the river wild

okay, i never saw the movie "the river wild," but from what i know, it's about a family rafting somewhere in north america, stuff happens, and then some guy tryings to kill them. well, we aren't a family vacationing. we weren't rafting in north america, hell, we weren't even rafting. oh, and no one was trying to kill us. but that's just details, right?

after what seemed like weeks of rain (though in actually was only one day), we decided that the only thing to do in the face of more rain to go off and indulge in activities which already involved water. after considering all the water related activities that the lake district had to offer, we decided on hydro-something or other. now, what hydro something of other involves is putting on two wetsuits (ugh, i loath wet suits), grabbing onto a plastic board, and going head-first through rapids in freezing river water. sound like fun? you bet it was!

hydro-thingie is not horribly technically challenging, the main point is to avoid the big rocks while still managing to fly over the big rapids. when you hit the waves right, you go flying through the air. when you don't, the board goes flying into your face. hmm, i guess it did involve a bit of finesse, but after some incomprehensible spanglish directions, i think we got it down... or at the least our guide thought we did because off we went. me, with my bruised hands from putting on the damn wet suit. amy, with her flippers one size too big. and ari, with the underwater goggles that he wore to protect his contacts (but really only served to make him dizzy). yes, we were ready to go.

the ice-cold water was strangely refreshing, and when we weren't navigating the rapids, we floated down the river looking at the passing scenery. was lovely, a bit like wakayama and shikoku rolled into one. after letting the class 3 rapids toss us around for a bit, it was all over-- time to strip off the horrid wet suits (have i mentioned how i detest them?) and drink some hot cocoa.

our protest of the rain continued with our evening activities. we rented a car, and along with a couple from hong kong, set out for the hot springs in an attempt to recapture the glory of our japan days. after an uncertain and bumpy ride down some middle-of-nowhere road, we arrived. the hot springs were just what we needed. outdoors and nearly deserted, the the pools were set in near darkness down by a river. we soaked till about 10.30 before we made our way back to the hostel (we had a curfew, after all).

the next day-- more rain, more car rental fun (of which i am sure amy enjoyed the most, being our residential manual car chauffeur-- sorry amy!). the five of us set off to experience the lake district (or at least attempt to so we felt like we had seen something). we saw waterfalls and lakes, and even attempted a national park before the rain depressed us. in the end, we decided another visit to a hot spring was in order, so off we went. the second place we went to was more built up than the one from the previous night, but we enjoyed the high-tech hot spring gadgets.

and that is pretty much our time in the lake district. the next day after some wandering about, we took a bus down to puerto montt... but more of that from ari...

I like puppies.

Vino and Puppies

After a few days on the coast in Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, during which time our main cultural excursion was to Pablo Neruda´s house, we decided it was time to explore the wine regions. Our first port of call was the Vineyards of the well known Concha y Toro where after a tour of the founder´s house we tasted the Casillero del Diablo and some other red which was okay but not amazing. We were happy that we at least got to keep the wine glasses, although mine has already broken. Quel Surprise! Wine tour number 2, waving goodbye to Santiago we went South to the fairly uneventful town of Curico where on arrival we were lucky enough to make the final tour of Miguel Torres, a Spanish based company who have spread their vines. It was essentially a private tour which was great as we had free question time and a self tailored tasting, ie we point and our guide pours. Good setup no? And the realisation hit that Ari was more of a gastronomist than I had given him credit for, for example his poignant observation that the Santa Digna shiraz "smelled like wet dog". Good times and good wines, the best of the bunch(in our humble but thoroughly tested opinion) being the Don Miguel (Gewurztraimer/Reisling) and batting for the reds, the Cordillera (cariñena / syrah / merlot). Our third, final and by far the best tour was at the San Pedro winery. The tour began with a minibus tour of the vineyards, thats how big they were! We got to see every process of the wine making and the guide was great. And I learned that you never put wine in the freezer. Even in emergencies. Between the tours we made sure to practice ensuring that our refined palettes remained sharp...

