Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu and eating Cuy!

7-17 Day 1

Got picked up by my guide at 4am for the bus ride to Mollepata (2900m/9515ft) where we had breakfast.  I met the people in the group (5 friends from Israel, a couple from Denmark, 2 friends from Denmark, 2 friends from Switzerland, A couple from Brazil, two cousins from Brazil (though one goes to Middlebury college in Vermont), A dad and daughter from Brazil, a guy from Santiago, 2 friends from Spain, 1 gal from the UK, and me as well as our two guides Bernie and Ruso.)

We hiked along scenic farmland and above a deep valley on our way to our first camp at Soraypampa (3910m/12,825ft)  About half way into the hike we came into view of a huge and gorgeous snow-covered peak that we continued to hike towards as we went up a valley.  As we got nearer to the camp I could see the giant mountain of Salkantay (6264m/20545ft)  I was the first one to the camp and the only one fast enough to continue up past the camp to see a couple of gorgeous turquoise lakes at the foot of a glacial moraine and at the snowline beneath a big snowcapped peak. 

I got back down to the camp just as it was getting dark.  In the dining tent our group was having "happy hour" which we would have everyday.  It included tea, popcorn, and crackers.

I was partnered with Felipe, a student from Santiago to be tentmates.  We were immediately best roomies and friends.  He had ski bummed a year in Deer Valley, UT and just had a lot in common.  He was hilarious and we just really bonded.  The next morning everyone joked about all the pillow talk they heard coming from our tent.

7-18  Day 2

We were woken up in our tents at the crack of dawn and given coca tea.  We then proceeded to walk up and up towards Salkantay and Salkantay pass.  When we reached the pass (4650m/15252ft) we of course had great views of Salktantay as well as down two valleys and other mountains around.  We stayed up on the pass for a while, watching a condor and witnessing an avalanche.  We then headed steeply down into the mist and had a nice lunch in a big grassy field by a rushing creek.  We then descended on a cool trail into the jungle and into a jungle canyon with a river below us.  Along the way we saw lots of orchids and other flowers.  We made camp at Chaullay (2915m/9560ft)

7-19  Day 3

Continued hiking down.  Went past some nice waterfalls and continued through the jungle where I found lots of wild strawberries to munch on.  We then hiked past some banana, avocado, and passion fruit plantations.  I of course enjoyed the lots of fresh fruit.  Just a bit after midday, we arrived in the small village of Santa Theresa (1930m/6330ft).  At lunch there was some drama because the Israelis had apparently gotten onto the wrong tour.  They had booked a 4 day trek and ours was 5 days.  They wanted to stay with us for 5 days but the guide Bernie had arranged for a car to come pick them up and take them to Aguas Calientes.  They had wanted to stay with us longer and I dont know all that went down, but there was definitely lots of yelling on the parts of the Israelis and anger and all that.  I didnt really want to get involved so I didnt know all the specifics, but they claimed that he lied and he owed them another day and such and such.  Well, regardless, they were shipped off and our group became much smaller (and quieter).  After lunch, headed to some hot springs for a long swim at some amazing hotspring pools along the river.  When dark descended, we headed back up to the camp, had dinner, and then got the party started.  At first it was just some beers and dancing, but then Felipe and I headed into town and bought 3 fifths of pisco to make piscola and pis7up.  By this time in the night it was just Felipe, Jenna (from Swizterland), Roberto and Anne (from denmark who we called our parents...mom and dad or our "iron parents" since they did ironmans), and also Sophi from Denmark.  At first Felipe and I were pouring Pisco strength to what we called Ironman, which was 1/4 of the cup, but then we quickly changed the pours to Salktantay strength, which was 1/2 of the glass, and finally we moved up to Pachamama (the mother earth god of the Incas) pours which was all Pisco with just a splash of coke or 7up.  As one could imagine, it wasnt long before Special Ted came out and he was initiating honest time with everyone, which of course everyone loved and told me how awesome it was the next day.  We stayed out partying late until the night until it was about 3am when special ted found a bike and went riding around.  Eventually Felipe went to bed and Jenna and I ran down into the town to see if there was anything going on. There wasn't, so I climbed a papaya tree from some papaya and then went to bed. 
The whole trip Felipe had been trying to trade me for the air mattress I was carrying.  The company provided for us these dinky mattresses that were carried on horses (along with our food, tent, and sleeping bags), but I was also carrying my nice air mattress.  He was offering me things like a liter of beer or his reeces peanut butter cup.  But it was too nice, so I wouldnt trade him.  When I got back to my tent I searched in vain for my air mattress and then I felt around and noticed the Felipe was sleeping on by air mattress and both our dinky mattresses.  So I had to sleep just on the ground.  Turns out nice ole loving special ted had given away his mattresses (and jacket) to Felipe for the night. 

