The Biggest Market, the Center of the World, and My Last Week in S.A!!

After my brother left, I spent a few days hanging out in Quito. I had a decent hostal right near a bunch of old churches, and although I was a little lonely, it was fun to see more of Quito. The more I saw of the city, the more I liked it, especially in the older part. I also indulged in seeing a chick flick at the theaters, another pleasure denied while ushering around one's older brother.
A few days of hanging out, and I headed to Otavolo, known for having one of the biggest handicrafts markets, and markets in general, in all of South America. I got there on Friday, after a slight mishap on the bus. On the way to the bus station, we witnessed a huge fight--five guys against one, and pretty violent--so I insisted my cab driver call an ambulance or something. He didn't seem very concerned or anxious to do so, but hey, I can nag well, even in Spanish! After this he dumps me at the foot of a bus about to drive off, and they literally throw me on. At least I was on....right? Until I almost missed Otavolo thanks to passing out on the shoulder of a random old man (one easy way to make friends) but luckily, he was a kind gentlemen and woke me up, and they let me off on the Panamerican. I somehow got into town, by way of bus and cart and taxi, and found a cheap room in a nice hostal--and the room was cheap for good reason, although it had hot water and a TV with a bunch of Spanish channels, it was absolutely tiny! Hardly any room to manuever around the bed. At least the view was gorgeous, with a balcony right outside my window!
The next morning I got up bright and early for a visit to the small animal market, full of guinea pigs and bunnies and chicks and puppies, generally crammed tightly together in crates. I hit the produce market next and viewed mind-boggling arrays and amounts of fruit and vegetables, followed by face-numbing stink from the dead flesh displays. From there, it was handicrafts time, a.k.a. finally time to shop! I'd been waiting weeks to stock up on souvenirs for me and my friends and family, and had quite a good time haggling and exploring in the boiling sun (pretty sure my shoulders are still peeling!)
After many hours of this adventure, I stopped in a famous little pie shop for a nice slice of some sort of fruit pie and a tuna-y sandwich, tuna-y as it did not taste like any tuna I had ever eaten. There I chatted with two older fellows from South Africa, and we had a good interesting chat, and even exchanged emails. They had many horror stories of their trip so far, making me feel lucky that the worst things to happen to me were generally amusing anecdotes for the folks back home--besides the demise of my dear camera.
My last day in Otavolo I spent sick in bed, and departed the next day, headed back to Quito. My last days in Quito I spent enjoying Old Town and buying more gifts for the folks back home. I also made it to the impressive monument to the Equator, called the Mitad del Mundo, or Center of the Earth to most of you. It was quite a hassle to get there, including taxis and buses and getting off at the wrong stop, and then getting picked up by a different bus going the wrong direction...but it was fun nonetheless to look around the fake little colonial village, and of course, to straddle the Equator! I can officially say I've been in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres--at the same time!
My last days in Quito were also a bit stressful thanks to the upcoming election chaos! The current president, Rafael Correa, won handily, but it's quite jarring to be woken up in a known-to-be-volatile South American country by loud booming, at five in the morning. Thankfully just fireworks--but let's just say after a few nights of that I was thankful to get back to southern California!
My trip back to Cali was weirdly uneventful--in fact my bag didn't get searched until I flew from Salt Lake City to Bozeman, go figure. Stay tuned for a few more adventures from California and my reflections on actually making it back alive to my home state! xoxo

Easter in Quito, a Cloudforest, and Farewell to my brother!

