Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Bolivia continued...

After running around La Paz for a day, we left early the next morning for Uyuni. We had to change the route a bit due to a vote that was taking place (aka - we had to get out of La Paz early in case there were riots due to a referendum vote). I think it was a 15 hour drive to Uyuni, which was pretty painful - some of the roads are not the best in Bolivia... mostly dirt, not I-80 or I-25 to say the least... After finally arriving in Uyuni we find out that we are not allow to visit the salt flats the next day (the reason why we were there) because the vote was taking place - apparently no private vehicles are allowed to be on the roads on election days.... interesting huh?

With a free day we visited a really cool train graveyard that was on the outside of Uyuni. It was also apparently Austrailia Day, with 19 Aussies on tour it seemed appropriate that we celebrate. Though I know nothing about Australia Day, I was lucky enough to get to listen to Aussie music all day and partake in some cricket.

After a very long Aussie Day, the next day we were able to visit the salf flats. We drove in some LandCruisers for hours over miles and miles of salt, it was a pretty cool spot and learned they were the largest salt flats in the world. There was a cool ¨island¨in the middle of the flats that provided an awesome 360 degree perspective of the white land. I wish I would have brought a massive salt shaker to fill up...

We are now in Potosi, the highest city in the world - 4070 meters (close to 13,000 ft). It is a really nice city, but most people on tour are ready to head back to normal altitudes and feel regular again. The lung capacity of the people that live here is amazing! We will spend 2 more nights in Bolivia before heading to Argentina.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Bolivia, death road, etc...

After about 3 weeks in Peru, we finally made it to the boarder of Bolivia. What a fiasco that was! Me and the other American had to obtain visas, while the rest of the group basically just got their passports stamped. It was like a bad movie, the boarder guards took us back through 4 different rooms, locking doors and everything - pretty interesting. The worst part was that we had to pay for our visas, but I was expecting to have to anyways, so it really wasnt a big deal. After finally clearing the boarder we hopped back on the bus and headed off... but it wasnt that simple because our bus driver accidentally hit a food stand and knocked over all the food. We sped off with angry locals chasing the bus.... always interesting! haha!

We made it into La Paz late in the evening and prepared for our early departure to DEATH ROAD for the next day. Death Road is some crazy road right outside of La Paz that people bike down for fun. The road decents over 3000 meters (about 9500 ft) in a short period of time and supposidly people die more often on that road than anywhere else in the world (most in cars though). The ride was great and really fast, we went with a guide who does the trek virtually everyday, so we were in good hands. Though I have to say that we had 5 or 6 semi-serious crashes in our group. Luckily no one went off the edge or broke anything. I kept thinking that Chad (my bro) would have really loved the ride - it was fast, the scenery was awesome and pretty dangerous. After arriving at the bottom after an all day ride we grabbed a couple victory cervezas and headed to a hotel where we had a great feast and took a dip in their picturesque pool. We then made the long bus ride back up death road (almost as interesting as the way down). Of course on the way back to La Paz we got a flat tire to make the day last even longer... only in Bolivia.

Today, I have been bumming around La Paz - we visited the Witches Market and the Coca Museum and had a tasty lunch. Everything is soooo cheap here. It is great!

Titicaca

Much to tell since the last blog... thanks to all of those who have commented on the blog so far. For those of you who I told that I was going on vacation or holiday, I think I lied, because this has been quite a tiring affair, waking up early and going to bed late. I think I will need a real vacation after this trip!

During our last days in Peru we spent most of the time on Lake Titicaca - it is the largest lake in South America and basically reminded me of being on a sea or an ocean. We visited 3 different islands while scooting around the lake a really slow boat. The islands were pretty interesting because of the inhabitants and their traditional ways of life. We had homestays on one of the islands, which was really cool, though they were really set up for tourists. I had to break out my Spanish skills during the visit to understand anything that was going on. We ate traditional meals (lots of potatos) in a tiny little kitchen, that was the only heated (by a clay, wood-buring oven) room in the house. Luckly the bedrooms that we slept in had massive piles of blankets for sleeping. During the evening they locals dressed up all of the gringos and we had a little fiesta where we learned some traditional dances. It was a fun night, our host mama was named Mary and was very helpful/kind and she really knew how to cut a rug. After another wood-fired breakfast in the cave-like kitchen, we headed to the last group of islands. To my surprise everything on them (including the islands) was made of reeds, it was pretty awesome - you could actually feel the islands floating moving as we walked around on them. From there we made it back to Puno, ate lunch and headed for the Bolivian boarder.

