Dia 38 until what I think is 41...
(Yes, I have lost track of how long we have been gone).
We took the overnight Cruz del Sur bus from Lima to Huaraz. We ended paying an extra 20 soles a piece (about 8 dollars) to ride business class in hopes that the comfier chairs would allow us some sleep. Sleep evaded Jimmy but I managed to get a little. We arrived in Huaraz as the town was waking up or as the all-nighters were finally going to bed, which is maybe why we witnessed a couple of boys getting into a fight on the street corner. Although the fighting could also have been a sign that Huaraz is not as "safe" as the other towns we have been in. On our first day there, we met some Peace Corps volunteers (one who sported a Peace Coffee shirt - yeah Minnesota) who had been robbed by someone using a key on their throats the night before. After that story we definitely took our strolls around the city with more caution.
Let me say thank you to Erin for recommending Huaraz to us. It is phenomenally beautiful. The Cordella Blanca (white mountains) are breathtaking and it is sad to think that we would have missed out on it without her input. You can see the mountains from virtually everywhere in Huaraz, although my favorite spot was from Cafe Andino which also had the first great coffee that I have tasted on this trip. (It also had Scrabble, which Jimmy and I indulged on more than one occasion).
We spent our days doing day hikes, the biggest trip being to Laguna Churup at 4450 m - the highest I have ever hiked to. The trip was gorgeous, but I have to say that once again the Andes kicked my butt. Altitude and me don´t mix very well, but I did finish the trek to the lake and it was gorgeous. Imagine Rocky Mountain lakes, but with more impressive glacier clad mountain-tops. I dropped my fleece on our way down and Jimmy went running after it in a sleet storm, miraculously finding it along the trail. We also hiked to ruins of the Wari culture (pre-Inca). We met a kid along the way who decided to become our impromptu tour guide with his friend after dropping off his school bags. (He didn´t skip school - he was on his way home). On our last day in Huaraz we went rock climbing with a guide (as we didn´t bring any of our stuff and needed gear). It was fun, and we both realized how long it has been since we have been out climbing.
We are now back in Miraflores/Lima, doing the last minute shopping and trying to rest before our long trip home. We hope you have enjoyed reading about our journeys and we hope to be able to share stories and pictures in person soon.
5.29.2008
5.24.2008
Back to Lima
Dia 34-37
After the rainforest, we flew back to Lima/Miraflores. We hadn´t planned what to do with our next week, so that´s basically what we have been doing for the past few days. We leave for Huaraz tonight by bus, and hope to do some hiking in the mountains and perhaps a little rock clmibing before coming home. Nothing more exciting than that. Although, it is nice to be in a city that doesn´t care that you are a tourist and allows you to blend into the crowd for awhile. We update you about our time Huaraz when we get the chance.
After the rainforest, we flew back to Lima/Miraflores. We hadn´t planned what to do with our next week, so that´s basically what we have been doing for the past few days. We leave for Huaraz tonight by bus, and hope to do some hiking in the mountains and perhaps a little rock clmibing before coming home. Nothing more exciting than that. Although, it is nice to be in a city that doesn´t care that you are a tourist and allows you to blend into the crowd for awhile. We update you about our time Huaraz when we get the chance.
Monkeys, frogs, anacondas... oh my!
Dia 28-34
After survival camping we returned to the lodge for wildlife watching and some spearfishing and blow gun making thrown in for fun. The big things on our agenda to see were frogs (because I am a tad bit obsessed with them), more monkeys, an anaconda or two, and pink dolphins. We accomplished all of this and managed to stay away from the other tourist for quite awhile by going to stay at the research center deeper in the rainforest and by going camping (but not survival) again.
Highlights:
1. Canoeing at night through one of the lakes engulfed by the sounds of at least 6 distinct frog species calling. It was a constant chorus. And we caught a few little guys.
2. Dropping a 3 ft long caimen in our little canoe, which promptly crawled its way back to Jimmy, who´s first reaction was to jump off putting us in a rather precarciius position.
3. Finding a pygmy marmoset family who after deciding that we were not a threat, let us sit in our canoe a few feet away and watch them suck sap from their tree. (Marmosets farm saps from tree, killing them in the process make them the cutest parasite I have ever seen).
4.Chasing monkeys through the maze of trees on canoe. Spider monkeys are awesome to watch swing and jump from tree to tree.
5. Finding a 9-10 foot anaconda on the trail, which our guide spotted and promptly backed into us. The snakes like the shallow water, making it absolutely necessary to always watch your feet. Christian quickly decided that we must pick the snake up, fashioned 2 sticks to hold the snake in place, told Jimmy to grab the tail, had me hold the head in place and then went for the head. At this point, I thought he had told me to move the stick, when he was really telling me to move but keep the stick still. Well, that ended not so well with the anaconda breaking its head free and all of us running away. We told Christian that we could leave the snake alone, but he wanted to get it now more than ever, so he harassed for at least another half hour before finally giving up.
6. Searching for posion dart frogs and being very sucessful at finding them. They were so bright and beautiful and I think the coolest part was seeing them hanging out in their bromeliad homes in the trees, calling out to the world. Yes, this was probably my favorite day.
7. Watching Jimmy trying to spearfish, nic a fish´s head and then find the fish floating a few feet away, dead. We collected it and then brought it back to Pablo the lodge´s cat, who promptly rejected it. Maybe it wasn´t quite big enough for him.
8. Watching the Amazon change. It was so neat to see the seasons change around us. When we arrived at the lodge, it was engulfed by water, when we left we were able to walk around its perimeter on dry land. Each day you could see the water line drop on the trees (as the brown line of where the water had been grew larger and shrubs appeared underneath. It was simply amazing at how fast the water left.
