Stuck in ChristChurch

8-24

I was all ready and packed to fly out this morning.  I had a 10 o'clock pickup to the airport, but at 9, I got a call to stay where I was and that I would have another night at the hotel bc for some reason our flight had been delayed again.  I am on the 2nd winfly flight and the first one actually made it in yesterday while I was skiing.  Well actually I was on the 3rd winfly flight, but have been combined with the 2nd.

So today is just kind of a hang-out day.  There isn't too much to do in Christchurch especially since the city center is closed for demolition from the earthquake and it's winter so the beach isn't too appealing.  Probably just going to hang out in the afternoon and maybe watch some tv and do some computer work.

This morning I headed out towards the city center and the River Avon.  However, the city center itself is still completely closed off, so there's not tons to explore.  It's just really unbelievable how much damage the earthquake caused.  Right now I am accessing free wi fi at this new shopping area called the re: start mall, which is made entirely out of mill van containers (the kinds of containers you use to ship things on cargo ships and trains).

Unless I can do more skiing, I think I am kind of ready to get to the ice.  Well, only bc of one reason.  Everyday that goes by that I don't go, it gets 30 minutes of more light down there.  I really want to see Antarctica in the dark bc of the aurora australis and stars and such thing.  Other than that, though, I am quite happy and content to be hanging out in Christchuch.  Basically getting paid to be on vacation.  Just hanging around and relaxing with friends around.  And eating lots of good food on per diem.  Christchurch has an amazing amount of authentic carry out/dine in asian places from Malay to Thai to Indo to Indian to Egyptian, and I really enjoy eating those tasty foods as well as attempting to practice the few phrases from those countries I remember.  At my favorite thai takeout place the lady there is so cute and funny.  And everyday she asks if I am flying out tomorrow, and I say "yes" and she says, "well then I will see you tomorrow" and laughs her cute thai sing song laugh.  She tells me she sees 10 young american men a day and they all tell her they are leaving and then she always sees them again.

8-25

Got the call that we were cancelled again, so I headed over to Jeff's hotel to hang out with Jeff and Gavin.  We ended up going to some outdoor cafe place to get lunch and mulled winter wine and ended up staying for a while to drink beers and play bocci ball.  In the afternoon we walked around the botanical gardens and then I just grabbed some tasty thai takeaway food and watched movies in my room.

8-26

The flight was cancelled yet again.  Today I did more just hanging around the river Avon and outdoor mall with the wireless and watched some movies in my room

(S)kiwi...August Powder Day!

8-23

So bc we had a day off due to the cancelled flights, I decided to go hit up some skiing in NZ.  I have always wanted to ski in NZ and had actually hoped for this delayed flight opportunity.  So it was definitely a dream come true.

To save time bc internet is expensive here and time in a foreign country is always valuable, I am just going to paste in an email to my brother that I wrote about the skiing and it covers basically what I would have written anyways.

Hey Bro,

My flight was cancelled yesterday to Antarctica so I got to head up for some NZ skiing! I took a shuttle at the crack of dawn up to Mt. Hutt.  It was a lot of fun, and I think you would have really liked it.  It was a Colorado bluebird day, but they had gotten a lot of snow the previous week including about 7 inches overnight, so it was a powder day.  They had a huge base, at a bit over 2 meters bc this August they have had double the amount of rainfall in Christchurch than is the average.  So there was excellent coverage.  The snow was a bit sun crusted in the morning on the north facing slopes (but it is the equivalent of late February here and low elevation compared to what we are used to in the Rockies) so that it felt like april skiing in the back bowls of Vail, but the south facing slopes were sweetness with fresh tracks all day.  The mountain was pretty cool bc although there were only 4 lifts and 1 shuttle, it was set up nice so that there was tons of terrain access and it skied much bigger than you would think with that many lifts.  The other thing was that it was entirely above tree-line as the tree line in NZ with its southern latitude is quite low, so in effect, the whole ski area was like a giant bowl and everything could be skied.  The terrain was quite nice with lots of good steep stuff and some good cliffs (which I avoided bc I did not want to risk injury right before Antarctica).  They had lots of backcountry access gates and the alpine touring options were endless and some of the lines I could see that you could ski would be epic.  So much snow that all the peaks had good coverage and huge lines.  There were even some people out doing some heli-skiing.  The views from the top off in the distance were amazing and you could even see some of the huge glaciated peaks including Mt. Cook (NZ’s highest).  One of the other cool things is that the mountains are so steep that they drop straight down to sea level.  So from the mountain if you looked straight down the snow disappeared into bright green fields (of course filled with sheep) and you could even see the ocean in the distance.  It created a cool contrast: the green and the white and the blue sky.  But seriously, the mountains just looked really gnarly and full of coverage for some backcountry skiing that you would absolutely love.  Oh, and several of the kiwis were skiing in costumes although it wasn’t even a special day.

