Cusco, Peru

Ok people, we are actually getting up to date in these blogs, SHOCKER! finally, i guess it just takes a rainy rainy day to get me to sit still! Anyways, here i am, in Cusco Peru, loving it. Cusco is known as many things, for one, the jumping off point for getting to Machu Picchu (the amazing inca ruins) which i will be visiting in the next few days. Its also know as a city, on a city. Literally. The spanish conquerers (ugh, dont get me started) found this amazing city, inca city, fully functional with irrigation, big buildings and temples, and resplendant in gold. dripping gold, everywhere. many of the temples were covered head to toe in gold to refelct the sun. The bricks are huge, HUGE (no idea how they moved them around) and carved to perfection, perfectly made bricks. And the spanish, being the spanish, took over, everything. They moved bricks around to build new things...like churches, and also just built on top, of everything. The base of any house, apartment building, governemnt building, church, store, anything was built on top of inca ruins. Once they took the gold off of them of course. So it looks like a strange mish mash of building materials. But still beautiful. Also very reminicent of spain. Most like Granada id say. Pics are 1. the plaza de armas. pic 2. The Convent of Santo Domingo of Cusco, built up on some ruins. Pic 3 view from the convent of a part of cusco. very hilly, good exercize. and Pic 4 an artists interpretation of the Incas sun calendar, showing the different weeks and climates that the incas based their agriculture and rituals on. All in all, a beautiful city, though more expensive than my beloved Bolivia, and much more touristy, still, very amazing.

Arequipa, Peru and Convent

Ok so after the small tranquil, but rainy town of Puno, we were ready for a change. We had heard of a beautiful city between Puno and Cusco (where we were headed) called the Andalucia of Peru. We had to go and see for ourselves. Arequipa. Located in a vally, in the south of Peru, we had high hopes. Unfortunatly, not all hopes were met. But still a great town. The obvious spanish influence on the city made me nostalgic for Cordoba Spain, where i did my junior year abroad. However, the cold rainy days, did nothing to brighten my spirits. But we made the best of our trip, did some laundry, and took in the sights.

The main tourist attraction in Arequipa is the Convent of Santa Catalina. Called a city within a city. Located in the heart of Arequipa, this convent was fully hooked up. Young girls from all over were sent here to live in seculsion and devote themselves to god. They were fully cloistered, meaning no contact with anyone from the outside, at all. Big walls separted the nuns from the rest of the city. But who needs all that noise anyways! They had it all, gardens, fountains, a main plaza, streets, a communal bath/pool, a big kitchen, laundry facilities, their own rooms with kitchens, bathrooms, and servents quarters, a big chapel, and their own art gallary. At one point the nuns ran into problems with the archbishop of arequipa and the dudes in the vatican, because they thought they were living it up in the cloister a bit too richly. But it was worked out eventually. In hopes of preservation, the convent has been opened up the the public. Though nuns still live there (in a separate area you cant visit) they are only partially cloistered, meaning they can leave the convent with permission. sweet. Anyways, pretty amazing place. Pics are 1. one of the plazas, brightly painted and wall to wall oil paintings. Pic 2, on Calle Cordoba (!) looks just like the hanging flowers from my favorite town in spain (sigh). Pic 3. the laundry room, or patio i guess. These big urns were broken in half, and a irrigation canal was put down the center so the nuns could wash their stuff. Pic 4. From the room of one of the nuns. Not huge rooms, but always well decorated. very pretty.

Super cool place, if thats what convents are like, sign me up... minus the cloistered part....

Uros Floating Islands, Peru

Border has been crossed, we are officially in Peru, adios Bolivia!! So we landed firstly in Puno. A small town on the Peruvian side of lake titicaca. Peru claims to own 60% of the lake, and boast that Bolivia only owns 40%... not sure if thats really true. Nothing much to Puno, also just sort of a landing point for people entering and leaving Peru. Apparently, we have also hit rainy season... yay. Which is why its so so so gray in all of my pics... tear. Ok, snap out of it. Its still damn beautiful. So Peru, Puno. The main attraction in Puno is out on the lake, the Floating Islands of the Uro people. These islands are man made, and litterally floating in the lake, made out of blocks of mud and layers upon layers of reeds. The theory is that they were created way back in the day when the spanish conquerers came to take over (thanks again for that) and the indians did not want to abide by their laws, did not want to change their religion, and did not want to be their slaves.... shocker. So they went out onto the lake, and created their own community, that could easily be moved around to escape the spanish. Way to go!

