Puno and Titicaca were ok. In Cuzco right now at the Moon Hospedaje Familiar, which has no internet :( But I won´t be there much, so probably not gonna change. Why?
Gonna do Macchu Picchu the lazy, expensive way. Then goin to the Manu Rainforest for five days and four nights. And probably go to Nazca and then fly back to the states. Will write more when the internet envelops me more with its love. And possibly use proper grammar with full sentences.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Thank you!
I just want to say thank you to everyone who commented, emailed, messaged or thought of me after hearing about my little impromptu adventure. Just knowing there are so many people thinking about me helped incredibly with my recovery.
I'm a little worse for the wear, but after a few days here at Yunta Wasi in Arequipa, I think I'm ready to hit the road again. I can't say enough good things about Yunta Wasi and Pichin, the owner. He helped me get my brain pictures and made sure I had everything I needed. If you're ever in Arequipa and looking for a place to call home, Yunta Wasi (Av. Lima 610 Vallecito) is the place to go.
I'm ready to hit the road again and am off for Puno and the shores of Lake Titicaca bright and early. Mostly going because it's fun to say and I have two weeks to kill until my flight home. You heard right! Flyin back to super-size land for an indefinite amount of time to get my head on straight...
New Itinerary: Puno probably until Thursday or Friday. Cuzco and Macchu Picchu (the boring way) and maybe some jungle action until late next week. Shoot up through Nazca for a day and into Lima by the 23rd and then fly to SFO on the 24th. See ya on the flip side!
I'm a little worse for the wear, but after a few days here at Yunta Wasi in Arequipa, I think I'm ready to hit the road again. I can't say enough good things about Yunta Wasi and Pichin, the owner. He helped me get my brain pictures and made sure I had everything I needed. If you're ever in Arequipa and looking for a place to call home, Yunta Wasi (Av. Lima 610 Vallecito) is the place to go.
I'm ready to hit the road again and am off for Puno and the shores of Lake Titicaca bright and early. Mostly going because it's fun to say and I have two weeks to kill until my flight home. You heard right! Flyin back to super-size land for an indefinite amount of time to get my head on straight...
New Itinerary: Puno probably until Thursday or Friday. Cuzco and Macchu Picchu (the boring way) and maybe some jungle action until late next week. Shoot up through Nazca for a day and into Lima by the 23rd and then fly to SFO on the 24th. See ya on the flip side!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Colca Canyon: Long Version
You know that show, "I shouldn't be alive" on the discovery channel about stupid hikers doing stupid things and almost dying? I just had a real-life episode... so here goes. It's long. Get a cup of coffee and get comfortable, cuz there are a lot of words, more than a few sentence fragments and I'm pretty inconsistent with verb tenses, so be warned...
Day 1:
So I woke up around 4:30 in the AM to catch a bus from Arequipa to Colca Canyon.
View Larger Map
While waiting for the bus to start loading, I notice that there's this fellow with baggage that looks like everyone else's. It has this checkered cloth wrapped around a box. There's a stick poking out of one end then I realize that there's an animal's head poking out of the other. It's a baby goat making all the goat noises and everything. I start wondering to see if it goes underneath the bus with all the other baggage or if he brings it on the bus with him.
I get on my bus and notice the guy is standing next to my bus. I see him load the goat with all the other luggage and then he stood there and waited for the bus to leave. Fast forward to noon and I see the guy get his box-goat with everyone else's luggage and can only wonder if the box is shit and/or piss proof and am very glad that my bag was on the other side of the bus.
I re-organize some things in my pack and a fellow approaches me with a map and an ad for a hostel. I ask him for directions and he points me past a bullfighting ring and a soccer field. It looks about right so I follow his directions. I find both and then after the soccer field, I see a path leading to the right. I follow it and take in all of the scenery. I don't doubt that it's deeper than the Grand Canyon, but the walls aren't as steep so it's not as dramatic. Regardless, it's amazingly beautiful with the river and the mountains and the snow-capped volcanoes in the background. I keep walking and then find myself on a rock. I look down and realize that it's the end of a trail. I look to my left and see a trail and a town. I refer to my map and realize that the fellow was pointing me towards Llahuar, which isn't where I wanted to end up. I look to my right and realize that's where I want to be. I see the big trail that I'm supposed to be on to end up in Sangalle, where I wanted to go. I look down and see a trail that could get me to the big trail I want to be on.
