Quito was my last stop in South America. I did a bit of sight seeing, but, then on my very last day in there, it turned out Ecuador was playing Brasil in a World Cup Qualifying match! Sight seeing, or joining drunken spectators watching world class football, a sport that I don't care about, but could get into? You guessed correctly.... 4 hours standing to reserve a little space on the stairwell in what the USA would clearly block off as a fire hazard in order to watch 90 minutes of play time, drinking beer and chatting with some locals. A perfect last day.
Bright and early on Monday morning, I set out to return to North America. Here I am, in sunny West Palm Beach, FL back for about two week. There is definitely some reverse culture shock. So... I have created a "best of" list for N and S America.
THINGS I LOVE ABOUT NORTH AMERICA
1. Toilet paper is always available and with such high quality brands
2. Toilet seats on every toilet
3. Not paying to use public bathrooms
4. Plentiful soap dispensers in public bathrooms
5. Trains, planes, and automobiles
6. People who use logic
7. Paying for an item is a 1 step process
8. No matter where I am on the East coast, I'm always at sea level!
THINGS I LOVE ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA
1. A liter of beer costs $1 USD
2. Tuk-tuks came all the way over from Asia!
3. Spanish architecture
4. The Andes
5. Semi-cama overnight buses, you go to sleep in one amazing city and wake up in another
6. Being able to use my somewhat conversational spanish
7. Crazy city/town buses with the most interesting characters in them
8. Hot Latin Men
Below are links to the final round of pictures from Peru and the week in Ecuador.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2389088&id=907196&l=881b0857d8
Thank you for reading my blog over the last 14 months. I hope you got a little taste of my experience down here (there.... I forgot, I'm back in the states). I hope to see you all soon if I haven't already.
Muchas gracias, chao, cuidate, nos vemos.....
Lauren
Monday, April 6, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
almost there....
It was finally time to leave Huaraz, I had been there for about a week and was getting a little stir crazy there. One week is too much time to spend in 1 city! I took an overnight bus to Trujillo, the first charming town that I have seen outside of Cusco in Peru, went to Chan Chan, walked around the square, and then got another overnight bus to Chachapoyas! After an exhausting two days of travel, I was in the cloud forest to see 2 things: Kuelap and Golca. Kuelap are some large, pre-Inca ruins that are on par with Macchu Picchu. They were discovered earlier than Macchu Picchu, but haven't been restored as much as MP. The architecture isn't nearly as meticulous as MP, but there is a lot of interesting history there, and with the lack of restoration, the ruins were a bit overgrown by trees. It looks like you are discovering it and no one has been there yet! An archeological site that is on a 3000 meter summit, has 3 different levels, used as a fortress, and housed warriors and shamans is definitely worth seeing. It was very cool, and a great way to end the "ruin" aspect of my travels.
The next day, I went to Golca, the 3rd highest waterfall in the world following Angel Falls in Venezuela and another one in Africa. It's two-tiered and 771 meters!
After about 10 days straight of hiking and traveling, I decided on some beach time. I went up to Mancora for some R&R at a backpackers resort and hung out poolside for a few days. No hiking, no culture, just relaxing and hanging out with fellow travelers and celebrating St. Patty's day with green slushies. Obviously, it's a world-wide holiday.
I then realized I had been in Peru for nearly 7 weeks, and was only planning on being there for about 5 or 6. I also realized, I had a flight out of Quito, Ecuador 10 days later and was still not in the country of my departure. oops... time to get moving.
Vicabamba was my first stop in Ecuador. It's a beautiful town that's known for it's long living residence. Considering how beautiful and peaceful the town is, it's no surprise. I hung out there for 2 days and did some easy hikes in the surrounding areas. Nothing too exciting, but very pretty.
Now, I am in Cuenca, a very charming city about 10 hours south of Quito. I met up with 1 girl I met in Mancora, and 2 friends from Bariloche (who I also saw in Mancora). Tonight, we are on our way to Quito where we will see the Old Town, straddle the equator, and then on Monday morning I fly back to the states!
Pictures to come soon....
The next day, I went to Golca, the 3rd highest waterfall in the world following Angel Falls in Venezuela and another one in Africa. It's two-tiered and 771 meters!
After about 10 days straight of hiking and traveling, I decided on some beach time. I went up to Mancora for some R&R at a backpackers resort and hung out poolside for a few days. No hiking, no culture, just relaxing and hanging out with fellow travelers and celebrating St. Patty's day with green slushies. Obviously, it's a world-wide holiday.
I then realized I had been in Peru for nearly 7 weeks, and was only planning on being there for about 5 or 6. I also realized, I had a flight out of Quito, Ecuador 10 days later and was still not in the country of my departure. oops... time to get moving.
Vicabamba was my first stop in Ecuador. It's a beautiful town that's known for it's long living residence. Considering how beautiful and peaceful the town is, it's no surprise. I hung out there for 2 days and did some easy hikes in the surrounding areas. Nothing too exciting, but very pretty.
Now, I am in Cuenca, a very charming city about 10 hours south of Quito. I met up with 1 girl I met in Mancora, and 2 friends from Bariloche (who I also saw in Mancora). Tonight, we are on our way to Quito where we will see the Old Town, straddle the equator, and then on Monday morning I fly back to the states!
Pictures to come soon....
A cracker jack of a week!
