Monday March 7^th, 2011

This day of travel to the jungle didn’t necessarily start off on the right foot. On top of my alarm going off at 3:40am to get ready for my 4:30am pick-up, when I turned the knob to start my shower nothing came out. I shouldn’t have been surprised by this—for the past 3 days the odds of the water coming out of the tap had been about 50/50—but it had worked almost all day yesterday, so the possibility of not being able to wash my filthy hair before traveling had not occurred to me. Needles to say, I wasn’t too thrilled about it. Plus, I hadn’t forgotten that what awaited me at Amaru Mayu was a cold shower, which had previously been described to me as ‘refreshing.’ I personally consider that a euphemism.

We arrived where the bus was to come. It was not a bus station (at least as far as I could tell) but the group of people standing on the sidewalk with bags and cargo was a sure indicator. While we waited in Dante’s beat-up 4x4 for the bus (there was no sense in waiting outside in the cold) he gave me my bus ticket and I reviewed my travel itinerary to be sure I remembered what to do. First I was to ride this bus for 4 hours, take a 15 minute stop in a town, and then ride for 5 hours more. He warned me of the possibility of being robbed on the bus to which I logically responded “I guess I shouldn’t nap during the ride then.” He responded that I could sleep, but to do it with one eye open… I still haven’t figured out how to do that exactly…

Yesterday in the Plaza de Armas there was a parade and festivities for Carnival. Sallie and I went and had a great time.

Lots of people in traditional outfits dancing!

In the past as part of the festivities they used to play lots of tricks and games with water—I think attendees were almost guaranteed to get wet. However, I think due to not everyone enjoying this and the damage caused now and then, they have converted to mostly using bubble spray. This particular picture was taken just after we had been pursued mercilessly for a while by a couple of kids. I was in a similar state (being covered in bubble spray greatly contributed to my unfulfilled desire to wash my hair before traveling L)

But all in all we had a great time. While Dante and I continued to wait for the bus to arrive to make conversation I asked him if he’d gone to Carnival yesterday. He laughed and said no, that he didn’t like the celebration because it was too violent for him. I was, of course, confused by this because it hadn’t seemed at all violent to me. According to Dante the festivities in Cusco are pretty subdued because it’s now geared toward tourists. In other big cities of Latin America, however, Carnival can be can be pretty rowdy. For example, it can be a time to settle a score with someone and not get caught. Furthermore, males sometimes take advantage of the situation and treat females in a manner that isn’t normally accepted in the streets on a day-to-day basis. He also said the word ‘carnival’ comes from the combination of the words ‘carne’ and ‘vale’ which he said means ‘meat is available,’ but which I would also translate as ‘meat has value/worth’ or ‘meat is ok.’ Interpret/translate however you see fit.

The bus arrived about 15 minutes late, so we loaded my big backpack, 2 boxes of food, and giant bag of vegetables under the bus as fast as we could. My small backpack and big carton of eggs then came with me on to the bus. At first there were empty seats on the bus, but as we drove out of Cusco and picked up more and more passengers, eventually the bus was full to the point of standing room only for the first 4 hour leg of the journey.

This is as sample of the scenery for the first part of the journey.

After the brief stop in the town 4 hours out I find myself with a new seat companion, or should I say 2 new companions. A brother and sister (probably both around 7 or 8 years old) were to travel in the seat next to me to Pillcopata. While driving out of the mountains and into the forest there was plenty to look at. The kids seemed pretty excited about my camera and suggested I take pictures of just about everything.

The road for the whole journey was no more than a dirt two-track, so encountering vehicles traveling the other direction on the road was always interesting. For example, trucks like this one.

 For the first leg of the journey the biggest annoyance was that it was a very bumpy road. Also, sometimes the sheer height and precariousness of the road cut into the side of a mountain was scary, but of course that only bothered me when I looked down ;) For the second leg of the journey the scariest parts were the places where you could tell there had very recently been a landslide that was more or less fixed for the time being. Since it rains a lot in this season here landslides are an unavoidable problem in this mountainy jungle area. But of course with rain and rapid altitude change you also get a good number of waterfalls and rapid rivers. The rivers and waterfalls coming down the mountain do indeed run right across the dirt road. I felt a little tense about this in a few spots, but not to worry, this four wheel drive, double axel bus could handle it all.

