Returning from Machu Picchu

Hola todos,

I´m back in Cusco, and had a sweet trip to Machu Picchu with some great new friends.

Yesterday was some kind of day, such that I don´t think I´ll forget it anytime soon. After 3 days of biking and hiking we got up at 4 in the morning to put on our headlamps and hike up to Machu Picchu. You need to get there early to hike the peak above it, Wayna Picchu, which they´ll only allow 400 people a day to hike. Steps, steps, and more steps, not to mention all the steps we´d need to go up and down walking around the city afterwards; the Incans had no need for stairmasters. We got up to Machu Picchu, went through the security checkpoint, and just got a glimpse of the city as we speedwalked through the streets to get in line for Wayna Picchu. From the top, Machu Picchu looks very small (it isn´t the iconic view you´re used to seeing - that one is from the guardtower on the other side of the city), but we had fun taking goofball pictures of us doing things like holding up or stepping on the city.

Once we climbed back down to Macchu Picchu, we were taken on an hour long tour of the city which explained things like it´s possible significance, possible reasons that the city was abandoned, the interpreted purpose of different buildings or things within the city. And, of course, the city is most famous for how remarkably well preserved and free from outside influence it is. No Spanish architecture here, but rather a mysterious place with a bunch of rocks that were remarkably well crafted and put together. Of course you can do your own research, or make your own trip sometime. A lot of the history was probably wasted on me. Ancient history to me isn´t usually something I´m too interested in digging up. Truth be told, I was more just interested in taking in the place that was still there today. Some of my friends in the group talked about having a sense in being in a place that was holy in some way. I didn´t feel that way, but thought it was definitely neat, and had a great time taking pictures.

After hiking back down from the city, we waited in town for our evening train. The Irish and the Brits had a rousing debate during a meal we shared. I couldn´t for the life of me understand what it was about, but just listening to it was very entertaining. The evening would be prove to be even moreso. The Irish blokes decided that we should sing songs enthusiastically from our section of the train, at the expense or enjoyment of everyone else aboard. They also talked me into playing my harmonica. While we were singing Queen´s Bohemian Rhapsody some bizarre music started playing. Thinking they were trying to shut us out, we sang even louder. The reason for the music became apparent, however, when a clown burst into the cabin and started dancing around. After some bewildered comments we took this in stride and clapped to the beat, and I played my harmonica some more while the clown danced to it. Once he was gone, things got even weirder. New music played, and a fashion show started up. Various models walked through the isle displaying some fancy outfits. I got a little carried away by the energy of the whole thing, and walked down the row myself displaying my grungy backpacker clothing, but it was all in good fun, and the train staff didn´t seem too put off by the antics of our group. They didn´t kick us off the train at least.

Once we did get off, it was nighttime, in a stopover town where we were to catch a bus that would take us to Cusco. Someone was supposed to be waiting for us with a sign that had some of our names on it and a sweatshirt with the tour agency´s logo on it. We walked around a bit and saw nobody. A guy approached us, and claimed that he was supposed to take us to our bus. We were hesitant, however, when he put our group size at 13 (it was 10) and didn´t know any of our names. He said he was with our agency, but we had given him our agency´s name first, and he didn´t have any kind of identification. Initially we told him that we wouldn´t go with him unless he could produce our names, but eventually we said that we´d get on a bus to Cusco if he agreed that we had already paid for it. When he kept saying ¨no pay¨to us, we took it that he was trying to tell us that we hadn´t paid, and that he was trying to scam us. A couple people in our group started getting very angry with this guy, and the positive energy from the train quickly turned negative. Personally I think both came from being exhausted after the trip, and from what had already been a long day (it started at 4am). I tried talking to the guy in Spanish, but the situation was a bit tense and it wasn´t until backed into a corner he said ¨you no pay, no es una problema¨that we realized we´d been misunderstanding him all along. It probably would have been easy to work that out if we hadn´t come at him like he was trying to cheat us. He hadn´t been. We got on our bus to Cusco, and didn´t have to pay. We apologized to the man. You have to be careful sometimes, but we´d jumped on him before we´d really tried to talk to him.

