Impossible!

How is it possible that I have been home nearly a month? Every time I go away and come home this seems to happen – yet every time it still surprises me. It is always incredible how easy it is to adjust back to life at home and fall into the same patterns and familiarities once again.

I am still ‘unemployed,’ technically at least. Though, I’m finding it not too difficult to fill my days with odd jobs; nannying, painting, office work, etc – so I’m getting by. Loving the fact that I have complete freedom as well; no 9-5, Monday to Friday – If I want to go camping tomorrow or to the islands next week, I can, and that is a beautiful thing – especially in the summer here!

Lummi Island, camping at Baker, Clayton beach nights, Kayaking the bay, swimming at the lake, Boundary Bay beer, biking, hammock nights, and so forth – it’s good to be back in the ‘ham especially for the summer. Coming home to a freshly painted house and bountiful garden was pretty nice as well!

What did I learn, how did I change, where to go next, and what am I going to do now? So many questions still to answer – working through them currently - I know the answers are flexible and will constantly change. What I discovered, from this most recent voyage, is much and I am still working through it all.

Like all past trips – Peru served well to remind me what life is all about. Living in the present – enjoying each moment, taking every opportunity you have, experiencing all that you can, living life to the fullest, destroying the idea of living for the future, and the idea that “better days are to come.” Why wait? Why not enjoy today and the present to its fullest!

Dinner on the deck on Lummi Island

Hermanas y el bebe

My car just as it should always look; kayaks on top, bike on the back

My lovely new paint job!

Peruvian Music Awards

Saturday night I decided I really wanted to see some live music.  Back home, we hear live music at least once a week and I’ve been missing it a lot (surprisingly there was almost none in Huaraz – none that I discovered at least).  I happily discovered there was concert happening with a famous Afro-Peruvian musician.  Showing up without a ticket, I asked all around for the location of the box office, which apparently didn’t exist.  I was sent of a wild goose chase all around the stadium.  Finally, a security guard told me to go back to where I was before and enter thru a ‘special’ gate for free….arriving there I somehow made it in the theater ticketless – Asked about five times for ticket; I just mentioned that I was told it was free and they let me through (?!)  It saved me 45 Soles so I wasn’t going to ask questions!  What I assumed was a concert turned out to be a music award show….complete with hosts and awards.  Worked out fantastic though – I saw probably 20 different musicians perform all different types of Peruvian music.  I took quite a few short videos to demonstrate the different types and will be posting them shortly! 

 After that concert I had planned to attend another show.  My favorite Afro-Peruvian band was planning in my neighborhood at 11pm (okay so I really only know one Afro-Peruvian band but seen I got their CD, last fall, I have listed to it hundreds of times, they are really fantastic!)  However, during my 5 minute taxi ride to the concert, we were pulled over by the police (a pretty typical event) and then the power in all of Barranco went off.  Something I had experienced a couple of time in Huaraz but my driver said was incredibly rare for Lima.  He continued to tell me how dangerous it would be and how worried he was (thanks!)  Being only a few blocks from the concert we drove by and everyone has gathered outside and were searching for taxis, having really no other option and doubting the power would return anytime soon, we headed back to the hostel.  So much for getting to see my favorite Peruvian band play, it really was just a bizarre event!        

Sea wolves, pink flamingos, giant pelicans, dolphins, penguins, and more! Oh my!

Peru never ceases to amaze me. The longer I stay here and the more places I visit the more I fall in love with this incredibly diverse country. Having visited twice now and spent over three months in the country, I thought I’d seen most of the geographical regions. However, this last trip south on the coast, once again took my breath away. I’ve visited the desert and coast here, yet the dramatic way they meet one another down south is incredible and like nothing I have seen before. In addition, visiting the Ballestas Islands and staying at an oasis in the desert were both very unique experiences for me! To say the least we had a fantastic and incredible time and it was a perfect last trip in Peru (for this trip that is!)

We started our trip in Pisco which was an experience…..A horrific earthquake occurred there almost two years ago. Before we left we heard quite a bit about how devastated the area was, but didn’t really know what to expect after two years of recovery. The city is pretty much still in ruins and it was unbelievable to see the extent of the destruction. I can only image what it looked like right after the quake. Talking to people it sounds horrific, nearly the entire city toppled, no running water or electricity for weeks, and thousands dead (also a lot of bad feelings towards the government. Supposedly it took over six months for government relief money to arrive and amount hasn’t been nearly enough). One of the saddest stories to me involved the city’s cathedral. At the time of the quake, mass was being held and the entire church collapsed killing all inside. 