So I back track, keeping an eye on the promising trail and find a rock and small trail that seems to get me over to the promising trail. It's all going fine, just taking in the view. I keep going lower and getting closer to the big trail. The weather's quite beautiful, sunny, barely a cloud in the sky. A little warm, but it's just a great place to be hiking. Then I find the trail leads to the edge of a cliff. So I backtrack, take another trail that leads me lower and to another cliff. This happens a couple more times and then I realize I might be lost. I'd seen donkey crap all over the place so assumed this was a people trail where people brought their pack mules and what not. The sun was going down so I just put out my sleeping pad, got in my sleeping bag and went to sleep. It was a beautiful night. It was clear and the stars were out and just the sound of the river far below. It was a little cold, but nothing out of the ordinary for a camping trip.
Day 2:
I wake up and watch the sun rise over the mountains and am ready to start the day. I make up my mind that I'm not really gonna make it to where I want to be so I start heading back up. After about two hours, I realize I'm completely lost. It all starts to look the same, vertical walls between me and where I want to be. So I just keep going until I can find a more accessible route to higher ground. I hear the familiar hee-hawing of donkeys and think that it's a group with a guide and everything, but I just come across two wild donkeys. They're staring at me like I'm an idiot and clearly not where I'm supposed to be. And then I realize how utterly lost I am.
I keep walking but can't find an easy way up. I don't see one and there's a narrow ledge between me and the next "real" trail. So I cross it, grabbing on to rocks and branches and roots when I feel the ground beneath my feet give way. I see my hat fly off. Then my glasses. Feel a bump or two on my head. Sky. Rocks. Sky. Rocks.
So I'm sitting there in a daze in a rock slide, maybe 50 feet from the edge? I can't really tell. I look down and there's some dried blood on my shirt mixed in with some fresh drops and I realize I'm still bleeding from my head. I grab a shirt from my bag and slap it on my head to help slow the blood loss. I grab my water and finish it off. When I reclose the bag, it slides down closer to the edge. I decide there's nothing of major importance in there, just clothes, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and a tent. I realize my first aid kit is in there, but decide that's not worth the risk of falling, so I decide to leave it.
I make my way out of the rock slide and I think I was pretty confused cuz I just started walking. Climbing over rocks, through prickly bushes and cactuses until I reach another dead end. I see a spot that would be a good place to be if I thought there would be a helicopter rescue coming. It's out in the open and I could probably signal the oasis where I want to be at night with my headlamp. It's pretty exposed and I'm hot and thirsty and exhausted so I find what looks like a man-made wall to hide behind.
I think I see petroglyphs, but that may have just been hallucinations. Dark thoughts start to enter my mind, but I try to fight them up. I sat there for awhile, closing my eyes occasionally and wait for my energy to come back up. I start running out of shade and walk around some more. I go to the place that I'd seen before because now it's got some shade from the big rock in the middle. It also has a cactus with some nice red plump fruit on it. Using a rock to shave off the spines, I squeeze out the delicious sweet meat of the fruit for a nice dinner. I try eating the leafy part, and realize that should have been dinner and the fruit should have been dessert. But it seems like it's helping fight off dehydration, so I'm not ungrateful. I find a flat place to lie down and hunker down for what I know will be a cold evening.
As soon as the sun sets, the temperature drops pretty quickly. With only my fleece, a long sleeve shirt and pants, it's very obvious it will be a long night. I try rubbing sticks together, but that just produces two smooth sticks and very little fire. I keep doing it though, to keep my muscles warm. I also turn my headlamp on, wave it around in hopes that someone below or above will see me. I also bang out SOS with some rocks, hoping someone will hear me in the dead of night. In between all of this, I lie down and close my eyes, thinking that might be it. But every time, I wake up shivering and repeat the cycle in some shape or form until the sun finally comes up...
Day 3:
With a night of "rest" behind me and the sun bringing a new day, I spot a cactus with more fruit on it. I'm beginning to fall in love with cacti. With a renewed/false sense of hope, I decide I'm just going to climb rocks. Go straight up until I can't do it anymore cuz it seems better than wandering around for a path that might not exist. So I climb and walk and walk and climb and run into a wall that's just a bit higher than my energy allows. So I find a shady spot, hunker down and let the dark thoughts work their way back in. I eat some green berry things which seem promising. A couple of dry heaves later and I'm back to lying there. I think I take a bit of a nap cuz when I open my eyes, I'm ready to go again.
I return to the climbing and walking routine for some amount of time. I have lost all concept of time at this point and the rest period are probably hours and the other parts are probably minutes. I realize I have no energy and look for somewhere to relax. I find a big rock casting a small shadow. As I make my way up, the ground starts to fall out from underneath me. I grab on to a bush and a rock and hold on for dear life as I claw with my feet to get up to safety. I guess I had more energy than I thought since I made my way up to safety. I sit there realizing just how close to the end I was. My mouth was a desert and my limbs were jelly. My face was numb and I was having trouble breathing. But I was in the shade, so I had that going for me.
