London
Well, we made it to the end of our journey...almost. We took a shuttle from Arusha to Nairobi the day after our safari ended. We had to cross the Tanzania/Kenya border, which was a nightmare. We've done a lot of border crossings on this trip, and they've all been pretty smooth and easy. This was Sunday afternoon at 5pm, there were many buses that came at the same time, and there was a strike by the truck drivers all at the same time. What should have taken 15 minutes ended up taking almost 2 hours.
There was absolutely no order to the process whatsoever. This mass of people show up at the same time, but they continue to only have 3 windows open, while a couple guys in uniforms sit in the back reading the paper. There were no lines really, just an amoeba of people pushing their way towards the windows, and if you weren't pushy enough, you didn't get there. We were behind a nice guy from Norway and were making jokes the whole time, because what else are you going to do? There was a box on the wall with "suggestion box" written on it. I looked more carefully at the box and there was no slot or any way to put a suggestion into the suggestion box. It was just a box nailed shut and screwed to the wall. I guess somewhere, someone said, "You must have a suggestion box." And so they do...sort of??
We finally got to the airport and had an easy but cramped flight to London that left Nairobi at 11:30pm and got into London at 6am. London was our first destination where we were "couch surfing." (Couch surfing - www.couchsurfing.com - is basically a way for people to open their homes to travelers for a night or two, and give them a place to sleep and a friend in the new town to show them around.) We made our way on The Tube and then a bus to Helen and Tony's lovely home in northern London. Since it was 8am on a Monday morning, they were heading out to work after welcoming us. And we were headed out to find our friend, Dan, who had come down from Scotland to see us. He was staying in a nearby hotel, so we gradually made our way to Hyde Park and found him. The weather was absolutely beautiful (and totally abnormal, from what we heard.) It was sunny and only a little chilly - hot by Londoners' standards but pretty cold compared to what we've been used to.
We found Dan and slowly got him up and ready to go and went out to explore the city. We walked through Hyde Park, found a great sushi place for lunch and then headed for the museums. We went to the Natural History museum and the Science Museum. We then found Dan a cute B&B right by our house and settled him in there. We had dinner at an awesome pub near our house. Jonathan got to have fish & chips, and I had incredibly delicious bangers & mash.
The next day we walked around some more and saw many of the famous sites - Big Ben, parliament, Westminster Abbey, and loads of lovely parks. The weather was incredible again and all the food we had was super, even though I always hear that British food is not the greatest.
Yesterday we flew out mid day and luckily had a direct flight to Raleigh. We even managed to talk our way into getting an upgrade to first class! Fantastic way to end a trip. As we got closer to home, I got more and more excited about getting back to work, seeing our friends and family, and especially our animals. But it will be sad to no longer have these amazing adventures everyday.
We have so many people to thank for helping us and allowing us to go on this journey. I will not list them all here, because surely I will forget someone! But to all of you who supported us, please know how grateful we are. This was absolutely the experience of a lifetime.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Safari - the last days
Safari - Day 5
Rock hyrax
Termite mounds
Cheetah - Duma
Today was our last day in the Serengeti. We headed off in the morning and stopped first at the visitors' center, where they have a great little walking trail explaining about the Serengeti ecosystem and many of the different animals. It's such a vast place, and there is so much to learn about here. The Serengeti National Park is almost 15,000 sq km, and the whole "Serengeti Ecosystem" is 26,000 sq km. Hard to even fathom that kind of space.
We stopped to watch some giraffes munching on the acacias and then headed out the way we came in, seeing a few more lions on the way out and even two cheetahs way in the distance, standing on top of termite mounds. There are these huge termite mounds all throughout the park. We read at the museum that they are built so high in order to create cooling ducts that keep the inside and bottom of the colony cool. There is one queen in the mound, and she can lay up to 1000 eggs per hour and keep laying eggs for 20 years. Gross and impressive.
Today our destination was Lake Manyara. It is a huge alkaline lake that is its own national park. At "only" 332 sq km, it's a small park by Tanzanian standards. We arrived in the early evening and settled into our lovely campground. The campground is in the town of Mto wa Mbu, or Mosquito River in English. Unfortunately it lives up to its name, so we went to bed early in our tent which was hot but free of mosquitos.
Day 6
Blue monkey - kima
Yellow billed stork
Ground Hornbill
Today we spent the morning in Lake Manyara National Park. It has such a different feel from anywhere else we've been. It has many different ecosystems within the park, but the first part that we drove through was a rain forest. The trees were huge and some were quite different than what we've seen. There are many giant fig trees which have huge roots that can penetrate even the hardest rock. Then there were many Baobob trees up on the hillsides which are so strange looking. Apparently there is no way to date Baobob trees, but some of them are so huge, they must be hundreds of years old. The park is named for the Manyara tree, which the Maasai use to make fences. It looked more like a bush to me, and it makes stalky branches that become sticky and milky when you break them.
We saw 4 more lions, tons of giraffes, warthogs, impalas, gazelles, zebra, wildebeest, and more monkeys than we've seen anywhere else. There were baboons in groups of 40-50, vervet monkeys and blue monkeys. This was the first time we'd seen the blue monkeys. We also got to watch an old bull elephant in a watering hole, spraying himself with mud to keep the flies away and digging in the dirt with his tusks.
We had one more delicious lunch made by Prochess. He made ugali, which is a very common dish in Tanzania. It is basically like cold, congealed grits, and it tastes as good as that sounds. But he also made a yummy stewed cabbage in a peanut sauce which, when mixed with the ugali, made it much better. He also made nyama choma, which is goat or beef chunks roasted with carrots and onions in a light curry sauce. At every meal we've had fresh fruit, such as pineapple, mango, orange, or watermelon. I think we both gained 5 lbs in the last 5 days eating Prochess' food and doing nothing but riding around in a car!
Tonight it's back to Arusha and tomorrow onto Nairobi, where we fly at night to London. We're in the home stretch!
Rock hyrax
Termite mounds
Cheetah - Duma
Today was our last day in the Serengeti. We headed off in the morning and stopped first at the visitors' center, where they have a great little walking trail explaining about the Serengeti ecosystem and many of the different animals. It's such a vast place, and there is so much to learn about here. The Serengeti National Park is almost 15,000 sq km, and the whole "Serengeti Ecosystem" is 26,000 sq km. Hard to even fathom that kind of space.
We stopped to watch some giraffes munching on the acacias and then headed out the way we came in, seeing a few more lions on the way out and even two cheetahs way in the distance, standing on top of termite mounds. There are these huge termite mounds all throughout the park. We read at the museum that they are built so high in order to create cooling ducts that keep the inside and bottom of the colony cool. There is one queen in the mound, and she can lay up to 1000 eggs per hour and keep laying eggs for 20 years. Gross and impressive.
Today our destination was Lake Manyara. It is a huge alkaline lake that is its own national park. At "only" 332 sq km, it's a small park by Tanzanian standards. We arrived in the early evening and settled into our lovely campground. The campground is in the town of Mto wa Mbu, or Mosquito River in English. Unfortunately it lives up to its name, so we went to bed early in our tent which was hot but free of mosquitos.
Day 6
Blue monkey - kima
Yellow billed stork
Ground Hornbill
Today we spent the morning in Lake Manyara National Park. It has such a different feel from anywhere else we've been. It has many different ecosystems within the park, but the first part that we drove through was a rain forest. The trees were huge and some were quite different than what we've seen. There are many giant fig trees which have huge roots that can penetrate even the hardest rock. Then there were many Baobob trees up on the hillsides which are so strange looking. Apparently there is no way to date Baobob trees, but some of them are so huge, they must be hundreds of years old. The park is named for the Manyara tree, which the Maasai use to make fences. It looked more like a bush to me, and it makes stalky branches that become sticky and milky when you break them.
We saw 4 more lions, tons of giraffes, warthogs, impalas, gazelles, zebra, wildebeest, and more monkeys than we've seen anywhere else. There were baboons in groups of 40-50, vervet monkeys and blue monkeys. This was the first time we'd seen the blue monkeys. We also got to watch an old bull elephant in a watering hole, spraying himself with mud to keep the flies away and digging in the dirt with his tusks.
We had one more delicious lunch made by Prochess. He made ugali, which is a very common dish in Tanzania. It is basically like cold, congealed grits, and it tastes as good as that sounds. But he also made a yummy stewed cabbage in a peanut sauce which, when mixed with the ugali, made it much better. He also made nyama choma, which is goat or beef chunks roasted with carrots and onions in a light curry sauce. At every meal we've had fresh fruit, such as pineapple, mango, orange, or watermelon. I think we both gained 5 lbs in the last 5 days eating Prochess' food and doing nothing but riding around in a car!
Tonight it's back to Arusha and tomorrow onto Nairobi, where we fly at night to London. We're in the home stretch!
Safari Day 4
Safari - Day 4
Banded mongoose - muchiro
Red Hornbill
Impala - swalapala
Maribu stork
Crocodile - mamba
Dik dik - digidigi
Elephant - 22 mo gestation, 75 yr lifespan
Well, we made it through the night with no hyena attacks! At one point I heard a very loud breathing right next to me. I woke up with a start and tried to wake up Jonathan, but he was dead to the world. I didn't move and didn't even breath and listened to this heavy breathing for at least a few minutes straight until I finally realized it wasn't a hyena - it was Jonathan! Much relieved I went back to sleep.
If yesterday was the day of the lions, today was the day of the elephants! The previous 2 days we saw these magnificent creatures from far away, but today they were close enough to touch (don't worry, I didn't try.) We came upon a big group of them in the morning, including a few with babies of about 4-6 months. They were about 50 yards off the road, and we just sat quietly and watched them. Gradually they came closer and closer until they were right beside us and then crossed the road directly behind our truck.
They were eating grass and acacia trees. Ignasoro told us that the grown elephants eat up to 300 kg of vegetable matter a day! It's so interesting to watch them eat. They use their trunk to rip up huge wads of grass and stuff it in their mouths. They also eat the acacia trees, which have huge thorns, but they don't seem to care. They wrap their trunk around a branch and then rip off the whole branch, one strip at a time and eat all of it. Pretty impressive, but they leave a scene of destruction behind them.
We also got to see impala by the thousands today. They are so beautiful, and the males have the most impressive set of curved horns. We saw dik diks for the first time too. They are tiny little deer that are the size of a toy poodle on longer legs. They are very shy, and I didn't get very good pictures of them, but they also have little tiny horns. So sweet!
Another amazing site today was the hippo pool. There is a spot where the river makes a big pool, and there are about 100 hippos that hang out there during the day, all piled on top of each other. It's a smelly mess. They sit all day long in this pool and then go out at night to eat grass by the ton. They also poop all day long in the pool, so it's pretty gross. But they are such fascinating looking animals. One guide book described them as a bean bag on little legs with a bad attitude. The grown ones are absolutely huge, and their massive mouths can open up to 150 degrees. They do this from time to time to show off their huge canines in a display of aggression. We didn't see any fighting, but we heard that they can be very nasty to each other and we saw big scars on many of them. The baby hippos were so adorable, and they would try to crawl up on top of the pile sometimes, only to get yelled at by their parents. They make hilarious noises - grunting, blowing bubbles, farting. We watched them for a long time and then headed back for lunch.
In the afternoon we went out again and saw many animals taking a siesta. We came across another group of elephants, at least 28 by my count. There were two adolescent males who were play fighting. It was amazing to watch and hear their tusks scraping against each other. I don't think I would want to see a real fight, this was enough! There were two very little babies in this group, and they never were more than a foot away from their mother. Their gestation period is 22 months, and they can live up to 75 years or more.
As the sun was setting we watched a female lion slowly wake up and come down from her spot in an acacia tree. Quite a way to end the day!
Banded mongoose - muchiro
Red Hornbill
Impala - swalapala
Maribu stork
Crocodile - mamba
Dik dik - digidigi
Elephant - 22 mo gestation, 75 yr lifespan
Well, we made it through the night with no hyena attacks! At one point I heard a very loud breathing right next to me. I woke up with a start and tried to wake up Jonathan, but he was dead to the world. I didn't move and didn't even breath and listened to this heavy breathing for at least a few minutes straight until I finally realized it wasn't a hyena - it was Jonathan! Much relieved I went back to sleep.
If yesterday was the day of the lions, today was the day of the elephants! The previous 2 days we saw these magnificent creatures from far away, but today they were close enough to touch (don't worry, I didn't try.) We came upon a big group of them in the morning, including a few with babies of about 4-6 months. They were about 50 yards off the road, and we just sat quietly and watched them. Gradually they came closer and closer until they were right beside us and then crossed the road directly behind our truck.
They were eating grass and acacia trees. Ignasoro told us that the grown elephants eat up to 300 kg of vegetable matter a day! It's so interesting to watch them eat. They use their trunk to rip up huge wads of grass and stuff it in their mouths. They also eat the acacia trees, which have huge thorns, but they don't seem to care. They wrap their trunk around a branch and then rip off the whole branch, one strip at a time and eat all of it. Pretty impressive, but they leave a scene of destruction behind them.
We also got to see impala by the thousands today. They are so beautiful, and the males have the most impressive set of curved horns. We saw dik diks for the first time too. They are tiny little deer that are the size of a toy poodle on longer legs. They are very shy, and I didn't get very good pictures of them, but they also have little tiny horns. So sweet!
Another amazing site today was the hippo pool. There is a spot where the river makes a big pool, and there are about 100 hippos that hang out there during the day, all piled on top of each other. It's a smelly mess. They sit all day long in this pool and then go out at night to eat grass by the ton. They also poop all day long in the pool, so it's pretty gross. But they are such fascinating looking animals. One guide book described them as a bean bag on little legs with a bad attitude. The grown ones are absolutely huge, and their massive mouths can open up to 150 degrees. They do this from time to time to show off their huge canines in a display of aggression. We didn't see any fighting, but we heard that they can be very nasty to each other and we saw big scars on many of them. The baby hippos were so adorable, and they would try to crawl up on top of the pile sometimes, only to get yelled at by their parents. They make hilarious noises - grunting, blowing bubbles, farting. We watched them for a long time and then headed back for lunch.
In the afternoon we went out again and saw many animals taking a siesta. We came across another group of elephants, at least 28 by my count. There were two adolescent males who were play fighting. It was amazing to watch and hear their tusks scraping against each other. I don't think I would want to see a real fight, this was enough! There were two very little babies in this group, and they never were more than a foot away from their mother. Their gestation period is 22 months, and they can live up to 75 years or more.
As the sun was setting we watched a female lion slowly wake up and come down from her spot in an acacia tree. Quite a way to end the day!
Safari Day 3
Safari - day 3 - Serengeti
We awoke this morning to the most beautiful sunrise over the crater. Quite a way to start the day! By 8 am we were stuffed full of yummy breakfast and back on the road. We were headed to the Serengeti today by way of the Olduvai Gorge.
The Olduvai Gorge is part of the Great Rift Valley and is a very famous archeological site, often referred to as the birthplace of man. There is a small museum there that we visited. The true name for the site is Oldupai, but the first white people here misunderstood the Maasai, and heard Olduvai. Oldupai is the Maasai word for the sisal plant that grows in abundance here. Louis and Mary Leaky made this place famous by finding bones and fossils from ancient species of man as well as many extinct animals. The skull from Australopithicus (sp?) was found here and a skull and other bones from homo habilis. Also the famous footprints unearthed here are the first evidence of "man" walking upright that is known. It is a fascinating area, and excavation work is still ongoing, with a primary connection to Rutgers University in NJ.
The rest of the day was spent in the Serengeti National Park. Correct pronunciation here is Siringet, a Maasai word meaning "the grass plains with no end." And that is exactly what they seem like. The plains are so vast, and the farther we drove in, it seemed the farther they went in all directions.
We saw thousands of wildebeest. We are entering the rainy season now, so many animals migrate here and have their babies around now. At the height of calving, 8000 wildebeest will be born each day. There are many little wildebeest calves around now, who are so ugly they're really cute! Also many baby zebras, who are still very brown and absolutely adorable.
I can't even remember how many lions we saw today, but it was over 12! And many of them were up in the trees, taking a nap. They lie on their bellies on the big branches and let their legs dangle down. In one tree we saw 4 lions napping up in the branches. Another tree that overlooked a water hole had one female who was waiting up there for some unsuspecting little zebra or gazelle to come and get a drink.
We also saw many hippos today in the river. They splash in the water with their tails and make lots of noise. There were 2 crocodiles in the water with them and lots of little birds who sit on their backs and eat flies and other bugs.
In the distance we saw 2 leopards in a tree after lunch. The safari vehicles are not allowed to drive off the road, so we couldn't see them very closely. The leopards stay in the trees mostly during the day and do their hunting at night.
My favorite moment of the day was when we came upon a big watering hole. There were many zebras, hartebeest, topi hartebeest (with different coloring than the regular hartebeest,) warthogs, many birds, and a jackal. They were all milling around in the water, drinking or just wading, and seemed to all get along quite well. The warthog mother was a bit apprehensive about the jackal around her little ones, but the jackal was more interested in finding some eggs from the many birds around. The zebras are really cute and are constantly biting at each other and playing. The Swahili name for them is Punda Mlia, which just means donkey with stripes. That is definitely what they are. They bray like a donkey and are such tough little creatures!
We also saw thousands of Thomson's gazelles and Grant's gazelles today. Ignasoro told us that the Thomsen's gazelles can go over 2 weeks without water, which is why we saw them very far away from water, but the wildebeest need water every other day, so we never saw them too far from their next water source.
Tonight & tomorrow we are camping at Pindi campsite, which means "rock island" in Swahili. There are big rock outcroppings here. We have been told that the hyenas are very active here at night. We are not to leave anything outside our tent, and I'm going to try not to drink too much at dinner, because I don't want to go out to the bathroom by myself with the laughing hyenas lurking!!
We awoke this morning to the most beautiful sunrise over the crater. Quite a way to start the day! By 8 am we were stuffed full of yummy breakfast and back on the road. We were headed to the Serengeti today by way of the Olduvai Gorge.
The Olduvai Gorge is part of the Great Rift Valley and is a very famous archeological site, often referred to as the birthplace of man. There is a small museum there that we visited. The true name for the site is Oldupai, but the first white people here misunderstood the Maasai, and heard Olduvai. Oldupai is the Maasai word for the sisal plant that grows in abundance here. Louis and Mary Leaky made this place famous by finding bones and fossils from ancient species of man as well as many extinct animals. The skull from Australopithicus (sp?) was found here and a skull and other bones from homo habilis. Also the famous footprints unearthed here are the first evidence of "man" walking upright that is known. It is a fascinating area, and excavation work is still ongoing, with a primary connection to Rutgers University in NJ.
The rest of the day was spent in the Serengeti National Park. Correct pronunciation here is Siringet, a Maasai word meaning "the grass plains with no end." And that is exactly what they seem like. The plains are so vast, and the farther we drove in, it seemed the farther they went in all directions.
We saw thousands of wildebeest. We are entering the rainy season now, so many animals migrate here and have their babies around now. At the height of calving, 8000 wildebeest will be born each day. There are many little wildebeest calves around now, who are so ugly they're really cute! Also many baby zebras, who are still very brown and absolutely adorable.