Since then, it has become a way of life. The people on these islands lived a very seculded life for many many years, subsiting on a diet they found in the lake, mostly fish, and a small amount of crops that they are actually able to grown on the island, like potatoes. Until recently. Lack of food, and need for medical attention, as well as the church planting itself on one of the islands has brought these shy people out of their shell, a bit. Though some islands continue to live in seculsion, the majority have opened themselves up to tourism. Offering visits to their islands, boat trips in their reed boats, dinner at the island resturant, and even more resently, the offer of an overnight stay in your own private reed hut.
Pretty awesome. Erin and i did the day tour, and hopped on a boat in the morning after breakfast. We landed on the island, where of course, it was raining. This friendly bunch had set up a tarp under which we sat on reed benches, and were given a detailed lesson on island life. How the islands are made, how the houses are made, how often the reeds have to be relplaced (every 3 years for the house, every year for the reed ground that covers the whole island). Also how they cook, what they cook, some typical problems (lack of money, rhumetisim at a young age because its so wet on the islands all the time). All facinating, i could write a book just about these people. Anyways, after the talk, we were invited to view the inside of their homes, 6 people in one small room in a hut. Recently they have recived some Solar panels, allowing for some lighting to be put in the huts, i saw an occasional radio or tv as well. Cooking happens outside in a very protected area, to prevent setting the whole island on fire. Then we took a quick jaunt through the neighbor hood a reed boat, visited another island where we saw how they grow potatoes, and then over to the main island were the school, church, soccer field, and medical center are floating near by. Of course, i felt obligated to buy something... they had pretty stuff! Then it was a rainy ride home. Pics are : 1. the view from the first floating island of another island, the big fish is the island look out, each island has different one, a swan, a donkey ect. Pic 2 is of a reed boat, pic 3 is the post office, i hear service is pretty quick :) and the final pic is of the islanders singing and dancing for us as we were boated to another island. super awesome day.

Copacabana Bolivia, and Isla del Sol

Ok, so my trip in Bolivia ended in Copacabana, on lake Titicaca. Not the most remarkable city ever, but is the jumping off point for quite a bit. We took the first day to see the sights of the town, the colorful buildings, and a very very very large church that seemed out of place. Also, the land here along with most of the islands in the lake are terraced, long ago by the Incas who used to inhabit the land. Because the hills are so steep here, the terracing and irrigation helped them grow crows and raise animals in a more effiecent way.

The following day we took a very leaky slow boat over to Isla del Sol (Island of Sun), one of the many Islands in Lake Titicaca. It is most well known for its temple of the sun. Located in such a way that it was also believed to act as some kind of sun calendar. The island itself its sparsley inhabited, mostly by locals who want to sell you something, and a bunch of hostels you can stay at to really see the island. But as usual, time and money were limited. So we just made it a day trip. Isla del Sol, and it was raining, a lot. Lovely. Once we landed it was a strait climb up some very old rock stairs, then basically strait up the mountain that creates the island. We had very little time to actually see the temple before we had to run back down to catch our boat home. Then we ran, grabbed our bags, and hit the road, as Copacabana is the last stop before crossing over into Peru.

Watch out! here we come Peru!

Beautiful Bolivia and Tiwanaku Ruins

Ok, first sending you some colorful pics from random places in bolivia, the typical llama walking down the street, lady street vedors and a sheep crossing.

Also, a couple of pictures from the remains of the Tiwanaku culture. Located in the Northern regions of Bolivia, close to lake Titicaca (go ahead and giggle) it is considered to be one of the most advanced cultures to ever have exisited, and also by far, the oldest. Older than the Incas and the Mayas, older than Mesopotamia, older than... well pretty much everything, really really ridiculously old people. Saw the remains of the temples, stone carved statues, irrigation systems, huge huge sprawl of remains, partly dismanteled by the Spanish conquerers who used the Tiwanaku metitculously cut bricks to build their church nearby, nice, very nice.

