After a two day adventure in the world´s deepest canyon (Colca) with Noam and Eliana featuring majestic condors and a couple beers in the hot springs, I had a few days to relax in Arequipa before more excitement.
Strolling around the beautiful White City, my business training began buzzing in the back of my head as I absorbed the socio-economic life of ordinary Peruvians.
The scenes brought to mind a classic quote from The Office when Oscar is advising Michael Scott (Steve Carell) how to think about his finances. "Okay, the green bar is what you spend every month on stuff you need, like a car and a house...The red bar is what you spend on non-essentials, like magazines, entertainment, things like that...The scary black bar is what you spend on things that no one ever, ever needs, like multiple magic sets, professional bass fishing equipment..."
Thing that Arequipa needs: A store for party supplies.
A non-essential: A store devoted entirely to selling piñatas (called a piñateria).
No one ever, ever needs: Eight piñaterias on the same block as our hostel.
Thing that Arequipa needs: Somebody selling water in the park.
A non-essential: People stepping onto city buses to sell candy bars and nuts.
No one ever, ever needs: Old people sitting on benches with scales on the ground in front of them. To my great delight, I witnessed a man pay to use one of these.
Thing that Arequipa needs: A Claro store for buying cellphones and calling plans.
A non-essential: Several Claro stores scattered around the city.
No one ever, ever needs: Two dozen Claro stores in the couple blocks surrounding the Plaza de Armas along with a Claro parade featuring a marching band and guys doing flips. Claro´s sole main competitor has few to zero stores in this area.
And don´t get me started on the sunglasses stores. Somehow they have yet to realize that Peruvians just don't wear sunglasses. Ever.
Check back soon for Asch kalt - Nico and Alejandro do Lake Titicaca.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
In the path of the Incas - Nico and Alejandro do Machu Picchu
[Update: For those who care, I´ve added slideshows to most of the recent posts. I´ll try to get the older pictures uploaded as well.]
After a few days acclimating in the Incan capital of Cuzco while bargaining for Alpaca goods (including unbelievably soft giant matching rugs Alé and I bought) and eating fresh peas at the local market (they also had an entire aisle for potatoes), Alé and I set off on the Salkantay trail. An alternative to the famous Inca trail, the Salkantay takes hardy souls up past 4650m to the Incan holy mountain Abu Salkantay before dropping down through the jungle and meeting up with the traditional trail en route to Machu Picchu.
Highlights included being woken up in our frozen tent at 5AM with steaming cups of Coca tea, slide tackling Peruvians in an impromptu futbol match one afternoon (as the sole American for most of the game, I was nearly a liability to my own team), and quizzing the Icelandic girls in our group about former world´s strongest man Magnus ver Magnuson.
One of the girls was herself quite strong as I found out to my detriment when she, a physical therapist, forcefully prodded several parts of my upper leg to demonstrate that one of my muscles there is "short." She said that if I continue the exercise she taught me, it will not hurt so much next time. Nothing like a buff therapist named Scylla [Silla] to intimidate you to follow an exercise routine.
Eli and I also had a great time with the dozen or so Israeli´s on the trip, making kiddush Friday evening (filmed by the Icelandic anthropology student for research), playing Wisk into the wee hours of the night, and learning Israeli army slang from our new friends Itai and Maya. Those two taught us an incredible game called ¨"Sababa bakol" [Great in everything]. One person questions the group, "Would you date someone if s/he was great in everything, but this or that flaw?" Their first example - "Sababa bakol, aval rokedet k´mo Eli [Great in everything, but dances like Eli]." It´s basically an interactive version of Seinfeld (think man-hands, close-talker, etc.) And you find some very interesting differences of opinion.
After a glorious Teaneck reunion in the Lost City of the Incas with Noam, Michael, and Eliana, Alé and I climbed the adjacent mountain of Huayna Picchu for an aerial view of the city. Stunning.