Monday, January 19, 2009

el football en Peru

My last day in Cuzco was great! I wondered the streets, ate some good food, got an awesome Inca massage (I was still pretty sore from the Inca Terk and it only cost $8 for an hour) and scouted out an American bar to watch a bit of football. The NFL games were great and it was a lot of fun to be in a bar thousands of miles away with a bunch of crazy Americans doing my favorite Sunday activity. I even drug an Aussie trip-mate with me to watch the game (apparently NFL doesnt make much sense to anyone but Americans - haha, he enjoyed it though). We left Cuzco early this morning and drove south to Lake Titticacca (sp? - I am going to have to go back and edit all of these posts for spelling, the local words are killing me). We are now in the city of Puno, right on the lake - seems like a really nice place. Tomorrow we will be heading out on the lake for a homestay on one of the islands - should be interesting...

Lots of people here are talking about the inaguration tomorrow, enjoy the celebrations everyone! Cheers

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Inca Trek

Wow... what an amazing week! On Tuesday morning our group left Cuzco very early to head to the Sacred Valley of the Inca. After much preperation we finally arrived to the Inca Trail.

Part of me wants to paint the picture of this trek as very hardcore and the other part of me wants to say that is was easy, I really can see it both ways... It was easy because we had great guides, chefs and porters (who carried our tents and sleeping bags and stuff) who made the trek much easier. It was hard because the trek was difficult, we did some serious climbing and trekked for many hours.

The first day was a warm-up day and the trek was long, but there was not much climbing. We saw some cool Inca ruins and really got used to how the trek was going to go. Each night we camped at different locations along the trail, the first night we had an awesome spot in this very lush valley that overlooked some massive mountains. The second day was the most difficult, we crossed a huge mountain pass - known as Dead Womans Pass (luckily the weather cooperated). The pass was about 4200 meters, about the same size as Pikes Peak. Everyone was really tired after the big hike... a nap was in order for nearly everyone. That night we camped in the valley between some massive mountains - it was quite a spot! The third day was by far the best, the weather was great, the terrain was up and down (a couple small passes) and the scenery and ruins were amazing (I really need to get some photos on this thing!). That night was arrived just a short hike away from Machu Picchu. The last morning we woke up at 4 a.m. to head for the famous Inca spot of Machu Picchu. We arrived to the Sun Gate around 7 a.m. to see the wonderful view and first spotting of the sacred city. We spent much of that day hiking around the ruins and learning about the place. It really was rewarding to have hiked for 4 days to arrive to such a special spot. Granted everyone was really tired and dirty, it still was an awesome way to get there! With some free time I made the mistake of hiking up WynaPicchu, the mountain right next to the site, when I arrived at the top after the grueling hike the mountain was covered in clouds and a thunder storm was brewing... needless to say I hurried back down. After that unecessary hike I had enough and took the bus down the mountain where we got a bite to eat and waited for the train back to Cuzco.

I am not back in Cuzco and will be relaxing and recovering here until Monday. It is nice to be back to having regular showers and food (though I have to say the food and service on the trek was nothing short of amazing).

If you have facebook a couple of my trip-mates have posted some pics online, there is also a group that I belong to called Atlantic to Pacific, where there are some others photos. I promise I will work on getting mine on a site soon, it really is a pain though!

I hope this finds everyone well!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Cuzco

After what seemed to be an eternal trip on Bernie (the bus) to Cuzco, we finally arrived. On the way there was some awesome scenery - including a couple of mountain passes (over 4,000 meters) that we went over. On the top of one pass we ate lunch and also got stuck in a random hail storm. Cuzco is pretty touristy, this is where most people start their treks to Machu Picchu. For the last couple of days I have been wondering around the town - there is a ton of Inca/Peruvian history here. This morning a group of us hiked up to an overlook of the city - pretty amazing views! Tomorrow we start our trek to Machu Piccu at 6 a.m., it is a 4 day hike and we are camping the whole way up there, arriving during the morning of the 4th day. Apparently it is very well travelled and our group will be supported by a group of porters/chefs/guides to take care of us. We will then return to Cuzco and spend a couple more nights here for R&R.

