Sunday, April 29, 2007
Loja, Equador
I arrived here at 4:30 am after that wonderful boarder crossing. The guys at the bus company had told me it would be no problem to change money in Loja, so I didn´t worry about it before leaving. So at 8 after the luggage storage opened I headed into the centre of town to change my money. It is Sunday -- this is a Catholic country -- it was not even 9 am -- it looked like a ghost town -- except that there were weird preparations going on. The other odd thing was that the people who were out were all walking away from the preparations. There was nothing open yet, so I sat and read my book. At around 9:30 the preparations turned into some kind of award or graduation ceremony for kids in something like the police cadets -- it was fun to watch. I didn´t take pictures, noone else was and there were lots of miliatry around, I wasn´t sure if I should. So far this has been one of my oddest days and it is not even noon yet :) i also couldn´t change money -- but did find a working bank machine so that I do have money now.
One Time Only
Ok so about a week and a half ago I entered Peru. For some reason I was really out of it that day. I have no good excuses, just wasn´t paying attention. I took the bus from Copacabaña to Cusco. When we got to the boarder the driver collected our passports and took them to get stamps. When he handed them back he kept talking about changing money. Since I had already changed money I got on the bus, without really looking around (my mistake). We must have been parked outside the Peruvian boarder office -- which we had to go into ourselves -- I figured it was up the street -- they so often are. So after aout 30 minutes I realized that I had missed the boarder office and knew my first day in Cusco was going to be fun. We arrived at night, I found a hostal and decided not to worry until morning.
The next morning I woke up early and went down to the immigration office in the morning to ask what I had to do. The lady told me to pay a fine at a specific bank and then to copy out a letter that was attached to the wall of the office (there were about 6 of them all for different purposes) and to change the details to fit me. It basically said why I didn´t have a stamp. Fine. That letter then had to be noterized. I asked if that was all. She said yes. I confirmed again that I did not need to come back to the office, she said I didn´t need to. Ok. Paying the fine $4 was easy. The letter needed to be typed before it could be noterized -- fine. It all got done -- yea. I could stop worrying, but of course as I got closer and closer to the Peruvian-Equadorian border I got worried again.
Last night I got on a bus for Equador. We crossed the boarder at midnight. I knew from the guys expression that I had a problem. I told him what had happened and he said that I should have gone back to the office and gotten an entry stamp after the letter was noterized. I told him I asked about that. he did not seem impressed with the worker in Cusco. The peruvian boarder guard told me to come with him. We walked the 50 meters to Equador and he asked them if I could enter Equador if I didn´t have a Peruvian entry stamp -- the guy said no -- yikes! The Peruvian boarder guard asked me what time it was -- I said 11:50 -- he asked if I could wait for the next bus in 30 minutes, because there was a shift change in 10 minutes. Not sure what was going on, but seeing that he was going to help me I said sure. So I took my bag off the bus and waited.
While waiting he told me that the worst case senerio would be having to return to Cusco to get the stamp. I was devistated by that news -- since that would take at least 4 days round trip and I didn´t have time for that. At this point I was very happy that I could do all of this in Spanish. I was also happy this was happening in Latin America, where as a girl all you have to do is smile and the guys will try their best to help you :) I told the guy that I was in a hurry and could not go back to cusco -- I knew he would help. So the next bus arrived and the shift changed. We went back to the Peruvian side and he stamped an entry stamp for a few days earlier and an exit stamp for that night. Then back at the Equadorian side the new boarder guard was happy and he stamped my passport -- yea -- I will never miss a boarder crossing again -- what a hassel!
The next morning I woke up early and went down to the immigration office in the morning to ask what I had to do. The lady told me to pay a fine at a specific bank and then to copy out a letter that was attached to the wall of the office (there were about 6 of them all for different purposes) and to change the details to fit me. It basically said why I didn´t have a stamp. Fine. That letter then had to be noterized. I asked if that was all. She said yes. I confirmed again that I did not need to come back to the office, she said I didn´t need to. Ok. Paying the fine $4 was easy. The letter needed to be typed before it could be noterized -- fine. It all got done -- yea. I could stop worrying, but of course as I got closer and closer to the Peruvian-Equadorian border I got worried again.
