Crossing border between Ecuador - Peru

My Cusqueña Malta was very sweet and well deserved when I drank it at 8 PM. But before that beer, I had a long day of travel ahead of me. Let me tell you the story.


Five years ago, Peru and Ecuador where at war precisely in this crossing border zone, and the only two roads that existed between these two countries were closed for any kind of transit. Few dead later, the two countries "re-open" the coast border, and only that one. Even today, crossing the border on the other side is not recommended without a gun. So when I asked the information tourist in Cuenca (the lovely Ecuadorian colonial town of ...) how to cross the border, they were very vague and were pointing direction to many different aspects of my transfer, like buses, stamps and some cab drive as well. I should have known at that point that it would be not that easy to do it, but I was trusting and reluctant to see evil in the eye of this beautiful Ecuadorian woman, yet short. She told me that I had to take 3 buses to go where I really wanted to go, and that seems reasonable in these countries.

So, I woke up really early that morning and went to the bus terminal station at 7:30 AM to pick the next bus to Machala (Ecuador), the biggest nearest town to the border. Happy of myself and satisfied by my early woke up to take the earliest bus in my life (8 AM), I drop my guard, and ask for an empanada de queso with a coffee at the corner lady before taking the bus. I climbed in the bus and sat in what I evaluated the most comfortable seat around: stable window, in the middle of the bus and almost clean. The crown hardly filled up half the bus, but at 8 AM sharp we took off direction south. The next half hour was only dedicated to fill up the gap in the bus by stopping every time someone decided to raise his or her hand. The luck gave me a native woman for company. We were chitchatting about the price of the wood and the one of the rice in the lower land of Ecuador, when the most impressive man I saw in this trip climb in the bus, and he decided to use the seat behind me to put his self person. I use all the back seat stretch to make him fell as uncomfortable as possible. This is the costume in these countries in which you have to delimit your space, but unless dogs, I am not pissing on each corner, so I use the only method I know of, and lead back my seat. I feel his knees and he feel my back, but we were all happy.


After few minutes, we started right away to move up and down, right and left, side and side through the mountains that surround (the lovely Ecuadorian colonial town of) Cuenca. The smell that just came from the back of my seat was one of these that, with no doubt, could be recognize in millions. Somebody else breakfast was certainly lying in a nice plastic bag, and that kicked off a vague of window opening but to my surprise, no complain at all. The smell made me think of my empanada, and my coffee earlier eaten, so I decided to focus on the farest point I could. That was the time, my behind gigantic friend decided to stood up and walk to the front of the bus. I was really scared that he would as well compete with the previous person in who had the best breakfast that day, but he dove down and grabbed a black book and a plastic bag, from which he took out a box of candy. He was facing us with a red face when he announced us that we were all lost and he knew the solution.


Jesus is the answer!
During 45 minutes he went on and on about what Jesus could do to us, and how miserable our life was without Him in our heart. I could not concentrate to what he was saying because the only thing that I tried to accept was at the time the empanada that was stuck in my stomach. He shouted many times that we all going to dye and we should convert now. All evangels went through and I discover some that I forgot during this crash course on the Christian bible. He really encouraged us to lower our head and pray to the Devine and give our life to His greatest. I was praying instead that he would stop yelling. My stomach problem was suddenly replaced by a massive headache, and we were still turning up and down, and we were still climbing the gigantic mountain ahead of us.


I was not looking at him when the miracle happen. A more impressive hole and a turn in the road made his black Bible fall over to the front of the bus, closely followed by his hand wrapped around it, then his arm attached by the wrist, and finally his entire body linking all the previously mentioned part together. I though all along that he had a vision that the next turn we were going to make was the last one, but in reality the last turn was for him and he fall on his back. I was quite happy and smiled at the new divine silence, and did not care at all about the bus-priest. Life on earth was good again.


Like a devil out of his box he jumped back on his two feet and told us that he needed our help to save the world. For two soles a candy or 20 the fives, we could help us build paradise on earth and bring back peace on this planet. He was de-masked: He was a candy maker who used God to sell his merchandise and not a seller of God merchandising his candies. When he came close to me asking me how much I was willing to pay for my soul, I gave him my most evil look I could, and not even say a world. Thinking about it, right now, I might have lost paradise for only 20 soles. Anyway, the end of the valley signed the end of the bus-priest and the beginning of a well deserved silence. He took off to a new bus trip in the other direction. The end of our bus trip was enlighted by few stops and some more breakfast on the floor. I think that I did not join the group simply because my window was wide open and I was appreciating the newly scenery full of bamboo and felt more appeal by the worm and hot weather that was pouring on us.


The bus arrived in Machala with only half an hour delay on schedule, which was really good according to South American standard. That is called on time in here. I dropped off the bus and ran out to grab a cab to go to the next bus company. Oh yes, in South America you don’t have a lot of bus terminal, you have usually many bus terminals, one per company. In fact you go from one place to the other. I then, asked my cab driver to go to the place I wanted to, and we drove around. But literally around, because I recognized the building we were before leaving. My bus station was probably 100 meters away, and to make his trip worth he had to show me the area. I was in no shape to argue, and gave him his due, and ran over to the bus station counter. The lady pointed me the leaving bus when I ask her the next bus to Tumbes (Peru). I flew over and manage to put a foot in the door before the door completely close. I was really happy and satisfied of myself while sitting down, and paid at the “bus-boy” the amount for the ride.


The bus was half empty, and for once my backpack and myself enjoyed each our seats. The only Gringos present in the bus, were the Irish couple that I saw in the previous bus. They managed to be there before me and must have known that the bus station was just in front one another. Few stops help to fill the remaining seats, and gave me the opportunity to look closely at some local food: coconut milk, tamales, or other ... empanadas. Mine was still floating between the first and the second floor. The funny thing was when a guy stood up from the back and with a candy box started to talk to us about his previous life and all the problems he has at home with his wife and 8 children. He then told us that for two soles a candy or 20 the fives, we could help him build a paradise on earth and bring back the peace on his planet. Too bad for him, he was short circuit before by a priest. You can’t beat a priest, can you? Well … maybe literally, but this is out of scope of course.


When we reach the Ecuadorian immigration office, the entire bus looked in my direction and shown me the way out. I though I was having a low profile and people would take me for a local. Probably the backpack reveal the purpose of my stay in the bus. Anyway I stood out, closely followed by the Irish couple. My brief discussion with the “bus-boy” confirmed me what I was starting to realize. We were dropped off on the road, and we had to wait for the next bus later. The wind was my answer to when would that be.


The stamp line for Peru was really small compare to the one for Ecuador. I started to make conversion with the Irish couple to found out if they knew more than I was, but promptly realized that they were as lost as I was, and they though we were already in Peru. The game was on, and we had to move fast then. After being stamped, we decided to team up and find a solution. More is better than one. That what was the cab drive thought as well, and charged us 3 time the ride. The cab drive from the Peruvian immigration office to the one in Peru was really fast but left us instead in Bangkok. It was market time (like everyday, I found out later), and in this no-man’s-lands where no rule existed, we were lost in the thick of it with backpacks attach to our person and worse, all heavy loaded with some $.


Target?
You must be kidding me.

We were the only tourist, and after 5 seconds we already had 5 guys around asking us here for change, cab ride or some cleaning solution for the house. They were all pushing us and the pressure was on now. We had to move fast. Only Spanish speaker of the mission squad, I decided to reach the closest Peruvian uniform to ask any questions. My lead was followed by my close and personal Irish guard. The Peruvian uniform showed me a small house with a red and familiar flag on it. What the shoes on the desk in this house confirmed me, was that the Peruvian stamping machine was 3 Km away; and I had to go there to do my business. The shoes went back to its afternoon nap and left me alone to my thinking process. I stood in the door and wait for a happy face and friendly smile to show up to start the saving conversation.


Pedro was looking at me, and his voice was soft enough to reach my busy ears. He proposed me a ride to wherever I wanted. Smart of him, he was on. I asked him how much it was to the Peruvian Border but he proposed me a much longer ride instead. I answer back saying that we would talk about business after our passport been stamped. He agreed and took us to his friend’s car. At that point we were consider like dead meat for all the other player around us. Everybody left us, and the deal was done. Pedro lead us to the back parking lot in the busiest market I saw in my young life. The only friendly sound I could here was coming from my Irish guard that was keep saying: “We are in Bangkok!”

Target?
You must be kidding me.

We were the only tourist in the back of a parking lot between countries where official laws do no exist in a place where already rules are there to be, like time schedule, an informative guidance. I was imagining the end of our story in which Tourist being robbed at the border, but nothing happen. Instead, Pedro and his driver, Ramon, drove us to the back door of the Peruvian border. We had our passport stamped in less than 13 seconds. My stomach was not so great at that time of the day. Must have been all the self confidence that it has to generate on my face and probably the beginning of the digestion of my cheese empanada.


We were safe inside Peru, but far away from our common final destination. The next game was on, as soon as we stood out of the passport office. I tried to look around to found out if we could move out of the Pedro-Ramon trap. But they both knew that we were in a shabby situation. Out of the road, we had no way to go to. We could have waited to the side of the road, and kept playing our good faith against our lucky star, but I was more inclined, unless my Irish separatist troop, to grab the welcome cab that took us out of the tricky situation 10 minutes before. I was playing the in-between game and tried to explain the situation in their own respective language with my 2 soles each time. The end of the game saw each team losing a bit of their will. We managed a reasonable price to go to the bus #2 destination: Tumbes (Peru). I was happy to see that my strategy worked out and we, except Pedro, all climbed in the gas-cab. I manage the front seat, and I was glad to have an interesting position, seeing the road, chi-chatting with the driver, and listening to some IRA conversation.


