Peru - Machu Picchu

I headed up to Peru over land, stopping in Copacabana on Lake Titicaca on the way (super fun, beautiful, and we got to watch our bus travel over water to cross from the east side of the lake to the west). I left Alyssa in Copa and headed up to Cusco on my own, meeting many interesting people along the way. In Puno, the first "big" town to hit in Peru, I went out on the lake to visit the floating man-made islands on which a population of about 400 people live (still no pics, as I still had no camera).

Once in Cusco, I ended up waiting an extra day for my Dad and Shae to arrive (stuck in Miami for a night) with almost no money... I did a lot of walking, talking to people, meeting some more really interesting characters. Luckily they did show up the next day, and we got organized to go to Machu Picchu (more work than it should be, trying to get train tickets, etc).

Aguas Calientes, the town below Machu Picchu, wasn't anything to talk about, really, but we did a spectacular hike the afternoon that we arrived up Putucusi, about 4 hours round trip, with time at the top to scope out Machu Picchu from above and across the valley. The hike included hundreds of feet of vertical wooden ladders and a total climb of about 600 meters (in about an hour and a half, not so easy). It was well worth the effort, especially since Machu only came into view in the last 5 yards or so, a very sudden reward.

The next morning we were up before dawn to catch one of the first buses up, and there were already hundreds of people in line before us. As the sun came up and the moon was still out, there were llamas wandering the grounds and we got out first up-close views. I can't begin to describe how impressive the work there is: endless terraces, intricate stonework, and lots of mystery as to what in the world those crazy Incas were thinking. After an 11 hour day in the park, tons of walking (including backtracking on the last miles of the Inca trail), and way too many people, we were wiped out.

We headed back to Cusco via the Sacred Valley with yet more grand, sweeping views and Inca ruins, spent another day in Cusco (way too touristy), and then had an eventful bus ride to Copacabana, back across the Bolivian border. This included the bus breaking down at 2 am, a 6.5 hour wait for any new transportation, and finally arriving there after 20 hours of travel. Typical.

Copacabana was bustling by the time I got back there, as thousands of people came in from both Peru and Bolivia for the weekend religious celebrations leading up to the Bolivian day of independence, August 6 (today). The beach scene made me think of what it might have been like in the 1920's on Jones beach or some classic place like that: families picnicking and colorful paddle boats abound.

Way to go, Incas. Awesome work.

Uyuni

To escape Cochabamba for a little while, Alyssa and I headed to the town of Uyuni, which lies to the east of the large salt flat of the same name. The trip was half bus, half train, which was an awesome ride... We saw flamingos (huge!) and lots of birds on the way, as well as a spectacular sunset. Since neither of us had digital cameras anymore, there are no pics to show at the moment (the banner of this blog is a pic of the salt flat, though, to give you an idea...); we did purchase a "Canon" point and shoot film camera and some film, which I think actually gave us a much greater appreciation of our surroundings, made us really look at things rather than try for the best shots, etc.

It was bitterly cold at night and windy during the day, but the sights were spectacular... we visited the Isla del Pescado in the middle of the salt flat, thus named because in the rainy season, when the entire area is covered in up to a few feet of water, the reflection in the glassy surface makes the "island" appear in the shape of a fish. It´s all covered in cactus and has lots of ancient coral reefs to climb on, as well as volcanic rocks strewn about.

We spent a night in a small village at the base of the Volcán Tunupa, where there were lots of llamas milling around, miles of loosely constructed rock walls (with plenty of rocks to spare in the surrounding fields), a very excited puppy, and of course no heating. The next morning we hikes up to see the remains of some mummies in a cave, complete with ancient pottery... most of the other goods had been sacked long ago. We then climbed up to the first vantage point to see the (inactive) Volcán Tunupa, with its immensely impressive crater. We were hurting a bit on that hike, having come from Cochabamba the day before at about 2600 m to Uyuni at about 3700 m. It was well worth it though, and our awesome guide Walter basically ran circles around us while carrying our small pack for us and not drinking any water.

