Out of the Canyon

Since the last post, Natalie and I made our way 9 hours north by bus to the small village of Cabanaconde, our jumping off point for a trek into Canyon del Colca--claiming to be the deepest in the world. Not much time to write now, as it is late and the internet cafe is closing, so I´ll be brief.

In short, it was a fantastic four day trek. The day we left Cabanaconde, both were feeling under the weather, so we didn´t press the guy giving us trek information for a challenging route. By the end of the first day, we realized that he sent us on the basic, touristy, three day, 3 hours a day (if we hiked slow) loop. The second day, feeling a bit better and with topo map in hand, we broke free of the guides and tourists and headed for the town of Fure, high up in the canyon, and near the Huarro waterfall. It was two, long, hard, hot days hiking in the sun two and from Fure, but well worth the effort to get off the beaten path. Our last night in the canyon was at the plus resort-y area OASIS, directly below our starting point at the bottom of the canyon. There were 5 different hospidajes in the expansive, lush, greenery, each with there own pool, and place to camp. We hauled ass the 3500ft out of the canyon the fourth morning and made it back to arequipa last night.

Oh yeah, today I got to make a doctors appointment over the phone soley in spanish. Turns out I´ve had infected tonsils for over a week. Yay for antibiotics. Should be ship shape in no time.

Times up!

With love,
Sam and Natalie

PS. Happy Thanksgiving! We thoroughly enjoyed our tuna-rice. Even had leftovers for lunch the next day!

So, I´m sure that most of you who know Sam know that he can get a bit, well, fussy, sometimes when he gets hungry. So, I didn´t want to push it when he said it was time for lunch and opted for a hole in the wall spot in a dodgy Peruvian only part of town. Being the adventurous sort who definitly embrace cultural immersion here, the ¨menu tipica¨was exciting, even if neither of us had any idea what we ordered. I was a little concerned, I´ll admit, by the look the twelve year-old waitress gave me when I ordered Zarza Mixta, but I can´t think of a plate that I have yet absolutely refused to try. When it came, I could not stop smiling, and light tears rolled down my cheeks, but I chose a good, fleshy (as fleshy as possible) veinless bite, chewed, swallowed, and thought with great concern, ¨How on earth am I going to eat this plate?¨ If you could not tell with certainty by looking at the photo, that is indeed a nipple on my fork in the foreground, and that photo was taken after I managed to eat all of the potatoes, carrots, lima beans (and my mama knows how I feel about lima beans), and the great majority of mammary morsels. It was the rubbery, veiny, fat-covered pieces and the nipples that I just couldn´t handle. And Sam tried (barely), but he couldn´t either. It was probably the greatest culinary adventure of my life, but at least I got the ice cream cone that I deserved afterwards.

Quick note about my school experience: while my comfort and range in speaking spanish has widened, I still have a good ways to go. I did have fun with my Dutch friends the first four hours, and an even more rewarding last two hours a day one on one with my teacher. My homestay also fell short of my expectations, but I would not have wanted to pass up the oppertunity to stay with a Peruvian family. Would I have learned, otherwise, that soup is eaten for both lunch and dinner, with an entree present only at lunch?

Sam I are spent an hour this morning sitting in Arequipa´s Plaza de Armas (our bus got into town at seven a.m., so we were a little pressed for things to do so early) making a list of cultural things that we have learned or find entertaining. More will be disclosed in blogs to come but for today I will leave youwith these two: one, a very popular flavor for soda, candy, ice cream and all things sweet is ¨morada.¨ It tastes like purple. Two, is the sign that Sam found on the bus´ bathroom door: ¨Solo urinario. No hace el dos.¨

Tomorrow when the map store opens, we´ll plan our next trek, hopefully into the heights of Arequipa´s neighborring volcanos, or towards the world´s deepest canyon. More to come...

Schoooools out for summer...

I had planned on filling at least some of you in on how language school was going throughout the week, but as it turned out, school took pretty much all our time and definitely all our energy. We finished on Friday and although it was a VERY worthwhile experience, we were BURNT OUT. Luckily, we sorted it out so we DID get to eat lunch (I know you were all worried), but it meant we left for school at 7:30 and didn´t get home until 6:00, including walking 40 minutes each way. While the walk was great to get exercise, it was only one closed garage door and a midlife crises away from...well...there was a LOT of exhaust fumes in the city of Cusco.

Not much interesting details on the school part of things. I learned more grammar in 5 days there than I did in 3 semesters back home. Four out of the six hours per day were spent practicticing talking with my teacher one on one, and although my vocab is still extremely limited, I was able to fumble through such topics as Global Warming, the economic crisis, consumerism, etc. I enjoyed trying to get important, complicated points across while using a very limited vocabulary. It was a humbling experience, but also rewarding. The downside of the week was definitely my homestay. While I was fed well and felt safe where I was housed, there was really no family environment. The mother of the house was gone most of the time and when I did see her, the most she could manage was ¨que tal?¨and ¨como esta?¨repeated ad nauseum, regardless of how many times I answered or made attempts at other conversation. There weren´t any decernable kids that lived there all the time except LEO! who was only around long enough for his mom/grandmother? to scold him. The person I spoke with the most was another student from our school who was from Germany--also a bit anti-social. However, if we had not done the homestays, I´m sure we would have regretted missing out on a potentially great experience.

