Rebel with a cause

End of a life trip

guiri74 — Thu, 5 Dec 2013 13:06:00 GMT

So my last day in Cusco I spent just chilling, playing on the internet, last minute shopping and massage pampering :-). Let's just say I am ready to go back to the real world.
So the trip back is for sure going to kill my last brain cells. After getting up at 4.30am for an 8am flight I am told airport is closed due to a storm. So great start to my trip back. Let's just say that Cusco airport doesnt have the best resources to be stuck there for 5h. But I patiently wait and finally leave around 1pm for Lima. Once there I have lost all appetite to go and visit the city. Knowingly well that I have another 11h wait for my next flight.
Lima airport is a little bit more modern and does have a starbucks. Lets just say my bum got very acquinted with a chair there! I did also manage to have a pedicure and foot massage. So at 12.30am finally I boarded my next flight. By now I am starting to feel really tired. So another 7h flight to land in Atlanta where I go through a very smooth inmigration process. I then get into line to board for my next flight to Sakt Lake city. By now I feel like a rollacoster! Its a 4h flight there. Salt lake city is covered in snow but it is a beautiful day with the sun shinning. A small break here, including a mcdonalds makes me get my energy back for my last flight home!
I finally arrive to Portland at 5pm on the 5th of December.
It has been just shy of 6weeks of a holiday. I have visited an arrange of settings from mountain, to beach to jungle. I have been adventurous and I have been cultural. I have been alone and I have met a lot of wonderful people. So let's just say that even though I am happy to be home I would definitely encourage a trip like this to anyone.
The end :-) xxx

Photos: Maras & Moray

guiri74 — Mon, 2 Dec 2013 04:05:00 GMT

Inca sites

Maras & Moray

guiri74 — Mon, 2 Dec 2013 04:04:00 GMT

So the weekend has come and gone. I decided to go and visit a couple more touristic sites before I leave Cusco. I made a trip to Maras & Moray. The first site was a very interesting Inca site. It was what they called an experimental agricultural site. It consisted of stone wall circles at different levels. Apparently it was used by the Incas to adapt plants to different. Temperatures and hights. Each circle had a different ambient temperature and between the bottom circle and the top circle there could be a difference of up to 15c! So it's impressive how intelligent the Inca's where to think of something like that. They were able to adapt crops that grew at lower altitudes thanks to this archeological creation.
The second sight is Moray, a pre-inca salt mine. Impressive to see as it is situated in a canyon, the salt baths are filled from a warm water creek which is coming from underground. Trying the water makes yiu realise indeed how salty that water is. They produced enough salt to export to all of Peru. And mix it with a lot of herbs and spices to add variety.
After the visit I decided to grab a cheap lunch in a local restauran, with no ide to ehat I was eating... And then just chill at the hostel with a book and deciding what I would like to do on my last day in Cusco.

Weekend in Cusco

guiri74 — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 04:02:00 GMT

Saturday after the trip to Machu Pichu. I woke up refreshed after the exhausting trip. My intnetions were to not do much for thr next few days since its my last 5 days and want to make sure I am not exhausted when I land back in PDX.
Of course, things never go as planned...
This weekend has been hectic. I caught up with the Spanish friends I met up to go to Machu Pichu as well as a couple from Argentina who they knew and we spent Saturday eating. I started the day with breakfast followed by an invite to a second breakfast (slice of chocolate cake was had :-)) and then continuing with a lunch of fish fest. Fried fish, Octopus Ceviche, Rice with seafood, strips of raw fish in lemon juice, etc... Lets just say that by 3pm I was about to explode!
Oh, but here comes the best, I have signed up for a Peruvian cooking class at 5.30 to continue with the food trend. Very interesting as we are taken to the Market tp buy our produce for the meal, and then shown how to cook: Pisco Sour, Crema de Choclo, Lomo Salteado followed by a chocolate fondue with fruit....
So Sunday came along I made sure I limited my food intake and spent most of the day just talking with my Spanish friends and going to bed early!!! Can I say that holidays are exhausting.

