ah yes, i love strikes.
no, wait, i don't. unless we're talking bowling.
as i have mentioned before, our main transportation here is the combi (or micro) system. we find our that most of the combi workers have gone on strike because they want the fines the police charge them to be less.
um..yeah..that makes sense..."we did something illegal but we don't want to pay for it!"
also the government tried to mandate that the combis could not be more than 25 years old. which made everyone very angry evidently.
so because of this, we took a taxi home from school (and felt very carrie bradshaw about it).
yay peru.
besos y abrazos
6.30.2009
6.29.2009
one month
I am absolutely baffled as to where the time has gone.
In exactly one month from today I will be leaving South America to return to the USA!
To all of you back in White Bear and Madison, get ready for ridiculous amounts of...
Besos y Abrazos!
In exactly one month from today I will be leaving South America to return to the USA!
To all of you back in White Bear and Madison, get ready for ridiculous amounts of...
Besos y Abrazos!
6.25.2009
arequipa post II
A few photos from the Arequipa trip:
Church in Arequipa: Estilo Barroco Criollo
Andean Condors! (9 ft wing span. Like to eat donkeys. Good.)
Colca Canyon: Largest canyon in the world
Hiking day 1: 20 miles.
Aaaand getting lost for the second time. This time on the way to Cabanaconde Plaza.
Baby Lamb in Chivay! Ahhhhhhhh!
Ancient Inca terrazas. Holy. Amazing.
The whole group with our guide, Omar
4,900 meters. Insert inability to breathe here.6.24.2009
pase mula, pase!
Arequipa, ya te extraño.
Ash, Katie, Jake, our friend Jennasen and I loved our mini-trip...
We got in town around 5 am Friday, and after relaxing a bit at our fantastic hostel wandered to the Plaza de Armas where we laughed at the menu at the restaurant we ate at. The attempted English translations were great, such as:
Palta Rellena a la Jardinera (Veggie filled Avocado)= "Padded Avocado do to the Gardener"
Bistek de Alpaca (Alpaca steak)= "Bistek of German nikel"
After wandering through countless agencies, we finally found a place to book our Colca Canyon tour, and spent the rest of the day on a city tour, going to lookout points to see the unbelievable mountains and volcanoes surrounding the town.
The next morning we woke up bright and happy early at 3:30 am to bus out to Colca. After stopping to see the famous Andean Condors, our group was dropped off in the middle of the mountains to start our trek down the canyon.
(Let me add that right before they dropped us off the guides were talking amongst themselves about an Israeli girl that was lost in the canyon...whose body was just found a month ago. Oh god.)
TREK DAY 1:
3 hours down: hot, but full of singing songs to our guide Omar.
1 hour up: lunch was waiting for us, as well as more much needed water.
Get lost take 1: Omar hadn't taken this trail in a while, which led to us accidently coming upon private property, which led us to get chased by a group of terrifying dogs, which led us to have to backtrack and hike even more, which led to it getting darker than we planned.
2 1/2 hours of flat, up, up, up, down, up, up, up: My calves hate me.
1/2 hour of down in the dark: Will I trip and fall off the mountain edge? Who knows!
Arrive at "Oasis": Since we got there when it was dark..and since there was no electricity...we could not see anything, but I'm sure it was pretty! Omar tells us we just walked about 30-35k (20ish miles). Hmm..that would explain why my legs feel funny...After a much needed dinner and lemongrass tea we hudlded in our bamboo thatched bungalow and prepared to get up at 4:30 am to hike up the canyon.
TREK DAY 2:
4:30 am: Shouldn't we be leaving?
6:00 am: Omar comes pounding on our door...informing us he slept through his alarm. Oops.
6:30 am: We start our trek up the largest canyon in the world, which let me tell you, when you are climbing out of it, you can sure as hell tell it is such. Gah.
3/4 way up: Jennasen and I are out of water, walking slowly upwards in the sun, blisters getting bigger and better with each step!
Last 1/4 way up: We get to ride mules the rest of the way! YES! My mule, Luisa (Haha Lou, there's a mule in Peru named after you), decided she didn't want to go up anymore, and when her owner wasn't paying attention she made a break for it and whipped around on the tiny path trying to go down, not caring about the little gringa girl that had nothing but a small wedge to hold on to for dear life as she dangled over the canyon. Benito, the owner got her back in line and profusely apologized to me. "Disculpame senorita! AY! Disculpame! AY! Mula! Mula! Pase!"
