I'm back in Oregon- red faced from my chilly late autumn run, warm bellied from home made split pea soup and beginning to feel rested (thanks to my bed which I'm pretty sure is from heaven). We arrived home in PDX on Friday evening, a little disoriented but excited to see our families, which really showed up! All of my sisters and brothers were there with a sign, a fresh jacket for the cold, balloons and hugs, and all was well. Lynnie (my other mother) and the gang ushered us in with hoots and hollers. After getting our things, Leslie and I parted ways with an I love you, see you in a few days, which man, am I thankful for her. We have shared and revealed a lot with and to eachother in the last two months, and I am SO blessed that after and through it all, we love eachother truly and will be "seeing eachother in a few days" for a long long time.
Our first stop, in Houston, is where all the culture shock started. Maybe this sounds weird, but it was odd to walk around and not be stared at! We were no longer aliens. I began to feel the privacy of our society right away. People had their personal space and agendas and just looking around was not really happening. If it was, it was kept secret- I became hyper aware of eye contact avoidance. Phones were back alive, eavesdropping was once again possible and things were in English...
At our first crossing into Houston, I heard Leslie approach the counter with an Hola! and soon after heard myself asking Todo bien? The guy looked at me funny and I realized what I had done and walked away laughing. Not in Sudamerica anymo!
It has been really weird to be back in America after being away for so long and the conversations we've had with people from other cultures. We are a weiiiird breed. Movies and commercials and tv shows all seem so odd to me right now. And phones and cars and electronics. I mean, obviously there are cars and electronics and cars in Peru and Ecuador, but man do we LOVE THEM here. It's pretty wild. Actually really really crazy. But anyway.
I had such an amazing time. I don't think you realize all that you've learned from an adventure until after you're home and living your life, and I'm excited to continue to notice these thingsand learn about myself.
One of my last journal entries was on our last day while I was looking out of the window from our bus driving through the Ecuadorian countryside. It was basically me gushing about just how beautiful everything is (probably 75% of my journal), and I had a realization- the landscapes that gave me the most energy and happiness were the ones that were green, wet, throw some clouds in there.. like Oregon. Gosh, am I lucky to be living in my dreams. It feels good to love home!
To today, and the many years of adventures and learning to come!
-Em
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Puerto Lopezzzz
Yesterday, we saw a whale! And a sea turtle! And some tropical fishies!
I had to get it out, I was too excited to save it for a mid post surprise. It was such a great site to see. We are staying in Puerto Lopez right at the moment and have for the last few days. It is a suuuper low key, wonderful beach town just north of Montanita. There is an island about an hour and a half off shore named the Isla de la Plata. We had read that this place was like the poor man's Galapagos. We liked that description, and decided to give it a go.
The boat ride there was great, and they even gave us a little nugget of homemade tasting tropical banana bread and fresh cut fruits and bananas. You could tell the guys driving our little blue boat loved to snack. I love a good snack, then I came to love these guys. The ride out was fast, but no one got hit with the sea sickness. The waves were huge and our boat, Wahoo, which was not so hearty, took them on with great vigor and poise. Being out there on the ocean, on a sorta grey day felt pretty darn familiar. There was even a bit of mist that smelled just like the Oregon coast.
When we arrived at the island, one of the boat boys threw a bit of banana peel into the water. I looked at him, a bit troubled with my furrowed brow wondering why he wouldn't just put it in the bucket like the rest of us, alas, not knowing how to give him a hard time in spanish, i remained silent. But almost as soon as it plopped he nudged me and pointed to the water. There was a huge sea turtle coming to the surface to retrieve the smackerel of honey. Then he circled around the boat and lingered a little longer, only to plunge deep and away.
We got off the boat promptly after this and split into groups to take little island tours. There was a large family with some pretty cute youngins who went one way, and we went the other. Our tour guide, Adam had possibly the best accent I have come across so far. He would talk about the Blue Footed Boobie birds and put the swing of that iambic pentameter where ever he so please and I loved it. My favorite words from he speech were definitely "nose holes," "pupils," and "pahhty." if you exaggerate the last syllable of these words you might just get a feel for how Adam spoke. He was the sassiest tour guide yet, and made sure to let us know he had been doing this for years. He just knew things. Maybe he was tired of all the "poor men" who were wanting to get a taste of the Galapagos.
Anyway, after we toured and took a little hike where I took waaaay too many pictures of birds, it was snorkel time. I have never been snorkeling, so I proceeded to geek out and grab Paisley's leg as if I were the creature from the black lagoon. Needless to say, she did not like this. Laughing at least, she called me some well deserved swear combinations that were creative and passionate and I stopped with the whole being six thing. The fish were amazingly colored. And I could just hold still for only a minute and be amidst a school of tiny silver guppies. It was an amazing world, only a few feet off the shore. A whole different universe, it seemed to me swarming beneath the water. When the tide would pull in, all the fish would move with it, then push out again. Just going with the flow
We all swam back to our boat for the ride home. The sky was still grey, but the water was intensely blue and the motor would splash up all these little droplets that looked like snow. I was watching this very motor when the boat abruptly stopped and out captain yelled, "ballena!" This, as I already gave away means whale! You could actually not see the whale above the waterline, but you could see a large part of the top of the ocean where the water was eerily still. The whale was just under a few feet. It felt like just waiting. We stayed there, the waves having there way with our little Wahoo for a few minutes. Nothing happening, we started to edge forward. Only a few minutes later, two arches, black and smooth crested out and over the waves. One of them gave a little spout. I think I have not smiled so big since Paisley informed me that Beyonce was doing the halftime show of the Superbowl. Just this same morning, before leaving we were all talking about whales and I had said I have never
seen one. I did not even really think about it, or feel the need to go whale watching or anything. Then two dinosaur looking black huge whales decided to take a breathing break right by the boat I
happened to be in on the same day. I am warm and fuzzy all over just recalling it.
