Hello PERU!! We´ve been in Cuzco for a couple days now.... we were part of the few who managed to make it through the massive roadblocks that exist on every road leading into Cuzco right now. Lucky us. The downside is that we´ve had to adjust our plans a little (what else is new) and book some flights. Expensive flights. Lame.
Before I talk about Cuzco though, I realize I haven´t updated in quite a while longer than I thought. La Paz was nice and busy and pretty. We watched some excellent movies in our hotel room to occupy the prime time hours (Georgia Rule featuring Lindsay Lohan. I liked it. My Best Friend´s Wedding. Never seen it before which was weird but I´m related to Dave ¨Julia Robert´s second husband¨Munro so I guess I´m inclined to say it was pretty good. Also, to top it off... NORBIT. If you have not seen this film masterpiece there is no reason to wait. Netflix your heart away and Eddy Murphy will not disappoint.) Anyways, it was hard to breathe in La Paz with it being at such a high elevation and with so much pollution due to really outdated automobiles. We had to leave.
On to..... Copacabana and Lake Titicaca. Hmm... We spent 1.5 hours on a boat heading to the island where we (unknowingly) had to climb quite a steep mountain of stairs with our souvenir-heavy backpacks. Trecherous. Once arriving at our hotel, we had a cold room but a great view. That night, perhaps the worst food decision of our lives..... do NOT order pizza in South America unless it comes highly recommended. We knew better and still had to suffer the consequences. After a beautious hike the next day, it was time to leave. We had originally thought of staying another night, but after feeling like we were being scammed everytime we turned around (ohhh... you want to step off the boat? 5 bolivianos. Oh you want to step on that grass? 15 bolivianos) that desire to stay faded away.
Back to Copacabana where we enjoyed a nice dinner (thanks mom and dad!) with an excellent salad bar with a sassy waitor. Our room was right on the ¨beach¨ where we thought about partaking in a paddle boat adventure but then the sun went down too fast. We sort of watched Bridget Jones Diary, which I re-realized I strongly dislike.
The next day, after a 10 hour bus ride, we arrived here in Cuzco. It´s really beautiful... lots of pretty squares and cobblestone streets. It´s also fulll of gringos to an extent we have yet to witness. In the past, we saw mainly travellers from Australia, the UK, and Israel. So, it came as quite a surprise (good or not) to hear so much American style english. Tour groups are everywhere and we met a Political Science professor from Princeton last night at our restaurant and then immediately went to an internet cafe so Jamie could stalk him. Couldn´t find anything on him so he´s either... 1) not famous or 2) a liar. Who knows. The bright side is that after spending a horrendous night in one hostal where we were subjected to guitar music and horrendous singing from a nearby bar while we were trying to sleep, we´ve found a great place. There´s an old man who has a serious bathroom-hogging problem which does not correspond well with my constant need to pee, but we have a TV again!! In the downtime, we´ve been enjoying a lot of those reality murder mystery shows (that give me nightmares), Law and Order (that also gives me nightmares), and YOU ME AND DUPREE. GO SEE IT. You won´t be sorry.
Now, now... don´t get the impression that all we do is sit in the hostal and watch TV. We´ve been doing a lot of walkign around Cuzco and tomorrow we leave for a 3 night trip to some nearby towns during which we will visit MACHU PICCHU. We´re planning on getting there at 5 AM, so if all goes according to plan, ít should be fun. If all does not go according to plan, then it will just be normal South America.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Peachy.
A new color for a new day. I´m hungry.
Wishing the best to all my fellow DC red-line travellers. Hope everyone is safe!
Wishing the best to all my fellow DC red-line travellers. Hope everyone is safe!
Monday, June 22, 2009
There is no such thing as a ¨plan¨ in South America.
We´re slowly learning. Today, we took a 45 minute flight from Sucre to La Paz. Unfortunately, we had to settle for 1st class since those were the only tickets left.... a real bummer... sort of wish it had been a transcontinental flight when I saw how much butt space I had. Upon arrival, we had planned to book tickets to go immediately to Rurrenabaque, the Bolivian Amazon. We had heard that flights to Rurrenabaque were somewhat unreliable in terms of whether they would leave or not becasue the ¨runway¨in the jungle is made of grass. Still, we were hoping to persevere and go ahead with the plan. Ha, the plan... we were such amateurs.