I can't even remember how many lions we saw today, but it was over 12! And many of them were up in the trees, taking a nap. They lie on their bellies on the big branches and let their legs dangle down. In one tree we saw 4 lions napping up in the branches. Another tree that overlooked a water hole had one female who was waiting up there for some unsuspecting little zebra or gazelle to come and get a drink.
We also saw many hippos today in the river. They splash in the water with their tails and make lots of noise. There were 2 crocodiles in the water with them and lots of little birds who sit on their backs and eat flies and other bugs.
In the distance we saw 2 leopards in a tree after lunch. The safari vehicles are not allowed to drive off the road, so we couldn't see them very closely. The leopards stay in the trees mostly during the day and do their hunting at night.
My favorite moment of the day was when we came upon a big watering hole. There were many zebras, hartebeest, topi hartebeest (with different coloring than the regular hartebeest,) warthogs, many birds, and a jackal. They were all milling around in the water, drinking or just wading, and seemed to all get along quite well. The warthog mother was a bit apprehensive about the jackal around her little ones, but the jackal was more interested in finding some eggs from the many birds around. The zebras are really cute and are constantly biting at each other and playing. The Swahili name for them is Punda Mlia, which just means donkey with stripes. That is definitely what they are. They bray like a donkey and are such tough little creatures!
We also saw thousands of Thomson's gazelles and Grant's gazelles today. Ignasoro told us that the Thomsen's gazelles can go over 2 weeks without water, which is why we saw them very far away from water, but the wildebeest need water every other day, so we never saw them too far from their next water source.
Tonight & tomorrow we are camping at Pindi campsite, which means "rock island" in Swahili. There are big rock outcroppings here. We have been told that the hyenas are very active here at night. We are not to leave anything outside our tent, and I'm going to try not to drink too much at dinner, because I don't want to go out to the bathroom by myself with the laughing hyenas lurking!!
Safari - Days 1&2
Safari Day 1 - getting to Arusha
We took a bus from Dar to Arusha on Monday morning. Originally we were told it was an 8 hr trip, but when we asked the driver before getting on, he told us 10. In the end it took just over 11 hrs, but the bus did have everything they promised - leg room for Jonathan's seat, a bathroom on board, a tv, and best of all, air conditioning! After being so hot in Zanzibar & Dar, this was a must for such a long trip. And it was really a great way to see the countryside. There were humongous fields of sisal, a plant that looks a bit like agave or a huge aloe plant, but is used for its fiber - to make ropes.
The strangest thing to happen occurred about 2/3 of the way through the trip. The kung fu movie was long over, the Harrison Ford action thriller had just ended, and we were driving through some beautiful land as the sun began to set. Just then they started Coming To America, the Eddie Murphy/Arsenio Hall movie about an African prince visiting America to find his bride. It was so surreal to be passing poor villages, Maasai people herding cows, etc, as this movie plays in the background, Eddie Murphy pretending to be from some wealthy east African country populated by the lions and zebras we were about to see.
Day 2 - Ngorongoro Crater
Our safari guide, Ignasoro, and cook, Prochess, arrived at 8am on the dot to pick us up. We piled into the Land Cruiser and set off for our destination, Ngorongoro Conservation Area. As soon as we were out of Arusha, the land was so beautiful. We drove about 3 1/2 hours westward, into Maasai country. Everywhere we saw Maasai herding their cows and goats, and Maasai women decked out in all their jewelry. Pretty spectacular. We also came across 4 Maasai Giraffes on the road into Ngorongoro and a troupe of olive baboons. I really wanted to see giraffes on this trip, so I was already more than happy before we even reached the crater.
Ngorongoro area has been conserved since 1956 (proper Maasai pronunciation puts the emphasis on the Ns, not the Gs, I learned; it means crater in the Maasai language.) It is an absolutely huge caldera, about 20km across, and the views down into the crater as we drove in were out of this world.
I cannot possibly describe to you all the animals that we saw and do them any justice. So I'll just list them, along with approximately how many we saw and their name in Swahili, if I learned it:
Giraffe - 4 (twiga)
Baboon - about 6 (nyani)
Wildebeest - thousands (mwumbu)
Zebra - hundreds (punda mlia)
Thomson's Gazelle - hundreds
Hartebeest - a few
Lions - 7 or 8 (simba)
Hippo - 1 (kiboko)
Hyena - 2 (fisi)
Elephant - 2 lone bulls with tusks (Tembo)
African Buffalo - many (mbogo)
Black Rhino - 1 (kifaru)
Warthogs - many (ngiri)
Gerenuk - a few
Waterbuck - a few
Birds:
Guinea fowl - many
Ostrich - many
Crested crane - many
Ibis - many
Egret - a few
Augur buzzard (looks like a hawk) - 1
White backed vulture - a few
Secretary Bird - many
Superb starling - hundreds
Lesser flamingo - thousands
Corybastard - many
The weather was sunny, mild and breezy, our guide is excellent, and our cook is fabulous! We camped at Simba Campground, on the rim of the crater, underneath an absolutely enormous fig tree. I can definitely say that today ranks in my top 5 favorite days of my life!
We took a bus from Dar to Arusha on Monday morning. Originally we were told it was an 8 hr trip, but when we asked the driver before getting on, he told us 10. In the end it took just over 11 hrs, but the bus did have everything they promised - leg room for Jonathan's seat, a bathroom on board, a tv, and best of all, air conditioning! After being so hot in Zanzibar & Dar, this was a must for such a long trip. And it was really a great way to see the countryside. There were humongous fields of sisal, a plant that looks a bit like agave or a huge aloe plant, but is used for its fiber - to make ropes.
The strangest thing to happen occurred about 2/3 of the way through the trip. The kung fu movie was long over, the Harrison Ford action thriller had just ended, and we were driving through some beautiful land as the sun began to set. Just then they started Coming To America, the Eddie Murphy/Arsenio Hall movie about an African prince visiting America to find his bride. It was so surreal to be passing poor villages, Maasai people herding cows, etc, as this movie plays in the background, Eddie Murphy pretending to be from some wealthy east African country populated by the lions and zebras we were about to see.
Day 2 - Ngorongoro Crater
Our safari guide, Ignasoro, and cook, Prochess, arrived at 8am on the dot to pick us up. We piled into the Land Cruiser and set off for our destination, Ngorongoro Conservation Area. As soon as we were out of Arusha, the land was so beautiful. We drove about 3 1/2 hours westward, into Maasai country. Everywhere we saw Maasai herding their cows and goats, and Maasai women decked out in all their jewelry. Pretty spectacular. We also came across 4 Maasai Giraffes on the road into Ngorongoro and a troupe of olive baboons. I really wanted to see giraffes on this trip, so I was already more than happy before we even reached the crater.
Ngorongoro area has been conserved since 1956 (proper Maasai pronunciation puts the emphasis on the Ns, not the Gs, I learned; it means crater in the Maasai language.) It is an absolutely huge caldera, about 20km across, and the views down into the crater as we drove in were out of this world.
I cannot possibly describe to you all the animals that we saw and do them any justice. So I'll just list them, along with approximately how many we saw and their name in Swahili, if I learned it:
Giraffe - 4 (twiga)
Baboon - about 6 (nyani)
Wildebeest - thousands (mwumbu)
Zebra - hundreds (punda mlia)
Thomson's Gazelle - hundreds
Hartebeest - a few
Lions - 7 or 8 (simba)
Hippo - 1 (kiboko)
Hyena - 2 (fisi)
Elephant - 2 lone bulls with tusks (Tembo)
African Buffalo - many (mbogo)
Black Rhino - 1 (kifaru)
Warthogs - many (ngiri)
Gerenuk - a few
Waterbuck - a few
Birds:
Guinea fowl - many
Ostrich - many
Crested crane - many
Ibis - many
Egret - a few
Augur buzzard (looks like a hawk) - 1
White backed vulture - a few
Secretary Bird - many
Superb starling - hundreds
Lesser flamingo - thousands
Corybastard - many
The weather was sunny, mild and breezy, our guide is excellent, and our cook is fabulous! We camped at Simba Campground, on the rim of the crater, underneath an absolutely enormous fig tree. I can definitely say that today ranks in my top 5 favorite days of my life!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Thursday morning we took another bijaji out to the ferry in the morning and headed out to Zanzibar. The ride was about two hours, and we sat on the upper deck where we got a nice breeze and a great view. We sat in front of two Masai guys, who I chatted with for a bit. The Masai tribe lives in northern Tanzania, and they are known mostly as very tall, lean people, who wear beautiful beaded jewelry, and have cows as their main means of survival. They also send their young men down south, to Dar Es Salaam & Zanzibar, among other places, to work as guards and to sell their jewelry. Everywhere we went in Dar, there were Masai men in traditional dress, holding a spear, guarding outside restaurants and in parking lots. I guess if you're a thief, it's a pretty good deterrence to come upon a 6'5" Masai man with a huge spear!
Zanzibar is a fascinating place, because it has been important for trade for so many centuries. There is mention of it in historical records from before the time of Christ. Many cultures have influenced Zanzibar - the local tribes, the Persian people, Europeans, Indians, etc. The architecture is the first thing you notice coming into the harbor. Most of the famous buildings were constructed during Sultan Seyyid Bargash's reign. We could see the tops of mosques, churches, and Hindu temples as our boat pulled in. Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim, but they pride themselves on their openness and religious tolerance, and we heard from many people how all religions are welcomed there.
Stone Town is the old part of the port city there, on the western side of the island. It was called Stone Town because all the buildings there were made of stone, whereas across the river, the poor houses were made of wood. It is truly like a maze, with very narrow streets and twists and turns everywhere with no street signs. We were pretty much constantly lost, but it's a very small town, and at least we were happy to wander around lost, taking in the history all around us until we finally stumbled upon our intended destination.
We settled into our hostel and then had a little lunch. The food here is heavily influenced by the Indian community, and it is delicious! We wondered around crazy Stone Town and saw Beit El-Ajaib, The House of Wonders. It was built by the Sultan in the late 1800s and was the first house in East Africa to have indoor plumbing, electricity and an elevator. Not surprising that the locals nicknamed it The House of Wonders.
We also saw the old fort, which was originally built by the Portuguese. It is now used as a market for selling knickknacks to tourists and for holding concerts. There is a large, stone amphitheater that was originally used for slave auctions. Zanzibar was a center of the slave trade in the 18th ad 19th centuries. The old Slave Market is now the site of a huge Anglican church. The slaves came mostly from West Africa, and then from Zanzibar were sold off to other parts of the world. In the House of Wonders there were many painting depicting the slave market and auctions and even a few photographs. Slavery was outlawed here by the British at the end of the 19th century.
We spent the late afternoon in our hotel room trying to cool off. It is so hot and humid here, as we are 6 degrees south of the equator. Amazingly, our little room had a wall air conditioning unit, which I have never been so happy to see in all my life!
We headed back out for dinner, at a little park by the water. There were lots of vendors selling kabobs of local types of seafood - tuna, red snapper, swordfish, octopus, calamari, lobster, and on and on. Most stands also had nan and chapatti bread, so we got a few skewers and a couple pieces of bread and sat tby the water to watch the sunset.
The next day we spent the morning on a spice tour. This is the first organized tour we've done on this whole trip, but it was highly recommended to us by Logan and Molly. They took us into the center of the island, where they still grow many of the spices that first made Zanzibar famous. We saw nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon, lemongrass, ginger, turmeric, red curry, cloves, pepper, jasmine, ylang ylang, allspice, and more that I'm forgetting. They also grew oranges, limes, passion fruit, guava, papaya, watermelons, pineapple, mangoes, coconuts, breadfruit and jack fruit. We got to taste many of these fruits and then had a delicious lunch made by one of the women in this little village, utilizing a lot of the spices we had just learned about.
After the spice tour, we took a dolla-dolla out to the east coast of the island where we were meeting Molly & Logan for the weekend. The dolla-dollas are trucks that have been outfitted with benches on either side of the bed, and then a cover placed over top of the bed. And into this contraption they managed to squeeze on 35 people and all their cargo. It might not have been the safest or most comfortable way to travel, but it sure was cheap!
We are staying at a beautiful hotel right on the beach that has a salt water pool and a great restaurant. We made plans for snorkeling the next morning. I have never been snorkeling, which no one here can believe, but I'm excited to try it out. The water here is crystal clear and there is incredible coral all around us.
We headed out with Captain Mu at 10 the next morning in his dhow. A dhow is a dugout canoe with a balancer (outrigger?) on either side. There is no motor, but there was good wind, and we all helped to raise the sail and head out. Even fairly far out from shore, it is still quite shallow, only about 15-20 feet deep. It took me a while to get the hang of breathing out of my mouth, but it finally started to feel normal, and I could enjoy the sites below. There was so much coral, all different types and colors, and so many different types of starfish. We saw clams, sea urchins, zebra fish, clown fish, tiny iridescent blue fish, needle fish, etc. It was absolutely incredible. For someone who has never snorkeled, I think I got pretty spoiled with my first experience. It was like swimming in an aquarium or swimming through a Pixar movie. Although I got a little sunburned, I think this experience stands out as one of my favorites from our travels.
We relaxed in the shade that afternoon and had a great dinner of more seafood. We played some serious games of banana grams and fell asleep sunburned but happy. Tomorrow we will enjoy the morning here before heading back to Stone Town and then home to Molly and Logan's. Monday morning Jonathan and I get on our last long distance bus to head up to Arusha.
Thursday morning we took another bijaji out to the ferry in the morning and headed out to Zanzibar. The ride was about two hours, and we sat on the upper deck where we got a nice breeze and a great view. We sat in front of two Masai guys, who I chatted with for a bit. The Masai tribe lives in northern Tanzania, and they are known mostly as very tall, lean people, who wear beautiful beaded jewelry, and have cows as their main means of survival. They also send their young men down south, to Dar Es Salaam & Zanzibar, among other places, to work as guards and to sell their jewelry. Everywhere we went in Dar, there were Masai men in traditional dress, holding a spear, guarding outside restaurants and in parking lots. I guess if you're a thief, it's a pretty good deterrence to come upon a 6'5" Masai man with a huge spear!
Zanzibar is a fascinating place, because it has been important for trade for so many centuries. There is mention of it in historical records from before the time of Christ. Many cultures have influenced Zanzibar - the local tribes, the Persian people, Europeans, Indians, etc. The architecture is the first thing you notice coming into the harbor. Most of the famous buildings were constructed during Sultan Seyyid Bargash's reign. We could see the tops of mosques, churches, and Hindu temples as our boat pulled in. Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim, but they pride themselves on their openness and religious tolerance, and we heard from many people how all religions are welcomed there.
Stone Town is the old part of the port city there, on the western side of the island. It was called Stone Town because all the buildings there were made of stone, whereas across the river, the poor houses were made of wood. It is truly like a maze, with very narrow streets and twists and turns everywhere with no street signs. We were pretty much constantly lost, but it's a very small town, and at least we were happy to wander around lost, taking in the history all around us until we finally stumbled upon our intended destination.
We settled into our hostel and then had a little lunch. The food here is heavily influenced by the Indian community, and it is delicious! We wondered around crazy Stone Town and saw Beit El-Ajaib, The House of Wonders. It was built by the Sultan in the late 1800s and was the first house in East Africa to have indoor plumbing, electricity and an elevator. Not surprising that the locals nicknamed it The House of Wonders.
We also saw the old fort, which was originally built by the Portuguese. It is now used as a market for selling knickknacks to tourists and for holding concerts. There is a large, stone amphitheater that was originally used for slave auctions. Zanzibar was a center of the slave trade in the 18th ad 19th centuries. The old Slave Market is now the site of a huge Anglican church. The slaves came mostly from West Africa, and then from Zanzibar were sold off to other parts of the world. In the House of Wonders there were many painting depicting the slave market and auctions and even a few photographs. Slavery was outlawed here by the British at the end of the 19th century.
We spent the late afternoon in our hotel room trying to cool off. It is so hot and humid here, as we are 6 degrees south of the equator. Amazingly, our little room had a wall air conditioning unit, which I have never been so happy to see in all my life!
We headed back out for dinner, at a little park by the water. There were lots of vendors selling kabobs of local types of seafood - tuna, red snapper, swordfish, octopus, calamari, lobster, and on and on. Most stands also had nan and chapatti bread, so we got a few skewers and a couple pieces of bread and sat tby the water to watch the sunset.
The next day we spent the morning on a spice tour. This is the first organized tour we've done on this whole trip, but it was highly recommended to us by Logan and Molly. They took us into the center of the island, where they still grow many of the spices that first made Zanzibar famous. We saw nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon, lemongrass, ginger, turmeric, red curry, cloves, pepper, jasmine, ylang ylang, allspice, and more that I'm forgetting. They also grew oranges, limes, passion fruit, guava, papaya, watermelons, pineapple, mangoes, coconuts, breadfruit and jack fruit. We got to taste many of these fruits and then had a delicious lunch made by one of the women in this little village, utilizing a lot of the spices we had just learned about.
After the spice tour, we took a dolla-dolla out to the east coast of the island where we were meeting Molly & Logan for the weekend. The dolla-dollas are trucks that have been outfitted with benches on either side of the bed, and then a cover placed over top of the bed. And into this contraption they managed to squeeze on 35 people and all their cargo. It might not have been the safest or most comfortable way to travel, but it sure was cheap!
We are staying at a beautiful hotel right on the beach that has a salt water pool and a great restaurant. We made plans for snorkeling the next morning. I have never been snorkeling, which no one here can believe, but I'm excited to try it out. The water here is crystal clear and there is incredible coral all around us.
We headed out with Captain Mu at 10 the next morning in his dhow. A dhow is a dugout canoe with a balancer (outrigger?) on either side. There is no motor, but there was good wind, and we all helped to raise the sail and head out. Even fairly far out from shore, it is still quite shallow, only about 15-20 feet deep. It took me a while to get the hang of breathing out of my mouth, but it finally started to feel normal, and I could enjoy the sites below. There was so much coral, all different types and colors, and so many different types of starfish. We saw clams, sea urchins, zebra fish, clown fish, tiny iridescent blue fish, needle fish, etc. It was absolutely incredible. For someone who has never snorkeled, I think I got pretty spoiled with my first experience. It was like swimming in an aquarium or swimming through a Pixar movie. Although I got a little sunburned, I think this experience stands out as one of my favorites from our travels.
We relaxed in the shade that afternoon and had a great dinner of more seafood. We played some serious games of banana grams and fell asleep sunburned but happy. Tomorrow we will enjoy the morning here before heading back to Stone Town and then home to Molly and Logan's. Monday morning Jonathan and I get on our last long distance bus to head up to Arusha.
Friday, March 16, 2012
More Dar
More Dar
The last few days have been spent in Dar Es Salaam, mostly hanging out with Molly & Logan and exploring the city. We kept planning to take a day trip out to Bongoyo Island, but it never worked out. Monday it was raining, so we scrapped our plans for the island, and we spent a delightful day in the cool air conditioning reading, catching up on emails and news, and doing a little shopping across the street at the market that sells hand crafted goods. That night we made pizzas from scratch that were amazing. Molly and Logan are both great cooks, and they have a fantastic kitchen with every implement you could need. We shared some sparkling wine we had brought from Mendoza, and it complimented the pizza very well.
