Ok, so apparently I got bored with this blog about halfway through my year down south. I'm back in the US now, for everyone that still checks this thing. I arrived back December 22nd, was home for 3 weeks doing Rotary presentations and visiting friends, then went back to Colombia to look for work (since I had the ticket back already). Finally I decided it wasn't where I wanted to be at this point in my life, so I came back.
Now I'm in Centerville, MN, just north of the Twin Cities. Job hunt starts today!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
LAKE TITICACA, MACHU PICCHU
After a looooong absence, I finally finish my blog entries about my trip to Peru...more to come on my new adventures in Colombia.
LAKE TITICACA
After staying 3 nights in Arequipa, I boarded a bus to Puno, a port city on lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the Americas, sitting at about 3800 meters above sea level (roughly 11,000 feet or so). The bus ride was about 6 hours, and I knew I wasn't going to spend the night in Puno, so I wanted to arrive early to take advantage of the entire day. So I bought my bus ticket for 7am. Like a good gringa, I arrived at 6:50am. Like good Peruvians, the bus arrived at the station at 7:45am, people were still boarding at 8:30am, and we finally set off at 9am.
I had found the cheapest ticket at only 15 Soles (about $5). And you really get what you pay for.... the bus was really old, smelled, and stopped only once in the middle of the desert so that everyone could get out and relieve themselves. I had to put up with 6 hours next to a fat man who didn't wear deodorant, next to a window that didn't open. Ugh...
But finally I arrived in Puno...to arrive we had to go through some places that were higher than 4000 meters (12,000 feet), and I was starting to get a bad headache... I was also feeling a little woozy from the big slab of chorizo (pig skin?) I had the day before in Arequipa (recommended to me by a good Arequipeño friend). So I just took pictures of Lake Titicaca, chilled out for a while, and headed out that night to Cuzco.
MACHU PICCHU
After yet another overnight bus ride, this time to Cuzco, I met up with Mauricio and Ivan, the two Ecuadorian friends that I had met along the way. We spent the day walking around Cuzco and enjoying the sites, visiting old ruins, spending too much money on all the touristy stuff...
Then we went to Machu Picchu. It's a rather complicated process to arrive in Machu Picchu. The thing is, there's really only 1 way to arrive there, and that's by train. And the train company is a monopoly because it has the rights to the land where the tracks lie, and won't allow for a road to be built. And when you arrive you don't even arrive at the base of Machu Picchu, but rather the city at the bottom of the mountain called Aguas Calientes. From there you have to either walk or take a bus up to the base of Machu Picchu.
The three of us finally arrive in Aguas Calientes, with almost no money, hoping to use an ATM to get some cash to pay the $40 entrance fee. BAD IDEA TO RELY ON ATMS IN LATIN AMERICA. There was only 1 ATM in Aguas Calientes and it didn't work... So we piled all of our money from all currencies together and exchanged it for Soles, giving us just enough money to pay our entrance fees (this of course meant that we had no money for food, so we didn't really eat for lunch).
Yet we made it up to Machu Picchu, and WOW......an amazing city....I think pictures would be a better description right about now
After that it was just a quick 21 hour bus ride back to Lima through the thickest, windiest parts of the Andes mountains...then by plane back to Bogota.....
LAKE TITICACA
After staying 3 nights in Arequipa, I boarded a bus to Puno, a port city on lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the Americas, sitting at about 3800 meters above sea level (roughly 11,000 feet or so). The bus ride was about 6 hours, and I knew I wasn't going to spend the night in Puno, so I wanted to arrive early to take advantage of the entire day. So I bought my bus ticket for 7am. Like a good gringa, I arrived at 6:50am. Like good Peruvians, the bus arrived at the station at 7:45am, people were still boarding at 8:30am, and we finally set off at 9am.
