So, im sitting in the lobby of my hostal in Arequipa, preparing for the voyage home. I start in an hour, with a bus to the border of Chile, and will arrive in the states nearly two days from now. It shall be an interesting and exhausting journey, not without visits to friends and family in viña for a good portion of tomorrow. But all n all, i´m really excited to get home.
Some cool things about Arequipa-
It is surronded by giant snow covered mountains, and its quite hot here(70s or 80s?). also, the city is called the white city, because of the literal appearence of most buildings of white. They made of this type of stone called sillar, which is cooled lava from a nearby giant volcano (over 18000 feet). Its a pretty neat colour scheme.
Where I am staying, near the plaza de armas, there are a ton of cops and security guards. I havent felt so safe, since, well since I left Chile. Its pretty sweet. Also, there are a lot of female cops, almost half are women(of total cops, clearly). Quite an interesting detail, i'd say.
The Plaza de armas here, aside from being very picturesque, is really strange. It is Always packed with peruvians. People are everywhere, just standing around doing nothing. I´ve never seen some much random loitering in my life. The going theory is that every arequipeño uses the plaza de armas as meeting place, so its constantly full of waiting peruvians.
Food: Peruvian food has been far superior to Bolivian, but far more likely to cause sickness. Nothin too bad, but unfortunate because of its tastiness. Also, last night tried some Cuy, also called guinea pig. Twasn´t that tasty, nor did it have like any meat(I actually only ate a leg of bri´s cuy). A good experiance, but not really too delicious.
The ice cream was fantastic in Chile, and quite lackluster in Bolivia and Peru. Its a craving that will be solved by Avon´s myriad of ice cream shops.
Things dont really slow down once I get back to the states, which I´m pretty pleased about. I´ve got two weeks to spend at home with the mom and dad, eating delicious foods and doing all sorts of chores and speaking english all the time- then we're off to California to visit the ole brother for a week or so. Upon returning, I´ll have a less than a day at home, and then be off to the Merrimack for the final round. It should be good, i´m quite excited for the future.
Whelp, I´m off to the bus station. Chao ya´lls
-Brian
Final spanish saying: No veo la hora de llegar a mi hogar!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Headin to Arequipa
Heya alls,
Headin to Arequipa, on the coast of Peru(or atleast pretty close) for the last days of my peru-bolivia travelin. Sights to be seen/eaten: Colca Canyon, a wicked deep canyon, and ceviche, some sort of fish dish like sushi? Not sure, we'll see.
Went to Machu Picchu. Well, back it up. Bri and I went on a four day "Inca Jungle Trail." Now this is different than the well known inca trail, in that it comes to machu picchu from a different direction, and is quite a bit less expensive. Day 1! My favorite day, they drove us to the top of this mountain pass, at 4300 meters, which is around 13000 feet, and dropped us off with mountain bikes. We spent the next three hours descending this crazy mountain road. Twas nuts! I took a lot of pictures(to be seen once I get back to the states). We started up near a glacier, and ended in the hot jungle. One of my favorite moments on the trip.
Day two, hiked for eight hours along a mountain ridge, hung out with a monkey and some weird beaver like creature. Not too sure what that was. Said monkey called Martin enjoyed going into my cargo pockets on my pants and stealing my gloves. In my experiance with monkeys, they are both mischevious and hilarious.
Day three! hiked to Aguas Calientes, the critically disliked machu picchu town. We climbed a mountain opposing the M-Peach, for fantastic sights and ridiculous ladders. Again, better when shown with pictures.
Day four! Hiked to Machu Picchu, by far the most interesting day. We woke up at 3 in the morning for the tour hour hike, in the dark, to the peach. Got there at 515, ran through to wayna picchu(a large mountain near the peach, where only the first 400 are allowed to climb). I was 31, not too shabby! Anywho, took a spanish tour of the place, which was quite interesting. The city itself is pretty hard to get to, and the valley below is pretty nice. Apparently, they decided to build the city on top of a mountain because they considered the mountains a sort of connection with the heavens, as they,re huge. While impractical, its really quite beautiful. Also, no one knows the actual name of the city, machu picchu is just the name of the nearby mountain. Why it was built, and consequently deserted is up to much spectulation. Our tour guide seemed to believe they deserted it to protect it from the spanish, similar to "hiding precious jewels". Others claim it was founded as a hidden city from the spanish, and others claim it was deserted because the springs ran dry. Needless to say, its pretty crazy.