We definitely have more stories, but we have probably overwhelmed you with information over the past few days so they shall have to wait until you see us again.
After survival camping we returned to the lodge for wildlife watching and some spearfishing and blow gun making thrown in for fun. The big things on our agenda to see were frogs (because I am a tad bit obsessed with them), more monkeys, an anaconda or two, and pink dolphins. We accomplished all of this and managed to stay away from the other tourist for quite awhile by going to stay at the research center deeper in the rainforest and by going camping (but not survival) again.
Highlights:
1. Canoeing at night through one of the lakes engulfed by the sounds of at least 6 distinct frog species calling. It was a constant chorus. And we caught a few little guys.
2. Dropping a 3 ft long caimen in our little canoe, which promptly crawled its way back to Jimmy, who´s first reaction was to jump off putting us in a rather precarciius position.
3. Finding a pygmy marmoset family who after deciding that we were not a threat, let us sit in our canoe a few feet away and watch them suck sap from their tree. (Marmosets farm saps from tree, killing them in the process make them the cutest parasite I have ever seen).
4.Chasing monkeys through the maze of trees on canoe. Spider monkeys are awesome to watch swing and jump from tree to tree.
5. Finding a 9-10 foot anaconda on the trail, which our guide spotted and promptly backed into us. The snakes like the shallow water, making it absolutely necessary to always watch your feet. Christian quickly decided that we must pick the snake up, fashioned 2 sticks to hold the snake in place, told Jimmy to grab the tail, had me hold the head in place and then went for the head. At this point, I thought he had told me to move the stick, when he was really telling me to move but keep the stick still. Well, that ended not so well with the anaconda breaking its head free and all of us running away. We told Christian that we could leave the snake alone, but he wanted to get it now more than ever, so he harassed for at least another half hour before finally giving up.
6. Searching for posion dart frogs and being very sucessful at finding them. They were so bright and beautiful and I think the coolest part was seeing them hanging out in their bromeliad homes in the trees, calling out to the world. Yes, this was probably my favorite day.
7. Watching Jimmy trying to spearfish, nic a fish´s head and then find the fish floating a few feet away, dead. We collected it and then brought it back to Pablo the lodge´s cat, who promptly rejected it. Maybe it wasn´t quite big enough for him.
8. Watching the Amazon change. It was so neat to see the seasons change around us. When we arrived at the lodge, it was engulfed by water, when we left we were able to walk around its perimeter on dry land. Each day you could see the water line drop on the trees (as the brown line of where the water had been grew larger and shrubs appeared underneath. It was simply amazing at how fast the water left.
We definitely have more stories, but we have probably overwhelmed you with information over the past few days so they shall have to wait until you see us again.
5.23.2008
Pursuit of Rat Soup
Dia 24-27
jimmy writing this blog
So one of the main reasons why we choose to stay at this lodge was because of their well known survival class. Now we didn't know exactly what was involved with this course or who did it but it sounded like a good idea for us. Christian was very excited about taking us camping and even more excited when we said we wanted to learn survival stuff. He recommended 10 days or maybe a week. I said 3 days sounds good. In the end we went with 4 days and 3 nights.
We were told to bring some clothes, water, bug spray, rubber boots, and no extra food. They would supply a bug net and sheets. Christian was quick to comment about wanting to see what extra food we brought. Apparently most people ignore the no food rule (including a guy who we saw leave a week later with 2 oranges). Jenny and I are good little kids who always do as we are told never thought to bring food. We also didn´t have any food to bring if we wanted to.
The first day was spent taking a small boat with an outboard motor up the Rio Blanco to our campsite. This was a very narrow river and had numerous tress blocking the way. We quickly learned that a machete can cut throw anything if you just keep going at it. Christian and our boat driver/assistant Betner were experts at this skill. After many hours of chopping and lifting and pushing the boat we found a campsite.
The campsite was at the location of an old run down set of huts. There was a nice sized snake waiting to great us at our hut. By hut a mean floor with a thatched roof that might stop some rain. We said hello to our reptilian neighbor and went about catching some fish for dinner. I hate fish! No really, the thought of eating a fish makes me a little ill. Apparently survival camping is mostly about going "normal" camping without food and this means fish is going to be served. I successfully did not catch a single fish. Jenny caught an adorable catfish that was good for bait. Our guides caught a series of impressive sized piranha. We ate dinner and settled down for the sun to set. Apparently dusk is when snakes attack. Once it was pitch black we took out the flashlights and started wandering around the amazon rainforest looking for things that might try and kill us. We found a small snake and some bats. Then headed off to sleep.
The next day we woke up bright and early. Christian told us we were going to move up river some to a better campsite but first we were going on a hike. Jenny and I assumed this would be a 2 or 3 hour hike and didnt take anything with us. After 3 hours of walking directly away from our campsite we started regretting not having taken our water bottle. We were shown some edible things along the way. We were unsuccessful with trying to knock some nuts out of a palm tree with a stick tied to another stick. We found some vines that had potable water inside. I was given a machete and told to chop down a palm tree. I didn´t really know why, but it seemed like fun. This quickly tore some skin off my hand and felled the innocent tree. The top 3 feet of the trunk was cut off and then the outer layer were removed to reveal a 2 inch diameter substance in the center of the trunk that was edible. This was kind of like bland string cheese, but it was food. We were told that this was the heart of the palm. Christian finally realized we were getting thirsty and told us we were hiking 3 more hours to a shamans house to see if there was food there. Apparently this was a joke and we headed home.