The end of the hike since we made it to the top? : No. Omar waits for Jake to make it up, and tells us that the bus is just a 10 minute walk away. Hahaha. Right. Well, after walking for a while, we come to a fork in the road. With no one in sight to ask, we chose the path that looked the most worn. 5 minutes later, another fork in the road. Hm. We get passed by a herd of sheep and realize we are lost. After hiking through the fields towards some houses we ask men where the plaza is. The point across all the fields to the opposite end of the city. Awesome.
The end of the hike since we made it to the plaza?: YES! 10 minutes later we left Cabacabonde, finally getting something to eat!
After stopping to see the hot springs in Chivay, ancient Incan terrazas and at the highest point in the area to further increase my already raging altitude sickness, we returned to Arequipa.
A few things I must say about this trip:
1. If I had to settle down in Peru, I would absolutely live in Arequipa. The city and the mountains were unbelievably gorgeous, despite the freezing nights and the nearby active volcano...Also, the town is full of ruggedly-good-looking-muscular tour guides.
2. Colca Canyon is a hike I would suggest for anyone who is in kick-ass shape, has no problems with altitude, isn't currently sick, and has had a good night sleep before. (note:I was none of the above when I went)
3. I will post pictures of all of this in a post soon to come!
But now we are back in Lima, getting ready for class presentations and our first final next week, along with 3 huge final papers and 2 more final exams the next week. If any of you feel like sending me some luck, raspberries, or spicy tofu from muramoto, please do.
Besos y Abrazos
Ash, Katie, Jake, our friend Jennasen and I loved our mini-trip...
We got in town around 5 am Friday, and after relaxing a bit at our fantastic hostel wandered to the Plaza de Armas where we laughed at the menu at the restaurant we ate at. The attempted English translations were great, such as:
Palta Rellena a la Jardinera (Veggie filled Avocado)= "Padded Avocado do to the Gardener"
Bistek de Alpaca (Alpaca steak)= "Bistek of German nikel"
After wandering through countless agencies, we finally found a place to book our Colca Canyon tour, and spent the rest of the day on a city tour, going to lookout points to see the unbelievable mountains and volcanoes surrounding the town.
The next morning we woke up bright and happy early at 3:30 am to bus out to Colca. After stopping to see the famous Andean Condors, our group was dropped off in the middle of the mountains to start our trek down the canyon.
(Let me add that right before they dropped us off the guides were talking amongst themselves about an Israeli girl that was lost in the canyon...whose body was just found a month ago. Oh god.)
TREK DAY 1:
3 hours down: hot, but full of singing songs to our guide Omar.
1 hour up: lunch was waiting for us, as well as more much needed water.
Get lost take 1: Omar hadn't taken this trail in a while, which led to us accidently coming upon private property, which led us to get chased by a group of terrifying dogs, which led us to have to backtrack and hike even more, which led to it getting darker than we planned.
2 1/2 hours of flat, up, up, up, down, up, up, up: My calves hate me.
1/2 hour of down in the dark: Will I trip and fall off the mountain edge? Who knows!
Arrive at "Oasis": Since we got there when it was dark..and since there was no electricity...we could not see anything, but I'm sure it was pretty! Omar tells us we just walked about 30-35k (20ish miles). Hmm..that would explain why my legs feel funny...After a much needed dinner and lemongrass tea we hudlded in our bamboo thatched bungalow and prepared to get up at 4:30 am to hike up the canyon.
TREK DAY 2:
4:30 am: Shouldn't we be leaving?
6:00 am: Omar comes pounding on our door...informing us he slept through his alarm. Oops.
6:30 am: We start our trek up the largest canyon in the world, which let me tell you, when you are climbing out of it, you can sure as hell tell it is such. Gah.
3/4 way up: Jennasen and I are out of water, walking slowly upwards in the sun, blisters getting bigger and better with each step!
Last 1/4 way up: We get to ride mules the rest of the way! YES! My mule, Luisa (Haha Lou, there's a mule in Peru named after you), decided she didn't want to go up anymore, and when her owner wasn't paying attention she made a break for it and whipped around on the tiny path trying to go down, not caring about the little gringa girl that had nothing but a small wedge to hold on to for dear life as she dangled over the canyon. Benito, the owner got her back in line and profusely apologized to me. "Disculpame senorita! AY! Disculpame! AY! Mula! Mula! Pase!"
The end of the hike since we made it to the top? : No. Omar waits for Jake to make it up, and tells us that the bus is just a 10 minute walk away. Hahaha. Right. Well, after walking for a while, we come to a fork in the road. With no one in sight to ask, we chose the path that looked the most worn. 5 minutes later, another fork in the road. Hm. We get passed by a herd of sheep and realize we are lost. After hiking through the fields towards some houses we ask men where the plaza is. The point across all the fields to the opposite end of the city. Awesome.