The 1.5 hours drive turned out to be a pleasant time between all of us. We discovered, that Ramon had a fiancé in Canada, and was ready to put his winter gloves any minute, that the Irish had a not such a good time in Ecuador, and were happy to put their bathing suits on any minute, and that I was having some empanada problem, and I was ready to heat the washroom any minute. The warm beer that we all shared did not help either, my digestion mechanism. If I had to do it again, I would had refused it, but I was celebrating our victory over the infamous enemy named foreign administration land, and could not refused a bit of alcohol in my blood.


Before arriving in Tumbes (Peru), Ramon the gas-cab driver asked us to drop by his house to fill up the tank. The short conversation between all the UK speaking guys proof once again that we had enough time under our belt to know that any minute, any time, anything could happen in South America. Ramon was ashamed to see that his new friends were not that trusting after all. He was right about us. We did not trust him fully, especially so close to the goal. But we decided to go anyway to his house and took the necessary gas in case we decided to go to the final place. We reached a bank before the Tumbes bus station, the one for the last bus around 3 PM. We had plenty of time to take the Collectivo for the final beach destination. But after few talks and some giving-up, Ramon the gas-cab driver offered us what should have been the equivalent in price to finish our trip. We would never know if he was right or not but for $US 11, he took us away from the Bangkok and dropped us at the most popular beach of Peru. It was a good deal, and we were happy to settled down, and took finally or a shower, or make a shower.


We reach Mancora in Peru around 5 PM, end of our day trip. Ramon the gas-cad driver dropped us at the front beached hostel, and I was going to main office to ask for 2 rooms.


Did I mention that, that day was National day in Peru, and Mancora was the most popular destination in the whole Latin world? We were in dip trouble. We were so close to make the deal of the year, and we had to climb the last mountain: finding a room in a fully loaded place! As soon as we dropped off our bag, 5 millions of moppet-taxi driver showed up, and started once again offering all kind of service. One offer to go to the hotel we were standing in front off, one offer a oil massage, and another some good surf lesson. But no one asked the right question.


Gordito, moppet-taxi driver saw that we were in trouble, and asked if we needed some help finding a room, I answered yes, and with a big smile left us on the side road. That killed me, the offered some help, and left on the spot. I decided to finally back off and let my Green Guard to finish up the job. We were walking from door to door, refusing 20 dollars room with no water before 6 PM, when Gordito, the moppet-taxi driver ran at me to tell me the good news. He found a room for us. He put back a smile on my face, and we all climbed in his moppet-taxi to the final often dream destination. The deal seemed reasonable to me considering that we had no time for argument and the sun, him, was going to bed. The one bedroom place was seal after 15 minutes of discussion. The Irish troop was stationed close to the beach and was now in safe hands. Then my term came. We drove straight the one street village, banging literary from door to door for a bed on the floor for a poor guy with a sad face. Not to mention that I was unhappy because my empanada had decided to reach as well it final destination and was also ready to crash any minute. My face my the result of the heavy pressure from my guts, and was not that a very good selling point to my situation. We went to the end of the road, and then to the end of the sand road and then to the end of the dune. The light was in fact a hostel in which a spare room was just realized by a impulsive young lady few minutes before I showed up. This was the first time that a female impulsivity will put me to sleep, but life is strange. I bargained with the guy just to make sure he understood that I understood Spanish, but at that point after one hour of turning around in the place to find a (bath) room, I was ready to pay a lot of money. I paid the 3 night I planned to stick around, and signed the paper. The dueño gave the key, which I use on the spot to open “Heaven”.

I ran to the washroom to empanada the place.
I felt that I reached finally home.


A few time later, around 8PM, when I sat on the beach bar, listening to the "Tribute to Bob Marley" from Gilberto Gil and looked at the sky counting the stars, my Cusqueña Malta tasted very sweet and I tough that I had well deserved it.

Hostel in Ecuador

• Quito

Hostal Nassau (Pinto E4-343 y Amazonas)
This is a basic hostel in the New town of Quito.
This is very central and probably cheaper (US$7) than the next doors ones.

• Cuenca

El Monasterio (Padre Aguirre 724 entre Presidente Codova y Sucre).
The best thing of this hostal is the view from the 6th floor on the mountain around.
The rest is basic and the dorm are worse the price I paid (US$5).
The supposely hot shower was cold enough to push me away in the rainy season.

Cuenca, Ecuador

I moved south in a 10 hours night bus (no sleep, very cold, obviously noisy) to a lovely Ecuatorian colonial city called Cuenca.

It´s a place, of course, in the middle of the mountain, surrended by pick riching millions kilometers high. I ran around, at 7AM, to found a hostel, and the only one that accepted me was the one on the main plaza del mercado. I was in no shape mentally or physically to discuss anything, and the only question that I asked was, A donde esta mi cama por favor?



The reception was on the 6th floor, and my bed was on the 3rd. I did two back-and-forth just for fun, and crashed in bed at 8AM, to woke up 4 hours later by 3 Israelis, staring at me, asking almost all at once, where I was from. My straight answer left them unhappy, and happily left me alone. There were certainly looking for the 4th one to fill up a Israeli card game. This is probably the first time in my life, that my nationality does not put a smile on peole face and save me from a damaging explanation on what to play when the queen of ace is before a ten of heart.


Anyway, I explored the lovely Ecuatorian colonial city called Cuenca on my time left before the day turn into night. I dont really know how many churches exist in this lovely Ecuatorian colonial city called Cuenca, but I counted more than 12 for sure. At leats, each and every beggers has his/her own porch to spend some time under.


I went at dawn in the lovely Ecuatorian colonial city called Cuenca, to the one of the 3 Travel Agencies of the pace, and had been lectured through all the differents possibilities in the area. The most interesting seems to me the Devil´s Nose train, in which you freeze your butt off on a train roof while tring to not fall over in the one of the canyon you cross along the 2 hours trip you making with all the tourists. I skipped it, but would have done it, if the weather in this lovely Ecuatorian colonial city called Cuenca was not turn to pooring rain. I dont really want to wear my winter jacket anymore. So after a night of talk, with an Italian dude, who is going back to school to do an MBA in Stanford, California, about soccer and the famous world cup, I fall happily asleep in the newly emptied Israelis dorm.


The cold and the rain waive me away from the lovely Ecuatorian colonial city called Cuenca.

Too bad !
It seems to be a good place to hang around.

Quito, Ecuador

Back on the Road, Jack !

I am surended by shoeshine boys, spanish and some Cumbia music everywhere. Glad to be back "home".

I left anyway Rio sad and promise myself to learn Brazilieno for the next time to be able to speak at least a little bit with locals. That was really painfull and frustating as well to move around and not be fully understand what is going on, but at the same time, this is some sort of intensive training for the next exotic places I fully intend to go and where I don´t speak the language of.



So back on the road, and fell like going back to something familiar: some 3000 meters high, polution and some difficulty to breath after 2 days. I like it though, and I did my regular past time in Andinos Cuidades, go to the main plaza (Plaza de la Indepencia in this particular case) and spend the entire afternoon looking around, reading a book, taking pictures or chatting with people. This time, I spend few hours conversing with a gran-dad Ecuatorian Troskiste. This is quite really funny to see the Latine America through the eyes of a post-revolutionary in a pre-capitaliste world. That reminds me of all the Luchas por la Libertad de la Humanidad that was there in the time not so far away. Che was capture in Bolivia afterall.


Quito in itself is not a great place to be in.
The old town is as colonial as the new town is colonized. Few buildings in here and there helps you to justify a stop over, but the main attraction here is the Galapagos Islands trip. This is why people come to Quito and Ecuador. You can book a week tour on a boat to see whatever exist on the planet that can swim for around $1000 to $2000. This is way out of my traveller budget, but I will concider it as soon as I work again. Seems to be amazing from all the smiles and stories that tourists have in the backpacker ghetto (new town).

I spend then, my days hunting for music and try to stay out of trouble in the city. And you can have some here. I was talking to some guy on the street when I heard a very loud noise. It was in fact 2 guys doing some steel-skateboarding with no wheel, on a back of a pick-up. Go figure Jack !

I am off South, and will spend the next 2 weeks to do the 1324 kilometers that I need to do from my schedule.

I quit Quito !



Receipe of the day.
I met some Ozzies, and they told me a very inspiring receipe.

Take a watermelon, make a small hole on top, poor slowly one bottle of vodka in it, and put back the natural cork you just made, where it was. Wait overnight in the fridge, and start your day with it, if you can :)

Senses Brazil

You play this game when you are a kid, and since I grow young these days, let me do it again.

If Brazil was a Smell,
I would probably say the smell of the Queijo BBQ with some Origan on the beach.

If Brazil was a Taste,
I would probably say the taste of the Açaí com Granolas and maybe banana on the side.
A day at the beach can not be complete without a cup of this Amazonia fruit turned into an ice cream and sort of corn flakes. The runner up is the Brazilian all you can eat BBQ, where waiter waiting for you to empty your plate, to refill it on the spot. Carretao (112 Visconde ed Piraja, Ipanema) was a delight for a cheap R$33 beer included.

