¿Dónde está Alyssa?

Breaking up...isn't so hard to do

alyssa_schwartz — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:25:00 GMT

As you may have noticed I've been ignoring this blog. I've found that I've been increasingly losing interest in updating this site. The time has come to break up with worldnomads. I would like to say it's been there for me in good times and bad but I can't honestly make that statement. So instead of posting lengthy, wordy blogs I'm going to move on to a photo-blog. Who needs words when you can just view photos? It seems to work for all the Japanese students. But then again, that could largely be due to the language barrier....

Anyway, from here on out look for me in the flickr world.

Ja ne!

Uso-mitai!

alyssa_schwartz — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 09:21:00 GMT

This is too good to be true....I'm living on a tropical island in southern Japan, eating cheap fresh sashimi and being greeted by the cutest, friendliest Japanese children as I stroll the street. I don't think life gets much better than this.

After a quick orientation in Tokyo I said a sad goodbye to my new JET friends and flew to Kagoshima, the most southern prefecture of Kyushu. I met my co-workers, went shopping for household goods and moved all my belongings into my new house. I've spent the last 48 hours trying to stand in front of my air-con and shooing gigantic spiders (slightly smaller than the size of my hand)out through my windows.

Minamitane is quite small and easy to walk around but beyond the town center it's a long walk anywhere. Luckily, this is where my new friends come in. I'm pretty fortunate in that there are already a few other gaijins living in the area. Jonathan, the other JET in my town, has been living here for almost 4 years so he knows everything and everyone. We met up at Everyone (the 24 hr convenient shop) and sat in the cool air-conditioned store until his friends Pete and Chie arrived. Pete is also from England (like Jonathan) though they met here on Tanegashima. Pete and his wife moved out here from England in March. I can't recall what kind of business he runs but they moved here for the tropical weather. Plus, Pete likes to surf...so this is the place to be.

My tour guides drove me around to show me a few of the local beaches and countryside. After only a few minutes of driving through the inaka (countryside) I began to fall in love with the island. Just look at the few photos I was able to take from the last hour we spent driving around the southern coast. In addition to seeing some beautiful spots I've already been offered surf lessons from Pete and Chie has offered Japanese lessons. I think I will get along just fine in Tanegashima.

Tomorrow is my first day at work. I hope I can remember my Japanese introductions so that I don't slur my sentences together like I did when I met a few co-workers on Friday. Also, my bowing technique isn't quite there yet...I seem to do a slow head nod and forget about the rest of my body. Well, I have plenty of time to work on it.

Until next time...Mata ne!

The Adventure Ends

alyssa_schwartz — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 21:21:00 GMT

Well, it's officially over...I am back in southern California, sitting on my king-sized bed, freshly showered (without wearing flip flops for the first time in 3 months!) and unpacking the contents from my overstuffed backpack into my old dresser. It feels a bit surreal yet comforting to be home.

The last week in Buenos Aires flew by. We decided to go out in style and dished out a few extra dollars each day on having our OWN room, complete with our private bathroom and....a TV! Having such amenities at our fingertips that we didn't have to share with others was definitely the right way to end our 3 month stint in Latin America. What I mean by that is we were comfortable... very, very comfortable. Our days were spent mostly at the shops in various BA neighborhoods and usually we'd waste away the afternoon in a cafe sucking down our respective caffeinated beverages to keep ourselves awake and warm.

We drank mate, very strong coffees and ate sweet delicious alfajores. We checked out the diverse and colorful suburbs of Buenos Aires that each offer a unique insight into the history of this very European South American city. Though I'd say the highlights of the week were the futbol game and tango show. Despite the cold we sat in the San Lorenzo stadium and cheered on River Plate against Velez. We won 3-2. Despite my general lack of enthusiasm for anything involving running on a field to kick a ball around I really enjoyed the game. However I was more enthralled with the constant cheering and rivalry amongst the fans than the teams themselves. The audience was far more interesting to watch as they made obscene gestures to the opposing team's fans and cheered like mad when either team scored a goal. I've never heard anything like the roaring chants of futbol fanatics before in my life. I hope to go again someday.