In other news, and sorry to Debbie Downer on such a childlike, excited post, I lost my journal. This, as perhaps many of you will understand is a devastating thing for me. My little red, almost entirely full journal is gone. I will never get to look back on all those ways I used to think. Lynnie bought me that right when I moved to Walla Walla and it is so sad to me that I know exactly where I left it. Anyway, I thought I would let y'all know. It has been a tough week or so without it and I have not gotten the gusto up to replace it quite yet. I am one of those people who just take a little too long to get over things and my journal slipping through my fingers is no different. Cheers, red journal. I hope you fall into the hands of someone who wants to read you!
Well, we have two more weeks in Ecuador, five more days with Paisley and entire lifetimes that are ahead of us forever. I am glad we have a bit more time, because in all honesty, I am not ready to get back yet. I love all these days, and I plan on living it up the rest of this fortnight. Will write again soon!
-Leslie
I had to get it out, I was too excited to save it for a mid post surprise. It was such a great site to see. We are staying in Puerto Lopez right at the moment and have for the last few days. It is a suuuper low key, wonderful beach town just north of Montanita. There is an island about an hour and a half off shore named the Isla de la Plata. We had read that this place was like the poor man's Galapagos. We liked that description, and decided to give it a go.
The boat ride there was great, and they even gave us a little nugget of homemade tasting tropical banana bread and fresh cut fruits and bananas. You could tell the guys driving our little blue boat loved to snack. I love a good snack, then I came to love these guys. The ride out was fast, but no one got hit with the sea sickness. The waves were huge and our boat, Wahoo, which was not so hearty, took them on with great vigor and poise. Being out there on the ocean, on a sorta grey day felt pretty darn familiar. There was even a bit of mist that smelled just like the Oregon coast.
When we arrived at the island, one of the boat boys threw a bit of banana peel into the water. I looked at him, a bit troubled with my furrowed brow wondering why he wouldn't just put it in the bucket like the rest of us, alas, not knowing how to give him a hard time in spanish, i remained silent. But almost as soon as it plopped he nudged me and pointed to the water. There was a huge sea turtle coming to the surface to retrieve the smackerel of honey. Then he circled around the boat and lingered a little longer, only to plunge deep and away.
We got off the boat promptly after this and split into groups to take little island tours. There was a large family with some pretty cute youngins who went one way, and we went the other. Our tour guide, Adam had possibly the best accent I have come across so far. He would talk about the Blue Footed Boobie birds and put the swing of that iambic pentameter where ever he so please and I loved it. My favorite words from he speech were definitely "nose holes," "pupils," and "pahhty." if you exaggerate the last syllable of these words you might just get a feel for how Adam spoke. He was the sassiest tour guide yet, and made sure to let us know he had been doing this for years. He just knew things. Maybe he was tired of all the "poor men" who were wanting to get a taste of the Galapagos.
Anyway, after we toured and took a little hike where I took waaaay too many pictures of birds, it was snorkel time. I have never been snorkeling, so I proceeded to geek out and grab Paisley's leg as if I were the creature from the black lagoon. Needless to say, she did not like this. Laughing at least, she called me some well deserved swear combinations that were creative and passionate and I stopped with the whole being six thing. The fish were amazingly colored. And I could just hold still for only a minute and be amidst a school of tiny silver guppies. It was an amazing world, only a few feet off the shore. A whole different universe, it seemed to me swarming beneath the water. When the tide would pull in, all the fish would move with it, then push out again. Just going with the flow
We all swam back to our boat for the ride home. The sky was still grey, but the water was intensely blue and the motor would splash up all these little droplets that looked like snow. I was watching this very motor when the boat abruptly stopped and out captain yelled, "ballena!" This, as I already gave away means whale! You could actually not see the whale above the waterline, but you could see a large part of the top of the ocean where the water was eerily still. The whale was just under a few feet. It felt like just waiting. We stayed there, the waves having there way with our little Wahoo for a few minutes. Nothing happening, we started to edge forward. Only a few minutes later, two arches, black and smooth crested out and over the waves. One of them gave a little spout. I think I have not smiled so big since Paisley informed me that Beyonce was doing the halftime show of the Superbowl. Just this same morning, before leaving we were all talking about whales and I had said I have never
seen one. I did not even really think about it, or feel the need to go whale watching or anything. Then two dinosaur looking black huge whales decided to take a breathing break right by the boat I
happened to be in on the same day. I am warm and fuzzy all over just recalling it.
In other news, and sorry to Debbie Downer on such a childlike, excited post, I lost my journal. This, as perhaps many of you will understand is a devastating thing for me. My little red, almost entirely full journal is gone. I will never get to look back on all those ways I used to think. Lynnie bought me that right when I moved to Walla Walla and it is so sad to me that I know exactly where I left it. Anyway, I thought I would let y'all know. It has been a tough week or so without it and I have not gotten the gusto up to replace it quite yet. I am one of those people who just take a little too long to get over things and my journal slipping through my fingers is no different. Cheers, red journal. I hope you fall into the hands of someone who wants to read you!
Well, we have two more weeks in Ecuador, five more days with Paisley and entire lifetimes that are ahead of us forever. I am glad we have a bit more time, because in all honesty, I am not ready to get back yet. I love all these days, and I plan on living it up the rest of this fortnight. Will write again soon!
-Leslie
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Part two!
I suppose it's about time to update this thing.
Besides, we are in Ecuador! We have crossed into the second part of our journey! Man. It felt so good to enter this country. Even though it was a hot n sweaty bus ride and a two hour delay at the border, I was in some kind of bliss. I've had a good feeling about Ecuador since I started researching for this trip. And actually, ever since high school when Gabriel, an Ecuadorian exchange student who came to study at Canby High School, did a PowerPoint about his home country in Ms. Haberlach (now Mrs. Noel)'s digital arts class. We rode through these lush green mountains, so many different shades of the color. I watched out my window brimming with excitement for a couple hours until the cherry was Drawwwped on the cake in the form of the most amazing sunset I've ever seen. As we wound through the mountain peaks we were given 360 degree views of the sky. In the west shone neon oranges and reds, on the east marshmallow creme clouds settled below us in the midnight blue of the valley. It was breathtaking. I couldn't help but to think how my dad would have Loved it. I'll always remember how he'd go to the edge of the yard some nights to watch the sunset. After a bit longer, we arrived in Loja to catch another bus to Vilcabamba to meet (surprise....) Paisley!! We are stoked to be traveling with her until she heads home on the 8th.
