Monday, November 24, 2008
1
I have tried twice now to email a diary of my trip with no success so here goes again. Had a 6 hour layover in Miami, and when we finally boarded there was an announcement from the cockpit that the Miami airport was closed due to weather. We sat in the plane with all the doors shut, ready to take off for an hour and a half in the Miami heat with no air conditioning. Finally we started taxiing and took off for Peru. The in flight movie was Agent Cody Banks 2. (Skip it.) We arrived in Peru at 10pm. It took about an hour to get our bags, get money from the ATM, and leave the airport. When we walked out the front door, it was like a scene from a movie. There were about a thousand people screaming and kept behind a barracade. Some were waiting for their family, some wanted you to take their taxi, and some were waiting for tour groups like ours. We found our guide right away and got out of there. I tried to take a picture, but this crabby old guy that we are with gave me a look and set PUT THAT AWAY. I was like whatever. And now I have no picture. Well we finally got to our hotel at midnight and had dinner, then they told us that we had to be up at 3am.
to be continued...
to be continued...
2
...So I got about 2 hours of sleep and was up at 3am for breakfast and departure to Paracas at 4am. I was hoping to get to sleep on the bus but of course it was super bumpy and I could not sleep no matter how hard I tried The trip was 4 hours. I felt like a paint can at Home Depot. When we got to Paracas we got right onto a boat, (more tummy shaking) and headed for the Ballatas Islands. They are home to many varieties of birds. On the way we drove the boat past this huge mountain that had a candlabra carved into the side of it. They dont know how it got there. But I think you can find it on the web, it was really cool. Its called the Candlabra. Anyways as we approached the islands, which you cant get onto, but why would you want to they were covered in poop, we saw ten million billion birds. One bird that was there all over the place is called a boobie. I saw big boobies and little boobies. Some boobies were young and nice, some boobies were old and seemed to stay near the ground. Haha Anyways we also saw sea lions! They were just hanging out on the rocks resting after fishing all day. We saw some jumping in the water. One had what looked like a tight collar around his neck. They said he probably ran into a net when he was little and as he grows it gets tighter and tighter. It will kill him eventually. I was like, STOP THE BOAT! CUT IT OFF HIM! YOU HEARTLESS PEOPLE! But they couldn´t hear me because I had a sandwich in my mouth. And a candy bar.
to be continued...
to be continued...
3
...So then we went back and had some coffee at the hotel and checked out some flamingos and a cliff on the ocean shore. the region of Paracas is all desert. They only get 2 inches of rain per year, so its very dry and arid. There are people all along the coast who live in homes made of varigated metal leaned up against 4 posts. Some are in little cities, and some are all alone in the middle of nowhere.
I thought why would you put your house in the middle of the desert, if you could put it anywhere you wanted to? Anyways, the state of things is very sad.
We had a pork sandwich on the way back to Lima which was excellent. When we got back to the hotel we had an hour of free time before dinner, which of course I used for pinching every zit on my face. We had a buffet style dinner, then went to bed. That was the night I spent an hour typing a really long email that didn´t go, so hence the many little emails today.
The next morning we left the hotel at 7:30 am for the airport and flew to the little mountain town of Cuzco. it took a while to get used to the altitude, since Lima is at 0 feet and Cuzco is at 11,000 feet. They gave us some tea to help with sickness. I did pretty well. The churches are catholic, but have a strong Inca influence. For instance...
I thought why would you put your house in the middle of the desert, if you could put it anywhere you wanted to? Anyways, the state of things is very sad.
We had a pork sandwich on the way back to Lima which was excellent. When we got back to the hotel we had an hour of free time before dinner, which of course I used for pinching every zit on my face. We had a buffet style dinner, then went to bed. That was the night I spent an hour typing a really long email that didn´t go, so hence the many little emails today.
The next morning we left the hotel at 7:30 am for the airport and flew to the little mountain town of Cuzco. it took a while to get used to the altitude, since Lima is at 0 feet and Cuzco is at 11,000 feet. They gave us some tea to help with sickness. I did pretty well. The churches are catholic, but have a strong Inca influence. For instance...
4
...so in some of their paintings they have Jesus in white, which is pure in the Catholic religion and the cross is black, which is pure in the Inca religion. The people didn´t really give up the Inca traditions in their religions, they just added Catholocism. Our tour guide is very pro Inca. She talks all the time about the Pachu Mama, yet I saw her make the sign of the cross when we left the church.
Anyways, the main church in Cuzco is huge, and all the altars inside are plated in gold. Its really sad because in their tradition, the people give all of their money to the church because they believe that all wealth comes from god, so they give it all back to the church. So here you have these infinitely poor people and this church all plated in gold. Sad. Then we toured many ancient ruins. The Incas had ingenious architechts, and they were able to build buildings that survived even the most destructive earthquakes. In some places they replicated their work, but there are original walls with their stones in them. The stones are very heavy and made of basalt, but are put together so that no wind gets through, and there was no grout in between. Its really amazing.
