Perrrrruuuuu

Puno was our first stop in Peru after crossing the border.  We didn't spend a huge amount of time there, but we did get to visit the really cool Uros Islands, a.k.a. "The Floating Islands."  They are hand-made straw-like islands about a half hour from Puno.  It was really interesting to see, but of course we were only allowed onto the touristy ones so it was hard to see what life was really like there.  Still, very cool.  

We were pretty excited to find a bus company earlier that morning that claimed to be the only company that makes no stops on the trip to Cusco.  The bus was leaving at 9:30 p.m. and would arrive around 5 a.m.  No problem, we thought - the Cusco train station would open about that time too, we could go and purchase our tickets and be on our way to the Sacred Valley (on the way to Machu Picchu).  Well, turns out the bus isn't exactly nonstop, as it made quite a few stops on the way.  Plus, even with the stops, we somehow managed to arrive to the Cusco bus station at 4 a.m.  In our groggy states, we still thought we'd stick to the original plan, but our plans quickly changed after we witnessed the following, in rapid succession:


--the kid sitting next to me passed out in his seat, then literally fell out of the seat and did not even flinch
--a group of clarinetists, saxophonists, etc arrived, and one sat down next to me where the kid used to be (he was now laying directly in front of the chair on the floor), and passed out immediately too
--a man running after another man with a big-ass knife (not the butter kind)


Feeling obviously super safe, we decided to high tail it to a hotel via a taxista named Alfredo.  We knew the name of the hotel we wanted to stay in because we thought it was where Melissa stayed, so he took us there.  When we got there, a) it was way too far from everything and b) it was completely closed (we later found out there are 2 Imperial Hotels).  Alfredo claimed he knew some other places, and at 4:30 in the morning, we didn't have many options.  Luckily, he took us to a hotel that a) was right near the main square in town, Plaza de Armas and b) was very open, with an employee standing outside waiting to greet us.  We were very thankful, checked into the hotel, and went to sleep until a normal hour.  


After a good "night's" sleep, we hit the town to get things going for Machu Picchu and then explored Cusco some.  The San Blas neighborhood is awesome and we found a great cafe for lunch, where the waiter had both the same watch as me and nearly the same glasses.  Bizarro!  

That afternoon, we took the ride of our lives to a wonderful little town called Ollantaytambo, halfway between Cusco and Machu Picchu.  The ride of our lives entailed taking a "colectivo" at the speed of 500 mph for an hour and a half.  Taking a colectivo is really the only option to get to Ollantaytambo and all it is is a van that leaves from a random parking lot when said van is full.  Fortunately, it filled up quickly and we sped off.  The car was filled with native spanish speakers and everyone was screaming at the maniacal driver, "Despacio!!!!!" (i.e. SLOW it down).  Well, he didn't, but somehow we made it to Ollantaytambo anyway, of course in record time, all in one piece.  

Ollantaytambo has a nice set of remains and is quite a charming town.  We loved the hostel we stayed in (Hostel Iskay) and had allll day to check out the town because our train to Aguas Calientes, i.e. the town at the bottom of Machu Picchu, was not til 11:30 p.m.  

We finally made it to Aguas Calientes and got about 3 hours of sleep because if you want to climb Wynah Picchu from MP, you have to be one of the first 400 people to arrive.  We were #s 391 and 392.  Phew.

While walking around MP, I kept hearing that the hike was scary, steep, you name it.  I definitely got cold feet and Caitlin reminded me that I forced us to get up at 4:45 and that she was going with or without me.  I agreed that it would have sucked not to do this climb after getting up at that insane hour (although a sunk cost!), and so, we made the climb.  It is very steep, tiring and gorgeous, but certainly not scary and I had nothing to worry about.  It was amazing - just a 2 hour round trip stair climb with unbelievable views:

                    On the left is the road to MP, the right is MP.

After the hike, we left MP and returned to Aguas Calientes, where our train was supposed to head back to Cusco at, you guessed it, 10:30 p.m.  It was about 2.  We were elated to find out that we could upgrade with only $30 more to a train that left around 6.  Woo hoo!  Nevertheless, we still got back to Cusco on the later side, but I think it was because we didn't have an insane colectivo driver this time. :)

That next day in Cusco was not a high point for me.  I threw up bright and early in the morning and retained a headache the rest of the day, so Cait set out to do the sightseeing for us.  She toured around and I got to know our room really well.  On the plus side, it was the THE nicest room of the trip, and it even had a flat panel T.V.  On the even plus-er side, Cait was a very lovely caretaker and brought me loads of goodies from the outside world.  

