Peng

day 9-hiking in the rain, getting ready for the Inca Trail

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 02:41:23 GMT

brought two travel guide books with me, the lonely planet ¨south america on a shoe string¨ and ¨the inca trail¨written by richard danbury and alexander stewart. the latter proved tremendously useful today as i hiked the 5 historical ruins around Cuzco. the routes were so detailed that even the gap in a wall in some no-name village appeared exactly the same as in the book... with the guide book help i managed to hike the 8km in the mountains, but in rain... managed to keep relatively dry properly gore-texed...

SAS, my inca trail tour company, advised travellers to pack an additional pair of used shoes to bring to Peruvians in the village since a lot of kids still run barefooted in the cold weather. Near the histrorial site Salapunco, i met a Peuvian university student who studied ¨gear¨in colleage. conversations ended when he started to comment on my new gore-tex shoes and shyly looked at his toe appearing old sneakers... i mumbled something, but was really regretting not having followed SAS´ advice.

came back for the briefing session for the four day inca trail, starting from tomorrow, already getting pretty excieted and hope it wont rain too bad.

day 8: haircutting for Silverio...

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 23:22:49 GMT

went up early in the morning, revisited the ruins i saw yesterday, trying to salvage a picture or two. (camera was out of battery yesterday)

coming down the mountain, meant to say goodbye to Livia and the Elysseo family, ran into the special "haircut ceromony" for the 4 year old Silverio. Livia apparently knew the procedures well ´cos she seems very well rehearsed and brought with her lots of gifts from Puno. based on my limited understaning of what Elyseo tryied to communicate to me, they decided to name Livia the boy´s god mother and me his god father... :P

so i also had the honor of cutting the boy´s hair for the first time ever since he was born!

the whole procedure is extremely complicated and ceromonial from an outsider´s view:

1, a stool is set in the middle of the courtyard and the boy was made sitting on it

2, the family unwrapped a blanket, in which there are a bowl of maize and lots of coca leaves. every guest selects three best shaped leaves and put them faced up in the bowl of maize. the most important figure, the god mother or Livia, then distributed the reamining coca leaves to the guests (my leaves are now folded in the Lonely Planet book)

3, god mother starts to cut the boy´s hair, and carefully places the cut hair in the bowl of maize and leaves

4, she then hands the cissors to the god father (me!) and left some money as gift int he maize bowl

5, i cut hair (very clumsily), and left some money as gilft..

6, other relatives took turn to cut hair and left gifts, until the boy is in a semi bald status

7, cocacola drinking (yes, no kidding): godmother livia served the first glass of coke to the ground, and then served coke to all the guests. i being the god father had the honor of drining the first glass..

8, people unwrapped other gifts for the boy

9, boy´s father gave livia a handwoven bag as gift and me a handwoven cap... (regretted i bought one yesterday :) and god mother and god father took pictures with the family

10, fish soup drinking. this turned out limit pushing for livia: the poor girl suffered from stomach problem starting from yesterday, and was forced to eat two big pancakes in the morning and felt worse since then, and now forced to bottom up the soup of some strange fish species and other vetetables... well, guess there is a hefty price to be a good god mother..

during the ceromony, i learned from Elyseo that the boy´s mother died giving birth to him, and the village people have tried everything they can since then to make the child feel he does not lack a family. unprepared as i was, very glad that i did my part and maybe, made father and son feel some strangers from other parts of the world cared. for one day, i hoped i and livia did our parts as being the special gifts God sent to the four year old Silverio Flores Huatta at Isla of Taquile.