We then went up river to the new campsite which had some thatched roof shelters for us and set-up a new camp. At this point our guides started lumberjacking and took down a few more innocent palm trees for some food. Betner found some nuts for us to suck on for a while. We made a dinner out of the heart of the palms and some plantains that Christian got during the boat ride up. After dinner we were handed some plastic cups with brown water and told to drink it. We assumed that this was just boiled river water and it tasted really weird, but we begrudgingly drank it down. We were also supplies some farungua (dried starchy stuff) as an emergency source of food, which we ate a bunch of. During the day we may have met some of the amazons most populace residents (Miss and Mrs. Mosquito). Now it was off to bed. I quite enjoyed lying in the hot mosquito net on hard uneven ground with sticks in my back while scratching every inch of my body. I enjoyed it so much I did it all night and almost had a mental breakdown before dawn.
Now that the night was over it was time for things to start getting better. No sleep is no problem when there is fun to be had. We got up and got ready for adventure and Christian told us Betner was fishing for breakfast and after a while asked Jenny for her leatherman. He walked away letting us know he was "going to clean some fish". This was about 8:30 in the morning and breakfast was going to be any minute.
Now imagine your us: You´re two Americans in the Amazon miles away from any civilization and even those are just a couple huts. You arrived here on a motor boat that is no longer in sight. Even the two machetes are gone. Oh and the two local guides are not there. At what point does it become a problem that you are in this situation? 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, ....?
So we sat there for 2 hours with no sign of our guide, boat, or food. I gave in and did what seemed most reasonable. I yelled "CHRISTIAN" as loud as I can a couple of times. A little bit later we heard some human made animal calls coming down the river. Apparently nothing had gone wrong, this was just how survival camping goes and this was normal. Christian told us that when he left, Betner had not caught any fish, so he went to catch some fish for a couple hours. We were not pleased with this part of survival camping. After our fishy breakfast at 11:00, we headed out on an other day hike.
During this trip we went in search of palm tree nuts that the locals love. Instead of using the old fashion stick-tied-to-stick method of the past, which failed miserably on our previous attempt, we switched to the old fashion machete through everything approach. Apparently a single palm tree can hold about 60-70 pounds of nuts. Most of this is not edible and is just heavy. Since I was the only one to bring a bag on this journey, our guides decided to make some baskets out of palm fronds.
At this point I would like to explain what survival camping is and is not. Survival camping is going into the wild living off the land through the skills of experienced guides. At no point do you become capable of taking care of anything yourself. You do not learn how to make lean-tos, thatched roofs, palm baskets, fire, differentiate between edible and poisonous anything. You just follow along as your guides do everything. Although we would have loved to learn new skills during our survival camping experience, we were glad to have guides there to do these things for us in a very short period of time so that we could get food in our bellies sooner. I think the skills for survival could be best taught when survival is not in immediate danger.
So they made some impressive baskets and we carried the nuts back to camp. We now learned one skill. How to make a juice from a palm nut. The funny thing about this juice is that it looks exactly like boiled river water. We now realized that at the end of the other day we had been offered palm nut juice and not dirty water, which made a lot more sense. After making this juice was still had many pounds of nuts left over. We were told that it is customary for guides to bring food back to the lodge after going out camping.
We attempted another night hike with no important results and once again it was time for bed, but this time I had a goal. Yes, I was going to try and go to sleep. I started off by sneaking down to the boat and stealing one of the cushions. Then I went to our guide and asked for some unknown medication for itchiness. When I asked for two he said that would make me really dizzy, so I went with one. Ahh, sweet slumber.
Yeah, we survived it. Now all we need to do is take the boat back down river. Since Christian had already chopped wholes through all the trees along the way this should be a quick journey. Also I think Betner was tired of finessing the boat through holes and took on a new strategy. This strategy involved lining the boat up with some sort of opening and hitting the gas. Then pulling the propeller up as the boat skidded bounced off trees and mud. Dukes of Hazard with a boat. Things were looking good for getting back by lunch time.
After some time Christian said we should stop and make some more palm nut juice, so Jenny and I got to work crushing nuts. About half way through this somewhat tedious process Betner starts talking loud and fast (he doesn´t speak English). Then Christian starts moving. We look over and see a giant rat swimming to the shore. Christian untied the boat, while Betner started the engine. They hit the gas and rammed toward the rat. Before the boat reach dry land Christian jumped out and fell on his face in the mud. This gave the rat some time to run for cover behind a tree. With spear in hand Christian circled the tree and Betner got his spear. As Christian went for the kill, Betner got out of the boat and started running. Christian missed and the rat ran for a little stream. Betner took his chance to dive after it and threw his spear. All we heard from then on was a splash and a lot of squealing. Then some pounding as the animal was beat to death. Our guides were wet, muddy, and proud. We had LUNCH!
We took the boat for a couple more hours to Betner´s grandmothers house where they made some Acouchy (Giant Rat) soup. Jenny ate a bit and gave up, because it was chewy. I swallowed each bit without chewing and finished all my rat soup.
That is how this story ends.
jimmy writing this blog
So one of the main reasons why we choose to stay at this lodge was because of their well known survival class. Now we didn't know exactly what was involved with this course or who did it but it sounded like a good idea for us. Christian was very excited about taking us camping and even more excited when we said we wanted to learn survival stuff. He recommended 10 days or maybe a week. I said 3 days sounds good. In the end we went with 4 days and 3 nights.
We were told to bring some clothes, water, bug spray, rubber boots, and no extra food. They would supply a bug net and sheets. Christian was quick to comment about wanting to see what extra food we brought. Apparently most people ignore the no food rule (including a guy who we saw leave a week later with 2 oranges). Jenny and I are good little kids who always do as we are told never thought to bring food. We also didn´t have any food to bring if we wanted to.
The first day was spent taking a small boat with an outboard motor up the Rio Blanco to our campsite. This was a very narrow river and had numerous tress blocking the way. We quickly learned that a machete can cut throw anything if you just keep going at it. Christian and our boat driver/assistant Betner were experts at this skill. After many hours of chopping and lifting and pushing the boat we found a campsite.