It was nice bc since it was a weekday and the mountain had a lot of terrain and steep terrain that people stayed of off, I got fresh tracks all day.  And they opened up these really cool backside chutes that hadn’t been opened in a while that I lapped quite a bit.  They ended up going lower than the base area, but you could grab a shuttle bus that went by every 15 minutes back up to the base.

I don’t think that the skiing can compare with Colorado skiing bc our snow is better and we have more varied terrain, but it was still pretty awesome.  I imagine though that there are a lot of days with nasty weather and with terrible visibility especially since there are no trees for wind protection or contrast.

And I did a total guy bros ski day.  I had to catch the shuttle at 630 in the morning as it was a 1 and a half hour drive to the ski resort (did you know that Christchurch has 18 ski areas within a 3 hour drive of the city, but this one was one of the biggest and with the best snow this year).  At that time in the morning there was no food available so all I had was a nature valley bar I found in my ski jacket.  Bc the ticket and rentals were expensive, I was using the money I get for per diem on that and not on the expensive food at the resort, so I skied non-stop without a break (partly bc of the powder day) for lunch since the food was expensive.  And btw, New Zealand doesn’t even give out free crackers and hot sauce.  Just small cups of water.  I of course skied until the last run and didn’t get back to Christchurch for dinner until after 7.  I wish I could have found a panda buffet but instead got a big thing of noodles at a malay/Singaporean restaurant and then got a 2^nd meal at a thai takeaway place and finished with dessert and attempted internet for a mcsesh at mcdonalds’.  (btw, mcdonalds’s in NZ has a Lamb Burger and for breakfast as this thing called the kiwi mcbreckie which is a mcmuffin with egg, bacon, sausage, rosti (like hashbrowns), ham, tomato, and cheese…puts the American caloric breakfast to shame!)

I’ll send some pictures of the skiing your way at somepoint.  Hope the 24 hour race goes well.  Are you enjoying the pro cycling challenge?

Love ya,

Bro

8-19 to 8-21

Happy Birthday Bro!

Flew from Denver to LAX where I met up with good friend Jeff, who had just asked Steph to marry him earlier that week.  So we went out for a beer to celebrate.

The 15 hour flight from LA to Melbourne was actually pretty nice.  It was on one of those new huge double decker planes with Quantas.  Good service, good food, free alcohol, and over 180 movies to choose from on the personal screen.

Met up with co-worker Gabe in Melbourne and we hung out until our flight to Christchuch.  New Zealand was pretty much socked in by clouds, but a few of the bigger peaks and their glaciers stuck up above the clouds and were gorgeous.  All the Ice people (due to American Airlines) had their bags lost, so hopefully we will get them tomorrow

Bc of bad weather in Antarctica, the flight today down there had boomeranged (flown all the way there but returned without landing bc of safety).  A boomerang flight kind of sucks bc it means you are on the plane for 9 hours.  9 hours on a commercial intl flight isn't too bad bc you have food and drinks and movies.  But on a military plane you don't have seats that recline, don't have much food, are wearing earplugs bc of the noise, don't have windows.  Also heard that on the first boomerang flight the toilets got filled up on the way there so coming back no one could pee unless you had brought a pee bottle with you!  So not very nice.  Bc of the boomerang, the people that were supposed to be in ANtarctica today are still in christchurch so I got moved to a different hotel.  It's very nice.  3 rooms!  Free wifi and hot tub.  And the lady at the front desk was so sweet.  She gave me a big bottle of "trim" milk, which made my day and bc I didn't have my bag, I asked her if she had toothpaste and toothbrush from the hotel.  The hotel didn't but she told me her partner had recently flown on Emirates and hadn't used the toothbrush and toothpaste so she gave me that.  She also gave me an adapter as Elisha still has mine.  I headed out on the town to get some fish and chips tonight as well.