Our tango show came along with a free lesson and a fantastic three course dinner. For $60 Trishy and I attempted to learn the first few tango steps and dance with each other; learning both the male and female parts. This only made us even more confused trying to switch off but we managed to not bump into too many other beginners also trying to lead each other around the dance floor. It was a good laugh and showed us the difficulty (and seriousness) of the tango. After our lesson we gorged ourselves on the wine, pasta, fish and brownie dessert. Then the lights dimmed and we were thoroughly entertained for about 90 minutes of tango dancing and singing. Half way through the show one of the male dancers yanked me up to dance with him. All the dancers jumped off the stage to pull up an unsuspecting tourist for a few minutes. As we edged towards the stage I had a fleeting thought he was going to make me dance with him on a stage in front of the entire crowd. Luckily he didn't make me tango and we never stepped foot on the stage. The rest of the show only involved the professionals and I think it's fair to say the entire audience, including myself, was thoroughly entertained.

The flights home were long and tedious as one would expect from a 16 hour journey. But it didn't matter that I only had 30 minutes of sleep when I stepped out of the airport to feel the heat of Los Angeles and see my mom pull up to the curb. I breathed in the smog filled air and knew I could finally relax....I was home.

I do apologize for this tardy blog. I have been home for a few days but have been far too exhausted to finish the blog once and for all. But keep your eyes posted over the next few days as I plan to put quite a few photos up.

Although I'm sad that the trip has come to an end I'm happy to be back in California so I can catch up with most of you. Despite the negative experiences Trish and I had on the trip I definitely want to return on a follow-up trip. Perhaps in a year or so I'll return for 'Latin America Adventure-- Part II.' I will let you know when the planning begins so I can hopefully convince a few of you to join me.

Thank you for keeping my blog company with your comments and emails along the way. They have all been very much appreciated. I've missed you all and can't wait to catch up in person/over the phone (for those that are on the other side of the country).

Oh and one last thing-- I have a cell phone again (with the same 415 number!) so please re-program me back into your phones if you previously deleted me. =) I will be calling you very soon. But for now I think I'll just crawl under the sheets in this glorious king-sized bed for one final siesta....

The Countdown Begins

alyssa_schwartz — Thu, 7 Jun 2007 11:01:00 GMT

That´s right, we´re looking at just 13 days left of this Latin America Adventure before both Trishy and I get on our respective flights out of South America back to our home countries. By this point I think we are both ready and our minds are definitely not here anymore. I know this comes across sounding like we are homesick but it´s far from that---we are fed up with ROBBERIES.

Just when we were beginning to feel safe again (thank you Chile) we have run into some bad luck once again. This time the robbery took place inside our hostel, inside the lockers where our valuables were supposedly locked away safely. No such luck. However, I will say that the ¨Martin¨ character that checked into our room posing as a backpacker did not have any luck opening my locker. So we are still in possession of one camera. Now my camera is the sole photographic proof we will have of the last few weeks of our journey. Unfortunately Trish´s and our new American friend Meagan´s lockers were opened. Cash, an mp3 player and Trish´s brand new camera are gone.

First of all, we are staying in a very lovely hostel in Mendoza, Argentina. Despite recent events we are staying here since it´s fantastically organized, clean and has the best showers we´ve seen in a good month or so. Anyway...after an unplanned, yet very enjoyable week in Chile we crossed the snowy Andes at last. We arrived in Mendoza yesterday evening and spent today exploring the city while the rest of the residents were on their afternoon siesta. The day was going well and we had stopped by the hostel to drop some things off to then head to the supermarket (We can´t go out at 10pm like the rest of Argentina for dinner so we prepare our meals in the hostel). During this pit stop we met our new dorm-mate Martin, an Argentine businessman in town for a few days. Seemed like a fairly friendly yet odd guy so we thought nothing of it when we left minutes later. Upon our return that all changed. I noticed my backpack was unzipped a bit more than how I left it and suddenly my key was unable to open my locker. Plus I hadn´t noticed the key scuff marks before that were next to the lock....it all seemed suspicious but I thought it must have been old marks. The guy at the reception desk called the locksmith to open it. All my valuables were inside so I needed access...That´s when Meagan and Trish opened their lockers to discover our new roommate had gone through all their bags and removed the items he wanted. He must have had difficulty with the final locker (mine) or had to run quickly since he didn´t finish the job.

We are completely fed up now with theft. Trishy is understandably ready for the trip to end since this is her third robbery on this trip. It seems that no matter where we put our belongings (physically on us or locked away in a room) thieves find a way to get to them. But in one last attempt to salvage what is left of our collective belongings we have decided not to stay in any more dorm rooms. For the last week in Buenos Aires we are going to get a private room. It´s the only thing I can think of at this point to make us feel the slightest bit of safety.