Trip to Machu. Pichu Day 2

guiri74 — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 03:54:00 GMT

So lets just say that not much sleep was had :-). I got out of bed at 4am for a quick shower and then was at breakfast by 4.30am. The group consist of 6 Spanish people and 1 Mexican guy. After advice from the hostel we de ided not to hike to the entrance of the park as we will have no energy to do any of the hikes inside the site. So we are all at the bus station just over 5am and we drive for 30min to the entrance of the Machu Pichu. At this point we have seen that clearly we are now in a different temperature/climate area and insect are appearing :-).
At around 6am we are able to go int Machu Pichu site. It is day light now, but we do,have some lingering clouds around the mountains. This gives a very impressive site to Machu Pichu ruins when we first see them. They are lot more impressive than I thought. I think its be ause of the mountains around them. They are spectacular. We are meeting our guide at 11am for a talking tour of the site, so we now have time to hike to the mountains we have booked. 2 of us are hiking the Machu Pichu mountain and the rest the WaynuPichu Mountain.
Lets just say that it took 1.30h to hike up steep steps with spectacular views of the ruins, it was a hard hike but a very extremely rewarding one. Up the top i took a well deserved 30min break just taking beautiful pictures and observing the sorroundings.
The way down was a lot faster, with a 45min timing.
We all meet our guide at 11 and spend 2h walking and talking about the site. It truly is a unique site and wonder of the world. I would recommend everyone to put it on their bucket list,
The afternoon goes fast with a return to the hostel, lunch and a train back at 4.30pm. The trip back is in day light so Ig et to appreciate the spectacular ride through the Andes mountains.
Finally return to Cusco at 8.30pm and I am beat from the past 2 days.

Photos: Machu Pichu Mountain and Ruins

guiri74 — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 03:22:00 GMT

Machu Pichu

Trip to Machu Pichu Day 1

guiri74 — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 03:53:00 GMT

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends in the US. I am taking a 2 day trip to Machu Pichu by train :-). So first we have the opportunity to visit 2 more archeological sites on route to the train station, we first stop in Pisac, already at the start of the sacret valley route, this is a huge Inca village in between huge mountains. It is really stunning views. We are given 1h to walk around and explore by ourselves.
On the way down from the moutain we briefly stop in the actual Pisac town and visit their local market with fruits and vegetabke being displayed.
Continueing our route we stop in Urubamba for buffet lunch, from here we drive to Ollantaytambo. A little town where the train to Machu Pichu goes as well as having its own Inca city. Its on the side of a mountain and certain hiking up is needed. Again the views are spectacular. This city was built from a stone quary that was around 8km away, which meant carrying manually all of the big stones. Very impressive.
I am dropped by the tour guide near the train station and I get to wait 3h by a hot chocolate for ny train. It is dark when I board, hence I can't see the scenary. After a 1h.40min ride we arrive to the town of Machu Pichu. I am directed to my hostel and after a brief talk with the guide i am told that. We are meeting at 5am the next morning! Off to bed.

Photos: Pisac and Ollantaytambo

guiri74 — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 03:00:00 GMT

On route to Machu Pichu

Photos: Inca and Pre-Ruins as well as Chapel

guiri74 — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 04:23:00 GMT

Ruins

Visiting the surroundings of Cusco

guiri74 — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 03:50:00 GMT

So another day of adventures and i have decided to take a tour of different Inca and Pre-Inca ruins int he outskirts of Cusco. I join a bus of around 30 Spanish speaking tourist and we drive for around 1h to arrive to the first area which is an old temple to the wafer. I am afraid I can not remember the name of the , but they were pretty i pressive. It is clear that the Inca constracted building for a very specific reason and with great architectural thought behind it. This temple was using the underground wafer source to water all the agricultural terraces they had, views are fantastic.
After this we make our was to Piquillacta with a brief stop to try the Pan de Chute, which are huge round bread loafs with a sweet taste.
It is mid day and full sun is out to Piquillacta which was an old town created Pre-Inca time, aprox 300years prior. This Piquillacta is what is actually known as flea town, no, not because they had fleas in the area, but because the size of the rooms were a lot smaller than in Inca times. It is not clear why and when exactly did this town disappear,
From here we drive to San Pedro Church, which is also known as the: Capilla Sixtina of South America, unfortunately we are not allowed to take pictures, but inside every wall and celing has big paintings and decorations, hence the resemblance with the Italian Church. Once out of the religious building we get the opportunity go see a small shop that works with silver and explained how to differentiate good from bad silver (not sure I would be able to identify it even after the explanation :-).
A long day full of information for my small brain again!

