Sorry, sorry somehow
I love Hüsker Dü
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Starting Over
I just deleted everything except for my Peru posts, it's time for something different and I'm ready to give this the change it needs.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Cuzco 2.0
Two posts in one day...what the fuck?
Yeah I know, in South America and nothing to do but update my blog, that´s what happens when I´m waiting for tomorrow. Today was nothing more than a rest day so Em and I decided to go to an internet cafe and just hang out for a bit. Em´s been sick so we have been taking it easy for the last day or so.
But let me elaborate on Cuzco, amazing, that is all. I did nothing, but so much at the same time. I spent most of my time with Emily and Luke and in that time, it feels like we didn´t do much, but in retrospect, we really did a lot...or at least I would like to believe we did. I will just say we spent our time experiencing the city. We saw lots of live music, from the really good to the really bad, walked around numerous plazas, there was more.
I don´t think I can write anymore today.
A lot has happened and I think I just need to be in my head right now.
Just know that things are going as well as possible here. I leave in just a few days and I do not want to at all.
In other news, I´ve fallen for someone in the worst kind of way (it´s impossible) and I´ve stolen a hat. More later, I promise.
Yeah I know, in South America and nothing to do but update my blog, that´s what happens when I´m waiting for tomorrow. Today was nothing more than a rest day so Em and I decided to go to an internet cafe and just hang out for a bit. Em´s been sick so we have been taking it easy for the last day or so.
But let me elaborate on Cuzco, amazing, that is all. I did nothing, but so much at the same time. I spent most of my time with Emily and Luke and in that time, it feels like we didn´t do much, but in retrospect, we really did a lot...or at least I would like to believe we did. I will just say we spent our time experiencing the city. We saw lots of live music, from the really good to the really bad, walked around numerous plazas, there was more.
I don´t think I can write anymore today.
A lot has happened and I think I just need to be in my head right now.
Just know that things are going as well as possible here. I leave in just a few days and I do not want to at all.
In other news, I´ve fallen for someone in the worst kind of way (it´s impossible) and I´ve stolen a hat. More later, I promise.
Cuzco...
I think the last time I updated I was in Puno...needless to say a lot has happened since then.
I´ll start from where I left off, I wrote about the Colca Canyon tour, which was still in Arequipa.
After getting back from the Canyon tour Em and I met a nice British boy who decided to come to Puno with us. After a bus ride in which our supposedly ¨nice¨bus broke down on the side of the road we made it to Puno all safe and sound. Puno is high, very high, even higher than Cuzco which says a lot. Needless to say we felt the altitude, Emily more than me. She ended up getting sick but let me just say that the quality of doctor care here is oh about 10 times better than in the U.S. of A. The doctor came to our hostel, gave Emily oxygen and listened to her, actually took into account what she was saying, didn´t freak out and helped her, if only we got that back home. But thankfully enough, Emily was mostly fine and fine enough to go on the floating island tour.
The floating islands in Lake Titicaca (pardon my spelling, I´m not sure if that is right or not and I´m too lazy to check) were...interesting. I thought it was really interesting to see the way the islands were made and how people lived on them, but I´m not sure if people actually lived the way they wanted us to believe. It was more than interesting to see how the islands were made; it is a process which invloves sandbar type things, and lots of reeds all piled up on each other. It was a great experience, it was beautiful, but all things considered, it felt like floating island disneyland. Completly made for tourism, once again, interesting, beautiful, but I still have mixed feelings about it. As part of the tour, we went from the floating islands to a real island. The real island was beautiful, we got to see the end of a wedding ceremony, eat omlettes, climb down about 500 stairs, talk to a family from the bay area, and catch up on our sleep (the boat ride was LONG).
I would say more about Puno, but that is really all I need to say, the floating islands were the highlight and probably one of the only reasons people go into Puno. Well, people go into Puno because it is the way into Bolivia, but this trip we are only sticking to Peru. After all that, we get to Cuzco, which is where I could get lost.
