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!!!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
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.
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