7-20  Day 4

Walked from Santa Teresa to Hirdoelectrica.  From Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes (2050m/6725ft) was a 3 hour walk along the train tracks, Stand by Me style.  A lot of people were feeling hung over but Felipe, Ironmom, and Irondad, and myself were all still feeling good, and we had a lot of fun walking along the traintracks which were in a cool, deep canyon with a rushing river going by.  We were singing songs and dreaming out loud of eating Cuy (cuy cuy cuy cuy in a high voice), aka guinea pig.  About 1/2 way on the traintrack walk we got some views up the canyon at Machu Picchu itself.

7-21  Day 5

The night before Filipe and I had found a stuffed animal Cuy that looked extremely and took a picture of him petting it.  On this morning when we gathered at 4 in the morning, we showed everyone the picture and told them we had bought a cuy and had it in our dorm bathroom and were going to cook it when we got back.  We told them its name was Jorge, and everyone believed us and the whole day at Machu Picchu they were excitedly talking about how we would manage to kill our new pet to roast on the bbq. 

Anyways, at 4am we started the hike up to the mountaintop ruins of Machu Picchu and up to the Sun Gate (2750m/9020ft) to watch the sun rise.  Machu Picchu is of course spectacular.  It was my 2nd time visiting the great Incan site, but still definitely worth it.  It is impossible to describe this stunning area of ruins that sits up in the green mountains, one of which looks just like the face of an Inca, and with white snow-capped peaks around, so I will just let you imagine it or look at pictures.  We had a 2 hour tour and then, Maria and Sophie (Denmark), Filipe, Jenna and Kevin (Switzerland), and I explored the ruins by ourselves.  Mom and Dad had tickets to go up Wayna Picchu, so we had to give them a sad goobye.  We had fun taking photos all around the ruins with Cuy faces.

After exploring the ruins and relaxing in the grass of the terraces for a while, we headed back down the steep trail to Aguas Calientes.  Felipe and I were starving so we took the group out to an American style buffet where we most definitely got our money's worth. 

It turns out a lot of people in our group had problems with their train tickets with the companies they had booked with.  Many just didnt have ticket back home.  This was a problem for 4 of the Brazilians who had airplane tickets back to Brazil the next day.  As the only way in and out of Aguas Calientes is via hiking or train, they were forced to walk in the night for 3 hours on the train tracks to get to a place they could take a private car to a place where they could take a bus that would get them to Cusco.  Luckily for me, it was easy and I had my ticket that took me to Ollantaytambo and then a bus onto Cusco.

I arrived in to Cusco around 9pm and waited until 1230 when Felipe's train arrived.  We had been talking about Cuy (guinea pig) all trek, so we headed out and ordered some Cuy.  Hmmm...it just wasnt tasty.  It was kind of gross actually.  And what made it worse is they just bring the whole roasted thing out, head, feet, and all.  So you are looking at its eyes and teeth as you eat.  There is also some possibility that it was rat as opposed to guinea pig, as there is no way to really guarantee you are getting guinea pig when in Peru.

After our Cuy "feast" (there is hardly much meat on it and we couldn't even finish that) we wanted to get something to get the taste out of our mouth.  There is not much open at 2am, so we figured we could get some icecream at McDonalds or KFC, but both places had turned off their icecream machines.  We looked at the meal options and our stomachs just turned seeing all the meat on the menu.  As felipe said, "I think I am going to be a vegetarian for the next month" 
After that we had to say a sad goodbye as he was heading to Puno, but we decided we would meet up for skiing in the States or traveling some other time together.

Mystical, Magical Cuzco

7-15

Bus from Puno to Cusco.  Nice scenery along the way including some fancy dancing for Sunday festivals in villages along the way and a big wool market.

7-16
Do some paperwork for Lockheed and then exploe Cusco.  I have been to Cusco before with my parents, but we never really had a full day in Cusco bc we did the Inca trek, went to the amazon and our 2 free days in Cusco bro and I went mtn biking (by some ruins and salt mines) one day and paragliding another day over the sacred valley.
So it was nice to explore Cusco today.  Definitely a different experience being here on a budget on my own as compared to an American vacation with my parents.  Cusco is now full of tourists and it is crazy how many American accents I hear out there.  You hardly meet americans while traveling but they are all over here.
Cusco is a cool city.  It is the longest inhabited city in South America.  The city has cool architecture in that there is spanish colonial buildings built on top of incan rock foundations.  The streets are all cobblestone and very narrow.  As it is a city built in a valley surrounded by hills, the streets are often steep and often completely made of stairs.  Lots of the streets are pedestrian only bc they are either too narrow or steep.  They also have some very impressive large churches and fancy plazas.
I did a lot of walking around the cool narrow, cobbled streets.  I visited several churches and plazas.  Also visited some markets.  I hiked up out of the valley for some good views of cusco and the one big glaciated peak you can see in the distance.