8-22 Went through orientation and safety and all that.  Felt like a returning year at college.  A bit nervous but then seeing all your old friends again made you all excited and happy.  Hung out with Jeff after the orientation and worked on booking a ski trip.  Then went out to some famous Christchurch bar at night with Abe, Jeff, and Gavin

Hanging out in Colorado and getting ready for Antarctica

My 3 weeks or so in Colorado were very busy seeing family and getting ready for Antarctica and of course watching the Olympics.  I had to do all my medical and dental physical qualifications.  I had to spend a week down in Aurora doing lab safety and radio-isotope training for Lockheed for my new lab position.  I stayed down at the red lion and enjoyed eating fancy food courtesy of Lockheed.  Down in Denver I got to hang out with Sharona, my previous boss, and Steph the postmistress from Antarctica.  I also of course met my new boss Bev (who qualified for the 2008 Olympic trials in the backstroke) as well as fellow lab assistant Abe who is a PhD student at Vanderbilt studying Volcanoes in Iceland.  After my training, Elisha visited for a few days where we did some hikes in the Park and bikes in Boulder.

It was then off to Leadville and Buena Vista with my mom to watch my brother race in the Leadville 100 mtn bike race.  We enjoyed the hot springs of Cottonwood and had tons of fun rooting bro on.  Zach and I then spent a day biking in Leadville before heading over Independence pass to ski Kaitlyn Archambault, watch the Campaign, and do some biking in Aspen.  I then had a day in the valley with my mom doing some shopping and getting the rockie's taco bell specials, and then I had a couple days to pack, which leads me to today...8-19

8-19
A shuttle will pick me up at my house this afternoon.  I fly to LA, then to Melbourne, and then to Christchurch where I have orientation training and gear issue for a day before heading off on a flight to McMurdo station in Antarctica.

Trying to get home

7-24

I had an afternoon flight from Cusco to Lima, so I had one last tasty Peruvian almuerzo in Cusco.  I also did some last minute souvenir shopping.  I arrived into Lima around 3pm and had to wait until my midnight flight in the airport.  Around 11pm, they came on saying that the plane was delayed for mechanical and security reasons.  So we sat there and sat there and sat there.  Around 2am they brought out sandwiches and soft drinks.  Eventually around 4am, they cancelled the flight.  As this was a Lima to Houston flight, it was mostly Americans, and boy oh boy, after they cancelled the flight the uproar was crazy.  And then when United representatives asked for our passports so that they could cancel our departure stamp so we could enter back into Peru (the customs people didn't want a huge plane-full of people going back through so we were supposed to give our passports to United people) there was another huge outcry as people did not want to give up their passports...c'mon people, like United agents at a big int'l airport are going to run off with your passport.  Almost everyone was so pissed off.  It was actually kind of funny (and embarassing) for me.  Apparently these people had not had the same kind of tour through Peru and South America as me.  To me this wasn't too big a thing.  Just another small bump in travel.  So after we got our passports back we headed retrieved our luggage and then headed back to the check in places to get re-booked for tomorrow.  We then boarded a bus that would take us to the very fancy Sheraton.  I definitely wasn't complaining.  I was going to get a night at a fancy hotel with a bunch of fancy meals.  I was actually excited, just another part of the travel experience.
On the bus I met one of the coolest families ever.  Paul and Kristen and their two daughters Perrin and Eva.  They live in Denver, but they are all Ski Patrol at Winter Park, the two girls being Junior Ski Patrol.  Eva will be a junior at I think Denver East HS and Perrin a freshman at Lawrence College in Wisconsin.  They seriously were such an awesome family.  Both parents were so nice and fun and the girls were best friends and so sweet.  There relationship reminded me of my relationship with my Bro. 

By the time we checked into the hotel and sent off emails letting our loved ones know that they shouldn't pick us up at the airport, it was 7am and time for breakfast.  So my new family and I (they quickly adopted me into their family) had a great breakfast at the big and fancy breakfast buffet.  We then headed off to our suites to take a nap.

