Lima is an awesome city regardless of the rep

weI just got home from learning to surf on the coast of lima. The hostel we are stay at is a block away from the ocean. I am just giddy. I dont know what it is about the ocean but it makes be strangely happy. Me and trev took al short walk on the beach yesterday morning... i went wading and i was surprised by the warmth of the water. It wasnt too bad.

It was a lazy day yesterday. We were all in a little better moods after we realized that there was no reason to be upset by the transportation mix up. I was the first one up which gave me time to read my new book ( THE BEACH, awesome book) plus I caught up on watching english TV. The last couple movies I have seen we all in spanish so i have very little idea what was going on. I consumed an awesome standard breakfast and just relaxed. After everyone was dressed and showered and interneted out... we headed out to explore the area around up. With no guide book in hand we set out to the main streets. There was a small festival in the center square with handicrafts and interesting foods. We were set on munching down on a Peruvian style hamburger... not america... the burgers came with french fry like foods on the patties, as well i got guatamole, colasol, tomatoes as fixings.. so it wasnt that western. Plus the drink that came with the meal was a juice made from corn. I didnt like the juice it had a very distinct and bad after taste. After lunch we admired the homes and building in the neighboring street. We are know staying in one of the richer neighbors of Lima. I feel safer here, more so then in central lima. The girls that directed us to this part of the city we smart ones.

We all have been craving a homecooked meal for the past couple days, so we decided to make pasta at the hostel instead of eating out again. It took 3 trips two 2 different stores to get all the necessary goods to cook with. We bought noodles, tomatoe sauces, bacon, garlic, red peppers, onions, eggs (for breakfast), a bottle of wine, bottle of rum, and 4 liters of coke. once at home, the hostel we settled in to a very serious game of asshole followed by a game of backgammon. I royal kicked trevors ass... but then he kicked mine at chess. I have never before played that game before so i didnt want to play the game in the first place. Trev is too serious of a chess player to bother explaining why we does the moves that he does... so i didnt learn the game, i just got my ass kicked. I think i will stick to games we both know.. then the games are more fun.

Trev and Dave love playing video poker at the casinos here... because it only costs 10 centesome to play and u dont loss to much money at one time. So far we have been lucky because we all leave the casino up. I suggested playing real poker in our room because we had a litre of rum to get through. It was a good night because i won 2 out of the three poker games we played. DAVE lost them all.... it has to be said because he has been bragging that he an awesome player, but the drunk girl won instead.

Another today was a lazy day as we recovered for the alcohol from the night before. We all slept in, had an awesomre breakfast, then headed to the air canada office to sort this airplane issues out. As it turns out, there is nothing he can do to really help us. The flight for tuesday is closed meaning that we cant buy tickets, but there may be some tomrrow (tues) so we have to go back at 9am. But we have tickets booked for the flight home on june first, but that is too late for me.. so i am still holding out hope for tickets for tomorrow. I will write move later. I need to get the salt water out of my hair.

night.

Not coming home

... Figurtive or literally....

I am going to literally. We missed our plane in Lima last night because we enjoyed an excellent Peruvian meal, then finished up shopping, the taxi couldnt find our hostel that was storing our bags, and it was a longer drive to the airport then expected. Overall we arrived at the airport at 8:15pm, but we stopped to repack our bags after we told a lady we were on the aircanada flight. It wouldh ave been nice if she informed us that if we didnt go now that we would not be going at all. But wouldnt that be too easy.

So here i am at another hostel with no money in my pocket as a cute little surfer hostel. It is 11am and the boys are stll sleeping and attempting too. We all upset at what happened. Both Trev and Dave have girlfriends to get home to and well i miss my friends. The next plane that flies to Canada isnt not until tuesday. That means not time to visit friends and family before the move to abbotsford.

I am a little annoyed but there is nothing we can do at the moment.

Bolivia.. what a party

OK... I am still alive after the little side trip to Copacabana, Bolivia and I am currently in Arequipa. Plans have changed again... we are going to take a night bus to lima on friday night and arrive there on saturday morning, which then leaves us a day to sight see in the city. I really didnt want to head back to Cusco because we have spend a large portion of our time there already... so i convinced Trev and Dave to come with me to lima. The bus rides are about the same lenght so it makes no sense to revisit cusco... although now we cant get another inca massage, but I did find a massage place down the street from our new hostel so maybe get one there instead.

Any how... Bolivia was a blast....

We were paniking on the morning we were heading to Copacabana because we only had our record of payment but no bus tickets. The bus was set to leave at 730am and it was 710 before we found the lady that sold us the tickets. As it turned out, the record of payment was all we needed. The tour lady was awesome and payed for our taxi ride to the inner city bus pick up location. it was sweet because by not going to the bus stationing directly we don´t have to pay the traveling tax... ya saving money.

The ride to the border was uneventful... although i did meet an older guy biking around peru (he also buses occationally)... his trip sounded like fun.

I can say that I have walked to and from Bolivia because we have to all get off the bus... exit peru, walk across the border line and then do the custom thing in bolivia. Copacabana is only 20 mins from the border and it is a very touristy town... i liked it.