I had found the cheapest ticket at only 15 Soles (about $5). And you really get what you pay for.... the bus was really old, smelled, and stopped only once in the middle of the desert so that everyone could get out and relieve themselves. I had to put up with 6 hours next to a fat man who didn't wear deodorant, next to a window that didn't open. Ugh...
But finally I arrived in Puno...to arrive we had to go through some places that were higher than 4000 meters (12,000 feet), and I was starting to get a bad headache... I was also feeling a little woozy from the big slab of chorizo (pig skin?) I had the day before in Arequipa (recommended to me by a good Arequipeño friend). So I just took pictures of Lake Titicaca, chilled out for a while, and headed out that night to Cuzco.
MACHU PICCHU
After yet another overnight bus ride, this time to Cuzco, I met up with Mauricio and Ivan, the two Ecuadorian friends that I had met along the way. We spent the day walking around Cuzco and enjoying the sites, visiting old ruins, spending too much money on all the touristy stuff...
Then we went to Machu Picchu. It's a rather complicated process to arrive in Machu Picchu. The thing is, there's really only 1 way to arrive there, and that's by train. And the train company is a monopoly because it has the rights to the land where the tracks lie, and won't allow for a road to be built. And when you arrive you don't even arrive at the base of Machu Picchu, but rather the city at the bottom of the mountain called Aguas Calientes. From there you have to either walk or take a bus up to the base of Machu Picchu.
The three of us finally arrive in Aguas Calientes, with almost no money, hoping to use an ATM to get some cash to pay the $40 entrance fee. BAD IDEA TO RELY ON ATMS IN LATIN AMERICA. There was only 1 ATM in Aguas Calientes and it didn't work... So we piled all of our money from all currencies together and exchanged it for Soles, giving us just enough money to pay our entrance fees (this of course meant that we had no money for food, so we didn't really eat for lunch).
Yet we made it up to Machu Picchu, and WOW......an amazing city....I think pictures would be a better description right about now
After that it was just a quick 21 hour bus ride back to Lima through the thickest, windiest parts of the Andes mountains...then by plane back to Bogota.....
Thursday, July 10, 2008
NASCA, AREQUIPA, EARTHQUAKES AND STRIKES, OH MY!
NASCA
After staying only about 8 hours in Lima, I hopped another bus to Nasca, about a 7 hour bus ride from the capital. It was another overnight bus trip, one of 4 I had been on that week. It is always difficult to sleep well on overnight bus rides because the seats aren´t comfortable and the bus is always stopping to pick up and drop off passengers. But this time we had another, unexpected difficulty. At about 4am I was jerked awake when the bus drove off the highway and almost crashed. The bus came to a stop, and for another minute or so it continued to rock back and forth. Still half asleep, I wasn´t sure what was going on, and the first thing that passed through my mind was ¨crazy peruvian bus driver fell asleep at the wheel.¨ The bus set off again and I immediately fell asleep.
Later that day, while in Nasca I was reading the news at an internet cafe and something caught my eye. ¨Earthquake rattles southern Peru.¨ And I thought to myself...hmmm I´M in Southern Peru... I quickly realized that our little ordeal the night before was the result of that 6.0 earthquake. It hit pretty hard near Arequipa, and was felt all the way downt to the Chilean border.
So I arrive in Nasca, in the company of a Dutch girl that I met at the bus station in Lima. We both wanted to go in an airplane to see that Nasca lines, but after finding out that it cost $80 I decided that I would be content with taking a 3 soles ($1) bus ride to a lookout point where I would be able to see two of the figures. The Dutch girl decided to take the plane, and that´s the last we saw of each other. The lookout point was located in the middle of nowhere in the desert. Seriously it was just one long open road with desert on either side, mountains in the distance, and a small tower smack dab in the middle of it all. I was happy that I saved $79, because the 2 figures I saw were clear enough that I was satisfied.
I chilled out in Nasca for the rest of the day as I waited for my bus to Arequipa. I planned to take another overnight bus to Arequipa, but the following day all of south Peru was going to be striking against the government and they planned to close the highways at midnight. It´s about 8-9 hours from Nasca to Arequipa, so I got ont he 4pm bus, finally arriving in Arequipa at 1am.
