Ciao, Cusco!

I don´t know how it happened, but we wound up spending lots more time in the Cusco area than we had planned. Considering we already had mixed feelings about the place already (pretty nice city, but the harassment on the street is very tiresome), our last 24 hours in Cusco really sealed a very negative view for us.

On Sunday, we left the jungle at 6 in the morning and travelled all day to arrive in Cusco around 7:30 p.m. Karen already mentioned how terrible our meals were all week in the jungle (I´m still trying to regain my appetite). In Cusco we had a very so-so Chinese meal and then headed "home" to the hotel that we had stayed at on 3 different occasions for a total of 11 nights and we wanted to stay just one final night. So we show up at the hotel at 9 p.m. only to find out that the hotel is full and they gave our room away! Talk about loyalty. We had confirmed 3 times before we left for the jungle that we wanted one more night and that we might be late arriving. What happened is that other people arrived wanting to stay 5 nights which clearly trumped our 1 night stay so it was easy for them to give our room away. Of course, no one would take responsibility for erasing our names and a mysterious "new boy who works on the weekends" was blamed. Well, after travelling all day we were tired and irritable and just wanted a room. Fortunately they found us a room just down the block that wound up being just as good and saved us some money as well, but still. Very annoying for us to stay at one hotel 3 times and then get dumped so easily. Oh, did I also mention that this hotel charged us for requesting extra pillows on a previous checkout? They didn´t tell us when we asked for the pillows, only when checking out.

But worse was yet to come...

The new hotel had a good breakfast which was just as well because our final lunch and dinner in Cusco were both fairly terrible.

On Monday, we had a bus to Arequipa (where we are now) at 8:45 p.m. Since our clothes smelled like jungle, we needed a wash and were debating whether to do the laundry in Cusco or wait until Arequipa. Well, we had used one lavanderia twice already with no problems so we decided to go with them again (despite Lonely Planet´s recommendation to never trust your laundry on the last day in any town). We dropped off at 10 a.m. and they said it would be ready by 6 p.m. (like the previous two times). We go back at 6 and they say "no, we said 7". OK, a lie, but still 7 was no problem for us. At 7 I go back to get the laundry and it´s not there and now the story emerges that some machine broke or something and they had to wait for someone to fix it. OK, but why did no one mention this at 6? Anyway, I stress to her that we have a bus to catch at 8:45 and have to be at the bus station at 8:30. She absolutely 100% guarantees me that the clothes will be there at 8 on the dot. I tell her I don´t care if the clothes are wet, dry, not clean, whatever, we just need the clothes at 8.

At 8, we go back. No clothes, no lady. I talk to some other lady who says the other lady went to the laundry place (it wasn´t done on site) at 7:15 and it´s supposedly only 15 minutes away. But no one can tell me where this lady is or where our clothes are. 8:15, still no sign. Now we go back to the hotel and do some crisis calls to the bus company and the tour company we bought our bus tickets from to see if we can hold the bus for a few minutes and to at least let them know we were still coming. Now it´s getting down to crunch time and we have to decide between leaving all our laundry behind (not really an option) or forgoing our $60 bus tickets to Arequipa and leaving the next night. Neither an appealing option. 8:30, still no sign. Finally, at 8:45 the lady shows with our laundry. She looked like I should treat her as some sort of savior for delivering the clothes! Although frankly, I still don´t know what we would have done if she didn´t show up at just that moment. I didn´t have time to get the story from her as to what happened (it would have just been more lies anyway) so I just grabbed the bags of laundry, gave her a piece of my mind, and then ran back to the hotel. Jumped in the next taxi and threw all our bags in and gave the classic line "bus station, and step on it. Extra tip if you get us there in 5 minutes or less". Well, fortunately we managed to make it but with, oh, just a wee bit of stress and much headache. At the bus station we were a bit out of sorts so Karen´s backpack almost got left behind and she also dropped her money belt which fortunately someone spotted. Fun times all around.

We didn´t have time to check our laundry when we got it as we had to get to the bus station. So when we arrived in Arequipa the next day and finally checked we realized we were missing: my quick-dry towel, Karen´s swimsuit, and HALF of all the underwear that Karen brought on this trip. So we must have lost well over $60 worth of stuff due to the lavanderia´s mess-up. In return, though, we did manage to get someone else´s t-shirt and a lonely sock that isn´t ours. Fair trade?

So, as you can see, we were more than happy to finally say ciao to Cusco. It was very disappointing and just sheer bad luck that the hotel we used 3 times previously and the lavanderia we used twice previously both managed to let us down (the lavanderia more spectacularly).