The day we arrived, we booked at tour to the Island of the sun and a bus back to puno. After shopping (yes, I have bought a couple presents) for a couple hours... we all needed a little dessert. we found this cute little restuarant on the tourist street where we munched on chocolate cake and coke while playing Spanish Clue. Trev kicked ass... he cheated thou. This was a relaxing day. In was sunday so we decided that we needed to attend church (it was trevs idea). The central church was impressive and grand, the only downfall was that the church service was in spanish so it was a litte hard to follow, but even so I enjoyed the experience. It was the first time I have been to a service in 13 years. Dave had never been to church before and trev... well he is an alter boy back home.

We have started buying breakfast foods for the days that we are on tours because we keep picking hostels that dont serve us breakfast. In Copacabana, the town has to majo0r streets, one is very touristy and the other is a local street. The local street has a massive supermarket thing that is made up of various little stalls not one big store. It is like the one in Puno. We have left over cheese.. but we bought sliced meat and more bread. We have officially given up on jam and butter... it is too messy. So we have made breakfast on a train, 2 buses and a boat.

Just for Gordon we had good old fashion traditional food for dinner... yummy....

Any how we went to bed pretty early because we had to be at the dock at 8 to get to the Island of the sun. It was an amazing trip, because the Bolivia side of lake titicaca is not over polluted. The water is crystal clear and very very blue. It the water wasnt about -15 degree i would have gone swimming. I loved the day trip and I have about 40 pictures of the lake... man... oh man... i missed water... i am glad i am moving to bc for the summer. On the Island of the Sun we got a guided tour.. but he only spoken spanish so I didnt really take much out of it. I enjoyed the view instead. After visiting a museum, and 2 sets of runes, we set out on the 8km hike to the south end of the island. It was alot of uphill... even thou i just completed an 8 day trekk with lots of up... i still find myself out of breathe.

The little hike was suppost to take up 2.5 -3 hours... we did it in under 2hours. That left us time to go restuarant hunting. And I mean huntting. We arrived in the south side of the island at 2pm, which coinsides with nap time... we tryed 2 restuarant that turned out to be a good 5 min walk down a grassy path... it took us about 30 mins to find an open restuarant willing to serve us hungry tourists. And the only place we could find... only had sandwiches. I was disappointed... i wanted pizza. But then the ppl beside up recieved pasta... ohhhh ... so we convinced the 13 year old waitress that we really wanted pasta... it took a lot of convincing to get her to change our order.... and we shared 2 liters of coke. I think i have had more coke in the last 2 days then I have in the last year. The view from the restuarant was awesome as well because there was a well kept church and then more sparkling water below. Its funny we have all become additicted to playing cards. Before and after lunch we played war and asshole, on the boat ride we played as well. I love it.

We almost missed the boat ride home and I had a hard time finding the ticket for the ride back... I am not allowed to hold on to anything important anymore... hehhe ... So i have lost my passport once and almost lost lots of other belongings. The boat ride home was good... we met a women from scotland, a women from england and a younger guy from Switzerland. The Younger guy was fun to talk to... this trip for him has been an excuse to party and drinking so the stories we shared with me were very entertaining to say the least. He was been traveling on his own from 3 months and has 2 more to go and I recieved a few good tips from him when travelling alone.

Once back to town, we proceeded to climb up the hill adjacent to the main plaza. the climb was disturbing because there was garbag and writing everywhere. It was grost... but we wanted to see the sunset from the top so i climbed on. Dave and trev walk way to fast uphills but that was ok because allowed be to walk slowly by myself and to take lots of photos with out slowing them down. I have pretty pics to add later.

For dinner we all tryed a street vendor... it turned out to be one of the best and cheapest meals of the trip. I am going to have to try a first more vendors while traveling in the future. When we were walking throu town earlier we found this bar with a sign that said Drink Beer, save water. I had to go in there... so we had pina coladas in copacabana. This pub was a sketchy bar... we were the only ones in there and the walls were covered in graffiti. It was a bar that probably would allow drug to be smoked in it... but we had a good time just drinking there. After 3 drinks there we left to find so where more populated.

At the next bar... we played pool... i met an english guy, a guy from calgary and a guy from so where else. It was a good night until me and dave started doing double shots of tequila... it all gets hazy after that. But the boys made sure that i got home safely.

I was definity a little hungover the next morning. I slept in while.. the boys went shopping and the cold shower helped sober me up. I was sort of still drunk when i woke up. Lunch/brekfast was a traditional el menu (set meal). Soup, then trout with rice and fries followed by coffee. Lunch lasted too long, meals here always do thou. We were supposed to be at the bus at 1... and we were still at lunch then... but as it turns out the bus didnt actually leave until 130 so that left more shopping time. I have finished my shopping for family and friends so it was time to shop for me... i bought the coolest ring and necklace from street vendors... i cant wait to show them off.

