And now for the second loop

After having to be in Puno for longer than we wanted to, Kathleen and I went to see some ruins outside of Puno called Sillustani. It was just a burial site that was pre Inca but still had some Inca structures. All of the round little things are the tombs. I really liked this tour because our guide was another person who spoke Quechua.I was really surprised when she showed that the Inca could describe Pi and the golden ration using the southern cross constellation and other images that are everywhere in their drawings and sculptures.

I also liked the site because it was right on a big lake. It has to do with the religion and the whole aspect of purification by water. All of it was just impressive.

After the tombs we went to visit a farm house that was on the way to Puno. It was really cool to actually see how the people lived. It was all adobe and they offered us food. There were potatoes, cheese and they actually gave us clay to eat. It did not that much of a taste, but I would suggest trying it if you are ever out that way. They also let us into their house to see how they actually lived. It was just so different how they did not need any of the things that we cannot go without. I was really impressed by the whole experience.

So Kathleen has gone home and I am now on my own again. More or less; I met up with Jennica yesterday and I am sleeping at a house of a family that has Spanish classes. I am not really sure what is going on, but I can sleep and get fed every meal for about the same price that I pay for a hostel in the center of Cusco. And I get to take the bus to the house which is about 70 centimos, which equals 40 cents more or less. And I do not get feed at any hostal in the center of town. I am on my way to Bolivia so I am not sure how the computer situation is going to be, but I doubt that the computers will be that useful. So I don't know when I will post again. But I am going to have great pictures when I get back.

Puno and Lake Titicaca

After mom and I went to the sacred valley we took another tour from Cusco to Puno, which is on Lake Titicaca. The tour took us to some more ruins with a couple stops where we could buy things. Kathleen bought quite a bit of things, but I also bought some stuff too. If you are getting anything from me on my trip, you are getting it from Peru. There are too many of you and I just don't have any space in my bag. But with all of the stops at artesenias and stores it felt more like a tv program with a couple commercials thrown in for good measure.

When I got to the lake I was really impressed by the size; I underestimated how big it was. To get from Peru to Bolivia on the other side takes about eight hours. It is much faster to go by bus, which takes six hours to go from Puno, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia.

On the lake there are floating islands that are man made out of reeds. The people that live there make a living selling things to the tourists. Everything on the tour out to the lake cost money. We took a boat ride in one of the boats made of reeds from one island to another. Five soles. Too climb a tour on the island to see a better view, two soles. There was a cute little girl that sang a different song in Quechua, Spanish, English, french, and German (we also had to tip her).

From the floating island we went to another island (this one was a real island) called Taquile. Super commie. The island was more of a community in that everyone worked for the group. There was no bartering on any of the products because all of the money went to the community and not an individual. The group that governed the island was made up of men and they served a year in rotation. Mom had a hard time at this island because we had to climb up to get to the center of the island. It left me a little breathless, but Kathleen was really eating wind. It was a mix of the climb and the altitude. Right now we are almost as high as the highest point in Utah. 11409 feet in elevation. I feel it whenever I try to overexert myself, it just feels like I can't take a big enough breath.

The next day was Easter and I thought that it was going to be a big deal here, but there was only a military procession. I am not sure why, but I stopped asking questions a long time ago, Kathleen is still suprised about this sort of stuff though. Everyday she is learning about how things work out here in the sudamerica. By the time that she goes home she will have almost everything figured out. I am also not saying that I have everything figured out, because every day I learn something new too. Like today for example; I am making mom stay here for an extra day so I can get a visa to Bolivia thinking that I would need 24 hours. Nope, all I need to do is bring everything that I have had since Saturday to the Border and I will be able to pass right on through the border. I just get my visa there.

So today we are going to go on another tour and then tomorrow we will be heading to Arequipa. I have already been there but I am excited to go back because I liked the city so much. I am going to see some of the same things again, but I will also get to see Colca Canyon which I was not able to see the first time that I was there. I think that I may take Kathleen to the mercado so she can really get a feel of how things are here in Peru. I think that if she hasn't already come to terms with the culture shock it is going to be an interesting experience. I think that I am going to enjoy her view of it.

Machu Picchu

Before we went to Machu Picchu, Kathleen and I spent a day in Lima. Another big city with more ruins and churchs to see. After dark we went to a park that has the worlds largest fountain. Lights and effects with the fountain actually made it fun. We walked around taking pictures, looking like tourists; doing all the things you do when you are on vacation. The next day we took a plane at 6:45 am to Cusco. We had to be there two hours early. That means that I had to wake up at four: I didn't like it at all. They talk about altitude sickness and you do not think that it will happen to you. "I'm from Utah, Salt Lake is pretty high. How much higher can it be?" It's higher. Especially if you have been doing what I have been doing and been at the beach for the last two months. I got sick. Not as bad as others, mine was only a head ache and some nausea. And the coca leaves help as well. Just walking up a flight of stairs hurts a little more than I would like.


The next day we went to Aguas Calientes which is at the base of Machu Picchu. Mom didn't like the city too much, but I thought that it was nice. We slept and then later in the evening we went to a hot spring that was about five minutes up the road from where we were staying.
We made it to Machu Picchu before a lot of the tourists got there and I was able to get this picture. We had to catch the first bus at five thirty in the morning, but it was all worth it. It really does not sink in how amazing this place is until you are actually there and see it. We got to walk around and hear about the site from a man whose first language is Quechua, the language of the Inkas. He was very amazing and had a very different point of view from what I am used to, so it made the tour better.


