photos

This hasn´t been updated in a long itme but you can check out some of my pictures (mostly from the beginning of the trip) here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lainylainy/

Everyone!

Now you can post comments without all the extra trouble--fixed:)

Trucha

We are now officially in Bolivia!
After arranging our Bolivian visas we took a mini bus to the Peru/Bolivia border and stepped across the border into a new country and a new leg of our journey! We are staying in Copacabana in a nice little hotel overlooking Lake Titticaca---The Andes´ own Lake Tahoe! (though...bigger, and much higher....)
After settling in, B and I took a walk along the lake as the sun began to go down, and found a line of kiosks selling fresh fried trout (trucha) to tourists for around 4 bucks a meal.
Not sure which of the 22 kiosks to choose, we were drawn to a hault when one little fat Bolivian woman with grey hair, missing teeth, and the traditional Bolivian bowler hat perched on her head hobbled out and began yelling ¨TRUCHA TRUCHA TRUCHA TRUCHA¨ The other vendors seemed to know they couldn´t beat this bat, and backed off, and the message was clear...this woman sells trout. Another couple having a beer at her kiosk welcomed us in.
The grandma explained that they have trout anyway you want it...and I sat, looking at the menu thinking I was a trouted out after the last few weeks, maybe some chicken might be nice. She said...how do you like it? plain, fried? I said plain chicken is fine, and she said--ok 2 truchas!
So I said...ok...trucha it is!
She was deaf and could barely see, but she showed us the fresh trout, fished right out of the lake that morning, and then fried it up into a mean dinner, with rice, fries and salad. About 80 years of cooking experience had ensured us an amazing meal.
The couple next to us asked her ¨Mama? When is your birthday?¨and She said--November! Get me a present! ¨Mama, where were you born?¨On this lake!¨And then she proceeded to stuff her mouth with a fist size wad of coca leaves. A European couple walked by and she came running out yelling ¨Trucha trucha tenemos trucha!¨ But her mouth was so stuffed, it came ¨TRFUFA TRFUFA! TESHAEMTH TRFUFA!¨ Then she sat there with everyone, looking out on the lake as the sun painted the sky orange, occasionally yelliing to the dogs that came in ¨fwewa fwera!¨ and chewing her coca leaves.
It was probably the best meal I´ve had in a long time...the trout was amazing..the chef was one in a million.

The Bus

Sometimes it takes a while to really get into the travelling mode. You get overwhelmed by all the places you are visiting and forget that real travelling is not just going from place to place, but also the ride there, the beaurocracy you deal with on the way, the funny people you meet, the ice cream you eat....I swear, ice cream can really make a trip worthwhile...
Sometime around 7pm the other night...2 hours away from our destination, Puno, I suddenly felt like I was travelling! Watching people congregate in the dark to sell snacks, chicha and local food on the streets, I suddenly felt how small a person can be- me, sitting in this dirty old bus with 20 other people, whipping through dark little desert towns where real people live, about to go on to another town, and now, another country...
The world is filled with so much, it´s easy to miss the best parts if you´re not looking!

The Real Machi Picchu

There are a few places in South America that Brad and I have planned on going to no matter what 1) Amazon 2) Pantanal and 3) Machu Picchu...and though it took a while to finally get there, Brad and I left Cusco on Sunday to start our trip to The Machu Picchu.

After hanging out in Cusco for 2 weeks, where every restaurant caters to tourists and every store advertises trips to Machu Picchu, I began to get it in my head that Machu Picchu is one big tourist trap--everyone goes--everyone pays a lot--and everyone gets to talk about it a week later when they get home to their family and friends. In fact, it was beginning to not even sound appealing to follow the masses to see it. Once we finally began the trip, I realized that it can be very easy to get to Machu Picchu, if you want to pay alot, but, as usual, Brad and I took the cheap route, and 6 hours and 3 mini buses over winding gravel roads later, we were following the train tracks on foot up to Aguas Calientes.

On this side of the Andes the air is warm and heavy with humidity. Everything is green and htere are waterfalls, parrots and orchids in our path. It is a really enjoyable 2 hours walk...

And then IT happened...