Last night I got on a bus for Equador. We crossed the boarder at midnight. I knew from the guys expression that I had a problem. I told him what had happened and he said that I should have gone back to the office and gotten an entry stamp after the letter was noterized. I told him I asked about that. he did not seem impressed with the worker in Cusco. The peruvian boarder guard told me to come with him. We walked the 50 meters to Equador and he asked them if I could enter Equador if I didn´t have a Peruvian entry stamp -- the guy said no -- yikes! The Peruvian boarder guard asked me what time it was -- I said 11:50 -- he asked if I could wait for the next bus in 30 minutes, because there was a shift change in 10 minutes. Not sure what was going on, but seeing that he was going to help me I said sure. So I took my bag off the bus and waited.
While waiting he told me that the worst case senerio would be having to return to Cusco to get the stamp. I was devistated by that news -- since that would take at least 4 days round trip and I didn´t have time for that. At this point I was very happy that I could do all of this in Spanish. I was also happy this was happening in Latin America, where as a girl all you have to do is smile and the guys will try their best to help you :) I told the guy that I was in a hurry and could not go back to cusco -- I knew he would help. So the next bus arrived and the shift changed. We went back to the Peruvian side and he stamped an entry stamp for a few days earlier and an exit stamp for that night. Then back at the Equadorian side the new boarder guard was happy and he stamped my passport -- yea -- I will never miss a boarder crossing again -- what a hassel!
Nasca Lines
They are those lines in the desert that were made by people about 1000 years ago -- that can only be seen properly from the air. I stoped to see them on my way north. Most look similar to patterns on pottery from the Nazca area from the same time, but their pottery had no geometric shapes. Some people think that they are good evidence that aliens have visited Earth. I don´t know about that -- but they are still cool see...
This is what the pampas (where the lines are) looks like in general.
These are the fields beside the pampas (good thing that water runs down the nearby mountains because this area has not had significant rain in thousands of years). If it did get a huge storm the lines would probably be destroyed.
The Whale
The astronaut
The spider
The hummingbird
The geometric lines that noone can explain.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Lares to Machu Picchu
Over the last 3 days I have done one of the alternative treks to Machu Picchu -- seeing as getting onto an Inka Trail trek at the last minute is a bit of a pain and the alternative treks also sounded like fun. I decided on the Lares trek. Lares is a little town about 3 hours from Cusco and is known for its medicinal hot springs.
There were only 2 other people in my group and Canadian (Gerald) and a Brit (Richard) who had met each other in Aussie where they had both been living for the last several years. They were too funny -- just like an old married couple. In addition to the other 2 tourists we had a guide, a cook and a horseman (who came with 2 horses to carry our stuff). The guide (Jhon) was funny because he told me that he was very confused when he came to get us all in the morning since he a been told that there was a couple and a single. I was picked up first and then the boys were picked up -- no one had told the guide the couple was gay -- he was ok with, it just surprised.
So we started the day with a slightly unnerving drive to Lares (during which the mantra ¨the driver is not suicidal¨ from my first trip to Costa Rica was very helpful). Once in Lares we went to the baths -- they were great -- there was one really hot one, one cold and 4 intermediate. One of the warm baths was so big you could swim in it
We hung out there for a couple of hours and then had lunch. After lunch it was time to start the trek. We were walking through the countryside along paths and roads that are most often used by foot traffic and farm animals.
Along the way we got to see many locals -- especially children. They were super cute, they came out to get the pictures taken, and many having become accustomed to foreigners coming by would then ask us for candy. Many of them did not speak Spanish they spoke Quecho (probably spelt wrong).
It is the native language descended from the ancient Inka language. Our guide spoke some Quecho so he helped us to understand them.
We arrived at our first stop Huaca Huasi. Now if Lares seemed like a small town Huaca Huasi was significantly smaller. There was a school, and a church, but that was it. However having gotten used to groups of tourists there were a few enterprising women in the town who brought over hand made woollen (alpaca, llama and sheep) goods as well as bottled water and coke. This was handy as we needed water. The kids wanted to play soccer with the boys but after about 10 minutes of playing Jhon had to tell the kids to take it easy on Gerald and Richard since they couldn´t breath well at altitude.
