Lake Titcaca

I´m hanging out in this internet cafe in Puno that I had to climb 3 flights of stairs to get to and I am breathing heavily and slightly light headed. I think we are somewhere between 12 to 14000 feet! My head feels funny! Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world (if I´m not mistaken). We are about to set sail, well, take a slow boat to some islands. I´ll write more about that next time.

Sangalle (The Oasis)

I left off at the Chivay bus station...

So we run in guns blazin´and there was not 6 oclock am bus! The guys who collects 10 cents to use the restroom was there already! There was one guy there serving coffee so we played cards and drank cafe y mate de coca. Prati tried his first coca leaf tea. He said it wasn´t too exciting but it was the Peruvian thing to do. The bus finally left at 730 and three hours later we arrived in Cabanconde. Not without a hassle though. Two guys at two different points on the trip boarded the bus for 20 minutes and tried to sell these ¨tourism tickets.¨ I had read about this in my travel book that you DONT have to buy these even though they tell you that you do. I think they were $15 each and they get you into 8 various travel hot spots along the canyon. We didn´t want to go to any of those spot so we didn´t want to purchase the tickets. The first guy took ¨no¨ for an answer but the second guy... wooo wee he was a tough one. He was soooo mad when we said no that he threatened to call the police and said I HAD to buy the ticket. I kept persistantly saying ¨no gracias¨and he TOOK MY PICTURE on his phone and said he was going to report me and that I couldn´t stay in Cabanaconde! That I wasn´t welcome there! I said ¨ok¨and when we got off the bus we walked away into a store to buy some water and he gave us one more plea. ¨Señora por favor.¨ After thrity minutes or so I think he realized we weren´t the dummies that he thought we were. All we knew about Cabanaconde was that there was a ¨short hike¨down to the bottom of the canyon that takes you to a Sangalle (oasis). Since we didn´t have jackets or sleeping bags we thought we would hike down two hours and back up four hours and then get a hotel in Cabanaconde. The hike down was slippery (Prati fell four times:), toe nail jamming, and knee crunching, BUT sooo worth the knee pain! We passed three crosses and couldn´t help but think if it was possible that people died hiking out of this canyon. Maybe lack of water? Slip and fall? Did we have enough water? Was there food at the oasis? We had only had a banana and some crackers before the hike. At the bottom of the canyon we finally came to the Oasis! There were four pools, a restaurant, waterfalls, fruit trees, flowers, and huts made of bamboo to sleep in with lots of blankets. Paradise! We quickly decided to spend the night! I felt a little bit like the tourists on the movie ¨The Beach¨who find a map and try to go to paradise. These guys created this mini paradise and I couldn´t help but feel like I was intruding. It only cost $3 per person to sleep there, but I highly doubt the sheets had ever been washed and I had to brush the fleas off the bed before falling asleep.

We woke up at 530am and were on the trail by 6. Multiple people told us that it would take four hours to hike up and MAYBE three if you were super fast. I´m not gonna lie I just wanted to get it over with. We decided if we limited our water/rest breaks that we could knock it out in three hours. The altitude and my backpack were working together like partners in crime trying desperately to suck my breath from my lungs and the cold air snuck in and helped out as an accomplice. I was having a difficult time breathing for sure. Not to mention my calves felt detatched from the bone from the previous days hike. We stopped for a quick break after 45 mins, then again after 40 mins, and once again after 35mins. Then ba BAM we were there in TWO hours!!! I felt like I could have done it again! I couldn´t believe my eyes when we saw the town at 8am. YESSS!

45 minutes later were were back on the bus passed out headed to Arequipa for one more night in the White City.

Ask and you shall receive

Sorry it´s been a while... we spent a few days in the Canyon and there was not internet there.

Just as I was somewhat complaining about the fact that I had not seen ONE alpaca (llama) in this country when they are supposedly all over the place... I saw a million on the way to the canyon. Herds and herds of them. When we got to our hotel in Chivay there was actually a pet alpaca living in the courtyard! Ask and you shall receive. I found out that there was once 36 breeds of alpacas in Peru and certain breeds are now domesticated. The white fluffy ones are domesticated and the orange little guys are still wild. At least that´s what the lady at the museum told us.

