Casualties of the World´s Most Dangerous Road

Upon reviewing my very long day mountain biking the WMDR, I have to admit that I think there may be casualities, perhaps even a death. That´s right friends, it is possible that my trusty hiking boots may not survive the encounter. They have been with me through thick and thin and haven´t let me down, but I think forcing them to spend the day in the freezing rain, snow and crossing through rivers may have been just too much for them. They are taking on water now at an alarming rate....although it is possible that it has taken all of a week for them to actually dry out, considering I put them through one of the rainiest weeks ever in Sucre right after that!

Since you don´t often get the chance to ride a mountain bike down the Andes, descending 12,000 feet in 64 kilometers, I really felt I had to do it, even though it is the rainy season and not recommended to do it. It poured so hard all day long, I didn´t even take my camera. The day started out at over 4,700 meters--that´s over 15,000 feet--in the freezing rain. Actually the day started out with the bikes on the roof of the bus pulling down power lines as we made our way through La Paz, but that is not important here.

The goggles were covered after about 2 minutes of riding, and taking them off made it worse as then it just went right in your eyes. The reason people enjoy this ride so much is the scenery--sheer drops offs as you wind your way down the road in which so many vehicles have been known to go over the edge. Unfortunately, we had mostly white out conditions all day as so couldn´t see much, which is really disappointing. Oh well. It was a good, difficult ride, and of course we got to enjoye a flat tire and a snowstorm on our way back up the mountain into La Paz. Not sure if there will be pictures here as I have been waiting a long time for this lady to put the photos on CD, and don´t think they are going to show up any time soon. If not, you´ll see them here later!

After that I hung out in Sucre for about a week just waiting for Carnaval in Oruro to begin. All I have to say about that is it was total and complete chaos, people got robbed and attacked and everyone was drunk for many days on end...not that this is a bad thing, but the parade went from 7 AM to the following 4 AM. In fact it is not quite over, and even though I spent 7 hours on the worst train ride ever to Uyuni at 2 AM this morning, there is still a band playing here! I guess it will all end on Wednesday, by which time I will touring the salt flat with not a marching band in sight. AS for the train ride, I guess if I had gotten in line 2 hours earliers, we would have gotten the good seats, that go for around $12. But no, we got shafted with the $4 3 people to a bench seats in the back. With all the people, admittedly including us, who had not bothered to shower since sometime around the beginning of carnaval. I guess at least the train made it there, as the Bolivian bus requirement for each trip seems to be a mechanical breakdown of some kind, a flat tire or 3, or a landslide. Or more often a combination of those factors.

OK, so the photos are not happening and so will put up some kind of Bolivian fiesta of photos when I am done touring the salt flats later this week.

As for the photos up top, for those not in the know, this is what passes for a traditional Bolivian musical instrament. I kid you not. Disfruta!

Bienvenida a Bolivia, Cien dolares por favor

Hola again armchair travellers! So here I am in Bolivia! After paying my $100, giving a copy of my financial statement, yellow fever vaccination, airline reservations, hotel reservations and right leg, I was allowed entry into this great country. That´s right, the new visa requirement for US citizens just went into effect last month, so I got to participate in that whole drama. But cash aside, I have to say I am really enjoying Bolivia so far.

As I was sitting in a cafe in La Paz today, I enjoyed the best nachos I have had since arriving in South America, and also got to hear one of my favorite songs, which was sandwiched right in between the biggest hits of Leo Sayer and Air Supply. In general, Bolivia seems to be about a decade behind in the music scene here, so enjoying hits of the 80´s let me know this cafe was a really hip spot.

So far I have enjoyed some time at Lake Titicaca where it is just damn cold (albiet beautiful), a week or so here in La Paz, and a few days up in the Bolivian jungle-- where I did my best to sweat all over everything and feed as many mosquitos as possible. I got lucky and flew up to Rurrenebaque and back on the days that my flights were actually scheduled! It being the rainy season and them having a large grass football field for a landing strip apparently causes many cancellations. I got to hear and see the howler monkeys (the coolest sound ever!), a few mackaws, and even spotted a caiman that is between 5-7 feet long. I am pretty sure they told us that the caimans live in the lake only after we went swimming though.......

