out of control.
really, truly, out of control.
i met some little old lady that made me join the parade. we danced all the way to the VIP after party. this lady was ancient. she was old. really really old. and she could put the beers away like no other. at one point, she got mad at me because i wasnt drinking as fast as she was. this is the point in my life where i TRULY learned how to drink a beer. surrounded by old people dressed in traditional colorful bolivian skirts and hats dancing in circles holding hands with giant smiles. she danced so low that i swear, her hips were going to pop out when she worked her way back up or her back would go out or something. these people can dance. they are PROFESSIONAL carnavalers. i, on the other hand, am a newbee and got tired fast. i dont know how they can dance ALL NIGHT long and never ever get tired. confetti was everywhere. in my hair for 6 days after!!! i met sean connery who wore a fred flinstone constume. he told me he wanted to marry me and thats when i asked him about his wedding ring. margaret and i danced all night long to multiple live bands. great music. amazing people. parades in the streets. in every single street. people dancing. laughing. twirling in their made up costumes and their wigs. water balloons, squirt guns, tubas, trumpets, etc.
.... around 6am, we started the trek home. for me, this was a little but harder as i spent the entire night with a 65 year old bolivian woman who kept feeding me free beer. margaret and braden carried me home and i stumbled my way down the middle of the road singing and laughing and cheersing fellow carnavalers as we passed by. when i made it there, i stole a chileans sandle and ran around the hostel screaming and laughing. i apoliged for this the next day. upon arrival of the hostel room, i decided i really wasnt tired and refused to go to sleep. braden and marg had a different idea so they blockaded the door and wouldnt let me leave the room.
CARNAVAL IN BOLIVIA, check.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Uyuni Bolivia: 3 DAY SALT FLAT TOUR
we went from the tropical beaches of Lake Titi Kaka on the shores of Isla Del Sol (accurately named) to...... wait for it........
THE DESERT!!!!!!
what a change. dang. for the past 2 years, i have really really wanted to go to the largest salt flat in the world, Salar De Uyuni.
and... i made it. after a long and terrifying bus ride we arrived in Uyuni. The desert. We wandered around for a bit and then booked a 3 day tour with a company called Oasis. Our group consisted of 2 guys, Roberto and Sebass from Spain, a boy from Minnisota who now lives in Uruguay, the cook, and the driver. we hopped into the landcruiser and took off on our 3 day adventure.
in a nutshell:
DAY #1
we saw so many volcanos including volcano olyagway which is active and it had snow on it
the salt flats were everything i expected them to be AND MORE.
first 10 minutes of the trip, we got a flat tire
stopped in the salt flats to take pictures of a local man shoveling salt out of the ground into cone shapes piles to load on the salt truck and the jeep wouldnt start after that for a half hour
saw flamingoes, white and pink ones
went to an abandoned train station
night #1, at the hostel, the 5 of us bonded after dinner with 3 bottles and 2 boxes of wine. we danced to the music and poached the other groups 1 boliviano fire under the stars
´i feel safe, i feel warm, when you´re here, and i do no wrong. i am cured when im by your side. i feel safe. i feel safe.´
we watched a killer sunset together
total tour = 1,080KM!!!!!
Dear Dad,
I am standing underneath the milky way so bright and white. Theres a thunder and lightning storm off in the distance and the bolts light up the anvil cloud. Many, many estrellas fugaz anoche. I wonder if you are thinking about me at this exact moment. I love you.
Marybeth (our cook) made Margaret and I vegetarian plates. The first lunch, we ate at the Salt Flats and our table and our chairs were made of salt. The veggie patty, oooo.... so good. I tried llama meat for the first and last time
DAY #2
SeaBass goes wierd
incredible landscapes the entire way
flamingos
lagunes
desert
lakes hidden in valleys
wild vicuñas, llamas, pink mountains, volcanos dormant and active
i rock climbed up a bunch of perfect boulders in the middle of the desert
we stopped to have lunch amoungst holy rocks and flat, red desert. no sound, anywhere besides our own noise and the constant ringing in my right ear
off in the distance, the heat radiates off the desert floor
the super mario plant thats green and puffy and resembles a huge brocolli is excreeting sap that smells just like a pine tree. so fresh. the air this high makes breathing more labored
our picnic is perfect. deep fried coliflower!! YUM!
paid 30BS to get into a national park. worth every penny which is actually only about 5USD.
Reserva Nacional De Fauna Andine Eduardo Avaroa
a red lake, a green lake, a pink lake, with such contrasting colors.
that night at the hostel, i met a man from england with an incredible bone structure. his name was robin, and no, he wasnt wearing tights.
desert nights
bone chilling night
dark nights with no lights
these nights are the best nights for star gazing.
DAY #3
4:30 wake up
the sky is blanketed with stars
at 5am, we hop into the landcruiser and speed off into the dark distance.
cold morning. about 30 celcius
the sun is rising when we round the corner to the boiling mud and the steaming geysters
margaret gets lost in the steam
off to the hot springs that are on the shores of the lake
as we round the corner towards the springs, the driver was going too fast and lost control of the car and we fish tail our way around back to safety. i punched him over and over and over again for fear of my little life
soaked in the springs at 6am when the sun was still rising and the lake was steaming and flamigos were wandering about
then off to laguna verde and then to the chilean border where marg and i ran illigally into chile to say goodbye to our friends from spain
on the way back to Uyuni, i drove part of the way (naturally. this means i have now driven 11 different types of vehicles in south america)
we picked up a hitchhiker and i made him carry a terranasaurous the whole way
THE BEST TOUR EVER
once we arrived in Uyuni after 17 hours of driving and multiple panic attacks from our drivers driving, we pulled up just in time for Carnaval.