The campsite was at the location of an old run down set of huts. There was a nice sized snake waiting to great us at our hut. By hut a mean floor with a thatched roof that might stop some rain. We said hello to our reptilian neighbor and went about catching some fish for dinner. I hate fish! No really, the thought of eating a fish makes me a little ill. Apparently survival camping is mostly about going "normal" camping without food and this means fish is going to be served. I successfully did not catch a single fish. Jenny caught an adorable catfish that was good for bait. Our guides caught a series of impressive sized piranha. We ate dinner and settled down for the sun to set. Apparently dusk is when snakes attack. Once it was pitch black we took out the flashlights and started wandering around the amazon rainforest looking for things that might try and kill us. We found a small snake and some bats. Then headed off to sleep.
The next day we woke up bright and early. Christian told us we were going to move up river some to a better campsite but first we were going on a hike. Jenny and I assumed this would be a 2 or 3 hour hike and didnt take anything with us. After 3 hours of walking directly away from our campsite we started regretting not having taken our water bottle. We were shown some edible things along the way. We were unsuccessful with trying to knock some nuts out of a palm tree with a stick tied to another stick. We found some vines that had potable water inside. I was given a machete and told to chop down a palm tree. I didn´t really know why, but it seemed like fun. This quickly tore some skin off my hand and felled the innocent tree. The top 3 feet of the trunk was cut off and then the outer layer were removed to reveal a 2 inch diameter substance in the center of the trunk that was edible. This was kind of like bland string cheese, but it was food. We were told that this was the heart of the palm. Christian finally realized we were getting thirsty and told us we were hiking 3 more hours to a shamans house to see if there was food there. Apparently this was a joke and we headed home.
We then went up river to the new campsite which had some thatched roof shelters for us and set-up a new camp. At this point our guides started lumberjacking and took down a few more innocent palm trees for some food. Betner found some nuts for us to suck on for a while. We made a dinner out of the heart of the palms and some plantains that Christian got during the boat ride up. After dinner we were handed some plastic cups with brown water and told to drink it. We assumed that this was just boiled river water and it tasted really weird, but we begrudgingly drank it down. We were also supplies some farungua (dried starchy stuff) as an emergency source of food, which we ate a bunch of. During the day we may have met some of the amazons most populace residents (Miss and Mrs. Mosquito). Now it was off to bed. I quite enjoyed lying in the hot mosquito net on hard uneven ground with sticks in my back while scratching every inch of my body. I enjoyed it so much I did it all night and almost had a mental breakdown before dawn.
Now that the night was over it was time for things to start getting better. No sleep is no problem when there is fun to be had. We got up and got ready for adventure and Christian told us Betner was fishing for breakfast and after a while asked Jenny for her leatherman. He walked away letting us know he was "going to clean some fish". This was about 8:30 in the morning and breakfast was going to be any minute.
Now imagine your us: You´re two Americans in the Amazon miles away from any civilization and even those are just a couple huts. You arrived here on a motor boat that is no longer in sight. Even the two machetes are gone. Oh and the two local guides are not there. At what point does it become a problem that you are in this situation? 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, ....?
So we sat there for 2 hours with no sign of our guide, boat, or food. I gave in and did what seemed most reasonable. I yelled "CHRISTIAN" as loud as I can a couple of times. A little bit later we heard some human made animal calls coming down the river. Apparently nothing had gone wrong, this was just how survival camping goes and this was normal. Christian told us that when he left, Betner had not caught any fish, so he went to catch some fish for a couple hours. We were not pleased with this part of survival camping. After our fishy breakfast at 11:00, we headed out on an other day hike.
During this trip we went in search of palm tree nuts that the locals love. Instead of using the old fashion stick-tied-to-stick method of the past, which failed miserably on our previous attempt, we switched to the old fashion machete through everything approach. Apparently a single palm tree can hold about 60-70 pounds of nuts. Most of this is not edible and is just heavy. Since I was the only one to bring a bag on this journey, our guides decided to make some baskets out of palm fronds.
At this point I would like to explain what survival camping is and is not. Survival camping is going into the wild living off the land through the skills of experienced guides. At no point do you become capable of taking care of anything yourself. You do not learn how to make lean-tos, thatched roofs, palm baskets, fire, differentiate between edible and poisonous anything. You just follow along as your guides do everything. Although we would have loved to learn new skills during our survival camping experience, we were glad to have guides there to do these things for us in a very short period of time so that we could get food in our bellies sooner. I think the skills for survival could be best taught when survival is not in immediate danger.
So they made some impressive baskets and we carried the nuts back to camp. We now learned one skill. How to make a juice from a palm nut. The funny thing about this juice is that it looks exactly like boiled river water. We now realized that at the end of the other day we had been offered palm nut juice and not dirty water, which made a lot more sense. After making this juice was still had many pounds of nuts left over. We were told that it is customary for guides to bring food back to the lodge after going out camping.
We attempted another night hike with no important results and once again it was time for bed, but this time I had a goal. Yes, I was going to try and go to sleep. I started off by sneaking down to the boat and stealing one of the cushions. Then I went to our guide and asked for some unknown medication for itchiness. When I asked for two he said that would make me really dizzy, so I went with one. Ahh, sweet slumber.
Yeah, we survived it. Now all we need to do is take the boat back down river. Since Christian had already chopped wholes through all the trees along the way this should be a quick journey. Also I think Betner was tired of finessing the boat through holes and took on a new strategy. This strategy involved lining the boat up with some sort of opening and hitting the gas. Then pulling the propeller up as the boat skidded bounced off trees and mud. Dukes of Hazard with a boat. Things were looking good for getting back by lunch time.