However, I´m still hopeful that the rest of our time in Mendoza and Buenos Aires will be pleasant. We have a wine tour tomorrow, horseback riding on Sunday and then a week to relax and shop in Buenos Aires. I might even make a quick hop, skip and a jump over to Uruguay if there´s time. Apparently there´s a good day trip to Montevideo, Uruguay since it´s not too far from BA. I wouldn´t mind stopping by Uruguay for a day!

Alright, it´s time to log out.. make my bread & cheese sandwich and complete it with our first Argentine wine we purchased tonight. I think the 3 of us will especially enjoy it now.

Thwarted!

alyssa_schwartz — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 06:08:00 GMT

It´s official: we are STUCK in Chile. We attempted to leave San Pedro today and sat on a still bus for 3 hours, hoping the highway would open. Apparently there has been heavy snow in the Andes so the pass we need to drive through to get to Salta, Argentina is closed.

Since they don't know if the road will be open tomorrow we are changing plans. We are going to just go south from here (in Chile) since we can´t get to Argentina.

So now we have a 16 hour overnight bus to a colonial beach town, La Serena. Ah the many surprises you encounter while traveling. However now we might have time to squeeze in a 3am observatory tour to stare at the stars...if the weather permits it.

Cross your fingers for us that the highway is clear when we try to pass from Santiago into Argentina...we may have the same trouble again if things don't clear up. We don't quite understand why it´s so difficult to get ourselves to Argentina. So we are just going to enjoy the time we have in Chile. There´s no way out as of right now.

Stuck in the Chilean desert

alyssa_schwartz — Thu, 31 May 2007 00:23:00 GMT

I suppose there are worse things than being stuck in San Pedro de Atacama. The sun is shining, the food and coffee is quite good and it feels familiar, almost like a mini Santa Fe, New Mexico. But when you have four days to kill and not much to do it feels slightly annoying to be stuck in a tiny town when en route to Argentina. Oh well...

Trishy and I arrived in northern Chile midday Sunday and thought we would have a day to relax and soak up the sun after three freezing days in the Bolivian desert. However when we tried to buy bus tickets for Salta on Tuesday we found ourselves out of luck---Tuesday was sold out, we would have to wait until the next bus on Friday. So we are now officially on holiday. We are sleeping in late (or trying to), eating out, drinking wine, taking slow walks through town and lounging in hammocks. Now that sounds like a holiday, doesn't it?

I am quite happy to be out of Bolivia since I spent most of the time sick with fever, freezing and then, well...you know about the experience in La Paz. However it's not to say the entire time in Bolivia was horrible. After leaving La Paz we spent two cold days in Oruro where we were able to buy new cameras. We jumped on a train for a 7 hour dusty, chilly ride to Uyuni. Uyuni is a little itsy bitsy town that tourists go to as a starting point to arrange tours into the salt flats. Luckily we didn't have to spend more than 2 nights in the extremely cold Uyuni before joining a 3-day jeep journey through Salar de Uyuni.

Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat at over 4,000 square miles. In the southwest corner of Bolivia the land stretches to north Chile. The minerals in the salar make up the most amazing colors; mountains and volcanoes made of red, yellow, green, blue, white, etc. There are a few islands on the salt flats, the most impressive being Isla de Pescado (yes, it is in the shape of a fish) comprised of thousands of cacti. Quite a sight to see nothing but salt flats and then a sea of cactus. The salt flats also have rocks protruding from the flat landscape forming the most interesting shapes. At times it felt like we had just stepped into a Salvador Dali painting. The six of us tried to take photos to show the lack of perspective on the extremely white, salt flats but we didn't have the patience to get the shots just right. However I think a few turned out okay. One picture appears as if Trishy is standing in the palm of my hand and another shows Trishy holding our jeep in her hand. I'm quite happy to have a camera again to be able to take advantage of moments like that.

In addition to the incredible landscape we saw numerous animals living in the dry, harsh cold of the salar. Throughout the three days we came upon flamingos, vicuñas, foxes, rare rabbits, and other birds. I'm amazed that animals can live in the barren salt flats at below freezing temperatures. I barely held up for three days in the salt flats. Plus, I've never seen flamingos in the wild before so I was excited to stand in the wind and watch them drink from the red pools of Laguna Colorado.