Unfortunately Karen and I are both feeling under the weather now (I think I have mild flu). I was already feeling a bit ill on Sunday, so running up and down hill between the hotel and lavanderia multiple times didn´t help me much.

We are now in Arequipa, which is the second largest city in Peru and is a lovely city. And the harassment on the streets is only about 1/10th of Cusco. Karen says it reminds her a lot of Salta in Argentina. Like Salta, though, it has the problem of not being pedestrian friendly even though it´s a big walking city. Cars always think they have right of way versus the pedestrians. I don´t know why they paint crosswalks on the streets because there are very few stoplights and the cars never stop for pedestrians.

Anyway, Arequipa has one of the loveliest climates anywhere, with temps almost always in the 20s Celsius year round and some of the lowest rainfall anywhere. Supposedly it´s sunny 350 days a year. The main problem it has, though, is that it´s located in one of the worst locations in the world for natural disasters. It suffers about 2 major earthquakes each century (last one in 2001) and is surrounded by more than a few volcanoes. The volcanoes provide a brilliant backdrop to the city, but it´s also not the most comforting sight.

Into the Amazon or the Best Unintentional Diet Plan Ever

What do diets have to do with the Amazon you might say? Well, Kevin and I have just gotten back from our 8 day trip into the Manu Biosphere Reserve, which is part of the Amazon, and lost a combined total of about 15 pounds. Why? Well, our cook on the trip was pretty crappy and at times his meals were rather inedible. We just lost all interest in food--which, if you know us, takes a heck of a lot! On our last night, Kevin stared at his sad tuna fish patty and almost lost the will to live right there. Luckily, we had gloopy but edible chocolate pudding for dessert.

That said, the rest of our trip to the Amazon was really interesting and as we hadn't spent much time in the jungle before, we learned a lot about the pros and cons of doing a jungle trip. Also, a trip like that takes a toll on the body and now Kevin and I have caught colds probably due to the fact our guide had a cold and the weather fluctuated a lot. However, looking back at the pictures we took, I also realize now that we saw an incredible contrast of cloud forests, dense jungles and serene lakes against the amazing backdrop of the Andes.

Gorgeous cloud forest....



The lakes (where we spotted giant otters and loads of birds and monkeys) at sunrise and sunset:





And, this is us after 3 days of not taking a shower. Not too bad, eh?



Our trip took 2 days in and out, so we had about 4 days in the Manu Reserve. But even outside of the reserve there was a lot to see. And since Kevin and I have suddenly become extreme sports / adventure buffs (who knew?), we had to do the jungle trip where we mountain bike down 1000 meters in 3 hoursb through rough terrain, white water raft, and take a wild canopy tour. With all this activity (and recent bouts with bacterial infections), I sometimes feel like we need a vacation from our vacation!









In the jungle, you learn to be patient because the animals rarely come to you. You're lucky if you see three mammals within a week...but there are loads of birds to see. I think we saw over 30 kinds (though they're gone in a blink so no pictures!) and observed parrots feasting on a clay lick (a giant clay wall). As for mammals, my favourite one was the capybaras, the largest rodents in the world! We saw a family of five feeding away by the river. They were so adorable and looked like giant hamsters (about the size of a big dog)!



We also got to see cute giant otters, swimming as a family and chomping on some juicy fish, and the other half of our group even saw a jaguar though we just missed it (out boat was behind theirs). And we saw so many black and white caimans (like crocodiles) I lost count.



There is a lot of waiting time though, lots of time on the water (the best place to see animals from as you can scope the jungle out with a wider field of vision) and without a good guide, you miss a lot of things. We spent about 35 hours total on this boat!



Even the small things are pretty amazing. Kevin took a huge fancy to these leaf cutter ants carrying this incredible load on their backs. Amazingly, we seemed to observe that the ants worked from 9 to 5! Maybe they're in a union?



And walking around the forest, we observed so many kinds of plant and tree life which were pretty amazing. We encountered this giant kapok tree which alone holds hundreds of ecosystems. (That's our guide explaining it all to us)



Our most exciting encounter was when we walked through the forest and then, as if we were in an episode of the TV show "LOST", we heard a crazy melee of grunting and teeth gnashing! We had almost run into loads of peccaries (wild pigs) who are known to attack humans, but luckily ran away when they heard our footsteps. We just saw back shadows making their way into the deep forest. But we had gotten a great scare and everyone's hearts were thumping big time. What we had heard was them galloping away...lucky for us, since our guide said that sometimes he and his group have had to climb trees to escape these creatures.

