Week 37 - Peru

The Floating islands on Lake Titicaca

The Cathedral, Plaza De Armes, Arequipa

Santa Catalina Monastery

Canyon del Colca

Mirador del Condor

Incan farming terraces on the Inca Trail

Our group with porters and guides

Machu Picchu - enjoying the weather!

Hola Amigos!

I´m not sure where to start! We have had such a great time in Peru and I can tell you that Peru is now my new favourite country in South America!

Let me begin by telling you a few fun facts about Peru.

1st, Languages! Many Peruvians are bi or tri-lingual and really hold on to their indigenous ancestry, including for marriages. The languages are all local indigenous along with Spanish the national language.

2nd, Peru has its own unique cuisine. Finally a change from the normal stuff we can get back home! Marina says its very similar to Russian as they have lots of potato dishes, soups and stuffed peppers. I think she was craving some Russian food.... :D

Lastly, history! Peru has the most significant and famous history in South America. At the forefront are the Incas which you will hear more about below.

Our Peruvian path thus far; Puno>Arequipa>Cabanaconde>Cuzco>Inca trail>Aquas Calientes


Saturday - Sullestri and the floating islands: On Lake Titicaca thousands of indigenous people live on floating islands which they make from roots and reeds. They build houses of the reeds and previously subsisted by fishing and now its also supplemented by tourism. At first you feel the softness of the ground and have concern at falling through, but really they are pretty strong. Later in the day we took a tour to Sullustani which is set on top of a hill on a peninsula around the lake. The site contains ancient Incan ruins. In particular they are chimney looking burial sites where the highest of Incan society would be buried. That night we met a few travellers and immersed ourselves in Pisco Sours and Jenga in a local pub which was heated by a wood fire - at 3830 meters (approx 12,000 feet) it was literally freezing outside!

Sunday - bus travel to Arequipa: This trip reminded me of the gorgeous views in Bolivia. Along the way we gazed at huge towering volcanoes in the distance. The bus also cruised past salt lakes full of pink flamingos. That night we went to the most traditional Peruvian restaurant where they made all the famous local dishes. The Ricotto Relleno - stuffed spicy peppers were my favorite, yummy!

Monday - Santa Catalina Monastery: No Marina hasn't gotten tired of me and joined a convent; typical of Russian wives if you think back to Russian Czars such as Peter the Great... However, we did spent a good portion of our morning exploring this amazing city within a city. At 450 years, this place is as immaculate as the previous residents. That being said, the place seems to have a seedy history with an amount of nuns who did not enter voluntarily. Also, the dowries of the rich families were happily taken as the girls entered the convent. With the different colored areas of the monastery and well preserved rooms, this site is a sure stop for any religion or history buff.

Tuesday - Canyon del Colca: This was possibly that hardest one day hike of our trip so far! Reflecting on the hikes in Japan, Korea, Nepal, China, and Argentina - this almost killed us. Colca canyon is almost the deepest canyon in the world measuring 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) deep at its deepest point (aprox double the grand canyon). A nearby canyon is actually the deepest at 250 meters bigger but is not well setup for trekking. We started what should be a two day hike and having done more than half by 11am, we decided to extend it to a further town in the valley called Tapay. Having used all our breakfast energy, we were desperately hoping we could get food in Tapay. Unfortunately we had to carry on hungry down to the river which splits the canyon; there we found several chocolate bars for sale. Now at 2pm and the hottest time of the day, maybe 32 degrees (90F) we were going to hike up at least about 1300 meters (4000 feet) with no energy. Luckily we had plenty of water and after several prayers to God we made it to the top barely with enough energy to walk the next 30 minutes back to town. For dinner we went with pizza from the Hostel as we couldn't even walk to other restaurants. We were so hungry we ordered a second - how I love wood-fired pizza!

Wednesday - Condors: We were heading back to Arequipa to catch our bus for Cuzco, all in all, about 16 hours of bus travel, fun, fun! But first, we woke up early and took the bus from the main square in Cabanaconde. This was headed to Arequipa, but after 30 minutes we jumped out and went to see the condors. Just next to the main highway is a place called Mirador del Condor where a large number of condors fly around hunting for food. We only saw one condor up close (about 5 meters or 15 feet) and it was, lets say, a pretty big bird. We nestled along a cliff overlooking the canyon with our big backpacks for hours, just gazing into the valley- don´t worry mom, not too close.

