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!
Monday, July 06, 2009
Split, Hvar, Dubrovnik (Croatia), Mostar (Bosnia)
Life is great back on the road, traveling for a little bit...unfortunately not for as long as previously planned due to my US visa renewal...anyway, TM and I started out with a ferry from Ancona (Italy) to Split (Croatia), got a few hours to visit the old town of Split (Diocletian's Palace) before we hopped on a catamaran to the island of Hvar. We got a private room at some locals' house that included a balcony overlooking the center of the little town of Hvar.
The next day we were back in Split and while waiting for our bus we made a second trip to the local market to get some local delicacies (krafne and "spinach pie" mainly!), then we got on a bus to Dubrovnik, which left Croatia to enter Bosnia for a bit, then got back into a tiny strip of land which is part of Croatia...
The next day we were back in Split and while waiting for our bus we made a second trip to the local market to get some local delicacies (krafne and "spinach pie" mainly!), then we got on a bus to Dubrovnik, which left Croatia to enter Bosnia for a bit, then got back into a tiny strip of land which is part of Croatia...
Saturday, January 17, 2009
la antigua guatemala (guatemala).
The trasnfer from Copan into Guatemala to Antigua was supposed to be really nice and convenient, till our shuttle broke down on the side of the road out of Guatemala City! With cars, chicken buses and all sorts of motorcycles zooming by and the sun setting, we didn't know what the problem was...the driver said he had run out of gas, which didn't make too much sense because we had just pulled into a gas station where he had poured water onto the engine!!! So we waited for him to run back to that same gas station, get a gallon of gas and come back...the van still wouldn't start! So then he asked all the passengers to help push the van to the side so that he could drive against traffic (which was downhill) in the dark to get the minivan running and the engine starting...at that point, for some reason nobody thought it sounded a bit crazy, so we did just that...the car started, we almost got run over several times, and as soon as the engine started we jumped on and continued on our way...till about 2km later, when, the road still uphill, the engine broke down again, all of a sudden!
So then we decided we were going to hail a chicken bus down to get on and eventually make it to Antigua before nightfall...when all of a sudden a brand new, shiny minivan pulled over in front of us! Rescue had come to us!!! We proceeded to pull the broken down minivan to a gas station, where our former driver waited mfor a tow truck or something...then, 3 hours later, we finally rolled into Antigua!
Antigua is a really nice colonial town, a nice, tranquil, touristy oasis in Guatemala...many travelers end up ligering on for way longer, many others prefer to stop over here than in Guatemala City,...I met a couple whose bus from Flores got assaulted by people...
oops my shuttle is here...one hour to Guate, then seven to San Salvador, then 18 more hour on the bus to San Jose...night at the airport, then a 7-8 hour flight back to big D...it'll be long!
So then we decided we were going to hail a chicken bus down to get on and eventually make it to Antigua before nightfall...when all of a sudden a brand new, shiny minivan pulled over in front of us! Rescue had come to us!!! We proceeded to pull the broken down minivan to a gas station, where our former driver waited mfor a tow truck or something...then, 3 hours later, we finally rolled into Antigua!
Antigua is a really nice colonial town, a nice, tranquil, touristy oasis in Guatemala...many travelers end up ligering on for way longer, many others prefer to stop over here than in Guatemala City,...I met a couple whose bus from Flores got assaulted by people...
oops my shuttle is here...one hour to Guate, then seven to San Salvador, then 18 more hour on the bus to San Jose...night at the airport, then a 7-8 hour flight back to big D...it'll be long!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
roatan, copan ruinas.
Roatan was awesome...I liked it much better than I had anticipated, so I ended up staying two nights. I spent most of my time in West End, which is where most backpackers and divers stay...my hostel was a bit run-down, not too practical or well-kept, but it definitely had character...it felt very pirate-like somehow, the whole town did to me when I first got there...West End is a very short strip of hotels, bars, restaurants and dive shops, so you don't need to walk very far...the street is unpaved and muddy and full of potholes, but it's right on the water, with tons of little docks for all sorts of boats...one can hear music blaring out of a lot of bars, so the atmosphere is lively...there are a lot of tourists, but it didn't feel too touristy...most people are there to dive, since Roatan is by the second largest coral reef in the world, and it's hands down the cheapest place to dive in the whole world! The only other chap thing on the island is snorkeling...everything else is expensive! The food and the Internet being the most expensive ones...my hostel was cheap, but I never got online and brought food from the mainland to cut down on costs...it was love at first sight with West End, although I am usually never fond of a place I get to after sunset...but when I woke up the next morning I was in for a treat! I could finally see the water, 2 meters from the main drag...it was very very clear!!! I could only imagine what West Bay Beach, only 4 km from there and considered the best beach in all Roatan, could look like! I started going up and down West End taking pictures of all the colorful boats by the water, all the little docks and huts/bars...then I took a water taxi over to West Bay Beach and I was immediately blown away! It definitely looks like a Caribbean picture-perfect paradise, or at least just like how I imagine one to be...crystal-clear water, white sand beach, and corals everywhere underwater! I could not help but walk up and down the whole stretch a million times taking picture over picture of the same spot over and over again...I was in awe...I could not believe my eyes! I got there early in the morning when the sun was shining and not many tourists were out yet, so I could appreciate it better...since the beach is lined by a bunch of all-inclusive 4/5 star resorts...many of which are full of Italians, which is pretty funny! haha I even heard some ladies speak, and their accent was similar to mine, but I was too busy lying in the water to bother asking them where they were from! I heard that there are direct flights from Italy to Roatan! Crazy...I was also told that the next day, and consecutively for the following 3 days, it was cruise ship day...which means that a bunch of cruise ships arrive and hordes of tourists take over the beach...so I was lucky to have gotten there on the right day! I found my little unspoiled, deserted corner of Caribbean paradise and got in the water for 30-40 minutes at a time...then I would get out to lie on the beach for 10-15 minutes, then get back in the water for another 30 or so minutes...then I would walk over to another pretty, deserted spot and do the same...and that's how I spent my day! It was awesome!