After some time Christian said we should stop and make some more palm nut juice, so Jenny and I got to work crushing nuts. About half way through this somewhat tedious process Betner starts talking loud and fast (he doesn´t speak English). Then Christian starts moving. We look over and see a giant rat swimming to the shore. Christian untied the boat, while Betner started the engine. They hit the gas and rammed toward the rat. Before the boat reach dry land Christian jumped out and fell on his face in the mud. This gave the rat some time to run for cover behind a tree. With spear in hand Christian circled the tree and Betner got his spear. As Christian went for the kill, Betner got out of the boat and started running. Christian missed and the rat ran for a little stream. Betner took his chance to dive after it and threw his spear. All we heard from then on was a splash and a lot of squealing. Then some pounding as the animal was beat to death. Our guides were wet, muddy, and proud. We had LUNCH!
We took the boat for a couple more hours to Betner´s grandmothers house where they made some Acouchy (Giant Rat) soup. Jenny ate a bit and gave up, because it was chewy. I swallowed each bit without chewing and finished all my rat soup.
That is how this story ends.
5.22.2008
Amazon Expedition
Dia 21 to 23
We know it has been a LONG time since you have heard from us, but we just got back from the Amazon where we without electricity for the past 2 weeks (day 21-34). It was an amazing adventure and we will try to do it justice now by retelling some of our favorite stories from these last two weeks. We will break it up into several blogs, so be patient. :)
First, upon arriving in Iquitos, we met our guide, Christian, who would be our constant companion as we slushed through the rainforest. He immediately wanted to sit down and discuss itinerary which was a little much for our sleep-deprived minds (and how I am going to survive call, I wonder?) He suggested a 10 day camping trip, which was a little more than we wanted, but showed us this was not going to be a cushy resort experience. We eventually got it down to wanting to see frogs, monkeys, maybe a few birds, survival camping, rainforest remedies (I am a newly graduated doctor after all), canoeing, jaguars, pink dolphins, and giant snakes. We were informed that the jaguar was unlikely but the rest was possible.
We took a 3 hour boat ride down the Amazon river and onto the Tahuayo River to our lodge. The Amazon is impressive. You can tell where it meets other rivers by the deep brown color of its water. It also moves impressively fast, at least at this time of year which is the tail end of the wet season. Scattered along its banks are houses on silts, plantations of bananas and other tropical fruits, and of course the rainforest. When we arrived our lodge, the flood waters had completely covered all land around it. This changed as our time progressed and it was neat to see the change in the ecosystem. You can check out the lodge at www.perujungle.com .
Over the first couple of days, we traveled by boat and canoe to explore the flooded rainforest. We saw so many birds... including 4 species of kingfishers, countless species of green parakeets and parrots, several species of hawks. Christian seemed to be able to name them as soon as he saw specks of them on the horizon. I think he quickly realized that we were not big birders and he didn´t point them all out... either that or he thought we knew each species after seeing them once.
I was a little sick the first couple of days, and was coughing quite a bit. Christian remarked that my cough was scaring all the monkeys so one of our first trips was to see the herbalist to have me treated. She made a salty grapefruit concoction and also showed us her immense garden full of medicinal plants. I am not sure if the medicine helped but my cough did diminish after that treatment.
We also went to see the hoatzin birds, which are these strange creatures that don´t fly all that well. I was more interested in all of the frogs that we heard along the way and Jimmy was more impressed by the pygmy marmoset who came crawling down the tree to see us when Christian called it.
We also got to use the lodges zip-line, which Jimmy tried to use ascenders for the first time... much harder than he thought it should be, especially after years of rock climbing.
After a few days of life at the lodge, we geared up for survival camping but that is a topic for the next blog.
We know it has been a LONG time since you have heard from us, but we just got back from the Amazon where we without electricity for the past 2 weeks (day 21-34). It was an amazing adventure and we will try to do it justice now by retelling some of our favorite stories from these last two weeks. We will break it up into several blogs, so be patient. :)
First, upon arriving in Iquitos, we met our guide, Christian, who would be our constant companion as we slushed through the rainforest. He immediately wanted to sit down and discuss itinerary which was a little much for our sleep-deprived minds (and how I am going to survive call, I wonder?) He suggested a 10 day camping trip, which was a little more than we wanted, but showed us this was not going to be a cushy resort experience. We eventually got it down to wanting to see frogs, monkeys, maybe a few birds, survival camping, rainforest remedies (I am a newly graduated doctor after all), canoeing, jaguars, pink dolphins, and giant snakes. We were informed that the jaguar was unlikely but the rest was possible.
We took a 3 hour boat ride down the Amazon river and onto the Tahuayo River to our lodge. The Amazon is impressive. You can tell where it meets other rivers by the deep brown color of its water. It also moves impressively fast, at least at this time of year which is the tail end of the wet season. Scattered along its banks are houses on silts, plantations of bananas and other tropical fruits, and of course the rainforest. When we arrived our lodge, the flood waters had completely covered all land around it. This changed as our time progressed and it was neat to see the change in the ecosystem. You can check out the lodge at www.perujungle.com .
Over the first couple of days, we traveled by boat and canoe to explore the flooded rainforest. We saw so many birds... including 4 species of kingfishers, countless species of green parakeets and parrots, several species of hawks. Christian seemed to be able to name them as soon as he saw specks of them on the horizon. I think he quickly realized that we were not big birders and he didn´t point them all out... either that or he thought we knew each species after seeing them once.
I was a little sick the first couple of days, and was coughing quite a bit. Christian remarked that my cough was scaring all the monkeys so one of our first trips was to see the herbalist to have me treated. She made a salty grapefruit concoction and also showed us her immense garden full of medicinal plants. I am not sure if the medicine helped but my cough did diminish after that treatment.