Thursday - Cuzco city tour: Having tired muscles from the Colca canyon, we took advantage of the $6 massages in Cuzco. An hour later we felt like a million Soles... Yes its still a lot! :D Today we had tours to the ruins around Cuzco. Whilst they were significant, they were not very well preserved, but offered a good start to our Incan adventure! That night we had dinner at a restaurant called Tabasco - I know, how can you go wrong with a placed named Tabasco, but they had made their own Tabasco, I'm guessing without preservatives and it gave me a dodgy belly for the night. My first problem with food in nearly six months!!

Friday - The Sacred Valley: Feeling well again, we started our Sacred Valley tour. This is a collection of Incan sites. The best being Pisac which is a huge agricultural complex along with a housing sector. Cuzco is just full of history and is a gorgeous, fun little city to enjoy.

Saturday to Tuesday: The Inca Trail and Machu Picchu: Firstly, let me explain what this is all about. If you are not familiar with the Incas, they were an advanced group of indigenous people who lived in Peru roughly from 1000BC - 1600AD. The Spanish chased them away and killed them in their conquest of South America. The Inca trail was only recently discovered and it linked their settlements around the Cuzco area finally ending at Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu itself was a settlement of 1000 people who had temples, schools, houses, and also as most of their sites had a large agricultural area. They worshiped the sun and mountains, they build their settlements on very high mountains which now makes for many spectacular views around the ruins.

We joined a tour, which is a must for the highly regulated Inca trail and with 8 other fun and crazy tourists, we set out up the trail on Saturday morning. The trek took us past many old ruins which we were able to explore. The setting is the Andes mountains and the trail led us though valleys and upon the mountain tops. The dense dark green forest provided the Incas with much cover for their hidden locations. We camped for three nights and our porters cooked us 2 or 3 course meals which were often traditional Peruvian foods. At night, we would marvel at the clouds passing through the mountains which produced a very mysterious backdrop.

On the fourth day, wet from the mornings rain, we reached our final destination - Machu Picchu. Set amongst the clouds, we explored the vast ruins and were led by our guide who showed us all the significant achievements of the Incas. With sore legs from the 45 KM (30-ish miles) up and down mountains, we viewed what is most likely South America´s most impressive archaeological site! Now we are sitting in the town of Agua Calientes and relaxing; getting ready for our trip back to the big city of Cuzco (the capital of the Incan people) and to have a few Pisco Sours. This trip was by far the highlight of our trip in South America and you absolutely have to come and see this place!

So what is next for the travels of Dan and Marina; Nazca and then up to Lima before going to the north of Peru.

Hope you have enjoyed our stories and I look forward to giving you the scoop on next week´s adventure.

Hasta Luego,

Dan and Marina

Week 36 - Bolivia

The Doors!

Bolivians ladies love to gossip

Hanging with the locals

Does this looks safe?

The view from our hotel - Lake Titicaca

On top of Isla del Sol

Hola Amigos! Well, looking at the date, we are about on our halfway point - its been nine months thus far. I hope you have been enjoying the weekly updates. If you have anything you would like to see a bit more, just leave some us a comment.

So back to Bolivia, such a great place and I´m very glad Marina has now seen this fabulous country. Although, getting from Florianopolis, Brazil to La Paz was arduous. After an overnight bus, a 12 hour stop in Porto Allegre, a flight to Buenos Aires (with a night there), then a flight to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and finally we made it to La Paz!

La Paz, wow! Let me ask you, how strong are your legs?? You probably have an image of San Francisco and the vertical hills, well try it at 3,660 meters (approx 11,000 feet). You smokers would have a lot of trouble. These hills would have Lance Armstrong huffing and puffing! Let me say this isn´t a complaint because when you see La Paz it looks stunning. I am a softy for mountain towns and this is certainly one big one!

La Paz is also a party city. Let me give you an example; our hostel, called the Adventure Brew Hostel provides wristbands when you check in. I was sure not to lose mine as this was needed to get my daily free beer. After two days, I noticed that the bracelet said if found drunk, please bring back to the following address. Obviously this was in spanish as well.

Another thing about Bolivia around La Paz and the west, is you better fear the sun. Let me say, putting on factor 30 sun tan lotion, hourly is barely enough! Its quite funny as you see lots of people who are a bit over confident in their tanning ability and attempt to sun bathe or walk around without sleeves, hats, etc. You then see them in Peru toasted and shedding skin like a snake!! The sun at 4,000 meters is far from kind.

So where have we been this past week: Besides the transit overnight and day waits, we were in La Paz > Copacabana > Isla de Sol

Sunday - Argentinian steak: We landed at 930pm in Buenos Aires and after dropping our bags off at the hostel, we went for some delicious wine and a huge perfectly cooked steak at El Desnival - a brilliant grill house in San Telmo.