I woke up the next morning feeling much better, so we attempted to see another set of remains called "Saqsaywaman," pronounced "sexy woman."  Sadly, there were way too many stairs for a recovering woman like myself, but Cait went up and told me all about it.  

After Cusco, we boarded a plane (a plane!!) to Lima, where we got to see a movie, a flower show, sleep in a dorm room, and I finally got to try some of their ceviche.  We also got to drink some of the best juices ever, with fruits native to Peru, as well as sip Pisco Sours at the Gran Hotel Bolivar.  Delish.

At the end of our trip, we had been in the following:
-2 airplanes
-3 trains
-10 buses
-19 rooms
-countless taxis


This was a trip of a lifetime and I can't wait to start on another part of SudAmerica.  Yippee!

Adios Bolivia, we'll miss you

After our "needs improvement" transportation methods, we arrived in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where we experienced warmth for the first time in almost a week.  The temperature was a huge factor in our decision to go to Cochabamba in the first place, since there are a lot more popular places to go than that (like Potosi - the world's highest city -- would have gone, but was looking forward to feeling like a normal human after our 4 day altitudinous (sure it's a word) excursion).  Anyway, it was a great decision in the end because the weather certainly did not disappoint and as an added bonus, we met some of the nicest people in town we could have asked for.   The people there were just really lovely and we ended up staying 2 nights.  

Day 1 was really only a late afternoon because of our arrival time, and we had high hopes for day 2.  We made a nice little sightseeing agenda and set out for the day.  Annoyingly - and not for the last time on our trip - I fell a little ill during the day, so our dreams of cycling around the laguna were shot.  I blamed most of my illnesses throughout the trip on the altitude, but this time may or may not be because of our horrendous trek through a never-ending market.  I mean it - this market had no way out.  Talk about good marketing!  Here's what happened.  We were actually trying to get to said laguna and the map revealed that the best way was through the market we had heard was pretty great.  Great!  2 birds with 1 stone.  So, we make our way to the market and yes, it's huge - and it would have been pretty great too had it not been crammed with millions of people (that is not an exaggeration), was not 1000 degrees (also not an exaggeration), and had no apparent exit.  We walked through expecting to be able to get out at the end closer to the laguna, and quite honestly, the lack of a crowd near the end should have tipped us off.  Instead, we were so overjoyed when the crowd started to dissipate that we picked up our step, excited to get to the laguna.  Lo and behold, the reason those smart people fizzled out was because the "end" where we had walked for 30 minutes in the cramped sauna was not a point of relief!  It was a point of "Oh sh*t, we have to backtrack this entire thing.  *$(*#&^@&#!!!"  So, we sucked it up, backtracked, and when we got out, we were literally off the map we had.  Taxi time.  

The afternoon was much better - a good veggie lunch followed by a trip up the teleferico to see an aerial view of the city and stand next to a GIANT statue of Jesus.  Check out how small the people are next to this statue.  You can see it from any point on the ground.

The next morning we took a bus to La Paz, where we only stayed a night.  The city was actually much nicer than I envisioned.  On the bus ride there, a lady was doing a roll call by name to make sure everyone was accounted for.  Cait and I were seats 29 and 30, and those numbers also turned out to be our names.  Basically, she took one look at the name Caitlin and made a wise decision that 29 was easier to say.  My name is pretty difficult for people to pronounce too, so I became 30.  After us, she went right back to the easy names.  We couldn't stop laughing.  

After La Paz, our next and last stop in beautiful Bolivia was Lake Titicaca (means "Puma Stone"), which borders both Bolivia and Peru.  We arrived in a town called Copacabana just in time for lunch and the afternoon boat out to Isla del Sol, where it was recommended to us by our friend Melissa to stay for a full day.  Oops - the (painfully slow) boat took 1.5 hours and the return (painfully slow) boat was to leave 1.5 hours after that.  However, in our short time there, we did a fair bit of climbing and had a "formal" tour.  That formal is in quotes because our tour guide was way more interested in talking on his cell than talking to us.  Nevertheless, it was absolutely gorgeous and if you ever go there, try to take Melissa's advice (and now ours) and be there longer than 1.5 hours!  

After an amazing *included* breakfast at the Copacabana hotel the next morning, we boarded a bus to Puno, which would mark our cross over into Peru and our goodbye to Bolivia!  It's pretty surreal to walk across a border like that and fortunately at this one, US citizens aren't charged a reciprocal fee for a visa.  Bienvenidos!