Tomorrow I leave at 4am for my trek to Salktantay and Machu Picchu

Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca

7-13

Took a boat to the floating islands of Uros, and visited 2 of the islands.  The people that live on these islands gather these huge chuncks of these floating soil type things.  They carve them into blocks, tie them together and then put reeds on top of them.  When they do this, they created a floating island, and one that can last for 25 years or more.  Their entire community from houses to kitchens to little gardens are on the floating islands.  They mainly eat eggs collected from water birds, the waterbirds themselves, fish they farm in the middle of the islands, and the root part of reeds.  Must be a crazy life to live on a floating island.  We met the president of one of the islands we visited and she showed us around.  We then took a ride on what they call their mercedes benz boat, which is a fancy paddled boat used mainly for weddings (and tourists).  I then took a boat to the non-floating island of Tequille.  Had a fresh trout lunch there with the group, and then they and all the rest of the tours took off.  I had a homestay there, so I was going to be staying over night, and as soon as the tours all left at 2, I was the only person of non-incan descent on the island.

The family I stayed with was SO incredibly nice.  It was a guy named Celso and his girlfriend and their 5 year-old son.  Celso took me out to some pre-incan ruins and told me all about the island.  I then took a hike up to the highest point on the island, pachamama where I checked out some more ruins and watched the sunset over lake titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world at 3812m(12,500ft)).  From the island you could see Bolivia and Bolivia's Cordillera Real where I had climbed Huayna Potosi.

The island is heavily terraced for agriculture with a lot of pre-incan terracing.  It is very quiet and peaceful because there are no cars or roads (just stone paths), no dogs, no generators, and no electricity.  The people here live on about 8 usd per month, but this is not bc they are completely poor but bc they grow everything that they need and trade for the rest.  The island is famous for its knitters and weavers.  The men knit and women weave.  The men are always walking around with their knitting project around their neck as they knit and women rolling up spools of yarn.  They wear distinct clothes on the island with the men looking like they are a mix between spanish bullfighting and what a waiter would wear at a very fancy arabic restaurant.  They also wear knitted hats that are famous.  If the hat is all red, it means the man is married.  If the it is red on top and white on the bottom, he is single.  They don't wear rings here, just the hats.  The hat looks a lot like a Santa hat in shape and size, except the ball at the end is usually very multicolored

I had a tasty dinner (by candlelight of course since there was no electricity) at the homestay and worked on a puzzle with their little guy.  Had tea from this awesome plant that smells and tastes so much like a very strong mint, but it doesnt look like it is in the mint family at all.  It was nice to have the island all to myself (in terms of tourists as it gets crazy packed from 12 to 2 when the packaged tourists come) with just the villagers going about their daily life in much the same way they have been for a long, long time.

7-14
In the morning I hiked to the other side of the island to a nice golden beach.  Only one there of course.  I went for a nice cold swim in Lake Titicaca, but it was refreshing as the sun was hot and warm when I got out.  Had another fantastic trout lunch before taking a boat back to Puno.

Back in Puno I visited the main Plazas and churches before it got dark and then had some tasty food: cow heart, cow intestine, peruvian chinese, cactus fruit, pizza and icecream.  All so cheap and all so tasty!

More Canyon Country

7-11



Took the bus to Yanque which was also along the canyon, but higher up where it wasnt so deep. I hung out in the chill square for a little bit and had lunch from a lady that made her soup and chicken right in a little cart there. I then did a cool loop hike.  First visited some pre-incan terraces along the canyon.  I then crossed a cool suspension bridge and then up a hill to the pre-incan ruins of Oyu Oyu.  I finished up at some hotsprings.  I made a little mistake with the hotsprings, but a good one.  The owner of my guesthouse had told me there were hotsprings near the end of the loop i could bathe in.  Yanque was another one of those towns where I was the only gringo sleeping there, but there were tour groups stopping to see the plaza and impressive church. 
As I started descending from the ruins, i saw a bunch of tourist vans down in this one portion of the canyon and i figured it must be the hotsprings.  When i got down, i saw that it was a very fancy, fancy spa resort.  THe fanciest I had seen in South America.  Complete with massage tables, fancy buildings and several hot springs pools along the river.  It reminded me a little bit of times i had snuck into fancy resorts in SE Asia.  I asked the bartender by the hotspring pools how much it cost to bathe there.  And he looked surprised, and said, oh you aren`t staying here?.  And he just waved his hand and said he didnt care.  Enjoy.  So i got to enjoy these really plush hot springs.  There were a bunch of rich package tourists there and it was interesting to talk with them and see how they viewed Peru and these villages from the comfort of their fancy private transports and fancy vans.  They told me they couldnt believe how expensive food was in peru.  This made me laugh bc I was regularly eating 3 course meals (meat soup,  the meat with rice and potatoes and veg and then tea or pastry) for 2 bucks.  they dont take those tourists to the same restaurants. 