Pics to come on my flickr site once I get the film developed and put onto CD, or the nice Frenchcouple we were with sends us some digital pics that they took for us.

Long overdue update

Where to begin?

1) Environment Las Americas is no more, at least for the time being... The board is gone, two directors quit, along with a few others, and there is nobody left in the office... We are shut down until October 1, according to the founder and Executive Director who is, to say the least, optimistic (as well as delusional and dictatorial, but that's all for another day).

2) I went to the Festival de la Virgen del Carmen in Independencia northwest of Cbba. It was awesome, a nonstop music and dance fest with some of the friendliest people ever and gorgeous backdrops. Amid dancing with anyone and everyone in the pueblo streets all night, every night, we went hiking in Las Vegas (read: dry area) and visited a mine where they extract and polish beautiful, striking blue rocks (similar to Lapis Lazuli, I'm told, but different). Our final afternoon there, we had in-your face views of the bull running... A little different from Pamplona. To see photos of everything (there are lots), click here or on the photos below.

3) After very little sleep on the ride back from Independencia, Alyssa (a co-worker) and I had a great Wednesday with some Indian-style veggie food in town and a hike up to the Christo de la Concordia, which affords some sweeping views of the city.

4) On the way down from the Christo, Alyssa and I were robbed at gunpoint in front of a handful of people who did nothing... After hours with the police and walking home with nothing but a police report in hand, there was, of course, nobody at either of our houses to let us in. We also found out later that (supposedly) the same four guys who robbed us also robbed two money changers (coincidentally, the guys that we usually go to near our office) and shot them (they survived)... We were told by ramdom people in the market today (Thursday) that it was on the news last night, including a video shot by a journalist of the second crime. We had to go back to the police station this morning to watch the video of the two money changers being attacked and shot to see if we could identify the four guys (really bad images of them, we're still not sure)... It's been a long 2 days.

Despite this completely offensive (not to mention scary) event, I am still loving being in Bolivia. Tomorrow I leave for Uyuni, where the massive salt flat in the south is, then next week I meet my Dad and his wife in Cusco, Peru, to see Machu Picchu... Hopefully in the days before I leave in early August there will be another short trip to the Chapare to go downriver in dugout canoes to visit indigenous villages... we'll see if there's time.

¡Lluvia!

¡Finalmente, llovió! After more than two months of completely dry weather, it rained last night... for a little while, at least. There's also fresh snow on the mountains to the west. It's also been pretty cold, although it's generally colder (freezing, actually) inside the office than outside, where there is sunshine. As I write I am wearing wool socks and am wrapped up in a llama-wool shawl.

Other, various news:
This weekend I'll be traveling to Independencia, in the west of the department of Cochabamba, to go to a festival for the Virgen del Carmen. Really I'm most excited about the bull running on Tuesday afternoon... :)

My organization, Medioambiente Las Americas, is perhaps on its last legs, unfortunately. Due to various problems with the board and resignations of virtually all of the directors, an impending financial crisis, and a general feeling of discontent with the way things are being done at the top, things are falling apart. I've already completed my requisite 300 hours of work for the internship, so at this point I'm just helping to wrap things up before I travel for the next few weeks (later next week I will most likely leave for Peru with Aurélie, although now there is also talk of southern Bolivia/Chile).

Besides all of that, I'm having a great time. Recently I've been out and about more than in the past. I got to see a play (I actually understood 99% of it!), meet a bunch of artist-types, went to an art opening last night, and have generally been having a blast. Of course, now that my time here is nearing its end, I am figuring out all of the things that I should have done in the previous two months!

