Day 63-66 - Guayaquil, Ecuador

Well I finally made it to Ecuador. Now I´m kicking myself for being in such a rush. I´m in Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, but there is not much to see or do here. I should have spent an extra day in Cusco, a day in Lima, or a day on the beaches near Trujillo. My flight to the Galapagos Islands leaves on Sunday so I don´t have enough time to really go elsewhere before then.

There is some decent shopping here, but that is probably a bad idea given the dent the trip to the Galapagos is going to put on my credit card. I hate to admit it, but I do enjoy eating at familiar fast food establishments such as KFC and Dunkin Donuts. Also, I have been watching a lot of movies on cable. I feel like I´m wasting precious vacation time. This is the first time since I started the trip that I have had absolutely nothing to do.

BTW-I´m going to be in the Galapagos Islands for 8 days. I arranged the trip through the fabulous Detour Destinations. I will probably be incommincado for the near future.

Day 62 - Trujillo

The hostel´s website forecasts that the weather will be warm, dry, and sunny. Apparently that forecast is correct 305 days a year. This balmy climate was the perfect place to catch my breath.

I started the day at Chimu site of Chan Chan. We looked at just two of the nine temples that are scattered throughout the city. At first glance, the piles of sand and rubbish look more like a garbage dump than a famous archaeological site. My guide assured me that Peru had more important things to worry about than picking up litter as we swerved around the bus-sized pothole. The site was much more impressive, and clean, though, once we entered the site. The piles of sand were actually the partially deteriorated walls of the ancient temple. Although the history of the society itself was not as interesting to me as the Incans', it was neat to see walls that had been built out of mud bricks in 1300 A.D. still standing and some of the carvings still intact.

After a nap and great lunch of homemade ceviche (raw fish soaked in lime juice), I went to the Moche temples of the Sun and the Moon. These stepped pyramids pre-date the Chimu site and the carvings inside this temple still have some of their original colors. It was fascinating to see paint and mud that have survived centuries of rain, wind, graverobbers, and earthquakes.

Day 61 - Cusco - Lima - Trujillo

After spending another very long night taking in the Cusco nightlife (at one time my friends were dancing on the bar), I was more than a little late for my 7 a.m. flight to Lima. I rushed to the airport, thinking that I would barely make it, only to find out that the flight had been changed to 10:30. I was so exhaused that I curled up on the floor in the corner to sleep. I felt a bit like a vagabond when I decided to cover the freezing tile floor with the plastic shopping bag that I had been using to cover my backpack.

The flight finally left at noon. I got in Lima with enough time to catch a taxi for a whirlwind ride through Lima. I knew it was going to be a wild ride when the taxi driver put on his seat belt! That never happens! At the bus station, I had ten minutes before my bus left. Ten hours later, I arrived in Trujillo. It was 1 a.m.

Day 61 - The Ruins around Cusco

There are four Incan ruin sites that are within walking distance from Cusco¨Sacsayhuaman, Quengo, Pucapucara, and Tambo Machay. I took the bus instead.

Our guide was a curious man who insisted on using a whistle (¨two blows means we´re going and three blows means we´re here¨), and carrying Cusco´s flag, which, coincidentally, is identical to the gay pride flag.

I think I mentioned in an earlier entry that the Incans intended Cusco and the surrounding area to be shaped like a Puma. Sacsayhuaman (above), or, as the gringos call it, "sexy woman", was supposed to be the puma´s head. The zig-zag walls, which are made of precisely carved stones, make up the Puma´s teeth. I thought it was a sad irony that this Incan religious site is now also a home to a large Christ figure that overlooks Cusco.

Quengo was a little less impressive. It looked like a big pile of gigantic rocks. It is believed, however, that before the catholics destroyed it, it was a large statue of a puma or other sacred animal. At the top of the rock were also partially destroyed carvings of the Incans three sacred animals: condor, llama, and puma.

Pucapucara was also underwhelming. I guess I ´m a bit jaded. It was the first Incan bathroom I had seen yet though.

It was getting dark at our last stop, Tambo Machay, but I could still see that this ruin was much prettier than the previous two. It was a stepped, stone structure with a beautiful fountain running down two of the levels. Very peaceful!

