Otavalo and The Galapagos

Otavalo, the Galapagos and Quito

It seems like the past weeks have just flown by!  We are now back in Quito for our last day before our flight home and it’s hard to imagine that three months ago we were just getting to know each other in Miami.  It’s bittersweet for all of us, but everyone is excited to move on to new stages in our lives.

The first stop after the last blog was Otavalo, a town with a well deserved reputation for an amazing artisan market.  After a beautiful hike around a volcanic lake, we all spent hours wandering around the market, looking at the weavings and traditional clothing.  All of us came away with at least one thing, hammocks being especially popular.

After Otavalo, we took a 3 hour bus ride back to Quito for the night before our flight to the Galapagos.  \the first two days we spent in Puerta Ayora, one of the main towns in the Galapagos archipelago.  Mostly, this was lazing around on the beach and enjoying the views.  Then we went to a reserve to see the Giant Galapagos Land tortoises, and then it was off to the boat.  Our cabins were very small, but the rest of the boat was spacious and we were even able to watch a movie the second night.

But it was the wildlife that really blew everyone away.  The first day we took a hike at a Blue Footed Booby colony,  It was almost time for mating, and we got to see all the silly mating dances.  |There were also frigates that had these puffed up sacks under their throats that were also luring mates.  That afternoon we went on an amazing snorkel, where we saw a white tipped reef shark, sea lions, and tons of fish.  The second day we went to two islands, one where we saw lots of lizards and birds, and then to an island with an amazing view of the water.  We also went on two more snorkels, and I saw an octopus.

Today we got on a 10 am flight back to Quito, all suffering from various levels of sun exposure.  Tomorrow we’ll be walking around the old part of town seeing churches and a few museums before having our farewell dinner and prepping for our 3 am departure to Miami.  I hope all of you enjoyed following along with our adventures!   

The Amazon and Arajuno Jungle Lodge

The first week we spent in a tiny village called Campo Cocha, which is a Kitchwa Indian town right on a river about an hour outside a small city called Tena.  I stayed with a really lovely family all by myself.  I was really rather nervous at first, but my hosts were just so accomodating that within a few hours I felt right at home with thier three kids.  During the mornings, I'd get up for tea at 5am and then have breakfast with everyone at about 6:30 before heading out to work.  The work varied a little, but except for one day where me and 2 other girls Renee and Tina were hauling fresh cut beams out of the rainforest, I was working on their farm.  Mostly, this was machete work to clear the coaco and yucca feilds of weeds and small trees.  I was really slow compared to my host parents Alex and Rosa, but I got better as the week went on.  Then it was back to the house for a bath in the river and a long lazy lunch before going to the kids camp we ran for the students of the village.  It was really sad to watch them try to hoard the art supplies the last day.  It was so clear that they had never seen paints, glitter and paper like the ones we brought and it made me sad to think that things I took for granted as a kid were such treats for them. 

The next week, we spent in an unbelievable lodge right in the rainforest.  5 of us bunked together in a cabin with bunk beds and it was just like camp.  We had a few bugs, but there were bug nets supplied and screaning whereever possible.  The food was absolutly amazing!  His wife and her staff were just amazing cooks and even baked a irthday cake to celebrate the birthday of one of the crew. 

But what was really important to me was the fact that this is an eco lodge in the true sense of the word.The whole lodge is run on solar power and the water comes from a collection pool above the lodge that collects rainwater.  The lodge is also located on many many hectares of rainforest that Tom owns and protects, making for a true rainforest experience.  Right on the premises is a conservation project to save the yellow spotted turtle, an endangered animal to the local river, started by Tom himself, which we came to work for.  We planted bamboo for better bank habitat and hauled sand to help build a nesting beach for the turtles in Tom's enclosures.  We even got to see some turtles on the river that Tom had introduced.  

