The Aussies, the Irish, and the Brits; Thunder and Parades; Barney and the Virus

Hola Todos,

As you can see, since I haven't been doing anything overly exciting these past few days, I'm milking the post title for all it's worth.

A few days ago (Friday), I decided to change hostels since the one I was staying in was completely empty and I was getting a little lonely. I moved into a more happening place, and that was where I met the Australians. They seemed like fun, friendly chaps, and after we'd lunched together they said I'd be more than welcome to join them on this 5 day trek they were embarking upon the next morning. I was up for it, so I spent the day with them making trip preparations.

As I'd discover that night, my body was making other preparations - and after one of the most miserable nights I can remember (of which I will offer no description other than to tell you that some combination of altitude and bad food produced some extraordinarily ill affects) - I announced in the morning that I wouldn't be coming. They took it well, and told me that it was part of the South American experience. We exchanged contact information, and said our goodbyes. When I awoke to the crack of thunder that afternoon and looked at the downpour outside, I suspected those poor blokes got a bit of the South American experience on their trek as well.

By about 5:30 the rain had let up, and I managed to stumble outside and get down about half of a meager fruit salad from the place on the corner. That night I heard the sounds of a parade going down the street - horns, drums and lots of random booms from fireworks - also taking to the streets now that the rain had granted them a reprieve. It was the second parade in the few days that I've been in town. I'd been excited about the first one, and gone outside to see a large crowd of people with all manner of lights and balloons and banners. But as someone had informed me then: they throw parades for just about everything here. Even though the rain let up, I'd still say that day was something of a wash.

But Sunday, a new crowd came into the hostel - a couple of Irish girls, and a couple of British couples. They were just hanging out in town for the day before heading out to a beach town up north called Mancora. I was feeling a bit better, and so I spent the day with them. They were fairly entertaining, and it made the day go by a lot better than the previous one, where I was camped in my room by myself. I actually picked up some tickets myself to head out on a bus Monday for Trujillo, where I'm looking forward to meeting the family of my Spanish tutor from Seattle, and maybe relaxing a bit by the beach at low altitude as well (possibly surfing).

It would have been nice to have done more trekking here, or even some rock climbing, but it's not the way it worked out, and I'm ready to leave. My first impressions of the city have diminished - maybe in part due to the unfortunate circumstances of my stay (It's Monday, and I still feel rather dodgy) - but I think also because of Barney. The city's surroundings are amazing, and the parades are kind of neat, but also overwhelming is the excess of tourism. Several times now in downtown I've seen men walking around wearing Barney suits to try to get money from people for taking pictures. It's something I might not cringe at in the States, but the purple dinosaur is such a cultural displacement here that's it's a little disheartening. You can't blame the men in the purple suits - you can only feel sorry that this is what a people of a rich cultural heritage have had to resort to to try and make a living for themselves. It's the way the world is running nowadays, and I feel sorry to admit that I'm a part of it. My itinerary for this trip largely runs along what's called "the gringo trail;" the string of tourist destinations that everyone travels when they travel down here. And there are reasons for it: there are things to see that are interesting, and it's been made into safe and easy travelling by the tourism market. I'd like to travel off the beaten trail, but it's a scary prospect a lot of the time. We'll just have to see yet what happens with the people that I meet and the places I go.

There's thunder and rain again outside today. Seems like it's been like this most of the time I've been here (those poor Aussies are still out there walking around in the mountains). I'm taking an overnight bus tonight which leaves at 9pm for Trujillo, and hopefully to some brighter skies.

Cheers and God Bless,
Stephen

PS: Recent pictures are from a hike I did on my second day in Huaraz with a guide to Lago 69. The elevation was 4,670 meters which is over 15,000 ft. The last hill had me breathing pretty hard, and the end of the trip gave me a good headache. It´s the highest I´ve ever been.

Out of contact

Hey folks,

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm going to be going on a 5 day trek in the Cordilleras Blancas mountain range with some Aussie's I met. Sorry for no recent updates, you'll get one when I return!

EDIT: Didn't actually go, caught a bug. Will try to update tomorrow on exciting events related to sleeping and staying in my hostel.

Stephen

Paragliding is lame. Busing is sweet.

Hola todos,


Well, I´m no longer at sea level in Lima. I´m at 3,080 meters or 10,100 feet in Huaraz, and feeling the effects of the change. My mind is a bit foggy, and my body a bit fogey. So if I´m not as insightful as I normally am, blame that. Not that I´m complaining. Huaraz is probably the coolest city I´ve ever been in, and the drive here was absolutely stunning. But not to get ahead of myself, I went paragliding yesterday.


