Nothing overly interesting happened between Machu Picchu and now, but I'll fill in a couple details anyways.
1) I switched departments at the clinic since topico was getting rather boring (I mean, you can only fold bandages for so long). Now I work in CRED with babies and kids getting check ups, which I really enjoy. Peruvian kids are some of the cutest I've ever known. They are also the best sales people I know, though they have yet to crack me. Also, a few of the nurses I work with are my age and are so fun to talk to and see life from their eyes, all in Spanish of course.
2) I decided to spend a week in the jungle with my friend Mary Beth doing conservation work and play with the resident monkey.
3) I've been trying to firgure out a trip to Arequipa and Nazca for this coming week... we'll see how that one goes, but I will most likely go to Arequipa if nothing else.
4) I still need a PIN for my credit card and am down to about 30 soles... YAY!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Machu Picchu
So here we go...
Friday 3/6/09
I woke up bright and early to leave Cusco at 7:30am. However, before we left we drove all over Cusco picking up people from their hostels (we didn't get picked up since I live too far away from the office). When we finally got going, we headed into the Sacred Valley and made a quick stop at Urubamba before heading off to the launch point. Our launch point was by this coke stand in the middle of a forest half down a mountain. Seriously in the middle of nowhere. So off we went there the mist and rain down the muddy, rocky mountain roads. At some points the waterfalls passing by the roads downwards actually passed over the roads, creating 2-4" deep rivers that our bikes just happened to cruise through. We also passed through small mountain towns and drove past locals who probably thought we were crazy getting disgusting and racing down the roads. And we were disgusting, the rain + dirt roads + huge bike tires = muddy trekkers.
Now our guide, Leo, when he told us the rules of the road, said "No running". I've always been one for speed and craziness like that, but I tried keeping my bike within a reasonable speed range. But at a very crucial point, going around a corner, I wasn't paying attention to my speed (read: going too fast) and just to add some element of surprise a car was approaching from the opposite direction. So I freaked, overcompensated my turn away from the car and crashed... No, I ate that mountain.
The world at that point was rather fuzzy, so I got cleaned up (as best as one can in the mountains) and rode the bus with two others one the way to our hostel. The others didn't fall, they just didn't want to or weren't able to ride. But my accident was only the beginning because not long afterward, a Swiss girl got attacked by a dog and an Israeli guy got stung by bees. What a start to the adventure!
Once we got to the hostel and got showered and fed, the day didn't seem too bad anymore. Sleeping was like heaven.
Saturday 3/7/09
After we got all the bad stuff out of the way, we knew the rest of the trip had to be amazing (and it was). Waking up at 6:30 wasn't too bad since we crashed early. Saturday we spent the day first walking through the "jungle" then scaling mountain sides. One of the members of our group had a fear of heights, so he took a bus to the next hostel in Santa Teresa. While this was unfortunate for him, that meant the rest of us could send the majority of our stuff on the bus and just carry our water and whatever we might need on the trek.
Along the way our guide Leo pointed out all the interesting fruits and gave mini lessons on chocolate beans and coffee plants. We even got to eat the fruity part of the chocolate bean!! And yeah, it actually tasted a bit like chocolate. Cornfields were everywhere, reminding me of home (naturally)... Except our cornfields aren't growing on the sides of MOUNTAINS. I won't even attempt to describe the mountains and the views and just the plain ole grandeur that is the Andes. Have more time? Check out my picasa site for pictures.
At the end of our amazingexhaustingbeautifulchallengingetc day we got to melt in the hot springs for just 10 soles (in amaerican terms, that means about $3). While soaking in the bathwaterish springs we took in the moon over the mountains and the sun disppearing behind them. After getting to our hostel in Santa Teresa with the one bathroom for 12 people some of our group decided to go out to the bars and check out the scene. I decided that that decision was ludicrous and slept instead. A good decision it was since when I woke up I felt refreshed... the others, including our guide, were not so fortunate.
Sunday 3/8/09
This day was a bit lame. We took a bus up a mountain. We got out. We walked down railroad tracks to Aguas Calientes. I got eaten by bugs. The end.
Monday 3/9/09 = Main Event
This was it - waking up at 4 to climb to the top of Machu Picchu! It was quite the climb and we took our sweet time in order to enjoy the sun rise (not to mention catch our breath climbing those damn 1600 steps to the entrance). It was beyond worth the blood sweat and tears to get there!!!! Again, there are no words to describe it.