THE DESERT!!!!!!
what a change. dang. for the past 2 years, i have really really wanted to go to the largest salt flat in the world, Salar De Uyuni.
and... i made it. after a long and terrifying bus ride we arrived in Uyuni. The desert. We wandered around for a bit and then booked a 3 day tour with a company called Oasis. Our group consisted of 2 guys, Roberto and Sebass from Spain, a boy from Minnisota who now lives in Uruguay, the cook, and the driver. we hopped into the landcruiser and took off on our 3 day adventure.
in a nutshell:
DAY #1
we saw so many volcanos including volcano olyagway which is active and it had snow on it
the salt flats were everything i expected them to be AND MORE.
first 10 minutes of the trip, we got a flat tire
stopped in the salt flats to take pictures of a local man shoveling salt out of the ground into cone shapes piles to load on the salt truck and the jeep wouldnt start after that for a half hour
saw flamingoes, white and pink ones
went to an abandoned train station
night #1, at the hostel, the 5 of us bonded after dinner with 3 bottles and 2 boxes of wine. we danced to the music and poached the other groups 1 boliviano fire under the stars
´i feel safe, i feel warm, when you´re here, and i do no wrong. i am cured when im by your side. i feel safe. i feel safe.´
we watched a killer sunset together
total tour = 1,080KM!!!!!
Dear Dad,
I am standing underneath the milky way so bright and white. Theres a thunder and lightning storm off in the distance and the bolts light up the anvil cloud. Many, many estrellas fugaz anoche. I wonder if you are thinking about me at this exact moment. I love you.
Marybeth (our cook) made Margaret and I vegetarian plates. The first lunch, we ate at the Salt Flats and our table and our chairs were made of salt. The veggie patty, oooo.... so good. I tried llama meat for the first and last time
DAY #2
SeaBass goes wierd
incredible landscapes the entire way
flamingos
lagunes
desert
lakes hidden in valleys
wild vicuñas, llamas, pink mountains, volcanos dormant and active
i rock climbed up a bunch of perfect boulders in the middle of the desert
we stopped to have lunch amoungst holy rocks and flat, red desert. no sound, anywhere besides our own noise and the constant ringing in my right ear
off in the distance, the heat radiates off the desert floor
the super mario plant thats green and puffy and resembles a huge brocolli is excreeting sap that smells just like a pine tree. so fresh. the air this high makes breathing more labored
our picnic is perfect. deep fried coliflower!! YUM!
paid 30BS to get into a national park. worth every penny which is actually only about 5USD.
Reserva Nacional De Fauna Andine Eduardo Avaroa
a red lake, a green lake, a pink lake, with such contrasting colors.
that night at the hostel, i met a man from england with an incredible bone structure. his name was robin, and no, he wasnt wearing tights.
desert nights
bone chilling night
dark nights with no lights
these nights are the best nights for star gazing.
DAY #3
4:30 wake up
the sky is blanketed with stars
at 5am, we hop into the landcruiser and speed off into the dark distance.
cold morning. about 30 celcius
the sun is rising when we round the corner to the boiling mud and the steaming geysters
margaret gets lost in the steam
off to the hot springs that are on the shores of the lake
as we round the corner towards the springs, the driver was going too fast and lost control of the car and we fish tail our way around back to safety. i punched him over and over and over again for fear of my little life
soaked in the springs at 6am when the sun was still rising and the lake was steaming and flamigos were wandering about
then off to laguna verde and then to the chilean border where marg and i ran illigally into chile to say goodbye to our friends from spain
on the way back to Uyuni, i drove part of the way (naturally. this means i have now driven 11 different types of vehicles in south america)
we picked up a hitchhiker and i made him carry a terranasaurous the whole way
THE BEST TOUR EVER
once we arrived in Uyuni after 17 hours of driving and multiple panic attacks from our drivers driving, we pulled up just in time for Carnaval.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Isla Del Sol
oh my.
ISLA DEL SOL: a gem of an island. a MUST see.
-journey´d over on a boat to the island with our new found argentine friends
-arrived at the island 2 hours later
-got attacked by water balloons and was forced to create a blockade, round the troops, and retaliate against the army of 10 year olds with an unlimited supply of water balloons and colorful squirt guns
-started, what ended up to be, a 5hour hike across the entire island from the south end to the north end.
-got lost 3 times
-paid 3 crossing fees in various places
-wanted to buy a beer in the middle of the island on the very top ridge next to donkeys and baby pigs but the old lonesome man wanted to charge this gringo 15 bolivianos. (now that i think about it, thats only like, 2US $... im cheap) so i didnt do it
-the landscape was incredible. thats all i can tell you other than YOU HAVE TO GO HERE!!!!!!
-accidently ran into some Ayamara ruins and laid in the sun in the middle of what i have convinced myself was a kitchen at one point and burnt my skin
-drank maté when i woke up with more argentines
-made it to the beach before dark and set up our tent and lived there for 3 more days then we had planned
-went swimming in lake titi kaka
-cooked dinner on the beach in a sand pit we made
-witnessed a love affair unfold
-the sky was so clear, a person could see the difference between the red stars and the blue stars.