My only hope is that I didn't get neither malaria nor dengue fever...there have been cases of both on the island, but I didn't take malaria tablets, and I don't think there's a cure for dengue fever...sand flies didn't bother me much, but I definitely got bit over and over and over again! My mosquito net at the hostel seemed to hold out well the first night, but the second night I definitely spotted some holes...oh well, I hope all goes well...if I get sick once I get home, then I know why!
I loved going back to my wooden pile of rooms called hostel, where I could sit on the patio up top for hours...and I would wake up in the middle of the night time and time again because of the very loud and intense storms...but then I would fall right back asleep!
Leaving Roatan was hard, both because I had grown to love it, even though it had been such a short time, both because my alarm went off at 4:45! I decided I needed to make the 7am boat back to La Ceiba, and I wanted to play it safe...I got a ride somehow, and was at the dock over an hour before departure! The day from Roatan to La Ceiba, and then through two buses, first to San Pedro Sula, and then to Copan Ruinas, went very very well! I needed such a smooth travel day, and I was impressed at myself for managing once in a while not to get onto any chicken buses...traveling on direct buses seemed such a luxury for once!
I got here in Copan Ruinas last night, found the hostel very easily since it's such a small town...it's got 6600 people, it's 10km from the Guatemalan border, and it's touristy because it's by the famous Mayan ruins of Copan...the hostel is nice, small and clean, and although I had to wait for water to cook and for hot water to shower, and nowhere in town did they have electricity to get online last night, I still loved it here! It's a nice little colonial village, everything is close by, I was finally able to get a good shower and cook a whole lot of pasta last night, watch CNN and sleep soundly for almost 10 hours! What else could I ask for??!
This morning I got up, ate some more, then walked over to the ruins...I visited the museum first, then the actual ruins...these are my first Mayan ruins, also known as the Paris of the Mayas for its hieroglyphs and details in general, and although I haven't seen Tikal or Palenque, I was amazed at the hieroglyphs staircase!
Once back in town, I went on a quest for vegetables and fruit, and I found the town market with all sorts of fruits and vegetables I had not seen in a long time! So my lunch was a nice melon, and I will have spaghetti with broccoli for dinner, plus a nice little salad! I also want to take time to get some good pictures of Copan before I leave tomorrow...destination: Guatemala! It will be either Guatemala City or Antigua, I haven't decided yet...Guatemala City would be only to sort out a few travel arrangements to make sure I got back to Texas on the 19th...yes, I know, not too much time left! But I have to be back on the 20th...for a new semester, and for Obama's inauguration!!!
My only hope is that I didn't get neither malaria nor dengue fever...there have been cases of both on the island, but I didn't take malaria tablets, and I don't think there's a cure for dengue fever...sand flies didn't bother me much, but I definitely got bit over and over and over again! My mosquito net at the hostel seemed to hold out well the first night, but the second night I definitely spotted some holes...oh well, I hope all goes well...if I get sick once I get home, then I know why!
I loved going back to my wooden pile of rooms called hostel, where I could sit on the patio up top for hours...and I would wake up in the middle of the night time and time again because of the very loud and intense storms...but then I would fall right back asleep!
Leaving Roatan was hard, both because I had grown to love it, even though it had been such a short time, both because my alarm went off at 4:45! I decided I needed to make the 7am boat back to La Ceiba, and I wanted to play it safe...I got a ride somehow, and was at the dock over an hour before departure! The day from Roatan to La Ceiba, and then through two buses, first to San Pedro Sula, and then to Copan Ruinas, went very very well! I needed such a smooth travel day, and I was impressed at myself for managing once in a while not to get onto any chicken buses...traveling on direct buses seemed such a luxury for once!
I got here in Copan Ruinas last night, found the hostel very easily since it's such a small town...it's got 6600 people, it's 10km from the Guatemalan border, and it's touristy because it's by the famous Mayan ruins of Copan...the hostel is nice, small and clean, and although I had to wait for water to cook and for hot water to shower, and nowhere in town did they have electricity to get online last night, I still loved it here! It's a nice little colonial village, everything is close by, I was finally able to get a good shower and cook a whole lot of pasta last night, watch CNN and sleep soundly for almost 10 hours! What else could I ask for??!
