Backpacking South America

Well we spent 5 or so days on an amazing beach in Canoa, Ecuador. We stayed in a hostel run by an American woman and her husband. It was fantastic! We had some great weather too, just what we needed to sit on the beach and drink beer for a few days haha. We spent easily 3 days trying to get TO canoa and it was a mess.

The day we left Ica we went to Nazca for a day, which sucked. The "lines" were a joke. Then we left that afternoon via bus to Lima. In Lima we arranged a flight to a border town Piurta. We got to the airport at like 5:30 am and had to sit there all day (which was nice, we ended up journaling all day which was MUCH needed) until our flight at 7 or so. The flight landed at 9 or so and we tried to get a bus across the border whcih was at 1230. So we had to sit in the office...orrrrrrrr attempt to go with one of the individually operated van shuttles. It looked respectable so we took it. We got in and then the guy proceeded to stand outside it yelling for more passengers...until 3:30am!! We kept asking when we would leave and he kept saying one more person one ore person...well then after waiting for two hours that one more person would leave so then it was two more people. It was seriously a disaster. The only nice thing was he tried to pull a one over on us and get sam and I to pay the $50 difference he would lose if he left without the car being full. Well there were 2 other people in the van who he wasnt asking to pay so we pretty much laughed in his face and went to bed. So for three or four hours we got some decent sleep in a leather seated van with a bunch of strangers. haha, quite the night. So then we left and got on a random bus at 330 in the morning...on which the guy there tried to overcharge us (damn!)...and 5 or so hours later we arrived at...? God I cant even remember where we ended up. OH GUAYAQUIL! Thats right. From there we had to get another long bus and the only one out left in a few hours. The closest it went that day to Canoa was 2 hours, but we did it anyways. The bus was comfy and we had the first 2 rows so it was very spacious! Until we were about an hour away and we had to switch busses because only a handful of us were continuing on. So we got stuck in the VERY last row of three seats...Sam squished aganist the wall in a clostrophobic hole and me sandwiched between her and a giant, strange man. The whole ride was miserable because we were literally going over unsealed roads FULL of potholes and speedbumps. It was so bad you had to brace yourself on the seat in front of you, for an entire hour. Really pleasant. Plus, its late and weve already been traveling for 2 days. So we miss our stop, the bus driver comes backand gets us and we have to walk half a mile with our bags back to the station. The um, "station." Its filthy. I went to the bathroom and there were roaches all over and little flying bugs just swarming. So gross that it was cleaner to not touch the sink/supplies to wash your hands than it was to actually wash them. The next bus out wasnt til 6am so we had to take a cab. But all the drivers were trying to scam us into paying $40 and $50 for the ride. In reality, its supposed to cost $20. So it was so funny...we went and asked a few guys, laughed when they told us that ridiculous amount and then went and sat on a bench, preparing to wait out the night. Well theres no one else in the station so the drivers are just lining up, parking and getting out to wait for the next bus in. After about an hour we had easily 10 drivers sitting there talking to us...all of them trying to take us to Canoa for $40. Finally another bus came in, the drivers disperserd and we talked someone into taking us for $25. The two hour ride was equally as bad as the bus but he at least had some good music to listen to. (If by good you mean 50 cent dubbed over a random spanish instrumental).

We finally get there and the hostel is closed. We get settled at a random hostel and switch to the nicer one the next day. All in all it was a crazy hectic few days and nothing would be better than to just sit on the beach...with a beer...which we got to do for 5 days! Oh and thankfully I was able to find a bikini that wasnt heinous or a million dollars (Even though it was only like 2 inches of fabric..!).

The week was great. The ride home was long. We left and took a bus to the next town where we had to wait 4or 5 hours for the next bus to Quito. We played cards in an outside bus terminal while random men hovered over our shoulders trying to understand what we were doing, ate dorito sandwhiches (yea, doritos and bread bc there was literally nothing else even remotely nourishing!) and waited it out. Finally, after the power went out (that makes 5x this trip?) we got on board. After a long 8 or 9 hours we arrived in Quito. We got on board the plane without any problems. We flew Quito to Bogota, Bogota to Miami...got off and stayed the night at Sams cousin Kimbers place (with a REAL shower and REAL bed...if you cansider college dorms REAL comforts haha). It was sooo nice to just relax and be clean and taken care of! (THANKS KIMBER!). The next morning we were up at 4:30 to take a subway to the airport. Then we had to go Miami to Atlanta, Atl to Pittsburgh. That morning we went to the desk only to find out that my ticket had been for the day before so I ended up paying $280 just to get home that day. I HAD a ticket for 80, taxes and everything, so that was a HUGE hurtin on the wallet. I had to run through the concourse like a maniac, pay $5 for one minute of internet use only to have one last thing go wrong before I could go home. Ridiculous black cloud has been over my head all trip. When we landed, Megan picked me up and Sams mom, brothers Fiance and good friend Val were there to pick her up. Her mom says, "geez, did anything bad happen to Sam this trip or did you have all the bad luck!?" Haha, if she only knew!