The night still wasn´t over, however. While we were resting on the bus, it suddenly swerved and crashed into a large boulder. The front end of the bus was damaged and one of the tires was flattened; the rim mangled. We got out of the bus and had to wait outside for them to try and replace the tire. We made light of the situation (one of our group picked up a piece of the bus that had fallen off to take with him as a souveneir), but were really all very tense and exhausted. Eventually (I think after about an hour) they did manage to replace it, and get us back to Cusco. We wouldn´t get home until shortly before midnight. It had been a long and somewhat crazy day. And that was just one day out of 4. :)

The first day had been all downhill mountain biking, and I enjoyed it, but the road was very bumpy, and we had to cross a lot of fjords. These were exciting when we had to hit them with speed, and hope that they wouldn´t sweep us off the road. One of our party had part of her bike fall off. Another had a tire pop, and crashed. Another crashed into another rider. Three of them had to be taken in the van to our first destination. The rest of us were just sore from all of the bumps. We hadn´t been able to look around much at the beautiful scenery, as we had to focus on the bikes and the road most of the time. I´d say it was an adventure in itself.

The other two days hiking, we crossed over some beautiful mountain and jungle scenery, commiserated over how much we were getting eaten alive by mosquitos, crossed over a river canyon by being pulled across in a cage on a rope, met a woman who fed candy to her monkey, ate mangos from the trees, relaxed at some hot springs, played a card game popular among travellers which was fun but which has a name I can´t say, and all the while I enjoyed the company of some fun, good hearted people. It´s hard to capture the impact of an experience. I´m just glad that some of you back at home are interested in listening to me ramble on about it!

Now since I´ve talked so much about my pictures from Machu Picchu, I´m sharing them on my facebook, and you can find them here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85826&l=c50fd&id=591556557

Tomorrow I´ll be taking a day trip with the same group to The Sacred Valley, which has some more ruins, and then tomorrow night I´ll be travelling to Arequipa where I´ll probably do a few things before crossing the border south into Chile. I´ll save the emotional leaving Peru post until then.

God bless all of you,
Stephen

Preparing for Machu Picchu

Hello everyone,

I'm in Cusco, Peru, and doing just fine.

After leaving Lima, I went by bus to Ica and stayed in the nearby oasis Huacachina. I actually wasn't very fond of that place either. It was a tourist bubble, put in place so people could go sandboarding - no other reason. So that's what I did. It was alright, nothing to write home to mom about (ironically, here I am). Riding around in the buggy was actually the best part.

I did have a cool experience going to a church service in Ica afterwards though at an Evangelical church called El Shaddai. I understood very little of the sermon, but enjoyed the worship. People here are really passionate about God in a way that not a lot of people back home are. The best part, though, was that afterwards I ended up going to a birthday party of one of the members of the church, named Clarissa. We played some really goofy games that I'd never seen before, and it was really fun. Once again, I see that my most memorable experiences are the ones that I share with other people. Solitude can be valuable too, and I really appreciated it when I was in the jungle. But in general, I'm a people person.

Now, there are a few things that I'm having to cut out of my trip. The first is the flight over the Nazca lines that would have come next. The lines themselves are fascinating, but the flights I decided (and have heard) just aren't worth it. The second is Lake Titicaca. It's a fairly nice looking lake, but everything I've heard about the native people living on the islands there (a major attraction of the lake) speaks to me of a culture that lost it's heritage to tourism, which really turns me off. Apparently this people--isolated from the rest of the world, and beating to the beat of their own drum--also sing songs to you in English when you visit them. How delightful. Really, I don't blame them, they're making a living for themselves like everybody else. It just bothers me a bit, and I need to make time for some of the genuinely interesting places to come.