When I think back over what could have caused it, it could be any number of things...the bologne sandwich for lunch, the empanadas the day before, bad water...who knows...but after walking for an hour Brad could hardly stand up...some women at a little stop by the road gave him some local herbs for the stomach, and he stumbled through the rest of the hike feeling miserable and out of it.

Aguas Calientes:

This town was built to serve the thouasand of tourists arriving every week to visit Machu Picchu. It is picturesque, tucked away in the green canyon next to a beautiful river. The town itself is just hotels and resturants of every kind. There are rich tourists and poor alike...everyone comes for the same reason...Machu Picchu.

I left Brad to wallow in misery at the entrance to Aguas Calientes, and went in search of a hostal, where he stayed for a day and a half straight!

So, that´s how it goes when you are travelling, plans change. We were origanlly going to walk from Aguas Calientes at 3:30am to watch the sun rise on Machu Pichu and beat the toursit busses, but since we also had to walk the train tracks back to the road, it would have been too much. So we found ourselves at the bus stop at 4am..in a line of 75 people waiting in the dark tropical rain for the 5:30am bus.

Going to Machu Picchu:

The buses come one after the other, they are big and comfy, and once they are full they pull out of Aguas Calientes and begin winding up the mountain to Machu Picchu. I saw a few people hiking the road...and honestly..I didn´t envy them at all. This was awesome--sit in a bus for 20 minutes and voila!--The Machu Picchu--the same one that people hike between 1 and 3 weeks to see--the same one that people get up at 3:30am to hike up to to beat the crowds. And when we arrived, I realized how lucky we were to have hiked Ausangate instead of this. To spend 5 days with no shower, and crappy food, only to arrive at Machu Picchu with a crowd of clean tourists and a boutique hotel at the entrance...would have been sort of a let down if you ask me..

Since we got one of the first busses, there were not as many people as i expected on the mountain, and i was able to climb a little path up to the top to get an amazing (and quiet) view of the ruins with the fog sifting in and out of the canyon. All that said...I´m pretty sure Brad and I saw some guys building new ruins up the hill...Is Machu Picchu really a plot by hte Peruvian governemnt to get tourists to come?? The homes were so neatly constructed, the terraces still perfectly intact, water still runs though the town from a mountain spring. The mountains are shrouded in green and the mist moves in and around them like ocean waves.div>

One thing that was blaringly absent was any kind of museum or cultural reference. Once M.P. was discovered in 1911, the artifacts were carted out, and sold or kept behind glass. Archeologists really don´t know what the town was for, who lived there, or why....This is sadly the fate of many of the Incan ruins found in recent history. Pots and other artifacts are sold, or tunred over to archeaologists and sold by them. Rarely is the money or history given back to the descedents of the Incas.But the goverment did a pretty good job of reconstructing an ancient Incan city hidden on top of a giant mountain...and despite the throngs of tourists, it was worth the trip.

The ride home was similar to the ride back, though B was feeling better, and no one sitting next to me was barfing (did i mention that before? it was a rough road...tmi)

It was hard to leave Cusco once we got back. Our hostal was run by the cutest older woman (even cuter after she said I looked like a movie star-or Mary--how I miss you)

Next stop Puno--Lago Titticaca--Copacabana-BOLIVIA!!!

Ausangate

When B and I arrived in Cusco we were planning on taking a week out to hike the Salkantay trail up to Machu Picchu. At the SAE Club, someone told us to wait a few days and their guide would come in and try to set up a trip with us. He came with some amazing recommendations, so we stuck around town for a few more days so we could talk to him. It so happened that when we got to the SAE club that Thursday, another couple was waiting for him as well. They had beend oing some research and had it in their minds to go to Ausengate, one of the Inca´s most sacred mountains, over 17,000 ft. high,in the Andes. I´d never heard of it, but it sounded like an amazing trek and Brad and I were on board.
We took a bus with our guide, Miguel, 5 hours to the town of Tinke, where we met the horsema, Alberto, and cook, Domingo (luxery camping:). They remained with us the next 5 days, strapping our supplies to the pack horses every day, setting up the kitchen tent for our meals, and making sure we had everything we needed.
¨Warm clothes! You need warm clothes!¨Miguel kept telling us before we left, but that first day, hiking the easiest part of our trek up the green rolling hills, we were in t-shirts and I had to roll up my pants to stay cool. Though the trail that first day wouldn´t be considered particularly hard, every step uphill left us winded from the altitude.

