After patiently waiting for my turn for an entry stamp into Peru, I almost started laughing when the two people at the windows in front of me were almost arguing with the officers...one lady, diligently followed by her beautiful husky, started saying that she had lost all her papers but wanted to get through anyway, while the officer kept saying that she had to pay a fine of some sort...the other story was even more entertaining! This girl, whom I had not realized was so young since she was facing the other way, showed up to the window with her papers and the officer said that in order to cross she needed both of her parents' permission since she was a minor...she kept saying she was 18...the officer would look at her papers and say she was 17...he would ask her how old she was, and she would say 18...haha it was great!!! It went on for a good 5-6 minutes...he must have asked her at least 10 times, and she said "I'm 18" at least 10 times...although I was in a hurry, it was exhilarating! At some point she somehow decided to give up, picked up her ID and left!!! Ahhh finally my turn...
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Thursday, January 14, 2010
Sucre (Bolivia)
At about 2400m, it's weird to say it was one of the lowest places I have visited on this trip! Sucre felt noticeably warmer and seemed much more "sophisticated" than the rest of the country (Lima excluded); lots of people out and about, lots of places filled with people, even the night market where I went to eat was packed!
The city's best features though are its blinding white buildings and beautiful colonial architecture; the sun and scattered clouds helped my good mood and my inclination to take a lot of pictures!
The only thing that is inconvenient about Sucre is its bus terminal, a 25 minute uphill walk from the center. Other than that, I loved relaxing in the main square, strolling through the streets looking for food stalls, taking lots of pictures, and "stealing" the wi-fi signal from different bars while standing on the street! Also, the vegetarian restaurant inside a gym was quite tasty and super cheap!
Needless to say, it was hard to leave, especially since it was my last place in Bolivia: I was to spend the next day in La Paz just for the day, before boarding a Peru-bound bus in the late afternoon.
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The city's best features though are its blinding white buildings and beautiful colonial architecture; the sun and scattered clouds helped my good mood and my inclination to take a lot of pictures!
The only thing that is inconvenient about Sucre is its bus terminal, a 25 minute uphill walk from the center. Other than that, I loved relaxing in the main square, strolling through the streets looking for food stalls, taking lots of pictures, and "stealing" the wi-fi signal from different bars while standing on the street! Also, the vegetarian restaurant inside a gym was quite tasty and super cheap!
Needless to say, it was hard to leave, especially since it was my last place in Bolivia: I was to spend the next day in La Paz just for the day, before boarding a Peru-bound bus in the late afternoon.
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Friday, January 08, 2010
Potosí (Bolivia)
Potosí is the kind of place that a lot of people go through, but not many seem to be raving about it...I was very happy to be getting there because it meant finally leaving Uyuni! After a few complications, our bus finally left, and I was happy enough to be on my way to somewhere other than Uyuni!
I didn't seem to care even when I got woken up by our bus arrival at 1 and I had to get my stuff and walk uphill for about 1km at an altitude of 4070m in the rain!
Things got even better when I found out that my reservation was actually for the one hostel everyone had recommended, which seemed to be full online!
The only problem once I got there was falling back asleep at 2 after all the effort to get there!
The next morning I was up bright and early at 7, and after a great shower I was ready for breakfast and a new beginning!
I signed up for a mine tour, which seems to be the most common thing to do in town, since its past wealth and fame are due to the Cerro Rico and its minerals lying within.
Our two guides were both ex-miners, although one seemed crazier and stranger tha the other one; he had spent 7 years working in a mine, and he kind of reminded me of a soldier coming hone from a war.
Our first stop on the tour was a run-down house where we put on our miner outfits: baggy pants and jacket, rubber boots, a helmet and a belt that held the charger that was connected to the typical miner flashlight on top of our helmet.
Our next stop was the miners' market, where we learned about what they eat and drink, and we bought them some coca leaves and sodas. Then we stopped at another shop where we learned a bit about dynamite, how to set it off, how to make it more powerful, and so on...we also bought some for the miners, because, as our guide kept repeating, ours wasn't just a touristic visit, it was a social one: we were to interact with the miners, learn about their lives, and bring them presents. Since they have to buy their own food and drinks, and even their own dynamite to keep explorin the mine, they were happy to receive a bunch of stuff for free from us!
Our next stops were a "refining plant" for the minerals and a lookout point over the city for some more pictures in our funny outfits...then we finally reached the mine!
While waiting outside taking pictures we witnessed three people from another group who had just walked in come out as they couldn't take it any longer...nice!
As we approached the entrance, there was a mix of excitement and tension in the air! We finally took off and started walking jn, and it wasn't so bad...not too small, and very straight, so that for the first 5-10 minutes you could see the light behind you, and you couldn't get lost!
We had about 50 m or so to get inside the mine, and we knew we were there when all of a sudden we saw plenty of galleries intersectig each other, and that's when we knew we'd better stick together and close to the guides! haha As we got deeper and deeper inside, it looked darker and darker, and felt warmer and warmer...we also realized it had gotten harder to breathe, and we were thanking the pipes of compressed air running throughout the whole place for giving us oxigen! After some more walking, which had gotten trickier especially for the few of us over 1.75m, we had to find refuge in an opening on the side of the path since a cart full of minerals weighing about a ton wss coming down the tracks, being pushed out of the mine by three young guys! They were faster even while pushing the full cart than we were empty-handedly!
Our first real stop was a cave on the side of the path, where we sat down and waited for some miners to join us for a chat and some food and drinks. I talked to a 40 year old man who had been working in there for over 23 years, practically his whole life with the exception of 5 years he spent in Argentina working in construction...once the economic collapse came around, he came back to Potosí, his hometown, where the onlu job opportunities were in mining. He said that a normal day is 8 hour long, but that there have been times where he spent 24, or even 48 hiurs straight, inside the mine! It's kinda like working overtime, the only difference being that they get paid according to the weight of the minerals that they find, so more workinh hours were needed at times to find more minerals! They are organized in a co-op, except that it doesn't really do anything for them...each of them has to pay for their own food and drinks, their own equipment, ther own dynamite, and even, surprise surprise, for their own share of compressed air!!! And it's not cheap at 20$/hour!!! Incredible!
The other hing that struck me the most was that while in the mine they do not eat anything but coca leaves! They said that normal food ferments quickly inside the mine and would damage their stomach! So they eat a lot when they do get out, of course, but they don't even have breakfast before getting in the mine...only coca leaves and sodas!!!
We kept walking some more through mud and water to get to another small cave with a 40-50m deep hole in the middle of it. The young miners that joined us comfortably sat around the whole, their legs dangling in the void, while we carefully and slowly found a place to sit down to chat with them. We gave them some coca leaves, dynamite and sodas and chatted with them. The most desired thing seemed to be foreign cigarettes, although our bags of coca leaves had some "homemade" ones...the two guys kept shouting down the hole to some people working at the bottom of it, and then after a bit they pulled up a boy who came to join us...JD, 13 years old,...he is working in the mine during his summer vacation from school, to join his father and brothers who all work there...I asked him if he preferred that or school, he said the latter, but he also said he is not very good at it! Nevertheless, he said his dream is to become an agricultural engineer!!! When I asked him what he was going to do with the money he would earn from working there, he said he would buy school supplies! Wow! There must be an easy way for people to donate something so simple and basic to us as school supplies!
After some more pictures we started heading back, stopping for the occasional cart coming by, before our last stop, which was the famous "Tio"! It's the mine's God, but since in Quechua the letter D is missing, instead of Dios he's called Tio, uncle! It looks like the devil, and it was supposedly put there at first by the Spanish, who thought that it would scare the miners and think he was supervising their work, since no Spanish ever set foot in the mine. Once the miners realized no one was making sure they were doing their job, and that the devil was not scary at all, they started adoring him! It's a statue of a guy sitting down, and he is covered in cigarettes, the obvious coca leaves, and some trash of course! The ritual includes lighting up a cigarette, putting it in his mouth, and then pour clear 96% alcohol all over his body, and then putting coca leaves on his muscles! The most impressive thing about the statue is his gigantic, disproportionate penis!!! We were explained that it symbolises fertility, of course, and after the guide poured some more alcohol on it (ouch, anyone?!) and drank some himself, he also said that the Tio is supposedly linked to the Pachamama, Mother Earth, who gave him such a gift so that any woman would be too scared to enter the mine, and the Pachamama wouldn't have any infidelity issues!!!
When we finally made it out of the mine the sunlight was blinding, of course, but at least I could stand straight! haha
The last attraction of the day was seeing dynamite explode! The guide set it on fire, and we had about 2 minutes to take silly pictures with it...then he took it somewhere far, and we witnessed the huge blast produced by just one piece of dynamite!!! It was awesome...not too loud to bother your ears, but powerful enough to shake everything, scare all the girls, and even shake our cameras as we were filming it!
Later on in the day, once I was done with the mine tour, I went to check out the city center and pay a visit to the Mint, one of the oldest and probably the richest in South America. Of course having rich mines made the Mint rich and famous back in the day, and many vessels full of coins used to set off for Europe. The ironic thing in all of this is that nowadays the techniques that were once used in Potosí are so outdated that Bolivia has to have its coins made in other countries, especially Chile! We visited several types of old coins, the machinery and tools used to produce them, and a lot of other tools and objects and ornaments used by the rich to show off their wealth. We also visited the furnaces, and the thing that struck me the most is that the best fuel for the furnaces was...llama feces!!! I forgot exactly why, but I'm sure it's also because it's easy to come by!
All in all I had a very good time in Potosí, a very pleasant and relaxed town! The final gem was its new bus terminal, out in the middle of nowhere but oh-so-modern!!! It even has a wi-fi area!!! That was of course one of the only few times I found a bus that was leaving within 10 minutes, when actually I would not have minded waiting while being able to surf the Web!
I didn't seem to care even when I got woken up by our bus arrival at 1 and I had to get my stuff and walk uphill for about 1km at an altitude of 4070m in the rain!
Things got even better when I found out that my reservation was actually for the one hostel everyone had recommended, which seemed to be full online!
The only problem once I got there was falling back asleep at 2 after all the effort to get there!
The next morning I was up bright and early at 7, and after a great shower I was ready for breakfast and a new beginning!
I signed up for a mine tour, which seems to be the most common thing to do in town, since its past wealth and fame are due to the Cerro Rico and its minerals lying within.
Our two guides were both ex-miners, although one seemed crazier and stranger tha the other one; he had spent 7 years working in a mine, and he kind of reminded me of a soldier coming hone from a war.
Our first stop on the tour was a run-down house where we put on our miner outfits: baggy pants and jacket, rubber boots, a helmet and a belt that held the charger that was connected to the typical miner flashlight on top of our helmet.
