Just for the next few weeks, I have put a file on my World web site (which has a limit of 100 meg, which I'm nearly at). The file is a (very amateurish!) movie I've made that combines video and music that are both directly "of" a very special place: El Condor Pasa (The Condor Pass), a small recreational park about a 90 minute drive on an incredibly dusty but even more incredibly scenic dirt road along Colca Canyon, through two tunnels, from Chibay. Elevation of the park is 13,000 feet.
At the park, the elevation of the river in the canyon is about 10,000 feet. The tops of the surrounding peaks are nearly 20,000 feet. Thus the canyon is nearly two miles deep. Colca Canyon persists with such dimensions for over 50 miles - the world's deepest, and one of its longest, canyons. I have seen Colorado's "Grand" Canyon, and can say with authority that Peru's Colca Canyon makes it look like some logger dragged his axe for a little while.
The video is of the largest-winged birds in the world: Andean Condors - wingspread up to 10 feet - soaring at the Pass.
Peru is like Equador in that even in tourist gathering spots, there are relatively few signs, fences, or other devices to keep careless people from getting hurt or killed. I perched on a rock, in a place from which a fall would definitely have been fatal, to get the video. Panning to follow Condors flying overhead, while perched on said rock, in the wind, was a bit shaky... but I got 10 (fragmented) minutes of incredible video. A little over 2 minutes are included here.
The music is from a song named after the park, written in 1913 by a Peruvian composer based on Peruvian folk tunes, in this case performed by an Andean band named K'Ayataki that we heard in a pedestrian alley in Arequipa.
Wikipedia has the history of the song. You will find the melody very familiar from 1970. However, in the Peruvian cities we visited one still hears it frequently today.
With no further ado, here is the link:
El Condor Pasa, the movie.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
no screwups no cry
Our trip home went flawlessly. Ariel was happily admiring some improvements made in her apartment by 2 pm, and Lisa and I were happily admiring the progress of my garden by 5 pm. WBZ kept us out of the crash-related backup on 128 - try that in Peru!
OK, there was a tiny bit of a flaw: there was a short delay in Atlanta because Logan was fogged in. Nothing to get one's shorts in a bunch about. And I had the classic "share part of your seat with an obese American" experience for 3 hours. I chose to find it educational.
Our luggage arrived in good shape. We had a very pleasant Haitian taxi driver on our way to Brighton. After dropping off Ariel, Lisa and I tried a few decent local sources (Concord, Acton) and given our Peruvian education, we determined that decent ingredients for a foodie lifestyle are not quite what they should be (yet) in the U.S. Pastene and Goya are your best friends for beans, and that's just sad. OTOH the computer connectivity here kicks serious ass. :-)
Not to mention American keyboards. And Oh BABY did I miss my Mac!
- Gary
OK, there was a tiny bit of a flaw: there was a short delay in Atlanta because Logan was fogged in. Nothing to get one's shorts in a bunch about. And I had the classic "share part of your seat with an obese American" experience for 3 hours. I chose to find it educational.
Our luggage arrived in good shape. We had a very pleasant Haitian taxi driver on our way to Brighton. After dropping off Ariel, Lisa and I tried a few decent local sources (Concord, Acton) and given our Peruvian education, we determined that decent ingredients for a foodie lifestyle are not quite what they should be (yet) in the U.S. Pastene and Goya are your best friends for beans, and that's just sad. OTOH the computer connectivity here kicks serious ass. :-)
Not to mention American keyboards. And Oh BABY did I miss my Mac!
- Gary
Monday, August 6, 2007
Three From Peru
Ariel, Lisa, and I are awaiting a taxi to the airport. In about 3.5 hours, we expect to be aloft enroute to Atlanta. Peru has been fascinating.
Our love and thanks to all who commented, called, emailed, and helped.
- Gary
Our love and thanks to all who commented, called, emailed, and helped.
- Gary
Adios Peru; Full Circle
Lisa here. We are on our final hours of our stay in Peru and I just wanted to leave one last post.
When Kate and I arrived three weeks ago, the first thing on our agenda was to visit CPAL, a private, oral school for the Deaf in Lima. We met with the principal and some of the teachers, but as with all good planning, we did not plan well enough. We chose to come to Peru since we wanted to connect with a school for the Deaf in a S. American country and we knew that our summers translate into their winters, so school would be in session here. What we failed to find out was when they were on winter break, which as luck would have it, coincided with our time in Lima. So while we were able to meet with the director of the school, we were unable to see any classes or meet with any students. However, upon checking further, we found out that their school vacation ended last Friday and their first day back in school was today. While Kate would not be here, I made an appointment and was welcomed back to the school today to meet the students and see some classes that were in session.
As Kate and I mentioned in one of our first posts after we visited another school for the Deaf here, kids will be kids and Deaf kids will be Deaf kids no matter where they are in the world. In this same vein, schools will be schools no matter where they are in the world. The first day after vacation is usually filled with what did you do on your vacation stories, and today was no exception. The problem here was, for some odd reason, the 3 classes we (my daughter and I) spent the most time in, the discussion revolved around food, and eating cuy in particular. If you look back at the original pictures posted by Kate way back in May, you might have noticed two animals pictured, an alpaca and my pet guinnea pig. Cuy is Spanish for guinea pig, need I say more?