From this point on i have been running into many more people on fancy private type tours or families on high budget tours.  Mostly french and Americans.  I guess its that summer vacation seasons.  It is so weird to see families and gringo children out on the streets now.  Compared to Bolivia which is a big backpacker place, peru is much more geared to package tours and much more guides speaking english.

7-12
Took a minivan to Chivay.  There was an amazing market there and I went to town on the food.  Yanque was so small that there was only one place to eat...the lady with the cart in the plaza, and it was her tasty quinoa soup and chicken with rice, but for all 3 of my meals breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  So I was excited to get some other food.  Mowed down on cactus fruits, alpaca kebabs, alpaca steaks, corn rellenos, and icecream.  They had this crazy soup that had an entire llama head in it.  i wanted to try it but i wasnt exactly sure all the parts of the head you could eat...like eyes and brain and such.  The next place I wanted to go to was Puno on lake titicaca.  The only way to go direct without having to go all the way back to Arequipa was to take a fancy tour bus with an english speaking guide.  It was a bit expensive for my taste (some of the people from the hotsprings were there) but it was nice to stop at some places such as some lakes and spots with nice volcanic viewpoints.  We went over a 4800m (15,745ft) pass and then eventually arrived at Puno (3808m/12,490ft) along the shores of Lake Titicaca.  I got to work right away sending lockheed some scanned signature things now that I was in a city with more technology and then I had some tasty alpaca kebabs and pizza.  Yum!

Canyon Country...Colca Canyon Trek (crazy trails, hotsprings, and a desert oasis)

7-7  Got up at 3am for the bus ride to Chivay where we had a breakfast at 6 and then continued onto Cruz del Condor (Condor Crossing).  There, at one of the deep parts of the famous Colca canyon, we watched huge condors soar below us and then catch updrafts and rise above us.  There were about 15 condors going back and forth.   It was a magnificent sight to see these beautiful birds soar up above the river way down below and then float effortlesly up so that they were graceful silouhettes against snowcapped peaks.  I then took the bus down to the tiny village of Cabanacondae.  I just chilled out there for the day, going for a small hike for some views of the canyon, reading, and going to the freezing mass at night.

I came here to do a trek in the Colca canyon.  Peru claims it to be the deepest canyon in the world, but I also did a trek in China, the tiger leaping gorge, where they claimed it to be the deepest canyon.  Also the annapurna gorge in Nepal had a big sign claiming it to be the deepest.  From what I read, the deepest is actually a gorge in Tibet.  But it is interesting how they measure it.  these places that claim to have the deepest ones, measure it from the lowest point of the river to the top of the highest mountains on either side.  Thus why nepal can lay claim bc annapurna mtn and I think it´s dhauligari both rise to 8000m.  In my own head I think a canyon has to be what the river cut (like the grand canyon) as opposed to the mtns rising above it.
Anyways, almost everyone does a 2 or 3 day group led tour that has at least 10 people in it and they all go to the same spot.  I got lucky and got some good intel from some people on my jungle tour that suggested staying in this hostel, pachamama, in cabanacondae instead of taking a tour from arequipa where a lot of the time is spent driving.  And they said that pachamama had good info so that you could figure out how to trek in the canyon on your own.

7-8
My tent had accidentally been left in the tourist van on the day I went with the condors.  Everyone in the van had just a small backpack bc they were all on the 2 day trek, but I wasnt on a tour and would not be returning to Arequipa, so I had my huge bag.  they had to detach the tent from my pack and when they did it at 3 in the morning, i certainly didnt remember it after watching the amazingness of the condors.  But luckily i had made friends with Rosa who I had booked the tour with and she was very helpful in getting the tent back to me.  So I picked it up in the plaza that morning when the next tour groups rolled in.