So instead of going to Nazca, I embarked Monday on a 16-hour bus ride for Cusco. I didn't think it would be so bad, since I'd done one of the same length when I'd gone to Tarapoto. It was though. It was nothing but bad curvy roads, and I couldn't sleep and felt sick the whole time. Once we arrived, however, Cusco was quite a sight to see. It was like looking out into a great big bowl, laid out with a mass of well-crafted mud-brick houses and a vast network of narrow brick streets. Just when I was starting to think that all cities looked the same, there was Cusco. There's no shortage of tourism here, but really the place is pretty cool anyways (I'm putting up a few photos that I took from walking around the town).

And I can't be totally down on the tourism industry, because I'm really quite excited about my plans for a Machu Picchu trek tomorrow. I'll be going with a group of people I met in the bustling hostel that I'm staying in (160 bed hostel), and taking 4 days. One of these days will be downhill mountain biking, the following two will be hiking to Aguas Calientes - a town right next to the ruins, and the last one will be spent visiting Machu Picchu and then taking the train back. The group besides myself, are made up of 5 people from Ireland, 1 from England, 2 from Canada, and 1 other from the US. Should be pretty sweet.

I would like to mention that I was introduced to Irish food here by my new friends, and I think it's my kind of stuff! I had my first taste of shepherd's pie, which is basically just a massive pile of beef, potatoes, cheese, and corn. Oh yeah. Also, I've never had so many people ask my if I wanted a massage in my entire life than I have walking through Cusco. They even try to convince you that you want one after you tell them you don't. Really guys, I'm alright. I'm golden.

Stay tuned for an update after the trek. :)

Cheers,
Stephen

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Hello everyone,

I'm now writing from Lima. I had a wonderful time in Iquitos, even though it was too short. I would have stayed longer, if I hadn't discovered that REM would be playing in Lima. I'll be going to see them with my friend Rossana tonight, and am very excited!

I made a couple new friends in Iquitos, Bryan and Karina. Bryan is from the States though I don't remember which one. Karina is actually originally from Iquitos, but has been living in Canada for the last three years, and is back visiting. It's something that happens - people leave Peru and they want to go back. I walked around the city with them a bit on Wednesday during the day, and then later we went to a karaoke bar, which was really fun. I got nothing for "Heartbreak Hotel," but got a good round of applause for "My Way."

On Thursday, I went with a couple of the guys that I was staying with in my hostel to a lake that someone had recommended to me. It actually ended up being a better zoo than a lake, and even though I haven't enjoyed zoo's much in the past I liked this one quite a bit.

It felt fitting that I would be arriving in Lima by plane, as it would be the second time I would be doing so. The first time had been at the beginning of my trip, and had been full of all kinds of emotions; uncertainty, excitement, fascination. They were different this time, and not in a way I would have expected.

For some strange reason, I actually felt more out of place here than I did the first time I arrived. Things had been very tranquil in the rainforest, and even in Iquitos. In that short time I'd gotten used to people being very open and friendly; to there being what seemed like a clarity to things. I'd liked the idea of coming back full circle in a way to Lima, but hadn't really considered what a shocking contrast it would be.

The air was dirty and full of city noise. My official airport taxi driver was an absolute scoundrel. My hostel upon arrival (which admittedly was at 1am) was full of only semi-responsive drunken party goers. Music from the surrounding bars saturated itself into my tired brain. Whatever has happened to me so far in my journey, it's changed this place for me. None of it was for me. It's quite an experience, travelling from a place to another one that's different. I wonder in part to what capacity this might happen to me when I return back home after the 5 months to the States - the so called "reverse culture shock."

I'm still very much looking forward to what has yet to come on this trip. I'm just ready to put this one city behind me. But first, I've got REM to send me off. And then afterwards, it'll be time for some ancient culture with Nazca and Machu Picchu next on the itinerary.