This morning I got up, ate some more, then walked over to the ruins...I visited the museum first, then the actual ruins...these are my first Mayan ruins, also known as the Paris of the Mayas for its hieroglyphs and details in general, and although I haven't seen Tikal or Palenque, I was amazed at the hieroglyphs staircase!
Once back in town, I went on a quest for vegetables and fruit, and I found the town market with all sorts of fruits and vegetables I had not seen in a long time! So my lunch was a nice melon, and I will have spaghetti with broccoli for dinner, plus a nice little salad! I also want to take time to get some good pictures of Copan before I leave tomorrow...destination: Guatemala! It will be either Guatemala City or Antigua, I haven't decided yet...Guatemala City would be only to sort out a few travel arrangements to make sure I got back to Texas on the 19th...yes, I know, not too much time left! But I have to be back on the 20th...for a new semester, and for Obama's inauguration!!!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
corn islands, managua (nicaragua), san pedro sula, la ceiba (honduras).
It's been a while but I will try my best to include everything I have seen and gone through...Bluefields was an experience, the boat ride took about 5 and a half hours, and was probably as close to a refugee boat as (I hope) I will ever get...we were packed in there like crazy...we did not have a seat, nor a place for our luggage...everything was on the dock, we were all standing and lying shoulder to shoulder...everybody was trying to push their way onto the boat, then they made everyone get off to check our tickets (makes sense, right??!), so then it was a big stampede to get back on...and then as soon as the boat left the bay, people started throwing up because of the waves...some lady not too far from us was so busy eating gallo pinto and fried chicken, that she threw up at least 3 or 4 times...kids were piled up all on top of each other trying to sleep in very strange ways...the combination of heat, breeze and waves was not good on most people's stomach...mine held up pretty well I have to say, but I had to make sure I did not catch anybody throwing up! haha When we finally made it to Big Corn we realized that adventure was definitely worth it: even the water by the dock, which is usually dirt from the boats, was very very clear! I was lucky enough to meet 3 more guys, an Aussie, an Argentinean, and a Swede, so that rooming up together ended up being pretty cheap! Big Island is pretty, we got a room and then hurried to get in the water at Picknick Center, which is a big hut by a huge, deserted beach...the next day I started thinking about how I would leave this place, and the people at the dock had no clue about boats going back...there is no schedule apparently...I asked the same woman twice, and she responded the same way: "If there's a boat at the dock, it leaves the next day...if there is no boat, then there is no departure". That was very clear, so I tried to get myself on the waiting list for a morning plane back to Managua the next day...and I had the great idea to listen to my guidebook where it says that Little Corn Island is the real paradise. So I took a panga over to the little island, and was immediately in love with it. It's as close as I've ever been to a Caribbean paradise! (OK, I've been nowhere else in the Caribbean and I'm not a big beach person, but still) There are no cars, which means no honking taxis, just a trail for people to walk around almost the whole island...the beaches are as crystal clear as I've ever seen...and almost all deserted! All you hear is the waves crashing, the wind blowing on trees, and some roosters here and there...it's so peaceful! I found an amazing beach, got in and floated for over 40 minutes...it was amazing! Then when I was walking I ran into E and CA, that I had met in Ometepe, and we had lunch together...it was a perfect spot: colorful huts with restaurants 10 meters away from the water, hammocks everywhere, white sand galore, and some breeze to keep you cool! After lunch I kept walking and tried to make it around the whole island through the beaches...I saw some amazing, deserted beaches...then I noticed I wasn't left with so much time before 4pm, which is where my panga was taking me back to the Big Island, and I was still far from the dock...so from the beach I climbed up to the island, which in that point was all lush vegetation...I then proceeded to run through the vegetation for a while, in a desperate search for the dock...I made it through some deserted huts...some of it was kinda scary...I took my flip flops off to run faster, but soon after I crossed some barbwire I got a bunch of thorns in my feet...ouch! I think it was from a series of agave plants...but I had no time, so I kept running and running...it reminded me of the movie Apocalypto! haha I finally reached some houses with locals, which was good because they told me I was not too far, but bad because each house had at least a dog, and by the time I got to the beach by the dock I had 5 barking dogs after me! haha The people on the panga, who were waiting for me, probably had a laugh! I was sweaty and exhausted but relived I had made it and didn't care so much about the dogs...and I told myself not to be so curious all the time, sometimes it's better to stick to the beaten path!