La Paz, Bolivia 19 Feb

Oh La Paz, La Paz, what can i say.... So so so so beautiful and colorful. La Paz literally means The Peace, however, i would say that this city is exactally the opposite of peaceful. Its loud, and its rude, and its ENORMOUS, its hilly, and amazing. So colorful, such happy friendly people. I could have stayed for much longer, but being on a budget certainly keeps you moving! Though La Paz is the highest city in the world, and also one of the biggest, it is actually not the capital of Bolivia. Sucre, a little further south is technically the captial... however, nothing, government wise is located in Sucre, its all in La Paz. Bolivia is a very beautiful, very old country. People are very traditional in dress, mannerisms, and lifestyle. They used to subsist on a diet based mostly out of Quinoa (looks like cous cous, but is actually a protein), until it became popular in the rest of the world, and is now almost completely exported, and whats left is consummed by toursits, becuase it too expensive for the locals. There are various celebrations and carnivals throughout the year that have through time combine acient practices, the mixing of races, and new religons into them. Many of the masks and costumes we saw were very asian inspired, combine with touches of white and black influences that came to the country for various reasons. I was particulary inspired by the color hand woven textiles that i saw throughout the country. No table is naked, all are covered by colorful fabrics, the women are never without at least 5 beautifully clashing colors, and the buildings are decorated in a rainbow of colors. And because Bolivia was by far the cheapest country we have visited so far, i was highly inspired to by things, many things, which now i must lug around for the rest of my trip.... great job.
A few pictures for you, though i could never fully paint an accurate picture. First pic is of the main plaza surrounded mostly by government buildings, and scary angry pidgeons. yikes! pic two, of me in the textile and celebrations museum, becoming part of a display. 3rd pic of a very old woven textile in the museum. 4th pic, La Paz, from up above, maybe, MAYBE 1/3 rd of this sprawling city. Last pic a traditional carnival mask and vest. All i have to say, is that i love Bolivia, all of it, and i will, most certainly be back.

Salar de Uyuni, Boliva

Ok so, here is a bit about the coolest thing i´ve ever seen. The Salt Flats of Uyuni. The worlds largest salt flat, that literally seems to go on forever. We awoke at 4:30 in the morning, yippe, to be on the road by 5 am to see the sunrise over the salt flats. Our group had spent the night in a Salt hotel on the edge of the salt flats. Literally the whole building constructed with salt. Bricks of salt make up the walls, big tables were the base of our salt beds, the floor was covered with loose salt, much like walking on sand, and the chairs and tables all constructed of salt bricks. So, wake up early and hit the road. We entered the salt flats in a wet area, about 2 feet of salty salty water over the salt flats. And drove until the sun started coming up at about 6 am. A beautiful sunrise, but as it was freezing cold (altitude people) i was not inspired to get out of the car like the others and take a million pictures. I did get one nice one, see previous post. Then we continued driving, on, and on, and on, and on. Salt in every direction. I was very thirsty, i must say. Also wish i had some tequila and limes with me. Oh well. Anyways. We hit a dry spot and kept on driving, hit the Isla del Pez, ate some breakfast at about 9, then kept on driving. Entered a wet area again, our driver hand covered our car in plants, i thought for camoflauge, but later realized it was to better protect his car from all the salty water that would quickly errode the metal. No wildlife anywhere to be seen, which is understandable considering there is no water, or plants for that matter.
Then crazy time began. At about 11 oclock, we finally got the driver to stop the car so we could take some pics. they had told us to wear flip flops because the salt would ruin our shoes, but being too lazy to look for them, i opted to just jump into the foot of salty water barefoot, thinking the salt would be like sand.... big mistake. think volcanic rock disguised as salt. Ouch. Run back to car, put flip flops on. ok. photo time. The strange composition of the salt flats inspired us to do some strange things. ie. kartwheels, very painful on the hands. anyways, we had a super fun time playing on the salt flats. Also saw the area where workers harvest the salt for sales, final pic in this post. So how did all this salt end up in the middle of a country so high above sealevel? Sesimic activity. As is with much of south america, back in the day, way back, a lot of these areas used to be under water until crazy angry sesmic activity thrust it up out of the sea, leaving for example, a huge salty lake surrounded buy mounatins. pretty cool. glad there isnt so much seismic activity now though... All in all, a crazy and amazing experience.

Boliva, can you handle it??

Ok so, yes, long time, no post. here are som updates!!! Below are pictures from the southern regions of Bolivia. After visiting the northern desert areas of Chile, we crossed over from San Pedro de Atacama to Uyuni. Instead of just taking a bus from Chile to Bolivia, we did a tour of the amazing southern marvels enroute to Uyuni. There were 4 of us tourists, our guide Mario and his wife, who acted as our amazing cook. We toured all the different areas in his 4x4 red land crusier. Luggage on the roof, vegetarian food, all in all, an awesome trip. Our trip mates were an older couple from Poland, one was a spanish teacher and one a portugese teacher, so we spoke alot of spanglish and waved our hands around a lot.
The first thing that hit me about Bolivia, literally, was the altitude. Basically the whole country is up way to high in the atmosphere. Meaning there is very little plant growth, and therefore, very little oxygen for me to breath. rad. on top of that, i went into the trip with a cold, so ear pressure was a big problem. It was a bit scary that after walking a little bit, you felt as winded as if you had just run a marathon up hill. you really just have to slow down, way down, baby steps, and take everything in bit by bit, you cant rush things in Bolivia, even if you want to.

