Time to Go Home

Yes, this is Machu Picchu.  Everyone comes to Machu Picchu.  It has been a long time since I saw so many tourists - probably on my last trip to Disneyland.  Machu Picchu is spectacular - the sheer size, the amazing stone work, and its incredible location high in a mountain valley of sorts.  It is not as high up as La Paz, but it is tucked into the mountains and is not easy to get to.  You take a train from Cuzco, and then take a bus up up up to the entry.  There is a little town at the foot of MP - it is called Agua Caliente (there are apparently hot springs nearby) and although it was described as an unpleasant place in Lonely Planet (they do not get everything right) it is a charming little place.  It is only really there to service those going to the mountain, but I still liked it. 

Mike and I made a mistake when we got there - we got off the train and hopped aboard the bus, only to discover that we should have bought our tickets in town, and tickets were not sold at the entry to MP.  Now that was not so good, because it was a 30 minute bus ride back down, not to mention double bus fare.  But after a bit of standing around and sort of pleading with people ("There must be  way!") we were told that we could buy tickets through the only hotel at MP, which was right by where we were standing.  And it was only about $7 more per ticket than it would have been had we bothered to read the signs at the bus terminal.  SO no harm, no foul - except that I am sure we looked like fools.

We are back in Cuzco now, and plan to leave here and begin winding our way back to Ecuador on Tuesday (Today is Friday).  We will bus it across the country like we did getting here.  We did have an interesting thing happen to us when we took the bus from La Pas to Cuzco a couple of weeks ago, more ot less.  It was actually pretty weird and unpleasant.  We were riding on one of these overnight buses where the seats lean way back and there is a little fold out foot rest to put your feet on.  When  that footrest is up, you can't see the floor.  So anyway, Mike and I were riding along, dozing in our chairs, and chatting every now and then about nothing in particular.  We head a cat meowing, and started talking about the poor kitty trapped in its car carrier, and speculating whether the cat carrier was more comfortable than the bus seats.  All of a sudden we smelled this truly awful smell.  Mike said "The cat has shit its crate."  I didn't think it smelled like cat poop, but then it has been a long time since I have smelled cat poop. We started giggling and making jokes about "shitty kitty" and "CAT-astrophe" and stuff like that.  In the meantime, although we paid no attention to it at the time, the guy behind Mike got up and went to a different part of the bus.  Mike and I tried to sleep,  but it was hard with that awful smell.  But there were only a couple hours left in the bus ride so we dealt with it.  When the ride came to an end, Mike reached down and pulled his footrest back and I screamed out "Do not put your feet down!"  There, under Mike's foot rest, was human poop, several handfuls of it.  We freaked out, to say the least, and realized the guy behind us must have pooped himself, and then threw it under out seats.  We could not think of any other way it might have gotten there.  It was not there when we got on the bus.  Thank goodness it did not get on us!  That has to be the strangest thing that has ever happened to us. 

After Cuzco but before MP, we went to the Sacred Valley, which is a series of little Andean towns between Cuzco and MP, all of which have their own ruins and Incan things.  We stayed for several days in a town called Pisac, where we hiked up high into the mountains and visited some ruins.  It was a difficult hike, especially so at over 11,000 feet, but it was worth it.  We also just kicked back and enjoyed the little town.  Then we left and went to another little town called Ollantaytambo.  This town is actually an Incan town, and the walls of many of the buildings now in use were built during that epoch.  The streets were narrow and winding, and surrounded by high walls.  (We never failed to remark on how the enormous tourist buses navigated around them.)  While we were there, we had another really interesting experience - we underwent an ayahuasca ceremony. 

For anyone who has not heard of it, ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic plant used quite widely by the jungle people of Peru and Bolivia, as well as being known elsewhere in South America by other names (for example, in Colombia it is called yage).   William Burroughs came to South America specifically to try this, and it is not something you buy in the street and take home to get high on.  We went (with two American girls and a German girl) to the home of the woman who administered it to us.  I have done plenty of drugs in my day, including LSD, but this was really different.  I don't think I got as much out of it as others did, but it was an interesting experience and I want to do it again.  It is something that really should be done in a controlled setting with a leader you feel comfortable with.  The effects are hard to explain - I did not have any hallucinations, but some really odd physical sensations and spent a lot of time thinking about strange, random things.  Mike had a completely different experience, as did everyone else.  It was different for everyone.  I was a little disappointed that my experience was not more profound, but considering how nervous I was it might have been that I needed to show myself I would not lose control and send my brain off into some stratosphere, never again to return to reality as I know it.  (I was really afraid this might happen.)  So that is why I want to try it again.  Hopefully I will get the chance to do so, someday, somewhere. 

So anyway, as the title of this post says, we are on our way home.  I miss the boat and I want to cook my own meals again  and sleep in my own  bed, and feel the boat moving beneath me at night. 

"I live in my own little world. But its ok, they know me here." (Lauren Myracle)

Wandering Around

As I write this, we are in Pisac, Peru.  It is about 20 or so miles from Cuzco, in what is known as El Valle Sagrado, or the Sacred Valley.  It is a small town, although usually overrun with tourists.  (At the risk of being pretentious, Mike and I prefer to refer to ourselves as "travelers" rather than mere "tourists.)  As usual, I think it is amazing here and am enjoying myself tremendously.

I know I have skipped some of the wonderful places we were in Bolivia, but short of going back and re-reading my earlier posts (which I can't stand to do, I hate to read my own writing almost as much as I hate the sound of my own voice) I don't remember what I have written about and what I have not.  So instead, I will talk about Peru.

The food is better than in Bolivia, but that is because the tourist infrastructure is better.  I have eaten some of the best curries I have ever had in places that seem to cater to English tourists.  It is easier to get a "real" breakfast.  The street vendors are a bit more assertive (some would say aggressive) than the street vendors in Bolivia.  And things are a bit more expensive.  But both places are wonderful, the people are very friendly, and since we are accustomed to the altitude now, we are having a great time.

