i have never been so grateful to come home as i was yesterday. cheryl's, kt's and smutty's parents came to pick them up, while andy drove from buffalo to pick me up. i then went out for a solid korean meal with andy and my dad. awesome! :D
coming home is both scary and exciting all at once. we are all beginning new lives, and as of friday, ending our school careers. kavitha knows what is going on next with her job and new place, but cheryl, smutty and i are all switching careers and all need to figure it out, which should be interesting! it will be neat to see what we are doing in two months time.
so as probably my last post in this blog, i wanted to summarize a couple of things i learned on this trip, things i am grateful for, as well as some of the things that i deemed highlights!
things that i learned from this trip:
1) injustice of colonialism - the story of south america is spanish colonialism, save for brazil. tons of indigenous tribes were wiped out from disease as well as violence, and it wasn't until they gained independence over the past 200 or so odd years. but with the spread of catholicism and the spanish language and customs, did they really gain any independence whatsoever, save for administrative functions? hmmm.
2) american style litigation seems to be what motivates people to put warnings (i.e. coffee is hot! warning, there is a hole here!) on things in north america. it seems that where there are not large sums of money involved, it's up to you to exercise caution.
3) boxer briefs - as we learned from keith, boxers are hard to come by in every part of the world save for north america. oy!
4) processed food - is virtually non-existent in the countries we visited. and boy was it refreshing! the economics of buying local food were a lot more balanced, i.e. not perverted by crazy subsidies. and the food, particularly in peru, was amazing!
5) travelling as a luxury - travelling for prolonged periods of time is a luxury that it seems only residents of G7 countries can afford.
6) you can only be helped if you help yourself first - camilla raised a good point that in the slums, that they can help the residents as much as they can, but some people are too lazy to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty and don't care to get out of it.
7) purchasing only well-constructed things - i have learned more and more that it is better to purchase high quality items rather than things that will break quickly. things especially where people have taken pride in making then item. on a similar note, driving down prices as much as possible is a bad thing to do - cheating people for less than they're worth is not worth it because it has to compensate somewhere.
8) being openminded - i have learned that with many things in travel, it is important to go in with no expectations whatsoever and you just have to go with the flow. especially with language differences, listening first instead of bombarding people with questions is key.
9) vegetarian, vegan, no-cholesterol, gluten free, sugar-free, etc. seem virtually non-existent in other parts of the world where they have a stronger connection to their food.
10) the desire of learning Spanish was really strong for me throughout the trip. i felt as though i would have gotten a lot more out of it!
11) my travel buddies - i was glad to learn so much more about arti, bossi, cheryl, kavitha and keith! they were all so fun to travel with.
in terms of things i have been extremely grateful for since coming home:
- very little pollution
- consistently hot, powerful showers (although currently, our hot water heater broke - i wonder if i cursed it by coming home)
- the support of my family and friends
- central heating - i can't believe how warm we are in the wintertime and how much we take it for granted.
- clean clothing
- fast internet
and lastly, my favourite and least favourite parts of the trip:
favourite:
1) raro raraku in easter island
- the mountain where all the moais were made were totally neat. i had been waiting to see that for many, many years! i was giddy like a kid in a candy store, seeing all the moais!
2) the slums in rio
- this was an extremely eye opening experience that i doubt i would have seen without knowing camilla. props!!!
3) salar de uyuni, bolivia
- the endless expanse of white was breathtaking!! it was almost like being at one of the poles.
4) eating trout in lake titicaca
- i have never had such fresh fish before. YUM!
least favourite:
1) altitude sickness and cold in laguna colorada in bolivia
- talk about wanting to get out of somewhere ASAP. major headaches, nausea, and heart palpitations.
2) cholito wrestling
- probably one of the least humane things i have ever beared witness to. oy.
3) santiago in general
- was smoggy, smoky and unexciting.
and lastly, to all the readers of the blog, thanks for reading!!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
the last day - preparing for legitimacy
as can be expected, the past two days have been a bit boring as we prepare to return to canada. the past 4 days we have been lucky enough to have a room to ourselves, save for one dude who kept emphasizing that he was a MEDICAL STUDENT. now, typically when you go on trips, various forms and fellow travellers ask you what your profession is, and the stock answer, no matter what kind of student you are, is that you are just a student. not this guy. at every chance possible, he emphasized his med student credentials. it must have been an inferiority complex, because he was both of shorter stature (napoleon complex perhaps) and we later found out that he was going to med school in the caribbean. snap!
as part of preparing to go home, four of us girls did our eyebrows in the bathroom. if i could give a relevant analogy, i would say our eyebrows have been like the rainforest taking over macchu picchu. so, be glad when you see us looking semi-normal tomorrow!
this morning, we also took part in some other aesthetic rituals. there is a salon across the street from the hostel that had manicure and pedicures for 20 soles, and haircuts for 15 soles. keith got his haircut, while the girls all got manicures and pedicures. we all felt sorry for the manicurist/pedicurists! eeeeeek! however, we are happy to say that we are nearly 2 LEGIT 2 QUIT!
for lunch, we returned to our favourite restaurant in lima - san antonio. it is a bakery that serves AMAZING sandwiches and desserts. yesterday i had one with chopped porcini mushrooms. today i had a sandwich called the chicharron, that had roasted pork, creole sauce, onions, and yam, and it was absolutely out of this world. unfortunately, today there was a lineup, so here we were starving to death and getting really cranky because we couldn't eat. it was worth every minute!!! the bakery also has an amazing apple peach strudel sprinkled with sugar - also out of this world!
