Iquitos, Peru

I made it to the jungle! Iquitos is only accessible by boat or air, so it is pretty isolated up there in northern Peru, but it was amazing. Iquitos is a little town, right on the Amazon River. The main industry I think is now lumber, but it used to be rubber. It was hot, humid, and just completely different than any other place I have seen.

I arrived on Tuesday afternoon and stayed at this place called Mad Mick's. It was basically a room with 8 beds in the back of this guys trading post. It was simple, cheap and perfect, and Mike, the guy who owned it, was pretty funny. I walked around and decided to try and book a tour or something for the local area. I went to this agency that was owned by some gringos and they said since it was just me, they didn't have any individual tours but they could call this kid that was fluent in English. Jino, the kid, showed up, he was about 19, seemed nice enough, so we decided to meet they next day at 8:30.

He came and got me and we walked to the local area of town known as Belen, where they market was CRAZY! You could buy anything, turtles, crocidiles, eggs of all kinds of animals, and the fish were so fresh, they were still breathing. Next to the market is the floating city, which they call the Venice of the South... but that is a little of an overstatement... just because its floating... but whatever, it was really cool.

View of Belen

Hearts of Palm!!! Fresh!!

Turtles

Belen

More Belen

The sidewalk in Belen

After Belen, we went to a little village nearby to check it out and have a bite to eat, which, I had to pay for. The kid was nice and all, but what a freaking rip off! I paid for freaking everything and then had to pay him an obscene amount for a kid... I dont even want to admit how much he "charged" me. I feel like a schmuck. Anyway, lunch was fish that was the best fish I have ever had. The fish was called Maparati and it was served with green plantains that were grilled, mashed and mixed in delicious oil called Tacacho. It was so good, I had the same thing for lunch the next day.

Best fish ever

After lunch, we went to this park that you could swim in a lake and see some animals. We relaxed, swam, and then headed back into town.

The next day I decided to go to this town where they had a butterfly farm. You take a boat about 10 minutes down the river to the town, then walk to the farm. It was a little wet out, so not all the butterflys were out, but it was still amazing. There were all different kinds of really beautiful butterflys and catepillars. They also had some monkeys, a jaguar, a traipu or whatever they are called and an anteater! I saw an anteater!

Butterfly

Before they get pretty

The guy who took this was terrible at

taking pictures, but that thing was so cute!

Anteater!!!

That night I went out with some guys from my hostel, tried to rip it up in Iquitos but the night life isn't all that happening. I woke up at 4:30 the next morning to catch my boat to Colombia. It took about 8 hours and was really pretty. I got to the border and as I was waiting for my departure stamp from Peru, the border control notified me that I had overstayed my Visa in Peru. Excuse me? I had a visa? Apparently, I only had 30 days in Peru, but I stayed 35. I was so afraid that they were going to make me pay an arm and a leg, or go back to Iquitos and extend the visa, but fortunately, they charged me $1 for each day I had overstayed. Whew, they isn't so bad. After I paid, I crossed the river into Colombia into the town of Leticia. I wanted to get out as soon as I got in, but unfortunately I had to wait a few days before there was a flight. I literally cried about that one.

View from boat to Colombia, the Amazon was HUGE

I met some people, we hung out, it wasn't so bad, but I flew out Sunday afternoon for Bogota, which is where I am now. Just trying to plan the rest of Colombia.

I loved Peru. I am going to miss it.

Trujillo, Huanchaco, and Huaraz

Trujillo is a town north of Lima that apparently has the best looking men and women in Peru... I wasn't impressed but maybe they were sleeping. I arrived pretty late into Trujillo and got a room at this little place. The next day I walked around town a little but really wasn't in the mood for being in a town, so I took a cab to the little town of Huanchacho, which is a beach town about 12km outside Trujillo.

In the plaza in Trujillo

Since it was Sunday, the beach was PACKED! I walked around for about an hour but then had to go back to the hostel cause it was so un-enjoyable to walk around. The hostel I stayed in, Naylamp, was amazing. It was right on the water and the staff was so nice, the people staying there were really cool, and the place was so clean. Most people in the hostel had intended to stay a few days but wound up staying for over a week or more. It was one of those places that suck you in. I could have stayed a lot longer, but my time is limited, so I had to move on. While I was there, I took a surf lesson, and I stood up the first day and was like, "yeah, I like surfing, this is good stuff". The next day, however, I took out the surfboard on my own (and when you are starting out, it isn't even a surf board, its more like a raft), and got the crap kicked out of me. The waves were HUGE, and when I did catch one and tried to stand up, I immediately fell backwards and did about three summersaults under water. It was scary but the worst part was trying to paddle back. You would use all your might to paddle about a food and then a huge wave would come and knock you off your board again and you would be back at square one. It was awful. I lasted an hour before I huffed it back to shore and called it quits. I will have to try again one day. But that was enough for the time being.