I am getting sort of homesick for the boat, and do have some concerns about the fact that there is no one to water the batteries as often as we do it.  I have expressed this concern to Mike, and he is not that worried about it, so I suppose I shouldn't be either, as he knows way more about this sort of thing than I do.  That is my only real worry about the boat in our absence.  There are no concerns about weather problems there while we are gone, as this part of Ecuador has extremely benign weather.  No storms will come up and blow us off our anchorage.  Rain will only give the boat a nice cleaning.  The anchorage does have security.  So I guess there is no real need for concern.  I am considering asking a friend if he is willing to water the batteries, but again, Mike says it is not necessary yet.

I have no idea how long we will stay here in Peru - maybe for the rest of the month.  Cuzco (Cusco? I see it both ways) is a great place to be.  We stayed in a great hostel, and for one glorious day got to have their best room, which was way up top and had an amazing (sorry about that word again) view of the city.  We only got it for one day because it was booked up for the other days we stayed there.  When we get back, we will try and get it again.  I suppose if we were willing to make reservations, we could have it without any problems, but Mike always says "If we make reservations we are tied down!"  So that is that, we will see what happens when the time comes.  We had heard that Cuzco was expensive, but there are lots and lots of reasonably priced hostels, and really, it is only expensive if you compare it with the rest of Peru.  I haven't really noticed any great differences.  I have decided that I like staying at hostels - they are friendlier and you get to meet other travelers (hostels tend to attract travelers rather than tourists, sorry for the reverse snobbism again) easier than you do in a regular hotel. 

Speaking of other travelers, we have met so many wonderful new people while visiting here.  Just the other day we met a couple from Australia, and had drinks, then dinner, and then they located us at our current dwelling here in Pisac and I had breakfast with them before we left.  It was so much fun, and as an extra treat, they were close to our age.  Most of our new friends are young enough to be our children, so it is a great treat not to be so much older for a change.  We talked about everything, and I was really sorry to see them leave.  We are still in touch with friends we met while adventuring in Bolivia, and two of them are planning to meet us in Ecuador and sail up to Panama.  Although it is totally redundant to say, I am totally enjoying myself, and Mike is too.  The only problem I have is trying to curb my buying.  I have to keep reminding myself that there is limited wall space for art, no place for knick-knacks, and no real need for the GORGEOUS sweaters they sell here for incredible prices.  I was able to buy one for myself because I somehow managed to lose my all purpose zip up the front sweatshirt, and then I could not resist a pullover as well.  I shall just wear the hell out of them while I am here.  I also got myself a moonstone pendent, some silver bracelets, and some new hoop earrings.  But there is so much more I could buy were I not ruthless with myself.  And I even have to be careful with presents, because we can only transport so much in our backpacks. 

Here are some more pictures from the places we have been so far:

This is me and our guide hiking in ToroToro National Park near Cochabamba, Bolivia.  We finally hiked all the way into a canyon, with over 800 steps.  I was very proud of myself for getting back up in almost the same time it took to hike down.  Uphill hiking is NOT my favorite thing to do.

These are dinosaur tracks.  Although there were no dinosaur bones found in Bolivia there were lots of tracks found.

We went to a ladies wrestling match in La Paz.  It was way better than any WWF action! 

 

  

 

 

They did not mind pictures, and when I asked for one, this is what I got.

 



  

 

 

 

Now on to Peru - this is the main square in Cuzco (Plaza de las Armas).  It is also known as Plaza of the Tears because the last Inca to strike out against the Spaniards was killed here.  

 

 

 

The time has come to end this post - my internet connection is getting dicey and I have a horror of losing all my work.  So I will continue to have a good time in Peru, and will endeavor to update this blog on a regular basis.

 

"Make your mistakes, take your chances, look silly, but keep on going. Don’t freeze up."  (Thomas Wolfe)

More South American Stories

We are now is Cusco, Peru, but I am going to try and finish up our Bolivian adventures before I move on to Peru.

While in Bolivia, we went on a four day trip to the Salar de Uyuni, which is a HUGE salt flat area in the southern part of Bolivia.  At one point we could see into both Chile and Argentina.  It is way bigger than Bonneville.

 

 

Here  I am in a chair made of salt at a hotel made of salt.  The walls were made of salt bricks, whitewashed with more salt.  We stayed at a different salt hotel, but it was just like this one.

This is Mike standing next to a pile of - you guessed it - salt.  We toured a plant that turned this salt into table salt.  If you lived here, you would never have to buy salt.  Just break off a piece of ground and put it in the soup.

The whole place looked like this, with the ground broken into hexagonal shapes.  It went on for miles and miles.  We were there in the dry season, and in the rainy season the whole thing is covered in really shallow water.  It is hard to visit then, although warmer.  We were pretty cold.

Here I am, standing on salt.  This is what it looked like for most of the trip. 

Our driver and guide made lunch for us every day while we were out.  They set up a nice table and the food was great. 

 

Our guide, Victor, set up these great photos.  It was really fun to see them.

We also learned that flamingos do not just live in Florida.  We saw so many here at the various lagoons.  The color of the lagoons is determined by the minerals in the water.  It was really cold, and I am surprised these birds did not mind it.

There were literally hundreds and hundreds of them.  You weren't supposed to get too close, and we respected that, but there were a lot of tourists that seemed to be ignoring that very reasonable request. 

Anyway, after we finished the Salar de Uyuni trip, we decided to go to the city of Potosi, which is famous as the source of more silver than anywhere else in the world.  It is said that the Spanish took enough silver from Potosi to build a silver bridge from Potosi to Spain and still have enough silver left over to ship it to Spain over that silver bridge.  While that may be hyperbole, it is true that Bolivian silver propped up the Spanish empire for literally hundreds of years.  Potosi is an interesting city, built at the foot of a big mountain where all the silver was found.  It is still mined today, and there is still some silver, but there is more copper, zinc, tin, and other metals.