Ok, gotta run and catch the overnight bus. Have a good one dearest reader.
-Brian
Oh, and grammatical or typographical errors can be attributed to spanish keyboards and internet cafes. The peach is also an official terms these days, feel free to use it in public with professors and intellectuals.
Headin to Arequipa, on the coast of Peru(or atleast pretty close) for the last days of my peru-bolivia travelin. Sights to be seen/eaten: Colca Canyon, a wicked deep canyon, and ceviche, some sort of fish dish like sushi? Not sure, we'll see.
Went to Machu Picchu. Well, back it up. Bri and I went on a four day "Inca Jungle Trail." Now this is different than the well known inca trail, in that it comes to machu picchu from a different direction, and is quite a bit less expensive. Day 1! My favorite day, they drove us to the top of this mountain pass, at 4300 meters, which is around 13000 feet, and dropped us off with mountain bikes. We spent the next three hours descending this crazy mountain road. Twas nuts! I took a lot of pictures(to be seen once I get back to the states). We started up near a glacier, and ended in the hot jungle. One of my favorite moments on the trip.
Day two, hiked for eight hours along a mountain ridge, hung out with a monkey and some weird beaver like creature. Not too sure what that was. Said monkey called Martin enjoyed going into my cargo pockets on my pants and stealing my gloves. In my experiance with monkeys, they are both mischevious and hilarious.
Day three! hiked to Aguas Calientes, the critically disliked machu picchu town. We climbed a mountain opposing the M-Peach, for fantastic sights and ridiculous ladders. Again, better when shown with pictures.
Day four! Hiked to Machu Picchu, by far the most interesting day. We woke up at 3 in the morning for the tour hour hike, in the dark, to the peach. Got there at 515, ran through to wayna picchu(a large mountain near the peach, where only the first 400 are allowed to climb). I was 31, not too shabby! Anywho, took a spanish tour of the place, which was quite interesting. The city itself is pretty hard to get to, and the valley below is pretty nice. Apparently, they decided to build the city on top of a mountain because they considered the mountains a sort of connection with the heavens, as they,re huge. While impractical, its really quite beautiful. Also, no one knows the actual name of the city, machu picchu is just the name of the nearby mountain. Why it was built, and consequently deserted is up to much spectulation. Our tour guide seemed to believe they deserted it to protect it from the spanish, similar to "hiding precious jewels". Others claim it was founded as a hidden city from the spanish, and others claim it was deserted because the springs ran dry. Needless to say, its pretty crazy.
Ok, gotta run and catch the overnight bus. Have a good one dearest reader.
-Brian
Oh, and grammatical or typographical errors can be attributed to spanish keyboards and internet cafes. The peach is also an official terms these days, feel free to use it in public with professors and intellectuals.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Puno and Lake Titicaca
So, currently in Cuzco now, doing a little writing before tomorrows four day tour of Machu Pichu and the Sacred valley. Should be fantastic.
But! A recap of recent events. Went to Puno, a pretty large city on the coast of lake titicaca, peruvian style. Food- much better than bolivia. General organization and cleaniness- superior to bolivia. Needless to say, I like Peru.
So, first part of a two day tour I went on in Lake Titicaca: We went to the infamous floating islands of Uros. Thats right, they float! They´re entirely made of reeds, which grow in abundance in the shallows of the lack. They vary in size(about forty in total, with over 2 thousand residents) and are pretty nuts to walk on, and comfy to nap on. They´ve got little huts on the edges, surronding a central ¨hang out¨ place, with rolls of reeds to sit on. Also, you can eat the reeds. They taste kinda like what you´d imagine, a generally bland veggie.
But, gotta run! I´ll be gettin´ up tomorrow bright and early for a bit o adventurin. Have a good one.
-Brian
But! A recap of recent events. Went to Puno, a pretty large city on the coast of lake titicaca, peruvian style. Food- much better than bolivia. General organization and cleaniness- superior to bolivia. Needless to say, I like Peru.