Day 60 - MachuPicchu

I didn´t get to hike the Inca Trail as I had originally planned. I cannot blame it all on my knee, though. I had decided to do the two-day hike despite my knee. Before getting to Cusco I checked to make sure that there were permits available for the day I needed to start the hike. There were plenty, but what I didn´t know is that there is a ridiculous three-day waiting period to obtain the permit. This was time that I didn´t have. This was the second major disappointment of my trip.

That being said, Machupicchu was absolutely amazing. From Ollanta, I took the backpacker´s train to Agua Calientes and stayed the night there. I got up at 4:30 to hike to the park and watch the sun rise. It was an incredible, steep hike, almost straight up the mountains. Although it was still dark outside when I started and there was only a crescent moon, it was still light enough to see my way up the stairs and to see the mist rising off the mountains.

When I finally got to the park, I was rewarded with spectacular, clear views of the ruins and a relatively people-free park. I wandered around the ruins for another couple of hours before begining the climb to WaynaPicchu, the tall mountain behind the ruins. It took about an hour-and-a-half to climb because I was helping a seventy-year-old Peruvian who was visiting the park for the first time. The views were well worth the steep ascent and gave us a bird´s eye view of the park. From here we could see that the park was now overrun with other tourists.

Kirsi, a german girl I met on the hike, and I decided to take a different trail down. Little did we know that the trail didn´t just take us to where we started, but also included a very steep descent to the Great Cave. After this two-hour detour, we were exhausted. We passed out on the lawn in front of the Sacred Rock. We shared my last mango.

That night I recovered by soaking my muscles in the hot, albeit commercialized, waters of the hotsprings that the town is named after.

Day 59 - Sacred Valley (Pisaq and Ollantaytambo)

Cusco is surrounded by some really amazing Incan ruins. On my way to MachuPicchu, I visited two of the sites located in Sacred Valley, Pisaq and Ollantatayambo. The structures are amazing and have weathered well.

Pisaq is a terraced mountain with incredible views of the Rio Urubamba Valley. Ollanta is an Incan temple at the top of a mountain and was used as a fortress after the Spanish conquests. It has impressive walls made of gigantic stones that had to be both carried across a river and hauled up the side of the mountain.

The Incans were so advanced, I can´t help but wonder how different life would be today if they hadn´t been conquered by the Spaniards and degraded by the catholics. For example, the Incans knew how to create earthquake-proof buildings, move rivers, and move gigantic rocks for their temples. The precision with which they were able to measure distances is unbelievable (Cusco, Pisaq, and one other Incan site are exactly 33 km from each other forming a perfect triangle with huge mountains between them). Their calendar is so precise. I am really intriqued by the Incan culture and definitely plan on learning more.

Day 57-58 - Cusco, Peru

Cusco, the ombligo (belly button) of Incan Culture, is much bigger than I thought it would be. It reminds of Venice in that the best place to be in Cusco is lost. Around every corner is a beautiful church or Incan relic.

Other than walking from my hostel to the Plaza de Armas ten plus times a day, I have been catching up on the mundane; updating email, doing laundry, pigging out on Mexican food (I haven´t had it for almost two months now), and arranging my trip to MachuPicchu. The nightlife here, although completely gringoed out, is fantastic. Promoters will do anything to get you into their clubs--free passes, free drinks. I even witnessed promoters from two different clubs having a tug-o-war over a customer.

It just so happened that three different groups of friends that I had met in other parts of the world--two girls from Germany that I met on the Uyuni trip and in La Paz, a couple from Canada that I met Iguazu, and some Argentinians--were all in Cusco at the same time. I spent my last night here hopping from bar to bar to spend time with each group. It was a very late night!

Day 53-56 - Lago Titicaca (Bolivia and Peru)

Lago Titicaca (Rock of the Puma Lake) is the world´s highest navigable lake. After a day exploring Copacobana (the one that doesn´t have a song about it) on the Bolivian shore of Lago Titicaca, Regina and I headed for an overnighter on Isla del Sol. Isla del Sol is considered the birthplace of Incan culture and is named Island of the Sun because the Incans believe that it is the birthplace of the sun. It is not hard to imagine why when you see the sunrise. The sun looks as if it is rising directly out of the water in the middle of the lake.