Well, we fell asleep and missed our stop and got the bus driver to drop us just outside of town and walked down the main road to find our cute garden hostel off the plaza. The air is sweet here, you guys. Tropical flowers are just all over peekin through all the green. It sounds like a sketchy situation we were in, but the stars were twinkling, the streets quiet, the town small, and the cows mooing. It felt good.
In vilcabamba, we took a great hike into the Podocarpus national park to find ourselves a proper waterfall. Which we did! It was a 3 hour uphill to get there, but complete with great valley views. The waterfall was just what I dreamed of. We climbed down the steep decline to its pool, and I immediately stripped off my clothes and got. In. That. (COLD). Water. We took turns getting the balls to stand under the fall itself, and reveled in the paradise we had found ourselves in.
At the end of that 6 hour affair, we got ourselves some bomb dinner, and watched some live music over a few drinks for our last night in vilcabamba.
On Sunday, we bussed ourselves to Cuenca, a remarkably European feeling colonial city about 6 hours north where we settled in and found some dinner. About an hour later, lava belly came back in full force. There's no need to go into the gritty details on the blog, but I did pass out for the first time in my life, and we decided I needed a trip to the hospital, which we took. Luckily, it was only a few blocks away, but not so luckily it was a military hospital where the doctors didn't seem to give a hoot and mostly just laughed at us while trying to describe symptoms. They ended up looking at Wikipedia so I got pissed and anxious and left. Thankfully, in the morning I was feeling a bit better and we got some tests done and got some medicine to take care of this bug which turned out to be an intestinal infection. Serious shout out to my girls. That was one of the worst nights I've ever had physically, they put up with some unpleasant things for me.
After taking it easy yesterday and getting 10 hours of sleep I am feeling a hundred times better and we took some busses to get here, to montanita! It's a beach town here in Ecuador that has a good rep for good beach times, so we wanted to get here in time for some kind of Halloween festivities. To get here, we got to drive through the Cajas national park and we got to feast our eyes on some lake spotted mountains and drive through clouds. Yepppp.
Driving out of vilcabamba, I started to realize how little time it feels we have left on our trip and my mind started to go to work on how I'm gonna plan a return.. Oooops... But really. The next couple weeks are gonna be great, I know it!
-em
Besides, we are in Ecuador! We have crossed into the second part of our journey! Man. It felt so good to enter this country. Even though it was a hot n sweaty bus ride and a two hour delay at the border, I was in some kind of bliss. I've had a good feeling about Ecuador since I started researching for this trip. And actually, ever since high school when Gabriel, an Ecuadorian exchange student who came to study at Canby High School, did a PowerPoint about his home country in Ms. Haberlach (now Mrs. Noel)'s digital arts class. We rode through these lush green mountains, so many different shades of the color. I watched out my window brimming with excitement for a couple hours until the cherry was Drawwwped on the cake in the form of the most amazing sunset I've ever seen. As we wound through the mountain peaks we were given 360 degree views of the sky. In the west shone neon oranges and reds, on the east marshmallow creme clouds settled below us in the midnight blue of the valley. It was breathtaking. I couldn't help but to think how my dad would have Loved it. I'll always remember how he'd go to the edge of the yard some nights to watch the sunset. After a bit longer, we arrived in Loja to catch another bus to Vilcabamba to meet (surprise....) Paisley!! We are stoked to be traveling with her until she heads home on the 8th.
Well, we fell asleep and missed our stop and got the bus driver to drop us just outside of town and walked down the main road to find our cute garden hostel off the plaza. The air is sweet here, you guys. Tropical flowers are just all over peekin through all the green. It sounds like a sketchy situation we were in, but the stars were twinkling, the streets quiet, the town small, and the cows mooing. It felt good.
In vilcabamba, we took a great hike into the Podocarpus national park to find ourselves a proper waterfall. Which we did! It was a 3 hour uphill to get there, but complete with great valley views. The waterfall was just what I dreamed of. We climbed down the steep decline to its pool, and I immediately stripped off my clothes and got. In. That. (COLD). Water. We took turns getting the balls to stand under the fall itself, and reveled in the paradise we had found ourselves in.
At the end of that 6 hour affair, we got ourselves some bomb dinner, and watched some live music over a few drinks for our last night in vilcabamba.
On Sunday, we bussed ourselves to Cuenca, a remarkably European feeling colonial city about 6 hours north where we settled in and found some dinner. About an hour later, lava belly came back in full force. There's no need to go into the gritty details on the blog, but I did pass out for the first time in my life, and we decided I needed a trip to the hospital, which we took. Luckily, it was only a few blocks away, but not so luckily it was a military hospital where the doctors didn't seem to give a hoot and mostly just laughed at us while trying to describe symptoms. They ended up looking at Wikipedia so I got pissed and anxious and left. Thankfully, in the morning I was feeling a bit better and we got some tests done and got some medicine to take care of this bug which turned out to be an intestinal infection. Serious shout out to my girls. That was one of the worst nights I've ever had physically, they put up with some unpleasant things for me.
After taking it easy yesterday and getting 10 hours of sleep I am feeling a hundred times better and we took some busses to get here, to montanita! It's a beach town here in Ecuador that has a good rep for good beach times, so we wanted to get here in time for some kind of Halloween festivities. To get here, we got to drive through the Cajas national park and we got to feast our eyes on some lake spotted mountains and drive through clouds. Yepppp.