As the trip went on I shed layer after layer of clothing until I was down to my tank-top, sandals, and sweat pants… and was still hot. This weather was more my style J

We arrived in Pillcopata and I unloaded all of my cargo onto the curb. Oddly enough this town reminded me of something out of an old western film, but Peruvian style, or course. Despite being in the jungle the heat, strong sun and dust gave it the western feel. I sat on the curb for about a half hour during which I became a little worried that the person named David who was to pick me up here would not arrive. They hadn’t told me anything about this person except his name, which doesn’t help much when you’re looking for a person you’ve never met. But he did show up finally and after another half hour we got on the bus that would take us to the town on a river where the boat was parked. About 10 minutes in to the trip the bus got stuck in some rich, deep mud (as before, dirt track + lots of rain + rivers across the road = problems). Since I’m young and weigh quite a bit (in comparison to most Peruvians) I got off the bus along with some other guys. The bus finally made it out of the mud when David and some others started pushing. I was wearing sandals and was therefore hestitant to jump into the mud to help, but ended up muddy and wet anyway when I had to catch up to the bus in the rain shower that had come out of nowhere. On top of that, the ride got even more exciting when we discovered that our bench seat wasn’t necessarily attached to the bus, so whenever it got bumpy or uneven (which was often) we’d go for a little ride. After making this discovery I grabbed the window and didn’t let go for the rest of the ride.

After about 50 minutes we arrived in the ‘puerto fluvial’—a small town called Atalaya—and carried my stuff across the town to the boat.  

My mountain of stuff-left, boat-right.

Milena, the other volunteer currently here met us at the boat to travel back to Amaru Mayu. She is from Italy and has been here for 5 months but will be leaving just the day after I leave. They had originally told me that other volunteers would be coming during my time but it turns out they’re coming later on, so for my time here it’ll be me, Milena, and David. Two weekends from now Sarah is coming visit and of course there’s always the possibility of other tourists booking a stay here.

After the short ride up the river we arrived just as darkness was settling. By about 6:30pm it was completely dark. Since there’s no electricity  here we used headlamps and candles to unpack the food and prepare a snack. Milena then showed me where my tent was set up. To be honest it was a little unnerving to arrive at night and not have the opportunity to see the place before having to settle down in my tent to sleep. What was quite nice, though, was the sound of the river roaring, which drowned out most other sounds. There was the occasional bird calling or weird howling, but considering everything it wasn’t too difficult to fall asleep.

Tuesday March 8^th

I woke up around 8:30am feeling well-rested and more than ready to take a shower. Although I can’t say that I loved the cold water, I was nonetheless very happy to be clean. Also, here’s the bathroom set-up:

There are 3 bathrooms like this one, each with a view of the river. Although I’d love to say I showered with the curtain open… well, I didn’t. Maybe by the end of my stay here I’ll be more comfortable with the idea…

Here’s an idea of the other structures of Amaru Mayu:

On the left is my tent and beyond is the river—pretty sweet view, right?

This is the hammock where I spent a fair bit of time reading, writing, studying, and thinking. On the right you can see part of the balcony that overlooks the river.

This is the kitchen. You may notice a theme that all of the structures are open-air. Once you accept insects as part of your life, you realize that there are many advantages to this type of construction. Oh the beauty of a climate where it’s never actually cold J

As seen coming up the river.

The biggest disadvantage to the climate during this season is rain. They had told me last night that if it was raining today we wouldn’t be able to do any work, so waking up to the sound of a steady rain meant I didn’t have to worry about hurrying to get ready for the day. In particular that’s why I’ve had so much time to write this (in a journal to be typed later). After waiting in the kitchen for a while David and Milena showed up and we cooked something that could have been called breakfast or lunch. The rest of the day was spent reading my novel and the handbook about the management of this protected forest. So far the life of a volunteer here has been pretty rough…

Wednesday March 9^th

I woke up around 6:45am today without an alarm, which is very uncharacteristic of me, but can be easily explained by having gone to bed at 9:30pm. When it’s fully dark by 7:00pm and there’s nothing to do but chat, read, or write by the light of a candle you end up hitting it early. Luckily I didn’t hear any rain upon waking.

The work for the day included filling 50 little plastic bags with dirt and planting in each a unshelled seed. The seeds were quite large and apparently belonged to a certain species of cedar tree (who knew cedars grew in the jungle??).

This is the bowl where we put the unshelled seeds. Clearly the cat was just trying to help… the cat’s name is Wingait (that’s probably not spelled right, but it’s roughly pronounced wing-aah-eet) and means ‘to grow’ in Quechua.