On our tour we were able to see quite a bit, from the beautiful, mountain ranges, to the strange colored lakes, to what i consider the 8th wonder of the world, the Salt Flats of Uyuni. Vast streches of salt plains, parts with water, parts just like a dried up desert.
This post covers a couple of the higlights of the trip. First picture of some of the moutains we saw as we entered Bolivia. Second, the Red Lake, set in a valley between mountains, filled with flamencos. The red color is from the microscopic shrimps that the flamencos eat, and the white is the Borax, something found in almost all of the colored lakes that Boliva harvests and sells to chemists. The 3rd is the sun rising over the Salt Flats of Uyuni, and the final picture is of me getting friendly with a cactus on the Isla de Pez (Fish Island), a facinating little island found in the middle of of the salt flats, more on that later!

Adios Santiago!

Well, its time to go Santiago. You´ve been a great home base, but the gypsy in me is ready to be on the road again....

Thats right folks, after a month in Santiago, i´m finally going to be on the move again! I don´t know if this will motivate me to blog more, as i´ll be seeing more, or if i´ll blog less for lack of access to a computer. who knows! anyways, i will do my best to keep everyone updated.

I´ve had a wonderful month of side trips (to mendoza, reñaca, ect), lots of good food, the great company of Erin´s family, i´ve wash all of my laundry.... a couple of times in a row, so i´ll be good and clean when i leave. I´m sad to say i´ll be leaving with a bit of a heavy heart, as my beloved Patriots got beat down last night. I was lucky enough to be able to watch the game at the US Marine House with people from all over the US who work at the embassy here in Santiago. I was doing my best to represent the east side, and get people rooting for the Pats, but alas, we got whooped, bad. very very sad. I think a change scenery will do me good.

Our plan of action for the next few weeks is to head north of Santiago in to the desert areas of Chile. We´ve seen such a variety of landscape in this long, long, long country, i´m excited to see what else it can possibly have to offer.

After northern Chile, we´ll be heading into Boliva. After much, much running around, Erin and I were able to get visas into Boliva, and we´re pumped to get there, as many fellow travelers have labeled it the Must See country they´ve been to. We´ll be going from south to north through Boliva and then up to Peru. After that who knows, if the money holds up, we´d like to see Ecuador, Columbia (yikes! a little nervous about that one), and Venezula. And if I still have money after that..... maybe Panama, Costa Rica.... oye, i guess i´ll just keep going!

Anyways, all of you in the states are doing well! I miss you all! I miss Boston and Hawaii and everything in between! Nothing like being away from home to make you appreciate what you have! Take care!!! xxoo

Vineyards- Mendoza Jan 24

Ok, sooo, since we basically visited all the vineyards we could in Santiago, and were still thirsty, we ventured back over into Argentina´s wine country Mendoza.
A short 6 hour bus ride from Santiago (mind you, 6 hours of driving up and over the Andes mountains.... not the most relaxing ride i´ve been on) Mendoza is an unimpressive city surrounded by tons and tons of award winning vineyards. Located in the northwest part of Argentina, the climate is perfect for growing wine grapes. We were only there for a couple of days, so we got right down to business and took a tour of 4 vineyards, an olive oil factory, and a chocolatery the day after we arrived. We were able to see a variety of vineyards from the biggest producer of wine in Argentina, to one of the most famous and prize winning, to smaller botique vineyards that produce very specialized wines, and my favorite of all, an organic vineyard! They don´t use any pesticides or preservatives in their wines, so they have a very distinct flavor. Much less acidic, and much more fruity. Also, because they´re organic, they won´t give you a headache from drinking too much! After a few tastings, i found myself having quite a bit of fun at the wineries, getting in to the different jobs you can do there. Bottling, serving wine, rolling wine barrels, and coming up with creative names for the wineries. haha. All in all, it was a fun trip, i had some Argentine pesos left, so i was able to spend those up on a few bottles of wine, and see a lot of beautiful vineyards.