I was talking to the British boy and he said that he talked to a few people who accidently spent two months in Cuzco. After spending a few days in Cuzco I can easilly see how that could happen. After spending nearly a week in Cuzco with Emily and Luke (the British boy finally recieves a name, huzzah) I don´t want to leave. (Despite the fact I´m writing this from Aguas Callienties, once again with the spelling, too lazy, forgive me)
Cuzco is amazing, Cuzco is where anyone could get lost. Until then, I´m paying a lot for this internet and it´s time to go. I will update when I can.
And by the way, I´m home soon, more on that later.
I´ll start from where I left off, I wrote about the Colca Canyon tour, which was still in Arequipa.
After getting back from the Canyon tour Em and I met a nice British boy who decided to come to Puno with us. After a bus ride in which our supposedly ¨nice¨bus broke down on the side of the road we made it to Puno all safe and sound. Puno is high, very high, even higher than Cuzco which says a lot. Needless to say we felt the altitude, Emily more than me. She ended up getting sick but let me just say that the quality of doctor care here is oh about 10 times better than in the U.S. of A. The doctor came to our hostel, gave Emily oxygen and listened to her, actually took into account what she was saying, didn´t freak out and helped her, if only we got that back home. But thankfully enough, Emily was mostly fine and fine enough to go on the floating island tour.
The floating islands in Lake Titicaca (pardon my spelling, I´m not sure if that is right or not and I´m too lazy to check) were...interesting. I thought it was really interesting to see the way the islands were made and how people lived on them, but I´m not sure if people actually lived the way they wanted us to believe. It was more than interesting to see how the islands were made; it is a process which invloves sandbar type things, and lots of reeds all piled up on each other. It was a great experience, it was beautiful, but all things considered, it felt like floating island disneyland. Completly made for tourism, once again, interesting, beautiful, but I still have mixed feelings about it. As part of the tour, we went from the floating islands to a real island. The real island was beautiful, we got to see the end of a wedding ceremony, eat omlettes, climb down about 500 stairs, talk to a family from the bay area, and catch up on our sleep (the boat ride was LONG).
I would say more about Puno, but that is really all I need to say, the floating islands were the highlight and probably one of the only reasons people go into Puno. Well, people go into Puno because it is the way into Bolivia, but this trip we are only sticking to Peru. After all that, we get to Cuzco, which is where I could get lost.
I was talking to the British boy and he said that he talked to a few people who accidently spent two months in Cuzco. After spending a few days in Cuzco I can easilly see how that could happen. After spending nearly a week in Cuzco with Emily and Luke (the British boy finally recieves a name, huzzah) I don´t want to leave. (Despite the fact I´m writing this from Aguas Callienties, once again with the spelling, too lazy, forgive me)
Cuzco is amazing, Cuzco is where anyone could get lost. Until then, I´m paying a lot for this internet and it´s time to go. I will update when I can.
And by the way, I´m home soon, more on that later.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Backtracking...
I promised I would write about the Colca Canyon tour, and that is exactly what I intend to do. It was bus madness. I think that might be the best way to describe it. The entire thing was done from a bus with only a little bit of actual hiking in between. It started around 7:30 in the morning when the bus made its rounds to pick people up. Nothing interesting there, we just got on the bus and picked people up, bought a coca drink and went on our merry way.
With one exception, they almost forgot me (and 2 Irish guys) at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Emily had to get our tour guide to stop the bus so that we could all get back on. Remember the ¨where´s Olive?¨scene from Little Miss Sunshine, it was a bit like that.
Back on the bus and things are going well. We are going up to the mountains, to the peaks of the mountains, I can touch the clouds at this point. I can understand how the Incans thought the mountains were gods. The higher we climb the closer we come to snow capped peaks and the bottoms of mountains, something truly beautiful. We get up to a snow capped peak and the air is so thin Emily and I can hardly breathe. My chest feels tight and my heart is racing but I was able to get out and walk around. Emily was not =(
We get back down to the little town we are staying at for the night and proceed to have the most random stops ever, apparently everyone on the bus is staying at a different hostel and the bus is dropping us all off then picking us all up in 15 minutes for some awesome hot spring action. Which Emily and I don´t participate in. No swimsuits, no swimming. We instead walked around some ruins and went to the hot springs museum. At this point, we all felt like the geeky kids.