SOOOO...our next adventure began at lunch on Saturday before heading to Arequipa. For this, I will turn it over to Natalie, who really had the adventure, but all I will say is this:

I am a proud man. At least when it comes to eating anything and everything that is placed in front of me for sustinence. However, on saturday afternoon, I had to bow my head and pass the kudos to my slender travel companion. I just couldn´t handle the ZARZA MIXTA....

Back to school back to school. Isn´t that cool?

My brain is fried. And so is that of my compadre. Today was the first day of spanish classes at the Wiracocha Spanish School is Cusco. Both of us are taking six hours a day and we didn´t realize that we´d signed up for class between 8:30 and 3PM, with no break for lunch. Now I think most of you know both of us well enough to know that we have the metabolisms of 14 year-old boys and may not function well/get crabby when we "get low". Besides bleeding profusly from sampling my own fingers in an attempt to attain sustinence, the day went well. I didn´t sign up for a one-on-one course, but apparently I fall into some special category (that is, I´ve had some spanish but can´t remember shit). Making my point long as my brain is failing, 6 hours was a long time to be one on one with a teacher, speaking and writing only spanish. Natalie is in a class with A COUPLE (it makes a difference, she says) from Holland. And it is good (esta bien).

We spent the weekend in Pisaq, a nearby town that is mostly 0verrun by a tourist market on the weekends (or maybe everyday?) Oh, and yes, there are also expansive ruins of an Incan citadel commanding the mountains above. Will post pictures later. Must find food and leave this building. ¡Adios amigos and familia! Sam and Nat

Market Fun

Despite the overwhelming bustle of returning to city life, our first day in Cusco turned out to be mucho fun and successful! Contrary to previous groceriy shopping experiences in Lima or Nazca, shpping at San Pedro Market in Cusco was a blast! Our final bounty is pictured last in our photos, and includes a tasty grain powder of some sort that is to be mixed with our choice brand of canned milk. Maybe- not entirely sure if it is supposed to be a beverage or a cereal, but we´ll like it either way. Even more delicious, and probably the highlight of the market trip, was the mango con leche drink that an older woman made for us while we sat on stools in front of her counter (which was just like innumerable other counters all around her). She even gave us each refills. The market itself consisted of rows and rows of cheeses, vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, animals- dead and alive, textiles, trinkets, toys, conveinence items, and on and on and on. We tried to do a walk around before buying, but it was hard with so much goodness everywhere! Unbelieveably, we forgot to return to the chocolate stand.

We met with our language school administrators, and got everything worked out to begin our homestays with a Peruvian family on Sunday. School starts on Monday. Both very excited!

Our First Andean Adventure

Hmmm....where to begin....it hasn´t even been a week since our last post from Nazca, but so much has happened that it seems much longer. Right now my typing fingers find themselves at a keyboard in bustling Cuzco (Cusco). Our through-the-night bus ride to Abancay last Friday went smoothly. Almost immediately after disembarking the bus in the morning and attempting to find transportation another 1.5 hours down the road to the small mountain town of Cachora, we realized that simply staying on the bus would have gotten us nearly there. Instead, we had to hire a taxi (the driver agreed to Natalie´s 30 soles ($10) barter, but after passing us off on another driver, claimed we had agreed to 80 soles! After a somewhat tense conversation between the two drivers, Natalie, and myself, we finally agreed to 65, as it was a long drive. It ended up being well worth the money, as the driver was very friendly and engaged both Natalie and I in Spanish coversation the entire 1.5 hour drive. Until then, I had merely had brief conversations with people in spanish, so this was surprisingly exhausting. He also took time to ask directions in Cachora and drop us off a little ways out of town, right at the trailhead.

The first day of the trek took us through patchwork farmland, skirting the rim of Apurimac canyon, passing peruvian men ranging from drunk guides with confetti in their hair to toothless smiling caballeros, wanting to shake hands and pass along the simple word Obama! (sometimes complete with thumbs up). Finally dropping 5000 ft down to the roaring muddy river, we made camp just before dark.

Day 2: Natalie and Sam find out just how unprepared they were for hiking at high elevation, combined with heavy packs, 5000 vertical feet, 85 degree heat in the shade, and trails made for mules to carry the load--not people. After 8 or 9 hours, 10 liters of water, appx 50-75 switchbacks, one vomit break, and innumerous rest/panting stops, they arrived just below the ruins of Choquequirao for what would be base camp for the next two nights.