day 7: Isla de Taquile, a memorable Christmas Eve

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 23:04:37 GMT

from Isla Amantani, my tour group hopped to Isla de Tqauile on christmas eve. other people left around noon time, but i decided to stay over night. the difference between the island with and without tourists are just unbelievable. while the two or three groups left the island, the isalnd people returned to their normal life immediately: no souvenier stands to be seen, men started knitting and women started spinning the wools...i sort of started to feel the island belongs to all myself on the chrismas eve (although the later rendveous with the italian girl Livia proved there is another romantic soul)

when the island returned to its peace, i took a walk up the mountains to see the stone ruins, which were abundant. on the way to the top i passed by ancient huge stone with human (god) faces carved on it, and temples wherel people worshiped their god. from the sign along the road, i gathered the ruin or the temple was called Mulsinapata. camera was out of battery, but just sitting among the ruins by the great Titicaca finished the afternoon well for me.

on my way back to the village, biggest concern was where to have a proper christmad dinner..didnt really want to eat with the family i am staying with since a chritmas dinner without conversation didnt sound too appealing to me. well, on the cobbled stone street i met the other solo traveller livia, four eggs in hand, buying groceries with the Elyseo family she is staying with. soon we decided i would join them, although condition is i would have to help cooking..

Elyseo family proved very fun people, although they made me grind maize to make the soup and livia peel potatos for the main dish. well, considering i havent really cooked for a year in new york, this didnt sound too bad an idea to get teed up for xmas dinner.. i ended up grinding the maize twice to make the finest flour for the soup (almost tilted Elyseo´s kitchen table becasue i ground too hard.. joked with him that he should think about buying a donkey..)

Livia works for an organic food company back in Rome, italy when she is not travlling, so i guess this dinner fits her perfectly. the maize and potatos were grown just outside of the family house... in the middle of dinner, the family started to giggle, consuing the hell out of me. soon i got it: they ran out of muna leaves for tea. Elyseo went out wiht a torch light and soon returned with a handful of leaves from the mountain, making our dinner even more natural and organic :)

grind your maize and peel your potatos before the meal, this is definitely going to me one of my most memorable christmas dinner.

day 6: the floating island, the hospitality of Isla Amantani

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 22:46:43 GMT

Lake titicaca is the reason why i took so many bus rides, and it proved worth while of every single mintue i spent on the bus. the immense lake at peru and bolivia border is breathtakingly beautiful.

well, jumping right off the bus, i signed up for a two day boat tour leaving in the next hour. put the big backpack at the tour guy's office, and later i would feel very lucky that i took the headlamp with me (almost saved my life at isla amantani)..

first stop was the "floating island", where islanders built their inhabitats out of reeds on the water.. took a lot of colorful pictures here..

spent the rest of the day and night on Isla of Amantani. there are a couple of histocral ruins at the top of the mountain. the sunset among the ancient ruins was simply outstanding. in order to take as many pictures as possible, i came down the mountain in dark. despite the headlamp, i found that i couldnt figure out the way to the family where i am staying with... luckily the family expected i would ran lost and was looking for me in the mountains... altho we cant communicate, my apprciation to the good hearted family was beyond language, cos otherwise i would probably have to spend the night in the mountains at below zero celcius...

the night was featured by they dress me up in local costumes to join the Fiesta, sorf of like "ji ti wu" with island people...

pictures on this little island incude the food they treated me and the great sunset.. and of course my party gear that they forced me in!

Day 5 transit, endless bus ride

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 22:37:28 GMT

-jotted down on notebook-

had a pretty relaxing morning after the splitting headacke eased. was pretty much hanging out in Putre and read the kite runner. took a couple of pictures of the hostel i stayed in. to my surprise, the little hostel has warm shower, and this turned out to be the only i have in the next 4 days...

endeless bus rides started in noon time, but i managed to save a lot of time out of these bus rides. from putre to arica, i jumped on a "collectivo" setting out to Tacna, peru right away, the small car got 5 passengers cramped in it besides the driver. almost no time lost at Tacna, the local taxi driver did a pretty good job driving me around to find the next long distance bus leaving for Puno, where lake titicaca is.