In my dehydration induced desperation, I grab a plant next to me because it looked like it was storing water just for me. It had thorns which I rubbed off on a rock and started chowing down. It had an odd waxy covering but there was some amount of moisture in it. So I grabbed the next leaf(? branch?) and as I was chowing down, I noticed the waxy covering was just flaking off. So before going to town on the next one, I scraped the waxy covering off after the thorns and worked out a pretty good system. I felt like a million bucks after finishing off the entire plant and went back to the climbing and walking routine for quite some time. While eating the plant, I recall my GRE tutor days when I had to go over this reading comprehension passage about creosote over and over again. It described a desert plant that had a waxy covering and was quite juicy. And something about how people used the covering for some purpose. I guess I'm not very good at reading comprehension. Anyways, I call the plant creosote and credit it for saving my life.
I get back into the climbing/walking routine and I thought I heard voices over the hill and scrambled up to find no one. But I kept hearing voices, so I kept moving and moving. Then I stopped, listened carefully, and the person's voice sounded shockingly familiar. I look in my pocket and realize my camera was on. Btw, the whole time, at each stop, I morbidly recorded what I thought would be my last words and I'd been chasing around my own voice. After this little rush of excitement, I kept on walking and came across something more morbid. I'm no Emily Deschanel, but they very well could have been human bones. Or donkey bones. Regardless, it's clearly a bad place to be and I got out of there pretty fast.
I turn another corner and see the top, I think. But in the way is a big patch of bushes and nothing which says it'll provide a comfortable night of "rest". I see that the sun is about to go down, so I find somewhere to call home for the night. I have nothing else to do, so I carve out a spot in the ground so that I'll have somewhere level and rock free to spend the night. There are little bits of hay-like plants who's tops look like a shepherd's crook so I scatter those across my impromptu bed and am very pleased with myself. When the sun goes down, I return to the light waving, SOS banging routine. I try rubbing sticks together, but they are scarce in my new home so that routine gets played out pretty quickly. Half-way through the night, I start digging a deeper bed to try and give myself a better shelter. Turns out, the dirt beneath me has been absorbing my body heat. So instead of light waving and SOS banging, I just lie there, wait for the cold to set in, dig and repeat.
Day 4:
By the time morning comes, I realize I've dug myself a shallow grave. When this thought hits my mind, I fill it in and start walking. I find another creosote bush and devour that, though this one isn't nearly as tasty. I find a cactus with a fruit, but it was different from my prior encounters. Whereas my previous meals came from cacti with flat leaves and round fruits (of the devil), this one had round "leaves" and round fruit. The fruit tasted like kiwi but wasn't as juicy or sweet. I managed to pry off one of the "leaves" and found the middle meaty part quite tasty. With this breakfast in my stomach, I focused on the top. One rock at a time. Each rock was one less rock standing between me and the people I love. That was the only thing keeping me going, just being able to see everyone that I loved one last time.
That and a Fanta. Oddly, the whole time, I craved a Fanta. I haven't had all that much Fanta down here. Maybe twice. But the thought of the orangey soda helped me go on. Then I found a plant with berries. They were sweet, not all that juicy but it was something. Still low on energy, I decided to go after a cactus with no fruit. The round "leaf" kind. This one made me dry heave. I got past it and kept climbing. And climbing. And climbing. And corn fields. Sweet beautiful farm land. No more rocks to climb up. No more cacti to crawl over. Nothing between me and civilization.
Epliogue:
The first thing someone says to me that I can understand: "Sorry, I thought you were a local. What happened to your face, man?" This was from a fellow hiker named Giovanni who was going to Llahuar, the place I was sort of on my way to. I told him not to and what to avoid if he intended to. I hope Giovanni's not stranded right now.
A nice lady in brightly colored indigenous garb led me to a store to buy water. I ran out of energy and plopped myself down in front. A crowd gathered and one of the gentlemen went to get the police. I recounted my story in broken Spanish and tried to answer their questions. Some French passersby aided the translation and everyone seemed in awe of my luck/bravery/stupidity.
The police came and helped me into their truck. We stopped at a cafe where a local named Carlos helped translate the details for them. The police then dropped me off at a medical clinic where they put 4 stitches in my knee and 3 in my head and gave me some pills to fight off infection. I got a hotel room and some new clothes. Spent a long time in the shower and spent a long time sleeping. Ate some alpaca and called it a day.
The next morning, I got a bus ticket back to Arequipa and ate breakfast at Carlos' cafe. He told me that he was talking to one of his friends who saw a light in the middle of nowhere on Monday night and thought it was a thief. I could do nothing but laugh.
