TravelStream™ news feed for member ajohnson on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ajohnson en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:37:09 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ajohnson/1/1233078060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ajohnson/1/1233078060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ajohnson/1/1233078060/tpod.html Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:37:09 -0500 Althea's Trip Around the World 2008 - One Step at a Time

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Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

So, I returned home to the US of A.  And then 'life' began again.  I wasn't on my own any more, it was the holidays.  People to see and things to do!  And I was sad to not be traveling anymore.  Finally, more than a month later (and even more traveling...From Washington, DC and the airport, to Raleigh, then to Pittsburgh, PA for family Christmas, and finally to Anchorage, Alaska!)  I am going to finish a few things on my travel blog.  
Here is a sampling of Peru pictures.
Enjoy!
Love,Ali / Althea 
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Lima, Peru

We arrived back in Lima yesterday afternoon and after a final dinner and a bit of dancing later it was time to say goodbye to the first of the group to leave. Kim went on to BA to continue her journey to Antarctica!

I can not believe it is actually time to take that final step and return to the US, but I´m leaving for the airport in 20 minutes!! I must run back to the hotel and finish getting my stuff together!

I´ll be in touch again after the final leg to add the final chapter!

Much love to everyone!

Love,
Ali / Althea
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Puerto Maldonado, Peru

Welcome to the Jungle indeed! I spent the last 3 days of my trip at an Eco Lodge in the jungle! Our weather luck held out and we didn´t even have rain in the rainforest except in the evening and a little bit as we headed back into Puerto Maldonado on our final day. It was a 3 hour boat trip from the town to the lodge and a little over 2 hours back. The lodge itself didn´t have any electricity in the adorable bungalows, which I loved! Just a few solar panels for the freezer in the bar and maybe more solar power in the future. Our guides Luis and Vilma took us on walks around the lodge and to an Oxbow river. We saw lots of bugs and HUGE spiders on our first night´s walk. It was almost too perfect and like they had set them our specifically for us! We saw lots of birds and plants on our second day´s adventures. Beautiful Toucans and Macaws! The trees were fascinating! Strangler figs and the second largest in the world (behind the Redwoods), the Sabir. It was a small one and it was still pretty darn big!

We saw howler monkeys hanging about in trees from our boat on the river and the biggest rodent I have ever encountered...it was like a NYC subway rat on some serious steriods!! (Called a Capibara!) Of course, I took heaps more pictures!

Love,
Ali / Althea
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Cusco, Peru

I did it! I survived the Inca Trail! For the past three days I experienced something incredible...hiking along the trail created and used by the Incas in Peru in the 1400s. It was tough, but it was amazing!

Day 1: 11 kilometers
Day 2: 10 km. and up 1200 meters!
Day 3: 15 km.
Day 4: 6 km.

42 kilometers, about 1,000 pictures, and very sore calf muscles later and we are back in Cusco until the morning when we leave for the jungle! It is just one adventure after another! (Even as my trip comes closer and closer to the end.)

Hiking the Inca Trail is something that I will have a hard time ever forgetting. There were 7 people from the group-me, Georgia, James, Sofie, Paul, Russell and Racheal along with our very knowledgeable and wonderful guide Gladys. We were each permitted 6 kilograms in a small duffel bag in addition to our daypacks. These duffel bags were added to the (extreme) packs of the porters. We had 12 porters and 2 cooks in addition to our guide. The porters are incredible people. They carry 25 kilos each!! I felt better about having them carry my 6 kilos when I weighed my daypack to discover that it weighed about 7.8 kilos! That was definitely the most of any of my fellow hikers, but I needed my camera supplies and rain gear and first aid kit just in case! Had I known the food would be so shockingly good I wouldn´t have also carried my very own peanut butter jar too! I have really been missing my peanut butter though and it was very good to have in addition to my pretzals and chocolate bar for a little pick me up along the way.

We saw some beautiful scenery, flora and fauna! We pushed ourselves over Dead Womans Pass on Day 2 and then had to take a picture looking like dead women at the top even though we were exhillerated by having made it up the 1200 meters! The altitude got to me a little bit on the way up, but I was also leading the pack some of the time too!