Huaraz, home to the Cordillera Blanca, which are absolutely beautiful snow covered mountains. I met up with a friend who I met in Pisco a few weeks prior. I did some hiking, and then we met an Aussie rafting instructor who convinced the two of us to go with him and some others on the 2 night/3 day Santa Cruz trek. We looked at each other, shrugged, and said, why the hell not?! It's supposed to be beautiful and I wanted to get one more camping trip in anyway. Off we went on our trek. The first camping grounds were a short and easy 2.5 hour hike. We got there early and had NOTHING to do because our packs were with the donkeys who were lagging behind. So, we hung out and played bachi with rocks that we found. Not that exciting.... but then our donkeys arrived!! We had out wine available and we were very happy. The second day was a hard hard hike. It was about 2 hours flat, then 3 hours on straight up switchbacks. It was drizzling and I was walking on a rock basically, so it was a little tricky. I arrived at the pass, Punta Union, 4,750 meters above sea level, and the clouds miraculously parted and we had sunshine for about 30 minutes just in time to eat lunch, relax, and take some photos. Que suerte.
On the way down in started to rain again, then pour, and it eventually snowed. We ate our dinner and went to sleep at 9 only to wake up an hour later with water in the tent, on my mat and definitely on my sleeping bag. After some failed attempts at fixing the problem, trying to ignore the problem and sheer anger, we finally decided to line the tents with the burlap mats that were on the donkeys. So, I went to sleep itchy and smelling like an ass. really. not fun. but, I did get a solid 4 hours of sleep in before our 8 hour hike back to base.
On the last day of the hike we woke up and it was sunny and gorgeous! It was a cracker jack of a day!! (That's the Aussie's saying, not mine. But, I do kinda love it....I am bringing it to the states. get ready.) We hiked basically flat and down the whole time. There was also a swamp involved, I tried jumping over a wide creek and totally missed so now not only are my feet wet, but I'm standing waist high in water. I dried off, and then fell into some more water later. Is anyone surprised that I was wetter and dirtier than everyone else on the hike? Of course not. It's just how I roll.
8 hours of hiking followed by about 1.5 hours of driving around mountains with no railings, no pavement, and no security, and another 1.5 hours of crazy scary collectivos (small public vans) and 2 drunk passengers one of which made us stop so that he could urinate on the curb, we arrived back in Huaraz. It was our Aussie friend's birthday so obviously we had to go out. We went dancing and were drinking our Pisco Sours and Cuba Libres (that's just a rum and coke) and having a great time. As I am always trying to add to my cultural well being, we met some folks from Huaraz, all incredible dancers, and they noticed I was trying to copy them on the dance floor. They loved that I was trying and we all started dancing together. It was very "dirty dancing" when Penny is trying to help Baby, but without all the drama that makes DD a classic. 2 of the girls were sisters, one named Lorena! We bonded over having the same name and the next day she invited me to have lunch with her family. Her parents were so sweet and we spoke spanish the whole time! It was a proud moment for me. Her father is from the next town that I will visit, so we chatted about places to go there. I forced myself to eat as much as possible, but this family put out so much food, I couldn't eat anymore. I felt like I was being rude, and it was delicious, but I had to stop!
The Aussie and my friend went south, so we parted ways as I was heading north.
Next stop... Chachapoyas!
pics from Huaraz http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=42802638&l=338155e52d&id=907196
On the way down in started to rain again, then pour, and it eventually snowed. We ate our dinner and went to sleep at 9 only to wake up an hour later with water in the tent, on my mat and definitely on my sleeping bag. After some failed attempts at fixing the problem, trying to ignore the problem and sheer anger, we finally decided to line the tents with the burlap mats that were on the donkeys. So, I went to sleep itchy and smelling like an ass. really. not fun. but, I did get a solid 4 hours of sleep in before our 8 hour hike back to base.
On the last day of the hike we woke up and it was sunny and gorgeous! It was a cracker jack of a day!! (That's the Aussie's saying, not mine. But, I do kinda love it....I am bringing it to the states. get ready.) We hiked basically flat and down the whole time. There was also a swamp involved, I tried jumping over a wide creek and totally missed so now not only are my feet wet, but I'm standing waist high in water. I dried off, and then fell into some more water later. Is anyone surprised that I was wetter and dirtier than everyone else on the hike? Of course not. It's just how I roll.
8 hours of hiking followed by about 1.5 hours of driving around mountains with no railings, no pavement, and no security, and another 1.5 hours of crazy scary collectivos (small public vans) and 2 drunk passengers one of which made us stop so that he could urinate on the curb, we arrived back in Huaraz. It was our Aussie friend's birthday so obviously we had to go out. We went dancing and were drinking our Pisco Sours and Cuba Libres (that's just a rum and coke) and having a great time. As I am always trying to add to my cultural well being, we met some folks from Huaraz, all incredible dancers, and they noticed I was trying to copy them on the dance floor. They loved that I was trying and we all started dancing together. It was very "dirty dancing" when Penny is trying to help Baby, but without all the drama that makes DD a classic. 2 of the girls were sisters, one named Lorena! We bonded over having the same name and the next day she invited me to have lunch with her family. Her parents were so sweet and we spoke spanish the whole time! It was a proud moment for me. Her father is from the next town that I will visit, so we chatted about places to go there. I forced myself to eat as much as possible, but this family put out so much food, I couldn't eat anymore. I felt like I was being rude, and it was delicious, but I had to stop!