Day 2 was our hardest hiking day, but not nearly as bad as day 2 on the Inka Trail. It was uphill until 4200 meters above sea level, but thankfully it was not all stairs. This is the pass at 4200 meters, in the first pic are Jhon the horseman and the cook; the second pic is Jhon, Gerald and I.
The area was beautiful and again the trail was spotted with children and animals (cows, sheep, goats, horses, llamas, alpacas and vicunas).
This time we were walking along a path that disappeared and reappeared along the way (good thing we had a guide). We finished the second day´s hike at a town that was somewhere inbetween the size of Lares and Hauca Huasi.
On day 3 we walked along a dirt road to a tourist town where the Inka Trail begins. The town is called Ollantaytambo and in the main square there was a yarn spinning competition.
From there we took the train into Agua Calientes at the base of Machu Piccu. The 3rd day was the easiest but was still very beautiful. In Agua Calientes we stayed in a hotel and were able to shower with hot water -- yea!
The plan was to wake up early on the 4th day and go up to Machu Picchu for sunrise. That meant breakfast at 4:30 am. However at 4 when my alarm went off it was raining. So no sunrise, oh well at least we could sleep longer. Instead we ate at 7:30 and were on the trail up to Machhu Picchu by 8:30. It was still raining, but we didn´t really care. The rain was stopping as we entered the site, which is fantastic and impossible to describe. Jhon gave us a tour, telling us about the Inkas and the discovery of the site. 60% of Machu Picchu is original and 40% is restored. We spent about 4.5-5 hours wandering around looking at all the beauty. Inside I saw many lizards, birds and chinchilas. I even saw a humming bird feeding on some of the flowers.
We took the bus down from Machu Picchu and had a late lunch with Jhon before getting on the train back to Cusco. The train ride was one of the more interesting ones I have been on. Generally I think of trains as one of the more seccure forms or travel. However on the 3rd day when the boys and I took the train to Aguas Caleintes Jhon took the train after us for locals. His train was stopped for 3.5 hours because of a landslide that had blocked the track. Appearently this is fairly common. I also knew that it is faster to get off the train at the first stop and take a bus because the train is not the most direct route ( I would soon find out what that means). About 30 minutes past the first stop we came to a jarring stop, and 2 minutes later the lights went out. All the passangers were looking at each other wondering what was up. Eventually a guy came in and told us that there was a mechanical problem that was being fixed, and that we would be underway in less than 20 minutes. Sure enough it was not long before we were going again. However only another 10 minutes down the line we came to another jarring halt! This time they fixed the problem faster. So when 30 minutes later we again came to a jarring stop we were all starting to get a bit annoyed. However this time we started to back up. Then we stopped again, and went forward, stopped again and backed up and stopped again and went forward. It seems that the turn they had to make was too tight so the zig zag the tracks in order to get the train around the turn! This happened one more time on the ride. The second time was when we were in Cusco so we had a fantastic view of the city all lit up -- which was fantastic. Seems like a crazy way to build a set of train tracks to one of the most famous tourist sights in the world, but hey most things in this world seem not to use the same logic I do, and I´ve gotten quite used to that.
There were only 2 other people in my group and Canadian (Gerald) and a Brit (Richard) who had met each other in Aussie where they had both been living for the last several years. They were too funny -- just like an old married couple. In addition to the other 2 tourists we had a guide, a cook and a horseman (who came with 2 horses to carry our stuff). The guide (Jhon) was funny because he told me that he was very confused when he came to get us all in the morning since he a been told that there was a couple and a single. I was picked up first and then the boys were picked up -- no one had told the guide the couple was gay -- he was ok with, it just surprised.
So we started the day with a slightly unnerving drive to Lares (during which the mantra ¨the driver is not suicidal¨ from my first trip to Costa Rica was very helpful). Once in Lares we went to the baths -- they were great -- there was one really hot one, one cold and 4 intermediate. One of the warm baths was so big you could swim in it
We hung out there for a couple of hours and then had lunch. After lunch it was time to start the trek. We were walking through the countryside along paths and roads that are most often used by foot traffic and farm animals.Along the way we got to see many locals -- especially children. They were super cute, they came out to get the pictures taken, and many having become accustomed to foreigners coming by would then ask us for candy. Many of them did not speak Spanish they spoke Quecho (probably spelt wrong).