We took a tour of one of the mines.  The miners still have a very hard life and the techniques are pretty much the same as they were in the 1500s.  I had mixed feelings about taking the tour, from both a safety standpoint and because I felt sort of intrusive about it.  But after some soul searching and talking to locals, we decided to do it.  The tour begins with a trip to the mining market, where we bought gifts for the miners.  We bought dynamite, coca leaves, and large bottles of water and soft drinks.

This is one of our fellow tourists inside the mine.  It was dark and very close inside.

This is me holding two sticks of dynamite with the wire and blasting cap in my teeth. Mike was way more enthralled with the dynamite than I was, despite the picture.

Another one of us inside the mine.

That is my back as I head deeper into the mine.  It did not seem to be very stable.  I just kept telling myself that there were no reports of any dead tourists.

 These are some of the tools that the miners use.

 

 

 

Here I am with my bandana over my face because of all the toxic dust in the air.

This is the little god-like thing that the miners regard as the deity who rules the underworld where they work.  They believe that Jesus rules the heavens, but "tio" rules below.  They give tribute to him with cigarettes, liquor, and coca leaves.

Here I am with a couple of the miners.  They were taking a break from their incredibly hard labor.

We had to walk over this bridge, and it was scary as hell.  It was a long way down beneath it.

Well, this will be it for a while now.  We are trying to decide at which one of the incredible restaurants we are going to eat tonight.  There is still more to tell about Bolivia, before I can begin to describe the wonderful things about Peru.  I am glad we get to stay pretty much as long as we want to - the boat is safe and sound in a quiet estuary, so we are free to wander on.  Life is good.

"With freedom, books, flowers and the moon, who could not be happy?"  (Oscar Wilde)

My Take on This Amazing Country

Before I launch into more stuff about what we have done here, I thought it might be a good idea to describe some of the interesting things we have discovered about Bolivia and the Bolivians.  It is like no other place we have been.

Firstly, they like their pizza, and it is really good. Even the smallest, most remote place we have been has a pizzeria.  They use those special ovens, and even though I don't like pizza, I can tell it is good by the smell, the look of the crust, and the raptures everyone goes into while eating it.  I can make pizza and it is good because I can make a good crust, but I think they have me beat. 

Second, they have the US beat on displays of public art.  As I read somewhere, and it is true, even the smallest of villages have at least two Blessed Virgins and one Bolivar.  There are statues of everyone who ever did anything noteworthy in Bolivia.  And the buildings have murals painted on them.  I love that.  The parks are filled with fountains and sculpted plants.

Third, there is graffiti everywhere.  It cannot be used as the marker of a bad neighborhood, because it is literally in all different parts of every town.  It is not scary  because if you look closely, it is all boyfriend/girlfriend stuff rather than cryptic gang crap. 

Bolivians are very friendly and always want to know where you are from.  And even though officially the US is not in favor here (we have no embassy, we were kicked out a few years ago along with the DEA) no one has ever treated us badly.  I think speaking Spanish helps, even though I am far from fluent.  However. this trip has been a real immersion experience for us because there are many times when the people we are dealing with speak no English.  We have even decided when we tour a museum or church or whatever, we choose the Spanish language tour instead of waiting for an English one.  Both of us are learning a lot from that, and I don't think we miss much.  When we went on our trip to the Salar de Uyuni (a giant salt flat area that I will tell more about later), although our guide spoke English, we told him we wanted to speak Spanish as much as we could.  So that is what we did. When we ran out of words, we switched to English.  We helped him learn new words as well, so it was a fun exchange.  People are very curious about the US and how things are done there

The shopping is to die for - I almost wish I lived in a cold climate so I could buy some of the gorgeous sweaters and other knit goods out of alpaca, which is the softest wool I have ever felt, even giving cashmere a run for its money.  But all those lovely things would do is sit in my closet, probably getting ruined in some way.  I think we might get some ponchos, though, because once in a great while it gets chilly on night watch.  We were eating dinner one night at a rooftop restaurant- I forget exactly where - and it started to get pretty chilly once the sun went down.  We were dressed for the sunny day, and the waitress brought two ponchos over for us to wear while we were eating.  They were wonderfully warm and comfortable.  They also sell silver jewelry and I am seriously contemplating new earrings and maybe a bracelet.

The mountains are absolutely huge and impressive and almost dwarf the Colorado Rockies.  All the towns are surrounded by volcanos (God forbid these dormant giants should ever decide to wake up, it would be a horrible disaster) that all have mythological stories about them.  In fact, the religious aspect of Bolivia is another wonder.  Everyone is pretty much a devout Catholic, but with overtones of the original polytheistic religions of the indigenous people.  For example, the earth itself is thought to be the Goddess Pachamama.  There are many rituals associated with her, and she is also associated with the Virgin Mary.  It is easy to see why Catholicism works here, the church seems to be very tolerant about this.  Even the shamans, who would be considered witch doctors in the US, always have pictures of Jesus and different saints around their shrines while at the same time they are conducting their various rituals, like burning llama fetuses and other objects in an attempt to bring good fortune or cure various problems.  This is something even upper and middle class Bolivians take very seriously.  They consult these shamans (for lack of a better term, they are called "brujos" here, which means witches, but there are nuances that make it pretty well untranslatable into English) and fortunetellers on a regular basis. 

Another interesting thing here is that there are many, many people here for whom Spanish is a second language.  These people speak Ayamara or Quechua, depending on where you are.  There is also sort of a mixture of Spanish and these languages, which means that you can be chatting along nicely in Spanish only to encounter a word that you can't understand.  And some people, like in the markets, don't speak much Spanish at all.  This country has a HUGE indigenous population that never really culturally assimilated to the Spanish culture, and ever since Evo Morales was elected, there has been a resurgence in the various indigenous groups asserting their unique cultural ways.  There is true diversity here, and although there is still some discrimination against the indigenous population, it is not very evident to an outsider.