Tuesday we tried to go to the island again, but the boat driver said he had to have 4 people to go, and we are only 2, no matter how hard we try! He offered to take us anyway, for the price of 4, but we politely declined. Instead we headed into the city in a bijaji - a 3 wheeled motorcycle taxi with a cover that seats two passengers in the back and the driver up front. It's a great, inexpensive way to get around. The traffic is often really bad here, and these bijajis can fit through traffic pretty easily. We went first to the national museum, where they have many different exhibitions. One wing has the history of Tanzania and its peoples, from before European "visitors," as they politely called them, through the time of the heaviest slave trading, tgrough German occupation, finally through independence and up to present day. Then they had a very good exhibit on evolution, geared toward middle school age children, that we both really enjoyed. Northern Tanzania is home to the Olduvai Gorge, considered the cradle of civilization or the "birthplace" of man. They had many fossils as well as skulls and bones on display of ancient hominids that have been found there. The Leakys were the most famous anthropologists who did a lot of excavation there, but there have been many others as well. There were several skulls on display of species of hominids I wasn't even familiar with, including one that had a huge ridge along the top of the skull that looked like a mini stegasaurus Wild!
After the museum we wandered next door to the botanical gardens. We were strolling through when all of a sudden we saw a bunch of Vervet Monkeys. There were a few grown males and females and quite a few youngsters, who were busy playing in the trees. We sat under one tree and watched them for a long time. The babies were very curious and stayed in the low branches above our heads staring down at us. The adults were wary but definitely wanted food from us, so they inched closer and closer. They were so cute and have very long, prehensile tails that are amazing.
That evening, a friend of Logan's who works for USAID came over. He had been a Peace Corps volunteer on Samoa, so he and Jonathan had lots to talk about. After sharing some kava he brought from Samoa, we headed out to get some mishkaki - grilled meat on a stick served with French fries.
The next day Jonathan and I headed back into the city to finalize details of our upcoming trips - Zanzibar, and our safari! We found a wonderful bijaji driver who took us all around. First stop was the Ubongo bus station, where we needed to get tickets for the following week to take us up to Arusha, in northern Tanzania, where our safari will start. We had been warned that the bus station was crazy, with tons of guys who immediately start trying to help you before you've even gotten out of your vehicle. They pull you and pressure you into going to the bus company that will give them a small commission for bringing customers, and then they demand a tip for having "helped" you. But we are getting to be pros at this, and we avoided them pretty easily. I had done my research on which bus companies were good, and we went straight into those ticket counters, avoiding the pushy guys. Once we got our tickets, our sweet bijaji driver was waiting to take us to our next stop - the ferry ticket offices.
We will take the ferry out to Zanzibar on Thursday and back on Sunday. This place was even worse with the pushy guys trying to get your business, but again, we knew exactly the company we wanted, and marched straight into and out of their office.
That night we went out for fabulous Indian food. There is a very large Indian community in Dar, and they have a restaurant as part of a club for badminton players! Since we are not members, we could not play, but we could pay to eat there. The food was delicious. I never thought I would be in a private badminton club, but there are surprises around every corner here.
Tomorrow we're off to Zanzibar, and Molly & Logan will join us there Friday afternoon for the weekend. It is exactly 2 weeks until we are back in the US as I'm writing this. It is so crazy to think how quickly this trip has flown by!!
The last few days have been spent in Dar Es Salaam, mostly hanging out with Molly & Logan and exploring the city. We kept planning to take a day trip out to Bongoyo Island, but it never worked out. Monday it was raining, so we scrapped our plans for the island, and we spent a delightful day in the cool air conditioning reading, catching up on emails and news, and doing a little shopping across the street at the market that sells hand crafted goods. That night we made pizzas from scratch that were amazing. Molly and Logan are both great cooks, and they have a fantastic kitchen with every implement you could need. We shared some sparkling wine we had brought from Mendoza, and it complimented the pizza very well.
Tuesday we tried to go to the island again, but the boat driver said he had to have 4 people to go, and we are only 2, no matter how hard we try! He offered to take us anyway, for the price of 4, but we politely declined. Instead we headed into the city in a bijaji - a 3 wheeled motorcycle taxi with a cover that seats two passengers in the back and the driver up front. It's a great, inexpensive way to get around. The traffic is often really bad here, and these bijajis can fit through traffic pretty easily. We went first to the national museum, where they have many different exhibitions. One wing has the history of Tanzania and its peoples, from before European "visitors," as they politely called them, through the time of the heaviest slave trading, tgrough German occupation, finally through independence and up to present day. Then they had a very good exhibit on evolution, geared toward middle school age children, that we both really enjoyed. Northern Tanzania is home to the Olduvai Gorge, considered the cradle of civilization or the "birthplace" of man. They had many fossils as well as skulls and bones on display of ancient hominids that have been found there. The Leakys were the most famous anthropologists who did a lot of excavation there, but there have been many others as well. There were several skulls on display of species of hominids I wasn't even familiar with, including one that had a huge ridge along the top of the skull that looked like a mini stegasaurus Wild!
After the museum we wandered next door to the botanical gardens. We were strolling through when all of a sudden we saw a bunch of Vervet Monkeys. There were a few grown males and females and quite a few youngsters, who were busy playing in the trees. We sat under one tree and watched them for a long time. The babies were very curious and stayed in the low branches above our heads staring down at us. The adults were wary but definitely wanted food from us, so they inched closer and closer. They were so cute and have very long, prehensile tails that are amazing.
That evening, a friend of Logan's who works for USAID came over. He had been a Peace Corps volunteer on Samoa, so he and Jonathan had lots to talk about. After sharing some kava he brought from Samoa, we headed out to get some mishkaki - grilled meat on a stick served with French fries.
The next day Jonathan and I headed back into the city to finalize details of our upcoming trips - Zanzibar, and our safari! We found a wonderful bijaji driver who took us all around. First stop was the Ubongo bus station, where we needed to get tickets for the following week to take us up to Arusha, in northern Tanzania, where our safari will start. We had been warned that the bus station was crazy, with tons of guys who immediately start trying to help you before you've even gotten out of your vehicle. They pull you and pressure you into going to the bus company that will give them a small commission for bringing customers, and then they demand a tip for having "helped" you. But we are getting to be pros at this, and we avoided them pretty easily. I had done my research on which bus companies were good, and we went straight into those ticket counters, avoiding the pushy guys. Once we got our tickets, our sweet bijaji driver was waiting to take us to our next stop - the ferry ticket offices.
We will take the ferry out to Zanzibar on Thursday and back on Sunday. This place was even worse with the pushy guys trying to get your business, but again, we knew exactly the company we wanted, and marched straight into and out of their office.
That night we went out for fabulous Indian food. There is a very large Indian community in Dar, and they have a restaurant as part of a club for badminton players! Since we are not members, we could not play, but we could pay to eat there. The food was delicious. I never thought I would be in a private badminton club, but there are surprises around every corner here.
Tomorrow we're off to Zanzibar, and Molly & Logan will join us there Friday afternoon for the weekend. It is exactly 2 weeks until we are back in the US as I'm writing this. It is so crazy to think how quickly this trip has flown by!!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Dar Es Salaam
Dar Es Salaam
We finally made it to Tanzania! We had easy flights from Cape Town to Johannesburg and then Jo'burg to Dar Es Salaam. When we landed in Dar we were hit with a blast of warm air walking off the plane. We are pretty much right on the equator here Our good friends, Molly and Logan, were waiting for us amid the sea of drivers holding up signs. Dar is not considered the safest city, especially at night, so we were extra grateful that Molly & Logan could pick us up. We hopped in their car and set off for home. The power was out in the central part of the city, and the roads were totally dark, with no working stop lights. This is apparently pretty standard, so no one seemed to mind. As we were stopped in traffic, many people would try to sell us stuff or just come up to the window begging for money. At one point, when we had just started to move again, a young guy came running up to the car. I thought he was trying to run in front of us and through the traffic, but he stopped by the passenger's door, quickly popped the side mirror off the car as we were moving, and ran off as we sped away. Welcome to Dar! It was so fast, and he clearly had practice in how to get the mirror off in about 3 seconds. Annoying, but at least it was just a mirror and not anything worse.
We are staying with the wonderful Wheelers - our friends, Molly & Logan. They live in Dar Es Salaam in an absolutely beautiful house, and it has been such a treat to stay with them - big comfy bed, air conditioning, clean shower with hot water that we don't have to share with 20 other people. So luxurious! Because of all these things, we've done a lot of lounging around and not too much else. Also we've done a lot of lounging because it is HOT. It feels like the worst summer days in NC, with incredibly high humidity. It's no wonder not a whole lot gets done around here between noon and 5pm. It makes you feel like all you can do is sit very, very still under a tree and wait for a breeze.
There is an awesome market right across the street from M&L's house with all sorts of hand crafted goodies for sale. Bargaining is the name of the game here, and they are really good at it. I am absolutely the worst bargainer in the world. Luckily it's one of Jonathan's specialties. I always just ask the price, sheepishly ask if they'd take less, and then immediately feel bad for some reason, as if I'm the one trying to rip them off, when it's definitely the other way around. I just can't do it. And they are such good hustlers. They greet you so warmly and practically pull you into their shops and start taking things down off the wall and putting them in your hands. I find myself suddenly being talked into buying a giant fertility sculpture or some other random item that I never wanted until Jonathan comes to the rescue and says no to everything they're pushing and then talks them down 50% on the things we do want. It's probably a skill I should learn, but for now, I'll just let him do it!
Yesterday we went out to "South Beach" which is just down the coast a little ways from M&L's house. We found a great beach where they would let us cook, since we had first stopped at the fish market and gotten 4 beautiful red snappers. The ocean was gorgeous, but it was truly the temperature of bath water. Quite a change from Cape Town!!
We've met a bunch of Molly and Logan's friends here, and it is such a friendly, inviting group. In the next few days, we're planning to go out to Bongoyo, a small island that is mostly undeveloped where we can just relax and enjoy the scenery. Then we're going to visit Zanzibar for a few days before we head north for our safari. I am so excited about the safari, I can hardly stand it!!
We finally made it to Tanzania! We had easy flights from Cape Town to Johannesburg and then Jo'burg to Dar Es Salaam. When we landed in Dar we were hit with a blast of warm air walking off the plane. We are pretty much right on the equator here Our good friends, Molly and Logan, were waiting for us amid the sea of drivers holding up signs. Dar is not considered the safest city, especially at night, so we were extra grateful that Molly & Logan could pick us up. We hopped in their car and set off for home. The power was out in the central part of the city, and the roads were totally dark, with no working stop lights. This is apparently pretty standard, so no one seemed to mind. As we were stopped in traffic, many people would try to sell us stuff or just come up to the window begging for money. At one point, when we had just started to move again, a young guy came running up to the car. I thought he was trying to run in front of us and through the traffic, but he stopped by the passenger's door, quickly popped the side mirror off the car as we were moving, and ran off as we sped away. Welcome to Dar! It was so fast, and he clearly had practice in how to get the mirror off in about 3 seconds. Annoying, but at least it was just a mirror and not anything worse.
We are staying with the wonderful Wheelers - our friends, Molly & Logan. They live in Dar Es Salaam in an absolutely beautiful house, and it has been such a treat to stay with them - big comfy bed, air conditioning, clean shower with hot water that we don't have to share with 20 other people. So luxurious! Because of all these things, we've done a lot of lounging around and not too much else. Also we've done a lot of lounging because it is HOT. It feels like the worst summer days in NC, with incredibly high humidity. It's no wonder not a whole lot gets done around here between noon and 5pm. It makes you feel like all you can do is sit very, very still under a tree and wait for a breeze.
There is an awesome market right across the street from M&L's house with all sorts of hand crafted goodies for sale. Bargaining is the name of the game here, and they are really good at it. I am absolutely the worst bargainer in the world. Luckily it's one of Jonathan's specialties. I always just ask the price, sheepishly ask if they'd take less, and then immediately feel bad for some reason, as if I'm the one trying to rip them off, when it's definitely the other way around. I just can't do it. And they are such good hustlers. They greet you so warmly and practically pull you into their shops and start taking things down off the wall and putting them in your hands. I find myself suddenly being talked into buying a giant fertility sculpture or some other random item that I never wanted until Jonathan comes to the rescue and says no to everything they're pushing and then talks them down 50% on the things we do want. It's probably a skill I should learn, but for now, I'll just let him do it!
Yesterday we went out to "South Beach" which is just down the coast a little ways from M&L's house. We found a great beach where they would let us cook, since we had first stopped at the fish market and gotten 4 beautiful red snappers. The ocean was gorgeous, but it was truly the temperature of bath water. Quite a change from Cape Town!!
We've met a bunch of Molly and Logan's friends here, and it is such a friendly, inviting group. In the next few days, we're planning to go out to Bongoyo, a small island that is mostly undeveloped where we can just relax and enjoy the scenery. Then we're going to visit Zanzibar for a few days before we head north for our safari. I am so excited about the safari, I can hardly stand it!!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Cape Town
Cape Town
What an amazing few days we've had in Cape Town. On Sunday we took the train all the way down to the last stop, Simon's Town. Simon's Town is the home of the South African navy, and it is an incredibly charming town right on the water. The train ride down took about an hour, since there are so many stops along the way, but it was a great ride, because we went right along the edge of the ocean almost the whole way. Once we got to Simon's Town, we found a beautiful beach where we had our picnic lunch. This side of the cape is the Indian Ocean, and the water here is warmer, so there were lots of people swimming and scuba diving.
We walked through super charming Simon's Town and continued on to Boulder Beach. This stretch of beach is home to a huge colony of African penguins, just like the ones we had seen in the aquarium. This time of year they are busy molting and nesting. We saw tons of them guarding their eggs in their dug out nests. They were not fearful of humans and seemed so curious. But they do not want to be pet, as I found out from a sharp peck in the hand! There are thousands of them on this beach, because they like the huge boulders, and there is a very large area of protected shrub land that gives them good places to build nests under the cover of the shrubs. They are an endangered species, because their habitats have been destroyed elsewhere. Boulder Beach is part of a national park, so it is protected.
Farther down the beach was a little public spot where people could swim. There were also penguins on the rocks here, and we couldn't resist the idea of swimming "with" the penguins, even if they weren't really all that close to where we swam. While this ocean might be warmer than the Atlantic side, it was still really cold, so we got in and out pretty quickly. We sunbathed on the beach a bit more and then walked all the way back to Simon's Town and hopped back on the train.
We went only a few stops and got off at Kalk's Bay, where our friend, Ian, had told us we could get fantastic fish and chips. Kalky's is a little greasy spoon restaurant right on the water, and the food was awesome. Jonathan got the fish and chips (hake for the fish, caught right here) and I got calamari and chips, also caught locally. With our bellies stuffed we headed back on the train all the way back to our hostel.
The next day we set aside for hiking Table Mountain. It is an incredibly flat topped mountain that makes part of the amazing backdrop of this city. It rises straight from sea level to a little over 1000 meters. There are many routes up, but the safest and easiest is called Plateklips Gorge. It isn't a terribly long hike (about an hour and a half) but it is pretty straight up the whole way. The mountain is made of sandstone, and they have carved stairs out of the sandstone all the way up. All the way up, you have an increasingly breathtaking view of the whole city of Cape Town and Table Bay.
Once we made it to the top, we quickly had to put on our fleeces. It was about 85 degrees down in town, and we got super sweaty on the hike up, but at the top it is cool and extremely windy. We found a spot to have our lunch while we looked out over two oceans. Pretty amazing!
The other cool thing is that once you make it to the top, you realize how massive the mountain really is. This section of mountains is called the Table Mountain Range, and it extends all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope. All of the area encompassing Cape Town and the surrounding cities used to be under water, and the mountain tops were islands. That's why the soil is so sandy, even at the very top. There are big reservoirs up on the top of the mountain (down just a little in Echo Valley) that provide Cape Town with water.
We hiked over to the very highest point, Beacon's Point, and then down into Echo Valley and all around. There are tons of well maintained trails, and you can hike for days. After a few hours we headed back to where we started and walked over to the cable car to catch a ride down. There is an incredible, revolving cable car that runs up and down the mountain. It had gotten so windy, and we heard a siren sounding. That meant that they were shutting down the cable car, and everyone had to head back down immediately if you didn't want to walk. We rode down and called our friend, Ian, who was very graciously giving us a ride. He had brought us out to the trail head in the morning and told us that we could go get a drink at the Yacht Club, where he is a member, in the afternoon. You don't say no to drinks at a yacht club, so of course we accepted!
Ian is from Cape Town and knows everything there is to know about the city. Before going for drinks, he took us over to Signal Hill, where the military still fires a cannon every day at 12 noon sharp. It is called, very appropriately, The Noon Gun. Ian was in the South African army and fought in 3 wars for SA, so he could tell us all about the history around us and pointed out details of the city below.
Off to the yacht club we went, feeling very fancy, but looking not at all fancy. We had drinks on the deck, overlooking all the yachts moored there. There were hundreds of them - lots of racing yachts, some huge luxury ones, some little guys, and the huge catamarans. Ian told us all about the different boats and stories of the people who owned them. Not something you get to do everyday!!
We had a great braai (Afrikaans for BBQ) that night and planned our last day. I really wanted to see some of the S African vineyards. There was a tour bus we could take, so we planned on doing that. But then good ole Ian got wind of our plans and said, no, we couldn't possibly go on a dreadful tour like that, and he would take us to the best places.
So we set off in the morning again with the wonderful Ian. He took us first into the Helderberg wine region, just about 20 mins outside Cape Town. We went first to Lourensford, an extremely fancy estate that made not only wine, but also roasted coffee, made olive oil, had fruit trees that they used to make jams and jellies, etc. They also had art galleries. It was only about 10:30 in the morning at this point, so we didn't do a tasting at this spot. We moved on to another estate right next door named Vergelegen. This place was started by the Dutch in the mid 17th century and has oak and camphor trees that were planted in the year 1700. It is now owned by Anglo American Plc and is like nothing you've ever seen. The wine is wonderful, and we did do a tasting here. Ian said they were known for having the best Sauvignon Blanc in the country. I don't know enough to say whether that's true, but it sure was good! They have truly amazing gardens here that were started by the original Dutch owners. They are incredibly symmetrical and intricate and would remind you of something from a French castle.
We moved on to the Stellenbosch region. The town of Stellenbosch is a beautiful, bustling college town. The University of Stellenbosch is here, and Ian is a graduate, so he was busy pointing out every building to us and telling us stories from his glory days. We took him to lunch at a delightful cafe he recommended and then had a brief tour around the city. It is so charming, and so European in feel that you really forget you're in Africa.
Next stop was the town and region of Franshoek, a lot like Stellenbosh, but more mountainous and settled by the French Huguenots. We went to a winery called Dieu Donnè, known for their Merlot, and did a tasting there. All the wine was excellent, but I was so amazed by the views outside, that the wine was just an enjoyable thing on the side. They had a wonderful Rose that I liked, so we got one bottle here. They also had a huge fig tree with enormous green figs. Sipping amazing wine, while eating freshly picked figs and overlooking the mountains here is something I will never forget.