The Aussie and my friend went south, so we parted ways as I was heading north.
Next stop... Chachapoyas!
pics from Huaraz http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=42802638&l=338155e52d&id=907196
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Jungle Woman I am Not.
One more thing that I forgot to add from my week in Pisco....
Carnaval is celebrated all over South America, not just Rio. In Peru, every Sunday in February there are waterfights all around each town. So, on the last Sunday in Feb. when I was in Pisco, a water fight commenced with the kids on the street. Then the parents got involved. Then, the kids added paint to their buckets of water. Then we added mud to our buckets of water (but really, we stopped using buckets and just started throwing fists full of mud). Then we tried stealing their amo (their waterguns and buckets). Then our neighbors kidnapped me when I was trying to steal one of the kids buckets and they pinned me down, pulled me into their courtyard area, locked the door and 3 of the family members proceeded to put shoepolish ALL OVER ME as I screamed for help, in english and in spanish (it was all in good fun, I wasn't actually yelling for real). Then the released me. Then they kidnapped one of the British volunteers who I was with and did the same to her, but worse. Then we called a truce. Then I took a very long shower because I had a hard time scrubbing the polish off my arms and neck. And that's how you do Carnaval Peru style.
I took my last flight of this trip up to Iquitos, the main Peruvian city on the Amazon. I am gonna be honest. I got screwed by the travel agents. I spent a ton of money and didn't see that much cool stuff. I was going to stay an extra day and hire a different guide to go swim with the pink dolphins and feed monkeys in the wild because I didn't get to do that, but then I decided I just wanted to get the hell out of there.
However, if you do plan to go to Iquitos at some point, I feel the need to mention the following information:
1. The water in the jungle accomodations, not in Iquitos, is yellow. Basically, when you go to pee, it looks like there is already urine in the toilet. And before you ask, I did flush several times to make sure that it wasn't someone else's leftover urine in the john.
2. The rooms have a wall/mosquito net combo. There are actual walls that separate the rooms, but the "ceiling" is just a mosquito net that is pulled over posts, so you can't see other people but you can hear them. That goes for the bathroom as well. You can imagine how hard I laughed when I walked in and saw that after I diangosed myself with a parasite and my stomach still isn't the stomach of steel I once knew.
3. I think the domestic airlines in Peru recognize that the average height of a Peruvian is much shorter than those from, let's say the states. So, they take the beat up old planes that we used in the states, add some more rows, and off they go. Usually, I am ok in planes, but here, I felt like a giant. It's like when Jeff (that's my brother who stands just under 6'5" or 195 cm for those on the metric system) doesn't get his exit row seat. Highly uncomfortable.
I am in Lima for the last time and soon I am going up to Huarez to get back to good old fashion outdoorsy stuff like hiking. Can't wait.
Pictures coming soon.
Love,
Lauren
Carnaval is celebrated all over South America, not just Rio. In Peru, every Sunday in February there are waterfights all around each town. So, on the last Sunday in Feb. when I was in Pisco, a water fight commenced with the kids on the street. Then the parents got involved. Then, the kids added paint to their buckets of water. Then we added mud to our buckets of water (but really, we stopped using buckets and just started throwing fists full of mud). Then we tried stealing their amo (their waterguns and buckets). Then our neighbors kidnapped me when I was trying to steal one of the kids buckets and they pinned me down, pulled me into their courtyard area, locked the door and 3 of the family members proceeded to put shoepolish ALL OVER ME as I screamed for help, in english and in spanish (it was all in good fun, I wasn't actually yelling for real). Then the released me. Then they kidnapped one of the British volunteers who I was with and did the same to her, but worse. Then we called a truce. Then I took a very long shower because I had a hard time scrubbing the polish off my arms and neck. And that's how you do Carnaval Peru style.
I took my last flight of this trip up to Iquitos, the main Peruvian city on the Amazon. I am gonna be honest. I got screwed by the travel agents. I spent a ton of money and didn't see that much cool stuff. I was going to stay an extra day and hire a different guide to go swim with the pink dolphins and feed monkeys in the wild because I didn't get to do that, but then I decided I just wanted to get the hell out of there.
However, if you do plan to go to Iquitos at some point, I feel the need to mention the following information:
1. The water in the jungle accomodations, not in Iquitos, is yellow. Basically, when you go to pee, it looks like there is already urine in the toilet. And before you ask, I did flush several times to make sure that it wasn't someone else's leftover urine in the john.
2. The rooms have a wall/mosquito net combo. There are actual walls that separate the rooms, but the "ceiling" is just a mosquito net that is pulled over posts, so you can't see other people but you can hear them. That goes for the bathroom as well. You can imagine how hard I laughed when I walked in and saw that after I diangosed myself with a parasite and my stomach still isn't the stomach of steel I once knew.
3. I think the domestic airlines in Peru recognize that the average height of a Peruvian is much shorter than those from, let's say the states. So, they take the beat up old planes that we used in the states, add some more rows, and off they go. Usually, I am ok in planes, but here, I felt like a giant. It's like when Jeff (that's my brother who stands just under 6'5" or 195 cm for those on the metric system) doesn't get his exit row seat. Highly uncomfortable.
I am in Lima for the last time and soon I am going up to Huarez to get back to good old fashion outdoorsy stuff like hiking. Can't wait.