Monday - The witch market: Once we arrived in La Paz, we were quick to utilise the last few daylight hours and see the sights. One of the stranger places of our trip was the witches market where they sell all kinds of medicinal remedies. Funny enough, many revolve around "improving relationships". The strangest thing they sell at this market is dead llama fetuses. Now I´m not sure how big the market is for these things, but they were abundant. We must have seen hundreds, which was certainly, one too many. An odd museum we visited was the coca museum (dedicated to the coca leaf). Now you may remember from my Bolivia blog a few weeks ago that Bolivians are mad for coca leaves. They drink coca leaf tea, coca gum, coca candy, etc. Well, we even had coca - cola years back. Yes, you have probably heard the story about coca cola having cocaine in it over a century ago. Well its kind of true, it was made partially from coca leaves and then these leaves were outlawed in the US around 1880. Nonetheless, Bolivia still legally loves coca leaves.

Tuesday - Tiahuanaco: The most significant site of ruins in Bolivia, well, isn´t that impressive in our opinion. We arranged a day tour to take us and explain about the ruins. Unfortunately they were mostly restored in a fake looking fashion or they were just rubble.

Wednesday - San Pedro Prison & The Doors: No this isn´t a riddle and no we didn´t get arrested before you ask.. That being said, if you have been to Bolvia or know much about horrible jails around the world, San Pedro Prison in La Paz usually always makes the top 10! Now, having been in south america for almost three months we have been hearing crazy stories about this place. We have met a few people who have actually been able to arrange a tour there. Let me explain this prison, inside, its entirely run by prisoners. They are also the guards. Now on the outer perimeter there are real government guards. Inside, its pretty much run by the prisoners and you need to buy or rent your sell including most other things. The majority of prisoners are drug traffickers. Now of the tourists I´ve met, they all have done the tour via this Dutch drug trafficker. So being very interested and feeling its pretty safe based upon first hand stories, we rock up to the front gate hoping for a tour. Quickly I saw a European guy who asked us where we are from, I said Holland thinking it was him. He gave us his telephone number and we called him. He mentioned that due to the recent riot, tours are now banned, but we could come have a chat with him. We took him up on his offer and had a 30 minute chat with the guy. He told us of his hardships and how life is on the inside. My conclusion, if you have money this would be must better than real jail, but without you are in a very bad situation. This fella, Sebastian was busted for bringing 7kg of cocaine to Europe. So this guy is not some innocent person who accidentally carried a bag for someone. He seemed strange, but somewhat balanced and resolute to finish his 7 year sentence that finished in 13 months. If you are interested in reading about life in San Pedro five years ago before the changes, read Marching Powder.
So I mentioned THE DOORS. Well, I have a major regret in my life, I was walking back from a softball game a few years ago in London and I saw that the Doors (Robby Kreiger and Ray Manzeriek) were playing. In my muddied clothes carrying my briefcase and alone, I decided it would not be possible to go change and make it back in time so I didn´t go. The Doors are one of my top 3 favourite bands, more so from my youth, but I still listen to them frequently. So as we left the jail we saw Doors fliers. Looking closely we saw they would be playing IN LA PAZ, that night!! quickly we rushed to the venue and bought our tickets. They started playing, I mean rocking at about 9pm and the Jim Morrison replacement was even more convincing than Val Kilmer! Being poor travellers we didn´t buy the VIP seats and were in with the main crowd. Many of the VIP seats were empty and after a few songs the crowd surged forward jumping the fence to watch The Doors up close. Yes we did the same and I reminded Marina we were just in a prison only a few hours before.. What a great show, certainly this day was one of the best of our trip!!!

Thursday - Lake Titicaca (meaning grey puma): We arrived in the early afternoon with the sun beating down. Now the lake is at about 3900 meters and we wanted to get a bit higher so climbed Cerro Clavario mountain which is in Copacabana, the town we stayed in just on the lake. The mountain is a holy mountain home to a full stations of the cross walk and also has holy ceremonies. We witnessed one done by a priest (I presume) and the family was praying for a car, house and money - very strange I felt.

Friday - Isla del Sol: Yesterday we arranged a boat trip to Isla del Sol (sun island) which is the biggest Island on the lake. We hiked from the north to the south and then enjoyed some delicious lake trout as a reward. The island is gorgeous and the scenery over the lake is superb with dark blue waters and a light blue sky above, but, there is not much around so we decided to make our way to Puno in Peru. We caught the bus at 1830 and arrived in Puno a few hours later.