Upon arriving at the ticket counter we talked to a Amazonia Airline worker who told us that we would not be able to leave today but MAYBE tomorrow. She provided no further information (whch is sort of the trend on this continent... people aren´t going to tell you shit unless you ask direct and very specific questions. Even then, it´s certainly not a guarantee that their information is the truth, and we often just don´t even know what to ask.Very frustrating.) Anyways, after chatting with a lovely German couple who had been bumped for take-off several times (and who exchanged several ¨this is shiza¨´s between each other as they were receiving little help from the airline), we decided that we would forgoe the jungle trip. If we ever did make it there, flights back are just as uncertain and we really didn´t want to throw off the rest of our trip.
Currently, we´re in a hotel in La Paz and planning to spend a couple days here. Jamie´s back in the room resting after yakking up some street-cake he foolishly consumed last night. Once he´s better, we´re really looking forward to rocking this city... there are tons of actually cool sounding museums (this coming me, a self-proclaimed philistine), a Witches Market, and lots of streets to explore. Our cab ride from the airport into the heart of the city was amazing as the main highway is basically a slow decent as it circles the city. First thoughts... I sort of felt like I was back in India. It is pretty wild and crowded here and my words can barely describe the juxtoposition of the beautiful distant mountains with the lower-income neighborhoods that line the higher altitude parts of the city above the center. Can´t wait to see more. And eat, ofcourse.
Upon arriving at the ticket counter we talked to a Amazonia Airline worker who told us that we would not be able to leave today but MAYBE tomorrow. She provided no further information (whch is sort of the trend on this continent... people aren´t going to tell you shit unless you ask direct and very specific questions. Even then, it´s certainly not a guarantee that their information is the truth, and we often just don´t even know what to ask.Very frustrating.) Anyways, after chatting with a lovely German couple who had been bumped for take-off several times (and who exchanged several ¨this is shiza¨´s between each other as they were receiving little help from the airline), we decided that we would forgoe the jungle trip. If we ever did make it there, flights back are just as uncertain and we really didn´t want to throw off the rest of our trip.
Currently, we´re in a hotel in La Paz and planning to spend a couple days here. Jamie´s back in the room resting after yakking up some street-cake he foolishly consumed last night. Once he´s better, we´re really looking forward to rocking this city... there are tons of actually cool sounding museums (this coming me, a self-proclaimed philistine), a Witches Market, and lots of streets to explore. Our cab ride from the airport into the heart of the city was amazing as the main highway is basically a slow decent as it circles the city. First thoughts... I sort of felt like I was back in India. It is pretty wild and crowded here and my words can barely describe the juxtoposition of the beautiful distant mountains with the lower-income neighborhoods that line the higher altitude parts of the city above the center. Can´t wait to see more. And eat, ofcourse.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Sucre Day 1.5
Two posts in 1 day? I know, I know... I am out of control.
Anyways.... Sucre is wonderful!! It´s beautiful. All day Jamie and I have been trying to find a suitable comparison and here´s what we´ve come up with (I´ve tried to make this geographically non-discriminatory so hopefully anybody will be able to understand.)
For those of yall who have traveled through the SurAmerica, it´s sort of like Mendoza, Argentina but with many many more beautiful buildings and better maintained parks. It´s also more crowded and an all-around better place. The similarity here is the pretty parks throughout and the classic laid-back, ¨let´s hang around and sit in a park all day and chill out¨feeling.
For those in the good 'ol US of A... it´s sort of like San Francisco. It´s pretty hilly and once again... the square parks that randomly turn up (sort of like downtown DC as well) . There tend to be a lot of people lying around without much of an agenda, but then there´s certainly plenty of markets and cool stores. The only thing missing is the ocean. And the sourdough ofcourse.
For the Euro-types, I imagine it´s sort of like Spain. That being said, I´ve never been to Spain but seeing as how they colonized Latin America and all... I´m probably somewhat correct. And also totally wrong. Come and see for yourselves.
The basic gist is... life is good and we really really like what we´ve seen. Today we hung around a lot at the Central Market which is mainly food (produce heaven which I´m hoping is a trend for the rest of the trip. I wish I could upload pictures! Erin, get excited!) We had a delicious lunch with hearty sopa de maní (which means peanuts, but this soup had no trace of peanuts) and some chicken dish. Mmmm... it cost us a whopping $2.50 for 2 lunches and was more than satisfying. Tomorrow we head on a day trip to a nearby town called Tarabuco which apparently has a famous market that will satisfy every tourist´s desire for consumerism. I can´t wait.
Anyways.... Sucre is wonderful!! It´s beautiful. All day Jamie and I have been trying to find a suitable comparison and here´s what we´ve come up with (I´ve tried to make this geographically non-discriminatory so hopefully anybody will be able to understand.)
