amazonas, islas y wrestling

Coming back to Quito for the start of may was fun. I met a few british girls at the hostel and spent 4 days hanging out with them, eating out, going to pubs, wandering through the neighborhood. Jo and Rebecca told me about an 3 night amazon trip they'd gone on here in Ecuador that they adored, and after a little research I booked the flight for may 2 - 5. Yachana Lodge is a locally-sustaining reserve on 4,300 acres of protected rainforest. I left Quito on Friday morning and after a plane ride and then a canoe ride up the Napo River, I arrived at the lodge itself. In our first afternoon i spotted pygmie marmoset monkeys, parrots, and wandered up into the hills to check out the sunset over the river. That night along with my guide Juan and his girlfriend Gabriela, I went out on a night walk to spy on frogs, snakes and spiders in their icky glory.

The next two days consisted of long walks through the jungle seeing and learning about medicinal plants (amazonian coca, jungle garlic, wild lemon), birds, frogs and wild fruit. Juan showed me how to strip a palm leaf and turn it into a woven fiber bracelet! I visited the curandero (medicine man) who cleansed my ailments by blowing smoke at me, chanting, whistling, and waving a bouquet of wild lemon and ginger leaves over me. while we were there an owl came to perch on the porch of the house and gaze at us calmly; while Gabi told me how peaceful birds felt around the curandero a flock of toucans came in to say hello too! After we'd all been cleansed we went down to the yard to throw spears and blow darts. i was much more successful with dart blowing, getting 2 out of 3 into the papaya i was aiming for. On my last afternoon we saw a family of tamarind monkeys and Juan even caught a screeching baby for a photo op. I also walked down river to visit the school and community sustained by the eco-lodge, visiting the vegetable gardens, the school, the handcraft building and even some pigs who will one day get eaten. there was even a homemade butterfly house where a few lazy butterflies hung out sipping sugar water off of sponges. The food was great, Juan and Gabi were great and the lodge was really homey and rustic, but not too rustic. I was sad to make that long canoe ride back down the river on May 5.

Just a few days later, on May 8, I took another flight - this time for the Galapagos Islands. The plane landed on San Cristobal island and I met up with 7 shipmates and our guide Raul. Our sailboat, Sulidae, is a 100 year old Norwegian pirate ship, with room for 12 guests and a staff of 7. The accomodations were a little "rustic" but was much more charming than the boring fiberglass motor boats that sail around the islands. plus we had Carol, who prepared us the most amazing food in what was effectively a shoebox with a stove. Over 7 days we visited four of the main islands, San Cristobal, Santa Cruz, Floreana and Isabela, with stops to little islands off their coasts along the way.

One of the highlights of the tour was swimming with sea lions. The Galapagos Islands is the farthest north sea lions have ever migrated permanently; same goes for the galapagos penguins. They adapted to the warmer temps because they have no natural predators here and there is abundant amounts of food. We sailed to Isla Lobos where baby sea lions are protected from the elements and are extremely curious about the strangers who come slapping through with goggles and fins. My other favorite sighting were the marine iguanas that we saw on Isla Las Tintoreras. They can get up to 4 feet long and cluster in groups while sunning on rocks after swimming for up to an hour in the deep sea. We snorkeled a LOT, which was really great. there are some beautiful tropical fish, manta and sting rays, and on my last day there I saw a 4-5 foot long white tip shark!

And, of course, the turtles. We saw plenty of sea turtles while snorkeling, and even their nests on the golden beaches of Isla Bartolomé, but we got really up close and personal with the land tortoises, which are not only at the Charles Darwin Research Center, but in protected reserves on each island. Scientists are actively breeding the various races of land tortoises and they have actually come off the endangered species list because of it. There are three different species of tortoise on the island, and because it is so easy for them to find food, and they are relatively safe from predators, they can get up over 100lbs and live well into their 150s...

The cool science fact I learned about the Galapagos was that the tetonic land plate it is on is slowly shifting eastward towards mainland, but instead of crashing into ecuador, it is sinking below the South American land plate. There used to be even more islands in the group (circa millions of years ago) that have now sunk under South America and the islands that are here today will also sink below SA in the next million years. Luckily the islands are volcanic and new land masses are bubbling up out of the ocean in the west, slowly but surely. We hiked and rode horses across some volcanic fields and caldera rims and even crawled through an underground lava tunnel!

Sailing around for 7 days wasn't bad either. There were a lot of travelers my age on board and we got on really well, relaxing on deck, taking turns steering the boat, and even jumping off the prow together at sunset the last day. It was an all around amazing experience.
After Galapagos I made my way back through Peru, stopping for a few days in Lima, where the Flying Dog Hostel staff remembered me and made me free pisco sours, and then on to Cuzco where the city was in the middle of Corpus Christi celebrations! Parades of religious followers filled the street, dancing, playing instruments or carrying one of the 15 saints represented by churches throughout the area. there was an open air mass on the 22nd and the Plaza de Armas was just packed! I found a nice hostel that actually kept their word on hot showers, and I hung out with people there, and my last night in Cuzco, SAE hosted movie night.