Driving out of vilcabamba, I started to realize how little time it feels we have left on our trip and my mind started to go to work on how I'm gonna plan a return.. Oooops... But really. The next couple weeks are gonna be great, I know it!
-em
Saturday, October 27, 2012
movin on north
Man. I really needed the beach. Right now I'm lying in my bed in Mancora, Peru with maybe the worst stomach ache of my life (literally feels like a volcano. lava belly. ew.) I am actually feeling it wear off but ever since to much whiskey in a bar in Lima on Wednesday, things have been a little bit hard. I think being sick does it to you. It makes everything else you are able to focus on and keep together when healthy just all start feeling less hopeful.
Yesterday we boarded our bus from Lima to Mancora, a projected 19 hour ride, both not feeling 100 percent but looking to the end: sunny beaches, sounds of the ocean instead of honking cars.. and we got here. this time it was airplane seat status. we were sitting in the very front of the second floor so got killer visuals of the coastline. plus, they showed Drive. which was great visuals also (insert girly crush on ryan gosling). have to say though. Overdubbing sucks. such a shame.
Anywho, Lima was a little bit of a wild ride. we did our duty as twenty somethings and went out on the town, ate awesome sushi.. even with a day lost to whiskey, we got to see a lot of the city. Varun was great host and got us tickets to a party hosted by ciroc vodka, which was super surreal. I cant say we fit in super well with the heels and minidresses, but we did alright. pregaming at Varun's friend's house whose sala contained a pool and a hefty collection of African animal heads and body parts for furniture was also quite surreal, but all of Varun's friends were really nice and accommodating. such a different experience than anything else we've seen in Peru. This country is all over the board!
But like mentioned, i think i really needed this beach. the city was foreign but it felt in some ways the same, bringing with it all the not-so-positive pressures and stresses of daily life at home, which is useless when you are a month and 5000 miles away from doing anything about that shit. More coconut water straight from the coconut please. And less lava belly. Love you all.
Also this is posted 6 days late because blackberry wouldn't post it for me at time of Conception. More soon.
Yesterday we boarded our bus from Lima to Mancora, a projected 19 hour ride, both not feeling 100 percent but looking to the end: sunny beaches, sounds of the ocean instead of honking cars.. and we got here. this time it was airplane seat status. we were sitting in the very front of the second floor so got killer visuals of the coastline. plus, they showed Drive. which was great visuals also (insert girly crush on ryan gosling). have to say though. Overdubbing sucks. such a shame.
Anywho, Lima was a little bit of a wild ride. we did our duty as twenty somethings and went out on the town, ate awesome sushi.. even with a day lost to whiskey, we got to see a lot of the city. Varun was great host and got us tickets to a party hosted by ciroc vodka, which was super surreal. I cant say we fit in super well with the heels and minidresses, but we did alright. pregaming at Varun's friend's house whose sala contained a pool and a hefty collection of African animal heads and body parts for furniture was also quite surreal, but all of Varun's friends were really nice and accommodating. such a different experience than anything else we've seen in Peru. This country is all over the board!
But like mentioned, i think i really needed this beach. the city was foreign but it felt in some ways the same, bringing with it all the not-so-positive pressures and stresses of daily life at home, which is useless when you are a month and 5000 miles away from doing anything about that shit. More coconut water straight from the coconut please. And less lava belly. Love you all.
Also this is posted 6 days late because blackberry wouldn't post it for me at time of Conception. More soon.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Lima!
it seems that we have made it out of the sacred valley and into a crazy, up and coming metropolis! uh-oh, these small town girls really know how to get down so who knows what is going to happen.
we arrived here yesterday after a 21 hour bus ride that went through the night from cusco to lima. well, let me say. bussing like that is crazy. at first, i was all stoked cause this bus was like lux-ur-y: huge wide seats, and you could like super dooper recline and a ton of foot space and emily and i both had window views. we were pretty much set. then all the sudden you realize you are dropping thousands of feet in altitude, and winding, spiraling down the andes on basically dirt roads and your ears are so stuffed with pressure that you feel like you are yelling when you ask emily for a couple of melatonin cause sleeping is not coming easy on this crazy space ship, controlled temperature super bus. it was trippy. and that melatonin i mentioned earlier made it a slight more difficult to wake up. the bus attendant lady had to rewake me up at least three times to get the blanket and pillow and give me bus breakfast. i also tried handing her my old coffee cup randomly and she looked at me like a crazy drugged out gringa who she wished she did not have to attend to. yeah, well big whoop. so i was fucking glad to get off that bus.
we were greeted by the sounds of city again, and to be honest, somehow i had forgotten how it all sounded. the constant honking, construction clangs, and low mumble of thouands of people talking will snap any bussed out diva back to the bussling real world. all the streets here are even, one thing my feet have not encountered in a happy minute. no more ancient streets to walk and ruins peaking over at us, just beyond a hill. instead, we are catipulted back to the world of perfume adds, runners, gyms, department stores. woah globalization. this big city is throat deep in it. we even grabbed some wifi from a starbucks near our hostel. no pumpkin spice, unfortunately, but i am telling you, it smells the same! that whole burned espresso warmth starbucks aroma does not change no matter where you are on the globe. weird. as. hell.
at this starbucks is where we met our lima guide. a friend of the now twice mentioned "nicky kraft". otherwise, and more popularly known as DADDY. wow. those quotation marks and caps really make it dramatic. just what i was going for! anyway, varun has been awesome, and pointing us in all the right directions to try and navigate this very large new place. he is even treating these girls to some sushi tomorrow evening. we ate huge plates of ceviche today, the national food of peru. madi, you would have just loved all this raw fish and tentacles and red onion! all your favorite things. but really, it was bomb and we searched through the mira florres district trying to find just the right place. i think we might even try to find the cevicheria where anthony bourdain ate. last night we walked along the beach, and the sound of soft folding waves reminded me that really, it is all ok. the beach will do that for me. i definitely have a thing the ocean and this city right on the coast has a great combination feeling of busy busy business people and calm surf just at the edge. the change of pace has been a little startling, but i am starting to welcome it.
tonight we got a recomendation for a good karaoke bar and another close by watering hole. i think emily and i are both feeling a bit rusty. i am going to need to dust off these dancing shoes, and maybe finally shave my armpits. ha!
i want to let all you readers know, also, that both of us really felt the hit of homesickness yesterday. it has now been an entire month and we have another month until our return. just know we are missing you and thinking of you often. i do not want to carry it beyond that and lose my wit and get all blubbery on you. we love you, we miss you. bam.