The trail went like this: We follow a trail that winds around the majestic Ausangate, through the remote little alpaca ranches run by Quechuan families. We have 4 passes to hike up, each one leading us into a new mountain terrain.

We stop for lunch, and Domingo has set up shot next to an old mudbrick house and it cooking up astorm, Alberto has set up a table and chairs for us and it helping Alberto, cahtting in Quechua and listening to the local radio station (the both keep little radios around their necks the whole trip-as do all the locals, listening to the local music and Cusco news)
After lunch the weather turns from blue skies to grey and it begins to hail, then snow! We are prepared for the cold and wet and bundle into our snow pants and jackets, hiking silently through the snow.
Everyday the weather is the same. We get up in the morning, hike under blue skies and fantastic views, and then after lunch, bundle up as it begins to snow. The horses don´t seem to mind though they wander off and Alberto has to go running after them through the snow in his rubber sandals (he wore them in rain, snow and hail, never took them off, and NEVER got cold!)
Miguel knew a lot of the history around the Ausengate, and was full of stories and information. The mountain itself is the most sacred mountain of 3, to the Incas. It was said to carry a lot of power, and it is truly a beautiful sight ot behold, jagged black peaks blanketed with snow and ice that carves deep pools and rivers into the grasslands. The alpacas roam here, the llamas prefer to stay higher up on the mountains, and we see little viscachas (andean rabbits) and once we even see a herd of vucunas (deer related to alpacas) eating grass above us on the hill.
Every pass we make is a triumph as the altitude makes breathing so hard. I´m out of shape and find myself huffing and weazing up hte mountains, only to forget about the pain as a view of hte next emerald valley splashed with aquamarine lakes opens before me. The nights are icy, but Miguel knows this area well and provides us with some awesome equipment...including, probably the best of them all...the ¨Sh@#! ter Tent¨as we called it - a little tent covering a hole in the ground to go to the bathroom...which saved us having to bare it all in the snow!
We´re lucky to have been paired up with Mike and Marisa-the other couple- because they don´t complain, tough out the hard parts, and relish the beautiful scenery as much as we do! They are also pretty hilarious, and in our diliriousness from the hiking and altitude we crack up a lot.
It was pretty spectacular...Peru has surprised me in so many ways. There is so much diversity in it´s land and people, from the driest deserts, to the highest montains, to rainforest, and canyons...Next stop...Machu Picchu!!

The Symptoms

Tomorrow (Sunday) we´re leaving for a 5 day trek to one of the most spectacular trails in the world, the Ausangate. The trail is 16,000 ft from sea level, and in order to prevent altitude sickness i.e. lethargy, difficulty breathing, coma?!?! everyone in our group is taking alitude pills. No one wants to be the one dragged down the mountain on a donkey because they got sick so we gladly obliged, but this stuff makes the tips of your fingers tingle down to the tips of yours toes, and I feel like I´ve been in a dream all day, which might explain why my spanish has been so confused. I kept mixing up chicharones (peruvian pork dish) with chicha (peruvian corn alchohol) and asking weird quetions that didn´t make sense. This morning our trekking guide, Miguel, took us to Cuzco´s black market bazaar; a jumble of stalls and stores 3 blocks wide filled with just about any imaginable thing to buy, from textiles, to knock-offs to nails. There are a lot of thefts and he told us if anyone messes with us to say . ¨Hey! Que chucha tienes!¨(which mean-crudely-¨what´s your problem¨-) The pills were messing with Brad too, because he thought the phrase was ¨Quechua tienes!¨ (¨You have Quechua!¨Quechuans are the Andean natives). Sometimes at the black market the police will close off the streets and let in a team of archaeologists to inspect the merchants wares, often finding priceless Incan artifacts being sold alongside stacks of tablecloths. On hearing this, our friend Mike said ¨There are some great buys here!¨ WHich is true! We stocked up on fleeces, jackets and north ¨fake¨ backpacks without spending more than 30 dollars. The temps on the mountain get icy cold as soon as the sun goes down, and since it´s been raining here in Cuzco, it is surely Snowing! up there! Wish me luck!