Things seem to work out for us because the minute we arrived back in Puno we were able to get on a bus to Arequipa. Although we havent prefected paying for things... at the bus station u have to pay a departure tax and I only paid for 2 taxes and there was three of us traveling.. the offical checking tickets wanted us to go back and get another one... instead trev bribe the guy by paying him the sol... instead of going back inside... we bribed our first offical. After ways we got on the 330 bus to arequipa and arrived in the city at 930ish.

Stupid taxi drivers... our driver tryed to tell us that the hostel we wanted was fully... i am glad that dave speaks fluent spanish because we assure the driver that we would find our own hostel. The one we wanted did have 3 beds open. It was a sweet ass room.. the nicest yet. It had its one bathroom and tv, plus i got the top bunk bed. We were all in bad moods were we arrived because we didnt have time to buy food in puno... no one had eaten in 9 hours, but after a yummy meal of pasta with pesto and other various foods all was well. We returned to the hostel at 12am and proceed to watch 2 movies. We havent watched any tv in 3 weeks so it was a treat to watch something, anything. It fell asleep during Blade 1....

The next day, the only day we were spending in Arequipe wasnt spent the way I wanted to spend it because we didnt get up until 9ish... i made the mistake of turning the tv on... Ever after was on and it is my favourite movie so i made the boys watch it with me...hehhe that was mean of me... We didnt end up leaving the hostel until 11ish... breakfast at the central plaza took forever... dave and trev wanted to shop.. and I just wanted to do the tourist things... and they didnt want be to do the tourist thing by melf... which i understand... but i was still annoyed. When we finally started the tourist thing we got lost... it was fustrating.

We ended up finded the largest monestry in the area. It was expensive to get in but it took us over 2.5 hours to look through everything. There we couryards, nun and priest houses... 6 street full of houses, a restuarant... and lots of random corners. It wasnt like any other place we had been too. I liked it.

After that we headed back to the hostel to set up our trip to the canyon and book our tickets for the bus to lima. That could a long long time.

The musuem that I want to really hit contained a mummy that was discovered at the top of one of the located volcanos near arequipa. The museum was amazing. It started with a 20min video and finished with a 40m,in guided tour of the artifacts that we found with the mummy and the mummy its self. SOOOO cool.

We were planning on trying cuy (guinne pig) tonight for dinner... but the resturant recommended by the guide of the museum was closed for the day ... so we went across the street and had chinese food. Odd chinese food in Peru... but it was good... we chased the food down with Peruvian beer. That makes it all better eh.

I am going to say good night... and head to the casino to join dave and trev there. It was Trevors idea...

Later

Pics are coming...

d


Hey, we all hve made CDs of all the pics from the trek, but I couldnt get the blog to load them... it was taking to long so no photos yet, but trust me they are worth the wait.

We, Trev, Dave, and Val... spent the last two days on 3 of the islands on Lake Titicaca. The first island was the floating islands. The islands are made of lake reeds about 1 meter thick. Almost everything that they own is constructed from the reeds as well (like there houses, boats, crafts, and they also eat some of the plant). I tried eating the reed... it doesnt taste basd but i dont think i could live on it. The culture at the floating islands has be destroy sa bit by the large amount of tourists that visit them, so there is an increase of begging and poverty, but they still seems to be a functioning society. Apparently there are more islands hidden farther from puno down channels between the reeds and these islands can only be visited by private boats. This is were where the culture has not been changed to need tourism. I wish we could have visit that area, but i am glad that some places are still hidden from the rest of world.

At the second island, we were shoed off our boat on to a dock full with locals. We were first tolded to grab a family to stay with, and we all stood there looking very confused, but apparently we were waiting for our guide to call our names and the names of the family we were going to stay with. So a women named Flora, a cute little peruvian women lead us up the rocky path to her home. This island was very different from the big citys because there wasnt any visible poverty. Everyone had land, houses and animals. A funny thing was that the gates had hings made from old soles of shoes. It is a smart idea, but it looked strange to me. We had about 30mins of free time before the family served us lunch so we went exploring... apparently we arent very good at finding paths... we ended up climbing over most rock fences... trev almost knocked one over... finally we found a path but by then it was time to turn back. the way back to the house only took 5 mins so dave and val started a game of soccer with children from the neighboring homes. It was very cute.. they got they asses kicked. I napped in the warm afternoon sun and trev wrote in his journal. After the soccer game all the little kids introduced themselves and they even signed Trev journal. It was all an exciting experience. I found that even thou they cant speak our language we could will communicate.

The families provided us with a delishes meal consisting of soup, potatoes and rice and tea. After which we were taken to the main square where we ran in to Dympna (aussie), John and Lindsay. Lindsay has ditced up for john. The three of them wanted to do the trip on their our because then the locals get more of the money. We all hiked up the hill on the island, recieved a introduction to the runes we were going to see. Everyone in our group of friends went up to the less touristy runes (mother earth), but me and trev went to both. We made it up to the Father sky runes first... then we ran down the patheway and up the other one. We made it up just in time for the sunset.