Aside from that we spent a great day in Santiago, climbed up El Cerro de Santa Monica-a hill right in the middle of the city from which you have a great view of the city and the backdrop of the second highest mountains in the world. We also took a day trip up to the Siete Tazas (The seven cups), a series of waterfalls. We were mildly inconvenienced by the fact that we missed the one bus of the day that goes there and had to hitch/walk the 44km but I think we both agree that it was worth it. Not so much for the waterfalls, they were nice and all, but for our precious find of a beautiful 2 month old golden lab who we named Owen. She ambled past in the arms of a family as we were eating our very sophisticated lunch washed down with Don Miguel. We played with her for a bit during which time the family disappeared. We had 2 choices: to keep her (my preferred course of action) or take her back to the warden at the park entrance (sadly what we did). On arrival we found her real owner, Jaime who had his brother searching all over for her-apparently everyone he asked told him that a young couple had taken her. How rude! Anyway, Jaime had recently purchased a plot of land on top of the hill that overlooked the waterfall and is in the process of constructing a house for himself and several cabins which will be open to tourists on completion. He drove us up to his abode, currently a solar powered trailer van but it was all pretty cool and he showed us the land intended for the cabins which has a great view of the valley. He even drove us the 7km back to the bus stop where we relaxed and took a nap by the river until the one returning bus of the day arrived. All in all a good day.

talking heads

i have wanted to go to easter island even before i knew where it was. and so when we started planning this south america trip way back when, i told myself, despite the cost, despite the distance, i would get there. and it's a good thing i kept telling myself that, because when the time came to book the tickets, i learned that the already-expensive economy tickets were sold out, so i would have to fly business class or not fly at all. i still desperately wanted to go, but at that price? luckily the parents were very convincing and after signing a very painful credit card receipt, i got my tickets. i was going.

wednesday morning i parted ways from amy and ari, who were off to investigate the wine vineyards (and puppies) south of the capital. after spending the day wandering the streets of santiago, i headed to the airport and i was finally on my way. the flight over was marvelous. i mean, business class, how could it not be? i am sure i got more than a few disdainful looks with my backpacker clothes and rugged luggage, but oh well. i soon settled into my cushy leather seat, had my wine and cheese, and put my feet up as i watched mile after mile of ocean pass below me.

about four and a half hours i arrived on one of the most isolated islands on the planet. a wonder of modern navigation systems that a plane can fly over thousands of kilometers of ocean to land on a island that is no more that 20k in width. a spot in the middle of nowhere. arriving i had no real plans, but luckily i found a nice hostel while at the airport and met sandra, a friendly + talkative german backpacker who would be my roommate for the next few days.

my luck with nonplanning continued, and i ended up meeting another backpacker (a californian, kevin) who just arrived on the same flight as me, and the next day sandra, kevin and i rented a car to explore the island. what i didn't know at the time was that the three main people i spent most of my time with are nearly as obsessive with their photo-taking as i am. at last i wasn't the one holding everyone up as i snapped photo after photo. comments like "make sure the horizon is level" or "i'm going to take a bunch of shots so you can just choose the ones you like" were like music to my ears.

so day one. we set off to see the main sights of the island... rano kau, orongo village, rano raraku, ahu tongariki, anakena beach, tahai. got all that? rano kau is an old volcano at the edge of the island, just outside of town ("town" being the only town on the island, hanga roa, where nearly all of the island's 2000 inhabitants live). the views from rano kau were amazing... the turquoise waters stretch out in all directions, and you can begin to get a sense of how very far you are from, well, everything. in the middle of the the volcano is the picturesque caldera lake with the ocean in the background. on the side of the mountain, overlooking the water is the old ceremonial village of orongo which was highly significant in ways i cannot currently recall.

amazing coastal views are all well and good, but by this point we were all thinking, "we are on easter island and we still haven't seen any giant stone heads." so to remedy this dire misdemeanor we immediately set off in search of the moai. after our first sighting of a lone moai, we found the motherload at rano raraku. rano raraku (say that ten times fast) is another old volcano where the moai were, erm, born. from the hillside rocks, hundreds of moai were carved and mysteriously somehow moved to different locations all over the island. scores still remain on this site, scattered on the slopes (both inside and outside the volcano), all in different stages of carving. this was probably my favorite site on the island. after lots of wandering and lots of photo taking we were off to ahu tongariki, another photogenic site of fifteen moai lined up in front of the sea. more wandering, more pictures. we finally felt we got out fill of stone heads for the day and decided it was time for the beach. bright blue waters, white sands, palm trees and even a few moai thrown in for good measure. we relaxed and swam and then realized it was time to rush back for the sunset. we picked up another german girl from kevin's hostel, tine, and the four of us headed to taihai to watch the sun set behind a few moai (yes, in case you haven't realized by now, the island is littered with them). the sun finally set at nine and we wandered back, truly ready for dinner.