Anyway, La Paz is a great town--everything you are looking for in a Latin American city: complete chaos, dogs sleeping in the middle of busy streets as cars swerve around them, a guy on a unicyle juggling swords, and the smell of fried chicken permeating over the whole town owing to the fact that there is a chicken shack about every 5 feet. These people know and love thier fried chicken like nobody´s business.

Some Bolivian observations so far:

It is obvious we are in the south because in an instant all the travellers went from Aussies and Europeans to Aregentine and Chilean tourists. Although there has also been the stark reappearance of the dreadlocked gringo travellers as well. Must be because that Bolivia is cheap that the travellers who can´t afford shampoo and soap congregate here. That said, I have also met a number of great European, Aussie and Kiwis here as well.

Secondly, not only is the vocabulary we know and love such as palta and anteochos back, but also back is the fact that everyone needs to get a room. If there is a spare spot anywhere, people are making out.

I got the best haircut here--although it was expensive, coming in at right around $15. I also got goat cheese! I almost cried, it was so lovely...although it is Bolivian goat cheese so not the best in the world, but still! It went down well with that Bolivian wine of varying quality.

Anyway, I have a lot of other observations that as usual I can´t think of when I sit down at the computer. But maybe I will get into that bottle of wine I have upstairs and have some inspiration and upadte this thing again later. Here are some photos for you people to drool over:


http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w190/sweidmann/Lake%20Titicaca/?start=0

http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w190/sweidmann/La%20Paz%20y%20Chalalan/

On our next episode we will discuss the art of chewing coca leaves and enjoying your cocktail simultaneously as it turns out this can in fact be done!

Mystical Machu Piccu for the New Year

Happy New Year!

Hi folks, I trust everyone had a great new year and woke up the next morning next to someone they don{t know. :) I, on the other hand, got to spend my new years eve at Machu Piccu! Of course I was sick and we were getting up at 4:30 the next morning to go up to the ruins....and our hot tub was cold, but it was a great time nontheless!

Mom and Mary came out and we had a nice relaxing time checking out Lima for a couple of days, where Mary and I went paragliding. A second time for me, but a first for Mary. And I also cheated mom out of her chance to go as we didn{t know the wind was going to disappear while I was up there...not the first time this has happened. It disappear so much we had to land down on the beach (which is basically just a pile of rocks) and hail a cab to take us back up the hill!

So after that we took off for Cusco and the Sacred Valley. Spent a couple of days just acclimatizing in Urubamba and visiting the ruins at Ollantytambo before heading off to Machu Piccu. And of course, it is absolutely amazing. And we are not just talking about the ruins here people--the hot men are back! I{ll fill you in on the goods from Bolivia when I get there. :)

So here are some pictures, sorry I am feeling so lazy today and not writing much. I have been on the internet for 2 hours now naming and rotating pictures and such and now am just tired.....that and a guy just sat next to me that doens{t smell all that good.

http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w190/sweidmann/Machu%20Piccu/

But stay tuned next time when we will discuss the things you MUST know when negotiating the purchase of a llama at the local market.

Can you tell which of us has just vomited?

Hola again to my faithful subjects. I trust everyone had a wonderful holiday and is the midst of making their new year resolutions, complete with timetable on how soon to break them.

I am here in Lima, where I spent a nice quiet holiday waltzing around the city and finishing it off with a first run horror movie, that came out in the states about 6 months ago. I don{t really care as A.) it is new to me, and B.) it was the only option in English, unless I was willing to subject myself to Alien versus Predator. Which as you can see, I was not.