Pictures coming soon.
Love,
Lauren
Thursday, February 19, 2009
I heart Peru
Hola todos!!!
The past few weeks in Lima have been crazy.... here what's happening.
I arrived in Lima and quickly went to Cusco... and guess who I ran into!? Mom and Earle! Ok... that was planned, but still. I spent the day with them and had a not very delicious meal with them, but it was nice to see them!
Mom and Earle left, and I went to Puno, the main town on Lake Titicaca. It was just my luck that when I arrived it was the end of Virgen de la Candelaria Festival, aka the Devil Dancing Festival, which is a parade celebrating the victory of good over evil. The parade was huge and lasted for hours with lots of people in crazy costumes, marching bands, oh yeah, and the people who aren't in the parade partake in a giant town-wide shaving cream fight! Adults, old men, kids, everyone. Totally amazing!
The following day, I took a tour of the islands of Titicaca, include Isla Uros, floating islands that are completely made out of reeds. Everything is made of reeds including the actual island, the houses, the boat, they even eat the reeds. Sadly, because it's become such a tourist destination, it's become rather commercial, but still very cool to see. Then, I hung out for a bit on Isla Taquile which is one of the larger islands and quite beautiful. Its population is under 2,000 and they don't really go to the other islands to "make friends" so there is a lot of inbreeding.
After Lake Titicaca, I returned to Cusco to have my last family encounter: Aunt Sam and Paul! We took a city tour of Cusco which included the ruins on the outskirts of town and went to a very cool market in Pesac to buy lots of baby alpaca goods. Softer than cashmere and cheaper! What could be better? We went went to Macchu Picchu and explored the ruins there and heard about how it was found accidentally, and I ditched the family and guide to climb up Waynapicchu to see Macchu Picchu from a birds eye view, definitely an intense hike, but only an hour up, so it wasn't so bad.
Back in Lima, Aunt Sam and Paul treated me to yet another delicious dinner and a stay in the 5 star Marriott. How could they spoil me so and then expect me to go back to the slumming ways of a backpacker staying in hostels, sharing rooms, sharing bathrooms, wearing flipflops in the shower, having no TV, no cable, and eating cheap food? Easily, but I enjoyed everyone second of my time with them along with the accomodations.
From Lima, I made a detour to head south to a town called Pisco. Pisco was devestated about a year and a half ago by an 8.0 earthquake and there are several organizations there helping to rebuild the homes. I went there intending to spend just a few days, and stayed a week. I dug trenches for homes that would use concrete and helped put a tarp roof on homes that are more like glorified huts. The owners of the soon to be completed homes were so grateful, and it was nice that we were able to meet them. I wanted to stay longer and continue to help, but it was time to get moving. Really, I wanted to stay another week because my arms would have been seriously buff, and I wanted to be there when they poured concrete because apparently, it's fun, oh well. But, all of the manual labor was fun... there were cool people and we were all there for a good cause, but I have other cool things that I want to see.
The pictures of me as a construction worker are coming, sadly, we didn't use hardhats or boots, but I know my way around a shovel, pick, and lots of tie-wire.
While in Pisco, I also tried octupus ceviche. A little chewy, but quite tasty! If you get a chance to go to a Peruvian restaurant, you should definitely try it.
Pictures from Cusco and Lake Titicaca:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2368770&id=907196&l=3dc99
Next stop.... the jungle!
Hope everyone is well.
besos!
Lauren
The past few weeks in Lima have been crazy.... here what's happening.
I arrived in Lima and quickly went to Cusco... and guess who I ran into!? Mom and Earle! Ok... that was planned, but still. I spent the day with them and had a not very delicious meal with them, but it was nice to see them!
Mom and Earle left, and I went to Puno, the main town on Lake Titicaca. It was just my luck that when I arrived it was the end of Virgen de la Candelaria Festival, aka the Devil Dancing Festival, which is a parade celebrating the victory of good over evil. The parade was huge and lasted for hours with lots of people in crazy costumes, marching bands, oh yeah, and the people who aren't in the parade partake in a giant town-wide shaving cream fight! Adults, old men, kids, everyone. Totally amazing!
The following day, I took a tour of the islands of Titicaca, include Isla Uros, floating islands that are completely made out of reeds. Everything is made of reeds including the actual island, the houses, the boat, they even eat the reeds. Sadly, because it's become such a tourist destination, it's become rather commercial, but still very cool to see. Then, I hung out for a bit on Isla Taquile which is one of the larger islands and quite beautiful. Its population is under 2,000 and they don't really go to the other islands to "make friends" so there is a lot of inbreeding.
After Lake Titicaca, I returned to Cusco to have my last family encounter: Aunt Sam and Paul! We took a city tour of Cusco which included the ruins on the outskirts of town and went to a very cool market in Pesac to buy lots of baby alpaca goods. Softer than cashmere and cheaper! What could be better? We went went to Macchu Picchu and explored the ruins there and heard about how it was found accidentally, and I ditched the family and guide to climb up Waynapicchu to see Macchu Picchu from a birds eye view, definitely an intense hike, but only an hour up, so it wasn't so bad.