in our last couple of days we have also been doing a bit of shopping. yesterday we went to lima's largest mall, jockey plaza, and picked up a couple things. bossi picked up a really cool pair of trouser overalls, and i found a cute vest. poor keith really has been patient with all the girliness!
we also hit up the touristy markets where kavitha picked up a couple things for friends, as well as a great painting for her new condo. i found a really awesome painting that was reminiscent of ezra jack keats, one of my favourite childhood author/illustrators. it was of a dark skinned woman carrying a fish. and i also picked up a ridiculously furry alpaca hat.
tonight we are off to the airport and then tomorrow morning we will be back home again. keith will be on his own for the next two days - wowza! i will of course, post once more with a summary of the highlights of the trip because as you know, i'm a giant nerd. a bientot!
as part of preparing to go home, four of us girls did our eyebrows in the bathroom. if i could give a relevant analogy, i would say our eyebrows have been like the rainforest taking over macchu picchu. so, be glad when you see us looking semi-normal tomorrow!
this morning, we also took part in some other aesthetic rituals. there is a salon across the street from the hostel that had manicure and pedicures for 20 soles, and haircuts for 15 soles. keith got his haircut, while the girls all got manicures and pedicures. we all felt sorry for the manicurist/pedicurists! eeeeeek! however, we are happy to say that we are nearly 2 LEGIT 2 QUIT!
for lunch, we returned to our favourite restaurant in lima - san antonio. it is a bakery that serves AMAZING sandwiches and desserts. yesterday i had one with chopped porcini mushrooms. today i had a sandwich called the chicharron, that had roasted pork, creole sauce, onions, and yam, and it was absolutely out of this world. unfortunately, today there was a lineup, so here we were starving to death and getting really cranky because we couldn't eat. it was worth every minute!!! the bakery also has an amazing apple peach strudel sprinkled with sugar - also out of this world!
in our last couple of days we have also been doing a bit of shopping. yesterday we went to lima's largest mall, jockey plaza, and picked up a couple things. bossi picked up a really cool pair of trouser overalls, and i found a cute vest. poor keith really has been patient with all the girliness!
we also hit up the touristy markets where kavitha picked up a couple things for friends, as well as a great painting for her new condo. i found a really awesome painting that was reminiscent of ezra jack keats, one of my favourite childhood author/illustrators. it was of a dark skinned woman carrying a fish. and i also picked up a ridiculously furry alpaca hat.
tonight we are off to the airport and then tomorrow morning we will be back home again. keith will be on his own for the next two days - wowza! i will of course, post once more with a summary of the highlights of the trip because as you know, i'm a giant nerd. a bientot!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
lima at a leisurely pace
ever since coming into lima, we have been taking it at an extremely slow pace. after we settled into the flying dog hostel, we went to larco mar, a mall right at the ocean front that was built into a cliff. it was a bit touristy, but we had some hearty food court food for lunch - i ended up having pork brochettes, deep fried banana, and some fries, which were pretty good albeit a bit heavy! smutty and i also tried a - gasp - burger king cono - it was surprisingly better than the mcdonald's vanilla cono!!!!
on that note, that same day, we went back to mcdonald's only to find that THEY DO NOT HAVE DULCE DE LECHE CONOS IN PERU. WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!! most of us had not had one since may 12, and were shocked! cheryl on the other hand, was ecstatic to see that the mcdonald's still served the hybrid chocolate vanilla cone as they had phased out chocolate in canada.
on yet another dulce de leche note, they do not call dulce de leche by its proper name in peru. they call it manjarblanco! and on yet another note, yesterday kavitha and i had an intense craving for churros (if you recall from earlier posts, deep fried dough covered in sugar) and were referred to a restaurant called manolo's - they had churros filled with vanilla, chocolate, or dulce de leche. i, of course, ordered the dulce de leche one, and it was seriously the most delicious/heart attack/diabetes inducing food ever. SUPER DELICIOUS!
we have also been able to check out the chinatown in lima - apparently the biggest in south america. my sister had forwarded me an article about lima in the new york times, and it referred us to a restaurant called salon capon - it was surprisingly good! although only the owners were chinese and the wait staff were all peruvian, it took me a really long and hard time to order roasted duck and noodles, usually something easy for me to do in toronto. also, looking around in chinatown, there were maybe 3 chinese people max that we saw on the main street. super strange! it was almost like the chinatown in havana.
another piece of crazy news - we ended up going out last night!!! WHAT!!!! of the 55 days kavitha and i have travelled, she has gone out 3 times, and this is only my second time. we ended up going to a terrible club an dancing awkwardly! (it was very salsa focused). however, what came out of the night were a couple new dance moves - the q-tip, deodorant application, face washing, and hair washing.
breakfast at the hostel has also been great - they give us meal tickets to the restaurant under the hostel, which includes either fruit salad/juice/coffee, or eggs/toast/juice/coffee, which is very solid.
keith, kavitha and i also did some laundry - totally solid!!! ahhh. our last load before we head home. on a laundry related note, i lost my favourite marc atlan heart t-shirt while i was in aguascalientes. NOOOOOOOOO!!! thankfully i know where to order another one.
we also checked out a graffiti sticker exhibit called stick it, which was very neat. i have seen graffiti exhibits, but never a graffiti sticker exhibit. very cool!
lastly this morning we woke up a bit late and walked to barranco, the adjacent municipality. they had a bunch of cute restaurants and art galleries and one boutique that had some awesome peruvian designed clothing. we still need to figure out what we are doing tonight!