Tom himself has been a conservationist his whole life and is a great resource for those interested in learning more about his work and conservation of the Amazon in general.  I have never met a man more willing to share a story or his point of view on an issue. He has worked in the Galapagos for three years (lucky duck!) and   He worked right beside us cutting bamboo and hauling sand, and knew all of the 11 people in our group by name at the end of the week.  I was very sad to leave and hope to come back in the future. 

If you want to learn more, here's his site!

Now we're in Otavalo, the famous market town for some retail therapy before heading off to the Galapagos, which I still can't believe!

And the ten day countdown has begun!  I'm back MAY 4TH!!!!!

See you soon!

Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

I am still a little awed by the fact that I managed to walk the whole Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.  The whole thing was really hard, but an unbelievable experience.  The $128 I spent on a porter to carry my bag was really key to making it possible.  Between my bad knee and my weak lungs, I don't think I would have made it with a pack.  It rained for part of every day, but not all the time.  Fortunatly, we had porters who carried a big tent that we could stay under when we were at camp, and the cook was unreal.  We had hot food of some kind for every meal!    Unfortunatly, it rained for our whole tour of Machu Picchu, but then the sun came out just in time for us to have a sunny hour before lunch.  It really deserves it's place as a new wonder of the world!

Day One

Day one was a mind over matter thing more than anything else.  It was the first day and I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be pretty easy.  I spent most of the trip chatting with my friend Honor and enjoying the views.  This was the part that had the most houses and I thought it must be a little odd to live right outside of a trail that has hundreds of people walking it every day.  For the most part, we were following a river though pretty thick forest.  We also visted a few ruins, but they were rather small and not all that interesting.  We camped in a campsite right by the river and I was lulled to sleep by its roar.

Day Two

This was by far the hardest day.  We had to hike up to a pass that was 4200 meters, or 13779 feet.  It was 5 hours uphill, most of it up broken stairs.  By hour three or so, I couldn't even pay attention to the beautiful landscapes.  We spent the first few hours hiking through what was really a rainforest.  The trees were dense and covered in mosses and vines and the air was humid and foggy the whole time. Then came the hike up to the pass itself.  It was about 2 and a half hours in the rain.  It was even hailing at one point.  I was cold and soaked through, and there were moments I thought I just could not go any further.  Fortunatly, I was hiking with one other girl and Lauren, one of our leaders, as well as one of the guides.  We all walked together, and I never felt behind.  When I got the the top, I felt so exhausted, but I was super proud.  But it was still 2 hours down.  I was so exhausted that I remember very little of the campsite.

Day Three

Day three was the easiest day out of all of them in terms of hiking.  The trail for most of it was rolling and not very steep in either direction until the end when we had 2 and a half hours downhill.  Unfortunatly, after maybe 30 minutes of stairs, my knee became very swolen and painful, to the point where I had to go extremly slowly because I was in so much pain.  The guide who was with me gave me another walking stick and it was the only way I managed to get down.

Day Four

We had to get up super early on the last day so we could get to the sun gate for sunrise.  It was maybe 3 am when we were woken up, but there was hot food waiting when we got all packed up.  It was the birthday of one of the girls in our group and somehow, at 4 in the morning, they had an iced and decorated cake for her.  We all sang, and were in an awesome mood four our hike.  We had to wait an hour for a checkpoint to open (and people had no line manners....) but then it was all easy from there.  It began to rain and my knee was still really sore, but it was only 2 and a half hours to Machu Picchu, which kept me going.  Unfortunatly, it was overcast at the sun gate so we didn't get a sunrise, but I got some awesome photos down towards the ruins, and it was such a thrill to finally see the end of the road.

Machu Picchu

This is truly an unreal site.  Safe for a very few places, the ruin is all original.  And most of the buildings and walls are still up.  The architecture is amazing. The Inca knew how to build their walls so they could withstand earthquakes, and there are stones that point exactly to the 4 cardinal points of the compass.  But even more amazing was the location.  All around the city there are huge towering mnountains and thick jungle.  Machu Picchu is located at the very ednge of was is considered the Peruvian Amazon, and there is so much water and vegetation.  The very fact that it exists is unreal.