It is the native language descended from the ancient Inka language. Our guide spoke some Quecho so he helped us to understand them.We arrived at our first stop Huaca Huasi. Now if Lares seemed like a small town Huaca Huasi was significantly smaller. There was a school, and a church, but that was it. However having gotten used to groups of tourists there were a few enterprising women in the town who brought over hand made woollen (alpaca, llama and sheep) goods as well as bottled water and coke. This was handy as we needed water. The kids wanted to play soccer with the boys but after about 10 minutes of playing Jhon had to tell the kids to take it easy on Gerald and Richard since they couldn´t breath well at altitude.
Camp was set up for us by the horseman and the cook. It really did feel weird to have everything done for us while camping, but it was nice and the food was excellent.
The washrooms on the other hand...well lets just say, as someone who often prefers squaters, simple small holes in the ground are really hard to aim into for girls. And doors on toilets are really highly overrated (but I guess if I am going to live in China next I might as well get used to that).
The washrooms on the other hand...well lets just say, as someone who often prefers squaters, simple small holes in the ground are really hard to aim into for girls. And doors on toilets are really highly overrated (but I guess if I am going to live in China next I might as well get used to that).Day 2 was our hardest hiking day, but not nearly as bad as day 2 on the Inka Trail. It was uphill until 4200 meters above sea level, but thankfully it was not all stairs. This is the pass at 4200 meters, in the first pic are Jhon the horseman and the cook; the second pic is Jhon, Gerald and I.
The area was beautiful and again the trail was spotted with children and animals (cows, sheep, goats, horses, llamas, alpacas and vicunas). This time we were walking along a path that disappeared and reappeared along the way (good thing we had a guide). We finished the second day´s hike at a town that was somewhere inbetween the size of Lares and Hauca Huasi.
On day 3 we walked along a dirt road to a tourist town where the Inka Trail begins. The town is called Ollantaytambo and in the main square there was a yarn spinning competition.From there we took the train into Agua Calientes at the base of Machu Piccu. The 3rd day was the easiest but was still very beautiful. In Agua Calientes we stayed in a hotel and were able to shower with hot water -- yea!The plan was to wake up early on the 4th day and go up to Machu Picchu for sunrise. That meant breakfast at 4:30 am. However at 4 when my alarm went off it was raining. So no sunrise, oh well at least we could sleep longer. Instead we ate at 7:30 and were on the trail up to Machhu Picchu by 8:30. It was still raining, but we didn´t really care. The rain was stopping as we entered the site, which is fantastic and impossible to describe. Jhon gave us a tour, telling us about the Inkas and the discovery of the site. 60% of Machu Picchu is original and 40% is restored. We spent about 4.5-5 hours wandering around looking at all the beauty. Inside I saw many lizards, birds and chinchilas. I even saw a humming bird feeding on some of the flowers.
We took the bus down from Machu Picchu and had a late lunch with Jhon before getting on the train back to Cusco. The train ride was one of the more interesting ones I have been on. Generally I think of trains as one of the more seccure forms or travel. However on the 3rd day when the boys and I took the train to Aguas Caleintes Jhon took the train after us for locals. His train was stopped for 3.5 hours because of a landslide that had blocked the track. Appearently this is fairly common. I also knew that it is faster to get off the train at the first stop and take a bus because the train is not the most direct route ( I would soon find out what that means). About 30 minutes past the first stop we came to a jarring stop, and 2 minutes later the lights went out. All the passangers were looking at each other wondering what was up. Eventually a guy came in and told us that there was a mechanical problem that was being fixed, and that we would be underway in less than 20 minutes. Sure enough it was not long before we were going again. However only another 10 minutes down the line we came to another jarring halt! This time they fixed the problem faster. So when 30 minutes later we again came to a jarring stop we were all starting to get a bit annoyed. However this time we started to back up. Then we stopped again, and went forward, stopped again and backed up and stopped again and went forward. It seems that the turn they had to make was too tight so the zig zag the tracks in order to get the train around the turn! This happened one more time on the ride. The second time was when we were in Cusco so we had a fantastic view of the city all lit up -- which was fantastic. Seems like a crazy way to build a set of train tracks to one of the most famous tourist sights in the world, but hey most things in this world seem not to use the same logic I do, and I´ve gotten quite used to that.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
La Paz to Cusco via Copacabana
Well I may be getting more tired of cities than I thought since I didn´t take a single piture while I was in La Paz. It was a nice enough place, with good street smoothies, but no photos. I did visit a great art gallery while there but other than that I just wondered.
