Puno, Pigs (Guinea), and Passports

I am finally getting around to the second update of my trip. Much has happened since Machu Picchu, so I will try and be brief...

After Cuzco and the Sacred Valley, Ryan and I hopped a bus to Puno. Puno is a small city on the western side of Lake Titicaca, an immense lake straddling the Peru-Bolivian border. "One of the highest commercially navigable lakes in the world" at over 12,000 feet, it is a spectacular lake that stretches out beyond the horizon. We did a whirlwind tour of three of the most famous islands - Las Islas de Uros, Amantani and Taquile. The first group of islands, Uros, is actually a series of approximately 40 man-mad FLOATING islands made completely from reeds, roots and lake clay. Imagine a thatched roof, floating in the middle of a lake, with about 5-8 families living on each plot. Over 4000 people live in this manner. These people completely sustain themselves on their floating islands, domesticating guinea pigs and flamingos and farming fish for food. They make everything from the reeds - their boats, their homes, their mattresses, the ground the walk on. The ground is spongy underfoot and no one wears shoes. If you sit in just the right place, you can see the island undulate with the slow rolling of the water. We toured one of the islands and tasted some of the reeds (a great source of iodine) and even got a ride in one of the reed boats. The islands eventually erode and have to be replaced about every thirty years. It takes approximately a year to construct each island, with all the families working communally to create a place to call home. I never knew such a society existed, especially in the middle of one of the highest lakes in the world. It was incredible.

We spent that night on the second island, Amantani, with a local family. The daughter, who turned out to be exactly my age, cooked meals for us and showed us around the island. Her life couldn´t be more different than mine. She cooks for her entire family, three meals a day, every day of the year (sorry Mom and Dad for not living up to that...). They only have limited light at night powered by solar panels and all of their cooking is done over the fire in clay pots. All they eat is rice and potatoes, rice and veggies and potatoes, rice soup and potatoes, and the occasional guinea pig. We heard the guinea pigs making noises in a sack under the kitchen table...I was relieved that we didn´t get them served for dinner. Our host dressed us up in traditional Quechua outfits - I wore a skirt and an embroidered blouse (which looked absurd with my tennis shoes and Christmas themed socks) and Ryan and Peter (our roommate) wore giant llama wool ponchos and knit hats. I have to say, we looked absolutely ridiculous. Then we hiked up to the community hall and had a "dance." I felt like I was at my middle school dance all over again, but it was a blast. We danced the night away with the locals, and laughed at our gringo dance moves when we tried to dance like natives. Not too dissimilar from Hava Nagila!

Spending the night on the island was an eye opener. They have no running water, little to no electricity, are four hours by boat from the main land and their toilets are literally holes-in-the-ground. They work seven days a week, 365 days a year to sustain their lives. They eat the same thing every day, wear the same clothes and do the same work. Yet they seem to be very happy and content. It was an experience I will never forget.

Ryan and I made it down to La Paz, Bolivia, although we definitely did not have enough time to even begin to see the city. The metropolis is at a dizzying altitude of approx. 12,000 ft. Everything I did there, from walking around to picking up my bag to climbing the stairs to my hotel room, left me out of breath. They have the most incredible markets there, where you can buy anything from panty hose to Jesus stickers, toilet seats to dried dead llama fetuses (was tempted to get one for every member of my family for the holidays...wasn´t sure about carcass importation). Bolivia seems to be an incredible country, not to mention cheap. We spent $1 per person for our hotel in Copacabana, although I wouldn´t have minded splurging one more dollar to stay in a place without padlocks for door locks. EEee gads, sketchy!

Ryan and I are now hauling our tired travelers´ tushes up north to make it to Quito before Dec. 4th. This involves a plane flight and many many long bus rides. Just finished a 15-hour ride. We are going to meet up with my friend Tori from home who is going to spend the last two weeks traveling with us! Wahoo!

In other news, in typical Perlmutter fashion, I lost my passport. Not stolen, just lost. Like a typical idiot. Luckily, their idea of "Homeland Security" is lax enough to allow me to fly without an ID. They let Ryan check in for both of us. I lost my ID at a very convenient time, right before I was boarding a flight for Lima. When I got to the capital city, I was able to get a replacement at the US embassy, but not before a ton of paper work, a visit to the police station and jumping through many hoops (leave it to the US). AND a large fee. I have vowed to keep my passport under lock and key from now on, but I have also learned that my extra precautions before the trip were very useful. Every backup plan I prepared before leaving, I have used. Backup ID, copy of my passport, two sets of credit cards (I have had numerous troubles with ATMs). Lessons learned.

I am in Northern Peru in a city called Piura. I hope to make it up to Ecuador tomorrow and then eventually on to Colombia. I am starting to miss such things as hot showers and home cooked meals, but I know my time down here is limited so I am trying to look past the temporary discomforts. Thank you to everyone who wrote back, it was great to hear from you. I miss you all dearly and can´t wait to show you my pictures when I return. I hope everyone is doing well and has recovered from Thanksgiving feasts.