We also got a small glimpse into the way of life for the local villagers within the Amazon, but we wished we could have seen more. I think many jungle enthusiasts have to spend at least 2 weeks in the jungle but 1 week was certainly plenty for me and Kevin! Here is Kevin playing with the local village game of (I kid you not): Spear- the-turtle-skull-through-the-stick.

Beware the might of the Bolivian Navy!

What? Bolivia has a navy? But isn´t Bolivia land-locked you ask? OK, well maybe you didn´t ask that, but anyway.

Yes, it´s true, land-locked Bolivia does indeed have a navy (you can even check out the offical site), based at Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian-Peruvian border. The navy patrols the lakes and rivers to prevent smuggling, etc., ever since those darn Chileans stole their coastline back in the 1880s. Actually, Bolivia has a very sad history, as it has lost OVER HALF of its territory since independence from Spain to its neighbors. Every single one of its neighbors (Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and Peru) has stolen land from Bolivia. Poor thing. Besides the main War of the Pacific in the 1880s where they lost their coastline, Bolivia has gone to war with Paraguay in the Chaco War in the 1930s. The Chaco War is interesting because the region fought over was thought to be rich in oil so the American oil companies were heavily involved, with Standard Oil (later Exxon/Mobil, Chevron, BP/Amoco) backing Bolivia and Shell Oil backing Paraguay. Hmmm, major oil companies getting involved in foreign politics/wars? Who would have thunk it? ;) I´m glad we´ve moved on from those darker days of the past. An earlier dispute with Brazil in the early 1900s left the rubber-producing state of Acre leaving Bolivia to join Brazil.

Anyway, enough of Bolivia´s sad, sordid history. I know Karen has already written about the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, with the floating islands and I know I´m going back a bit, but I wanted to write about the Bolivian side. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, at about 3800 meters or so above sea level.

Our base on the Bolivian side was Copacabana, which is situated on a peninsula that can only be reached by going by boat or via Peru. The Peruvian-Bolivian border cutting through Lake Titicaca is a very strange line indeed, as you can see from the map.



On the way to Titicaca we passed by some ladies dressed traditionally on the roadside.



To get to Copacabana, we had to cross the narrow Straight of Tiquina between the Bolivian mainland and the peninsula. The bus is transported on one boat while passengers are transported on another (due to a fatal capsizing a few years ago with people still on the bus). Pretty interesting to see the bus cross on these small platform boats.



I tried to sneak a picture of this family (many Bolivian ladies don´t like their pictures being taken), but it looks like I was caught in the act.



As you can see from this sign, Bolivia is still pretty determined to get their coastline back from Chile and demands the international community to pay attention. I have a better chance of winning an Oscar than of Chile giving up what they got from Bolivia, as 40% of Chile´s wealth comes from the copper and nitrate rich northern regions.



Copacabana itself is beautifully situated on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Unfortunately I got some of the worst food poisoning (or call it what you want) of the entire trip there (as did 2 others we were dining with) and was very ill for the next 3 days.





I liked the look of this cloud looming large over the surrounding countryside.



Trucha, trucha, trucha (trout, trout, trout) is all you can get in the Titicaca region (and neither Karen nor I particularly like it). This restaurant was actually fairly limited as we went to some restaurants with 15 or 20 different preparations for trout. In inland Bolivia and Peru we realized that going to Japanese restaurants was almost pointless, as the only fish on offer was trout (trout sushi, anyone?). Seriously, a Japanese restaurant with neither salmon nor tuna is not a Japanese restaurant at all.



And here´s the legendary Bolivian Armada itself. Now, considering most of the buses we saw in Bolivia were old castoffs from China, Japan, and Korea, I guess it should have come as no surprise to see that the Bolivian navy was supplied with old castoffs of the Boston Swan Boats. Well, I don´t think that was their actual armada, but I thought the juxtaposition of swan boats next to a military post was just way too funny.





From Copacabana we went to Isla del Sol, which is very important in Incan creation myths. It´s a beautiful island. Unfortunately I was well under the weather so the traverse of the island that should have taken 2-3 hours took me over 5 hours to complete. It was well worth it for the beautiful scenery, though.

Karen even managed to find the local Wal-Mart megastore and bought a nice hat.





The island has a decent amount of Incan ruins which were fun to explore. And the scenery all over the island was amazing.





One of the funniest bits was when a traditionally dressed farmer girl was walking on the path in front of us and was afraid we were taking pictures of her and so she essentially played "1-2-3 redlight" (hopefully you know that game) with us for about 20 minutes, turning around intermittently to try to catch us taking a picture of her. She even did some fancy twirls while trying to catch us out.