By May 24 I was already back in La Paz, Bolivia. I was reunited with Jeremy, a traveler I'd met in Cuzco a few months ago, and along with my dormmate Helen and a group of guys we met, we all went to the outskirts of La Paz to see Cholitas wrestling. The concept is odd: traditional ladies with poofy satin skirts, multi-layered sweaters topped by a sparkly shawl, long black braids and a top hat get in a standard wrestling ring and fight it out. Sadly my camera spazzed out during a pre-fight fight, and the most interesting shot i got was that of the night's first dwarf wrestler. In reality the cholitas only fought one round, but it was the best one of the night. the crowd was active as well...a rouge ref got smashed in the back of the head with a raw egg, and a number of wrestlers took tomato hits.

I have been in Sucre since the 26th and even had a chance to visit the silver mining city Potosí. The Cerro Rico that has been plundered for over 400 years has reaped enough silver"to build a silver bridge from Potosí to Spain" - unfortunately since the mines are run by outside companies the city itself sees no profits and is really quite poor. I skipped the grueling 4 hour mine tour that most tourists do and enjoyed watching parades in the streets and stopped in at the museum chronicling the city's history. Now back in Sucre I have been, rather tragically, halted from traveling. The city is having a general strike (not sure why) and the airport closed in support on the day i was to head to Tarija, "the Andalucía of Bolivia." im disappointed in having to miss out on bolivian wine country, but next I'm off to Santa Cruz to visit the famous jesuit missions in the east...and who are we kidding, shop.

photo #1: being cleansed by the local curandero

photo #2: a hungry galapagos tortoise

photo #3: our pirate ship Sulidae

photo #4: a regal marine lizard

photo #5: a blue footed booby (seriously.)

photo #6: cholitas (non-wrestling) in Cusco during Corpus Christi

photo #7: before my camera crapped out at the wrestling ring

ecuador y colombia

On april 1st I was laying on a white sand beach while waves lapped at my toes and the sun kept me warm. not bad, huh? CJ and I had made it to Montañita, which in the end we considered an entirely missable town, but the beach is always delightful. We kept our chins up and headed to the next beach town, Canoa. In four days there the pendulum swung from a really uncomfortable visit to a really amazing visit. The not so great part was staying at the cheap "recommended" hostel and getting eaten alive by mosquitos (my face had over 100 bites alone) until we switched and went to a $12 a night place that actually had windows, screens, doors, etc. The really great part (besides the nicer hostel) was an extensive beach with rented colored tents and masses of beautiful seashells and sand dollars.

On the 8th we bussed, boated, and bussed again to Quito. The area most populated with backpackers is La Mariscal, called New Town and is replete with great restaurants, bars, shopping and young people. Old Town is where all the museums, government buildings and monuments are, and we did spend a day there walking around the hilly streets. We saw clowns, a military horn band, government guards who looked like nutcrackers, a strike, and a chorus and guitar band playing on the square. A very odd day. The rest of our time in Quito was about relaxing and planning...CJ planning to go back to the US, me planning my last 4 months in south america. and shopping. on CJ's last day (april 15, ominous for so many reasons) we ate a pancake breakfast, got manicures, pedicures, ate thai for lunch, walked all over the neighborhood, arranged my galapagos trip, watched movies at our hostel while drinking wine and had indian for dinner. At 3AM on the 16th CJ left for the airport and I wondered how i was going to make it on my own.

I didn't have much time to sulk though; on april 18th I hopped on my first flight in 4 months, to Bogotá, Colombia. Bogotá is enormous, the touristy center is fairly compact but the city itself goes on for miles and miles. they have an intricate transportation system called TransMilenio that weaves all over the city, and i used it to get me to the north end where i caught a bus for a day trip to Zipaquira. The town itself doesnt have much attraction, but the hills surrounding it are filled with salt - this is a premier salt mining town. i visited the catedral de sal, which was rebuilt on a grander scale in 1992 when the first one became unsafe to visit. historically it was made as a place for worship for the miners whose lives depended on the salt mines, but the rebuild was adorned by such formidable colombian artists that it is a very popular tourist attraction. our guide Marixa led us down 1,800 meters into the salt caves where we passed through abstract representations of the stations of the cross before weaving through a sinner's labyrinth to the main cathedral. Three naves served different purposes, the first was birth, were baptisms are performed and a wall of bright white salt shows the path of a trickling waterfall that enters the from runoff water. the second was life, where "the world's largest underground crucifix" is positioned and offers a neat optical illusion. finally there is the third nave where rememberances and eulogies are given for the departed, but at the back of the nave is a tunnel that leads right back to the first nave, representing reincarnation. it was pretty cool, and a lot different than i anticipated, as un-worked salt rock is black, not white.

Villa de Leiva was my next stop, an area that used to be completely submerged under a prehistoric sea. Thus the region has a lot of really freaky fossils - i saw a baby and adult kronosaurus - the baby only reached 13 feet, the adult about 29 feet..without its tail. there were a few other fossils in the complex and i was blown away at how huge even snail shells were. god was certainly not messing around with those creatures. "go big or go home" takes on a whole new meaning. that same day i went over to the an open air archeological museum to check out the remains of the Muisca tribes central passion...astronomy and the phallus. in a large field of rather indiscreet rock formations i learned that the way they were placed indicated to the Muisca people different seasons and times of day that would be useful for their agriculture. there was a half buried tomb that was somewhat unimpressive after wandering through a field of...rocks. yeah. back in Villa de Leiva, the town is chock-full of white wash walls, red roof tiles and droopy bouganvilla which was pretty to walk around.