If Brazil was a Sound,
I would probably say the sound of the Ice Tea man on the beach singing my children Baden Powell song Sodade.
On the other hand, when you go to discos or bars, 2 main tunes are fighting for the most popular. On the left side you have David Guetta's "The World is Mine", and on the right side is Shakira´s "Hips Don´t Lies". The winner will be announce at the end of the summer of course.

If Brazil was a Picture,
I would probably say the view from Corcovado. From there you understand why Rio de Janeiro is called the “Cidade Marvilhosa” (Marvelous City). The take off from Rio to Sao Paolo at night was also a fabulous experience. We flew over the entire city of Rio and I had the chance to be on the right wing (the left one). I could see the entire city at night with the crist over looking the different bays.

If Brazil was a Touch,
I would probably say the touch of the sand on any beach, the feeling of having sand betwen your toes and in your hair way after your shower been taken.

Hotel in Brazil

• São Paulo

Pousadas Dos Franceses
http://www.pousadadosfranceses.com.br/
I paid R$42 for a room with a private bathroom, with breakfats included. This is a central place and very familiy oriented. Recommend in Sampa for sure

• Rio de Janeiro

Hotel Lemon Spirit (Leblon)
http://www.lemonspirit.com/

I paid R$35 for a dorm with a commun bathroom. This place rocks because people are nice, it´s close to the beach and very friendly overthere. Leblon is a much better place to stay than Copa or Ipanema. So far this is the best place I stayed in, and I highly recommend it.

Some Usefull links
Airlines company that do not bankrup (so far)
http://www.tamairlines.com/
http://www.voegol.com.br/

So usefull links to prepare your trip there
http://www.ipanema.com/
http://www.bealocal.com/

Riviere de Janvier (*), Brazil

From time to time, my flip-flops push me to do something more exiting than beach laying laziness. So I do thing around in Rio. I don´t do a lot, but I do it well. I getting bit by bit close to this lay-back attitude that Cariocas have all the time. Why bother when life is quite good.


Maracaña
















I went to see a soccer game of 2 Carioca teams, Flamingo Vs Vasco de Gama. It was quite impressive to finally put my foot in the most impressive stadium in the world. People saying that when the lower ring is in full capacity it can contain up to 200,000 people for a big game. We took a tourist mini-van and went to the place. Be a local organise many activities, and one of them is to bring gringos to locals places like Maracaña for a game. I would not do it by myself otherwise, and not recommend it to anyone. The guide told us the classic scary story to let you know that this is dangerous, so then by definition cool, about the last similar game, in which a off-duty policeman, happy to see his team winning, shoot in the air but killed 2 people. Anyway, passing through security at the stadium reminded me some of the Columbian border-crossing that I had to do some time ago, but I realized why. The craziness of the people in this place is equivalent of the one Lapa on a big night shift.
The game was quite borring since the 2 teams put on the field their B-Team. The fanclubs were singing from the beggining (well 1 hour before the start technically) till the end. We had some fireworks in the head, fight in the back and banderas in the eyes all game long. But eh ! This is a soccer game afterall, if you want to see and get cozy stay home. You are not going there to see the game, you are here to live the game. For me, I was really happy to see a soccer game in the Carioca bigger stadium in the world MARACAÑA ! My dream came true finally. Soccer is great and this is why this is the biggest and most popular sport in the world.

Soccer is not a question of Life and Death, it´s much more important than that. I was in the Flamingo kop, and Vasco won 1-0.

Beaches















Where to start?

Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, Barra, Botafogo....

Each day is a new beach for sure in Rio. So many choices, so little time. Let me help you. The best beach for people watching is the one at Ipaneme, at the Post 9. All the (very) young, (soon) rich, and (certainly) famous people are there! One can have a eye fracture if not ease on your staring around. Sun glasses helps to watch without beeing catch watching.

I personally gave up on this sport, and read 4 books in 2 weeks of beach. But I was almost the only one who was reading a book, most of the Cariocas do other thing on the beach. Men in the small speedo do play soccer, soccervolley, surf, kayaksurf or beachvolley. I even so some playing a strange soccer game in which the ball was not allowed to touch the ground! Women do shopping on the beach, yes you heard it, shopping. Because you can buy anything you want on the beach. Here is a few thing that I can remember of: Italia (Icecream), Queijo Feijado (BBQ Cheese with a portable BBQ), Empanadas, Cakes, Globo (Sort of Springles), Shrimps on a stick, Sausages, Towels, Suncream, Bikini, Soccerball, Sunglasses, Tatoo, Beers, Capirinias, IceTea. I am sure that if I waited long enought, I cold have bought a TV and some DVD. Beach is not an activities, it´s the place where you have to be seen, and have to see. You, most of the time, do nothing there, but you do it well.

I rate my tanning 5 towels out of 10, and I can handle the upcoming winter with some sort of smile somehow on my face.


Lapa



Dowtown Rio is turn into a party time one a week on Friday night. All Rio and the suburbs go to downtwon Rio and turn the street into a big Carnaval of Capirinia, Local beer, Teaquila shots and other Cachassa drinks. You usually know when you start, but never know when you finish (or been finished by) Lapa.

This is a must Carioca experience. Samba is free!




Favela



They are everywhere around us, please help us!
Sometime there is only one highway that separate the most expensive place in Rio from the most dangerous Favela in Rio.

When you hear firework in Favela, it´s because the police or the military are coming and they try to informe the entire 200 K people living in the area. This is strange, but this is life as well. Brazil is really a "terre de contraste", and a mix of people. I did not personally do a Favella tour, more beacuse I was concern to paid someone to se some other ones living in a sort of a cage. Did not want to feel in a zoo, while walking amoung my own species.

On another note, I encourage everyone to watch the wonderfull and well documented movie City of God which is the name of one of the Favela in Rio, to understand and grasp a bit more about the life of some of the unlucky ones in Rio. From time to time, teh rich and the poor mix up, it happen at the soccer game, at Lappa for few drinks, and most importantly during the Carnaval where the poor spend all their money to dress up, and the rich spend some of their money to watch down.

In Brazil, a few has a lot and a lot has a few.






Pão de Açucar



Should be good to see it, but I had to leave at least one tourist thing for the next time. Because I´ll come back here. This is the closest place to paradise on earth, and I become praticant now.















Slow down

"A good holiday is one spent among people whose notions of time are vaguer than yours" John A. Priestley

Rio de Enero (*), Brazil

Staying in one place after moving in my journey almost everyday from place to place helped me to start a routine. A new routine that finally been polish after hours of hard thinking and some also long and endless discussion with Cariocas at my hostel.


Morning is most of the time short in time (cause of late wake up) and consit of trying to wake up slowly after a jag of coffee and some papaya and water melon fresh fruit. If my never ending wake up does not work after some coupe of hours, I try to motion my brainless stomach to the corner fruit juice and indulge myself with a glass of exotic fruit juice. Since I don´t understand any words of portuguese and I am too ashame of moving around in the city with a dictionary under by arm, I rather use my instinct and ear to order my morning fruit juice. I end up usually with a full glass of colourfull juice that I can´t even name in my own mother tongue. I chosse depending on my mood the longest name, most sexy of shorter, first or the one with the most vowell in it. Anyway they have more than 50 different juice, that keep me busy for some time.




The afternoon starts most of time with a self massage of suncream at the hostel and a towel searching over the pile of clothes from the 9+ person that inhabit my dorm room. The one block or 36 seconds walking distance that separate my hostel door to my beach spot is done by my newly bought brazilian flip-flop without any more direction or advice. My stincky towel lay out on the Ipanema beach or Copacabana Beach or Leblon Beach is now executed is less than 2.6 seconds and is roundly done in an elegant and effortless coordinated motion. This would be close to a Step back to ride the tiger motion of the Taichichuan 108 original forms. White rose and candle are spread in most beaches and is the trace of a local thankfull ceremony. This is the only marks on the sand that I fully respect in my hunt for the best spot on the beach. Roasting from one side to the other is what keep me busy most of my afternoon time. At 4-ish the sun usually disapear behind some clouds or some buildings depending the day and is the signal to slowly move back to the Lemon Spirit hostel.





The evening is officially started by a most welcome hot shower that takes not only the salt away from my lips, but also the sand between my feet toes. The dinner is spend at one of the already mentionned corner shops that offer fruit juice and sandwiches. Standing with locals from every social class, I enjoyed usually my Maracuja (passion fruit) fruit juice with a Frango-Queijo (chicken-cheese) sandwich. Big Polis, Sarense, or Bibi are my favourites spots so far. The late evening is explored in Gringo group to a different bar almost everyday but is wetted by Caipirinhas followes by Skol beer almost everytime.




Life is hard under the sun or Rio, and I trying my best to be able to adjust myself by the end of this week before I leave for new adventures.







Fact of the week
Copacabana beach is not anymore my dream beach of alll time.