Ian wanted us to also do an olive oil tasting, so our next stop was Tokara, a huge vineyard that makes wine, olive oil, chocolates, pretty much every decadent kind of thing you can imagine. They also have loads of interesting sculptures all around their immaculate grounds. We tasted 5 different types of olive oil, from very mild and "citrus-y" to strong. I could tell the difference between the strongest and the mildest, but the middle ones were lost on me, except that they all tasted delightful! They also had Kalamata olives for us to taste as well as an olive spread that was to die for.
Every time we got back in the car, we both thought surely we were done, but no, Ian had one more place where we just had to do a tasting. Asara is a huge place where we tasted five delicious types - my favorite was the Pinotage, a red varietal grown only in S Africa. We sat at a table outside by a big pond full of birds hunting their dinner and watched the sun begin to set before we finally drove back to the hostel.
We cooked a huge feast for our last night there, and to try to thank Ian for the amazing day. There was no way we could ever have gotten such a tour, even if we'd booked a private outing with a super expensive tour group.
As we grilled steaks we all chatted with PJ, the owner of the hostel. We tried to learn more of the history of this crazy place from him. It was indeed a huge mental hospital, whites across the river at a nicer facility that still operates, and blacks and coloreds on our side of the river. The place occupied by the hostel was specifically for black women, and stopped operating as such about 25 years ago. It's so strange the way they still talk about "blacks" and "coloreds" in this country - coloreds being any non whites, including light skinned blacks, Indians, etc. The issues surrounding race here are huge, and you can feel how young this democracy still is.
Today we fly to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. We are staying with Logan and Molly Wheeler. Molly is an old friend from way back - we went to summer camp together and the Outdoor Academy. Her husband is in the US Foreign Service, and they moved to Dar last August. I can't wait to see them both.
Jonathan and I keep joking that we still haven't seen Africa yet, we've seen Cape Town. I have a feeling we're about to see a very different Africa than the manicured vineyards and leafy, shaded streets of the European-like cities around Cape Town. The adventure continues...
What an amazing few days we've had in Cape Town. On Sunday we took the train all the way down to the last stop, Simon's Town. Simon's Town is the home of the South African navy, and it is an incredibly charming town right on the water. The train ride down took about an hour, since there are so many stops along the way, but it was a great ride, because we went right along the edge of the ocean almost the whole way. Once we got to Simon's Town, we found a beautiful beach where we had our picnic lunch. This side of the cape is the Indian Ocean, and the water here is warmer, so there were lots of people swimming and scuba diving.
We walked through super charming Simon's Town and continued on to Boulder Beach. This stretch of beach is home to a huge colony of African penguins, just like the ones we had seen in the aquarium. This time of year they are busy molting and nesting. We saw tons of them guarding their eggs in their dug out nests. They were not fearful of humans and seemed so curious. But they do not want to be pet, as I found out from a sharp peck in the hand! There are thousands of them on this beach, because they like the huge boulders, and there is a very large area of protected shrub land that gives them good places to build nests under the cover of the shrubs. They are an endangered species, because their habitats have been destroyed elsewhere. Boulder Beach is part of a national park, so it is protected.
Farther down the beach was a little public spot where people could swim. There were also penguins on the rocks here, and we couldn't resist the idea of swimming "with" the penguins, even if they weren't really all that close to where we swam. While this ocean might be warmer than the Atlantic side, it was still really cold, so we got in and out pretty quickly. We sunbathed on the beach a bit more and then walked all the way back to Simon's Town and hopped back on the train.
We went only a few stops and got off at Kalk's Bay, where our friend, Ian, had told us we could get fantastic fish and chips. Kalky's is a little greasy spoon restaurant right on the water, and the food was awesome. Jonathan got the fish and chips (hake for the fish, caught right here) and I got calamari and chips, also caught locally. With our bellies stuffed we headed back on the train all the way back to our hostel.
The next day we set aside for hiking Table Mountain. It is an incredibly flat topped mountain that makes part of the amazing backdrop of this city. It rises straight from sea level to a little over 1000 meters. There are many routes up, but the safest and easiest is called Plateklips Gorge. It isn't a terribly long hike (about an hour and a half) but it is pretty straight up the whole way. The mountain is made of sandstone, and they have carved stairs out of the sandstone all the way up. All the way up, you have an increasingly breathtaking view of the whole city of Cape Town and Table Bay.
Once we made it to the top, we quickly had to put on our fleeces. It was about 85 degrees down in town, and we got super sweaty on the hike up, but at the top it is cool and extremely windy. We found a spot to have our lunch while we looked out over two oceans. Pretty amazing!
The other cool thing is that once you make it to the top, you realize how massive the mountain really is. This section of mountains is called the Table Mountain Range, and it extends all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope. All of the area encompassing Cape Town and the surrounding cities used to be under water, and the mountain tops were islands. That's why the soil is so sandy, even at the very top. There are big reservoirs up on the top of the mountain (down just a little in Echo Valley) that provide Cape Town with water.
We hiked over to the very highest point, Beacon's Point, and then down into Echo Valley and all around. There are tons of well maintained trails, and you can hike for days. After a few hours we headed back to where we started and walked over to the cable car to catch a ride down. There is an incredible, revolving cable car that runs up and down the mountain. It had gotten so windy, and we heard a siren sounding. That meant that they were shutting down the cable car, and everyone had to head back down immediately if you didn't want to walk. We rode down and called our friend, Ian, who was very graciously giving us a ride. He had brought us out to the trail head in the morning and told us that we could go get a drink at the Yacht Club, where he is a member, in the afternoon. You don't say no to drinks at a yacht club, so of course we accepted!
Ian is from Cape Town and knows everything there is to know about the city. Before going for drinks, he took us over to Signal Hill, where the military still fires a cannon every day at 12 noon sharp. It is called, very appropriately, The Noon Gun. Ian was in the South African army and fought in 3 wars for SA, so he could tell us all about the history around us and pointed out details of the city below.
Off to the yacht club we went, feeling very fancy, but looking not at all fancy. We had drinks on the deck, overlooking all the yachts moored there. There were hundreds of them - lots of racing yachts, some huge luxury ones, some little guys, and the huge catamarans. Ian told us all about the different boats and stories of the people who owned them. Not something you get to do everyday!!
We had a great braai (Afrikaans for BBQ) that night and planned our last day. I really wanted to see some of the S African vineyards. There was a tour bus we could take, so we planned on doing that. But then good ole Ian got wind of our plans and said, no, we couldn't possibly go on a dreadful tour like that, and he would take us to the best places.
So we set off in the morning again with the wonderful Ian. He took us first into the Helderberg wine region, just about 20 mins outside Cape Town. We went first to Lourensford, an extremely fancy estate that made not only wine, but also roasted coffee, made olive oil, had fruit trees that they used to make jams and jellies, etc. They also had art galleries. It was only about 10:30 in the morning at this point, so we didn't do a tasting at this spot. We moved on to another estate right next door named Vergelegen. This place was started by the Dutch in the mid 17th century and has oak and camphor trees that were planted in the year 1700. It is now owned by Anglo American Plc and is like nothing you've ever seen. The wine is wonderful, and we did do a tasting here. Ian said they were known for having the best Sauvignon Blanc in the country. I don't know enough to say whether that's true, but it sure was good! They have truly amazing gardens here that were started by the original Dutch owners. They are incredibly symmetrical and intricate and would remind you of something from a French castle.
We moved on to the Stellenbosch region. The town of Stellenbosch is a beautiful, bustling college town. The University of Stellenbosch is here, and Ian is a graduate, so he was busy pointing out every building to us and telling us stories from his glory days. We took him to lunch at a delightful cafe he recommended and then had a brief tour around the city. It is so charming, and so European in feel that you really forget you're in Africa.
Next stop was the town and region of Franshoek, a lot like Stellenbosh, but more mountainous and settled by the French Huguenots. We went to a winery called Dieu Donnè, known for their Merlot, and did a tasting there. All the wine was excellent, but I was so amazed by the views outside, that the wine was just an enjoyable thing on the side. They had a wonderful Rose that I liked, so we got one bottle here. They also had a huge fig tree with enormous green figs. Sipping amazing wine, while eating freshly picked figs and overlooking the mountains here is something I will never forget.
Ian wanted us to also do an olive oil tasting, so our next stop was Tokara, a huge vineyard that makes wine, olive oil, chocolates, pretty much every decadent kind of thing you can imagine. They also have loads of interesting sculptures all around their immaculate grounds. We tasted 5 different types of olive oil, from very mild and "citrus-y" to strong. I could tell the difference between the strongest and the mildest, but the middle ones were lost on me, except that they all tasted delightful! They also had Kalamata olives for us to taste as well as an olive spread that was to die for.
Every time we got back in the car, we both thought surely we were done, but no, Ian had one more place where we just had to do a tasting. Asara is a huge place where we tasted five delicious types - my favorite was the Pinotage, a red varietal grown only in S Africa. We sat at a table outside by a big pond full of birds hunting their dinner and watched the sun begin to set before we finally drove back to the hostel.
We cooked a huge feast for our last night there, and to try to thank Ian for the amazing day. There was no way we could ever have gotten such a tour, even if we'd booked a private outing with a super expensive tour group.
As we grilled steaks we all chatted with PJ, the owner of the hostel. We tried to learn more of the history of this crazy place from him. It was indeed a huge mental hospital, whites across the river at a nicer facility that still operates, and blacks and coloreds on our side of the river. The place occupied by the hostel was specifically for black women, and stopped operating as such about 25 years ago. It's so strange the way they still talk about "blacks" and "coloreds" in this country - coloreds being any non whites, including light skinned blacks, Indians, etc. The issues surrounding race here are huge, and you can feel how young this democracy still is.
Today we fly to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. We are staying with Logan and Molly Wheeler. Molly is an old friend from way back - we went to summer camp together and the Outdoor Academy. Her husband is in the US Foreign Service, and they moved to Dar last August. I can't wait to see them both.
Jonathan and I keep joking that we still haven't seen Africa yet, we've seen Cape Town. I have a feeling we're about to see a very different Africa than the manicured vineyards and leafy, shaded streets of the European-like cities around Cape Town. The adventure continues...
Sunday, March 4, 2012
South Africa
South Africa
We made it! All our flights (Buenos Aires - São Paolo - Johannesburg - Cape Town) were all on time and went perfectly smoothly. Even our bags made it just fine. And to top it off, South African Airlines actually serves really good food!! Our stewardess from São Paolo to Johannesburg was awesome and gave us very good advice about South Africa and then presented us with a bottle of S African champagne at the end of the flight, since we had explained our crazy honeymoon to her. So sweet.
Cape Town is so beautiful. Everyone told us we would love it here. The stewardess (and everyone else we've talked to) told us not to spend any time in Jo-burg, so we've scrapped our original plans of spending 2 1/2 days here and then 2 1/2 days there before we fly on to Tanzania. Now we're just going to stay in Cape Town, and we bought a cheap plane ticket to Jo-burg, that will get us into the airport a couple hours before our flight to Tanzania.
I found a place online that looked great and offered camping, so we headed straight there from the airport. Riverlodge Backpackers is a funky little place that is part of the Oude Molen Eco Village. The "village" is a conglomeration of lots of projects - a small organic farm, a Waldorf school, a day care, a cafe that sells organic food, a community theater, a barn with horses for rent to go trail riding, and a few random art studios. Everything is kind of haphazard, and most of the projects look like they were started with the best of intentions and then kind of fizzled. But the lodge is a safe, comfy place, and we set up our tent among many others and set off to explore the city.
Cape Town is very dramatic because it's on the water, surrounded by Table Mountain (a huge flat top mountain with sheer cliffs for sides), Lions Head mountain, and Signal Hill, both slightly smaller mountains that are equally impressive. The city itself is really beautiful, and we started by exploring the famous waterfront.
The V&A waterfront (named for Queen Victoria and her son, Alfred) is designed mostly for tourists but is still a very active harbor with big and small boats. The money here in S Africa was immediately apparent. Of course diamonds are huge here, as is platinum mining and coal, oil and natural gas extraction, sports and tourism. I haven't seen so many Porsches, BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, and Range Rovers in one place, with the exception of West Palm Beach, FL, maybe. There were condos along the waterfront for sale for a few million dollars each, but we decided not to buy one.
That night I did lots of reading about Cape Town, in order to make plans for all the things we can do in the next few days. In my reading, I came across a description of the place where we're staying. Turns out it is a former mental hospital. It really does look like one, and it is badly in need of repair in some places. More than a little creepy! Then we started chatting with some of the other folks staying here (some of whom have been camping here for months.) Jonathan and I have decided maybe it is still a bit of a mental hospital, even if the info says it shut down as such almost 50 years ago. There is an Albino man here who is mentally handicapped. He doesn't speak much English, but he likes to give me a fist bump and Jonathan a noogie on the head every time he sees us. He promptly gets into his matching pajamas at 6 pm every evening. He has a huge tent that he has pieced together with all sorts of strange bits of junk around, and I think he has been living here for quite some time.
Today we got a late start due to our jet lag (or mostly mine!) We spent most of the day exploring the rest of the waterfront. We started out going to the Two Oceans Aquarium, which is a fantastic place! They have incredible displays that are so well lit that it is really easy to see every detail of the marine life. Everything you can think of is on display there. My favorites were the giant spider crabs (really, really giant and the biologists have no way to tell how old they are, what sex they are, or how they reproduce!); the rays (so friendly!!); and definitely the penguins. They have both African Penguins and another type, who's name I can't remember. But they're the ones with the fringy bright yellow feathers above their eyes that stick out like huge eyebrows. Also, they were in Happy Feet - that will probably give you a better picture! The African Penguins were so sociable and curious. I took tons of photos and some video that I will try to put on Facebook.
We had a late lunch along the water and then wandered back into the city. Along the jetties are some docks where seals hang out and sunbathe. They have got to be the cutest things ever, except they smell seriously bad.
We walked some more into the city hoping to find a big market that is supposed to be awesome on Saturdays, but everyone was closing up shop by the time we got there. So we took the train back to our crazy hostel and went grocery shopping. Our plan is to cook for ourselves the rest of the time to save some money, and this place has a great kitchen.
We spent the night grilling alongside a very friendly South African named Ian, who is a wealth of knowledge. His family has lived in S Africa since 1669, and there doesn't seen to be much he doesn't know about this country. He recommended that we take the train down towards the Cape of Good Hope nature reserve. There is a huge penguin colony at Boulder Beach, so that will be our first stop, and then we'll just spend the day exploring the reserve.
Now I'm going to try to get some sleep, but I'm still on Argentina time, and two of our resident crazies here have decided to try to be DJs for the night. They're blaring electronica and pop music with the bass cranked up. Might be a night for the earplugs...
We made it! All our flights (Buenos Aires - São Paolo - Johannesburg - Cape Town) were all on time and went perfectly smoothly. Even our bags made it just fine. And to top it off, South African Airlines actually serves really good food!! Our stewardess from São Paolo to Johannesburg was awesome and gave us very good advice about South Africa and then presented us with a bottle of S African champagne at the end of the flight, since we had explained our crazy honeymoon to her. So sweet.
Cape Town is so beautiful. Everyone told us we would love it here. The stewardess (and everyone else we've talked to) told us not to spend any time in Jo-burg, so we've scrapped our original plans of spending 2 1/2 days here and then 2 1/2 days there before we fly on to Tanzania. Now we're just going to stay in Cape Town, and we bought a cheap plane ticket to Jo-burg, that will get us into the airport a couple hours before our flight to Tanzania.
I found a place online that looked great and offered camping, so we headed straight there from the airport. Riverlodge Backpackers is a funky little place that is part of the Oude Molen Eco Village. The "village" is a conglomeration of lots of projects - a small organic farm, a Waldorf school, a day care, a cafe that sells organic food, a community theater, a barn with horses for rent to go trail riding, and a few random art studios. Everything is kind of haphazard, and most of the projects look like they were started with the best of intentions and then kind of fizzled. But the lodge is a safe, comfy place, and we set up our tent among many others and set off to explore the city.
Cape Town is very dramatic because it's on the water, surrounded by Table Mountain (a huge flat top mountain with sheer cliffs for sides), Lions Head mountain, and Signal Hill, both slightly smaller mountains that are equally impressive. The city itself is really beautiful, and we started by exploring the famous waterfront.
The V&A waterfront (named for Queen Victoria and her son, Alfred) is designed mostly for tourists but is still a very active harbor with big and small boats. The money here in S Africa was immediately apparent. Of course diamonds are huge here, as is platinum mining and coal, oil and natural gas extraction, sports and tourism. I haven't seen so many Porsches, BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, and Range Rovers in one place, with the exception of West Palm Beach, FL, maybe. There were condos along the waterfront for sale for a few million dollars each, but we decided not to buy one.
That night I did lots of reading about Cape Town, in order to make plans for all the things we can do in the next few days. In my reading, I came across a description of the place where we're staying. Turns out it is a former mental hospital. It really does look like one, and it is badly in need of repair in some places. More than a little creepy! Then we started chatting with some of the other folks staying here (some of whom have been camping here for months.) Jonathan and I have decided maybe it is still a bit of a mental hospital, even if the info says it shut down as such almost 50 years ago. There is an Albino man here who is mentally handicapped. He doesn't speak much English, but he likes to give me a fist bump and Jonathan a noogie on the head every time he sees us. He promptly gets into his matching pajamas at 6 pm every evening. He has a huge tent that he has pieced together with all sorts of strange bits of junk around, and I think he has been living here for quite some time.
Today we got a late start due to our jet lag (or mostly mine!) We spent most of the day exploring the rest of the waterfront. We started out going to the Two Oceans Aquarium, which is a fantastic place! They have incredible displays that are so well lit that it is really easy to see every detail of the marine life. Everything you can think of is on display there. My favorites were the giant spider crabs (really, really giant and the biologists have no way to tell how old they are, what sex they are, or how they reproduce!); the rays (so friendly!!); and definitely the penguins. They have both African Penguins and another type, who's name I can't remember. But they're the ones with the fringy bright yellow feathers above their eyes that stick out like huge eyebrows. Also, they were in Happy Feet - that will probably give you a better picture! The African Penguins were so sociable and curious. I took tons of photos and some video that I will try to put on Facebook.
We had a late lunch along the water and then wandered back into the city. Along the jetties are some docks where seals hang out and sunbathe. They have got to be the cutest things ever, except they smell seriously bad.
We walked some more into the city hoping to find a big market that is supposed to be awesome on Saturdays, but everyone was closing up shop by the time we got there. So we took the train back to our crazy hostel and went grocery shopping. Our plan is to cook for ourselves the rest of the time to save some money, and this place has a great kitchen.
We spent the night grilling alongside a very friendly South African named Ian, who is a wealth of knowledge. His family has lived in S Africa since 1669, and there doesn't seen to be much he doesn't know about this country. He recommended that we take the train down towards the Cape of Good Hope nature reserve. There is a huge penguin colony at Boulder Beach, so that will be our first stop, and then we'll just spend the day exploring the reserve.