Then it was back to Cuzco and one horseback ride to the Incan ruins of SaqsayHuaman (also known as Sexy Woman) later, Noam, Eliana, and I set off to Arequipa, the White City of Peru. Check back soon for Things no one ever, ever needs - Nico does Arequipa.
After a few days acclimating in the Incan capital of Cuzco while bargaining for Alpaca goods (including unbelievably soft giant matching rugs Alé and I bought) and eating fresh peas at the local market (they also had an entire aisle for potatoes), Alé and I set off on the Salkantay trail. An alternative to the famous Inca trail, the Salkantay takes hardy souls up past 4650m to the Incan holy mountain Abu Salkantay before dropping down through the jungle and meeting up with the traditional trail en route to Machu Picchu.
From Salkantay |
One of the girls was herself quite strong as I found out to my detriment when she, a physical therapist, forcefully prodded several parts of my upper leg to demonstrate that one of my muscles there is "short." She said that if I continue the exercise she taught me, it will not hurt so much next time. Nothing like a buff therapist named Scylla [Silla] to intimidate you to follow an exercise routine.
Eli and I also had a great time with the dozen or so Israeli´s on the trip, making kiddush Friday evening (filmed by the Icelandic anthropology student for research), playing Wisk into the wee hours of the night, and learning Israeli army slang from our new friends Itai and Maya. Those two taught us an incredible game called ¨"Sababa bakol" [Great in everything]. One person questions the group, "Would you date someone if s/he was great in everything, but this or that flaw?" Their first example - "Sababa bakol, aval rokedet k´mo Eli [Great in everything, but dances like Eli]." It´s basically an interactive version of Seinfeld (think man-hands, close-talker, etc.) And you find some very interesting differences of opinion.
From Machu Picchu |
Then it was back to Cuzco and one horseback ride to the Incan ruins of SaqsayHuaman (also known as Sexy Woman) later, Noam, Eliana, and I set off to Arequipa, the White City of Peru. Check back soon for Things no one ever, ever needs - Nico does Arequipa.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Taking on the Peruvian mafia - Nico, Alejandro, Jose, and Roz do Trujillo
[Inspired by Eli introducing himself as Alejandro, Jesse and I chose our own Spanish names. Nico has been a big hit.]
Known as the Spring Capital of Peru, the northern city of Trujillo is famous for its pre-Incan ruins of Chan Chan and the Temples of Sun and Moon.
We visited those. Kinda cool. Jesse took some pictures.
Our real adventure in Trujillo, however, was saved for the night. After meeting a couple local girls from the university during lunch and conversing with them in our broken Spanish, we were invited to hang out with them later and given their address near the university. With nothing else to do that night, we decided to check it out and took a bus to the university after dinner. I stopped a nice-looking man to ask for directions and handed him the paper with the address.
His eyes nearly popped out of his head. In Spanish, he told us (we think) that despite being only a few blocks from the university, that area was extremely dangerous. To colorfully illustrate his point, he stuck his hand into our pockets as a sign of what would happen to our money; memories of West Philadelphia and Spanish Harlem danced flitted through our heads. Now quite curious albeit unnerved, we thanked him and pondered our next move.
A second opinion was certainly in order. We next asked a passing policeman. "Your money: gone. And if you don´t have any, boom boom!" Upping the ante, he said that while firing a mock gun at us and indicating slitted throats.
Alejandro then remarked, "You know, I read online before coming that it is common in Trujillo for uncommonly attractive girls to befriend tourists in order to lead them into dangerous situations." "Why didn´t you mention this earlier?" "They weren´t uncommonly attractive."
We decided to pass and went to a pool hall instead for a couple of hopefully safe games. But the guns just kept coming; only seconds after setting up the triangle at our table, a gaggle of old men came over and once again I had a gun-shaped hand pointed at my chest. "Bang! Bang! Mafia!"
We moved to the next table. Later on, the same man came over and made a similar motion, this time seemingly offering us drinks instead of bullets. We passed anyway.
