Continuing in Lima...
After going out we were all feeling a little sick, especially Stephan who threw up a few times. That didnt stop us though, and we went to the centro Historical de Lima to look a cathedrals and the museum of the Inquisition. Soon after arriving frenchie (one of the girls) was hungry so we stopped and got some civiche. What a bad restuarant. First we ordered, I got some drink called chicha along with Stephan, and she got some civiche. It took only moments for us to get our chicha, me to drink it, and then realize that this was the drink made from purple corn which began the drink making process with indians chewing the corn, and then spitting it into the drink. I didnt feel so well. After 30 minutes the civiche arrived. It was tough, fishy, and didnt really look that good, but we all ate it and by the end all were about to throw up.
The girls then went home while stephan and I went to the catacombs. The catacombs were interesting as there were more than 70,000 peoples skeletons there. Apparently everybody in early Lima wanted to be buried there, and would only be buried somewhere else after they exhumed the body of some priest and put it in the alternate cemetary. Anyway, I gues the crypt was closed for some years then opened in 1937 when some anthropologists decided to take all the bones out and cont them, also ordering them by bone type, and making interesting designs. It was a little creepy to see all these femurs of long dead Limenos arranged in concentric circles around rows of skulls. This one stupid american (we mistakenly went on the english tour) asked over and over why they had taken the bones out and arranged them, while the tour guide dutifully answered the each time.
That night we took it easy, and the next day went on a nice tour of Miraflores which included the beach and the rest of the town. The next day Stephan left, we made dinner, a chicken salad made with a 3 dollar whole rotisserie chicken (the cheapest Ive seen) and a bunch of Pisco sours (made with lime juice, sugar, Pisco, and egg whites). After that I had had enough of Lima, I headed to Ica, a small town to the south. I got there on Friday, always the most traffic and craziness in South America, and had some Chifa (chinese food) which made me feel terrible (the first time Ive gotten sick). The bed was the worst I think I have ever slept on, it was pretty funny bc it once was a normal mattress but at this point it is just a top and bottom of a mattress and no springs in between so you end up sleeping on a board. I then went to the, Poor mans Galapagos, a short boat tour which takes you to these islands that have a lot of birds, and bird guano, on them. Apparently these islands are so endowed with the good white stuff that a war precipitated over them in the 1800s over their large nitrogen based crop of crap.
After puking off the boat, (never eating chinese food again) I went to a small oases town of Huachina. The hostal was really cool as it included a pool and lots of fun folk to hang out with. I spent the day working on my tan, (my first day swimming except for hot springs on my whole trip) and took a dune buggy ride where we got to go Sandboarding. Sort of like snowboarding but on steep ass dunes. That night while everyone else went to Ica to party I went to another hostal that was even more laid back than mine. As soon as I walked in the bartender offered me a joint and explained that I could light up at the bar no problem. I wont say anything self incriminating so lets just say I had a fun night which included running up the dunes and getting sand into every (I mean every) orifice on my body.
The next day was spent around the pool, and then I made it back to Lima for my flight to Cartagena the next day, where the tropical phase of my journey has commenced.
08 July 2007
The Jungle, Machu Picchu and more peruvian lies
Hello from Peru. I am currently in Lima on my way to Cartagena, Columbia where I am meeting with my dad, I am so excited! Finally a bed with springs, or at least no bedbugs, hot showers, and decent food (I finally got sick).
After Grock arrived, (Mr. Andrew Grock the first to all those who dont know), we had a coca leaf mate and went walking. Despite the fact that Andy had spent the night on an airplane and in an airport, that tea kick-started his system and boy did we walk. We walked to three separate ruins outside of Cuzco, about 15 kilometers in total, mostly uphill. Amazingly enough Grock had no problems with the altitude, and was in good enough humor to meet some cute girls along the way. It felt a little weird for me to be talking all the time, as most of my trip I guess I hadnt been, but it was great fun. The name of the first ruins sound like sexywoman, but look like piles of rocks, how dissapointing. They also happened to be the site of the Inti Raymi the day before, but looked a great deal different from closer up. The next site we had to walk pretty far to get to, but by the time we did we had picked up two new girls to hang out with and basically annoy. I believe I managed to pull my shoe off at one point to smell my sock (it really stank) as one of the girls was reading about ancient Inka history, Grock laughed. Finally we made it to the best ruins I saw in Peru, Pisaq. They are on a hillside which is pretty much impregnable, or at least appears to be. The ruins consist of many terraced hillsides and some cool ruins with sundials and a small spring. I say they were the best ruins bc their dramatic location rivals Machu Picchu however there were no tourists so we had it to ourselves.