Now a word about Evo Morales, who is certainly controversial in the US as he does not like us, is a former coca farmer, and threw the DEA out.  Most people here seem to like him well enough.  The indigenous and poorer people really like him.  The income of the poor has doubled since he came into power, and the percentage of people living in what is considered abject poverty has dropped from 40% to about 17%.  The rich people do not like him very much, as he nationalizes things and did this deal where it is now limited how much land one entity can own, making things better for small farmers but delivering a big hit to agribusiness.  There is no real freedom of the press here,  but then that is pretty much the norm all through South America.  He did some fancy footwork to allow himself to run for a third term, and I think he suppresses dissent, again something not uncommon in this neck of the woods.  He is planning to do something with gasoline (Bolivia is working on dealing effectively with its oil resources) that I do not completely understand, but people are not happy about it as it is believed the price of gas may rise.  But having said all that, he seems to be well liked, even though he makes incredibly stupid statements that he later has to take back.  So I guess only time will tell on that one.

About coca.  Coca growing is a big business here, and not just for the drug cartels to make into cocaine and sell to Europe and the US.  People use it here for many things.  Coca tea is for sale in any grocery store.  It is supposed to aid digestion, help with the altitude, and other things.  It does not make you high in any way - actually it is soothing, like any other herbal tea, like chamomile.  People do chew the leaves (Not exactly chew, more like sucking a huge wad in one side of your face), especially people who do hard physical labor.  There is no stigma at all to it.  The leaves are sold openly in the markets.  When we visited a working mine in Potosi (again, more later on that) we were expected to buy bags of coca leaves in the miner's market as gifts for allowing us to gawk at them while they worked.  You can't get high off the leaves, and all I felt (yes, of course I tried it) was that my cheek got numb on that side.  I did not notice any help with the breathlessness effect of the altitude.  I had more effects from chewing betelnut in Taiwan.  But it is a way of life here, and I have not noticed any coke freaks hanging around causing trouble.  In fact, we have been approached way less by drug dealers here than in any other place where we have spent time.  (Mike's pony tail and beard seem to attract them).  I haven't even seen too many drunks, even though these people are not afraid of their alcohol.  The Bolivians believe in any excuse for a party, and a party involves lots of drinking.  As a side note, Bolivian beer is very good.

So that is all for today.  I have been sitting in my hotel room (while Mike takes a midday nap) because it was pouring rain outside.  But since the rain has stopped and the sun is coming out, it is time to get outside and explore more of the wonderful city of Sucre.

"Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet."  (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

 

Amazing Bolivia

When we told people at the marina we were going to spend a month in Bolivia, one man said he couldn't imagine what we would find to do in Bolivia for an entire month.  Well, I can state with confidence that we could spend a year here and not get bored for one second.  Let's see, where to begin?

We began by going to visit some pre-Incan ruins between La Paz and Lake Titicaca, known as Tihuanaco.  They are mostly made of mud,  but there is some stonework that is simply amazing.  I can't see how they managed to fit these stones together so tightly.  I have pictures, but need to get on the other computer to post them, so that will have to wait.  No one knows how old these ruins are, or even for sure what culture built them. 

Next, we took a bike ride down what is described as the World's Most Dangerous Road, so named for the HUGE amounts of accidents that have occurred on it.  Since a new road has been built, it is not quite as dangerous as there are few motor vehicles on it.  It is mostly for bikes now, but it is still not for the faint of heart.  You start at about 15,400 feet and went down 64 kilometers, dropping 11,000 feet.  Luckily we stopped a lot to keep the group together, or I would likely have killed myself.  It was the best bike I have ever ridden, however.  It was not technically difficult, but you had to be real careful of our speed.  Not only that, but the edge is a sheer drop off.  I just tried not to look at that part.  I did not fall down once, so I was pretty proud of myself.  It was freezing cold at the top, so I was bundled up as though I was in Wisconsin in the depths of winter.  It got a bit warmer as we went down the mountain, so it was comfortable by the time we ended the ride.  We all had a beer, and we got to tour an animal sanctuary.  The monkeys were pretty cute, but you had to watch that they did not climb on you and try to get into your pockets.  Then a van took us back up into La Paz.  It was so much fun - and not all that difficult except for the speed management issues.

After that, we went on what is pretty much the most exciting thing I have ever done.  We took a six day trip from the high Andes mountains into the Bolivian Amazon basin.  We began with three days of biking.  It was the same company we went on the other bike trip with, and we got the same guide.  The biking was much more difficult than the other trip, and not just because there was plenty of uphill riding.  We were on a road, but it was a rough dirt road strewn with rocks and lots of hairpin turns as it was a switchback.  The first day I did pretty well, although always bringing up the rear.  There were ten of us - two Canadian guys (Newfies, to be exact, the best kind of Canadians), two New Zealanders, four Belgians, and me and Mike.  Our guide is Australian, and the other guides were Bolivian.  Between all of us, there were five languages spoken.  It was a great group.  Mike and I were old enough to be the parents of all the other riders, but it did not matter.  We all got along great, and most of us are now Facebook friends.  Our guide is going to meet us in Ecuador in December and will sail with us to Panama.  We met two others later on in Potosi and had a great lunch.  Anyway, the first night we stayed in a nice hotel after a hard day of bike riding. 

The next day it was back on the bikes for more thrills and excitement.  I was doing really well until a motorcycle came tearing around a curve and hit me.  (Clipped, to be exact.)  It knocked me off my bike and right into a rock cliff - which was good because if he had knocked me to the other side of the road I would be dead now at the far bottom of something I couldn't even see down.  I was not hurt, just sort of banged up, so I quickly jumped back on the bike before anyone noticed there was anything wrong.  Unfortunately I forgot to see if the bike was still working - and immediately did a header right over the handlebars because the back brake was no longer working.  I landed flat on my face.  All I could think was that I had broken my teeth and would be spending the next eight months in and out of the dentist's office.   By that time, Mike and one of the guides had come to my aid.  Miraculously, my teeth were all intact.  I did bruise my chin and ended up with a scrape on my upper lip that looked like a Hitler mustache.  I rode in the van for a bit until we broke for lunch, and then my bike was fixed and I was on my way once again.  That night we stayed at a VERY primitive hotel with straw mattresses and the dirtiest  bathroom I have dealt with in a long time.  But we did get to clean off the road dirt in a waterfall.  I slept like the dead on my surprisingly comfortable straw mattress. 