A couple of comments on Lima so far. Here I would insert a colon assuming it was working, but big surprise that every key on the keyboard is in fact a big surprise. But anyway, I know that everyone says Lima is a total shithole and the only thing one should really do here is change planes. I do not agree as so far I actually quite like it. The people are friendly (the men as usual are a bit too friendly) the city parks and streets are clean, and I have yet to really encounter the famous pollution. I know it is here somewhere, but also must say that my idea of pollution and other people's ideas are a bit different seeing as how I live in a town already filled with busses spewing black smoke. So this is not a problem. Also, the weather for the time I have been here so far has been really nice. Warm and sunny! Attached you will get to see some pictures!

Anyway, now the family is here and we are going to be doing all kinds of fun things like paragliding over the city, and possibly taking a city tour before heading off to Machu Piccu. There is also some talk of bowling. Again, a smiley face here would be appropriate, but....

I think we left off in Huacachina, the polluted laguna in the desert. I had a lovely stay there, did a dune buggy ride and tried the famous sand boarding. A lot of fun and glad I did it, and am doubly glad I don{t have a broken leg, collarbone, arm, or some other part of my anatomy that people seem to get on a regular basis after participating in this activity.

I did meet some funny local guy who is about 18 and wanted to practice his English, so I walked and talked with him for a while. After a while of the where are you from questions, he wanted me to give him some more slang terms in English to supplement what he has. Then he says "what about nigger?" And I say, "what?" And he wants to confirm that the term refers to black folks and I'm like, "um, we don't really use that term, and I would suggest you don't either". And he says, "but I learned it from the movies and it seems OK, as they are saying it all the time". Now I am assuming that he is refering to some of the either really old 70's films that you see on the busses all the time here and of course all the new hip hop movies that seem to throw that term about. So note to all you movie makers who think you are being hip, don't forget about all the latin americans and people of other countries who are learning our language by watching films! Can you just imagine some latin dude walking up to some black guy in NY saying, "what's up nigger?" because he thinks he is being with it as far as language is concerned? No wonder this world is so full of misunderstandings!

Oh and I think I promised a small discussion regarding latin american dogs. Shannon should feel free to post a comment on this particular subject. Anyway, here are the observations so far--stay tuned at the end of my trip I will add some comments about dogs I have yet to meet. Anyway, here is the roundup thus far

Argentina--these are dogs on a mission. You see them strolling down the street with what looks like actual purpose, like they are on the way to the office or something. The only thing missing is the briefcase hanging from the mouth.

Uruguay--I don't think we really need to comment on these guys.

Colombia--for the most part pretty relaxed. There was a story of some dog bites to hikers, but nothing confirmed. Mostly they kind of stroll around the streets and hang out but aren't too involved in anything.

Ecuador--these dogs are hungry and crazy. They are all hungry and will go running after you, cars, other dogs, doesn't matter. Not sure if they think they are going to eat whatever they catch, but they are trying to catch anything!

Peru--so far these dogs are just as hungry as the Ecuadorian dogs, but they really can't be bothered to get up or even bark. Guess they are smarter than the Ecuadorian dogs in that they realize they might as well conserve whatever engery they have.

OK, think that is going to be it for a while. We are off to Machu Piccu in a few where I think I am going to award myself with a pedicure, since I haven't had one since I left the states in the spring and my feet sure have taken a beating since then. Of course the pedicure lady is probably going to recoil in shock and disgust when she takes a gander at these beasties....

http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w190/sweidmann/Lima%20y%20Nazca/

Oh, and the puker? Yeah, you know it was me..and the guy next to me too!

Who said the holy family had to be blonde and blue eyed?