AREQUIPA
This city is BEAUTIFUL. They call it the ¨white city¨because of the structure, everything made in stone and much of it being white. After Lima which has over 8 million people, Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, yet has less than 1 million inhabitants. It is very calm, and besides the cold winter nights, during the day the weather is amazing, probably somewhere between 70-80F.
Because I arrived at 1am and it had been 4 days since I slept in a bed, when I got to the hostel I completely crashed, and besides waking up briefly because of a slight aftershock in the middle of the night, I didn´t get out of bed until almost noon the next day. I was awoken by protesters banging on the doors and windows as they passed through the streets. Not wanting to miss such a cultural experience, I quickly headed to La Plaza de Armas and watched as hundreds of people marched around the plaza yelling and demanding a new president. They were protesting against the government because the cost of living has doubled in the past few years and wages haven´t gone up at all, yet the people in power seem to get richer and richer. I watched as fights broke out and fires were started. It was chaos. And like a good tourist, I enjoyed watching this while having lunch on a nearby balcony.
Arequipa is my ¨rest stop¨ if you will. I´ve already been here 2 nights and I plan to stay one more night before I head to Puno, a port on Lake Titicaca, tomorrow. From there I will take an overnight train to Cuzco and hopefully be able to make it to Machu Picchu. There have been protests and riots in Cuzco as well, with many of the streets closing, blocking the way to the sacred Inca ruins. Machu Picchu is my ultimate goal, so I have my fingers crossed....
After staying only about 8 hours in Lima, I hopped another bus to Nasca, about a 7 hour bus ride from the capital. It was another overnight bus trip, one of 4 I had been on that week. It is always difficult to sleep well on overnight bus rides because the seats aren´t comfortable and the bus is always stopping to pick up and drop off passengers. But this time we had another, unexpected difficulty. At about 4am I was jerked awake when the bus drove off the highway and almost crashed. The bus came to a stop, and for another minute or so it continued to rock back and forth. Still half asleep, I wasn´t sure what was going on, and the first thing that passed through my mind was ¨crazy peruvian bus driver fell asleep at the wheel.¨ The bus set off again and I immediately fell asleep.
Later that day, while in Nasca I was reading the news at an internet cafe and something caught my eye. ¨Earthquake rattles southern Peru.¨ And I thought to myself...hmmm I´M in Southern Peru... I quickly realized that our little ordeal the night before was the result of that 6.0 earthquake. It hit pretty hard near Arequipa, and was felt all the way downt to the Chilean border.
So I arrive in Nasca, in the company of a Dutch girl that I met at the bus station in Lima. We both wanted to go in an airplane to see that Nasca lines, but after finding out that it cost $80 I decided that I would be content with taking a 3 soles ($1) bus ride to a lookout point where I would be able to see two of the figures. The Dutch girl decided to take the plane, and that´s the last we saw of each other. The lookout point was located in the middle of nowhere in the desert. Seriously it was just one long open road with desert on either side, mountains in the distance, and a small tower smack dab in the middle of it all. I was happy that I saved $79, because the 2 figures I saw were clear enough that I was satisfied.
I chilled out in Nasca for the rest of the day as I waited for my bus to Arequipa. I planned to take another overnight bus to Arequipa, but the following day all of south Peru was going to be striking against the government and they planned to close the highways at midnight. It´s about 8-9 hours from Nasca to Arequipa, so I got ont he 4pm bus, finally arriving in Arequipa at 1am.
AREQUIPA
This city is BEAUTIFUL. They call it the ¨white city¨because of the structure, everything made in stone and much of it being white. After Lima which has over 8 million people, Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, yet has less than 1 million inhabitants. It is very calm, and besides the cold winter nights, during the day the weather is amazing, probably somewhere between 70-80F.