Three of us departed the salt flats on the third day to say farewell to the moon-like landscape and return to civilization. Ahhh, Chile...running hot water, real coffee and warm temperatures! As soon as we crossed the border we were on a paved highway and driving down 1,500 meters to San Pedro. We stripped off the extra layers when we got into town and practically danced in the sun. After losing the feeling in my hands and feet for three straight days I was incredibly relieved to feel the heat. None of us were sure how cold it got while we were out in the salt flats but we know it was below freezing since bottles of water in the jeep were solid ice in the morning. Brrr...Just thinking about it now brings a chill back to my hands.

Tomorrow we have a nine hour bus ride to Salta. I don't look forward to the ride but I can't wait to get to Argentina. We have just over three weeks left now to make our way through northern Argentina to Buenos Aires. We plan to horseback ride in the north, drink wine in the central region and then end with a few days in the European atmosphere of Buenos Aires. Anyone have recommendations for Buenos Aires? We are hoping to spend about a week there so send over the suggestions if you have any.

I'm off to have a café cortado now. Ciao!

No Peace in La Paz

alyssa_schwartz — Mon, 21 May 2007 05:20:00 GMT

Well I promised I would write about everything, so it wouldn´t be true to form if I didn´t create an entry about the past few days in La Paz.

However, let´s first go to happier times, 4 days ago...

Trishy and I left stinky, dirty Puno, Peru on an easy bus journey to Copacabana, Bolivia. Copa is a sweet little town just on the shores of Lake Titicaca. A fantastic jumping point for visiting Isla del Sol(which we did) where creation and the sun began, according to Inca legend. Copa is mellow, albeit freezing cold at almost 4km above sea level, and we had a great 2 days there. However I came down with a raging fever which I´m convinced is due to piling on the clothing at night and then waking in a sweat. The contrast of cold and hot was too great and it caught up to me. Needless to say it was an agonizing bus ride to La Paz when all I could think of was lying in bed, preferably a non-saggy one. Finally after 4 shivering hours my wish was granted. Though the bed at the hostel wasn´t as non-saggy as I had hoped. Oh well, it did the job. Trishy explored the neighborhood briefly while I spent the entire day in bed. She kindly brought bread and cheese back to the room so I wouldn´t go hungry. She´s a fantastic nurse.

Miraculously I felt 100% better when I woke up on Sunday so I was ready to explore La Paz. Everyone had been raving about the cheap shopping and worthwhile museums so we were looking forward to the day. First on the agenda was the incredible Museo de Coca, all about the history of the coca leaf and how the Western world (specifically the U.S.) has completely destroyed the image of the leaf due to the popularity/creation of cocaine. It´s quite heartbreaking how many farmers have lost their livelihood due to the ineffective ¨War on Drugs.¨ The coca leaf is not a drug! But this isn´t really new information for any of us....

After the museum we did a little shopping but mostly scoped out what we wanted to purchase in days to come when we´d return with a little more cash in our pockets. Our lovely Sunday came to a shattering end in the mid-afternoon when we were walking back to the hostel to drop off some things. A mere two blocks away from our hostel, on our street, we were robbed by four powerful men. We tried to struggle and scream but before we could do much of anything our money and things were taken. I stupidly brought my backpack with me so they snatched the entire thing. Luckily we don´t carry our passports, credit cards or much money on us so the most valuable possession they got were our cameras. Oh, and my cellular phone. What irks me most is that I had two memory cards in my bag since I was looking to burn my photos on to a disc so all my photos from the last month in Ecuador and Peru are gone. Not to toot my own horn too much but I think I took some amazing pictures of the wildlife on the Galapagos and impressive Inca stonework at Machu Picchu. However, we have plenty of friends that can send us their photos of our trips so it´s not entirely a lost cause.