So ends the story. I'm in Arequipa now at the Hostal Yunta Wasi where Pichin, the owner/propietor, is super nice. He went with me to the hospital today where a doctor looked at some of my brain pictures and said everything was fine. There's no fractures in my skull and my brain seems to be no more messed up than normal.
I was completely wrong in my last post when I thought I was too old for this trip to change my life. Just like they say at the end of those shows, being so close to death makes you look at life in a whole new way. It completely re-orders your priorities and what you thought was important before now looks trivial. I'm just happy to be alive.
Day 1:
So I woke up around 4:30 in the AM to catch a bus from Arequipa to Colca Canyon.
View Larger Map
While waiting for the bus to start loading, I notice that there's this fellow with baggage that looks like everyone else's. It has this checkered cloth wrapped around a box. There's a stick poking out of one end then I realize that there's an animal's head poking out of the other. It's a baby goat making all the goat noises and everything. I start wondering to see if it goes underneath the bus with all the other baggage or if he brings it on the bus with him.
I get on my bus and notice the guy is standing next to my bus. I see him load the goat with all the other luggage and then he stood there and waited for the bus to leave. Fast forward to noon and I see the guy get his box-goat with everyone else's luggage and can only wonder if the box is shit and/or piss proof and am very glad that my bag was on the other side of the bus.
I re-organize some things in my pack and a fellow approaches me with a map and an ad for a hostel. I ask him for directions and he points me past a bullfighting ring and a soccer field. It looks about right so I follow his directions. I find both and then after the soccer field, I see a path leading to the right. I follow it and take in all of the scenery. I don't doubt that it's deeper than the Grand Canyon, but the walls aren't as steep so it's not as dramatic. Regardless, it's amazingly beautiful with the river and the mountains and the snow-capped volcanoes in the background. I keep walking and then find myself on a rock. I look down and realize that it's the end of a trail. I look to my left and see a trail and a town. I refer to my map and realize that the fellow was pointing me towards Llahuar, which isn't where I wanted to end up. I look to my right and realize that's where I want to be. I see the big trail that I'm supposed to be on to end up in Sangalle, where I wanted to go. I look down and see a trail that could get me to the big trail I want to be on.
So I back track, keeping an eye on the promising trail and find a rock and small trail that seems to get me over to the promising trail. It's all going fine, just taking in the view. I keep going lower and getting closer to the big trail. The weather's quite beautiful, sunny, barely a cloud in the sky. A little warm, but it's just a great place to be hiking. Then I find the trail leads to the edge of a cliff. So I backtrack, take another trail that leads me lower and to another cliff. This happens a couple more times and then I realize I might be lost. I'd seen donkey crap all over the place so assumed this was a people trail where people brought their pack mules and what not. The sun was going down so I just put out my sleeping pad, got in my sleeping bag and went to sleep. It was a beautiful night. It was clear and the stars were out and just the sound of the river far below. It was a little cold, but nothing out of the ordinary for a camping trip.
Day 2:
I wake up and watch the sun rise over the mountains and am ready to start the day. I make up my mind that I'm not really gonna make it to where I want to be so I start heading back up. After about two hours, I realize I'm completely lost. It all starts to look the same, vertical walls between me and where I want to be. So I just keep going until I can find a more accessible route to higher ground. I hear the familiar hee-hawing of donkeys and think that it's a group with a guide and everything, but I just come across two wild donkeys. They're staring at me like I'm an idiot and clearly not where I'm supposed to be. And then I realize how utterly lost I am.
I keep walking but can't find an easy way up. I don't see one and there's a narrow ledge between me and the next "real" trail. So I cross it, grabbing on to rocks and branches and roots when I feel the ground beneath my feet give way. I see my hat fly off. Then my glasses. Feel a bump or two on my head. Sky. Rocks. Sky. Rocks.
So I'm sitting there in a daze in a rock slide, maybe 50 feet from the edge? I can't really tell. I look down and there's some dried blood on my shirt mixed in with some fresh drops and I realize I'm still bleeding from my head. I grab a shirt from my bag and slap it on my head to help slow the blood loss. I grab my water and finish it off. When I reclose the bag, it slides down closer to the edge. I decide there's nothing of major importance in there, just clothes, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and a tent. I realize my first aid kit is in there, but decide that's not worth the risk of falling, so I decide to leave it.
I make my way out of the rock slide and I think I was pretty confused cuz I just started walking. Climbing over rocks, through prickly bushes and cactuses until I reach another dead end. I see a spot that would be a good place to be if I thought there would be a helicopter rescue coming. It's out in the open and I could probably signal the oasis where I want to be at night with my headlamp. It's pretty exposed and I'm hot and thirsty and exhausted so I find what looks like a man-made wall to hide behind.