Once at the top, we had to get tickets for Waynapicchu, the mountain behind the ruins in all those classical photos you see of "the Mach" and then took a 2 hour tour (though a 3 hour tour would've been fun! haha) of the ruins. Turns out, they really don't know too much about them but since the Spainards never found the site, they are really well preserved. Also, the only person privelged enough to get a bathroom was the mayor guy. Not that it was a big deal... it was just a hole in the ground.
After our tour, we decided to climb Waynapicchu, you know, as if we haven't climbed enough mountains in the last couple days or anything. The "stairs" were at times no more than the rocky side of the mountain but once we arrived we were awed once more by the surroundings. I could live there and be the happiest person, except for the whole swarms of tourists... There were also fun things to climb and caves to muck through =D
So that's basically my trek to Machu Picchu - the trip home only took a couple hours and we took a train to Urubamba and then a bus to Cusco. YAY!
Friday 3/6/09
I woke up bright and early to leave Cusco at 7:30am. However, before we left we drove all over Cusco picking up people from their hostels (we didn't get picked up since I live too far away from the office). When we finally got going, we headed into the Sacred Valley and made a quick stop at Urubamba before heading off to the launch point. Our launch point was by this coke stand in the middle of a forest half down a mountain. Seriously in the middle of nowhere. So off we went there the mist and rain down the muddy, rocky mountain roads. At some points the waterfalls passing by the roads downwards actually passed over the roads, creating 2-4" deep rivers that our bikes just happened to cruise through. We also passed through small mountain towns and drove past locals who probably thought we were crazy getting disgusting and racing down the roads. And we were disgusting, the rain + dirt roads + huge bike tires = muddy trekkers.
Now our guide, Leo, when he told us the rules of the road, said "No running". I've always been one for speed and craziness like that, but I tried keeping my bike within a reasonable speed range. But at a very crucial point, going around a corner, I wasn't paying attention to my speed (read: going too fast) and just to add some element of surprise a car was approaching from the opposite direction. So I freaked, overcompensated my turn away from the car and crashed... No, I ate that mountain.
The world at that point was rather fuzzy, so I got cleaned up (as best as one can in the mountains) and rode the bus with two others one the way to our hostel. The others didn't fall, they just didn't want to or weren't able to ride. But my accident was only the beginning because not long afterward, a Swiss girl got attacked by a dog and an Israeli guy got stung by bees. What a start to the adventure!
Once we got to the hostel and got showered and fed, the day didn't seem too bad anymore. Sleeping was like heaven.
Saturday 3/7/09
After we got all the bad stuff out of the way, we knew the rest of the trip had to be amazing (and it was). Waking up at 6:30 wasn't too bad since we crashed early. Saturday we spent the day first walking through the "jungle" then scaling mountain sides. One of the members of our group had a fear of heights, so he took a bus to the next hostel in Santa Teresa. While this was unfortunate for him, that meant the rest of us could send the majority of our stuff on the bus and just carry our water and whatever we might need on the trek.
Along the way our guide Leo pointed out all the interesting fruits and gave mini lessons on chocolate beans and coffee plants. We even got to eat the fruity part of the chocolate bean!! And yeah, it actually tasted a bit like chocolate. Cornfields were everywhere, reminding me of home (naturally)... Except our cornfields aren't growing on the sides of MOUNTAINS. I won't even attempt to describe the mountains and the views and just the plain ole grandeur that is the Andes. Have more time? Check out my picasa site for pictures.
At the end of our amazingexhaustingbeautifulchallengingetc day we got to melt in the hot springs for just 10 soles (in amaerican terms, that means about $3). While soaking in the bathwaterish springs we took in the moon over the mountains and the sun disppearing behind them. After getting to our hostel in Santa Teresa with the one bathroom for 12 people some of our group decided to go out to the bars and check out the scene. I decided that that decision was ludicrous and slept instead. A good decision it was since when I woke up I felt refreshed... the others, including our guide, were not so fortunate.
Sunday 3/8/09
This day was a bit lame. We took a bus up a mountain. We got out. We walked down railroad tracks to Aguas Calientes. I got eaten by bugs. The end.