2 more days until home!
on that note, that same day, we went back to mcdonald's only to find that THEY DO NOT HAVE DULCE DE LECHE CONOS IN PERU. WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!! most of us had not had one since may 12, and were shocked! cheryl on the other hand, was ecstatic to see that the mcdonald's still served the hybrid chocolate vanilla cone as they had phased out chocolate in canada.
on yet another dulce de leche note, they do not call dulce de leche by its proper name in peru. they call it manjarblanco! and on yet another note, yesterday kavitha and i had an intense craving for churros (if you recall from earlier posts, deep fried dough covered in sugar) and were referred to a restaurant called manolo's - they had churros filled with vanilla, chocolate, or dulce de leche. i, of course, ordered the dulce de leche one, and it was seriously the most delicious/heart attack/diabetes inducing food ever. SUPER DELICIOUS!
we have also been able to check out the chinatown in lima - apparently the biggest in south america. my sister had forwarded me an article about lima in the new york times, and it referred us to a restaurant called salon capon - it was surprisingly good! although only the owners were chinese and the wait staff were all peruvian, it took me a really long and hard time to order roasted duck and noodles, usually something easy for me to do in toronto. also, looking around in chinatown, there were maybe 3 chinese people max that we saw on the main street. super strange! it was almost like the chinatown in havana.
another piece of crazy news - we ended up going out last night!!! WHAT!!!! of the 55 days kavitha and i have travelled, she has gone out 3 times, and this is only my second time. we ended up going to a terrible club an dancing awkwardly! (it was very salsa focused). however, what came out of the night were a couple new dance moves - the q-tip, deodorant application, face washing, and hair washing.
breakfast at the hostel has also been great - they give us meal tickets to the restaurant under the hostel, which includes either fruit salad/juice/coffee, or eggs/toast/juice/coffee, which is very solid.
keith, kavitha and i also did some laundry - totally solid!!! ahhh. our last load before we head home. on a laundry related note, i lost my favourite marc atlan heart t-shirt while i was in aguascalientes. NOOOOOOOOO!!! thankfully i know where to order another one.
we also checked out a graffiti sticker exhibit called stick it, which was very neat. i have seen graffiti exhibits, but never a graffiti sticker exhibit. very cool!
lastly this morning we woke up a bit late and walked to barranco, the adjacent municipality. they had a bunch of cute restaurants and art galleries and one boutique that had some awesome peruvian designed clothing. we still need to figure out what we are doing tonight!
2 more days until home!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
cusco, santa teresa, santa maria, aguascalientes, macchu picchu
first of all, apologies for being delinquent in writing. our hiking trip took place in some really random places in peru that had no internet access, but we are back! not to worry!
cuzco was very touristy. we did not see much of it as it was the jump off point for macchu picchu, but it turns out our room $15 a night rather than 15 soles a night - none of us were upset because the showers were even worth it. they were super hot, and super powerful! whoaaaaa! we were able to have the breakfast for the first time this morning, and that was great too - it was a buffet of fresh papaya juice, pineapple, watermelon, ham, cheese, toast, olives, eggs (if you so desired) and cereal. fantastisch!!! the hotel was called hotel inka{s dream, if you are so inclined to know!
in cuzco we ate at a nearby place that served mexican food, i had an alpaca llama that was not bad. in terms of alpaca, i would quote cheryl and say that i am now over it.
we signed up for a 3 day, 2 night trek which ended up being probably one of the most brutal side trips yet in terms of being physically demanding. the first day, we had to wake up at 2:30AM, then had to take a bus with our guides, henri and marie (they were peruvian) over to santa teresa, a small town at 1800m elevation. it was hard to sleep because of all the twists and turns and i kept running my head into kavitha{s shoulder and keith{s shoulder. i was lucky enough to sit in the middle seat with no head rest - good times. me and kavitha were so close she told me that she liked the smell of my new pert plus olive oil shampoo. sheesh! also, around 4AM, the driver decided that he wanted to blast some crazy modern peruvian music. for the unawake, we were not so happy about that!
we got to santa teresa around 7AM, where we had breakfast before embarking on the most strenuous hike of all time (even a bit more epic than the one liz and i did in maui in an extinct volcano). because the inca trail needs to be booked 8-12 months in advance, we took another hike that was on the "worker{s trail" - much more strenuous. first of all, it was RIDICULOUSLY sunny, with no clouds in the sky - about 35C. second of all, we were hiking up gynormous mountains, on very steep, uneven and rocky trails. i was not happy, seeing that i am afraid of heights. poor cheryl had been sick for the past couple of days with a stomach bug, so she was in rough shape. unfortunately, she had to leave halfway through while the rest of us soldiered on. we hiked for about 4 hours with all of our clothing and snacks (i was also lucky because henri offered to hold all my snacks! woooot!) but we took a lot of breaks and somehow made it to lunch at a really strange shanty house, where we ate sopa de la minuta, guacamole and spaghetti. at that point, we were ready to eat anything!! we were also insanely insanely sweaty. wow!
after lunch, it was flatter terrain, and a lot more manageable - we also crossed the river in a rickety cable car box that was shoved across a cable over the river - it was a bit dicey! we also walked into a swamp, where bossi got her foot soaked! lovely! at the end of the hike was a random hot spring that emerged in the river like a strange disneyland park - i was glad to soak my tired (and lazy) bones. that night, we were TOAST and ready to get to bed after our terrible chicken dinner.