More on the wonderful world of Peru in my next post.

Crossing the Border: Hola Boliva

We were told we needed a photocopy of our passport, a passport photo and $135 US dollars in order to be allowed into Bolivia. So before leaving BsAs we got passport photos and photocopies of our passport, but figured we could get the $135 US eventually from an ATM. Well, of course, we didn’t think to do it until we needed to cross the border. So we walked towards the border with our heavy backpacks and when we arrived 20 minutes later we were told that we needed to go to the bank and get money because there was no way to get US dollars at the border. So Amy and I trekked back into La Quiaca and asked a few people about where the bank was and finally got there. We were delighted to see that the ATM dispensed US dollars, but we were terribly disappointed to find out that they had no US dollars to dispense. So we got AR pesos and hoped that Bolivia would accept them. We were told Bolivia would accept just about any type of currency, which by the way is true, except for…you guessed it… the border! Conveniently, there was a casa de cambio right at the border so for a very poor exchange rate Amy and I were able to get the long awaited US dollars! We later learned that we were the only travelers that did not have US money on them and of course all of the other travelers were not from the US!
So finally, we made it to the bus station in Villazon, Bolivia. We were hoping to go to Uyuni for a tour that Melissa recommended, but there were no busses going there from Villazon so we went to Tupiza instead. We knew we could catch a tour from there too, but we knew zero details about this place. So we purchased our bus tickets for $2 and then had about 6 hours to kill before we set off for Tupiza. Since we had our heavy packs with us we basically sat in the main plaza all day and eventually wondered into a restaurant for some lunch. The plates were ridiculously cheap so Amy and I didn’t think that they would be big, boy were we mistaken! They were huge and I could not finish it, but don’t worry the women next to me had a Ziploc bag and took my leftovers home with her. This was our first real clue to how poor Bolivia was. While I was a bit shocked that she took the leftovers right off my plate, it felt good knowing that the food wasn’t going to waste.

The meal I shared with my new Bolivian friends in Villazon.

So the bus was hanging on by a thread and I really have no idea how it was still in operation, but nevertheless we boarded it. At first we were the only tourists on the bus, but eventually 3 other tourists got on. We got to talking and it turned out they wanted to do the same tour that we did, so we were relieved that we had some other travelers to go with. While sitting there, a guy posed as a person working for the bus asked to see our tickets, he then put our bags in the compartment above us. For Amy and I this wasn’t a big deal because our bags were huge and mine was bright orange, but for the people we were soon to be traveling with, this turned out to be a HUGE mistake. They handed the man their day packs with all their important things in it (cash, passports, credit cards, etc) and next thing they knew their packs were gone. This apparently is big scam in Bolivia, there is some sort of partnership where the one guy pushes the bags towards the back of the bus and somehow someone either (a) walks off the bus with them or (b) throws them out the window to their partner. Needless to say, they got off the bus and found the police, they asked me (ME) to translate to the police officer which I did. However, when I got back on the bus I realized I only used the first person in past tense to describe the events. So I successfully used the past tense, but I basically told the policeman that I robbed them. Fortunately, he got the gist of what I was trying to say and told me “tienen cuidado,” which meant they should have taken better care! The officer wasn’t too sympathetic to say the least. Obviously, we bid adios to our new friends. Fortunately, during this whole robbery debacle, two other tourists came on the bus: Nadja and Jay. Nadja and Jay are traveling for an entire year and had already seen so much in India, Asia and Australia. We were very lucky to run into them because they were extremely accustomed to traveling and even had a guidebook. So for the first time on the trip we were able to look at a book and figure out how we were going to accomplish our journey! Also, they knew of a great tour that left from Tupiza and ended in Uyuni, Bolivia, which was perfect for us! The four of us had a great time together in Bolivia.
We used Hotel Torre tours and signed up for a four day tour- the four of us along with a driver and cook set out for a journey around Bolivia. We saw so many incredible landscapes and sights that I cannot even use the right words to describe them so I will just post a lot of pictures. On the last day we ended up at the Salt Flats where we were able to take a lot of really fun shots. We should also let you know that the accommodations were very rustic. There was no shower, no hot water, no heat and the food made all of sick at one point or another. However, with that said, I would do the tour again because the people were great, the sights were beautiful, and I will remember this experience forever.

Shots from the tour:

Flamingos- there were so many flamingos on the tour. They were so pretty, but a little camera shy, so we could not get too many close up shots.