After the men dashed away a very nice Bolivian couple came to our aid and walked with us to the police station. There we tried to mime and interpret ¨We´ve just been robbed, we want a police report.¨ However instead the mime act was intrepreted as, ¨Let´s return to the crime scene and go over every detail.¨ We hopped in the back of a police van and led the way to the entryway of the university where the robbery took place. The police officer was very kind and even grabbbed a university employee to ask if anyone was around at the time. Oddly enough there was someone just on the other side of the door, but they couldn´t see or hear us. After wandering around the university grounds for some time, getting nowhere, we returned to the station. We were motioned over a few different times by a few different officers until finally we watched an officer create an entire account of what happened on his computer. I asked for a copy of the report yet he said we´d have to return on Tuesday to get the certificate. Um, no....we want this certificate now. No can do, he said more or less in Spanish. We had to come back on Tuesday or at best Monday afternoon. We left aggravated and annoyed that La Paz didn´t have more on-duty police officers on Sunday to take care of the report then and there. I suppose criminals take note of the advantage of robbing folks on a Sunday since there aren´t as many officers in the streets like the rest of the week. Now we know better as well.

We had a restless night´s sleep and were determined to go to the tourist police in the morning. We figured they would be more helpful than the local police. So that´s just what we did....we braved the city streets and watched our backs as we headed over to the tourist office to finish the police report once and for all. Fortunately (or rather unfortunately) the tourist police is quite accustomed to dealing with these cases so we were able to convey everything in English and walk away with fully detailed reports in less than 30 minutes. Now I can hopefully see a refund for some of the possessions stolen. Glad I got that travel insurance after all.

We lost our desire to go shopping but had a hot breakfast and purchased a few things to replace the lost items. Now we hope to hole ourselves up in the hostel for the rest of our time in La Paz. We will be on the first tourist bus out of here in the morning. I can´t wait to get out of La Paz, but I´m not letting our experience ruin Bolivia entirely. Mostly everyone we met said such fantastic things about this country so I´m going to give it one more shot to prove itself to us.

I´m still recovering from this bug that won´t seem to leave me alone. I think my body has decided to check out early. Perhaps my body is telling me it´s had enough of traveling. But we´re pushing on....4 1/2 more weeks to go. We´re hopeful (and perhaps a tad stubborn) that Chile and Argentina won't disappoint.

Hope all of you that read this had a far better weekend than we had. Ciao!

Breathless and blistered for Machu Picchu

alyssa_schwartz — Tue, 15 May 2007 01:00:00 GMT

I can't believe that in the last 4 days I trekked 32 kms hiking through the magnificent Peruvian Andes. I trekked through a pass at an elevation over 12,000 ft, camped at freezing temperatures and felt all wonderful types of altitude sickness... all for Machu Picchu. I was breathless at times, nauseous, experienced dizziness and serious stomach issues (which I won't go into detail so not to disgust you all). Apparently I am still very much so affected by high altitudes. Was it worth it you ask? Hell, yes. I would do it all over again in a second. My stomach is still recovering and I have open blisters on my toes but watching sunrise at Machu Picchu made it all worthwhile.

But let me back track to a week ago....

Trishy and I finally made it into Peru after a very laborous few days spent on buses, which I am still cringing from. We spent our first few Peruvian days in the northern city of Chiclayo exploring the ruin sites of Lord Sipán and the amazing museum where the genuine artifacts are stored. We then flew to Lima for an afternoon. Had our first true Western meal at a Pizza Hut and watched paragliders sail in the sky over the foggy coast of Miraflores. We woke at the crack of dawn the following day to fly to Cusco, the tourism mecca of Peru. In flight we met two awesome girls sitting next to Trishy that we have spent the last week traveling with. After landing in Cusco I could immediately feel the lack of oxygen at 9,000 some odd feet above sea level. When I grabbed my bag I felt slightly dizzy and told Trishy that I hoped the feeling would pass, otherwise there would be no trek to Machu Picchu for me. Fortunately after a few days of doing mostly nothing other than sipping coca tea (it is perfectly legal here) and watching tourists and locals alike walk through the attractive cobble stone streets of Cusco I was up for the trek. Yay!

The four of us (since now we were joined by our two new friends Regula and Becky) met up with our trek group bright and early on Friday morning. We took a 5:45 am bus to Pisac to have breakfast looking over the gateway to the Sacred Valley. Our Lares Trek group was reasonably small at only 8 people. I was happy not to have the usual 16 or so trekkers like the Inca Trail groups. The first day of trekking was generally easy and flat. The Totora Canyon was absolutely beautiful and I am just amazed that I didn't trip over my own two feet as I took photos while trying to walk. Day One took us through farmed terraces, stunning mountain ranges and green valleys. We soaked our legs at the Lares hot springs before finishing the last three hours hike to our camping site. As we continued on...and up the weather turned quite chilly and misty. Soon we couldn't see much but we could hear llamas and Peruvian farmers every now and then. Our first camping spot was in a traditional Andean community called Huacahuasi. We couldn't see it until the next morning but we assumed it was pretty (and it was). Our amazing crew from SAS Travel had coca tea waiting for us almost immediately. We had an early night as it was freezing and we were exhausted. I think we turned in around 8:00. It was so cold that all any of us could think about was bundling up and jumping into our down sleeping bags for -10 degree weather.