The visit went well though and I'm hoping that the two schools might create an international connection that will grow over the years. At this point, I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to read and comment on our posts. By keeping this blog it has helped me reflect on the trip, the people we met, and the places we visited. It was truly an experience I will never forgot. And finally, I here, and Kate back home in the states, want to thank Fund for Teachers for granting us the opportunity to revive, learn and grow in Peru.
When Kate and I arrived three weeks ago, the first thing on our agenda was to visit CPAL, a private, oral school for the Deaf in Lima. We met with the principal and some of the teachers, but as with all good planning, we did not plan well enough. We chose to come to Peru since we wanted to connect with a school for the Deaf in a S. American country and we knew that our summers translate into their winters, so school would be in session here. What we failed to find out was when they were on winter break, which as luck would have it, coincided with our time in Lima. So while we were able to meet with the director of the school, we were unable to see any classes or meet with any students. However, upon checking further, we found out that their school vacation ended last Friday and their first day back in school was today. While Kate would not be here, I made an appointment and was welcomed back to the school today to meet the students and see some classes that were in session.
As Kate and I mentioned in one of our first posts after we visited another school for the Deaf here, kids will be kids and Deaf kids will be Deaf kids no matter where they are in the world. In this same vein, schools will be schools no matter where they are in the world. The first day after vacation is usually filled with what did you do on your vacation stories, and today was no exception. The problem here was, for some odd reason, the 3 classes we (my daughter and I) spent the most time in, the discussion revolved around food, and eating cuy in particular. If you look back at the original pictures posted by Kate way back in May, you might have noticed two animals pictured, an alpaca and my pet guinnea pig. Cuy is Spanish for guinea pig, need I say more?
The visit went well though and I'm hoping that the two schools might create an international connection that will grow over the years. At this point, I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to read and comment on our posts. By keeping this blog it has helped me reflect on the trip, the people we met, and the places we visited. It was truly an experience I will never forgot. And finally, I here, and Kate back home in the states, want to thank Fund for Teachers for granting us the opportunity to revive, learn and grow in Peru.
cops will be cops
So far we've seen exactly one sign in Peru that tries to reduce the noise: there's a sign a couple blocks from this hostal that says (translated) "No honking". It has a picture of a trumpet in a crossed circle.
Directly downstream from this sign, a local cop stopped a bus full of people. In the 2-lane road, he stood blocking one lane and the bus took up the other. It was almost exactly 5 pm; traffic was at its raucous height. Completely ignoring the bedlam he was creating, he demanded to see the bus driver's papers.
So Peruvian drivers did what Peruvian drivers do when confronted with an obstacle to forward progress. They blew their horns. In what was maybe the only no-horn-blowing district in the country. In full view of a cop who was in the act of demonstrating that he was quite willing to inconvenience any and every one in his defense of the letter of the law.
We did not stay to watch how this situation was resolved, but I will say that as we walked toward the hostal, the honking abruptly stopped.
- Gary
Directly downstream from this sign, a local cop stopped a bus full of people. In the 2-lane road, he stood blocking one lane and the bus took up the other. It was almost exactly 5 pm; traffic was at its raucous height. Completely ignoring the bedlam he was creating, he demanded to see the bus driver's papers.
So Peruvian drivers did what Peruvian drivers do when confronted with an obstacle to forward progress. They blew their horns. In what was maybe the only no-horn-blowing district in the country. In full view of a cop who was in the act of demonstrating that he was quite willing to inconvenience any and every one in his defense of the letter of the law.
We did not stay to watch how this situation was resolved, but I will say that as we walked toward the hostal, the honking abruptly stopped.
- Gary
Eating in Peru
(This entry is dedicated to Amy ;-)
Peruvian restaurants and service are vastly better than I expected... and generally as good as my favorite U.S. restaurants. As I mentioned in another post, service is much better. I´ve been able to put my finger on the difference over the last few days: wait staff know the ingredients and flexibility of the dishes, rather than needing to "ask the kitchen" about these issues (or worse yet, making something up when they don´t know). Even if they don´t really speak English, they know enough English food words to handle most questions.
I don´t have time now for complete detail, but one good example of Peruvian cuisine is that you can always get a healthful and satisifactory lunch by ordering "ensalada mixto" ' - a mixed salad. The worst one I had was yesterday, and it was quite good: tomato, cucumber, and avocado slices artfully arranged over fresh lettuce, with olive oil and a light vinegrette dressing (made of white wine vinegar, lemon, and black pepper) on the side. (This for $4 US at a rooftop restaurant in Arequipa with spectacular views of the surrounding snow-capped peaks as well as the street below - at which an Andean folk quartet was busking. When they heard me applauding after a number, the leader came up and sold us a CD!).
A more typical mixed salad would not include lettuce, but would have fresh peas, carrots, string beans, and other vegetables that in the U.S. are more typically served cooked.
Garlic and the onion family are used in specific Peruvian entrees, but they are not gratuitously thrown into everything else, so I did not find it hard to avoid them. I even got to have some dishes which in the U.S. are always "poisoned" for me: tomato soup, asparagus soup, and - believe it or not - potato salad, which was absolutely wonderful. Peruvians are rightfully proud of their several hundred local varieties of potato. They also don´t put onion in their mayonaise.