The people maul you to buy their stuff, worse than anything I have ever seen in Mexico.
The next day we got on the bus again, a different bus, still bumpy, but this time more stinky. We started up the mountains on our way to Tres Cruces. This is where we were to stay in the tent camp in the jungle. On the way our tour guide had us stop in this village of bakers to buy small loaves of bread to share with the children who live in the mountains. I bought two bags, with ten loaves each about the size of two fists. I ate one and they were really good.
We start driving and the towns get smaller and smaller and dirtier and dirtier and the people poorer and poorer. Every once in a while there would be a group of kids working in their fields, and they would run up to the bus, where we would hand them bread. They were supposed to get one each, but they would hide a piece and go up to different hands to try to get more bread. These kids broke my heart. There was a little girl Murphy´s age. And she couldn´t reach the hands, so one of the ladies on our tour dropped her a piece. It hit her in the face...
Anyways, the main church in Cuzco is huge, and all the altars inside are plated in gold. Its really sad because in their tradition, the people give all of their money to the church because they believe that all wealth comes from god, so they give it all back to the church. So here you have these infinitely poor people and this church all plated in gold. Sad. Then we toured many ancient ruins. The Incas had ingenious architechts, and they were able to build buildings that survived even the most destructive earthquakes. In some places they replicated their work, but there are original walls with their stones in them. The stones are very heavy and made of basalt, but are put together so that no wind gets through, and there was no grout in between. Its really amazing.
The people maul you to buy their stuff, worse than anything I have ever seen in Mexico.
The next day we got on the bus again, a different bus, still bumpy, but this time more stinky. We started up the mountains on our way to Tres Cruces. This is where we were to stay in the tent camp in the jungle. On the way our tour guide had us stop in this village of bakers to buy small loaves of bread to share with the children who live in the mountains. I bought two bags, with ten loaves each about the size of two fists. I ate one and they were really good.
We start driving and the towns get smaller and smaller and dirtier and dirtier and the people poorer and poorer. Every once in a while there would be a group of kids working in their fields, and they would run up to the bus, where we would hand them bread. They were supposed to get one each, but they would hide a piece and go up to different hands to try to get more bread. These kids broke my heart. There was a little girl Murphy´s age. And she couldn´t reach the hands, so one of the ladies on our tour dropped her a piece. It hit her in the face...
5
...she picked it up off the ground and ate it. The road was gravel and very dusty, we drove with the windows closed it was so dusty. And here this little girl just ate the bread anyway. I was to see more of that later, it just struck me the first time I saw it. I can´t imagine Murphy walking up to a bus and trying to get a little piece of bread for food. Some of the kids jumped up and down when they got their bread. They were so dirty. Their little faces were covered in dirt and all they knew in English was ¨money money money¨. When we stopped in some villages to take pictures, I ended up taking some shots of the people, and one little girl chased me down the pee stained street saying ¨no gratis, no gratis¨ which means, not free. I had to pay her because I took her picture. We had these 3 guys come with us as our cook, and our guides, and one of those guys had to give her money because I had no coins. It was very sad. The people of the mountains dress in the traditional Peruvian way, with the women in skirts and colorful blankets wrapped around them and most of the time a baby on their back. The babies just bounced along and seemed to love it. They all had hats on but no socks. It was pretty cold too. We just happened to be going in to Tres Cruces on the day of an annual festival so most of the people of the little communities were in the larger villages selling their produce. So all the kids were left behind on the farms and the adults went into the village. I should mention that the road we were on was not only gravel, but it was one lane and it winded up and up and up and up the mountain. For most of the 6 HOUR DRIVE I would look out the window and all I could see was straight down. I was SO SCARED. Mom, you remember when we went to Yellowstone and that seemed scary? Well picture it with one lane, no guard rail and gravel roads with a crazy Peruvian driver who speaks no English at the wheel. Kasey, you would have died.
Guess what happens when you run into another bus on the road? One of you has to back up until it is wide enough to pass. SCARRRRY. So we made this journey from about 7:30 in the morning and we got to our destination at 6pm. It was just getting dark because it was winter here. I was expecting to see a huge circus type tent with cots that all had mosquito nets on them. NOPE. The place was empty except a Blair Witch Project building with all the windows broken out. The guys on our bus started unloading OUR TENTS and set them up on the side of this mountain, which by the way was at 13,500 feet...
Guess what happens when you run into another bus on the road? One of you has to back up until it is wide enough to pass. SCARRRRY. So we made this journey from about 7:30 in the morning and we got to our destination at 6pm. It was just getting dark because it was winter here. I was expecting to see a huge circus type tent with cots that all had mosquito nets on them. NOPE. The place was empty except a Blair Witch Project building with all the windows broken out. The guys on our bus started unloading OUR TENTS and set them up on the side of this mountain, which by the way was at 13,500 feet...