I almost forgot to tell you about my Thanksgiving! Ryan and I tried to cook at our hostel in Puno, which meant using their personal kitchen facilities. The Señora of the house was not too happy about this, but the Señor said "I am the man and it is no problem..." We spent an hour shopping at the market and after spending a whopping $10 total, we had the fixings for a great feast. Well, after failed attempts with a pressure cooker, a defunct oven and the most cramped kitchen I have EVER been in (even cramped by New York standards, which says a lot) our feast was an "interesting" combination of boiled chicken, soupy bland potatoes and weird Peruvian corn. Hmmm...wasn´t the glory of my other memorable Thanksgiving abroad in Italy. Oh well, we tried.

Alright, well I am going to wrap this up for now. Hope to hear from you soon and will write more when I get to Ecuador.

Much love,
Jennie

Reading Material for Turkey Digestion Time

Buenos Dias!

I apologize for the long break between updates, but once again my computer time is limited. Right now I am typing away in a small Internet cafe in Cuzco, Peru. Every other computer is being used by young teenage Peruvian boys, who are all playing video games together on their computers. There is lots of yelling, screaming and violent mouse-clicking going on around me.

This update is long, but I figure many of you will need some reading material while you digest turkey. I also wanted to share my stories as I miss speaking English and being around friends and family.

I flew into Lima one week ago and spent a day touring around the city. I was nervous about security in the capital city, especially as I was arriving alone at 2:30 am. There have been many accounts of people being robbed / assaulted / kidnapped while taking taxis, so you can imagine my anxiety at finding transportation to my hotel. The taxi I had prearranged failed to show, so I was forced to take a regular public taxi. When I got inside the car the driver locked all the doors, simply stating "security." Wow, was I nervous. Well, half way through the cab ride, in the middle of an intersection in the desolate streets of Lima, the car broke down. Completely dead. Kaput. At this point it was 3 am and no one was out. Needless to say, my heart really started pounding. The cab driver started apologizing profusely, but the nervousness in his voice was evident. As with me, he was NOT happy to be breaking down in that neighborhood at that hour. Not so good. After some ridiculous fist-pounding under the hood (even I know whatever he was doing down there was NOT legitimate car repair), we realized the car was not going to start. Not knowing what else to do, in broken Spanish I offered to help push the car out to the nearest gas station. We both hopped out and started pushing. Yes, my first hour in South America and I was already rolling up my sleeves and pushing a broken-down taxi at three in the morning. Oh goodness.

We pushed the car to a gas station, where we proceeded to push it around and around the station to try and stall it into starting. With no one at the wheel, we barely missed hitting pumps, other cars and bollards as we circled around the corner and through the station several times. I was jumping in and out of the car as it rolled, helping push and getting in to see if it started. At this point, I almost started laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. After some time, we decided it was a lost cause. We found another taxi and the driver escorted me to my hotel. By the time I finally got to my room, it was past 5 am. It was an interesting introduction to my travels.

Cuzco is actually much safer than I had anticipated. There aren´t the machine-gun totting guards at every corner, as was the case in Quito. I stayed in Miraflores, which is actually a rather swanky neighborhood with posh stores and breathtaking views of the ocean and cliffs. It reminded me of a mix between San Diego, Miami and Europe.

After a day strolling around Lima, I was anxious to get to Cuzco. We decided to go non-stop, which meant a 20-hour overnight bus ride. 20 hours. Yikes!

South of Lima is an incredibly desolate desert. There is nothing but sand. I mean NOTHING. The mountains and plains are so barren and windblown, they create a rather breathtaking panorama. The people who live here must be incredibly poor. I can´t imagine how they sustain themselves on such land. Many shanty towns can be seen from the bus, although not much life is visible. There was a man herding goats on the side of the road, yet there was nothing there but sand and a few trees. What were the goats eating???

Cuzco is a rather charming place. It is a city of clay tile roofs, numerous indigenous markets and a vibrant street life. I had my first cup of Coco tea, which is made from leaves of the coco plant. It is absolutely delicious and I want to bring some back to the states to share with everyone. Unfortunately, the United States is ignorant to the difference between coco leaves and cocaine, so unless I want to spend time in the slammer for smuggling illegal items, I won´t be bringing any back.

As this update is getting quite long, I want to skip to the best part of my travels so far: Machu Picchu. Wow. This is by far one of the most incredible places I have been. Ever. We spent the night at the launching place of all visitors, Aguas Calientes. A rather chintzy and touristy town, I was becoming less excited about the glory of seeing one of the wonders of the world. At 4:30 am we began the hike to the top of the Machu Picchu Mountain. It was straight up. ALL STAIRS. For over an hour. By 5:45 am we had made it to the entrance gates to the ruins and the sun had come up. I was a sweaty mess, but glad to have made it in one piece. The rest of the tourists who had taken the bus instead of hiking were looking at my disheveled sweaty self with some disdain.