Their scale of "spicy hot" corresponds to one-pepper status in the U.S., though. They have hot peppers, but they use them very sparingly, even when asked to use "mucho".
Lisa and Ariel are back from visiting a school, so it´s time to go find some lunch. Yum!
- Gary
Peruvian restaurants and service are vastly better than I expected... and generally as good as my favorite U.S. restaurants. As I mentioned in another post, service is much better. I´ve been able to put my finger on the difference over the last few days: wait staff know the ingredients and flexibility of the dishes, rather than needing to "ask the kitchen" about these issues (or worse yet, making something up when they don´t know). Even if they don´t really speak English, they know enough English food words to handle most questions.
I don´t have time now for complete detail, but one good example of Peruvian cuisine is that you can always get a healthful and satisifactory lunch by ordering "ensalada mixto" ' - a mixed salad. The worst one I had was yesterday, and it was quite good: tomato, cucumber, and avocado slices artfully arranged over fresh lettuce, with olive oil and a light vinegrette dressing (made of white wine vinegar, lemon, and black pepper) on the side. (This for $4 US at a rooftop restaurant in Arequipa with spectacular views of the surrounding snow-capped peaks as well as the street below - at which an Andean folk quartet was busking. When they heard me applauding after a number, the leader came up and sold us a CD!).
A more typical mixed salad would not include lettuce, but would have fresh peas, carrots, string beans, and other vegetables that in the U.S. are more typically served cooked.
Garlic and the onion family are used in specific Peruvian entrees, but they are not gratuitously thrown into everything else, so I did not find it hard to avoid them. I even got to have some dishes which in the U.S. are always "poisoned" for me: tomato soup, asparagus soup, and - believe it or not - potato salad, which was absolutely wonderful. Peruvians are rightfully proud of their several hundred local varieties of potato. They also don´t put onion in their mayonaise.
Their scale of "spicy hot" corresponds to one-pepper status in the U.S., though. They have hot peppers, but they use them very sparingly, even when asked to use "mucho".
Lisa and Ariel are back from visiting a school, so it´s time to go find some lunch. Yum!
- Gary
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Colca Canyon, back to Lima
Hola. Lisa here. Just a quick update on our whereabouts and what we´ve been up to since Kate left.
It´s Sunday now and we have just one day left here. After spending Thursday and Thursday night in beautiful, SUNNY & WARM Arequipa, we headed off for an overnight going to the Colca Canyon. I believe Gary and I posted various observations about what we encountered thru Friday evening.
On Saturday morning, we got up very early for a two hour drive on a road that would be unfit for covered wagons, to see the condors flying around C0lca Canyon. They are quite impressive although Gary spent much of time time grumbling about the dusty roads (I had to agree). Ariel thought it was amazing and thought we were just being curmudgeons! I took lots of still pics and Gary had fun using the digital camcorder. They were quite a sight and we will post pics once we get home and get some sleep.
While I did enjoy seeing the birds and the beauty of the canyon, the second deepest in the world, I much preferred watching other events pass us by -- cars having to stop and wait for a herd of cows, donkeys, sheep, goats or alpaca cross the road. We also stopped on our way back to Arequipa for lunch and bumped into another group of foreign Deaf tourists in the restaurant. While we didn´t really have time to chat, we did find out that they were from Spain and were out there on vacation.
I´m going to get some shut-eye so I´ll be wide-eyed and alert for my visit back to the school tomorrow morning. Gary is still wrestling with the other computer here in the room and I´m going to turn this one over to him. I´m not sure if I´ll have time to post again before we leave tomorrow night, but if not, I´ll be back from home and will continue to add pics and more comments from this incredible trip!
It´s Sunday now and we have just one day left here. After spending Thursday and Thursday night in beautiful, SUNNY & WARM Arequipa, we headed off for an overnight going to the Colca Canyon. I believe Gary and I posted various observations about what we encountered thru Friday evening.
On Saturday morning, we got up very early for a two hour drive on a road that would be unfit for covered wagons, to see the condors flying around C0lca Canyon. They are quite impressive although Gary spent much of time time grumbling about the dusty roads (I had to agree). Ariel thought it was amazing and thought we were just being curmudgeons! I took lots of still pics and Gary had fun using the digital camcorder. They were quite a sight and we will post pics once we get home and get some sleep.
While I did enjoy seeing the birds and the beauty of the canyon, the second deepest in the world, I much preferred watching other events pass us by -- cars having to stop and wait for a herd of cows, donkeys, sheep, goats or alpaca cross the road. We also stopped on our way back to Arequipa for lunch and bumped into another group of foreign Deaf tourists in the restaurant. While we didn´t really have time to chat, we did find out that they were from Spain and were out there on vacation.
I´m going to get some shut-eye so I´ll be wide-eyed and alert for my visit back to the school tomorrow morning. Gary is still wrestling with the other computer here in the room and I´m going to turn this one over to him. I´m not sure if I´ll have time to post again before we leave tomorrow night, but if not, I´ll be back from home and will continue to add pics and more comments from this incredible trip!
July 30th - The Road to Puno
On July 30th we all boarded a First Class tour bus to take the trek down to Puno, the location of Lake Titicaca. Here are some images of what we saw along the way.