So, first part of a two day tour I went on in Lake Titicaca: We went to the infamous floating islands of Uros. Thats right, they float! They´re entirely made of reeds, which grow in abundance in the shallows of the lack. They vary in size(about forty in total, with over 2 thousand residents) and are pretty nuts to walk on, and comfy to nap on. They´ve got little huts on the edges, surronding a central ¨hang out¨ place, with rolls of reeds to sit on. Also, you can eat the reeds. They taste kinda like what you´d imagine, a generally bland veggie.
But, gotta run! I´ll be gettin´ up tomorrow bright and early for a bit o adventurin. Have a good one.
-Brian
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Intersting stuff
So I´ve got free internet here at this hostal in La Paz, so I´ll be damned if I don´t take advantage. Had a day walking around the city today, on a little walking tour we found in the ever handy Lonely Planet. Stuff noted:
Child labor is not against the law here. When we were in Uyuni, we were waited on by a ten year old kid, who was tending to his toddler daughter most of the time(quality of food not affected, twas delicious). It was a strange experiance. And in La Paz, children are a sadder sight. They are a lot of them begging, I was walking across a bridge here and there were two of them, probably no more than seven years old trying to play small guitars for money. And about every half hour a kid will follow us asking for money. I'm not really sure what to do in this situations, and I´ll spare you the phisophical discussion that goes on in my head while dealing with these poor children.
So they have little street shops for everything. really, everything. They´re are artesanias next to toliet bowl stands next to car parts stands next to food stands. Its crazy. And kinda cool. There aren´t any large supermarkets(thought there are large markets) or department stores. I can understand the appeal to a large ¨buy everything in one place¨ type of store a lot better now.
A friend here told us about a good India restuarant in town, and was quite correct. I am proud to say I´ve now eaten Llama Tikka Masala. And boy, it was tasty. There was none left at the end. Because I ate it.
Whilst hanging out with the frenchies on the tour in the salt flats, we communicated in only spanish. It was kinda neat if you don´t mind me sayin- they spoke french for mostly the entire time. But! When the switched into spanish, it was all clear all the sudden, i could finally figure out what they were saying and whatnot. Long story short, it was pretty similar to when i first came to chile with spanish and english. Though, of course, spanish is always a work in progress.
Oh also, at one of these street side vendors, I saw a stand for tatoos. Naturally, I thought, hey, they must have those henna tatoos things here. Quite the contrary! Upon closer inspection, there was a guy, tatooing the ankle of some girl, on the side of the busiest road in La Paz. Incredible. So that was a bit of a shock. I do not have any tatoos.
Whelp, i´m off to sleep, have a good one.
-Brian
Child labor is not against the law here. When we were in Uyuni, we were waited on by a ten year old kid, who was tending to his toddler daughter most of the time(quality of food not affected, twas delicious). It was a strange experiance. And in La Paz, children are a sadder sight. They are a lot of them begging, I was walking across a bridge here and there were two of them, probably no more than seven years old trying to play small guitars for money. And about every half hour a kid will follow us asking for money. I'm not really sure what to do in this situations, and I´ll spare you the phisophical discussion that goes on in my head while dealing with these poor children.
So they have little street shops for everything. really, everything. They´re are artesanias next to toliet bowl stands next to car parts stands next to food stands. Its crazy. And kinda cool. There aren´t any large supermarkets(thought there are large markets) or department stores. I can understand the appeal to a large ¨buy everything in one place¨ type of store a lot better now.
A friend here told us about a good India restuarant in town, and was quite correct. I am proud to say I´ve now eaten Llama Tikka Masala. And boy, it was tasty. There was none left at the end. Because I ate it.
Whilst hanging out with the frenchies on the tour in the salt flats, we communicated in only spanish. It was kinda neat if you don´t mind me sayin- they spoke french for mostly the entire time. But! When the switched into spanish, it was all clear all the sudden, i could finally figure out what they were saying and whatnot. Long story short, it was pretty similar to when i first came to chile with spanish and english. Though, of course, spanish is always a work in progress.
Oh also, at one of these street side vendors, I saw a stand for tatoos. Naturally, I thought, hey, they must have those henna tatoos things here. Quite the contrary! Upon closer inspection, there was a guy, tatooing the ankle of some girl, on the side of the busiest road in La Paz. Incredible. So that was a bit of a shock. I do not have any tatoos.