My best to all of you,
Stephen

Big City on the River

Hola todos,

I'm back in the city again, and man does it feel good! I've waded through swamps; bathed with dolphins and electric eels; ate rice, bread, onions and tomatoes for days on end; gotten enough bites from mosquitos, ants, and other insects to make me not care anymore; spent days on a cargo ship listening to blaring bad music starting at 5 in the morning, and watching random Steven Seagal movies until 12 at night (and been fed more rice). I had a pancake this morning once I got into town, and it was like I'd never tasted a pancake before, it was wonderful. But enough with the stream of cosciousness summary, let's start from the beginning.

Once upon a time, I got upon a cargo ship and travelled to a village along the big river in Northern Peru (not yet called "rio Amazonas") called Lagunas. I arrived in the night, and began making preparations the next morning to set out with a guide in a canoe into the wilderness of Pacaya Samiria. We took a motortaxi as far as it would take us (like the other areas I've seen around here, they like their motorcycles), and then set off.

Now, unfortunately I'm going to have to break down some images you all may have had of me ruthlessly cutting my way through the rainforest with a machete like Crocodile Dundee. In actuality, my guide Javier was doing all the paddling for us while I was laying down in the back of a canoe for 4 days. To be honest, it was more relaxing than adventurous. We did see some animals though, let me see:

We saw a number of little monkeys swinging around in the trees;
Sloths which you could whistle at and they would slowly turn their heads to look at you;
Lot's of different types of birds - hawks which would swoop down and grab fish, mccaws which would all talk with each other in the trees, great big cranes which would fly across the river and make mooing sounds like a cow at night, bocholochos which would make the coolest noises while swinging from the trees like pendulums, and all kinds of others;
We came across an electric eel that was vcry long and I actually lied, I was told not to go swimming with it;
Lot's of river dolphins which were pink and would pop up from time to time alongside our boat;
Tarantulas, iguanas, all manner of insects, lots of colorful butterflies, etc.

And we heard, but didn't see, the howler monkeys which another American who we met along the river described as "the sound of the world ending."

Pictures of animals are unfortunately practically nil since I don't have much of a zoom on my camera, and I was pretty preocuppied with trying to spot the animals which my guide had no trouble seeing.

There were places along the river called refugios which were basic places to find shelter (and land, with recent rainfall there was hardly any land to be found). I met and talked with other travellers, including the aformentioned American, a couple of Europeans and their guides. We caught fish to eat, and the rest of the time ate the aformentioned rice, bread, tomatoes and onions with tea from heated up river water.

We went on a walk into the woods (or rather, the swamp) at one point as well where I climbed a tree and got bitten to shreds by some ants. My Peruvian guide climbed it too, and didn't get bitten at all. Figure that one out. There was another type of tree that you could swing a machete at it, and a white liquid would come trickling out of it which is apparently used for medicine for children. Lot's of cool flora, and vines you could swing on and such. We didn't see very many animals, but apparently one of the Europeans and his guide enountered a group of wild boar that they tiptoed very carefully around.

I had some interesting conversations with the Europeans about American culture and my harmonica playing was a major attraction for the Peruvians who had never seen or heard one before. I gave a concert at each place we stopped for the evening.

We had blistering sun every day on the river, but the second we got back to dry land at the end of the trip, it began to rain. Shortly after we'd arrived back in Lagunas it was raining cats and tapirs, complete with thunder and lightning. I spent the day in my room relaxing from all that relaxing I'd been doing on the river, and listening to the storm. The next day, which would be perfectly sunny, I'd need to wait until nighttime to be able to catch a cargo ship down the river to Iquitos. I walked around the town a bit with one of the river guides, and stopped in at a church service which again being in Spanish was a little difficult for me to follow. I'm still no Peruvian. Got to play some music with some kids a little bit, which was cool.

The boat as I mentioned before was very noisy, but I was able to meet some people. I talked with an older Peruvian gentlemen named William about Blues and Jazz music, and let him listen to my ipod a bit which he really enjoyed. I talked with a tatooed Peruvian artist about God. And I met a guy from California and a guy from Germany which I'm now staying with in a hostel in Iquitos.