For those of yall who have traveled through the SurAmerica, it´s sort of like Mendoza, Argentina but with many many more beautiful buildings and better maintained parks. It´s also more crowded and an all-around better place. The similarity here is the pretty parks throughout and the classic laid-back, ¨let´s hang around and sit in a park all day and chill out¨feeling.
For those in the good 'ol US of A... it´s sort of like San Francisco. It´s pretty hilly and once again... the square parks that randomly turn up (sort of like downtown DC as well) . There tend to be a lot of people lying around without much of an agenda, but then there´s certainly plenty of markets and cool stores. The only thing missing is the ocean. And the sourdough ofcourse.
For the Euro-types, I imagine it´s sort of like Spain. That being said, I´ve never been to Spain but seeing as how they colonized Latin America and all... I´m probably somewhat correct. And also totally wrong. Come and see for yourselves.
The basic gist is... life is good and we really really like what we´ve seen. Today we hung around a lot at the Central Market which is mainly food (produce heaven which I´m hoping is a trend for the rest of the trip. I wish I could upload pictures! Erin, get excited!) We had a delicious lunch with hearty sopa de maní (which means peanuts, but this soup had no trace of peanuts) and some chicken dish. Mmmm... it cost us a whopping $2.50 for 2 lunches and was more than satisfying. Tomorrow we head on a day trip to a nearby town called Tarabuco which apparently has a famous market that will satisfy every tourist´s desire for consumerism. I can´t wait.
Sucre Day 1
So did I ever tell you about that time when our bus lost ability to brake with about an hour left to go? No? Oh, well, here goes....
Yesterday Jamie and I hopped on a 9 hour bus ride from Uyuni through Potosí to Sucre. With about an hour left to go until we reached Potosí, there was a loud sound. We pulled over, people got out to stretch/pee/etc and ten minutes later we were off once again, with the impression that we had just been leaking oil or something. This is Bolivia. No big deal. A while later, I started noticing we had been driving rather slowly for a while, and sooner or later, despite a lack of announcement or anything from the driver, we all realized the brakes were shot. Ooops. Luckily, this may be more common in than we would all think, since it really didn´t seem like a huge deal to the Bolivians. No pasa nada, we reached Potosí about 1.5 hours late. Once there, we hoped to god that this same bus would not be the bus for the continuation of the trip to Sucre. Luckily and somewhat surprisingly, a new bus showed up and after minor troubles boarding and a scary interaction with the hostile driver, we boarded and off we went. This ride was much more comfortable (hello pavement... I´ve never been so happy to see you in my life).
We arrived in Sucre and realized that, despite no indication of poor driving, our driver reaked of alcohol. That being said, here we sit in an internet cafe looking up cheap Bolivian plane tickets for the next legs of our adventure (Sucre to La Paz to Rurrenabaque and back to La Paz). Hearingn about all the strikes causing road blockages in Peru, the frigid conditions of overnight 16 hour bus rides, and the desire to avoid dangerous Bolivian bus drivers... we´d like to shell out the extra bolivianos to remain alive and keep this trip on course so we don´t waste too much time.
One note about our journey... EVERYWHERE (rocks in the middle of nowhere Bolivia, waterpipes, sides of stone houses, etc) was propoganda in favor of the new Bolivian constitution that was a big deal back in 2006. A lot it read ¨Si a la nueva constitucion¨or pictures of the Bolivian flag with ¨unidad¨messages. The new Constitution, which is supposed to give more rights to the indigenous groups and which was eventually passed, was controversial because President Evo Morales changed the amount of Assembly support needed for the new Constitution. Basically, I was shocked by the widespread propoganda created by the government throughout small (small!) communities thoughout this country.
To leave on a happy note... Sucre is beautiful and after having a little trouble finding a hotel with spaces, we´ve landed in a nice place where we have a private bathroom, TV (CNN in english and more movie channels than we have at hoome in NY), and breakfast included. And ... IT´S WARM. I´m wearing t-shirt outside right now and no gloves!!! We haven´t seen much of the city yet, but more of an update about what Sucre is all about coming soon!
Yesterday Jamie and I hopped on a 9 hour bus ride from Uyuni through Potosí to Sucre. With about an hour left to go until we reached Potosí, there was a loud sound. We pulled over, people got out to stretch/pee/etc and ten minutes later we were off once again, with the impression that we had just been leaking oil or something. This is Bolivia. No big deal. A while later, I started noticing we had been driving rather slowly for a while, and sooner or later, despite a lack of announcement or anything from the driver, we all realized the brakes were shot. Ooops. Luckily, this may be more common in than we would all think, since it really didn´t seem like a huge deal to the Bolivians. No pasa nada, we reached Potosí about 1.5 hours late. Once there, we hoped to god that this same bus would not be the bus for the continuation of the trip to Sucre. Luckily and somewhat surprisingly, a new bus showed up and after minor troubles boarding and a scary interaction with the hostile driver, we boarded and off we went. This ride was much more comfortable (hello pavement... I´ve never been so happy to see you in my life).