We also went to see the hoatzin birds, which are these strange creatures that don´t fly all that well. I was more interested in all of the frogs that we heard along the way and Jimmy was more impressed by the pygmy marmoset who came crawling down the tree to see us when Christian called it.
We also got to use the lodges zip-line, which Jimmy tried to use ascenders for the first time... much harder than he thought it should be, especially after years of rock climbing.
After a few days of life at the lodge, we geared up for survival camping but that is a topic for the next blog.
5.08.2008
MundoNaturelle
Dia fifteen through twenty
After Puno, we boarded a bus to Arequipa. The bus broke down within minutes of leaving the city. The driver and his helper ran all around inside and outside of the bus, opening and closing compartments, never saying a word to the passengers. Eventually a fellow tourist got off the bus and asked, turns out we had a flat tire but no spare, but the company was bringing another bus from Puno. And that´s what happened. The strangest part of the ride were the traveling salesmen who got on at one stop, stood in the center of the aisle pitching herbal remedies (one even using a microphone) for about an hour or so and then getting off the bus after their pitch. It was strange.
Once in Arequipa, we promptly made plans to head out to Colca Canyon to frolic with vicunas, llamas, alpacas, condors, and other creatures. Colca Canyon was thought to be the deepest canyon in the world, until a neighboring canyon took over the honors. It is also a fabulous spot to find condors. The area looks a lot like the desert SW of the USA only the mountains are higher and their are llamas and alpacas everywhere. A big highlight for me. We also got to see vicunas driving out to the canyon which are an endangered relative of the llama and also quite cute.
Jimmy and I were very confused on this tour of Colca, as we seemed to get the best of everything out of the group. We ended up with the suite at the hotel we stayed at, especially cool as it has a gigantic boulder across as one of its walls. A very Jimmy-like decoration. I think the others were most jealous of our air mattresses in the tent, when all they got was a little sleeping pad. We started wonder if we paid more than every one else or it was because we were married... who knows.
After returning from 3 days in the Colca Canyon, we went on a mission to eat at a typical Peruvian fast food joint in Arequipa. We noticed on our first day there, that there was a Peruvian fast food joint the specialized in a dish that consisted of "German" hot dogs on top of french fries. The locals also were drinking a local cola. We had to try it. We were successful and full after the endeavor. We also explored Arequipa and were struck by how modern it was. It is very dramatic when you move from the culture/history/touristy region to the metropolitan areas of Peru.
We also visited Mundo Alpaca were we got to feed alpacas and llamas and the caretaker even let me hold a baby alpaca. It was awesome and I definitely want to take an alpaca home with me... I wonder what Skidaway would think of that addition.
Before leaving Arequipa, we had one more adventure- whitewater rafting.(jimmy writing now) Our rafting trip was supposed to last 2 hours and with in the first 5 minutes we were stuck on a rock for over 5 minutes. This did not bode well for the excellence of our skipper and crew. It turned out the the rifer was about 10 ft below its highest point and there were 6 people weighing this raft down a bunch. In the end it was very fun and the one class 4 we did was awesome, even if it just involved us hiding in the raft as we dropped 9 feet.
Rafting built up a bit of a hunger and we headed over to a Turkish restaurant. Within minutes of arriving all the power went out. This set us up for a bit of a candle lit dinner. I ordered my 3rd hamburger of the trip here and have continued to be disappointed by every restaurants attempt to add crazy seasoning to their hamburgers. Eventually the lights came back on and I got some pop corn from a street vendor for about 20 cents.
We now sit in the Lima airport, awaiting our flight to Iquitos to the rain forest. We will be waiting for about 18 hrs and saving over $200 by not staying at the nearest hotel. A long day to night in the airport.
http://www.sleepinginairports.net/casa/lima.htm
After Puno, we boarded a bus to Arequipa. The bus broke down within minutes of leaving the city. The driver and his helper ran all around inside and outside of the bus, opening and closing compartments, never saying a word to the passengers. Eventually a fellow tourist got off the bus and asked, turns out we had a flat tire but no spare, but the company was bringing another bus from Puno. And that´s what happened. The strangest part of the ride were the traveling salesmen who got on at one stop, stood in the center of the aisle pitching herbal remedies (one even using a microphone) for about an hour or so and then getting off the bus after their pitch. It was strange.
Once in Arequipa, we promptly made plans to head out to Colca Canyon to frolic with vicunas, llamas, alpacas, condors, and other creatures. Colca Canyon was thought to be the deepest canyon in the world, until a neighboring canyon took over the honors. It is also a fabulous spot to find condors. The area looks a lot like the desert SW of the USA only the mountains are higher and their are llamas and alpacas everywhere. A big highlight for me. We also got to see vicunas driving out to the canyon which are an endangered relative of the llama and also quite cute.
Jimmy and I were very confused on this tour of Colca, as we seemed to get the best of everything out of the group. We ended up with the suite at the hotel we stayed at, especially cool as it has a gigantic boulder across as one of its walls. A very Jimmy-like decoration. I think the others were most jealous of our air mattresses in the tent, when all they got was a little sleeping pad. We started wonder if we paid more than every one else or it was because we were married... who knows.
After returning from 3 days in the Colca Canyon, we went on a mission to eat at a typical Peruvian fast food joint in Arequipa. We noticed on our first day there, that there was a Peruvian fast food joint the specialized in a dish that consisted of "German" hot dogs on top of french fries. The locals also were drinking a local cola. We had to try it. We were successful and full after the endeavor. We also explored Arequipa and were struck by how modern it was. It is very dramatic when you move from the culture/history/touristy region to the metropolitan areas of Peru.