Because I arrived at 1am and it had been 4 days since I slept in a bed, when I got to the hostel I completely crashed, and besides waking up briefly because of a slight aftershock in the middle of the night, I didn´t get out of bed until almost noon the next day. I was awoken by protesters banging on the doors and windows as they passed through the streets. Not wanting to miss such a cultural experience, I quickly headed to La Plaza de Armas and watched as hundreds of people marched around the plaza yelling and demanding a new president. They were protesting against the government because the cost of living has doubled in the past few years and wages haven´t gone up at all, yet the people in power seem to get richer and richer. I watched as fights broke out and fires were started. It was chaos. And like a good tourist, I enjoyed watching this while having lunch on a nearby balcony.
Arequipa is my ¨rest stop¨ if you will. I´ve already been here 2 nights and I plan to stay one more night before I head to Puno, a port on Lake Titicaca, tomorrow. From there I will take an overnight train to Cuzco and hopefully be able to make it to Machu Picchu. There have been protests and riots in Cuzco as well, with many of the streets closing, blocking the way to the sacred Inca ruins. Machu Picchu is my ultimate goal, so I have my fingers crossed....
Monday, July 7, 2008
LEAVING ECUADOR AND ENTERING PERU
CROSSING THE PERUVIAN BORDER
Tumbes! Tumbes! Migracion! Migracion! Taxis! Taxis! Cally and I had just arrived in Huaquillas, a border city on the Ecuadorian side of the Ecuador/Peru border. We'd just spent 17 hours on a bus ride that should have only taken 12 hours. Because the Quito soccer team just won La Copa Libertadores, the town has been chaotic for days, and the bus ended up leaving the capital 3 hours late because of traffic. Then at 2:30am we were stopped by the police in the middle of nowhere so they could check the bus for drugs. A few hours later one of our tires popped, which put us back even further. We finally reached the border at 1:30pm, well past our anticipated 8am arrival time. There went our plan for reaching Pacasmayo, which would have been another 8 hour busride down the Peruvian coast to where Cally had friends running a marathon.
So we're in Huaquillas, and quickly we see that this is not the opportune place for 2 blonde gringas to be chilling out. Vendors were pulling us this way and that to sell their products and offering us rides to Peruvian immigration (which is located kilometers from the border, don't ask me why). We were a wee bit uncomfortable in Huaquillas, but luckily we were traveling with Ivan and Marcelo, two Quiteños that we met on the trip. Even so, we still stuck out like a sore thumb, even with two Ecuadorians at our side. We later read that the border crossing between Huaquillas (Ecuadorian side) and Tumbes (Peruvian side) is the most dangerous border crossing in South America.
MANCORA
Since we weren't going to make it down to Pacasmayo, we decided to continue with Ivan and Marcelo to a town called Máncora just 2 hours down the coast. A beautiful beach town situated in an ideal part of northern Peru, it is a hotspot for tourists. It is always summer in Máncora. It is paradise. For a mere 15 soles ($5) we had a private hotel room with a bathroom, tv, and warm water (halleluja!).
While Cally hiked a nearby hill, I spent my day on the beach. There I ate the best ceviche I've ever had. Squid...octopus...mmm yummy. The city is beautiful, yet at one point we looked around and realized that there were sooooo many people of gringo/european origin. After 6 months living in South America, this struck us as weird.
BUS RIDE FROM MANCORA TO LIMA
At 6pm Sunday evening Cally, Ivan, Marcelo and I boarded a bus headed to Lima. We chose the cheapest option for 65 soles ($23). After a while into the trip, we realized that the cheapest option may not always be the best option. Once again, a trip that was supposed to last 17 hours turned into 20 hours because of easily avoidable occurences. We were told by 3 separate people from the agency that we would stop for dinner, so of course I didn't have anything to eat before we set off. But apparently the dinner plans were a lie, so I was super hungry for most of the trip. However, instead of making one stop to eat, we made about 300 stops to pick up travelers on the side of the road. The bus seriously stopped every 10-15 minutes. This started to annoy many of the passengers, and after a while every time we stopped they began to pound on the windows yelling "vamos! vamos!" Being a heavy sleeper, I hardly realized that we were stopping so often, but you can bet that I woke up every time the passengers began to bang the windows en masse. As a grown adult, banging windows never occurred to me as an appropriate response to anything.