I got to hang out with Megan in pittsburgh, go to dinner with Sams family and finally see my family and head home. It was a long long journey but I had things I needed to prove, to myself. And I did. And now I'm ready to be home

So we booked a 4 day trip to hike to Macchu Picchu the first day we arrived in Cusco. The city is fairly touristy although its a beautiful city...colonial architecture and flowers everywhere. The streets are all cobblestone and the views of the mountains surrounding is really great. We had one day in Cusco before the trip began so we basically did errands all day. That night I got food poisoning from some bad chicken (apparently everyone gets robbed and gets food poisoning at least once when coming here...so check, and check...job well done). I was up all night rolling around and sobbing because I felt so terrible. Thanks to my surrogate mom, Sam, I didnt feel as bad as I wouldve if I was alone. The next morning was rough because we took a bus to a small town and started our three hour bike ride. Luckily most of it was downhill so it didnt wear me out too much. We did end up getting sand fly bites allll over our legs which took about 2 weeks to heal..ugly. The road was really bumpy and it was pretty much like trying to hold onto a mechanical bull for three hours. Sam fell off her bike...she was okay andit was funny bc shes so tough and had to ride like a million miles an hour and I just had a vision of her wiping out...I come around the curve and there she is, lying in the middle of this road saying îm stuck im stuck! haha apparently he had fallen on her side and was pinned between the bike and her hiking boots which were tied to her bookbag haha. This was an hour after she got a flat tire on her bike haha. I think the guide is starting to hate her lol.

We finally arrived to Santa Maria? where we stayed for the night. They feed us so well on this trip too. There are like 10 of us I think. One other kid from the States, 19 years old and has been traveling for 7 months, crazy. A woman whos in her mid 50s Checzh woman who lives in GA now and had dreamed about hiking this since she was like 15....a midde aged french woman with the longest braids ive ever seen...2 young guys one from New Zealand and one from France, the 2 Danish girls and Sam and I...alsoooo a guy from Holland...I think thats it. Overall, a pretty diverse group. But everyone was in pretty good shape so keeping up was difficult.

The first day we hiked at like 630 am. We had to get up early to beat the sun and thank god we did because once it came out, we had about an hour left and it was torture. We hiked for like a hour on a fairly flat road and then the mountain came. For like an hour we hiked pretty intensely up the mountain until we came to the top. We were on this little ledge on the edge of this mountain overlooking the creek and in the midst of just jungle and mountain...it was amazing. Then we started the decent. It was pretty much on a one person wide trail literally on the surface of the side of a giant mountain..absolutely crazy.
We finally got to Aguas Calientes where we got to go in real hot springs. It was running right off the side of the mountain into this big man made pool. It was like a giant hot tub. Very cool...and the scenery was amazing, we even saw a rainbow and got to watch the sunset and then stayed around watching the stars. The night sky here is amazing...The southern cross is a huge difference in the sky down here and all the constellations we know are so misplaced here. Sams a stargazer so shes teaching me a lot. After about a 6 or 7 hour day we finally got to the hostel. That night we went to the bar for a few drinks...and joined a cockroach that was crawling all over the bar. Real pleasant haha.

The next day was much easier physically but I still couldnt stop sweating. I think we sweat for like 4 days straight, it was gross. Today was only rough because we walked in the hot sun all day and we walked for like an hour ON train tracks. There was no trail so you were walking on irregularly spaced planks for an hour...and you coldnt look up or youd miss a step and fall...so it got real boring, real fast. We were walking in 2 mini groups and we were about a half a mile ahead of the guide and the slowest person. Every hour or so wed stop and rest and let everyone catch up. Well on the last rest we sat and sat and 30 min later we couldnt find the group. We had to find our way to this random town in the middle of the jungle without a guide. haha real funny...we thankfully found our guide who was wandering the town looking for us haha. Turns out there was a turnoff off the rail road tracks that we missed and walked an extra half mile or so. But points for us for being the first time our guide knew about a guide losing his group..haha.