Once the sunsets, there is only about 20-30 more minutes of light so we had to quickly walk down the path. I am by far the slowest one in the group and trev is always making sure that i dont get left behind. When we were walking out the hill, i felt so tired and out of breathe... it was retarded. It felt like i hadnt been treking at all, but we were at an elevation over 4000m so that made the climb significately harder. But the amazing view was worth it because we could see the lake and in the far distance we could see the shadows of the bolivian snow capped mountains.

After we returned to the central square.. different girl led us home in the dark. We were all starving and looking forward to another home cooked meal. It is totally different to get homecooked food vs restuarant food. GUESS WHAT...
When we get to Bolivia tomorrow... we are going to look for a hostel with a kitchen because I am going to make me and trev and dave a homecooked meal... I miss cooking and the boys are looking forward to making fun of my cooking.

The night was cold and I was very tired so I stayed home after dinner. They was a little dancing thing at the central square and Dave, Trev and Val went. It was a good time and they got to dress up in tradtional clothing.

The next morning we almost missed the boat to the last island because we were waiting for breakfast. The wait was worth it. Have I mentioned that food is the best part of travelling. We got tea and pancakes at 730am. We were again lead to the boat dock by our host family. it was sad to say good bye. Once we were on the boat the cards came out... it is funny were are spending alot of time playing a variety of games at every chance we get. The other members of our tour think we are strange.

I forgot to tell you about the other members of our tour... there was a couple from Ottawa, a couple from New York, an Israli guy, 3 ppl from Quebec and another couple froim some where in the states. It was interesting to talk with the ppl from new york because they had just finished volunteering in northern Peru. I am going to look into volunteering in thalian when i go.

The last island was alot mor touristy and fully of restuarants... basically we were there to have lunch and enjoy the scenery. We played cards, but i did try the lake trout.

Once back in Puno, we tried to find somewehre to get laundry done.. but instead we had snacktime in a little cafe on the main street. Apple pie, cheesecake, and moka cake plus coffee with Baileys. I am starting to get used to snake time at 5ish and dinner at 8pm. The cake and coffee was excellent and it woke me up after my afternoon nap on the boat.

At 6 all nine of us traveling more or less together managed to all be in the stay place at the same time so we went to dinner as a fully group. That was a funny event. Becasue we had no idea where we wanted to eat and on Lima street (the central tourist street) there are ppl selling things, pple wanting to clen shoes and ppl trying to get u in their restuarant so when we stopped we were getting surrounded. Finally we ended up a at a restuarant that offered us a tradition tourist menu and free drinks. It is weird because the set meal of a soup, many course, juice and dessert is the same price as the main course. So only stupid tourist pay high prices for meals. heheh

It was alittle sad because we are spiltting up tomorrow. Me and tre and dave at going to Bolivia. Dympa is following Val to the jungle to an aminal rehab thingy. Lindsay and john are going back to Trubusos farm (horse handled from our trek) farm to look after some children and fully experience the culture. They first wanted to teach english, but it is potatoe harvesting time so the adults are all busy working in the fields so with john and lindsay there, they will be able to look after the kids and teach a little english.. Keith and Nat may come to bolivia with us but there plans are in the air.

I am going to continue to do the tourist thing and when i am in south east asia I will hopeful find something a interesting to do too.. but for now i dont have time.

So i will updata everyone on the events of day 8 of the trek... the day of traveling to puno and the 2 uneventful days in Puno.

Wish me luck ... to more we are going to bolivia who knows that is going to happen.

Luv ya

Its thursday night, we (Nat, John, Dave, Trev and me) ate pizza again at this wonderful pizza place... pizza in peru is heaven because it is made in a clay oven... only in Peru would u find a bar with a clay oven.

Anyhow everyone is down in th casino so i am here at the internet cafe.

Day 3 of the trek

For me this was the hardest day. We got up at 6 am and had breakfast, plus we packed up. By 8am we were hiking the Inca stairs to the first set of runes. They were amazing because the cloud forest we were in had not dissappear, so everything look almost like a dream. The incas stone work and building techniques were very advanced. The hike up to the Runes took us past jungle up and then to stair build my the inkas. John was fed up with climbing and said that the runes were going to be behind the next corner... THEY WERE...

The first set of runes were the place were common ppl would have slept during festivals, the few builds would become room to hundreds, but as we climb more stairs and pathways, we found ourselves upon buildings and homes of royal class. From this point we come see for miles around, we could see rivers, high mountain towns and farming fields opn the slopes of the Andes, plus blue blue sky that stretched for miles. If is it wasn{t so cold I wouldnt leave the little town. We hiked/climbed through almost non distinct pathway through a dense jungle like surrounding. it was an interesting hour and a bit because everything was constantly changing and i was in an interesting discussion with the Aussies. The four hours after we summitted the mountain started out ok, but the day grew very hot and the scenery remained constant/boring. The last hour of hike went by slowly... all we could wait for was the river lerking below. The river never appeared to get closers and the path turned to lightly packed sandy. The path was scary because we all kept slipping and there was a cliff to our right. Trev, Dave and I were in the back... and the pace was slow....