The bus picks us up and takes us back to our hostels to get ready for dinner and it´s the same thing over again, pick up, drop off, etc. Dinner was ok, way too toursity for my liking, but that is what happens when you get landed on a tour. I have video of the traditional dancing that was going on. It was interesting to say the least.
We go back to our hostel (which was AWESOME, it looked like a cheap motel room) and slept for the short night until it was time (5AM) to get back on the bus and get ready for the canyon tour.
The canyon was amazing, amazingly beautiful. Words can´t describe the sense of peace I felt while I was just sitting and staring into the cracks in the rocks. But for some reason peace led into intrigue and from the darkest corners of my mind I kept thinking about suicide and people jumping off the cliff. Maybe it was because of the mummy exhibit we saw before, but sitting on top of those rocks, all I could think about was jumping. (don´t worry, I´m not actually going to jump, just a morbid thought) The canyon was amazing, I have pictures but they do not do justice at all.
After our time canyon watching and bird hunting we got on the bus and headed back to Arequepia, which is nothing worth writing about.
But now we are in Puno, it´s been good times so far.
With one exception, they almost forgot me (and 2 Irish guys) at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Emily had to get our tour guide to stop the bus so that we could all get back on. Remember the ¨where´s Olive?¨scene from Little Miss Sunshine, it was a bit like that.
Back on the bus and things are going well. We are going up to the mountains, to the peaks of the mountains, I can touch the clouds at this point. I can understand how the Incans thought the mountains were gods. The higher we climb the closer we come to snow capped peaks and the bottoms of mountains, something truly beautiful. We get up to a snow capped peak and the air is so thin Emily and I can hardly breathe. My chest feels tight and my heart is racing but I was able to get out and walk around. Emily was not =(
We get back down to the little town we are staying at for the night and proceed to have the most random stops ever, apparently everyone on the bus is staying at a different hostel and the bus is dropping us all off then picking us all up in 15 minutes for some awesome hot spring action. Which Emily and I don´t participate in. No swimsuits, no swimming. We instead walked around some ruins and went to the hot springs museum. At this point, we all felt like the geeky kids.
The bus picks us up and takes us back to our hostels to get ready for dinner and it´s the same thing over again, pick up, drop off, etc. Dinner was ok, way too toursity for my liking, but that is what happens when you get landed on a tour. I have video of the traditional dancing that was going on. It was interesting to say the least.
We go back to our hostel (which was AWESOME, it looked like a cheap motel room) and slept for the short night until it was time (5AM) to get back on the bus and get ready for the canyon tour.
The canyon was amazing, amazingly beautiful. Words can´t describe the sense of peace I felt while I was just sitting and staring into the cracks in the rocks. But for some reason peace led into intrigue and from the darkest corners of my mind I kept thinking about suicide and people jumping off the cliff. Maybe it was because of the mummy exhibit we saw before, but sitting on top of those rocks, all I could think about was jumping. (don´t worry, I´m not actually going to jump, just a morbid thought) The canyon was amazing, I have pictures but they do not do justice at all.
After our time canyon watching and bird hunting we got on the bus and headed back to Arequepia, which is nothing worth writing about.
But now we are in Puno, it´s been good times so far.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
It´s been awhile...
Since I´ve updated anything, let me just say that things have been happening. I´ll start with a list then elaborate.
*I got sick (I think it was something I drank)
*It was my birthday (Ho-ray for 22)
*We took a 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon
Time to elaborate on all that.