We arrived in Quito early on Easter Sunday, tired and freezing but ready for the day´s festivities! We thankfully had a room booked at a decent hostal, so we hurried there in the cold rain for some rest and a shower!! Our hostal was in the new part of town, which, as usual, was absolutely dead--it´s weird feeling like you´re the only person there in a city full of millions of others.
After breakfast and a nap, we headed out into what seemed like a dead city--we stopped by a church, went to the empty bullring, and ended up at another movie, something about mountains and witches.
We were still in search of a crowd, and ended up in the middle of beautiful, and people-less, Old Town. It was gorgeous, all lit up at night, and we snuck into a beautiful cathedral for the end of a service. At that point, it was pouring rain, so we ran to a little restaurant near another church. We had a delicious dinner, including interesting Colombian booze and goat stew! A much quieter Easter than we had expected--I think we left all the crowds on the coast--but a good one nonetheless.
The next morning we got up very very early to catch a bus to the cloudforest of Mindo. After an argument with the cab driver (apparently the bus station for Mindo had moved in the last year) we hopped on and headed over. It was a thankfully short bus ride, and Mindo was beautiful! We found a great hostal, made completely out of wood, with a pretty view of the river and the surrounding mountains.
After resting, we explored the town a little, found some decent pizza, and went hunting for a butterfly farm. We were unsuccessful, although we did find a pretty pond full of jewel bright hummingbirds.
The next was quite exciting--we went canopying over the jungle and hiking to some sweet little waterfalls. Canopying was amazingly fun, and our guides were quite entertaining. The group we were with, a few British folks, were cool too, although the younger one got a bad injury from the canopyline, due to the fact that he was videotaping as he was going!! It was rather gory, and despite the millions of mosquito bites I recieved, I will never forget the feeling of soaring over the jungle like a bird :)
Afterwards, we hiked a few kilometers to a little lift that took us over a gorgeous canyon, where we walked a bit longer in the humidity--thankfully with little sun, as it was a cloudforest!--to a few waterfalls. It was a long hike back down, as we were both thirsty and starving, but still an unforgettable experience!
The next morning we woke up even earlier, somewhere in the vicinity of 5 a.m., to catch a bus back to Quito, as my dear brother was heading home that night!! We spent that day souvenir shopping (he buys much less than I do!) and doing a few last minute Quito things. It was a bit emotional to say goodbye to him, but at that point, I only had a week left to explore more of Ecuador!!
More on my final week in South America...later :) xxxx

Farewell Cuzco, Hello Road

This past week and a half I finished school (although I didn´t learn much--I was a bad student and convinced my teachers to take me to the zoo, watch Spanish movies, and learn some Spanish tunes), packed up all of my junk, cleaned out my room, and said goodbye to all the great people and places I have met in the beautiful Cuzco! It was quite an emotional week, really, but still good nonetheless. Also pretty uneventful after I finished school, just lots of rest during the day and lots of fun during the evenings. We went out for pizza and dancing and drinks...we being me, my Danish buddies Anne and Pernille, and Ugly American Party of One, the other tourist staying with us. She really began to grow on me and I finally began calling her by her name...Sena. She was an older lady from Florida, and I only hope when I am that old (okay, in my late forties) that I am still travelling around the world! I enjoyed my last Pisco Sour, some Cusqueña beer, shopped around buying a few more presents and souvenirs, and