Now I'm going to try to get some sleep, but I'm still on Argentina time, and two of our resident crazies here have decided to try to be DJs for the night. They're blaring electronica and pop music with the bass cranked up. Might be a night for the earplugs...
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Well...not our favorite couple of days. We arrived in Buenos Aires in the morning to pouring rain. It was early, so we couldn't check into our hostel, but we found our way on the subway to the area & then walked through the rain for a while before finding the place. They at least let us store our bags & use their wireless before we set off again. The rain let up a bit, so we explored the city some. It is huge! About 1/3 of Argentina's entire population (over 40 million at last count) lives in this city. There are some beautiful buildings and the main boulevard is meant to remind you of Paris. It is definitely very European in feel. Unfortunately my foot is really bothering me, not quite sure what I've done, so all the walking was not too enjoyable. We had a yummy pizza for lunch & went back to our hostel, where our room was finally ready.
My mom mailed us a package here that included guide books for Africa and lots of other little things. We tried to go pick it up in the afternoon, but they were holding it at the post office, since it was over a certain size. Jonathan's name was on the package, so he had to be the one to pick it up. He went to the downtown post office, where he took a number and waited almost an hour. When they finally called his number they gave him another slip of paper & told him that he had to go to the "other" post office across town where the packages were held in order to actually get the package.
So the next morning we set off for this other post office. We stopped first at the bank, since no one seems to take credit cards here, including our hostel. The other post office was back in the bad part of town by the bus station, where we had arrived. We took the subway back there. It was incredibly crowded, and we all bumped into each other the whole way.
When we finally got to this post office we took a number and started to wait. It was then that we discovered Jonathan had been pick pocketed on the subway. His wallet was gone, including all the pesos we had just gotten at the ATM, his credit cards and his license. At least we still had other credit cards and our passports safe. But I don't think there's anything worse than realizing you've been robbed while you wait endlessly in a giant government institution for your number to be called. Not the best day.
We finally had our number called and got our package. At this point it was early afternoon and all we wanted to do was go back to the hostel and have lunch. We stopped at the same subway stop where we thought he had been robbed, and we checked all the trash cans. We knew we wouldn't find the money, but we figured maybe we'd find the wallet with his license. We didn't, but we did find 2 other wallets in the first two trash cans we checked. I think they have a little problem here! We handed them over to the police officer standing nearby who seemed totally uninterested in the whole situation.
We've repacked our bags so that we are carrying on all our essentials for our flight tomorrow. We fly from Buenos Aires to Sao Paolo, Brazil, to Johannesburg, South Africa, to Cape Town. All of that is supposed to take 20 hours. We are not counting on our checked baggage making it, but it sure would be nice if it did!!
We're off to bed early so that we can get started on this crazy journey at 6 am tomorrow with a taxi to the airport. Next time you hear from us we'll be in Africa!!!
Well...not our favorite couple of days. We arrived in Buenos Aires in the morning to pouring rain. It was early, so we couldn't check into our hostel, but we found our way on the subway to the area & then walked through the rain for a while before finding the place. They at least let us store our bags & use their wireless before we set off again. The rain let up a bit, so we explored the city some. It is huge! About 1/3 of Argentina's entire population (over 40 million at last count) lives in this city. There are some beautiful buildings and the main boulevard is meant to remind you of Paris. It is definitely very European in feel. Unfortunately my foot is really bothering me, not quite sure what I've done, so all the walking was not too enjoyable. We had a yummy pizza for lunch & went back to our hostel, where our room was finally ready.
My mom mailed us a package here that included guide books for Africa and lots of other little things. We tried to go pick it up in the afternoon, but they were holding it at the post office, since it was over a certain size. Jonathan's name was on the package, so he had to be the one to pick it up. He went to the downtown post office, where he took a number and waited almost an hour. When they finally called his number they gave him another slip of paper & told him that he had to go to the "other" post office across town where the packages were held in order to actually get the package.
So the next morning we set off for this other post office. We stopped first at the bank, since no one seems to take credit cards here, including our hostel. The other post office was back in the bad part of town by the bus station, where we had arrived. We took the subway back there. It was incredibly crowded, and we all bumped into each other the whole way.
When we finally got to this post office we took a number and started to wait. It was then that we discovered Jonathan had been pick pocketed on the subway. His wallet was gone, including all the pesos we had just gotten at the ATM, his credit cards and his license. At least we still had other credit cards and our passports safe. But I don't think there's anything worse than realizing you've been robbed while you wait endlessly in a giant government institution for your number to be called. Not the best day.
We finally had our number called and got our package. At this point it was early afternoon and all we wanted to do was go back to the hostel and have lunch. We stopped at the same subway stop where we thought he had been robbed, and we checked all the trash cans. We knew we wouldn't find the money, but we figured maybe we'd find the wallet with his license. We didn't, but we did find 2 other wallets in the first two trash cans we checked. I think they have a little problem here! We handed them over to the police officer standing nearby who seemed totally uninterested in the whole situation.
We've repacked our bags so that we are carrying on all our essentials for our flight tomorrow. We fly from Buenos Aires to Sao Paolo, Brazil, to Johannesburg, South Africa, to Cape Town. All of that is supposed to take 20 hours. We are not counting on our checked baggage making it, but it sure would be nice if it did!!
We're off to bed early so that we can get started on this crazy journey at 6 am tomorrow with a taxi to the airport. Next time you hear from us we'll be in Africa!!!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wine country!!
Wine country!
We had such fun in beautiful little Maipu. It is a suburb of Mendoza, where there are vineyards everywhere you look. It is so gorgeous, green beautiful vineyards with the Andes as a backdrop. On a clear day you can see snow on the tops of the tallest mountains, even though it was about 85 degrees each day where we were.
I had found a campsite online that looked ok, so we found a taxi from Maipu that would drive us out there. The driver was a very fat man who drove the biggest pickup truck we've seen since we came to South America - an old F250. He, like most Argentinians we met, was completely impossible to understand. They speak so fast and with a very strong accent! We were doing so well with our Spanish and understanding people really well all through Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, but we can't understand anyone in Argentina! We finally gathered from this guy that he was recommending a butcher shop to us that made the best chorizo, in his very well researched opinion, in all of Argentina. So we stopped and bought some chorizo, and it really was fabulous.
The campsite was amazing! It was huge and had tons of sites for tents, a pool, about 7 soccer fields, a little store, bathrooms with hot showers - what more could you want?! And all for $5 per day.
Our next stop was the bike rental company. We hitchhiked back into town where we rented two adorable red bikes from the sweetest man ever. He gave us about 5 different maps showing every vineyard and olive farm around. There are also tons of farms with olive orchards (not sure if orchard is the right word?) that make olive oil here. Many of the vineyards have olive trees growing among the vines and also make olive oil along with wine.
We set off that afternoon to see two vineyards, even though it was getting late, because the next day (Sunday) most of the vineyards were closed. Our first stop was a bodega called Vistandes. It is considered a "boutique" winery because they produce less than 1 million liters of wine per year. It didn't seem like a boutique, since it was huge and very modern. We got a great tour and got to do two tastings. They make a really wonderful Malbec (the most popular grape here) and also a very good white wine called Torrontes. The Torrontes grapes are grown farther north, near Salta.
Our next stop was Familia Tomas. It's a smaller vineyard, owned by the Tomas family for many generations. It was beautiful, and we got to taste their young Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and their Malbec that had been aged in oak. Finally, we tasted their sweet dessert wine made from Torrontes grapes. It was a bit too sweet for our tastes, but the other wines were delicious!
The next morning we were excited to head off for more vineyards, but Jonathan's front tire on his bike was flat. Luckily, we found a friend who called the bike shop, and they sent someone out pretty quickly to fix it at no cost. And because we had lost an hour due to the flat, they offered to come back the next day and pick us up in their van so we didn't have to bike all the way back to the shop. So sweet!
So we were off again by late morning and stopped first at the only organic vineyard in the area - Family Cecchine. This was our favorite! The guide was a young guy from CA who had been traveling around the area, fallen in love with this place, and stayed for 3 months learning about growing organically, all the different wines, improving his Spanish, etc. He gave us a fantastic tour, and then we got to taste 5 wines, including a very special aged one from 2005. We tried a rose, made from Malbec, a young Malbec, a Carignae (I hadn't ever heard of that, but it was my favorite!!) a Syrah, and the fancy aged Malbec. They were all wonderful, and this guy's excitement about the wine was totally contagious. He was so in love with each one and took such care in describing them. I love it when people are passionate about what they do!
We went to one more vineyard, Carinae, and had a nice tour and tasting, although much less exciting than the previous one. After that day I can honestly say that I was a little sick of wine. That hardly ever happens! But it was so educational to learn all about the different grapes, the different aging techniques in both French and American oak bottles, the differences in corks, and on and on. Even Jonathan, who is definitely a beer guy and thinks red wine tastes like red wine, said he could really start to taste a difference in all the wines and was beginning to understand what the hell they were all talking about!
The next day we hung out in Maipu for a bit and then headed back into Mendoza where we had a fabulous late lunch of Italian food. That night we took the last of our South American buses - a 14 hour, overnight trip to Buenos Aires. We'll just be in BA for 2 short days, and then we fly to South Africa!!
We had such fun in beautiful little Maipu. It is a suburb of Mendoza, where there are vineyards everywhere you look. It is so gorgeous, green beautiful vineyards with the Andes as a backdrop. On a clear day you can see snow on the tops of the tallest mountains, even though it was about 85 degrees each day where we were.
I had found a campsite online that looked ok, so we found a taxi from Maipu that would drive us out there. The driver was a very fat man who drove the biggest pickup truck we've seen since we came to South America - an old F250. He, like most Argentinians we met, was completely impossible to understand. They speak so fast and with a very strong accent! We were doing so well with our Spanish and understanding people really well all through Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, but we can't understand anyone in Argentina! We finally gathered from this guy that he was recommending a butcher shop to us that made the best chorizo, in his very well researched opinion, in all of Argentina. So we stopped and bought some chorizo, and it really was fabulous.
The campsite was amazing! It was huge and had tons of sites for tents, a pool, about 7 soccer fields, a little store, bathrooms with hot showers - what more could you want?! And all for $5 per day.
Our next stop was the bike rental company. We hitchhiked back into town where we rented two adorable red bikes from the sweetest man ever. He gave us about 5 different maps showing every vineyard and olive farm around. There are also tons of farms with olive orchards (not sure if orchard is the right word?) that make olive oil here. Many of the vineyards have olive trees growing among the vines and also make olive oil along with wine.
We set off that afternoon to see two vineyards, even though it was getting late, because the next day (Sunday) most of the vineyards were closed. Our first stop was a bodega called Vistandes. It is considered a "boutique" winery because they produce less than 1 million liters of wine per year. It didn't seem like a boutique, since it was huge and very modern. We got a great tour and got to do two tastings. They make a really wonderful Malbec (the most popular grape here) and also a very good white wine called Torrontes. The Torrontes grapes are grown farther north, near Salta.
Our next stop was Familia Tomas. It's a smaller vineyard, owned by the Tomas family for many generations. It was beautiful, and we got to taste their young Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and their Malbec that had been aged in oak. Finally, we tasted their sweet dessert wine made from Torrontes grapes. It was a bit too sweet for our tastes, but the other wines were delicious!
The next morning we were excited to head off for more vineyards, but Jonathan's front tire on his bike was flat. Luckily, we found a friend who called the bike shop, and they sent someone out pretty quickly to fix it at no cost. And because we had lost an hour due to the flat, they offered to come back the next day and pick us up in their van so we didn't have to bike all the way back to the shop. So sweet!
So we were off again by late morning and stopped first at the only organic vineyard in the area - Family Cecchine. This was our favorite! The guide was a young guy from CA who had been traveling around the area, fallen in love with this place, and stayed for 3 months learning about growing organically, all the different wines, improving his Spanish, etc. He gave us a fantastic tour, and then we got to taste 5 wines, including a very special aged one from 2005. We tried a rose, made from Malbec, a young Malbec, a Carignae (I hadn't ever heard of that, but it was my favorite!!) a Syrah, and the fancy aged Malbec. They were all wonderful, and this guy's excitement about the wine was totally contagious. He was so in love with each one and took such care in describing them. I love it when people are passionate about what they do!
We went to one more vineyard, Carinae, and had a nice tour and tasting, although much less exciting than the previous one. After that day I can honestly say that I was a little sick of wine. That hardly ever happens! But it was so educational to learn all about the different grapes, the different aging techniques in both French and American oak bottles, the differences in corks, and on and on. Even Jonathan, who is definitely a beer guy and thinks red wine tastes like red wine, said he could really start to taste a difference in all the wines and was beginning to understand what the hell they were all talking about!
The next day we hung out in Maipu for a bit and then headed back into Mendoza where we had a fabulous late lunch of Italian food. That night we took the last of our South American buses - a 14 hour, overnight trip to Buenos Aires. We'll just be in BA for 2 short days, and then we fly to South Africa!!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Salta
Salta
We finally made it to Argentina! We had our friendly driver, Andres, take us through the very last part of southern Bolivia, which was so beautiful. It just got more and more green and lush as we went farther south, since we were dropping in altitude. We said good bye to Andres at the border & got our stamps, then finally found a taxi who would take us to Oran, where we could then get a bus to Salta.
It was amazing to observe the difference in the land as soon as we crossed into Argentina. Suddenly the jungle-like mountains leveled off and it was just flat, beautiful farmland full of orange groves, sugar cane fields, etc. Clearly this was the prime farmland, and poorer Bolivia was left with jungle mountains when they were dividing things up! Also it was immediately noticeable that we were in a much more developed country. The roads were very good, and there were street lamps everywhere - hadn't seen those in a long time!
Salta is a beautiful city (supposedly the most beautiful city in Argentina according to a couple books, but who decides that?) It is big, about 1 million people, and has tons of lovely squares or plazas and really impressively clean streets lined with very old Sycamore trees.
We got into the city late, and as we were driving in our taxi to the hostel, we saw folks running. It's been so long since I have seen anyone purposely exercising, that for a second I got scared and thought they were being chased!
The next day we walked all over the city, exploring the historical center and then walking all the way out to the artisanal market where there are tons of artists selling silver jewelry, leather goods, beautiful shawls and other items made from alpaca hair, woven fabrics, bags, paintings, pretty much everything you can imagine.
That night we made ourselves some spaghetti primavera and a big salad. We have been craving some fresh veggies and a meal that doesn't center around large amounts of salty meat. Not that we haven't enjoyed the food, we absolutely have, but they are not big on fresh veggies here.
The hostel where we stayed was very nice and owned by a family with a son, Matthias, in his early 20s. He is studying English and asked if we'd like to come with him to his class. It was such fun! It's a group of young people - all around 18-25 - who are taking an intensive English course. They go to class from 9-11pm Monday through Friday. We were seated in the front of the class, facing everyone. They had a lot of fun asking us all sorts of questions. What were American people like? What was the weather like in NC? What was our typical food like in NC? That was funny to try to explain BBQ, slaw & sweet iced tea. I don't know if they believed us about the tea. Some of the guys had heard of the rivalry between UNC & Duke's basketball teams and needed to know who we pulled for. I think we disappointed them a bit there, since neither of us cares much. It was such fun, and we invited them all to come visit us in NC if they ever came to the US. I better have sweet tea ready when they get there.
The next day Jonathan bought a fabulous used Nikon camera, that is really nice, so he is back to taking pictures! We took the teleferica (cable car) up the big hill on the edge of the city. It is a beautiful ride up, and at the top there's a lovely park with lots of lookouts over the city. Great practice for Jonathan's new camera. Also at the top was a sort of gym, with stationary bikes for a spinning class and machines for weight training. Apparently it's a popular workout to run or bike up the hill, pump some iron, and run or bike back down. You know you're in a developed country when there's a spin class at the top of the mountain!
We walked back down the hill into the city and spent the rest of the afternoon reading, researching our next stops and cooking another healthy dinner. We had a bus that night that would take us to Mendoza, our next stop.
Mendoza is known for its wine. It is the biggest city in the state of Mendoza, which exports huge amounts of wine all over the world. Malbecs are what they are most famous for, but there are also a lot of Cabernets, Merlots, some Syrahs, and many white wines as well.
The bus ride to Mendoza turned out to be 18 hours, so we didn't get in until after 3 in the afternoon. We met a really nice woman on the bus who is from Texas, and we shared a cab into the city with her and then ended up staying in a 5 person dorm room with her as well, since it's the only thing we could find.
The 3 of us headed out that evening in search of good steak, since that's the other thing Mendoza (and Argentina in general) is known for. A buffet place had been recommended to us, so we went and checked it out. They cook the meat in a really cool way. They have a kind of giant, iron Lazy Susan, with all sort of cuts of meat and sausages spread out on it, and there are a few openings where the chef can put fresh, hot coals underneath and then spin the whole wheel around to give certain meats more or less heat. We ate way, way too much and then waddled back to our hostel.
The next morning we said goodbye to Brittney and headed into Maipu, it's a smaller suburb of Mendoza, where there are tons of vineyards. I read online about a great campground there, so that is our first destination. Then our plan is to rent bikes and start touring the vineyards of the area. Can't wait!!
We finally made it to Argentina! We had our friendly driver, Andres, take us through the very last part of southern Bolivia, which was so beautiful. It just got more and more green and lush as we went farther south, since we were dropping in altitude. We said good bye to Andres at the border & got our stamps, then finally found a taxi who would take us to Oran, where we could then get a bus to Salta.
It was amazing to observe the difference in the land as soon as we crossed into Argentina. Suddenly the jungle-like mountains leveled off and it was just flat, beautiful farmland full of orange groves, sugar cane fields, etc. Clearly this was the prime farmland, and poorer Bolivia was left with jungle mountains when they were dividing things up! Also it was immediately noticeable that we were in a much more developed country. The roads were very good, and there were street lamps everywhere - hadn't seen those in a long time!
Salta is a beautiful city (supposedly the most beautiful city in Argentina according to a couple books, but who decides that?) It is big, about 1 million people, and has tons of lovely squares or plazas and really impressively clean streets lined with very old Sycamore trees.
We got into the city late, and as we were driving in our taxi to the hostel, we saw folks running. It's been so long since I have seen anyone purposely exercising, that for a second I got scared and thought they were being chased!
The next day we walked all over the city, exploring the historical center and then walking all the way out to the artisanal market where there are tons of artists selling silver jewelry, leather goods, beautiful shawls and other items made from alpaca hair, woven fabrics, bags, paintings, pretty much everything you can imagine.
That night we made ourselves some spaghetti primavera and a big salad. We have been craving some fresh veggies and a meal that doesn't center around large amounts of salty meat. Not that we haven't enjoyed the food, we absolutely have, but they are not big on fresh veggies here.