The local boats

Nacho, me and Pierre

Naylamp Hostel

Sunset

I was planning on going up north to Mancora for some more beach time, but I thought to myself, ya know, I will have a ton of beach time in SE Asia, lets go to the mountains some more. Huaraz is known for the local trekking, especially the Santa Cruz trek. I wanted to do this trek for a while but its the rainy season so I wasn't sure if I should. But I decided to come here and see what it was all about. We arrived in Huaraz early Wednesday morning (by we I mean myself and Pierre who I met in Huanchacho). I looked around and found a trek leaving the next morning so I signed up. That night, I got a call saying the trip would have to be postponed until Friday because another person on the trip was sick. Whatever, no big deal. So the next morning, Pierre, myself and a couple from Spain do a morning trek up to a lagoon. It was miserable. Everything was wet, you couldn't see anything cause of clouds, and it was cold. After doing that trek, I was like hmmm, maybe I don't want to do this for 4 days on the Santa Cruz trek. So we got back to town and Pierre and I went to the office where we had signed up to do the trek and said we didn't really want to go anymore, because of timing and weather. The guy at the office, stupid Keke tours (don't use them!), said that we could either pay $60 to not go or $90 to go. I was like what the hell kind of fucked up logic is that. If I spoke more spanish I would have been all over him, but he claimed that he had paid for everything already, which is BULLSHIT, cause thats not how things work here. I am not stupid, but I couldn't figure out how to argue myself out of it, so I decided to suck it up and go. Now imagine hiking and sleeping rain for 3 days, and paying $90 to do it. Well, thats what I did, and I was bitter the whole time, so it wasn't my favorite trek of the trip, but it wasn't SO bad.

Huaraz main center

Day hike where we couldn't see anything

On the Santa Cruz hike

Not the best conditions, wet feet for 3 days

The trail... snow

Punta Union Pass, it was actually pretty, but would have

been nicer if it were sunny!

The last day was pretty nice, but still wet

The valley

The group

I did it!

The trek was supposed to be 4 days, but we shortened it to 3 cause we didn't feel like walking in the rain anymore. Today I bought a ticket to go to Iquitos, which is the jungle of Peru. I take an overnight bus to Lima tonight and then a flight out tomorrow afternoon. Screw Lima, haha. So I only have a little time left in Peru, which is weird cause I really like this country. I will be sad to leave, but ahead is Colombia which I am very excited about!

Sandboarding in Huacachina, Peru. Amazing

I left Arequipa and went up to Ica, which has nothing really to offer except for the town next door known as Huacachina. This part of Peru is all sand dunes. I had heard people mention this place before and that it was pretty cool, but I have never seen anything like this. Huacachina was a small town plopped right in between these massive dunes... I don't understand why there isn't sand in every crevice of everything there. Anyway, I got to my hostel, Casa de Arena, which my book said I should probably skip because the staff is a little "shifty" and women get harassed, but I figured to give it a go anyway and I didn't have any problems at all, in fact, the staff doesn't even really talk to you. It was nice, has a big pool and bar, but there really isn't anything to do in town but sit around the pool and go sandboarding.

The Hostel

The dunes!

People getting ready to board

One of the smaller beginner runs

So for sandboarding, the pick you up in a buggy thing, there are about 8 people in it, and take you out into the dunes. We got lucky and had Alfredo as our driver who is an absolut maniac! We went so fast and literally flew off so many dunes, that my sunglasses flew right off my face. It was amazing and so much fun. I lef the next day because like I said, there really isn't much else to do there.

Went to Lima for 2 nights where this jackass in my room took the pillow off my bed to cuddle with or whatever. They didn't have extras, but since I really couldn't be bothered to start an argument with a tool over a pillow, I just used my little one. Lima was ok. I was scared to go out cause I didn't want to get robbed again, so I only went to the main plaza, without my camera, so I have no pictures. Haha. The hostel, Loki, was ok too. It was a nice enough place, but there were a lot of losers there. It was all backpackers, obviously, who just came to get really fucked up on any drug they could get their hands on and act like morons. So I didn't hang out in Lima long. Now I am at the beach, surf lessons commence tomorrow and then I am not sure. I am having a change of heart on where I ant to go... stay tuned.