But finally after what felt like forever, we reached the ice cold blue river. As soon as the river appeared our backpacks were dropped and the cooling began. Freddy our guide yelled at us because we still had another 1km to walk. so we got dressed and walked along the river for another 30mins. As soon as we were at our lunch resting place the Aussie jumped in the river... me and dave were second. Trev and lindsay were chickens and tooktheir sweet time. john jump in after me and dave. Freddy took the opportunity to bathe.

Guess what... sarah u are going to laugh... maybe hit me later.

I went swimming with my camera in my pocket... trev nicely reminded me that it was still in the pocket of my shorts. I didnt take anuy pics for a while. (it is working now thou)

Swimming was ended very shortly after were arrived because lunch was ready... It wad another good meal. I wished that lunch would never end because we had another 3 hour climb ahead of us. And it wasn{t going to be an easy 3 hours, it was almost straight up with a first zig zags. I would not have made it with out Trevors help because he stayed behind me the whole way up, stopping to rest with me and then reminding me that we had to continue or wed be stuck on the side of a mountain to freeze. He was amazing because if he wasnt there I wouldnt have made it up the mountain. I just wanted to sit dow2n on the hill and not move because my legs were soar and I was out of energy. I wanted to quit but Trevor refused to pass me. Dave was traveling at the back of the pack too, he made me a new walking stick when I broke my bambo one. A walk stick does help.

At about 530pm, the sun had set and light was quitely dissapear we arrived at a split in the road.. there was a camping site to the left and hill to the right... lucky for us we had to head up the path to the right... yayya... but i stopped to finish my oreo cookies and the energy from that aided the final assent to the campsite. Freddy had promised us a fire on this night because we were finally out of protected land and we allowed to make one. But we arent very good outdoors men. We couldnt make a fire, even with the help of a full bottle of first aid alcohol. Yep freddt used our first aid equipement on a fire. I vwas a little annoyed that we couldnt get a fire started so i went for a nap in my (JJs) very warm sleeping bag... an hour later whenI emerged from the tent there was a roaring fire... One ofthe horse handled (ANDES mountain gods) made a massive bond fire. If it wasnt for them we wouldnt have not a sweet ass roaring fire between snack time and dinner time.

Again it was an early night...

Day 4.

This was th last HARD day of the trek. We were climbing to an elevation of 4200 meters. The hike was apparently easy for 2 hours and then hard uphill for 2 more hours. Freddy is starting to lie a lot... so in reality it was insane up hill for the entire 4 hours. But it wasnt as bad as the third day because it wasnt as hot and the up hill was in the morning. The elevation made the weather cold plus we were always in clouds. My body was over heating while climbing the rocks but as soon as we stopped I was freezing. We made it to a point where the hard climbing became a little easier and this is where i was almost pushed off the cliff by a dog. Dave was like there is a dog, i said where, but as I spoke the dog came up behind me. it startled me and I just about stepped off the mountain.

Lunch on the fourth day took place on the top of our second mountain. At first the view was blocked by clouds... but after yet another excellent lunch the clouds lessen and we were amazed by the hight of the mountain.

After lunch, it was only 3.5 hours all downhill to the our househandles farm yard where we were staying. We hiked through barren mountain slopes, green meadow, dense jungle and farm land. The surrounds changed almost as fast as the weather changes in calgary. I just couldnt wait to be at our campsite.

Isedro offered us an amazing meal. He slaughtered a lamb for us, john helped. We all helped make an igloo out his field rocks and from that he made a hot fire inside. The rocks were left for 2 hours to heat up. While we were waiting we had tea and snack and played asshole. I lost horribly. but we were playing with 8 ppl.

We were called out of our dinner tent to watch Isedro and his sons remove the fire and then they flated out the red hot rocks. The lamb pieces were piled on the rocks then a layed of hot rocks were placed on top (the men moved the rocks with sticks and their bare hands). Potatoes, beans and more lamb were added in layers. Then a finally layer of rocks were added on to the food. A layer of stray/hay then a tarp was played on top. After a finaly layer of dirt was compacted to keep the heat inside to cold the varies foods.

WOW... after 45 mins.... the most awesome meal was served to us. I recieved 2 massive hunks of lamb, a few beans, 3 potatoes and 1 sweet yam. It is a traditional way to cook food. The ceremorie occurs on birthdays and special occations. This was a special occation for Isedro and his family. It is the first time they have had tourist stay at ur farm.

I forgot to mention that, we we arrived I asked where the bathroom was, and I was told that he had to make one for us. And I asked about a shower/bath. I was feelingf very dirty after now showering for 3 days. Isedro offer to construct a shower for me... i had to argue very hard to stop him from doing that. I did not want to put to extra trouble.

I was in bed and asleep by 9pm... it was a late night

Day 5

We hike out of the Isedros little town. The farm land and village reminded ,me of the surrounds described in the book Eragon. It was beautiful, remote and untouched by tourist/the western world. It is a 2 day hike to get to, no matter which was to enter the town from. The kids were encountered were stronger that us, could run up and down the hills incircles around us... they are true amazing.