Back in Lima, Aunt Sam and Paul treated me to yet another delicious dinner and a stay in the 5 star Marriott. How could they spoil me so and then expect me to go back to the slumming ways of a backpacker staying in hostels, sharing rooms, sharing bathrooms, wearing flipflops in the shower, having no TV, no cable, and eating cheap food? Easily, but I enjoyed everyone second of my time with them along with the accomodations.
From Lima, I made a detour to head south to a town called Pisco. Pisco was devestated about a year and a half ago by an 8.0 earthquake and there are several organizations there helping to rebuild the homes. I went there intending to spend just a few days, and stayed a week. I dug trenches for homes that would use concrete and helped put a tarp roof on homes that are more like glorified huts. The owners of the soon to be completed homes were so grateful, and it was nice that we were able to meet them. I wanted to stay longer and continue to help, but it was time to get moving. Really, I wanted to stay another week because my arms would have been seriously buff, and I wanted to be there when they poured concrete because apparently, it's fun, oh well. But, all of the manual labor was fun... there were cool people and we were all there for a good cause, but I have other cool things that I want to see.
The pictures of me as a construction worker are coming, sadly, we didn't use hardhats or boots, but I know my way around a shovel, pick, and lots of tie-wire.
While in Pisco, I also tried octupus ceviche. A little chewy, but quite tasty! If you get a chance to go to a Peruvian restaurant, you should definitely try it.
Pictures from Cusco and Lake Titicaca:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2368770&id=907196&l=3dc99
Next stop.... the jungle!
Hope everyone is well.
besos!
Lauren
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Bariloche, aka the most wonderful place in the world.
Something struck me as odd upon entering Bariloche, Argentina. Was it the abundance of chocolate shops? No, but I did love that part. Was it the crystal clear lake that I was actually excited abut jumping into? Was it the fact that it was finally bathing suit weather? No. No. It was that there were traffic lights! Yes, traffic lights! Lindsey and I hadn't seen one in what felt like ages, but was actually 3 weeks or so. Can you imagine only being in such small towns that there wasn't even a need for traffic lights? It was sort of a strange realization.
Bariloche! One of the highlights of our trip! We went kayaking, we went hiking, we went to clubs where there were lots of people, we drank, we ate delicious argentine meals, it was fabulous. There was one day however, we had gone out fairly late the night before, and the following day, we decided we were in Bariloche, we had to continue our outdoorsy activities kick. So, in a slightly hungover state, Lindsey suggests we go on a bike ride. There is a beautiful 35 km circuit that we were told was a great half day activity. I am sort of not up for it, but I decide to go for it anyway. I mean, I am a triathlete! I do that distance in between a mile swim and a 10 km run. No sweat, right? Wrong. I was dying, it was painful, I actually got off and walked the bike up a hill. More than once. It was a sad sad day. Don't ask if there are pictures of me struggling, there aren't any.
Anyway, Bariloche was incredible, but sadly, it was time to cross the Argentina/Chile border one last time. We headed to Valdivia, Chile to go the the Kunstmann Cervezeria. Home to our favorite Chilean beer, the Kunstmann Torobayo. After eating a hamburger piled high with deliciousness, we tried every beer they made and even shared a "column" of beer with some Chileans we met, before quickly getting out of Valdivia (there isn't much to do there) and make our way to Pucon.
Pucon, the adventure capital of Chile! However, I had already done many of the adventure activities that they offered (rafting, hiking, canyoning, kayaking, etc...) throughout the last month, so I just focused on one thing, climbing Volcan Villarica. It was difficult, tiring,and at times a bit painful, but awesome. And once we got up there and saw smoke coming out, we got to slide down the volcano. Very cool stuff.
I made a quick stop in Talca to go to the wine country and then back to Santiago. Below is the link to the pictures from January:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2364757&id=907196&l=968e4
For those keeping track, I am clearly behind on updates, I returned from Patagonia nearly 3 weeks and have now been in Peru for a while. Will write more soon!
besos!
Lauren
Bariloche! One of the highlights of our trip! We went kayaking, we went hiking, we went to clubs where there were lots of people, we drank, we ate delicious argentine meals, it was fabulous. There was one day however, we had gone out fairly late the night before, and the following day, we decided we were in Bariloche, we had to continue our outdoorsy activities kick. So, in a slightly hungover state, Lindsey suggests we go on a bike ride. There is a beautiful 35 km circuit that we were told was a great half day activity. I am sort of not up for it, but I decide to go for it anyway. I mean, I am a triathlete! I do that distance in between a mile swim and a 10 km run. No sweat, right? Wrong. I was dying, it was painful, I actually got off and walked the bike up a hill. More than once. It was a sad sad day. Don't ask if there are pictures of me struggling, there aren't any.
Anyway, Bariloche was incredible, but sadly, it was time to cross the Argentina/Chile border one last time. We headed to Valdivia, Chile to go the the Kunstmann Cervezeria. Home to our favorite Chilean beer, the Kunstmann Torobayo. After eating a hamburger piled high with deliciousness, we tried every beer they made and even shared a "column" of beer with some Chileans we met, before quickly getting out of Valdivia (there isn't much to do there) and make our way to Pucon.
Pucon, the adventure capital of Chile! However, I had already done many of the adventure activities that they offered (rafting, hiking, canyoning, kayaking, etc...) throughout the last month, so I just focused on one thing, climbing Volcan Villarica. It was difficult, tiring,and at times a bit painful, but awesome. And once we got up there and saw smoke coming out, we got to slide down the volcano. Very cool stuff.