Our next stop was the miners' market, where we learned about what they eat and drink, and we bought them some coca leaves and sodas. Then we stopped at another shop where we learned a bit about dynamite, how to set it off, how to make it more powerful, and so on...we also bought some for the miners, because, as our guide kept repeating, ours wasn't just a touristic visit, it was a social one: we were to interact with the miners, learn about their lives, and bring them presents. Since they have to buy their own food and drinks, and even their own dynamite to keep explorin the mine, they were happy to receive a bunch of stuff for free from us!
Our next stops were a "refining plant" for the minerals and a lookout point over the city for some more pictures in our funny outfits...then we finally reached the mine!
While waiting outside taking pictures we witnessed three people from another group who had just walked in come out as they couldn't take it any longer...nice!
As we approached the entrance, there was a mix of excitement and tension in the air! We finally took off and started walking jn, and it wasn't so bad...not too small, and very straight, so that for the first 5-10 minutes you could see the light behind you, and you couldn't get lost!
We had about 50 m or so to get inside the mine, and we knew we were there when all of a sudden we saw plenty of galleries intersectig each other, and that's when we knew we'd better stick together and close to the guides! haha As we got deeper and deeper inside, it looked darker and darker, and felt warmer and warmer...we also realized it had gotten harder to breathe, and we were thanking the pipes of compressed air running throughout the whole place for giving us oxigen! After some more walking, which had gotten trickier especially for the few of us over 1.75m, we had to find refuge in an opening on the side of the path since a cart full of minerals weighing about a ton wss coming down the tracks, being pushed out of the mine by three young guys! They were faster even while pushing the full cart than we were empty-handedly!
Our first real stop was a cave on the side of the path, where we sat down and waited for some miners to join us for a chat and some food and drinks. I talked to a 40 year old man who had been working in there for over 23 years, practically his whole life with the exception of 5 years he spent in Argentina working in construction...once the economic collapse came around, he came back to Potosí, his hometown, where the onlu job opportunities were in mining. He said that a normal day is 8 hour long, but that there have been times where he spent 24, or even 48 hiurs straight, inside the mine! It's kinda like working overtime, the only difference being that they get paid according to the weight of the minerals that they find, so more workinh hours were needed at times to find more minerals! They are organized in a co-op, except that it doesn't really do anything for them...each of them has to pay for their own food and drinks, their own equipment, ther own dynamite, and even, surprise surprise, for their own share of compressed air!!! And it's not cheap at 20$/hour!!! Incredible!
The other hing that struck me the most was that while in the mine they do not eat anything but coca leaves! They said that normal food ferments quickly inside the mine and would damage their stomach! So they eat a lot when they do get out, of course, but they don't even have breakfast before getting in the mine...only coca leaves and sodas!!!
We kept walking some more through mud and water to get to another small cave with a 40-50m deep hole in the middle of it. The young miners that joined us comfortably sat around the whole, their legs dangling in the void, while we carefully and slowly found a place to sit down to chat with them. We gave them some coca leaves, dynamite and sodas and chatted with them. The most desired thing seemed to be foreign cigarettes, although our bags of coca leaves had some "homemade" ones...the two guys kept shouting down the hole to some people working at the bottom of it, and then after a bit they pulled up a boy who came to join us...JD, 13 years old,...he is working in the mine during his summer vacation from school, to join his father and brothers who all work there...I asked him if he preferred that or school, he said the latter, but he also said he is not very good at it! Nevertheless, he said his dream is to become an agricultural engineer!!! When I asked him what he was going to do with the money he would earn from working there, he said he would buy school supplies! Wow! There must be an easy way for people to donate something so simple and basic to us as school supplies!
After some more pictures we started heading back, stopping for the occasional cart coming by, before our last stop, which was the famous "Tio"! It's the mine's God, but since in Quechua the letter D is missing, instead of Dios he's called Tio, uncle! It looks like the devil, and it was supposedly put there at first by the Spanish, who thought that it would scare the miners and think he was supervising their work, since no Spanish ever set foot in the mine. Once the miners realized no one was making sure they were doing their job, and that the devil was not scary at all, they started adoring him! It's a statue of a guy sitting down, and he is covered in cigarettes, the obvious coca leaves, and some trash of course! The ritual includes lighting up a cigarette, putting it in his mouth, and then pour clear 96% alcohol all over his body, and then putting coca leaves on his muscles! The most impressive thing about the statue is his gigantic, disproportionate penis!!! We were explained that it symbolises fertility, of course, and after the guide poured some more alcohol on it (ouch, anyone?!) and drank some himself, he also said that the Tio is supposedly linked to the Pachamama, Mother Earth, who gave him such a gift so that any woman would be too scared to enter the mine, and the Pachamama wouldn't have any infidelity issues!!!
When we finally made it out of the mine the sunlight was blinding, of course, but at least I could stand straight! haha
The last attraction of the day was seeing dynamite explode! The guide set it on fire, and we had about 2 minutes to take silly pictures with it...then he took it somewhere far, and we witnessed the huge blast produced by just one piece of dynamite!!! It was awesome...not too loud to bother your ears, but powerful enough to shake everything, scare all the girls, and even shake our cameras as we were filming it!
Later on in the day, once I was done with the mine tour, I went to check out the city center and pay a visit to the Mint, one of the oldest and probably the richest in South America. Of course having rich mines made the Mint rich and famous back in the day, and many vessels full of coins used to set off for Europe. The ironic thing in all of this is that nowadays the techniques that were once used in Potosí are so outdated that Bolivia has to have its coins made in other countries, especially Chile! We visited several types of old coins, the machinery and tools used to produce them, and a lot of other tools and objects and ornaments used by the rich to show off their wealth. We also visited the furnaces, and the thing that struck me the most is that the best fuel for the furnaces was...llama feces!!! I forgot exactly why, but I'm sure it's also because it's easy to come by!
All in all I had a very good time in Potosí, a very pleasant and relaxed town! The final gem was its new bus terminal, out in the middle of nowhere but oh-so-modern!!! It even has a wi-fi area!!! That was of course one of the only few times I found a bus that was leaving within 10 minutes, when actually I would not have minded waiting while being able to surf the Web!
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Puno, Uros Islands, Amantanì, Taquile (Peru), Copacabana, Isla del Sol, La Paz, Uyuni (Bolivia)
Leaving Cusco after such an experience and with my whole daypack and all its contents wet was not an easy task...but I managed to get on a bus to Puno through amazingly beautiful landscape and little villages scattered around...R and I made it to Puno after nightfall, found a place to stay and proceeded to feed our empty stomachs. Puno seemed like a convenient jumping point to explore the Titicaca Lake, compact enough that you can walk everywhere, but not aesthetically appealing, especially if compared with Cusco! The next day I met again with K and the three of us got on a boat on the Titicaca to visit several islands.
The first stop was to pay a visit to the Uros Islands, or floating islands, since their inhabitants, who used to live on boats (each boat hosted a family), built entire islands out of totora reeds. The roots are about 1 meter deep, on top of which they lay totora reeds for another meter, making the "ground" we walked on about 2 meter deep, while the lake is about 20 meter deep. All of this was explained to us during our visit to the second island, where a guy showed us how each o the smaller pieces which form an island are tied together and then anchored to the bottom of the lake wherever the islanders decide to stay. Walking on such ground was vey unusual as it feels squishy and you almost think you're going to sink, but of course it's all well done! Their articrafts as well as their houses and boats are quite the sight...we also visited a family's house that sleeps 2 parents and 3 children...I'm not too sure where, because the sleeping space was very limited! What I noticed immediately was a huge swat of flies everywhere, the smell pervading the small place (similar to the ways barns smell, but with a different twist to it that I cannot explain! This is also what most "indigenous people" smelled like on buses by the way!) and a radio and a very primitive tool similar to a TV! The woman said that Fujimori (Peru's former president) had donated solar panels to them! There was one right outside their house...but what I noticed first was a huge pile of plastic bottles...she said they used them to build their boats...they also made us wear their traditional costumes and of course pretty much forced us to buy some of their articrafts!
Then we proceeded to get back on the boat and spent 3 beautiful hours slowly moving on the lake, enjoying the beautiful day, the incredible sights and the breeze on the deck! (We should have known better: the sun at 3830 meters above sea level is always brutal!) We eventually reached our destination for the day and night: the island of Amantanì. We followed a local woman to her house, found our room and then waited for our lunch...I was quite surprised at how easy it was to explain to her that I didn't eat fish and that I was more than happy to settle for a fried egg! After lunch and a siesta we walked to the main square where we ran into 2-3 big tour groups and then continued uphill for the top of the islands, where there are temples to the Pachamama and the Pachatata, Mother and Father Earth, at over 4150 meters!!! On our way down we found a soccer field and, although it was almost dark, we challenged the locals to a quick game! We didn't yet know what we had signed up for, but I guess that's what you get when you have an Italian, an Argentinean, a Japanese, an Ecuadorian and a Peruvian guy!!! Of course the altitude killed us before our opponents did, and it looked like they were 5 times faster than us...it felt like your fastest moves were still in slow motion! We ended up losing 2-0 and had to swallow our pride, although it was a balanced game overall.
After another great meal cooked by our host mother, we got dressed up in traditional clothes (a thick poncho and a typical winter hat) and headed down to the center for a traditional dance in a store turned into a ballroom.
The next day we left for Taquile, our last island before making it back to Puno. The stairs up to the center were pretty steep, but the views and the main square were worth it! On our boat ride back we all opted to sit or lay inside and not expose ourselves to any more sun rays! Once back in Puno, it was time to relax, we ate at a chifa (their version of a Chinese restaurant) and then went to bed early.
The next morning we crossed the border into Bolivia to reach Copacabana, a nice little touristy town on the Bolivian side of the Titicaca Lake. The rest of the day was spent visiting the famous sanctuary of the "Virgen de Copacabana" which is very popular because she supposedly protects travelers and their vehicles; we also checked out the rest of town and hiked up the Cerro Calvario, a nice little mountain with 14 stages of the cross and a beautiful view of the town and its bay! The most interesting part was watching the locals in their rituals at the top of the mountain. Everyone had some space on the ground that was arranged to look like their ideal house: some plants, a plastic house, a plastic car, some people even had a toy computer! Of course sizes and colors varied, and everything was bought at some stalls along the way...the rite consisted in opening many bottles of beer, spray one's house and desired possessions, then drink some...then light up some firecrackers in the middle of it all...then pour some clear liquid (holy water? pure alcohol?) over everything...then chew on as many coca leaves as possible...then more beer, more coca leaves, some cigarettes, and so on and so forth!
We also witnessed a lady empty out the trash cans in a peculiar way...she lay out her "towel" to collect some of the trash and dispose of it, but before doing that she inspected every single bottle before dumping it down over 100 meters into the bay! That included a 2 liter soda bottle, and various glass beer bottles...it was quite shocking!
Besides all of the interesting things going on arounds, K and I were able to enjoy the sunset from up there...the next day we took a boat to Isla del Sol, another island on the Titicaca on the Bolivian side. After finding a place to stay we proceeded to take a tour of the island with M and A that we had randomly met again in our boat...the island was quite hilly, there seemed to be more donkeys than people, which is good if you want to escape tourists, but it's not so nice when you try to walk around and all paths are covered in donkey poop!