The last night we were trying to sleep early because we had to get up at 430am. Of course, there was an 8 year olds birthday party in the common room right outside our door and they were doing pipe work in the street right outside our window. We got up at 430, and started our hike. We walked for about 20 minutes on a road in the pitch dark and then came to the bottom of the 1,400+ stairs up...vertical...in the pitch dark. It was a real wake up call. It took about 45 minutes and by the time we hit the top we got to see the sunrise. It was really a great experience and after hiking for 4 days, the peak was such a welcome relief.

We had 2 hours with a guide at the top who told us a lot of interesting stuff about the history of the place and all that. The coolest thing I remember is that first, they designed a lot of it to look like animals...the one part looks like a alligator and the whole site itself looks like a condor, the Peruvian national bird. Also, it was an American explorer, Hiram Bingham who found the place with assistance from local farmers. He was looking for the Lost City and mistakingly thought he found it. After excavations he took all the loot to Yale in the US to study it. He was under contract for 2 years with the stuff until it had to be returned to Peru and not surprisingly, it never was. With a lot of Macchu Picchu, they dont know exactly what it was used for. There are a lot of theories but since the Incas didnt have a writing system, much of their history was lost. Other intersting facts are that the peruvian govt wanted to sell the whole site to a private company which thankfully they didnt...they only sold the rail line going up there which is why its so expensive (like 60 dollars for just the train ticket).

We had PERFECT weather all morning and then as usual at altitude, the weather changes in a second. The cloud and rain rolled in right as we were hiking back down the 1000+ stairs.It was cool to see it in both sun and fog. We did manage to climb another 800 or so stairs up to Waynapicchu which is more ruins at the top of the biggest peak behind the ruins. It was a crazy climb and definately tested your comfort with heights. At the top you are wayyy above Machu Picchu and can see it from a distance. It was a really cool hike and a totally worthwhile experience.

After a long four days, we climbed down and got the train back to Cusco. What a tired bunch we were.

So its taken me forever to update as I havent been online in over two weeks...sorry to those of you who have been worried!! We left Bolivia, thank goodness, and stopped first in Peru in Arequipa. We met Melanie and Laura, two really great English girls, on the bus on the way and went with them to a great hostel right near the center of the city. We had a great relaxing four days there. We did some shopping to get me some hiking shirts to replace those that got stolen, in preparation for Macchu Picchu. We found a great place to eat crepes for breakfast. They have like 100 different option for these things...each one equally as delicious. I tried a roquefort, spinach and cheese, basil tomato and cheese, cinnamon and sugar, coconut and chocolate....gosh they were so good. We definately had our crepe fill while we were there. We also did some shopping and got some really great artwork for souveniers. Those are my favorite things to buy abroad... We had 2 really nice nights out at a dance bar called DejaVu. We met some locals and a group of Argentinian boys who spoke English!

While in Arequipa we met two Danish girls, Julie and Maria. They came to Colca Canyon with the four of us the next day. We hired a cab to take us the 2 hours there really early in the morning. The canyon is amazing and you get an upclose view of the Condors flying over in the morning. One flew right over our heads...theyre huge! We also made a stop at this really cool Incan musuem where we got to see a frozen child sacrifice that was found during excavations at the tops of the nearby mountains. It was an actual frozen body in this freezer from yearssss ago...very bizzare. They also had all kinds of trinkets that were found with the bodies on display. Apparently, the most famous girl who they call Juanita is being researched right now so wasnt on display. Her story is that she was 13 I think, and walked for 30 days straight in this thin little sheep skin moccasins eating only coca leaves and was then sacrificed at the top. They did this to please the mountain Gods in hopes of ensuring good weather, good crops, etc. So bizzare but really interesting and great preparation for Cusco. Oh the best, we watched Apocolypto the Mel Gibson movie about the Mayans. That could not have been a better selection the day before we leave for the Inca Ruins.

Our next stop was Cusco where we did Macchu Picchu which I have a whole separate journal about...

The morning after the trip we left for a 5 day jungle tour with Mel and Laura and our awesome guide Wilbur. The van took us outside of Cusco to Manu National Park. On the ride there we were driving up the side of literally a mountain on a one lane dirt road going around crazy curves...made me think I was back in Bolivia. The views were ridiculous...so surreal. When we finally got close, we pulled over to eat and one of the locals drove by and pointed us ahead. We sprinted to the car and found this Andean Black Bear sitting in a tree about 20 feet away. Apparently, these things are solitary and very elusive and there hasnt been a sighting in Manu in like 9 or 10 years. It was brilliant...we were there for about 30 minutes watching the bear before he climbed down. Very exciting!! I thought our guide was going to pass out he was so excited.