I made a quick stop in Talca to go to the wine country and then back to Santiago. Below is the link to the pictures from January:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2364757&id=907196&l=968e4
For those keeping track, I am clearly behind on updates, I returned from Patagonia nearly 3 weeks and have now been in Peru for a while. Will write more soon!
besos!
Lauren
Friday, January 23, 2009
somewhere between Chile and Argentina....
I have lots of updating to do!!!
We left off in El Chalten, known for the Fitz Roy mountain. Lindsey and I had enough hiking, so we decided to do an excursion to the biggest glacier in Patagonia near Fitz Roy. It was a 5 hour hike to/from the glacier (there is always a little hiking involved). We put these things on our boots called "crampons" (yes, that sounds an awful lot like.... ) and got to walk on the glacier and climb up a section of it too. It was very cool, and very exhausting. 10 hours of hiking is a lot!
Anyway, we stayed in the smallest room ever in the hostel in this little town. The room was so small and it had 2 bunk beds. At this point, Lindsey and I were still traveling with our other friends, Sean and Katie. So S and K are on the top bunks, Lindsey and I are on the bottom. First, the bunk beds are so close together that Lindsey and I are practically spooning. Secondly, the bunk beds were meant for kids so there wasn't much space between the top and the bottom. We had to catch and early bus out of there, so when Lindsey and I were not spooning, she would wake up in the middle of the night thinking we slept late and hit me asking me what time it was. I, of course, would panic, sit up, and hit my head on the bed above me. Sean, above me, was easily amused by these mishaps. I got him back later, read further down.
With all the backpackers in South America during the height of the season, you have to plan fast. As soon as you get to a town, you need to book your bus to the next town before it sells out. As soon as we got to El Chalten we discovered you couldn't get to the next town, Los Antiguos for another 5 days. Well, that's too long to be in Chalten, so we took a round about route to get to Los Antiguos. At 6:30 am on January 14th, we took a 5 hour dirty road path to Piedra Buena, Argentina. PB is a very small town. It's not on any maps that we have seen, not even in their own tourist information office, and you can't wiki it either. It basically doesn't exist. So we have 12 hours to kill in PB before our 12 hour overnight bus to Los Antiguos. While we only spent 12 hours in PB, I do feel the need to write a bit about it. As I said, it was a small town, but it was also very strange. Here are the top 10 reasons why Piedra Buena is a strange town (there are actually 20, but I will give the highlights):
10. There was a park with fake flowers.
9. The park also had fake grass.
8. The park had these weird sculptures that were like those cut outs you stick your face into and take a picture, but the the holes in the sculptures were in weird places, like the armpit.
7. No one was there, but it was really big.
6. Nothing is open except the bus terminal which is open till 2am.
5. It would hail, then rain, there would be some sun, then hail again.
4. There were garbage cans that had painted fish on the sides.
3. The fish garbage cans were every 10 meters, yet there were no people around to need that many garbage cans.
2. The sidewalks were painted blue, white, and yellow.
And the number 1 reason why Piedra Buena, Argentina is strange: we went to another park that was a little island about a 15 minute walk away, and the benches in the park faced a hill. On the other side of the very small island was a beautiful river. Why didn't the benches face the river instead?
So then the night of 1/14, we took an overnight, but very comfortable bus to Los Antiguos. We arrived in Los Antiguos, Argentina, and quickly crossed the border to Chile Chico, obviously in Chile, obviously a small town with nothing to do. Hung out there for a bit, and then the afternoon of the 15th, we took a 3 hour, very bumpy ferry to a town to take a 2 hour curvy nauseating bus ride to Coyhaique. Stayed in Coyhaique for the night and then early on the morning of the 16th, we took what would be the worst, 12 hour, all dirty road, not an overnight bus ride to Futaleufu arriving at 8 pm on 1/16. That summarizes what was roughly 4 days straight of travel. If we aren't doing 9 hour hikes, we are sitting in a bus for hours and hours!
And then the fun continues.... Futaleufu, also known as Futa, is a town that people from all over the world visit just for the river. Seriously, kayakers and rafting experts flock to this place. It's the only thing to do here. The Rio Futaleufu is an absolutely gorgeous light blue river with many Class V rapids. And we did it (with a guide, no doubt). Let's take a moment to talk about the rafting. The rafting was really, really fun. At times scary, but our guides were incredible, and we had 2 guys in 2 other boats as safety precautions. We paddled hard, we saw fantastic scenery, and I saved Sean's life. What could make for a better day? How did I save Sean's life? Sean didn't hook his foot into the boat as well as he should have and as we were finishing a rapid, he fell out. I will allow Lindsey to paint a picture for you, she tells the story better. Just for reference, K and S are sitting shotgun. I am behind Katie, Lindsey is behind Sean. There are 2 guides who are behind us.
Lauren: Lindsey, can you please explain to my friends and family that read my blog what happened?