Hard at work filling bags…

After this work was done there was time to relax before the 6:30pm darkness and early bedtime.

Maybe what I love most about this place so far is that the temperature is always more or less compfortable. Even at night I’m perfectly comfortable in or out of my sleeping bag—I could really get used to this climate J

Thursday March 10^th

The plan for today was to eat breakfast at 8:30, then hit the forest. Luckily it rained all night and died out in the morning, so we were able to stick to that plan. We hiked a ways into the forest and then essentially did the same thing as yesterday, but in situ instead.

Me, David, and the final product of our labor. We planted 100 seeds in total. Once they have grown in to sapling these will be used in the reforestation of the original (pre-logging) forest species. 

During the hiking and working in the forest I experienced many ‘woooow’ moments due to the crazy forest biota. For example,

This one I found where we were digging in the dirt to fill the bags. It’s called a tarantula scorpion—charmingly and rather accurately named, eh? This picture doesn’t give an idea of the size, but I’d say it was about the size of my hand.

HUGE ferns, which are very common here.

This tree was covered in these little white fungi—loved it!

On the way back there was apparently a wasp nest near the trail. David was ahead and told Milena and I to run together through the area. At the time I didn’t understand why we were running, but I got it immediately when I felt something sting my side. I guess we didn’t run fast enough!

Friday March 11^th

The plan for today was to go to the Chakra (a garden of sorts) and work there for the day planting things, etc. It’s a 2 hour hike there and a 2 hour hike back. However, David had a rather strong headache and didn’t feel it was in his best interest to work through it or in our best interest to endure him working through it. Plus it had started to rain again, so work for the day was called off.

Saturday March 12^th

Luckily Saturday isn’t a weekend day here (Sunday is the ‘free day’) so the plan for today was to do the 4 hour dry lagoon circuit hike. We were to use machetes during the hike to clear any vegetation growing or fallen into the path. This hadn’t been done for 3 months, so there were a few rough spots, but it was altogether an enjoyable hike.

View from a lookout

Sweet beetle

Big ‘ol grasshopper

This is a termite mound taller than my waist.

Bat out of the cave…

Bats in the cave!

Me in the cool rubber boots with machete in hand :D

I LOVE the vines—this is just a sample of what they’re like.

On the topic of the forest, the other night as we ate dinner David told us about the one place in this region where the trees have not been logged. It’s a rough 10 day hike from here and due to the wet and sandy walking conditions one arrives at the site with bloody feet. The reward for enduring this, however, is to be among trees whose trunks are bigger around than the kitchen (refer to earlier picture—it’s a pretty big kitchen). I guess the reason it hasn’t been logged is there’s mountain in the way, but there are still people fighting to use dynamite to get to this abundance of wood. I would absolutely love to see this place while it still exists. Maybe one day when I grow up and am a bit tougher I’ll come back and make an attempt…

As a side note, the insects here are not as bad as I thought they’d be. In general you can sit around outside and only be mildly bothered by them. Plus, the peskiest and most abundant flying insect is the ‘black bee’ which in fact does not sting or bite. The most abundant crawling insect is definitely the ant. I don’t know how many different species there are, but they range from so tiny they’re almost microscopic to large enough to give a scare and a mean bite.

Sunday March 13^th

Today was the ‘free day’ so there was no plan for work for the day. When I got out of my tent the sun was shining, holding the promise of perfect clothes washing and drying weather. However, my luck ran out just after I had finished hanging my clothes in the sun to dry. After no more than 10 minutes, one of the torrential rains typical of the jungle came and I had to scramble to gather my clothes and hang them under a roof instead.

Luckily it’s almost always a comfortable temperature here, so I didn’t have to worry about being wet and cold myself. On top of that, I cared even less because I was already drenched. In the spirit of Carnival David had casually walked down to the creek where I was washing my clothes, filled a bucket with water, and dumped its contents on the diligently washing, unsuspecting me. Apparently Milena had suffered the same fate moments before while she sat eating lunch.

I spent the rest of the free day reading an ecology textbook in Spanish that I found in the library (aka box of books). I felt I was satisfying two interests with this one activity. Plus the text was especially interesting because it dealt specifically with the ecology and environmental problems of Peru (it was published in Lima).

This was the bright side to the rain that spoiled the opportunity for my clothes to dry in the sun.