We arrived in Sucre and realized that, despite no indication of poor driving, our driver reaked of alcohol. That being said, here we sit in an internet cafe looking up cheap Bolivian plane tickets for the next legs of our adventure (Sucre to La Paz to Rurrenabaque and back to La Paz). Hearingn about all the strikes causing road blockages in Peru, the frigid conditions of overnight 16 hour bus rides, and the desire to avoid dangerous Bolivian bus drivers... we´d like to shell out the extra bolivianos to remain alive and keep this trip on course so we don´t waste too much time.
One note about our journey... EVERYWHERE (rocks in the middle of nowhere Bolivia, waterpipes, sides of stone houses, etc) was propoganda in favor of the new Bolivian constitution that was a big deal back in 2006. A lot it read ¨Si a la nueva constitucion¨or pictures of the Bolivian flag with ¨unidad¨messages. The new Constitution, which is supposed to give more rights to the indigenous groups and which was eventually passed, was controversial because President Evo Morales changed the amount of Assembly support needed for the new Constitution. Basically, I was shocked by the widespread propoganda created by the government throughout small (small!) communities thoughout this country.
To leave on a happy note... Sucre is beautiful and after having a little trouble finding a hotel with spaces, we´ve landed in a nice place where we have a private bathroom, TV (CNN in english and more movie channels than we have at hoome in NY), and breakfast included. And ... IT´S WARM. I´m wearing t-shirt outside right now and no gloves!!! We haven´t seen much of the city yet, but more of an update about what Sucre is all about coming soon!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Hollller Bolivia! The land of pizza, salt, and cheap everything.
Okay, before I say anything, I have to talk about the really really delicious meal Jamie and I just had. Yes, we are in Bolivia, so yes, we should be rocking it indigenous-style, but Lonely Planet gave serious puntos to this place called ¨Minuteman Revolutionary Pizza¨so claro, we had to check it out. The name seemed weird until we arrived to find it loaded with gringos (the cool kind though, not the obnoxious ones that we try to stay away from) and talked to the owner, a man from Amherst, Massachusetts who married a Bolivian woman and moved down here 12 years ago. (okay... yeah, the name still seems weird to me especially for a pretty rural area of Bolivia). Anyways, pizza! To make it plain and simple, the pizza in South America is bad. Bad bad bad. However, Minuteman Revolutionary pizza was all the rage and it felt good to be eating pesto (young James got llama meat on his pizza). To top it off, I downed a delish chocolate chip cookie taht made this whole month long trip worthwhile.
Now, let´s back it up a few days. On Tuesday, Jamie and I started a 3 day journey from the San Pedro de Atacama desert in Chile to Ayuni, Bolivia (the quite unfortunate town where we are now). Along for the ride in our cramped 4x4 were our Bolivian driver, our Bolivian meal cook, 3 Brazilian chicas who turned out to be really cool and surprisingly not-lame, and one French dude that has been traveling though Asia and South America for a while. We unfortunately did not end up travelling with the buck wild Australians that we saw in San Pedro (pretty sure they would have livened up the trip tremendously), but it was a good group all the same. Our driver was really into off-roading - and when i say off-roading I mean the things considered ¨roads¨were dirt and rock filled already so it was like one of those extreme SUV commercials set in teh desert times a million. During the trip, we saw some geysers, LOTS of lagoons (some with flamingos), and most importantly, the Great Salt Flat (basically, an expanse of salt 30 meters deep and 12,000 square kilometers - for those who are measurement impaired, that is really fucking big. The biggest in the world in fact).
While the trip was fun and definitely more intersting than sitting on a bus for 10 hours, thre were ofcourse some downfalls. I feel like I haev been in a constant state of cold since late April, and this trip just made that feeling more intense. Although they were promised, sleeping bags were nowhere to be found at any of the hostal-type places we stayed during the trek, and the places we stayed were barely insulated structures. Last night, we stayed in a building supposedly completely constructed of salt (although I saw some concrete). Words of wisdom: salt is not a good insulator and should be avoided as a construction material should you desire warmth. Anyways, here in Ayuni sought out better accomodations and immediately found a lovely hostel with double rooms for only $4 per night per person. Hollller... that totally justifies that $15 splurge pizza dinner, yeah?