the next day i thought i would take it easy after thursday's busy schedule. or so i thought. i headed out with my book and journal, and after some wandering, some reading, and about thirty minutes of staring at the ocean, i ran into tine and kevin and we decided to go for a walk. an 18k walk. a beautiful but very tiring 18k walk. we started out along the coast, picnicked and took photos, and eventually headed inland for some more moai. thought we might be able to hitch a ride with a car, but none came, then talked about kidnapping a horse but thought better of it. after nearly wearing a hole in my already thinning flip-flops, we arrived back in down, dirty and tired but happy. after a shower, some dinner, and a bit or relaxation, we were off into town where by chance some annual cultural festival was going on. singing, dancing, and some other random stuff i didn't understand. oo, i even went on stage in a random "let's get a few gringos to try and speak rapa nui and see who sucks the least" sort of contest thingamabob. i think i was the second least, uh, suckiest. go me.

day the third. after the driving and the walking, the only logical next step would be to rent some bikes. so that's what tine and i did. after some subtle negotiations, we were off like the wind. well, maybe not so much. our rusty bikes would only move so fast, so eventually we abridged our lofty plans of touring the island and once more made a bee line for the beach. we eventually made our way back (with a lil help from a pickup truck) and treated ourselves to overpriced greasy food.

okay, overly detailed synopsis almost done. i decided the best way to spend my last full day on easter island was to rent a car and return to my favorite spots. well, i forgot my license on the mainland and can't drive a manual, so luckily for me, tine felt the same and agreed to chauffeur me around. we returned to rano raraku. where we discovered not only is the outside pretty neat, but the inside is great as well. there are paths to hike up the old volcano and into the crater, where there are yet more moai waiting to be photographed. the wandering and heat eventually wore us out, and the only logical thing to do would be, yes, go to the beach. so being logical people, that's what we did. for our last sunset, we decided to pick up kevin and go to the cliff at the end of the island. the park ranger let us go through for free (and even opened our wine with a knife, a pen, and a bit of banging). the whole ocean stretched before us and the sunset was spectacular.

i thought the sunset was a pretty nice end to my stay on easter island, but no. the airlines had their own plans. the next day, when i was checking in to my flight to santiago, i was told that business class was oversold, and if i would be so kind as to fly economy, they would give me $200 voucher and a free round trip business class plane ticket. now i thought about this for a moment or two, and being the sacrificing person i am, i accepted. apparently fate is telling me its not quite time to finish traveling yet, because sometime in the next year i will have to use the ticket to return to this lovely continent.

south america anyone??

salt and pepper

the last bit of amy and my time in boliva was spent on a three day tour of the remote and deserted area in the south west corner of the country. breathtaking scenery, heaps of salt, and a lot of time in a bumpy, cramped jeep. a perfect end to our time in bolivia.

the main focus of the tour was the salar de uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world. wish i could remember more details of the trip, but at least i have some nifty facts to regal you all with. and that is much better than be droning on about the german guy who constantly wanted the car windows closed despite the desert heat or about about the nz couple who taught me how to chew coca leaves (which, by the way, tasted like dirt). right? now where was i?