The next morning I woke up at dawn, again, made it to the airport to see if I could leave...although I had seriously thought about spending a few days on Little Corn and canceling my plans for the rest of the trip! After everybody got on the plane, the plane was full...and they let some locals who had just gotten there get on it too...but by way of a miracle the lady said if we waited 40 more minutes another plane would come for the 8 of us who were still waiting...I was super excited!!! Once the plane arrived, this seemed to be another adventure: the inside of the plane was not bigger than a minivan...the whole plane held 12 passengers, and I was sitting right behind the pilot!!! It felt more like a flying minivan with wings than a plane! Not recommended to anyone who is afraid of flying! I loved the whole ride though, the views as we left the islands were breath-taking...and I felt so comfortable that after a little bit I fell asleep! haha
Once back to Managua, I was lucky enough that my friend A, who is from there, was in town, came to pick me up and gave me a tour of the city...he told me a bunch of stuff about the current state of the country and its political situation, which reminded me of Caracas and Venezuela in general...we visited all the sights by the old cathedral, and as we were in the square, a TV troop inerviewed us! hahaha They asked me what I thought of the brand new statue of Sandino that they were about to put up, and since I had good words for it, and I was a foreigner, I think they will most likely air it...A on the contrary was not so in awe of it and of the character, so the journalist cut him off! hahaha It was funny! Then we went to check out the Volcan Masaya, a volcano not too far from there...and since Nicaragua is the land of volcanoes, I was happy to have the chance to see one from up close! As we drove to the top, the gases were so intense it was hard to get close to the edge and breathe...then we drove up some more and had a guided tour of some caves, it was really interesting! The guide also took us to the other side of the crater after sunset, from where we could see 2 red spots inside the crater! There was so much wind and sulphur that we had a hard time breathing and keeping our eyes open even with a mask on, and I was coughing every minute!
Then A took me to my hostel, from where I was supposed to take a fast bus to Tegucigalpa, in Honduras...after waking up at 4am once again, I came to find out that the bus was full! So I had to pay another taxi to take me to a local terminal, from where I took a chicken bus to Chinandega...from there I got on a super packed chicken bus to Guasaule, the border crossing into Honduras...I crossed the border on a bicycle rickshaw, which was kinda interesting, and once I got on the other side, I could finally eat and drink, since I had run out of cordobas in Nicaragua!!! Since Honduras is also known as the Banana Republic, I got 6 tasty bananas for less than hald a dollar...and got on another chicken bus to Tegucigalpa...of course they always tell you it's direct, but you can always tell from the looks of it, and from the fact that there are no tickets, you just pay the bus guy once you're aboard...well, it ended up being a much longer ride than I thought...also because we were stuck in a long line of vehicles because of a major accident...we must have been there almost two hours...when we finally got through, the scene was quite intense: there was a small pickup truck smashed into an excavator on the side of the road, and a green bus from the other side of the road smashed as well into the excavator...a bunch of people lying around watching...some people with minor wounds and in shock...a TV troop filming the whole thing...and three bodies lying on the ground covered with a sheet...I just found out now, glancing at the newspaper stands here, that 4 people died!!! Last night at 5pm we finally made it to Tegucigalpa...the last hour or so was uphill, and at times the bus felt like it was not able to make it...the driver kept switching gears...I got there and was thinking of spending the night there, when I found a bus to San Pedro Sula...so I got on it, finally ate and drank something other than bananas, and fell asleep big time, since it was the first really direct bus! We got to San Pedro Sula at 10pm, and I had to take a taxi to the hostel...the town, although the most developed and industrialized and the richest of Honduras, it's also big on crime and gangs...the driver ended up taking me to the wrong side of town, so I got to see various groups of teenagers hanging around by an impromptu fireplace on the side of the road, and stuff like that...not exactly the most welcoming sights for my first time in Honduras! They say Tegucigalpa thinks, San Pedro works, and La Ceiba has fun...I didn't see much development there in San Pedro...the hostel was nice though, I wish I had gotten there sooner...I only got 4 hours of sleep, because at 5am I was up again for another early morning bus...so tiring!!! I finally made it here to La Ceiba, on the Caribbean coast, at 9 this morning, found the hostel, left my bags there...since it's Sunday there are not many services and stores working, so without any food in my belly I came here to write this, then I will go get a bunch of food and relax for a little bit...this afternoon I am taking the boat to Roatan, a snorkeling and diving paradie by the second largest coral reef in the world, but I will only be able to stay one night...I am leaving my bag here where I will be back tomorrow night for some more blogging, some cooking, some relaxing, before another early morning bus to Copan Ruinas!
The next morning I woke up at dawn, again, made it to the airport to see if I could leave...although I had seriously thought about spending a few days on Little Corn and canceling my plans for the rest of the trip! After everybody got on the plane, the plane was full...and they let some locals who had just gotten there get on it too...but by way of a miracle the lady said if we waited 40 more minutes another plane would come for the 8 of us who were still waiting...I was super excited!!! Once the plane arrived, this seemed to be another adventure: the inside of the plane was not bigger than a minivan...the whole plane held 12 passengers, and I was sitting right behind the pilot!!! It felt more like a flying minivan with wings than a plane! Not recommended to anyone who is afraid of flying! I loved the whole ride though, the views as we left the islands were breath-taking...and I felt so comfortable that after a little bit I fell asleep! haha
Once back to Managua, I was lucky enough that my friend A, who is from there, was in town, came to pick me up and gave me a tour of the city...he told me a bunch of stuff about the current state of the country and its political situation, which reminded me of Caracas and Venezuela in general...we visited all the sights by the old cathedral, and as we were in the square, a TV troop inerviewed us! hahaha They asked me what I thought of the brand new statue of Sandino that they were about to put up, and since I had good words for it, and I was a foreigner, I think they will most likely air it...A on the contrary was not so in awe of it and of the character, so the journalist cut him off! hahaha It was funny! Then we went to check out the Volcan Masaya, a volcano not too far from there...and since Nicaragua is the land of volcanoes, I was happy to have the chance to see one from up close! As we drove to the top, the gases were so intense it was hard to get close to the edge and breathe...then we drove up some more and had a guided tour of some caves, it was really interesting! The guide also took us to the other side of the crater after sunset, from where we could see 2 red spots inside the crater! There was so much wind and sulphur that we had a hard time breathing and keeping our eyes open even with a mask on, and I was coughing every minute!