David had somehow caught 3 butterflies at once (he’d already let one go by the time I took this picture) but I have no idea how.

These butterflies are so big they look more like birds when flying than butterflies.

Most mornings the forest on the other side of the river is capped in clouds like this—bonito, eh?

Monday March 14^th

A part for the boat motor (we’re using a lesser motor while the good one is being repaired) was supposed to have arrived and I was itching to use the internet, so today we travelled to Pillcopata. The trip consisted of the short boat ride to Atalaya and the 40 minute bus ride to Pillcopata. We got to Atalaya a couple hours before the bus was to pass through, so we spent some time with Ray and Eugene, who actually are the constructors of Amaru Mayu. I was interested to meet them because honestly I find Amaru Mayu to be very impressive in its construction, especially considering its location and that all of the materials to do it arrived in a boat no bigger than the one previously shown.

Speaking of boats, it just so happens that their current project is the construction of a boat.

This boat, however, is cutting edge because all the other boats are made with wood—this one is being made with metal. They’re not sure if it will actually float, but they have high hopes.

You might also note in this photo that Eugene is wearing an NMU shirt. I, of course, was pleasantly surprised to find this little piece of home in such a distant place. I asked him where he got the shirt, but he had no idea, although I’m sure it has something to do with the links between Amaru Mayu and Centro Tinku and Centro Tinku and NMU. We joked that he had been my classmate at NMU and had competed in the scholarship competition as well (that’s what this shirt is specifically from and I have the same one J)

We ran to catch the bus when it passed through and settled in for the ride to Pillcopata in another heavy duty 4x4 bus. Upon arriving I was sorely disappointed to find out that all the computers had been turned off for fear of ruining the machines with the lightening the sky was threatening. I was hoping the storm would pass in time to be able to use the internet for a bit before the 4:00pm bus departure back to Atalaya, but luck was not on my side and the weather never improved to the point of turning the machines on. On top of that, for some reason the telephones were all disconnected, so I couldn’t even make any phone calls. Thankfully one of the two phones in Atalaya was functioning, so after waiting my turn I was able to make my hurried phone calls. We couldn’t dilly dally long because it’s best to get back before dark.

We also found out today that on Friday there had been a landslide on the road between here and Cusco. Landslides are common this time of the year, but while they were working to fix this road from this one, suddenly a bigger landslide occurred, claiming the lives of several of those who were working on the road. I assumed this meant there was now no passage between here and Cusco, but apparently when buses reach this section where there is no road, the passengers simply walk with their baggage to get on a different bus on the other side. I’ve got my fingers crossed that things will be more or less passable when I (attempt) to travel on Monday.

Also due to this landslide the normal commercial trade that goes on between this area and Cusco has been halted. Apparently the products being grown and trucked out of this region are bananas, bananas, and bananas. Because of this, when we were in Atalaya today there was someone literally giving away their bananas because as they couldn’t be sold in Cusco they were just going to start rotting an go to waste here. For my part I’m very happy that we returned to Amaru Mayu with a very heavy bag bursting with bananas. For the part of the growers however, I’m sure they weren’t so thrilled to be giving away their hard-earned crop.

This of course brought me in to external and internal debate over which is better:  local specialization (eg. Bananas) with global interdependence or local self-sufficiency through diversification. Speaking in terms of ecology, biodiversity, and minimizing fossil fuel consumption I would have to go with the latter. However, in terms of efficiency of production the former has its advantages. This debate is nothing new, but it’s worth giving a little thought to the advantages and disadvantages of monoculture.

The rest of this blog post is already written, but I have officially run out of time to upload photos right now (it takes forever!) so the rest will be coming to you on Monday!

So I have officially fallen behind with the my posting. During this last week of classes (these two are now over and I start two different ones when I get back in two weeks) I have been plenty busy. I was, however, able to take a trip to Machu Picchu, although it wasn't quite as planned. Due to the complete failure of several airlines, Carolyn was not able to travel to Peru, so unfortunately I had to go to Machu Picchu without her company. On top of that I had just come down with a nasty cold (first real sickness of my time here), but it was an interesting experience none-the-less and I promise to post pictures later.