The island provided brilliant sunset views over the mountains on the mainland.







Here´s Karen at sunrise.



Some more locals down at the pier.



OK, that´s it for our wonderful trip to Lake Titicaca. But before I deleted some photos from my memory card, I wanted to share a few random ones.

First, some pictures of some beautiful alpacas we found near Titicaca. You might recall that when we were in New Zealand Karen mistaked an alpaca farm for a farm with really tall sheep. Alpacas have some of the softest natural fibers and make great sweaters.





A random restaurant sign in Puno, Peru. I´m not really sure what "great full food" is supposed to be.



And not to be gross, but I was intrigued by this shop sign in Puno. I assume these businesses exist elsewhere but are a bit more subtle with their advertising. I don´t think I need to translate what services they are offering. Not the sign I expected to see on a street full of restaurants.



Some locals on the roadside charging for pictures with their baby and baby alpacas.



More local color.



That´s me checking out an elaborate carnival mask.



And to end on a completely random note, we couldn´t figure out if this was a sign for one restaurant with three names or multiple restaurants. I especially like the one called "THE" Restaurant.

The Death Road

In Bolivia there exists what is known as "the most dangerous road in the world". For decades this was the main road from the capital, La Paz, to the north and into the jungle. Apparently it was built by Paraguayan prisoners of war who didn´t really care about how good the road was. And for years, about 200-300 people died per year on this road. This road is essentially a one-lane road that was used as a two-lane road. It´s a dirt and rocks road that clings precariously to the mountainside with tons of blind curves and with sheer drop offs of 500 to 1000 meters, and with almost no guardrails to speak of. Lore has it that truck drivers would be so scared to drive through the thick fog that they would stop on the road, only for another car or truck to hit them or for a landslide to drop them off the cliff. Also, instead of having both hands on the wheel, the drivers would often make the sign of the cross to protect themselves, only to lose control and careen over the cliff (ironic, eh?).

Well, finally, in the last two years or so, they have opened the new modern road which has now made the "death road" redundant and it has now been taken over by mountain bike adventurers. Karen and I were very keen to check this "death road" out. Now that the cars and trucks have mostly abandoned it (some local traffic still uses it), it´s actually not too bad. But while cycling down it you can look over the cliff side for hundreds of meters, so it still packs a significant thrill factor. And the best part is that it´s over 90% downhill, as you go from about 4000 meters above sea level to about 1200 meters above sea level.

After riding it, I have to say that it´s reputation as "the most dangerous road in the world" is probably well deserved (or was, at least). But I also have to say that I would also call it "the prettiest road in the world" as the scenery is just absolutely fantastic from start to finish. It´s a good thing we were travelling in a group, because otherwise I probably would have stopped every 10 meters to take pictures of the breathtaking scenery. Simply amazing views.

I´m a bit annoyed because the BBC website had a fantastic article on this road featured just last November. I tried to find it but it has now disappeared off the website (strangely the first paragraph shows up but not the rest of it). If it reappears, I´ll try to remember to post a link to it.

Here´s Karen at the start of our trip (in the cold mountain tops).



And here are just a few of some of the amazing views.







Although there´s a decent amount of cyclists on the road now, while cycling it was almost never crowded. Here´s another group taking a break on the roadside.



And here´s Karen powering her way up the top of one of the small uphills we had to do.



The first part of the trip was actually on the newly paved road before we hit the dirt and rocks "death road" proper. When we first hit the top of the death road, it was shrouded in a thick fog, which got us a bit worried. Fortunately it lifted quickly after just a small descent.





And then it opened up into some more spectacular vistas.







On some parts we had to pedal through some small streams, which was quite fun as well.



At the bottom we got to take some nice showers and enjoy the pool at a hotel before heading back to La Paz. Frankly, the ride back to La Paz, even though it´s on the new road, was 10 times scarier than the ride down the death road on a bike. By evening, the thick fog had rolled back in, allowing the driver to only see about 25 feet in front of him. Scary stuff. The ride back, though, did provide us with one of the prettiest nighttime scenes we have ever seen, as we rose above the fog and saw the fog-enshrouded valley bathed by the light of a full moon. Indescribable beauty.

All in all, it was a fantastic day and well worth the price. We also got to try out full-suspension bikes for the first time, so the ride wasn´t as painful on the hard road as we thought it might be. The ride itself is not too scary while still giving you the sense of what drivers on this road must have gone through for decades. An unforgettable experience.