After that we got to see an amazing amount of animals. We went bird watching for five days, something i NEVER thought id be caught dead doing. We saw a ton of birds of the most brilliant colors--umbrella bird, cock of the rock, macaws, toucans, eagles, falcons, owls...crazy. We also saw butterflies! My favorite was light purple on the bottom and bright shiny blue on the top. The best though was when walking through the jungle a butterfly with a single wing the size of my palm landed on my head! Luckily we had a camera ready and I got a really amazing picture. We saw 2 snakes, one dead and apparently very poisonous...related to the fur de lance which is found in Cuba and is like deadly poisonous. If it bites you you die in like 8 minutes (or so i read a while back in a travel book). Either way, Im happy it wasnt alive. The best part of animal watching was seeing the caimen. One night after sundown, we walked by moonlight through the jungle (imagine being in the middle of the thick jungle like you see in movies in the pitch dark and having to stay silent so you can see all the animals...pretty scary). We waded with these dumb boots into this waist high murky brown water to chase after some caimen...in english, ALLIGATORS. Our guide showed us that if you point a flashlight in their direction you see these two beady red eyes looking at you. So he chases after one, catches it, the mother charges him, he flings the baby at her and all is well. So then we wade into the water after him haha..no attacks but we did get within a few feet of one! Definately an experience!

Speaking of Caimen, these things make the loudest weirdest noises. Everything in the jungle does. I always pictured it to be quiet for some reason...boy was I wrong. This place is SO unbelievably loud at night. Everything in the place makes noise. Its actually quite soothing to sleep too...but not when u mistake your guides snoring to a wild pig brushing up beside your tent haha. While on the topic of animals invading personal space...we had quite the incident with ants. Horror story of the trip...the 4 of us slept in one tent and had to visit mother nature in the middle of the night. Given that we are literally in a tent in the middle of the jungle (not at some campsite but literally...pitched a tent in the middle of the jungle..) we made a rule that no one goes alone. So we all grabbed our torches and ventured out. Thirty seconds in we all start yelling out beacuse something is biting us. Not some little bite but tons of serious pinching bites. We flee for the tent and zip it up fast hoping to keep the biters out. Unfortunately, seconds later we realize we are all covered knee high in ants and we are all getting bitten to shit. These things dont sting, they literally pull pieces of your skin off so it really isnt comfortable. We had easily 40 ants in the tent and they are not the easiest things to kill. So we were up for about 20 minutes trying to squash every ant in the tent. We think we get them all and go to sleep. I wake up about an hour later because my ear hurts. It hurts and then I feel this weird like popping noise over and over. I stuff my finger in there and move it around and hope itll stop. After 15 minutes I wake Sam up crying because im scared to death something has laid eggs in my ear (ever see Brokedown Palace when Darlene gets a cockroach in her ear and spends like 2 days in the infirmary?? ya...thats what I was imagining). She cant see anything and like the wilderness woman she is, blows in my ear and out crawls this goddamn ant. What a night that was.

In other news...we also ate live larvae haha. We were going fishing later (by fishing I mean dropping a fishing wire tied to a wooden block with larva on the end of it into a river...nothing like fishing with my Uncle on Lake Erie, thats for sure! but no different in that I still didnt catch anything haha...)....so we needed to catch some bait. In places of the jungle there are no worms so you find these little black rock looking things, they kinda look like mini coconuts...You crack them open and inside there are nuts that the larvae eat and frequently a larva itself. You put the larvae out and collect them in a bamboo shoot for later...orrrrr you eat them haha. Theyre pretty rancid and putting a live thing in your mouth and crunching it to death isnt exactly the best experience haha.

We even got to go to REAL hot springs. ..as in a natural pond of HOT water created by hot water coming out of the earth and rushing down the side of the mountain. Amazing...and way better than any hot tub ive ever been in. It was especially great because we got to play in the clay that surrounded it (we even did clay people!).

Overall, we had a really good time in the jungle.

The day after we got back from the jungle was my 22nd birthday! Mel and Laura were in town still so they celebrated with me too. We had a really great breakfast and got pedicures and hour long massages. I also got to phone my family for a bit. Ive only been able to call home once this whole trip..when my stuff got stolen I talked to my Dad. Ive been missing them so it was great to hear their voices. My mom was so excited haha. I got to talk to her and my Dad and my sister and I even got to talk to my good friend Christine for awhile. So after all is said and done, 22 is great. I cannot believe I turned 22 in Peru...who would have thought...