At 7am, one of the passengers decided it would be a great idea to stand up with his Bible and give a 45 minute sermon about how we will all go to hell if we continue to sin. Among talking about adultery, homosexuality, and use of contraceptives, he also said that if a woman is married she should never invite her friends over because they will want to sleep with her husband. Kudos to him for having strong ideas, but good lord 7am? He was followed by a magician and a nutritionist. In the end we had to listen to crazy vendors for a good 4 hours straight.
Despite what was happening inside the bus, what was going out outside was incredible. The luscious, green, curvy, mountainous terrain eventually turned into flat, brown, desert. As we made our way further and further south, the temperature began to drop slightly as this part of the world is currently in the dead of winter. The bus ride followed the Pacific coast, so we have been traveling at sea level for quite some time now. It will definitely be much colder when we go back up into the Andes for the rest of our travels.
FINALLY we arrived in Lima at 2pm, a good 20 hours after we set off. We are here at the house of one of Cally's friends, smelly and hungry and not wanting to be sitting. After so much time in buses (over 60 hours now) I realized that my circulation is crap because every once in a while I will lose feeling in my hand for no reason. I'll have to do some exercises before the next bus trip.
NEXT STOP: NAZCA
Tonight at 10:45pm I head even further south, down to Nazca. It is an 8 hour bus ride, so I will arrive in the morning. I will do the rest of this trip solo, leaving Cally in Lima with her friends and her mom who will arrive on Wednesday. So I will arrive in Nazca in the morning, and hopefully be able to catch an overflight to see the famous Nazca lines. Look them up, they're super cool.
So one day in Nazca, then yet another overnight bus trip to Arequipa.
Tumbes! Tumbes! Migracion! Migracion! Taxis! Taxis! Cally and I had just arrived in Huaquillas, a border city on the Ecuadorian side of the Ecuador/Peru border. We'd just spent 17 hours on a bus ride that should have only taken 12 hours. Because the Quito soccer team just won La Copa Libertadores, the town has been chaotic for days, and the bus ended up leaving the capital 3 hours late because of traffic. Then at 2:30am we were stopped by the police in the middle of nowhere so they could check the bus for drugs. A few hours later one of our tires popped, which put us back even further. We finally reached the border at 1:30pm, well past our anticipated 8am arrival time. There went our plan for reaching Pacasmayo, which would have been another 8 hour busride down the Peruvian coast to where Cally had friends running a marathon.
So we're in Huaquillas, and quickly we see that this is not the opportune place for 2 blonde gringas to be chilling out. Vendors were pulling us this way and that to sell their products and offering us rides to Peruvian immigration (which is located kilometers from the border, don't ask me why). We were a wee bit uncomfortable in Huaquillas, but luckily we were traveling with Ivan and Marcelo, two Quiteños that we met on the trip. Even so, we still stuck out like a sore thumb, even with two Ecuadorians at our side. We later read that the border crossing between Huaquillas (Ecuadorian side) and Tumbes (Peruvian side) is the most dangerous border crossing in South America.
MANCORA
Since we weren't going to make it down to Pacasmayo, we decided to continue with Ivan and Marcelo to a town called Máncora just 2 hours down the coast. A beautiful beach town situated in an ideal part of northern Peru, it is a hotspot for tourists. It is always summer in Máncora. It is paradise. For a mere 15 soles ($5) we had a private hotel room with a bathroom, tv, and warm water (halleluja!).