From La Paz I went to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. It is a beautiful place. While there what I really needed was a day of doing nothing; sitting by the lake reading was perfect. So I didn´t do the hike that most people do -- but I am ok with that. I really enjoied my day by the lake.
Next I moved onto Peru -- Cusco. This is a real city -- I wasn´t really expecting that (it is a pretty city though). I have just been trying to figure out how I want to get to Machu Pichu. There are tons of different ways to go, and for the last couple of weeks I have been leaning away from the Inca Trail (it is really busy). I will let you know which one I choose when I return.
I do need to ask -- why can I find really fast internet when I only have 4 pics to post? :)
Monday, April 16, 2007
Don´t Ask Why!!!!!
I learned this lesson a few years ago now. I have even taught it to others, but I was raised to question things, and sometimes I just can´t help myself. This is especially true now that I am traveling in a place where I can speak to people in their own language -- so the problem isn´t something that is due to a language barrier. However, inevitably when you ask why you get a very unsatisfactory answer. Like today....
I got in a taxi and asked to go to the bus terminal. I know there are supposed to be 2 in La Paz but from what I have heard one is for buses within the city, and the big one is for all buses that leave the city. The taxi brought me to the same terminal that I arrived at 2 days ago -- perfect. Now in South America there are a ton of bus companies and each one has a list of cities that it goes to posted in it´s window. You need to walk around find the company you need and ask how much, when etc... Fairly simple. Except this time I cannot find a sign that says the city I want to go to. Finally near the end of the row I see it. I ask the woman at the desk and she says they don´t actually go there. Now this is where I should have stopped asking questions, but I continued, because that didn´t make sense to me. This is how the converation went:
me: You have a sign that says you go there
woman: yes, but we don´t
me: why do you have the sign?
woman: I don´t know
me: do you know of any other company that goes there
woman: no company goes there
me: (thinking -- my books says it is a popular place so that can´t be true) But it is a vacation town?
woman: yes but to get there you have to take a taxi to another part of town -- all the buses leave from there
me: but this is the bus terminal
woman: yes but buses to there don´t go from here.
me: (resignewd to going somewhere else) Ok then do you go to this other town?
woman: no
me: does any other company go to that town?
woman: no they all leave from the other part of the city.
me: is there a terminal there
woman: a small one
me: why do they leave from the other part of town?
woman: I don´t know
So after that I decided to go to my 3rd city option -- which means that I will go to the Amazon in Peru instead of Bolivia -- since I couldn´t get to where I wanted to go from the main bus terminal in La Paz -- arrgh. Oh well ... I am going to a place that is supposed to be beautiful, and lots of people have told me to go to the Amazon in Peru -- so I guess this stuff happens for a reason.
I got in a taxi and asked to go to the bus terminal. I know there are supposed to be 2 in La Paz but from what I have heard one is for buses within the city, and the big one is for all buses that leave the city. The taxi brought me to the same terminal that I arrived at 2 days ago -- perfect. Now in South America there are a ton of bus companies and each one has a list of cities that it goes to posted in it´s window. You need to walk around find the company you need and ask how much, when etc... Fairly simple. Except this time I cannot find a sign that says the city I want to go to. Finally near the end of the row I see it. I ask the woman at the desk and she says they don´t actually go there. Now this is where I should have stopped asking questions, but I continued, because that didn´t make sense to me. This is how the converation went:
me: You have a sign that says you go there
woman: yes, but we don´t
me: why do you have the sign?