Hola travellers and happy holidays! So here I am relaxing at the laguna in the desert in Huacachina Peru. At an internet cafe listening to Ricky Martin, who was preceded by Wham. Nice here, but apparently the lake is now polluted enough that folks don´t go in it, and the hotel has no water in their pool. Doin the dune buggy ride in the sand dunes today and then the plan is to head off to Lima.....although one of the few hotels in Pisco that is open has written me to confirm that they do actually have tours running to the islands on Christmas...hmm. Maybe I will do that now. Crap, I hate it when new options come up and then I have to turn around and make another decision again! Damn! Think I need a bit of city time though. Anyway, stay tuned for how that turned out.

So, let´s see where we last left off....I had just arrived in Arequipa and totally admit that I really just vegged out there for an entire week in front of cable tv! I did fun things like visit the Santa Catalina monestary, which is almost 500 years old, huge, and painted in all variety of colors. Pretty cool and nice relaxing way to ditch the old Peruvian guy that was trying to get me to meet him for drinks. Not that he wasn´t interesting the first hour I spend talking to him in Spanish, but basically I had run out of vocabulary and also know enough now that to accept that invitation......well, more on that later.

What else...I hung about at the city park and in the Plaza de Armas, again fending off a variety of men and restaurant touts. I admit that is probably about it..did have an amazing salad in Arequipa though, and fresh salad is pretty hard to come by down in these parts for whatever reason.

Then I decided I should go and see the Colca Canyon, which is almost the deepest in the world--outpaced only by the Cotohausi, which is deeper by about 160 meters but another 5 hours away from Arequipa, and the 6 hour ride to Colca was long enough! The Colca canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, if you can wrap your mind around that. Anyway, I decided in my infinite wisdom and apparently since all the sun in the desert here is melting my brain, to do a mountain bike ride down into the canyon, followed by 4 days of trekking. In the desert. In summer. With no one other than the guide.

It was good fun, but really hard work for me, as the descent into the canyon is almost 5,000 feet from where we started. And then we had to climb that back out. Apparently regular mortals can do the climb out in 3 hours, but I was on the 5 hour plan. Oh well, I made it and the guide was really proud of me that I didn´t cheese out and hire a donkey. I admit that was mostly because I didn´t have the 40 soles required to do it!

The mountain biking was fun, but really hard for one who hasn´t been on a bike in more than 10 years. It was also somewhat vertical in places, the dirt path was full of rocks, and after 4 hours of squeezing the brakes where my hands finally felt like they were going to never open again, I had to hike 2 hours uphill to the lodging for the night! Then we had to hike down about 300 feet and back up in the dark in order to go to the hot springs that were down near the river. After that I had about 8 hours of walking each day up and down in the sun, but the views were amazing.

I did try my first Pisco Sour, the national drink of Peru. The guide left me with the restaurant/hostal owner guy (or someone) and he showed me how to make it and then we had some. Unfortunatly (as I have discovered here in SA) if you are a woman travelling alone, the assumption is that of course I want some guy to come home with me. So I kindly let this guy know I was not interested, and he wouldn´t let it go, so I faked that I was throwing up to get rid of him. Then he kept coming by room every 15 minutes to see if I was better and ready to carry on. He then eased the window open an inch and kept coming back and looking in. Thankfully he couldn´t see me because it was dark, but I must say it was creepy.

The word on the street is that to Latin guys, no means yes. So I have to figure out what the story is on that and then find out what exactly does mean no. Those with any input into this situation can feel free to sound off and send me some tips!

And I did actually see some condors! Mostly I saw them from the bottom of the canyon and so not close up. We waited at the lookout for almost 2 hours to see them and they never came. We boarded the bus, took off for Arequipa, and then one did decide to grace us with her presence. The picture is pretty shitty and not close up, but it was an awesome view! They have a 3 foot wingspan.

Well, better run for now. I would say so I could run off to have lunch, but the truth is I have budgeted just enough money here where I can afford one meal today, and think it is going to be dinner.

http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w190/sweidmann/Arequipa%20and%20Colca%20Canyon/?start=0

Happy holidays, and in our next installment, we will discuss the observed differences in south american dogs as all countries apparently are not created equal in this regard.