Chivay was the first village you can stay at on the south side of the canyon. This area is basically a series of villages and farmland set in the walls a huge-mongous canyon. BEAUTIFUL!!! It must be corn season because everywhere I looked there were kids, donkeys, and old women hauling corn back to their village. The women in these villages are decked out in the most extravagant clothing (while working in the crops). Sequins, bright colors, patterns, decorative hats, long dresses! My first thought was that we just missed a performance or maybe it there was a big festival that day. Nope, just their daily getup. I read that the women don´t like there picture taken because they believe the camera is an ¨eye that steals your soul¨... soooo I had to sneak a few photos while they weren´t looking but you HAVE to see these outfits!

We hiked about an hour or so down to some local hot springs (aguas calientes). On the way a little girl (probably 4 years old) popped out of nowhere and ran across the street to us. Scared the bejesus out of me! It was a very poor attempt to rob us... maybe even her first try. We didn´t have any valuables on us so I really didn´t mind that she was all over my pockets. They learn at a very young age! The springs were awesome, probably the only thing going on in Chivay. After about 45 minutes, the hot springs stole all my energy and sent me home. I went to bed around 9 that night and frrrrooooze! Who knew it would be so cold? When 5:30 rolled around and it was time to get up I jumped out of bed and was ready to go catch the 6:00 bus. We run to the bus station and NO ONE was there! The bus didn´t leave until 7am. Dang!

To be continued...

Going condor sighting

The bus stop in Arequipa is more like the New York City stock exchange. Everyone at the ticket counters leans over waving tickets, shouting, trying to get you to buy your bus ticket with them. It´s loud and quite exhilirating! I always get nervous before I get to a bus station because you never know what you are going to get. Some are outside, crowded, sketchy. While others are nice, quiet, and have airconditioning. Ya never know. This one is WILD. We are about to go to Chivay which is a city close to the Canyon De Colca. Should take about 3 hours which really means 4 maybe 5 hours in Peruvian time. Canyon de colca is twice as deep as our grand canyon and the home to a large condor family!!! Should be fuuuun! We are going to hike down into the canyon to spend the night.

Last night we went to THE coolest pizza restaurant I have ever been to. Uhhh. Not only was the wine flowing and the pizza delicious... it had the best ambiance. The inside was gray rock with writing all over the walls and arched ceilings, felt like a dungeon. The first piece of grafiti I noticed was the Burning Man symbol that said ¨BM06¨below it. That was my first year at burning man and there is was writen on the wall. It JUMPED OUT at me. Anyway, back to the ambiance... there were three basket looking chandeliers that looked morocan of sorts. It was a small low lit room with a wood buring pizza oven in the back corner. All of the tables were old thick wooden tables with benches instead of chairs, with colorful placemats lining the tables. I want to go back when we get back to Arequipa. We drank way too much wine and woke up this morning with purple lips.

We also went to a museum yesterday called Le Museo de Santuarios which houses a 500 year old body that was found in 1995 on the top of a snow-capped volcano in the surrounding area. They have found 12 of these bodies in Peru over the years and they are all in pretty good condition for being 500 years old... thank you ice. Anyway that was interesting and informative and creeepy at the same time. Ok, gotta catch the bus!!! Ciao

No hijackings

I don´t have a ton to report on but I wanted to let everyone know that we made it to Arequipa on the sleepless overnight bus! Phew. I sat next to a little boy who threw up all night so hopefully it was just motion sickness and not the FLU! All I can say is that I am happy to have a bed tonight. Arequipa so far is fast paced yet beautiful! They call it La Ciudad de Blanco, The White City, because all the buildings are made of off-white volcanic rock called Sillar. Sillar looks similar to how I picture the surface of the moon. Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru (second to Lima) with a snow-capped active volcano towering behind the city. So now it´s time to get off the computer and go explore. Prati and I are exhausted so first things first we need some coffee in our system. We are headed to a little roof top cafe to enjoy the view and gulp some caffeine.