Ammadeus of pachamama had given me a good 3 day itinerary where i would go to some unspoiled villages where none of the big tours went and see some cool things.  He drew out a very rough map and i headed out.  I had some trouble finding the trail at first bc near cobanacondae there were so many trails crisscrossing everywhere around terraces and livestock pastures.  Eventually I was kind of lost and asked a little boy herding sheep and he took me cross country through all the cacti to find the main trail that descended into the canyon.  From there the trail descended impossibly steeply down to the canyon.  It was crazy how this trail was built with its switchbacks and hugging narrow ledges with huge drop offs.  The hike took me from Cabanacondae at 3290m (10,800ft....the top of the canyon by cruz del condor was about 4200m) down to Llahuar at 1970m (6460ft).  Heading down from the rim had really great views as you could see the greenish river at the bottom and snowcapped peaks at the top.  As I descended, even though it was the dry season, I actually got some rain.  The trail was just so steep and cool.  It reminded me of the Kaebob trail in the grand canyon.

At the bottom I went over a hanging suspension bridge where you could see some fumeroles and geysers along the river bank.  I stopped in a small village after i crossed the river, and bought some bread from a woman who showed me how she was weaving a beautiful multicolored blanket.  I arrived in the tiny village of llahuar (2 families with a total of 9 people) and stayed in a home stay.  I then went down to the river and soaked in an amazing perfect temperature hot springs right along the river bank at dusk.  The the stars came out and in the clear, desert air, the stars were amazing. 

It was kind of nice to head down to such a low elevation where things were warmer.  When you travel there are some things you notice that you wish the US did different but there are way more things that you are thankful for.  One thing, that the last 2 trips have made me really grateful for is our climate control.  Almost all our houses are heated, our schools, banks, libraris restaurants, cars, offices, etc are all heated.  In our lives we are actually hardly ever uncomfortable.  After travelling through the Himalaya and northern India in the winter and then traveling through patagonia in fall and S. America in winter  (I have only been to one place on this trip, the amazon, where I didnt need a sweatshirt or jacket at night.  Even when I was in the amazon they had a cold front and I was glad to have lots of blankets.  Even at iguazu it was cold and we needed jackets), you really appreciate the warmth.  Usually the days are pretty warm, but at night it gets freezing and the rooms have no heat, the restaurants, no heat (and often they are outdoors anyways), the churches no heat.  No heat in any stores and they dont use it on buses either.  So at night you have a chill.  So down at this low elevation and after heating the body with the hotsprings, i actually ate dinner without my fleece on for the first time in a very long time.

7-9
In the morning I first went for a nice morning soak by the river in the hotsprings before I hiked up to the village of Llatica at 2570m (8430ft) which was on the other side of the canyon from cabanacondae and up another smaller canyon.  After exploring this sleepy village, I continued up above the Rio Molloco and up the canyon to the village of Fure at 2760m (9050ft).  At the village there were several ribbon waterfalls falling from way up high and down into the village.  Here I stayed at another homestay.  The trails up to here were so cool.  They were really narrow with steep drops down to the river.  It's just crazy where they were able to build trails.  The canyon is so incredibly steep.  And throughout the trails you are walking through cactus trails full of los of different species of cacti--kind of like a cactus garden.  So beautiful, especially combined with the sweeping canyon views.  From Fure, I continued up the canyon to the tall and powerful Huaruro Falls.  Very impressive!  It was then back down to Fure to spend the night.  Only tourist again up in Fure.

7-10
Hike along a sweet narrow, cliffy trail to mirador Apachetea with great views up and down the canyon.  The trail was really sweet and they cut it at a nice grade so i thought it would have been great for mountain biking.  I then descended down to the village of Malata  at 2450m (8040ft).  From here you could see down to the bottom of the canyon and could see the village of San Galle (aka Oasis) where you could see lagoon blue pools sparkling in the sun.  It was hot in the heat of the day by this point, and I couldnt wait to get down to the pools.  I made it down to San Galle at 2050m (6725ft) where the tours do go and visit bc of the nice swimming pools with waterfalls falling into them.  th village is surrounded by palm, banana, and papaya trees.  I chilled in one of the pools for a while and talked to one of the guides who asked where I had been.