Last friday, the 14th of July, I was laying on my towel reading a bad book, when the shadow of the back building told me that it was time to go back to the hostel. I was surprise to found out that my short was missing, with some $25 and my .............. prescription glasses. I walk back the 6 km blindless and was mad at myself of letting my glasses in my pocket of my short knowing that things are usually taken away from their gringo owners on beaches. In the end, this will be probably the most expensive short I will have in my life and this stupid unattention will cost me an extra $300 in my budegt. The good news is I will have a new pair of glasses from .... Brazil, but only tuesday. In the meantime I am leaving on contact lens. Oh well this my adventure of the week, time to go back to the beach :)


I am now officlally at 3 towels out of 10


(*) Rio de Janeiro translated in Spanish

River of January (*), Brazil

Due to many differents circonstancies I see myself stuck in Rio de Janeiro for quite some time.
Worse place to be stuck in, some say ! I admit that, and take the challenge of entertain myslef in the marvelous city during a long period of time.



Few days back I decide to meet in person the Redeemer Christ (Corcovado) who watch out for a almost a century now over the bay of Rio de Janeiro. I was there at sunset, and I decided to go there after my adventure to the city center. I then took a cab and went through the beautiful , relax and colonial area of Santa Tereza. This is one of the dozens hills that constitute Rio and its suburbs. Rio seems to be name in reality after safe areas surrended by favellas. When you look around you have thousands of people living in favellas over all hills around the place you are. At least they have a good view !

So the crist was there in front of me, and the view from his feet was spectacular for a lack of a better word of course. You could see the entire Rio, with its famous beaches on the left, its Maracaña stadium on the right, favellas arounds and 2 airports in front. I stood there till the night took over Rio, and its lights start mixing with the early stars of the night.

What a view !




















I contemplated the scenery and went back home thinking about how great this city is, and lucky I was to stay there for some time, taking some holidays in my holidays. Rio and its hunchback are worth a trip, now when you add beautifull beaches, and year round nice weather, what else do you need to add ?




Thanks for asking, my tan is going darker everyday (I will rate myself 2 towels out of 10), and I will make sure I will have some more before the end of my stay in Rio.

Answer
To answer a specific answer that I had been asked, the best women I saw in Rio are on the Ipanema Beach at the Gate 9.




(*) Rio de Janeiro translated in English

Farca Italia

It´s all over!
Italie won over France.

This is what history will remember of the entire Gemany World Cup. That, and the Zidane head-kick (almost the same reaction as the King Eric few year earlier).

But what a poor image for this wonderfull sport. I am not talking about the Zidane and his folies, but the Italie team. No kids will dream on Team Italie 2006 for sure. This is just a team of 11 goalkeepers who won the world cup of penalties kick! A new rule should be added now, all players should have a descent hair cut.

Today I am sad for the game.
I am switching to beach volley.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro.
Rio de Janeiro.
Rio de Janeiro (singing)










I took a bus from Sampa to Carioca, and 6 hours later I was in the most famous and glamourus city on the planet. Come on´, this is winter, and people walking on the Copacabana or Ipanema beach, some surf, some tan, but everyone in smiling !!!

YES. I am going to take care of my ever long lasting cold in the sun city of Rio.

Fisrt of all I am really happy to walk in T-shirt, and my new Brazilian Flip-Flop.
My skin is starting to ich from my afternoon tan at the Ipanema beach, and I will probably layer up a new one tomorrow in Copacabana just to compare the 2 of them.

It great to be again in a beach city, where people are more relax, cooler and warmer at the same time. Shopping in flip-flop with some sand between your toes is my kind of summer experience. I watched people-watching, and probably been watch people-watching at the same time. The sand is as white as you can imagine (not too small, but clean enough to lie down on it), the waves are as good as you can imagine (not too big, too noisy, but big enough to have some surfing going on). This is the perfect city to start the sunny vacation.

Keep you posted on my tan.


People-Watching of the day
I spent quite sometime watching 4 guys (2 teams of 2) playing beach-volley ball but with they feet. This is quite impressive.

Sao Paulo, Brazil

"Scheintstyuie" (*) like we say in Kardistanty Inferior.

They screw up my vacation !

I was just happy to finally reach my destination, and it´s like someone turn off the music during the party. Everything stopped at 17:14. No more cheering, no more wishing, no more clapping. The perfect silence. It was nonetheless a perfect beggining, with the yellow fever at each and every corner, not the one you can have a shoot against, but the one that wont leave you for 4 years, or your life depending if you are born in this place or not.

I was watching the soccer 1/4 finale between France and Brasil in Sampa (Sao Paolo), wishing that Brasil explose the French team by 1-0, and then start partying for at least 10 days untill the final. And what happen is much more dramatic than the end of the world. The entire city of Sampa, 17 millions people at least, started to cry altogther at the same time that the referee whistle the beggining of the apocalypse for the Brasilian coach.

My new friend (AMOXICILINA), and I were immediatly back in my hotel room, and we spend the entire night fighting back each other, trying to figure it out what would be the next steps of my travel.


The next morning, the rain started early, and since then try to wash the last dream that any young kids could still have. Wish could have been different, but soccer is magic and unpredictable. Better hope that the French team make it all the way, otherwise I will never forget them for ruining my vacations.

Sodade is raining on Brazil. Obrigado Brazil !



Time for shopping, I saw some good place where you could have wonderfull Brazilian soccer jersey for half price. Anyone interested ?





(*) You better not want to know what it means

La Paz, Bolivia

This is a crazy city !!!!!

Imagine you take a bowl, cut it in 2, draw a highway between the 2 pieces where the river used to be. There you go, you have a 2 millions people city in Bolivia called La Paz. Forgot to mention that the bottom of the bowl is at 3600 and the top probably at 4K +.

The tourist bus arrived from the top, and the view was just stupendous. Every tourist in the bus (2 + me) did their "waoaaaaoww", and so do I. That way a great opening to La Paz.

The only thing that is flat in La Paz, is probably the bank account of the Bolivian.
ALL the rest is not straight, roads, buses, houses, beds, peoples, food, hotel, discussion, life, add-what-ever-you-want.....

I climbed (walked) around the city and find some amazing spots that kept on taking my alreday breath away. I spend quite sometime in the witches market, and the local mercado (half downtown). You can find EVERYTING you want on the street of La Paz, Bolivia. You have the classic bed and breakfast places at each corner, followed by orange juicers, and batteries testers, but you can find way much more in the street, here is the crema de caracoles to help you smothe your skin (big fat sea-snail alive in a plastic box) , here the street restaurant that give you your soup portion in a plastic bag, here is the cellphone renter, there is the hooded kid shoeshiner, and finally here is the dry baby Llamas foetus used for the Inka Coca Kintu ritual (to thank Pacha Mama).


This city just never sleeps. But I do sometime.
This city just never stops breathing. But I do sometime.
This city just never stops moving. But I do sometime.

Oh, guess what !
This is election time. I was stuck this afternoon in the middle a massive protestation in favort of the SI. I did not catch too much the question, but the valourous icone of the past were in front line. El Che was reborn, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez were just after and some new guys that I dont know the name were also on the go. The D-Dia is the first of July, but it start to be a bit complicated already to do something around, and the first few days of July will be of course, chaotic. We are in South Amercia afterall, country of the Grinta, Y todo es possible.


Travel detour.
I am really sad because France pass the 1/8. And now I have to go sooner to Brazil to see THE game there. I fly to Sao Paolo tomorrow, and try to move along the coast to catch my breath or hold it depending on the place and the time.

I am really glad to take off hopefully tomorrow with everything going on in the city. Right now there is a massive firework near where I am staying and this is a sort of a civil war, people running around screaming and yelling, seems to be Ok anyway. I saw some Euro and US observatores human right sort of, watching if the election is valid or not. Read the news after the 1st of July and you will know who won.

You never know what could happen, but I got my ticket this afternoon, and I do a 3 stop over kind of trip:
1) La Paz (Bol) -- Santa Cruz (Bol)
2) Santa Cruz (Bol) -- Asuncion (Par)
3) Asuncion (Par) -- Sao Paolo (Bra)

I will start early in the morning, and then will arrive late in the evening in SanPa.
It should be fun, just have to decide where I am going to stay for the 3 nights there.

Is it a sign?
Yesterday I had the blue French Coca-Cola bottle at my Israel place.
Tonight I had the yellow Brazilian one at the same place.

Copacabana, Bolivia :)

My first stop in Bolivia was at Copacabana, and it was freezing cold.

I know it seems very romantic, and I can see in some people eyes already some spakling lights and arousing cliché. But no this is not the same Copacabana, this is the one close to the Lake Titicaca, the one at 4000 meters high, where days are around 10ºC, and night below 0ºC.

But the most important thing is not how cold the place was, but how great the place was. It is a small town squized between 2 hills and a nice rounded sand beach on the lake. The sun starts usually to warm the maté de coca around 6 AM and go to bed at 6PM eveyday. I stayed there for a night and did at the same time a quick jump to "Isla del Sol". This is the place where all began for the Inka religion. I have to say, that if I did not checked the weather forcast before going there, I would have stayed at least a night or so; but the stormy icone that I saw on my screen make me feel dizzy and reluctant to fight again, against mother nature (Pacha Mama in Inka).

Anyway I walked around the island for a couple of hour, just enough to appreciate the light and some insular laid-back attitude. I stayed in Copacabana, in the nicest hotel for US$ 5 the night. The view in the morning was probably the best morning view I had in a long time, I could see the sun shining behind the hill and spotting the first few boats in the bay, while in the back the biggest storm ever was grounding and sounding like the end of the world. And all of this at 4000 meters on the lake Titicaca.