6
...so we are going to camp like in Boundary WAters in the 20 degree weather. I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. The last time we went to Boundary Waters it was so cold I couldn´t sleep. But these Peruvians know what to do, man. The sleeping bag they gave me, which I am convinced was last used by Michael MOrin, or some other gross sweaty man, was very warm and I was toasty warm all night. Those three guys cooked us an awesome meal of Chicken and rice. We also had soup to start and desert. There was coffee and tea all the time.
Anyways, the reason we travelled all the way to Tres Cruces was to camp and get up at 4am to watch the Sun Rise. We were at the tippity top of the highest mountain, 13,500 feet, and we were able to see the sunrise with no obstructions. So the stars were incredible as well. Right out my tent I could see Venus very clearly. There was no moon, and the sky was DARK. Anyways, I got up at 4am, to a man asking if I wanted coffee. I said mas tarde which means later, and I said it in my sleep so I think I am getting better at Spanish. Then finally I rolled out of bed and the sky was still black, but the horizon started to show signs of the sun rise. We sat outside our tents for 2 hours and watched it rise. It was amazing. The color spectrum was incredible and when the sun finally came up, it looked like it came out in the middle of the clouds. I forgot to mention we were above the clouds, so they were below us. It appeared as if the sun popped up somewhere between us and the horizon. It was so awesome. Then we had a fruit breakfast and more coffee.
Our bus got stuck in the mud.
It took two hours and everybody pushing and collecting rocks and pushing and yelling and Spanish and English yelling, but we finally got it out. That was kind of fun, I felt like I helped. Boy were we stuck. One of the kids on the tour was the mastermind of getting it out, because he does that for fun. Mudding and stuff.
Anyways, after all that, we got back on the bus and made our way back down the mountain. We stopped at the entrance of Tres Cruces and hiked down 3000 feet. It took 3 hours to hike and it was amazing. We were in the jungle, like with a guy in front of us using a machete to cut the vines down so we could get through. The trail hadn´t been used in a while. In some spots, we had to hold on to the rocks, or fall all the way down. That was really difficult and strenuous. I loved it. Then we got back to the bus and lunch was waiting, chicken with peppers and french fries and tea. YUM. I was so hungry.
Then we got in the bus and made our way back to Cuzco. It took 6 hours this time because we didn´t stop. But we gave the rest of our bread away, often throwing it out the window because the bus didn´t stop. The kids went running for it.
When we got back to Cuzco, I took the hottest longest shower of my life and we had trout for dinner. The food here is AWESOME. That was yesterday...
Anyways, the reason we travelled all the way to Tres Cruces was to camp and get up at 4am to watch the Sun Rise. We were at the tippity top of the highest mountain, 13,500 feet, and we were able to see the sunrise with no obstructions. So the stars were incredible as well. Right out my tent I could see Venus very clearly. There was no moon, and the sky was DARK. Anyways, I got up at 4am, to a man asking if I wanted coffee. I said mas tarde which means later, and I said it in my sleep so I think I am getting better at Spanish. Then finally I rolled out of bed and the sky was still black, but the horizon started to show signs of the sun rise. We sat outside our tents for 2 hours and watched it rise. It was amazing. The color spectrum was incredible and when the sun finally came up, it looked like it came out in the middle of the clouds. I forgot to mention we were above the clouds, so they were below us. It appeared as if the sun popped up somewhere between us and the horizon. It was so awesome. Then we had a fruit breakfast and more coffee.
Our bus got stuck in the mud.
It took two hours and everybody pushing and collecting rocks and pushing and yelling and Spanish and English yelling, but we finally got it out. That was kind of fun, I felt like I helped. Boy were we stuck. One of the kids on the tour was the mastermind of getting it out, because he does that for fun. Mudding and stuff.
Anyways, after all that, we got back on the bus and made our way back down the mountain. We stopped at the entrance of Tres Cruces and hiked down 3000 feet. It took 3 hours to hike and it was amazing. We were in the jungle, like with a guy in front of us using a machete to cut the vines down so we could get through. The trail hadn´t been used in a while. In some spots, we had to hold on to the rocks, or fall all the way down. That was really difficult and strenuous. I loved it. Then we got back to the bus and lunch was waiting, chicken with peppers and french fries and tea. YUM. I was so hungry.
Then we got in the bus and made our way back to Cuzco. It took 6 hours this time because we didn´t stop. But we gave the rest of our bread away, often throwing it out the window because the bus didn´t stop. The kids went running for it.
When we got back to Cuzco, I took the hottest longest shower of my life and we had trout for dinner. The food here is AWESOME. That was yesterday...
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