Today in all of Peru (and maybe all of South America?) is Carnival, so there was a parade and festivities in the Plaza de Armas earlier and Sarah and I are going out soon to see what fun the evening has to offer us. I won't be staying out very long, though, as I'll be getting up before 4am tomorrow to travel to the jungle. I'll be staying there for two weeks to complete a volunteer project and learn as much as possible about the ecology, biology, and culture of the area. I believe it's quite rainy there right now, but at least it's warm and rainy versus the cold and rainy of Cusco :)

I know I'll have plenty to post about when I get back --look for another sometime after March 21st. Sorry for getting behind with this, but thanks for staying tuned!

First, allow me to apologize for the delay in writing this. I think it’s the eternal downfall of vacations that when one returns, she finds herself with an overwhelming to do list. Adding to this problem was the fact that I had 2 exams this week because both of my classes are wrapping up and I was working on the ever-important task of finding work for the summer.

But anyway, enough with my excuses. I suggest getting comfy with a blanket and a cup of tea because this is a long one.

Friday February 11^th, 2011

The first leg of the journey was an overnight bus ride to a city called Ica. We (Sarah and I) left directly after class at around 5:30pm and hustled it to the bus station for our 6:00pm departure. Having decided to travel with the most reliable and secure (but also most expensive) bus company Cruz del Sur, we enjoyed a reasonably restful and entertaining bus ride. In this particular bus, all of the seats converted into what was almost a bed.

Saturday February 12^th, 2011

We arrived in Ica at about 10:00am and immediately started shedding layers. We left the chilly/rainy weather of Cusco wearing jackets and multiple layers of pants, so upon stepping off the bus in Ica into the sunshine and warmth of the desert climate, wearing less clothing became an immediate priority.

Both of our travel books and a friend of Sarah’s had recommended that we stay in Huacachina, not in the actual city of Ica. Huacachina is a small oasis with a lagoon at its center. There is no denying that it’s a place that exists for tourists (both Peruvian and foreign), but there’s also no denying that it’s a beautiful place in a wonderful climate. The oasis is surrounded by huge sand dunes—these pictures will give you an idea of the setting.

This is Haucachina seen from the top of the huge dune surrounding it. Our hostel is in the lower right-hand corner of the picture.

After finding a hostel, changing our clothes, and wandering around Huacachina a bit, we took a taxi back in to Ica to visit a bodega, which is a place where they make and sell wine and in this case, pisco as well. Ica is well-known for its bodegas and has an annual wine-making festival. We took a tour of the vineyard and wine/pisco making equipment and then enjoyed a sampling session. I wanted to take photos of the whole process—it’s pretty neat—but my camera died early in the tour, so we’ll just have to be content with these.

Note the vines and grapes around the sign J

This is part of the giant press they use to get the juice out of the grapes after stomping them with their feet. I don’t remember the exact year it was built, but I remember being impressed when he told us how long this press has been used for.

The de-juiced grapes are then used (if I remember correctly) as animal feed and as a pleasantly aromatic sort of gravel, as shown in this picture.

The rest of the wine and pisco processes are a little complicated and very interesting, the more interesting of the two being the pisco process. Maybe a quick google search would give you an idea of the process, but basically pisco is hard liquor made from the vapor produced by boiling fermented grape juice. What I want to know is who had the idea to do that in the first place… in the case of national claim to the idea, Peruvians say it was theirs, but the Chileans tell a different story.

Sunday February 13^th, 2011

Today we spent some quality time lounging by the pool (yes, all of the other hostels had pools, too—like I said, tourist trap) enjoying the heat and the sun. We both inevitably obtained a certain degree of sunburn due to our extreme whiteness despite sunscreen and spending a good amount of time in the shade.

After this relaxing morning and early afternoon, we left for our sandboarding excursion at 4:30pm. I was pretty excited to try sandboarding, thinking it would be much like snowboarding, but wearing a t-shirt instead of a parka. The sand-filled landscape of pure dunes did not disappoint, but I didn’t really enjoy the sandboarding. In my opinion it is like snowboarding but about ten times worse. Maybe the problem was that our ‘boards’ were pretty much just that—boards. They make professional sandboards, but these were essentially hunks of plywood with straps. This plus the fact that it’s much more difficult to turn in sand made it barely enjoyable to try it standing up. The best way to enjoy it was lying on my stomach as if it were a sled. Here are a couple photos to give you an idea of the scenery.

Me and Sarah

This is the vehicle that took us out in the dunes. Apart from being quite noisy and a little rough at times, the ride was quite enjoyable.

The sunset on the way back was pretty spectacular. Of course, this picture hardly does it justice.