On the 22nd I took a quick morning flight to Cartagena, which is the most beautiful city i have seen so far in South America. the historical center is enclosed in a thick stone wall with turrets and canons, and the city itself looks like a frosted wedding cake in beautiful vibrant colors. I spent some time just walking around the city admiring buildings, the portal de los dulces where candy and cookies are sold all along a portico and even stopping in the museo de oro to admire colombian goldwork. i was staying in a bit nicer hotel for the 2 nights i was there so in down time i sat on the roof terrace and read, or dipped my toes in the jacuzzi. the next day I had arranged for an excursion to the Volcan del Totumo and went along with a really fun group of brits and americans to this giant mud volcano. 20 feet high, the volcano I suppose is really more of a geyser, as it spews hot water into dirt and creates big mud explosions occasionally. it was tame for us (luckily) and we climbed a big dirty staircase up to the top and slipped down into the 500 meter pit of mud. It was a very strange feeling - being completely suspended in really thick creamy mud that kind of felt like pudding. after a few people received massages from the volcano workers we splashed around and tried to see if anyone could get all the way under, which all resulted in a mud fight. to clean off we splashed around in a lake nearby and had our suits and hair washed by the women who worked there. after a coconut and mango break to dry off, we went off to lunch in a restaurant by the caribbean. swimming in mud could be the most fun i've had so far!

I got a debilitating ear infection while in Cartagena, which did put a damper on my fun, but I got myself some antibiotics and got on a flight to Cali in the south of Colombia. The south is known for being unstable politically, and kind of violent in general. a cab driver I rode with at one point scared the hell out of me with stories of what they do to gringas alone in cabs late at night...luckily he worked with the pension i was staying at so i didn't panick too much. I found Cali rather unimpressive...a few museums to see, and after the talk with the cabbie I wasnt super enthused to go out to salsa clubs late at night...alone. I did take a bus out to Popayan which is a very small and very quiet town that has preserved its spanish colonial feel really well.

I am back in Quito today and leave for the amazon jungle on Friday, and the Galapagos Islands the following Thursday. I had a pretty nice time in Colombia, though it would have been more fun with friends, and I really enjoy Quito, it feels like home, strangely enough. not for much longer i suppose!

1 - me and CJ in Vilcabamba at the fountain of youth

2 - the tent man saved us a pink tent every day we were in Canoa!

3 - shortly before a rowdy mud fight broke out

4 - a lovely cartagena church

5 - flowers, emeralds and carriages in cartagena

peru es fascinante!

After el valle sagrado, everything has happened very quickly. On march 8 we set off for nasca, a delightful 14 hour bus ride straight out to the coast. we arrived the next morning and upon meeting two british girls, Lucy and Rosilyn, we found an overflight tour and went straight to the local airport. Nasca is the name of the town, but also the name of the indigenous culture that existed in between 100 - 500 AD, that thrived living in the arid desert of southern Peru. They were a nomadic bunch, so there are no remaining ruins to see because they never constructed cities. What they did leave behind is even more amazing. There are over 325 Nasca drawings carved into the desert plateaus all around Nasca, and even more straight lines, grid patterns and paths. The desert here used to be a sea, so the sand is very fine and yellow; what the Nasca did was clear rocks away to expose the yellow earth, which makes up the lines. Our flight was in a 6 seater plane and lasted 35 minutes. We were late in the morning so the air was a little choppy, but no one got sick (whew!). We only saw 12 of the 325 lines, but they were amazing! The area sees very little rain or wind, so they are perfectly perserved geoglyphs.

Back on land, the four of us left Nasca for Ica the same day, a much shorter bus ride. We ended up staying in a little oasis outside of Ica (as it is a rather unimpressive town) called Huacachina. surrounded by high sand dunes, the oasis is complete with a pond, palm trees, and some really good bars. our hostel itself had a pool, hammocks, a capuchin monkey, lots of parrots, and a tiki bar where jimmy the bartender made us homemade pisco sours! The next day we spent lounging around the pool reading, and in the evening we went out to the dunes in a dune buggy to sandboard. i'm pretty crap at sports, but i figured i wouldn't get terribly injured and it was really fun! we went down most hills on our stomachs, they were both long and steep and when i got to the bottom of a few i thought i was going to keep going and shoot off another dune. the not fun part was having every crevice filled with sand. i couldn't get it out of my right ear for the next three days! our driver spun us around the dunes while cassidy pretended she was on a roller coaster ride, and we stopped to watch the sunset before taking one last run down the biggest dune right outside of huacachina. On the 11th we enjoyed our last meal at Bananas, an outdoor bar and lounge that made massive fruit salads and fresh juices, before we went out on a wine and pisco tour. Ica is Peru's "wine country" though because of climate and location is really more apt to produce the famous pisco brandy. Besides a chocolate "tejas" factory, we visited two bodegas, one artesanal where we were allowed to stomp grapes with the workers, and one modern bodega, Vista Alegre, that does produce a few dry wines - a Malbec/Cabernet Sauvignon blend, a Chenin Blanc/Pedro Ximenez blend, and a rosé made from their pisco grape. The wine certainly wasn't on par with Chilean wine, but was decent, and Peruvians do have a leg up on the pisco production, which they maintain originated in Peru, not in Chile, as Chileans would have you believe. It is a debate worth examining in depth, so bring on the samples!