While Cally hiked a nearby hill, I spent my day on the beach. There I ate the best ceviche I've ever had. Squid...octopus...mmm yummy. The city is beautiful, yet at one point we looked around and realized that there were sooooo many people of gringo/european origin. After 6 months living in South America, this struck us as weird.
BUS RIDE FROM MANCORA TO LIMA
At 6pm Sunday evening Cally, Ivan, Marcelo and I boarded a bus headed to Lima. We chose the cheapest option for 65 soles ($23). After a while into the trip, we realized that the cheapest option may not always be the best option. Once again, a trip that was supposed to last 17 hours turned into 20 hours because of easily avoidable occurences. We were told by 3 separate people from the agency that we would stop for dinner, so of course I didn't have anything to eat before we set off. But apparently the dinner plans were a lie, so I was super hungry for most of the trip. However, instead of making one stop to eat, we made about 300 stops to pick up travelers on the side of the road. The bus seriously stopped every 10-15 minutes. This started to annoy many of the passengers, and after a while every time we stopped they began to pound on the windows yelling "vamos! vamos!" Being a heavy sleeper, I hardly realized that we were stopping so often, but you can bet that I woke up every time the passengers began to bang the windows en masse. As a grown adult, banging windows never occurred to me as an appropriate response to anything.
At 7am, one of the passengers decided it would be a great idea to stand up with his Bible and give a 45 minute sermon about how we will all go to hell if we continue to sin. Among talking about adultery, homosexuality, and use of contraceptives, he also said that if a woman is married she should never invite her friends over because they will want to sleep with her husband. Kudos to him for having strong ideas, but good lord 7am? He was followed by a magician and a nutritionist. In the end we had to listen to crazy vendors for a good 4 hours straight.
Despite what was happening inside the bus, what was going out outside was incredible. The luscious, green, curvy, mountainous terrain eventually turned into flat, brown, desert. As we made our way further and further south, the temperature began to drop slightly as this part of the world is currently in the dead of winter. The bus ride followed the Pacific coast, so we have been traveling at sea level for quite some time now. It will definitely be much colder when we go back up into the Andes for the rest of our travels.
FINALLY we arrived in Lima at 2pm, a good 20 hours after we set off. We are here at the house of one of Cally's friends, smelly and hungry and not wanting to be sitting. After so much time in buses (over 60 hours now) I realized that my circulation is crap because every once in a while I will lose feeling in my hand for no reason. I'll have to do some exercises before the next bus trip.
NEXT STOP: NAZCA
Tonight at 10:45pm I head even further south, down to Nazca. It is an 8 hour bus ride, so I will arrive in the morning. I will do the rest of this trip solo, leaving Cally in Lima with her friends and her mom who will arrive on Wednesday. So I will arrive in Nazca in the morning, and hopefully be able to catch an overflight to see the famous Nazca lines. Look them up, they're super cool.
So one day in Nazca, then yet another overnight bus trip to Arequipa.
Friday, July 4, 2008
QUITO IN CHAOS
QUITO AND LA COPA LIBERTADORES
After crossing the Ecuadorian border, Cally and I spent 2 days in Otavalo, an indigenous community in the north of Ecuador. Then on Wednesday we made our way down to Quito, just 3 hours in bus from Otavalo. It was perfect timing since Wednesday night Quito played Rio de Janeiro in the championship game of la Copa Libertadores. Definitely the underdog, it was a shock when Quito actually won in penalty kicks. Brazil must not have been expecting it, since the confetti being blown were of Rio colors. They city went crazy, and after the win, everyone went partying in the plaza, so we figured it would be a great "cultural experience" to join them. It was like something out of a movie...drunk people everywhere, jumping on cars, throwing bottles, screaming...