We reconvened for lunch which was another buffet with an amazing spread of food, including some ridiculously tasty salmon.  After lunch, we took showers, cleaned up and hit the town.  The family had actually had a quick tour of Lima the day before since we had the late flight, so they toured me around a bit on foot.  I was actually surprised at how interesting the city was.  Lima gets a pretty bad rap, but the architecture was cool and the city was definitely alive.  They showed me the main squares and then we went to the oldest bar and coffee shop in Lima where Paul bought us all espressos.  We then rushed back to the hotel to catch the bus back to the airport.

At the airport the family and i had a big meal at the food court courtesy of United.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12am, but it was delayed and we left around 2am, but I was still able to make my connecting flight to Denver.  The family was on a later flight, so I had to say a very sad goodbye to them in Houston, though we have kept in touch via email, and I figure I will see them again. 

I was so excited to see mom waiting for me at DIA.  One of the hardest parts about traveling is being away from my family, especially mom.  She took me out to a nice lunch at an italian place, bought me some cocktails and then we headed to Longmont for me to do my drug test for Antarctica.

Then I finally arrived up to Estes Park, which was as beautiful as ever.  I immediately saw how close the fire had come to our house, which was amazing.

Cavorting in Cusco

7-22

Met up in the plaza with the crew from Salkantay: Jenna, Kevin, Maria, and Sophia.  After the long trek, we decided to go out and get massages.  Massages, though not as cheap as in Asia, were still incredibly cheap.  1 hour was 4 bucks.  We then kind of hung around and walked around Cusco before heading to an Irish pub for happy hour drinks.  After happy hour, we headed out for a very nice meal, in which the Danish girls shared a Cuy (guinea pig) which was indeed better tasting than the Cuy than Felipe and I had shared.

After dinner we headed out to another Irish pub where we had lots of drinks including pisco sours.  Surprisingly none of the Europeans had heard of the Irish Car Bomb dropshots, so I bought a round for everyone.  After we had been at this pub for a while, we headed out to a cool club where we danced until nearly dawn.  It was awesome dancing and included us dancing on top of the bar for quite some time.

7-23

Most of the group was hungover, so we took it slow.  Kevin was maybe the most hungover and he had also lost his phone, wallet, and all his money.  He thought that maybe he was drugged, so he had to stay in Cusco and go to the police to deal with that so he could get help from his travel insurance.  So Maria, Sophia, Jenna, and I headed out and took a bus to Pisaq to visit the fortress and ruins of Pisaq high up on a mountain.  After exploring the ruins we took a bus back to Cusco and had a very tasty last meal together. 

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

Sajama National Park and the High Bolivian Altiplano and pass into Chile

6-27
Took a bus to Patacamaya from La Paz and then switched to a minibus for the journey to the little village of Sajama. There is only one minibus a day, and I just made it by 10 minutes.  The minibus had seats for 15, we managed to squeeze in 23 people. Most traditionally dressed women with their cool hats. It was a gorgeously scenic drive to Sajama with towering volcanoes all around as we drove along the mostly flat and rolling altiplano that at times looked like badlands.   We drove passed lots of traditional mud villages and tons of llamas and alpacas as well as some ancient ruins. Back when Peru and Bolivia were more or less joined as one, Bolivia was known as Alto Peru (high peru) and it is easy to see why.
When I got to the tiny village of Sajama (4250m, 13,940ft), I took a little walk in Sajama National Park which is surrounded by huge glaciated mountains and volcanoes.  I also explored the tiny traditional village of Sajama and climbed up the bell tower of its old mud church.  At this altitude and in the middle of winter, it is freezing here.  The room isnt well insulated and even though I have 3 thick blankets and 2 lighter ones I shiver a lot when I first go to bed, so I even sleep in my fleece, which is very unsual for me.  I of course could have gotten my sleeping bag out, but once I was under the covers, I didnt want to get out.  In the morning the windows were all iced up from my breath.