From Ica we wound up the coast to Lima, which may be the largest sprawling city i've seen so far. the neighborhoods are just huge, but we were lucky enough to be in Miraflores, an upbeat nice area with lots of hostels, bars, shopping, etc. Besides all the shopping and eating well, we spent a day in the center of Lima. The coolest place we checked out was the San Francisco monastery and catacombs. the monastery was extensive, and really interesting though the catacombs underneath were not so fresh smelling. The library was gorgeous, with handpainted texts and choral books done by the monks themselves, and in the dining hall was a painting of the Last Supper with all the apostles eating peruvian cuisine...even guinea pig!! by the way, we did not end up trying that highly rated cuisine. ick! In some restaurants they let you pick the little "cuy" you want out of the guinea pig pen.

Since Lima we have been beach hopping (it's a hard knock life...). We spent a week in Huanchaco, Peru, eating snow cones drenched in natural fruit juices (coconut, lemon, passion fruit, mango) and eating spicy and delicious ceviche in outdoor cafes. Now, we did also take a cultural detour to check out the ruins of local Moche and Chimu indians. The Moche built two pyramids (called huacas de la luna and el sol) that were filled with the remains of religious and political leaders. As these people died, a new level would be added to the pyramid, making it taller. Honestly you probably wouldn't look at these Huacas and think "pyramid," they really just look like giant mud hills, but under a thin layer of this fine mud remains some amazing artwork, still vibrant and very evocative. What I found the most amazing were the depicitions of sea life, crabs, catfish, manta rays, pelicans, octupi, and more assorted fish. It was all so beautiful, and so completely different than the ruins we have seen in southern peru. We also visited Chan Chan, a complex of 9+ cities built entirely out of mud by the Chimu people. The preserved and restored art we saw there was also very impressive, and beside the fact that they were able to well for fresh water in the middle of the desert, i thought it was amazing that when each of their kings died, they would close down the citadel they had built and the new king would build another one.

Right before left Peru we spent another few days in Mancora, Peru, a surfing hotspot. At the end of the first day we were there, there was even a surf competition! And we made friends with a local fruit man and feasted on juicy mangos, entire coconuts and big chunks of ripe watermelon. it was heavenly. We were rather sad to leave, understandably, but we were really excited about getting to Ecuador. After an exquisite and oh-so-comfortable 15 hour travel day in buses, Cassidy and I arrived in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. Vilcabamba used to be controlled by the Inca, and was the supposed site of the fountain of youth. We stayed at a superb resort hostel called Hosteria Izhcayluma, which cost $9 USD a person and included buffet breakfast, a laguna pool, movie room, and had the world's cheapest spa treatments available. On our first day we hiked through the neighborhood, took some bikes out to roll around the town, swung in hammocks reading, and finished the day with facials, and a hair mask. On our second day we decided to do a full day horseback riding tour of Vilcabamba and the Podocarpus National Park and cloud forest.

At 9AM a guide picked us up and brought us in to town where we mounted up, I was on Pálido, Cassidy on Tequila (heh). we rode for 2 hours up into the mountains, our poor horses were panting by the time we reached the national park limits. The region is so lush and green, and fat, happy cows meander all over the hillsides chomping grass and lounging. The view was amazing, and when we dismounted we started on a 2 hour hike down to check out a couple waterfalls. they had told us at the hostel that the tap water was safe to drink because it came straight from this park, and i even drank straight from the stream while we stopped for lunch. the water was clear and very fresh. After lunch our guide Alvaro turned sadist and made us climb up the mountain to get a view of the waterfall from above. after 25 minutes of hanging from slippery tree roots and bamboo shoots, we made it to the top. When we made it back to our horses we had another 3 hours of riding to get back to Vilcabamba. We crossed the river a bunch of times, cantered through shady paths and generally had a wonderful, though exhausting ride. I felt like both my kneecaps had been broken by the time we dismounted, but it was so worth the muscle aches!

After Vilcabamba we spent a night in Cuenca, where we essentially shopped and ate chocolate, and now we are back at the beach, having just arrived in Montañita, Ecuador. The water here is even warmer and calmer than the beaches in peru, and our hostel looks right over the ocean. We are truly blessed.

#1: the Astronaut geoglyph in Nasca, Peru

#2: me trying to sandboard

#3: stomping pisco grapes in Ica

#4: vibrant artwork at Huaca de la Luna

#5: the crowd and the tótora reed boats in Huanchaco

El Valle Sagrado

Peru's Sacred Valley happened like a drive-by: you are completely changed from the experience, but you're not exactly sure what happened. Good thing I took photos...let's see if I can piece it all together.