ah yes, salt trivia. the salt flats were formed from a huge prehistoric salt lake that eventually evaporated leaving what is now the uyuni salt flats-- 12,000 sq. km of salt, salt, and more salt. it contains about 10 billion tons of salt and the people there produce about 20,000 tons of salt for use each year. the salt is about a meter deep in most places, but at some points is as deep at four meters. in short, there is a lot of salt. so we spent the first day visit the salt flats, driving around and taking pictures and trying to avoid being blinded by the shockingly white salt that surrounded us. oo, we even got to visit a hotel made entirely out of salt and an "island" in the middle of all that salt, filled with hundreds of cactus plants and some rodents that somehow got stranded out there. we arrived early that evening at our, erm, accommodations for the evening, a place rumored to have showers and electricity but in truth had neither. so we amused ourselves with travel stories and star gazing and went to bed at the late hour of 8 in the evening.
day two we left the salt behind us and headed into the desert to see more of what the bolivian countryside had to offer. volcanoes and bright red and blue lakes and scores and scores of flamingos. wasn't quite sure how the flamingos would on at more than 4800 meters above sea level, but they seemed to be doing just fine. but certainly one of the highlights of the second day was that after spending the previous day squeezed into the back of the jeep, we were able to enjoy the relative luxury of the front row where our bruised knees were no longer abused. the accommodations of that night pretty much mimicked the ones of the night before, except this time we had electricity but no flushing toilets. oh well, you can't have it all.

we started the last day bright and early at 5am. i guess its not too bad since there is nothing to do out there in the middle of nowhere except to sleep early. our first stop was to the otherworldly geysers where we could walk around and enjoy all that bubbling mud and sulfuric steam. then it was on to the hot springs. amy and i couldn't face the idea of stripping down to our swimsuits in the freezing weather, but we did soak our feet before breakfast time. after some more suffering in the jeep, we arrived at our last stop, the beautiful 5000m high laguna verde. after wandering around and snapping our last few pictures of bolivia, they dropped us off at the boarder and we were off... to chile.

Never smile at a Cayman

In need of some much deserved R&R, we hopped on a plane and within an hour arrived at a normal altitude where being eaten by a cayman or a pirhana seemed preferable to the biking the day before. (maybe that opinion should have an "I" rather than a "we" before it!)
After 3 hours in a stuffy jeep on a bumpy road (the road of life I might add) we boarded our boat. Canoe. A wooden vehicle that would transport us 3 hours upstream to the cabin that would become our home for the coming days. The breeze was welcomed by us all and it was by no means a boring ride. We saw plenty of cayman (Amazonian crocodiles), aligators, turtles, huge birds, capibarra (they look like huge guinea pigs!) and a couple of pink dophins. After watching the sun set over the pampa fields we went on a night cruise in search of crocodile eyes which was pretty good although they only glow red when you shine a torch in their face which I can´t imagine pleases them greatly but they were very obliging. As we slept in our well mosquito netted beds, there was a huuuuge storm. One of those apocolyptic kinds that you are never sure will end. When we woke up the surrounding ground had turned to swamp so our morning activities were put on hold and we had to amuse ourselves with a solitary crocodile who chose to navigate our part of the river and some newly learnt Dutch card games.

It finally stopped raining long enough for us to go out on our little pampas tour-3 hours squelching though the erm pampas. Big huge plants sometimes up to your shoulders and mud and water reaching the top of the boots. The aim of the tour was supposedly to find an anaconda but sadly it was not to be. In the afternoon we got back in the boat and went off to see the pink dophins. We actually saw quite a few although you have to watch carefully as they dont jump as frequently as the usual dophins. There was an option to swim with them but in a river inhabited my crocodiles and in which we were to be going pirhana fishing the next day, needless to say everyone declined. As we were having tea and cake later on the guide explained that it is actually safe to swim because the pink dolphins travel in groups so they are more than capable of warding off intruders. Something like how Flipper always wins against the shark. Too little, too late.

On the final day we got up at 5am to go and listen to the sounds of the animals waking up. Or namely the howler monkeys who drowned out all other forms of life that may have been trying to make themselves heard. A quick breakfast and back in the water for pirhana fishing.
Fun but frustrating as the stupid fish consistently bite off the chicken and escape. I blame the fish. And back on the boat for 3 hours and then the jeep...all the way to the airport making it just in time for our flight back to La Paz. Or not. Apparently because the previous few flights had been cancelled there was a backlog of passengers and so to cut a long story short we would not be able to fly until the next morning. We got angry, we argued, they told us there was nothing they could do and I wondered if we were back in Japan for a second. We spent a night in Rurre which wasn´t so bad and then back to the heights of La Paz for a shower....

Almost done. Part 3.