Whelp, i´m off to sleep, have a good one.
-Brian
Friday, July 10, 2009
A ridiculous day of traveling
Here's how it went:
Woke up at five at Lago Colorado in southern bolivia, and spent the day in the jeep driving to a few places, and then back to Uyuni, the major city in the north. We got back at seven at night- except for stopping for lunch, we spent the entire time in the Jeep. Went and got some dinner in Uyuni, then took a nap until 1, where we took the Wara Wara Del Sur, an 8 hour train that went to Oruro. Got in there at nine in the mornin, grabbed a bite to eat, wrote a blog entry, then took a three hour bus to La Paz, all the way in the northish of Bolivia. Got here at around. All in all, it was a 36 hour travel timespan. Craziness!
I'm currently staying in a hostal in La Paz called "adventure brew Hostal" or something along those lines. Its got all you can eat pancakes in the morning, free internet, clean beds (of course), and a free home brewed beer everyday. I think theres also a bar in the Hostal, but i've yet to look for it. All for six dollars a night.
Tomorrow we're going to be touring about La Paz, possibly getting a friend of Bri's to show us around. Its a pretty interesting city, snuggled up in a valley. And its at 11000 feet, give or take 200 feet. If I hadn't already spent four days at this altitude, that'd be an issue, but really startin to get along quite nice with it.
Ok, gotta run and eat!
-Brian
Woke up at five at Lago Colorado in southern bolivia, and spent the day in the jeep driving to a few places, and then back to Uyuni, the major city in the north. We got back at seven at night- except for stopping for lunch, we spent the entire time in the Jeep. Went and got some dinner in Uyuni, then took a nap until 1, where we took the Wara Wara Del Sur, an 8 hour train that went to Oruro. Got in there at nine in the mornin, grabbed a bite to eat, wrote a blog entry, then took a three hour bus to La Paz, all the way in the northish of Bolivia. Got here at around. All in all, it was a 36 hour travel timespan. Craziness!
I'm currently staying in a hostal in La Paz called "adventure brew Hostal" or something along those lines. Its got all you can eat pancakes in the morning, free internet, clean beds (of course), and a free home brewed beer everyday. I think theres also a bar in the Hostal, but i've yet to look for it. All for six dollars a night.
Tomorrow we're going to be touring about La Paz, possibly getting a friend of Bri's to show us around. Its a pretty interesting city, snuggled up in a valley. And its at 11000 feet, give or take 200 feet. If I hadn't already spent four days at this altitude, that'd be an issue, but really startin to get along quite nice with it.
Ok, gotta run and eat!
-Brian
Bolivia!
Ok, ok. I am slackin with postin, so heres some updatin.
Right now, I'm in Oruro, Bolivia, making this my sixth day of traveling? That seems about right. We, Bri and I, arrived here on this past sunday night, then went about 8 hours south to Uyuni, a town on the edge of the Bolivian salt flats. And then, we went on a three day jeep tour through the desert and flats with four frenchies, and one tour guide. Pretty nuts, cold, dry, and high.
Everything is so high here! Probably the most intense bus ride of my- well, one of the two most intense bus rides- was from Arica to Tambo Quemado, the bolivian border. We went from sea level to, well, its tough to be sure, but we were next to a volcano that was 6400 meters high. Twas crazy! Its been pretty high since then as well, we´ve been staying at 3000 to 4200 meters. Definitely can feel it, we´re staying hydrated and largely inactive in terms of hiking or such like that.
So Bolivia is really cheap. Like extremely. The first night here, I bought a plate of chicken, rice, and fries for a dollar. And then the next day bought a four course meal for two dollars. Now, Bolivia isn´t really known for its cooking prowess, but fried chicken is fried chicken. And I think the second day we ate cow stomach, but not sure on that one.
In about an hour we´re heading to La Paz, the highest capital in the world! Should be good. Other cool superlatives: Spent three days in the driest desert in the world! Went to the highest gysers in the world! Yeah thats about it for now in terms of superlatives.
Other things: While I could blend in in chile, it is impossible here to not look like an extranjero. I tower over all Bolivians. And i´m not quite dark enough either. For some reason, I´ve seen a lot of basketball courts here, never with people playing. I´m wondering who´s been putting them here as a cruel joke. Hilarious!