A cloud descended upon us and we couldn´t see more than 100 meters in front of us. As the day progressed, the clouds cleared and Machu Picchu appeared below us. It is incredible. The most beautiful mountains I have ever experienced surround the sprawling ruins of the Incas. The peaks rise out of the clouds and seem to touch the sky. Llamas wander the grounds, keeping the grass to a level on par with putting greens. The ruins themselves are the most incredible demonstration of advanced architecture, engineering and planning. I am still speechless over the quality and technology of their construction. The stone joints fit perfectly, there are seismic joints designed to protect against earthquakes and the alignment with the sun is incredible. WOW. I took about a gazillion and half photos before it started pouring rain, but they still do not truly capture the magic of this place.

After our guided tour we climbed Huayna Picchu, the peak overlooking the ruins. It is the large mountain towering over the site if you look at any classic picture of Machu Picchu. Even more steep and straight up, the stairs required all fours to ascend. I have never been so close to straight drop-offs and sheer cliffs. When I reached the top and looked down, my legs literally started to shake and I thought I might actually pee my pants. Luckily for me and for the rest of my fellow tourists, I did not. I made it down in one piece with a huge smile on my face, knowing I had conquered the mountain. For everyone picking a place to travel next, Machu Picchu is a must! You have to go.

The trip has been an adventure so far. I have eaten soup with scary looking creatures of the sea appearing with each dip of the spoon. I have spoken with senior Quechua in rural villages in the Sacred Valley. My Spanish is improving every day and I am finally feeling more confident about getting around.

Next stop is Lake Titicaca, then on to Copacabana (I have no idea what is there, but how could I resist with that name?) then on to La Paz, Bolivia.

I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am thinking about everyone and miss you all dearly. I am thankful for all the beautiful and incredible friends and family in my life. I hope you all know how much you mean to me. Enjoy your holidays and I hope to hear from you soon. Your stories and updates are a comforting break in this foreign land.

Much love,
Jennie

Ecuador - My first taste of South America

Buenos Dias!

Alas, I finally have a bit of time to sit down and write a proper (but also short) update. I figured it was time to write as yesterday I finally had two mandatory South American experiences: 1) I rode a bus with many many Jesus stickers AND a man holding a live rooster, in which the bus was careening around this mountainous dirt road (with incredible drop-offs) at a neck breaking speed and 2) I peed last night in the company of a small (but hairy and still frightening) tarantula! I was sitting down to do my "business" and looked over and saw a HUGE hairy spider next to the sink (although I felt like it was attack of the gigantic insects, it was probably only about the size of my palm). Eeeeew! I got a picture, but alas you will all have to wait as I forgot the cord to actually upload any of my photos.

Currently I am in the Orient (the area east of the mountains) in the Cloud Forest, on the slopes of the Andes, outside of the small town Cosanga. I have done a lot of hiking and exploring the jungle here, including a two hour walk down a "stream," which turned out to be one of the more scary experiences of my life. There was no trail, lots of rushing water up to my waist at times, huge boulders in the way that we had to climb / slide down (which created a cave with an amazing Swift nest inside) and mud up to my knees. I feel numerous times from slipping on the hidden rocks and emerged from the day with MANY bruises. Often the stream would be too obstructed with fallen trees, mudslides and overgrowth that we had to scamper around on the side. This entailed semi-bouldering and climbing on my hands and knees, in the mud, with my green galoshes full to the top with water (which made for very heavy feet), often times slipping and tripping on tree roots and knee level vines! It was very mountainous and there would be huge dropoffs at any point. It was quite the adventure...it took an solid hour hike to get back to the start, which was a hike straight up in knee deep mud.

Before Yanayacu (the research station I am staying at and where Ryan is doing caterpillar research) we went to Otavalo and Quito. Quito is much like any other city, although very polluted and unpleasant. There are guards everywhere with machine guns, even outside the smallest of stores, which definitely puts you on edge. In Otavalo, there is an incredible native market where you can buy just about anything, although I was more fascinated with observing the local Quechua than actually shopping. Also, I had the best empanadas of my life. Later in the day we noticed an unusual amount of police and military men there (even some with grenade launchers) so we asked what was going on. The president of Ecuador was due to come into town for the day. Well, we waited around and sure enough we saw him. Later, we were walking around the market when there were more guards and we ended up being in his direct route through the market. Long story short, I got the MEET the PRESIDENT of Ecuador, Correa, and shake his hand. He asked me where I was from and looked a bit perplexed to see a gringa there. It was awesome!

Yesterday we just got back from Tena, which is the beginning of the Amazon forest. We didn't have time to do some of the planned activities, but I did get to see lots of monkeys and an ocelot (sp?). Tomorrow we head for the coast for some camping, whale watching and hopefully some successful surfing. It will be nice to get out of the damp and chilly forest and onto the warm and sunny beaches. There have been many other adventures, but alas my time on the Internet is running out. My Spanish is improving, although a bit slow, but I am having fun trying it out with the locals. I have befriended dung beetles, played pool with natives of the Amazon and eaten soup with chicken feet in it (gross!). The adventures are non-stop every day, even with the simple act of going to the bathroom....eee gads....spiders!

I will send pictures upon my return. Hope everyone is well. I miss you all dearly!
Love,
Jennie