That's if for this story, the next one will be all about PERU!!

What do we have planned for this week - Puno, Arequipa and then Cuzco.

Hasta Luego,

Dan & Marina

Week 35 - Brazil

The Sambadromo
Carnival Street Party

The view of Rio with Copacabana beach on the left

Sugar Loaf Mountain

The view from our hostel room in Florianopolis

Bon dia, Como Via!!

Well the past week has been a wet and wild time in Brazil!

Let me tell you about the newest change to Brazil which has been a real pain in the backside (the wallet I mean). We all know the economy has changes and currencies go up and down in value, well Brazil’s currency is worth nearly double what it was on my last trip 3 years ago. Have they adjusted the prices? No, so what does that mean... Well, to put it in perspective, we have spent roughly more money in our 8 days here than 3 weeks in Japan!!! To go out to a bar, its the same as the poshest clubs in London..

That being said, in Rio for carnival, its all about the street party!

I hate to complain about the weather as there are horrible events happening around the world, however, I miss the sun, the last time we saw it was in Paraguay. Well that’s a lie, we have seen it a few times for fleeting moments!

So what have we been up to beside getting soaked; Rio De Janeiro > Florianopolis

Friday to Wednesday - RIO CARNIVAL: Firstly, I’ll explain what you can expect if you come to Carnival in Rio. Besides going to bars or clubs which is similar to a normal Saturday night in Rio, Carnival is all about the street parties and the Sambadromo. The street parties will play live samba music and everyone dances and sings. You can join these usually from morning until about 11pm, although most are in the afternoon or night. The atmosphere is nice and fun and is certainly ok for kids. The street parties are scheduled all over the city so its not all in one place.

Rio is truly a gorgeous city! There are green mountains around along with beaches everywhere. On Sunday we took the cable car up to Sugar Loaf mountain (you can guess why they call it that). The views were spectacular and Rio from the sky is even more stunning.

For accommodation, we booked an apartment in Copacabana which was great as we lived on a few frozen pizzas and some pasta we made for the short time we spent there.

Don’t get me wrong; we had a great time. However, I’ve heard by countless Brazilians and Internationals that this is the biggest party in the world so I had what you would call 'high expectations'. The main issue is the parties are all spread out and only last for a few hours and then you need to get on the subway and go to a different part of the city to find a new one. It is absolutely not the crazy wild party I’ve seen on TV in the past. The government or something else has severely toned down the festival. We did not see anything that wouldn’t be in a PG rated movie and that includes on the beaches.

One funny thing, Brazilian men really get in touch with their feminine side during carnival with what it seems to be a majority wearing women’s clothes, dawning wigs, make-up, etc. Marina met a gay guy who was very unhappy that straight men were doing this as well.

The Sambadromo is the parade procession you see on TV. Again this is absolutely a family event and the parades are spectacular indeed, but most foreign men seemed a bit bored after a bit. While the locals and foreign women were entertained. Marina loved the colors, feathers, flowers and decorations. This is not a wild party and people go just to watch the parades. One should think of it as a performance, similar to Disneyland or a large show. For the parade, you have six schools which compete. Each school has 82 minutes and for this time, you hear the same deafening samba song over and over again! Thousands of people take part in each school so it is really a huge display with countless hours of effort on the part of these individuals. To be honest, I was falling a sleep after the 2nd school, but we stayed until the monsoon hit.

The best thing about Carnival is the Brazilians! They are incredibly friendly and inviting. During the street parties, it’s not long before you’re invited into their group and will be drinking with them. This really makes the party a lot of fun!

Wednesday to Saturday - The beaches of Florianopolis: I can absolutely see that Florianopolis is a truly fun and awesome place. It’s the party centre of Brazil. However (I have a few of these this week), when its raining every day (like cats and dogs) and it can cost you $75 for a meal in a simple restaurant (for two), you don’t have the same kind of fun. Going out to the bars and clubs for just a night will be 3times our daily budget for money. The beaches which we had a few chances to get to are gorgeous! White sand beaches surrounded by green mountains. I would absolutely like to come back and do it properly.

In summary, we really picked the wrong time to come to Brazil and anyone who thinks this is the best party in the world, needs to go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Octoberfest in Munich, or San Fermines in Pamplona, Spain.

So what’s next for us besides getting out of Brazil as fast as possible; we fly to La Paz, Bolivia on Monday after a brief over night stop in Buenos Aires (Marina is thrilled by that).