Then A took me to my hostel, from where I was supposed to take a fast bus to Tegucigalpa, in Honduras...after waking up at 4am once again, I came to find out that the bus was full! So I had to pay another taxi to take me to a local terminal, from where I took a chicken bus to Chinandega...from there I got on a super packed chicken bus to Guasaule, the border crossing into Honduras...I crossed the border on a bicycle rickshaw, which was kinda interesting, and once I got on the other side, I could finally eat and drink, since I had run out of cordobas in Nicaragua!!! Since Honduras is also known as the Banana Republic, I got 6 tasty bananas for less than hald a dollar...and got on another chicken bus to Tegucigalpa...of course they always tell you it's direct, but you can always tell from the looks of it, and from the fact that there are no tickets, you just pay the bus guy once you're aboard...well, it ended up being a much longer ride than I thought...also because we were stuck in a long line of vehicles because of a major accident...we must have been there almost two hours...when we finally got through, the scene was quite intense: there was a small pickup truck smashed into an excavator on the side of the road, and a green bus from the other side of the road smashed as well into the excavator...a bunch of people lying around watching...some people with minor wounds and in shock...a TV troop filming the whole thing...and three bodies lying on the ground covered with a sheet...I just found out now, glancing at the newspaper stands here, that 4 people died!!! Last night at 5pm we finally made it to Tegucigalpa...the last hour or so was uphill, and at times the bus felt like it was not able to make it...the driver kept switching gears...I got there and was thinking of spending the night there, when I found a bus to San Pedro Sula...so I got on it, finally ate and drank something other than bananas, and fell asleep big time, since it was the first really direct bus! We got to San Pedro Sula at 10pm, and I had to take a taxi to the hostel...the town, although the most developed and industrialized and the richest of Honduras, it's also big on crime and gangs...the driver ended up taking me to the wrong side of town, so I got to see various groups of teenagers hanging around by an impromptu fireplace on the side of the road, and stuff like that...not exactly the most welcoming sights for my first time in Honduras! They say Tegucigalpa thinks, San Pedro works, and La Ceiba has fun...I didn't see much development there in San Pedro...the hostel was nice though, I wish I had gotten there sooner...I only got 4 hours of sleep, because at 5am I was up again for another early morning bus...so tiring!!! I finally made it here to La Ceiba, on the Caribbean coast, at 9 this morning, found the hostel, left my bags there...since it's Sunday there are not many services and stores working, so without any food in my belly I came here to write this, then I will go get a bunch of food and relax for a little bit...this afternoon I am taking the boat to Roatan, a snorkeling and diving paradie by the second largest coral reef in the world, but I will only be able to stay one night...I am leaving my bag here where I will be back tomorrow night for some more blogging, some cooking, some relaxing, before another early morning bus to Copan Ruinas!
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
leon, bluefields.
OK the two cities have nothing in common, nor are close, but that's where I've been the past two days...since I couldn't post yesterday because I was exhausted, and I was traveling all day today, I will combine both places into one post.
Yesterday, since I had already seen Granada, I took a day trip to Leon, the other colonial gem of Nicaragua, which for years and years (maybe centuries?) was in conflict with Granada...there is a lot less tourism there, which I liked, and it seems much more "authentic", not contaminated by fancy "international cuisine"-type restaurants and stuff...it looks a little bit more run-down, but it has tons of churches and places to visit, like the biggest cathedral in Central America, and one of the oldest churches in Central America...it is also a Sandinista stronghold, so I visited this run-down building by the cathedral that is run by Sandinistas,...it looks like a squat from the outside, but inside are friendly men eager to tell you the whole story (from their own point of view, of course!)...they have photocopied pieces of newspapers and books hung on the walls in a big room, and they call it a museum...it was very very interesting though!
I also got the chance to sample a bunch of stuff from the local market, and on my way back to the bus terminal I got to ride one of those trucks which bed is made into benches and covered with a tarp, and people get packed in there...it was an experience! On my bus back to Managua I also finally got the true meaning of the word "chicken bus"...I thought it was because people are packed in there like chicken...but it't because people do bring chicken on the bus! The kid across the aisle from me had a chicken in a potato bag...and since it was very hot he made sure to buy a little package of water...the chicken would come out of the bag and drink water straight from the plastic bag!
Today I left Granada bright and early, apparently too early, because on my minibus to Managua, since we were packed like crazy and I was still half-asleep, I managed to lose my flashlight...bummer!!! Then I finally got on my bus to Rama, which was kinda fun, although definitely not a direct bus! I got to talk to all sorts of people, and besides two other guys, I was the only tourist on there! I got to eat all sorts of food that chunky women would come onboard to sell, and it was pretty good too! The last friend I made was this guy Juan, who lives in the middle of nowhere (La Esperanza, near Rama) and is dying to learn English...so I would translate sentences for him and help him repeat them...it was pretty cool...the guy helped me all the way to my boat, and then hung around with me till it took off!