I am feeling wiped out but super proud right now.  This is something I'd never thought I'd do, and yet here I am at the end, with photos to prove it.

Lake Titikaka

We spent the weekend on Lake Titikaka.  It was an absolutly wonderful retreat before the Inca Trail.  The lake was stunningly beautiful, and the hotsal we stayed in was just perfect.  We took two hikes up to an old pre-Inca ruin on a hill and watched the sunset, and that night we were all dressed up in traditional Peruvian clothing and danced and chatted around a little bonfire.

The next day I went swimming after our second hike.  The water was cold, but no colder than in Maine, so I swam for almost half an hour in the clearest water I have ever swam in.  Then we went back to Puno by boat for our last night with our Puno homestay families.

Today we arrived in Cusco after a 7 hour bus ride.  Our hostal is just too cute.  Theren is free internet and a place to watch movies, and there is a totally sweet dog.  The city seems nice, though the places I walked seemed really touristy.  Tomorrow, the group is going to walk around the city more, and then we are having a potluck dinner.  I hope that I'll get to see some more ruins while I'm here.  Jo says there are some really cool ones in the city itself as well as a bit outside.

OMG INCA TRAIL THURSDAY!  I'll let you know how that went!

Puno, Peru

Despite being robbed at gunpoint 2 days after arriving in Peru, I am still very sad to be leaving Puno.  I'mpretty sure mostof that has to do with our volunteer project at the local orphanage.  We went to paint cartoons on the walls of the bedrooms, but I think what we were really there for was the children.  These are kids who have been taken away from their homes, many times abused, and just want someone to play with.  Someof the saddest stories were those of the littlest babies.  There was one baby who was a month and a half who's mom had been raped.  The mother was only 11.  Fortunatly, the orphanage seemed to be a good place to be.  There were lots of so-called substitute mothers and the kids are in houses that function like family units.  But even so, there was only so much to go around.

I can't begin to explain how it felt to know that such a simple thing that we were doing made so much of a difference for these kids.  By the endof our week there, the kids would run up and hug you, talking non-stop the whole time.  They became family so quickly, and they just wanted to play.  Two little girls, Maria and Adriana, were especially dear to me.  One afternoon, the three of us played all afternoon.  They put flowers in my hair,played tag with me and swung in swings with me.  They couldn't have been more than 4 or 5, but I just wanted to take them home with me and give them a real family.  Seeing how happy these kids were despite all of their disadvantages was really overwhelming.

It was super hard to leave today.  We stayed lateso we could finish painting all the rooms, and when we came down to get on the bus all the kids and the moms were waiting for us.  They sang us songs and gave us these adorable little pouches for our cameras and then we played games until our bus arrived.  Then we spent maybe 10 minutes trying not to leave.  All of the kids gave me a hug and I swear I almost cried.

If I ever visit Puno again, I'll be sure to visit.

The Rainforest

After 4 days in the rainforest, I am feeling a little wiped.  It was abslutly unreal, save for one night that I spent puking my guts up in the river.  No one else got sick, so I didn´t know what caused it, but it meant I slept until 3pm once I felt better.

But onto the good stuff.  That afternoon I got to swim with pink amazon river dolphins.  And when I say swim, I mean it was letting us touch it, pet it and even sit on it.  We swam with it for over an hour before it just got pissed off and started biting.

We also went hunting for alligator at night and saw a mother with her babies.  There were at least 10 of them, though the guide said there could be as many as thirty.  They were only a few inches long, and were all curled up in the roots of a tree.  Only 6 or so of them would survive the next 30 days until they could live on thier own.