It didn´t really feel like the camping I am used to since our porters litterally did everything for us including setting up and taking down camp every day. We were served such gourmet meals it was actually better food than a lot of the meals we have had along the way in restaurants! Pretty amazing when you consider that they were carrying the food along the Inca Trail for days and running right past the tourists huffing and puffing along. Wow...just thinking back to it I am amazed again!

We made it all the way from Km. 82 to Machu Picchu where the rest of the group and Angel met us. It was pretty incredible on the last morning to reach the Sun Gate and see Machu Picchu in the distance! It was beautiful and so surreal to be seeing it in real life from above and then descending to the city itself. To think that 1000 people once lived there amungst the architecture and agricultural terraces humbles me. But I did it...I made it! :-)

On to the jungle in the morning for one last experience before the return to Lima and my flight back to the Estados Unidos (United States) in only a few days from now! Hard to believe, but I have already started to think about the next trip I can take! Traveling will ALWAYS be a part of my life...once you take that first step you can´t go back!!

All my love!

Ali / Althea
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Cusco, Peru

¡Hola Amigos!

You must forgive me for falling behind on my blogging! I have been so busy and having so much fun here in Peru that I honestly haven´t had the time to come to the internet cafes and catch you all up on my adventures!

The last time I blogged much was from Arequipa and we have done so much since then...so here are the highlights!
Day 6: To Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world! Met our local guide for the next couple of days, Maritza and boarded our own bus for the journey to the highest point on the whole trip. We reached 4,910 meters by the middle of the afternoon and got out to take pictures and make wishes! The altitude definitely affects your ability to breath and when I first stepped off the bus I even felt quite dizzy. On the way we tried to help ourselves by chewing coca leaves. Yes, the very same leaves that cocaine is made from! You take about 15 leaves and roll them up around a small bit of ash stone and then you ´chew´on it for about 20 minutes! It was sooooo disgusting! I´m not exactly sure how it works, but they are sure that it does. There is coca everything available. Toffees, candies(or lollies as the Aussies call them!), tea, chocolates, biscuits and cookies, even beer! We had to chew the leaves twice and neither time did I make it the full 20 minutes, but I think it must have helped a little bit! Then at the highest point with took 3 perfect either male or female leaves depending on what we are (not sure why, but the female leaves are the fatter ones!) and placed them under a pile of stones and made a wish! I can´t tell you my wish, just in case that makes it not come true! :-) Once we arrived to La Casa de Mama Yacchi we went with Maritza on a pretty challenging hike up to some Pre-Incan cemetaries near our beautiful hotel. It was incredible to see piles of bones and old ropes. The skulls were deformed because of the practice of using bindings to change the shapes of the heads of the Pre-Incan cultures in able to differentiate between groups. The buffet dinner at the hotel was magnificant! Some of the best food so far and the setting was spectacular. More like a resort than a hotel and such a cozy setting.

Day 7: Arrose early for a trip to Condor Crossing to spot huge condors soaring above our heads and the deep canyon below. The canyon is beautiful, but I must say that I think the Grand Canyon is a bit more spectacular... The condors were a bit shy this day and stayed on the thermals way up in the sky, but we did see quite a few as we sat with heaps of other tourists on the edge of the canyon. Instead of taking the bus back down we went for the much more fun and adventurous mountain biking! For some reason, even though the road to the Condor Crossing is frequented by tourist buses, the government isn´t spending the money to properly pave the road making for a pretty bumpy ride. I didn´t go too fast, not wanting to fly over the handle bars and injure myself, but it was fast enough to be pretty exhillerating! The best part was biking through the tunnel about 2/3 of the way down. It was so cool inside out of the sun, but it is just a hole through the rock of the canyon edge and totally dark when you can´t see the exit. We asked a car driving by to follow behind us so that we could see where we were going. Such fun! Delicious buffet lunch again at the hotel before a much needed rest. We then went to the Hot Springs located just outside the bigger town we were staying outside of, Chivay. Although it would have been nice if the hot springs had a little more natural looking setting, the pool was filled with warm water that if you stayed in the corner where it entered the pool felt so wonderful! Dinner was just alright and then it was back for one more night in our cozy picturesque lodge, Mama Yachhi.