QUITO, A TRANQUIL CITY WITH A MERE 3 MILLION
Quito, although a city of 3 million inhabitants, is only 1/3 the size of Bogotá, which makes it seem very calm for me. It is a very clean city, well-maintained.. The historical center, or the colonial part of the city, is the largest historical center of any latin american country. In the ´70s with the modernization movement many people wanted to tear down the old historical buildings and replace them with newer modern ones. There was much protest and in the end it never happened. However, they succeeded in taking down a few, and it is obvious when you look around and see beautiful colorful cultural buildings from the colonial period next to ugly ´70´s buildings all over.
LA MITAD DEL MUNDO
Today we spent most of our day at La Mitad del Mundo, or The Middle of the World. There you can straddle the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time while standing on the equator. Toilets flushing the opposite ways in the different hemispheres is a myth.
ONTO PERU
Now we are just waiting for our bus to leave in an hour for Huaquillas, a city on the Ecuadorian/Peruvian border. From Quito it will be a 12 hour drive, and we will cross in to Peru sometime tomorrow morning. Every day closer to Machu Picchu.....
After crossing the Ecuadorian border, Cally and I spent 2 days in Otavalo, an indigenous community in the north of Ecuador. Then on Wednesday we made our way down to Quito, just 3 hours in bus from Otavalo. It was perfect timing since Wednesday night Quito played Rio de Janeiro in the championship game of la Copa Libertadores. Definitely the underdog, it was a shock when Quito actually won in penalty kicks. Brazil must not have been expecting it, since the confetti being blown were of Rio colors. They city went crazy, and after the win, everyone went partying in the plaza, so we figured it would be a great "cultural experience" to join them. It was like something out of a movie...drunk people everywhere, jumping on cars, throwing bottles, screaming...
QUITO, A TRANQUIL CITY WITH A MERE 3 MILLION
Quito, although a city of 3 million inhabitants, is only 1/3 the size of Bogotá, which makes it seem very calm for me. It is a very clean city, well-maintained.. The historical center, or the colonial part of the city, is the largest historical center of any latin american country. In the ´70s with the modernization movement many people wanted to tear down the old historical buildings and replace them with newer modern ones. There was much protest and in the end it never happened. However, they succeeded in taking down a few, and it is obvious when you look around and see beautiful colorful cultural buildings from the colonial period next to ugly ´70´s buildings all over.
LA MITAD DEL MUNDO
Today we spent most of our day at La Mitad del Mundo, or The Middle of the World. There you can straddle the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time while standing on the equator. Toilets flushing the opposite ways in the different hemispheres is a myth.
ONTO PERU
Now we are just waiting for our bus to leave in an hour for Huaquillas, a city on the Ecuadorian/Peruvian border. From Quito it will be a 12 hour drive, and we will cross in to Peru sometime tomorrow morning. Every day closer to Machu Picchu.....
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Crossing the Colombian/Ecuadorian border
IPIALES ONTO TULCÁN
After 22 hours in a bus ride that took us up mountains, down mountains, around mountains, and into valleys, we finally reached Ipiales, a town that sits a mere 10 minute drive from the Ecuadorian border. During our long trek down Colombia the bus stopped only once in the middle of the day on Sunday so that we could eat lunch. Otherwise it was straight driving from 11pm Saturday night to 8pm Sunday night. The bus ride went from being really really cold at night after the sun set, to really really hot during the day when there was no cloud cover. Because I live in high-altitude Bogotá, sometimes I forget just how close to the equator I live until I enter into the valleys where it is SUPER HOT.
So we were in Ipiales and we trekked over to a super cool cathedral located in a valley over a river, attended Mass, and took a lot of pictures. Above is a picture of the santuary. Many faithful people from around Colombia make pilgrimages to this cathedral, and along the way down into the valley the walls of stone are filled with plaques thanking the virgin for all of the miracles that have happened in her name.
NOW IN ECUADOR
Now we are in Ecuador, in a town called Otavalo about 3 hours from the Colombian border. Although Spanish is spoken in this town, one of the main languages is Quichua, which is an indigenous tongue. People can still be seen walking the streets in traditional clothing, carrying their children or large packs on their backs. Most of these people are fairly short, probably no more than 4ft6in-5ft tall. In the center of the city every day there is a large market where one can buy everything from hand-made sweaters to hand-carved chess sets.