Quite coincidentally, the road to Puno is home to the Qewar
Social Project Workshop, which produces dolls. Lisa has purchased some of these dolls during her travels in Vermont. Now she has seen them up close and personal in Peru. Ask her to tell you the full story sometime!
Our photo in the sidebar shows one of the "pigs" (guinea) who are lucky enough to live with Lisa and Gary. The guinea pigs shown here, or "cuy" as they are called in Peru, are being raised to eventually grace someone's plate. The idea that we keep them as "mascots" (read as, "pets") is quite hilarious to the Peruvians we met.
Our lunch-time entertainment. Both the music and food were quite tasty. Even more welcome was the sunshine and warmth!
Quite coincidentally, the road to Puno is home to the Qewar
Social Project Workshop, which produces dolls. Lisa has purchased some of these dolls during her travels in Vermont. Now she has seen them up close and personal in Peru. Ask her to tell you the full story sometime!
Our photo in the sidebar shows one of the "pigs" (guinea) who are lucky enough to live with Lisa and Gary. The guinea pigs shown here, or "cuy" as they are called in Peru, are being raised to eventually grace someone's plate. The idea that we keep them as "mascots" (read as, "pets") is quite hilarious to the Peruvians we met.
Our lunch-time entertainment. Both the music and food were quite tasty. Even more welcome was the sunshine and warmth!
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Images from Lake Titicaca
Here are some images taken when Lisa, Gary, and Ariel were at Lake Titicaca. Unfortunately I was in bed, most likely watching an old episode of Law and Order at this time.Hopefully one of the LGA crew will be able to add subtitles with information about these pictures.
ps - No, I didn't import this image upside-down, the man is holding the poster of the lake the wrong way. *The reason he is holding it this way is to show the puma shape of the lake. "Titicaca" actually means, grey puma.
**Stars indicate information added on Sunday, August 5th after receiving more information from Lisa and Gary.
The lake, right side up.
Working on the reed islands.
One of the reed boats.
Another reed boat.
Gary and Ariel eating something... maybe something related to the reeds? *Indeed, reeds are not just for living on and building, but for eating. The inside is soft, with a mild taste.
Friday, August 3, 2007
A Few Pictures Before Bed
Fund for Teachers at is one of the Seven Wonders... Or rather, Fund for Teachers AT one of the new Seven Wonders of the World! Thanks to FFT we were able to make it all the way to Machu Picchu! Please note if you click on the pictures, you will be able to see them in a larger view in a separate window.
This is a picture of the llamas that carried our things along the Lares trek. It was taken on the first day, July 26th.
Here is a picture with Gary, Ariel, and Lisa with the aforementioned llamas; this was our last day, the 28th.
This and that
Lisa here. Kate, I´m glad to hear you made it home in one piece and can´t wait to hear the rest of your adventures on your way home. I just hope they do not rise above the adventure we had getting you to the airport in Juliaca.
I´m not sure what I last emailed about and since every time you try to go from one page on a blog to another it literally takes about five minutes, please forgive me if I repeat myself.
We arrived in Arequipa mid-day yesterday and checked into our hostal, La Hostal de Mi Abuela. It is truly a spectacular place. It´s the first place we have had with a bathtub and I got to soak my weary feet. Hot water is abundant. There is a pool, pingpong table, and some other game things. It is really hard to explain the richness of the place, but I will try with this example. When we arrived it was the first time we were able to wear shorts and sleeveless tops. We went across the courtyard to have an al fresco lunch overlooking the pool with people sunning themselves in bikinis, parakeets chirping in cages sprinkled around the courtyard, ¨wild¨birds twittering about, feeling hot for once, and looking just past the pool to the snowcapped mountains. Arequipa feels like a richer modern city but with colonial buildings housing hostals, restaurants and shops. We got a recommendation to go to El Turko Restaurante, we went there and the food was great.
Today we headed out on a tour, The Colca Canyon tour, which includes various stops along the way. I believe Gary wrote about his impressions of Chivay so I won´t go into physical descriptions anymore. While Gary was posting to the blog, Ariel and I went out to the market to scout out things to buy. The town is a lot less touristy than others we´ve been in and were happy to be able to go and actually look at something and not be accosted by the owner about buying everything she has in her space. There were the typical young girls parading around town with their baby alpacas or llamas for us to photograph for 1 sole and lots of places to buy wonderful looking fresh fruits which we did not buy because we could not wash them properly.
After an hour of shopping around and Gary blogging, we headed up to the hot springs and went into the thermal baths. I really do wish I could connect my camera and download the picture that could not be described in a thousand words. Picture a descent sized rectangular pool being fed water from the thermal spring. Inside the pool were people floating, sitting, swimming and generally just enjoying the heat. Outside of the pool were people walking around with hats, gloves and heavy jackets. The in-the-pool crowd was very comfortable and I´m sure the out-of-the-pool crowd was too. There were lockers on opposite sides of the pool to put belongings in and cliffs and mountains as a backdrop. Then, the clincher was a woman in full traditional dress of the area making her way around the pool taking drink orders from people in the pool and then delivering them. Incan ingenuity? It´s not a thousand words, but you will just have to wait for the picture.