Monday 3/9/09 = Main Event
This was it - waking up at 4 to climb to the top of Machu Picchu! It was quite the climb and we took our sweet time in order to enjoy the sun rise (not to mention catch our breath climbing those damn 1600 steps to the entrance). It was beyond worth the blood sweat and tears to get there!!!! Again, there are no words to describe it.
Once at the top, we had to get tickets for Waynapicchu, the mountain behind the ruins in all those classical photos you see of "the Mach" and then took a 2 hour tour (though a 3 hour tour would've been fun! haha) of the ruins. Turns out, they really don't know too much about them but since the Spainards never found the site, they are really well preserved. Also, the only person privelged enough to get a bathroom was the mayor guy. Not that it was a big deal... it was just a hole in the ground.
After our tour, we decided to climb Waynapicchu, you know, as if we haven't climbed enough mountains in the last couple days or anything. The "stairs" were at times no more than the rocky side of the mountain but once we arrived we were awed once more by the surroundings. I could live there and be the happiest person, except for the whole swarms of tourists... There were also fun things to climb and caves to muck through =D
So that's basically my trek to Machu Picchu - the trip home only took a couple hours and we took a train to Urubamba and then a bus to Cusco. YAY!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
WhiteWater Rafting and Pisac
So not this past weekend, but the weekend before...
Saturday:
Me and some friends decided to go whitewater rafting and had a blast! After driving through the country side surrounding Cusco we arrived at the camp which had lockers, hot showers, and a sauna (can you say spoiled?). We rafted class 3-4.5 rapids with this crazy guide who would purposely take us through the wildest parts of the rapids. We were also with a bunch of fun guys from Oklahoma who insisted on chattering and singing the the majority of time, which would explain the ride. While on the calm parts of the river we had a great view of the mountains and countryside. That didn't last long as we found those class 4.5 rapids! At one point me and the guy behind me actually fell out of the raft! I was completely calm and collected while the other guy completely freaked out. The part of the river after we flew out was probably the calmest part of the river and we were never in any real danger. Later on, when we were almost done our guide asked us if we could see the baby fish in the water. Naturally gullible as gringos can be we all looked but the poor guy who fell out of the raft earlier got pushed out of the raft by the guide! The guy took it in stride and before we knew it we were in the sauna warming up (that water was COLD!).
Unfortunately, I was so tired that I left my debit card and some money in the taxi on the way home! So I was stuck without money for a while...
Sunday:
So I bought this tourist ticket to see a bunch of local sights and ruins and I had until that day to use it. Me and two friends went off to Pisac to check out the market (which I then had no money for) and see the ruins. The market was not exciting as I wasn't in the mood to shop with no money. We then decided to climb to the ruins after lunch. So we climbed, and we climbed, we got on the wrong path and had to reclimb part of the mountain. For some reason we didn't realize that 1) we started on the backside of the ruins and 2) it was possible to take a bus to the top. However, we eventually made it to the top after about an hour of climbing and resting and climbing some more. The views were spectacular and in my opinion quite worth it! Not having mountains home in Wisconsin really makes me appreciate what they have here.
Once we were done playing among the ruins, we trekked back down to find a bus. Taxi drivers tried tempting us, promising that we only had to pay 40 soles (about 13 US dollars). A bus is only 2.40 soles (not even a whole dollar). Finally, after about 20 minutes we managed to squeeze our way onto a bus homeward bound. The downside was standing for the entire way home we had to stand squished between everyone else who managed to fit on the bus. At least it was mainly women on that bus... I'll mark that one down as one of my many "experiences"
Saturday:
Me and some friends decided to go whitewater rafting and had a blast! After driving through the country side surrounding Cusco we arrived at the camp which had lockers, hot showers, and a sauna (can you say spoiled?). We rafted class 3-4.5 rapids with this crazy guide who would purposely take us through the wildest parts of the rapids. We were also with a bunch of fun guys from Oklahoma who insisted on chattering and singing the the majority of time, which would explain the ride. While on the calm parts of the river we had a great view of the mountains and countryside. That didn't last long as we found those class 4.5 rapids! At one point me and the guy behind me actually fell out of the raft! I was completely calm and collected while the other guy completely freaked out. The part of the river after we flew out was probably the calmest part of the river and we were never in any real danger. Later on, when we were almost done our guide asked us if we could see the baby fish in the water. Naturally gullible as gringos can be we all looked but the poor guy who fell out of the raft earlier got pushed out of the raft by the guide! The guy took it in stride and before we knew it we were in the sauna warming up (that water was COLD!).