still cant believe i covered putre to arica to tacna and to puno in one day without understanding any spanish! at Chilean and Peru border, i would probably have been kicked back to chile if a new zealand boy didnt help me out. his spanish is pretty broken, but managed to understand that the border official was questioning me that my peruvian visa didnt have the issuance date on it. well, how the hell would i know?? dont know if the official understood the boys explanaiton for me, or he just got bored and let me pass...

next miracle would be going to the right bus terminal at Tacna and find out which bus to take to Puno. body lanaguage and my little phrase book proved useful. in the next 12 hours of bus ride, i was constantly awoken fearing that i may have missed the stop... had to constantly remind the person sitting next to me that i need to get off at Puno, appeared very much like an idiot, but i got off at the right stop..

to see the lake, cross the swamp first.. hit by high altitude

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 23:50:26 GMT

Putre, the small town i am at now, is at 3500 meters high. from here, i visited couple of other places at 4500 meters high. i knew it is going to be bad, but didnt know it is that bad, esp considering i have been tortured before by the nortorious high altitude at mt everest base camp.. have to keep drinking coca leaf tea to hopefully ease the headache a bit

it was worth it though. today´s expedition was more like revisiting lord of the rings... have to cross endless swamp to see the lakes. crap i still cant upload pictures!

cant write long. hope this coca leaf thing will work sooner.

in transit, painful, but very alive

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 00:13:21 GMT

have been reading a book that pearson pendergrass lent me for the road, "the kite runner" by Kahed Hosseni. it is a book staged in afgannistan about the growing up of two boys, and the pain, love, honor, and respect along the way. (http://www.khaledhosseini.com/)

pearson had urged me to read this book for a long time, and good thing about the transit today is i was able to finish most of it. havent been touched by a book for a while, esp. when Hassen´s voice of "for you, a thousand times over" kept surfacing in the young Amir´s mind and finally taught him to be a real adult at 38 years old. guess Hosseni wanted to say it takes more pain for people to grow up, esp. for the seven eighth part of the iceberg that is under the water.

book reading made today´s trip a lot shorter, which takes three legs of flight, arguing with Lan Chile ticket offices about change of flight, and finally getting into Arica of Chile where almost nobody speaks english. yet again shocked by what i saw at the bustling hustling bus station. it is just like the so many other bus terminals i used to be so famliar with when traveling in xin jiang. hundres of people with luggages spread out and friendly drivers trying to pull you into their bus. by some miracle and the help of a taxi driver i got a ticket that will set me off to Putre tomorrow morning, to see the volcanos and lakes at 4000 meters high. this smaill town i am in right now, arica, has a population about 200k with landscaple unlike any other places i saw. sort of like desert and sea line combined. putre that i am gong to visit tomorrow is a 2000 population Aymara village surrounded by ancient stone faced terrace on which local farmers grow alfalfa and oregano. the place starts at 3500 meters high and is supposed to be famous for the white stone adobe houses. after departing from the metropolitan Rio at the break of the day, the painful part of the journey started, yet making me feel ever more alive.

btw i regained cell phone connection today, sadly. first advice that a colleague gave me, after receiving safety report eamil, was, drink as much pisco as you can, and put your god-damned berry away, that is yelling "rob me." well that made me fell warm in this chlly highland night, with or without pisco (a chle|peru alchoholic drink that i am yet to taste.)

day 4: count the waves. and need luck ahead

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 23:35:27 GMT

according to brazilian tradition, if you can jump 7 sea waves at the copacabana beach on new year's eve, the next year will promise luck and good fortune. learned today that the ability to count waves is essential for people living by the sea.

set out on a half day boat trip around noon, leaving marina de gloria. soon the boat grouped a dozen of travellers alike. the kintergarden teacher from germany, the two doctors from australia (who have been travelling for six months), the movie star looking boys who i dont know from where, and a number of UK ppmm..