After watching the sunrise, we headed back to the mainland to catch a bus to Puno, Peru. This border crossing did not involve nearly as much culture shock as the last one. Peru, thus far, seems very similar to Bolivia.

From Puno, we visited the Isla Flotantes, a series of man-made floating islands. The island is formed by weaving layers of reeds on top of each other. These islands have been around since 1000 A.D. As one layer begins to deteriorate, the residents add another layer. The islands are held in place by poles, which are removed during the rainy season so that the inhabitants can row the island to a more shallow part of the lake. I have never seen anything like it! The ground, huts, roofs, and knick-knacks are all made of these reeds. Our guide told us that the people even eat part of the reeds for breakfast. I tried some . . . kinda tasteless.

Day 51 - Somewhere in the Amazon Basin (Day 3)

As if we weren´t afraid enough of running into one of the two other alligators, during our last night in the Pampas, yet another alligator decided our camp was the happening place to be.

It was another early morning. We went to watch the sunrise over the Pampas. It was beautiful. The sun was a coral orange color. For the rest of the day, we went to feed more monkeys, swam with more dolphins, and went fishing for pirana. I actually caught a pirana too!

Day 50 - Somewhere in the Amazon Basin (Day 2)

It was a good thing that we went to bed early last night because we were scared out of bed pre-dawn by terrifying roars and a series of loud crashing sounds. I tried going back to sleep and was dreaming that we were going to war when someone said that the sound was howler monkeys. When we got outside of the cabin, we realized the crashing was the sound of them throwing pods off of the trees and monkey poo at our cabin.

After breakfast, we put on long pants, long shirts, and knee-high boots to go Anaconda hunting. Unfortunately, the knee-high boots did little to protect us from the waist-deep water. After tromping through the mud and water for an hour, we walked around an island looking to see if there were any anacandas sunning on the tree branches. Still no luck. After another hour tromping through mud and weeds, we headed back to the boat.

I was a little disappointed, but more relieved. . . well at least until I stepped on an anaconda in the water. I screamed like only a girl can. By the time my guide realized what was going on the snake has slithered away. When I was obviously shaken, the guide´s assistant, Doya, asked me, ¨Didn´t you want to see an anaconda?¨ A legitimate question during an anaconda-hunting expedition. My response was, ¨Yeah, I wanted to see an anaconda. I wanted the guide to see an anaconda and point it out to me so I could take a picture and say I´ve seen an anaconda. I didn´t want to step on an anaconda.¨

When we got back from the hunting trip, we realized that yet another alligator had decided to camp with us and that his favorite spot for sunning was directly beneath the walkway that leads to our cabin door.

After lunch, we put on our swimsuits and went searching for good swimming spots. It wasn´t the first time on the trip that we had seen the pink river dolphins, but it was the first time that we were permitted to swim with them. I know it sounds like something straight out of a science fiction novel, but the dolphins really are pink. Not a crayola pink, but more of a salmon pink.

It was really great swimming with them. At first the dolphins were shy and kept their distance. But while the group was being loud and distracted showing off for each other, Regina and I swam away from them. Suddenly there were dolphins surfacing all around us. We exchanged smiles, knowing that we had the dolphins to ourselves.

Day 48-49 - Rurrenbaque and Somewhere in the Amazon Basin

This is another destination that wasn´t even on my radar when I was planning my trip. After hearing about the pink dolphins, though, I had to go to Rurrenbaque. Like most adventures in Bolivia, I am learning, it was not without its hassles, but completely worth it.

The flight to Rurrenbaque, which was not easy to find, was on a tiny nineteen-passenger plane. Everyone got a window seat because there were no aisle seats. The scenery, or at least what we could see of it out of the dirty windows, was amazing. We landed in a valley surrounded by dense jungle mountains. It was HOT and HUMID!

I was lucky to meet up with people that I had met on the Salares trip, Ben and Dustin, and some girls that they were traveling with, Regina, Lauren, and Julie. We arranged a three-day tour into the Pampas with Fluvial Tours. Despite the repeated dishonesty of the agency and our tour guide, we managed to have a fantastic adventure.