The hike consisted of FLAT ya and a little up hill. During the walk I dound out that lindsay had quite a musically talent. She entertained us by singing song after song as we walked through feilds and across rivers. The are very few bridges on this hike... mostly we just hop from rock to rock. The hike was fairly easy.. just long.

Emma had been graving chocolate for the last few days... so as soon as we arrived in the next town (our campsite) she proceeded to buy the stores entired chocolate supply (25 chocolate bars). We all bought a few from her, but she still finished off most of them.

We played poker after snack time. and then yummy food and sleep

Day 6

we got up pretty early because we had 6 hours of hiking in the morning. We needed to be in a town called Playa to catch bus to Saint Thesea. We came across coffee plantation and banana farms while walking. It wasn{t a difficult day but it was long. Six hours of hiking at one time was longer than any other day. But in a way it was worth it because went we arrived in Playa we got time to chill out. There was running water to spray on our sweated heads and to cool my sunburnt face and hands ( i have been wearing 50spf sunscreen, but that doesn{t help). We played hack with some little peruvian children while they waited for the same bus we were wqaiting for. The bus was supposed to leave at 1pm, but it was waiting for us and another group of america tourist. We got mac and cheese peruvian style for lunch. yummy. I dont want to come home to my own cooking.

Stupid americas didn{t book the bus soo there was too many ppl.. but that didn{t matter... we all piled on. me and dave shared a seat, john and emma and trev/lindsay did too. It was only a 40min drive but i am sure that i squeshed this legs.

That night were stayed in a hostel... first shower (cold ) in 4 days. It was awesome. After we all unpacked a bit and changed into bathing suit, we headed straight down to the hot springs via a bus... we werent walking anywhere.

The americas from the bus were walking down to the hot springs.. we passed them and covered them in dust. The hot springs were nice... it relaxed our very soar muscles and allowed much needed relazing time. I was able to soap down in a little canal at the hot springs that was located between the 2 hot pools... it was an area with a small amount of running water design for ppl to wash their hair and bodies. It felt so good, i had to buy a beer for the walk back to the minibus thing.

After dinner.. me dave trevand freddy played drinking games. The others joined us for a little bit, but they were too tired. We played until 12pm. It left and went to bed because freddy our guide was hitting on me and i was getting creeped out. But we played all the different drinking games we could think of. It was fun for a whilee.

YAYAY.... we slept in until 8am..... happy

Day 7

We slept in.. pack our large packs... today we jhad to carry our own shitty for 40 mins through town to the river. At the river we had to cross over the quickly flowing massive river in a cable cart. They goverment will not allow a bridge to be built because it would encourage tourist and tourist companyies to take this route over taking the railway to MaccuPacchu

I have to run bed time.... i will finish the story when i get back from the floating islands on saturday before we head to bolivia

Finally an update on the 8 trek

Pic... me and the aussies

On last monday, the first day of the trek was a very early morning, the first of many, we were picked up at 4Am from our hostal. We were all a very tired and stood have a sleep waiting for the minibus to pick us up. It was about 30mins late.... we could have slept in. I feel asleep at 11pm and was awake at 3am... ya 4 hours.

Anyways... I was excited but kind of scared to go because I havent been hike in^a while, but many adventures a wait. I havent completed an over night hike before so this is all new to me. I am expecting this journey to be as much of a mental battle as a physical challenage.

There was a 4 hours drive to the starting location of the trek, and I was hoping to catch up on sleep but the bus was freezing (note to self... bring sleeping bag on to buses) and trevors shoulder wasnt overly compfy.

The most exciting point of the drive was when we briefly stopped, I introduced myself to the aussie girls that were on our Trek. And guess what.... They are from Melbourne, and I am going to have friends to visit there already.

I have been trying to keep a journal but i rarely find the time or put in there time to write becasue i find that there are always better things to do. It reminds me of when i was in school because i would rather clean house than do my homework.

So the start of day one

When we arrived at this small little farm house and yard we unloaded the minibus and Isedro (the peruvian cook) ran happily and started making us breakfast while the 7 our us began to get to know each other and put sunscreen on. I swear, throughout the days I wore 45 or 50 spf sunscreen and u should see my nose (its a little scary). Any who... breakfast consisted of french toast buns, buns and jam/butter and COCA TEA (we have had it with most meals). I ate until I was somewhat fully, I regretted not over eat that morning becasue bu 11am I was hungry again and lunch wasnt until 2pm. Lucky we bought chocolate and cookies the night before.

The day of hiking wasnt to bad thinking back now, but at the time it was challenaging with barran surrounding that allowed the hot peruvian sun heat us all up increasing the difficulty of the hike.

To start me and John ( the calgarian we met 2 days before the hike) headed up the pack where we talked about shcool, summer jobs,and life in general. He was a very carsmatic person. He seems to be the perfect traveller because he knows tge right questions to ask to get to know ppl and he wanted to make sure that he knew everyone. Throughout the day the pack order changed allowing everyone to interact on a one on one basis, which was awesome. The more I learnt about the aussie the more I am excited to visit them in feb 2007. Dympna and Emma (the aussies) acted like sisters, they are very much one person, its funny.