There were also tons of birds and monkies.  We saw these cute little monkies called squirell monkies that were super unafraid and climed all over the boat, as well as howler monkies, which had a super loud cry and a spider monkey.  There were too many birds to count, including one type of cormorant called a snake bird because it had a super long neck.  There were all osrts of bugs and I got so chowed by mosquitoes one night that I woke up looking like I had small pox.

The heat was the one thing that really bothered me.  It was super humid and I have been sweating non-stop since I got out of the plane.  But tomorrow we go back to La Paz and cooler weather.  Not to mention clean clothes.

The Salt Flats and the Altiplano

Holy shit, these past 4 days were quite something.  The first day was the Bolivian salt flats, the largest anywhere in the world.   There was about an inch of water everywhere, and it turned everything into a reflecting pool.  It made the whole thing look like a Salvador Dali painting.  The mountains in the distance looked like they were floating because the reflections were so still and perfect.  We got all sorts of really cool perspective photos including one where all of us were in a line and our reflections were perfectly still.

Then we had a lot of driving for the next while.  The scenery was amazing, but we'd spend all day driving, with only a few breaks which was really rough.  We did see some awesome stuff, including two lakes that were dramatic colors, and lots of interesting wildlife including llamas and flamingoes, but I got a wicked head cold and the bumpy roads made it impossible to do anything but stare out the window.  That got super boring after maybe the 8th hour...

That bheing said, there was some really amazing stuff.  The last thing we did was go to a train graveyard that had old steam trains up to modern ones.  I spent over an hour just walking around and taking pictures.  I really want to write a story set in a place like that.  They were just left there in the middle of this windy desert. It was just an unreal experience and I think it was a perfect end to this trip.

The next phase is a 1 AM train ride to an afternoon flight and then we arrive in the Bolivian rainforest for a 3 day canoe trip.  I'll be able to blog after that!

Surprisingly satisfying things- Malcorancho Edition

-Knowing your favorite clothes now smell more like soap than you
-Coming home to find your homestay experience has been drastcially upgraded thanks to a flushing toilet
-SHOWERS


Well, the past 4 days have gone by in a satisfied haze of exhaustion.  the work has been really fun, even though its hard, and I love my host family.  The Bolivian who I am working with is named Cresenzio, and he is an absolute riot.  He is always smiling and laughing even when he doesn't understand what we're saying.  It makes the stucco work go by really fast even though I'm super slow at it.

I had one really scary run in walking to work after a lunch break.  There are tons of dogs justhanging around and one came out of the bushes and attacked me.  It jumpd up on me and I got a huge scratch. Fortunatly, it had all of its shots and there was no rabies risk, but I had a huge panic attack and was really upset.  I don't really remember much of what happened, so I guess that's a silver lining.

I'll be able to write after our trek on Saturday!

Rest Day-Cochabamba

So today we had a rest day and went into the city.  We visited a market, where I bought a super cute little leather bag for the USD equivilent of only $20, that has all this lovely hand done detailing.  After, we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves.  I am currently at an internet cafe, and then I am going to visit my first homestay mom to say good bye and pick up a few things I left.

Right now I am really kind of home sick.  I was unable to get my headphones to work, so I couldn´t make any phone calls, and I am not going to be near an internet cafe for at least a week.  I am having a great time with my current host family, but I have caught a nasty cough and am not looking forward to a week's worth of work without a shower.  I will most likely take another sponge bath before the week is out, but it is really hard to wash your hair in a bucket and I am tierd of feeling gross and slimy all the time.

That being said, getting to see all the progress on the community center is really rewarding, and tomorrow we will be pouring the support beams for the roof.  The three masons we have been working with have been really nice, and have explained things over and over until everyone knows how to do it.  We are hoping to finish the walls of the common room by the end of the week, so we'll see how things go.

I am also going to be teaching English tomorrow with Lauren, one of our guides.  Most of the children of the town have been coming to the lessons, and we are hoping that more people will come now that Carnaval is over.  We have books and supplies, and Lauren is working on a plan for our lesson.