Day 8: Said a sad goodbye to our lovely guide Maritza and traveled by our private bus over some gorgeous mountains and beautiful scenery to Puno, the highest of any place that we are spending the night at 3,800 meters. Saw more Vicuñas, Alpacas, and Llamas, flamingoes, and other Peruvian animals. It was quite a stunning day on a bus. Arrived to Puno in the afternoon and enjoyed a bit of shopping even though the weather had been overcast and a bit drizzily all day long. It is the rainy season here afterall! I didn´t buy anything of course, but saw a bag I was interested in to hold any more souvenirs I might be able to convince myself to actually buy. :-) Went for a yummy pizza dinner right around the corner from Hotel Pukara, another great hotel along the way. Everywhere we have stayed so far has been wonderful. Clean sheets and towels, warm beds, and lots of character too.

Day 9: Today was the start of our journey around the highest navigable lake in the world, Lake Titicaca, which means Puma rock, and with a little imagination the shape of the lake does look like a Puma chasing a rabbit! Roger, our local guide for the trip was really good. We first made the 3 hour trip to Isla Taquile where we had lunch. Climbing up the hill to the main plaza was quite a challenge at this altitude, but worth it for the gorgeous views. The islands was filled with adults and children alike trying to sell you things along the street or begging and we didn´t really like that aspect of it. I did by a handmade ear warmer for the Inca Trail hike though, my very first purchase from Peru! After lunch we climbed down 300 or more steps to meet our boat on the other side of the island for the hour journey to Isla Amantani where were staying overnight. We met our Mamas for our homestay and separated from the group to really experience living as the locals do. Sylvia was Mama to Kim, Lynn, and I for the night. It was quite an experience! We could communicate with her in Spanish although we tried to speak the local Quechua of the island following the cheat sheets Roger gave to us to help. She has an adorable 4 year old daughter, Yesi, who was very helpful showing us around the house and our room, which was very cozy! There was a futbol match between the locals and visiters which I was only a spectator for as they got very aggressive! We had to huff and puff up the hills on the island so I´m not sure how they were able to play a hard game of soccer! We made it back to the house just in time before the rain started to come down. Sylvia knew when we got there it was going to rain that evening and she couldn´t have been more right. There was even frozen rain and hail! We played cards and waited for dinner which Constantina made for us. I think she was the grandmother of the house. After dinner it was time to dress up as the locals do for the fiesta! Those pictures are quite amusing, and cute! The fiesta was quite fun! We all danced together and our Mamas got us out on the dance floor too. The locals showed us some of the local dances too, the best of which to watch was the one to determine who was stronger, men or women. There were ropes and bottles of soda, lots of laughter, and quite a sight involved in that one. I tried to get some pictures! The bed was quite cozy and the whole experience of staying on the island is one that I will not sure forget. It is humbling to see how others live. It is something about travel that I love to see how the rest of the world experiences life differently than what I often see. Materialism and greed don´t seem to exist. The people seem to be genuinely happy and that is without cell phones, cars, computers, heaps of jewelry and gadgets. It is wonderful!

BTW (by the way) I have not missed my cell phone at ALL for the past couple of months. In fact, I haven´t even thought about it for weeks! I love it!

Day 10: Kim was the first to wish me Happy Birthday on my big day when we awoke on the island. Yummy pancake breakfast was a good start too! Yesi was so cute calling us to the cocina, kitchen. We then had to say goodbye to our new families and board the boat for the 3 hour trip to the floating reed islands. Its not everyone that gets to spend their birthday on the Uros islands. They are incredible. The inhabitants use reed rootbeds anchored to the seabed and meters of layered reeds above to create their communities! It was amazing! There were island after island all made from reeds! The people welcomed us and showed us how they live, even inviting us into their homes. They are very artistic as well making beautiful mobiles out of reeds and embroidering fabrics. It was a great experience and another chance to see how diverse and wonderful the people of the world are!