We´re off to dinner now. Till next time,
Lisa
I´m not sure what I last emailed about and since every time you try to go from one page on a blog to another it literally takes about five minutes, please forgive me if I repeat myself.
We arrived in Arequipa mid-day yesterday and checked into our hostal, La Hostal de Mi Abuela. It is truly a spectacular place. It´s the first place we have had with a bathtub and I got to soak my weary feet. Hot water is abundant. There is a pool, pingpong table, and some other game things. It is really hard to explain the richness of the place, but I will try with this example. When we arrived it was the first time we were able to wear shorts and sleeveless tops. We went across the courtyard to have an al fresco lunch overlooking the pool with people sunning themselves in bikinis, parakeets chirping in cages sprinkled around the courtyard, ¨wild¨birds twittering about, feeling hot for once, and looking just past the pool to the snowcapped mountains. Arequipa feels like a richer modern city but with colonial buildings housing hostals, restaurants and shops. We got a recommendation to go to El Turko Restaurante, we went there and the food was great.
Today we headed out on a tour, The Colca Canyon tour, which includes various stops along the way. I believe Gary wrote about his impressions of Chivay so I won´t go into physical descriptions anymore. While Gary was posting to the blog, Ariel and I went out to the market to scout out things to buy. The town is a lot less touristy than others we´ve been in and were happy to be able to go and actually look at something and not be accosted by the owner about buying everything she has in her space. There were the typical young girls parading around town with their baby alpacas or llamas for us to photograph for 1 sole and lots of places to buy wonderful looking fresh fruits which we did not buy because we could not wash them properly.
After an hour of shopping around and Gary blogging, we headed up to the hot springs and went into the thermal baths. I really do wish I could connect my camera and download the picture that could not be described in a thousand words. Picture a descent sized rectangular pool being fed water from the thermal spring. Inside the pool were people floating, sitting, swimming and generally just enjoying the heat. Outside of the pool were people walking around with hats, gloves and heavy jackets. The in-the-pool crowd was very comfortable and I´m sure the out-of-the-pool crowd was too. There were lockers on opposite sides of the pool to put belongings in and cliffs and mountains as a backdrop. Then, the clincher was a woman in full traditional dress of the area making her way around the pool taking drink orders from people in the pool and then delivering them. Incan ingenuity? It´s not a thousand words, but you will just have to wait for the picture.
We´re off to dinner now. Till next time,
Lisa
Hey, It's Good to Be Back Home Again...
Kate here... here being in Boston. I made it back safe and sound after many hours of travel. Later I will post about the journey home and begin to add pictures to the blog. However, first it's time for a shower and some water that doesn't come from a bottle!
Cough, choke, Chivay!
We are in Chivay, the capital city of Cuylloma province... and you never saw such a mess. I am going to attempt to do what I begged Kate and Lisa to do when they were here and I was still back in the states: describe impressions. Here goes.
This region is a dusty, desert-y place: you can write in the grit over which the mouse is expected to glide, and it´s everywhere that hasn´t been mopped recently. It´s a laser-based mouse; a ball-based one simply wouldn´t work. The dust is a half inch deep alongside the roads. It looks as though it hasn´t rained here since they declared independence many decades ago. Actually it´s very different in the wet season, but right now it´s the dry season and this town takes dry to an extreme you have to experience to believe.
This internet cafe is a noisy place: 4 urchins are crowded around a PC monitor, playing a game and laughing, whistling, clapping and stomping uproariously, as an ignored soccer game blasts on a TV 4 feet behind them. Louder still, the street-facing outside (brick) wall of the floor above me is being removed by a man on a rickety scaffold wielding a hammer and a determined expression.
This internet cafe is also a contradictory place: a hide-the-minimum Brittany Spears poster shares wall space with a sign that says ¡Alto! La pornographica no esta permitda en este local. Other interesting wall decor includes a sign saying ZONA SEGURA EN CASO DE SISMOS. Scant relief, considering the maniacal demolitionist above my head.
This valley (part of Colca Canyon) is a stunning place, surrounded by mountains within a mile that are a mile higher than I... and higher ones still, capped by snow, behind the closer ones.
This is an exciting place: as we descended through the pass and down the switchback to get to town, we passed bicyclists (mostly teenaged tourists) doing upwards of 35 mph inches from the ragged, bumpy edge of the road, the shoulder of which is no wider than my own, contains boulders and weeds, and terminates in a sheer drop of hundreds - sometimes thousands - of feet. Helmets here are just a fashion statement.
This is a Peruvian place:
- sheep, llamas, and alpacas on leashes accompany their owners who are selling handcrafts in the main square
- no matter where we eat, restaurant staff understand vegetarianism and food sensitivities expressed in halting Spanish far better than most American waitstaff seem to understand same with no language barrier
- everyone is friendly and polite - as long as they aren´t driving a car. I´m not a bad writer, but I don´t know where to start to communicate the difference between South and North American driving. Suffice it to say that in the U.S., normal Peruvian driving would be labelled road rage and result in loss of license if not incarceration. You know how in the U.S. when you start to cross a street, if there is a car coming hundreds of feet away, you can hear it decelerate? In South America (or at least every city I´ve visited in Ecuador and Peru), all cars are either accelerating, or braking and honking because another vehicle is blocking their path. Pedestrians may or may not get a honk, but they definitely do not get any deceleration. Incidently pedestrians include herds of sheep, goats, or alpaca being guided by very old or very young people, sometimes accompanied by dogs.