Photos: Cusco city and surroundings

guiri74 — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 09:52:00 GMT

Peru

More Cusco

guiri74 — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 09:48:00 GMT

So I have nothung booked for this day. I have decided to walk the San Pedro Market as it one of the most famous ones of the city. So after breakfast I make my way to the market. Just a 10min walk. And it is true, the market is huge. There are different stalls of fruits, arts & crafts, cheese, meat, food area, etc... I walk around taking it all in. It is true to say that the peruvian must have a very strong stomach, because the food that was being prepared lets just say wasn't in the best conditions :-). But the locals were having large quantities of cooked food and it was only 9am!
I strolled around for about 1h when I decided to leave. I made my way to the main square and looked for Starbucks. Yes, I know, shameful :-). But I needed a little bit of something that felt like home. A nice ice tea and a chocolate alfajore made me feel nice amd rested.
So after my break my intention was to go to the choco museum, but I got distracted by the touristic bus. Since it was a nice sunny day I fancied just plotting my bum on the top floor of thr bus and enjoy the nice scenary of the city. A good choice and after a 1h30 i got back to the hostel for a small siesta/rest.
Come 4pm i've decided I should get out again. I make my way to the chocolate museum. It is a pretty little quaint location and it is amazing what they can do with chocolate. I of course find it fascinating and delicious at the same time. I sign up for a chocolate workshop for early next week where I will be shown how chocolate is made and have the opportunity to make some and take it with me.
I also sign up for a Peruvian cooking class for Saturday evening. We will start by all going to the market shopping for the ingredients and then cooking amd eating what we make. Really looking forwards to that.
After all thst excitement of a full day I retire back to the hostel to read my book and have an early night.

Cusco City

guiri74 — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 09:47:00 GMT

First Full day in Cusco. I awake refreshend after getting a good night sleep. Imhabr booked myself on a city tour just after lunch. So i spend the morning updating journal and uploading Galapagos photos. Riverting, I know :-).
I then treat myself to a plate of Lomo salteado, a traditional Peruvian pork dish.
So, with a full stomach I move myself to the meeting point. There are about 10 of us from different hostels and countries on the tour. First stop is Cusco Cathedral. An impressive monument in the centre of the city. We do hear a lot history about it (to which I don't remember much off...). I do remember that the city of Cusco has had 3 earthquakes in its time. One in 1350, one in 1650 and the last one in 1950! 300 years apart from each other. So the god of the earthquakes is represented in a lot of the paintings. Also, of course the Spaniard presence with the Inca Indigineous are everywhere. Pizarro is painted as bad person and all the virgins are wearing skirts in the shape of a triangle because that represents the mountain.
Apparently the real name of Cusco is Cosqo. The Spaniards changed the name :-).
After the cathedral we visit another important temple of Cusco and then hopped onto a bus to visit a few Inca ruins in the outskirts of the city. As we climb the hill we see great views of the city. I must say it is a very pretty city, very colonial and people are very pleasant. Their main business though is tourism. Everything is catered to the tourists.
Our tour takes us to the ruins of Sexywoman (and that is not how you spell it but thats how it sounds :-)). They are very pretty and include large areas of green fields as well what is believed to have been a temple to water.
The tour finishes and I am dropped back at my hostel. A nice simple soup followed by some play time on ipad take me to my resting time.

Leaving Galapagos for Peru

guiri74 — Sun, 24 Nov 2013 03:00:00 GMT

So it was sad leaving the Endevour boat which has been my home for the past 8 days as well as the nic people I have met. These past 2 days have consisted of travelling back to Ecuador mailand as well as to flying to Peru. I was so tired by the time I reached Cusco I spent most of my day in bed! I did though book my Machu Pichu trip, which consists of. 2 day trip and getting up there by bus. Unfortunately I do not have the energy right now to attempt walking the whole of the Inca trail.
Also i booked a Cuzco city tour where I will get a better idea of the city so I can decide what else to do.

Photos: Galapagos Islands

guiri74 — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 11:38:00 GMT

Galapagos

San Cristobal Island

guiri74 — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 02:59:00 GMT

Last full day in thr Galapagos. Its been an extraordinary trip up to now. Today we disembark on San Cristobal Island. We start the mornin with a hike after breakfast. This Island is home of the Red Footy boobies, and even though there are a lot more of these than the blue footed one itis difficult to see them as they like to live on trees. The hike starts with an uphill section through what they call yhe Grand Canyon of the Galapagos. It is actually an old volcano crater that erosion has made it look as is.
We have clouds and a small drizzle on us. As we keep going up the views are getting better. We approach the sea again and that is where we get to see the famous Red Foot Boobie. Pretty. They have blue beak and red feet.
After the stroll back down to the beach we get the opportunity to get a dip in the sea. Having not worned my swimming stuff I eneter the sea with my clothes :-). And a good choice too, because there are about 6 sea lions who play with us as we dive and swim. Great creatures and fun to play with.
Back on the boat a nice lunch and relxing time prior to getting ready for snorkeling. We will be doing this in a location called Leon Dormido, which is a massive rock in the middle of the sea which has split into too.
So on the zodiac's ready to go. We are dropped at one end of the passage and told to swim through it. As I start to swim along i come across 2 sharks swimming below me, only to realise that there are another 30 sharks following them!!!! I kept on thinking, breath Paula, breath. They literally just swam around with not much care in us at all. After the passage we snorkled on the side of the rock which had loads of fish, turtles and even sea lions. Probably the best snorkeling of the week really.
back on the boat we have a some champagne with the captain s we see the sun go down over the Leon Dormido rock. Stunning.
Dinner followed by an optional trip into town at night. I decide to go and I am amused by the seen of sea lions everywhere in town. Sleeping on public benches, walking around, etc... Very funny. A great last day really.