All in all, it's been a week without many comforts, but it's been a good time to be able to relax and contemplate. Not a lot of distractions, just a great big open jungle. Sometimes staring out into the expanse of it it seems empty. Of course, listening at night you realize it's full of life and noise, but somehow I think it's noise that makes sense. It doesn't clog up the mind like it does in the city. Having spent some time there, the jungle doesn't seem as intimidating to me anymore. It's just a place with some solitude, and some real nature to see - not like what you'd see where there's motor traffic and smog and clubs and markets. I tell you though, I think I'm ready for some pollution if it comes with pizza and Coca Cola. :)

Hope you're all doing well. It's nice to be writing to you all again. I'll be here just a couple days and then I'll hopefully be able to catch a plane back to Lima where I'll begin my journey south.

Cheers,
Stephen

PS: If you'd like to see more pictures and bigger pictures of my trip, well you'll just need to become my facebook friend!

Tell Guns and Roses: Thanks.

Hi,

If you don't understand my title, that's ok. You just don't rock quite hard enough. Unless you're my grandparents, in which case you still do.

I'm in Tarapoto, Peru which is kind of a neat place. It's half in the mountains and half in the rainforest. Basically it looks rainforesty, but you have less of the bugs and heat. As for the town, everyone and their mother drives a motorcycle. Literally there's about 95% motorcycle traffic, and there are motorcycle taxis which are kind of fun to ride in. It's like a carriage being pulled by a motorcycle, and they all swerve to get around each other on bumpy roads. And I must say there are also a lot of pretty women here. I was being driven along in a motorcycle taxi when I saw a gorgeous woman walking down the side of the road carrying a machette. Could be that I'll meet my wife here someday!

Anyways, I visited some waterfalls today called las Cataratas de Ahuashiyacu. Unfortunately I'm not able to upload pictures right now, but they were beautiful. Well, it was basically one waterfall, and there were some others in the forest behind it. I went on something of a mini-adventure with my motorcycle taxi driver into the forest trying to get to another one, but we were unsuccessful. When we returned to the first waterfall he announced to me that he was going bathing and stripped down to his underwear to jump into the pool. He was an adventurous but good-natured fellow.

Tomorrow I'm going to head out on a boat into the Amazon, and will be out of contact for about a week until I get to Iquitos, Peru. Hopefully I'll have a good post for you then!

Chau,
Esteban

Into the Jungle

Hola todos,

By now I've seen the coast, and I've seen the mountains. I'm now planning on visiting the third geographical region of Peru, the Selva, or rainforest. Tomorrow afternoon I'm getting on a bus for a city called Tarapoto on the outskirts of the Amazon basin. I plan on spending a couple days there before heading to Yurimaguas, where I'll catch a boat to Lagunas and then visit the Pacaya Samaria national park. Afterwards, I'm going to continue upriver to Iquitos. Iquitos is the largest city in the world to not be accessible by roads. Then I'll catch a boat back to civilization and begin my long journey south, wherever that takes me.

I've had a good time here on the coast, and have spent a good deal of it with the family of a friend from Seattle (Jorge, who was my Spanish tutor). I've shared several meals with them, which have all been wonderful. With them I also toured the city of Trujillo, and visited the nearby ruins of Chan Chan. And last night we danced until almost dawn this morning. Yesterday was the celebration in Peru for both Halloween and Creole music. Jorge's sister, cousin, and two of their friends took me out to a restaraunt with live latin music and dancing and we stayed until 5am. I knew I didn't drag those dancing shoes along for nothing.

Again I've been lucky to have been connected ahead of time with tremendously hospitable people. I don't think there's been anywhere that I've more enjoyed being so far on this trip than sitting around a table with a group of warm individuals who care about me. I'd like to learn how to give that much. Know that I appreciate more than I can say everyone who is praying for me and keeping up with my blog.

Love and miss you guys,
Stephen

PS: I went surfing. Also, I saw the queen of Spain.
It wasn't while I was surfing, though.