Day Two we awoke around 7:00am by the SAS team greeting us again with hot coca tea and boiled water for washing. It was refreshing and fortunately the morning was warming up so we were prepared to take off the additional sweaters, gloves and thermal pants. I awoke feeling quite nauseous but still managed to shove some food down my throat. I figured I needed some fuel to keep me going through the day's hike. After breakfast and visiting a local home we began the trudge uphill. I thought I was going to vomit...but luckily I did not and made it up the valley without spewing breakfast all over the beautiful trail. Our guide gave me something for the nausea and by the time we made it through the valley I was beginning to feel somewhat better. However my appetite never fully returned until we finished the trek and came down 2,500 feet in altitude. The rest of the day's trek was much easier after we climbed up through the Ipsaycocha pass (12,500 feet or so). The last 4 hours were all down hill and through fantastic tranquil mountain lakes and snow-capped peaks. Our second camping site was much warmer than the first night, even though we were at the same altitude. Again we had plenty of hot coca tea in the evening and refreshing rum with hot apple juice to warm our bones. Just the right combination to put 8 tired trekkers straight to bed.

Our third day was entirely down hill walking along a road passing local farmers tending their potato crops, llamas and alpacas. We stopped at a local market and tried some horribly sour local drink, gave away pens, paper and sweets to the children and enjoyed the sunshine. Half way through our 5 hour walk my toes started to hurt and I realized I should have left on my dirty muddy socks from the past two days as the new ones were giving me blisters. I carried on and finally took off my shoes just before lunch in Ollantaytambo to discover my toes were just about to start bleeding. I tried to forget my aching feet as I gazed down the adorable narrow cobble-stoned streets of Ollantaytambo and up at the Inca fortress above. We enjoyed a tasty lunch and then boarded the train for a fantastic scenic journey to Aguas Calientes.

On arrival to Aguas Calientes we were hit by the swarms of market vendors, restaurants, internet cafes, hotels, etc. Two days of barely seeing a single other soul except the people that live high in the Andes made Aguas Calientes feel like a bustling city. However it is far from it. Aguas Calientes is a village nestled in the deep valley below Machu Picchu, a mere 8 km away. The town is beautifully enclosed by towering walls of stone and cloud forest. In other words, it was damn cute. A few of us soaked our aching bodies once more at the hot springs here to reward ourselves for completing the 3 day hike. Once more it was an early night, but this time in a bed with four walls surrounding us. We had to be up by 4:00am the following day to catch the first bus up to Machu Picchu. I had no problem pulling myself out of bed at that hour for MP. Our group had a quick breakfast and then walked the block to the station and waited with what felt like the entire town to catch the first bus up. We boarded the fourth bus and wound up through Andean mountains that teased us in their similarity to Machu Picchu. The sun was slowly creeping up so we had to hurry to make it in time for sunrise. Once at Machu Picchu we still had to climb up a good 15 minutes of zigzagging stairs to watch the sun rise over the terraces of the Inca site. This is where you get some of the best views of MP and get a visual fix of the whole site and take the classic photo. Seriously though, I think all my photos look like postcards for Machu Picchu. But I guess everyone who has been to MP can say the same.

After sunrise around 7:15 we had a three hour tour to learn about the stunning site. For as well known as MP is, it is still very much so a mysterious place. Machu Picchu was never mentioned in any documentation so everything that is known about the site is based on archaelogical and educated guesswork. Since there wasn't any mention of MP in the Spaniards chronicles nobody really knew about Machu Picchu until an American historian, Hiram Bingham, stumbled upon the old city ruins in 1911. Most speculation points to MP being abandoned as the Spanish invasion approached the area. But like I said, this is all educated guesswork so knowledge of the site is still a bit sketchy. Regardless, it is an unbelievably beautiful place that must have served as a ceremonial center for the Inca people. The carefully planned stonework of altars and sacred niches can only mean Machu Picchu was incredibly important to the Incas. There is a reason people come to Peru just for Machu Picchu. For those that are considering a visit, just buy your plane ticket to Lima now. Machu Picchu is reason enough to come to South America. It has definitely earned the #1 spot on my "My Favorite Places in Latin America" list.