Santiago Island

guiri74 — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 11:32:00 GMT

Well, I've been on this boat already half of the time, but let me say it feels as if I have been here many weeks! I have made some good friends and met some interesting people.
Today's adventures takes us to Santiago Island which is back on the East side of the Island. Also known as San Salvador or James Island before.
So, early rise at 6am for a hike prior to breakfast this time at 6,30am! Let's just say my hairs are sticking up when I land :-). As this is an older Island you can notice fhe vegetation is changing to have a lot more. A lot of mangrove trees as well as tall palosantos trees. This Island is extinct of land iguanas unfortunately due to the arrival of goats and pigs many years ago. These have now been fully removed from the Island. We did see though a couple of Galapagos hawks. And there are turtles and tortoises that we did not see. The scenary as we are hiking up is beautiful due to the sun rising contrasting with the green vegetation and the blue water and sky.
Back at the Endevaour from our little expedition se now have breakfast and have some relaxing time before setting off on kayak's again. It's just nice to be in the water with the sun shinning glidding through the waves.
Back on board some relaxing time followed by lunch and a lecture on Charles Darwin which turns out to be very interesting and informative. In the afternoon we disembark another side of the Island on a small beach where I choose to go snorkeling. There are loads of colorful fish, turtles as well as sea lions playing with us :-). So cute!!!! After plenty of pictures and videos Its time to return to the boat. BBQ dinner on the deck tonight. Again loads of food followed by salsa and tropical dancing lessons. It was not very popular choice as everyone was so tired from the days activities. So off I went to bed to dream about the days advetures.

Santa Cruz Island

guiri74 — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 11:34:00 GMT

Arriving to the Island of Santa Cruz today. This is a habitated island so it's strange to see houses, more boats and people after a few days of just us.
We disembark at port by zodiac and do a small walk to the Charles Darwin Centre. This has been in place since the 70's and they work to preserve the life of tortoises who are the life and soul reason of the Galapagos Islands. We see different tortoises at different phases in their lifes and we get explained which Island they come from. Not every Island has tortoises left unfortunately. The Island of Pinta is where the famous Lonesome George came from. After his death June last year they have not been able to find anymore of his species. The centre works to reproduce tortoises and look after them until they are of an age when they can be let loose in their Island. We see tortises as you as a few months to 80year old ones. At the same time the centre also rescues badly treated pet tortoises, which unfortunately happens on the Island.
After this visit we are able to stroll back through the town of Santa Cruz and shop a little bit prior to catching the tour bus to take us to pick bikes. A few of us have selected to choose to ride for 3miles in a bikes. Hot and humid it is. Vegetation is fantastic and the hills are there... added to the fact that there gears dont work very well makes the ride challenging :-). On our bikes we arrive a coffee and sugar farm. A local family lives and works of producing these. The process is simple and fascinating and we get to try samples of their produce. There is a sugar liquour that burns your throat that's for sure!
After this visit we are taken to lunch in a farm followed by a visit to farm fields where the tortoises are going pass whilst migrating to different locations on the Islands. There are tortoises everywhere, and not small ones. Slowly moving, munching or judt simply sleeping. The terrain is lushly green vegetation, close to tropical. It is very surreal to watch these creatures who look like E.T and walk slowly.
After about 100pictures of tortoises each... we make our way back into town where there is an option to stroll in the city for an hour or return on board.
The day ends with, again, another succulent dinner followed by a local band and local Galapagos dancers show. Its been a long day and I am ready for bed!