The hostel where we stayed was very nice and owned by a family with a son, Matthias, in his early 20s. He is studying English and asked if we'd like to come with him to his class. It was such fun! It's a group of young people - all around 18-25 - who are taking an intensive English course. They go to class from 9-11pm Monday through Friday. We were seated in the front of the class, facing everyone. They had a lot of fun asking us all sorts of questions. What were American people like? What was the weather like in NC? What was our typical food like in NC? That was funny to try to explain BBQ, slaw & sweet iced tea. I don't know if they believed us about the tea. Some of the guys had heard of the rivalry between UNC & Duke's basketball teams and needed to know who we pulled for. I think we disappointed them a bit there, since neither of us cares much. It was such fun, and we invited them all to come visit us in NC if they ever came to the US. I better have sweet tea ready when they get there.
The next day Jonathan bought a fabulous used Nikon camera, that is really nice, so he is back to taking pictures! We took the teleferica (cable car) up the big hill on the edge of the city. It is a beautiful ride up, and at the top there's a lovely park with lots of lookouts over the city. Great practice for Jonathan's new camera. Also at the top was a sort of gym, with stationary bikes for a spinning class and machines for weight training. Apparently it's a popular workout to run or bike up the hill, pump some iron, and run or bike back down. You know you're in a developed country when there's a spin class at the top of the mountain!
We walked back down the hill into the city and spent the rest of the afternoon reading, researching our next stops and cooking another healthy dinner. We had a bus that night that would take us to Mendoza, our next stop.
Mendoza is known for its wine. It is the biggest city in the state of Mendoza, which exports huge amounts of wine all over the world. Malbecs are what they are most famous for, but there are also a lot of Cabernets, Merlots, some Syrahs, and many white wines as well.
The bus ride to Mendoza turned out to be 18 hours, so we didn't get in until after 3 in the afternoon. We met a really nice woman on the bus who is from Texas, and we shared a cab into the city with her and then ended up staying in a 5 person dorm room with her as well, since it's the only thing we could find.
The 3 of us headed out that evening in search of good steak, since that's the other thing Mendoza (and Argentina in general) is known for. A buffet place had been recommended to us, so we went and checked it out. They cook the meat in a really cool way. They have a kind of giant, iron Lazy Susan, with all sort of cuts of meat and sausages spread out on it, and there are a few openings where the chef can put fresh, hot coals underneath and then spin the whole wheel around to give certain meats more or less heat. We ate way, way too much and then waddled back to our hostel.
The next morning we said goodbye to Brittney and headed into Maipu, it's a smaller suburb of Mendoza, where there are tons of vineyards. I read online about a great campground there, so that is our first destination. Then our plan is to rent bikes and start touring the vineyards of the area. Can't wait!!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tarija
Tarija
Ok, scratch that about Tarija's Carnaval being more subdued! It's not as enormous as Oruro's, but the people might be even rowdier.
We got on a bus in Oruro at 9 at night and set off for a supposed 14 hour trip. On the map the road to Tarija is signified by a dashed line instead of a solid line - always a good sign, right? ;) The first thing we notice about our bus - the rear suspension is totally kaput. Absolutely no shocks left on this giant bohemoth. And then the driver used the breaks for the first time and we all jumped out of our seats at the horrendous squeal and clear lack of any break pads left on this double decker. Actually, Jonathan and I were the only ones who jumped out of our seats. Everyone else seemed completely undisturbed. We just looked at each other and said, ok, let's spend the next 14 hours on a dirt road in a bus with no shocks and limited breaks. And so we did. Except it was 16 hours.
But we made it, and Tarija is a really beautiful city. It's in an area of southern Bolivia known for producing wine, and it would remind you a bit of Northern CA. Green but fairly dry rolling hills and mountains. The difference is that these mountains are the Andes, and we're still at almost 2000 meters! The highest altitude wines in the world are grown here.
So back to Carnaval... The folks here are also into the spoma - spray stuff in a can, but mostly they love getting you soaked with water. Water guns, water balloons, hoses, and even buckets of water. These are all appropriate to use on random people walking down the street. It's like a giant, city wide game of tag, played with water. It's a 13 year old boy's dream. I actually don't mind the water as much as that spoma crap, but it's still a bit disturbing to be strolling along and suddenly get pelted with a water balloon. Ah well, we tried to laugh about it, since they all seem to think it's the funniest thing in the world, and everyone is targeted, so at least they weren't just picking on the tall white people!
Today we went about 20km south of Tarija to the Valle de Concepcion, where most of the vineyards are located. It's a beautiful area, and we hoped to tour a couple wineries. We started with Casa Vieja, a 350+ year old adobe house and former Jesuit convent where they still make patero vino - foot stomped wine and port. I can't say the wine was the best I'd ever had, but we had a great time. We met a group of 3 hilarious folks from La Paz who latched onto us right away. They spoke perfect English, and we spent most of the day with them. After touring the vineyards and tasting the wine, we sat down to a great lunch in Casa Vieja's restaurant. They had a wonderful band that was playing traditional music from the Tarija region and a young man & woman from the audience got up to perform the traditional Chapaco dance. They were fantastic!
We decided to share a ride back to Tarija with our new friends. We watched the insane Carnaval celebrations in the central square, mostly just beer drinking and more soaking each other with water.
Another friend we met by chance helped us arrange for transportation down to the Argentinian border the next day. It was not looking good until this wonderful guy started helping us. Tuesday (the day we wanted to leave) is the day of Carnaval where you bless everything - cars, houses, each other - with alcohol. A little for you, a little on the car, a little more for you, a little on your house's foundation. Therefore, everyone told us it was either impossible to travel or really dangerous, since we'd be riding in a car covered in beer driven by man full of liquor. Delightful. But our friend, Amilcar, had a friend who would drive us, and this friend didn't drink, so we were safe.
Our destination is Salta, Argentina. We'll go with our non-drinking driver to the border, then we'll have to find other transportation for the remaining 200 miles to Salta. Argentina will be our last South American country! I'm excited to see it, but I'm sad to leave beautiful Bolivia.
Ok, scratch that about Tarija's Carnaval being more subdued! It's not as enormous as Oruro's, but the people might be even rowdier.
We got on a bus in Oruro at 9 at night and set off for a supposed 14 hour trip. On the map the road to Tarija is signified by a dashed line instead of a solid line - always a good sign, right? ;) The first thing we notice about our bus - the rear suspension is totally kaput. Absolutely no shocks left on this giant bohemoth. And then the driver used the breaks for the first time and we all jumped out of our seats at the horrendous squeal and clear lack of any break pads left on this double decker. Actually, Jonathan and I were the only ones who jumped out of our seats. Everyone else seemed completely undisturbed. We just looked at each other and said, ok, let's spend the next 14 hours on a dirt road in a bus with no shocks and limited breaks. And so we did. Except it was 16 hours.
But we made it, and Tarija is a really beautiful city. It's in an area of southern Bolivia known for producing wine, and it would remind you a bit of Northern CA. Green but fairly dry rolling hills and mountains. The difference is that these mountains are the Andes, and we're still at almost 2000 meters! The highest altitude wines in the world are grown here.
So back to Carnaval... The folks here are also into the spoma - spray stuff in a can, but mostly they love getting you soaked with water. Water guns, water balloons, hoses, and even buckets of water. These are all appropriate to use on random people walking down the street. It's like a giant, city wide game of tag, played with water. It's a 13 year old boy's dream. I actually don't mind the water as much as that spoma crap, but it's still a bit disturbing to be strolling along and suddenly get pelted with a water balloon. Ah well, we tried to laugh about it, since they all seem to think it's the funniest thing in the world, and everyone is targeted, so at least they weren't just picking on the tall white people!
Today we went about 20km south of Tarija to the Valle de Concepcion, where most of the vineyards are located. It's a beautiful area, and we hoped to tour a couple wineries. We started with Casa Vieja, a 350+ year old adobe house and former Jesuit convent where they still make patero vino - foot stomped wine and port. I can't say the wine was the best I'd ever had, but we had a great time. We met a group of 3 hilarious folks from La Paz who latched onto us right away. They spoke perfect English, and we spent most of the day with them. After touring the vineyards and tasting the wine, we sat down to a great lunch in Casa Vieja's restaurant. They had a wonderful band that was playing traditional music from the Tarija region and a young man & woman from the audience got up to perform the traditional Chapaco dance. They were fantastic!
We decided to share a ride back to Tarija with our new friends. We watched the insane Carnaval celebrations in the central square, mostly just beer drinking and more soaking each other with water.
Another friend we met by chance helped us arrange for transportation down to the Argentinian border the next day. It was not looking good until this wonderful guy started helping us. Tuesday (the day we wanted to leave) is the day of Carnaval where you bless everything - cars, houses, each other - with alcohol. A little for you, a little on the car, a little more for you, a little on your house's foundation. Therefore, everyone told us it was either impossible to travel or really dangerous, since we'd be riding in a car covered in beer driven by man full of liquor. Delightful. But our friend, Amilcar, had a friend who would drive us, and this friend didn't drink, so we were safe.
Our destination is Salta, Argentina. We'll go with our non-drinking driver to the border, then we'll have to find other transportation for the remaining 200 miles to Salta. Argentina will be our last South American country! I'm excited to see it, but I'm sad to leave beautiful Bolivia.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Oruro - Carnaval!
Oruro - Carnaval!
We hadn't planned on going to Oruro, but when everyone & their brother tells you, you have to go, then you go!
Carnaval really got started on Saturday, and we were going to arrive in Oruro on Wed. A tourist agency in La Paz told us there would be nothing to see until Saturday, but other local people told us we could watch the set up and watch people practicing their dances. We also figured it would be easier to get a hotel room.
Arriving in Oruro, you would never expect that they are famous for throwing the country's biggest party each year. It is a mining town on the Altiplano (the high plains) and it is hands down the dirtiest place we've been. Driving in there was flooding everywhere and trash as far as the eye could see. It looked sort of like a land fill, if you had spread the trash from the landfill all over the place, and added 4-6 inches of water on top. Luckily, once we got into the actual town, things looked better.
We started walking toward a place we had read about that sounded good for a room. When we were getting close, a local lady stopped us on the street and asked if we had a place to stay. Since all the hotel rooms get booked up for Carnaval, a lot of the enterprising home owners rent out a room in their house. We went to check it out, and it was lovely and quiet, so we worked out a deal with her to stay through Saturday mid day.
The extended Lopez family lived in this house - grandmother and grandfather, their 3 grown children (2 women and a man), the two young children of one of the daughters and their dog, Snoopy. These were such sweet people, and they really wanted us to enjoy our stay. So much so that they would each individually check on us and offer us tea, coffee, food, etc. It got to be pretty funny, because every 5 minutes, someone would knock on our door and make sure we were ok. Grandma made us both drink more tea and eat more than the rest of the whole family would have needed. They were wonderful.
After settling in on Wed, we were told that Thurs was the big parade for all the local campesinos, or native people who live in small, rural communities. This parade alone would have made the trip to Oruro worthwhile. The costumes and dances were unbelievable!
As for Carnaval itself on Saturday, I can't even begin to describe it. I will upload my bijillions of pictures to FB, and the best I can do is just give you snapshots of some of the scenes from the day.
- An all day parade (7 am to 4am) consisting of people dressed as devils, angels, giant bears, cowboys, slaves, slave drivers, conquistadors, showgirls, women and men in traditional costumes, and endless big bands.
- Mostly kids (but plenty of adults too) spraying anyone they could surprise with "spoma," a sort of shaving cream in a can that sprays really far. We got completely covered on more than one occasion and took to wearing our rain coats with the hood on at all times.
- A little boy (maybe 4?) who was reaking havoc during the parade. His parents were no where to be seen. He would dash back and forth across the parade - through the legs of people dancing on platform heels - and in between acts would do things like break beer bottles in the street, kick cans in the way of the people in the parade, bring a giant box and set it right in the middle of the road, etc. When a cop finally walked by, our whole side of the stands started yelling at him to get the little boy. But there were so many kids, he kept grabbing the wrong one, as the real hellion would sneak behind his back, run between his legs, etc. When he finally got the right kid, he held him up in the air to us as we all cheered, and just then another little boy started peeing in the road right behind the cop. This produced more jeers from the crowd at which point the cop put the original little bad boy back down with his peeing buddy and just walked away.
- People selling absolutely everything during the parade, walking up and down in front of the stands, yelling out their wears. Beer! (Every other vendor was selling beer, including kids that looked about 12.) Spoma! (to spray everyone) Ponchos! (to protect yourself from the spoma) Balloons! Empanadas! Humitas! Ice cream! Cigarettes! Candy! Llama jerky! Cotton candy! Hard boiled eggs! Sherbet! Hard liquor! A handy device to cut pineapples in one smooth motion! French fries! Kleenex! Bubbles! And on, and on, and on...
- People trying to squeeze onto bleachers with a seating system that left a little to be desired. You have to buy seats for Carnaval, and the best seats cost quite a lot. We had pretty good seats (right across the way from Evo Morales, the president!) But even these good seats were just wooden bleachers, and they had painted numbers on them. First of all the numbers were spaced far enough apart for elementary school children, not grown adults. Secondly, each row was numbered the same, and the rows were supposedly lettered A, B, C, etc, except these were not written anywhere, which led to many disagreements. The only one who "knew" the row letters was an older woman down front who took a liking to us, since we were the first ones to arrive. Throughout the day, people kept showing up and saying that we were in their seats. Our sweet old lady would yell at them and tell them we were NOT, and their seats were clearly those over there - those being also completely full, but we didn't argue. Since it was impossible to know which seat was which, we never knew where we were really supposed to be, and in all likelihood were most definitely taking someone's seat. But it's better to be lucky and have friends, and we just sat in the same place all day while chaos ensued around us.
- Fireworks. These people love fireworks, especially those ones that just make a really loud bang. Men would walk through the parade with these while smoking a cigarette, and use the end of their cigarette to occasionally light a whole clump of these things that would go off like a round of bullets, all while dancers are trying to dance in huge bulky costumes with giant masks on that make it so they really can't see where they're going.
- The costumes! The colors! These costumes sometimes cost over $1000 each, and that is in a country where the average worker makes around $20 a week. The embroidery and detail that goes into these things is just amazing. In order to dance or play music in the parade, you either have to pay, or it has to be passed down through your family. Absolutely amazing!
Next stop - Turija, in southern Bolivia, where they are known for their wine. They're celebrating Carnaval there too, but it will hopefully be a little more subdued!
We hadn't planned on going to Oruro, but when everyone & their brother tells you, you have to go, then you go!
Carnaval really got started on Saturday, and we were going to arrive in Oruro on Wed. A tourist agency in La Paz told us there would be nothing to see until Saturday, but other local people told us we could watch the set up and watch people practicing their dances. We also figured it would be easier to get a hotel room.
Arriving in Oruro, you would never expect that they are famous for throwing the country's biggest party each year. It is a mining town on the Altiplano (the high plains) and it is hands down the dirtiest place we've been. Driving in there was flooding everywhere and trash as far as the eye could see. It looked sort of like a land fill, if you had spread the trash from the landfill all over the place, and added 4-6 inches of water on top. Luckily, once we got into the actual town, things looked better.
We started walking toward a place we had read about that sounded good for a room. When we were getting close, a local lady stopped us on the street and asked if we had a place to stay. Since all the hotel rooms get booked up for Carnaval, a lot of the enterprising home owners rent out a room in their house. We went to check it out, and it was lovely and quiet, so we worked out a deal with her to stay through Saturday mid day.
The extended Lopez family lived in this house - grandmother and grandfather, their 3 grown children (2 women and a man), the two young children of one of the daughters and their dog, Snoopy. These were such sweet people, and they really wanted us to enjoy our stay. So much so that they would each individually check on us and offer us tea, coffee, food, etc. It got to be pretty funny, because every 5 minutes, someone would knock on our door and make sure we were ok. Grandma made us both drink more tea and eat more than the rest of the whole family would have needed. They were wonderful.
After settling in on Wed, we were told that Thurs was the big parade for all the local campesinos, or native people who live in small, rural communities. This parade alone would have made the trip to Oruro worthwhile. The costumes and dances were unbelievable!
As for Carnaval itself on Saturday, I can't even begin to describe it. I will upload my bijillions of pictures to FB, and the best I can do is just give you snapshots of some of the scenes from the day.
- An all day parade (7 am to 4am) consisting of people dressed as devils, angels, giant bears, cowboys, slaves, slave drivers, conquistadors, showgirls, women and men in traditional costumes, and endless big bands.
- Mostly kids (but plenty of adults too) spraying anyone they could surprise with "spoma," a sort of shaving cream in a can that sprays really far. We got completely covered on more than one occasion and took to wearing our rain coats with the hood on at all times.
- A little boy (maybe 4?) who was reaking havoc during the parade. His parents were no where to be seen. He would dash back and forth across the parade - through the legs of people dancing on platform heels - and in between acts would do things like break beer bottles in the street, kick cans in the way of the people in the parade, bring a giant box and set it right in the middle of the road, etc. When a cop finally walked by, our whole side of the stands started yelling at him to get the little boy. But there were so many kids, he kept grabbing the wrong one, as the real hellion would sneak behind his back, run between his legs, etc. When he finally got the right kid, he held him up in the air to us as we all cheered, and just then another little boy started peeing in the road right behind the cop. This produced more jeers from the crowd at which point the cop put the original little bad boy back down with his peeing buddy and just walked away.
- People selling absolutely everything during the parade, walking up and down in front of the stands, yelling out their wears. Beer! (Every other vendor was selling beer, including kids that looked about 12.) Spoma! (to spray everyone) Ponchos! (to protect yourself from the spoma) Balloons! Empanadas! Humitas! Ice cream! Cigarettes! Candy! Llama jerky! Cotton candy! Hard boiled eggs! Sherbet! Hard liquor! A handy device to cut pineapples in one smooth motion! French fries! Kleenex! Bubbles! And on, and on, and on...
- People trying to squeeze onto bleachers with a seating system that left a little to be desired. You have to buy seats for Carnaval, and the best seats cost quite a lot. We had pretty good seats (right across the way from Evo Morales, the president!) But even these good seats were just wooden bleachers, and they had painted numbers on them. First of all the numbers were spaced far enough apart for elementary school children, not grown adults. Secondly, each row was numbered the same, and the rows were supposedly lettered A, B, C, etc, except these were not written anywhere, which led to many disagreements. The only one who "knew" the row letters was an older woman down front who took a liking to us, since we were the first ones to arrive. Throughout the day, people kept showing up and saying that we were in their seats. Our sweet old lady would yell at them and tell them we were NOT, and their seats were clearly those over there - those being also completely full, but we didn't argue. Since it was impossible to know which seat was which, we never knew where we were really supposed to be, and in all likelihood were most definitely taking someone's seat. But it's better to be lucky and have friends, and we just sat in the same place all day while chaos ensued around us.
- Fireworks. These people love fireworks, especially those ones that just make a really loud bang. Men would walk through the parade with these while smoking a cigarette, and use the end of their cigarette to occasionally light a whole clump of these things that would go off like a round of bullets, all while dancers are trying to dance in huge bulky costumes with giant masks on that make it so they really can't see where they're going.
- The costumes! The colors! These costumes sometimes cost over $1000 each, and that is in a country where the average worker makes around $20 a week. The embroidery and detail that goes into these things is just amazing. In order to dance or play music in the parade, you either have to pay, or it has to be passed down through your family. Absolutely amazing!