However, we didn’t visit Pisco to see the destruction or to buy Pisco (Peru’s national liquor). We went to catch a boat to the Ballestas Islands; known as the ‘poor man’s Galapagos.’ Having never been to the Galapagos, I can’t say how they compare. However, I have definitely never visited anything like these islands before and they were amazing!! The animal life was very impressive and the number of birds insane! After witnessing the vast number of birds, it is easy to understand how Guano was Peru number one export for many years (apparently it’s the best organic fertilizer in existence!) The islands themselves are amazing as well, lots of red rock and caves etc. My favorite part had to be the penguins – it was breathtaking to see them in the wild and they were incredibly adorable. On the way back to shore we were also lucky enough to run into a pod of dolphins which was exciting as well.

After our boat adventure we headed to the “Reserva Nacional De Paracas;” a large nature reserve on the coast. It was here that we really got to experience the dramatic coastline and see how the desert disappears into the ocean. Much of the desert used to be cover with water – meaning now there are millions of interesting fossils and salt. On our tour, we made friends with a Dutch girl traveling on her own. Which worked out fantastically for us; she just graduated with a degree in Geology, meaning we got to ask her a million questions about everything! Stopping in the park for lunch on the beach, we got to eat fantastic fresh cerviche, just feet from the water, and half a dozen huge prehistoric pelicans. It was such a beautiful setting. We then headed off to visit the flamingos. Unfortunately, they were pretty far off and difficult to see – but you could tell it was some type of pink animal with long legs!

Next on our list was Ica, where we planned to stay outside the city in Huacachina. A horribly popular tourist destination – however, being mid-week and ‘winter’ it wasn’t too bad. The place is actually really incredible – surreal but incredible! It is an oasis in the middle of the desert. We both really couldn’t imagine what it would be like but yeah – it is just that; an oasis in the middle of the desert (very bizarre.) It is very pretty though, has been a popular destination for Peruvians for some time – so the architecture and building were colonial style and beautiful as well. After much effort, I convinced my friend Alexis to go ‘sandboarding’ with me. It was, ummm, an experience! Basically the same as snowboarding but on sand; like snowboarding you spend a lot of time on your ass. We enjoyed ourselves though and spent the majority of the time on the ground laughing. Normal021 falsefalsefalse MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 We also visited the main museum in Ica. Which was surprisingly fantastic. A ton of ancient pottery and some incredible weavings. Furthermore, they had a number of really well preserved mummies (just a little creepy) and a lot of examples of skeletal manipulations.....it was very interesting to say the least! Unfortunately the museum was robbed about 3 or 4 years ago and a number of it´s best weaving were stolen and have yet to be recovered.

Next on our itinerary was a stop in Carmen (a center for Afro-Peruvian music) and a visit to the San Jose Hacienda there (probably the biggest and best preserved in Peru.) The guidebook description sounded incredible and the history fascinating. Carmen has one of the highest populations of African-Peruvians in the country due to the hacienda and the thousands of slaves who used to work there. Facing two collective rides and a 2 km walk with all of our stuff, we decided to splurge and take a $5, half an hour taxi, to the hacienda instead. It was a beautiful drive past cotton fields and sugar cane and got us both excited to the hacienda that was built in 1688! However, arriving at the gate we faced a guard man telling us the site was closed because of earthquake damage and there was no way we could be let in. I tried to convince him to let us just peek in but he wouldn’t even open the door to the gate.

You would think after being closed for two years they could update their website (which we checked) or that the hotel agent we asked about it would have mentioned its closure, or the taxi cab driver who lived there. Oh well, I was pretty disappointed but we did have quite the laugh about it (our driver thought it was hilarious for sure!) We decided we might as well check out Carmen then – our driver warned us nothing was there but said he’d drive us around. He was right. Nothing was there – the church was still standing but it was closed (of course). Our driver really wanted to show us some ‘black people’ but said they were all hiding (?). He then wanted to know if we had ever seen a ‘black person’ before. He continued by explaining how people from Lima come to visit because they have never seen an African person before, and that they often try to rub the skin to make sure it’s not paint(?!) :O

Back to Lima, we had one day left before Alexis flew home and spent it hanging out in the city and searching, unsuccessfully, for a llama fetus (I guess they are out of season!) Now I am down to less than two days until I fly home and can’t believe how fast time is flying by….

Pictures soon....my camera and computer are having issues and I wasn´t able to find a good wireless connection today, hopefully tomorrow!......

okay, so slow internet = only a few photos;

south

Off to the poor man´s Galapagos!

I finally escaped Huaraz this week (it was so difficult to leave!) and made it to chaotic Lima.... which has been, well, yeah it is a huge polluted humid capital and all that goes along with that! Definitely ready to head out of the city early tomorrow.