After the ruins we returned to reality in Cuzco and began planning our next few days. We decided to take an alternate 4 day journey to reach Machu Picchu which ran through the Jungle. The first day we were suppposed to bike ride from 4,500 meters (14,850 feet) to 1,100 meters (3,630 feet). The distance that we descended alone was higher than I have ever been in my life. The tour group, which by the way had alredy lied/overcharged me numerous times proceeded to lie to me again. They told us that there was a small landslide and that we may have to get off of our bikes and walk them over it. We initially agreed, but when the horribly cheap owner refused to lower his price we set out looking for alternatives. We discovered that another agency was taking a 10 hour busride to get around the slide, but as they were more expensive and were not going to bike we went back. The agency promised us repeatedly that there was no chance of us ending up on a 10 hour busride, I guess they werent lieing bc it turned out to be 12 hours! The next day we got up to the top of the mountain, and proceeded to bike down. About 1 hour in a police vehicle comes from behind us and stops us saying it is impossible to pass, at which point this horrible lady who came from one agency tries to intervene. The police then show us photos of the slide. It apparently was a slide below the road, and even if it hadnt slid more it looked like about 2000 foot vertical fall and really no way to get past it, especially with bikes. We were all very upset, and at one point all wanted our money back. The lady who came (I dont think she always comes, only when they anticipate trouble) then asked for receipts, and then ripped the name off of one receipt! We were all really pissed, but the group seemed good, and it didnt seem worth the trouble to lose a day in Cuzco so we all agreed to take the bus.
Seeing as this was Andys first overnight bus we proceeded to get good and drunk. After a few bottles of rum our guides were probably the drunkest and boarding the bus was an adventure, especially when one of the girls in our group had her wallet stolen! I ended up sleeping ok, as Im used to the torture of night bus rides, however Andy had the worst seat in the bus and ended up sleeping next to dried hamster piss on the floor.
When we finally arrived in the jungle we had breakfast and proceeded hiking. This turned out to be amazing as we passes coca leaf, avocado, and coffee bean plantations all on the terracced hillsides. After 6 hours of fast hiking we arrived at some delicious outdoor hot-springs and relaxed the trip away. We then had a few after dinner games of Asshole of which I won the majority, but lost the last one of the day which forced me to carry the pack of one beautiful Irish girl named Fiona for one hour the next day. The next hike was relatively easy and we arrived in aguas callientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. Instead of relaxing, we all decided to climb a hill which overlooked Machu Picchu. We were suppossed to begin climbing it at 3 because it takes a while to ascend (1.5 hours) and when it gets dark the ladders are extremely dangerous. We didnt start untill 4:30 and were forced to climb it as fast as possible (30 mins) after which I could ring the sweat out of my shirt. We then took the first of our ¨naked in Peru¨ pics which had Machu Picchu as a monument framed by our butts.
The next day we got to MP for sunrise, however there was no sun to speak of. We climbed the Wayna Picchu and took another naked in Peru shot, then went down the long way which pretty much ate up our time there in MP. By this time we were all pretty tight in our group and made plans to go out in Cuzco, which we did. After a night which ended with me locked out of our hostel for a brief period, I wont go into specifics but lets just say we had fun, we flew to Arequipa, city of light.
Andy and I booked a trip to see the deepest canyon in the world and then had a delicious but overpriced dinner. This trip was the polar opposite of the other. Instead of trekking for hours each day, this trip shoved you in a van and didnt allow you to even walk if you wanted. Instead of cool young folk out for a good time, this trip was full of cranky old french people with a distinct hatred of youthful Americans. During the first day we managed to get to almost 5,000 meters which is pretty freaking high, and then Andy and I ditched the tour to climb around a creek and ended up in some more hotsprings. After this we had dinned for 5 soles (1.5 dollars) and tried to meet with our group but they lied to us (damn french) and told us to go to the wrong restaurant. Another thing, the tour was suppossed to be in English and Spanish but our guide kept forgetting, while also speaking in a very low lispy spanish accent, with the frenchies in full translating mode. Needless to say Andy didnt understand a dang thing, and I only understood enough to know I wasnt interested.
The canyon was cool, we saw condors flying about 20 feet from us and got attacked by some interesting bugs which really freaked Andy out. We then flew to Lima and stayed with two girls from the good tour in the nice neighborhood of Miraflores. After Andy left Stephan from the tour came top stay with us in Lima. We cooked an amazing rendition of my classic Hostal Pasta, and went out to the cool neighborhood of Barranca for a night out.
After Grock arrived, (Mr. Andrew Grock the first to all those who dont know), we had a coca leaf mate and went walking. Despite the fact that Andy had spent the night on an airplane and in an airport, that tea kick-started his system and boy did we walk. We walked to three separate ruins outside of Cuzco, about 15 kilometers in total, mostly uphill. Amazingly enough Grock had no problems with the altitude, and was in good enough humor to meet some cute girls along the way. It felt a little weird for me to be talking all the time, as most of my trip I guess I hadnt been, but it was great fun. The name of the first ruins sound like sexywoman, but look like piles of rocks, how dissapointing. They also happened to be the site of the Inti Raymi the day before, but looked a great deal different from closer up. The next site we had to walk pretty far to get to, but by the time we did we had picked up two new girls to hang out with and basically annoy. I believe I managed to pull my shoe off at one point to smell my sock (it really stank) as one of the girls was reading about ancient Inka history, Grock laughed. Finally we made it to the best ruins I saw in Peru, Pisaq. They are on a hillside which is pretty much impregnable, or at least appears to be. The ruins consist of many terraced hillsides and some cool ruins with sundials and a small spring. I say they were the best ruins bc their dramatic location rivals Machu Picchu however there were no tourists so we had it to ourselves.