Next stop - Turija, in southern Bolivia, where they are known for their wine. They're celebrating Carnaval there too, but it will hopefully be a little more subdued!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
La Paz
La Paz
We left our beloved Isla del Sol in the cold rain and took the boat back to Copacabana. The bad news is that somewhere between Cusco and Copacabana, Jonathan's camera was lost or stolen. It is terrible in so many ways, first of all because it was a seriously nice camera with a very nice lens and it was quite expensive. But even worse is the loss of all those amazing photos. We uploaded some in Costa Rica and a few in Ecuador but almost all of Ecuador and all of Peru are lost. We realized it was gone once we got to Isla del Sol, so it could have been left in Cusco, or it could have been stolen over night on the bus.
Once we got back to Copacabana, Jonathan went and filed a police report, so that we could file a claim with our travel insurance. I called back to the South American Explorers club in Cuzco just to make sure we hadn't left it there, but they hadn't seen it. The other really sad part is that Jonathan had tried to upload all the pictures in the clubhouse, but the Internet had crashed and none of them were uploaded. All the photos I've been uploading to Facebook are just taken with my iPhone, so you can imagine how wonderful Jonathan's shots were.
So we tried not to talk about photos, and we took a bus from Copacabana to La Paz. La Paz is the capital of Bolivia, a huge city, and it sits in a bowl, with huge mountains all around. It's like someone took a giant ice-cream scoop and scooped out this valley and then filled it completely with buildings, buses and cars spewing smoke. It is one of the most polluted cities in the world, because the smog has no where to go except to sit in this bowl.
We found a cheap little hostel with saggy beds, but it was safe and in the "witches' market" area. This is a market where the bruhos (witch doctors/healers) sell all sorts of magic healing things. There were endless little figurines representing all sorts of things - luck in love, fertility, travel, work, health, etc, etc. There were also endless stalls selling llama fetuses. Yes, you read that right. Supposedly (and I need to look this up) llamas become pregnant with 5 or 6 fetuses, and they abort them one at a time until they hold onto the last one for the full term. The native people keep these aborted fetuses, dry them out, and then use them as offerings to Pachamama - mother earth - along with many other herbs, candies, figurines, etc, that they burn in ceremonies. Pretty wild.
We found a fantastic Cuban restaurant that night and filled up our bellies. The next day we wandered through all the different markets. There is a huge black market, and we went there first ( secretly hoping we might find Jonathan's camera for sale there!) This was probably the most claustrophobic thing we've done so far. All the markets we've been to have been incredibly jam packed, but this was ridiculous. We somehow got stuck on the aisles selling shoes, clothing, backpacks, and school supplies. And once you get in, it's hard to get out! We never found the electronics area, so we worked our way through the kitchen supplies, bathroom fixtures, fabrics, and on and on. Finally we squeezed out of the madness and went to another market that sold food. We got some great fruits and veggies and found salteñas and tucumenas for sale on the street - these are sort of like empanadas but way better, stuffed to the max with meat, veggies, and goodness.
We spent the afternoon visiting a museum of the coca plant and wandering through the witches market and all the artisan's goods for sale around our hostel. Tomorrow we've decided to go to the town of Oruro, because we have heard so much about the Carnaval celebration there. It is supposed to be the second largest Carnaval celebration in the Americas, behind Rio de Janeiro. The real celebrations don't get started until Saturday, but we're hoping to see some of the preparation and lead up in the next couple days.
We left our beloved Isla del Sol in the cold rain and took the boat back to Copacabana. The bad news is that somewhere between Cusco and Copacabana, Jonathan's camera was lost or stolen. It is terrible in so many ways, first of all because it was a seriously nice camera with a very nice lens and it was quite expensive. But even worse is the loss of all those amazing photos. We uploaded some in Costa Rica and a few in Ecuador but almost all of Ecuador and all of Peru are lost. We realized it was gone once we got to Isla del Sol, so it could have been left in Cusco, or it could have been stolen over night on the bus.
Once we got back to Copacabana, Jonathan went and filed a police report, so that we could file a claim with our travel insurance. I called back to the South American Explorers club in Cuzco just to make sure we hadn't left it there, but they hadn't seen it. The other really sad part is that Jonathan had tried to upload all the pictures in the clubhouse, but the Internet had crashed and none of them were uploaded. All the photos I've been uploading to Facebook are just taken with my iPhone, so you can imagine how wonderful Jonathan's shots were.
So we tried not to talk about photos, and we took a bus from Copacabana to La Paz. La Paz is the capital of Bolivia, a huge city, and it sits in a bowl, with huge mountains all around. It's like someone took a giant ice-cream scoop and scooped out this valley and then filled it completely with buildings, buses and cars spewing smoke. It is one of the most polluted cities in the world, because the smog has no where to go except to sit in this bowl.
We found a cheap little hostel with saggy beds, but it was safe and in the "witches' market" area. This is a market where the bruhos (witch doctors/healers) sell all sorts of magic healing things. There were endless little figurines representing all sorts of things - luck in love, fertility, travel, work, health, etc, etc. There were also endless stalls selling llama fetuses. Yes, you read that right. Supposedly (and I need to look this up) llamas become pregnant with 5 or 6 fetuses, and they abort them one at a time until they hold onto the last one for the full term. The native people keep these aborted fetuses, dry them out, and then use them as offerings to Pachamama - mother earth - along with many other herbs, candies, figurines, etc, that they burn in ceremonies. Pretty wild.
We found a fantastic Cuban restaurant that night and filled up our bellies. The next day we wandered through all the different markets. There is a huge black market, and we went there first ( secretly hoping we might find Jonathan's camera for sale there!) This was probably the most claustrophobic thing we've done so far. All the markets we've been to have been incredibly jam packed, but this was ridiculous. We somehow got stuck on the aisles selling shoes, clothing, backpacks, and school supplies. And once you get in, it's hard to get out! We never found the electronics area, so we worked our way through the kitchen supplies, bathroom fixtures, fabrics, and on and on. Finally we squeezed out of the madness and went to another market that sold food. We got some great fruits and veggies and found salteñas and tucumenas for sale on the street - these are sort of like empanadas but way better, stuffed to the max with meat, veggies, and goodness.
We spent the afternoon visiting a museum of the coca plant and wandering through the witches market and all the artisan's goods for sale around our hostel. Tomorrow we've decided to go to the town of Oruro, because we have heard so much about the Carnaval celebration there. It is supposed to be the second largest Carnaval celebration in the Americas, behind Rio de Janeiro. The real celebrations don't get started until Saturday, but we're hoping to see some of the preparation and lead up in the next couple days.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Bolivia!
Bolivia!
We took a night bus from Cuzco to Copacabana, Bolivia, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We had been warned that we would probably get swindled on this trip, since you have to cross the border, and many companies try to tell you they'll take you all the way, only to drop you off at the border and make you buy another ticket the rest of the way (in athe middle of the night.) So we tried to do our research & went with the best deal we could find that also sounded safe & legit. It was a Bolivian bus company - Nuevo Continente, and we did finally make it, although things were funny from the start.
The bus was full with other travelers, many heading to Copacabana, like us, others getting off part way in Puno, Peru, others traveling all the way to La Paz, Bolivia. We had been assured that we were going directly to Copacabana, no changes of buses and no stops. The bus was supposed to leave at 10:30, but it was late. It was raining, and as soon a we got on, it was clear that the roof leaked. We were on the second floor, where most of the seats were, and we were lucky that we were seated on the right side of the bus, where it wasn't dripping on us. There were a whole bunch of German girls on the other side of the aisle, and they had to ride the whole way wearing their rain coats. When this was brought to the attention of the bus company, a guy came in with a roll of packaging tape, and tried to tape all along the seam where it was leaking. This seemed to be perfectly normal to him. Of course, 2 minutes later, the tape fell off because it was all wet. So, some enterprising passengers got old newspapers and plastic bags and taped them all along the ceiling. The rest of the passengers were also immediately annoyed because they had been promised a "bus cama" meaning seats that recline all the way back into a bed. A feisty Argentinean rallied all the passengers together to go confront the bus company. People had payed anywhere from 70 soles to 100+ soles for the same seats. The bus company wasn't about to give anyone their money back, and explained that in Bolivia, our seats ARE cama seats, and the ones that recline all the way back are called Cama VIP. No one had ever heard of that, but we all just wanted to get going, so off we went, with our taped up ceiling and our seats that only reclined part way.
At the border they unloaded all the Copacabana passengers and our bags and put us onto combis - 15 passenger vans - that would take us the rest of the way. So I guess the guy who sold us the tickets didn't lie outrightly - we never had to get on another bus, we just had to get in a tiny cramped van.
Finally we got to Copacabana, and it is absolutely stunning. Lake Titicaca is a deep navy blue, and the mountains all around were green and lush looking. There were farms everywhere, mostly growing potatoes of all sorts, but also coca, corn, quinoa, beans, and more. The lake is so massive, it really does look like you've reached a sea. It is one of the highest navigable lakes in the world. It is over 22,000 sq km, and the depth has now been measured at 457 meters!
We had a little breakfast and Jonathan was off to find his favorite place in every new city - the market. With groceries in tow we boarded a boat for Isla del Sol. This is the island that in the Incan creation story is where the sun was born as well as the father and mother of all the Incas.
We found an adorable little hostel run by the sweetest woman and paid her $7 for the room and $1 for the use of her kitchen. She has a gas powered stove, which has made her neighbors quite jealous. She has lived on Isla del Sol her entire life, as has her whole extended family, including her grandmother whom we met later.
There are numerous ruins on the island, and we immediately set out to explore. The weather was absolutely perfect - sunny & breezy with fluffy clouds in the sky. The island sits at almost 4000 meters, so we were sure to slather ourselves in sunscreen. The views from our walk that afternoon were so phenomenal, you will just have to go to FB and see the pictures for yourself. My mediocre writing could never do it justice. The water is deep blue and so clear. The entire island is terraced, and everywhere the people have scratched out gardens into the rocky soil, growing potatoes, corn, and beans mostly. Every time we turned around we ran into cows, sheep, pigs, and the littlest donkeys I've ever seen. Hardly any of them are fenced in, but most are tied with a long rope that is either stuck under a big rock or tied to a stake in the ground. We watched one little girl of about 6 chase a tiny piglet up and down a terraced hill. The girl was laughing hysterically and the piglet was squealing as it ran up and down over the rock walls. Finally she cornered it and grabbed it as it squealed bloody murder. She then proceeded to pet its head and rub its belly and set it back down with its mother, who had not lifted her own head the entire time.
I am totally in love with this place. It feels so authentic, despite it being a tourist attraction, and it doesn't feel exploited the way Machu Picchu and some of the other sites have. Jonathan is feeling a bit under the weather with a sore throat, so I went off this morning to explore in the other direction. I passed 5 or 6 other tourists, but mostly I passed locals herding cows or sheep or burros. In the afternoon I climbed back up to the ruins on the north end and sat atop Cerro Tikani to write this and take in the scenery. No other people have come up here the whole time I've been sitting. Instead I'm just listening to the waves lapping the shores below, the bees buzzing around some tiny yellow wildflowers, and the birds playing over the potato fields all around me. There is one lone sailboat in the bay below with a few brilliantly white seagulls circling him. He must have caught some trucha (trout) and is headed back in now.
We took a night bus from Cuzco to Copacabana, Bolivia, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We had been warned that we would probably get swindled on this trip, since you have to cross the border, and many companies try to tell you they'll take you all the way, only to drop you off at the border and make you buy another ticket the rest of the way (in athe middle of the night.) So we tried to do our research & went with the best deal we could find that also sounded safe & legit. It was a Bolivian bus company - Nuevo Continente, and we did finally make it, although things were funny from the start.
The bus was full with other travelers, many heading to Copacabana, like us, others getting off part way in Puno, Peru, others traveling all the way to La Paz, Bolivia. We had been assured that we were going directly to Copacabana, no changes of buses and no stops. The bus was supposed to leave at 10:30, but it was late. It was raining, and as soon a we got on, it was clear that the roof leaked. We were on the second floor, where most of the seats were, and we were lucky that we were seated on the right side of the bus, where it wasn't dripping on us. There were a whole bunch of German girls on the other side of the aisle, and they had to ride the whole way wearing their rain coats. When this was brought to the attention of the bus company, a guy came in with a roll of packaging tape, and tried to tape all along the seam where it was leaking. This seemed to be perfectly normal to him. Of course, 2 minutes later, the tape fell off because it was all wet. So, some enterprising passengers got old newspapers and plastic bags and taped them all along the ceiling. The rest of the passengers were also immediately annoyed because they had been promised a "bus cama" meaning seats that recline all the way back into a bed. A feisty Argentinean rallied all the passengers together to go confront the bus company. People had payed anywhere from 70 soles to 100+ soles for the same seats. The bus company wasn't about to give anyone their money back, and explained that in Bolivia, our seats ARE cama seats, and the ones that recline all the way back are called Cama VIP. No one had ever heard of that, but we all just wanted to get going, so off we went, with our taped up ceiling and our seats that only reclined part way.
At the border they unloaded all the Copacabana passengers and our bags and put us onto combis - 15 passenger vans - that would take us the rest of the way. So I guess the guy who sold us the tickets didn't lie outrightly - we never had to get on another bus, we just had to get in a tiny cramped van.
Finally we got to Copacabana, and it is absolutely stunning. Lake Titicaca is a deep navy blue, and the mountains all around were green and lush looking. There were farms everywhere, mostly growing potatoes of all sorts, but also coca, corn, quinoa, beans, and more. The lake is so massive, it really does look like you've reached a sea. It is one of the highest navigable lakes in the world. It is over 22,000 sq km, and the depth has now been measured at 457 meters!
We had a little breakfast and Jonathan was off to find his favorite place in every new city - the market. With groceries in tow we boarded a boat for Isla del Sol. This is the island that in the Incan creation story is where the sun was born as well as the father and mother of all the Incas.
We found an adorable little hostel run by the sweetest woman and paid her $7 for the room and $1 for the use of her kitchen. She has a gas powered stove, which has made her neighbors quite jealous. She has lived on Isla del Sol her entire life, as has her whole extended family, including her grandmother whom we met later.
There are numerous ruins on the island, and we immediately set out to explore. The weather was absolutely perfect - sunny & breezy with fluffy clouds in the sky. The island sits at almost 4000 meters, so we were sure to slather ourselves in sunscreen. The views from our walk that afternoon were so phenomenal, you will just have to go to FB and see the pictures for yourself. My mediocre writing could never do it justice. The water is deep blue and so clear. The entire island is terraced, and everywhere the people have scratched out gardens into the rocky soil, growing potatoes, corn, and beans mostly. Every time we turned around we ran into cows, sheep, pigs, and the littlest donkeys I've ever seen. Hardly any of them are fenced in, but most are tied with a long rope that is either stuck under a big rock or tied to a stake in the ground. We watched one little girl of about 6 chase a tiny piglet up and down a terraced hill. The girl was laughing hysterically and the piglet was squealing as it ran up and down over the rock walls. Finally she cornered it and grabbed it as it squealed bloody murder. She then proceeded to pet its head and rub its belly and set it back down with its mother, who had not lifted her own head the entire time.
I am totally in love with this place. It feels so authentic, despite it being a tourist attraction, and it doesn't feel exploited the way Machu Picchu and some of the other sites have. Jonathan is feeling a bit under the weather with a sore throat, so I went off this morning to explore in the other direction. I passed 5 or 6 other tourists, but mostly I passed locals herding cows or sheep or burros. In the afternoon I climbed back up to the ruins on the north end and sat atop Cerro Tikani to write this and take in the scenery. No other people have come up here the whole time I've been sitting. Instead I'm just listening to the waves lapping the shores below, the bees buzzing around some tiny yellow wildflowers, and the birds playing over the potato fields all around me. There is one lone sailboat in the bay below with a few brilliantly white seagulls circling him. He must have caught some trucha (trout) and is headed back in now.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Santa Theresa, Santa Maria & back to Cuzco
Santa Theresa, Santa Maria, back to Cuzco
After our busy day in Machu Picchu, we slept very soundly while it rained and rained. In the morning we gathered our things an set off just as the skies cleared. We've been so lucky with weather!!
We had planned to hike out "the back door" of Machu Picchu. This entails walking the railroad tracks from Aguas Calientes to the hydroelectric station. It's a 2.5 hour hike, all along the tracks, following the river the whole way. It also circles around Machu Picchu, which was above our heads the whole time. It was a very peaceful walk, but with all our bags, we were ready to get there after 2 hours. From the hydroelectric station, we took a taxi to the little town of Santa Theresa.
We had planned to stay in Santa Theresa that night, but it was not to be. We read about some fabulous hot springs, where you could camp and soak our aches and pains away. The ride down to the hot springs took us through areas that had clearly had recent landslides. It looked like a site where they had dumped the spoils of some giant construction project, but there was nothing around. Through this wasteland we drove until all of a sudden we stopped and there were a few little thatch roof hits where a couple women sat waiting to take our money for the hot springs. The hot springs themselves were still really nice, but all the land directly around them had been washed away. Another hostel we read about, Hugo's lodge, we were told did not exist anymore. So camping here was out of the question. Instead we soaked for a couple hours and then continued on to the next town of Santa Maria.
Santa Maria is an adorable little town that also looks like it's suffered from recent landslides, but it's in much better shape than the hot springs! We found an absolutely charming little hostel run by the sweetest couple ever. We had some delicious pollo ala brasa (rotisserie chicken that was divine) and then had the best sleep in a long time. (A bed with pillows!!)
The next morning we hopped on yet another bus to head back to Cuzco. We got lots of little things done like laundry, grocery shopping, emails answered, etc.
Tomorrow night we will try to head to Copacabana in Bolivia and continue our adventures in yet another country!!
After our busy day in Machu Picchu, we slept very soundly while it rained and rained. In the morning we gathered our things an set off just as the skies cleared. We've been so lucky with weather!!
We had planned to hike out "the back door" of Machu Picchu. This entails walking the railroad tracks from Aguas Calientes to the hydroelectric station. It's a 2.5 hour hike, all along the tracks, following the river the whole way. It also circles around Machu Picchu, which was above our heads the whole time. It was a very peaceful walk, but with all our bags, we were ready to get there after 2 hours. From the hydroelectric station, we took a taxi to the little town of Santa Theresa.
We had planned to stay in Santa Theresa that night, but it was not to be. We read about some fabulous hot springs, where you could camp and soak our aches and pains away. The ride down to the hot springs took us through areas that had clearly had recent landslides. It looked like a site where they had dumped the spoils of some giant construction project, but there was nothing around. Through this wasteland we drove until all of a sudden we stopped and there were a few little thatch roof hits where a couple women sat waiting to take our money for the hot springs. The hot springs themselves were still really nice, but all the land directly around them had been washed away. Another hostel we read about, Hugo's lodge, we were told did not exist anymore. So camping here was out of the question. Instead we soaked for a couple hours and then continued on to the next town of Santa Maria.
Santa Maria is an adorable little town that also looks like it's suffered from recent landslides, but it's in much better shape than the hot springs! We found an absolutely charming little hostel run by the sweetest couple ever. We had some delicious pollo ala brasa (rotisserie chicken that was divine) and then had the best sleep in a long time. (A bed with pillows!!)