So after eating breakfast we were off again for another day of biking.  I was doing fine until for some reason I am still not clear on, I did another header over the handlebars.  I landed on my head this time, and all I have to say is thank God for inventing bike helmets.  I wanted to keep riding, but I knew I was too beat up after the previous day and would likely keep falling and thereby upsetting all my fellow riders.  So I rode in the van with one guy who was feeling sick and another guy with a bad shoulder.  That night we stayed in a slightly better hotel in a tiny little town at the river where we planned to catch our boat for the rest of the trip.  The town was like a wild west town, and there were no other tourists.  We got to sing karaoke with the locals, and I made some new friends - these lovely local girls who showed up later and tried to convince us to stay for the weekend, when there would be a big party in town.  It sounded like fun, but we did have to be on our way.

The next day we began our boat trip.  The boat was a big dug out long boat.  One of the new river guides stood in the very front giving instructions to the man in the back who was handling the outboard.  It was sort of like white water rafting, with the boatmen steering around sticking up rocks and shallow spots.  We got some good video of the action.  The area we went through was a gold mining area, which was interesting to look at although it made the river muddy because it was all sluice mining.  There were  big operations with bulldozers and all, as well as little operations with one guy up to his waist in water with a homemade sluice.  We camped out - I had forgotten how much I like sleeping outside.  We did this for three days.  On the second day we hiked up to a waterfall and swimming area again and although the water was cold it was wonderfully refreshing and fun.  We had a cook along and she made wonderful meals for us, some of which were eaten as we motored along on the boat.  I really enjoy being on a boat when all I have to do is ride and not have any responsibility for anything.  We had a campfire each night and roasted marshmallows and  to know each other better.  On the last day we ended up in a town called Rurrenabaque, and spend the night at a nice comfortable hostel.  We all enjoyed beer, pizza, and pool and then said good bye - that was hard as we all got to know each other well and got along great.  Mike and I stayed an extra day, and then flew back to La Paz.  Everyone else left the day before, but we wanted to explore the little town a bit.  This had to be one of the best things I have ever done.  (The Hitler mustache lasted for about a week and a half.  It is gone now, as is the chin bruise.  My record for exciting falls without getting seriously hurt remains intact.) 

Anyway, I have done enough typing for one night.  I have more adventures to tell about, and some great pictures.  Right now we are in the city of Sucre, and there are some great restaurants, one of which we will try out tonight.  So - more to come!!!

"Help someone when they are in trouble and they will remember you the next time they are in trouble."  (From the wall at Oliver's Pub in La Paz, Bolivia)

Peru to Bolivia

(This is a new version of something that disappeared when I hit a wrong button and then couldn't reverse it.  So if something is repeated, it is because of that.)

We are now in La Paz, Bolivia, and have been here for about five days or so.  It is simply amazing, and I am sorry to keep using the same superlatives over and over again, but words like "amazing" are the words one really has to use if one is to be truthful. 

We left Lima and took a bus to the Peruvian city of Arequipa.  I liked it better than Lima  because it is smaller, and easier to negotiate.  The overnight bus was very comfortable, and I slept beautifully.  We spent a couple days there, visiting museums and looking at the three giant volcanos that surround the city.  It was a lot warmer than it was in Lima, and we enjoyed that.  We toured several  museums, all of which had mummies that were found in the surrounding volcano areas.  One of them was not really a mummy, but rather a frozen body that is amazingly intact.  It was a tiny bit creepy to see it, with the hair and skin and everything, but extremely interesting at the same time.  She (it is the body of a young girl) is kept in a sort of see through refrigeration unit.  The artifacts found with her included gold and silver, as well as beautifully woven textiles.  We also toured a very large convent, in which lived nuns who were entirely cloistered from the day they entered the convent.  It is related to Catherine of Siena, who was, as it turned out, the first nun who was also a doctor, although she never had any formal training.  Part of the convent is still a cloistered residence for some nuns, and I figure most of them are elderly now.  It was fascinating if for no other reason than for the incredible collection of religious art. 

After Arequipa, we took another bus to Bolivia.  This trip was more difficult because it was not a straight shot.  We rode at night from about 11:00 pm until 5 am, at which time we stopped for a bit, and then had to check out of Peru and into Bolivia, then wait a bit, then got back on the bus and continued into Bolivia.  This is at Lake Titicaca, by the way.  We had to change buses there, and at one point had to get off the bus and on to a ferry to get across part of the lake.  The bus then got on another ferry (after disgorging the passenger weight) and we all met up on the other side of this enormous lake.  (We did not visit here, as we plan to do so on our way back.)  The ferries were just large wooden barges, and I was really surprised that the one the bus went on was able to hold it.  After that, we finally arrived in La Paz, where we easily got a taxi to the hotel.  Unfortunately, I started getting sick as we left Peru, and just got sicker as we traveled on.  Mike was sick for a day, but he got better fast.  I am still sick, but not so much that it is slowing me down.  I did spend my first whole day here in Bolivia in bed, feeling like crap.  But that is all over now. 

La Paz is truly a vertical city, and it has to be seen to be believed.  I don't mean vertical like New York, with high rises everywhere, but rather geographically vertical.  From every direction when you look up, you see crazy twisted streets going up and up and up every which way.  I have been completely out of breath every time I walk any where.  The people are friendly and many of the women (young and old) wear indigenous dress - these gorgeous full skirts with shawls and bowler hats.  I have not figured out how the hats stay on, as they are worn perched on the top of the head at a rakish angle.  No hatpins in sight. 