The best part about that bus ride was talking to people about life in Nicaragua, about the Sandinistas, about their family members who made it to the US illegally and are now legal (some of them at least are)...it was very interesting...they do openly say "my brother went to the US as a wetback" (mi hermano se fue de mojado)...I found out they pay $6-7k from here all the way to their destinations in the US...the "coyotes" escort them all the way in a trip that can last up to over a month...it's incredible!!!
I love the people of Nicaragua though...I know it does sound cliche, but it's very pleasant here...my guide Naim said "Nicaragua, un pais con corazon!", which is supposed to be some tourist slogan...but it's very very true!
So the boat I caught in Rama brought me here to Bluefields, a town on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua that's the jumping point to a lot of places, among which the Corn Islands, where I am going tomorrow! It's supposed to be a true Caribbean paradise!
Bluefields is a typical port town with a Caribbean twist to it...so there are a lot of people of the West Indies, which means they're black and speak some creole of English, French and Spanish...most of them also speak Spanish like the rest of the people here, but their true identity is that patois they speak...which I am always trying to overhear, since it sounds interesting! We got off the boat and we were in the middle of all these covered alleys, it definitely looked like a labyrinth! I thought the town was all going to be like that, till we finally made it to a street, and now it does look "normal"! It's still kinda seedy though, since it's a port town, so I am staying in a room with the other two foreigners on the bus to Rama, which turned out to be an Aussie and a Swede. Tomorrow I need to wake up early to go get tickets for the boat ride into the Caribbean, which is supposed to take around 6 hours and is supposed to be the ultimate seasickness test...I hope I can stomach it!
Yesterday, since I had already seen Granada, I took a day trip to Leon, the other colonial gem of Nicaragua, which for years and years (maybe centuries?) was in conflict with Granada...there is a lot less tourism there, which I liked, and it seems much more "authentic", not contaminated by fancy "international cuisine"-type restaurants and stuff...it looks a little bit more run-down, but it has tons of churches and places to visit, like the biggest cathedral in Central America, and one of the oldest churches in Central America...it is also a Sandinista stronghold, so I visited this run-down building by the cathedral that is run by Sandinistas,...it looks like a squat from the outside, but inside are friendly men eager to tell you the whole story (from their own point of view, of course!)...they have photocopied pieces of newspapers and books hung on the walls in a big room, and they call it a museum...it was very very interesting though!
I also got the chance to sample a bunch of stuff from the local market, and on my way back to the bus terminal I got to ride one of those trucks which bed is made into benches and covered with a tarp, and people get packed in there...it was an experience! On my bus back to Managua I also finally got the true meaning of the word "chicken bus"...I thought it was because people are packed in there like chicken...but it't because people do bring chicken on the bus! The kid across the aisle from me had a chicken in a potato bag...and since it was very hot he made sure to buy a little package of water...the chicken would come out of the bag and drink water straight from the plastic bag!
Today I left Granada bright and early, apparently too early, because on my minibus to Managua, since we were packed like crazy and I was still half-asleep, I managed to lose my flashlight...bummer!!! Then I finally got on my bus to Rama, which was kinda fun, although definitely not a direct bus! I got to talk to all sorts of people, and besides two other guys, I was the only tourist on there! I got to eat all sorts of food that chunky women would come onboard to sell, and it was pretty good too! The last friend I made was this guy Juan, who lives in the middle of nowhere (La Esperanza, near Rama) and is dying to learn English...so I would translate sentences for him and help him repeat them...it was pretty cool...the guy helped me all the way to my boat, and then hung around with me till it took off!
The best part about that bus ride was talking to people about life in Nicaragua, about the Sandinistas, about their family members who made it to the US illegally and are now legal (some of them at least are)...it was very interesting...they do openly say "my brother went to the US as a wetback" (mi hermano se fue de mojado)...I found out they pay $6-7k from here all the way to their destinations in the US...the "coyotes" escort them all the way in a trip that can last up to over a month...it's incredible!!!
I love the people of Nicaragua though...I know it does sound cliche, but it's very pleasant here...my guide Naim said "Nicaragua, un pais con corazon!", which is supposed to be some tourist slogan...but it's very very true!
So the boat I caught in Rama brought me here to Bluefields, a town on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua that's the jumping point to a lot of places, among which the Corn Islands, where I am going tomorrow! It's supposed to be a true Caribbean paradise!
Bluefields is a typical port town with a Caribbean twist to it...so there are a lot of people of the West Indies, which means they're black and speak some creole of English, French and Spanish...most of them also speak Spanish like the rest of the people here, but their true identity is that patois they speak...which I am always trying to overhear, since it sounds interesting! We got off the boat and we were in the middle of all these covered alleys, it definitely looked like a labyrinth! I thought the town was all going to be like that, till we finally made it to a street, and now it does look "normal"! It's still kinda seedy though, since it's a port town, so I am staying in a room with the other two foreigners on the bus to Rama, which turned out to be an Aussie and a Swede. Tomorrow I need to wake up early to go get tickets for the boat ride into the Caribbean, which is supposed to take around 6 hours and is supposed to be the ultimate seasickness test...I hope I can stomach it!