Our first day started with a two-hour drive to the put-in. By the time we reached it, we had already seen a couple of caymen (sp?), a tree sloth, and an anteater. Then, on the way to our camp from the put-in, we saw Capibaras, giant water rats that look like beavers without the paddle tails, and a variety of colorful birds. At camp, we were greeted by Jorge Luis, our cook, and his ¨friend,¨a blind alligator that lives in front of the camp. It's like living in a zoo!

After lunch, we relaxed in the hammocks before taking a boat ride to watch the sunset. On the way to the Sunset Bar, a man in a shack that has a cooler with really expensive beer, we saw the cutest chichilla monkeys and we got to feed them bananas. After the sunset, we did a short walk to look at alligator eyes, which shine red at night when a light is flashed in them. I was preoccupied, however, by the fact that I had been stung by yet another bee.

After dinner, we escaped to our mosquito nets.

Day 46-47 - La Paz - Valle de La Luna

I know I shouldn´t admit it, but the first thing I did when I got to La Paz was go shopping. After six weeks, I just couldn´t take it anymore and had to buy a pair (actually two pairs) of blue jeans. It´s amazing how a good pair of jeans can instantly make you feel more confident. =)

La Paz has some very interesting shopping. There are two shopping areas that are particularly popular: the mercado negro, which literally means black market, and the mercado de hechiceria or the witch´s market. The first one is not really a black market, but is, instead, a couple blocks of boothes selling American knockoffs, fruit, and every imaginable household item. The witch´s market, though, sells some really strange things. I bought a couple of amulets for good luck, fortune, love, etc., but I stayed clear from the llama fetus skeletons and stuffed frogs.

That night I met up with Pauline, the cute German girl who was on the Salar trip with me. We wanted to check out La Paz´s nightlife, but ended up in a gringo bar where a twenty-year-old Canadian tried to pick us up by using lines like, ¨I think it´s really sexy when girls play with candle wax.¨ =) I bet that he´s a real hit with the ladies.

The next day I took a day trip to the Mallasa Zoo and Valle de La Luna. The zoo was probably the best I have ever seen. Zoos usually make me sad, but this zoo had surprisingly good habitats for their animals. I got there around feeding time, so the animals were active. It wasn´t the same as seeing the animals in the wild, but it was still pretty neat, and I´m sure much safer, to see jaguara, puma, and condors so close.

At Valle de la Luna (¨Valley of the Moon¨), named such because the strange pillars that make up the valley look like those found on the moon, I was guided by the very amiable Lino. He is from the Amayra tribe and knew all about the area. During the tour, he played his flute for me and told me about all the medicinal and halluginegic properties of all the plants.

Day 42-44 - Potosi

Well, I guess I was too quick to judge Bolivia. Since I left Uyuni, a trash heap, I have found that there are plenty of paved roads and the women that wear traditional dress are found mainly in the rural areas. Potosi, the world´s highest city, was once one of the world´s richest cities. This is apparent from the abundance of beautiful and ornate buildings scattered throughout the city.

If you had asked me on the day I arrived in Potosi, I would have said the most dangerous part of the city was getting there. The night before I left Uyuni there was a big storm. Thus, on the drive from Uyuni, much of the road and many of the bridges were covered in mud or water. At one point our bus came upon an area where there were a bus, a work truck, and an adventure vehicle all up to their axles in mud. The driver made all the passengers get off the bus so that he could make a run at it. As the passengers crossed the muddy ¨river¨ on foot, the bus driver stepped on the gas. It was like a scene out of ¨Speed,¨ the bus was careening and honking, as passengers dove out of its way.

As crazy as that drive was, the most dangerous part of the city is its most common job: working in the mines. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I signed up for a tour of the mines, which consisted of getting dressed in sexy safety gear (see above); going to the miner´s market to buy dynamite, coca leaves, toys, and 96% alcohol as gifts for the miners; and spending three hours walking to all levels of the mine. With the tight spaces, stifling air, and massive amounts of dust in the air, this tour is not for the fainthearted. At times we were hunched over, wading through calf-deep water, or crawling on our forearms. On the second level, our guide chose to tell us that the life expectancy of a miner is 45 years and that cave-ins are the most frequent cause of death. Very reassuring!