Recently, I´ve been having some serious nostalgia for weirrd things. I don´t necessarily miss people (no offense, love you all) so much as I miss places and certain feelings. For instance, yesterday (perhaps due to the sub-par freezing accomodations), I had the strongest desire to be at the Scranton, PA hotel where we stay every Christmas eve. There´s nothing special about this hotel except that the same people are working every year and it´s warm and bright and there´s always a big Christmas tree and lots of empty boxes wrapped in colorful paper (and a menorah ofcourse). The ice cream in Provincetown, a Saturday morning of garage sales in Delmar, the drive down the Unirondack camp road ... all things that have been on my mind a lot recently.
That being said, I´m so pumped for the rest of the trip. Tomorow, after indulging in a large and hpefully very satisfying breakfast, we will board a 9 hour bus to Sucre, Bolivia´s judicial capital (La Paz, where we will be later in teh week is the capital for the other governmental stuff). According to Lonely Planet, we might actualy be able to get a cheap room that includes heart-shaped pillows (no joke) and cable tv. I´m also hoping that in the next week I´ll be able to find some sort of gym so I won´t feel like a slob who is failing to appropriately train for a marathon in October.
Here´s a rough schedule for the next month for those who care:
June 19- travel all day from Uyuni to Sucre, Bolivia
June 21- take overnight bus to La Paz, Bolivia
June 25- travel (hopefully by plane) to Rurrenabaque (THE JUNGLE which will hopefully include a day long community-based eco tour of an Amazonian community that Lonely Planet speaks highly of)
June 28-fly back to La Paz and stay over a night
June 29- take a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia (Lake Titicaca!!)
June 30- travel by ferry to Isla del Sol and stay over night
July 2- head back to Copacabana and bus it to Peru (the other side of Lake Titicaca or Cuzco or wherever else)
At that point, we´ll be in Peru and schedules are unnecessary (at least at this point because it took us long enough to even figure out Bolivia) as long as we see Machu Pichu. Jamie´s girlfriend Erin will join us on July 8 and we´ll likely go buck wild until the 12th when I´ll head back to Santiago for a couple days. Oh to be young...
Okay, it´s 9:16 (i.e. WAY past our bedtime. En serio, we haevn´t made it past 8:30 the last couple nights). Chao for now and feel free to comment and demand post cards and presents (did I mention that our hotel is $4? I have a feeling I will be going consumer crazy here, as long as I can figure out a way to carry it on my back around South America).
Now, let´s back it up a few days. On Tuesday, Jamie and I started a 3 day journey from the San Pedro de Atacama desert in Chile to Ayuni, Bolivia (the quite unfortunate town where we are now). Along for the ride in our cramped 4x4 were our Bolivian driver, our Bolivian meal cook, 3 Brazilian chicas who turned out to be really cool and surprisingly not-lame, and one French dude that has been traveling though Asia and South America for a while. We unfortunately did not end up travelling with the buck wild Australians that we saw in San Pedro (pretty sure they would have livened up the trip tremendously), but it was a good group all the same. Our driver was really into off-roading - and when i say off-roading I mean the things considered ¨roads¨were dirt and rock filled already so it was like one of those extreme SUV commercials set in teh desert times a million. During the trip, we saw some geysers, LOTS of lagoons (some with flamingos), and most importantly, the Great Salt Flat (basically, an expanse of salt 30 meters deep and 12,000 square kilometers - for those who are measurement impaired, that is really fucking big. The biggest in the world in fact).
While the trip was fun and definitely more intersting than sitting on a bus for 10 hours, thre were ofcourse some downfalls. I feel like I haev been in a constant state of cold since late April, and this trip just made that feeling more intense. Although they were promised, sleeping bags were nowhere to be found at any of the hostal-type places we stayed during the trek, and the places we stayed were barely insulated structures. Last night, we stayed in a building supposedly completely constructed of salt (although I saw some concrete). Words of wisdom: salt is not a good insulator and should be avoided as a construction material should you desire warmth. Anyways, here in Ayuni sought out better accomodations and immediately found a lovely hostel with double rooms for only $4 per night per person. Hollller... that totally justifies that $15 splurge pizza dinner, yeah?