On our first day when neither of us were too sick to enjoy it, we went to the main square.  While we were sitting on the steps looking at our maps, we met two men who stopped to talk to us.  They were sort of dirty and disheveled, but very pleasant and friendly.  They told us they had just gotten out of prison.  Then, before we could react to that, told us they were still actually in prison.  If you are in prison here, they let you out for twelve hours a day.  Then they have to go back.   Both of them were in for cocaine problems, with one of them in for many years because he had a lot of it (2 kilos, he told us) so he is classified as a narcotraficante.  The other guy was in for a shorter time because he only had a few grams.  They were both Canadian.  The short timer was waiting for some money to some via Western Union, upon the arrival of which he would apparently be able to buy his way out.  No such luck for the other guy.  Both of them were very polite and friendly, and did not ask for money or anything else.  A very interesting encounter to say the least. 

We have plans for   the next couple of days.  Tomorrow we are going to visit some ruins just outside of town, at a site that is way older than the Incas.  And the next day we are going to take a crazy bike ride on what is called the World's Most Dangerous Road.  We go down at least 3600 meters in about four hours.  (That is more than 10,000 feet.)  And a week from Monday, we are scheduled to begin a six day trip into the Amazon basin.  We will bike down from the Andes mountains, then take a boat down a large river through the jungle.  We will be camping for part of it.  My main concern is keeping up with the group.  There will be six of us, plus our guides.  I am excited beyond words.

Anyway, that will be it for now.  We are taking lots of pictures and I am really looking forward to sharing them here and on Facebook. 

"Money can't buy happiness but at least you can go sulk in Aruba."  (Seen on the wall at Oliver's Travels, a pub here in La Paz.)

Winter in August

Yes, that's right.  It is winter in August here in Lima, Peru.  The sky here is white all day long, and it is chilly enough that I need a jacket and real shoes and socks.  I have not dealt with that in a long time.  But it is kind of fun.  And the cool temperatures are easier to deal with when hiking or just walking around the city proper.  One does not get all hot and sweaty.

Lima is HUGE.  It reminds me of LA the way it is spread out.  We are staying in the Miraflores area, which is like the La Jolla of Lima. I wanted to stay in the city center, but we were dissuaded and this is actually ok.  The room is comfortable, and since we are only here for three days, it really doesn't matter.   It is more expensive here than in Ecuador, but still affordable.

I like Peru.  The people are friendly, and the food is to die for.  We have not had even an average meal since getting here.  I have eaten goat and I must tell everyone it is absolutely delicious.  If you like lamb, you will love goat.  I thought it would  be stronger or gamier than lamb, but it has a milder flavor.  I have no idea why it is not more popular in the US.  I am going to miss it when I can't have it anymore.  The ceviche here is also amazing, with some different twists to it. I love the stuff, so finding new varieties is a treat.  They also serve something called lomo saltado, which I thought must have something to do with salted meat, but again, not so.  Lomo saltado is sort of like stir fried beef and vegetables, served over rice.  (By the way, they eat tons of rice down here.  It is served at almost every meal.)  It was wonderful - although I saw what I thought was a slice of red bell pepper and popped the whole thing in my mouth.  It was not a bell - it was a really hot pepper.  My mouth was on fire!   I have never seen a pepper so big be so hot.  Usually (at least in my obviously limited experience) the bigger the pepper the milder the taste.  Mike loved it. 

We are here in Peru  because we are on our way to Bolivia.  We spent a couple days in Guayaquil, Ecuador, then caught a bus out of Ecuador to a place called Chiclayo.  It is not really a tourist spot, but there were a few interesting things to see, one of which was a section of the public market dedicated to herbalists, and to the supernatural.  It is apparently not unusual for Peruvians of all walks of life to consult with curanderas or shamans.  They sold all sorts of strange things, and one of my favorite parts of it was the scent - it smelled like herbs.  Although I love those public markets, they usually do not smell very good.  This was a real change.  They sell this cactus called San Pedro cactus which is related to mescaline.  I have not tried it.  It is legal down here.  The shamans use  and administer it.

They have several archeological sites right here close by and we have been to see them.  While in some ways not as impressive at first blush as Tikal or some of the big Maya sites, they are still incredible in that everything is so well preserved.  The Lima area is the driest capital but for Cairo.  They measure their rainfall here in millimeters per year, not inches.  The structures are all built from adobe bricks, and everything buried within pretty well stays there intact unless and until it is uncovered.  The pottery, metal work, and textiles are amazingly intact.  The quality of the weaving was astounding.  These are earlier cultures than the Inca, who did not come into their own until the 1400s, about one hundred years before the Spanish arrived.  But what they accomplished in that short time is nothing short of miraculous.  I could go on and on, and Mike took a ton of pictures that at some point I will include here.  But right now they are still in the camera. 

Tonight at nine pm we are catching a bus for a city here in Peru called Arequipa.  We are stopping there primarily to break up the bus ride (it would be over 30 hours from here to La Paz) but it sounds like a great place in itself.  We will spend a few days there, then head on.  It takes a while to get from Ecuador to Bolivia unless one wants to fly, and it is pretty expensive, almost as expensive as it was to fly to the states from Ecuador.  It seems as though flights within a country are reasonable, but as soon as a border is crossed it gets expensive.  And since we spend way more than we had anticipated spending when we were in the US, we need to be a little more conservative with our money than we might usually  be.  So buses it is, and it is not really too bad.  They have these buses called cama buses, which have seats that fold down flat so you can sleep.  It makes for a nice overnight trip - they give you a little dinner (usually chicken and rice) and play movies.  After a couple of hours, it is nice to curl up and go to sleep.  Since it is nighttime, you can't see out the windows anyway, so it is perfect.  Even in the semi-cama buses, which only fold down 160 degrees instead of 180 degrees, it is quite comfortable for sleeping.  They give you  blankets and pillows.  The movies they play tend to be action movies, which are pretty easy to follow even when they are dubbed into Spanish.  Sometimes we get lucky and they are also subtitled in English.  We are talking about American movies made in English, dubbed into Spanish, after which English subtitles were added.  But I have noticed one thing about watching movies in Spanish with English subtitles.  I find it very distracting and I have a hard time concentrating on one or the other.  I find myself listening to the Spanish and then trying to read the English.  It is hard to explain.  I never have that problem if the movies are in French or some other language, just Spanish.  Interesting.