Lindsey: Sure! Katie and Sean were up in the front. Wonderful people though quite the inexperienced rafters. At the end of a pretty intense rapid, appropriately named 'the terminator,' Sean loses his manly grip and proceeds to do what seemed to be a cartwhere out of the raft. Panic? Maybe? Depends what your name is. Katie, the love of Sean's life, sat and stared. ha! I was sitting right behind our beloved sri lankan friend and was therefore, the closest person to him. In my mind I had a great plan to save him, though my actions were not so valient. I tugged at his lifesuit - not so helpful. No problem though, because immediately someone threw me out of the way, launched himself to the other end of the raft and pulled sean in to the boat and on top of him in one fell swoop. For sure it was Cristian, our chilean guide, who skillfully rescued our friend. Nope. It was Lauren Sherwin, New York socialite turned tree-hugging, glacier-trekking, granola-eating champion. Like she'd been doing it for years, she yanked Sean out of the raft, leaving all spectators in shock and leaving Sean indebted and embarassed for life. On this day, I gained a new found respect for my travel pal. Makes me tear up and die laughing every time I think of it.
Lauren: And when I pulled Sean back into the raft, what did you do?
Lindsey: I nearly peed in my rented wetsuit.
Lauren: Muchas gracias, Lindsey.
Ok. So now I will always hold this over Sean's head. In 10 years, I will email Sean and ask him for a favor, and remind him about that time 10 years ago when I saved his life.
After our rafting excursion, we had a super delicious dinner and I ate muscles the size of a golf ball. It was Katie's birthday and the last night the 4 of us, the 2 happy couples, would be together so we danced and ate and had a fabulous time.
January 18th, we took a 15 min. bus ride back to the border of Argentina, and then another 2 hour bus ride to Esquel and then another 2 hour bus ride to El Bolson, this hippy town just south of Bariloche. We went up to a lake to relax and walk around a bit and had dinner with an interesting (but cute) Portugese dentist that sort of followed us from Futa.
We really liked El Bolson, but stayed in by far, the worst hostel EVER. Hospedaje Piltri, the gateway to hell. First, the first and second floor was separated by planks and that's about it. The room lacked windows, the showers lacked curtains, the beds lacked comfort, and the señora lacked a soul. With all due respect, she did have one talent, chain smoking for 12 hours in a room without ventilation. In the morning, we told her we had a bus at 2:30, could she hold our bags until 2 so we didn't have to carry them? Of course, no problem. We return to the hostel at 2, and she isn't there. We called her cell phone, she didn't pick up. We asked her neighbors, we tried to see if we could break in. Finally, the dirty hag shows up at 2:23, and we ask her why she wasn't here. Her response was absurd so Lindsey punched her in the face and stormed out. (NOTE = she actually punched her in the dream she had the following night.) Lindsey runs to the station to see if she can catch the bus, and threw two 50 pound bags on my body, one of the back, one on the front. She runs, I painfully walk. Luckily, the bus was late, and we got the hell out of El Bolson.
Now we are in Bariloche, our last stop in Argentina, where the beer flows like wine and the chocolate shops are more plentiful than the jews in new york city. Don't worry, the bitch didn't follow us and now we're in great hostel with great people and no bitch..yes! Bariloche is awesome and requires its own blog entry. Will update soon!
besos y abrazos,
Lauren
We left off in El Chalten, known for the Fitz Roy mountain. Lindsey and I had enough hiking, so we decided to do an excursion to the biggest glacier in Patagonia near Fitz Roy. It was a 5 hour hike to/from the glacier (there is always a little hiking involved). We put these things on our boots called "crampons" (yes, that sounds an awful lot like.... ) and got to walk on the glacier and climb up a section of it too. It was very cool, and very exhausting. 10 hours of hiking is a lot!
Anyway, we stayed in the smallest room ever in the hostel in this little town. The room was so small and it had 2 bunk beds. At this point, Lindsey and I were still traveling with our other friends, Sean and Katie. So S and K are on the top bunks, Lindsey and I are on the bottom. First, the bunk beds are so close together that Lindsey and I are practically spooning. Secondly, the bunk beds were meant for kids so there wasn't much space between the top and the bottom. We had to catch and early bus out of there, so when Lindsey and I were not spooning, she would wake up in the middle of the night thinking we slept late and hit me asking me what time it was. I, of course, would panic, sit up, and hit my head on the bed above me. Sean, above me, was easily amused by these mishaps. I got him back later, read further down.
With all the backpackers in South America during the height of the season, you have to plan fast. As soon as you get to a town, you need to book your bus to the next town before it sells out. As soon as we got to El Chalten we discovered you couldn't get to the next town, Los Antiguos for another 5 days. Well, that's too long to be in Chalten, so we took a round about route to get to Los Antiguos. At 6:30 am on January 14th, we took a 5 hour dirty road path to Piedra Buena, Argentina. PB is a very small town. It's not on any maps that we have seen, not even in their own tourist information office, and you can't wiki it either. It basically doesn't exist. So we have 12 hours to kill in PB before our 12 hour overnight bus to Los Antiguos. While we only spent 12 hours in PB, I do feel the need to write a bit about it. As I said, it was a small town, but it was also very strange. Here are the top 10 reasons why Piedra Buena is a strange town (there are actually 20, but I will give the highlights):
10. There was a park with fake flowers.
9. The park also had fake grass.
8. The park had these weird sculptures that were like those cut outs you stick your face into and take a picture, but the the holes in the sculptures were in weird places, like the armpit.