I lost my cap in the island (maybe I gave it back to the Inka as an gift), time for shopping then :)






Here is the picture of the Lake and Copa.
The beach and the scenery sounds idylic, but I have to say that it is 5 degres Celcius outside and no bikini is allowed unless you still wear your winter jacket

Adios Peru

I passed the frontier by foot on the Lake Titicaca the 25th of June, 2006.

It was a strange feeling, by myself, on foot, stamped twice, and in the middle of nowhere, I crossed the border to go to the other side, yet alike. People talk with the same slooooooooooow motion and try to ask some money, no matter what. They are dress up with zillion layer of clothes, and try to compete to the one who can have the most colour in the samll amount of space.

The road from Puno (Peru) to the Copacabana (Bolivia) is an amazing timeless journey, offering you some wonderfull colour and always surprising light, something between the yellow and the red pale. I will love to do it again, unfortunatly you have to spend probably 78 hours of bus before doing so :)

I know, you are going to ask me what are the things that you will remember of Peru (what you are not asking me this question, anyway , I will answer it, because it is my blog, and I kind do what I want on this blog, only in this blog, so please bare with me, just pretend you asked me this question, and I will be happy)

Thumbs-up


The fisrt thing that come to my mind when thinking of Peru is the Machu Picchu of course. What a site ! There is nothing on earth that I have seen that can come close to this place. It is very difficult to describe in some words, and I think you have to see it by yourself to put your own words on it. I have been thinking about how to describe the best way, and the only thing that come to my mind is this song that everybody is singing all the time in tjhis country, Latin Amercia es un enigma. Could not find something better than that, maybe I am speachless in front such a spectacle and I just have to mute myself.

Peru is sometime called the Little Tibet. And this is true, there is no other place in the world that could offer such a spectacular scenery. And in the middle of the mountain you have something large and flat that goes on for kilometers and hours. The Altiplano is usually a flat piece of land at 4000 meters above sea level that join the different 6000+ mountains. On this land you can sometime spot there a Llama, there a Campesino, or there a house. People live there and use it as way to move from one valley to another. I now quite understand what Borges said about the Patagonia, The Horizontal Vertigo.





The thing about Peru is, it is a hash country to live in. Desert on the shore coast, the second highest mountains in the world after Tibet, Cordilliere de los Andes, and the ever growing Amazonia. But no matter where you are going, you will find someone living near by. I was always amazed by the fact that even on the Altiplano, in the middle of a 4K meters above sea level flat space, the bus stopped after a rock and there you go, you can see 3 people carrying their gigantics bags. The Peruvian impressed me by how they are fighting all the time in their land yet like it and wont move away from it. Worse they respect it so much that they offer thing to it (to her, I should say). They have a nickname, that resume probably everything I am saying. They call her PachaMama. The other picture I have from the Peruvian people and their strenght, is the time when I was almost dying climbing this vertical Inka Trail at 3 AM in Colca de Canon (Arequipa), and this old lady carrying bag on her back bigger than her, doubled me with a smile. I was vey upset during 1.2 second and they I just stopped and looked at her and was happy to see what strengh means.

Thumbs-down

• Dead man walking. You can only walk on one foot, because the other one is already in your tomb. Cars have NO respect for anything outside their box. If you don´t watch you can really end up in a bad situation, like blocked between 2 buses and a taxi.

• Before I left I read quickly the climatic condition of Peru, and put on top my winter jacket. Well what I did not envision at the time was the fact that I spent almost a month between 3500 m. and 4500 m. high. At this altitude you breath fast, on one lung, with 5 layers of clothes. Everything you doing take you twice the amount of strenght to do it at sea level. Breathing is an effort, moving is an effort, and even eating sometime is an effort. One thing, bring your extra lung, and some warm clothes, because at 4.5 K is freking cold. In the last 2 weeks I ask every morning when I woke up in my freezing room (yes, my bottle of water were frozen in the morning) , what I was doing here! Probably why I will change my plans soon :)

• I have not heard the silent once in the last month. I don´t know what it is to be in a quiet place. Silence is probably the luxury of the western societies. It starts at 6 AM when in stade of the glamourous and typical wake up cock, you have alike TNT fireworks instead. The first time I was ready to pack my stuff and stopped by the earthquake safety sign that you see everywhere. Then I got use to, and juust move an eyelush. But then after it is the music all the time, and bad suave music. Then the bus, then taxi, then people start their day to day activities, and then you day is gone. I thing the best way to see the difference is when you take a local chicken bus and a tourist bus. I will probably describe it later, but this is the best exemple of the Silence.

Words of the day

From an Argentinian: If you look for a wife, and you find a girl that knows how to cook, and love fooball, marry her on the spot !

Hotel in Peru / Bolivia

Here is the list of all the hostel that I remember I have been


__________________________________________________________


Peru

• Lima

Loki Hotel (US$11 with breakfast)
Good dorm, and central place in Lima.
Friebndly staff as well, very helpfull, a good place to go
if you want to be in Miraflores.

• Pisco

Posada Hispana (US$ 10 with Breakfast)
Bolognesi 236
Good room, quiet and safe place, bit expensive

• Nazca

Hotel Estralla del Sur (20 Soles).
Small room for a small town and a small budget

• Arequipa

Posada del Cacique (20 soles)
Nice colour and close to the main city attraction, but not too close.
Luis is a good guy very helpfull and full of information.

• Cusco

Pirwa Hotel (40 soles) . Expensive but in Rua Suecia, 20 meters away from THE action.
Pirwa Backpaker (10 soles) . Much better place, close to San Glas, and quieter too.

• Agua Calientes

Hostal de Turistas Machupicchu Pueblo (25 Soles)
Barrio Loos Orquideas 23 cote 12
Humid,expensive and noisy. Don´t go,
but where else do you go in this strange pueblo?

• Puno

Hotel Pukara, Libertad 328 (US$25)
Expensive, BUT this is the only place I found in my budget that had a working heating system.
I would have paid much more in this place to not freeze my butt off.

• Mancora

Hospedaje El Amanecer, End of the road
(US$10) Expensive, BUT this is the only place I found in the busy weekend.
I would recommend rather the Hostel Mar Y Sol down the main road instead with swimming pool, and hot shower.

• Trujillo

Hotel Colonial, Jr. Indeència ·618 (S./ 50)
Nice hotel, close to the plaza de Armas. Nice room with TV and private bathroom.
Ask for a room in the back otherwise you will hear the bell in the morning and the horns from cab driver.

• Huaraz

Soon

_________________________________________________

BOLIVIA

• Copacabana

Hotel Mirador (Bol$ 30)
This is the biggest and the most expensive of the area.
What a view, ask for the the last storey.

• La Paz

Hotel Majestic (Bol$ 85)
Calle Santa Cruz Esquina, Illampu 359
This is a 2 stars Hotel, with a breakfast included.
You should be able to have somethintg better somewhere else, but was not in a good shape to do anything.

Puno, Perú

New friend on board : CLOFAR.
I never met so many friends in such a small amount of time. Hope that this on will be better companion that the others.

SO ........... I decided to move after the Raymi.
This was a not really pleseant experience. Beeing sick in the middle of 3 billions Peruvians to watch some dressed-up Inka talking during 3 hours in Quetchou´an was not my cup of Coca Tea. It was like watching a video gam but in the real world.

SO ........... I decided to move anyway from this city, and heads up to Bolivia where it will be colder and higher. I want to see few places there and then going down to some warm place, after all I am in vacation and not in detention.

I am staying at a nice hotel in Puno (-thing to do), the last big city on the Lake Titicaca before Bolivia. Urus people are living in some strange flottant islands, but I pass on that. I had a great trout tonight from the Lake Titicaca near by at the rstaurant close to the hotel (Coca Kintu). The town is so strange that there is only one street that people stuck to, and dont try to go anywhere else.




Tomorrow I cross the Bolivian Border.
I am quite excited that the journey is strating again.

Tranquilo in Qos´co, Perú

I have 3 news friends. I met APRONAX during a late night and did not pursue with this sleepy companion. But I met 2 new good friends, DOLOGINA who helps me to talk better, and DIBAROL who makes me sleep like a baby. They have been introduced to me by 2 pharmacist whose only differences were that one had glove and the other did not. Anyway, I feel a bit better but plan to not move around till I can walk straight and be able to stay in a bus night ride if necessary.

So,I am enjoying the long week Cusqueñan ¨Festival of the Sun¨ under the rain. This festival called Inti Raymi is celebrated to wish a Happy New Quechouan Year. Everyday, plaza del Armas is full of dance from all different schools, college, university, professional and other part of the society that I can not quite picture yet. During the entire day you can watch Peruvian folkloric dances followed by their associated Bandas (portable orchestre). Yesterday was the blessing of the different Maria virgen from the local pueblos. The statue carried by as many men as possible (between 20 and 30) is rushed inside the main Cusqueñan church followed by the Bandas to wake up probably the priest who is certainly not aware of the major situation. The funny thing was the song they were playing: Starwars! At least the statue will be warshiped.

Stopping over a trip helped me to look around in a different way, and make me think about how people pursue tourist. I am in between my full time job (traveller) and the local people. Most of the people in the street I am living now knows my name, and its feel like a home place somehow, by not having to unpacked and packed my bag. I kind look at travelling activity as a new way. I knew travellers before when I was a kid and saw them as noisy fellow, but here it is much more as understanding both sides. I am an no-action-peace-keeper-in-between without borders.