I think I see petroglyphs, but that may have just been hallucinations. Dark thoughts start to enter my mind, but I try to fight them up. I sat there for awhile, closing my eyes occasionally and wait for my energy to come back up. I start running out of shade and walk around some more. I go to the place that I'd seen before because now it's got some shade from the big rock in the middle. It also has a cactus with some nice red plump fruit on it. Using a rock to shave off the spines, I squeeze out the delicious sweet meat of the fruit for a nice dinner. I try eating the leafy part, and realize that should have been dinner and the fruit should have been dessert. But it seems like it's helping fight off dehydration, so I'm not ungrateful. I find a flat place to lie down and hunker down for what I know will be a cold evening.
As soon as the sun sets, the temperature drops pretty quickly. With only my fleece, a long sleeve shirt and pants, it's very obvious it will be a long night. I try rubbing sticks together, but that just produces two smooth sticks and very little fire. I keep doing it though, to keep my muscles warm. I also turn my headlamp on, wave it around in hopes that someone below or above will see me. I also bang out SOS with some rocks, hoping someone will hear me in the dead of night. In between all of this, I lie down and close my eyes, thinking that might be it. But every time, I wake up shivering and repeat the cycle in some shape or form until the sun finally comes up...
Day 3:
With a night of "rest" behind me and the sun bringing a new day, I spot a cactus with more fruit on it. I'm beginning to fall in love with cacti. With a renewed/false sense of hope, I decide I'm just going to climb rocks. Go straight up until I can't do it anymore cuz it seems better than wandering around for a path that might not exist. So I climb and walk and walk and climb and run into a wall that's just a bit higher than my energy allows. So I find a shady spot, hunker down and let the dark thoughts work their way back in. I eat some green berry things which seem promising. A couple of dry heaves later and I'm back to lying there. I think I take a bit of a nap cuz when I open my eyes, I'm ready to go again.
I return to the climbing and walking routine for some amount of time. I have lost all concept of time at this point and the rest period are probably hours and the other parts are probably minutes. I realize I have no energy and look for somewhere to relax. I find a big rock casting a small shadow. As I make my way up, the ground starts to fall out from underneath me. I grab on to a bush and a rock and hold on for dear life as I claw with my feet to get up to safety. I guess I had more energy than I thought since I made my way up to safety. I sit there realizing just how close to the end I was. My mouth was a desert and my limbs were jelly. My face was numb and I was having trouble breathing. But I was in the shade, so I had that going for me.
In my dehydration induced desperation, I grab a plant next to me because it looked like it was storing water just for me. It had thorns which I rubbed off on a rock and started chowing down. It had an odd waxy covering but there was some amount of moisture in it. So I grabbed the next leaf(? branch?) and as I was chowing down, I noticed the waxy covering was just flaking off. So before going to town on the next one, I scraped the waxy covering off after the thorns and worked out a pretty good system. I felt like a million bucks after finishing off the entire plant and went back to the climbing and walking routine for quite some time. While eating the plant, I recall my GRE tutor days when I had to go over this reading comprehension passage about creosote over and over again. It described a desert plant that had a waxy covering and was quite juicy. And something about how people used the covering for some purpose. I guess I'm not very good at reading comprehension. Anyways, I call the plant creosote and credit it for saving my life.
I get back into the climbing/walking routine and I thought I heard voices over the hill and scrambled up to find no one. But I kept hearing voices, so I kept moving and moving. Then I stopped, listened carefully, and the person's voice sounded shockingly familiar. I look in my pocket and realize my camera was on. Btw, the whole time, at each stop, I morbidly recorded what I thought would be my last words and I'd been chasing around my own voice. After this little rush of excitement, I kept on walking and came across something more morbid. I'm no Emily Deschanel, but they very well could have been human bones. Or donkey bones. Regardless, it's clearly a bad place to be and I got out of there pretty fast.
I turn another corner and see the top, I think. But in the way is a big patch of bushes and nothing which says it'll provide a comfortable night of "rest". I see that the sun is about to go down, so I find somewhere to call home for the night. I have nothing else to do, so I carve out a spot in the ground so that I'll have somewhere level and rock free to spend the night. There are little bits of hay-like plants who's tops look like a shepherd's crook so I scatter those across my impromptu bed and am very pleased with myself. When the sun goes down, I return to the light waving, SOS banging routine. I try rubbing sticks together, but they are scarce in my new home so that routine gets played out pretty quickly. Half-way through the night, I start digging a deeper bed to try and give myself a better shelter. Turns out, the dirt beneath me has been absorbing my body heat. So instead of light waving and SOS banging, I just lie there, wait for the cold to set in, dig and repeat.