Lake Titicaca and Arequipa's Colca Canyon

After Gary left, I went on to Puno, which is southern Peru right on Lake Titicaca. I met a German girl on the bus and we found a room for $4 a night, good stuff. We just relaxed that night because the next morning we left to do a 2 day tour of the Lake Titicaca Islands. There were about 12 people on the tour, Argentina, England, Australia, Germany, Colombia and the States, it was a big group, but everyone was nice. The first stop was the floating islands of Isla Flotantes, we walked around, went on a little boat ride on the local boats and thats about it. The islands are really cool, cause they are all made of the lake reeds, you walk on them, you sleep on them, the roofs are made of them, its crazy, I just didn't quite understand why people still live like that since they have to rebuild the islands every year or so.

Island

Local little girl on the boat

The Island from the boat

After we left the floating island, we spent three hours on our slow ass motor boat to the next island, Amantani, where we would sleep with a family. When the boat pulls into the dock, there are a bunch of local women and the guide talks to them and sets us, the tourist, up with a local family to sleep for the night. I got placed with my German friend and an older couple from England that smoked like chimneys and not much of the conversationalists. The women who we went home with was probably about 90 and I thought was going to die on the way home. She was wheezing and couldn't speak a lick of spanish, only the local language of Quechua. We got back and she made us lunch of soup, and a main course of cold potatoes, cheese and tomatoes. Not much of a gourmet cook, but that is the snob in me. haha. We walked around the island for the afternoon, which was really pretty, awesome views. That night, the rest of the family came home, and they spoke Spanish, so at least we could talk to them! After dinner they dressed us in the local garb and we went to the main plaza for a ¨party¨, which was basically, all of the gringos on the island dressed up like locals dancing around. It was absolutely hilarious. And their idea of dancing is everyone in a big circle holding hands and sort of skipping in a big circle... it got a little boring after the first three songs, but it was still hilarious.

The lake

Local threads



All the gringos

Our house

I left Puno on Thursday morning for Arequipa because I heard the Colca Canyon was amazing. I wanted to meet someone to do the Canyon with so I didn't have to do it alone, but I didn't meet anyone so I had to join another tour. The canyon is about 5 hours outside of town, so its a little hard to get to, but the tour groups provide transport, meals and huts, so it wasn't a bad deal. I had a good group, a little too big though, 10 people! That's too many to go hiking with. So we got picked up at 3:30am on Friday morning and drove out to canyon area. There we ate ¨lunch¨ and started on the hike. The first day was only three hours of hiking down into the canyon, which was very beautiful, but not my favorite scenery. We stayed in a tiny town with tons of vegetation, there were avocado trees and cactus pears everywhere. We woke up the next morning, hiking up and over to another canyon, for three hours, then stayed at this oasis that was very relaxing! But there were like 4 groups there, so it was just a ton of people hanging out doing nothing. It was nice, but I had finished my book so I was bored out of my mind and we played cards for like 4 hours. The next morning, we woke up at 4:30 and started our hike at 5am to leave the canyon. That also took about 3 hours and then the hike was over. So you could easily do that hike in 2 days, but thats what I get for an organized tour. Whatever, it was nice, nothing special. Not on my ¨must do¨ list by any means.

The Canyon

The Oasis

Big group

Tonight I head out to Ica, which I am a little nervous about since the night buses are not known to be the safest source of transportation, but I forked over the extra money for a higher end bus that will hopefully get me there in one piece.

Machu Picchu!

After we left Uruguay, we arrived in Cusco on January 2, and what an adorable town! Although it is touristy, it is so beautiful and charming, I could have stayed there for weeks. Our first afternoon there, we found a hotel right in one of the central plazas for $25 a night, which is a pretty good deal! We walked around and stumbled upon a little festival where there were a bunch of street food vendors cooking up some local treats. We decided we had a few days to cushion our trek in case we got sick and we saddled up to a women serving "typical plates". This consisted of a piece of dry beef, some sort of sausage, chicken, guinea pig (yes, we ate it... twice. Wouldn't do it again), corn, seaweed, fish eggs, and cheese. And a beer, of course. It was alright, but there were other street meats I enjoyed more.

We walked around some more, went to the office of our Machu Picchu trek and found out that I dont know how to read a calendar and our trek left Sunday and not Monday. Which was fine. We just hung out around Cusco the next day, went to an AMAZING market and ate some more local food. You can get a huge plate of food for $1, and we did, obviously. We left for Machu Picchu on Sunday morning.