Monday February 14^th, 2011

We woke up around 6:00am today to catch our bus to Paracas. We had bought our tickets yesterday, which included a boat tour of Las Islas Bellestas, too. The boats leave every day at 10:00am for the two hour tour because the ocean is calmest in the morning. Unfortunately it was foggy for the whole tour (apparently it’s weather Peru hasn’t seen for 22 years—go figure, how lucky it arrived with us), but here’s a taste of the islands. Essentially they’re a biologist’s haven, absolutely teeming with seabirds and sea lions.

Birds everywhere! Every 10 years (ish?) they actually harvest the guano using shovels and buckets to use as fertilizer for agriculture.

Featured in this photo are the one-and-only Humboldt penguins, which are endemic and named after the Humboldt ocean current, which has great importance for the weather and fisheries of South America.

This beach is where the sea lions go specifically to give birth, so it’s full of moms and babies. They’re also quite vocal and it’s a bit eerie to hear them. It sounds like a ton of people yelling and moaning. The guide joked that they were the voices of the people lost from yesterday’s tour. Also interesting is the Spanish term for the animal. What we call lions of the sea they call wolves of the sea, hence they are ‘lobos del mar.’

This is the Candelabra, which was made by some ancient people or according to some, made by aliens. The theories for the how and why of this image in the sand are much like the theories put forth to explain the Nazca lines (google image it—pretty cool stuff).

  

According to a taxi driver in Ica (they can be very helpful sometimes) after the tours are over around noon Paracas becomes a sort of ghost town. All the shops close and the only thing to do is hang out on the beach. Considering that we were still sunburned that didn’t sound appealing, so right after the tour of the islands we had the bus driver take us to the Panamericana where we caught a less-than-luxurious but pleasantly cheap bus to Lima, which is about 4 hours north of Paracas.

In Lima we had a very late lunch with some other travelers we met on the bus (from the US and England) and then met up with a friend of Sarah’s who is currently living in Lima. He and two others are part of an organization called ‘Tablistas para Christo’ which means ‘Surfers for Christ.’ It’s a pretty interesting arrangement. They live with a family in Lima while doing missionary work and teaching surf lessons to young Limeños.

They were kind enough to let us stay with them in Chorrillos our first night in Lima. Now, let me back up and explain Lima a bit. As the country’s capital it’s, for lack of a better word, ginormous; therefore it’s divided into sections, which might as well be cities themselves by size as far as I’m concerned. So, Chorrillos is the name of the section in the southern part of Lima where we stayed our first night.

This is the view at night from the roof of the house in Chorrillos.

This is the same view in the morning. If there wasn’t a huge fog bank in the way, you’d be able to see the ocean in this picture.

Tuesday February 15^th, 2011

The afternoon today was spent on the beach. We brought a surf board to the beach with us in case the waves were good for beginner surfers. We were in luck, so Sarah practiced her surfing skillz while her friend stayed in the water helping her. Of course after a good chunk of time treading water while Sarah rocked at surfing (she got up several times!) he was too tired to give me a lesson as well, but I was content relaxing on the beach anyway.

In the evening we packed up again and checked in to a hostel in Miraflores (another section of Lima). This area is quite pleasant being situated right on the coast and is a popular spot for tourists.

I didn’t edit these colors—this is really what it looked like when we came in to Miraflores.

Wednesday February 16^th, 2011

Today was mostly spend wandering around Miraflores, buying bus tickets for traveling tonight, eating delicious things, and shopping for needed items (Sarah:  camera charger since hers starting smoking when she tried to use it in Cusco and me:  tennis shoes because I oh-so-brilliantly left mine at the hostel in Haucachina L)

This was the most delicious of delicious things. As you probably know I’m kind of a fan of ice cream, but this delicacy was a combination of gelatos made with different tropical fruits and was on a whole other level. It was an experience to remember, eating this brilliantly crafted and almost overwhelmingly flavorful desert creation. The only downside is that no other frozen desert I eat in my lifetime will ever compare to this…

And to make the desert experience even better, this is the view from the table we sat at while eating our treats.

This is an upscale outdoor mall in the part of MIraflores called Larcomar. Note the Chili’s restaurant. And behind me while taking this picture was a Starbucks. In Lima there are quite a few North American chains, which was a big surprise to us coming from Cucso. In Cusco there is one McDonald’s, and that’s it. In Lima, there’s a good number of McDonald’s, Starbucks, etc. So, even though Cusco and Lima are both Peruvian cities, they have little else in common. Due to a combination of differences in climate, geography, level of development, North American influence, population size, and culture, Lima is a world apart from Cusco. To be honest it made me miss Cusco (apart from the cold and rain, of course).