DIA 1
Cassidy and I made our way to the Cusco train station for our 650AM train to Aguas Calientes, the town outside of Machu Picchu. we arrived at 11AM and after being told that there were no discounts for 2 day tickets (stupid lying guide book!) we decided not to make the journey the same day. Instead, we would have a delightfully relaxing day in our hotel. Oh, but while we are here, why don't we do this 1.5 hour hike that my guide book recommends, to Putucusi, a lookout point where you can see all of Machu Picchu from afar. rad! We start up the trail, which was pretty much vertical the whole time. that was fine when it was a winding dirt path with a few clusters of stone stairs meandering up the side of the mountain. we came upon a set of ladders and i took some photos on it...oooh, look at the rustic ladder, we are such hikers! yeah, it was all a joke until we came upon the second ladder. the second ladder, and its two successors were first of all, stapled into the sheer vertical mountainside. also, they ranged between two and three stories tall. ps: we were in the damp tropical part of the forest. so we made our way up these neverending ladders, trying not to hyperventilate, and cassidy continuously asking "are we sure we want to see this?" we did. finally, oh finally we arrived panting and perspirating to the open clearing at the top. or so we thought. as we walked along the thin path with double sided dropoffs straight down the valley we couldn't see machu picchu. we looked everywhere. Cassidy pointed ominously at the second, higher peak beyond us and asked "do we have to go up there?" (it was more of a weeping really). "no, no that just couldn't be. let's continue on this trail though." my famous last words. we did have to continue onwards and upwards for another half hour, and though we both contemplated just throwing ourselves over the edge to end our suffering, the view was delightful. oh, but then we had to go back down.


DIA 2
The alarm went off at 430AM. By 530AM we were on a bus up to Machu Picchu, and by 6AM we were there. Unfortunately (maybe) we visited on a rainy day. We were there for 7 hours and it let up for about an hour. ah well. our first stop was Waynu Picchu (which means New Mountain, while Machu Picchu means Old Mountain). Waynu Picchu is so treacherous a hiking trail, that only 400 visitors are allowed to enter daily so as not to stress the path. there are also loads of warnings against unfit or unhealthy people from entering. there will be no emergency helicopter to come pick up your disfigured body...you will die there. well with all that buildup, cassidy and i were numbers 1 and 2 into Waynu Picchu. Here's my Machu Picchu secret: American explorer Hiram Bingham wasn't the first explorer to find Machu Picchu...he was just the first one who actually looked at all those stairs and said "come on guys, this will be fun!" stupid americans. More so than Machu, Waynu is like the stairmaster from hell (TM Cassidy Schindler). It would be awfully easy to just climb up a bunch of stairs to get to the top of a mountain, but wouldn't it be much more fun if we went up down, backwards and forwards, then up again? :) I was pretty bummed out that the clouds were obscuring the seriously steep view of the bottom of the valley as we scrambled along like billy goats, old asthmatic billy goats. Honestly it was fun, until cassidy admitted her fear of heights, and then i was glad for the clouds. We could tell we were really high up in any case, and clung appropriately to any rock we could grip. At the top we explored the ruins of a wealthy dignitary's cliffside home and extensive terraces. I found it amazing that this used to be a religious and vacation center for Incas living in Cusco. What, the beach was too far? After reaching the top, we once again followed an up-and-down path to the Temple of the Moon, which ended up being almost at river level. It was quiet and simple, the rain had let up and we paused there to eat lunch. Omnipresent in our minds was the fact that we had to ascend once more to escape Waynu Picchu. We'll just leave it at "not pretty". Wandering around Machu Picchu's urban center was really nice, even though the rain started a mass exodus from the clouds and we were soaked through. none of my photos do the sanctuary justice, sadly. It was a fully functioning city, with an observatory, religious temples, factories, cemeteries, homes for commoners and upper class, a main square and a lot of agricultural terraces. What I found interesting too, was the similarity between the site and what little of Ireland's ruins I have visited. Beside a similarly green and damp setting, the buildings look as if out of fuedal britain, stone buildings with peaked thatched roofs. I guess I had been thinking all the geometry of the Mayans of Mexico, but it wasn't that at all. In our last hour we trekked over to the Inca Bridge, which looks terrifying to cross, which tourists can't anymore. on absolutely a 90º drop on bald rock, the Inca's tossed a long plank across a 75-100ft gap and called it a bridge. After that we were done. hobbling and delirious we began our descent to the entrance gates, but not before Cassidy slapped a llama (a la Tim Allen's epic film Wild Hogs) and we ran screaming. okay, it was still hobbling.

DIA 3

Gluttons for punishment as we are, at 535AM we found ourselves on a train headed back down the valley to Ollantaytambo (say that five times fast). At 536AM we were asleep. In Ollantaytambo, a nice bed & breakfast owner tried to explain to us that we could not check into a room at 730AM so we stumbled down the dirt road to check out the Ollantaytambo ruins. Besides being a really beautiful town that i highly recommend visiting (you know, if you're in the area), Ollantaytambo is the site of one of the Inca civilization's last stands against the evil, twirly-moustached Spaniards. When the Pizarro brothers conquered Cusco, the Inca leader Inka Pachacutec had already retreated into the Valley. Not satisfied with what is considered to be over 20 billion dollars of gold that the Pizarros stole from Peru, he followed in hot pursuit. The day he launched his "surprise" attack against Ollantaytambo, he found that Inka Pachacutec had fortified the hillside city, and was waiting for Pizarro. His troops unleashed a hail of razor sharp arrows, launched boulders, and when the Spanish reversed course, Inka Pachacutec had the Río Urubamba diverted to flood the troops out! Scared and confused, Francisco Pizarro chose to wait for reinforcements coming up from Arica while Inka Pachacutec escaped to Vilcabamba. Go Inka! Ollantaytambo's ruins are also extensive and well-maintained, and because it was actually sunny, became the site of a rather off-beat Top Model Photo Shoot. (oh only the sevillanas will understand...) We noticed even more ruins across the valley, and headed over there for more billy-goating on non-existent paths. Turns out the facing ruins are store houses for all the delicious grains, potatos and vegetables that the Inca cultivated. By the time we wobbled down that hill, we were ready for the eucalyptus sauna our b&b offered.