woman: I don´t know
me: do you know of any other company that goes there
woman: no company goes there
me: (thinking -- my books says it is a popular place so that can´t be true) But it is a vacation town?
woman: yes but to get there you have to take a taxi to another part of town -- all the buses leave from there
me: but this is the bus terminal
woman: yes but buses to there don´t go from here.
me: (resignewd to going somewhere else) Ok then do you go to this other town?
woman: no
me: does any other company go to that town?
woman: no they all leave from the other part of the city.
me: is there a terminal there
woman: a small one
me: why do they leave from the other part of town?
woman: I don´t know
So after that I decided to go to my 3rd city option -- which means that I will go to the Amazon in Peru instead of Bolivia -- since I couldn´t get to where I wanted to go from the main bus terminal in La Paz -- arrgh. Oh well ... I am going to a place that is supposed to be beautiful, and lots of people have told me to go to the Amazon in Peru -- so I guess this stuff happens for a reason.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Salt, Salt and More Salt!
The trip from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile to Uyuni, Bolivia is awesome! The guide books may talk down this trip -- but I thought it was fantastic. I left San Perdo in a mini bus with a bunch of other people at 8 am on Wednesday and drove about 15 minutes to the Chilian border. From here we drove another 30-40 minutes before coming to what has got to be one of the most isolated border crossings it really was out in the middle of nowhere. Here we all got our passports stamped and we got moved into groups of 5 or 6 and assigned to a 4x4.
My group had 5 people, plus our driver and his wife (our cook). Here the trip really started...
These are the Dali Rocks. They appear out of nowhere in the desert.
These are some giesers, and a boiling mud puddle.
There are tons of flamingos here. The bottom one is a young one, it was not afraid to let me get really close. 
This is Tree Rock, it also appears out of nowhere.
This llama is being farmed -- that is why he has pink things in his ears.
I can´t remember which Lake this was, but it reflected everything very nicely.
I loved all the colours in the desert, they are not all obvious in this picture, but it does show some of them.
This hotel is made of salt, the beds, walls, tables and floors (except in the bathroom) are all made of salt.
On our last day we came across these fox like animals (there were 2 of them), but we could not get very close before they ran away.
The Uyuni salt flat was one of the last stops, and it is truely unreal. The salt goes on as far as the eye can see. We stopped at an island in the middle covered in cactus -- they were huge! It was also fun to play with the camera here.
A single 4x4 on the flat. Distance was impossible to judge here.
This is where they mine the salt from the salt flat.
Our last stop was the train graveyard in Uyuni, Bolivia.
My group had 5 people, plus our driver and his wife (our cook). Here the trip really started...We spent the next 3 days driving along roads, paths or simply across the desert (only snaping one rim and getting stuck once). The colours were unbelievable. Cool rocks, animals, mountains, volvanos, giesers and lakes appeared from nowhere. The scenery was unreal, especially today (the last day) when we arrived at the salt flat. 10,000 square kilometers of salt. It looks like a sea. As far as the eye can see is salt! We even stayed in a hotel made of salt.
This is Laguna Verde (Green Lake)
These are the Dali Rocks. They appear out of nowhere in the desert.These are some giesers, and a boiling mud puddle. There are tons of flamingos here. The bottom one is a young one, it was not afraid to let me get really close. This is Tree Rock, it also appears out of nowhere.This llama is being farmed -- that is why he has pink things in his ears.I can´t remember which Lake this was, but it reflected everything very nicely.I loved all the colours in the desert, they are not all obvious in this picture, but it does show some of them.This hotel is made of salt, the beds, walls, tables and floors (except in the bathroom) are all made of salt.On our last day we came across these fox like animals (there were 2 of them), but we could not get very close before they ran away.The Uyuni salt flat was one of the last stops, and it is truely unreal. The salt goes on as far as the eye can see. We stopped at an island in the middle covered in cactus -- they were huge! It was also fun to play with the camera here.
A single 4x4 on the flat. Distance was impossible to judge here.
This is where they mine the salt from the salt flat.
Our last stop was the train graveyard in Uyuni, Bolivia.
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