-we saw the milky way and the FINALLY after 3 months of being in SA, found the southern cross
-margaret´s shoes were stolen
-a pig stole my mango
-we would be sitting on the beach drinking maté (an argentine tea) and all of a sudden, 6 donkeys, 22 pigs, 3 cows, and 8 chickens would just randomly walk past us on the beach.
-ran out of money on the island because all those stupid crossing fees so we started eating only bananas, cheetos and cookies.
-i attempted to pimp margaret out for more vino and cookies (no luck)
-we convinced the argentines to give us money to get off the island 3 days later
-a VERY worth while experience
do it. do it.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isla_del_Sol
ISLA DEL SOL: a gem of an island. a MUST see.
-journey´d over on a boat to the island with our new found argentine friends
-arrived at the island 2 hours later
-got attacked by water balloons and was forced to create a blockade, round the troops, and retaliate against the army of 10 year olds with an unlimited supply of water balloons and colorful squirt guns
-started, what ended up to be, a 5hour hike across the entire island from the south end to the north end.
-got lost 3 times
-paid 3 crossing fees in various places
-wanted to buy a beer in the middle of the island on the very top ridge next to donkeys and baby pigs but the old lonesome man wanted to charge this gringo 15 bolivianos. (now that i think about it, thats only like, 2US $... im cheap) so i didnt do it
-the landscape was incredible. thats all i can tell you other than YOU HAVE TO GO HERE!!!!!!
-accidently ran into some Ayamara ruins and laid in the sun in the middle of what i have convinced myself was a kitchen at one point and burnt my skin
-drank maté when i woke up with more argentines
-made it to the beach before dark and set up our tent and lived there for 3 more days then we had planned
-went swimming in lake titi kaka
-cooked dinner on the beach in a sand pit we made
-witnessed a love affair unfold
-the sky was so clear, a person could see the difference between the red stars and the blue stars.
-we saw the milky way and the FINALLY after 3 months of being in SA, found the southern cross
-margaret´s shoes were stolen
-a pig stole my mango
-we would be sitting on the beach drinking maté (an argentine tea) and all of a sudden, 6 donkeys, 22 pigs, 3 cows, and 8 chickens would just randomly walk past us on the beach.
-ran out of money on the island because all those stupid crossing fees so we started eating only bananas, cheetos and cookies.
-i attempted to pimp margaret out for more vino and cookies (no luck)
-we convinced the argentines to give us money to get off the island 3 days later
-a VERY worth while experience
do it. do it.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isla_del_Sol
Bolivia and such
First things first, crossing the border.
This was difficult for me. Since my passport had been stolen previously in Peru, i had to get a new one. So I spent quiet a while kickin around Cusco waiting for 3 weeks for a new passport to arrive. It arrived, so I could continue into a brand-spankin new country. Marg and I hop onto a bus and make our way to the border. At the Peruvian frontier, since I dont have any entry stamps (hense a new passport) they tell me I cant exit because I shouldnt have ever been in their country in the first place. I show them my police document with official seals and signatures. they dont beleive me. then, they tell me they have to shred my passport because its fake. (WHAT!?) I ended up bribing them with all of the money i had left that my parents kindly western unioned me earlier that week just to pass through the border. here, i got an entry stamp, and an exit stamp. Next stop 4 minutes later, the Bolivian border. now, i heard that bolivians were much kinder than peruvians all around, this, if i may attest to honestly, is a lie. bolivians, for the most part unless they´re drunk at carnaval, unfortunately hate americans. so, the border wasnt any more fun than the peruvian border. we had to pay them MORE money just to get through, get a bolivian visa which was 135USD!, change our sols into bolivianos just to pay for all the paperwork which should have been free but for americans aparently isnt free and THEN had to hear it from the bus driver who also hates americans. we know this because he was screaming at margaret, I HATE AMERICANS over and over and over again. then, he drove the bus off without us and we had to go screaming and running after it since it had our backpacks in there and we paid to get all the way to Copacabana, not be left in the middle of no where with no bags. He was a jerk. Once we boarded the moving bus, i almost passed out because when you run that fast at 4500 meters high, lets just say i might have been a little winded.... but, we did get a roaring applause from the other travelers on the bus which was nice.
So, here we are in Copacabana, a very very expensive touristy town. I wasnt so into it. so, we ate. we went to this restaurant with a slanted floor and wondered why it was slanted over beer and nachos made of the end of a doritos bag (mostly crumbs). then, it started raining, then it started pouring buckets, then it started hailing so hard that the roof began to leak a little bit, then a lot, and then so much that literally, buckets of water and HUGE balls of hail started pouring through the ceiling all over people and their food. i literally got so much hail in my beer that it looked and served as ice. we decided the floor was slanted for this reason.
later that night at our hostel, we met our neighbors which were two argentian boys. we convinced them that peddling huge duck boats are really cool and they should buy us our tickets. so, the 4 of us headed to the beach of Lake Titi Kaka and rented a duck boat. we paddled out into the huge lake where i didnt have to convince too hard how much fun swimming can be. thus, we swam. i jumped off the ducks head into the crystal clear water. it might have been a little cold but i swam around for about 30 minutes. then stuggled my way back up into the floating duck and let the sun warm me up. all of a sudden, i lost my vision completely. 100%. margeret said there was no more blue in my eyes at all. i passed out. they peddled back to land, i woke up weak and stumbled to the road where i passed out again. i think a combination of the heat, then the cold of the water, then the exercise with the elevation and the dehydration and poor eating habits did me in. a stranger ran up and force fed me a spoon full of sugar and margaret ran screaming into the streets that she needed a taxi for an emergency. i ended up living. good old copacabana.