stopped at all my favorite little cafe´s and the like one last time! It was a good week, and it was a relief to finish school. I was pretty burnt out of trying to learn Spanish in a classroom at that point! Now it´s time to learn it in the real world! On my final day in Cuzco, I spent the day shopping, packing, and I visited Qorikancha, a giant monastery and former Inca palace. It is still a monastery of the Santo Domingo order, and I did see some monks! Illegally, as they don´t have much contact with the outside world, but I took a wrong turn and ended up in their part of the palace. I watched one paint this odd picture for awhile, took a photo, which he heard (I can probably say he will live ten years younger because of me, considering the height of his jump of fright!!), and was chased out into their beautiful gardens. I also stumbled into the cathedral just as the monks began to sing, and it quite a moment. They all have gorgeous voices, and the cathedral itself is massive, so it sounded amazing.
I flew out of Cuzco belatedly on Thursday, and luckily, met Sena in Lima. It was so nice to have someone there to meet, as Lima is massive and scary and dirty and confusing! We spent the day together, buying my bus ticket and wandering around, getting lost. We did manage to find a gorgeous little square, Plaza San Martin, and...drumroll please...a Pizza Hut! The pizza is Cuzco was good the few times I ate out, but nothing like this stuff. I was pretty sad after leaving Cuzco and after spending a million hours with the unfeeling robots in the Cuzco airport, so I definitely needed a taste of home! One good thing about big cities is the massive amounts of globalization (well, when you´re despretely homesick it´s a good thing at least!).
I took an overnight bus out of Lima that night--I wasn´t spending a minute there that wasn´t necessary. I somehow bought a first class ticket on the bus line Cruz del Sur, which ended up being about eighteen dollars, and it will be really hard to not travel that way again! I had a huge, comfy seat, we got snacks and meals, and we even watched a movie! Granted, it was a movie nobody ever should see--Dennis the Menace and Christmas, random huh?--but at least it took some time off of the ten hour bus ride! Riding in style definitely helped that too--unfortunately the buses in Ecuador are not nearly this fancy.
I arrived in Trujillo, Perú in one piece, and immediately found a taxi for Huanchaco, about twenty minutes away. It was so wonderful to have Linda waiting for me there! And so far, I love Huanchaco, it is definitely taking the edge off my missing Cuzco. It´s a small little beach town full of surfers and cheap restuarants and bars and hostals. I´m staying with Linda at a family´s house, it´s quite nice to have hot water! Although ironically, it´s also really really hot here on the coastal desert, so I don´t even really need the hotness. That´s life, I suppose.
After I got settled in and showered a bit, I met Linda at the pier. It´s so nice to be near the ocean again! We ended up at these ruins near Trujillo, called Chan Chan--the largest adobe palace in the world. It was massive and fun to see, as it´s completely different from the millions of other ruins I´ve visited. It reminds me of Egypt, as it is Perú´s version of the pyramids. It was a nice day, it felt wonderful after the freezing rain of Cuzco.
The rest of the day was spent wandering around Huanchaco and going to a massive mall near Trujillo--I have come to love malls and other symbols of mass consumerism. Reminds me of home.
Huanchaco is a wonderful place, I will be sad to leave. I´m still reflecting on my experience in Cuzco, and I think overall it was awesome, but I´m starting to like this whole being-on-the-road thing! Even though I´ve only been on the road about two days :). I´ll be here until Monday evening, and then off on my next adventure! Stayed tuned for another update soon, and keep ME posted on all of your lives! BESOS xxx