Sunday morning. Bright and early. I actually went to bed early so I could wake up and then be 10 minutes late to start my 3 day wicked cool hard core white water rafting trip. Luckily, nothing and I mean nothing is on time in south America, so even though I was 10 min late I still had a chance to sit and wait for the bus for 40 minutes. It was election day in Peru so everything was running slower than usual and everybody was proudly displaying their purple thumbs.
So, finally, the bus arrives and about 15 of us pile into a small uncomfortable bus and head towards the far reaches of the apurimac river. It starts close to arequipa in the far south western corner of Peru and then flows north and becomes the main feed for the amazon river which continues flowing all the way across the continent to the atlantic. Check the map, that is a long way! The river is secluded and wild. Lots of class 4 and class 5 rapids. We began with a 5 hour drive that amy would definitely not have liked on a 1 lane cliffside dirt road climbing through remote mountain areas occasionally passing villages dug into the hills and lots of terraced fields. When we arrived at the canyon, it took about 40 minutes to switchback down into it to the side of the river, and then another hour to unload and set up the gear followed by 30 minutes of lunch. (if there was one thing which we were not in danger of, it was starvation. SO MUCH FOOD! Every meal had fresh salad, cheese, bread, hot tea, + whatever else the meal would be.) by the time we finally set off on the first day, the sun was behind the canyon wall and we had a pleasant afternoon paddle to our first camp. On the way, we did lots of drilling on paddle strokes, flipping, rescue techniques, and general preparation. Lots of swimming and jumping and dun.
We arrived at camp close to dusk and set up tents on a sand beach at the foot of a HUGE cliff which was lit orange by the camp fire but not bright enough to blot out the incredible stars and milky way which appeared across the face of the sky. Orion was out there front and center. I like the constellation orion. Aside from the fact that he is wicked easy to find, he is everywhere! I’ve seen him northern hemisphere, southern hemisphere, east, west, everywhere. Its kind of, grounding. Dunno.
Anyways, still full of energy, we sat up late chatting and playing games and generally causing trouble. Somewhere in the middle of that we played the game mafia and I was given the nickname blondy. So for the next 3 days “hey blondy!” was THE way of getting my attention. Fair enough.
In my boat were 2 british (one who claims to have represented England in the Olympics as a trampolinist.) and a guy from Switzerland (who spent the last 2 days sick and not very happy). The other boats were full of Israelis. So, while in my boat I spoke English, outside I spent 80% of the time listening to and speaking Hebrew. So much for Spanish lessons.
So, day 2. lots of rapids. A boat flipped in a class 5in a really bad area. I was up on a rock watching as 5 heads disappeared and 2 popped up. I quickly counted again on my fingers but still missing 3 red helmeted heads. One pops about 60 meters down stream past a chute, and then I see the safety kayak picking up the other 2 which had been clinging out of site behind huge boulders fingernails length away from being whisked downstream. Cool!
My time came a bit after lunch when we went over a rapid and then paddled back into it o surf the boat in the hole caused by the down pressure of the water. (the technical explanation.) after 3 or 4 tries, we get stuck in good, and I am told the boat went vertical and nearly over backwards. I have it on video and it looks pretty f-in cool. Where was I? I was on my way underwater downstream about 40 yards. When I surfaced, looking for what I expected to be my rescue, the safety kayak still well upstream told me to swim. Thanks. So, I struggle to shore and spend a few minutes enjoying air before back in the boat and off to more fun.
Night 2, spent on the beach in a huge canyon, much like night 1. more talking, fun and games. Spent the time around the campfire near the river listening to groovy tunes off of an mp3 player with small portable speakers. Ahhhh, technology.
Day 3 had a few more class 5 rapids and another boat flip, though not as cool as the first one. We lost the british girl to one rapid, but it was ok because it meant more legroom for me. (we picked her up a minute downstream)
Then, we come to the cliff. The first time I jumped off a cliff into a river, I lost a shoe and bruised my fingers. The second time I lost my sunglasses and hurt my neck a bit. The third time I think I re-tore my eardrum. So, when we arrived at the cliff for the jumping, I had already assured myself I wasn’t going to do it. I was still assuring myself this as I climbed the cliff and then stood at the top. Then I counted, 1….2….3…. And thought to myself, well, I did say 3. I kind of have to jump now. So I did. And probably screamed. No recollection. I hit the water, surfaced and did a body check. No ear ringing, sun glasses still attached, sandals firmly strapped. Whoo-hooo. Safe and sound. Which leads me to the conclusion that jumping off a cliff is like riding a bike. If it doesn’t work the first few times, keep trying!
The rest of the day was fast. A few more class 4 rapids, swim a few class 2 rapids, hit the take out point and pull everything out of the water, a big bbq and an hour of relaxing before the 2 hour bus ride back. Again, incredible views. Green valleys with big mountains hemming them in, snow capped giants sitting just behind, the afternoon sun making everything golden. These are the scenes I came to south America to see.
So, after 3 days, I was exhausted but refreshed. I’ve been needing some fresh air for a while.
So, Tuesday night, dinner with the Israelis, a bit of dancing and then off to bed. Wednesday, a few errands and then I got on a 2.30pm bus for the border which arrived at 6am. What a shlep. Changed to a collective which sheparded me through the border. As opposed to amy and ericas experience, mine was fairly easy. Though I was 9 days over what my visa allowed, a few words from the driver to Peruvian immigration and only $9 and I was through. + I got an extra stamp in my passport saying I was a bit deviant but the Peruvian government thinks its ok and they let me go! If I had gone to renew my visa I would have had to pay $27 + money for each day late. This way I only paid $9. what sort of incentive for propriety is that?
And then, I get to the Chilean border. OH how nice it was! To see a border with paved roads, actual offices with and computers and some sense of regularity. Through the border, off the collective and after a 2 hour wait, straight onto another bus to the north Chilean city of iquique. A beach resort.
And that’s where I am.