Us being tourists :D She bought the jersey and when wearing it the next day we were both very entertained by the approving comments of almost every Peruvian we saw. South Americans love their futbol (translation:  soccer) and Peruvians love their home team.

At 11:00pm our bus departed from Lima headed for our last destination 9 hours to the north, Trujillo.

Thursday February 17^th, 2011

As in Ica, we followed the suggestions of our books/friend and didn’t stay in the actual city of Trujillo. Instead we went north along the coast for a few more miles to Huanchaco. This town was all beach, with a touristy/surfy/hippie/beach bum atmosphere—I loved it. The sidewalk along the beach was lined with people selling hand-crafted jewelry and doing hair wraps, and on the other side of the street surf shops rented out surf boards and wetsuits. We took advantage of the super cheap all day surfboard/wetsuit rental and hit the beach. We opted not to pay for a lesson (as previously mentioned, Sarah knows her way around a surfboard), but I still ended up getting tips and a push now and then from the instructors and other hobbyists. This experience finally brought me to a realization about tourism in Peru. Compared to my other travel experiences (mostly Europe and Australia), being a tourist in Peru is much more personal than being a tourist in the other places. Maybe it’s because the tourism industry is still growing and developing, or maybe it’s just the Peruvian personality. Either way, I much prefer it J

  

These are called ‘caballitos’ which means ‘little horses.’ These were traditionally used by fisherman, but now are mostly used to give rides in the ocean to tourists. They’re unique to the northern coast of Peru (as far as I know) and they say all tourists should take a ride, but we opted not to since we’d already ridden in the water for quite some time on our surfboards! Although in my case I should say ‘attempted to ride’ since surfing was not any sort of grand success for me. But of course, it was enjoyable to play around in the ocean for the afternoon J

This is the courtyard-ish area of the hostel we stayed at. Our room was just off to the right. This hostel is probably my favorite of all the hostels I’ve ever stayed at. For 15 soles (approx. $6) per night in the dormitories we had a hot shower, towel, access to a public telephone, cheap internet access and an on-site café/restaurant. What more could a person want?? The people we met there were really cool and there were several who told this story:  “Yeah, I’m basically traveling South America until I run out of money. I was planning to stay in Huanchaco for a couple days, but I’ve been here for a month now.” The place really does have a draw—I myself wouldn’t have minded spending some more time there.

This was taken just outside the entrance to our hostel. Yeah.

Caballitos again.

First, let me confirm that I did buy a tie-dye dress there (remember, if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all ;)). Next, I’ll explain that we came across this group playing on the beach sidewalk on the way back from eating dinner (at a place that had 6 different types of veggie burgers!!!) Later on they performed in a bar, but we were happy with just listening to them in the street for a bit. We then reconfirmed our status as tourists by asking for photos with them. Notice the guy with the giant set of pipes also holding a guitar—yeah, he wasn’t the only band member who played two instruments at the same time. Needless to say, we were impressed. Also needless to say, I didn’t actually play the flute…

Friday February 18^th, 2011

We spent this morning more thoroughly exploring Huanchaco and visiting the church, which is apparently the second oldest church in Peru.

This was the cemetery next to the church.

The view of Huanchaco from the church (it was perched a ways above the city).

Next to the dock.

In the afternoon we rode caballos de paso, which is a special breed of horses, to the ruins of Chan Chan. The wall on the left in this picture is part of the extensive ruins site. Caballos de paso are special because they are a cross between the Spanish and Arab horses brought to South America bred specifically to trot in a side-to-side instead of up-and-down motion. It looks funny when they trot because their front feet go out to the sides, but they say they are the smoothest riding horses in the whole world. For my part I noticed that along with a relatively smooth side-to-side trot, they also have a lot of energy. My horse, Nela, in particular was a go-to girl. I would have actually preferred it if she’d walked more, but she always insisted on trotting ahead of Sarah and our guide.

We toured one of the palaces of the ruin site on foot, but only learned as much as the sparse signs would tell us because we’d opted not to pay the extra for a guide. It was also a little disappointing because much of the ‘ruins’ were actually reconstructions of the originals. As an all adobe (essentially mud) city it took a lot of damage in the torrential rains of the last El Niño, so they are attempting to reconstruct certain parts. In this photo, the little sign that you can’t read indicates that the entire section is a replicate, not original.