La Paz/Tiahuanaco

What a blast. I went to La Paz for a couple of days, mainly to attend the Aymara new year (also the winter solstice) just outside of La Paz, in Tiahuanaco. We were a motley bunch, with 3 Bolivians, 4 Americans, 2 Germans, and 1 Frenchman. We took an a bus from Cbba and got into La Paz just after midnight on Thursday morning, left our bags at our hostel, and headed straight back out to catch a trufi to Tiahuanaco, just under 2 hours away.

When we got there around 3 am, there were already thousands of people eating, drinking, playing music, and huddling around fires to stay warm. At almost 4,000 meters in the middle of the night, it was freezing outside (there was actually frost on backpacks). Tiahuanaco is the site of a park that holds ruins from about 700 AD, predating the Inca in the area. The ruins aren't actually all that impressive, until you see a celebration like this take place and can sort of imagine what it might have been like back in the day.

Since the gates didn't open until 5 am, there was a lot of standing around, jumping up and down to stay warm, etc. When we were finally let in (estimates range from 4-10 thousand people that day, I think it was somewhere in the middle), paths lit by clay lanterns led us up to the "cheap seats" overlooking the central plaza. There was more sitting around, and to keep ourselves busy we chewed coca, offered up wishes to the four winds, and tried to ignore the fact that we couldn't feel all of our digits.

When it finally started to get a bit light out, we could make out the central plaza, where a large fire was ablaze with offerings from the gathered crowd. There was some music, but the real action didn't start until the sun started to show itself, around 7:15 am. At this point, the entire crowd turned to the east and raised their hands to the first sun of the new year, taking in its energy (I got a lot of energy that morning in the form of a sunburn).



Once the sun was up, there were cheers of "Ayaya Bolivia!" (Aymara for "Viva Bolivia!"). The Aymara flag went up (beautiful), an army band played the national anthem, and then the real party started. Everybody flooded the central plaza, Aymara bands played drums and flutes, and we all danced.


Back in La Paz, we spent the next day and a half wandering and eating. It's an amazing city with breathtaking views. A few more pics before I cut off this long post:

Mikaël, Aurélie, Coco, and me in our hostel room.

Lindenfelser

Linden = type of tree
Fels = rock (how appropriate)

As my late Grandpa once showed me, we hail from the town of Lindenfels, Hessen, Germany...
Pretty, huh?

Despedida

As I write, I'm listening to the mariachi band that plays every Sunday at the bar across the street, loud enough for everyone within a 3-block radius to hear... It's good until the 5th or 6th hour, roughly...

One of our workers, Erica, is leaving us today. She's off to Ecuador for another job for the rest of the summer, rounding up high school students who are studying there for 6 weeks. So, we had a despedida for her on Friday night, combined with a birthday celebration for Johanna, another worker. There was lots of celebrating and dancing in a very tiny space - made even more interesting as it was turned into a sort of dance version of musical chairs: whoever was left the odd person out without a partner had to dance with a broom for a song.

Some of our office crew at the party, from left: John (part-time volunteer from Essex), Meghan (national director, her house), Erica (who's leaving), Boria (from Santa Cruz), me, Alyssa (volunteer from D.C.), Erik (director of ecotourism), and Johanna (campaigns). Missing: Ivon, Fatima, Judy.

In other "news", I finally found an artist I have been trying to track down at a local fair yesterday... He makes some wicked cool jewelry, which I am a sucker for, so I bought a necklace from him:

Up for this week: hopefully going to La Paz overnight on Wednesday for the Aymara new year celebration on Thursday, then doing a bit of sightseeing, maybe some biking.

Life cycle of an avocado

(credit to Steve for the inspiration for the pics, from his artichoke series hanging in my living room)

Fresas

I just wanted to share with you the wonderful image of a delicious strawberry... I've eaten almost a kilo today and last night. I hope they don't give me a bad case of Montezuma's revenge.

Photos

For more photos, I've started putting some up on Flickr, since Yahoo photos is soon to be defunct. Click here to see them. (My old photos from Yahoo will probably be transfered to Flickr soon too.)