i should also mention that the mosquitoes were out in full force!!!! my butt was COVERED in mosquito bites (from the hot spring), while everyone elses arms and legs were covered in what looked like chicken pox. we will definitely be a bit grizzled coming home.
the next morning in santa teresa, we got up at a more manageable 8:15AM to go on a more flat hike. we walked beside the river, which was pleasant, however after lunch it got dicey. we had to hike to aguascalientes on RAILROAD tracks, which really was not great seeing that it was made of fairly large rocks that you could easily twist your ankle on. compound that with the fact that it started raining and it was drizzly. poor KT and KD had bad shoes which made it even more unpleasant. because the travel agency had told us it would be hot and dry, we did not bring rain gear - so it was so cold and rainy that you could see your breath, but we were hiking in soaking wet t-shirts! bad news!!!!
when we finally did make it to aguascalientes, we changed into dry clothes, and rested. however, just before we were going to head out - ALL THE POWER IN THE CITY WENT OUT! AHHHHHHHH! as you can imagine, we were not amused. we ended up hiking down a dark hill to find the restaurant we were supposed to eat at. lovely! we of course, ended up having a romantic candlelight dinner. :S
the next morning, keith and smutty woke up at 400 to hike up to macchu picchu, a 1.5 hour straight up hike. cheryl, kavitha and i opted for the $7 bus, and boy am i glad we did that. macchu picchu was great!! it was how i imagined it, and our guide celio was great in explaining incan history. it is the only incan settlement that was not destructed by the spanish! the incans who lived there fled after they heard the spanish were attacking other incan settlements, and then the semi-tropical forest eventually took it over, so it was hard to see - no one found it for 300 years!
we spent the day there, and then in the afternoon headed back to cusco on a squishy perurail train and then buses lucy (a bus company) and got in around 10pm.
a godsend over the past 3 days was the hiking sticks that me and kavitha rented, for $2 a day. i cannot even imagine doing the hike without them!!! unfortunately, because we got back to cusco too late we could not return them - so now we have two leki hiking sticks!!! DOH! at least they were a bargoon, but i feel bad about keeping them. :S
another funny thing we noticed in peru is the usage of llamas as lawnmowers! they are great because they trim the grass when they eat, and fertilize when they defecate! they were used at macchu picchu as well as a private school we saw in arequipa.
this morning we took a plane to lima - finally we are here! there is not much to do here, so we will see how we will pass the time. AHHH! excited to go home!
cuzco was very touristy. we did not see much of it as it was the jump off point for macchu picchu, but it turns out our room $15 a night rather than 15 soles a night - none of us were upset because the showers were even worth it. they were super hot, and super powerful! whoaaaaa! we were able to have the breakfast for the first time this morning, and that was great too - it was a buffet of fresh papaya juice, pineapple, watermelon, ham, cheese, toast, olives, eggs (if you so desired) and cereal. fantastisch!!! the hotel was called hotel inka{s dream, if you are so inclined to know!
in cuzco we ate at a nearby place that served mexican food, i had an alpaca llama that was not bad. in terms of alpaca, i would quote cheryl and say that i am now over it.
we signed up for a 3 day, 2 night trek which ended up being probably one of the most brutal side trips yet in terms of being physically demanding. the first day, we had to wake up at 2:30AM, then had to take a bus with our guides, henri and marie (they were peruvian) over to santa teresa, a small town at 1800m elevation. it was hard to sleep because of all the twists and turns and i kept running my head into kavitha{s shoulder and keith{s shoulder. i was lucky enough to sit in the middle seat with no head rest - good times. me and kavitha were so close she told me that she liked the smell of my new pert plus olive oil shampoo. sheesh! also, around 4AM, the driver decided that he wanted to blast some crazy modern peruvian music. for the unawake, we were not so happy about that!
we got to santa teresa around 7AM, where we had breakfast before embarking on the most strenuous hike of all time (even a bit more epic than the one liz and i did in maui in an extinct volcano). because the inca trail needs to be booked 8-12 months in advance, we took another hike that was on the "worker{s trail" - much more strenuous. first of all, it was RIDICULOUSLY sunny, with no clouds in the sky - about 35C. second of all, we were hiking up gynormous mountains, on very steep, uneven and rocky trails. i was not happy, seeing that i am afraid of heights. poor cheryl had been sick for the past couple of days with a stomach bug, so she was in rough shape. unfortunately, she had to leave halfway through while the rest of us soldiered on. we hiked for about 4 hours with all of our clothing and snacks (i was also lucky because henri offered to hold all my snacks! woooot!) but we took a lot of breaks and somehow made it to lunch at a really strange shanty house, where we ate sopa de la minuta, guacamole and spaghetti. at that point, we were ready to eat anything!! we were also insanely insanely sweaty. wow!
after lunch, it was flatter terrain, and a lot more manageable - we also crossed the river in a rickety cable car box that was shoved across a cable over the river - it was a bit dicey! we also walked into a swamp, where bossi got her foot soaked! lovely! at the end of the hike was a random hot spring that emerged in the river like a strange disneyland park - i was glad to soak my tired (and lazy) bones. that night, we were TOAST and ready to get to bed after our terrible chicken dinner.
i should also mention that the mosquitoes were out in full force!!!! my butt was COVERED in mosquito bites (from the hot spring), while everyone elses arms and legs were covered in what looked like chicken pox. we will definitely be a bit grizzled coming home.