He told me I did it right how i did it to go see some of those vililages where there are no tourists and where the people are still living life as they have for ages.  But he said it is all going to change very soon.  i was actually gchatting with a friend a few days earlier and i was telling her how i was a bit bummed i would be missing out on the big treks in the cordillera blancas and huayhuash bc of the winterfly antarctica job.  And she told me, dont worry, it will be there when you get back.  I just agreed.  But this guy kind of reminded me of one of the reasons I have really been getting out there to travel and see things.  He told me how they had plans to connect all these villages to roads and bring power to them.  He said the funny thing is that the power scheme was thought up in the 80s based on a hydroelectric plan, but that was when there were big glaciers in the mountains above the canyon, and they are almost all gone now so the creeks coming into the canyon only have water seasonally, so the hydroelectric thing will not work too well, except in the big river which they also plan to dam, which will of course drown out some villages.  Actually, on this day, with about 1km left until Malata, I ran into a big tractor.  It was in the process of making the singletrack trail into a road navigable by cars.  It was crazy on my little map it was marked as singletrack, and just over a few days they had made it into a road passable by cars.  If I had come to this place a year later, or even a few months later, it would be totally different. 
This is one of the reasons why I have really tried to get out there and travel.  Things change so quickly.  I remember my china guidebook said to hurry up and get to the 3 gorges in china and do the amazing treks there as they had a dam planned.  Of course, my book was old and when i got there, the dam had displaced several million people and buried the 3 gorges.  When I talked to people on the Everest base campe and Annapurna circuit trek who had been there 20 years before, they talked about how differnt the trek had been.  back then it was truly staying in tea houses with families, but now you stay in little lodges.  When I was doing the Annapurna circuit they were in the process of starting a road that would completely go around the circuit, making it navigable by car and thus ruining it as a trek.  Lots of times progress happens at the loss of culture and uniqueness that we as tourists like to see.  Or sometimes it's glaciers melting, tigers becoming extinct, etc.  I mean, I am sure it wont be long before the everest base camp has a sheraton and cable car up to it.  I like to get to some of these places before modernization (or extinction or whatever) takes place, but at the same time, I totally understand the people's reason for wanting it.  I mean just bc we like to see traditional villages doesnt mean these people shouldnt have access to electricity and cars as well.  just think if estes park was still attached to Boulder and ft. collins by just a trail.  i wonder how many CU games our family would have made it to if we had a 60 mile round trip treki.  And I just laugh thinking of my dad carrying his huge big screen tv up on his back for 30 miles or me my 42 pound ochem books home for college breaks up the 30 miles of hills.  Then again, maybe that would be good, bc we certainly would have a whole lot less fat nebraskans and texans in Ep if the only way up to EP was by a trail!  But anyways whether we like it as tourists or not and whether the villagers like it or not, it is happening all around the world, so actually sometimes by waiting, things do change.
Some other reasons why I have gone for so much travels so early is partly because the opportunity has arisen.  Who knows what will happen later.  The dollar continues to crumble compared to other currencies and prices, even in a 1 year old guidebook are always much higher than the guidebook suggests.  At some point budget travel may be very hard.  And who knows, if the US economy were to really tank, we may become like other countries and only our top 10% could travel.  And then in my personal life, I could get a great job, but one that only gives 2 weeks holidays, which would make travel hard.  Or i could have a family, or a mortgage, or other things that make travel harder.  So when people ask why I have been traveling so much and so early, that is a big part.  The world changes quickly AND I have the opportunity now, so why not take it.

Today was tuesday and thus on monday being in the little village i had not been able to check my email (oh there is that modernization thing again), which i was trying to monitor every weekday bc i was still waiting for that official job offer and i wanted to make sure they didnt pass me up bc i didnt respond.  I wanted to make it back up to the one computer in cabanacondae before the denver lockheed offices closed.  It was super hot, so I pulled a trick from ole Jude´s hat and jumped into the cold river with all my clothes on.  As i pounded back up the canyon in the heat with the sun on my back, I passed by lots of trekkers from the tour groups suffering in the heat.  Mom´s thing certainly did the trick!  They said it would take 4 hours to the top, but in my hurry to get to the email, I did it in under 2 hours.  I was pretty out of breath near the top as all of a sudden you find yourself back up near 11,000 ft.

I got to the computer, waited an eternity for my email to open (even in HTML mode) and then BOOM!  The official job offer was there!  And I am glad I hurried up bc they gave you two business days to reply and this was at the end of the 2nd day!

I celebrated with some icecream in the plaza and then went to my favorite restaurant for an afternoon snack.  A restaurant of mainly all man, all wearing cool cowboy hats.  That night i celebrated with a more expensive and fancy dinner at my hostel having alpaca steak and a pisco sour and a machu picchu sour.

Arequipa

7/6

Today was a pretty chill day, just touring around Arequipa a bit.  It's a nice city with 3 volcanoes towering above it.  I visited some churches, visited a monastery and cloister and took a walk out to some bridges with nice view over the river of the volcanoes.  I spent a lot of time enjoying the sunshine and reading in the plaza de armas as well as drinking some tasty fresh passion fruit juice. 
I did a lot of good eating in Arequipa from really sweet cactus fruits to some interesting and tasty bbqs and lots of icecream.

Tomorrow. I have to leave at 3am (Yikes) to go to Cabanacondae and the Colca canyon.