6-28
Today I did a big hike in Sajama NP.  I first hiked to what they called geysers.  Instead it was more of a big field of bubbling and boiling water holes and some steaming fumaroles.  Maybe one could have been classified as a tiny geyser.  Along the way I had tremendous views of the 3 volcanoes that dominate the sajama altiplano valley: Sajama (the highest peak in Bolivia at 6520m/21,386ft), Pomerape (6240m/20,467ft), and Parinacota (6350m/20,828ft).  The latter two sharing the border with Chile.  On the way, I also saw a herd of wild Vincuñas.  I also wanted to visit some hotsprings.  The normal way would be to walk all the way back to town and then head out to the hotsprings.  To cut off distance as I was quite far from town, I went crosscountry over a couple of ridges at about 4700m (15,400ft) or so and into another canyon and then back down to the Sajama valley. The hotsprings were perfect: that perfect temp where you are warm and comfortable but not too hot.  I could stay in there forever!  The spring was really big and quite deep, almost like a swimming pool, and it of course featured 360 degree views of volcanoes.  On the way back to Sajama I went through a huge herd of llamas and alpacas that must belong to the village of Sajama.

At night I had trouble finding food in Sajama.  I was the only tourist in the whole town as this is off the beaten track.  The only tourists that really come here are packaged tours to climb Sajama.  The first night I was able to easily get food bc my hospedaje served me dinner.  The owners of my hospedaje had been in La Paz both nights, so the place was run by their little son (10 years old!!)  The first night they had asked when I first arrived if I wanted dinner, so they were able to prepare dinner for me.  The 2nd day, I assumed they would make it for me again, but I guess In needed to tell them early and when I came back in the dark from my hike it was too late.  There was one other tourist hotel, but thy also werent serving.  There was one restaurant in town, but it was closed.  Luckily a man saw I was looking into the restaurant and he called the Señora of the restaurant and she came over and made me some food.

6-29
The only minibus out of Sajama left at 6am.  So we set off in the dark and cold for the 40min or so ride on the dirt road to the international highway.  I got dropped off there.  It was still mostly dark and freezing.  I stood there in the cold (in my shorts bc my pants were wet and dirty) just waiting for the sun to rise.  Luckily some guys packing a truck with soy at a random building nearby invited me into the shed.  It was marginally warmer than outside until the sun came up.  The intl buses from La Paz to Arica, Chile were supposed to come by around 9am.  Between 9 and 10 the 3 buses came by, but they all flashed me the full signal as they flew by. So I decided it was time to hitchhike.  I was thinking I may have an email regarding the Lab Job so I wanted to get to a town with internet before the Denver office closed.  There wasnt  much traffic on the road at all.   Really only big semi trucks. 

At first I was a little picky not putting my thumb out for old looking trucks or the big gas trucks with the big red signs painted to on them: Peligro Combustible or Peligro Inflammable (Danger, combustible or flammable).  Once over the pass, we faced a huge descent, so I was wary of older trucks.  However, after noon, with little luck and little traffic and the thought of having to set up my tent on the freezing altiplano,eating crackers and getting water by breaking ice in the nearby lake, I became less picky.  After 8 hours of my thumb out, first in freezing cold then in brutally intense sun (no trees on the altiplano and at 14,000ft and within the tropics zone (we are at 18 degrees south), I finallygot a ride.  With a nice trucker driving gasoline to Chile, but in a fairly nice looking Volvo rig.  He was a nice guy and we had some decent conversation in spanish.  Being picked up at 3, I figured I would still make it to Putre before the Denver office closed (theyare 2 hours back).  The road and pass (Tombo Quemado, 4660m/15,284ft) were very scenic.  Right after the pass was the border patrol.  I have been on a lot of beautiful Andean border crossings on this trip, but this one may take the cake.  The border was right on a big lake (LagoChungara) with 2 perfect volcano cones towering over it (the 2 P volcanoes that I saw from the otherside).  There were other mountains around including a volcano with smoke coming out of it.  I was through immigration in 10 minutes, but unfortunately, bc he was a trucker, it took my driver and his truck and hour to get through. 

From the border, we entered Lauca National Park, and we descended past a couple more lakes and then had to wait a full hour for construction.  We then descended through an ice covered steep canyon.  The intl road goes close by Putre, but not to it.  So I was dropped of 5km from Putre.  Putre was so cloe, but a steep canyon was between the road and the town, so I was looking at an hour walk with all my bags on a winding up and down road in the cold.  And the sun had just set, so I would be walking in the dark for part of it.  Luckily, however, only a  half click into the walk one of the contruction trucks passed by and picked me up.  From the little village of Putre, I still had a nearly 1km walk to a highly recommended hostel (by Heidi from the jungle). 