the next morning in santa teresa, we got up at a more manageable 8:15AM to go on a more flat hike. we walked beside the river, which was pleasant, however after lunch it got dicey. we had to hike to aguascalientes on RAILROAD tracks, which really was not great seeing that it was made of fairly large rocks that you could easily twist your ankle on. compound that with the fact that it started raining and it was drizzly. poor KT and KD had bad shoes which made it even more unpleasant. because the travel agency had told us it would be hot and dry, we did not bring rain gear - so it was so cold and rainy that you could see your breath, but we were hiking in soaking wet t-shirts! bad news!!!!
when we finally did make it to aguascalientes, we changed into dry clothes, and rested. however, just before we were going to head out - ALL THE POWER IN THE CITY WENT OUT! AHHHHHHHH! as you can imagine, we were not amused. we ended up hiking down a dark hill to find the restaurant we were supposed to eat at. lovely! we of course, ended up having a romantic candlelight dinner. :S
the next morning, keith and smutty woke up at 400 to hike up to macchu picchu, a 1.5 hour straight up hike. cheryl, kavitha and i opted for the $7 bus, and boy am i glad we did that. macchu picchu was great!! it was how i imagined it, and our guide celio was great in explaining incan history. it is the only incan settlement that was not destructed by the spanish! the incans who lived there fled after they heard the spanish were attacking other incan settlements, and then the semi-tropical forest eventually took it over, so it was hard to see - no one found it for 300 years!
we spent the day there, and then in the afternoon headed back to cusco on a squishy perurail train and then buses lucy (a bus company) and got in around 10pm.
a godsend over the past 3 days was the hiking sticks that me and kavitha rented, for $2 a day. i cannot even imagine doing the hike without them!!! unfortunately, because we got back to cusco too late we could not return them - so now we have two leki hiking sticks!!! DOH! at least they were a bargoon, but i feel bad about keeping them. :S
another funny thing we noticed in peru is the usage of llamas as lawnmowers! they are great because they trim the grass when they eat, and fertilize when they defecate! they were used at macchu picchu as well as a private school we saw in arequipa.
this morning we took a plane to lima - finally we are here! there is not much to do here, so we will see how we will pass the time. AHHH! excited to go home!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
arequipa.... the final frontier
yesterday we went to a convent that was an enclosed city - it was called the santa catalina monastery. pretty much it was a bunch of rich kids who were shipped off to peru by their parents to become nuns. apparently, there was one that escaped the monastery in james bond fashion, burning a pig in her bed and then escaping in her own coffin. WHAAAAAAAT! the nuns had their own private rooms, as well as nannies and a whole bunch of personal belongings, not to mention their own BALLIN´ kitchens. craziness!
at lunch, we went to a rooftop terrace type place in the plaza de armas (the main square). i ordered guinea pig, to the horror of our table and those surrounding it. the guinea pig came deep fried in its entirety, including its paws and head. poor kavitha and cheryl were mortified. the guinea pig was a bit difficult to eat as it was mostly bone, but it tasted like a cross between chicken and pork.
in the afternoon we kind of pfaffed about, and we had a dinner in an alleyway! cheryl ordered the area´s signature dish, the stuffed pepper, while i got a shrimp fried rice (the regional shrimps are TINY and not very good, as i found out), keith got a ceviche mixto, kavitha got a crab shell stuffed with shrimp, and smutty didn´t eat.
the next morning, cheryl, keith and bossi went to go white water rafting on the rio chile, while kavitha and i did a city tour with carlos, the guy who drove us from the bus station. we found out from maria, the owner of the hostel that we were staying at, that we were ripped off for our tickets. we paid 65 soles, instead of the 40 soles price that was listed on the ticket. WHAAA! she suggested that we report it to the tourist police, which we did. an investigator came with us to talk to the travel agency that ripped us off, eco tours, and the guy was totally unreceptive, going to talk on his cell phone. ugggggh! in the end, instead of 25 soles back, he made us an offer of 7.5 soles so we wouldn´t report him. we decided to report him instead to the consumer protection bureau instead. ah! scandals! in the end, this ended up being the agency´s first complaint (if they weren´t bad, i can only imagine how the other agencies are!), so probably not much will happen. however, it was a lesson in the importance of transparency. arrrgh!
at night we took a bus to cusco, where we are right now. it was surprisingly comfortable, save for the periodic screaming and kicking from the child behind me, as well as the fact that they jacked up the heat really high! however, i would rather that than the ridiculous cold that we encountered in uyuni - holy schmoly!
we are going to book a tour to macchu picchu/hiking for tomorrow - we are staying in a really nice hotel for 15 soles a night - the rooms are actually heated, there is a breakfast buffet, there is warm water and water pressure, and comfy beds. i can´t wait!
at lunch, we went to a rooftop terrace type place in the plaza de armas (the main square). i ordered guinea pig, to the horror of our table and those surrounding it. the guinea pig came deep fried in its entirety, including its paws and head. poor kavitha and cheryl were mortified. the guinea pig was a bit difficult to eat as it was mostly bone, but it tasted like a cross between chicken and pork.
in the afternoon we kind of pfaffed about, and we had a dinner in an alleyway! cheryl ordered the area´s signature dish, the stuffed pepper, while i got a shrimp fried rice (the regional shrimps are TINY and not very good, as i found out), keith got a ceviche mixto, kavitha got a crab shell stuffed with shrimp, and smutty didn´t eat.