This was difficult for me. Since my passport had been stolen previously in Peru, i had to get a new one. So I spent quiet a while kickin around Cusco waiting for 3 weeks for a new passport to arrive. It arrived, so I could continue into a brand-spankin new country. Marg and I hop onto a bus and make our way to the border. At the Peruvian frontier, since I dont have any entry stamps (hense a new passport) they tell me I cant exit because I shouldnt have ever been in their country in the first place. I show them my police document with official seals and signatures. they dont beleive me. then, they tell me they have to shred my passport because its fake. (WHAT!?) I ended up bribing them with all of the money i had left that my parents kindly western unioned me earlier that week just to pass through the border. here, i got an entry stamp, and an exit stamp. Next stop 4 minutes later, the Bolivian border. now, i heard that bolivians were much kinder than peruvians all around, this, if i may attest to honestly, is a lie. bolivians, for the most part unless they´re drunk at carnaval, unfortunately hate americans. so, the border wasnt any more fun than the peruvian border. we had to pay them MORE money just to get through, get a bolivian visa which was 135USD!, change our sols into bolivianos just to pay for all the paperwork which should have been free but for americans aparently isnt free and THEN had to hear it from the bus driver who also hates americans. we know this because he was screaming at margaret, I HATE AMERICANS over and over and over again. then, he drove the bus off without us and we had to go screaming and running after it since it had our backpacks in there and we paid to get all the way to Copacabana, not be left in the middle of no where with no bags. He was a jerk. Once we boarded the moving bus, i almost passed out because when you run that fast at 4500 meters high, lets just say i might have been a little winded.... but, we did get a roaring applause from the other travelers on the bus which was nice.
So, here we are in Copacabana, a very very expensive touristy town. I wasnt so into it. so, we ate. we went to this restaurant with a slanted floor and wondered why it was slanted over beer and nachos made of the end of a doritos bag (mostly crumbs). then, it started raining, then it started pouring buckets, then it started hailing so hard that the roof began to leak a little bit, then a lot, and then so much that literally, buckets of water and HUGE balls of hail started pouring through the ceiling all over people and their food. i literally got so much hail in my beer that it looked and served as ice. we decided the floor was slanted for this reason.
later that night at our hostel, we met our neighbors which were two argentian boys. we convinced them that peddling huge duck boats are really cool and they should buy us our tickets. so, the 4 of us headed to the beach of Lake Titi Kaka and rented a duck boat. we paddled out into the huge lake where i didnt have to convince too hard how much fun swimming can be. thus, we swam. i jumped off the ducks head into the crystal clear water. it might have been a little cold but i swam around for about 30 minutes. then stuggled my way back up into the floating duck and let the sun warm me up. all of a sudden, i lost my vision completely. 100%. margeret said there was no more blue in my eyes at all. i passed out. they peddled back to land, i woke up weak and stumbled to the road where i passed out again. i think a combination of the heat, then the cold of the water, then the exercise with the elevation and the dehydration and poor eating habits did me in. a stranger ran up and force fed me a spoon full of sugar and margaret ran screaming into the streets that she needed a taxi for an emergency. i ended up living. good old copacabana.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
copious amounts of catching up
im incredibly ambicous right now. Its been over a month since i have last blogged. LOTS has happened since that day…. But, here i sit, with a few bottles of wine, ready to take on the daunting task of keeping YOU updated on the ULTIMATE ADVENTURES OF ASHLEY. (please, feel very special). also, please note, a lot has happened in over a month so this will be scatter-brained as i conjure up more memories as time went by... its just that, after my journal got stolen, i got a wee discouraged about keeping up on blogging since all my memories were taken away. but, im gonna keep it up this time i hope.
PIFO ECUADOR
-I spent some time in ecuador in the andes mountains.
-i climbed the 700 steps, had 5 beers (which are 600L each) at the top of this mountain which has llamas and then rode a horse, was preceded to be sexually assaulted by some ancient ecuadorian man. i freaked out at him in spanish and told him there was no way i was paying for the beers OR the horse ride.
-a couple days ago, a bus forgot to put on the E-brake and the bus rolled into a pay phone and killed a little girl.
-there was a dead body found in the park a few days before that which is only 2 blocks from where i am staying. comforting, right?
-met margo´s family
-watched Fay´s Christmas to celebrate the holidays while drinking cachaca we brought back from Brasil
I left Margaret in the town of Pifo about a week before Christmas because I didnt want to spend it with a family that wasnt my own. So, I headed north from Pifo Ecuador to another mountain village called Otavalo where i met up with a friend of mine from Alaska. together, ben and i decided to take on the world. we headed to another tiny town that i forgot the name of but i know it starts with a T where we met up with a french couple. we stayed the night on a farm eating tunas (the fruit) and chasing chickens around.
bus ride from QUITO to MANTA was horribly terrifying. want details? just ask.
from there, we all 4 headed to the coast and our first stop was....
MANTANITA- about 2 weeks
-This incredibly beautiful town on the beach with great surf and perfect waves.
-We rented an apartment in a hostel called the Galapagos which was RIGHT on the beach
-i bought too many pairs of pants
-i basically layed in my hammock all day outside and surfed and ate delicious food that the french couple would cook me. (they claim that french folk are the best cooks in the world so naturally i made them prove it to me.
-we spent countless hours watching the sunrise.
-for Christmas (MERRY CHRISTMAS!!), Chloe wrapped up gifts for each of us and we opened them up in the sun on the beach.