They have these dogs down here - special dogs, called Peruvian Hairless.  They are bigger than the hairless dogs in Mexico, and have been here for thousands of years.  They are sort of odd looking, but seem to have very outgoing personalities.  They are considered sort of a national treasure here, and the people are very proud of them.  I personally think they are wonderful and would not mind having one.  But then again I love all dogs, even the funny looking ones. 

So it is fun to be on the road.  We have three backpacks - two big ones and a day pack.  It is easy to carry all out stuff, and there is room for anything I might want to buy.  I am trying to restrain myself until I get to Bolivia, or else I will spend all of my allotted turista money too early in the trip.  It is hard, though.  They sell beautiful things made from llama and alpaca wool, and it is just too bad I have no place to wear stuff like that.  It is too warm all the places I go, and we have no intention of sailing to cold places.  Call me a weather wimp, so be it. 

All and all I am doing fine, as is Mike.  I feel so lucky to be seeing  all these amazing things and meeting wonderful people, both the local people and visitors from all over the world.  We met two guys from Finland.  There were two men at breakfast this morning who sounded like they were speaking Russian.  There are lots of people from France and Germany.  Everyone is friendly and there is a good sense of camaraderie among all the travelers, which makes for many interesting conversations.

 So far we have not been in the high mountains, so I have yet to see what altitude does to me.  I think the highest I have been for any length of time was about 10,000 feet, when I went skiing in the Tahoe area.  I did not notice anything then, but we will be going much higher than that (La Paz, Bolivia is the highest capital in the world at about 3660 meters, which is just over 12,000 feet, I think) and all the guide books talk about the importance of taking it slow and acclimating before becoming too active.  So we shall see.  I plan to follow all the guidelines so I can enjoy things, and not get laid low by altitude sickness symptoms, like headaches.  All I really remember that was different being higher up in Tahoe was finding myself getting winded a lot faster than at sea level.  And I am no athlete, ask anyone that knows me.  One good thing about the trip so far - I am losing the weight I put on while in the US.  I can never move back there or I will be as big as a house before I know it. 

On that note, I will end today's entry.

"Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow."  (Anita Desai)

Back in Ecuador

The title says it all, back in Ecuador.  Actually, we got back almost two weeks ago.  It was really good to get back, good to get home and sleep in my own bed, with the boat rocking a bit in the estuary tidal swings.

We spent almost two months in the US, visiting our families.  The visits were overall good, because I love my family and I have been missing them.  Some people were doing really well, which was heartening and made that part of the trip truly enjoyable.  But not everyone was in a good place, and I felt really helpless with my inability to fix things for everyone.
That sounds harsh, and I feel bad about it.  I wish things had been different.  I wish I could make things different.  I am not being really articulate here, but that is because it hurts so much to see people I love having difficulties.  It hurts worse than if it were happening to me.  But it is not about me, and I can't make things change.

However, having said all that, I still had a wonderful time with people I love.  It has been a long time, and the babies are not babies any more, but are little kids.  The little kids are teenagers.  The teenagers are adults.  A lot happened while I was away.  I got to see almost everyone, and I only wish I could have made that happen.  Arkansas is a beautiful state, and the hotel we stayed at in Little Rock It was not only gorgeous in an Old South style, the service was impeccable as well.  It was true luxury in every way. Then we stayed at two different resorts, and one on a river.  Both of them had wonderful views of their respective bodies of water, and there were lots and lots of different birds and animals.  Between Arkansas and Wisconsin, we saw an amazing amount of deer and different kinds of birds.  While fishing on a lake in Wisconsin with my brother and nephew, Mike and I got to see a bald eagle with her nestlings in their nest.  It was large and made of sticks.  Really large, as a matter of fact.  And the babies looked to be about ready to fledge as they were at that awkward stage birds go through.  You can always spot them - their feathers are always sort of ruffled, and they act confused.  And although they look like adults, and are as big as adults, they fuss for their parents to bring them food just like a tiny baby bird.  There were loons, and herons, and all sorts of different kinds of ducks.  We loved it. 

Another great surprise was Minneapolis.  I have to admit I harbored a terrible prejudice against Minneapolis, based on my general dislike and distrust of Minnesota in general.  This is a legacy from my father, who used to frighten kids selling subscriptions to the Minneapolis Tribune, asserting in a loud voice that "this is a Wisconsin oriented household.  We get the Milwaukee Sentinel.  We have no interest in an out of state newspaper."  (It is important to know my hometown in Wisconsin, Eau Claire, is only 90 miles to Minneapolis while being about five hours away from Milwaukee.  Lots of people in Eau Claire augmented the local paper with one from Minneapolis.  My dad was viruently of the opinion that nothing good comes from Minnesota.  At least that is how I developed the prejudice.)  Anyway, I discovered on this trip that Minneapolis is a great city.  There are parks and historical preservations all over the city center, and they have a light rail system that takes you between the suburbs and the city center, as well as to and from the airport.  There are restaurants to die for, with all kinds of different foods. I got to see a couple of old college friends, and one of my best friends ever while visiting in Eau Claire.  And we took a river canoe trip in northern Wisconsin, where one of my sisters lives.  It was, again, a beautiful trip.  We had a bunch of my brother in law's family with us, which included little kids.  After we were done, we went to their home for spaghetti dinner.  We stayed at my other sister's cabin, which is where we got to go fishing.   My stepmother fattened us up with her good cooking, and took us to her art studio. 