DIA 4

We went to Urubamba. Urubamba is not a nice place and Cassidy and I are going to pretend that day never happened.

DIA 5 - 6

Oh sweet sweet, Pisac/P'isaq. we arrived early enough to catch yet another rain storm as we wandered around the Pisac Ruins. There are no great war stories regarding Pisac, but it was another really great ruins site with impressive stone work and clear division between neighborhoods (military, religious, agricultural, residential). There is also a tunnel to crawl through wondering if spiders are dropping into your hair. all thrilling really. The skies cleared while we spent the rest of the afternoon in bed. seriously, we were Tired. When we woke up the next morning, glowing from all the ibuprofen we'd taken, we ventured out early into Pisac's famous market. 2 pairs of earrings, a bracelet, 4 pairs of pants, pillow covers, and all of cassidy's purchases later, we were on a pure buying high with no more legitimate gift purchases to make. we ate lunch in town, played with the kittens at our hostal, and rather regrettably got on a bus back to Cusco.

After knocking on a million doors in Cusco looking for a hostel, we found one, and went over to the South American Explorers Clubhouse for a traditional Peruvian dinner buffet. As we chatted with other like-minded travelers storm clouds and lightning rolled into the city, and as we tucked into Rocoto relleno, tamales, and papas rellenas it began to hail. Seemed like a fitting end to our excursion.

Valle Sagrado Tip #1: Start in Pisac, busing your way in.
Valle Sagrado Tip #2: Don't go in rainy season.
Valle Sagrado Tip #3: Train for all the ruins by running the Boston Marathon.

tres paises en un mes

where do i even begin? Okay...on Feb 6 Cassidy and I left Santiago to spend a few days with my cousin Eduardo and his 5 children at the beach in Puerto Velero. They are all really strangely well-behaved and even charming and could trick one into thinking they wanted children as well. As in most Chilean beach towns, there is literally nothing to do but lay on the beach and sprint in and out of icy cold pacific. my aunt was also there making sure we were completely liquified with alcoholic beverages at all times...so basically there's no denying we are related.

After Puerto Velero we traveled up and into Valle de Elqui which is known as a super hippy, alternative lifestyle valley. Lots of UFO sightings and mystical experts all over the place. We didn't see any aliens, but our first night in Vicuña we went over to the Mamalluca Observatory at 230AM to check out the southern skies. the valley has the clearest skies in the world and is also populated with a lot of scientific observatories. We saw Saturn through a high power telescope; it was so tiny and yellow and adorable. The milky way was bright, and we could even see our two closest neighbor galaxies, with the naked eye! Our guide talked to us about the constellations and some of the indigenous "negative constellations" that are composed not of stars but the black space in between stars. We also headed deeper in the sunny valley to check out the influence Gabriela Mistral had in her home region. She was really a female pioneer, not just for chile, but made serious impacts in both writing and politics. Very cool!

We paused in San Pedro de Atacama for a few days to hike through Valle de la Muerte, Quebrada de Cari and Valle de la Luna, which are three very different desert landscapes in a very small area. But the jewel of this part of our trip was definitely making a three day jeep trek through southern Bolivia. On day one not only did we get up to 16,400 feet, we saw three altiplano lakes, the White Lake, the Green Lake and the Red Lake. They were spectacular! I never imagined i would see flamingos high up in the Andes. Our first night we stayed in a "rustic" refugio...a mattress on cement blocks. Our tour guides Mario and Eva were really nice though and Eva is an amazing cook, we ate really well the whole time, even when we told her we were vegetarians! The next day was all about highland deserts and lakes. We also stopped in a small town called San Juan de Rosario where there is a pre-Inca cemetery with skeletons just laying around in the open, in their little funeral huts! it was creepy. We also stopped in a quinoa field, Bolivia is the home of the quinoa grain!i tried to steal quinoa but Mario didn't think that was a good idea. even Cassidy who'd had some raging altitude sickness lifted her head in excitement when she heard where we were. Our final night was spent on the edge of the famous Uyuni salt flat in a hotel constructed of salt. salt bricks, a loose salt floor, salt stools and table, even salt beds. it was...salty. Our final day included a few random stops but the most impressive sight was the Uyuni Salar, which in parts is hard, dry plates of salt but in others is covered with a thin layer of water that reflects the immense bright blue sky like a mirror. I'll let my photos do the talking for that part.

Since the trip we have been really moving. From Uyuni to Oruro where we found lots of chocolate with quinoa in it, and a really cool little vegetarian restaurant called El Huerto where we got a four course meal for $1.50. and a nice hotel room for $15. So pretty much we love Bolivia. La Paz was HUGE. its center is 11,800 ft above sea level, though at the bottom of a mountain enclosed valley! We came in across a ridge 13,000 ft high and the view was just amazing. the city is so large it creeps up the mountainsides in a thick blanket of buildings. It was very different from Buenos Aires or Santiago for sure. Much more is crammed into less space, there are open markets overflowing from plazas into the middle of streets where buses, trucks and cars honk at intersections to indicate that they are going to proceed (how do you think that would work for us in the US?). The rule for pedestrians is "don't get hit by cars" so i did a lot of running and screaming. While there we did a tour of Tiwanaku ruins near lake Titikaka. The Tiwanaku were a sophisticated technologically advanced culture that disappeared a few hundred years before the Inca moved into the area. I saw some amazing monoliths and a lot of interesting sculpture work and medical novelties they developed in their 2,700 years of existence. Just think, we've only completed 2,007 years as a westernized society.