Sunday, January 04, 2009
granada (nicaragua).
My last night on Ometepe was spent enjoying my $2 dinner which comprised of an amazing pineapple+milk smoothie and a vegetarian entree made of some sort of corn base (very similar to polenta) with sauteed onions and tomatoes on top, and the unforgettable beans all around it...it was yummy!
Today I wanted to wake up bright and early to get on an early boat, although I actually could have used some more rest...I fell asleep on the chicken buses to Granada...I had to take two, and I don't know if it was just me being tired and cranky, but it just seemed to me that the music was cranked up super loud and the ride was pretty hectic...people were getting on and off pretty much on the fly, with two doors constantly open and the bus guys screaming out the destinations, and hurrying the people that were trying to jump on and off the bus...I usually like that, except that today I was tired and half-asleep, so it proved harder than usual...
Granada is an extremely charming colonial town, everything is unfortunately a little bit more expensive, but life is very laid back, people are quite friendly, although there already is enough gringo tourism and gringo real estate businesses...I just hope it doesn't end up like Costa Rica!
I was walking down to the pier and some guy selling coconuts stopped me to strike up a conversation, first about the founder of Granada, then about foreign girls, and so on and so forth...I ended up getting a coconut from him, for $0.50, because I was really thirsty...and on my way back from the pier I stopped over again and he cut it in halves and let me eat the insides! It was pretty nice...sometimes I wanna think people are this nice for a reason (i.e. they want money or something), and that there's always a catch, but here it seems like they're just naturally friendly! There are still some beggars around, but they're not nearly persistent enough to be a nuisance...
Today I wanted to wake up bright and early to get on an early boat, although I actually could have used some more rest...I fell asleep on the chicken buses to Granada...I had to take two, and I don't know if it was just me being tired and cranky, but it just seemed to me that the music was cranked up super loud and the ride was pretty hectic...people were getting on and off pretty much on the fly, with two doors constantly open and the bus guys screaming out the destinations, and hurrying the people that were trying to jump on and off the bus...I usually like that, except that today I was tired and half-asleep, so it proved harder than usual...
Granada is an extremely charming colonial town, everything is unfortunately a little bit more expensive, but life is very laid back, people are quite friendly, although there already is enough gringo tourism and gringo real estate businesses...I just hope it doesn't end up like Costa Rica!
I was walking down to the pier and some guy selling coconuts stopped me to strike up a conversation, first about the founder of Granada, then about foreign girls, and so on and so forth...I ended up getting a coconut from him, for $0.50, because I was really thirsty...and on my way back from the pier I stopped over again and he cut it in halves and let me eat the insides! It was pretty nice...sometimes I wanna think people are this nice for a reason (i.e. they want money or something), and that there's always a catch, but here it seems like they're just naturally friendly! There are still some beggars around, but they're not nearly persistent enough to be a nuisance...
Saturday, January 03, 2009
volcan concepcion.
It must be written somewhere that I am not to have good luck with hikes and views on this trip: after Volcan Baru' and Chirripo', Volcan Concepcion here in Ometepe was a big disappointment! It is the biggest and highest of the two, and there were no guide who would take you to the top, but I insisted and hoped to make it as far up as possible! Well, the hike was pretty steep, with big steps here and there...without the branches to pull yourself up it would have been almost impossible...then all of a sudden it started raining hard, and as the forest got smaller and smaller, the wind grew stronger and stronger...till one point where we were in the open air and it was hard to walk straight, and you had to protect your face from the heavy rain...so we sought "refuge" behind some bushes, waited out to see if it would get any better...then finally decided it wasn't going to, so we might as well go back down...as far as wildlife spotting as well, as all along this trip, another big let down: all we saw was 3-4 monkeys, and we only heard a few howler monkeys...oh well. Then there was no bus back to town so we had to walk the 4-5 kilometers here, and once we got here all I could ask for was a big bottle of water and a shower! Things are going well now that I got both, and I just need some food before calling it a day...I went over to the same spot as last night's to check out the sunset again, only this time the sky didn't get as red as last night...I was thinking of taking a tour around the island, maybe by boat or motorcycle, but several locals told me that the water is so high that most of the coast, which means all of the beaches, are submerged! Bummer...now I am going to try to figure out my next couple of days, since I did not have enough of the bumpy boat ride here, and I would love to make it to the Corn Islands out in the Caribbean.
Friday, January 02, 2009
moyogalpa (isla de ometepe) nicaragua.
My last night in Monteverde and Costa Rica was spent with M, without my brother,...but the dinner we whipped up was awesome: spaghetti with tomato sauce and green olives, salad and tortillas. We ate so much, and so relatively late, that I didn't hear my 3:30am alarm, so I opened my eyes at 4:28, hurried and ran...but I ended up missing the 4:30am bus! It wasn't too bad though, since I caught another one at 6am, which got me to the Panamericana early enough to catch my bus going into Nicaragua...I had been ripped off on the price of the ticket, but the comfort of an air-conditioned bus with big, comfy seats that doesn´t stop every 10 minutes is a luxury that reconciled myself with the world, since at that point I was sad for both having missed the bus and for continuing my trip on my own, after over 10 days with two other people.