Maria, Nadja, Amy, Henry and Jay up at 4855. One of the highest altitude spots visited. Fortunately, none of us got altitude sickness too badly, but we definitely experienced headaches and nauseas.

Jumping in front of the rock tree in the middle of a Bolivian desert.

More photos:
The jeep that we pretty much lived out for the first four days and Henry.

Me in front of the Geysers which were at 5000 meters. The highest place we were.

Me and Amy in front of the Laguna Colorados. As you can see the Laguna is red- this is where the flamingos get their beautiful color from!

Shots from the Salt Flats. We have a bunch more of these, just let me know if you want to see and I will email them!

After the four day tour we arrived in Uyuni, Bolivia. Amy got a great tip from the guidebook and saw that there was a 1:45AM train that left Uyuni and arrived in Oruro, Bolivia at 8:30AM, where we knew we could catch a bus to Cochabamba, which was our next destination. We asked around and we were told that the 1:45AM train was safe. We got a hostel directly across the street so there were no problems getting there. Well there was one problem, the train was pitch black and had been in operation for about 100 years. At one point when we were trying to find our seats, I stepped on the train and it jerked as if it was about to take off, I had visions of Amy running to catch the train as I looked on. Fortunately, we both ended up on board and Amy had a small flashlight that I took from her and started flashing in other passengers’ faces until I eventually found our two empty seats- as you can imagine I made a lot of friends. So 9 hours later we arrived at Oruro and found a bus to Cochabamba. Like most busses in Bolivia this one was overbooked and Amy basically had a Bolivian woman in traditional dress sit on her lap for the entire 4 hours ride. Finally, after 2 more bus rides, 5 more hostels, one train ride and jeep tour we made to beautiful sunny Cochabamba!

South America here we come!

Just wanted to start off with a shot of us with our backpacks (we're leaving our Salta hostel)

Well, you probably think we fell off the map, but actually we’ve been traveling across it! I know my last entry said we’d be back in a week or so, but we decided (spontaneously) to extend the trip a little more—approximately two weeks more.
Our friend, Melissa, was already out traveling and shot an email asking if anyone would like to join her, since Ame and I finished classes and no longer had visitors in BsAs, we said “porque no?” We purchased some backpacks, because we thought that our rollies wouldn’t cut it for this type of trip, and figured out the best route to Jujuy.
Since the bus ride to Jujuy is 22 hours (mas o menos), we decided to splurge and get cama suite seats through the company Flechabus. Cama suite means that you can lie down completely—like you’re in a bed! And the service was great: movies the whole ride (in English), decent food that was included in the price, and only so overall it was a really comfortable day long ride. Amy and I thought this was the good life, little did we know that from this point on the busses we would get drastically worse!

Amy all cozy on Flechabus on our way to Jujuy, AR.

Well we arrived in Jujuy, AR on September 1 and met up with Melissa! It was great to hear all about her travels and it basically cemented the idea in our heads that we were going to go on to Bolivia and Peru after Jujuy and Salta. Our first few days of traveling were great: we saw some incredible scenery and stopped at some really interesting pueblos throughout the province of Jujuy. We visited Humahuaca, Tilcara, Purmamarca and two more I cannot remember…too much traveling! Check out some photos below.

Day two we went to Cafayate, AR, the second largest wine region after Mendoza. Before getting to Cafayate, we got to stop at La Garganta de Diablo (Throat of the Devil) which is sort of like a canyon that was formed throughout the years by wind, water and erosion. We were told that it was once completely covered by the ocean and this is what was left—a really cool place for tourists to climb, and climb is what we did. It took us awhile to get over the first cliff, but after that it was smooth sailing. It was probably the most fun I had during the trip.

Amy and Melissa climbing up the throat of the devil!

View from the top of the throat.

When we finally arrived to Cafayate, we could immediately tell that it was an economically well off town, so obviously the wine had to be delicious and we obviously had to taste it for ourselves! We stopped at about 4 vineyards to taste their white and red. We learned the main grape of the region is the Torrontés- it is a really nice tasting grape. So before leaving, we purchased a really nice Malbec (I know not Torrontés, but the Malbec grape is also too good to be true over here) to enjoy when we arrived to our hostel; however, when we arrived at our hostel there was a huge sign that said alcohol is prohibited. Well, good thing we had the foresight to ask the vineyard to open the bottle before we left, because we drank the wine out of the bottle before dinner like we were freshman in college.

In front of a vineyard in Cafayate.