Also, yesterday I popped into an American sports bar and caught the end of the Eagles-Giants game and to get caught up on NFL playoffs.... I cant believe all of the crazy upsets! I suppose to Broncos could have won it all this year if they got the right breaks.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Big night... long day

Last night we had a big night out - we had some drinks on this cool rooftop patio overlooking the city, then we had a nice dinner on patio overlooking the Place De Armas (most of us ate alpaca, the local dish of choice - they also serve guinea pig here though!), we then headed out to check out the nightlife at some cool local clubs. Great live musica! After late night snacks we headed back to camp very late - so most of us have been dragging today. Another beautiful day though! Tomorrow we head to Cuzco, where we will begin the Inca Trail!

For some reason my photos are not uploading properly, if they don´t work in the next place I will set up a Kodak account , so people can see them. Sorry about that!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

¡viva peru!

I am glad to hear that there are actually a couple people following the old blog (besides mom and dad - the givens).

After a quiet night in Nazca, we headed back to the coast. Along the way we stopped at an awesome ancient cemetary. They had excavated some the the bureal sites so visitors can see exactly what the bureals were like - I think that also made the 3rd day in a row that we had been exposed to heaps of bones, pretty cool nonetheless. We arrived early that afternoon in Puerto Inca (where the Incas used to fish and prepare their seafood before transporting it). We camped on the beach, played volleyball and jumped in the ocean before having a great beach BBQ and drinking too much beer and jungle juice. The location was truely awesome - probably could have spent a week there (at least).

From Puerto Inca, we headed along the coast and had a final lunch on the beach before saying adios to the Pacific Ocean. The drive was awesome, huge cliffs the whole way - reminded me of a tropical/desert version of Amalfi. We then crossed a massive desert in route to the Andes and where I am now, Arequipa. This city is awesome, from what I have seen so far, we took a walking tour when we arrived and had a quiet night last night. Today we hit the market, where I got a couple ridic sombreros and visited an ancient monestary. The best part of the day had to be lunch, where I had a three course meal, including drink for 6 sols (2 bucks) - just for the record I am still bursting at the seams 4 hours later.... tonight we are headed out for a big night on the town - should be fun!

Just an update on the Espanol... I have been doing a pretty good job of using my Spangish - much to my surprise, I speak some of the best Spanish in our group (probably 4 or 5 better than me), chalk that up to living in the States I guess. The real problem is that there are so many funky accients and slang usage in our group (Kiwis, Aussies, Brits) that I am more likely to pick up their rubbish banter rather than Spanish! aaahhhh!!!

I will try and get some pictures up in the next couple of days. I keep forgetting to bring the connector cord...

Monday, January 5, 2009

It begins...

OK... I think this is going to be quite a trip, I can hardly even remember where I left off...

After arrival in Lima, I ran into some of the tripmates and we toured around Lima centro. There are 28 in all and 2 guides. Quite an interesting group, mostly Aussies and one other American. Most are around my age, well travelled and here for a good time.

After a decent night sleep we headed out of Lima at about 6:30 a.m. From there we travelled south, down the coast about 3 hours and took a boat out to the Ballestra (sp?) Islands - they were basically plots of land cover in bird poo (so the smell was great). It was a nice boat ride, we got to see lots different birds (even penguins) and sea lions.

From there we headed to the desert (some massive sand dunes). We then took a trip to go dune bashing on some dune buggies - was just like I did when I visited Oman, except we didn't get to drive. It was an awesome trip and we also went "sledding" (on snowboards) down the dunes, that was pretty sweet until I got a gash in my hand - but all is good. We spent the night in the desert and camped under the stars, sounds pretty tame, but really everyone drank too many pisco sours (the local drink) and passed out. After a rough a.m. for many, we dune bashed back to the truck and were on our way. Today has been pretty chill - we are in Nazcra and I have spent most of the day in the pool and hanging out - perfect weather. Glad to be where it is summer!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Lima... and sleepy

After countless hours on planes and sitting in airports (who would have guessed Dallas and Miami are on the way to Peru), I have finally made it to Lima. I was expecting a bustling, crazy, sunny city.... When I arrived I found a quiet, hazy, ghost town of a place. Apparently, people in Peru are not up at 6:30 am... I suspect my original expectations will be correct once the city wakes.

The good news is that I did have a good taxi driver, I practiced my Spanglish on him. I even grabbed a pocket English-Spanish dictionary at the airport in Miami so I could perfect my Spanglish. Its amazing what you remember from 2 years of high school Spanish, about 10 years ago (in addition to lots of trips to Mexico and a couple trips to Espana).