Day 4:
By the time morning comes, I realize I've dug myself a shallow grave. When this thought hits my mind, I fill it in and start walking. I find another creosote bush and devour that, though this one isn't nearly as tasty. I find a cactus with a fruit, but it was different from my prior encounters. Whereas my previous meals came from cacti with flat leaves and round fruits (of the devil), this one had round "leaves" and round fruit. The fruit tasted like kiwi but wasn't as juicy or sweet. I managed to pry off one of the "leaves" and found the middle meaty part quite tasty. With this breakfast in my stomach, I focused on the top. One rock at a time. Each rock was one less rock standing between me and the people I love. That was the only thing keeping me going, just being able to see everyone that I loved one last time.
That and a Fanta. Oddly, the whole time, I craved a Fanta. I haven't had all that much Fanta down here. Maybe twice. But the thought of the orangey soda helped me go on. Then I found a plant with berries. They were sweet, not all that juicy but it was something. Still low on energy, I decided to go after a cactus with no fruit. The round "leaf" kind. This one made me dry heave. I got past it and kept climbing. And climbing. And climbing. And corn fields. Sweet beautiful farm land. No more rocks to climb up. No more cacti to crawl over. Nothing between me and civilization.
Epliogue:
The first thing someone says to me that I can understand: "Sorry, I thought you were a local. What happened to your face, man?" This was from a fellow hiker named Giovanni who was going to Llahuar, the place I was sort of on my way to. I told him not to and what to avoid if he intended to. I hope Giovanni's not stranded right now.
A nice lady in brightly colored indigenous garb led me to a store to buy water. I ran out of energy and plopped myself down in front. A crowd gathered and one of the gentlemen went to get the police. I recounted my story in broken Spanish and tried to answer their questions. Some French passersby aided the translation and everyone seemed in awe of my luck/bravery/stupidity.
The police came and helped me into their truck. We stopped at a cafe where a local named Carlos helped translate the details for them. The police then dropped me off at a medical clinic where they put 4 stitches in my knee and 3 in my head and gave me some pills to fight off infection. I got a hotel room and some new clothes. Spent a long time in the shower and spent a long time sleeping. Ate some alpaca and called it a day.
The next morning, I got a bus ticket back to Arequipa and ate breakfast at Carlos' cafe. He told me that he was talking to one of his friends who saw a light in the middle of nowhere on Monday night and thought it was a thief. I could do nothing but laugh.
So ends the story. I'm in Arequipa now at the Hostal Yunta Wasi where Pichin, the owner/propietor, is super nice. He went with me to the hospital today where a doctor looked at some of my brain pictures and said everything was fine. There's no fractures in my skull and my brain seems to be no more messed up than normal.
I was completely wrong in my last post when I thought I was too old for this trip to change my life. Just like they say at the end of those shows, being so close to death makes you look at life in a whole new way. It completely re-orders your priorities and what you thought was important before now looks trivial. I'm just happy to be alive.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
To quote my 2-year old niece...
"I fell down! I'm okay!"
So... no pictures. Just a lot of words... before you start reading either version, just remember I'm okay. So don't freak out.
Short version:
- started hiking sunday and got lost
- fell off the side of a mountain on monday
- realized i'd been following wild donkey trails the whole time
- somehow made my way back to civilization
- got a few stitches, showered, rested
- need to reassess a few things
Long version:
to come after I eat some foods.
So... no pictures. Just a lot of words... before you start reading either version, just remember I'm okay. So don't freak out.
Short version:
- started hiking sunday and got lost
- fell off the side of a mountain on monday
- realized i'd been following wild donkey trails the whole time
- somehow made my way back to civilization
- got a few stitches, showered, rested
- need to reassess a few things
Long version:
to come after I eat some foods.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
One month down...
Well, it's been a month since I've left the country and it's been an interesting and amazing experience thus far. Here are a random collection of thoughts in a nice bulleted list:
- Empanadas are awesome.
- Spanish is hard to learn when everyone seems to speak English.
- Living out of a backpack just gives me an excuse to not shower.
- I might be too old for this to be a life-changing experience.
- But, my concept of a long bus-ride has been forever changed.
- Growing up Chinese-American means that food-wise, there's no culture shock.
- Wine in a bottle might be better than wine in a box. Maybe.
- Living in a hostel isn't all that different from college.
- Someone may have stolen my watch. Or I just left it somewhere. Either way, I've completely lost track of time.
- I need a haircut.
- Never plan on getting anything done in South America if it involves buying something on a Sunday.
- Not having a job is awesome.
- Not earning any money sucks.
- I have become completely dependent on the internet.
- Travelling is amazingly fun.
- Travelling is amazingly tiring.
- There are no beans in South America.
- Hannah Montana is apparently one of the more famous Americans right now.