7. No one was there, but it was really big.
6. Nothing is open except the bus terminal which is open till 2am.
5. It would hail, then rain, there would be some sun, then hail again.
4. There were garbage cans that had painted fish on the sides.
3. The fish garbage cans were every 10 meters, yet there were no people around to need that many garbage cans.
2. The sidewalks were painted blue, white, and yellow.
And the number 1 reason why Piedra Buena, Argentina is strange: we went to another park that was a little island about a 15 minute walk away, and the benches in the park faced a hill. On the other side of the very small island was a beautiful river. Why didn't the benches face the river instead?
So then the night of 1/14, we took an overnight, but very comfortable bus to Los Antiguos. We arrived in Los Antiguos, Argentina, and quickly crossed the border to Chile Chico, obviously in Chile, obviously a small town with nothing to do. Hung out there for a bit, and then the afternoon of the 15th, we took a 3 hour, very bumpy ferry to a town to take a 2 hour curvy nauseating bus ride to Coyhaique. Stayed in Coyhaique for the night and then early on the morning of the 16th, we took what would be the worst, 12 hour, all dirty road, not an overnight bus ride to Futaleufu arriving at 8 pm on 1/16. That summarizes what was roughly 4 days straight of travel. If we aren't doing 9 hour hikes, we are sitting in a bus for hours and hours!
And then the fun continues.... Futaleufu, also known as Futa, is a town that people from all over the world visit just for the river. Seriously, kayakers and rafting experts flock to this place. It's the only thing to do here. The Rio Futaleufu is an absolutely gorgeous light blue river with many Class V rapids. And we did it (with a guide, no doubt). Let's take a moment to talk about the rafting. The rafting was really, really fun. At times scary, but our guides were incredible, and we had 2 guys in 2 other boats as safety precautions. We paddled hard, we saw fantastic scenery, and I saved Sean's life. What could make for a better day? How did I save Sean's life? Sean didn't hook his foot into the boat as well as he should have and as we were finishing a rapid, he fell out. I will allow Lindsey to paint a picture for you, she tells the story better. Just for reference, K and S are sitting shotgun. I am behind Katie, Lindsey is behind Sean. There are 2 guides who are behind us.
Lauren: Lindsey, can you please explain to my friends and family that read my blog what happened?
Lindsey: Sure! Katie and Sean were up in the front. Wonderful people though quite the inexperienced rafters. At the end of a pretty intense rapid, appropriately named 'the terminator,' Sean loses his manly grip and proceeds to do what seemed to be a cartwhere out of the raft. Panic? Maybe? Depends what your name is. Katie, the love of Sean's life, sat and stared. ha! I was sitting right behind our beloved sri lankan friend and was therefore, the closest person to him. In my mind I had a great plan to save him, though my actions were not so valient. I tugged at his lifesuit - not so helpful. No problem though, because immediately someone threw me out of the way, launched himself to the other end of the raft and pulled sean in to the boat and on top of him in one fell swoop. For sure it was Cristian, our chilean guide, who skillfully rescued our friend. Nope. It was Lauren Sherwin, New York socialite turned tree-hugging, glacier-trekking, granola-eating champion. Like she'd been doing it for years, she yanked Sean out of the raft, leaving all spectators in shock and leaving Sean indebted and embarassed for life. On this day, I gained a new found respect for my travel pal. Makes me tear up and die laughing every time I think of it.
Lauren: And when I pulled Sean back into the raft, what did you do?
Lindsey: I nearly peed in my rented wetsuit.
Lauren: Muchas gracias, Lindsey.
Ok. So now I will always hold this over Sean's head. In 10 years, I will email Sean and ask him for a favor, and remind him about that time 10 years ago when I saved his life.
After our rafting excursion, we had a super delicious dinner and I ate muscles the size of a golf ball. It was Katie's birthday and the last night the 4 of us, the 2 happy couples, would be together so we danced and ate and had a fabulous time.
January 18th, we took a 15 min. bus ride back to the border of Argentina, and then another 2 hour bus ride to Esquel and then another 2 hour bus ride to El Bolson, this hippy town just south of Bariloche. We went up to a lake to relax and walk around a bit and had dinner with an interesting (but cute) Portugese dentist that sort of followed us from Futa.
We really liked El Bolson, but stayed in by far, the worst hostel EVER. Hospedaje Piltri, the gateway to hell. First, the first and second floor was separated by planks and that's about it. The room lacked windows, the showers lacked curtains, the beds lacked comfort, and the señora lacked a soul. With all due respect, she did have one talent, chain smoking for 12 hours in a room without ventilation. In the morning, we told her we had a bus at 2:30, could she hold our bags until 2 so we didn't have to carry them? Of course, no problem. We return to the hostel at 2, and she isn't there. We called her cell phone, she didn't pick up. We asked her neighbors, we tried to see if we could break in. Finally, the dirty hag shows up at 2:23, and we ask her why she wasn't here. Her response was absurd so Lindsey punched her in the face and stormed out. (NOTE = she actually punched her in the dream she had the following night.) Lindsey runs to the station to see if she can catch the bus, and threw two 50 pound bags on my body, one of the back, one on the front. She runs, I painfully walk. Luckily, the bus was late, and we got the hell out of El Bolson.
Now we are in Bariloche, our last stop in Argentina, where the beer flows like wine and the chocolate shops are more plentiful than the jews in new york city. Don't worry, the bitch didn't follow us and now we're in great hostel with great people and no bitch..yes! Bariloche is awesome and requires its own blog entry. Will update soon!
besos y abrazos,
Lauren
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