Lisa and Ariel have come to take me to the hot springs. Perhaps those will not be too dusty!
Hasta luego.
- Gary
This region is a dusty, desert-y place: you can write in the grit over which the mouse is expected to glide, and it´s everywhere that hasn´t been mopped recently. It´s a laser-based mouse; a ball-based one simply wouldn´t work. The dust is a half inch deep alongside the roads. It looks as though it hasn´t rained here since they declared independence many decades ago. Actually it´s very different in the wet season, but right now it´s the dry season and this town takes dry to an extreme you have to experience to believe.
This internet cafe is a noisy place: 4 urchins are crowded around a PC monitor, playing a game and laughing, whistling, clapping and stomping uproariously, as an ignored soccer game blasts on a TV 4 feet behind them. Louder still, the street-facing outside (brick) wall of the floor above me is being removed by a man on a rickety scaffold wielding a hammer and a determined expression.
This internet cafe is also a contradictory place: a hide-the-minimum Brittany Spears poster shares wall space with a sign that says ¡Alto! La pornographica no esta permitda en este local. Other interesting wall decor includes a sign saying ZONA SEGURA EN CASO DE SISMOS. Scant relief, considering the maniacal demolitionist above my head.
This valley (part of Colca Canyon) is a stunning place, surrounded by mountains within a mile that are a mile higher than I... and higher ones still, capped by snow, behind the closer ones.
This is an exciting place: as we descended through the pass and down the switchback to get to town, we passed bicyclists (mostly teenaged tourists) doing upwards of 35 mph inches from the ragged, bumpy edge of the road, the shoulder of which is no wider than my own, contains boulders and weeds, and terminates in a sheer drop of hundreds - sometimes thousands - of feet. Helmets here are just a fashion statement.
This is a Peruvian place:
- sheep, llamas, and alpacas on leashes accompany their owners who are selling handcrafts in the main square
- no matter where we eat, restaurant staff understand vegetarianism and food sensitivities expressed in halting Spanish far better than most American waitstaff seem to understand same with no language barrier
- everyone is friendly and polite - as long as they aren´t driving a car. I´m not a bad writer, but I don´t know where to start to communicate the difference between South and North American driving. Suffice it to say that in the U.S., normal Peruvian driving would be labelled road rage and result in loss of license if not incarceration. You know how in the U.S. when you start to cross a street, if there is a car coming hundreds of feet away, you can hear it decelerate? In South America (or at least every city I´ve visited in Ecuador and Peru), all cars are either accelerating, or braking and honking because another vehicle is blocking their path. Pedestrians may or may not get a honk, but they definitely do not get any deceleration. Incidently pedestrians include herds of sheep, goats, or alpaca being guided by very old or very young people, sometimes accompanied by dogs.
Lisa and Ariel have come to take me to the hot springs. Perhaps those will not be too dusty!
Hasta luego.
- Gary
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Arequipa
Lisa here. Our trip to Arequipa was quite breath-taking. I finally got to see my first vicuñas in the wild and they are truly elegant looking. We also went to an Alpaca Museum to learn all about the history and processing of fiber from the four SA camelids. I got to feel my first vicuña swatch and would have paid decent money for it, however could in no way afford a small scarf made of it. We´re off for two days tomorrow morning to Colca Canyon and more vicuña spotting. Will write more when we get back. Thanks for all comments--
Lisa (with G and A) correcting my spelling on a keyboard that feels like someone spilled Elmer's glue on it.
Lisa (with G and A) correcting my spelling on a keyboard that feels like someone spilled Elmer's glue on it.
A quick post
Hello all! Kate here - after two days in bed I'm feeling better in time to leave. :) Anyway, we're all about to head out of Puno and for me it's on to Lima and then home. For Lisa, Gary and Ariel, it's on to Arequipa.
This morning we ran into Jack and Judith at breakfast. There's nothing like a little ASL to catch your eye early in the morning! Lisa had seen them the other night, but never got around to finding out where they were staying. I guess great minds think alike... or at least so do Fodor's and Lonely Planet.
The van to spirit us away from Puno should be arriving momentarily, so I better go. More when I get to Lima this afternoon!
This morning we ran into Jack and Judith at breakfast. There's nothing like a little ASL to catch your eye early in the morning! Lisa had seen them the other night, but never got around to finding out where they were staying. I guess great minds think alike... or at least so do Fodor's and Lonely Planet.
The van to spirit us away from Puno should be arriving momentarily, so I better go. More when I get to Lima this afternoon!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Lake Titicaca
Hi there. Lisa here (Kate is still not feeling great and it chlling out in her hotel room.) I thought I was being so good yesterday by writing in my journal on the way back from the islands we visited on Lake Titicaca so I would have something to refer to in this post, but I left my journal at the hotel, so I´ll attempt to summarize and fill in missing info later.