beers and fruits were served right from the beginning.. drinking starting from noon? a little aggressive.. i soon regretted the two bottles i downed when we anchored at a little bay near a bare rocky island. part of the program was to swim from the boat in deep sea to explore the barren stone island. stripped the t-shirts and off we jumped: about half a dozen boys and one girl. freezing cold water and the stormy waves deceivingly quiet from onshore.. altho i considered myself a pretty good swimmer, the waves proved a lot of trouble. our captain, the handsome brazilian Marcos, had to teach us how to count the waves when we reached shore. it is impossible to stand still and climb up the somewhat stiff rocks if you dont know the trick. the sea people know exactly when the wave ebbs and when is the best opportunity to stand on the sand without being flushed away. wave counting and walking bare footed on the scorching rocky island, two essetntials for sea people.

too bad one aussie boy barely reached the island, and had to call a life-saving boat to row him back.. barbeque on the boat was ready when we landed back on the boat, the rest of the afternoon was consumed in the lazy sunshine, great food and samba music. an excellent trip to mark my last day in rio. (Marcos Rosauro, 21 7845 6033, marcos@rosauro.com.br. he deserves a quick commercial.)

setting off to chile tomorrow. but in a heartbeat i decided to change my itinerary. will throw awa my origial plan to fly from Santiago, Chile to Lima on the 25th. figured i cant miss the twin volcanos in northern Chile and the gigantic Lake Titicaca that separates Peru and Bolivia. lake titicaca is supposed to be the highest navigable lake in the world and the largest lake in south america. it sits at altitude of above 4000 meters and i imagined it should look like a lot of the lakes i saw in tibet. (all these lakes reminds me of that song by wu bai The Norweigen Woods...)

so the rest the trip will hopefully be like fly from Rio to Santiago tomorrow, and transfer to Arica in northern chile directly (will skip santiago, need to get out of the cities.). from arica, is a bus ride to cross chile and peru border, and a 12 hour bus ride to Puno, the small town at Titicaca, spend a few days there and another six hour bus ride to Cuzco, where i will start the inca trail. the road ahead will be rough. guess it's time to study some spanish now. besides a few spanish words, will need luck, a lot of them...

3rd day: youth hostel, sugar loaf...

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 01:48:57 GMT

when i travel alone i normally chose to stay in some international youth hostels, like this time in rio. found a couple of good / interesting things about living in such places:

1 there are always things going on, no matter where are you from, with or without company. this place i live in rio, i am sharing room with three irish guys. i normally drink with them till midnight everyday, and then i sign off to sleep, but these guys would continue to drink till dawn, the next morning, i only woke up to see three half naked bodies, all heavily tatooed. only remembered one guy's name is allen... this evening we had a bbq party at the hostel, met quite a few interesting figures. a brazilian guy who doesn speak a word of english but we managed to carry on a conversation, somehow i learned he is from north brazil and is of italian descedent, since he repeatedly tried to tell me something about his "papa" and a word souned like "italiano"... a chef from australia who hasnt been working six months ago... a guy from baltimore who hasnt worked a single day since he graduated from college... so i figured i shouldnt tell them my aveage wrk week in ny is at least 80 hours... that made feel more cool.

2 bar always closes late, and beer is cheap. $1.5 a heinekan, what else do you ask for? when i started to consume my 4th heineken tonote, i got quite an encoragement from the bar tender: better job tonight, huh? she is obviously teasing me being the first one checked out every nite...

3 great travel advice. they always tells me how to travel like the locals do. altho one discouraged me from climbing Corcovado one day and gave me false warning about the snakes.. but still appreciated them trying to take care of me..

4 dont every worry about safely. when all your fellow travellers are guys giving up their jobs travelling around the world, you don~t worry about them for a second...