The locals seemed as unfriendly as they were back in Copacabana, and they were quick to charge tourists money, yet they were useless at giving directions, there was not even a single sign, and the money paid "to enter their communities" only seemed to go straight to them and give them money so that they didn't have to work rather than it being used to provide better services...all of this I'd later find out to be typical of Bolivia, where you're always charged money for small things that should be included, and despite paying, there are no services and the money does not seem to support or develop anything that the locals and/or tourists could benefit from.
Yet, the atmosphere on the island was pretty special, and it was a nice way to escape the tourist crowds of Copacabana...so much that K decided to spend New Year's Eve there. I instead got on a bus to La Paz...quite an interesting ride as we had to pass an 800m long strait: everyone had to get off the bus and get onto a passenger boat, while the bus itself boarded some sort of cargo raft to make it across...once in La Paz I quickly realized that everyone had played it safe because of NYE and had reservations, while I was just hoping to show up and find a place...at The Point I was able to help out with advertising the hostel's NYE party and could use their facilities and crash on their couch for free for that night, since they were fully booked! That way I got the chance to see many parts of the city that I had not yet visited to give out fliers for the party! Little did they know I would actually end up not attending the party...haha
My own NYE party consisted of a 2 liter bottle of lemonade and a lookout high above the city from where I was able to see all the fireworks that were going on in different parts of the city and that lasted almost an hour! It reminded me of what a city under siege looked like on TV, and it looked even more impressive because of the city's special setting between two hills.
The next day I got to meet up with L and his parents who gave me a tour of some parts of town that were too far from where I was staying, yet beautiful and very interesting, while very different from the idea I had in my head of what La Paz was like...I also got to visit El Valle de la Luna, an area south of the city that was full of impressive rock formations, which reminded me of Zabriskie Point in the Death Valley: very impressive! I also got a personal city tour by car thanks to L, and we checked out some lookouts around town.
The next day it was time for some adventure sports: mountain biking down what the locals call El Camino de la Muerte, for short The Death Road! It's an old road between La Cumbre at 4700m and Coroico at 1100m that used to have the highest number of fatalities as far as cars and trucks are concerned, mainly because it's 3.2m wide and it's between the mountain and cliffs as high as 700-800m!!! Now things have improved for traffic since a new road has been built, and the old road is taken over by a bunch of MTB companies who offer the same excursion I went on. It had not hit us till we got out of the van and it was freezing cold and extremely foggy/cloudy at 4700m where we started! It was overwhelming, but at the same time the clouds covered the precipice amd helped us not think about what was next to the road! The first part was pure asphalt, so that we could get used to handling our full suspension MTB's with hydraulic brakes...after 30 or so minutes the old, scary, unpaved road started, and that's where you needed to make sure you knew when you were going too fast or where the turns were sharp, because there was no second chance there, no guard rails, nothing...getting off the road on the left side meant falling off for 400, 500 or more meters down, which means dying...falling on the side of the mountain was not as dangerous, but still not too safe...one guy in our group went down against the mountain and his right elbow didn't look that good for the rest of the day! Luckily we had 2 good guides, and the front one tried to go as fast as the fastest among us, while in the back we had one more guide on a bike, a driver for the van and a mechanic...useful especially when my rear derailleur split open halfway through the Death Road! haha So I got a new bike which was a bit too small and to which I wasn't used to, so from that point on I slowed down a bit...the front of our group had some very good guys, and even one girl, who were awesome at cornering and choosing the right path, which I assume that's generally what downhill MTB is about! We had several breaks to regroup, take pictures, get explanations from the guide, and we even had a snack! Sometimes we rode through waterfalls, as if the road alone was not dangerous enough, and we were filmed several times, so I'm really curious to see what the pictures and videos look like! The ride was overall about 64km, it took us about 5-6 hours I think: we started at 4700m where it was freezing and wet, we ended it in the jungle at 1100m where it was humid, hot and ridden with bugs of course! The terrain also was very varied, so it was a lot of fun!!!
The prize for surviving it was a warm shower, a swimming pool and a large lunch buffet!!!
That same evening, despite a landslide and some other surprises along the road back to La Paz, I was able to get back in time to run to get my bag, run to the bus terminal and catch a bus to Uyuni...I got the last ticket as people were already boarding the bus, yet it was the best seat in the house: the very front seat above the driver, where you can stretch your legs and you have great views in front of you! You can also stick your camera out of the window and take awesome pictures, which I did, around dawn since we were in the middle of nowhere! Despite me having the best seat, the road for the whole 12 hour ride was as bumpy as one can imagine, and our big bus was shaking all night long! Combine that with the fact that I had not had the chance to grab some food for dinner, because I was rushing to get on the bus, so the only time we stopped for a break, around 2am, I was hungry and got a sandwich from a food stall that included a fried egg (I had tried to explain to her that I wanted only fries and salad, but it was too strange for her to understand it, and I was tired and hungry!)...well, I assume that the egg was not cooked for long enough (it seemed to me like it was less than a minute), so it definitely did not settle well in my stomach, and the bus' WC was pretty gross to begin with, but I couldn't resist any longer so before getting off in the morning I dropped some souvenirs in there! haha
My luck continued, or turned around should I say, considering my stomach situation, when I was able to get on a 3 day tour of the Salar de Uyuni and other attractions along the route within the first 30 minutes I was in town; what's even better is that the tour would leave an hour later, it was the company that several travelers had recommended, and K was part of our group of 6 people!!! haha What a coincidence!
The tour was 3 days and 2 nights and included so many things that it's impossible to remember them all! We had a driver/guide and his wife who was the co-pilot and cook. Our group had an American, two Swiss-Germans, two Japanese and I. We soon realized everyone else in town was on a tour too, as at each stop one could see at least 20-25 LandCruisers! Our first stop was a train cemetery, where the attraction was old, rusty trains that used to carry silver and other minerals from the Bolivian mines to the ports in Chile from where they were shipped out. Our second stop was a town that had all sorts of souvenirs made of salt, of course! Next was the main sight: the mighty salt flats! We stopped several times to take pictures, to get out of the car and walk through puddles of salt. This time of the year the salt flats are not dry because it's rainy season, so they look like big lakes in some parts, with pretty reflections of the sky, the clouds and the sun. At first it looks like one is surrounded by snow, and the white surface is definitely blinding! Later, we stopped at a hotel that is entirely made of salt, and then an island in the middle of the salt flat that is full of cacti; some of them were 5-6 meter high! The view from the top was spectacular: all I could see were mountains and then white all around. After lunch we got back in the car and drove for segeral hours after leaving the salt flats to visit other attractions: volcanoes, lagoons, deserts, and strange rock formations! We called it a day when we reached the town of San Juan...well, if one really wants to call it a town! We had basic rooms, a basic shared bathroom, no electricity except for two hours at night, and we had to pay 5Bs. for the shower! Our food was cooked on gas stoves, we had tea and biscuits as soon as we got there and then dinner two hours later. Inbetween the two snacks we walked a few minutes "out of town" to check out the sunset, which was amazing, in a place thst our guide had said was full of caves. Only afterthe sun had set, as we were walking back and it was getting dark, did we notice that each cave had bones and skulls inside!
The next day we did more driving to see various colored lagoons and tons of different flamingos, in addition to vicuñas, alpacas and llamas, which are all very similar!
After lunch we drove through colored deserts, more volcanoes and more lagoons, almost all very impressive. We also had to argue with some officials working at what they called a national reserve, since as of a few days ago the fee to simply drive trough went up from 30 to 150Bs (about $22)!!! Paying so much for driving through super bumpy roads, when bathrooms and showers, when present, were extra and power was kn for just a few hours a day seemed to a lot of us like legalized robbery, and I made sure to give the official a piece of my mind...but in the end, as most people were paying, we had no choice but doig the same...waiting longer would have meant risking getting to the next place and not finding a place to stay and/or a place to eat! That's how efficient and organized the "national reserve" is! The following and last day of the tour the alarm was at 4 in order to reach the geysers when they were still going strong...so we did get there before sunrise, and it was freezing, but still quite impressive! The first one we saw must have been at least 10-12m high! The next one was as strong and as loud as a fire idrant, and it was surrounded by several sulphuric pools. Next was some hot springs where we soaked for about 30 minutes in a spectacular setting of mountains, flamingos, lagoons and mountains. After breakfast we kept driving for a desert and a green lagoon at the foot of a volcano that reached almost 5000m. We proceeded to drop off 4 of our friends at the border with Chile and then two of us with the guide and the cook continued through scenic valleys and super bumpy roads to stop in the little town of Villamar for a huge lunch, since there was only two of us left; nevertheless, to continue our tradition of finishing everything we werr given, we swallowed everything and even looked to our neighbors'tables which were still full of food!
Our last two stops on our way back to Uyuni were some more interesting rocks (among which a pregnant lady, a condor and an Inca face) and the little town of San Cristobal, where everything was shut so all the tourists just ended up sitting around the main square while their drivers took a break from the bumpy driving!
We got back to Uyuni 30 minutes earlier than expected, which rarely happens and which I thought was going to be perfect because it gave me an hour till the buses for Potosì and Sucre would leave...I just forgot to factor in the huge crowds trying to leave this town, and most importantly the huge number of Argentinian mochileros everywhere, traveling in groups of 5-6, sometimes even 10 or more; to make matters worse, the buses leaving from here are half the size of normal buses, which ruined all my plans and forced me to spend an extra 24 hours in this town without wi-fi, cold drinks or ice cream of any sort...just a lot of Argentinians!!! This morning, after getting a chance to rest, shower and charge my gadgets, I managed to find a noon bus for Potosì...except that the bus ended up not showing up because of mechanical problems, and I'm spending an additional 6 hours in this lovely town! Since I'll be getting there in the middle of the night, if we make it that is (here the saying is "todo es posible, nada es seguro"), I tried to call up a few places on my book that seemed to be the best...everything is full! That's when I realized that I'll have to deal with the huge crowds of Argentinians for the remainder of my trip, as most of them are heading north to Peru just like me! Lovely!
Nothing else to say aboyt Uyuni except that I can't wait to go somewhere else, see something else and not have to deal with huge crowds of people taking over buses and hostels, playing guitar, drinking mate and being loud! haha
Actually, the silver mines of Potosì and the architecture of Sucre should be wonderful, so in order to enjoy all of that I had to book accommodations there in advance, and I'n now going to look for a mine tour for tomorrow morning! As soon as I find a wi-fi hotspot I'll post all of this!