-ben and i surfed but it didnt last long when his shoulder popped out and i had to pop it back in for him. we called that one an early day.
-jean luc made special pancakes one morning but the french pancake is much different than the american pancake. also, did you know that the french are convinced that french toast is just toasted bread?
-met up with Bens college roomate, Cappo who was very burnt from the sun and who was taking malaria pills and it turns out, if you take those, your skin is incredibly sun sensitive. Jean-Luc and Chloe convinced him that he would be burnt and red forever. (over a month later, and he is STILL red)
-found an argentinian restaurant where this guy made us pasta from scratch (probably bens favorite memory) while we played UNO
we pressed on.
so the night before we left, we spent all night prancing around the beach and hanging out on cocktail ally and in peoples homes that actually looked more like dorm rooms. so the night was awesome. really, honestly out of control. but as smart and responsible as ben and i are, we called it a night since we needed to wake up early the next morning and pack and clean the apartment which was honestly trashed from 1 solid week of partying like rock stars. at one point in the night, one of jean-lucs skeezy aquantances came into our apartment all sneeky like and i caught him red handed. we think this is when jean-lucs camera went amiss. so the next thing i know, we are headed to the bus and we cant find jean-luc anywhere in site. the bus is about to pull away when i see him round the corner with his huge green pack, his digery doo, 2 beers in hand, a cig in his mouth, his Albert Einstein sunglasses, no shoes (he seemed to have lost them that night), his hair pulled back into a greesy ponytail, green tinsel wrapped around his neck, and limping towards us (he seemed to hurt his foot which lasted 3 weeks before it eventually healed). so, together we board the bus and the driver is yelling at him to leave the beers so he chugs one and hides the other. the bus was aparently overbooked so they stuck the 3 of us on the stairs to the bathroom in the middle of the bus. this was very cramped. jean luc cracks his other beer, spills it, and lays down in the middle of the isle while his clothes soaked up the sloshing beer in the isleway.
MANCORA, peru
-for new years eve.
-when we arrived, every single hostel was 100% booked. some, even overbooked. so, i went up and down the strip with ben thinking about our options. we ended up convincing a family that owned a hostel to let us sleep on the roof for a few days.
-i have never been to a bigger party in my life than the one in mancora for new years eve. it was out of control. over 80,000 people in a teeny tiny beach town that is only 1 strip. it was an all night, multiple day adventure at this place. the waves were braking perfectly as far out as i could see. there were multiple breaks as well so you could choose how big you wanted your wave to be and which one you wanted to ride out.
-Loki Hostel
HUANCHACO- over a week
-another beach town near Trajuillo in peru.
-i joined an argentinian band called La Fuser (you tube them)
-ate the most delicous chicken curry ever ever ever at this hostel called chill out
-was robbed (including ipod, waterproof videocamer, 2 journals, bens shorts, G harmonica, passport, credit card, cash, beach sarong, drivers license, etc.)
-became tight with the peruvian mafia
-rented a bike with ben and aussy nathan for 1 sol an hour and went to the Chan Chan ruins, ben and i both got flat tires half way there and ended up hitching a ride back
-saw the inca hairless dog with purple blood
MACHALA- 1 night
-just so happens to be the banana capital of the world
-stayed in the San Fransisco hotel (not recommened)
-learned that when my skin gets cold, the cold part gets covered in hives (this will be fun when i go back to alaska.....)
LIMA- 1 day
-ate a really really good icecream cone in the Plaza De Armas
-was trapped in the upstairs balcony of a very sketchy restaurant
-reapplied for my passport at the embassy
-
CUSCO- over a week
-found the best veggy restaurant ever that flooded downstairs while we were eating dinner upstairs and had to walk on chairs to get out of the restaurant
-met back up with Chloe
-met Hans who owns a hole in the wall veggie restaurant who took me and ben to his house with an increble view and the most bizaar plants you have ever seen surrounding his deck
LIMATAMBO- almost 2 weeks
-10 day Vipassana Meditation Retreat that was really 11 days
-practiced Noble Silence for 10 days
-became a vegetarian
-hung out in the town and walked by chocolate river
-went to mass and cried for the people in Haiti as 30 nuns sang so sweet
-ate a lot of miel (fresh honey) and avacados and chocolate
back to CUSCO- about a week
-met back up with Margaret
-met the prophets in white in the Plaza San Blas who arent from anywhere but are from everywhere
-we considered buying crystals to begin channeling our energy into the universe through others
-experienced very heavy rains
-experienced Peru´s natural Disaster first hand
-volunteered during the relief effort sorting clothes, food, etc.
-went to different mountain towns (Inca Punta Ttiopunca, Sancopacha, Pacruamba, Pachar, Wuancoyocampa, Ollantaytambo, and Yucay) and gave them water, food, and bags of clothes, assessed their health and the safety of their homes
-met Edgard who works as a Peruvian tour guide and has guided Leonardo DiCaprio, Arnold Schwarsenager, Cameron Diaz, Robert Kennedy, Fuji Mori (Perus pres. at one point) and even spains president, along with a much longer list of people. He also works for national geographic.