Water and Sun, Temples and Churches

I´ve spent the last week or so getting adjusted to Cusco and my crazy new surroundings! My Spanish has been improving quickly (although not as quickly as I would like) and I can now successfully hail a taxi, give him directions he can understand (my teacher´s are impressed at my progress--I got many compliments on my accent, but also many comments on how I mostly spoke gibberish) and travel from one end of the city to another. I´ve been exploring some of the old Spanish cathedrals...gorgeous! Although oftentimes they have really creepy dolls at their altars, dolls of Jesus and Mary and the like...I know, I´m speaking pure blasphemy probably, but they truly look alive! I can´t look at them for very long.
I´m getting to know my host family a little better as my Spanish knowledge increases, and they really are a great family. I´m pretty much in love with my host papa--he has to be the cutest old man ever! He always makes sure to eat with me, and usually he breaks out the atlas and/or his Spanish-English dictionary. The oldest son, Paul (I´m 95% sure that is his name!) is an engineer, and spends a lot of time at Machu Picchu for some reason, although the careers and names of the rest of the family elude me, except for the little boy, Rodrigo. Although I don´t know how he fits into the family yet...I´m still trying to figure out all the dynamics! Thankfully I did find the shower, although the water is rarely hot, and only slightly lukewarm...hence I´m much smellier here than I was at home. Not to mention crazier hair, if you can even imagine that! There is also a spider that´s been in my room that I´ve been trying to set free, and today my teacher told me that it´s one of the most venomous spiders in the world...knowledge I would have happily lived without! It´s just a teeny little thing that shows it´s face usually right before I go to bed...hopefully I catch it or I might never sleep!!
I´m slowly adjusting to the altitude, although some days I still am very weirded out by it--the city is pretty hilly, and when I go exploring I can definitely feel it! I like the city more and more every day, (still on the hunt for a bookshop!) although it´s tiring to constantly be harassed by little kids trying to sell stuff. The little boys seem to be even more persistent, and will follow you until you jump into a taxi or a shop! I feel bad about not giving them any money, but after the first few days of caving, I realized I´d better stop or soon I´ll be trying to sell postcards right next to them!!
Last week was rather uneventful when I look back on it, although every small thing feels like an adventure to me now! Just walking around the city is still really exciting--and I love it when I can actually find my way!
It´s Carnivale in Cusco right now, which as far as I can tell, mainly consists of random cars and people throwing water, candy, manure, and who knows what else at passersby! I seem to be a popular recipient of the water--much more than anybody else I´ve talked to, of course--as I´ve been drenched a few times! I´m definitely a big fan of the candy throwing--a rare occurance unfortunately...but thankfully not as rare as poo throwing! That only happened to me once, and I dodged successfully (and surprisingly--they had good aim!).
I´m still getting used to all the cultural differences, such as the millions of dogs, dancing in the street, and soccer playing everywhere, as well as the little beggar children and their llamas, and the food!! Too much soup! Although I love this vitamin milk they have, and leche con arroz (milk with rice) is delicious! We also have this delicious bread with fruit in it every night, that only comes around at Carnivale. That´s mostly what I´ve been living on, although I go to the grocery store quite a bit to buy new random treats, some of which are great, some just plain weird!!! The music is also different--my host sister plays the Backstreet Boys nonstop, and they´re all big fans of ABBA and other bands from the 80´s. I feel like I´m back in fifth grade when she has the Boys on repeat!! I like it best when they play salsa.
I haven´t made many friends, although I did make one in the form of a dog! I´ve christened him Señor Perro, and he follows me to the corner every morning! I accidentally let him into the house once, and since then he´s never left, and tries to sneak back in occasionally, although as far as I know he´s never been fed there!
I was planning on just hanging out in Cusco this weekend, but I ended up buying a tourist ticket that gets you into tons of cultural sites, mostly archaeological stuff, although some museums and churches are also included. The ticket is only good for ten days, so I signed up for a tour of the Sacred Valley this past weekend.
The Sacred Valley of the Incas, also known as the Urubamba River Valley, is gorgeous and full of old Inca sites! Our tour visited C´orao and it´s market, as well as the world famous Pisac market, and the ruins at Pisac, called Pisaqa by the Incas. Pisaqa was amazing--so high up in the mountains!! I got way behind taking pictures and had to run to catch up, generally a bad idea, but apparently the Andes are turning me into a mountain goat:). There were lots of terraces and temples, and at the very top we could visit some Inca tombs--awesome!!
We also visited Ollantaytambo, more Inca ruins, and Chichero, which has a church that´s a combined Inca wall and Spanish church, like much of the ruins around here. It seems that the Spanish merely used whatever was left of the wall and built up from there. It was an amazing day, including a lot of hiking in the Andes (I have a vicious sunburn as a result of that) and wandering around the old ruins. We also stopped a few markets, I picked up a few items here and there. Linda, the lady from my school I was travelling with, was quite impressed with my haggling ability--I can sometimes almost cut an item´s price in half! I should probably just suck it up and pay the soles, considering the price is usually decent anyway, but I´m kind of addicted to haggling at this point!
In Urubamba, right before we were to stop for lunch, there was an explosion on the bus right beneath me--two of our tires had burst! The driver was in awe; apparently he´s never seen both explode at the same time...I think I might be bad luck... We had a slight delay, but eventually we got our lunch and headed to Ollantaytambo. There we hiked up past the agricultural terraces used by the Incas up to the top, and a gigantic piece of rock in the shape of a puma, along with many temples and the like. There was lots to see and many stories from our guide (only half of which I understood, as my Spanish still sucks!), but it was still a fun hike! We went back down past the old Inca aqueducts which still successfully run water, and visited a temple of the water.
I got briefly lost in Chinchero while buying some postcards, and ended up wandering the streets for a half hour while the rest of my group was in a textile demonstration. For about half of this time, a little girl was following me, begging me to buy her stuff--and if she had been selling anything else but finger puppets in the shape of fish (pescado pescado bonita senorita!), I probably would have caved!! I eventually made my way back, and we headed back into Cusco, a few hours later than originally planned, but oh well! It was an amazing trip, and I can´t wait to see more of the ruins on my little tourist ticket!
I think I am adjusting quite well, and I get a little less homesick every day. It would be fun to have people with me, so come visit!! (Adam!) Carnivale is supposed to get crazier in the next few weeks--I hope that doesn´t mean more manure!! I also hope the weather gets better, I´ve gotten spoiled with all the sun this past week! I spent tons of time in parks and in plazas and near fountains (I even fell in one and got on a few tourist tapes...one guy from Germany proudly showed me his footage) but today it is pouring down rain! Ah, the unpredictable weather...seems to follow me wherever I go! Keep in touch! Loooove....