I wouldn´t say it was life-changing. In fact, I think it was less fun than a game of ping-pong - but of course ping-pong is quite a bit of fun. Why, you ask? What´s not fun about having someone else direct you slowly through the air? Well, first of all someone else was directing me, and second we travelled very slowly through the air. But, of course, trying new things can be hit or miss, and so I´d like to talk about my trip today because it was better.


I was pleased to hit the road this morning, and did so in a comfortable double decker bus. Most of the first half of the trip was a competition between the scenery outside and the distraction of the movies that were being played inside; which in order were, Remember the Titans, John Tucker Must Die, The Notebook and The Invasion. By the second half of the trip, and about the time The Notebook started, the scenery won out. It really kept on getting more and more breathtaking as we went (just to clarify: the scenery, not The Notebook), and I couldn´t stop taking pictures. As always, the real life pictures were better than the digital ones, but I´ll post some of the one´s I took. Unfortunately I didn´t really get any good pictures of the villages we passed along the way, but I´d like to mention that we passed three separate games of volleyball between village children along the way. I was hoping the bus would break down each time so I could run out there and play.


Arriving in Huaraz was even more of a sight, and behind it the astonishing Huascaran (6,768 meters or 22,204 ft). Huascaran was obscured by clouds, and the windows on the bus were so dirty by this point that my pictures of the city didn´t come out very well either, but I´m planning on spending at least 5 days here so just you wait. There´s a lot of hustle and bustle and tourism in the city, but I love the feel of the place. The people seem very zestful, the architecture very tasteful, and the surrounding environment very incrediful (altitude). On a minor note, all of my possessions got soaked while in transit due to some poor planning related to backpack management. Still, I´m very excited about tomorrow as there seems to be a whole lot of cool things to see and do here. Hopefully I´ll dominate the effects of the altitude quickly, so I can get to them!


Also, how is everybody?

Esteban

PS: Actually it seems my internet cafe is closing. Pictures will have to wait.

The city is warm, even though the air is cold.

Buenos tardes,

These last couple days have been rewarding.

Saturday, I checked out the plazas downtown. And even though there's not a lot to do in the plazas, it's neat to see how Peruvians like to just relax outside and talk to each other. There's literally hundreds of people in the main plaza, which is basically just a fountain surrounded by benches and grass. A girl named Yessica approached me wanting to practice her English. She was very nice, and talked me into taking a bus with her up to the top of nearby Cerro San Cristobal. It's a hill with a cross on top of it that overlooks Lima. It had just gotten dark, and the view of Lima all lit up was pretty wowing. At some point, the cross itself lit up, which was great! I didn't get any good pictures of the city with my camera unfortunately, but I got a few cool pictures of the cross, and I'll put one up later. It was fun hanging out with Yessica, and I appreciated that she was willing to spend her evening taking me up there. As both a teacher and a student, she's normally very busy!

Sunday, I met up with Rosanna in the morning, and we spent a little time hanging out before heading to her parent's house. Her parents were waiting to greet me with open arms as well as with potatoes, meat and vegetables. They really were the nicest people, and even though there were some communication challenges it was a great cultural experience for me. Rosanna's mom made fun of my jeans because they had holes in them, and called me "pobre." From her dad, I learned about all the things that Chilean's say came from Chile, but really came from Peru. Her brother, who is a student in the university, was taking pictures and videos of us the whole time. By the end of the meal, however, they were calling me part of their family. And they really meant it. Their willingness to give of themselves, and the love they showed me was amazing.

I spent a good portion of the rest of the day walking around the markets and shops of Salvador with Rosanna. Salvador is the village outside of Lima where they live, and it's considerably poorer than the districts which I've been visiting so far. Rosanna told me about how they got no help from the government to build this hospital, and how their community had come together to build it themselves. There are actually a lot of skilled craftsmen in her village, and many of them make their living by making and selling high-quality wooden furniture that they craft. Rosanna herself has dreams of getting out and travelling the world, but has very limited opportunities to do so. I learned from her parents that it's actually a lot easier for them to travel, because being older it's expected that they'll return to Peru. For Rosanna, the government figures that there's a much greater chance that she won't. Rosanna and I had learned to communicate a lot better since the first time that we'd met, and it was very hard to say goodbye even after such a short time.

I was considering leaving Lima today, but seeing as to how it's already 3pm (I was fairly lazy this morning), I'm just going to see a few more sights, and then schedule my departure for tomorrow. I actually don't want to leave, but I've got more things to see. I hope not, but rather think so, that I'm trying to see it all too fast.

Chau,
Esteban

Los Primeros Dos Dias

Hola todos,

So I've spent a couple of days here now, and have enjoyed it.