The end of the hike since we made it to the plaza?: YES! 10 minutes later we left Cabacabonde, finally getting something to eat!
After stopping to see the hot springs in Chivay, ancient Incan terrazas and at the highest point in the area to further increase my already raging altitude sickness, we returned to Arequipa.
A few things I must say about this trip:
1. If I had to settle down in Peru, I would absolutely live in Arequipa. The city and the mountains were unbelievably gorgeous, despite the freezing nights and the nearby active volcano...Also, the town is full of ruggedly-good-looking-muscular tour guides.
2. Colca Canyon is a hike I would suggest for anyone who is in kick-ass shape, has no problems with altitude, isn't currently sick, and has had a good night sleep before. (note:I was none of the above when I went)
3. I will post pictures of all of this in a post soon to come!
But now we are back in Lima, getting ready for class presentations and our first final next week, along with 3 huge final papers and 2 more final exams the next week. If any of you feel like sending me some luck, raspberries, or spicy tofu from muramoto, please do.
Besos y Abrazos
6.18.2009
gettin' out of lima.
In case you haven't heard me mention (okay, complain) about Lima weather, it's grey here.
And cold.
And foggy.
I miss the sun. Truly.
So Ash, Katie, Jake and I are headed to Arequipa wayyyy down south at 3:45 am this Friday. It's going to be ridiculously cold there since it is in the mountains, but at least there will be sunshine!
Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, with almost 1,000,000 people and is surrounded by three gigantic volacanoes.
We will be busing to Colca Canyon (which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon) to go on a tough 2 day hike. The first day is straight downhill, then we'll be staying in the canyon (brrrr) overnight, and the second day is a treacherous hike back up. The canyon is known for being home to the Andean Condors, and also has natural hot springs which we hope to hit up during our stay in Chivay! I have been warned about altitude sickness, and we all know how well my trek in Huaraz went, so wish me luck...
On a completely unrelated-to-peru-note: We found out my sister will be having a baby girl in November! If you know Ann and Brooks, send your congrats!
Hope you all have a happy summer weekend, and Happy Father's Day on Sunday, mainly to the best father on the face of the planet (mine, of course).
Besos y Abrazos
And cold.
And foggy.
I miss the sun. Truly.
So Ash, Katie, Jake and I are headed to Arequipa wayyyy down south at 3:45 am this Friday. It's going to be ridiculously cold there since it is in the mountains, but at least there will be sunshine!
Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, with almost 1,000,000 people and is surrounded by three gigantic volacanoes.
We will be busing to Colca Canyon (which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon) to go on a tough 2 day hike. The first day is straight downhill, then we'll be staying in the canyon (brrrr) overnight, and the second day is a treacherous hike back up. The canyon is known for being home to the Andean Condors, and also has natural hot springs which we hope to hit up during our stay in Chivay! I have been warned about altitude sickness, and we all know how well my trek in Huaraz went, so wish me luck...
On a completely unrelated-to-peru-note: We found out my sister will be having a baby girl in November! If you know Ann and Brooks, send your congrats!
Hope you all have a happy summer weekend, and Happy Father's Day on Sunday, mainly to the best father on the face of the planet (mine, of course).
Besos y Abrazos
6.11.2009
soapbox
I know just as well as anyone else how easy it is when you are living comfortably in the U.S. to forget about looking into what's going on in other places of the world. Sure, we hear and talk about the shocking, big story events like the Swine Flu (excuse me, H1N1), and the terrible AirFrance tragedy, but how often do we really take the time to find out what is going on elsewhere? If it isn't put directly into our lap by CNN or told to us at the water cooler at work, when do we take the time to find out what's up? There have been many sad deaths due to both political unrest and poverty here in Peru recently, and I am guessing most of you haven't heard much about them.
Please take a minute or two out of your day to look at these links attatched about two stories currently in the news here.
1. Puno. Puno is a city in the south of Peru, where temperatures get very cold in the winter, and because of the extreme poverty, every year there are many deaths. Recently over 150 children died across Peru, (35 of them in Puno) all because of a combination of lack of proper food, clothing and heating. See here: http://www.peruviantimes.com/puno-regional-president-accused-of-negligence-in-child-deaths-from-cold/
2. Protests over the Amazon. This is currently a VERY heated topic here. Current President Alan Garcia had made a plan to open parts of the rainforest to foreign investment (AKA mining, drilling for oil). As you can imagine this has sparked extreme anger from not only the indigenous people living in the area, but people all over Peru. HUGE protests, road blocking, and numerous deaths have occured in the North. Sympathy protests are now occuring in Lima, Cuzco, Arequipa nd other areas. Today a bunch of kids from my school went to participate in the protest in Lima. I didn't go, as I was scared because if U.S. citizens get caught protesting in anti-govt events they can be jailed and HELD! GAH! Glad I didn't go, my roommate Jenna went and got tear gased. Bah. Check out this story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/groundreport/up-to-250-indigenous-peru_b_214517.html
Money and clothes are now being given to help out the people in Puno and other areas, but there is a lot of anger about the government not taking precautionary steps earlier in the year.