So now we are at the end of our brief time in Peru. We left Cusco yesterday and stopped off near Lake Titicaca. We visited the Floating Islands of the Uros people and Lake Taquile today. I finally didn't feel the effects of being at 12,000 feet above sea level (Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world). This is a good thing as we are about to journey into Bolivia--famous for the world's highest everything it seems. The lake is magnificently clear at this altitude and despite the overcommercialization of the Floating Islands I really enjoyed the trip.

Now it's time to turn in my soles for bolivianos. With about five weeks left and three countries to get through we still have a lot to do. It's just enough time to scratch the surface of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina but it will have to do.

Are we in Peru yet?

alyssa_schwartz — Sun, 6 May 2007 09:16:00 GMT

Yes, we are. It took over 24 hours broken up into 3 days but we made it. I would write more but just as I was about to finish a well written entry about my last few days in Ecuador and my first impression of Peru we had a black out. An hour and a half wasted at an internet cafe with nothing to show for it...I will never write an entry again without saving as I go. Shame on me.

We fly to Lima and then Cuzco over the next 2 days since we are boycotting buses for as long as possible. It´s time to start looking for a bargain last minute trip to Machu Picchu and hope we can get on an alternate trail as the Inca Trail is fully booked for the next few months.

Apologies for this crappy blog. I promise to actually write something next time. Hope all is well out there in your corner of the world. Hasta luego!

Galápagos galore

alyssa_schwartz — Tue, 1 May 2007 11:05:00 GMT

Once again, I´m back in Quito. I still feel like I´m on the boat as I sit here typing. I can still feel myself sway from the sea...

Just a few days ago Trishy and I met up with our Intrepid group to embark on our Galapagos adventure. We were all dropped off at the airport by our Quito guide, Sofia. Apparently only residents of the Galapagos are employed as naturalist guides so Sofia was here to collect our money, documents and send us off to the Islands. It was all a bit rushed and crazy but we safely arrived at the Baltra Airport on Santa Cruz Island without much hassle. However things changed once we collected our bags from the luggage area. It seemed every other tour group had a guide professionally displaying the name of their company by wearing a company t-shirt or carrying a sign for their respective groups. We looked for ages for an Intrepid guide and found no one. A strange man in a very bright yellow shirt asked me if I was looking for a last minute tour and I kindly told him I already booked one. Oddly though a few minutes later he was claiming to be our Intrepid leader and rounded up the members of our group. He asked us to sit by the vendor stalls and wait as he looked for two other passengers. He had no documents or ID to prove he was with Intrepid but since no one else had arrived we just went along with it. Then this odd man started telling us we should rent snorkel equipment from him right then and there because he didn´t have any onboard. Hmm...strange. Slowly we all started to realize that this couldn´t be our guide because it was far too shady and disorganized. Luckily we were proven correct minutes later when a more professional man arrived with Intrepid documents. Horray! Saved from the sketchy man! The dodgy man just wandered away without much of a second glance at us.

It took quite a while to journey from the airport to our boat (bus, then ferry, and small minivan) but we finally were aboard the Free Enterprise an hour or so later, putting our bags in our cabins. As soon as we sat down onboard our ¨guide¨ then said he had to go and our other guide would be aboard shortly. At least we were on the right ship! We decided not to worry about the mix up at the airport and just see where the day took us. Within minutes of sitting up on deck we watched blue-footed boobies dive into the sea looking for lunch. They are the most amazing divers! Boobies dive into the water as if they were kamikaze pilots--they are fearless divers. It´s quite the sight.

Our naturalist guide Edwin finally arrived and informed us of our itinerary for the 3 days we had in the Galapagos. The itinerary was exciting. We were going to depart that evening for our first island to see flamingos, reptiles and other birds. I couldn´t wait!! It was a relaxing afternoon spent at the harbor lounging on the deck and adapting to the heat. (It´s been a while since I´ve seen the sun for extended periods of time and this close to the equator it was HOT.)

