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July 16, 2005

The Paz!

Wow, so its been a while since ive udated yall on my big south american adventure. Well, after Hurraz I went to Lima for a weekend of fun. I stayed at Friend´s House hostal in Miraflores and it was a blast...one of the funnest hostals ive stayed at...very social atmoshpere. In Lima i checked out some great measums, did some serious partying, and met some really cool people. I was only there for like 3 days and then I took a bus to Arequipa. Upon our arrival in Arequipa, the bus was met with hostalities at the hands of local protesters who were trying to block the road, but i think the police interviened on our behalf so we made it to the termainal safe and sound. Arequipa was OK, but not my favirorite place, and once i realized that i wasnt going to see Colca Canyon (worlds 2nd deepest canyon, the 1st is also in Peru nearby Colca, but i forgot the name) i didnt see much of a point in being there. I mostaly just wandered around the colonial streets, visited churches, visited measums...including the actual Juannita (south americas most famous and best preserved mummy), and watched TV and drank sangria at the hostal. I was stuck there for like 2 days because of the road blocks, which went on for quite a while after i left. They were protesting a fuel tax, but in South America when there is a social protest, everyone gets involved and makes their case...including the construction workers, teachers, bus and taxi drivers, ect. Well i paid 40 sol for what i thought would be a good bus, but according to the travel agent (which i suspect pulled a swicheroo on me) the good busses were not running because of the road blocks and the only busses brave enought to endure molotov coctails and rocks were the cheaper bus lines...so i paid 40 sol for a shit bus to Cusco.....I will always remember this bus ride as THE WORST BUS RIDE OF MY ENTIRE SOUTH AMERICAN TRIP! The route was freezing, the buss had no heating, the windows were cracked, and i was totally unprepared for this type of cold. Luckly a french dude shared his sleeping bag with me so my feet didnt freeze off, but I could see my breath the entire bus trip and the bus was full of people. I didnt sleep for the entire 10 hours of freezing hell in earth. Anyways, made it to Cuzco and found a cheap hostal. I arrived in Cuzco for the weekend so i made sure to hit the town on Fri and Sat night. The clubs were hoppin and free drink offers abound as compitition was quite fierce between the bars there. There also seemed to be alot of blow going around. Evertime i went to use the bathroom there were at least 5 Isralies or Austrailians doing blow in the toilet stall. Anyway, i met a cool german girl at my hostal and i bumped into Chis there......I met Chris on my first day of traveling way back on Jan. 10th in Rio de Janiero. He is a cool guy from the UK who is like 55 and went traveling to south america after his wife divorced him and he quite his job. He now enjoys dating 25-30 year olds and parties harder than most pleople half his age. It was good to see a old friend again....its a small world you know. In cusco i wandered around the narrow streets checking out the remains of Incan arcetecture mixed with tradational spanish colonial style. Lots of mueasumes (i can never spell that word right) and sights to see.
I also met up with Edward, a friend from Austin who used to play gituar with us at our regular jam sessions at his and Jeff´s house. I met him in Cusco and we went out to Calca where he is living and doing some serious journalistic investigation on US drug policy (esp. Plan Colombia) and its affect on the indeginious Coca farmers in the region. its pretty disgusting that the US is trying to get rid of a traditional crop that is sacred to the people of this region...cocain is a western invention that serves western markets. Coca leaves down here are sacred medicine used to make tea and to chew. It gives you energy, fights off hunger, and fights the symptoms of altitude sickness. anyways, the problem is US demand, not the actual coca leaves......US govt policy is 100 eradication of Coca leaves. For some of these people, coca leaves is all they can grow on their land, because of the climate and soil. How would americans feel if another country had a program to eradicate tobacco in the Carolinas because it was bad for the health of their citizens and illegal. Its completely fucked up!!!!!!!!!
ok, thats enough of that.
So i checked out some sweet ruins with Ed and a really cool market in Pisac.
I also celebrated 4th of July with him and some other Americans out there in Calca. We were drinking at the ProPeru house, a volunteer organization that Ed and the other Americans were a part of.
After that I went to Pisac to check out the ruins then back to Cusco to book a 5 day treck to Machu Pichu. Not the inca trail, but the Salcantay treck. Which is 5 days wallking. First day was ascending to base camp near the massive mountain on salcantay, second day was the hardest making our way from base camp to a 4700meter mountain pass directly at the base of Salcantay (6000meters plus) then down below the clouds to our second camp, 3rd day was walking through jungle with a stop at a nice natural hot spring, on the night of the 3rd day we stopped at a community for camp and played soccer with the locals (gringos vs locals) and had a few beers with them after the game (we lost, but it was a close game). 4th day we took a crowed truck to another town then walked for 3hrs, had lunch, and took a train to aguas Cliantes, in the morning of the 5th day we hiked up one of the longest sets of stairs i can ever recall climbing at 5:30am to get to machu Pichu from Aguas Clientes. Then i was rewarded with watching the sun rise over machu pichu. It was magical!!! One of the coolest sunrises ive ever seen. Got lots of shots of machu pichu, took a tour, and climb Waynu Pichu (the big mountain in the background all of the shots of machu pichu) the view was sick because it was a clear day. Hell i liked Wyanu Pichu more than the ruins themselves. Also, cool was one of the people in our group was a 55 year old dude who wanted to visit Machu pichu in 2001, but because he had back surgery and knee problems his doctors told him he would never ba able to walk up to machu pichu. Well, he didnt believe a word the Dr. said and engaged in agressive physical therapy for 4 years thinking everyday that he would walk to machu pichu. Well he made it and once we made it to the ruins he told us his story. IT was a very moving story and is proof that if you put your heart and mind to somthing you cant fail.
So then i went back to Cusco and book the next bus to Puno where i caught a great sunrise over lake titicaca then bussed to Copacabana, bolivia to chill. There i visited Isla del Sol on Lago Titicaca and a rock of orgin believed to be the birth place of the Sun and the first Inca. The rock is one of the most sacred rocks/energy sources in South America. It didnt look that impressive, but I still greeted it with respect and offered it some coca leaves. Then i met a cool mexican girl named Eli on my bus to La Paz later that day. We found a good hotel for only 4 bucks and includes breakfast and gasp HOT water. Hotel Milton. On my second day in La Paz i got my teeth cleaned by a dentist for only $13 dollars and did alot of walking. La Paz is cheap and everything you could ever want is sold on the street here. Im going to do some serious shopping here. That night was the celebration of the founding of La Paz so the streets were packed like it was new years in New York, with everyboady drinking and live music. Then me and 4 other cool mexicans went to a disco teck and got completely smashed. The mexicans kept buying jars of somthing strong that we kept shooting all night. I eventually got real sick and decorated to floor of the discotech with the contents of my stomach. Anyways, today is saturday and im still a bit hung over, but it was still a fun night. I think ill be in La Paz for a week or so. I dig this town.

Posted by Mr D on July 16, 2005 07:58 PM
Category: Bolivia
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