I finally checked in and got to the internet, by about 5:40pm Denver time, so too late for the Lockheed offices likely.  But I did have an email that they requested a 2nd interview with me.  It was sent wednesday at noon (I had last checked my email at 8am on wednesday in La Paz), and when I called no one was there.  I am hoping the 2 to 3 day delay isnt a problem.  I really want that lab job!!

6-30
Since I arrived too late lastnight, I couldnt book any tours.  So today is just a chillout day in tiny Putre.  It's an Aymara village (the same people living across the border in Sajama NP.) and quite rustic. This whole area all the way to the ocean used to be Bolivia, but when valuable guano and nitrates were found here, Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia in the battle of the Pacific and thus completely landlocked Bolivia.  From my nice hostel, I have a good view down the precordillera.  Back behind and up towards the Andes, you can see some snowcapped peaks from Putre.  Putre, is at 3520m/11,550, so it's not quite as cold, but it still freezes hard enough at night to get ice on the creeks.  There isnt much to do here except for tours into several national parks in the area, so hopefully I cant get one, though I am the only gringo tourist in the town at the moment, so it may be difficult.  I guess I will just hang out and relax until the interview (skype works surprisingly well here and I dont want to risk that it doesnt work out in the big city of Arica...internet doesnt always make sense here.  My worst skype connection to my mom was in Buenos Aires).

The Amazon Rainforest!

6-23


I had decided to do the much more expensive tour with Madidi travel to Serere reserve rather than the very touristy jungle trips to Madidi National Park, partly bc of my conservation concious and partly bc I knew it would be better.



It was just 3 of us, Yousef and Heidi from Germany and myself. We had a very nice guide named Jamie. They were 15 or more years older than me, but very nice and quite funny. We boarded a boat and headed down the River Beni for 3 hours to reach the Serere reserve. When we disembarked, we had an hour walk to the lodge. It is a true ecolodge and with as small of a footprint as possible. No electricity, just candles. Almost all the food was taken from the jungle (other than meat), so we had honey from the tree, fresh bananas, fresh papaya, fresh coconuts, spices from the jungle. Totally amazing. There was a big lodge with hammocks and such right on a lake (lago san fernando) and then the cabanas were a 10 minute walk (through mud of course, they gave us rubber boots) away so that you had complete isolation in the jungle. The cabanas were quite cool and a little more luxurious than what I was used to as they had private showers and bathrooms (cold water of course, which is nice in the jungle) and nice beds with very good mosquito netting. The cabana had no walls, just 360 degrees of screen. So from everywhere, whether in your bed, in the shower, or on the pot, you had a nice view of the jungle and the butterflies flying around and the monkeys eating overhead.



In the afternoon we went for a jungle walk. We saw a jungle squirrel, capuchin monkeys, frogs, lots of amazingly huge trees, and we learned a lot about how different plants are used by indigenous people. We came back with an appetite and as it would be the whole trip, the food was absolutely amazing. And if I was ever hungry, I could just go pick baby bananas from a tree or cut down a coconut and use a part of a plant as a straw and suck up the sweet coconut milk. There was even a chocolate tree. The fruit of a chocolate tree is really interesting. It tastes a lot like mangos, but then you take the seed and dry it to make cocoa.



We had this cute baby Coati (raccoon family) that was the lodge pet. It's mom had been killed by poachers and so they were raising it. Yousef called him Doodle, and it stuck. He was a fun little guy. A lot like a cat. Always climbing up on us and then curling up on our laps to fall asleep. He would even sometimes follow us on jungle walks.