On Saturday, once we are done with our first project, we are going on a day hike in the Tunari national park.  From what I have seen, it will be absolutly beautiful.  The peak is even higher than La Paz at 16,000 feet, and I am a little nervous, but I'll take my altidude pills and there will be two guides so I won't have to go super fast. 

Until next week!

Malcorancho and the Carnaval parade

So I've steeled into ny second homjestay quite nicely.  The family has three kids, and the younger two are super outgoing.  Within the first 10 minutes mof my being there, Meredith and I had gotten into a water fight with Mari, the younger girl who is 11.  The living conidtions are very simple, but we have real beds and elecricity, so it's better than I might have thought.  The one downside is that there is no toilet, not even a pit, so you have to go in the fields with the cows, which is a little awkward during the day.

We also started our first volunteer work site this week.  We have been working for only two days and my hands are killing me.  The first day I was working cutting rebar so the saw workj made my hands all itchy, and the second day I was hammering away extra plaster so we could put down stronger cement.  My hands are so sore I can barly make fists.  Fortunatly, I'll have today and tomorrow to recover.

We had a blast today at the big parade here in Cochabamba.  Dancers from all over Bolivia come every year to the big parade that starts in the morning and goes for almost 24 hours.  The first groups we saw were all dressed up in costumes.  Acording to our guide Jean-Carla, every person who is in the military school has to preform in this parade for the first three years.  One year of service is mandatory for all men, but optional for women.

Then after that came all the traditional dances fron all over the country.  There was one that was super popular that reminded me of river dance.  They all had bells on their boots and were dancing so they rang.  There was one really famous touring group that had over 5,000 people in it from all over the country, and that was only one of the groups that cane to dance and preform.  I took mover 200 pictures in the 5 hours we were there, so hopefully I'll have some time to upload a few things tomorrow.

Coachabamba-Reflecion

Well, today is our last day in Cochabamba, and I'm not quite sure about how I'm feeling.  I really loved it here, despite some first hand experience with the less savory aspects of life, and my home stay family was awesome, but there is a strong part of me that doesn't feel like this trip has really started.

Take my homestay for example.  I feel like I've spoken as much English here as Spanish, and there has been easy acess to internet and hot showers.  While the city itself feels very different than my home back in Boston, this whole experience has been far more international than Bolivian.  This is making me pretty anxious for the next part of our trip.  We're really going to be in a new setting, both culturally and physically.  Not all of the homestay families have showers or running water, and all of them are either full native Bolivians or Mestizos, rather than the heavily Spanish middle class here in the city.

All od this makes me pretty nervous, though I am super excited as well.  As much as I loved Cochabamba, I am so ready to see what the lifestyle of the more rural Bolivivan looks like.  I'm even down for getting up at dawn to milk cows, though that won't be fun the first few days.  I also think that getting to do some physical work will be good for me as well.  I am super excited for the hike we'll be taking as well.  The few glimpses I've had of the national reserve we'll be hiking in seem beautiful, and we are going to a peak that is 16,000 feet above sea level!

Here's hoping that I live to tell the tale!

Cochabamba: Homestay day 2

I have seriously never had so much fun in my life than I have had the last few days.  The first day we spent was the first night of Carneval, La Noche de los Comadres.  It was girls night out, so most of the group went out dancing.  It was a little awkward at first because we were there about 2 hours before anything really started, but once we started to dance, it was a lot of fun.

The next night, we had a party at my host family´s house.  My host mom Susanna has a son named Tarek, who is 17 and he had a bunch of his friends over and most of the group came over too.  We stayed up really late talking and listening to music and it was super chill and fun.