- The soap in public bathrooms here is rare. When it does show up, it's just brilliant.
- Listening to stories about other people doing coke makes me realize that I'll never do it.
- I haven't stopped following sports. Not as closely, but I still check scores and standings occasionally.
- It's hard to not love soccer while living in South America. I'm very excited for the World Cup.
- Making blogs interesting is hard. Posting pictures is easy.
Turistas nunca sabe donde estuvo. Viajeros nunca sabe a donde van.
(Tourists never know where they've been. Travellers never know where they're going.)Not sure the first half is accurate, but the second definitely is. I'm off for 3 days to the Colca Canyon for some trekking to see the second deepest canyon in the world and also as a bit of a warm up for Macchu Picchu. I'll be out of touch until Tuesday, so see ya on the other side
Friday, April 30, 2010
Mendoza
Mendoza's famous for its wine. Since I preferred pretty much anything to wine back in the northern hemisphere, thought maybe it'd switch it up down here.
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Turns out wine isn't so bad if you have someone telling you what to look for in broken English. Absinthe might only make you see fairies if you're a bohemian writer, but it makes your chest burn regardless of who you are. You don't have to live in an apartment in New York to have a pet duck.
I met a fellow American on the bus from Mendoza to Cordoba by the name of Tracy and we went to look for a hostel. After the first one that I had scouted turned us away because of our shoddy apperance, we found one for 35 pesos a night. Dropping off our bags, we went in search of breakfast and a plan to get to the bodegas. Breakfast was good and we found flyers for bike rental places (the preferred method of wine tasting among backpackers without a refined palate) at the oficina de turismo, but not much help from the people there. They pointed us in the direction of a bus stop and on our way there, a fellow with a thick English accent told us which bus to take. It was a 40 minute bus ride, approximately, and around minute 38, a fellow with a scant knowledge of English, pointed at us and said, "bike rental. aca." He had a flyer in his hand which matched the one we got from the tourism office, so it seemed about right. A few minutes and 25 pesos later we were on the road.
That's me on the bike after the first winery. Which was really just a museum of old winery tools and a place to get a free glass of tinto (red wine). The wine tasted like wine and the tools were old. The tour was in very fast spanish so we went to the next stop, which was a place that made chocolates, olive oil and liqueurs. For 10 pesos, there was a tasting of all of them. They offered the liqueurs last, there were a variety of sweet ones, then they offered Absinthe. It was sort of a no-brainer, since I'd never had it before.
She took a spoon of sugar, dipped it in the absinthe, lit the absinthe-soaked sugar on fire, blew it out, put the sugar in and down the hatch it went. Didn't really get drunk or even buzzed, despite it being 75% alcohol, according to the label. But it did burn. And it didn't really stop for awhile. Hopping back on a bike while your chest is burning from absinthe is not the smartest thing to do. No ill-effects, just felt gross. The next few bodegas were closed since it was Saturday and we came across one which offered a glass of wine with some barbecue for 40 pesos. It wasn't that great and turned out to be overpriced and we commiserated about it with the Canadian couple next to us. At this point, I was ready to give up on wine all together since it had been so far unspectacular and the bike seats were making my butt hurt.
With our new Canadian friends, we made it to the Di Tomasso winery. They were friendly, the tour was informative and they had a big thing of bottles which looked really cool.
Our guide lady explained how aging wine in an oak barrel effects the flavor and then gave us examples of it. It was pretty clear. Then we bought a bottle of the better wine, shared it between the four of us, and then when there's no comparison all wine just tastes like wine.
Upon returning to the bike rental place, they gave us some more wine which I can only assume is to thank us for not stealing the bikes. There we met a couple from Belgium and a South African/Australian couple, had another free glass and made plans to have sushi for dinner. After the bus ride back and a shower, we had sushi. Sushi in a town which has a huge mountain range between itself and the nearest fish-bearing body of water is not good. Not terrible and I didn't get sick, so that was good.
The next day, Tracy opted to go to a nicer hostel and took off pretty early in the morning. Being Sunday, everything was closed except the main touristy area so I walked there. I met the Lauren and MJ, the Aussie and the South African and had some wine with them. While we were drinking, a fellow rode around with a platform on the front of his bike. Fairly commonplace, except for the duck sitting on the platform. The guy parked his bike and walked to a news stand. The duck followed him and waited for him to finish. The guy sat on the bench and the duck sat on the ground next to him. He walked to a lamp post near us and the duck walked towards it. Lauren, apparently an animal lover, called the duck over after talking with the guy, Lauren eventually ended up holding the duck. I'm pretty sure she got hepatitis from it.