After we got into Arequipa Emily and I decided to just take it easy for the first day. We got a fancy lunch that included the guina pig. It was weird, it tasted like fish and was really hard to get through. There was barly any meat and the skin was fairly tough. I don´t think it was that worth it, but at least I get bragging rights. Later that night we went to the Cusco Coffee Company (THE CULPRIT!) to get coffee. Feeling fancy drink deprived (I work in coffee shops, I´m allowed my fancy drinks) I got a mocha. About an hour later my stomach started to hurt. Not thinking much of it I went to bed, but was unable to sleep.
I woke up the next day feeling like a complete zombie with the Peruvian version of Delhi belly and feeling completly sick. Despite that, I toughed it out and didn´t say anything. (I can´t say anything when I´m sick, it just makes me feel worse, I just nod my head and say I´m fine, yes I know it´s bad but I´m trying to win the battle in my head) Emily took pity and so we took it easy again, we took a bus tour of Arequipa. The city is beautiful, the buildings are made of a white volcanic rock (because there are 3 volcanos within city/county boundaries) and built in an antique Spanish style. Which makes perfect sense when you think of the history. The tour took us to a look out point where we had perfect views of all 3 volcanos, everything was very picturesque (yes my spelling is terrible) and it was so very toursity but so very worth it. The rest of the day we took it easy, I tried to eat, it wasn´t happening, so we just spent time in the Plaza de Armas.
After that, the 6th, happy birthday to me. Too bad I was still not feeling well at all. But despite that, Emily and I embarked on one of my favorite things in Arequipa, the convent. The convent was originally built in the 1500´s and has just been added on slowly but surly since then. The colors are amazing and the art inside the churches and around the convent is amazing. There is a certin art style from Cuzco from the 1700´s (I think) that is very dramatic yet eerie at the same time; that style of art is all over the convent, in the churches, in the nun´s rooms. I have pictures, I will try to post them when I can, but probably won´t be able to until I get back. The whole place had a very serene feel, I truly felt at peace and at ease; along with everything else, it almost made me want to believe. But the best part of the convent, the walls. All over Peru we have been bombarded by smog, smoke, exhaust, cigarette smoke; enough emissions to last me for the rest of my life. In the convent, we couldn´t hear the cars, the honking, we couldn´t even smell the emissions. That among other things made the experience amazing. That night, Emily and I went to a peña. A peña is a place for traditional music and dance and we got just that. It was tiny and only 3 tables (including ours) were taken but the band was enthusitac. They danced, they sang, they played pipes, flutes, guitars and a very large drum. They drunkenly danced freely around the tiny stage, giving everything they had to our 3 tables. Under the influence of much vino they put on a great show. Quite possibly one of the best birthdays ever.
After my birthday (the 7th), we went to this strange little museum that featured an Incian mummy found on one of the volcanos. The museum was interesting enough, the mummy was fasinating but truly creepy at the same time. The more I learn about the Inca culture I am more and more fasinated by it. I really wish I had done more research before I went on this trip.
I´m going to end this post now, but don´t fear, I will write about our canyon tour probably tomorrow. For anyone who reads this, I´m finally not sick anymore and after 3 days of not being able to eat, I can finally eat full meals again, life is good.
*I got sick (I think it was something I drank)
*It was my birthday (Ho-ray for 22)
*We took a 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon
Time to elaborate on all that.
After we got into Arequipa Emily and I decided to just take it easy for the first day. We got a fancy lunch that included the guina pig. It was weird, it tasted like fish and was really hard to get through. There was barly any meat and the skin was fairly tough. I don´t think it was that worth it, but at least I get bragging rights. Later that night we went to the Cusco Coffee Company (THE CULPRIT!) to get coffee. Feeling fancy drink deprived (I work in coffee shops, I´m allowed my fancy drinks) I got a mocha. About an hour later my stomach started to hurt. Not thinking much of it I went to bed, but was unable to sleep.