As for the Amazon issue, this is something I forsee going on for a while. Stay tuned.
Besos y Abrazos
Please take a minute or two out of your day to look at these links attatched about two stories currently in the news here.
1. Puno. Puno is a city in the south of Peru, where temperatures get very cold in the winter, and because of the extreme poverty, every year there are many deaths. Recently over 150 children died across Peru, (35 of them in Puno) all because of a combination of lack of proper food, clothing and heating. See here: http://www.peruviantimes.com/puno-regional-president-accused-of-negligence-in-child-deaths-from-cold/
2. Protests over the Amazon. This is currently a VERY heated topic here. Current President Alan Garcia had made a plan to open parts of the rainforest to foreign investment (AKA mining, drilling for oil). As you can imagine this has sparked extreme anger from not only the indigenous people living in the area, but people all over Peru. HUGE protests, road blocking, and numerous deaths have occured in the North. Sympathy protests are now occuring in Lima, Cuzco, Arequipa nd other areas. Today a bunch of kids from my school went to participate in the protest in Lima. I didn't go, as I was scared because if U.S. citizens get caught protesting in anti-govt events they can be jailed and HELD! GAH! Glad I didn't go, my roommate Jenna went and got tear gased. Bah. Check out this story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/groundreport/up-to-250-indigenous-peru_b_214517.html
Money and clothes are now being given to help out the people in Puno and other areas, but there is a lot of anger about the government not taking precautionary steps earlier in the year.
As for the Amazon issue, this is something I forsee going on for a while. Stay tuned.
Besos y Abrazos
6.09.2009
for anno
To please my lovely sisters, here are some updates:
1. I survived my first oral presentation in class...and let me tell you,
everyone looked positively riveted. Did I say riveted? Shoot. Riveted can't be used as a synonym for "baffled by my terrible accent in Spanish" can it? No? Oh. Well then.
2. I had the pleasure of changing Ash's hair color so she would appear less gringa-ish. Didn't work, but at least she looks cute ---------------------------->
3. Turns out winter here
actually is quite chilly. Now, nothing like WI or MN winters, since there isn't any snow...or even rain...but since it is so humid here it's like walking through a cold heavy foggy mist all day. (yay!) To combat this gloomy atmosphere (and to keep my toes from getting stepped on the Micro rides) I bought new shoes. (Louisa, I know you'll approve)
4. A guy that lived in this house in 2006 is here to visit until the 3rd of July, so we have another roommate! Jake is a high school Spanish teacher from Indiana, and the family is obsessed with him.
5. We celebrated Senor Dante's 70th birthday! I walked into the party, said "feliz cumple!"---his response? "Quieres whisky?" Oh sir, you know me all too well.
Senora Esther, Cynthia (in black), Natalia & Danny holding their son Alessandro behind their daughter Luciana, Senor Dante holding Camila next to her parents Mariana & Jorge, with their other 2 children Mauricio and Marianita.
1. I survived my first oral presentation in class...and let me tell you,
everyone looked positively riveted. Did I say riveted? Shoot. Riveted can't be used as a synonym for "baffled by my terrible accent in Spanish" can it? No? Oh. Well then.2. I had the pleasure of changing Ash's hair color so she would appear less gringa-ish. Didn't work, but at least she looks cute ---------------------------->
3. Turns out winter here
actually is quite chilly. Now, nothing like WI or MN winters, since there isn't any snow...or even rain...but since it is so humid here it's like walking through a cold heavy foggy mist all day. (yay!) To combat this gloomy atmosphere (and to keep my toes from getting stepped on the Micro rides) I bought new shoes. (Louisa, I know you'll approve)4. A guy that lived in this house in 2006 is here to visit until the 3rd of July, so we have another roommate! Jake is a high school Spanish teacher from Indiana, and the family is obsessed with him.
5. We celebrated Senor Dante's 70th birthday! I walked into the party, said "feliz cumple!"---his response? "Quieres whisky?" Oh sir, you know me all too well.
Senora Esther, Cynthia (in black), Natalia & Danny holding their son Alessandro behind their daughter Luciana, Senor Dante holding Camila next to her parents Mariana & Jorge, with their other 2 children Mauricio and Marianita.
Hope summer is treating you all well, enjoy the sun for me!
Besos y Abrazos
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