-leslie
we arrived here yesterday after a 21 hour bus ride that went through the night from cusco to lima. well, let me say. bussing like that is crazy. at first, i was all stoked cause this bus was like lux-ur-y: huge wide seats, and you could like super dooper recline and a ton of foot space and emily and i both had window views. we were pretty much set. then all the sudden you realize you are dropping thousands of feet in altitude, and winding, spiraling down the andes on basically dirt roads and your ears are so stuffed with pressure that you feel like you are yelling when you ask emily for a couple of melatonin cause sleeping is not coming easy on this crazy space ship, controlled temperature super bus. it was trippy. and that melatonin i mentioned earlier made it a slight more difficult to wake up. the bus attendant lady had to rewake me up at least three times to get the blanket and pillow and give me bus breakfast. i also tried handing her my old coffee cup randomly and she looked at me like a crazy drugged out gringa who she wished she did not have to attend to. yeah, well big whoop. so i was fucking glad to get off that bus.
we were greeted by the sounds of city again, and to be honest, somehow i had forgotten how it all sounded. the constant honking, construction clangs, and low mumble of thouands of people talking will snap any bussed out diva back to the bussling real world. all the streets here are even, one thing my feet have not encountered in a happy minute. no more ancient streets to walk and ruins peaking over at us, just beyond a hill. instead, we are catipulted back to the world of perfume adds, runners, gyms, department stores. woah globalization. this big city is throat deep in it. we even grabbed some wifi from a starbucks near our hostel. no pumpkin spice, unfortunately, but i am telling you, it smells the same! that whole burned espresso warmth starbucks aroma does not change no matter where you are on the globe. weird. as. hell.
at this starbucks is where we met our lima guide. a friend of the now twice mentioned "nicky kraft". otherwise, and more popularly known as DADDY. wow. those quotation marks and caps really make it dramatic. just what i was going for! anyway, varun has been awesome, and pointing us in all the right directions to try and navigate this very large new place. he is even treating these girls to some sushi tomorrow evening. we ate huge plates of ceviche today, the national food of peru. madi, you would have just loved all this raw fish and tentacles and red onion! all your favorite things. but really, it was bomb and we searched through the mira florres district trying to find just the right place. i think we might even try to find the cevicheria where anthony bourdain ate. last night we walked along the beach, and the sound of soft folding waves reminded me that really, it is all ok. the beach will do that for me. i definitely have a thing the ocean and this city right on the coast has a great combination feeling of busy busy business people and calm surf just at the edge. the change of pace has been a little startling, but i am starting to welcome it.
tonight we got a recomendation for a good karaoke bar and another close by watering hole. i think emily and i are both feeling a bit rusty. i am going to need to dust off these dancing shoes, and maybe finally shave my armpits. ha!
i want to let all you readers know, also, that both of us really felt the hit of homesickness yesterday. it has now been an entire month and we have another month until our return. just know we are missing you and thinking of you often. i do not want to carry it beyond that and lose my wit and get all blubbery on you. we love you, we miss you. bam.
-leslie
Saturday, October 13, 2012
lets play catch up!
First of all, I feel like I should apologize for my lack of blogging! But here I am and I'm going to try and fill ya'll in, at least a little.
The last time I blogged I was sitting in this same spot, but a lot has happened since then.
Macchu Picchu was an awesome experience. We hiked up to the ruins from Aguas Calientes (If you ever come to Macchu Picchu, I reccomend doing this but staying the night in AC to get up there before sunrise). We were quite exhausted after the two hours of stairs, but um, our sitting spot was pretttttty awesome once we got up there. We took it slow through the ruins, and I realized that I preferred to just watch from afar. I'm not super savvy on the architecture but looking at the ancient city in the context of it's surroundings, it's enough to just blow your top. By the end of the day, Leslie and I were seriously tired and I tried my hardest not to freak out about the bug bite on my arm that swelled like a centimeter high in a golf ball sized diameter...
Apparently I'm allergic. I found this out from Roberto, our WWOOFing host a few days later. The way to the farm was literally the worst day of travel in my whole entire life. We were shoved in the back seat of a colectivo minivan (a minivan with three rows of seats, no AC, no legroom, filled with as many people as possible) with four to the three person seat. The woman next to me brought her son with her who was at least 8 years old and needed his own seat.. I tried to do something about it but no one made her move. Anyway, this was supposed to be a 4 to 5 hour drive, but ended up being 7 hours because we were caught stuck with construction. The clincher is, I got out at the bathroom stop in the jungle, and after about two minutes I looked down at my legs and my calves were in a SWARM of the tiniest little flies.. And I jumped back into the crammed seat to assess about 40 bites on my legs. These proceeded to swell and itch, and so for the time we were stuck still, I couldn't even get out for air. Gawd.
Anyway, after a scary night drive down a dusty road filled with more people including a man who was yell-babbling about politics in Spanish and trying to touch my hair from the seat behind me, (seriously felt like hell, there was even a ring of fire from a burning field on the way) we were dropped off on the side of the road by a banner marking our farm Sachahuares. We hiked up the hill in the dark, cicadas screamin, by the light of my cellphone, bug bitten, dusty and exhausted and found the cocina, where we were greeted by Roberto and three volunteers. They begain peeling potatoes for our dinner, and Roberto proceeded to blend us up some papaya juice as we met the others. Lea et Louis, an invaluable to us French couple had been there for three weeks, and Anne, our lifesaving translator and soon to be great German friend introduced themselves and we sat a little stunned at the whole day and situation. I think they understood where we were at at that point. That night, we slept DAMN good even on the wooden slat minimally cushioned cabana beds.