I woke up the next day feeling like a complete zombie with the Peruvian version of Delhi belly and feeling completly sick. Despite that, I toughed it out and didn´t say anything. (I can´t say anything when I´m sick, it just makes me feel worse, I just nod my head and say I´m fine, yes I know it´s bad but I´m trying to win the battle in my head) Emily took pity and so we took it easy again, we took a bus tour of Arequipa. The city is beautiful, the buildings are made of a white volcanic rock (because there are 3 volcanos within city/county boundaries) and built in an antique Spanish style. Which makes perfect sense when you think of the history. The tour took us to a look out point where we had perfect views of all 3 volcanos, everything was very picturesque (yes my spelling is terrible) and it was so very toursity but so very worth it. The rest of the day we took it easy, I tried to eat, it wasn´t happening, so we just spent time in the Plaza de Armas.
After that, the 6th, happy birthday to me. Too bad I was still not feeling well at all. But despite that, Emily and I embarked on one of my favorite things in Arequipa, the convent. The convent was originally built in the 1500´s and has just been added on slowly but surly since then. The colors are amazing and the art inside the churches and around the convent is amazing. There is a certin art style from Cuzco from the 1700´s (I think) that is very dramatic yet eerie at the same time; that style of art is all over the convent, in the churches, in the nun´s rooms. I have pictures, I will try to post them when I can, but probably won´t be able to until I get back. The whole place had a very serene feel, I truly felt at peace and at ease; along with everything else, it almost made me want to believe. But the best part of the convent, the walls. All over Peru we have been bombarded by smog, smoke, exhaust, cigarette smoke; enough emissions to last me for the rest of my life. In the convent, we couldn´t hear the cars, the honking, we couldn´t even smell the emissions. That among other things made the experience amazing. That night, Emily and I went to a peña. A peña is a place for traditional music and dance and we got just that. It was tiny and only 3 tables (including ours) were taken but the band was enthusitac. They danced, they sang, they played pipes, flutes, guitars and a very large drum. They drunkenly danced freely around the tiny stage, giving everything they had to our 3 tables. Under the influence of much vino they put on a great show. Quite possibly one of the best birthdays ever.
After my birthday (the 7th), we went to this strange little museum that featured an Incian mummy found on one of the volcanos. The museum was interesting enough, the mummy was fasinating but truly creepy at the same time. The more I learn about the Inca culture I am more and more fasinated by it. I really wish I had done more research before I went on this trip.
I´m going to end this post now, but don´t fear, I will write about our canyon tour probably tomorrow. For anyone who reads this, I´m finally not sick anymore and after 3 days of not being able to eat, I can finally eat full meals again, life is good.
Monday, August 4, 2008
2 days somehow became 1
Yesterday feels like 2 days ago. That´s all I can say after the 16 hour bus ride that took us from Lima to Arequipa.
Our last day in Lima was nothing short of amazing. I have decided that Sunday is my new favorite South American day. On our last day in Lima, Emily and I woke up early and headed into Lima Centro. We got there early (around 10) and the streets seemed to be just waking up. We could see shop vendors and restaurants getting ready to open, people on ther way to church, even the streets, normaly clogged with cars to the point of choking seemed to be a little more open. As we walked along the streets we decided to randomly go into a fe churchs that had opened their doors for Sunday. They were beautiful and moving to say the least. Old Spanish style archecture with high walls and ornatley decorated statutes of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, everything was bright and beautiful, the saints on the walls were staring back at us. It made me realize how powerful belief is, it almost made me want to believe, I can see how people can be moved.
Continuing along one of the streets we ran into a colorful procession. People dressed in traditional Andean clothing complete with musical insturmetns and masks made to mock were in front of a church practicing a religious ceremony. They had a statue of the virgin Mary and child dressed in the Andean garb and the people were doing a dance and playing music around the altar. All of a sudden the altar was loaded into the back of a flatbed truck and the colorful people were leaving. After that, Emily and I went to the Plaza de Armas and walked into a ceremony that could best be described as ¨gun waltzing¨. The national guards/armsmen were doing very traditional dances and there was an army band that played a mixture of om-pa-pa music and stuff that I could dance to. It was too much fun, I do have video footage but it probably won´t be up until I get back home. (I forgot my USB cord)
Flash foreward (a few hours) to the epic bus ride. The bus was nice for the first 4 hours, then it started to get ridiculous. The first few hours of the ride there was still sunlight and we were able to see the countryside/coastline. It was a humbling bus ride to say the least. I have never seen poverty in my life like I did on that bus ride. It was an interesting and distressing sight. Shanty-towns on the beach, falling apart walls, dirt roads; it made me think to say the least. But I´m not going to put those thoughs here, too private, this is too public for something so deeply embedded in my brain now.