Vamos a la Playa y entonces a Peru

7-3
I took the one bus from Putre to Arica in the afternoon.  It was a scenic drive as it dropped from 12,000 feet down to sea level in a couple of hours.  If you are going from the Bolivian border up above Putre, then you are looking at 15,500 feet descent over 77 miles!  As we got lower down it got drier and drier.  At first there were some of these really crazy, Dr. Seuss type cacti.  Saguaros on arm hormones.  But then absolutely no vegetation.  The mountains all around looked like they were just giant sand dunes bc they were mountains covered only in sand.  Down closer to the ocean, we went through a place called the Lluta valley.  It had some greenness to it as glacial runoff ran through their and people irrigated.  Near this area on the giant mountain sand dunes you could see humongous geoglyphs.  Geoglyphs are like petroglyphs except they are ginormous.  You may be familiar with the Nazca lines, which are giant and famous geoglyphs you can only see from an airplane.  Well these are similar, and I think done by the same people in the past, but since they are formed up on the sides of huge sandy mountains, you can see them from the ground.  They are quite cool how big and yet intricate they are.

I arrived into Arica which is on the coast.  One of its claims to fame is that it is the driest town in the world.  It receives on average 0.03 inches of rain per year.  There is of course no vegetation in the surrounding hills.  Its crazy to see a place so devoid of life.  I had a bit of a celebration dinner for being offered the job in Antarctica.  I went out to a fast food (here, fast food is kind of the expensive and treat option) specializing in completos (the hotdogs with avacados and tomatoes).  I got the huge combo meal that also included empenadas, a soda, and an icecream sundae.

Arica is also famous for its surf breaks.  I was staying at a  cool surf hostel and there were actually some pros as well as surf photographers staying there.  Its kind of winter here though and so its wetsuit surfing and so required a lot of rental gear and such.  And since I am on a bit of a time crunch now, I decided not to stay to surf.

7-4
Feliz dia de la independencia!

There are beaches north and south of town, so I took a walk to the beaches north of town and did a bit of wading in the water, but it was pretty chilly.  It was also very cloudy all day.  Although it doesnt rain here much, I think in the winter bc of the currents and such they get a lot of fog.  Sorta like CA June gloom.  Along the walk the google streetview car went by, so maybe the next time I look on the coastal road in Arica on googlemaps streetview, I will be there.  I made sure to wave.

I also took a walk up El Morro which is a giant bluff that marks the end of the coastal range and overlooks the town and the ocean.  It had greats views from the top down to the port, town, and ocean surf.  At the top there is also a giant statue of Jesus looking out over the ocean.  For my 4th of July meal, I did what a lot of Americans probably did and had completos (hot dogs)

7-5
I took a car from Arica over the border to Tacna in Peru.  Its funny bc you take this sort of fancy oldsmobile car.  Very plush.  From Tacna I took a 7 hour bus to the city of Arequipa.  It was an interesting bus ride.  Almost all 7 hours was through extremely dry landscape that looked like badlands, except absolutely no vegetation.  The interesting thing is that it sprinkled a bit outside of Tacna, which I think is highly unusual as it must have a similar climate as Arica, which is no rain.  We also went through some crazy areas of super thick fog (that famous Atacama desert fog that some plants can use to take water from and people have been trying to use fog and mist nets to also get water)

I arrived into Arequipa in late afternoon.  They talk about this fairly common problem in Arequipa with taxi drivers where thieves rent the registered taxis and pick people up and take them to a distant place in the city where they rob them or force them to empty their bank accounts at ATMs.  I was determined to not have this happen to me. When I walked out of the terminal, I wiggled my fingers at tall the taxi drivers calling for me and went to an old guy who was not.  I imagine if he wasnt after a foreigner, he was probably safe, plus he was old enough that I figured if I noticed we were going somewhere odd, he would be easy to overtake.

Since I didnt eat during the entire bus and car journey, I had some feasting time at night with some new food in Peru.  I had some sort of bird neck bbq.  It wasnt from a chicken, some other bird bc he just called it aves.  Then I went to a place with a tasty beef stew that also had a soup with chicken legs in it.

some random Bolivia pics

skiing down Huayna Potosi (6088m), looking back at what I skied, at the summit with Bolivias flag, a fake shot of us approaching the summit (we had to wait until someone else made it bc we were the first), with a treacherous pirahna I caught (hehe), with Doodle our baby pet Coati at the rainforest lodge, and soaking in a hotsprings in Sajama NP with bolivia`s highest peak in the background