OK, no more bad vibe stories. Being at the farm was a great experience for us, even though it was not neccesarily an easy one. We spent a lot of time being dirty and hangin' in hammocks as well as being hot and sweaty, bug bitten and falling down hills doing some seriously tough work. I have mad respect for that family and their farm. After a lot of thought, we decided to go back to Ollantaytambo after five days when Anne left. I will never forget that farm, I really loved a lot of aspects of being there. Learning to cook over a fire, doing dishes, showering, going to the bathroom outside.. it actually felt great for that while. It's not why we left. It was a hard decision to leave, but in the end, I think that we took a lot away from the experience and learned a lot about ourselves in those days.
Also, the last five days here in the Sacred Valley have been amazing. We've taken a few day trips, including one of the sweeeetest hikes of my life from Tabamba to the Salt Pans in Salinas to Maras to see the terraces at Moray. Gosh. I think Leslie wrote about it a bit in her last post. About meeting Julia and Dolores in the colectivo and deciding to hike with them. Suuuch a good last minute decision. The energy of that thundering storm rolling in through the valley as we hiked in the sun flanked by giant agave plants was surreal. I couldn't keep myself from oohing and ahhing every time the thunder rolled. And seriously, that thunder rolled. I'd never heard thunder quite like it. And the church's bells rang as we crested the windy hill into Maras. I'm not making this up. It was a surreal day. As we drove through the town, strings of small colorful flags waved between the buildings above us.
And today? The sweetest experience with Incan ruins yet. We had heard around the hostel about a place called Pumamarca outside of town and decided to take up the challenge of the three hour hike one way. They said a lot of people get a taxi up, but if you haven't figured it out yet, we like to work for our ruins. Before we headed up, we got a few directions and set on our way. After a little bit of extra uphill wrong turn work, we found the path and wound our way up the side of the valley. The mountains here are just craaazy. They jut up out of nowhere! Such tall cliffs and such flat valleys between. They're some LOTR grade epic views. Our eyes just couldn't comprehend them, I just found myself squinting to try and comprehend it.
After about three hours and being chased by some meaaaaan dogs, we came upon the bottom of the ruins. Horses, cattle and donkeys grazed on ancient overgrown terraces, mustard yellow. Walking up the cown paths through the terraces led up to a ancient walled community. No one else was there, I think we saw one backpacker who was leaving while we were coming. We had the whole place to ourselves, save some cattle we shared the space with. It was super quiet and seriously breathtaking. We were told that this place is thought to be a center of meditation for pre Incan and Incan warriors, which gave me a lot to think about. Some really good, constructive thinking happened on a boulder atop that hill. Leslie and I found eachother after about an hour and shared some Jeanne Becker granola (YUM) banana and avocado and reveled in the quietness and epicness of the site. Man. It was great.
Anywho, now we are back in casa de wow, we leave the Sacred Valley tomorrow morning. To cuzco for some revisiting of old favorites (juanitos sandwiches, pantastico chocolate banana bread yesss) before we catch our 21 hour bus ride to Lima.
Thanks for sticking with this post as long as you have. I'm not gonna go back and edit it. Now go get a pumpkin spice latte in my absence.
Love,
Emily
The last time I blogged I was sitting in this same spot, but a lot has happened since then.
Macchu Picchu was an awesome experience. We hiked up to the ruins from Aguas Calientes (If you ever come to Macchu Picchu, I reccomend doing this but staying the night in AC to get up there before sunrise). We were quite exhausted after the two hours of stairs, but um, our sitting spot was pretttttty awesome once we got up there. We took it slow through the ruins, and I realized that I preferred to just watch from afar. I'm not super savvy on the architecture but looking at the ancient city in the context of it's surroundings, it's enough to just blow your top. By the end of the day, Leslie and I were seriously tired and I tried my hardest not to freak out about the bug bite on my arm that swelled like a centimeter high in a golf ball sized diameter...
Apparently I'm allergic. I found this out from Roberto, our WWOOFing host a few days later. The way to the farm was literally the worst day of travel in my whole entire life. We were shoved in the back seat of a colectivo minivan (a minivan with three rows of seats, no AC, no legroom, filled with as many people as possible) with four to the three person seat. The woman next to me brought her son with her who was at least 8 years old and needed his own seat.. I tried to do something about it but no one made her move. Anyway, this was supposed to be a 4 to 5 hour drive, but ended up being 7 hours because we were caught stuck with construction. The clincher is, I got out at the bathroom stop in the jungle, and after about two minutes I looked down at my legs and my calves were in a SWARM of the tiniest little flies.. And I jumped back into the crammed seat to assess about 40 bites on my legs. These proceeded to swell and itch, and so for the time we were stuck still, I couldn't even get out for air. Gawd.
Anyway, after a scary night drive down a dusty road filled with more people including a man who was yell-babbling about politics in Spanish and trying to touch my hair from the seat behind me, (seriously felt like hell, there was even a ring of fire from a burning field on the way) we were dropped off on the side of the road by a banner marking our farm Sachahuares. We hiked up the hill in the dark, cicadas screamin, by the light of my cellphone, bug bitten, dusty and exhausted and found the cocina, where we were greeted by Roberto and three volunteers. They begain peeling potatoes for our dinner, and Roberto proceeded to blend us up some papaya juice as we met the others. Lea et Louis, an invaluable to us French couple had been there for three weeks, and Anne, our lifesaving translator and soon to be great German friend introduced themselves and we sat a little stunned at the whole day and situation. I think they understood where we were at at that point. That night, we slept DAMN good even on the wooden slat minimally cushioned cabana beds.