There was bingo on the bus ride, which was fun for the first round, sleeping was impossible and when I finally did sleep, something kept waking me up. but I guess that is part of the territory when you embark on a 16 hour bus ride. All that behind me, we are now in Arequipa. This city feels as though it is more of a traditional, larger South American town. But I´ve only been here a few hours and can´t really make a good judgement.
But I can say, altitude sickness is LAME. I feel hungover but without the benefit of being drunk the night before. My body hates me, the air is thin and I smell more exhaust than anything else. But depite that, I´m sure tomorrow will be better because my body will be used to everything by then...or at least I´m hoping.
As a farewell I will say that YES I tried the guinea pig today and it was...interesting. More on that later. Now time for REAL food!
Our last day in Lima was nothing short of amazing. I have decided that Sunday is my new favorite South American day. On our last day in Lima, Emily and I woke up early and headed into Lima Centro. We got there early (around 10) and the streets seemed to be just waking up. We could see shop vendors and restaurants getting ready to open, people on ther way to church, even the streets, normaly clogged with cars to the point of choking seemed to be a little more open. As we walked along the streets we decided to randomly go into a fe churchs that had opened their doors for Sunday. They were beautiful and moving to say the least. Old Spanish style archecture with high walls and ornatley decorated statutes of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, everything was bright and beautiful, the saints on the walls were staring back at us. It made me realize how powerful belief is, it almost made me want to believe, I can see how people can be moved.
Continuing along one of the streets we ran into a colorful procession. People dressed in traditional Andean clothing complete with musical insturmetns and masks made to mock were in front of a church practicing a religious ceremony. They had a statue of the virgin Mary and child dressed in the Andean garb and the people were doing a dance and playing music around the altar. All of a sudden the altar was loaded into the back of a flatbed truck and the colorful people were leaving. After that, Emily and I went to the Plaza de Armas and walked into a ceremony that could best be described as ¨gun waltzing¨. The national guards/armsmen were doing very traditional dances and there was an army band that played a mixture of om-pa-pa music and stuff that I could dance to. It was too much fun, I do have video footage but it probably won´t be up until I get back home. (I forgot my USB cord)
Flash foreward (a few hours) to the epic bus ride. The bus was nice for the first 4 hours, then it started to get ridiculous. The first few hours of the ride there was still sunlight and we were able to see the countryside/coastline. It was a humbling bus ride to say the least. I have never seen poverty in my life like I did on that bus ride. It was an interesting and distressing sight. Shanty-towns on the beach, falling apart walls, dirt roads; it made me think to say the least. But I´m not going to put those thoughs here, too private, this is too public for something so deeply embedded in my brain now.
There was bingo on the bus ride, which was fun for the first round, sleeping was impossible and when I finally did sleep, something kept waking me up. but I guess that is part of the territory when you embark on a 16 hour bus ride. All that behind me, we are now in Arequipa. This city feels as though it is more of a traditional, larger South American town. But I´ve only been here a few hours and can´t really make a good judgement.
But I can say, altitude sickness is LAME. I feel hungover but without the benefit of being drunk the night before. My body hates me, the air is thin and I smell more exhaust than anything else. But depite that, I´m sure tomorrow will be better because my body will be used to everything by then...or at least I´m hoping.
As a farewell I will say that YES I tried the guinea pig today and it was...interesting. More on that later. Now time for REAL food!
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