-moved in with Edgard
-got free tickets to all the museums and all the Inca ruin sites
-climbed 484 steps, a trash trail, and stumbled upon the Eucalyptus tree forest
-got kicked out of the ¨free¨ Qínko Inca ruins
-said goodbye to Ben as he took off to Lima
a typical email to the sisters
dear sisters,
if you dont already know, im in Peru.
margaret and i met up in cusco a couple days again after i got out of a 11 day Vipassana meditation retreat in a tiny peruvian mountain village about 1 1/2 hours outside cusco. After the retreat, i spent a few days climbing mountains and such around the village and easing my way back into civilazation slowly instead of jumping into the biggest and wealthiest city in peru right away. at vipassana, i wasnt allowed to talk, read, write, excersice, or communicate in any other fashion. i was only able to meditate, eat, and sleep while practicing what they called Noble Silence. Anyway, that was an interesting experience for sure.
While me, Ben, the french couple, and this Bengium girl that I am traveling with all were taking it easy in this village called Limatambo, it rained and rained and rained and some of the locals were even concerned about the amount of rain that was coming down even though it is rainy season. aparently, it was an unusual amount of rain because the banks of the rivers were being undercut at rapid rates and the amount of wash in the rivers such as whole entire trees.
we left the town and headed to cusco where i ended up meeting back up with margaret. on the bus ride from Limatambo to Cusco was sad. I watched in a cozy bus seat as all the families were running their cattle to safety, and attemps to evacuate their homes and land as safely, quickly and effeciently as they know how.
it is so incredibly interesting to be on the inside of one of these disasters that you see on cnn.
check out this link:
http://enperublog.com/2010/01/26/emergency-declared-in-cusco-heavy-rains-flood-the-region/
when it rains really hard, we have to walk through the streets in a bunch of water, but that is about it. and one time, we went out to dinner at this vegetarian restaurant and ate upstairs. a couple hours later, when we were leaving the restaurant, we had to step on a path of chairs to get to the door because the downstairs had over 2 feet of water in it. then, we walk out onto the streets and the circular storm drains in the middle of the roads were literally floating on top of a HUGE current of water under the drain. the roads here in cusco are mostly rivers.
the locals say it hasnt rained this hard in 14 years and the governent now calles this a NATURAL DISASTER.
but, other than that the city of cusco is relatively unaffected, but the surrounding villages are really taking it hard. houses are collapsing left and right, even in cusco! probably, or course, because they are made of mud and bricks and are all on the side of a mountain.
marg and her sister are so lucky they went to machu picchu last week because both bridges to aguas calientes (which is the village a couple hours away from here you have to enter right before entering machu piccu) are washed out and people are having to be helicoptered out and the town had over 2000 tourists in it and it isa tiny town and they have no food or water for all these people. good thing i decided not to go 2 days ago.
its really really sad to see. there are also a ton of stories that were told by tons of different tourists who had been stranded on machu picchu with no food or water for a couple days. there were 2000 people up there a couple days ago and now there is about 800 left. the government called for 4 helicopters to be running all day for the next couple days to get them out of there. 1 argentinian young girl died on her inca trail tour along with her tour guide. the death toll is now up to 8 in CUSCO ALONE with over 80 injured. this does not include ALL the towns around the cusco area and remember, cusco wasnt hit NEARLY as bad.
Its interesting, because cusco is the most wealthy town in peru and yet none of the money they get from tourists goes into some kind of reserve for the towns people for times like this, it goes to campaigns for politicians and there is an election coming up.... so, now they are having a collection on the church steps in the main Plaza De Armas and tourists feel so bad for the people, so they are donating, when in actuality the real people of the campo are pissed at their own gvoernment for relying on tourists emergency funds when they have so much money and dont help the people with it. it is crazy.
marg and I were planning to stick around here in Cusco and help with the relief effort instead of heading to Bolivia tomorrow as planned.
We are doing some research right now about road conditions since so many of the roads going in and out of cusco have been damaged too badly to navigate across and or are flooded. naturally, we arent that excited about going on a bus ride for any length of time if its any MORE sketchy than the roads around here already are....
love,
your favorite sister,
ash
PUNO, Peru- 4 days
-the festividad virgen maria de la candelaria
-rum and cokes
-non stop parades in the streets that literally were on every street and literally went all night for multiple nights in a row
-vodka and orange juice
-taxi rides taking us to lookouts with giant puma statues
-floating reed islands with free BBQ cheese and rice and beer in the middle of lake tit kaka
-the soccer stadium FULL of locals and dancing group after dancing group after dancing group performed on the field. when we left the stadium, we asked if we could get back in and the guard smiled in said in spanish, ¨of course, we will recognize you, you are the only gringos here.¨
-peruvian cotton candy
-wandering through a street market, i bought a cheese grater
-met a boy from UCLA who said and i quote, ¨ive got lots of money, i AM the american dream. this made me laugh.
NOTE- im gonna add to this often as i remember things that happened all along the way.
and now, off to BOLIVIA
PIFO ECUADOR
-I spent some time in ecuador in the andes mountains.
-i climbed the 700 steps, had 5 beers (which are 600L each) at the top of this mountain which has llamas and then rode a horse, was preceded to be sexually assaulted by some ancient ecuadorian man. i freaked out at him in spanish and told him there was no way i was paying for the beers OR the horse ride.
-a couple days ago, a bus forgot to put on the E-brake and the bus rolled into a pay phone and killed a little girl.
-there was a dead body found in the park a few days before that which is only 2 blocks from where i am staying. comforting, right?
-met margo´s family
-watched Fay´s Christmas to celebrate the holidays while drinking cachaca we brought back from Brasil
I left Margaret in the town of Pifo about a week before Christmas because I didnt want to spend it with a family that wasnt my own. So, I headed north from Pifo Ecuador to another mountain village called Otavalo where i met up with a friend of mine from Alaska. together, ben and i decided to take on the world. we headed to another tiny town that i forgot the name of but i know it starts with a T where we met up with a french couple. we stayed the night on a farm eating tunas (the fruit) and chasing chickens around.
bus ride from QUITO to MANTA was horribly terrifying. want details? just ask.
from there, we all 4 headed to the coast and our first stop was....