I´m initially writing this as we celebrate July 4 in Lima after a couple of glorious days in the mountains of Huaraz. Check back soon for In the path of the Incas - Nico and Alejandro do Machu Picchu.
Known as the Spring Capital of Peru, the northern city of Trujillo is famous for its pre-Incan ruins of Chan Chan and the Temples of Sun and Moon.
We visited those. Kinda cool. Jesse took some pictures.
Our real adventure in Trujillo, however, was saved for the night. After meeting a couple local girls from the university during lunch and conversing with them in our broken Spanish, we were invited to hang out with them later and given their address near the university. With nothing else to do that night, we decided to check it out and took a bus to the university after dinner. I stopped a nice-looking man to ask for directions and handed him the paper with the address.
His eyes nearly popped out of his head. In Spanish, he told us (we think) that despite being only a few blocks from the university, that area was extremely dangerous. To colorfully illustrate his point, he stuck his hand into our pockets as a sign of what would happen to our money; memories of West Philadelphia and Spanish Harlem danced flitted through our heads. Now quite curious albeit unnerved, we thanked him and pondered our next move.
A second opinion was certainly in order. We next asked a passing policeman. "Your money: gone. And if you don´t have any, boom boom!" Upping the ante, he said that while firing a mock gun at us and indicating slitted throats.
Alejandro then remarked, "You know, I read online before coming that it is common in Trujillo for uncommonly attractive girls to befriend tourists in order to lead them into dangerous situations." "Why didn´t you mention this earlier?" "They weren´t uncommonly attractive."
We decided to pass and went to a pool hall instead for a couple of hopefully safe games. But the guns just kept coming; only seconds after setting up the triangle at our table, a gaggle of old men came over and once again I had a gun-shaped hand pointed at my chest. "Bang! Bang! Mafia!"
We moved to the next table. Later on, the same man came over and made a similar motion, this time seemingly offering us drinks instead of bullets. We passed anyway.
I´m initially writing this as we celebrate July 4 in Lima after a couple of glorious days in the mountains of Huaraz. Check back soon for In the path of the Incas - Nico and Alejandro do Machu Picchu.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
La fiesta - Nech and Jesse do the Quilotoa Loop
Traveling as we are with little Spanish skills and even fewer plans, sometimes we just have to hope that excitement falls into our laps.
En route to the beautiful crater lake inside Volcano Quilotoa, we stopped for a night in Zumbahua, a small village nestled into the picturesque Andean countryside. As we were checking into our hostel, the owner mentioned something about a fiesta that night. Sweet. We happenned to arrive on the final day of a weeklong festival for Corpus Christie complete with bullfighting, a dozen-man band, and even foosball tables for the kids. Receiving many suspicious looks as two of maybe four foreigners in the village, I decided it was time to act, "We have to start drinking with the old men. They´ll be into it." Sure enough, as soon as we caught the eyes of a few old drunk guys toasting with some unnamed alcohol, they called us over and practically forced us to drink with them. "Salud!"
After a brief foosball match with a few of the kids, we ended up in a small circle with a few local men and I tried practicing my Spanish with one who claimed to be studying Milton (in English) despite being only able to say "Please" and "Excuse me" (to his credit, though, he was able to repeat those phrases many times).
I realized quickly that drunk people may not be the best Spanish partners - I don´t think even they understood what they were saying half the time. Jesse, fortunately, was able to communicate more effectively with a different man through the use of gestures. Unfortunately, however, the man´s gestures indicated that he was trying to proposition Jesse (or get him to hire a prostitute - gestures only go so far). Or maybe he was just another Milton fan and trying to mime Paradise Lost. Either way we decided it was time to hit the dance floor taking up half the main square.
As I´m writing this, I´m chilling on a beautiful beach in Mancora, Peru. Last night the guys dressed in bikinis and dresses for "Ladies Night." Who knew dancing on the bar was so fun?
Check back soon for Taking on the Peruvian mafia - Nech, Eli, Jesse, and Roz do Trujillo.