Back to Puno it was great to take a shower! Georgia gave me my first present, a little llama! I spent a good bit of my birthday at another internet cafe, but it was raining anyway again so I didn´t feel too bad! It was actually a wonderful birthday because I used Skyped and called some family and friends who I knew would have wanted to call me on my birthday. Erin said, "Why are you calling me on YOUR birthday?" "Because you can´t call me!" was my response! It was great! Then it was back to the hotel to meet up with the group for dinner. It was one of the best birthdays in a while! We had dinner at a place called Heros which was quite good. The most interesting (and totally disgusting!) aspect of the dinner was the cuy, guinea pig, that they served at my place with a candle on its head! Just wait for those pictures...my face is classic! It was probably the most grostesque thing that I have ever seen on a plate! There was also delicious cake involved in the evening though, so it balanced out! I thank all my group for making it a wonderful evening. There was a local band that played music through most of the meal (and they were great!), we even got up and danced some! I was sung Happy Birthday to twice and they had even got the bag that I had seen on the first day for me! We went out dancing after dinner to round out the evening! (There is a very funny video of us dancing that I have been told will be posted to Facebook...:-) That should be interesting!) What a great birthday!

Day 11: Finally I am up to yesterday! It was not a very exciting day I must say as we spend 7.5 hours on a bus!! The trip from Puno to Cuzco was not quite as beautiful as some of our previous days, but it was very pretty. Some chatting to James, some sleeping, some reading, and some snacking and then we arrived! Cuzco is a great city. Very beautiful only blemished by the people constantly asking you to buy something on the street. I can´t even count the number of times I have been asked if I want a massage, mani, or pedi! I guess that must be something a lot of tourists actually do want. Late lunch, bit of walking around, then meeting for the Inca Trail!! Out for dessert (just keeping the birthday excuse going for a few more days!) then to bed.

Day 12: Today! PARAGLIDING!! I couldn´t resist the chance for another adventure sport although I don´t think this one is for me. Got a little more motion sick than I wanted to, but the scenery was gorgeous, multicolored farmland (we even landed in a recently plowed potato field!), snow capped mountains, and part of the Sacred Valley. It was a bit of an off day, perhaps because of the motion sickness and then the late lunch at the organic place that would turn anyone off organic food! (Undercooked chicken, slow service, not great food, and expensive little portions!) Did a bit of packing this afternoon before meeting up with my friend Caroline that I met when I was in Buenos Aires who is also in Cuzco! I love all the connections...this one from New Zealand. And you all know I will be returning there...perhaps on the next RTW trip (2009? :-) Ok...so not that soon as I have to earn some money first to pay for another life changing, amazing experience!).

Off to pack for the Inca Trail which we leave at 6am in the morning to start hiking! I can´t wait to share about the hike!

Hope I didn´t bore you too much with all the words...you know I´ll share more pictures when I can!

All my love!

Love,
Ali / Althea
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Puno, Peru

Peru is fabulous! I must admit that it has far exceeded my expectations. There is coast, desert, highlands, and more! The scenery is absolutely gorgeous and the weather has been on our side the whole time! We have been having some wonderful experiences. I want to share them with all of you, but its my birthday and I want to get out of the internet lab! So I will talk with you again very soon!! It´s time to go get ready to celebrate my birthday with my great group here in Peru!

Much love!!

Love,
Ali / Althea
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Arequipa, Peru

¡Hola Amigos!

The company I´m touring Peru with is called G.A.P., or Great Adventure People and so far, this has been one great adventure!

On Day 1 I met the group I would be spending the next 21 days with. Ironically it is the exact same make up as my tour in Egypt. There are 11 of us, 3 couples, 2 solo guys, and 3 solo girls. It is a really good group, mixed ages, but so easy going and fun too! Lynn and Terry are an ´older´ married couple from Melbourne, Australia; Rachel and Russell, also from Melbourne are actually on their honeymoon!; Sofie and Andre are from Sweden (very exciting to me of course!); James is my age from England, Paul is a ´slightly older´ Irishman; Georgia, my roommate so far is from Perth, Australia; and Kim, South African, but living in London now rounds out the group...except for me! We got the run down for the trip from Angel, our guide, before having dinner all together by the beach in Lima. I hadn´t even realized that there was a beach so close to our meeting hotel. Lima was a fine city, but I didn´t actually get the chance to explore very much of it. Had to do some laundry and errands instead! Angel is great! He is from a small town in Northern Peru, but so knowledgeable and lots of fun to be around!