We also visited Mundo Alpaca were we got to feed alpacas and llamas and the caretaker even let me hold a baby alpaca. It was awesome and I definitely want to take an alpaca home with me... I wonder what Skidaway would think of that addition.
Before leaving Arequipa, we had one more adventure- whitewater rafting.(jimmy writing now) Our rafting trip was supposed to last 2 hours and with in the first 5 minutes we were stuck on a rock for over 5 minutes. This did not bode well for the excellence of our skipper and crew. It turned out the the rifer was about 10 ft below its highest point and there were 6 people weighing this raft down a bunch. In the end it was very fun and the one class 4 we did was awesome, even if it just involved us hiding in the raft as we dropped 9 feet.
Rafting built up a bit of a hunger and we headed over to a Turkish restaurant. Within minutes of arriving all the power went out. This set us up for a bit of a candle lit dinner. I ordered my 3rd hamburger of the trip here and have continued to be disappointed by every restaurants attempt to add crazy seasoning to their hamburgers. Eventually the lights came back on and I got some pop corn from a street vendor for about 20 cents.
We now sit in the Lima airport, awaiting our flight to Iquitos to the rain forest. We will be waiting for about 18 hrs and saving over $200 by not staying at the nearest hotel. A long day to night in the airport.
http://www.sleepinginairports.net/casa/lima.htm
5.02.2008
Birthplace of the Inca
According to legend, the Incans believed that they emerged from Lake Titicaca and where told to go find the belly button of the world (Cusco). This is our journey to Puno and Lake Titicaca.
Dia twelve
jimmy starting this one...
We have essentially completed the first main adventure of our expedition and a brief coll down in Cusco. This brings us to our second main adventure. We decided to use the same tour company as the Inca Trail, since they did not let us down last time. We woke up early on the twelth day to catch a bus to Puno, the biggest city on the Peru banks of Lake Titicaca. It started looking like it was just me, Jenny and a guy from the UK going on this trip. Then the tour company dropped us off at the bus station and thus ended our continued experience with SAS Adventures. Now that we realized that this entire trip had been pawned off on other companies, the real adventure can begin.
We found ourselves on an all day bus trip from Cusco to Puno, which included three stops. The first stop was at a little church somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It was covered in beautiful paintings and a lot of 24 karat gold... Yes pure gold on everything. Now I see what the Spanish were after. Outside the church was an adorable little golden haired puppy, yes everything in Peru is made of gold. This was my favorite random street dog of Peru so far. There will be more about random Peru street dogs after we return. The next stop was pre-Incan ruin site that had some unbelieably high walls and some beautiful scenery. The final stop was a museum that I found less than spectacular, but the guide did manage to contradict some facts we learned during our Machu Pichu hike. In general the bus ride was well organized and went smoothly. We were met by a taxi driver at the bus station and then swept away to the El Buho hotel, which had a lobby fulln of motorcycles.
Just before Puno, we past through Julieca. This is the headquarters for the Peru-Bolivia black market. This was the typ of city that I was afraid all of Peru might look like. I was quite pleased to just pass on through. Puno was much better than there but was clearly not the tourist center that Miraflores and Cusco are.
Dia thirteen
So this is the heart of the matter and the reason why I am writing this portion. Hi, my name is Jimmy and I hate embarrassing awkward situation. Nice to meet you.
The next stage of our adventure is to go explore Lake Titicaca. We hopped on a boat early in the morning and went out to visit some people that live on floating read islands. It was a nice chance to explore a different culture and learn about them in a somewhat structured manner. We were not entirely delighted with our guide for this portion of the trip, but it was not horrible. At times the islands seemed like they should be in in some war movie or maybe Waterworld. This was a very touristy place to go. Most of the people do not even live on the islands anymore, they just go there to work during the day, but it was educational. After these islands we sailed off to a "land" island.
On this island we were paired up with a local mother/wife/person who was going to take car of us for the the next day. This means she is going to introduce us to her family, give us a room to sleep in, cook us food, and show us some of her culture. I get nervous staying over at a friends house, and they speak English. I quickly tried to convey to this person that I only speak a little spanish and Jenny does not speak any (I do not know how to type apostrophies on this keyboard). She seemed fine with this, and since she does this every day, I guess it will be ok.
We arrive at her house and are shown our room. It is small but very luxurious compared to the rest of the house. Let me interupt myself now to point out that this place is amazing. There are patchworked fields overlooking a giant lake with the snowcapped mountains of La Paz on the horizon. Tourist would die for a hotel on this island. After unpacking and having not eaten since morning (8 hours ago), we head to their littl courtyard and meet 3 kids (7, 3, and 1 years old). Jenny and I used them as a coping mechanism for an uncomfortable situation. At one point Jenny thought I should ask about food, but I don{t know how to do this politely in Spanish. So we ate some cliff bars. About a half hour later we were told it was lunch time (4:00 pm). I hate fish, I cannot eat fish, and the though of fish makes me a little sick. We are on an island! Out comes a bowl of potato soup and a plate full of potatoes. I love this place. We also had some Muña tea which helps with altitude sickness. This island is about 13000 feet above sea level. After lunch I somehow figure out that our host will show us to our group so we can go watch the sunset.
We arrive at the local meeting place. The groups decide to play some futball. Local kids vs tourists. A solid 4-0 victory for the adult tourist. Ok the other team had a couple adults. I did get one goal! Then we went to the top of the island and watched the sunset, which will be documented in beautiful Jenny-pictures later. After this we walk back to the meeting place and have no clue where we should go next. We wander around aimlessly until we find out guide who shows us a boy who can take us home. This is followed by another quite edible but large dinner and a lot of talking. I guess I will say that they were speaking Quechian and not Spanish. This made me nervous scared and awkward. I didn{t know what to do and everyone once and awhile they would look at us. Eventually our host said we could wait in our room, which was awesome. Now to make up for me being worried about not speaking spanish , everyone thought is would be fair to dress Jenny up like a local in three layers of skirts and other air restricting clothings and then to make her go dance. I like Peruvian dancing. It involves holding hands and shaking your arms a lot. After dining, dressing, and dancing we went o bed in the frigid frigid night.