My new routine is pretty much set up already by ¨all¨ the activities I am doing in town. I usually wake up at 6:00 AM by the fireworks they allways do, but rapidly fall back to sleep and stretch my night till 11ish, time to watch the summary of the fisrt soccer game while drinking my coffee. I usually go back to a more smokey room with a big screen to watch one or sometime two games back toback. After this main activity, I push myself to the end of the plaza central where I fight between local kid who try to sell me their local stuff and some adventurous tourists who wants to do the samething as me: sit on the bench to watch the sunset. I sometime fight with my El Aleph, Borges book bought 5 soles at a coner street. When the light is not good enough for my glasses, I reach my room or do some websurfing, choose a restaurant nearby and follow it by some drinks. From all the different beer that Peru offers you (Cusqueña, Arequipeña, Pilsen, Cristal), Cusqueña Malta is my favourit. Then, when night starts to talk softly I usually manage to climb the stairs of Ukuku in where I shake my bottom with a lot of local and a few tourist. 3 Soles is the Taxi bargain price to go home. All along the day, my game is to try to found out from witch country the tourist is from. Most of time I am wrong.

As you can see my day are really busy and full of encuentros with tourists, expat, local and aliens. But I will tell you later about that. Now it is time to watch France to be humilated again. So that I can focus on something more interesting like travelling again.

Thought of the day
La mentirosa tiene patas cortas, y la verdad tiene patas largas.

Qos´co, Perú

What I do in the best so far in Qos´co
(Cusco in Quechouan)



Real Joke of the month

I always heard about it but never had a chance to watch it live, now it is done, and it fells really good. Here it is

An english guy wait in line to buy something. It is now his turn and start in this broken spanish his wonderfull public speech, load enought to impress everyone and especially his girlfriend waiting next to him.
- Him ¨Perdon, I am embararassado, pero, quiero, .....¨ (never had a chance to finish is sentence)

The audience was under the table just after the pero

What he wanted to say was: ¨Sorry, I am embarassed to ask you, but, I want ......¨
What he said in reality: ¨Sorry, I am pregnant, but, I want ....¨

Sometime it is hard to travel in a foreign country.

New rule in the Inka-Tation bibble book, rule #3:
¨When you don´t know how to say it, make sure nobody can heard you¨

Machu Picchu, Perú, Photos

The terrasas where they used to cultive the corn and other plants the Inkas needed














Machu Picchu at 8:00 AM















The Llamas
















Machu Picchu at 10:00 AM

Machu Picchu, Perú

With the help of my new friend (the AMOXICILINA pill), I woke up at 5 AM to catch the first bus at 5:30 and see the sunrise at Machu Picchu at 6:20. BUT it was raining dogs and cats. I went back to the hotel my tail between my leg (awoiding dogs and cats falling), and starting to swear at my dark star and planned to stay in the most horrible town on the planet till -1- I was ready to climb and -2- the sky was with me.

I push my extra nap untill 7:30 AM, time for the next bus from Aguas Caliente till the entrance of the Machu Picchu site. Paid my fee (US$25 entrance fee + US$12 for the bus) I ran to the top of the Cabaña, and spend the next 2.5 hour, sitting on my rock, looking at the magic happening. The Cabaña is the spot where all the picture you have seen of the Machu Picchu are taken. When I sat, the sun was out along time ago, but still the entire site was in almost dark due to the cloudy sky and the landscape.

I was lucky enought to see the show begining.

Machu Picchu (MP) is a pic surrounded by other pics higher cooling the site and preventing the place from cold wind. The Urubamba river that goes around MP forming a U, protecting that way from any attack. The abrupt side of the site will not help anybody to go on the fast road either, and hide the site even from the bottom. Anyway the surrounding is by itselfmagic. Then the site was kind of surreal where everything was though and design in such a way that the nature was a replica of what was going on. One of the major stone had the same shape of the behing scenery, there you could see a stone polish to have the shape of a condor starting it flight, or there the temple of the sun facing the equinox and reflecting the first light embracing the main place. In orther words, the pleople who were there knew the nature around them, how to domesticate it and how to respect it. Something we kind of miss somehow nowadays. The most amazing thing is probably the fact that the city was built 5000 years ago by roughtly 1000 people in 100 years,and never touched since then :)

I spent, like I say, 2.5 hours warming my rock and smiling my a$$ off at the spectacular magic in fromt of me. The cloudy Huayna Picchu (the pic you see behind in the picture) started to awake itself and lay off its blanket to let the entire site breath. Then the dance between the clouds and the sun began and I was a witness of some amazing choregraphy where the entire site was in dark while the temple of the sun was shinning like a ball of fire. Around 10AM, the entire site was awake and ready to receive its daily 3 millions of tourist or so. I was gald that during my life, I almost had for a while, the entire Machu Picchu for myself, or I concider do so.

This few hours under the sun were pure blessing, and I urge anyone who wants to see magic to come and spend a morning at Machu Picchu.

I promise to upload some shoots I took, not all of them but some :)



Went back to my hotel in Aguas Caliente, then to the train, then to Cuzco, then to my Hotel in Cuzco and finally to bed with a big smile on my face. The magic happen, I close my eyes unlighted by a firework.


Taste of the month
Guinea Pig (Cuy al Horno), easy to do, in less than 30 minutes, and I am sure you will entertain all your friend with this amazing and tasty receipe.

Machu Picchoune, Perú

My first day at Machu Pichu I spent it in bed!

In my half awakeness the day before I booked 2 night in this really strange place that is named Agua Calientes. And I spend the first one day just going to the local pharmacie to ask some medecine to cure instantanetly my sore muy caliente throught. The funny thing is that you don´t need to see a doctor to have some antibiotic. You just show up at the local pharmarcie, mime what could be the problem and the lady picked-up one of the 20 medicament box she has on the shelf and give it to you with an big smile and an Ojala that could make you sick if you are not already. Went back to my humid room, and slept through the afternoon. I woke up at 4 PM just on time to go to the local Hot Spring. I start conversation with 2 amercans and finished it at a 3x1 happy hour Pisco Sour and the way back home.I left them there, and avoid the poisoinned pizza they had later on. I went with a secure Chiken Sopita, and went to bed at 8 PM ready formy next adventure.

Ollantaytambo, Perú

I decide to kill 2 condors with one stone and go to the Sacred Valley and Machi Puchu (MP) at the same time. Most of the puriste would not recommend doing so, but I concider myself grey, mixed and borderline enought to do it that way.

I booked my trip from Cuzco, and spend the morning at the PeruRail train station to arrange my trip. I paid US$ 30 for the first leg of my trip from Ollantaytambo-MP and US$ 52 for the second leg of my trip, MP-Cuzco.

Around 1:00 PM on Miercoles Junio 14, I took the first bus from Cuzco to Urubamba and riched the traditionally called the Yucay Valley and most recently Sacred Valley. My 3 hours bus trip was long but nonethless rich in colour and local activities. The 25 places bus was by far exceding by 100 millions people, and my backpack was nothing in term of size compare to their own travelling outfits. After the first bump (4000 meters above sea level) most of the passengers manage to escape from the bus, and I could secure a place close to a window. Like a 5 years old kid looking at an ice cream shop, I spend the remaining part of the journey staring at the magical scenery in front of me. The light was so amazing that I was almost tempted to ask the bus driver to stop and let me do the rest of the 75 kilometers by myself. I never so a light that rich and yet pale. Some sort of retouched photo from the past. Here you could see some local campesinos working on their harvest surrounded by moutains reaching 6000 meters high, there a local bandas march stopping the bus to celebrate a wedding, or even there you could see a National Geographic poster of the entire Sacred Valley. I tried to take some picture through the window, but it was impossible to size the immensity of the thing in front of me. It was around 3PM when we finally dive from the altiplano to the Urumbamba town and I discovered I small town blocked in the middle of a well hand made drawn valley. You know the one you usually draw at school, well the one I usually draw at school then.

Passed the local market, local bull-fight arena (Plaza deToros), and dicover that we were only 3 left in the bus. I did not pay attention to what happen to my motion tank. Strangelly enought, the 3 of us took the next bus to Ollantaytambo, my final destination. We start chatting, and it appears that the girl A. is Canadian from Victoria, and she is in Ollan (this is how cool people called it) volunteering to save some knitting tradition at the local museum. More over, she knows the 2 guys that I met a couple of days before who invited me to their place to save some $ on the MP trip. We gringo-chatted for a while and her novio was prompt enought to time us out on our home sickness. We arrive at sunset and I reach the yellow house after the bridge just on time for a soup and some chit-chat.

The next day (Jueves, 15 de Junio), after a big late breakfast in their backyard (an entire mountain!) I planned to visit the famous ruins of Ollantaytambo (just tolet you know that it is 75 km away from Cuzco and at 2800 meters). I only manage to reach the bottom of the pyramid, and start to fell really sick. I was wondering when it was going to arrive in my trip, and yes I got it just the day before going to MACHU PICHU !!!!! That´s my luck. Must have be a combination of tireness, greacy food and dusty matress. Anyway my throught was on fire and my sinunes started to speak back to me in some wrong terms.

I AM OFFICIALLY SICK !