On Day 2 we boarded a public bus to take us from Lima to Pisco for the night. Better than I was envisioning, the public bus was actually pretty comfortable. It was the longest bus I think I have ever seen though! Not even sure how many seats. Took about 5 hours to get there since we stopped ALL the time to pick up and drop off some people. We had to hold our day packs between our legs and keep an eye on everything, but overall, so far I haven´t felt unsafe anywhere that we have been. Using the money belt and even wearing my day pack on the front sometimes (even though I hate wearing a big ole backpack on my front!...Safety first!). When we arrived in Pisco we boarded a mini bus to go to the hotel. Luck wasn´t with me...as I went to sit down I caught the back of my leg on the seat that was folded up and tore the back of my pants open and scratched my leg. It even drew blood! No good...with so few clothes in my repetoire I can´t afford to have things unwearable!! It isn´t a huge hole, but its there, just below my ass...haha. Was going to fix it with my handy dandy sewing kit, but I don´t think it is going to work because of the fabric. Someone suggested a Peru patch...this could get interesting! :-) A walk around the town showed us some of the damage from last August´s earthquake. There is still a lot of rebuilding to be done and because of this it reminded me of Egypt in a lot of ways. Dinner at the hotel, which was very cute, and must have been one of the first things rebuilt.

On the morning of day 3 we got up early for a boat trip out to the Islas Ballestras where we saw heaps (love that word!) of birds (Peruvian boobies, Pelicans), cute little penguins, sea lions, and lots and lots of guana! Every 7 years they go to the island and collect approximately 150,000 tons of bird poop to sell for fertilizer! Needlesstosay...it was pretty smelly! The animals were just precious though and we were up close and personal. I took about 150 pictures...of course! Need to probably delete a few, but it was so fun to capture the images! The mini bus drove us to a Pisco distillery then , I think in Ica, to get a tour and learn about the process of making Pisco. We then got the chance to taste some of the products...WAY strong stuff that Pisco. I was happy to just try a little bit. I have sipped a few Pisco Sours that others have gotten though and they are quite tasty, just a little stronger, but with a similar taste to a margarita. Those Spanish sure stumbled across something when they tried to make wine in Peru. Once everyone had a slight buzz going (not really! ;-)) we got back on the bus and headed off to more of a dessert (desert...not dessert :-)) than I saw in Egypt practically. This was our lunch stop, but thankfully, BEFORE lunch we went riding on dune buggies! It was incredibly fun! More like a roller coaster ride as our driver Pacho went so fast up and around the HUGE sand dunes. Rachel was sitting next to me holding onto the bar in front with so much force she took a bit of paint off, but it was actually so much fun! The view was awesome. There were dunes all around us, but an oasis like valley filled with green in the distance and then mountains beyond that. We even stopped in a true oasis in the middle of the sand. (Just reinforced mydesire to go on safari in Africa!) In addition to getting an awesome ride we stopped along the way to go sandboarding! Considering I´m awful at snowboarding I didn´t do any standing up, but the best way to go down the dunes was on your stomach, head first! Quite exhillerating as we got going really, really fast! On the steepest, fastest, last run, I went further than anybody...beating Russell by only 1 foot! Just pay back for him beating me by one foot of the run before. It was a totally fun time and even though we ended up coated in sand, it was great! Lunch after was needed after all the sandboarding work and then off to Nasca.

The drive to Nasca was magnificant. I had no idea that the landscape of Peru was like it is. There are deserts and then lush valleys between mountains. The Panamerican highway we have traveled down the coast winds around and through mountain passes. And you can just stay on it and get all the way up and through the US. I tried to capture some of the gorgeous scenery on film, but I´m not sure how well I could. I was just blown away by how beautiful it was. We had dinner at the hotel that evening at Hotel San Marcelo. (I haven´t been having great luck with food on the trip; I don´t order something good, it takes the longest to arrive (everyone else was already done at one meal!), but my luck is improving and the stuffed avocado I had here was pretty awesome!) All of the hotels so far on the trip have been great. Really cute, and most importantly, clean too! My clothes stayed intact this day!