After the wine and duck encounter, I had a hot dog. Took a nap and at dinner tried to order a rare steak. The waiter seemed to speak english, so I said "rare". He nodded and I said, "jugoso. muy poco hecho, si?" And he nodded. I assumed I'd be getting a nice big thick rare Argentine steak. To my dismay, it came out medium rare. Tasty, but medium rare.
The next day, I walked to the big park on the other side of the city and up a road and to the cerro de la gloria, or something
Walking back, I ran into Lauren and MJ and we had a bottle of wine. Since this was our last night in Mendoza, we decided to go to a wine bar at the top of a building with a wine bar. There was an amazing view of the city and we ordered one of the more expensive bottles of wine, which turned out to cost just a shade under 25 bucks. We finished the bottle as the sunset, it was a pretty nice end to the evening.
Then I had two hot dogs and a coke. Gotta keep it real.
View Larger Map
Turns out wine isn't so bad if you have someone telling you what to look for in broken English. Absinthe might only make you see fairies if you're a bohemian writer, but it makes your chest burn regardless of who you are. You don't have to live in an apartment in New York to have a pet duck.
I met a fellow American on the bus from Mendoza to Cordoba by the name of Tracy and we went to look for a hostel. After the first one that I had scouted turned us away because of our shoddy apperance, we found one for 35 pesos a night. Dropping off our bags, we went in search of breakfast and a plan to get to the bodegas. Breakfast was good and we found flyers for bike rental places (the preferred method of wine tasting among backpackers without a refined palate) at the oficina de turismo, but not much help from the people there. They pointed us in the direction of a bus stop and on our way there, a fellow with a thick English accent told us which bus to take. It was a 40 minute bus ride, approximately, and around minute 38, a fellow with a scant knowledge of English, pointed at us and said, "bike rental. aca." He had a flyer in his hand which matched the one we got from the tourism office, so it seemed about right. A few minutes and 25 pesos later we were on the road.
 |
| From Mendoza |
 |
| From Mendoza |
She took a spoon of sugar, dipped it in the absinthe, lit the absinthe-soaked sugar on fire, blew it out, put the sugar in and down the hatch it went. Didn't really get drunk or even buzzed, despite it being 75% alcohol, according to the label. But it did burn. And it didn't really stop for awhile. Hopping back on a bike while your chest is burning from absinthe is not the smartest thing to do. No ill-effects, just felt gross. The next few bodegas were closed since it was Saturday and we came across one which offered a glass of wine with some barbecue for 40 pesos. It wasn't that great and turned out to be overpriced and we commiserated about it with the Canadian couple next to us. At this point, I was ready to give up on wine all together since it had been so far unspectacular and the bike seats were making my butt hurt.
With our new Canadian friends, we made it to the Di Tomasso winery. They were friendly, the tour was informative and they had a big thing of bottles which looked really cool.
 |
| From Mendoza |
Upon returning to the bike rental place, they gave us some more wine which I can only assume is to thank us for not stealing the bikes. There we met a couple from Belgium and a South African/Australian couple, had another free glass and made plans to have sushi for dinner. After the bus ride back and a shower, we had sushi. Sushi in a town which has a huge mountain range between itself and the nearest fish-bearing body of water is not good. Not terrible and I didn't get sick, so that was good.
The next day, Tracy opted to go to a nicer hostel and took off pretty early in the morning. Being Sunday, everything was closed except the main touristy area so I walked there. I met the Lauren and MJ, the Aussie and the South African and had some wine with them. While we were drinking, a fellow rode around with a platform on the front of his bike. Fairly commonplace, except for the duck sitting on the platform. The guy parked his bike and walked to a news stand. The duck followed him and waited for him to finish. The guy sat on the bench and the duck sat on the ground next to him. He walked to a lamp post near us and the duck walked towards it. Lauren, apparently an animal lover, called the duck over after talking with the guy, Lauren eventually ended up holding the duck. I'm pretty sure she got hepatitis from it.
After the wine and duck encounter, I had a hot dog. Took a nap and at dinner tried to order a rare steak. The waiter seemed to speak english, so I said "rare". He nodded and I said, "jugoso. muy poco hecho, si?" And he nodded. I assumed I'd be getting a nice big thick rare Argentine steak. To my dismay, it came out medium rare. Tasty, but medium rare.
The next day, I walked to the big park on the other side of the city and up a road and to the cerro de la gloria, or something
 |
| From Mendoza |
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| From Mendoza |
Saturday, April 24, 2010
No Internet - Slow Internet
Quick post. Was in Mendoza. Went to Valle de la Luna and Talampaya. No internet there. Spent just over a day on a bus or in a bus terminal. In Tilcara now. Internet is like the pace of life here. Slow. Based on the few hours I´ve been here, it´s very nice. I´ll post more when I get to better internet connections.
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