Waht would be a backpaker trip with sickness and stomachache afterall. With some difficulty I manage to climb the terrace of the nearest bar, and drug myself with some Maté de Coca. Do not really remember what happen between my 4th cup mixed 2 Advil and the train but I was stamped and ready to spare the last 1.5 hours with some foreigners who decided to do the same thing as me: going to Machu Pichu. On the train, I was the wagon translator between 4 Irish girls doing a world tour and 2 Spanaird who planned to do it. It is amazing sometime how some people are consumerist even on their approach of travelling, and did not want to learn a least some words of the local, or global language. I was dizzy by the list of places that people went or had to go, and was happy to crash in a not so well bargain bed at Aguas Calientes.

I wish I had some more time in my hands to visit somemore places in this valley, but this is certainly not a place to miss, even if you have to do so on the back of a condor like I did.

Cañon del Colca, Perù, Photos

The literaly highter point of my life: 4880 meters above sea level.
As you can see you still have some more mountain higher around, like the Misti you see behind the Peruvian on the photo.

The church that survive the last earthquake 50 years ago in Chivay.




Inka Cola is the famous drink around here, and the coco-loco are the taxi-muppet



Beware, crossing llama at 4000 meters and above






The light point in the middle of the canon is the Condor.
But the even tighner point on the flat rock in the middle of the photo is our guide :)

Here is the famous Canon del Colcal.
Of course it is better in real life since you can not really put a 1200 meters depth into a 12 millimeters high pictures.

Cuzco, Perú

I am spending some time off watching soccer, and healing my feet, arms, legs and all my muscle at Cuzco.

Cuzco is a town at 3300 meters above sea level, and is surronded (again !) by mountains at above 4500 meters. This city is the most touristic city, so far, I had spend some time in. You cannot walk 3 seconds without having someone asking you for something. I was on a remote place of the town taking a picture of a llama when suddently 2 kids came from nowhere asking me a propina. The entire country is on propination addiction. What ever you ask, you´ve been in return ask back some money without any question (or answer in my case). Yesterday I was asking some direction to a young kid (maybe 7 years old) and he ask me some money before answering. It is more obvious here in Cuzco that everyone is trying to make money out of the tourist´s wallet. You have to be aware of it, and deal with it. This is so different from all the other places I have been so far in Perù. I hope this is the only place.



The city of Cuzco is the nearest big city close to Machu Pichu, and is the starting point of the major big treeks that could be done in this amazing area.

The Inka-Trail is the most used and famous road in South America, and consit of a 4 days and 3 nights along the major Inka places in the neighborhood. What I did not know is that you need to book in advance your passage to the trail. The Peruvian gouvernement only allow less than 100 visitors a day, and it´s booked until the end of September. I won´t be able to do the famous INKA-TRAIL, but I will certainly see the Machu-Pichu. Many options exist there for me to see the big mountain:

• I can hide in a German Backpack going to the trail (they are bigger than any other backpack I have seen on the road, they even have a name for it: rucksack)
• I can dress-up like a llama and pretend that I was eaten alive
• I can walk on my kneens and talk with my fake german accent and say that I am a local quechuan guide
• I can do the 5 days-4 nights more difficult alternative road of Salkantay (rule 1 ?)
• I can take the train and stay overnight at the bottom of the mountain in Aguas Caliente and take a bus ealy in the morning to see the sunrise on the Machu Pitchu

All will depend on how I recover from my adventure in Colca, and some feedback I will receive from J. a guy that I meet before.

In the mean time I am taking it easy and watch some more soccer in some strange places full or ex-military-futur-student Israelis people.

Allez la France

Cañon del Colca, Perù

32 km walk + 2400 meters difference + 13 hours walk in 20 hours = new rule


I decided when I was in Arequipa to booked to 3 days trip to the famous Cañon del Colca. I hoped for a combination of touristic tour and an adventure one. I decided to spend 3 days in the canon, where I was the first day in a tourist bus and the next 2 in a mini- trekking.

Day Uno
At 7:30 in the morning the first day, the tour operator (Alberto) picked me up at my hostel and we ran around Arequipa finalizing the white mini-van with some random nationalities. We filled up the white min-van with 2 Spanish-German-Swiss (I don´t know how many of these exist on the planet, but we had 2 in the min-bus), one check republic girl, 2 dutch in honeymoon, 2 Israli, one Ausie-Canadian, and myself. We all drove to Chivay in the middle of the canon to spend the first night. Along the way we got around the Chachani mountain at more than 6000 meters, stopped to see llamas in the national reserve of salinas and aguada blanca, spend some time in the altiplano, count one by one the 11 different volcanos in the area, see some Inkas-terrace culture and finally relaxed our muscle in the Baños Termales La Calera in Chivay. It was really funny to watch a classic tourist group behaving together, where you can see predators eating up alive prey. I wont go deeper in my description, just to let you know that A. and B. wanted to do some business with C. but C. wanted to spend some time with D., and finally E. and F. where butterflying from one group to another. I was watching the fabulous spectacle through the window of the white mini-van, and spoke altogether 3.5 words. After our relaxing time at the spa in La Calera, we all went back to our hostel to go to dinner. My 1.2457 square meter room was the coldest in the all Cañon, and if not I ask anyone to prove me otherwise. I asked 2 extra blanket in case I was turning into one of these giant mummies, and I finally used both of them while I was still dressed up all night long.
The dinner was absolutly horrible for me, I was dealing with the famous soroche, and we had a wonderfull live band sitting close to my seat. The drummer kept smilling at me and I kept ginving my most horrible black eyes. Maybe this is the way in the Cañon, people give back a good felling to the music. I was torned by my headache, and I decided to leave the place just after the world famous chou-chou folkloric dance from the Colca Cañon. Their outfit is as colourfull as their land and they were changing for each and every dance, even inviting some tourist to humiliate themselves. But I could not see it. I was fitting my soroche headache with 2 Advil and 2 extra blankets.
Cañon del Colca is probably one of the last place where you can see 800 or so Quechouan inhabitant in their traditional coustumes and habits. They are still do the same thing as they use to do 8000 years ago, except speaking broken english to some random tourist in a white mini-van.

Day Dos
At 5:00 AM (yes 5 AM), we have been waken up by the local igloo concierge to have a quick breakfast to go on our journey. Too bad, I was finally feeling asleep, and get use to the sound of my teeth rubbing one another. We experience during this trip the first 5 minutes of pure silent. It was broken by C. who asked some more bread to the fridge owner. We all got into the white mini-van and went directly to the Cruz del Condor. The second deepest spot of the Cañon is situated at 3287 meter of altitude overlooking a small river 1300 meters down. We arrived at 9ish in the morning and was amazed by the number of ...... tourist already in the area. Some were coming from Arequipa (6 hours away) and began their trip at 1:00 AM. I was happy to know that I was not the only one who mistaken the term vacaciones in spanish with vaca actiones. It crazy how come sometime a small mispelling can ruin your time off.
Anyway I spent 15 minutes overlooking shoulders´s overlooking shoulders´s overlooking shoulders´s some birds flying in the mountain. I gave up and decide to return to the white mini-van when I felt a shadow on me, and guess what, the famous Condor from Perou was over my head, 10 feet away. It is the larger bird on the planet and I can say for sure it is. Of course at the crucial moment you have it right at your finger tip, you don´t have your camera ready. It did not pay attention to the caracteristic of my digital camera but when it says less than 15 seconds to startup your camera, don´t buy it, you could miss a condor overlooking your shoulder. The next time I´ll tell this story I will probably add that the condor was looking at me in the eyes and was laughing with his coldest laught that you only hear in the 50´s Hollywood movie.

Then the second part on my combination trip started right at this place around 8:00 AM.

A. my local guide, was waiting for me with 2 others partner in crime for the tricky-trekking. R. an english girl, and L, We all moved quickly in the same white mini-van to go to the bieggining of the trip: Cabanaconde. We started our trip down into the Cañon and walked like crazy till we riched the Oasis, and had the redemtion of the R. We walked more than 10 hours that day, and were amazed by all the differemt colours, plants, and others funny thing you can imagine. I will hope to upload some pictures one of these days, but nothing can explain the immensitude of the Scenery. Everyting was too bigfor my camera, and for my eyes as well. I felt ridiculously small and it flet good to be nothing. Along the way, we cross some local guys who were picking some plants on some cactus for colouring their masks for the next week festival. They scared me with their small sandals and their contortionist position to grab from the wall (yes a wall) what they need for thier dance. After grabbing what they needed, thet went down and use the direct line. I looked at how they handled their balance, and Rudolf Noureyev if it was not russian was certainly from Cabaconde. We eat at 6:30 and went to bed at 6:31. My cabin was close to the cascade that give the name of the Oasis at the bottom of the Cañon del Colca in the country of Peru on the planet earth. And I could not sleep until 9:00 PM local time even if I was tired and be able to handle my Soroche at 2000 meters :)

Day Tres
I was dreaming of a nice breakfast when my guide A. woke me up at 2:00 AM to start the trip back to the top of the Cañon. My feet were not responsive anymore and I had a long chat with them to convinced them to go back to my shoes. At that point we lost the english girl in this early battle and put her on a mula for her trek back. That was the last one available and I contemplated my flight back to the civilisation with a bitter envy over (once again) an fellow from the other side of the channel.
Anyway the trek back started with some delay due to my unability to wake up, and fight to fing my lamp. How could you start walking in the dark withour a lamp ! I took my batteries from my camera (no point of taking picture in the drak), and plug them in my only friend for the next 3 hours. But I did not knew that at teh time otehrwise I would have said something nice to them to help them help me.
At that point I need to tell you some characteristic of my guide A. He was during the entire life (17 years) a porter in this special valley. His job was to port fruits from the bottom of the Cañon to the top of the mountain. He used to do this basic camino every week at least 3 times. Saying that he knew that treek like his poncho is an euphemism. He was flying over the mountian and start a race with the other group we meet at the Oasis. That was for me the end of the fun.
I was marching, sorry running, on an Inka Trail at 3 in the morning swearing like a pig and sweeting like a dog (maybe it´s the opposite). We reach the top of the Cañon with one hour in advance on the schedule and waited for one hour in the freezing cold for the restaurant to open. Tell me somtime I don´t like too much testoterone in a macho country. that could be damaging for my extra ponds that I try to take care of for the last 5 years. We took in this order, a breakfast, a bus to Chivay, a bath at La Calinas again, a bus to Arequipa and a taxi to the hotel. I don´t really remember how I got tto the shower in the hostel but it felt very nice.