There aren´t many paved roads here, making the buses a bit interesting. But its all good. Took a train from Uyuni to Oruro today, which left at 2 am and arrived here at about nine. Pretty neat!
Theres a lot more to elaborate on, but gotta run! I will do my best not to "slack" as aptly put by elisha. Also, my spanish it improving by leaps and bounds.
-Brian
Oh one more thing, in Bolivia, its a legitimate business to open up public bathrooms and charge for them. Next to the train station there are literally four public bathrooms competing in a capitalistic manner. Interesting indeed.
Right now, I'm in Oruro, Bolivia, making this my sixth day of traveling? That seems about right. We, Bri and I, arrived here on this past sunday night, then went about 8 hours south to Uyuni, a town on the edge of the Bolivian salt flats. And then, we went on a three day jeep tour through the desert and flats with four frenchies, and one tour guide. Pretty nuts, cold, dry, and high.
Everything is so high here! Probably the most intense bus ride of my- well, one of the two most intense bus rides- was from Arica to Tambo Quemado, the bolivian border. We went from sea level to, well, its tough to be sure, but we were next to a volcano that was 6400 meters high. Twas crazy! Its been pretty high since then as well, we´ve been staying at 3000 to 4200 meters. Definitely can feel it, we´re staying hydrated and largely inactive in terms of hiking or such like that.
So Bolivia is really cheap. Like extremely. The first night here, I bought a plate of chicken, rice, and fries for a dollar. And then the next day bought a four course meal for two dollars. Now, Bolivia isn´t really known for its cooking prowess, but fried chicken is fried chicken. And I think the second day we ate cow stomach, but not sure on that one.
In about an hour we´re heading to La Paz, the highest capital in the world! Should be good. Other cool superlatives: Spent three days in the driest desert in the world! Went to the highest gysers in the world! Yeah thats about it for now in terms of superlatives.
Other things: While I could blend in in chile, it is impossible here to not look like an extranjero. I tower over all Bolivians. And i´m not quite dark enough either. For some reason, I´ve seen a lot of basketball courts here, never with people playing. I´m wondering who´s been putting them here as a cruel joke. Hilarious!
There aren´t many paved roads here, making the buses a bit interesting. But its all good. Took a train from Uyuni to Oruro today, which left at 2 am and arrived here at about nine. Pretty neat!
Theres a lot more to elaborate on, but gotta run! I will do my best not to "slack" as aptly put by elisha. Also, my spanish it improving by leaps and bounds.
-Brian
Oh one more thing, in Bolivia, its a legitimate business to open up public bathrooms and charge for them. Next to the train station there are literally four public bathrooms competing in a capitalistic manner. Interesting indeed.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Paintball and Horsetracks
Now these two past activities aren't really inherently Chilean at all. Horses were from Europe right?
Anywho, I went to the local horse tracks here with my friend, her host dad, and his friend who he constantly called "el viejo" (old). It was a pretty nuts place, got some pictures i'll put up, but really reflected the german influence here. Completely german architecture. So, here's how it works for those who don't know(which was me right up to this point):
You go in, entrance is free, and buy this booklet(costs 1 mil pesos, 1.50 american) which has a listing off all the races that are to go on that day. There are somewhere around 13 per wednesday and monday, each with 8-13 horses. There is a TON of information in these little boxes. My friends dad taught me all sorts of things to look for. Good things: race times, weights(of rider and horse), history, age, usual race lengths and so on. From there, the odds are shown on a tv screen, with the favorites being the lowest(for 1.7-3ish) generally. And man! There are so many different kinds of bets! I had thought you just chose who won, but no no there were a bunch of different kinds. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they mean in english, just the spanish names(ganador, quinella, trifecta, a tercera, a segundo, and so on) Pretty nuts. The minimum bet for a horse is 200 pesos, which is about 30 cents. I placed my first bet on "Need for Speed" which had 5.7 odds, at 200 pesos. And you know it, I won! Got back a mil and change; it was pretty fun, and a pretty awesome display of beginner's luck. From there I tried different bets, won some, lost more, and ended the day about 200 pesos on top. All around, it was a pretty fun time, and was like a big puzzle game, analyzing statistics in a mildly crazy environment. And pretty cheap as well. Next gambling experiance to be had- the casino!