On Day 4 we started with the mysterious Nazca Lines. An early flight over the lines gave us the only view that actually gives you the chance to see the lines. We boarded teeny 6 passenger Sesnas and up we went to get the birds eye view! The lines were unbelieveable. The fact that they are still there after so many years is amazing in itself, but they are well protected from wind and with a climate of almost no rain, they are still very clear. As you can probably imagine, even with taking a motion sickness pill, I ended up only making it through about 1/2 of the ride before my head didn´t really move off of the window. I was pretty sick, but I didn´t throw up! Just when I got off the plane Rachel (who knew she wouldn´t even be able to make it) said wow you look pale. I was just about white! A coke and sitting down brought me back pretty quickly, but even so...it was totally worth it! Those lines are amazing! And the plane ride was amazing in iteself. Smallest plane I´ve ever been on now, replacing the one from skydiving. Next, our tour guide for the day, Susie, took us to an old cemetary. This is not one with gravestones and tombs, and the complete opposite of the Recoleta Cemetary that I visited in Buenos Aires. Here the tombs were under ground untill grave robbers unearthed the tresures burried with the mummies, leaving the bodies on the surface. Again, because of protection and no rain some of the textiles and pottery items are still very well preserved. The most amazing thing about this place, though, is that as you walk along to the different tombs you are litterally catching human remains in your shoes. There are bones everywhere. Some still intact and others broken down over time into small fragments. Its so strange if you think about it. It was an amazing place though. Ater lunch, and a walk around the town, a group of us went to see the Aqueducts of the Incas. There are over 60 spiraled holes down to the flow of the water from the mountains down to the city, where it is taken into canals still today. Angel was being adventurous and wanting to walk through from one hole to another. I figured it would be fun to join in...not realizing how small the hole would actually be! In the true style of the people who once cleaned these holes we crawled through. I was able to do it crouched down and not actually crawling. Managed to keep everything dry, except myfeet, and only got the back of my shirt a little dirty. It was a bit scary when it was completely dark and I couldn´t even see the light at the other end (because there was a turn right before you emerged!), but I was right behind James the whole time and called out to Angel to make sure that he was actually getting to the end. One part in the middle required a bit of a sideways turn to fit, but it was actually pretty fun! Hopefully there were any parasites in that water, but I´m sure it was fine, people use that water afterall! Quite adventurous though!

The day just wouldn´t end! We went to see another line called the loom at this point, which is not right with the other lines, but visible from a look up just a short walk up a hill near the aqueducts. Then it was back to the hotel for a rest before we went to have Pacha Mancha for dinner. It is a delicacy from the Incas where the food is cooked under ground for a couple of hours with hot stones. We did a little ritual reinactment before pulling all of the food out of the ground. It was really interesting! Some people said that the vegetables at the top (next to the plastic that they used to protect the food from the dirt that they piled on top) actually tasted a little plasticy, but the vegetables they made for the vegos, corn wrapped broccoli, onions, and even bananas, were delicious! Back to grab our bags and then it was off to the bus station to board an overnight bus here to Arequipa. It was a lot more comfortable than I expected it to be. Even though we were on the top level of a double decker bus and when we went around the curves there were a couple of times I wasn´t sure we were actually going to right ourselves again, I could actually get some sleep!!

Arrived in Arequipa, went on a short walk, took a nap, joined the group for lunch and a visit to the Juanita mummy found of the peak of a volcano just outside of the city (Incredibly well preserved and amzing to see), walked with Kim to the Santa Maria Convent with it brightly painted red, blue, and yellow walls and 400 years of history. Price and quality compared the choices for memory cards in the city before finally deciding on one that I´m sure will be fine! Afterall, if you are going to take 150 pickures of animals and another 75 of lines you have to keep stocking up!! Dinner with the group last night, out for a drink, or just the company in my case, and then to bed. Today we are off to the Colca Canyon. The deepest canyon in the world!!

The adventure continues...

So fun!

Miss and love you all very much!

Love,
Ali / Althea
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Lima, Peru

As hard to believe to me as it is, I have made it to my final stop on my journey around the world...Peru! I arrived last night after quite an eventful travel experience...