Until next time,

Ciao,

Dan ad Marina

Week 34 - Paraguay

Itaipu Dam, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay

I think this is Iguazu Falls, but can´t say for sure.. :D

Pool Time!

Who is hungry for dinner?

Hola chicos!

So Paraguay is not the vast land of travel opportunities, but it is certainly worth a week or two to see the place! We have had a great time in Paraguay and its been a bit of adventure and fun. The place has been very easy to travel, but there is not a hostel scene, so its not common to meet backpackers.

Paraguay has quite a few European influences, from people who escaped persecution and also persecutors who had escaped facing their crimes. Many Russians have settled here from the Soviet time and you will see quite a few Orthodox churches with Russian words on the outside. From what I´ve read, Paraguay was also a haven for Nazis as well, but that wouldn´t be so obvious. However there are a lot of blue eyed and blond haired German looking people, but I´m sure its just a recessive gene that the Indigenous Paraguayans carry :D One other interesting part of Paraguay is that their traditional music is Polka!

So where have we been this week; Encarnacion > Ciudad del Este > San Bernardino > Asuncion

Sunday - Travelling to Ciudad del Este: The buses in Paraguay are amazing. They are not always super comfy like in Argentina, but they are VERY frequent. I think only one time thus far we have waited for a bus and it was 20 minutes. We are usually hopping on long distance buses as we go. As we caught the bus with no food that day (being 1pm) we were hungry. Paraguay is fantastic for quick eats. I don´t mean burgers and fries like back home. Ladies come on the bus selling fresh cheese bread. When the bus stops you can run in a shop and get grilled meats - beef, chicken, sausage, and also the delicious empanadas. You certainly won´t go hungry in Paraguay and the food is very cheap as well.

Monday - A tale: To start the day, Marina and Dan went to see the world´s second largest dam, the Itaipu dam. The thing is so massive that it produces 80% of Paraguay´s power demand and 25% of Brazil's! It was a pretty cool sight, especially as the water was flowing through! Now let me tell you a tale, which cannot be told in the first person for legal reasons. Lets call the characters Darina and Man, or to simplify - Mandarina. Mandarina was required to have a Paraguayan visa, unfortunately Mandarina only had a single entry visa already stamped thus unable to leave and come back. Since Iguazu Falls (one of the world´s premier waterfalls was only a few miles away in Brazil) Mandarina was sad. Then using the melon, Mandarina realised that crossing boarders in South America is as chaotic as a Texas rodeo. This was a big scary decision, but finally Mandarina built up the courage to cross the boarders and successfully passed the Paraguayan and Brazilian check points. The Waterfalls were phenomenal and brought Mandarina great joy! Upon returning to the boarder crossing a great rain poured down on Mandarina creating further anxiety by delaying the return. As Mandarina tried to cross the boarder, the first of the two crossings proved impossible due to a certain vigilance conveyed by the boarder staff. Mandarina successfully backtracked without delay and was not questioned by the guards. Mandarina walked up the street a ways and boarded a shared taxi. This taxi did not arise any suspicions and swiftly drove Mandarina back into Paraguay w/o any legal ramifications. Mandarina smiled with joy and thought.... NEVER AGAIN!

Tuesday - Poolside BBQ: We took the 8am bus to San Ber (as Paraguayans call it) and jumped off our bus in the middle of nowhere and within 5 seconds our connecting bus was there. We crammed into the packed bus with a chaotic driver with our big backpacks on our shoulders. Within 10 minutes we were there. San Ber is the typical weekend destinations for people from Asuncion. The main draw is the huge lake and many relaxing activities. We checked into one of the two hotels in town. As its a bit late in the summer, no one was in San Ber and we virtually had the hotel to ourselves. For $35 we were given a suite, which was bigger than most London apartments, lake view balcony, and most importantly access to the pool and BBQ below. Needing my BBQ fix, that is for cooking, after seeing everyone else BBQing all the time, we went to the store to get supplies, with a bottle of wine, beer and a few steaks we were livin!!

Wednesday & Thursday: With a chauffeured ride to our hotel in Asuncion from a nice manager at our hotel in San Ber and once we settled in were sightseeing. Based on our time, the sights are limited in Asuncion, but its a nice enough place for a night or two.

What`s in store for us next, well, chaos, major and utter chaos! Its called Carnival, but this time its the real thing in Rio de Janeiro! We fly there today and spend 5 nights trying not to have party overload and then fly to Florianopolis to relax, but will probably be further carnage!

Hasta Luego,

Dan and Marina