After the ruins we returned to reality in Cuzco and began planning our next few days. We decided to take an alternate 4 day journey to reach Machu Picchu which ran through the Jungle. The first day we were suppposed to bike ride from 4,500 meters (14,850 feet) to 1,100 meters (3,630 feet). The distance that we descended alone was higher than I have ever been in my life. The tour group, which by the way had alredy lied/overcharged me numerous times proceeded to lie to me again. They told us that there was a small landslide and that we may have to get off of our bikes and walk them over it. We initially agreed, but when the horribly cheap owner refused to lower his price we set out looking for alternatives. We discovered that another agency was taking a 10 hour busride to get around the slide, but as they were more expensive and were not going to bike we went back. The agency promised us repeatedly that there was no chance of us ending up on a 10 hour busride, I guess they werent lieing bc it turned out to be 12 hours! The next day we got up to the top of the mountain, and proceeded to bike down. About 1 hour in a police vehicle comes from behind us and stops us saying it is impossible to pass, at which point this horrible lady who came from one agency tries to intervene. The police then show us photos of the slide. It apparently was a slide below the road, and even if it hadnt slid more it looked like about 2000 foot vertical fall and really no way to get past it, especially with bikes. We were all very upset, and at one point all wanted our money back. The lady who came (I dont think she always comes, only when they anticipate trouble) then asked for receipts, and then ripped the name off of one receipt! We were all really pissed, but the group seemed good, and it didnt seem worth the trouble to lose a day in Cuzco so we all agreed to take the bus.
Seeing as this was Andys first overnight bus we proceeded to get good and drunk. After a few bottles of rum our guides were probably the drunkest and boarding the bus was an adventure, especially when one of the girls in our group had her wallet stolen! I ended up sleeping ok, as Im used to the torture of night bus rides, however Andy had the worst seat in the bus and ended up sleeping next to dried hamster piss on the floor.
When we finally arrived in the jungle we had breakfast and proceeded hiking. This turned out to be amazing as we passes coca leaf, avocado, and coffee bean plantations all on the terracced hillsides. After 6 hours of fast hiking we arrived at some delicious outdoor hot-springs and relaxed the trip away. We then had a few after dinner games of Asshole of which I won the majority, but lost the last one of the day which forced me to carry the pack of one beautiful Irish girl named Fiona for one hour the next day. The next hike was relatively easy and we arrived in aguas callientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. Instead of relaxing, we all decided to climb a hill which overlooked Machu Picchu. We were suppossed to begin climbing it at 3 because it takes a while to ascend (1.5 hours) and when it gets dark the ladders are extremely dangerous. We didnt start untill 4:30 and were forced to climb it as fast as possible (30 mins) after which I could ring the sweat out of my shirt. We then took the first of our ¨naked in Peru¨ pics which had Machu Picchu as a monument framed by our butts.
The next day we got to MP for sunrise, however there was no sun to speak of. We climbed the Wayna Picchu and took another naked in Peru shot, then went down the long way which pretty much ate up our time there in MP. By this time we were all pretty tight in our group and made plans to go out in Cuzco, which we did. After a night which ended with me locked out of our hostel for a brief period, I wont go into specifics but lets just say we had fun, we flew to Arequipa, city of light.
Andy and I booked a trip to see the deepest canyon in the world and then had a delicious but overpriced dinner. This trip was the polar opposite of the other. Instead of trekking for hours each day, this trip shoved you in a van and didnt allow you to even walk if you wanted. Instead of cool young folk out for a good time, this trip was full of cranky old french people with a distinct hatred of youthful Americans. During the first day we managed to get to almost 5,000 meters which is pretty freaking high, and then Andy and I ditched the tour to climb around a creek and ended up in some more hotsprings. After this we had dinned for 5 soles (1.5 dollars) and tried to meet with our group but they lied to us (damn french) and told us to go to the wrong restaurant. Another thing, the tour was suppossed to be in English and Spanish but our guide kept forgetting, while also speaking in a very low lispy spanish accent, with the frenchies in full translating mode. Needless to say Andy didnt understand a dang thing, and I only understood enough to know I wasnt interested.
The canyon was cool, we saw condors flying about 20 feet from us and got attacked by some interesting bugs which really freaked Andy out. We then flew to Lima and stayed with two girls from the good tour in the nice neighborhood of Miraflores. After Andy left Stephan from the tour came top stay with us in Lima. We cooked an amazing rendition of my classic Hostal Pasta, and went out to the cool neighborhood of Barranca for a night out.
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