The first stop was to pay a visit to the Uros Islands, or floating islands, since their inhabitants, who used to live on boats (each boat hosted a family), built entire islands out of totora reeds. The roots are about 1 meter deep, on top of which they lay totora reeds for another meter, making the "ground" we walked on about 2 meter deep, while the lake is about 20 meter deep. All of this was explained to us during our visit to the second island, where a guy showed us how each o the smaller pieces which form an island are tied together and then anchored to the bottom of the lake wherever the islanders decide to stay. Walking on such ground was vey unusual as it feels squishy and you almost think you're going to sink, but of course it's all well done! Their articrafts as well as their houses and boats are quite the sight...we also visited a family's house that sleeps 2 parents and 3 children...I'm not too sure where, because the sleeping space was very limited! What I noticed immediately was a huge swat of flies everywhere, the smell pervading the small place (similar to the ways barns smell, but with a different twist to it that I cannot explain! This is also what most "indigenous people" smelled like on buses by the way!) and a radio and a very primitive tool similar to a TV! The woman said that Fujimori (Peru's former president) had donated solar panels to them! There was one right outside their house...but what I noticed first was a huge pile of plastic bottles...she said they used them to build their boats...they also made us wear their traditional costumes and of course pretty much forced us to buy some of their articrafts!
Then we proceeded to get back on the boat and spent 3 beautiful hours slowly moving on the lake, enjoying the beautiful day, the incredible sights and the breeze on the deck! (We should have known better: the sun at 3830 meters above sea level is always brutal!) We eventually reached our destination for the day and night: the island of Amantanì. We followed a local woman to her house, found our room and then waited for our lunch...I was quite surprised at how easy it was to explain to her that I didn't eat fish and that I was more than happy to settle for a fried egg! After lunch and a siesta we walked to the main square where we ran into 2-3 big tour groups and then continued uphill for the top of the islands, where there are temples to the Pachamama and the Pachatata, Mother and Father Earth, at over 4150 meters!!! On our way down we found a soccer field and, although it was almost dark, we challenged the locals to a quick game! We didn't yet know what we had signed up for, but I guess that's what you get when you have an Italian, an Argentinean, a Japanese, an Ecuadorian and a Peruvian guy!!! Of course the altitude killed us before our opponents did, and it looked like they were 5 times faster than us...it felt like your fastest moves were still in slow motion! We ended up losing 2-0 and had to swallow our pride, although it was a balanced game overall.
After another great meal cooked by our host mother, we got dressed up in traditional clothes (a thick poncho and a typical winter hat) and headed down to the center for a traditional dance in a store turned into a ballroom.
The next day we left for Taquile, our last island before making it back to Puno. The stairs up to the center were pretty steep, but the views and the main square were worth it! On our boat ride back we all opted to sit or lay inside and not expose ourselves to any more sun rays! Once back in Puno, it was time to relax, we ate at a chifa (their version of a Chinese restaurant) and then went to bed early.
The next morning we crossed the border into Bolivia to reach Copacabana, a nice little touristy town on the Bolivian side of the Titicaca Lake. The rest of the day was spent visiting the famous sanctuary of the "Virgen de Copacabana" which is very popular because she supposedly protects travelers and their vehicles; we also checked out the rest of town and hiked up the Cerro Calvario, a nice little mountain with 14 stages of the cross and a beautiful view of the town and its bay! The most interesting part was watching the locals in their rituals at the top of the mountain. Everyone had some space on the ground that was arranged to look like their ideal house: some plants, a plastic house, a plastic car, some people even had a toy computer! Of course sizes and colors varied, and everything was bought at some stalls along the way...the rite consisted in opening many bottles of beer, spray one's house and desired possessions, then drink some...then light up some firecrackers in the middle of it all...then pour some clear liquid (holy water? pure alcohol?) over everything...then chew on as many coca leaves as possible...then more beer, more coca leaves, some cigarettes, and so on and so forth!
We also witnessed a lady empty out the trash cans in a peculiar way...she lay out her "towel" to collect some of the trash and dispose of it, but before doing that she inspected every single bottle before dumping it down over 100 meters into the bay! That included a 2 liter soda bottle, and various glass beer bottles...it was quite shocking!
Besides all of the interesting things going on arounds, K and I were able to enjoy the sunset from up there...the next day we took a boat to Isla del Sol, another island on the Titicaca on the Bolivian side. After finding a place to stay we proceeded to take a tour of the island with M and A that we had randomly met again in our boat...the island was quite hilly, there seemed to be more donkeys than people, which is good if you want to escape tourists, but it's not so nice when you try to walk around and all paths are covered in donkey poop!
The locals seemed as unfriendly as they were back in Copacabana, and they were quick to charge tourists money, yet they were useless at giving directions, there was not even a single sign, and the money paid "to enter their communities" only seemed to go straight to them and give them money so that they didn't have to work rather than it being used to provide better services...all of this I'd later find out to be typical of Bolivia, where you're always charged money for small things that should be included, and despite paying, there are no services and the money does not seem to support or develop anything that the locals and/or tourists could benefit from.
Yet, the atmosphere on the island was pretty special, and it was a nice way to escape the tourist crowds of Copacabana...so much that K decided to spend New Year's Eve there. I instead got on a bus to La Paz...quite an interesting ride as we had to pass an 800m long strait: everyone had to get off the bus and get onto a passenger boat, while the bus itself boarded some sort of cargo raft to make it across...once in La Paz I quickly realized that everyone had played it safe because of NYE and had reservations, while I was just hoping to show up and find a place...at The Point I was able to help out with advertising the hostel's NYE party and could use their facilities and crash on their couch for free for that night, since they were fully booked! That way I got the chance to see many parts of the city that I had not yet visited to give out fliers for the party! Little did they know I would actually end up not attending the party...haha
My own NYE party consisted of a 2 liter bottle of lemonade and a lookout high above the city from where I was able to see all the fireworks that were going on in different parts of the city and that lasted almost an hour! It reminded me of what a city under siege looked like on TV, and it looked even more impressive because of the city's special setting between two hills.
The next day I got to meet up with L and his parents who gave me a tour of some parts of town that were too far from where I was staying, yet beautiful and very interesting, while very different from the idea I had in my head of what La Paz was like...I also got to visit El Valle de la Luna, an area south of the city that was full of impressive rock formations, which reminded me of Zabriskie Point in the Death Valley: very impressive! I also got a personal city tour by car thanks to L, and we checked out some lookouts around town.
The next day it was time for some adventure sports: mountain biking down what the locals call El Camino de la Muerte, for short The Death Road! It's an old road between La Cumbre at 4700m and Coroico at 1100m that used to have the highest number of fatalities as far as cars and trucks are concerned, mainly because it's 3.2m wide and it's between the mountain and cliffs as high as 700-800m!!! Now things have improved for traffic since a new road has been built, and the old road is taken over by a bunch of MTB companies who offer the same excursion I went on. It had not hit us till we got out of the van and it was freezing cold and extremely foggy/cloudy at 4700m where we started! It was overwhelming, but at the same time the clouds covered the precipice amd helped us not think about what was next to the road! The first part was pure asphalt, so that we could get used to handling our full suspension MTB's with hydraulic brakes...after 30 or so minutes the old, scary, unpaved road started, and that's where you needed to make sure you knew when you were going too fast or where the turns were sharp, because there was no second chance there, no guard rails, nothing...getting off the road on the left side meant falling off for 400, 500 or more meters down, which means dying...falling on the side of the mountain was not as dangerous, but still not too safe...one guy in our group went down against the mountain and his right elbow didn't look that good for the rest of the day! Luckily we had 2 good guides, and the front one tried to go as fast as the fastest among us, while in the back we had one more guide on a bike, a driver for the van and a mechanic...useful especially when my rear derailleur split open halfway through the Death Road! haha So I got a new bike which was a bit too small and to which I wasn't used to, so from that point on I slowed down a bit...the front of our group had some very good guys, and even one girl, who were awesome at cornering and choosing the right path, which I assume that's generally what downhill MTB is about! We had several breaks to regroup, take pictures, get explanations from the guide, and we even had a snack! Sometimes we rode through waterfalls, as if the road alone was not dangerous enough, and we were filmed several times, so I'm really curious to see what the pictures and videos look like! The ride was overall about 64km, it took us about 5-6 hours I think: we started at 4700m where it was freezing and wet, we ended it in the jungle at 1100m where it was humid, hot and ridden with bugs of course! The terrain also was very varied, so it was a lot of fun!!!
The prize for surviving it was a warm shower, a swimming pool and a large lunch buffet!!!
That same evening, despite a landslide and some other surprises along the road back to La Paz, I was able to get back in time to run to get my bag, run to the bus terminal and catch a bus to Uyuni...I got the last ticket as people were already boarding the bus, yet it was the best seat in the house: the very front seat above the driver, where you can stretch your legs and you have great views in front of you! You can also stick your camera out of the window and take awesome pictures, which I did, around dawn since we were in the middle of nowhere! Despite me having the best seat, the road for the whole 12 hour ride was as bumpy as one can imagine, and our big bus was shaking all night long! Combine that with the fact that I had not had the chance to grab some food for dinner, because I was rushing to get on the bus, so the only time we stopped for a break, around 2am, I was hungry and got a sandwich from a food stall that included a fried egg (I had tried to explain to her that I wanted only fries and salad, but it was too strange for her to understand it, and I was tired and hungry!)...well, I assume that the egg was not cooked for long enough (it seemed to me like it was less than a minute), so it definitely did not settle well in my stomach, and the bus' WC was pretty gross to begin with, but I couldn't resist any longer so before getting off in the morning I dropped some souvenirs in there! haha
My luck continued, or turned around should I say, considering my stomach situation, when I was able to get on a 3 day tour of the Salar de Uyuni and other attractions along the route within the first 30 minutes I was in town; what's even better is that the tour would leave an hour later, it was the company that several travelers had recommended, and K was part of our group of 6 people!!! haha What a coincidence!
The tour was 3 days and 2 nights and included so many things that it's impossible to remember them all! We had a driver/guide and his wife who was the co-pilot and cook. Our group had an American, two Swiss-Germans, two Japanese and I. We soon realized everyone else in town was on a tour too, as at each stop one could see at least 20-25 LandCruisers! Our first stop was a train cemetery, where the attraction was old, rusty trains that used to carry silver and other minerals from the Bolivian mines to the ports in Chile from where they were shipped out. Our second stop was a town that had all sorts of souvenirs made of salt, of course! Next was the main sight: the mighty salt flats! We stopped several times to take pictures, to get out of the car and walk through puddles of salt. This time of the year the salt flats are not dry because it's rainy season, so they look like big lakes in some parts, with pretty reflections of the sky, the clouds and the sun. At first it looks like one is surrounded by snow, and the white surface is definitely blinding! Later, we stopped at a hotel that is entirely made of salt, and then an island in the middle of the salt flat that is full of cacti; some of them were 5-6 meter high! The view from the top was spectacular: all I could see were mountains and then white all around. After lunch we got back in the car and drove for segeral hours after leaving the salt flats to visit other attractions: volcanoes, lagoons, deserts, and strange rock formations! We called it a day when we reached the town of San Juan...well, if one really wants to call it a town! We had basic rooms, a basic shared bathroom, no electricity except for two hours at night, and we had to pay 5Bs. for the shower! Our food was cooked on gas stoves, we had tea and biscuits as soon as we got there and then dinner two hours later. Inbetween the two snacks we walked a few minutes "out of town" to check out the sunset, which was amazing, in a place thst our guide had said was full of caves. Only afterthe sun had set, as we were walking back and it was getting dark, did we notice that each cave had bones and skulls inside!