Paintball was pretty darn fun as well- we met at 2:30 yesterday and got picked up in a truck. Literally, they put 30 of us in the back of a closed truck, drove us up some hill or something(couldn't see, it was a truck) and were dropped off in a field. Our teams were about 13-12 people each per team, our team was all semester students, and the other teams were mostly the month long summer semester students who just arrived. No I hadn't played paintball since early in high school, and even then I didn't play more than once or twice. But this was darn fun. A short chronical of the games:
First game: Me, and four of my buddies moved down the right side of the woods, with no interference from other teams, we made a rush for the flag, I shot some girl defending it, grabbed the flag, and ran back! We won(cause I'm so fast!) and I have no idea where the other team even was.
Second game: Much more intense, me and four of my friends got into an intense close combat battle around a bush, which ended in only me surviving with no ammo. Obviously, when this happens, I got up, and sprinting towards the other flag. Intense! Shots flying all around, I made it the flag, got it my hand, and got shot twice in the chest. Triumphant failure!
Third game: Overly boring, not too much happened, ran out of ammo, and then time ended the game.
So that was a good time.
Plans for this upcoming week. I am going to the Chile vs. Bolivia game on wednesday in Santiago. It should be quite intense, its a qualifier for the world cup. So I'm excited.
Nos vemos! -Brian
Anywho, I went to the local horse tracks here with my friend, her host dad, and his friend who he constantly called "el viejo" (old). It was a pretty nuts place, got some pictures i'll put up, but really reflected the german influence here. Completely german architecture. So, here's how it works for those who don't know(which was me right up to this point):
You go in, entrance is free, and buy this booklet(costs 1 mil pesos, 1.50 american) which has a listing off all the races that are to go on that day. There are somewhere around 13 per wednesday and monday, each with 8-13 horses. There is a TON of information in these little boxes. My friends dad taught me all sorts of things to look for. Good things: race times, weights(of rider and horse), history, age, usual race lengths and so on. From there, the odds are shown on a tv screen, with the favorites being the lowest(for 1.7-3ish) generally. And man! There are so many different kinds of bets! I had thought you just chose who won, but no no there were a bunch of different kinds. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they mean in english, just the spanish names(ganador, quinella, trifecta, a tercera, a segundo, and so on) Pretty nuts. The minimum bet for a horse is 200 pesos, which is about 30 cents. I placed my first bet on "Need for Speed" which had 5.7 odds, at 200 pesos. And you know it, I won! Got back a mil and change; it was pretty fun, and a pretty awesome display of beginner's luck. From there I tried different bets, won some, lost more, and ended the day about 200 pesos on top. All around, it was a pretty fun time, and was like a big puzzle game, analyzing statistics in a mildly crazy environment. And pretty cheap as well. Next gambling experiance to be had- the casino!
Paintball was pretty darn fun as well- we met at 2:30 yesterday and got picked up in a truck. Literally, they put 30 of us in the back of a closed truck, drove us up some hill or something(couldn't see, it was a truck) and were dropped off in a field. Our teams were about 13-12 people each per team, our team was all semester students, and the other teams were mostly the month long summer semester students who just arrived. No I hadn't played paintball since early in high school, and even then I didn't play more than once or twice. But this was darn fun. A short chronical of the games:
First game: Me, and four of my buddies moved down the right side of the woods, with no interference from other teams, we made a rush for the flag, I shot some girl defending it, grabbed the flag, and ran back! We won(cause I'm so fast!) and I have no idea where the other team even was.
Second game: Much more intense, me and four of my friends got into an intense close combat battle around a bush, which ended in only me surviving with no ammo. Obviously, when this happens, I got up, and sprinting towards the other flag. Intense! Shots flying all around, I made it the flag, got it my hand, and got shot twice in the chest. Triumphant failure!
Third game: Overly boring, not too much happened, ran out of ammo, and then time ended the game.
So that was a good time.
Plans for this upcoming week. I am going to the Chile vs. Bolivia game on wednesday in Santiago. It should be quite intense, its a qualifier for the world cup. So I'm excited.
Nos vemos! -Brian
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