OK, no more bad vibe stories. Being at the farm was a great experience for us, even though it was not neccesarily an easy one. We spent a lot of time being dirty and hangin' in hammocks as well as being hot and sweaty, bug bitten and falling down hills doing some seriously tough work. I have mad respect for that family and their farm. After a lot of thought, we decided to go back to Ollantaytambo after five days when Anne left. I will never forget that farm, I really loved a lot of aspects of being there. Learning to cook over a fire, doing dishes, showering, going to the bathroom outside.. it actually felt great for that while. It's not why we left. It was a hard decision to leave, but in the end, I think that we took a lot away from the experience and learned a lot about ourselves in those days.
Also, the last five days here in the Sacred Valley have been amazing. We've taken a few day trips, including one of the sweeeetest hikes of my life from Tabamba to the Salt Pans in Salinas to Maras to see the terraces at Moray. Gosh. I think Leslie wrote about it a bit in her last post. About meeting Julia and Dolores in the colectivo and deciding to hike with them. Suuuch a good last minute decision. The energy of that thundering storm rolling in through the valley as we hiked in the sun flanked by giant agave plants was surreal. I couldn't keep myself from oohing and ahhing every time the thunder rolled. And seriously, that thunder rolled. I'd never heard thunder quite like it. And the church's bells rang as we crested the windy hill into Maras. I'm not making this up. It was a surreal day. As we drove through the town, strings of small colorful flags waved between the buildings above us.
And today? The sweetest experience with Incan ruins yet. We had heard around the hostel about a place called Pumamarca outside of town and decided to take up the challenge of the three hour hike one way. They said a lot of people get a taxi up, but if you haven't figured it out yet, we like to work for our ruins. Before we headed up, we got a few directions and set on our way. After a little bit of extra uphill wrong turn work, we found the path and wound our way up the side of the valley. The mountains here are just craaazy. They jut up out of nowhere! Such tall cliffs and such flat valleys between. They're some LOTR grade epic views. Our eyes just couldn't comprehend them, I just found myself squinting to try and comprehend it.
After about three hours and being chased by some meaaaaan dogs, we came upon the bottom of the ruins. Horses, cattle and donkeys grazed on ancient overgrown terraces, mustard yellow. Walking up the cown paths through the terraces led up to a ancient walled community. No one else was there, I think we saw one backpacker who was leaving while we were coming. We had the whole place to ourselves, save some cattle we shared the space with. It was super quiet and seriously breathtaking. We were told that this place is thought to be a center of meditation for pre Incan and Incan warriors, which gave me a lot to think about. Some really good, constructive thinking happened on a boulder atop that hill. Leslie and I found eachother after about an hour and shared some Jeanne Becker granola (YUM) banana and avocado and reveled in the quietness and epicness of the site. Man. It was great.
Anywho, now we are back in casa de wow, we leave the Sacred Valley tomorrow morning. To cuzco for some revisiting of old favorites (juanitos sandwiches, pantastico chocolate banana bread yesss) before we catch our 21 hour bus ride to Lima.
Thanks for sticking with this post as long as you have. I'm not gonna go back and edit it. Now go get a pumpkin spice latte in my absence.
Love,
Emily
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
salt flats, alien terraces and the quarter life crisis.
i must begin this post by first and foremost poking fun at myself and lack of calender knowledge. it was not october 10th when i lazily shared that video link. today is october 10th. my sincere apologies. i am not so in tune with the days of the week, let alone the numbers. i have always loved numbers, but them and i seem to never fully understand one another.
now that i have gotten that outta the way, we have some catching up to do!
i think i might start with today because i loved it so much and see how far back i want to take you.
we went to two incredible places today. the salinas salt flats and the terraces at moray. this morning, after enjoying one and half avacado and fired egg sandwiches, emily and i decided it was time to go day trippin. we had heard these salt flats were preeetty sweet and hopped in an overcrowded cambi and were on our way. once in the mini bus, two pretty argentinian gals asked us if we were walking to the flats. we said that we had not planned on it, but they seemed like they kinda knew their stuff and we shrugged our shoulders and decided to hike with our new friends, as oppose to drive. it was such a wonderful hot and breezy mid-morning. the mountains that line the sacred valley just tower over you so dramatically that is hard not to feel completely epic even just walking. we talked with julia and dolores in both broken english and spanish and found that they lived just outside of buenos aires and were 27 and had been friends for 20 years. they were quite the pair, and seriously hillarious. julia was short with nobby knees and wild hair wrapped in a rainbow scarf with strings hanging down into her face. dolores was the quiter of the two. seriously afraid of heights and getting to close to the edge of any path we took throughout the day.
around and over the first little mountain, just above a small villiage, we found the flats. as it turns out, we appraoched from the opposite side that many usually do, and did not have to pay the entry fee, initially. we also got to see all the salt miners at work, walking the narrow, white paths with huge bags of salt they had just extracted from the side of the mountain. the flats are basically like squares carved in the hills and mountains seperated by streams. people have been mining salt at this site for hundreds of years. i think i even read that the Incan peoples were the first to discover this wonder. maybe do not quote me on that. but maybe do. anyway, the salt is amazing and expansive and so white. that sounds silly, but it feels like you are in that ice queen narnia ladie's liar. it is bright and it looks so precise. each flat is tiered and square and sparkly. i don't feel like i am doing this place justice. we gotta get some pictures up! my aimless rambling is just trying to get at the brilliance of this place. the water that cuts through and down the hills are this dramatic rust color. this combination is almost to much for the eyes. so beyond beautiful.
after ooing and awing our way through and out of the hills, we found the main entrance. here we tried to get a cheap taxi to moray. this did not exist and the four of us strong and able women decided walking was just the way to go. why not? i am so glad we made this choice. the sun was still hot, and the mountains still towering and lining the horizon, and we walked. uphill and with lots of wind wipping our hair, and throwing my adventure hat to the dusty trail. there was even a ominous storm a brewin' in the direction of moray. you could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance. the walk was amazing, to say the least.