First, some facts. As most of us know from going to elementary schools in the US, Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. 60% of the lake is in Peru and the other 40% is in Bolivia. The name translates into Titi meaning puma and caca meaning grey. The English translation obviously is a subject of more chuckles than the true meaning of the name. Our guide Carlos also told us that the 60% Peruvian part is the puma (titi) and the 40% Bolivian part is the caca (grey). I suspect he was just being nationalistic.
The first island we went to, about 15 minutes offshore, was one of the Uros floating islands. The inhabitants there were Uros and their language was the third national language after Spanish and Quecha. The name of the language is Aymara. The islands are made from reeds and walking around on them is really cool, totally squishy deep pile carpet. All of their homes, boats, etc are also made from the reeds. Since I left my journal at the hotel, perhaps Gary will add a comment on the nitty gritty of the construction of things there. Each island is inhabited by one or two extended families. It takes about a year to build the island and once completed, it lasts about 40 years. The Uros people have lived there for centuries, trying to remove themselves from other indigineous groups that were not so peaceful. Their average lifespan is about 100 to 110 years, attributed to the fact that they eat right, exercise naturally due to things they must do every day, and are stressed about little. Children go to primary school on one of the bigger floating islands and if they want to continue their education have to go to the mainland. We were there at about 9:00 in the morning and saw some traditional row boats full of children rowing themselves to school, or at least that is what we could come up with as an explanation. I wish I were able to post some of the pictures here now, but I´m going to give Kate the CD we made and hopefully she´ll put some on the blog when she gets back to Boston..
From there, we went on one of their totally cool reed constructed boats and floated over to another of the Uros islands. I would pay big money just to be allowed to be rowed around on that boat for a day (a week, a month, a year?) -- it was that incredibly comfortable. It was somewhat cool outside yesterday (it is winter here), but the sun was shining brightly and I couldn´t imagine a better way to spend some (or all?) of my time. Once we got to the next island, we walked around for a bit, and then went back on the little tour motor boat for a two-hour ride to Isla Taquile.
Unlike the floating islands, this is a real one and was much farther out on main part of the lake. The inhabitants here are Quechua and speak limited Spanish. Once we arrived, we were met with the challenge of ascending about 500 or so primitive ¨steps¨ to get to our destination. Along the way, we were accosted, in a positive way, by young girls wanting to sell us woven bracelets similar to friendship bracelets, but more intricate. The were one Sole, about 33 cents each. By the time I left the island, I was adorned with about 5 of them. With one group of three girls, I took their picture and then told them I would buy one bracelet from each, and the sly first girl sold me one, then surrepticiously went to the back of the line to try to get me to buy another one from her. Children will be children! Women on the island could be seen spinning yarn on hand spindles throughout the island. Boys and men though were the highlight for me! They can be spotted at all times knitting multicolor hats, gloves, etc. They have a pouch at their waists where they keep the ball of yarn. This then gets strung around their necks and they unlike some other people I know, are able to do two or three things at once -- knit, walk and sometimes talk. I was quite impressed and am trying to figure out how to do all of this and sign at the same time :-).
Once we got to the plaza on topof the island, there were about a hundred or so dancers and singers celebrating a holiday in traditional artesinal (sp?) style and dress. It was great to watch. We then spent some time on the perimeter of the plaza looking at some of the most exquisite weaving and knitting I´ve seen. After we proceeded to have lunch atop some building, and then made our way back to the boat around the other side of the island. While we had lunch, we were facing the snow-capped Cordillera Real mountain in Bolivia.On the way down we were met with more little salespeople, some sheep and cows and more beautiful scenery. Somehow descending the 500 or so steps was harder than ascending them, but we all made it back to the boat in one piece and relaxed, slept, wrote or chattered on the journey back to the mainland. Our only mishap happened when Gary wanted to go to sit on the top of the boat and his prized baseball style hat from the Galapagos Islands departed his head and went into the lake. All and it, it was an experience that I will never forget.
We´ll be here tonight and leave early tomorrow morning to drop Kate off at the local airport to fly to Lima and Boston. We will be heading up further northwest (Ariel thinks SW) to Arequipa and the Colca Canyon. We´ll be in touch then.
Hasta luego,
Lisa
First, some facts. As most of us know from going to elementary schools in the US, Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. 60% of the lake is in Peru and the other 40% is in Bolivia. The name translates into Titi meaning puma and caca meaning grey. The English translation obviously is a subject of more chuckles than the true meaning of the name. Our guide Carlos also told us that the 60% Peruvian part is the puma (titi) and the 40% Bolivian part is the caca (grey). I suspect he was just being nationalistic.
The first island we went to, about 15 minutes offshore, was one of the Uros floating islands. The inhabitants there were Uros and their language was the third national language after Spanish and Quecha. The name of the language is Aymara. The islands are made from reeds and walking around on them is really cool, totally squishy deep pile carpet. All of their homes, boats, etc are also made from the reeds. Since I left my journal at the hotel, perhaps Gary will add a comment on the nitty gritty of the construction of things there. Each island is inhabited by one or two extended families. It takes about a year to build the island and once completed, it lasts about 40 years. The Uros people have lived there for centuries, trying to remove themselves from other indigineous groups that were not so peaceful. Their average lifespan is about 100 to 110 years, attributed to the fact that they eat right, exercise naturally due to things they must do every day, and are stressed about little. Children go to primary school on one of the bigger floating islands and if they want to continue their education have to go to the mainland. We were there at about 9:00 in the morning and saw some traditional row boats full of children rowing themselves to school, or at least that is what we could come up with as an explanation. I wish I were able to post some of the pictures here now, but I´m going to give Kate the CD we made and hopefully she´ll put some on the blog when she gets back to Boston..