Dune Surfing

Well the good news about sand boarding is that you don´t even need to stand up! For the first three pitches I went flat on my tummy and held on for dear life. It´s all fun and games until you get sand in your mouth and crunch on it for the next few days. As much as i wanted to scream doing the ¨belly down face first¨ method I quickly learned my lesson to keep my mouth closed! Another thrill of the dune experience was the dune buggy ride! It was similar to a roller coaster in that after we got out of the dune buggy I thought I might vom. So much fun! We met two nice girls on our dune buggy (8 person passengers) from North Carolina who have been traveling for three months. We are taking an overnight bus to arequipa tonight and we LUCKED OUT by grabbing the last two seats on the bus! I did read that some of the overnight buses get hijacked so wish us luck on this overnight adventure! Who knew buses can be hijacked???

Overall we are already loving it here! It is always tough to get used to the hustle and bustle of traveling, lack of excellent communication, unsanitary showers, bugs, and uncomfortable beds. However I have adjusted quickly, only two days! Arequipa is supposed to be beautiful and we are definitely going to check out and hike around Canyon de Colca. It is twice as deep as our Grand Canyon and we will be looking through binocculars trying to spot the infamous condors! I read that Peru actually encompasses 84 of the 101 ecosystems of our planet! It is very diverse for such a small mass of land. My parents gave me a NICE photographers camera for Christmas and I have already put it to use. Two days... two hundred photos.... UH OH! I will have LOADS of photos to share with you all when I get back to the States!

First time in Southern Hemisphere

Well we made it! Two days later (40 hours of travel)... we were not expecting for the adventure to start in the airport. It was kindof a mess getting to Lima but hopefully this isn´t a foreshadow of the next 6 weeks in Peru and Ecuador.

Here´s what happened...
Basically I thought Prati and I were on the same flight from Dallas to Miami but I was on the 1230 flight and he departed at 330. Ooops. Completely my fault. Needless to say I missed my flight in Dallas. Prati and i didn´t want to separate because we didn´t want to be on different flights into lima. That would have been a nightmare. I could picture my email titled ¨lost in lima!¨ So he missed his flight too to stay with me and we got on a 625 flight hoping and praying that we would still make our connection in miami. We did. The miami flight was delayed until 1am and even then didn´t leave until 2. Lima´s airport closed due to massive fog so we temporarily landed in Ecuador to get gas and deboarded the plane to stretch our legs. Other passengers for different flights were rioting in the airport and my only complaint was not having a change of undies or a toothbrush. We kept our calm though... at least we had each other and plenty of literature to read. I slept most of the time. It didn´t help that I had a gang member sitting next to me. (On the first flight I sat next to a 21 year old missionary... quite the opposite of my new gang friend or should I say homie) Finally we landed in Lima at noon. My debit card isn´t working but luckily Prati´s is so we were able to get SOME cash out. I can´t get to a bank until Monday to figure out what is wrong. It will all work out though. We were attacked by the taxi hounds in the airport but since this isn´t our first rodeo we knew to escape the airport madness and find a taxi by ourselves. We took a taxi (Juan the driver was wonderful... his new nickname is Juanderful) to a bus station called Cruz del sur which is one of the first class busses with airconditioning, tv, and snacks. After 40 hours in an airport and airplane we were totally fine with splurging on a nice bus ride. My booty still hurts from sitting so much :) We bussed it to Ica then got another taxi to Huacachina which is where were are today! Huacachina is a tiny little oasis (literally) town that is famous for its ¨dune surfing.¨ We are in the desert right now surrounded by sand dunes. All of the hotels surround this lagoon that supposedly has healing powers. I touched the water today for good luck but our pool at the hotel is much more inviting and less sulfur-like smelling. Earlier this morning we hiked up to the surrounding dunes to see the view and get a little workout. At 4 oclock today we are going dune buggy-ing to the top of a huge dune then we strap on a sand board which is really just plywood with some velcro. I have been wanting to try this forever!!! I will let you know how it goes. Wish us luck! So far Peru is one of the more difficult places I have traveled. No english speakers, which is good for me to brush up on my spanish while looking like a total idiot at the same time. Everyone laughs at us but it´s all fun and games and I´m not being sensitive to it:) No one in this town has change and all we have is large bills. If you want to buy breakfast you might as well eat as much as possible and buy a bunch of bottled waters because they hardly have change for 50 soles which is less than $20. Needless to say I will be on the internet for a LONG TIME! $20 worth of internet might take a while. We are going to spend one more night in Huacachina and then take a bus to Arequipa tomorrow.