A man alone - Part deux

Which brings me to Monday morning. I arrive on the night bus at about 4 am and proceed to the same hostel in Cusco as before for a few hours sleep before Spanish lessons are to begin. I woke up at about 8, stumbled out of bed for a long shower and ambled over to the school early for my 10 o’clock lesson which actually began at 8.30. but its ok because they forgot I was coming anyways. Great start!!!! At first they put me in a class with 1 girl who was learning the alphabet and then, 5 minutes later, the manager rushed in and decided to put me at a higher level. I was ok with this initially because, well, I haven’t found many opportunities in normal conversation to recite the alphabet. Its not exactly the best pick up line, is it.
Me: a, b, c, d….
Girl: Che?
So, I was quite happy with the higher level course until I realized that it was higher level. In the first hour, we reviewed, (not learned. reviewed!) present and present progressive tense including regulars and the 5000 irregular verbs. We then moved quickly into reflexives and past perfect and verb compliments. So, all in all, after only 5 days of lessons of Spanish in my life, I am supposed to know about 5 tenses, some 300 verbs and their regular or irregular conjugations in various tenses along with other necessary vocab. at least now I have a notebook and actual grammatical notes which I can reference.
So, everyday, mon-fri I had class from 8.30 until 1 with a bit of a break in the middle. The 8.30 was tough most days. Actually, all of the days. In the area where I stayed there were lots of small nice bars that serve beer by the liter (or litre ) and have live music. One bar called KM 0 had an InCredible band that played a set from 10 until about 1. after which I was obliged to follow friends (read here - actively encouraging them) to discos downtown which raged every night of the week until the wee hours. So, though I had the best of intentions, bed time was about 4am. Id like to say that my Spanish suffered because of this, but I think it would be untrue. My Spanish suffers because I suck at it. But I gave it a shot.
The classes themselves were nice. The teacher was 23 year old who had just finished studying to be a nurse but decided she liked teaching better. The students were a girl from Connecticut who is in s.america volunteering for a year and decided to learn Spanish first, a dutch girl who didn’t feel like going home and though learning Spanish would be a good way to get a job in peru, and an Israeli girl who is in between jobs at the moment and like me thought it would be a good idea to get a grasp on the difference between Italian and Spanish.
So, classes in the morning followed by a nice siesta until dinner time when I would meet friends and then go to listen to music.
On Friday, as part of a cultural experience, the class was supposed to go to the house of the mother in law of the owner of the school to learn how to cook local Peruvian food. My afternoon siesta lasted a bit longer than I anticipated though, and I arrived at 9.30 instead of 9 and the food had already been cooked. But, then I learned that the mama of the hosue had been a bit eager and finished cooking at 7. so it was more of Peruvian eating than cooking. That’s ok. This was followed by the obligatory journey to the disco where there was supposed to be salsa lessons. but, like the last few times that has been promised, it was a load of crap. So, with techo/pop/rock we danced until 5. (the mom of the house came out and she was grooving until 3am!!! Long after some of the youngens had packed it on. Rock on!)
On Saturday, I met a friend and we made some rounds of the town after a 3 hour all you can eat breakfast. It felt like the simpsons episode when homer goes to the all you can eat buffet. After 3 hours and about 3 jugs of OJ they were ready to kick us out. I was well stuffed. We did a bit of shopping, a bit of tea drinking, a bit of chatting, and generally wasted the day away. Felt good to take it easy. And I needed to relax, because on Sunday, I started an adventure.
More to come in part 3.