The next day we did more driving to see various colored lagoons and tons of different flamingos, in addition to vicuñas, alpacas and llamas, which are all very similar!
After lunch we drove through colored deserts, more volcanoes and more lagoons, almost all very impressive. We also had to argue with some officials working at what they called a national reserve, since as of a few days ago the fee to simply drive trough went up from 30 to 150Bs (about $22)!!! Paying so much for driving through super bumpy roads, when bathrooms and showers, when present, were extra and power was kn for just a few hours a day seemed to a lot of us like legalized robbery, and I made sure to give the official a piece of my mind...but in the end, as most people were paying, we had no choice but doig the same...waiting longer would have meant risking getting to the next place and not finding a place to stay and/or a place to eat! That's how efficient and organized the "national reserve" is! The following and last day of the tour the alarm was at 4 in order to reach the geysers when they were still going strong...so we did get there before sunrise, and it was freezing, but still quite impressive! The first one we saw must have been at least 10-12m high! The next one was as strong and as loud as a fire idrant, and it was surrounded by several sulphuric pools. Next was some hot springs where we soaked for about 30 minutes in a spectacular setting of mountains, flamingos, lagoons and mountains. After breakfast we kept driving for a desert and a green lagoon at the foot of a volcano that reached almost 5000m. We proceeded to drop off 4 of our friends at the border with Chile and then two of us with the guide and the cook continued through scenic valleys and super bumpy roads to stop in the little town of Villamar for a huge lunch, since there was only two of us left; nevertheless, to continue our tradition of finishing everything we werr given, we swallowed everything and even looked to our neighbors'tables which were still full of food!
Our last two stops on our way back to Uyuni were some more interesting rocks (among which a pregnant lady, a condor and an Inca face) and the little town of San Cristobal, where everything was shut so all the tourists just ended up sitting around the main square while their drivers took a break from the bumpy driving!
We got back to Uyuni 30 minutes earlier than expected, which rarely happens and which I thought was going to be perfect because it gave me an hour till the buses for Potosì and Sucre would leave...I just forgot to factor in the huge crowds trying to leave this town, and most importantly the huge number of Argentinian mochileros everywhere, traveling in groups of 5-6, sometimes even 10 or more; to make matters worse, the buses leaving from here are half the size of normal buses, which ruined all my plans and forced me to spend an extra 24 hours in this town without wi-fi, cold drinks or ice cream of any sort...just a lot of Argentinians!!! This morning, after getting a chance to rest, shower and charge my gadgets, I managed to find a noon bus for Potosì...except that the bus ended up not showing up because of mechanical problems, and I'm spending an additional 6 hours in this lovely town! Since I'll be getting there in the middle of the night, if we make it that is (here the saying is "todo es posible, nada es seguro"), I tried to call up a few places on my book that seemed to be the best...everything is full! That's when I realized that I'll have to deal with the huge crowds of Argentinians for the remainder of my trip, as most of them are heading north to Peru just like me! Lovely!
Nothing else to say aboyt Uyuni except that I can't wait to go somewhere else, see something else and not have to deal with huge crowds of people taking over buses and hostels, playing guitar, drinking mate and being loud! haha
Actually, the silver mines of Potosì and the architecture of Sucre should be wonderful, so in order to enjoy all of that I had to book accommodations there in advance, and I'n now going to look for a mine tour for tomorrow morning! As soon as I find a wi-fi hotspot I'll post all of this!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Moray, Maras, MachuPicchu
Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Moray, Maras, MachuPicchu
Cusco definitely grew on me as the days went by, as it was cheap, convenient and full of things to do and see, albeit full of tourists! On my second day I headed to the market for a super cheap, and super filling, lunch, followed by 4 glasses of "lucuma" juice: a great deal! On my way out of the market I noticed a lady selling strange fried balls with peppers or tomatoes inside...I was stuffed, but my curiosity got the best of me and I couldn't resist buying some and storing them in my bag for a snack later on...I went on a guided city tour in the afternoon, which definitely wasn't my thing, but it covered several ruins within and around Cusco: Saqsaywaman, Q'enqo, PukaPukara, and another one...too many tourists and too lkttle to see, if you ask me!
The next day my stomach woke me up before my alarm did, and it was not pleasant! I was bloated, with stomach cramps and shivers, and I had to visit the bathroom a few times...I knew by then that those fried "balls" had not settled well in my stomach! Just thinking about them gave me gag reflexes by then! I definitely knew right away who the culprit was...but as they say, curiosity killed the cat I guess! I tried to get my day started, since I had many plans, but everything got delayed a little bit! I eventually reached Pisac, a nice little town that's part of the Valle Sagrado, the valley surrounding Cusco...I was in pain, but I was trying my best to forget about it and make the best of my day! While in town I got to eat some "pizza flavored" empanadas cooked in their typical ovens, next to which they had Guinea pig temples, that is little catles made of mud and clay where a bunch of Guinea pigs ("cuy" is a national "delicacy" here!) were running around! I took a taxi up to the Inca ruins, which were amazing and surrounded by beautiful terraces! The whole thing was quite a hike and the altitude was kicking in, in addition to my stomach being upset, but it was worth it!
I then caught a local bus to the next ruins at Ollantaytambo, which featured the same terraces and were in a similar setting as Pisac. After a few more crowded-to-the-max local buses I got off and took an expemsive taxi to Maras and up and down a winding road amidst beautiful mountains to reach Moray, a huge "hole" made of terraced land where every "floor" has a completely distinct eco-system and different crops are grown; how all of this happens and works has been a mystery since the Incas, but it's quite an amazing sight that was used by the Incas for agricultural "experiments"...you can walk all the way down to the bottom of it, from where your voices echoes resoundingly, and I was told that the place never gets flooded even during rain season...quite amazing!
My next place was even better: the salt pools by Maras! It's another breath-taking setting for an incredible number (around 300 I think) of little pools where salty water from the mountain flows through and eventually evaporates leaving behind salt that has been used since Inca times. The most fascinating thing was seeing how the water had found ways to feed all of the different, numerous pools through little canals!
After another super crowded, standing room only, local bus I made it back to Cusco skipping Chinchero, because it was getting dark and my stomach was telling me to get to a bathroom as soon as humanly possible! By this time, my whole body was shaking and aching, I had shivers and my head was hurting...it seemed to me like a mild case of altitude sickness on top of my stomch problems! I made it back to Cusco and by then every step seemed like a daunting task, my head was spinning and I had trouble putting up with the noise, the traffic and the crowds!
The next day was Christmas Eve and I woke up the same way as the day before...judging by my immediate trip to the bathroom, whatever had been causing this pain had not yet made it through my body, but I told myself it would be a matter of hours (boy, was I wrong?!) and boarded my minibus for MachuPicchu! The route was once again spectacular and we reached over 4500m before descending along a winding road under heavy rains...this 6-hour trip proved to be anything but boring, as we had a flat on the way up, avoided a minivan that was upside down in the middle of the road, as well as several rocks along the way! Once we descended into jungle-like territory, a local "tire shop" gave us a new one in exchange for the one that was flat (all of this was done in a primitive way, which needed 2 people and involved hammering away at the poor tires!).
We eventually reached a place from where we could walk to Aguas Calientes, but the rain was intense and I decided to pay for the extremely overpriced train thst took almost an hour to cover 9 km!!! Once into town, K, K, M and I found a cheap hostel for the night and proceeded to check out the local hot springs, a series of 6-7 natural pools filled with hot, murky water...it was pretty relaxing!!!
We went to dinner for Christmas Eve and spent the rest of the evening till midnight walking around the little touristy town, then exploded some fircrackers and went to bed!
The next day, Christmas Day as well, started at 4.30 when we woke up and wouldn't end till very late at night...it was still dark when the 3 Japanese and I headed out of town towards MachuPicchu on foot to avoid the super expensive "shuttle bus" after we had paid over 40$ just for the entrance to the MP ruins! The steep 3.5km hike took us over an hour through the deep forest under the rain, and gave us a better idea of how remote this Inca city must have been in the past! The location was definitely exceptional, high up over a rough river and amidst tall, lush mountains...so lush that when we first got to the ruins we could not see anything!!! Thick, white clouds were covering the whole place like a blanket, and the tropical rain was not helping of course!!! The disappointment was evident among us, especially after having had to pay so much money and wait so long to get there...it almost seemed like a legalized scam to me, and that's one of the things that upsets me the most when I travel! Of course it was nobody's fault, but the Christmas Day I had pictured in my mind couldn't be further away from reality! We walked around the ruins tryin to make sense of it all, and seemed quite content with taking pictures of llamas for a bit, since they were the only visible thing then! Walking for a few hours in the cold and thick rain was definitely unpleasant, but it was made even worse by the clouds and fog that prevented anyone from getting an idea of the size and majesty of the whole place, and after we had made it all the way around the whole Inca city we paused at the panoramic spot a little bit longer till it was time to trek back to Aguas Calientes...we were there waiting with other people when all of a sudden came the winds to swipe away the clouds, and little by little, within a minute or so and for no longer than a few minutes...wow, that is what MachuPicchu usually looks like from up here! It was short but amazing, and excitement was in the air as people were trying to take as many pictures as possible in such a short time! The very same way as one that is hungry becomes satisfied once he/she gets a full belly, all of us who had been longing for a decent view of MP felt so much better after just a couple of minutes of semi-clear skies!
It was finally time to hike back down to town and hop on the train that took us back to our minibuses, all the while dreaming of a warm shower and dry clothes! The whole trip back had seemed like a minor detail when explained to me back in Cusco, as all I was focused on was getting to MP in the cheapest possible way without wasting too many days! After a quick stop in Santa Teresa for some bananas, bread and water (my staple considering my enduring stomach issues!) we were warned of a landslide further ahead in the road, which gave us just a glimpse of the long adventure that would ensue...we eventually drove to the point where the road was literally almost cut in half and we could barely walk across...by then, our "guides" had abandoned us in Santa Teresa and our driver was waiting on the other side of the hole waiting for more tourists to come his way...if there's anything worse than paying a lot of money, it is paying a lot of money and getting nothing in return...like our little "9km in 50 minutes" train, like our "tour guides" that along the 6 hour trip there didn't say a word to any of us and were so quick to disappear when a problem arose...there were many times along my journey to MP when I felt like people were ripping us off and enjoying it...and more then once I had the feeling that MP itself was not worth all the money and effort to get there...but of course I had to suck it up and just see it as a once in a lifetime thing!