Unfortunately, I was so tired that I left my debit card and some money in the taxi on the way home! So I was stuck without money for a while...
Sunday:
So I bought this tourist ticket to see a bunch of local sights and ruins and I had until that day to use it. Me and two friends went off to Pisac to check out the market (which I then had no money for) and see the ruins. The market was not exciting as I wasn't in the mood to shop with no money. We then decided to climb to the ruins after lunch. So we climbed, and we climbed, we got on the wrong path and had to reclimb part of the mountain. For some reason we didn't realize that 1) we started on the backside of the ruins and 2) it was possible to take a bus to the top. However, we eventually made it to the top after about an hour of climbing and resting and climbing some more. The views were spectacular and in my opinion quite worth it! Not having mountains home in Wisconsin really makes me appreciate what they have here.
Once we were done playing among the ruins, we trekked back down to find a bus. Taxi drivers tried tempting us, promising that we only had to pay 40 soles (about 13 US dollars). A bus is only 2.40 soles (not even a whole dollar). Finally, after about 20 minutes we managed to squeeze our way onto a bus homeward bound. The downside was standing for the entire way home we had to stand squished between everyone else who managed to fit on the bus. At least it was mainly women on that bus... I'll mark that one down as one of my many "experiences"
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Week 3 I'm going to try to remember...
Due to an unforeseen lack of internet, I'll write the cliff notes version of last week:
Spanish lessons continued as normal, though we got a new teacher named Magda. She is as sweet as Danitza was, but she's still really fun and like Danitza, only will speak in Spanish. Friday she took us out on a field trip to two free art museums featuring local artists. One of the artists (whose name I forget at the moment) had very passionate statues about protests, focusing on the native woman and Catholicism. The guy even meet John Paul II! After the artwork, we stopped by a street woman selling something like a small non-spicy tamale (if that makes sense?) for 70 centimos, which is little more than 10 cents. DELICIOUS (and no parasites).
Clinic continued as usual, I cleaned wounds and made bandages. I'm making progress speaking in Spanish with the nurses and I think they are starting to enjoy having me around. There is one nurse though, who I can't figure out if she's a student or not who definitely doesn't care to have gringa volunteers around. Unlike the other nurses she won't return greetings or converse with us at all. If there is a patient around who needs help, she won't let us volunteers help her. I have yet to really see her do actual nursing work. Ok, I'm done ranting about her, but most nurses and doctors at the clinic are really cool and will make at least a little small talk with us.
On a purely fun note, we had the last quiz night at the Muse and this time around my team won! So we each had a hard-earned free drink. Afterwards we went out for a bit and I got to bond with new housemates.
Ok, I think I'll just post this since nothing else remarkable happened during the week...
The weekend was definitely more eventful =D
Spanish lessons continued as normal, though we got a new teacher named Magda. She is as sweet as Danitza was, but she's still really fun and like Danitza, only will speak in Spanish. Friday she took us out on a field trip to two free art museums featuring local artists. One of the artists (whose name I forget at the moment) had very passionate statues about protests, focusing on the native woman and Catholicism. The guy even meet John Paul II! After the artwork, we stopped by a street woman selling something like a small non-spicy tamale (if that makes sense?) for 70 centimos, which is little more than 10 cents. DELICIOUS (and no parasites).
Clinic continued as usual, I cleaned wounds and made bandages. I'm making progress speaking in Spanish with the nurses and I think they are starting to enjoy having me around. There is one nurse though, who I can't figure out if she's a student or not who definitely doesn't care to have gringa volunteers around. Unlike the other nurses she won't return greetings or converse with us at all. If there is a patient around who needs help, she won't let us volunteers help her. I have yet to really see her do actual nursing work. Ok, I'm done ranting about her, but most nurses and doctors at the clinic are really cool and will make at least a little small talk with us.
On a purely fun note, we had the last quiz night at the Muse and this time around my team won! So we each had a hard-earned free drink. Afterwards we went out for a bit and I got to bond with new housemates.
Ok, I think I'll just post this since nothing else remarkable happened during the week...
The weekend was definitely more eventful =D
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