Overlookin Cusco

Lady serving up our traditional plate... thats a guinea pig in front

Unfortunately, the day of the trek, I started feeling a little less than fresh, and on the car ride up had to have the driver pull over where I blew chunks on the side of the road. I thought I would be able to walk with the group, but I was so week they drove me to the first camp site where I stayed in my tent the whole day with the chills and a pretty bad fever. The guide told me that if I didn't feel better the next day, which was the hardest and longest day, I could go on horse. The next morning I felt like a new person and didn't need the horse, which was good, cause we had 5 horses but one of them fell off the side of the mountain on the way up so we were down to 4 horses. If you saw those trails you would know, they are narrow and drop off into the steepest valleys I have ever seen... except in Colorado.

From our first Campsite, that was the Salkantay Mountain which our trail was named after

There were 5 of us in the group, with our guide Bandero, which was good, we got lucky with a small group. We hiked through mountains, jungle, towns, waterfalls, everything you can imagine for 4 days until we reached Aquas Calientes which is the town closest to Machu Picchu. On the 5th day, we woke up at 4 am and started the climb to Machu Picchu at 5. It was cloudy and rainy so we didn't get the best pictures, but it was still unbelievable to think that just about 100 years ago, this place was undiscovered and covered in jungle. It was massive and just breathtaking. Highly recommended.

Our Group at 15, 253 ft

Met this woman on the trek, hiked with us for 8 hours... she is 85 years old

Gary looks like the biggest tourist EVER

View of Machu Picchu

Our Machu Picchu shot

We spent about 7 hours at Machu Picchu and then headed back to town, and of course, as soon as we got back it was sunny and beautiful out! We headed back to Cusco that night and did some serious relaxing.

The next day, we walked around again, there is a lot to see in Cusco! We got an hour long full body massage for $6 each, $7 including tip. Can't beat that!

One of my favorite pics, Gary talking to a local kid

On Saturday, we went to the Sacred Valley, which is a series of towns that all have Inca ruins. That was cool too, driving through all the local towns and seeing the landscape. All of which was just breathtaking, I can't say enough about how beautiful this area is.

Sunday was Gary's last day. We ate some delicious breakfast sandwiches for the third day in a row, walked around, I cried, he left, and I cried some more. Now I have to get back in the swing of being alone and meeting new people everyday. Which is fine, its what I am here for, but I miss my travel buddy!

Spent the last few days in Lake Titicaca, pictures and stories to come.

Punta del Diablo, Uruguay... and then some

First of all, Happy New Year!!



Good thing we rented a car because we basically drove the entire Uruguayan coast. From Punta del Este, we drove up to Punta del Diablo, which I mentioned, was amazing. We spent two nights there but could have stayed a week. Its a small town, with just a few bars and restaurants, right on the beach. Only sand roads, surfers everywhere, hippies, and just a really laid back atmosphere. Our first night there we stayed at a little place right on the water. Our balcony opened up to the ocean... we wanted to stay two nights but they didn't have availability :(

Gary on the "Main road"

Downtown

View from one of the places we stayed.

So Happy!

On December 30th, we drove down to Atlantida, which is a town in between Montevideo and Punta del Este. We made a pit stop in Punta del Este to see some of Gary's friends at Bikini Beach, which was awesome! Tons of people hanging out with a DJ on the beach. Too bad I had a little stomach bug and had to lay on a blanket like beached whale while everyone else danced and drank. We got to our hotel in Atlantida pretty late and laid down to rest for a minute, and the next thing we knew it was 2am, so we just stayed put and had a deserved relaxing evening Atlantida was cute, we hung out on the beach on New Years Eve and since I was feeling better, we made a last minute decision to party like rock stars in Punta del Este. We met up with Gary's friends from Chicago, some girls I had met in Buenos Aires and celebrated the new year in style.

We slept for about 3 hours, and headed back to Montevideo to return the car and catch our ferry back to Buenos Aires. We were 12km from the car return when we broke down. We had to wait an hour to get help and then had to book it in time to catch our bus to the ferry. But we made it.

Punta del Este Beach

Dinner New Years Eve

Celebrating with the Ozzie ladies

That night we met up with a guy that Gary had met when he backpacked around the world, so they hadn't seen eachother in 12 years and the guy tracked Gary down on Facebook, turns out he lives in BA, so we met up for dinner, it was really cool, plus he had some good pics of Gary.

Really terrible fires from the New Years fire works

Stupid car

We arrived in Cusco today and are still recovering from our whirlwind last few days!