This is a picture of the sunrise in Machu Picchu. All of the mountains in this area are so amazing. They are not like anything else that I have seen. It really makes me kind of home sick for my own mountains even though I know that they are not anywhere near as tall or as impressive as the ones here. But still they are my mountains. Today we took a tour of the sacred valley outside of Cusco. I again felt like a tourist. I had fun but I think that I may be ruined out. I have seen too many things and now I am trying to process all of it. It may just take a couple of days for me to be excited to get out of a bus and take pictures. But I have to be ready because tomorrow we are going to take a tour all the way up to Puno and I have a feeling that I am going to have that same feeling again tomorrow. The sacred valley was nice. I saw some more ruins and spent some more money things. The coolest thing that I saw was a mass that was said in Quechua. Very cool.



Finally on our way back to Cusco from the sacred valley I took this picture from the moving van. I like this picture because you can make out all of the little plots of potato fams that are all over the sacred valley. All of the col pictures I had to take from the moving van because they would not stop at any of the cool places, but this is still a nice picture.






Finally another sunset; again from a moving van. This is from the sacred valley as well. I think that I amy start to collect these. I have taken enough of them.I am tired because I have been on the move since Kathleen has gotten here so hopefully she is going to let me sleep soon.

P.S. I hope that this turns out on the internet. I couldn't take this picture with flash, so if you can see it great, but it is a little morbid.

I have made it to South America

It was a swiss guy who summed it up. "I have been to Chile and Argentina and now I am in South America." Peru is exactly what I think South America should be. It is very conservative and cheap. And I also look like a tourist. In other countries I can pass for a local if I just keep my mouth closed but here everyone knows that I am not from here. So here are a couple of pictures that I have taken so far.



This is a picture of the Cathedral in Arequipa. There is so much history in that city. The only problem is that it keeps on getting destroyed by earthquakes.
There are just so many religious places to see in Arequipa. When I got here I meet a group of Kiwis and ended up going out with them that night. It is strange to go out and be at a bar or club at eleven. I am used to Buenos Aires and not even starting until one in the morning. The next day I spent on my own because the Kiwis left and the hostal was empty and it happened to be a Sunday. There is nothing to do in this country on a Sunday. The only things that were open were the resturantes. But the next day I met a girl from Germany and I spent the rest of the time going around the city with her. The first day we went to the mercado. It was very colorful and lots of interesting foods. I didn't take any pictures though because I never felt like I could take out my camera. We had fruit juice that was freshly made and ceviche and everything came to about eleven soles which is about four dollars.




The next day we went to the Santa Catalina Monastary. It was so amazing there; a city within a city. It took up a couple blocks and has it's own street names and a church amoung other things all in the heart of Arequipa. This is a picture of one of the many cloisters that are in the monastary. This is the orange cloister because there are five orange trees around the courtyard.



This is a picture from one of the kitchens. It still smelled like fire and cooking. These have not been used since the sixties. The original monastary was constructed in the 17th century and it all felt surreal.


After Arequipa I came to huachina which is just a lagoon in the middle of a couple of sand dunes outside of Ica. I got to sand board which is basically riding down huge dunes on a piece of wood that we cover in candle wax to make it go fast. I only hurt myself a little bit. The tour also included buggie rides that we had to sign a wavier saying that they were not responsible for any injury or death incurred. The buggie rides were more of a theme park ride that actual means of transportation. We knew that we were going to be going town a big dune when the driver would slow down and the hit the lip of the dune and we would just drop, bouncing our heads on the roof when we hit the bottom. I don't think that I was actually ever in real danger because we couldn't go too fast because of the size of the buggie.

The sunset at the end of the day was the best part of the whole trip. It made the trip up to the dunes perfect.


So I am still in Ica, and I will probably wait here until mom arrives in Peru. I am only six hours away from Lima so I am going to wait at the pool and eat good food.
Besos to everyone.

Sorry that it has been so long since I have posted anything, but it has been a very different couple of weeks. After Puerto Madryn I went to Buenos Aires. You will notice that all of the pictures from BA are absent. This is because I did not take any pictures in BA. So I will describe the city for you here: Buenos Aire is a huge city with 13 million people. It is very colonial with a mix of Italian, Spanish and German influence. Their favorite foods include pizza, pasta, and steak. They really eat a lot of meat here, and almost no vegetables. But then I went across the bay to Colonia in Uruguay and that was so much different. It was peaceful where BA was ecentric. I read alot, went to the beach, and then read some more. Then I drank with some Australians because that is what you do when you are with Australians. From Colonia I went back to BA and then I took a bus to Puerto Iguazu to see the Iguazu falls. That is where all of the pictures of the water come from. And the aligator as well. I stayed at a hostel with a pool for a couple of days (at about 11 dollars a night it was pretty good). Now I am in Salta for two nights, where I will be going back to Chile to try and get to Peru. Salta is a good place for now, cheap and very beautiful. More pictures will be coming I promise, I just don't know when.