Recently, I´ve been having some serious nostalgia for weirrd things. I don´t necessarily miss people (no offense, love you all) so much as I miss places and certain feelings. For instance, yesterday (perhaps due to the sub-par freezing accomodations), I had the strongest desire to be at the Scranton, PA hotel where we stay every Christmas eve. There´s nothing special about this hotel except that the same people are working every year and it´s warm and bright and there´s always a big Christmas tree and lots of empty boxes wrapped in colorful paper (and a menorah ofcourse). The ice cream in Provincetown, a Saturday morning of garage sales in Delmar, the drive down the Unirondack camp road ... all things that have been on my mind a lot recently.
That being said, I´m so pumped for the rest of the trip. Tomorow, after indulging in a large and hpefully very satisfying breakfast, we will board a 9 hour bus to Sucre, Bolivia´s judicial capital (La Paz, where we will be later in teh week is the capital for the other governmental stuff). According to Lonely Planet, we might actualy be able to get a cheap room that includes heart-shaped pillows (no joke) and cable tv. I´m also hoping that in the next week I´ll be able to find some sort of gym so I won´t feel like a slob who is failing to appropriately train for a marathon in October.
Here´s a rough schedule for the next month for those who care:
June 19- travel all day from Uyuni to Sucre, Bolivia
June 21- take overnight bus to La Paz, Bolivia
June 25- travel (hopefully by plane) to Rurrenabaque (THE JUNGLE which will hopefully include a day long community-based eco tour of an Amazonian community that Lonely Planet speaks highly of)
June 28-fly back to La Paz and stay over a night
June 29- take a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia (Lake Titicaca!!)
June 30- travel by ferry to Isla del Sol and stay over night
July 2- head back to Copacabana and bus it to Peru (the other side of Lake Titicaca or Cuzco or wherever else)
At that point, we´ll be in Peru and schedules are unnecessary (at least at this point because it took us long enough to even figure out Bolivia) as long as we see Machu Pichu. Jamie´s girlfriend Erin will join us on July 8 and we´ll likely go buck wild until the 12th when I´ll head back to Santiago for a couple days. Oh to be young...
Okay, it´s 9:16 (i.e. WAY past our bedtime. En serio, we haevn´t made it past 8:30 the last couple nights). Chao for now and feel free to comment and demand post cards and presents (did I mention that our hotel is $4? I have a feeling I will be going consumer crazy here, as long as I can figure out a way to carry it on my back around South America).
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The desert
Hola San Pedro de Atacama! Here we are in the vast expanse of desert in Northern Chile after a lovely 20 hour bus ride in the ¨semi-cama,¨ or sort-of bed, section of Turbus. It was quite delightful and although we didn´t actually get out or stop anywhere, we received three snack boxes. That´ll do it for me. We also drove through La Serena on the way (about 6 hours north of Santiago) and it looked really beautiful so I definitely regret not making a weekend trip there. Next time.
Jamie is sitting at the computer next to me and I think he just farted. In an internet cafe. Poor other customers who had no previous warning that they were in the presence of a savage American. Speaking of savage, yesterday on teh bus I spilled my peaches all over the floor and had to deal with that sticky peach smell for the rest of the ride. Whoever decided it would be a good idea to serve peaches on a 20 hour bus ride was asking for trouble.
We arrived in Calama this morning around 9 am to find that it is exactly the shithole that Lonely Planet describes. Fortunately, although we originally thought we would have to head back there to get a trip into Bolivia, it now looks as though we´ll leave directly from this town and never ever have to enter Calama again. No tears about that. We just bought tickets for a 4 am trip to the geysers tomorrow which promises to be butt-chillingly cold. Apparently there is also an option to swim in the hot springs afterwards but I´ve heard the term ¨hot¨is used pretty loosely so I´m not getting my hopes up. Tuesday morning we´ll leave for a 3 day expedition into Bolivia riding in a 4x4 with other tourists who with serious luck won´t turn out to be dumb bitches. I think we´ll be seeing a significant amount of things made of salt during this adventure, which sounds just to my liking. I´m also enthused for the cheapness that will come in Bolivia. No doubt it will satisfy my itch for consumerism.
Hope all is well back in the estados. I hear the NY State Senate is in shambles (what else is new) and that Delmar has a new farmers´market.... I´ll be happy to hit that up upon my return. July 16... plan those parties.
Jamie is sitting at the computer next to me and I think he just farted. In an internet cafe. Poor other customers who had no previous warning that they were in the presence of a savage American. Speaking of savage, yesterday on teh bus I spilled my peaches all over the floor and had to deal with that sticky peach smell for the rest of the ride. Whoever decided it would be a good idea to serve peaches on a 20 hour bus ride was asking for trouble.