On the hike, the funniest site was cows munching grass in the middle of a very very step slope. (Mom its a good thing you weren{t on the hike, the slopes were cliff like and the paths very small). We stopped at 1pm to wait for the horses to catch up and for Isedro (the peruvian cook) to make up a lunch. We started with soup, and I was disappointed because I thought that would be the only thing we were eating, but to my surprise be also got spagetti and more coca tea. It seems that we are going to be getting lots of 3 course meals made over a 2 burner camp stove. Isedro{s cooke is amazing... i want to pack him up and bring with home with me.

We arrived at camp about 1hours after lunch.. and there was going to be a shower, we were all excited... that was until i saw it. It was made of bambo that wasnt tightly woven so it was pretty much see through and there was also a groupe of peruvian aged school boys camping with us... so i didnt want to shower but it was going to be the last one before Machi Piccu. So I showered in my shorts and tank, but that didnt stop the stares because the door of the shower consisted of a half ripped tarp that was only about 2 feet in lenght. Dave and john brave the shower naked. The water wasnt even ice cold... it was only luke cold. The bano ( bathroom) was even more questionable because it didnt even have walls and it was a level below the boys camp site. The bathroom consisted of a hole in the ground that have a few logs to stop you from falling into the hole and there were a couple logs making a tipi structure around the hole... but it scared me... I waited until it was very dark.

We played are first game of asshole with Freddy ( our guide), john, trev and dave. Freddy was asshole both times with Johns help. Then as the sun was gone (around 6pm) it was tea time with popcorn (yummy) and crackers with carmel sauce. No coca tea this time... i had hot chocolate.

After my shower Dympna french braided my hair... she was one of the first girls i have meet that can actually french braid.

During and after snack time John led a discussion on movies, books, but i was so tired that i half passed out chillen at the table. Dinner was serve just before 8pm. The cook put together a meal starting with yummy soup and of fryed fish, rice veggie and some thing else but i cant remember. As soon as food was served we all silently consumed the amazing food and shortly after we all retired to our tents for an early night after the first of many long days.

Day 2

It was another early morning because the canyon we are hiking up is difficult and if we leave early we will avoid the sun. So up at 5am we were woken up with tea...we all though that tea was waiting for us at the table.. but it was actually brough to up. We were served tea in the tent. And shortly after that we had huge breakfast with fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, maybe a pancake too.

The hike down to the river was tough on the knee but it was only an hour down. The river was extremely fast and bright blue... I wish we could have swan in it, but instead we crossed it in the only real constructed bridged of the trip. After that it was a growling 2 or 3 hours zig zaging up to the first farm where we found a small waterfall that we all soaked our heads in. It was extremely hot even with out the sun. IT was at this break that we met 4 ppl, 2 from south afria and 2 from the states, they were only completing the 2 day hike to the rune and then hiking back the same way. I couldnt do that because that would meet retracing steps and the hiking was hard the first time, I couldnt do it... i like not knowing what is coming.


We hiked for anoth 2 hours or so until zig zaging up hill. I was tired and bored out the same surrounds so the time dragged on. We couldn{t talk or sing becasue we were all out of breathe. It was a challenge not to just sit down and stay there. At one point, me dympna, emma, me and dave as sat down and were content staying there, but some different ppl from the states walk down informed us that we only had 15 more minutes to go.. so that encouraged us to continue. the last little bit took the longest amount of time because we had been hike for 4 or 5 hours already and we were exhausted. Me , trev or dave were the end of the pack taking it one step at a time (very slowly), but even if we made it to the top were quickly, we would still have to wait for the horse to get lunch... so i didn{t see the point or being fast.

The view from the lunch break point was amazing (i have pics) and the grass was bright green and very compfy.. i had a little nap with the aussie, dave read and trev wrote in his book. I think lindsay and john were off talking to the other trekers and little kids on the farm. Lindsay and john are getting allong very well, they have everythuing in common.

Lunch was good, soup and then a second course finishing with more tea, but it was celery tea... it was actually very good, but it had lots of sugar in it.

We hike for bout an hour or so, but the path was always changing, up, down, FLAT and we could see towns, and farm land on the slopes across from us, as well as the runes and our camp site.

We all helped set up the tents and put our stuff in the tent. We all felt bad that the horse handlers and the cook did some much work. I opted out of hiking for another30 down and 1 hour up to see runes. I was too tired, dave opted out too. Instead i had a shower, but that was a mistake because the water was ice cold and the sun was got so it couldn{t warm me. I layed in my sleeping bag for over an hour, but i was still cold when me and dave played crazy eights... I kicked his ass twice.

Snack time was popcorn and cracker again with tea. That night i had brought my truth and dare poker card in hopes of playing asshole, but instead we played truth and dare... just truth thou because it was fairly cold and noone wanted to move. It were learn alot about each other there. After another amazing meal i headed straight to bed because it was going to be another diffucult day.