Anyway, back to the 12 abandoned tourists on the other side of the landslide...somehow all the people coming the other way had been left off by their vehicles further down the road, so that they were able to jump on our original bus, but we had no one coming to our help...till we found a minivan loaded with locals, and we bargained our way on till the next little town, Santa Maria. Once there, we found some more people stranded because of the landslide, and not many vehicles coming through to take them anywhere, also because it was the day after Christmas Eve, when people celebrate, stay up late and often drink way too much...most locals celebrate this way, including the ones who are in the tourist industry and get paid good money to drive tourists around...which would eventually impact our day and could have impacted our lives in a dramatic way...back to the 12 of us in little, sleepy Santa Maria, waiting for a miracle to happen, a minibus to appear and take us back to Cusco by nightfall...F and I started walking around and eventually ran into the offices of our little "agency" with a nice minibus with a big sticker bearing the same name...we approached them right away, td them what had happened to us, when one of them recognized F and admitted that they had heard of our little landslide problem!!!! haha They had heard of it, but they made sure to mind their own business and do anything but provide us with a solution! We pointed to the bus next to us asking them that they take all 12 of us back to Cusco...they incredibly agreed after saying that the 3 of us who had "contracted" their "agency" would ride for free, but the other ones would have to pay their way back...we agreed and ask to leave immediately...immediately is interpreted in a variety of ways here, so I jumped on the bus while F went to get everyone else ready to go...after a few calls, chats with various friends and strangers along the way we were eventually on our way...it was almost too good to be true!!!
That's right, because after a few hours we noticed that the "driver's assistant" was doing anything he could to keep the driver awake...at the top of the mountain pass he stopped to smoke a cigarette, and once we got back on the road I soon noticed that he was descending too too slowly and erraticly even considering the fog and rain...so I started paying attention and caught him swerving pretty badly a few times, after which I told him he could stop for a power nap if he wanted to...of course he denied everything, till he stopped by a house to drink some water and quickly took back to the wheel...by then, his little assistant had given up and moved to a seat where he was peacefully sleeping, while the driver's eyes and use of the brakes were anyrhing but reassuring! Some of us, the Italians, decided to take matters into our own hand as I moved upfront to be the next driver's assistant, since I was the one who spoke the most Spanish...I did my best to keep him awake, change songs, open some windows and switch to cold air...all of this would only last 20 or so minutes till the driver would inevitably get more and more sleepy...so then I would beg him to stop, take a walk with him in the freezing, dark night and make sure he was more alert before getting behind the wheel again...here I was in a dark, cold night on the Andes, trying to keep the driver from killing me and 11 other tourists, some of which, lucky them, were too asleep to even notice anything!!! What an end to our Christmas Day!
As were getting closer and closer to town, his comatose state at the wheel would get worse and worse...I tried to ask him as many questions as possible, ones that required him to think of the answer, and the more questions I asked, the scarier I became because of his non-sense replies...ones I remember were: "how many people live in Cusco?" "7...no, 5!", or "where is everyone?" "Santana" (the name of the part of town we were driving through!). We finally, eventually made it back at a quarter to 1, for a 6 hour trip had started at 15.30! Most of us were in shock, sleepy but extremely relieved to have made it back in one piece, after such a nightmarish experience on Christmas Day!
Cusco definitely grew on me as the days went by, as it was cheap, convenient and full of things to do and see, albeit full of tourists! On my second day I headed to the market for a super cheap, and super filling, lunch, followed by 4 glasses of "lucuma" juice: a great deal! On my way out of the market I noticed a lady selling strange fried balls with peppers or tomatoes inside...I was stuffed, but my curiosity got the best of me and I couldn't resist buying some and storing them in my bag for a snack later on...I went on a guided city tour in the afternoon, which definitely wasn't my thing, but it covered several ruins within and around Cusco: Saqsaywaman, Q'enqo, PukaPukara, and another one...too many tourists and too lkttle to see, if you ask me!
The next day my stomach woke me up before my alarm did, and it was not pleasant! I was bloated, with stomach cramps and shivers, and I had to visit the bathroom a few times...I knew by then that those fried "balls" had not settled well in my stomach! Just thinking about them gave me gag reflexes by then! I definitely knew right away who the culprit was...but as they say, curiosity killed the cat I guess! I tried to get my day started, since I had many plans, but everything got delayed a little bit! I eventually reached Pisac, a nice little town that's part of the Valle Sagrado, the valley surrounding Cusco...I was in pain, but I was trying my best to forget about it and make the best of my day! While in town I got to eat some "pizza flavored" empanadas cooked in their typical ovens, next to which they had Guinea pig temples, that is little catles made of mud and clay where a bunch of Guinea pigs ("cuy" is a national "delicacy" here!) were running around! I took a taxi up to the Inca ruins, which were amazing and surrounded by beautiful terraces! The whole thing was quite a hike and the altitude was kicking in, in addition to my stomach being upset, but it was worth it!
I then caught a local bus to the next ruins at Ollantaytambo, which featured the same terraces and were in a similar setting as Pisac. After a few more crowded-to-the-max local buses I got off and took an expemsive taxi to Maras and up and down a winding road amidst beautiful mountains to reach Moray, a huge "hole" made of terraced land where every "floor" has a completely distinct eco-system and different crops are grown; how all of this happens and works has been a mystery since the Incas, but it's quite an amazing sight that was used by the Incas for agricultural "experiments"...you can walk all the way down to the bottom of it, from where your voices echoes resoundingly, and I was told that the place never gets flooded even during rain season...quite amazing!
My next place was even better: the salt pools by Maras! It's another breath-taking setting for an incredible number (around 300 I think) of little pools where salty water from the mountain flows through and eventually evaporates leaving behind salt that has been used since Inca times. The most fascinating thing was seeing how the water had found ways to feed all of the different, numerous pools through little canals!
After another super crowded, standing room only, local bus I made it back to Cusco skipping Chinchero, because it was getting dark and my stomach was telling me to get to a bathroom as soon as humanly possible! By this time, my whole body was shaking and aching, I had shivers and my head was hurting...it seemed to me like a mild case of altitude sickness on top of my stomch problems! I made it back to Cusco and by then every step seemed like a daunting task, my head was spinning and I had trouble putting up with the noise, the traffic and the crowds!
The next day was Christmas Eve and I woke up the same way as the day before...judging by my immediate trip to the bathroom, whatever had been causing this pain had not yet made it through my body, but I told myself it would be a matter of hours (boy, was I wrong?!) and boarded my minibus for MachuPicchu! The route was once again spectacular and we reached over 4500m before descending along a winding road under heavy rains...this 6-hour trip proved to be anything but boring, as we had a flat on the way up, avoided a minivan that was upside down in the middle of the road, as well as several rocks along the way! Once we descended into jungle-like territory, a local "tire shop" gave us a new one in exchange for the one that was flat (all of this was done in a primitive way, which needed 2 people and involved hammering away at the poor tires!).
We eventually reached a place from where we could walk to Aguas Calientes, but the rain was intense and I decided to pay for the extremely overpriced train thst took almost an hour to cover 9 km!!! Once into town, K, K, M and I found a cheap hostel for the night and proceeded to check out the local hot springs, a series of 6-7 natural pools filled with hot, murky water...it was pretty relaxing!!!
We went to dinner for Christmas Eve and spent the rest of the evening till midnight walking around the little touristy town, then exploded some fircrackers and went to bed!
The next day, Christmas Day as well, started at 4.30 when we woke up and wouldn't end till very late at night...it was still dark when the 3 Japanese and I headed out of town towards MachuPicchu on foot to avoid the super expensive "shuttle bus" after we had paid over 40$ just for the entrance to the MP ruins! The steep 3.5km hike took us over an hour through the deep forest under the rain, and gave us a better idea of how remote this Inca city must have been in the past! The location was definitely exceptional, high up over a rough river and amidst tall, lush mountains...so lush that when we first got to the ruins we could not see anything!!! Thick, white clouds were covering the whole place like a blanket, and the tropical rain was not helping of course!!! The disappointment was evident among us, especially after having had to pay so much money and wait so long to get there...it almost seemed like a legalized scam to me, and that's one of the things that upsets me the most when I travel! Of course it was nobody's fault, but the Christmas Day I had pictured in my mind couldn't be further away from reality! We walked around the ruins tryin to make sense of it all, and seemed quite content with taking pictures of llamas for a bit, since they were the only visible thing then! Walking for a few hours in the cold and thick rain was definitely unpleasant, but it was made even worse by the clouds and fog that prevented anyone from getting an idea of the size and majesty of the whole place, and after we had made it all the way around the whole Inca city we paused at the panoramic spot a little bit longer till it was time to trek back to Aguas Calientes...we were there waiting with other people when all of a sudden came the winds to swipe away the clouds, and little by little, within a minute or so and for no longer than a few minutes...wow, that is what MachuPicchu usually looks like from up here! It was short but amazing, and excitement was in the air as people were trying to take as many pictures as possible in such a short time! The very same way as one that is hungry becomes satisfied once he/she gets a full belly, all of us who had been longing for a decent view of MP felt so much better after just a couple of minutes of semi-clear skies!
It was finally time to hike back down to town and hop on the train that took us back to our minibuses, all the while dreaming of a warm shower and dry clothes! The whole trip back had seemed like a minor detail when explained to me back in Cusco, as all I was focused on was getting to MP in the cheapest possible way without wasting too many days! After a quick stop in Santa Teresa for some bananas, bread and water (my staple considering my enduring stomach issues!) we were warned of a landslide further ahead in the road, which gave us just a glimpse of the long adventure that would ensue...we eventually drove to the point where the road was literally almost cut in half and we could barely walk across...by then, our "guides" had abandoned us in Santa Teresa and our driver was waiting on the other side of the hole waiting for more tourists to come his way...if there's anything worse than paying a lot of money, it is paying a lot of money and getting nothing in return...like our little "9km in 50 minutes" train, like our "tour guides" that along the 6 hour trip there didn't say a word to any of us and were so quick to disappear when a problem arose...there were many times along my journey to MP when I felt like people were ripping us off and enjoying it...and more then once I had the feeling that MP itself was not worth all the money and effort to get there...but of course I had to suck it up and just see it as a once in a lifetime thing!