the next morning, cheryl, keith and bossi went to go white water rafting on the rio chile, while kavitha and i did a city tour with carlos, the guy who drove us from the bus station. we found out from maria, the owner of the hostel that we were staying at, that we were ripped off for our tickets. we paid 65 soles, instead of the 40 soles price that was listed on the ticket. WHAAA! she suggested that we report it to the tourist police, which we did. an investigator came with us to talk to the travel agency that ripped us off, eco tours, and the guy was totally unreceptive, going to talk on his cell phone. ugggggh! in the end, instead of 25 soles back, he made us an offer of 7.5 soles so we wouldn´t report him. we decided to report him instead to the consumer protection bureau instead. ah! scandals! in the end, this ended up being the agency´s first complaint (if they weren´t bad, i can only imagine how the other agencies are!), so probably not much will happen. however, it was a lesson in the importance of transparency. arrrgh!
at night we took a bus to cusco, where we are right now. it was surprisingly comfortable, save for the periodic screaming and kicking from the child behind me, as well as the fact that they jacked up the heat really high! however, i would rather that than the ridiculous cold that we encountered in uyuni - holy schmoly!
we are going to book a tour to macchu picchu/hiking for tomorrow - we are staying in a really nice hotel for 15 soles a night - the rooms are actually heated, there is a breakfast buffet, there is warm water and water pressure, and comfy beds. i can´t wait!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
puno and arequipa
since our last blog update, we have eaten a lot of really good food (FINALLY!!!!!!) and seen some great sites. first of all, lake titicaca (pronounced teeteekaka.... it looks pretty obscene i know) has been quite good to us in terms of food. there is some amazing trout and kingfish coming from the lake. wowza!!! we had some amazing grilled fish that was out of this world, sometimes more than once a day. and for less than $6 too! DEALZZZ AND BARGOONS.
another great thing that we found in puno specifically was the availability of special bargoon set meals called ¨tourist meals¨, that include an appetizer (usually soup, salad, or an omelette), a main (usually trout, beefsteak, chicken, spaghetti or alpaca), and a dessert or beverage. all of these were for $18 sols, or $6! to reiterate, DEALZZZZ AND BARGOOONS!!!! we took full advantage of these meals. almost too much so.
by the way, i might add that the other day i had an alpaca tourist meal, all while wearing an alpaca sweater!! is that wrong? hmmm.
just some background on lake titicaca - it is on the border between bolivia and peru and it is allegedly the highest navigable lake in the world. it is all freshwater, and we found out on the tour the other day that they do not use the water at all for irrigation because it is evaporating - it sounds weird that a lake is evaporating, but this is allegedly the case. another thing i find so amazing about the lake is its pristine condition - people are quite respectful of other people who use the lakes resources, such as the uros people who need to drink it. apparently only the water outside of puno, or 0.02% of the lake, is polluted (with algae). would you ever see that in the great lakes? not so much.
yesterday we went on a day tour of the uros islands and taquile island. the uros islands are very unique in the sense that they are manmade out of reeds, or totoras, and float on the roots of the reeds. the uros people, who are direct descendants of the incans, have been maintaining these islands for thousands of years. they have to rebuild the islands every several weeks and spend lots of time doing so. they also subsist on handicrafts and fishing. everything on the islands (save for a couple things such as the solar panels) are made out of reeds - chairs, boats, houses, kitchens, tables, beds. truly amazing! the reed boat that we sat in was slightly more modern than their ancestors - on the bottom they placed 2500 plastic bottles for flotation. if only the big beverages companies could see that! muy reusing!
another great thing about them is that if they don´t like their neighbours, they can pull up their anchors and move somewhere else. pretty convenient!
after the uros islands, we sat in the boat for 2.5 hours to get to taquile island. taquile island is the textile island and the island is known for its specific style of dress, which is very spanish (i think the guide said it was the catalan style.... liz help me out here with your spanish prowess!) lots of big belts and pouffy pompom hats. the belts were unique in the sense that they are constantly expanded with stories - for example, where you were born, how many sheep you own, what you do for a living. super neat! also, when people get married on the island, they cut the hair of the bride and sew it into a belt for the groom! and, men wear hats that indicate their marital status. pretty interesting stuff.
the place where we were staying, the q´orikhana inn (spelling is completely botched) was referred to us by one of the hustling men at the puno bus station, which to our surprise, was named oscar. after hearing his name, we had a pretty good feeling about him! he got us a significant discount on the place (we paid $15 soles a night, or $5 a night, instead of $30 soles a night). he also guaranteed us hot showers, which were kind of sporadic.
also, the rooms were a bit cold. kavitha and i asked for ¨el fuego¨, which means both heat and fire. little did we know that we would get both! the inn proprietor came into our room, poured a liquid on to the ground, then threw a match on it. our room was literally on fire! EEEK! kavitha moved away all the wooden furniture, the room warmed up, and gradually the liquid burned away - thankfully the inn did not burn down. the same exercise was repeated in smutty, cheryl and keith´s room, to their shock!
this morning, we took a bus to arequipa (sold to us for a bargoon by oscar, woooot!), which was a very windy and bumpy route. to add to that, there was a peruvian man hustling what seemed like a south american herbalife collection. at the front of the bus, right in our ears, he yelled about cleaning your system, the prostate, ovaries, red meat, alcohol, fried foods, caffeine overdoses and the like, all in the name of selling a 7-herb tea. then, he brought out a smelly ointment and yelled about it for another 20 minutes. we were not amused!!!! thankfully, we had some saltenas and croissants to keep us quiet, that KT, KD and i picked up in the morning at a bakery called rico-pan in puno.