During the last five minutes of the tour, the guide appointed one of our group members, Rosco, to lead us out of the mine while the tour guide took a different route. Despite the fact that we followed the guide´s directions, we were more than a little panicked when we had to pass through a tunnel on our belly only to find logs piled up at the end. Just as we were about to turn around, we heard voices from above. It turns out that you have to climb the logs to get back to the first level.

I will never again be able to hear the phrase ¨the light at the end of the tunnel¨and not associate it with the wave of relief that swept over me when I saw daylight at the end of the mine. I was exhausted, I realized when I exited the cave, not because we had been working hard, but because I had been terrified most of the time we were inside. It´s strange that with all the crazy things I´ve done to get a rush--bungee jumping, parasailing, base jumping--this mine tour was the thing that scared me the most. Maybe because it was not a controlled risk. And, what is even scarier, is that it is a job that many Bolivians do every day despite the high rate of accidents, lack of proper safety requirements, and low life expectancy. These miners make, on average, only $100 every two weeks. According to a survey posted inside the mine´s museum, 90% of the miners do it because there are no other jobs.

After leaving the mines, the miners and our guides showed us how to properly ignite dynamite. We gutted the dolls we had bought at the miner´s market (our group´s doll was a glow worm), stuffed is with dynamite, and strung the wick through its mouth (see above). We lit eight of the "toys" at once. What a blast!

Later that night, one of the guides came out with a group of us staying at the Koala Den. He took us to a local bar, Karoake Fantasy. It was pretty amusing. The videos (and words) didn´t always match the song. We had a lively group though and managed to belt out ¨Dust in the Wind¨to the tune of ¨What´s Love Got to do with It?¨ Not an easy task.

Day 41 - Somewhere in Bolivia to Salar de Uyuni

Today, the moment we had all been waiting for, the Salares de Uyuni, the world´s largest salt flat. After spending the last five weeks visiting places famous for what they have, it was different to visit a place for what it doesn´t have. The salt flats are just an endless expanse of whiteness. We took advantage of this two-dimensional landscape to take some very interesting photos. What can I say? We were really hungry =)

We also visited a hotel made completely out of salt, beds and all, and the train cemetary, where it looks like trains stopped in their tracks in the middles of the desert and began to rust.

If any of you are interested in seeing more pictures than the ones I have posted, please email me. I have a lot of really great photos, but not enough time or space to put them all on the blog.

Day 40 - Somewhere in Bolivia (Day 3)

Today began at Laguna Colorado. The minerals in the lake make the water a maroon red color. The laguna is also a popular gathering place for flamingos. Although I had seen flamingos before, probably in a zoo, I had never seen them fly. They are surprisingly graceful despite their long necks and legs.

We also visited the Arbol de Piedra (Tree of Rock) and other rock formations in the Desierto de Dali. It was surreal, as if Dali himself had painted the landscape and sculpted the rocks. It was just missing the melting clocks.

Day 39 - Somewhere in Bolivia (Day 2)

The second day started in a ghost town and ended in a natural hot springs. The ghost town was really impressive. It was huge, covering a whole valley. It had large block structures that were still intact. In a lot of ways, it looked more modern than some of the inhabited towns we had driven past. The guide explained that the inhabitants had been driven out during the Spanish conquests and that when they tried to return, they could no longer survive at such a high altitude.

We also stopped at several lagunas. The most famous of these was Laguna Verde, which has green water and forms the base of the active volcano Licanbur. By far, the highlight of the day, though, was the hot springs. It had been cold and windy most of the day and our ¨basic¨accomodations the night before had not included a shower. It was perfect timing too. The sun was just setting so the water was reflecting pink and purple. I could have spent the whole night there.

Day 38 - Somewhere in Boliva

Today was the first day of a four-day jeep tour of Southern Bolivia. I was wondering what I had gotten myself into when the seven of us--Edgar, the guide; Celia, the cook; Rob, Rosco, Mike, Polly, and I--piled into a landcruiser and Celia began to play her Roxette CD. It didn´t help, either, that the landcruiser overheated before we made it to our first stop. The ¨roads,¨ in the loosest sense of the word, were partially or completely washed out by the rain in some places. On more than one occasion, we had to drive through places where the river crossed the road or to pull up brush to put over the deep mud so that the landcruiser didn´t get stuck. But the trip turned out to be a very adventurous and an eye-opening experience.