At night, Jamie and I paddled around on a canoe on the river and looked for caimans. We saw some and quite a few baby caimans as well. The stars were amazing. It was actually a clear night and they were so bright in the darkness of the jungle. And they reflected magically off of the calm lake. Choruses of so many species of frogs were music to our ears. And at night I fell asleep to the soundtrack of the jungle, but not before I had seen a snake and some frogs on the walk to the cabana



6-24

Woke up to the sound of the jungle waking up, especially the howler monkeys. And from my bed I watched monkeys run across the treetops overhead. Did a jungle walk to another lake, gringo lake. Then took a paddle out in the lake (which was thankfully free of mosquitos). In the jungle the mosquitos are so thick bc of all the recent heavy rains, that it is just crazy. You completely cover up and put on repellant and still get smoked by the skeeters. On the walk we saw Capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, and the very endangered spider monkeys. We also saw a couple of frogs and a coati. Along the way we saw some incredibly fresh jaguar tracks and scat (when we came upon the scat there were no bugs, on the way bag you could hardly see the scat bc of all the bugs, so in the insect filled jungle for scat to be bug free, means it was really fresh). We followed the tracks for a while, but never saw the jaguar. We spent the afternoon in hammocks on the top floor deck of the big lodge overlooking the lake. Lots of monkeys around the lodge in the afternoon.



In the afternoon, we paddled out onto the lake and did some pirahna fishing. We didnt do too well. I caught one and Jamie a couple but the germans just had bites and dreamed of catching an anaconda. The paddle back was gorgeous with the sun lighting up the sky and the water. And tons of these fishing bats came out and were swooping and flying all around in the sunset. And it was just so peaceful and quiet.



Jamie and I did a night walk looking for nocturnal animals. We found some frogs, including a tree frog and a cool false coral snake. Also a tree mouse and tons of huge spiders. And a quick glimpse of a giant armadillo. We could hear the night monkeys, but couldnt see them.



6-25

Another tasty fruit filled breakfast with good empanadas, fresh squeezed juice, and other tasty things. Paddled across San Fernando lake to do a jungle walk on the other side. On the walk saw capuchin and squirrel monkeys as well as a huge huge tarantula. During lunch, around the lodge we saw this Tayra creature (looks like a mix between and otter and cat) running around. On my hike back to the boat, I saw more capuchin and squirrel monkeys, lots of lizards (it was the first really hot day as the effects of the huge storm may have passed), and the tayra up in a tree eating honey with bees buzzing all around it.



Had a 4 hour ride back up the River Beni to Rurrenabaque. Along the way, besides tiny boats plying the water with locals, I saw a giant caiman, lots of turtles, and a lonely capybara (worlds largest rodent).



Back in Rurre, I checked my email. I saw an email titled Fire, by my mom, but I didnt think much of it bc I knew there were some big fires near Ft. Collins and other places around Colorado and figured she was just probably telling me how hot and dry it was in CO. So first I checked ESPN and saw some awesome news that my Arizona Wildcats won the College World Series. I then chatted with my brother and found out he had signed on as a full PRO cyclists. Congrats bro! Finally got around to my emails and saw that the email from mom was about a fire in the high drive area...where our house is. Apparently the fire had gotten within a couple hundred yards of our house. I saw my friend Rob's parent's house had escaped by 20 feet. Apparently 22 houses were burned to the ground. SUch a terrible tragedy. The last I heard the fire was under control, but I havent heard from my mom since that email. I see people I know in photos helping out with the victims in the epapers and I wish I was there to help. Estes Park is a strong and close community and it will pull through, but I am very much saddened by it, yet relieved at the same time for my parents house and the house where I grew up with so many memories and have everything I own stored at. The people back home are certainly in my prayers.



6-26

Had an early morning flight back to La Paz. I learned this time that the one runway did actually have an airport building, it's just that when I landed the route to the airport was flooded so that is why we got picked up in the bus. By the way, just as CO is dealing with it's hottest and driest summer ever, the Amazon basin of bolivia is dealing with one of the wettest (and mosquitoest) dry seasons ever). The ride back was just as scenic, those less bumpy. I checked into my favorite hotel and then did some errands in la paz like laundry and buying a new pair of sunglasses. I lost my sunglasses in my excitement to dive in with the dolphins. Also catching up in internet stuff of course.



by the way, here is a blog from zach's friend who I ran into while climbing huayna potosi. He has more time to blog I think and has a nice blog with lots of good pictures, so if you want to see pics of what the climb looked like, check this out.

http://www.cbguidesblog.com/climbing-mountains-in-bolivias-fabled-cordillera-real/