we got to the terraces of moray, a little sweaty, a lotta salty and pretty tired. the rings at this place were kind of like an Incan agricultural experiment to test to see which micro climates would suit certain crops. you can take steps all the way down to the bottom and gaze up and around at the different slopes. it is such an interesting area. so different from any agricultural settings i have seen before. we wandered here for at bit, and of course i had to remind emily that really the aliens built the rings. she has dutifully reminded me that i should probably give the Incans some credit. she is very right, but it is so hard to comprehend the amount of work and thought and labor that these people put into everything. i think i get a bit overwhelmed by it and opt to make a little e.t. joke to cope. a little pathetic, but i'm still growing up here.
speaking of growing up, i am trying my best to do a bit of that in between all this fun and adventure. emily was actually the first person to ever bring up the quarter crisis. for those who are unware, it is much like the mid life crisis that we are well aware of, but for us young little ducklings who have far too many options and the tendency to wander. i realize this trip allows me to think more than i ever thought i would, and with all this thought i think i might be more confused than ever. i am little bit (actually a lot) freaking out about what i will do when i get back. living in a new city. i have no job yet, and the thought of what i actaully want to do is still muddled up with things i have already done. being here, i am always a little uncomfortable. it is wonderful. but also scary that it will end. i am afraid to get back and get settled. but it is funny, because moving around as much as we do is a little scary too. i guess i am still just trying to figure myself out, and it is proving an impossible task. i am going to end this rambling thought paragraph now. i just don't have to know. that is the bottom line.
i think we are going to try to put some pictures up, and maybe emily can be better than me and catch you up on what has happened in the past week or so. i cannot believe our time in peru is coming to an end. i hate sometimes that time is just always moving forward. how can i ever keep up?
-leslie
now that i have gotten that outta the way, we have some catching up to do!
i think i might start with today because i loved it so much and see how far back i want to take you.
we went to two incredible places today. the salinas salt flats and the terraces at moray. this morning, after enjoying one and half avacado and fired egg sandwiches, emily and i decided it was time to go day trippin. we had heard these salt flats were preeetty sweet and hopped in an overcrowded cambi and were on our way. once in the mini bus, two pretty argentinian gals asked us if we were walking to the flats. we said that we had not planned on it, but they seemed like they kinda knew their stuff and we shrugged our shoulders and decided to hike with our new friends, as oppose to drive. it was such a wonderful hot and breezy mid-morning. the mountains that line the sacred valley just tower over you so dramatically that is hard not to feel completely epic even just walking. we talked with julia and dolores in both broken english and spanish and found that they lived just outside of buenos aires and were 27 and had been friends for 20 years. they were quite the pair, and seriously hillarious. julia was short with nobby knees and wild hair wrapped in a rainbow scarf with strings hanging down into her face. dolores was the quiter of the two. seriously afraid of heights and getting to close to the edge of any path we took throughout the day.
around and over the first little mountain, just above a small villiage, we found the flats. as it turns out, we appraoched from the opposite side that many usually do, and did not have to pay the entry fee, initially. we also got to see all the salt miners at work, walking the narrow, white paths with huge bags of salt they had just extracted from the side of the mountain. the flats are basically like squares carved in the hills and mountains seperated by streams. people have been mining salt at this site for hundreds of years. i think i even read that the Incan peoples were the first to discover this wonder. maybe do not quote me on that. but maybe do. anyway, the salt is amazing and expansive and so white. that sounds silly, but it feels like you are in that ice queen narnia ladie's liar. it is bright and it looks so precise. each flat is tiered and square and sparkly. i don't feel like i am doing this place justice. we gotta get some pictures up! my aimless rambling is just trying to get at the brilliance of this place. the water that cuts through and down the hills are this dramatic rust color. this combination is almost to much for the eyes. so beyond beautiful.
after ooing and awing our way through and out of the hills, we found the main entrance. here we tried to get a cheap taxi to moray. this did not exist and the four of us strong and able women decided walking was just the way to go. why not? i am so glad we made this choice. the sun was still hot, and the mountains still towering and lining the horizon, and we walked. uphill and with lots of wind wipping our hair, and throwing my adventure hat to the dusty trail. there was even a ominous storm a brewin' in the direction of moray. you could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance. the walk was amazing, to say the least.
we got to the terraces of moray, a little sweaty, a lotta salty and pretty tired. the rings at this place were kind of like an Incan agricultural experiment to test to see which micro climates would suit certain crops. you can take steps all the way down to the bottom and gaze up and around at the different slopes. it is such an interesting area. so different from any agricultural settings i have seen before. we wandered here for at bit, and of course i had to remind emily that really the aliens built the rings. she has dutifully reminded me that i should probably give the Incans some credit. she is very right, but it is so hard to comprehend the amount of work and thought and labor that these people put into everything. i think i get a bit overwhelmed by it and opt to make a little e.t. joke to cope. a little pathetic, but i'm still growing up here.
speaking of growing up, i am trying my best to do a bit of that in between all this fun and adventure. emily was actually the first person to ever bring up the quarter crisis. for those who are unware, it is much like the mid life crisis that we are well aware of, but for us young little ducklings who have far too many options and the tendency to wander. i realize this trip allows me to think more than i ever thought i would, and with all this thought i think i might be more confused than ever. i am little bit (actually a lot) freaking out about what i will do when i get back. living in a new city. i have no job yet, and the thought of what i actaully want to do is still muddled up with things i have already done. being here, i am always a little uncomfortable. it is wonderful. but also scary that it will end. i am afraid to get back and get settled. but it is funny, because moving around as much as we do is a little scary too. i guess i am still just trying to figure myself out, and it is proving an impossible task. i am going to end this rambling thought paragraph now. i just don't have to know. that is the bottom line.
i think we are going to try to put some pictures up, and maybe emily can be better than me and catch you up on what has happened in the past week or so. i cannot believe our time in peru is coming to an end. i hate sometimes that time is just always moving forward. how can i ever keep up?
-leslie
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