The first day I walked around the district of Barranco mostly by myself, and the second around Miraflores with a contact I had in Lima - the sister of a friend from Seattle named Rosanna.

Both Barranco and Miraflores are seaside districts in Lima, and are among the more well-off districts within the city. I definitely prefer Barranco as it has a more cozy bohemian feel to it, rather than Miraflores which is very commercial. Barranco has more markets and Miraflores has more malls.

Walking around Barranco, the first thing you notice is that the buildings are all very colorful - and are different colors. I'll try to put some more pictures up when I get the chance. The next thing you notice is that when you get to a street, horns are blaring, and people are swerving across lanes to avoid each other, and people are running across them like Frogger would whenever they get the chance. I've gotten used to doing the same. Just walking around, I like the feeling of being in a place that's completely different from anything I'm used to. And also, everyone that I asked for help or directions was more than friendly about doing so, even though sometimes I couldn't understand what they were saying at all. I've also learned that if you make eye contact with street vendors, they'll think you're interested. I was sitting in a fast food resteraunt last night and happened to glance out at the street when a guy was walking by with some crutches. He came into the resteraunt and started trying to sell them to me. The two guys behind the counter started laughing and said something like "he thinks you're a cripple!" in Spanish. I told the gentlemen that I didn't need them, and then laughed with them.

I took a bus to Miraflores, and had a thought - someone from America like myself might be tempted to think that Peruvians were very bad drivers, but it would be false. They're actually very good drivers to drive the way they do and not get into accidents with other cars or hit pedestrians. In Miraflores I picked up a phone for making local calls and a watch (for telling the time . . .). I then met with Rosanna, and we stopped somewhere to talk, and then walked around for a bit. We had a fair amount of trouble communicating, since my Spanish is rather poor (leaving the US I described it as "decent") as is her English. But it was nice to walk around having company, and it made the streets seem friendlier than they would have otherwise been had I been walking around at night by myself. On Sunday, I'm looking forward to visiting Rossana's family. Outside of just meeting people in Hostels (who mostly speak English), I like the idea of being able to spend time with more actual Peruvians.

Today, I think I'll take a taxi to downtown Lima - unfortunately I slept in a bit too long to see the changing of the guards ceremony which is supposed to be interesting. But there will still be things to see. I'll keep you posted!

Adios,
Esteban

My Arrival in Lima

Well, here it begins! I hope this will be as exciting of a blog for you all as this trip is for me.

I'm currently at my hostel in the Barranco district of Lima, Peru, and it pleasantly surprised me by having computers with internet access (which are free to use). I doubt that most of the hostels that I stay at will.

Having just arrived, I've got some exploring to do, so I'll keep this semi-short. I did want to send something out, so that you all wouldn't worry!

I flew from San Francisco to Miami yesterday afternoon, and then had a red-eye flight from Miami to Lima. Waiting for the flight in Miami, and surrounded by South Americans all speaking Spanish (which I can more or less, but mostly less, understand), I stood out as the gringo. There was, however, another. I noticed her in the boarding line initially because she happened to have the exact same lime green day-pack from REI that I had. It was comforting to see that someone else was in the same boat as me - the lime green day-pack gringo boat.

As fate would have it, my seat would place me next to a gentlemen, who asked me if I would mind switching seats with his wife so that they could sit together. And that switch would put me sitting next to that very lime green day-pack gringo! So we talked about traveling on the way over, and about what it was like to stick out like a sore thumb, and to be a little intimidated by the idea of getting off of a plane in a foreign country, and things like that. This discussion, also, was comforting because I discovered that she's been to Latin America before by herself knowing less Spanish than me and been just fine.

I would describe my mood upon arriving in Lima as: tired. I know I was probably supposed to say something transcendental about what it was like to step out courageously into the unknown, and be enriched by the experience, but it was 4AM, and I was just tired. One thing I couldn't help but notice, however, was that there were two other white individuals with lime green REI day-packs in addition to their larger backpacking backpacks. It was like we were all trying to be obvious.

Anyhow, since I had to wait around to be able to check into the hostel that I had reservations at, I took a nap in the lounge. I followed the tradition set by a number of people around me and laid across a row of chairs, and got a good 4 hours of sleep in before me and my friends were woken up by a security guard. That's right, I've already been reprimanded by a security guard. It was the first thing I did.

After that, I found my way around the airport - figured out how to get money, use the payphones to call my hostel, and things like that. I ordered, embarrassingly enough, an "American Coffee" for what was probably too much money - I'm in transition, okay? Shortly after 10, I got myself a shuttle to my hostel, and got my first taste of what driving is like in Lima. In a few words: a little crazy.

As for the moment, like I said before, I'm ready to go check things out. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but you can expect them to be forthcoming.

Adios,
Esteban