MANTANITA- about 2 weeks
-This incredibly beautiful town on the beach with great surf and perfect waves.
-We rented an apartment in a hostel called the Galapagos which was RIGHT on the beach
-i bought too many pairs of pants
-i basically layed in my hammock all day outside and surfed and ate delicious food that the french couple would cook me. (they claim that french folk are the best cooks in the world so naturally i made them prove it to me.
-we spent countless hours watching the sunrise.
-for Christmas (MERRY CHRISTMAS!!), Chloe wrapped up gifts for each of us and we opened them up in the sun on the beach.
-ben and i surfed but it didnt last long when his shoulder popped out and i had to pop it back in for him. we called that one an early day.
-jean luc made special pancakes one morning but the french pancake is much different than the american pancake. also, did you know that the french are convinced that french toast is just toasted bread?
-met up with Bens college roomate, Cappo who was very burnt from the sun and who was taking malaria pills and it turns out, if you take those, your skin is incredibly sun sensitive. Jean-Luc and Chloe convinced him that he would be burnt and red forever. (over a month later, and he is STILL red)
-found an argentinian restaurant where this guy made us pasta from scratch (probably bens favorite memory) while we played UNO
we pressed on.
so the night before we left, we spent all night prancing around the beach and hanging out on cocktail ally and in peoples homes that actually looked more like dorm rooms. so the night was awesome. really, honestly out of control. but as smart and responsible as ben and i are, we called it a night since we needed to wake up early the next morning and pack and clean the apartment which was honestly trashed from 1 solid week of partying like rock stars. at one point in the night, one of jean-lucs skeezy aquantances came into our apartment all sneeky like and i caught him red handed. we think this is when jean-lucs camera went amiss. so the next thing i know, we are headed to the bus and we cant find jean-luc anywhere in site. the bus is about to pull away when i see him round the corner with his huge green pack, his digery doo, 2 beers in hand, a cig in his mouth, his Albert Einstein sunglasses, no shoes (he seemed to have lost them that night), his hair pulled back into a greesy ponytail, green tinsel wrapped around his neck, and limping towards us (he seemed to hurt his foot which lasted 3 weeks before it eventually healed). so, together we board the bus and the driver is yelling at him to leave the beers so he chugs one and hides the other. the bus was aparently overbooked so they stuck the 3 of us on the stairs to the bathroom in the middle of the bus. this was very cramped. jean luc cracks his other beer, spills it, and lays down in the middle of the isle while his clothes soaked up the sloshing beer in the isleway.
MANCORA, peru
-for new years eve.
-when we arrived, every single hostel was 100% booked. some, even overbooked. so, i went up and down the strip with ben thinking about our options. we ended up convincing a family that owned a hostel to let us sleep on the roof for a few days.
-i have never been to a bigger party in my life than the one in mancora for new years eve. it was out of control. over 80,000 people in a teeny tiny beach town that is only 1 strip. it was an all night, multiple day adventure at this place. the waves were braking perfectly as far out as i could see. there were multiple breaks as well so you could choose how big you wanted your wave to be and which one you wanted to ride out.
-Loki Hostel
HUANCHACO- over a week
-another beach town near Trajuillo in peru.
-i joined an argentinian band called La Fuser (you tube them)
-ate the most delicous chicken curry ever ever ever at this hostel called chill out
-was robbed (including ipod, waterproof videocamer, 2 journals, bens shorts, G harmonica, passport, credit card, cash, beach sarong, drivers license, etc.)
-became tight with the peruvian mafia
-rented a bike with ben and aussy nathan for 1 sol an hour and went to the Chan Chan ruins, ben and i both got flat tires half way there and ended up hitching a ride back
-saw the inca hairless dog with purple blood
MACHALA- 1 night
-just so happens to be the banana capital of the world
-stayed in the San Fransisco hotel (not recommened)
-learned that when my skin gets cold, the cold part gets covered in hives (this will be fun when i go back to alaska.....)
LIMA- 1 day
-ate a really really good icecream cone in the Plaza De Armas
-was trapped in the upstairs balcony of a very sketchy restaurant
-reapplied for my passport at the embassy
-
CUSCO- over a week
-found the best veggy restaurant ever that flooded downstairs while we were eating dinner upstairs and had to walk on chairs to get out of the restaurant
-met back up with Chloe
-met Hans who owns a hole in the wall veggie restaurant who took me and ben to his house with an increble view and the most bizaar plants you have ever seen surrounding his deck
LIMATAMBO- almost 2 weeks
-10 day Vipassana Meditation Retreat that was really 11 days
-practiced Noble Silence for 10 days
-became a vegetarian
-hung out in the town and walked by chocolate river
-went to mass and cried for the people in Haiti as 30 nuns sang so sweet
-ate a lot of miel (fresh honey) and avacados and chocolate
back to CUSCO- about a week
-met back up with Margaret
-met the prophets in white in the Plaza San Blas who arent from anywhere but are from everywhere
-we considered buying crystals to begin channeling our energy into the universe through others
-experienced very heavy rains
-experienced Peru´s natural Disaster first hand
-volunteered during the relief effort sorting clothes, food, etc.