Back to the land of the palta

Hi Folks,

So here I am in southern Peru! I finished up my volunteer work at the black sheep and had a great time. I was suprised to feel as sad as I did upon leaving, but I guess sometimes you never know how affected you are by people and places until you leave them. It was a wonderful learning experience, and one the I am sure may help to lead me in my next professional path in life. Stay tuned at a later date when I actually figure that out. :)

The picture above is from my last foray into the weekly market in Chugchilan (where they had ¨music¨ from Sigchos--turns out to be a bunch of people who have never actually practiced or played before, but all were welcome--kind of like an open-mike night) and heading back toward the inn.

So, back to Peru. Who would have guessed that the Lima airport is a great place to spend the night, as apparently a lot of people are doing it and it never closes. At most you might have to change tables as the cleaners come around and want to mop. Anyway, I arrived in Arequipa at around 5:45 in the morning and was suprprised to see it is really in the mountains but also the desert. Quite different topography than I have been seeing for a while. This is a great town, and yes, the palta is back! This means I must be quite close to Argentina as the apparently northern word for avocado, aguacate, has been replaced with the word I learned in Buenos Aires, which is palta. They are also all over the place, and I have eaten one each day I have been here so far! I am on the hunt now to see if gafas (glasses) have turned back into anteochos.

This is a cool town, and today I discovered what apparently must be cake alley. An entire street with nothing but torte shops trying to outdo the one next door with their cake decorating skills. The street smells of sugar and exhaust, as there are a ton of taxis here. I followed that walk up with a meal in a place totally decked out for Christmas (is it that time already?) and playing Christmas carols alterenated with Air Supply and Bob Marley. Today I also got to meet Juanita, apparently the best preserved mummy of any Incan sacrifice ever. It was cool, although not for her, I am thinking.

The Peruvian people are really nice and helpful--much like all the other South American people I have met so far on this journey. I must say though that these Arequipeños are obsessed with cheap chinese food. It is probably every other store front on some of these streets......

Here are some photos...I am too lazy to label most of them, but they are pictures of the inn and the people who make it such a great place, a couple of the beach, and I think that is about it.

http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w190/sweidmann/Beach%20and%20more%20BSI/

The mysterious origins of the gripe pill

Hola again! Here I am back in Quito after an amazing time at the beach, where the ground literally moved. First of all I must say thanks to all those who post comments on the blog. I do read them but rarely respond as I am not sure those who posted check back to see if there is a response. So anyway....if you respond and want a response, please say so and I will send a comment your way!

I am heading back to Chugchilan tomorrow in anticipation of a nice turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, so that is very exciting! Of course I have just found out that I have a task of trying to find some cranberries here, but alas have found out too late and think the likely stores to have it will be closed by the time I get there.......drat.

Anyway, the beach was great although I was really too lazy to take many pictures, so have about 3 and will add them next time. I did get to encounter the earthquake though, and as it has been many years since I felt one, it was like a new experience all over again! The ground literally shook right after I sunk the eight ball at pool (actually on purpose this time!) and everyone went running for the doorway. No major damage, although the bar did lose it´s sign that was swinging outside.

I must say before we move on, that you always find these great little towns and think you could really settle in for a while and take it easy. Unfortunatley, inevitably some local guy takes a shine to me and then starts to stalk me and finally I have to leave town. So sad and this little beach town was no exception....sigh. Oh well.

But let´s get back to the real topic at hand: yes, the gripe pill. Gripe (pronounced gree-pay) is a standard latin american term for everything ill it seems. From a cold, to the flu, to menstral cramps to hemmoroids. The real issue is of course the pill since it treats everything! These pills of dubious origin usually come in a packet that the pharmacist or your good buddy gives you and are never labelled, so it is really unclear how many to take or what they should actually do for you. Which I think is nothing anyway, so guess that where it comes from is no muy importante. Just another latin american ism to ponder on those 7 hour bus rides!