PS. I have bought a new orange fleece. Be prepared!

A man alone.

This might be a long one. Grab a hot cup of tea and get comfortable.

SO, it all started a few weeks ago when I decided that I needed to get me Spanish. All the Italian was confusing the locals more than my English. So, I chose a school close to the hostel we were staying at in Cusco and set up lessons starting last monday. Which gave me about 5 days with nothing to do! So, it began. I set off on my own.

I left Cusco for Puno which is a city on lake Titicaca very close to the Peruvian border. Now, before you make any jokes or funny references to the name of the lake, let me assure you, I have already done so and beaten the jokes to death. Mercilessly. At least twice. That being said, the name means something in quechua which I do not recall at this time. Stayed in Puno a day and relaxed and then headed out onto the lake. Highest navigable lake in the world. And cold too. Though the sun is hot and burns you to a crisp in minutes. (exaggeration).
So, in the morning, I was picked up at the hostel and driven to the Puno marina where the water is covered with what looks like a thick pesto sauce. yum. The group got on a boat and we headed out for an hour to islands made of reeds. They float and are only kept in place by anchors which tend to break in the 12 foot swells that rock the island during rainy season, i.e. Now. Every year new reeds are lain down to bolster the island and after about 80 years the whole thing is rebuilt. It’s kinda squishy so you can jump off the roof of your boat onto the island kind of like a trampoline. After that we took a 2 hour boat ride out to Taquili, an island which has nothing on it except for villages and fields. The tour group arrived and we were given a host mama who would take care of us and feed us and such. I was placed with 2 cool germans and we had an interesting time together though our mama wasn’t overly friendly. (no worries though, her food was delicious. ) at about 3, they group went for a walk up to the islands summit to look at temple ruins and such. I decided to play soccer instead, because, well, I wanted to. I can look at ruins any day. That night, we got dressed up in traditional local clothing, ponchos and all and went for a traditional hoe-down which was fun only because it was silly. I’m working on getting the pictures. Next day, another island, not too interesting, and then a 3 hour boat ride back to Puno, spent mostly on the roof napping in the beautiful chilled afternoon lake air. After 3 hours, I was a bit red in the face, but feeling good.
Arrived back in town about 4 and then spent a few hours bumming around the market and town waiting for Amy and Erica’s train to arrive. From the looks on their faces when they arrived, I am pretty happy I took the bus. But they insist they enjoyed it, so…
After a bit of a relax, I took the girls to meet 2 friends I had made on the boat trip, who brought along 2 others from the trip who I were not expecting, who brought a friend they had met in Columbia who brought 2 friends he had met on the bus 2 days before. All in all a big eclectic group of cool people. (on a side note, when planning to meet people, best not to meet them in the middle of parades, funerals, religious processions, or violent labor protests. i just cant seem to get it right.)
It was a slow but good dinner followed by more free drinks then I can count or remember and lots of dancing. I recall Amy and Erica called it a night relatively early and they say I said goodbye in the morning, though I have no recollection because I think I went to bed just a few hours before they got up and left.
I spent the next day relaxing and just trying to find anything at all to do until my night bus back to Cusco. 2 of the girls I had met at dinner the night before were in the same situation so we had a few long tea breaks and walks around town together to pass the time.
This seems like a good place to break. So, stand up, stretch, refresh your tea, and get ready for part 2!