Anyway, back to the 12 abandoned tourists on the other side of the landslide...somehow all the people coming the other way had been left off by their vehicles further down the road, so that they were able to jump on our original bus, but we had no one coming to our help...till we found a minivan loaded with locals, and we bargained our way on till the next little town, Santa Maria. Once there, we found some more people stranded because of the landslide, and not many vehicles coming through to take them anywhere, also because it was the day after Christmas Eve, when people celebrate, stay up late and often drink way too much...most locals celebrate this way, including the ones who are in the tourist industry and get paid good money to drive tourists around...which would eventually impact our day and could have impacted our lives in a dramatic way...back to the 12 of us in little, sleepy Santa Maria, waiting for a miracle to happen, a minibus to appear and take us back to Cusco by nightfall...F and I started walking around and eventually ran into the offices of our little "agency" with a nice minibus with a big sticker bearing the same name...we approached them right away, td them what had happened to us, when one of them recognized F and admitted that they had heard of our little landslide problem!!!! haha They had heard of it, but they made sure to mind their own business and do anything but provide us with a solution! We pointed to the bus next to us asking them that they take all 12 of us back to Cusco...they incredibly agreed after saying that the 3 of us who had "contracted" their "agency" would ride for free, but the other ones would have to pay their way back...we agreed and ask to leave immediately...immediately is interpreted in a variety of ways here, so I jumped on the bus while F went to get everyone else ready to go...after a few calls, chats with various friends and strangers along the way we were eventually on our way...it was almost too good to be true!!!
That's right, because after a few hours we noticed that the "driver's assistant" was doing anything he could to keep the driver awake...at the top of the mountain pass he stopped to smoke a cigarette, and once we got back on the road I soon noticed that he was descending too too slowly and erraticly even considering the fog and rain...so I started paying attention and caught him swerving pretty badly a few times, after which I told him he could stop for a power nap if he wanted to...of course he denied everything, till he stopped by a house to drink some water and quickly took back to the wheel...by then, his little assistant had given up and moved to a seat where he was peacefully sleeping, while the driver's eyes and use of the brakes were anyrhing but reassuring! Some of us, the Italians, decided to take matters into our own hand as I moved upfront to be the next driver's assistant, since I was the one who spoke the most Spanish...I did my best to keep him awake, change songs, open some windows and switch to cold air...all of this would only last 20 or so minutes till the driver would inevitably get more and more sleepy...so then I would beg him to stop, take a walk with him in the freezing, dark night and make sure he was more alert before getting behind the wheel again...here I was in a dark, cold night on the Andes, trying to keep the driver from killing me and 11 other tourists, some of which, lucky them, were too asleep to even notice anything!!! What an end to our Christmas Day!
As were getting closer and closer to town, his comatose state at the wheel would get worse and worse...I tried to ask him as many questions as possible, ones that required him to think of the answer, and the more questions I asked, the scarier I became because of his non-sense replies...ones I remember were: "how many people live in Cusco?" "7...no, 5!", or "where is everyone?" "Santana" (the name of the part of town we were driving through!). We finally, eventually made it back at a quarter to 1, for a 6 hour trip had started at 15.30! Most of us were in shock, sleepy but extremely relieved to have made it back in one piece, after such a nightmarish experience on Christmas Day!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Ayacucho, Cusco (Peru)
Ayacucho, Cusco (Peru)
The bus ride to Ayacucho was definitely frightening at times...it started out like many others, then when I woke up I was on the edge of a huge precipice, on the other side of it was a mountain ten times taller than us, and in the middle was a fast-moving, rough river...of course the road was unpaved pretty much the whole time! And it was extremely curvy, so at least twice a minute I felt like I was over the edge, since I couldn't see the bus wheel I was sitting on, and I couldn't even see the road below me! It's a scary feeling...and it wouldn't go away, as that was how most of the ride would be...I started thinking about how my guidebook mentioned that there are a lot of fatal accidents on the roads every year, about how on the next day's paper it would say that a bus full of locals, plus an Italian and three Colombian brave tourists had fallen off the cliff and there were no remains of anything or anyone! The road was definitely that high up: had we fallen off the cliff, that would have been it for us, no second chances...I kept thinking of that the whole time I was away...no second chances in life! I was just hoping the bus driver knew that too, and I was confident that he knew what he was doing, since he must be doing it almost every single night! He was very capable, it just didn't feel like it! I felt like he was accellerating at every turn...it got worse when the river became bigger and bigger and we passed by a huge dam...right after it came the lower side of the river...much scarier!!! Then we stopped in the middle of nowhere, darkness all around...I was fearing mechanical problems, but soon found out it was so that people could go outside and pee...oh yeah, no bathroom in the bus for 10 hours!!! So I did step out to try and pee, but also to check out the night scenery...well, I couldn't do the former because I was too scared by the latter! The river was super loud, the wind was adding to the noise and the road didn't see all that dry after all...I was just trying to fall asleep and wake up in Ayacucho, rather than waking up in Heaven! When we finally reached our destination it all went away as a huge sense of relief took over, and as I was stepping off the bus I wanted to hug the driver and thank him for making it! Amidst allof this, I seemed to have forgotten how tired I was, how it was 5.30 and how I would spend the following night on yet another bus as part of a 20 hour ride to Cusco!
I befriended the only other tourists on that bus, three Colombian guys that turned out to have been as scared as me, and we proceeded to get a ticket for our next bus at 19, that same day...in the meantime we explored deserted Ayacucho at 6 on a Sunday! Nothing open, just a few people walking to church...the center was a very nice example of a colonial town, second only to Cusco...but Ayacucho seemed to be interesting if only for the fact that it's where the last battle in South America took place...as well as where the first traces of human presence were found...definitely a place whose people seemed to be vital and alive, almost rebellious...well, this is also where the Maoist movement Sendero Luminoso started in the late 70's before it tried to take over the whole country in the 80's!
We ate at the market where, just like in most places here, you could pick what part of a chicken you wanted, and yes, that included head and other delicacies, and one of the most common plates was the famous "cuy", a Guinea pig that can be prepared in a variety of ways, but that is usually seen split open on a plate with its face looking at you...I opted for a sandwich with olives, of course!
After walking all over town we decided to take a daytrip to some nearby towns that the market lady had recommended. We went to Wari, where we visited the ruins of the Wari Empire, and the Quinua, where there is a huge obelisk remembering the last battle of South America, and then we went horseback riding from that to the nearby waterfalls. The most interesting part of the day was when our minivan stopped to pick up some local woman...I was cramped next to the window (everythings seems to be made for people who are 1.60-1.65cm tall at the most here!!!), but the lady wanted to get her friends on the bus first...which consisted of a sheep and two black pigs...so her and a bystander proceeded to throw these animals that were in a net against the window, hoping it was high enough so that the driver on top of the bus could pick them up and secure them!
We eventually made it back to town and by then it was all much more lively...we got on the bus, tired and dirty, almost not thinking about what was ahead of us...soon enough we found ourselves in the same situation as the night before, except that the bus seats were much more comfy, so we were all able to sleep through most of it...what I did see was not so reassuring though...the driver seemed to be going even faster, as if trying to escape the vehicle that was following us...but then I felt like he knew what he was doing when he would stop in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason, and wait for a minute or two till a truck would show up in the opposite direction and would go through...the driver knew exactly where it was too narrow for both of us and when someone else was coming! It got a little worse when we had to get off the bus, take our bags and wait inside a bus terminal for an hour at 4!!! At least it was part of the plan, right?! Our next bus eventually showed up, we loaded up and took off...the scenery was once again super curvy and bumpy, with the only exception that since it was daylight the driver couldn't tell if and when someone was coming in the opposite direction...instead of slowing down, which is what most of us would do when the road only fits one vehicle at a time, he would just speed up and go the entire way with the horn on! haha Luckily I had earplugs, so I slept through it all like a baby!
We eventually made it to Cusco, although it felt like forever...but now, after having showered, changed and seen the. Ity center, I can say it was all worth it! The road I took was not very touristy for a reason though! And on my way back up to Lima I don't have to go through it again! haha
Now it's time to explore Cusco and its churches and markets...last night I only managed to get some night shots and of course I ended up buying those typical Peruvian beanies ...for less than 2$. The hostel is just over 3$, and my veggie dinner at veggie El Encuentro was just over 1.25$!
I'm also going to plan the next couple of days, with visits to the Valle Sacrado and of course mighty Machu Picchu on the 24th, to be back here on Xmas Eve and leave on the 25th for Puno, on Lago Titicaca!
The bus ride to Ayacucho was definitely frightening at times...it started out like many others, then when I woke up I was on the edge of a huge precipice, on the other side of it was a mountain ten times taller than us, and in the middle was a fast-moving, rough river...of course the road was unpaved pretty much the whole time! And it was extremely curvy, so at least twice a minute I felt like I was over the edge, since I couldn't see the bus wheel I was sitting on, and I couldn't even see the road below me! It's a scary feeling...and it wouldn't go away, as that was how most of the ride would be...I started thinking about how my guidebook mentioned that there are a lot of fatal accidents on the roads every year, about how on the next day's paper it would say that a bus full of locals, plus an Italian and three Colombian brave tourists had fallen off the cliff and there were no remains of anything or anyone! The road was definitely that high up: had we fallen off the cliff, that would have been it for us, no second chances...I kept thinking of that the whole time I was away...no second chances in life! I was just hoping the bus driver knew that too, and I was confident that he knew what he was doing, since he must be doing it almost every single night! He was very capable, it just didn't feel like it! I felt like he was accellerating at every turn...it got worse when the river became bigger and bigger and we passed by a huge dam...right after it came the lower side of the river...much scarier!!! Then we stopped in the middle of nowhere, darkness all around...I was fearing mechanical problems, but soon found out it was so that people could go outside and pee...oh yeah, no bathroom in the bus for 10 hours!!! So I did step out to try and pee, but also to check out the night scenery...well, I couldn't do the former because I was too scared by the latter! The river was super loud, the wind was adding to the noise and the road didn't see all that dry after all...I was just trying to fall asleep and wake up in Ayacucho, rather than waking up in Heaven! When we finally reached our destination it all went away as a huge sense of relief took over, and as I was stepping off the bus I wanted to hug the driver and thank him for making it! Amidst allof this, I seemed to have forgotten how tired I was, how it was 5.30 and how I would spend the following night on yet another bus as part of a 20 hour ride to Cusco!
I befriended the only other tourists on that bus, three Colombian guys that turned out to have been as scared as me, and we proceeded to get a ticket for our next bus at 19, that same day...in the meantime we explored deserted Ayacucho at 6 on a Sunday! Nothing open, just a few people walking to church...the center was a very nice example of a colonial town, second only to Cusco...but Ayacucho seemed to be interesting if only for the fact that it's where the last battle in South America took place...as well as where the first traces of human presence were found...definitely a place whose people seemed to be vital and alive, almost rebellious...well, this is also where the Maoist movement Sendero Luminoso started in the late 70's before it tried to take over the whole country in the 80's!
We ate at the market where, just like in most places here, you could pick what part of a chicken you wanted, and yes, that included head and other delicacies, and one of the most common plates was the famous "cuy", a Guinea pig that can be prepared in a variety of ways, but that is usually seen split open on a plate with its face looking at you...I opted for a sandwich with olives, of course!