5 price: when you are charged $15 per night at the center of rio, ....

well, other than that, today's hilite was the coco drink and the sunset at "sugar loaf". the iced fresh coco was such a greak drink. the vendor would pick you a fat coco from his ice box, only three cut of a knife you are off to a freezing cold and sweet fresh coco juice. if you want, a couple more cut you are ready to eat the creamy pulp too...

sunset at pao de acugar (SUGAR LOAF) reveals Rio as the most magnificent city in the world. the white bulidings on the water, the sailing boat all glistened under a thin layer of sun light on the turquoise altantic water. the christ satue from a distance extending his welcome arms as always. i was on the loaf a little early in the pm, so read my Chile tour guide book, but stil didnt have a plan where to go, but what the hell.

the bar next to the computer started to play simn and garfunkel now.. bridge over troubled water. hehe paul simon in a sweaty Rio de Janeiro night, what else would ya ask for.

day 2: the danger, the chain, and the bee sting...

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 22:59:41 GMT

after the 2nd day, i felt (hope not naively) that local people tend to exaggerate the danger in Rio as a way to

sell you somting: a tour, a cab or motercyle ride...the Che Lagarto youth hostel i am staying in, altho cheaply priced for a bed, offers some overly priced tours. i was thinking to walk/climb up corcovado today to see Christ the Redeemer,the signature statue of Rio that features Christ exending His arms overlooking the city. The hostel tour is a staggering R$84 (including another place). when i asked the hostel people if i can walk to the top, they gave me the most unbelievable look, citing a number of dangers including snakes on the way...so i envisoned a dangers hiking ambushed by loal robbers and weird tropical species, later only to find 8km of well paved concrete road swarmed by taxi cabs...and one or two brazilian families who shared my outdoors spirits...

the trip cost me a total of R$4, just round trip bus from Copacabana, if you know your way around and are not afraid to ask. when i was at the foot of the mountain of corcovado, local guides started to offer me motorcycles rides up,when declined, a good natured boy reminded me to take off the chain on my neck and hide it in the bag, and so i obliged... (when walked down the mountain and saw the same boy, he shared the joy of me returning safe but demanded a tip for his good advice...)

it was an easy 2 hour walk and i met two other travellers who stripped only to their shorts, and the company they provided sort of eased my fear of being mugged on the road. one of them offered me an excellent photo opportuhity when a gorgeous brazilian gilr walking by, altho being rudely referred as "a chicken" by my not so sphisticated younger companion... <pictures to come>

the scene of Rio from 710 meters high corcovado is amazing. so i did a lot of duely touristy shots, guess my photography teacher Gabe Marinex will smash my camera if he sees me doing picturs like these... <pics to come>

btw, snakes? it is all d... cant even see a frog.

but there should be dangers around. the whole corcovado is well guarded by touris police wearing guns and i luckily took a pic of one police mm with guns.. <pic.>

as for me, the only ambush i got in the day was a sting by a little red bee on my way down,when i almost reached the bus station. cant believe a bee can cause me so much pain! well,i sincerely hope my remaining days in rio can be as uneventful as this...

First day in south america

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:28:51 GMT

arrived in Ril de Janeiro, after saying goodbye to friends and a 15 hour trip..

no cell phone and blackberry reception, fabulous!

copacabana definitely has the world´s best beach <pictures to come>, wearing my hiking boots, sunglasses

and a baseball hat that says ´ny yankees´blatantly, i guess i can be instantly spotted a tourist, on constant

alert that few tourists don´t get mugged in rio... well, first decision is to buy my flip-flop and don´t take my big

camera to the beach. properly equipped, i sort of felt blended into the rest of the beach bums..

the afternoon started with the local drinks Caiprinha: a local favorite mixed with suger cane rum..had my first

one at a beach bistro, immediately befriended with the bar tender who forced me to take one more... had my last

caiprinha at the youth hostel i stayed, with the couple of irish guys sharing a room with me.

lots of other hostel inhabitants are heading to the samba party tonight, felt exhausted so can´t join them, at least

for tonight. tomorrow will plan to climb up the ´suger loaf´or ´christ redemtion´, but got to run along the amazing

beach first!

too bad can´t upload pictures from the hostel computer, but not much to be missed: right after the first shot

i took, got warned by a local to hide my camera, which could easily make me a target for robbery!