DOLLARS IN ECUADOR
In Ecuador they use the US dollar because it is much more stable than the previous currency, sucres, however the prices are obnoxiously lower than the prices in the US. For example, a 2-hour bus ride from Otavalo to Quito costs only $2, whereas a 2.5-hour bus ride from Minneapolis to Duluth would cost at least $30. A crunch bar in the US costs about $.75 and in Ecuador $.20. Even using this computer in this internet café is only costing me $.01/min. The bills used here are exactly the same as the ones used in the US, but they mint almost all of their own coins. The sackagewea dollar coin is circulated here, but then they have their own 50cent coins, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies with their own images.
CALLY´S BIRTHDAY
Today is Cally´s 25th birthday, by the way. What a way to spend it!!
Tomorrow we head to Quito, about a 2-hour bus ride from here. On the way we will pass ¨la mitad del mundo¨ or the middle of the world (I´m crossing the equator tomorrow).
After 22 hours in a bus ride that took us up mountains, down mountains, around mountains, and into valleys, we finally reached Ipiales, a town that sits a mere 10 minute drive from the Ecuadorian border. During our long trek down Colombia the bus stopped only once in the middle of the day on Sunday so that we could eat lunch. Otherwise it was straight driving from 11pm Saturday night to 8pm Sunday night. The bus ride went from being really really cold at night after the sun set, to really really hot during the day when there was no cloud cover. Because I live in high-altitude Bogotá, sometimes I forget just how close to the equator I live until I enter into the valleys where it is SUPER HOT.
So we were in Ipiales and we trekked over to a super cool cathedral located in a valley over a river, attended Mass, and took a lot of pictures. Above is a picture of the santuary. Many faithful people from around Colombia make pilgrimages to this cathedral, and along the way down into the valley the walls of stone are filled with plaques thanking the virgin for all of the miracles that have happened in her name.NOW IN ECUADOR
Now we are in Ecuador, in a town called Otavalo about 3 hours from the Colombian border. Although Spanish is spoken in this town, one of the main languages is Quichua, which is an indigenous tongue. People can still be seen walking the streets in traditional clothing, carrying their children or large packs on their backs. Most of these people are fairly short, probably no more than 4ft6in-5ft tall. In the center of the city every day there is a large market where one can buy everything from hand-made sweaters to hand-carved chess sets.
DOLLARS IN ECUADOR
In Ecuador they use the US dollar because it is much more stable than the previous currency, sucres, however the prices are obnoxiously lower than the prices in the US. For example, a 2-hour bus ride from Otavalo to Quito costs only $2, whereas a 2.5-hour bus ride from Minneapolis to Duluth would cost at least $30. A crunch bar in the US costs about $.75 and in Ecuador $.20. Even using this computer in this internet café is only costing me $.01/min. The bills used here are exactly the same as the ones used in the US, but they mint almost all of their own coins. The sackagewea dollar coin is circulated here, but then they have their own 50cent coins, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies with their own images.
CALLY´S BIRTHDAY
Today is Cally´s 25th birthday, by the way. What a way to spend it!!
Tomorrow we head to Quito, about a 2-hour bus ride from here. On the way we will pass ¨la mitad del mundo¨ or the middle of the world (I´m crossing the equator tomorrow).
Saturday, June 28, 2008
WE'RE GOING TO PERU IN A BUS
In about an hour Cally and I will be heading out on the roadtrip of our lives. We are making our way down to southern Peru in buses. Our first leg is from Bogotá to Ipiales, a city located on the Colombian/Ecuadorian border. There isn't anything to do in this small town, except see what is supposed to be a super cool cathedral. Our bus leaves at 10:30pm from Bogotá and arrives in Ipiales at 8:30pm tomorrow night....that's right....22 hours. More to follow when we arrive!!!
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