Day three we explored Salta, rode the teleferico, and ate some lunch. We then said our good-byes to Melissa. Melissa headed back to BsAs and Amy and I headed for the Bolivian border. We took a 4 hour ride to La Quiaca and were introduced for the first time to food people selling homemade foods on the bus. Basically, women come on the bus at the various stops to sell their goods. The women walk up and down the aisle yelling whatever good they are trying to sell, for example: ensalada de frutas and sandwich de jamon y queso. Amy at first did not realize what was happening, and being that the last lovely Flechabus gave us food for free she assumed that these ladies were giving out our snack. Fortunately, I was able to tip Amy off to the fact that she had to pay for the sandwich before she grabbed one from the woman’s tray. When we got to La Quiaca it was dark, I was scared, but fortunately Argentina has really great signs that show you whether or not you are going in the right direction. So we headed down Calle Belgrano towards some hostels and I swear to you, an angel was waiting for us at Hospedaje Frontera! He opened the door and we got a great meal of soup and tortilla de papas and then afterwards we were shown to our room where we were to retire for the evening. So for $12 each we got dinner, a room with TV (we were able to watch Dr. House), and we ate our leftovers for breakfast…best deal in town. I felt as though this was great start to our journey!

So on the fifth of September, after two bus rides and three hostels, we finally bid hasta luego to Argentina.

A view of our hotel room in La Quiaca-- looks sort of like a cell, no?

Jesse in BA, by Jesse!

After many hours of Skype and several hundred e-mails, Amy and I were reunited in an airport in the lovely South American country that has been hosting her for over three months.  Not unlike star crossed lovers, things got off to a pretty confusing and frustrating start.  They changed the arrival terminal on us and Amy was waiting for 30 mins at the wrong terminal.  I nearly sped off with Cesar, my driver from the hotel, but I decided to wade through the crowd and indeed I found Amy on her tippy toes trying to find me.  Besides seeing my Pato (that’s what I call Amy) I had very few goals for my 8 days in Argentina.  I wanted to experience how people lived in a new continent.  I also wanted some time to live the carefree café lifestyle, sipping a warm drink and watching the day go by.  Finally, I mostly wanted to replace as many of the cells in my body with those of grass-fed Argentina beef and Malbec grapes from the Mendoza region.  Mission accomplished!  Imagine the most gorgeous welcoming and charming café that is both elegant and laid back that guarantees you will get a superb and interesting meal in any city in The States.  You feel like this is “your” spot, and you’re so glad no one really knows about it.  Now put 3 of them on every block, and then put 2 steak houses that would be the finest and most crowded in that same city.  Then make the prices about 40% of what you’d pay in the states.  Finally, fill them with really attractive people who you don’t mind being around, who aren’t texting or yapping on their cell phones the whole time.  Now you have Buenos Aires.  And take your time eating.  Even if you finished your wine 45 minutes ago, there is a line forming (it’s 11pm – so naturally people are beginning to show up for the dinner rush) and are staring at glasses of water, the waitress won´t so much as give you a glance to move.  I liked this place. Other highlights included best birthday ever because we went to an awesome dance and performance art show called “Fuerza Bruta”.  We also got to see all the sights in BA and walk around all the interesting neighborhoods like San Telmo.  What else?  We went on bikes for a whole day and got to get our legs going in the nature reserve.  We took a yoga class with some other ex-pats who seemed really nice.  We went to an awesome town in Uruguay called Colonia Del Sacramento which was really gorgeous and old and rivaled any old port town I have ever seen.  We stayed in such a gorgeous hotel there.  We went to a pretty interesting once in a lifetime place called Tigre which was sort of a waterworld but also a ghost town!   Yes - we all wished I was there in summer (it is winter there), but the company could not have been better.  The food could not have been better.  And I left feeling great - knowing that Amy is in such good hands in that lovely, safe city.  I haven’t a doubt that she will make lasting friendships with quality people there.  Hers will be the experience of a lifetime and we’re all super jealous!  Everyone should visit her!!!  JP (from Amy: I will post pictures when I return to BA - in 2-3 weeks!  Hasta pronto). Finally, some pics!  Also, blog posts on the last 3 weeks to come asap. :) Jesse's bday dinner and first taste of delicious Argentine carne!                                    Jesse at Fuerza Bruta                                                Tigre, AR.                                     In Colonia, watching the sunset. At an awesome Peruvian sandwich counter                       At awesome La Cabrera where we had a tremendous amount of food!                                   Biking around the nature reserve