We arrived in Calama this morning around 9 am to find that it is exactly the shithole that Lonely Planet describes. Fortunately, although we originally thought we would have to head back there to get a trip into Bolivia, it now looks as though we´ll leave directly from this town and never ever have to enter Calama again. No tears about that. We just bought tickets for a 4 am trip to the geysers tomorrow which promises to be butt-chillingly cold. Apparently there is also an option to swim in the hot springs afterwards but I´ve heard the term ¨hot¨is used pretty loosely so I´m not getting my hopes up. Tuesday morning we´ll leave for a 3 day expedition into Bolivia riding in a 4x4 with other tourists who with serious luck won´t turn out to be dumb bitches. I think we´ll be seeing a significant amount of things made of salt during this adventure, which sounds just to my liking. I´m also enthused for the cheapness that will come in Bolivia. No doubt it will satisfy my itch for consumerism.
Hope all is well back in the estados. I hear the NY State Senate is in shambles (what else is new) and that Delmar has a new farmers´market.... I´ll be happy to hit that up upon my return. July 16... plan those parties.
Friday, June 12, 2009
I went to Easter Island?
EASTER ISLAND!!! Ahhhh!! Okay, so for those who are unaware, Easter Island (or, la Isla de Pascuas in Spanish, or Rapa Nui in Island talk) is a sub-tropical island that is about a 6 hour plane ride off the West coast of South America. Word is that it is the island farthest off of any coast in the world (but I don’t have any legit sources for that and I’m not sure I believe it, so don’t call me out on that). I don’t think I ever would have heard of Easter Island, except that when I was little and I used to have to fill out my address online for random things that I didn’t want to provide my real address for, I would always put Easter Island (not sure why… just liked the sound of it).
There are about 5000 people that live on the island, and according to Lonely Planet, about 50,000 tourists per year. I expected our flight from Santiago to be small and scary, but it was actually the biggest plane I think I’ve ever been on (picture Snakes on a Plane minus the upstairs part) and it was very comfortable and smooth. There were 44 movies to select from (everything from current Blockbusters like He’s Just Not that Into You, which I watched, to oldies like Ghost and Flashdance). We took off at 8 AM, but with all this entertainment there was no hope of sleep. Besides, the semi-creepy men sitting across the aisle from me were playing Who Wants to be a Millionaire from the game options and were continuously getting up to help each other and screaming when they got an answer correct. Hooray for them. But in the end… 6 hours… no problem.
Arriving on the island was really exciting. It was really neat to fly in and see water on both sides of you (hoping there’s a strip of land in there somewhere). I think the runway might actually span a large portion of the island. We walked off the plane right outdoors (I love when you can do that, I feel like it’s so Hollywood) and all the tourists are greeted by their hotel guides with beautiful flower lays. I’ve never been to Hawaii, but I imagine it’s sort of like arriving in Hawaii (minus 99 percent of the development and tourism nonsense).
As I'm writing this, I just received an e-mail from my father saying,
"How about a blog update, it's been 3 weeks, pathetic! love, dad"
True. Okay, back to Rapa Nui!!!
The first two days were filled mainly with group excursions (in a bus) to the different sites on the island. For those unaware, Easter Island is famous for the "moai" stone statues that are all over the island. According to Wikipedia there are about 887.... I don't think we saw that many, but we did see a tonnnn. There are all sorts of interesting historical facts about these statues and a lot of them have been restored after having been moved or pushed down during a war on the island. Sorry I can't be more specific- I got back about a week ago so some of my memory is shot, but I was also only half listening when we first learned all about this because I was so in shock by the beauty all around me on the island. We also saw an old volcano that may or may not be the coolest thing I've ever seen... I'm still deciding. That night, we went to a traditional Rapanui dance show featuring both men and women with the sickest bodies I've ever seen. Seriously, I was so impressed by their toned and chiseled stomachs that I had a hard time focusing on anything else. Later, some people in my group went out to a club (I was asleep as usual) and met these same male dancers only to discover that they were 100 percent creepy). What a shame.
The last full day on the island - our free day - was the best day I've had all semester I think. My friend Keiko and I rented bikes and without really realizing what we were getting ourselves into, we started to bike around the island. In the end, we biked almost the entire perimeter of the island (50 km or 30 miles) and saw beautiful scenery everywhere. We weren't in any sort of rush, but our bums hurt real bad and we kept running into gangs of cows or horses that we became convinced would charge and kill us. Luckily, we made it through alive and successfully made our way around the island to the main beach on Easter Island. The air was cold. The water was warmer. Keiks and I ate a meal for kings prepared by a real passive-agressive Rapanui woman who was kept entertained by a much younger French man guide on his day off. He told us several outrageous things about his life: He came to the island and after 18 days, married a Rapanui woman who he has been with for the last 16 years. His twin brother and he once switched passports and went to different continents (thus: he has never reaaaally been to the US, but his passport has, so he HAS). He was also part of the current royal family on Easter Island which is selected every year by some strange tradition I don't recall. After spending about an hour with this man, we went for a quick dip in the ocean, biked the final 20 km and rested our bums for a long time.