But of course we still had fun touring it. Plus we got to wear the awesome hats our horse guide let us wear :D

Our guide in front of me is wearing all white because tradition dictates that when one rides a caballo de paso white clothes and a hat must be worn. Of course, he said we were pardoned from the white clothes because we’re foreigners, which was a huge relieve because on principle I don’t really own white clothes…

To top it all off, on the way back from the ruins we got to ride along the beach with these adorable little crabs scuttling out of the way of our horses hooves J

Saturday February 19^th, 2011

Our last morning in Trujillo was an attempted whirlwind tour of the ruins on the other side of the city. We wanted to visit both the Huaca (pronounced wa-ka and means temple) de la Luna and the Huaca del Sol, but only ended up with enough time to do a partial tour of the Hauca de la Luna.

At the base of this mountain you can see the Huaca de la Luna.

This is the view of the Huaca del Sol as seen from the Huaca de la Luna. The area in between the two temples used to be the town. As you can see the ruins of the town have been buried and only a small portion has been unearthed to date.

Unfortunately we had to leave the site mid-tour to get to the bus station for our noon bus departure. We then spent the next 9 hours on the bus en route to Lima once again.

The sunset we saw from the bus was absolutely breathtaking.

We decided to spend the night in Central Lima so we could experience a different part of this immense city. To be honest, it was a little more, ummm, sketchy, for lack of a better word, but I guess that‘s to be expected in the central part of a big city away from the touristy locations.

Sunday February 20^th, 2011

The hostel we had chosen was very close to the Plaza de Armas, so in the morning before heading to the airport we were able to take some photos.

Plaza de Armas

After dealing with the pleasantries of the Lima airport (those of you who’ve read my previous posts will recognize my sarcasm here) we were off to home sweet Cusco once again.

A view from the plane.

Upon arriving back in Cusco, I immediately became aware that I was underdressed and that my real jacket was buried in my backpack—no easy access. The weather now is notably rainier and colder than before we left for our trip. Like I said, I missed Cusco but I sure did enjoy the weather of the coast.

When trying to find a taxi to get home from the airport, we learned how badly tourists/gringos can get ripped off if they don’t know better. During my first month in Cusco I never once paid more than 5 soles for a taxi to go anywhere in the city. There were many taxi drivers waiting outside the airport offering their services, so we started asking for prices and were completely astounded. One had the nerve to name the price of 25 soles, while most of the others where in the teens. I was absolutely indignant. We continued walking until we were just outside the airport parking lot where we got a taxi for 5 soles. I truly feel sorry that tourists who are offered a taxi for 25 soles might accept it without knowing better.

Reflecting on the whole trip I’d have to say there’s one thing that really surprised me. Before traveling I thought the trip would offer  lots of opportunities to practice my Spanish, but the reality is that I spoke very little Spanish during the trip. This was partially the fault of Sarah and my bad habit of speaking in English with each other, but moreso due to the fact that virtually every other travel we met spoke English. Even those who had been traveling in South/Central America for months preferred to speak in English over Spanish. At first it seemed convenient, but later I started to loath the fact that every traveler spoke English. First, because it meant that I wasn’t practicing my Spanish, second because it made me envious/feel lazy that these people grew up learning two languages and were already on to their third whereas I’m still struggling to obtain the second, and third because it made me feel transparent. For example, a group of travelers from Germany can probably carry on a conversation in English or Spanish just fine, but if they want to have a private conversation all they have to do is speak in German. Sarah and I, however, only had the options of Spanish and English, which almost everyone seemed to understand to some degree. Hence, I felt transparent and also found it somewhat pretentious that every traveler spoke MY language and never vice versa.

Week of February 21^st, 2011

My time since returning from vacation has been spent washing clothes (and then waiting for 4 days for them to dry—yes, it’s that rainy), going to class, doing homework, studying, going to salsa class, and preparing for Carolyn’s visit and the upcoming trip to Machu Picchu.

On Friday of this week we went to the Chino y Nacho concert. We’d been planning to do this for quite some time and it was a pretty cool gig. I doubt you’ve heard of Chino y Nacho, but they have a few songs that are very popular here. The genre is reggaeton and I have to admit that I’m a huge fan. I’m a sucker for good dance music and I’m pretty sure that’s what reggaeton was invented for :D