Our first day was mostly driving. It was so beautiful and colorful. It´s strange, but even the sky seems bluer here. Maybe it is because we are so much closer to it; during the course of the trip we climbed to an elevation of over 5,000 meters. Also, the mountains are red, green, blue, and mustard colored. On some of the mountains, these colors are folded together in such a way that you wonder what happened to make them that way.

We only had two real stops. First, the Sillars, which are giant red rock formations. Unlike the formations in Cafayate, however, we followed the mountains up over them and had an amazing view of them from the top. The second stop was lunch in a field full of llamas. It was a bit disturbing, though, that our lunch consisted of tamales made with llama meat.

We also drove through several small towns. It was strange to see children dressed in knock-off American clothes (Boss and Fox are really popular) come running out of the mud buildings with straw roofs. The children are running and waving as if you are celebrities, but then scatter as soon as you whip out your camera. Our guide explained that they still believe that people can steal their souls with cameras.

Day 37 - Tupiza, Bolivia

It is hard to believe that Bolivia and Argentina share a border. They couldn´t be more different. In Argentina, the people look very European because of the influx of Italian and Spanish immigrants, the cities are well-developed, and the people all dress in the latest style modern.

In Bolivia, the people are very short (even I feel like a giant) and look more like their ïndian¨ancestors: dark skin, dark watery eyes, and black hair. The older generation and people in smaller pueblos still wear their traditional dress. For the women, this consists of a bowling hat (it looks like a shrunken derby hat); a colorful, pleated skirt, and a multi-colored shawl wrapped around the shoulders to carry babies or other items. The function of the shawl is obvious. And, as I found out on my bus ride from Uyuni to Potosi, the skirt makes it easier for the women to go to the bathroom wherever they are, whether it be on the side of the road or in the fields. I still cannot figure out the hat though. It is too small to provide any protection from the sun.

I have only been to three cities so far (Tupiza, Uyuni, and Potosi), but I have yet to see a paved street. Many of the houses here are made of mud bricks or adobe and covered with a straw or corrugated metal roof.

The people here are extremely friendly. For example, on my first day in Bolivia, I hiked to the large Christ statue that overlooks the city. As I was walking back from this hike, I heard loud music coming from the other side of town. I followed the music to a large grassy area where people were gathered around a band. It was a festival. The music was so interesting. The whimsical wooden pipes were paired with a drumbeat that sounded like a tribal war dance. The band didn´t seem to have any set members. People joined and left as the music progressed. All the people watching the band were covered in colorful streamers. I was taking pictures of the band and the onlookers, when the band stopped and insisted that I play with them.

Now anyone who knows me, knows that the only instrument I know how to play is the radio. And Rod jokes that I don´t even play that well. I tried to explain this to them, but that didn´t seem to matter. Finally, after declining repeatedly, they settled for dancing. The dancing too was interesting. Two people link arms and start half-stomp half-prance in a circle around the band. There were about ten couples doing this while I was there. Then, for no apparent reason, one couple yells, ¨Da a vuelta¨and everyone turns around and stomps in the other direction.

Days 34-35 Salta - Cafayate

Well this was another unplanned stopover that ended up keeping me longer than I had planned. Salta is a beautiful colonial town. This lesser-known attraction, though, is most famous for the terrain between it and Cafayate, which is 200 km south. To see this terrain, I rented a car with a french girl, Melanie.

For the first 100 km, we were surrounded by very lush tropical forests and very noticeable, because they were so out of place, TALL cacti. Then, out of nowhere, the forest disappeared and we entered a valley of incredible red rock formations straight from mars. One of the more famous formations bears the same name as the famous Iguazu Fall, Garganta del Diablo, but it is much drier and less terrifying. There were also Antiteatro (amphitheater), Las Ventanas (the windows), El Fraile (the friar), Los Castillos (the castles), and, my favorite, El Sapo (the frog).

Then, only 6 km from Cafayate, the red rocks are replaced by blindingly white, sand dunes. By the time you reach Cafayate, though, there are grapes and wineries everywhere. It was like time travel.

Once in Cafayate, we sampled the ¨world-famous¨wine-flavored ice cream at Miranda´s Heladeria. I tried both the Cabernet and the Torrontes. Then we went to Etchart to try the wines. Yummy!