Now I am in Peru! Yes, ten days after entering Bolivia, Cassidy and I crossed the border to Puno, the Peruvian side of Lake Titikaka. We arrived in a town finishing its Carnaval; as we dragged our bags through the streets to our hostel we were swarmed by children in traditional costumes of electric green, yellow and pink! There was a huge dance on the Plaza de Armas and all the while my camera was packed deep in my bags. The next day there was another smaller procession on the waterfront, from where we took off to visit floating reed islands. The islands are literally floating...the native Uros pile layer after layer of lake reeds on top of a floating piece of dirt, and then construct homes on top! it was a rather squishy affair, and the rain didn't help. But we learned about the Uros people and how they survive, we rode in a reed boat, and bought some reed mobiles, not that i have anywhere left to pack this thing. Cassidy and I went on a textile buying binge in La Paz and have very sore backs, not to mention crying wallets. We contracted some sort of weakness to artisan crafts and just can't stop buying really pretty things.

We went on to Arequipa after Puno, and from there to Cusco, where I am now. The bus rides are just out of this world. In Bolivia the mountains are mostly bare rock with some clusters of forests; they seem archaic, like the sharp spine of some immense animal that hasnt woken up from its sleep. In contrast, Peru's mountains are huge, but seem draped with a velvet green blanket and are very smooth and rolling. After a long cramped bus ride from Arequipa, we snaked through these same mountains into Cusco, which has fully enchanted me in just one evening. Yes, the Spanish were very naughty for having destroyed a civilization and torn down all but the Inca building foundations (which are indestructible), but they sure knew how to create a beautiful colonial town. Driving in felt like arriving in Madrid and a little bit of Granada. Of course what I hear about the Inca city is amazing too: all the buildings were coated in gold plates, which the Spanish pried off, melted down and sent home.

All right, enough for now, next month I'll have more insights on Cusco, and some great photos from Machu Picchu!

1 - me and cassidy at the Laguna Verde

2 - the Laguna Colorada filled with hungry flamingos

3 - a baby guanaco (cousin to the llama) who is taken care of

by bolivian park rangers after being abandoned.

4 - one of the delicious bolivian textiles that drove cassidy and i into a buying frenzy

5 - the tradition for this mask was that whomever put it on for festival celebrations

had to keep dancing until he died, or else the gods would be angry.

mis fotos favoritas de Chile

un mes al sol

I can't believe tomorrow is February! I am looking forward to watching the superbowl with a rowdy bunch of US Marines on sunday, but that is my last Santiago event! This month has been at once hectic and very laid-back. I have spent some time getting to know Santiago itself, visiting museums (the Pre-Columbian Museuem is SO interesting!), walking around it's riverfront park, and testing out every sushi restaurant I can find. One of the great things about Santiago is it's underground metro system. It is fast, really well maintained, cheap, and the best part: it goes out to wine country.

Cassidy and I spent three days touring vineyards. We went to the big hitters, Concha y Toro, Cousiño-Macul and Underraga as well as a boutique winery called Aquitania. We found at least one wine we really liked at each winery, and ended up bringing some bottles home for the family. Santiago's Maipo valley is really beautiful, lots of leafy acreage within city limits that inched up the Andes foothills and is drenched in sun. But it was also cooler than Santiago, which is averaging about 88 degrees right now. Since Cassidy hadn't been to Mendoza, Argentina when I went in November, we simply HAD to go back for a few days to compare. All very scientific, I assure you. We visited four wineries there as well, Carmine Granata, Weinert, Familia Cecchin and Bodega López. From our extensive studies we deduced that Chilean wines have a smooth and velvety quality whereas Argentinian wines are thornier - more acidic and bold. So my wine tip would be to stick with Chilean wines for now. Argentina needs a few more years to age its vines. Both countries' signature grapes (Carmeneré and Malbec, respectively) need some more work, and their strong points are Cabernet and Syrah. The most exciting visit was our trip to the Argentine vineyard Familia Cecchin, which is both an organic vineyard and winery. Not only was it cool to see an organic boutique producer, they grow non-traditional varietals like spanish carignan and graciana and they tasted excellent!

Okay I know that was a seriously long rant about wine...I'm a nerd. In between these wine tours, Cassidy and I took my godfather up on his offer of a beachfront apartment, and spent a week in Reñaca, a coastal town just outside of picturesque Viña del Mar. The area is famous for two things: cloudy mornings and argentinians. We saw plenty of both. Once the clouds burn off at midday the sun was boiling and the beach was nearly body-to-body, and yes, there were a lot of argentinians. the apartment we stayed at had a rooftop pool so we were really spoiled with luxuries! We wandered around Viña a little, as well as a small town called Concon. But small town here doesn't mean the same thing as it does anywhere else in the world, because Concon was made up of one street lined with seafood restaurants. Not a bad concept really. It also has beachfront, and what is called an "artisan market" but is really a Oriental Trading Company catalog junk sale. So with little to do that week, we really did very little. Instead of returning to Santiago we headed south to Algarrobo (another beach town), where a family friend had invited us for the weekend. Carlos is a Giarda family friend and when he retired he moved to Algarrobo to run an environmental organization. He was a blast for a 60 year old! He and his wife Patricia have an organic vegetable garden in their yard that we ate from every day we were there, and they love to cook, so we sampled a lot of seafood we'd never tried before. My aunt Andrea joined us and we baked on the beach by day, drank beer to cool off every evening, and had a spa night with homemade masks that Carlos wouldn't let us put on him. ah well.