Also dymna was turning 20 the next day... a birthday in the anden mounain that doesnt happen everyday




Trevor is bored and dave is done so i have to sign off for now, but we are spending the day relaxing in Puno and waiting for john, lindsay, nat, keith and Val our new friends.

until later

Adios amegos

Still alive after 8 days of trekking 120km in 7 days

Hola amigos


I am alive and I have meet some aussie girl from Melbourne to visit while i am study there next year. This is going to be another short entry because me and dave and trevor are going to try to get to Puno by tonight. Lindsay, Dipna and john are head down there tomorrow. Dipna and john afe new friends from the trek.

When I am safe in Puno to night expect a very long entry.

Adios

Up at 4am Tomorrow

It is going to be a short entry because it is 10pm and I have to be up at 4am for the start of the trek.

Today was amazing because we joined a tour group to explore 2 markets and 3 rune site. The lack of oxygen makes it hard to climb up hills, but down is ok.

When i am back from the trek I will have lots to say.

Pic (us at 4 am)

All is good in peru

internet cafes, money exchanges, restaurants and tour guides crowd the busy busy street. I am really enjoying things in Peru. I have never had better pizza, it rivals the pizza i had in Edmonton at JJ´s dads favourite bar.

JJ this is for u, but we found a hookah bar on our first night in Cuzco, my traveling buds didnt like the idea of smoking... so we just listened to live music and played asshole. Met some british travellers there.

This morning was filled with a freezing shower, the hostel promised hot water but they lied. Oh well... the best news is that the airport had our bags. The taxi to the airport was only 5 Sol, 1.2 US$, but the hostel van that took us home was 10 sol. I don´t think that was a good idea. But it is a good idea to find GOOD drivers in Cusco because there appears to be no road rules. They drive fast down tiny tiny one way streets with ppl dodging in and out. There are NO lanes, few lights and ppl park in the middle of the street not the sides. I have pics but i haven´t figured out how to post them. I am working on that.

We book a tour for sunday to a massive market in a small town just out side of Cuzco... i am a little scared of getting there... drivers are crazy. we all so started the tourist thing today. We purchased a toursit ticket, which is a ticket that gets up into 16 museums, dance performances, and such things.

It is amazing here, but things don´t happen instanous... things happen manana (tomorrow) which isn´t the attitude i am used to. I am trying thou.

Luv ya

Later.

I have my bags yayyaya. I was so happy for CLEAN SOCKS.

19 Hours of travel

Travel what a mess. We arrived in Toronto in time to see only the first period of the Flames game and to have a 7.50$ pint of canadian. I am so sad to here were lost the game, did anyone tape it.....please say yes....

Anyways the flight from tornto and lima was long cold and uneventful, however the lima airport was an interesting place because first we were bomb barred with taxi drives offering rides and tours, plus there were women in bright bright yellow jump suits.

Did i mention that the air canada check in person told us that our bags would arrive in cusco without having to transfer them in the lima airport, where our travel cuts person instructed us to pick them up. Being smart tourist we all listened to the aircanada person.

Guess what


I said guess....

No baggage in cusco.... its still in lima Ya. That means I am still wearing the same dirty cloths i have been in fore the last 2 days. They say they can´t get our baggage into cusco until friday. But on a better note the guy from the hostel was on time and very friendly. Our hostel in plain but nice and the beds are somewhat comfy.

This afternoon we drank coca tea, leaves from the coca plant... yummmy... so far no altuted sickness. We found a cute little restaurant near the hostel and had a 3 course meal and a drink from 10 sol, 3$ us. We were exausted from the lack of sleep so a nap was inorder, plus it was a good way to stay out of the heat. It was 18 degrees.

The scarest part so far is the way ppl drive. There are no stop sign, or lines, just insections where ppl randomly go, as well there is no crosswalks. People dodge traffick and cross where semi safe. I will post photos later. To get to the hostel we are staying out, you have to walk down a small, tiny, one person wide sidewalk beside a one lane road. People are the ones that take turn passing each other when there is minimal traffick. I have to remember that people don´t have the right of way in Peru.

Dinner tonight was awesome. The place was called Cafe Jacks, it was fairly western. The food was excellent, but the best part was the bathroom. It had toilet paper, soap and paper towel. I would go back just for that reason.

And after we are heading to a jazz place.

Good night, and I hope my bag shows up tomorrow.

Packed and ready to go to Peru

I am leaving in about 16 hours, not that i am counting. I am so excited but nervous at the same time. I am going to miss all my Calgary friends and my roommates, but i am looking forward to the adventure and all the trouble I AM NOT GOING TO GET IN TO. heheh :P

So for now until my next blog

Byebye and wish me luck on my 19hrs of traveling

Where.. what... isn't not mine

Take a look... my once beautiful blue room is no longer mine, or blue.... Who paints a room YELLOW... I ask you that. Its funny I move out of my room 5 days ago, guess where i am living.....

You'll never guess...

The living room, i guess I love this house that much. I am so sad to be leaving it and my roomies.

Last day at work April 29

Cam Mazur, an optomerist, I was working for in Northhill is an amazing women. I had only working there for a total of four months, but she gave me a huge bouquet of flowers and certificate for the mall. I have never been felt more valued. Just look at the flowers.