En route to the beautiful crater lake inside Volcano Quilotoa, we stopped for a night in Zumbahua, a small village nestled into the picturesque Andean countryside. As we were checking into our hostel, the owner mentioned something about a fiesta that night. Sweet. We happenned to arrive on the final day of a weeklong festival for Corpus Christie complete with bullfighting, a dozen-man band, and even foosball tables for the kids. Receiving many suspicious looks as two of maybe four foreigners in the village, I decided it was time to act, "We have to start drinking with the old men. They´ll be into it." Sure enough, as soon as we caught the eyes of a few old drunk guys toasting with some unnamed alcohol, they called us over and practically forced us to drink with them. "Salud!"
After a brief foosball match with a few of the kids, we ended up in a small circle with a few local men and I tried practicing my Spanish with one who claimed to be studying Milton (in English) despite being only able to say "Please" and "Excuse me" (to his credit, though, he was able to repeat those phrases many times).
I realized quickly that drunk people may not be the best Spanish partners - I don´t think even they understood what they were saying half the time. Jesse, fortunately, was able to communicate more effectively with a different man through the use of gestures. Unfortunately, however, the man´s gestures indicated that he was trying to proposition Jesse (or get him to hire a prostitute - gestures only go so far). Or maybe he was just another Milton fan and trying to mime Paradise Lost. Either way we decided it was time to hit the dance floor taking up half the main square.
As I´m writing this, I´m chilling on a beautiful beach in Mancora, Peru. Last night the guys dressed in bikinis and dresses for "Ladies Night." Who knew dancing on the bar was so fun?
Check back soon for Taking on the Peruvian mafia - Nech, Eli, Jesse, and Roz do Trujillo.
Friday, July 2, 2010
How fast can piranhas eat a chicken - Nech and Jesse do the rainforest
Completing our week in Quito with an ascent to 5000m high glaciers of Volcano Cotopaxi, we then traveled to Lago Agria and bused and canoed five more hours into the northern part of the Ecuadorian rainforest known as Cuyabeno (the Cuyabeno River eventually flows into the Amazon) for a five day expedition. Almost as interesting as the animals we spotted - everything from pink dolphins, caiman crocodiles, anacondas, and seven species of monkeys to toucans, parakeets, and giant praying mantises - were the people we travelled with.
Jesse swears that our guide (with a little bit of blue makeup) would have fit right in with Avatar's Návi. We also realized midway through that the jolly old Canadian couple from British Columbia were only so jolly because of the three liters of vodka streaming steadily out of their camelpak.
Possibly the most interesting person, however, was a well-traveled Ecuadorian around our age named Mauricio. Though not all of his ideas came to fruition (like dressing up in war paint and raiding neighboring lodges), there was one instance when he could not be deterred. After having only a little luck on our piranha fishing expedition, Mauricio wanted to up the ante - see how fast the piranhas would devour a whole chicken. So, when we visited an indigenous village the next day, Mauricio bought a chicken and then (with some difficulty) killed it a few minutes before we set out for our sunset swim in the lagoon.
Arriving at the piranha fishing spot, we all sat on the edge of our seats, poised for a scene normally reserved for National Geographic. Mauricio lifted the chicken, put a hook throught it, and flung it into the water. The reaction was immediate - but not by the piranhas. Instead of sinking a few feet to the depth of the piranhas, the chicken floated on the water next to the boat and we all rocked with laughter. Mauricio's further efforts (including spilling the guts out and repeatedly poking the chicken with a stick to drive it deeper) didn't help. Eventually we had to give up and dove into the water for our swim.
But not until we'd sailed to the other side of the lagoon; just because the piranhas didn't eat the chicken, that didn't mean they wouldn't eat us.
I'm initially writing this from the popular adventure town of Banos; today we hiked up to see an active volcano smoking and pouring out lava. Next up is the tranquil Vilcabamba, whose miracle water enables its residents to regular live past 100 years of age.
Check back soon for La fiesta - Nech and Jesse do the Quilotoa Loop.
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