So that's kind of it. beaches and vineyards. that's all I've done this month. well, there were some nice family events too, a farewell party for my sister on Jan 5, my grandmother's birthday on Jan 6, my brother's birthday on Jan 21 and a lot of Sunday family dinners in between. When we leave we will spend some time in Chile's hot desert to the north, Atacama, and then (hopefully) start into Bolivia. After a month basking in familial love, we are ready for the down and dirty traveling to resume. And I have a feeling it is going to be very very dirty.

1 - Andrea, Maru, Isabel, Picha, me, Maria Eugenia, Jorge's mom and grandma

2 - Me at the Concha y Toro vineyard. yay wine!

3 - Pacific sunset (at 9:20PM) from Reñaca

4 - happy organic grapes at the Cecchin vineyard

5 - my grandmother and me on our way to tea at the Ritz-Carlton!

lo mejor de Argentina y de Chile

I have to say, so far my experience of South America is very different than what i imagined it to be. My mother had told me a bit about Chile, but for some reason i still thought I would be in a much more tropical climate and surrounded by a lot more indigenous people. Perhaps it was just my ignorance, but let me debunk one grand lie: neither country is "native".

The truth is when South America, as a whole, was colonized, indigenous tribes were so fully crushed that few people today would have any idea if their ancestor was mapuche, or otherwise native to the Americas. The majority of Argentine population is made up of descendants from Italy, Spain and Wales. The majority of Chilean population is German and British descendant. Seriously, there are O'Higgins and Dittborns, Walters, Sebastians, and Olgas everywhere. Living in Buenos Aires is similar to living in a European city, with lots of tall buildings, close winding streets, people and cars rushing everywhere at all times. Santiago is like Washington DC. I was amazed. The city has a similar sprawl, wide streets, leafy wealthy neighborhoods, and almost everyone speaks some english too!

So this is my list of what I have really enjoyed about both countries. Everything is particular to each respective country...if i loved it on both sides of the andes i left it out because perhaps i will find it again in more south american countries.

Argentina
+ friendly business owners, employees, bus drivers, tour guides. They want to hear about where you are from and why you are there. they want to share their experiences too. and they aren't trying to seduce you.

+no matter what small town you go to, you will find something to do, each place holds some unique charm

+the buses in Buenos Aires; easy to navigate and pretty quick

+Northwest Argentina. it's gorgeous! Salta and Córdoba, two of my top destinations!

+Chacras de Coria in Mendoza. A beautiful, comfortable, laid-back suburb. and close to vineyards!

+Perito Moreno Glaciar. the most impressive glaciar I have ever seen.

+Punta Tombo. I never imagined that penguins would like dry arid coastline.

+Buenos Aires's gardens: well, they are all clumped together in Palermo Bosque, but they are HUGE and mostly free entry, and just lovely spaces to enjoy nature!

+humitas. corn mash with spices steamed in corn husks. a kind of meatless tamale i hear.

+grocery stores sell veggie burgers. that is seriously amazing.

+all you can eat vegetarian buffets in lots of cities. heaven.

+Terma. this is an herb-infused almost iced-tea/juice beverage. you mix it with sparkling water and ice on hot days and it's soo refreshing!

+Meat. Argentina convinced me to eat meat. hey, it's not bad!


Chile
+Eduardo and Pamela from Hostal Independencia in Punta Arenas. they made us feel like good friends.

+whistling men. no matter what size and shape you are, someone here wants to let you know they think you are great. it's not sinister either, mostly amusing.

+Lake District (Pucon to start). sunny, temperate, lots of outdoor activity to be had and a particularly german feel!

+wine country. Not only is every wine smooth and well constructed, you can get to vineyards on the metro!

+beach towns. you are forced to relax because there is literally nothing to do.

+Santiago's Metro. the cleanest and most well-maintained system I have been on versus all of Europe and the US.

+Santiago's US feel. I know I should be looking for unique south american experiences, but it's comforting after 4 months to be back in a land of starbucks and sushi restaurants!

+Casa & Ideas. a Chilean home goods store...god I love shopping.

+seafood! this is a whole new world of seafood, things I love (salmon, crab), things I've never seen before (locos, robalo, sea urchin), and some seriously enormous mussels, clams, oysters and scallops.

+fruit! when I tell you that you have never tasted watermelon, canteloupe, nectarines, and avocados before, it's not to make you jealous, its to let you know that the garden of eden is located west of the andes and there are daily flights to get here.

+ porotos granados and charki can. these are two traditional Chilean dishes that are simply delicious. porotos are big freshly picked beans that are cooked up with an assortment of vegetables, charki can has diced squash, potatoes, carrots, spinach, corn, onion, and green beans, flavored with cumin and cilantro.