The next morning we hopped on yet another bus to head back to Cuzco. We got lots of little things done like laundry, grocery shopping, emails answered, etc.
Tomorrow night we will try to head to Copacabana in Bolivia and continue our adventures in yet another country!!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Ollantaytambo & Machu Picchu
Ollantaytambo & Machu Picchu
Well, I don't think you could have a more amazing few days than we've had! We took a combi - a 15 passenger van from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo. Once out of Cuzco, the "road" was dirt, more potholes than smooth surface, one lane, and seemingly made up of only blind curves. The driver did 45-50 mph the whole time! Oh, and it's the rainy season, so there were huge puddles everywhere, but that didn't concern him either. I know there are many of you at home who think I'm a crazy driver, but trust me, I look like a grandma in a Cadillac compared to this guy!
Thanks to Speedy Gonzalez we got to Ollantaytambo in one hour. We wandered around for a bit. It's a very small town and one of the only towns left that is still laid out in the same grid system established by the Incas, with the same narrow cobblestoned streets.
There are ruins at Ollantaytambo that in any other country would be a main attraction. But because this place is so close to Machu Picchu, they are often overlooked. An anthropologist in Lima told us we really shouldn't miss these, so we decided to spend a couple days here.
This is where Manco Inca fled from Pizzaro & his troops. A fortress had been built here, and Manco Inca had one of his greatest victories here. There is a series of 13 massive terraces leading up to the fortress on the top of the mountain. There are also lookout posts across the valley that can see up the river, and gave Manco plenty of warning that the Spanish were coming. When they arrived, the Incas showered the Spanish soldiers with arrows and boulders from on top of the terraces. Manco had stolen a Spanish horse, and had somehow gotten the horse up on the highest terrace and was proudly marching back & forth when the Spanish arrived. (Don't ask me how he got that horse up there. I don't want to know.) Then in a brilliant move, he used the excellent water engineering of the complex, and flooded the valley below. The Spanish and their horses were so bogged down in the muck, that they had to retreat.
The main ruins are very well preserved, and you have to pay to enter. But on the other side of the valley, right above our hostel where we were camped, are other ruins - the lookout posts and grain storage facilities. These are not monitored by anyone and are free for people to explore. These were our favorites and we got some amazing pictures.
We took the train from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu pueblo - or Aguas Calientes. This is as touristy a town as you can imagine, and as soon as you get off the train, they bombard you with offers for taxis, hotels, restaurants, knick knacks, massages, guides for Machu Picchu, and plenty more.
Luckily we knew we were staying at the municipal campground and we had food to cook. It was pouring rain, and we tried to get settled in and dried off as best we could. The campground is incredible, a huge field right on the river's edge, and you can look straight up and see Machu Picchu! We put our tent in the only place without standing water - right by the river, under a big tree. We cooked our dinner and began to eat, but we both really wanted some salt. The campground was supposed to have kitchen facilities, but there were none that we could find and no one to ask. Next door was a butterfly sanctuary, and they had a tiny abandoned, filthy kitchen in the back. We figured maybe that was what the book was talking about, and there was salt in there, so Jonathan crept over in the dark with his headlamp on and took a handful of salt. Next thing we know a woman shows up asking us what the hell we were doing breaking into her kitchen trying to steal things! This turned out to be the woman who runs the campground, and after rapidly apologizing and explaining in our bad Spanish what we were doing, she immediately warmed up to us and stayed and had dinner and chatted for a long time. As she was leaving, she told us that there was a possibility that the river would rise and flood our tent. If it was going to rise, she would get a phone call and then blow a whistle. If we heard the whistle, then we had about 2 mins to move all our stuff before it got washed away.
Needless to say, we didn't sleep much, and at one point the train came by and blew its whistle and woke me up with a panic! But all was fine.
We planned to get up at 4:25 the next morning in able to be on the trail hiking up to Machu Picchu before 5. That way we would definitely get there by 6, when the gates open, and be able to see the sunrise.
Most people take a comfy bus up the mountain (about a half hour ride) but you can walk up just like the Incas did, on a trail that they made. It is not technically hard, just straight up for 2km on stone stairs, and it takes about an hour.
We arrived at 5:45, sweaty and exhausted, but we were the first ones in at 6! There was already a long line behind us, but we were able to see Machu Picchu as the sun rose, with no one else there. Completely magical!
The photos of Machu Picchu really don't do it justice, because it is so massive! It just goes on and on, and is saddled between these two giant mountains, way up in the clouds, with completely vertical drop offs all around. It is so unreal that they could build such a masterpiece in this place, and that it is still in such beautiful shape today.
The mountain at the rear of Machu Picchu is called Huaynapicchu (or Wayna Picchu.) You can hike up to the top of this mountain, but they only let 400 a day up there. You also have to sign your life away before you do it! We went up a little before 7am. It is another 2km up, and it is steep!! But we just went slowly, stopping every couple hundred feet to catch our breath stare at our surroundings with our mouths open. Beautiful doesn't even come close to describing it. It is absolutely sublime.
Coming back down Wayna Picchu is even trickier, since it is so steep. The Incas definitely had little feet. The stone steps that they made so beautifully would fit a woman's size 5 or 6. I am more like a 9 1/2 or 10, and poor Jonathan could fit about half of his feet on these little steps. So it was slow going, but we weren't in any hurry, and we made it eventually.
The only thing that bothered me as we did these hikes and walked around the site, was the trash. There wasn't tons of trash, but there was quite a bit. What kind of person goes to Machu Picchu, of all places, and litters?? It is just unfathomable to me, and in such a setting is seems obscene somehow.
We kept exploring the ruins, but everywhere you go are flights of steep stairs, and our legs were starting to scream at us. Around noon we walked the 2km back down to our campsite and enjoyed the cold showers!
Tomorrow we will head to the little town of Santa Theresa were there are natural hot springs. Our feet and legs deserve a good soak!
Well, I don't think you could have a more amazing few days than we've had! We took a combi - a 15 passenger van from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo. Once out of Cuzco, the "road" was dirt, more potholes than smooth surface, one lane, and seemingly made up of only blind curves. The driver did 45-50 mph the whole time! Oh, and it's the rainy season, so there were huge puddles everywhere, but that didn't concern him either. I know there are many of you at home who think I'm a crazy driver, but trust me, I look like a grandma in a Cadillac compared to this guy!
Thanks to Speedy Gonzalez we got to Ollantaytambo in one hour. We wandered around for a bit. It's a very small town and one of the only towns left that is still laid out in the same grid system established by the Incas, with the same narrow cobblestoned streets.
There are ruins at Ollantaytambo that in any other country would be a main attraction. But because this place is so close to Machu Picchu, they are often overlooked. An anthropologist in Lima told us we really shouldn't miss these, so we decided to spend a couple days here.
This is where Manco Inca fled from Pizzaro & his troops. A fortress had been built here, and Manco Inca had one of his greatest victories here. There is a series of 13 massive terraces leading up to the fortress on the top of the mountain. There are also lookout posts across the valley that can see up the river, and gave Manco plenty of warning that the Spanish were coming. When they arrived, the Incas showered the Spanish soldiers with arrows and boulders from on top of the terraces. Manco had stolen a Spanish horse, and had somehow gotten the horse up on the highest terrace and was proudly marching back & forth when the Spanish arrived. (Don't ask me how he got that horse up there. I don't want to know.) Then in a brilliant move, he used the excellent water engineering of the complex, and flooded the valley below. The Spanish and their horses were so bogged down in the muck, that they had to retreat.
The main ruins are very well preserved, and you have to pay to enter. But on the other side of the valley, right above our hostel where we were camped, are other ruins - the lookout posts and grain storage facilities. These are not monitored by anyone and are free for people to explore. These were our favorites and we got some amazing pictures.
We took the train from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu pueblo - or Aguas Calientes. This is as touristy a town as you can imagine, and as soon as you get off the train, they bombard you with offers for taxis, hotels, restaurants, knick knacks, massages, guides for Machu Picchu, and plenty more.
Luckily we knew we were staying at the municipal campground and we had food to cook. It was pouring rain, and we tried to get settled in and dried off as best we could. The campground is incredible, a huge field right on the river's edge, and you can look straight up and see Machu Picchu! We put our tent in the only place without standing water - right by the river, under a big tree. We cooked our dinner and began to eat, but we both really wanted some salt. The campground was supposed to have kitchen facilities, but there were none that we could find and no one to ask. Next door was a butterfly sanctuary, and they had a tiny abandoned, filthy kitchen in the back. We figured maybe that was what the book was talking about, and there was salt in there, so Jonathan crept over in the dark with his headlamp on and took a handful of salt. Next thing we know a woman shows up asking us what the hell we were doing breaking into her kitchen trying to steal things! This turned out to be the woman who runs the campground, and after rapidly apologizing and explaining in our bad Spanish what we were doing, she immediately warmed up to us and stayed and had dinner and chatted for a long time. As she was leaving, she told us that there was a possibility that the river would rise and flood our tent. If it was going to rise, she would get a phone call and then blow a whistle. If we heard the whistle, then we had about 2 mins to move all our stuff before it got washed away.
Needless to say, we didn't sleep much, and at one point the train came by and blew its whistle and woke me up with a panic! But all was fine.
We planned to get up at 4:25 the next morning in able to be on the trail hiking up to Machu Picchu before 5. That way we would definitely get there by 6, when the gates open, and be able to see the sunrise.
Most people take a comfy bus up the mountain (about a half hour ride) but you can walk up just like the Incas did, on a trail that they made. It is not technically hard, just straight up for 2km on stone stairs, and it takes about an hour.
We arrived at 5:45, sweaty and exhausted, but we were the first ones in at 6! There was already a long line behind us, but we were able to see Machu Picchu as the sun rose, with no one else there. Completely magical!
The photos of Machu Picchu really don't do it justice, because it is so massive! It just goes on and on, and is saddled between these two giant mountains, way up in the clouds, with completely vertical drop offs all around. It is so unreal that they could build such a masterpiece in this place, and that it is still in such beautiful shape today.
The mountain at the rear of Machu Picchu is called Huaynapicchu (or Wayna Picchu.) You can hike up to the top of this mountain, but they only let 400 a day up there. You also have to sign your life away before you do it! We went up a little before 7am. It is another 2km up, and it is steep!! But we just went slowly, stopping every couple hundred feet to catch our breath stare at our surroundings with our mouths open. Beautiful doesn't even come close to describing it. It is absolutely sublime.
Coming back down Wayna Picchu is even trickier, since it is so steep. The Incas definitely had little feet. The stone steps that they made so beautifully would fit a woman's size 5 or 6. I am more like a 9 1/2 or 10, and poor Jonathan could fit about half of his feet on these little steps. So it was slow going, but we weren't in any hurry, and we made it eventually.
The only thing that bothered me as we did these hikes and walked around the site, was the trash. There wasn't tons of trash, but there was quite a bit. What kind of person goes to Machu Picchu, of all places, and litters?? It is just unfathomable to me, and in such a setting is seems obscene somehow.
We kept exploring the ruins, but everywhere you go are flights of steep stairs, and our legs were starting to scream at us. Around noon we walked the 2km back down to our campsite and enjoyed the cold showers!
Tomorrow we will head to the little town of Santa Theresa were there are natural hot springs. Our feet and legs deserve a good soak!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Arequipa - Cuzco
Arequipa - Cuzco
Our night bus to Arequipa ended up taking about 18 hours total, but it was very comfortable, and I slept for 10 hours! Once in Arequipa, our first mission was to find a laundromat. The taxi dropped us right in front of one, and we struggled into the tiny place with our giant packs. We then proceeded to pull almost all our clothes out of the packs, much to the amusement of the ladies who worked there. I had one clean shirt in my bag, so I had Jonathan stand in the doorway, while I changed into that and added my dirty shirt to the heap. The women thought this was too much. Crazy Americans! They washed, dried, ironed and folded our clothes for $8. Not bad.
We found a great coffee shop with wireless and the sweetest owner who let us hang out there a long time, store our bags when we left, and gave us directions to every place we might possibly want to visit.
Jonathan's sister, Caitlin, spent a semester in Arequipa in college, and we got to go meet her host brother, Bruno, and see the house where she stayed. It was great fun to chat with him, but it was brief because he was headed to the beach that night.
We are here in the "off" season, since this is the rainy time of year for this area. We found a great hostel with comfy beds and a TV and our own private bathroom that was actually stocked with toilet paper! (I have gotten used to carrying a roll with me in my bag at all times.) The TV we could have cared less about, but they were playing American movies with Spanish subtitles on Cinemax, and it was a fun way to work on our Spanish.
The next day we started out by visiting another huge market. I love how they have such great veggies, fruit, meat, and flowers for sale, but they also have random things like women's underwear, sunglasses, household cleaning items, and always a woman with thousands of colored shoelaces for sale. We got some groceries for our travels and then headed off to visit the famous monastery.
Monasterio de Santa Catalina is a very famous monastery here in Arequipa that occupies an entire city block. There are still nuns who live there, but the public is not allowed to see them. The monastery was started in the late 1500s by a wealthy widow. At first she only accepted Mestizo girls - "mixed blood" women that were usually part Spanish and part Indian. This changed later and the nuns were from mostly wealthy Spanish families, since the parents had to pay a considerable dowry to have their daughter stay there.
The monastery is huge and very beautiful. The architecture and the artwork everywhere is amazing. The monastery was damaged multiple times over the years by earthquakes, and the second floor that used to exist was not rebuilt after the last earthquake.
It was pretty amazing to see the cells where the nuns lived. They all had a wooden platform where they slept, either just with blankets or with a very thin little mattress. Then they usually had a small table, chair, and candle, and a kitchen out back. The kitchen consisted of an adobe oven heated with a wood fire, and some surfaces to heat pots over the fire. The walls in all the kitchens were charred black from the years of cooking with fire, and they all had a wonderful smell.
After spending about 3 hours at the monastery, we walked to Mundo Alpaca (Alpaca World.) This is a neat tourist attraction with a small museum explaining the history of using hair from alpacas (and llamas and vicuñas) for weaving and making all sorts of beautiful products. They had all the machines needed to go from the shorn hair into yarn and eventually into some product, like a sweater. They also had men there dressed in native dress who were weaving in the traditional way. They were making such beautiful fabric with incredibly intricate designs. (And then they had that fabric for sale in their store for about $300!) Then they had some llamas and alpacas out back that you could go see and pet! Two of them were very friendly and immediately discovered that I was a sucker who would scratch all their itches! They have the most beautiful eyes with such long eyelashes. And they have funny soft, squishy lips and chins and long teeth that poke out. So cute!
We decided that we had to go all out for lunch and try some cuy - guinea pig. It's very popular here and in Ecuador, and we had not tried it yet. So we got directions to a good place and walked there after Jonathan pulled me away from my llama friends. We split one fried cuy plate, and they bring it out whole, with the head and feet and everything. It was pretty good, tasted kind of like a mild pork, but very rich. They're such little creatures, though, and trying to pick the meat out from between their little ribs made me laugh because I felt like a giant.
That night we took the night bus to Cuzco, and then we are headed on to Ollantaytambo, a small town with Incan ruins of its own, where we'll spend a couple days before heading on to Macchu Picchu!
Our night bus to Arequipa ended up taking about 18 hours total, but it was very comfortable, and I slept for 10 hours! Once in Arequipa, our first mission was to find a laundromat. The taxi dropped us right in front of one, and we struggled into the tiny place with our giant packs. We then proceeded to pull almost all our clothes out of the packs, much to the amusement of the ladies who worked there. I had one clean shirt in my bag, so I had Jonathan stand in the doorway, while I changed into that and added my dirty shirt to the heap. The women thought this was too much. Crazy Americans! They washed, dried, ironed and folded our clothes for $8. Not bad.
We found a great coffee shop with wireless and the sweetest owner who let us hang out there a long time, store our bags when we left, and gave us directions to every place we might possibly want to visit.
Jonathan's sister, Caitlin, spent a semester in Arequipa in college, and we got to go meet her host brother, Bruno, and see the house where she stayed. It was great fun to chat with him, but it was brief because he was headed to the beach that night.
We are here in the "off" season, since this is the rainy time of year for this area. We found a great hostel with comfy beds and a TV and our own private bathroom that was actually stocked with toilet paper! (I have gotten used to carrying a roll with me in my bag at all times.) The TV we could have cared less about, but they were playing American movies with Spanish subtitles on Cinemax, and it was a fun way to work on our Spanish.
The next day we started out by visiting another huge market. I love how they have such great veggies, fruit, meat, and flowers for sale, but they also have random things like women's underwear, sunglasses, household cleaning items, and always a woman with thousands of colored shoelaces for sale. We got some groceries for our travels and then headed off to visit the famous monastery.
Monasterio de Santa Catalina is a very famous monastery here in Arequipa that occupies an entire city block. There are still nuns who live there, but the public is not allowed to see them. The monastery was started in the late 1500s by a wealthy widow. At first she only accepted Mestizo girls - "mixed blood" women that were usually part Spanish and part Indian. This changed later and the nuns were from mostly wealthy Spanish families, since the parents had to pay a considerable dowry to have their daughter stay there.
The monastery is huge and very beautiful. The architecture and the artwork everywhere is amazing. The monastery was damaged multiple times over the years by earthquakes, and the second floor that used to exist was not rebuilt after the last earthquake.
It was pretty amazing to see the cells where the nuns lived. They all had a wooden platform where they slept, either just with blankets or with a very thin little mattress. Then they usually had a small table, chair, and candle, and a kitchen out back. The kitchen consisted of an adobe oven heated with a wood fire, and some surfaces to heat pots over the fire. The walls in all the kitchens were charred black from the years of cooking with fire, and they all had a wonderful smell.
After spending about 3 hours at the monastery, we walked to Mundo Alpaca (Alpaca World.) This is a neat tourist attraction with a small museum explaining the history of using hair from alpacas (and llamas and vicuñas) for weaving and making all sorts of beautiful products. They had all the machines needed to go from the shorn hair into yarn and eventually into some product, like a sweater. They also had men there dressed in native dress who were weaving in the traditional way. They were making such beautiful fabric with incredibly intricate designs. (And then they had that fabric for sale in their store for about $300!) Then they had some llamas and alpacas out back that you could go see and pet! Two of them were very friendly and immediately discovered that I was a sucker who would scratch all their itches! They have the most beautiful eyes with such long eyelashes. And they have funny soft, squishy lips and chins and long teeth that poke out. So cute!
We decided that we had to go all out for lunch and try some cuy - guinea pig. It's very popular here and in Ecuador, and we had not tried it yet. So we got directions to a good place and walked there after Jonathan pulled me away from my llama friends. We split one fried cuy plate, and they bring it out whole, with the head and feet and everything. It was pretty good, tasted kind of like a mild pork, but very rich. They're such little creatures, though, and trying to pick the meat out from between their little ribs made me laugh because I felt like a giant.
That night we took the night bus to Cuzco, and then we are headed on to Ollantaytambo, a small town with Incan ruins of its own, where we'll spend a couple days before heading on to Macchu Picchu!
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