We also went back to San Diego to see my son and to get boat parts and bring them back here to replace broken things here.  It was of course great to see my son, as I have really missed him.  We all went to some of our old favorite restaurants, and there were people there who remembered us - AND even remembered our regular orders.  Mike and I took a drive into the mountains and were sobered by how incredibly dry everything is.  We had never seen it that bad, even on times of other droughts.  It was scary, when we thought how easily the area could go up.  The previously burned areas looked as though they were in the process of desertification.  But the beaches and the ocean seemed cleaner.  I also got to to see three of my favorite former co-workers, another treat.  But by the time we were supposed to leave, I was ready to go.  I feel better down here.  I missed my boat, I missed my own bed, and I just wanted to come home.  I wish more people would come and visit us - for me that would be the best of both worlds - seeing my family in a place I am coming to love.

A couple of days ago we took a taxi (cheap enough that why bother with a bus is what I say) to a little beach town about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles I think)  from here.  It was a great little beach town and we plan to spend a couple days there, just kicking back on the beach.  After that, we are preparing to go to Bolivia for a month or so.  We hope to leave in a week or so.  So what else did I do that I have not mentioned?  We spent a coupe days in Guayaquil, which is the largest city in Ecuador and is from whence we flew in and out of the country.  It was an interesting, bustling town, and in one of their large plazas, there are literally hundreds of iguanas in all shapes, colors and sizes roaming the park.  I was busy looking at a particularly interesting iguana, there suddenly from above came a literal stream of water.  I jumped back but not fast enough to avoid getting my leg splattered with pee from a huge iguana in a tree above my head.  It was really funny to me and to everyone who saw and laughes as well.  Needless to say, I took a very hot shower when we got back.  Our little town here is opening itself to us more and more as time goes on.  There are a number of places to go and things to see that you only find out about is if a local tells you about it.  Like Mike said, we are starting to dial in to the secret handshake.  It is making our stay even more enjoyable, as there is more to this place than we thought. 

So anyway, Mike is in the process of fixing things with the parts we brought back with us.  Since we will be leaving again pronto, we are leaving some things undone until we get back from that trip.  I am excited about Bolivia, and also excited about being a backpacker again like we did in October 2012-January 2013.  It was a great feeling to just go here and there on buses without having to drag luggage anywhere.  And as long as you take every opportunity wash your clothes, you can get away without needing a bunch of different outfits.  I also like to make sure I leave room for all the things I will buy along the way.  I have been accused of both buying too much stuff and paying too much for what I do buy.  But I hate to haggle, and if I am happy with the first price, so be it.  There does not appear to be much haggling for things here, the prices seem to be what they are, except maybe for the tourist kiosks along the waterfront on weekends.  But I have heard it is like Mexico, and is part of the economic culture.  We'll see.

Now I am up to date here, but I know I have left a lot of things out.  As time goes on, I hope to remember them all, but with my short term memory problems, I am not holding my breath.

"
 

Pictures, Finally

I finally got some pictures prepared for posting.  So here goes.  The internet here is dicey and kicks us off at the drop of  a hat, so we will see what happens.  There are a ton of pictures, and it takes a lot of time to sort through, then shrink them for posting, resaving, etc.  They are a mixture in no specific order, so here goes. 

First of all, I think this is a strange name for a beer.  But here it is.  This is in Panama

 

We Spent a week in January in the Darien jungle, visiting a village where the Embera people live.  It was a wonderful experience and Mike took some great pictures   This is an Embera baby.

 


                                                     And this little girl had no problem having her picture taken.

 

 

This is what can happen when you anchor where there is a currant, like in a river.  It took over an hour to clear an bigger one.  I was able to clear this with the boat hook.  We had to use the dinghy and the engine to clear the other one.                                               

                                       

 Here are the houses where people live in the village.  If a ladder was down, it meant the people were ok with company.  If the ladder is up, it means no visitors.

 

Here are some of the kids that came to visit on the boat. 

When we got to the village after walking up about a half a mile through the jungle, everyone was out to visit us.  The men usually wear shirts and tshirts, but the women wear the traditional dress all the time. 

I got myself all painted up just like the women there do.  I have it all over my front too, as well as bands on my legs and the bottom half of my face.  It took about three weeks for it all to go away.

OK, switching gears, here is me at the equator, as proved by the position shown. 

 And for anyone who wonders, this is what my kitchen (galley) looks like when the place is clean.

 
This is the jungle along the river we visited.  Except for regular paths, it was really dense and we did not try to hike in it.

This woman is making the dye used in the tattooing process.  These kids were on a boat that organized this trip, and it was fun to have kids with us.  It opened things up in a way that I don't think would have happened if it had been just adults.

Here is Mike with some of the men.  He was quite the center of interest among the women.  We suspect it was the beard.

Here is Mike taking the kids out in the dinghy.  He let the kids drive and they were tearing it up all up and down the river.  There was another man taking kids out, but the little girls refused to ride with anyone except Mike.

Here are out boats at rest in Bahia Caraquez.  MJ is off by herself, in the middle.

 

Here is Bahia Caraquez from atop a hill, looking down over the estuary as it empties into the ocean.

 

Now we are back in Panama.  We saw these guys in their Cayucos, which are the canoes made from a single piece of wood and carved out.  The dogs are along to help hunt iguanas.

Here is a California needle fish I caught.  They are really good to eat.

 

 

Here is a close up of the teeth.  We had to be careful handling it.

 

These are ibises, roosting in a tree. 

And where would we be without pelican trees?

Here is the living room (saloon) where we spend most of our time.  This is from the stern of the boat looking towards the bow.  I have the door to the vee berth closed because it was being used for storage and was messy.

 

 

So finally, here is some evidence of what I have been doing.  There are more, and I will try and get things up.  We are getting ready to head off for the US - we will be there for about six weeks, traversing the country.  I am looking forward to it, and hope I can sleep on the plane as it is an overnight flight.  The airport is about six hours north of here, and we are taking the bus.  So the next post will likely be from the good old US of A. 

 

 

"Common sense is not so common"  (Voltaire)