-went to different mountain towns (Inca Punta Ttiopunca, Sancopacha, Pacruamba, Pachar, Wuancoyocampa, Ollantaytambo, and Yucay) and gave them water, food, and bags of clothes, assessed their health and the safety of their homes
-met Edgard who works as a Peruvian tour guide and has guided Leonardo DiCaprio, Arnold Schwarsenager, Cameron Diaz, Robert Kennedy, Fuji Mori (Perus pres. at one point) and even spains president, along with a much longer list of people. He also works for national geographic.
-moved in with Edgard
-got free tickets to all the museums and all the Inca ruin sites
-climbed 484 steps, a trash trail, and stumbled upon the Eucalyptus tree forest
-got kicked out of the ¨free¨ Qínko Inca ruins
-said goodbye to Ben as he took off to Lima
a typical email to the sisters
dear sisters,
if you dont already know, im in Peru.
margaret and i met up in cusco a couple days again after i got out of a 11 day Vipassana meditation retreat in a tiny peruvian mountain village about 1 1/2 hours outside cusco. After the retreat, i spent a few days climbing mountains and such around the village and easing my way back into civilazation slowly instead of jumping into the biggest and wealthiest city in peru right away. at vipassana, i wasnt allowed to talk, read, write, excersice, or communicate in any other fashion. i was only able to meditate, eat, and sleep while practicing what they called Noble Silence. Anyway, that was an interesting experience for sure.
While me, Ben, the french couple, and this Bengium girl that I am traveling with all were taking it easy in this village called Limatambo, it rained and rained and rained and some of the locals were even concerned about the amount of rain that was coming down even though it is rainy season. aparently, it was an unusual amount of rain because the banks of the rivers were being undercut at rapid rates and the amount of wash in the rivers such as whole entire trees.
we left the town and headed to cusco where i ended up meeting back up with margaret. on the bus ride from Limatambo to Cusco was sad. I watched in a cozy bus seat as all the families were running their cattle to safety, and attemps to evacuate their homes and land as safely, quickly and effeciently as they know how.
it is so incredibly interesting to be on the inside of one of these disasters that you see on cnn.
check out this link:
http://enperublog.com/2010/01/26/emergency-declared-in-cusco-heavy-rains-flood-the-region/
when it rains really hard, we have to walk through the streets in a bunch of water, but that is about it. and one time, we went out to dinner at this vegetarian restaurant and ate upstairs. a couple hours later, when we were leaving the restaurant, we had to step on a path of chairs to get to the door because the downstairs had over 2 feet of water in it. then, we walk out onto the streets and the circular storm drains in the middle of the roads were literally floating on top of a HUGE current of water under the drain. the roads here in cusco are mostly rivers.
the locals say it hasnt rained this hard in 14 years and the governent now calles this a NATURAL DISASTER.
but, other than that the city of cusco is relatively unaffected, but the surrounding villages are really taking it hard. houses are collapsing left and right, even in cusco! probably, or course, because they are made of mud and bricks and are all on the side of a mountain.
marg and her sister are so lucky they went to machu picchu last week because both bridges to aguas calientes (which is the village a couple hours away from here you have to enter right before entering machu piccu) are washed out and people are having to be helicoptered out and the town had over 2000 tourists in it and it isa tiny town and they have no food or water for all these people. good thing i decided not to go 2 days ago.
its really really sad to see. there are also a ton of stories that were told by tons of different tourists who had been stranded on machu picchu with no food or water for a couple days. there were 2000 people up there a couple days ago and now there is about 800 left. the government called for 4 helicopters to be running all day for the next couple days to get them out of there. 1 argentinian young girl died on her inca trail tour along with her tour guide. the death toll is now up to 8 in CUSCO ALONE with over 80 injured. this does not include ALL the towns around the cusco area and remember, cusco wasnt hit NEARLY as bad.
Its interesting, because cusco is the most wealthy town in peru and yet none of the money they get from tourists goes into some kind of reserve for the towns people for times like this, it goes to campaigns for politicians and there is an election coming up.... so, now they are having a collection on the church steps in the main Plaza De Armas and tourists feel so bad for the people, so they are donating, when in actuality the real people of the campo are pissed at their own gvoernment for relying on tourists emergency funds when they have so much money and dont help the people with it. it is crazy.
marg and I were planning to stick around here in Cusco and help with the relief effort instead of heading to Bolivia tomorrow as planned.
We are doing some research right now about road conditions since so many of the roads going in and out of cusco have been damaged too badly to navigate across and or are flooded. naturally, we arent that excited about going on a bus ride for any length of time if its any MORE sketchy than the roads around here already are....
love,
your favorite sister,
ash
PUNO, Peru- 4 days
-the festividad virgen maria de la candelaria
-rum and cokes
-non stop parades in the streets that literally were on every street and literally went all night for multiple nights in a row
-vodka and orange juice
-taxi rides taking us to lookouts with giant puma statues
-floating reed islands with free BBQ cheese and rice and beer in the middle of lake tit kaka
-the soccer stadium FULL of locals and dancing group after dancing group after dancing group performed on the field. when we left the stadium, we asked if we could get back in and the guard smiled in said in spanish, ¨of course, we will recognize you, you are the only gringos here.¨
-peruvian cotton candy
-wandering through a street market, i bought a cheese grater
-met a boy from UCLA who said and i quote, ¨ive got lots of money, i AM the american dream. this made me laugh.
NOTE- im gonna add to this often as i remember things that happened all along the way.
and now, off to BOLIVIA
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