Dia twelve
jimmy starting this one...
We have essentially completed the first main adventure of our expedition and a brief coll down in Cusco. This brings us to our second main adventure. We decided to use the same tour company as the Inca Trail, since they did not let us down last time. We woke up early on the twelth day to catch a bus to Puno, the biggest city on the Peru banks of Lake Titicaca. It started looking like it was just me, Jenny and a guy from the UK going on this trip. Then the tour company dropped us off at the bus station and thus ended our continued experience with SAS Adventures. Now that we realized that this entire trip had been pawned off on other companies, the real adventure can begin.
We found ourselves on an all day bus trip from Cusco to Puno, which included three stops. The first stop was at a little church somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It was covered in beautiful paintings and a lot of 24 karat gold... Yes pure gold on everything. Now I see what the Spanish were after. Outside the church was an adorable little golden haired puppy, yes everything in Peru is made of gold. This was my favorite random street dog of Peru so far. There will be more about random Peru street dogs after we return. The next stop was pre-Incan ruin site that had some unbelieably high walls and some beautiful scenery. The final stop was a museum that I found less than spectacular, but the guide did manage to contradict some facts we learned during our Machu Pichu hike. In general the bus ride was well organized and went smoothly. We were met by a taxi driver at the bus station and then swept away to the El Buho hotel, which had a lobby fulln of motorcycles.
Just before Puno, we past through Julieca. This is the headquarters for the Peru-Bolivia black market. This was the typ of city that I was afraid all of Peru might look like. I was quite pleased to just pass on through. Puno was much better than there but was clearly not the tourist center that Miraflores and Cusco are.
Dia thirteen
So this is the heart of the matter and the reason why I am writing this portion. Hi, my name is Jimmy and I hate embarrassing awkward situation. Nice to meet you.
The next stage of our adventure is to go explore Lake Titicaca. We hopped on a boat early in the morning and went out to visit some people that live on floating read islands. It was a nice chance to explore a different culture and learn about them in a somewhat structured manner. We were not entirely delighted with our guide for this portion of the trip, but it was not horrible. At times the islands seemed like they should be in in some war movie or maybe Waterworld. This was a very touristy place to go. Most of the people do not even live on the islands anymore, they just go there to work during the day, but it was educational. After these islands we sailed off to a "land" island.
On this island we were paired up with a local mother/wife/person who was going to take car of us for the the next day. This means she is going to introduce us to her family, give us a room to sleep in, cook us food, and show us some of her culture. I get nervous staying over at a friends house, and they speak English. I quickly tried to convey to this person that I only speak a little spanish and Jenny does not speak any (I do not know how to type apostrophies on this keyboard). She seemed fine with this, and since she does this every day, I guess it will be ok.
We arrive at her house and are shown our room. It is small but very luxurious compared to the rest of the house. Let me interupt myself now to point out that this place is amazing. There are patchworked fields overlooking a giant lake with the snowcapped mountains of La Paz on the horizon. Tourist would die for a hotel on this island. After unpacking and having not eaten since morning (8 hours ago), we head to their littl courtyard and meet 3 kids (7, 3, and 1 years old). Jenny and I used them as a coping mechanism for an uncomfortable situation. At one point Jenny thought I should ask about food, but I don{t know how to do this politely in Spanish. So we ate some cliff bars. About a half hour later we were told it was lunch time (4:00 pm). I hate fish, I cannot eat fish, and the though of fish makes me a little sick. We are on an island! Out comes a bowl of potato soup and a plate full of potatoes. I love this place. We also had some Muña tea which helps with altitude sickness. This island is about 13000 feet above sea level. After lunch I somehow figure out that our host will show us to our group so we can go watch the sunset.
We arrive at the local meeting place. The groups decide to play some futball. Local kids vs tourists. A solid 4-0 victory for the adult tourist. Ok the other team had a couple adults. I did get one goal! Then we went to the top of the island and watched the sunset, which will be documented in beautiful Jenny-pictures later. After this we walk back to the meeting place and have no clue where we should go next. We wander around aimlessly until we find out guide who shows us a boy who can take us home. This is followed by another quite edible but large dinner and a lot of talking. I guess I will say that they were speaking Quechian and not Spanish. This made me nervous scared and awkward. I didn{t know what to do and everyone once and awhile they would look at us. Eventually our host said we could wait in our room, which was awesome. Now to make up for me being worried about not speaking spanish , everyone thought is would be fair to dress Jenny up like a local in three layers of skirts and other air restricting clothings and then to make her go dance. I like Peruvian dancing. It involves holding hands and shaking your arms a lot. After dining, dressing, and dancing we went o bed in the frigid frigid night.
Dias 14
jenny now writing...
We awoke to a morning of pancakes and fear that we were going to be fed more food - our host mother liked to keep us well-fed. She then walked us down to the docks and we headed to another island in Lake Titicaca called Tequile. I honestly felt like we were walking along the mediterrean as the community was what I picures Greece and Italy to look like, except for the snow-capped mountains in the distance. We spent the day walking around the island and perusing the local woven goods. A relaxing day in all regards. We arrived back in Puno with time to walk around the city, which is definitely poorer than either Cusco or Miraflores, and book a bus to Arequipa with hopes of spotting condors and seeing the Colca Canyon. Today was my medical school^s graduation ceremony, so I can be counted as being an official doctor as of today, although I missed the pomp and circumstance. Signing off for now.
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