as we get further and further into peru, it is getting less indigenous and more spanish. we even saw churros here in arequipa! we will miss the cute chubby and red cheeked indigenous children. sigh!
tomorrow..... we are not sure what to do yet in arequipa. we shall see!
another great thing that we found in puno specifically was the availability of special bargoon set meals called ¨tourist meals¨, that include an appetizer (usually soup, salad, or an omelette), a main (usually trout, beefsteak, chicken, spaghetti or alpaca), and a dessert or beverage. all of these were for $18 sols, or $6! to reiterate, DEALZZZZ AND BARGOOONS!!!! we took full advantage of these meals. almost too much so.
by the way, i might add that the other day i had an alpaca tourist meal, all while wearing an alpaca sweater!! is that wrong? hmmm.
just some background on lake titicaca - it is on the border between bolivia and peru and it is allegedly the highest navigable lake in the world. it is all freshwater, and we found out on the tour the other day that they do not use the water at all for irrigation because it is evaporating - it sounds weird that a lake is evaporating, but this is allegedly the case. another thing i find so amazing about the lake is its pristine condition - people are quite respectful of other people who use the lakes resources, such as the uros people who need to drink it. apparently only the water outside of puno, or 0.02% of the lake, is polluted (with algae). would you ever see that in the great lakes? not so much.
yesterday we went on a day tour of the uros islands and taquile island. the uros islands are very unique in the sense that they are manmade out of reeds, or totoras, and float on the roots of the reeds. the uros people, who are direct descendants of the incans, have been maintaining these islands for thousands of years. they have to rebuild the islands every several weeks and spend lots of time doing so. they also subsist on handicrafts and fishing. everything on the islands (save for a couple things such as the solar panels) are made out of reeds - chairs, boats, houses, kitchens, tables, beds. truly amazing! the reed boat that we sat in was slightly more modern than their ancestors - on the bottom they placed 2500 plastic bottles for flotation. if only the big beverages companies could see that! muy reusing!
another great thing about them is that if they don´t like their neighbours, they can pull up their anchors and move somewhere else. pretty convenient!
after the uros islands, we sat in the boat for 2.5 hours to get to taquile island. taquile island is the textile island and the island is known for its specific style of dress, which is very spanish (i think the guide said it was the catalan style.... liz help me out here with your spanish prowess!) lots of big belts and pouffy pompom hats. the belts were unique in the sense that they are constantly expanded with stories - for example, where you were born, how many sheep you own, what you do for a living. super neat! also, when people get married on the island, they cut the hair of the bride and sew it into a belt for the groom! and, men wear hats that indicate their marital status. pretty interesting stuff.
the place where we were staying, the q´orikhana inn (spelling is completely botched) was referred to us by one of the hustling men at the puno bus station, which to our surprise, was named oscar. after hearing his name, we had a pretty good feeling about him! he got us a significant discount on the place (we paid $15 soles a night, or $5 a night, instead of $30 soles a night). he also guaranteed us hot showers, which were kind of sporadic.
also, the rooms were a bit cold. kavitha and i asked for ¨el fuego¨, which means both heat and fire. little did we know that we would get both! the inn proprietor came into our room, poured a liquid on to the ground, then threw a match on it. our room was literally on fire! EEEK! kavitha moved away all the wooden furniture, the room warmed up, and gradually the liquid burned away - thankfully the inn did not burn down. the same exercise was repeated in smutty, cheryl and keith´s room, to their shock!
this morning, we took a bus to arequipa (sold to us for a bargoon by oscar, woooot!), which was a very windy and bumpy route. to add to that, there was a peruvian man hustling what seemed like a south american herbalife collection. at the front of the bus, right in our ears, he yelled about cleaning your system, the prostate, ovaries, red meat, alcohol, fried foods, caffeine overdoses and the like, all in the name of selling a 7-herb tea. then, he brought out a smelly ointment and yelled about it for another 20 minutes. we were not amused!!!! thankfully, we had some saltenas and croissants to keep us quiet, that KT, KD and i picked up in the morning at a bakery called rico-pan in puno.
as we get further and further into peru, it is getting less indigenous and more spanish. we even saw churros here in arequipa! we will miss the cute chubby and red cheeked indigenous children. sigh!
tomorrow..... we are not sure what to do yet in arequipa. we shall see!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
la paz, puno
la paz has been quite relaxing compared to the previous days in the cold and on the 4x4. as cheryl says, it is nice to feel human again! we got to run a bunch of errands, eat some good and highly inexpensive food, do some el cheapo souvenir shopping, and had some time to ourselves.
the adventure brew hostel was great! in the morning we had free all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts accompanied by jam and you guessed it, DULCE DE LECHE. you could also special order breakfasts for about $1-$2 - bargoons. the woman who made all the meals was super nice.
i think one of the most traumatizing things that we have done so far on this trip is go to cholitos wrestling, which is essentially midget wrestling (sometimes with women). we were told that it was a must see! i beg to differ, after seeing it. we got so called VIP seats at the front, right by the ring - which was entertaining at first, as there were a lot of hilarious male wrestlers (not midgets) who wore nacho libre type masks and wrestled. they were very choreographed. however, when it came time to the women - that is when it got really scary. one lady, dressed in ripped spandex, was INSANE. she wrestled with a reporter, who clearly had not done it before and was left crying. then, she threw another wrestler pretty much into me and kavitha, then ripped into a bottle of orange pop and sprayed it all over keith. keith, the lucky man he is, ended up with one of the wrestlers on his lap during the evening (just before he was sprayed with orange pop by the crazy spandex woman) and of course, the only wrestler that was a midget got insanely injured - we think her neck was broken (and there was some blood! eeek.). :S not good! the night was pretty much over for us then. after this, this is pretty much the first and last time i will ever support anything to do with fighting. oy!