After walking all over town we decided to take a daytrip to some nearby towns that the market lady had recommended. We went to Wari, where we visited the ruins of the Wari Empire, and the Quinua, where there is a huge obelisk remembering the last battle of South America, and then we went horseback riding from that to the nearby waterfalls. The most interesting part of the day was when our minivan stopped to pick up some local woman...I was cramped next to the window (everythings seems to be made for people who are 1.60-1.65cm tall at the most here!!!), but the lady wanted to get her friends on the bus first...which consisted of a sheep and two black pigs...so her and a bystander proceeded to throw these animals that were in a net against the window, hoping it was high enough so that the driver on top of the bus could pick them up and secure them!
We eventually made it back to town and by then it was all much more lively...we got on the bus, tired and dirty, almost not thinking about what was ahead of us...soon enough we found ourselves in the same situation as the night before, except that the bus seats were much more comfy, so we were all able to sleep through most of it...what I did see was not so reassuring though...the driver seemed to be going even faster, as if trying to escape the vehicle that was following us...but then I felt like he knew what he was doing when he would stop in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason, and wait for a minute or two till a truck would show up in the opposite direction and would go through...the driver knew exactly where it was too narrow for both of us and when someone else was coming! It got a little worse when we had to get off the bus, take our bags and wait inside a bus terminal for an hour at 4!!! At least it was part of the plan, right?! Our next bus eventually showed up, we loaded up and took off...the scenery was once again super curvy and bumpy, with the only exception that since it was daylight the driver couldn't tell if and when someone was coming in the opposite direction...instead of slowing down, which is what most of us would do when the road only fits one vehicle at a time, he would just speed up and go the entire way with the horn on! haha Luckily I had earplugs, so I slept through it all like a baby!
We eventually made it to Cusco, although it felt like forever...but now, after having showered, changed and seen the. Ity center, I can say it was all worth it! The road I took was not very touristy for a reason though! And on my way back up to Lima I don't have to go through it again! haha
Now it's time to explore Cusco and its churches and markets...last night I only managed to get some night shots and of course I ended up buying those typical Peruvian beanies ...for less than 2$. The hostel is just over 3$, and my veggie dinner at veggie El Encuentro was just over 1.25$!
I'm also going to plan the next couple of days, with visits to the Valle Sacrado and of course mighty Machu Picchu on the 24th, to be back here on Xmas Eve and leave on the 25th for Puno, on Lago Titicaca!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Lima, Huancayo (Peru)
My arrival at the airport in Lima was marked by a common scene especially at South American airports: huge crowds waiting for their loved ones coming back for the holidays, armed with signs, bells, and a lot of determination! All usually goes well as long as the people stay behind the "barriers" and patiently wait for their passenger to make it through the "funnel"...well, Lima takes the cake for the biggest airport crowd in my limited experience...all I could see was people! I almost felt like a rockstar or something, if it wasn't for the fact that nobody was there for me at all! It was even more impressive than others because I could see through the endless lines of people, since most of them were quite shorter than me...and the balcony above us was also filled with people...they all seemed to behave, till one of them crossed the fence to hug their wife only 5 meters in front if him, and of course many more followed his example! This forced all of us trying to get out to stop, because, well, nothing and no one seems to be organized and efficient here! :)
After enjoying Christmas carols in English all night long at the coffee chain inside the airport (all because of their free wi-fi!), I decided to get to the city first thing in the morning...much better than trying to wing it at midnight, in a dark, new city with a lot of cash in your pockets and millions of piranhas (taxi drivers) waiting to get a bite out of you! So the next morning I walked out of the airport on my own, instead of paying too much for a taxi, and asked some locals, and then got on a local bus for next to nothing...it was a good introduction to traffic in Lima, a South American metropolis of 8.7 million people! I was in the passenger's seat of a 12-15 seat minibus...needless to say the driver was all over the place, we saw two wrecks right before our eyes, and the "bus guy" was continuously screaming and banging on the bus for all sorts of communication with the driver! How fun!
Luckily the hostel was in a very relaxing area of Lima, between Miraflores and San Isidro...my bus left me off after over an hour at the beginning of my street, some 15blocks before my hostel...right in front of, guess what, the Doubletree Hotel! My hostel, HQ Villa, was one of the most beautiful places I have ever stayed at, and that includes my house as well!
A combination of stress, lack of sleep, relaxation after a tense bus ride, and other things made me collapse on their amazing couch for a good 2-3 hours! When I woke up I was ready to hit the center of town! A couple of beautiful colonial squares, some governmental buildings and I was also able to find a vegetarian restaurant right in the middle of all that! After having checked out Miraflores and the center, I went on a ride through the coast through the beautiful Parque del Amor, onto Barranco, another area of town famous for its bars, clubs, restaurants and so on...if the city center could be compared to any colonial city in Latin America, and Miraflores could be compared to a South American version of Europe, the coastal area of Miraflores and Barranco could definitely be compared to...coastal California! Yes! You would have never guessed it!
The next day it was time for me to part ways with Lima and my amazing hostel...after taking several pictures of it, and facing the much-hated but inevitable taxi ride to the bus terminal of choice, I ended up at what I believe is the fanciest bus in all of Peru...so nice that my seat was twice as big and twice as comfy as any airplane seat, we had lunch on our 7 hour bus ride, and I slept the entire way! haha
I guess the fact that it was "so safe" implied that we each get a screenshot of our faces by a security guard who came onboard right before we left...that was a first for me too!
I got to Huancayo last night, and I could tell that our whole bus ride here was very rainy...I would wake up every now and then, and I couldn't see much outside our window...what I was able to see before it got dark though, was beautiful scenery!!!
I went from 200m a.s.l. to over 3400m in a few hours...so, as everyone repeatedly says, one should take some time off to adjust to the altitude and help the process either with pills (who likes pills anyway?!) or with mate de coca, which is pretty much hot tea made with coca leaves...after leaving my stuff at "La casa de la abuela" which was pretty much deserted, I was lucky enough to find another very vegetarian-friendly restaurant, El Pueblo, where I was able to get asparragus soup, an entree of rice, potatoes and soy meat, plus a cup of mate de coca and a dessert (mousse of maracuja...I don't know if this fruit has an English counterpart...sorry! It's a yellow tropical fruit! haha), all for an unattainable 3.5 soles, just a bit over a dollar! Guess where I am going for dinner as soon as I am done with typing this?! I already told him I would be back today!
Today I walked around a lot, visited a Salesian school and museum, checked out a local market, and hiked a good 3-4km to some reserve whose main attraction is these magnific geological formations called "Torre torre", because some of them look like towers...it was amazing, and totally unexpected considering the surrounding lush vegetation and poor neighborhoods...it was well worth the hike, and putting up with the rain and endless amount of stray dogs along the way...kinda stressful at times, since the ones who looked menacing actually proved to be harmless, and the ones who seemed friendly ended up sending their loudest barks my way. I survived though, made it back to town, chilled in the main square with all the locals, walked around a bit more to get my bus ticket for tonight...I am going to Ayacucho, hometown of the infamous Sendero Luminoso movement of the 70s...also famous for being one of the most authentic "Inca places" in the Andes together with Cusco, which is next...the book says both tonight's and the next trip, respectively 12 and 23 hour long, are not for the faint of heart!
After enjoying Christmas carols in English all night long at the coffee chain inside the airport (all because of their free wi-fi!), I decided to get to the city first thing in the morning...much better than trying to wing it at midnight, in a dark, new city with a lot of cash in your pockets and millions of piranhas (taxi drivers) waiting to get a bite out of you! So the next morning I walked out of the airport on my own, instead of paying too much for a taxi, and asked some locals, and then got on a local bus for next to nothing...it was a good introduction to traffic in Lima, a South American metropolis of 8.7 million people! I was in the passenger's seat of a 12-15 seat minibus...needless to say the driver was all over the place, we saw two wrecks right before our eyes, and the "bus guy" was continuously screaming and banging on the bus for all sorts of communication with the driver! How fun!
Luckily the hostel was in a very relaxing area of Lima, between Miraflores and San Isidro...my bus left me off after over an hour at the beginning of my street, some 15blocks before my hostel...right in front of, guess what, the Doubletree Hotel! My hostel, HQ Villa, was one of the most beautiful places I have ever stayed at, and that includes my house as well!
A combination of stress, lack of sleep, relaxation after a tense bus ride, and other things made me collapse on their amazing couch for a good 2-3 hours! When I woke up I was ready to hit the center of town! A couple of beautiful colonial squares, some governmental buildings and I was also able to find a vegetarian restaurant right in the middle of all that! After having checked out Miraflores and the center, I went on a ride through the coast through the beautiful Parque del Amor, onto Barranco, another area of town famous for its bars, clubs, restaurants and so on...if the city center could be compared to any colonial city in Latin America, and Miraflores could be compared to a South American version of Europe, the coastal area of Miraflores and Barranco could definitely be compared to...coastal California! Yes! You would have never guessed it!
The next day it was time for me to part ways with Lima and my amazing hostel...after taking several pictures of it, and facing the much-hated but inevitable taxi ride to the bus terminal of choice, I ended up at what I believe is the fanciest bus in all of Peru...so nice that my seat was twice as big and twice as comfy as any airplane seat, we had lunch on our 7 hour bus ride, and I slept the entire way! haha
I guess the fact that it was "so safe" implied that we each get a screenshot of our faces by a security guard who came onboard right before we left...that was a first for me too!
I got to Huancayo last night, and I could tell that our whole bus ride here was very rainy...I would wake up every now and then, and I couldn't see much outside our window...what I was able to see before it got dark though, was beautiful scenery!!!
I went from 200m a.s.l. to over 3400m in a few hours...so, as everyone repeatedly says, one should take some time off to adjust to the altitude and help the process either with pills (who likes pills anyway?!) or with mate de coca, which is pretty much hot tea made with coca leaves...after leaving my stuff at "La casa de la abuela" which was pretty much deserted, I was lucky enough to find another very vegetarian-friendly restaurant, El Pueblo, where I was able to get asparragus soup, an entree of rice, potatoes and soy meat, plus a cup of mate de coca and a dessert (mousse of maracuja...I don't know if this fruit has an English counterpart...sorry! It's a yellow tropical fruit! haha), all for an unattainable 3.5 soles, just a bit over a dollar! Guess where I am going for dinner as soon as I am done with typing this?! I already told him I would be back today!
Today I walked around a lot, visited a Salesian school and museum, checked out a local market, and hiked a good 3-4km to some reserve whose main attraction is these magnific geological formations called "Torre torre", because some of them look like towers...it was amazing, and totally unexpected considering the surrounding lush vegetation and poor neighborhoods...it was well worth the hike, and putting up with the rain and endless amount of stray dogs along the way...kinda stressful at times, since the ones who looked menacing actually proved to be harmless, and the ones who seemed friendly ended up sending their loudest barks my way. I survived though, made it back to town, chilled in the main square with all the locals, walked around a bit more to get my bus ticket for tonight...I am going to Ayacucho, hometown of the infamous Sendero Luminoso movement of the 70s...also famous for being one of the most authentic "Inca places" in the Andes together with Cusco, which is next...the book says both tonight's and the next trip, respectively 12 and 23 hour long, are not for the faint of heart!
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