The nice bus made the border crossing very easy, although Penas Blancas on the Costa Rican side was pretty hectic anyway! Before I realized it, since I had been sucked into watching a bad American movie dubbed into Spanish, it was time for me to get off...luckily two locals were going the same way, so we all packed into one taxi to the pier, and it was a very easy transition...the hour boat ride here was very very bumpy! The combination of early afternoon sun and big waves didn't have me feeling all that well, but the view was definitely worth it!
The island of Ometepe, where I am right now, was formed throughout time from the lava produced by the two volcanoes that eventually created an asthmus of land. The big "lago de Nicaragua", also called Cocibolca, is special because it's one of the very few places on Earth (together with Parque Corcovado) where one can find freshwater sharks! They are almost impossible to spot, but they are a variety of the bull shark, which have a special membrane that allows them to "switch" from saltwater to freshwater and vice versa!
Moyogalpa is a nice little town of a few thousand people, very relaxed, a convenient base to explore the island...tomorrow I am trying to go up the highest volcano, Volcan Concepcion, at 1610 meters...the way up is supposed to offer great wildlife spotting opportunities, as well as magnificent views...Moyogalpo being at the foothills of the volcano, no matter where one is in town, one can see the volcano overlooking everything. The view on the boat ride here was great, I got the chance to watch a spectacular sunset, and I hope tomorrow won't be too cloudy!
It's only been half a day, but I am already loving Nicaragua a lot! There are no tourist rental cars, no overpriced tourism, no hordes of people everywhere...it's a bit "rougher" but definitely much more enjoyable, I think...the prices are unbeatable! Almost every means of transportation I took today was $1 each, my dorm bed is $3, my dinner will be around $2...it's great!
Next to my guesthouse is a disco-resto-bar where music is really loud today, and bright pink balloons are hanging everywhere...I thought it might be someone's birthday, but I later realized it was a "quinceanera" (the celebration of a girl turning 15, and supposedly entering the "adult world", whatever that means) when I witnessed the parade of 15 couples go down the main street in town...I don't know if they were headed to the church, but I am sure they will end up next to my guesthouse!
I also noticed some "FSLN" (Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional) flags, so I stopped to talk to two men hanging out by the street...we had a nice conversation...one of them was asking a lot of questions about Italy and so on, and told me about his experience as a garbage man in the US, where his son has been living for 25 years...he declared himself as a convinced "Sandinista" and was proud to show me the statue of the "General"!
Soundtrack of bus rides: Jack's Mannequin "The Glass Passenger"
Soundtrack of my bedtime: Copeland "You Are My Sunshine"
The nice bus made the border crossing very easy, although Penas Blancas on the Costa Rican side was pretty hectic anyway! Before I realized it, since I had been sucked into watching a bad American movie dubbed into Spanish, it was time for me to get off...luckily two locals were going the same way, so we all packed into one taxi to the pier, and it was a very easy transition...the hour boat ride here was very very bumpy! The combination of early afternoon sun and big waves didn't have me feeling all that well, but the view was definitely worth it!
The island of Ometepe, where I am right now, was formed throughout time from the lava produced by the two volcanoes that eventually created an asthmus of land. The big "lago de Nicaragua", also called Cocibolca, is special because it's one of the very few places on Earth (together with Parque Corcovado) where one can find freshwater sharks! They are almost impossible to spot, but they are a variety of the bull shark, which have a special membrane that allows them to "switch" from saltwater to freshwater and vice versa!
Moyogalpa is a nice little town of a few thousand people, very relaxed, a convenient base to explore the island...tomorrow I am trying to go up the highest volcano, Volcan Concepcion, at 1610 meters...the way up is supposed to offer great wildlife spotting opportunities, as well as magnificent views...Moyogalpo being at the foothills of the volcano, no matter where one is in town, one can see the volcano overlooking everything. The view on the boat ride here was great, I got the chance to watch a spectacular sunset, and I hope tomorrow won't be too cloudy!
It's only been half a day, but I am already loving Nicaragua a lot! There are no tourist rental cars, no overpriced tourism, no hordes of people everywhere...it's a bit "rougher" but definitely much more enjoyable, I think...the prices are unbeatable! Almost every means of transportation I took today was $1 each, my dorm bed is $3, my dinner will be around $2...it's great!
Next to my guesthouse is a disco-resto-bar where music is really loud today, and bright pink balloons are hanging everywhere...I thought it might be someone's birthday, but I later realized it was a "quinceanera" (the celebration of a girl turning 15, and supposedly entering the "adult world", whatever that means) when I witnessed the parade of 15 couples go down the main street in town...I don't know if they were headed to the church, but I am sure they will end up next to my guesthouse!
I also noticed some "FSLN" (Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional) flags, so I stopped to talk to two men hanging out by the street...we had a nice conversation...one of them was asking a lot of questions about Italy and so on, and told me about his experience as a garbage man in the US, where his son has been living for 25 years...he declared himself as a convinced "Sandinista" and was proud to show me the statue of the "General"!
Soundtrack of bus rides: Jack's Mannequin "The Glass Passenger"
Soundtrack of my bedtime: Copeland "You Are My Sunshine"
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