After a good meal we piled back on to the dingy to go to the highlands of Santa Cruz. We explored a cave and crawled through muddy narrow passages (well, I didn´t have to...one of the many benefits of being short!). Then we walked through a trail to look for the giant tortoises. Giant indeed!! The males weigh about 250 kilos (usually) and can get up to about 4 feet long. We walked by 2 slumbering male tortoises (we were told the females were down by the water) and one that was chowing down on his afternoon snack of what looked like mushed up grass. These giants don´t do very much during the day other than nap. If they are on the move they only travel about 1 km a day. Hey, they are tortoises...they aren´t in any hurry. Edwin informed us that the males we saw were at least 100 years old. The average life expectancy of the Galapagos giant tortoise is 200 years. That´s a nice long life of slow moving days, naps in the shade and a vegetarian diet (they don´t have any teeth). Sounds good to me.

It was a fantastic way to begin our time in the Galapagos. I was most excited to see the tortoises so spotting them straight away was thrilling. I went to bed happy and eager to see what would come next.

Unfortunately when I awoke the next morning and ran out on to the deck with Trishy to snap photos of the Rabida (our next destination) we found ourselves in exactly the same spot. Hey...weren´t we supposed to sail all night long?? Well, yes we were but apparently we didn´t go anywhere. Hmm...we had to wait until after breakfast to hear from Edwin that there was something wrong with the engine so we only got about 4 miles out before turning around again. We had to change our plan since the boat needed to stay at Port Ayora to fix the engine for the morning. Maybe we would leave that afternoon, maybe we wouldn´t. We had to wait and see... Rather than going to see flamingos on Rabida our new plan was to go to Playa de Los Perros (Dog Beach)on Santa Cruz to look for marine iguanas. We weren´t very far along the trail before we spotted a male iguana making his way from the beach to the rocks. Here´s where I have to say something truly incredible about the wildlife in the Galapagos: these animals fear no one. Since they are so removed from the mainland they don´t have any natural predators (only introduced ones that humans brought over to the islands). This meant that almost every animal we came across would stroll behind us, in front of us or cut us off. I´ve never had to wait for a sea lion to wake and move away from a trail before so I could continue on my way. I loved it every time it happened. We continued our walk along the beach and then found ourselves amongst at least 25 marine iguanas. I just found a seat on a rock next to a few and started snapping close up photos. They barely blinked at me.

The rest of the day included snorkeling around the very cold murky bay. I saw nothing and lost both of my earrings. That was a bummer. I just hope the fish don't mistaken my plugs as food and choke on them. I would feel very bad about that. Next on the agenda was a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Center. Here they house giant tortoises that were once kept as domestic pets (all residents had to turn them over once the Galapagos were established as a natural park in the late '50s) and a breeding ground for the different species of tortoises. Once again the tortoises mostly slept though we did catch a few slowly moving across the rocks.

The following day at Bartolome Island was more or less the same: an early morning walk where we spotted more wildlife (sea lions, sally light foot crab, lizards, birds, etc.) and then went snorkeling. The water was a lot clearer so we could see star fish, sharks and a sea lion even swam right past me! We also came upon the Galapagos penguins going for a swim and found others just hanging out on the rocks. We swam up to them and they just sat around squawking at each other.

Today we finished off the trip with a visit to Seymour Island, one of the biggest sea bird breeding colonies in the Galapagos. We saw numerous boobies, frigate birds and the swallow-tailed gulls. We witnessed a booby mating ritual, male frigate bird mating calls (expanding that big red sack on its neck to attract the ladies) and watched boobies feed their chicks. A few land iguanas waited eagerly next to a few booby nests hoping to snatch an egg. I am telling you.. a journey to the Galapagos Islands is like finding yourself suddenly on a Discovery channel documentary. I could easily have spent another week walking around the Islands, snorkeling near the shores to spot penguins, sharing a seat with marine iguanas and jumping out of the way of the Sally Light foot crabs (which I think I took about 50 photos of...I couldn't get over how colorful they were!).

So needless to say I am very sad to have left the Galapagos. We had a nice send off for our last night on the boat complete with cocktails and salsa dancing with the Free Enterprise crew. If I am ever in this corner of the world again I will make every effort to get back over to the Galapagos to see my tortoise friends again.

Now we begin the long journey to Lima, Peru. I think we have about 2 more nights in Ecuador as we stop along the way before we cross into Peru. Cross your fingers for us that we are able to get on a flight directly to Cuzco to avoid a 20 hour bus ride to Lima.