one of the days we were here, we went our separate ways - bossi and cheryl tried food from all the street vendors (ice cream, empenadas, saltenas, sweet empenadas, etc), while kavitha and i hiked up to the top of la paz (we were insanely winded) and then did tons of souvenir shopping - alpaca stuff is super cheap! we cleared one store of all their scarves and an array of mittens. keith ended up taking in a hip hop show (one group was terrible, one was good, he said).
it was also nice to do some laundry - although i had a huge scare when last night, as we were going to leave the next morning, my laundry didn´t come in! AHHHH! thankfully, just as i was about to lose it, the laundry delivery people came in with it, all clean and folded. amazing.
we also went to go see movies on our last night. cheryl and kavitha went to see indiana jones (they said it was so bad it was funny) while smutty, keith and i went to go see street kings (aka reyes de la calle) - it was a bit too violent for me, but i quite enjoyed all the hilarious rapper cameos in it (the game and common, anyone?!?!) and i also finally got a chance to talk to andy on the phone. phew!
strangely enough - we have not seen ONE mcdonalds in bolivia. i think it is great that the country is so patriotic - however i do miss the dulce de leche cone!!! similarly, there seems to be a devotion to the country´s president, evo morales, to the height of fidel and che. if t-shirts and political graffiti are any indication, they love the man. (note also, that he is indigenous, which reflects 60% of the population in bolivia)
this morning we got up to take the bus to puno, in peru. the ride was SIGNIFICANTLY more comfortable than the overnight bus we took to la paz. for one thing the road was not so bumpy, there was some sort of climate control (aka warmth), and our seats could recline at variable heights. however, it was a bit of a gong show at the end when a pan flute band came on board and played in the aisle. with my luck, the band member with significant BO and playing both the pan flute and guitar was right in my face. A-MAZE-ING.
tomorrow we are going to see the uros floating islands. can´t wait!!!
the adventure brew hostel was great! in the morning we had free all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts accompanied by jam and you guessed it, DULCE DE LECHE. you could also special order breakfasts for about $1-$2 - bargoons. the woman who made all the meals was super nice.
i think one of the most traumatizing things that we have done so far on this trip is go to cholitos wrestling, which is essentially midget wrestling (sometimes with women). we were told that it was a must see! i beg to differ, after seeing it. we got so called VIP seats at the front, right by the ring - which was entertaining at first, as there were a lot of hilarious male wrestlers (not midgets) who wore nacho libre type masks and wrestled. they were very choreographed. however, when it came time to the women - that is when it got really scary. one lady, dressed in ripped spandex, was INSANE. she wrestled with a reporter, who clearly had not done it before and was left crying. then, she threw another wrestler pretty much into me and kavitha, then ripped into a bottle of orange pop and sprayed it all over keith. keith, the lucky man he is, ended up with one of the wrestlers on his lap during the evening (just before he was sprayed with orange pop by the crazy spandex woman) and of course, the only wrestler that was a midget got insanely injured - we think her neck was broken (and there was some blood! eeek.). :S not good! the night was pretty much over for us then. after this, this is pretty much the first and last time i will ever support anything to do with fighting. oy!
one of the days we were here, we went our separate ways - bossi and cheryl tried food from all the street vendors (ice cream, empenadas, saltenas, sweet empenadas, etc), while kavitha and i hiked up to the top of la paz (we were insanely winded) and then did tons of souvenir shopping - alpaca stuff is super cheap! we cleared one store of all their scarves and an array of mittens. keith ended up taking in a hip hop show (one group was terrible, one was good, he said).
it was also nice to do some laundry - although i had a huge scare when last night, as we were going to leave the next morning, my laundry didn´t come in! AHHHH! thankfully, just as i was about to lose it, the laundry delivery people came in with it, all clean and folded. amazing.
we also went to go see movies on our last night. cheryl and kavitha went to see indiana jones (they said it was so bad it was funny) while smutty, keith and i went to go see street kings (aka reyes de la calle) - it was a bit too violent for me, but i quite enjoyed all the hilarious rapper cameos in it (the game and common, anyone?!?!) and i also finally got a chance to talk to andy on the phone. phew!
strangely enough - we have not seen ONE mcdonalds in bolivia. i think it is great that the country is so patriotic - however i do miss the dulce de leche cone!!! similarly, there seems to be a devotion to the country´s president, evo morales, to the height of fidel and che. if t-shirts and political graffiti are any indication, they love the man. (note also, that he is indigenous, which reflects 60% of the population in bolivia)
this morning we got up to take the bus to puno, in peru. the ride was SIGNIFICANTLY more comfortable than the overnight bus we took to la paz. for one thing the road was not so bumpy, there was some sort of climate control (aka warmth), and our seats could recline at variable heights. however, it was a bit of a gong show at the end when a pan flute band came on board and played in the aisle. with my luck, the band member with significant BO and playing both the pan flute and guitar was right in my face. A-MAZE-ING.
tomorrow we are going to see the uros floating islands. can´t wait!!!
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