After much debating, me and my friend Alexis, who I met on my last trip to Peru, have decided to head south and hug the coast for a bit. Main attraction is going to be visiting the ´poor man´s Galapagos´ a collection of islands that are supposed to be similar, but incredibly cheaper to visit, plus where much of Peru´s interesting history with the Guano industry occurred! My guide book describes the area as have beaches as beautiful as those in Northern Cali and Oregon, but with no other people, and 10x the wildlife, sounds good to me!

Ciao!

"Obama Barack"

I feel too often in the United States we are unaware of how far reaching our country’s politics are.  Who we vote for and the decisions they make have far reaching consequences across the world.  Traveling really helps to remind one of this.  Discussions with fellow travelers, from all over the world, really further your understanding of those impacts.  This is something I have had a lot of experience with through my travels.  However, returning from the Santa Cruz trek last week I was once again reminded of how small the world is and how far reaching the United States is. 

Ending the trek in a small village, you take a collective taxi, for about two hours to the nearest real city.  Manja and I shared the back seat of our taxi with an older Quechua man who spoke only basic Spanish.  He was very interested to talk to us (of course) and started by asking where we were from; Manja’s response greatly confused him – he had never heard of Slovenia and looked very doubtful when she told him it was in Europe, her response to what language they spoke there only furthered his doubt and confusion in her.     

However, his reaction to my response was quite different.  His eyes lit up, Los Estados Unidos was a country he knew about and was anxious to discuss.  We had to start with Bush (claro); specifically ‘how he liked to fight – everyone’ which he provided a visual for by putting his fists in the air….then the discussion moved on to Obama, ‘Obama quiere paz, si?’ he asked with a huge grin - Obama wants peace, right? (I was happy to hear he had learned this especially after how angry he had become when talking about Bush! – Though I had to keep correcting him on our president’s name; ‘Obama Barack’) 

After our discussion about how Obama is trying to change US policy abroad and what the future may look like – he got a confused look again and you could tell he was deeply pondering something.   “But, wait, Obama isn’t a gringo – he has skin like me, dark.  How is this possible?  The United States is a country of ‘gringos.’”….

I absolutely love breaking stereotypes (on both sides – those I hold myself and those others hold about Americans).  It is definitely one of the best aspects of traveling!  Our conversation in the taxi, also reminded me of a similar discussion I had last time I was in the jungle in Peru.  My indigenous host family was completely blown away when I told them there were people indigenous to the United States who still lived there – “But they are white like you, of course?!” – I doubt they really believed me when I told them no.  Color is an obsession down here and so many people think everyone from the states is white!     

Where to start?!  Returned to Huaraz yesterday after completing the Santa Cruz trek in three days, two nights, without a guide, or pack animals – Just me, Manja, and our heavy packs!  After a good nights sleep and a morning spent in hot springs and natural steam caves I am feeling just a little better – though I am still pretty exhausted and bruised (my knees and hips!!)

 We ‘trekked’ something like 38 miles, with quite a bit of elevation gain, in basically a day and half – after 4++ hours of public transportation we arrived at the trail around noon on the first day and finished just after 1pm on the third! 

Probably the most difficult thing I have accomplished in my life, the trek completely exhausted my body, but left me feeling so incredibly alive and accomplished!  I am incredibly excited to continue ‘trekking,’ especially when I get home – Mount Baker this summer…..

Like always I am short on time (applying for internships and job searching!) so won’t go into much detail – I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves but if your interested (aqui) is a detailed description of the hike.  

Climbing at altitude is always difficult, especially with a pack, and in the snow!  While, I don’t think I beat my personal elevation record, the pass at approx. 15,600 feet was pretty high and you could definitely feel it on the climb up; it’s amazing how difficult it is to just breathe!

The bark of my favorite Peruvian trees - Quenual trees - They are gorgeous and the forests of them incredible!

Mud....lots and lots of mud.....trail erosion was really terrible in parts! 

 More pictures soon.....!  My time in Huaraz is getting shorter and shorter and there is way too much to do!  Including planning my last two weeks of traveling in Peru with a friend from the states!....too much to see and do and never enough time!

Pictures posted.....

Santa Cruz Trek!

Santa Cruz with two doctors?!......

Pretty sure I am going to head out on the Santa Cruz trek early tomorrow morning.  It is by far the most popular trek in the area - supposed to offer amazing views without having to hike for weeks!  I've been meaning to go since I got to town and the Slovinia girl I met yesterday is also interested in doing it on our own (it is super easy to go with a guided trip - but just a little more expensive.)  Furthermore, we met another guy from Wales this morning at breakfast who might tag along as well.  Over breakfast I learned they are both doctors back home (just finished their studies and are taking a 'gap year') - it can't hurt to have two doctors along!  

4 days, 3 nights, camping in the high Andes, reaching over 4760M (over 15,600 feet!), with two people from the other side of the world, who I just met - sounds incredible and I can not wait!