From there, we went on one of their totally cool reed constructed boats and floated over to another of the Uros islands. I would pay big money just to be allowed to be rowed around on that boat for a day (a week, a month, a year?) -- it was that incredibly comfortable. It was somewhat cool outside yesterday (it is winter here), but the sun was shining brightly and I couldn´t imagine a better way to spend some (or all?) of my time. Once we got to the next island, we walked around for a bit, and then went back on the little tour motor boat for a two-hour ride to Isla Taquile.
Unlike the floating islands, this is a real one and was much farther out on main part of the lake. The inhabitants here are Quechua and speak limited Spanish. Once we arrived, we were met with the challenge of ascending about 500 or so primitive ¨steps¨ to get to our destination. Along the way, we were accosted, in a positive way, by young girls wanting to sell us woven bracelets similar to friendship bracelets, but more intricate. The were one Sole, about 33 cents each. By the time I left the island, I was adorned with about 5 of them. With one group of three girls, I took their picture and then told them I would buy one bracelet from each, and the sly first girl sold me one, then surrepticiously went to the back of the line to try to get me to buy another one from her. Children will be children! Women on the island could be seen spinning yarn on hand spindles throughout the island. Boys and men though were the highlight for me! They can be spotted at all times knitting multicolor hats, gloves, etc. They have a pouch at their waists where they keep the ball of yarn. This then gets strung around their necks and they unlike some other people I know, are able to do two or three things at once -- knit, walk and sometimes talk. I was quite impressed and am trying to figure out how to do all of this and sign at the same time :-).
Once we got to the plaza on topof the island, there were about a hundred or so dancers and singers celebrating a holiday in traditional artesinal (sp?) style and dress. It was great to watch. We then spent some time on the perimeter of the plaza looking at some of the most exquisite weaving and knitting I´ve seen. After we proceeded to have lunch atop some building, and then made our way back to the boat around the other side of the island. While we had lunch, we were facing the snow-capped Cordillera Real mountain in Bolivia.On the way down we were met with more little salespeople, some sheep and cows and more beautiful scenery. Somehow descending the 500 or so steps was harder than ascending them, but we all made it back to the boat in one piece and relaxed, slept, wrote or chattered on the journey back to the mainland. Our only mishap happened when Gary wanted to go to sit on the top of the boat and his prized baseball style hat from the Galapagos Islands departed his head and went into the lake. All and it, it was an experience that I will never forget.
We´ll be here tonight and leave early tomorrow morning to drop Kate off at the local airport to fly to Lima and Boston. We will be heading up further northwest (Ariel thinks SW) to Arequipa and the Colca Canyon. We´ll be in touch then.
Hasta luego,
Lisa
wake-up bark!
One reason Kate (and Ariel and Lisa to a lesser extent) are feeling poorly is the combination of altitude (here in Puno we´re at about 13,000 feet) and not enough sleep. Peru is a hard-working country, and they start their day well before dawn. Consequently many of our days have started at 5:30 am... and not ended until, in some cases, the wee hours of the next day. (The days here, well south of the tropics, have just 10 daylight hours, so we have to make use of all of them.) We have had many days in a row, starting with the night before the last day of the trek, of less than 5 hours sleep. We have yet to sleep in a heated place, so add cold to the formula. On the bright side, we´ll be heading north from here, so cold should be less of a problem. At least, we hope to dispense with the hats and scarves during the day.
Several days ago we stayed in a hostal and needed to get up at the usual 5:30, so, as a backup to our own alarms, we left a wake-up request with the desk guy. At precisely 5:25, a dog began barking. I looked out the window, and he was barking directly at our door. Big German shepherd, very robust bark. He gave 4 series of 4 barks like this: Bark BARK bark bark. He then trotted off.
I said to Lisa,¨"Alarm dog. That´s a new one for me." As the clock changed to 5:30, I heard footsteps, then a quiet knock at the door. I said (in English, because I wasn´t awake enough to try Spanish), "We´re up!" whereupon the knocker walked away.
Now, it´s all probably a coincidence: the knocker probably awoke the barker. But for 5 minutes, at least, I thought Peru had alarm dogs.
Several days ago we stayed in a hostal and needed to get up at the usual 5:30, so, as a backup to our own alarms, we left a wake-up request with the desk guy. At precisely 5:25, a dog began barking. I looked out the window, and he was barking directly at our door. Big German shepherd, very robust bark. He gave 4 series of 4 barks like this: Bark BARK bark bark. He then trotted off.
I said to Lisa,¨"Alarm dog. That´s a new one for me." As the clock changed to 5:30, I heard footsteps, then a quiet knock at the door. I said (in English, because I wasn´t awake enough to try Spanish), "We´re up!" whereupon the knocker walked away.
Now, it´s all probably a coincidence: the knocker probably awoke the barker. But for 5 minutes, at least, I thought Peru had alarm dogs.
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