Isabela Island

guiri74 — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 11:29:00 GMT

And another new Island of the archipelago. Isabela Island. This is the largest of the islands and many years ago was actually 3 Islands. Right now there are actually 6 volcanos on this Island. But again, eruptions are a little bit more diferent than normal volcanos.
So start the day with a hike again ag 7.45am. A 2mile hike over sand and over huge lava rocks. There are not abundances of animals so we listen to the naturalists talk about the history of thr Island. But little do we know we actually get to see our first giant tortoises. We see an adult and about 4 babies. Great creatures. They just sit there and hide their head when they are afraid from us. It's not as if they would be able to run aeay very fast :-). We also see for the first time land Iguanas as well as for the first time paper wasps which are not originally from thr Island.
After the hike back to the boat for some lectures on the Human History of thr Galapagos Islands as well as a video on what happens behind the scenes on the Endevour boat, our boat.
Lunch is a special treat. An Ecuatorian buffet, a feast of food.
After the feast I decide to try sea kayaking in the Galapagos. Nice weather and we kayak around the cliffd to see penguin's, boobies amd sea lions. After this activity back to thr boat for a quick change of clothes to get into my wetsuit for snorkeling. Water though does not cooperate too much as its very murky and we are not able to see a lot. But still nice to be out in the water.
Again, back and quick change of clothes to go for a hike in the Island again but this time on s different place, Tagus Cove. A faster pace hike than normal but great scenary. There is a sea water lake just after a few minutes up the hill as well as a set of graffitti's made by the boats the boats that used to arrive here many years ago. The oldest is from 1836, which is one year after Charles Darwin arrived.
The hike continues up the hill where we get to see the other side of Isabela Island as well as the sunset. Again, another beautiful scenary really.
Back on the Endavour a recap on the day followed by dinner sends me to bed pretty tired!

Fernandina Island

guiri74 — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 11:25:00 GMT

So over night the boat has been sailing and we will be introduced to Fernandina Island and Isabela Island today.
After a better sleep but still esrly rise (4.30am) we are all given the opportunity to go to deck at sunrise to see the landscape of the islands as well as to try to see Dolphins and Wales as we are in the furthest West Side of the Galapagos Islands. We are lucky and get to see a big group of Dolphins Swimming along with us. Beautiful as the sun is going up to see these creatures.
After breakfast we disembark onto Fernandina Island, the youngest of all of the Galapagos islands. And what a treat it is. We have beautiful weather whcih make the colours of this Island highlight even more. As all the Islands, you can identify that it is a Volcanic Island. We are bought face to face with Marine iguanas. By the thousands. All just sitting there in the sun or fighting with one another. There are so many that you seriously have to be careful not to step on them. At the same time, again a lot of sea lions and cubs are all just sitting amongst the iguanas. There are no seals in Galapagos, and only sea lions (by the way, you can tell the difference going forward, because sea lions habe external ears and seals not, just a small tip from the Ecuator :-)).
We can also see crabs, Sallyfield ones, a unique Galapagos Hawk which is Endemic to the galapagos and the biggest predator there is on land in the Islands. Turtles in the water popping their heads up and down. Lava lizzards running arpund everywhere and sitting on iguana's heads. All of this on a backgrounf of thr Islands volcano and the sea. It is stunning scenary today and apparently this is the favorite Island of the naturalists and you can see why!
Back to the boat which is off to take us to Isabela Island while we have a light lunch out on the deck. After this we get geared up again and we are dropped off at Punta Vicente Roca for more snorkeling. And what a sight we come across. TURTLES swimming with us. And not one or two, but thousands. I mean it feels you are only surrounded by them. You have to be careful not to be head banged by one! At the same time of course there are plenty of interesting fish to see and apparently some people got to see the endemic and unique Galapagos Penguin (the only penguin in the Ecuator of which they 1500 of them aprox) but I didnt get to see whilst snorkeling.
Back for a quick change of clothes after snorkeling to jump back into the zodiacs to travel along the same bit of coast to see the animals from above, we get to see Blue Footed Boobies, Turtles and PENGUINS :-). So cute!!! We also see Giant Manta Ray's. I mean these are huge and could be as big as a tablecloth for a 10people table!!! So glad i didnt get to see them whilst in the water. We also get to see for thr first time Galapagos Sea lions which are slightly different to the ones we have seen up to now. Smaller and browner. All playing on the shore where the sea is breaking.
Back to the boat to habe a small party out on deck as we are going to sailing to cross the Ecuator again (we already did it over night...) The sun is goind down and we are all just glowing from a nice tan of 2 days. The captain announces the time of when we cross and we all out a little act to start clapping and having fun. Silly, but just a bit of laughter really.
This event is followed by dinner and then a documentary film on the Galapagos by the National Geographic. Very interesting but ready to get some sleep thats for sure!!