Day 3: The Day of Rest. Thank goodness. An hour hike above base camp brought us into a different world, where all of the present inhabitants clearly did not belong. We were the only tourists on site while we were there. Juanni, a friendly interpretive guide (whose services we did not employ because nothing is free, you know) and several peruvian workers doing reconstruction on the site were the only other people there. We wandered through the ancient (actually only about 600 years old) stone structures, with various sized rooms, aquaducts and amazing staircases. Climbing innumerable steps above it all was a large playing field with an amazing veiw. After returning to camp for lunch, we hiked down about 500 meters to a massive terrace system, with, of course, more amazing staircases. The only building there, we later interpreted to be ¨house of the water fall,¨ aptly named for its own lovely veiw of a large waterfall we passed over on yesterday´s trail. Being the people that we are, the challenge for the day was not having enough to do, but we did our best to relax, enjoy sunshine, nature and the grand accomplishments of people who lived in a simpler time.

Day 4: A day of rest did us well, as we were able to make the hike down the canyon in less than half the time it took to get up, and continue onward, up another 2500 feet to our favorite camp of the trip thus far. Just below a farmer´s simple house, we had a small space of grass/ dirt to set up our tent with an incredilbe veiw of the river canyon. We got a beautiful light show as a storm lit up the clouds in the distant mountains above choquequiro, and a small cane hut supplied us with a shower and roof to cook under. Fresh sugar cane from the farmers was a special treat.

Day 5: Hiked out of the canyon, up lots more switchbacks, down a very long road with little shade, and into the town of Cachora. Sam made friends with a thirteen year-old local boy who showed him some of the best fruit pìcking of the town. After a short grocery trip for fresh veggies and eggs, we cooked dinner and slept in a bed, which just happened to be the least comfortable bed ever.

An early rise got us up to the main road by taxi, so we could flag a bus to Cusco. Both a bit overwhelmed by citylife, we´re not entirely sure what will come next. Maybe coffee. Probably.

On to the mountains!

Last night we arrived in Nazca, home to the Nazca lines, which are the mysterious formations in the desert of animals and other designs. Upon arrival, a nice, although insistant woman escorted us to a hostel for a look around. Hesitant at first, we were convinced by the kitchen on the rooftop, complete with thatched covering and view of the city, desert, and surrounding mountains. Off in the distance, we could see the highest sand dune in the world. Sorry Indiana Dunes, you´re off the list.

The terrain between here and the coast (and along the coast) was very surprising. I knew it was a desert, but the only deserts I´ve ever seen are the deserts in the states or Mexico. This made me feel like we were in the middle east--ranging from rolling sand dunes as far as the eye can see, to rocky scab-like terrain which brought places like Afganistan to mind, although I´ve never been. Anyway, very alien environment for both of us. Alien enough, in fact, that we bailed altogether on going to reserve on the coast (more desert and the reason for heading south in the first place) and caught a bus to begin our journey into the mountains.

This morning was spent wandering around Nazca, trying to find food suitable for our upcoming 5 day trek into the ruins of Choquequirau (known as the "other machu picchu"). There was a staggering amount of tiendas selling anything one could ever want...As long as anything you could ever want consisted of white bread, crackers, cookies, shampoo, and soda pop! After a seeming eterity, and numerous frustrated glaces between the two travelers, we finally found una SUPERMERCADO!

Then came trying to find a bus to Abancay, the nearest large town close to where our trek will begin. We thought the ride would be 6 hours, and upon learning its actually 10 hours with the only departure at 4pm, we were faced with arriving in Abancay at 2AM--not considered the safest option. After a lot of shitty spanish exchanged with ticket agents, we caught a cab to the "other" part of town to invesigate the locals´ buses. Anyway, long and rambling story short, our adventure has truly begun and we´ll be leaving Nazca tonight at 10:30PM tonight, putting us in Abancay in the morning.

We´ve learned so much through trial and error the past couple days that it feels like we´ve already been here a week. Hopefully all this wonderful learning will lead to smoother(er) operations in the future. One lesson we spent multiple hours and many failed descriptions learning was that while there is no "white gas" to be found anywhere for our stove--initially a very troubling situation, we can burn unleaded gasoline in it...simply requiring more cleaning. Until learning that liberating fact, it was a pretty depressing feeling to think we may not be able to cook our own food, therefore make it very hard/impossible to access the backcountry.

Adios,
Samuel

Here at last

A long delay in Miami brought two travelers into Lima around two in the morning, tired, but happy (especially with the wonderful election news). We took a nice walk around Miraflores, Lima, which is a colorful neighborhood along the high cliffs overlooking the ocean. The afternoon was spent on a bus to Pisco, with goals of visiting and camping in la reserva nacional de paracas, inhabitted by flamingos and penguins, among other creatures that we should fit in well with.

Photos posted thus far are from the great domestic adventure. We hope to get some fresh ones up soon.

love and hugs, natalie