My host family is super awesome.  My host mom is a vegitarian hippie with the most wonderful house ever.  People are always coming and going and it is super warm and open.  Susanna speaks no English, which has been a really good challange for my Spanish, but her son and some of the younger folks who come in and out of the house speak varying amounts of English so there has never been any trouble communicating. The food has been absolutly wonderful, and now that I am not feeling the altidud, I am eating a lot more.  One odd thing is that there is no official dinner in the house.  You pretty much have to fend for yourself, and for the most part, I eat crackers and bread for dinner.  Hoefully I can find some real food tonight, because I am super hungry.

PICTURES!!! Miami through La Paz

South Beach Miami

 DRAG QUEEN!

 The group in front of a church in La Paz.

I loved the carvings on the church wall!

 The firsat lunch in Bolivia!

View of La Paz

Adventures in 3rd World Bussing: La Paz to Cochabamba

So, we got up today for a 9am bus ride, which was supposed to be 7 hours...  We got in at 6pm...  I was so stir crazy by the end!  We got wicked held up by a roll over for two whole hours and everyone on our bus really had to pee, so we all got out and peed in a ditch.  There were maybe 6 of us all in a row right by the street, which made for quite a picture.

The views on our trip were really varied and spectacular.  There were tons if hills and plains and lots and lots of cows.  It was really open and uncrowded, which I didn´t expect at all.

We are now in Cochabamba, a pretty good sized city.  Tonight I am just taking it easy, but we'll be meeting our host family and starting our Spanish lessons.  It's also Caneval starting tomorrow, so there will be tons of parties and festivals, which I am really looking forward to.

La Paz

Holy crap, La Paz is beautiful!  We arrived super early in the morning and I was totally out of it.  We arrived at our hostel a little before 8am Bolivian time, which is one hour later than EST, so it felt a little odd.  The hostel we are staying at for the night is super lovely, and while it´s basic, it was perfect for our first day.  I took a nap when we got there and then we went out to our first lunch in South America.  I wasn´t feeling too good, so I just had soup and rice and potatoes.

La Paz is set in a basin up high in the mountians.  It´s really hilly, and when you step out onto the veranda in the central market you look up on hills covered in trees and buildings.  There is a lovely old church down in the center of town that is made out of the most beautiful stone.  It has ornate carvings and a beautiful bell tower that serves as a landmark when returning to our hostel.  I hope I can go in when we return to La Paz.

The altitude sickness is really bothering me.  I am queasy and out of breath all the time, and my appetite is just shot.  It was worst right when we landed.  I got all clammy and faint, but ikt was taken care of by the nap.  Right now, more than anything, I just feel really worn down.  I am trying to make sure I drink a lot and keep my feet up.  Hopefully I´ll be up for a walk this evening before dinner.

Miami

So, we're chilling in Miami for the next day before leaving on our flight tomorrow.  I am not a huge fan of the city, and the weather was kind of cold...  We have been doing a lot of sitting and listening the past few days for orientation, and I am getting more and more ready to just get up and go.  I found out that Carneval is the first week we get there and I am super excited to be in a place where they actually celebrate with parties and parades and such.  I have always wanted to see something like that!

The folks on my trip are super nice and fun to hang out with.  We had over 3 hours to ourselves at South Beach and I hung out with 4 of the girls who are coming with me.  One of the people I got along with right away was Meridith, who is from Calgary, Canada.  She's the oldest girl in our group, and quit her job to come with us.  She's super fun and laid back and I think we'll get along very well.

I also love the trip leaders who are going on this trip with us.  Jo and Laruen are really different, but totally in good ways.  Jo is from England and has a heavy accent, which I love.  I could listen to her talk all day, vioce aside.  She is super funny and, like myself, has a tendancy to talk before she thinks.  Laruen is from the States, but she is totally fun and easy going.  They know each other, which I think will really help.

Tomorrow, I'll be on a flight to Bolivia!  I cannot wait! 

LEAVING TOMORROW

Tomorrow I leave for Miami, and the beginning of my three month long backpacking trip in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.  I am keeping this blog to keep in touch with friends and family.  There will be pictures, stories and updates, and this will be a great way to keep in touch.

<3
Z