I have to stop writing as it's my LAST morning in La Reina at Cecilia's house and I have to leave in 30 minutes to go meet Jamie at the bus station for our 20+ hour ride to the very north of Chile into the desert. Our actual plans are still shaky but they include several weeks in Bolivia and then more in Peru. Who knows... Here's a few scattered pictures .
There are about 5000 people that live on the island, and according to Lonely Planet, about 50,000 tourists per year. I expected our flight from Santiago to be small and scary, but it was actually the biggest plane I think I’ve ever been on (picture Snakes on a Plane minus the upstairs part) and it was very comfortable and smooth. There were 44 movies to select from (everything from current Blockbusters like He’s Just Not that Into You, which I watched, to oldies like Ghost and Flashdance). We took off at 8 AM, but with all this entertainment there was no hope of sleep. Besides, the semi-creepy men sitting across the aisle from me were playing Who Wants to be a Millionaire from the game options and were continuously getting up to help each other and screaming when they got an answer correct. Hooray for them. But in the end… 6 hours… no problem.
Arriving on the island was really exciting. It was really neat to fly in and see water on both sides of you (hoping there’s a strip of land in there somewhere). I think the runway might actually span a large portion of the island. We walked off the plane right outdoors (I love when you can do that, I feel like it’s so Hollywood) and all the tourists are greeted by their hotel guides with beautiful flower lays. I’ve never been to Hawaii, but I imagine it’s sort of like arriving in Hawaii (minus 99 percent of the development and tourism nonsense).
As I'm writing this, I just received an e-mail from my father saying,
"How about a blog update, it's been 3 weeks, pathetic! love, dad"
True. Okay, back to Rapa Nui!!!
The first two days were filled mainly with group excursions (in a bus) to the different sites on the island. For those unaware, Easter Island is famous for the "moai" stone statues that are all over the island. According to Wikipedia there are about 887.... I don't think we saw that many, but we did see a tonnnn. There are all sorts of interesting historical facts about these statues and a lot of them have been restored after having been moved or pushed down during a war on the island. Sorry I can't be more specific- I got back about a week ago so some of my memory is shot, but I was also only half listening when we first learned all about this because I was so in shock by the beauty all around me on the island. We also saw an old volcano that may or may not be the coolest thing I've ever seen... I'm still deciding. That night, we went to a traditional Rapanui dance show featuring both men and women with the sickest bodies I've ever seen. Seriously, I was so impressed by their toned and chiseled stomachs that I had a hard time focusing on anything else. Later, some people in my group went out to a club (I was asleep as usual) and met these same male dancers only to discover that they were 100 percent creepy). What a shame.
The last full day on the island - our free day - was the best day I've had all semester I think. My friend Keiko and I rented bikes and without really realizing what we were getting ourselves into, we started to bike around the island. In the end, we biked almost the entire perimeter of the island (50 km or 30 miles) and saw beautiful scenery everywhere. We weren't in any sort of rush, but our bums hurt real bad and we kept running into gangs of cows or horses that we became convinced would charge and kill us. Luckily, we made it through alive and successfully made our way around the island to the main beach on Easter Island. The air was cold. The water was warmer. Keiks and I ate a meal for kings prepared by a real passive-agressive Rapanui woman who was kept entertained by a much younger French man guide on his day off. He told us several outrageous things about his life: He came to the island and after 18 days, married a Rapanui woman who he has been with for the last 16 years. His twin brother and he once switched passports and went to different continents (thus: he has never reaaaally been to the US, but his passport has, so he HAS). He was also part of the current royal family on Easter Island which is selected every year by some strange tradition I don't recall. After spending about an hour with this man, we went for a quick dip in the ocean, biked the final 20 km and rested our bums for a long time.
I have to stop writing as it's my LAST morning in La Reina at Cecilia's house and I have to leave in 30 minutes to go meet Jamie at the bus station for our 20+ hour ride to the very north of Chile into the desert. Our actual plans are still shaky but they include several weeks in Bolivia and then more in Peru. Who knows... Here's a few scattered pictures .
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