Stuck (x2) in Putre

7-2

Unfortunately the one bank they have in this town has an ATM that doesn´t accept intl Visa.   Since I was arriving from Bolivia, I only had 50,000 pesos with me, which wasnt enough to cover everything there as the tour alone cost 40,000.   The bank, being a tiny town ,wasnt open on friday nor of course the weekend.  I assumed it would be open on monday where I could exchange USD´s for pesos.  I travel with 200 bucks in USD in case of issues like this.  Of course the bank wasnt open on Monday either, I think bc of a festival or something.  So bc I still needed to pay for my hotel and pay for a bus ticket out I was kind of stuck until it opened.
But I was stuck in another way as well.  I needed to have an interview with the head science lady for the lockheed antarctic program as I had moved onto a 2nd interview.  I had hoped to have my interview before 2pm my time so I could catch the bus to Arica and move on (my hostel would take USD and I could pay the bus on arrival).  Unfortunately they werent available until 4pm Denver time, or 6pm my time.  So I had to stay yet one more day in the town of Putre.  It´s a nice town bc it is tiny, quiet, and has nice views, but there is not a whole lot going on here and I wanted to move on.
So I had the interview in the evening on Skype. It was on speaker phone with the lab manager who I had originally interviewed with and her boss.  There were only a few questions and then it turned more into logistics of being hired....they were offering me the job!!  So they officially offered me the job, though they said they are still waiting for the final funding to come through before I for sure have the job, but they said it was likely.  So fingers crossed for that!

The internet fee had relieved me of about all the chilleno pesos I had left.  I wanted to celebrate with a beer or nice meal, but all I could manage with my 600 remainng pesos were a couple of eggs, some pancitos (little bread) and a tomato.  But I did celebrate it by watching some Glee on my ipod!

7-3
The day before I had met two australian women who were staying in a cabin at the hostel I was at.  They asked why I had been here so long in such a small town and I told them my dilemma.  They had a problem in they couldnt speak spanish and there was absolutely no english speakers in Putre.  So I helped them arrange a tour and get done what they needed yesterday.  This morning (I slept in) when I woke up, they had slipped 40,000 pesos (80 bucks under my door) with a note that said we are off for our tour and we want you to have this so you can leave and eat in case the bank doesnt open.  Turns out the bank was open and I will of course be paying them back.  The library was also open today, which means free internet..woohoo!  This afternoon I have the bus to Arica.

Amazing Altiplano

6-30
In the afternoon I took a short hike out of Putre up to where the villagers were herding their cows, llamas, and sheeps.  It was a pretty hike with nice views way down the valley.
A group of 3 Aussies finally showed up, so I was able to book a shared tour with them.

7-1
We left early in the morning for our trip.  I was with 3 Aussies (Sam, Kat, and Laura) as well as our driver and guide.  First we headed up to Lauca National Park with great views of volcanoes including the perfect cone of Volcan Parinacota.  We then headed into Vincuña National Wildlife Refuge which again had spectacular altiplano scenery including  snowcapped peaks and volcanoes everywhere--and one smoking volcano (volcan guillotone?).  We visited an old traditional Amayra village with its historic church set at the foot of the smoking volcano.  We of course saw tons of vincuñas everywhere (wild llama like animals).  We then headed into Surire National Monument.  It has located in its center Salar Surire a large salt flat with some lakes in the center.  We drove around the salt flat that is surrounded by volcanoes and saw lots of flamingos (3 species: Jamison, Chilean, Andean), several Rheas (aka Nandus, a large flightless bird resembling an emu). 

At the opposite side of the salt flat, we stopped at one of the most amazing natural hot springs I have ever been to.  It was huge.  Bigger than a standard 6 lane 25 yard swimming pool.  It had little rocks in the center rising above the water you could sit on when you needed to cool off as the water was quite hot, the hottest hot spring I have been to since Pucon.  There was also a hot creek running out of the pool that was a bit cooler that you could float in.  The mud underneath was that mud that is supposedly good for your skin, so we covered ourselves in it.  The view around were of course amazing with volcanoes, vicuñas, and flamingos.  On top of that, the water was also pretty, having the turquoise color of a tropical lagoon.

The guide had plans to cook up our lunch at the CONAF (NP) station, but it was closed; however, there were lots of viscacha around.  He said no worries as he knew a friend that worked in the nearby police/border outpost and we could heat up our food there.  It turned out to be a cool cultural experience.

We entered into the police building and there were about 10 Cabaneros (police officers) sitting around the table eating a big meal and watching the Spain vs Italy Eurocup championship.  Now, I don´t know if it was bc it was the Sunday meal or it is just good to be a Chilean police officer, but they had huge plates of meat.  On top of salad and fruit and rice, they each had a big chicken leg, a big steak, and 2 sausages.  To go with the meal, they were drinking wine.  I had to laugh at that.  I couldnt imagine any govt employee in the USA being able to drink on their lunch break, especially the police.  Not that there was anything at all out where we were as we were extremely remote (we reached this area by a 3 hour drive on a dirt road complete with river crossings), but we laughed at what would have happened if one of the drunk officers had to go out for a call.  They shared their wine with us and we rooted España on to victory before heading back whence we came