I fall asleep at 6:00 PM on that day, and had a new rulle to my Inka-Bible.
Rule 2: Never accept to do a night treeking!

My next trip was by plane to Cuzco the next day. I fall asleep thinking to myself if I should have asked the owner of the hotel in Arequipa to port me to the taxi the next day.


Joke of the day
Un hombre al otro:
Esta noche se va a hacer mucho frio, aquien dice que se va a hacer abaro zero.
El otro:
No para mi, se va a hacer abaro una !

Where were you during the opening game?

I was in Chivay (3700 meters above the sea level) watching the first half of the game. I was waiting for the bus on my way back to Arequipa from the Colca Trek. I watched up to 3-1 for Germany, and missed the next goals while in the bus at the highter point ever in my life: Mirador de los Andes at 4800 meters.

And you where were you?

Arequipa, Peru, Photos

Arequipa is a town full of colour and full of surprise.
This is the interior of a colonial mansion turned into a toursits trap.

The main activity on the Plaza de Armas.
I kind like this type of job somewhow



The lately open monastery. This is paradise for photographer, but you had to pay the equivalent of one week of living expensive. Wont really know what is inside, certainly it is full of none.

Arequipa, Perù

And the winner of the Pèruvian Election is ..... the corrupted.

It seems that Alan Garcia is the new president of Perù. I saw him on TV, and I have to say that he knows how to speak. He is a brilliant public speaker, and did probably skip the initial course at Toastmaster. I heard the news on my way to the bus station Sunday night, when the entire town of Nazca was silent to the point to heard a Condor flying. Then, suddenly, his name poped-up on all the Peruvian TV and it was .... nothing more than just a big silent. Actually the answer came later when I ask a guy at the bus station. Peruvian don´t care anymore about politics. For him both were assasin and corrupted. So what´s the point of voting then, except avoiding to pay a multa.

But the funny thing was hearing the Peruvian anthem hymn in the street at the end of the winner annoncement. It´s the French onw but in Spanish. THEY STOLE IT. They stole everything, uncluding a national anthem !!!

Anyway, I took my overnight ¨business¨bus to Arequipa, and spend 10 hours in a chiken bus full of Peruvian, no Tourist at all, stopping every other hour refuelling the ones who manage to escape from the bus when the bus slowed down. I finally reached my destination, totally broken, sleepless and I have a real reason, now, to hate buses. I am strating to publish officially my fisrt rule of the pre-Inkas trip: When transit, if it´s more than 7 hours of bus, take a plane or cut the bus trip. We will see how long I can stick to it. The sad thing was even if I managed hardly to secure a windwon seat, because it was an overnight bus, I could not see a thing outside, just felling a lot of turns and seeing the stars. At sunrise I discovered what I missed. A spectacular desrt like view and some amazing panoramic shots.

My bus trip was worth the pain when I dicovered the town I arrived. Arequipa is a university town in the middle of the Andes. The city has a colonial speen and due to the volcanique region it´s been developped in, the city is all white. Not only it has everything a tourist like to see around (bar, food, restaurant, shops, ...), but also its has the most amazing treeking trails you can think of. An American couple that I talk to, just came back from a 2 days trip to the Misti near by at 5822 meters. I won´t do it just by looking at their face, but if you want to have a good torture you can find something that will suit you.

I just spend the last 2 days in town recovering from my night bus trip, and get use to the altitude (2.300 meter above sea level - 7500 ft). I feel now the soroche, and drink a lot of water and Coca-Mate tea. It has a light green tea savor, and help you to heal the symptom.

I also booked a 3 days and 2 nights trip to ¨El Canon del Colca¨. I hope to tell you more about my trip when I am back. I booked as well my flight to Cuzco (55 minutes as opposed to 15 hours bus), and just follow my fisrt rule of the pre-inkas bible (see above).

Arequipa is so far the best city of Perù I had the chance to be in. Hope I have the time to post some pictures soon.

Nazca, Perú, Photos

NAzca Line are incredible to see and therefore talk about, but I´ll try anyway.

Amoung the millions of lines you can see from the sky, from time to time you can see very well the shape of a Inka animal.
Why is that here? I have no clue ... but if you have any idea, drop a comment ....


You can see a spider at the bottom of the picture





This is the spider





This is something for sure




The spider again



I have some more, but due to the pucking environemnet, the low light, and the bad photographer you wont be able to see much than grey lines on a grey soild ... better move here and see it by yourself

Nazca, Perú

The famous lines of Nazca are unbelievable.

Noones knows what the lines are coming from but they are in the middle of the Peruvian desert, stuck between the magic mountains (Los Andes) and the (not so) Pacific Ocean. The Lines are drawn on many desertic plateau. Some lines are some sort of animals and some are whatever graphic design. Some says it`s a religious procession thing to invoke rain, some says it`s was to collect water, and some says it`s the proof that aliens came down on earth along time ago. Whatever you choose, you have to accept that this is facinating to see from a Cessna plane a monkey there or a dog here. My favourites was the giant Frigate Bird (around 300m). We were 5 plus the pilot and during 35 minutes we flew over some 15 plus drawings in the early hours of the day. I negociated with the tour operator the day before to be the co-pilot. Unfortunatly the weather was not as nice as I hoped but some pictures were taken, and hopefully soon been uploaded when time and technic permit.

Nazca is a small pueblo, and is full of people for at least 2 reasons: the market full of colour and the election full of anger. I will be very happy to see this election finished so that they could open the bars again. Although I found a hidden bar a through stone from the market, I might have to spend some time therem since I chec out from my hotel, and my bus is at 9 pm. So selfish for myself to think that way, but I promise you I compensae by telling you everything about my Peruvian Live South American Revolution.

My next destination is Arequipa by bus over the night. Hope I can make this trip. I never like buses and spending the night in one of them crossing the souh part of the Andes makes me thing that I am a bit of a rock and roll roader now. If I don`t like, I treat myself with a hot spring in Arequipa, and if I like the trip, I go for it anyway.

¡ Hasta la victoria (del Pisco) siempre !
Paquito

Pisco, Peru, Photos

This is the type of speed boat we used to get to the reserva










Later on we saw the Sign from the Piratas to find back their road whne full of ...... fish




















Lomos del Mar waiting to turn brown under the sun

Pisco, Perú

Having a Pisco Sour at Pisco, it´s like having a Manhattan at Manhattan or a Cuba Libre at Miami. That was my destination for a couple of days, but before that let me tell you my last day in Lima.

On my way back to the Hotel, I decided to play it rock and roll, and take a collectivo en Limà. I asked 3 millions times Miraflores where I stayed, to the people who are dealing with the client, and end up in one of the most dangerous suburb of Lima: Flores. The lady who told me to get in the bus did not understood what I said !!! What a fool I made of myself. I took luckily a taxi back to the city center at sunset. Safe and happy :)

After my trip to the suburb of Lima, I decided to treat myself an watch in engles, The Da Vinci Code. What a bad story, but the movie theater was empty, big screen and large seat. I know why now, because the most important business in Peru is the DVD copy. EVERY street has the latest copy of EVERYTHING, including all the bollywood movies. All the kids are dancing and singing, even if they don´t understand it.

Finally, I finished after a day of transport, to Pisco. This is a small city close to the sea and the desert of Paracas. Not much to see except few shops and a Plaza del Arma. Funny like each city has its own Plaza de Arma. The next day I took a boat tour to watch some interesting animals (I am not talking about the tourist here). I watched some Sea Lions, Pelicanos, Flamingos, Cormorans and Pinguins, Yes Pinguins, Special ones in their summer clothes. It´s quite impressive to watch thousands and thousands of Cormorans fishing. They all strat in wave in dive in the ocean at almost the same time attacking the same anchoi. I call that a war !

The next thing was a sort of a trek (700 meters) to the cliff named La Catedral. Was cool to see what the coast is like till the end of Chile: desert diving in the ocean. I was very tiny in this ocean of colours. Went back to the hotel after a filet de pescado in the local fisherman village.

Spakling moments

• Watching kids for the black community show their putting together later on the week. Beats and Pieces of music with some dance around. Stopped by few minutes untill they find out and asked me politly to leave the place.
• Election is comming, next sunday. I spend the return of the boat trip having a crash course on the history of the Peruvian election with the guide. The question that Peruvian are facing is the following: Or the most corrup man of the last 30 years, worse than Fuyimori. Or a crazy military person supported by Hugo Chavez (one of his familiy member shoot 4 persons few month ago, and it was filmed).