Started yesterday in BA for a little more walking around the city. Enjoyed the Antiques street market in San Telmo, and then splurged on a gorgeous Argentina made leather bag before getting ready to leave for the airport. The Manula Tienda Leon service picked me up in an unexpected car instead of a bus at 5pm. Joined with the bus at the station and then napped most of the approx. 40 minutes to the airport! (My plan to catch up on sleep was hard in a place like BA where even if you stay in at night you are chatting and kept up late too!)

You would think that arriving at 18:00 for a 21:10 flight would be enough time, right? First, I had to get my tax free receipt stamped (although that move ended up to be useless...getting to that) and then figure out where in the world the line that I was supposed to be in at the LAN Airlines counter started. Had to ask and proceeded to my spot for the next 2 hours! There were delays, the board said my flight was when I first arrived, but then the staff said it was actually on time! They basically had only 1 counter open for my flight and the rest for all the people on the other flights that were going to miss their connections. Although, as time got short they started to give us more counters! I think they realized we were never going to all get through. I read my book, put my pack in its airplane bag, stared into space, listened to other people´s conversations (mostly about how ridiculous the process was going!), and just waited! Finally, I checked in! Didn´t even bother to ask to switch to an aisle seat like I had wanted to. I then had to go and wait in the (thankfully much faster moving) line to pay the $18 USD airport tax not included in the ticket prices. Finally made it out of the lobby area and upstairs. Skipped the refund desk, opting to try to get it inside the gate area. Good choice on my part...there was another line inside for the security checkpoint. Again, faster moving, but the line after that to go through customs was not so much! I was starting to get a little worried about even making it at this point since the flight actually was on time! Finally, I was through all the lines and it was final call for my flight! Sadly, no time to get my tax back! Very hectic 3 hours! Turned out to be 2-3-2 configuration, so my window seat was only one in and I slept most of the about 4.5 hours anyway.

Arrived at the hotel about 12:15 this morning and went right to sleep. Didn´t get to sleep in though since my room was right next to the door and the reception! Today has been an errand day. Got to an ATM, the grocery store, did my laundry (possibly for the last time except sink washes along the tour) and organized before heading here to one of the cheapest internet cafes of the trip!

Meeting the tour group and guide tonight at 7pm. Hoping for a good group again! So far, my roommate for the night is Georgia from Australia...more Aussies! I´m excited for the trip to begin. Ready to be led around this country I´m expecting to offer some more pretty awesome experiences!

Not sure when I´ll be able to write along the way, but I´ll do my best!

Missing you all! Much love from Peru!

Love,
Ali / Althea
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ajohnson/1/1228163760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ajohnson/1/1228163760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ajohnson/1/1228163760/tpod.html Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:13:21 -0500 Althea's Trip Around the World 2008 - One Step at a Time

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos dias mis amigos!!

I realized after my last, short, message that a lot more happened while I was in BA! So, I thought I would spend a bit of time and share it with you!

No power:
On my first full day in the city I arrived back in the afternoon after a long, and extremely hot walk down Avienda de Mayo, through the Plaza del Mayo and the Casa Rosada, and the recently rejuvinated Puerto Madero along the water. I was looking forward to the air conditioning and the planned BBQ at the hostel that evening. Instead, I arrived back to the hostel to find the power out. I had noticed along the street that some of the businesses were dark and had the feeling that something was up. The elevator was out so I started the climb up the stairs to the 6th floor. (Now...you would think that 8 months climbing the 5 flights of stairs to my apartment in NYC would have me ready for this, but the ceilings must be higher here!) Wasn´t sure what to do at this point with the sweltering heat. All the air conditioners being put on high at the same time was probably the cause of the outage! Good day to meet other people at the hostel though, as we all complained about the heat and tried to figure out what to do. This was when I met some Aussies and Kiwis and we got some card games going. We literally played for hours and found the upper rooftop terrace actually provided us with some sort of breeze. As the evening turned into night it actually felt pleasant outside! Unfortunately the BBQ got cancelled due to lack of power which meant we had to eat, so we went as a group to a place down the street (where the power was on!). Came back to the hostel where the lower terrace had turned into more of a party spot where we stayed and enjoyed the evening going out to experience the crazy late BA nightlife that I mentioned in my last message.
Now you might think this is the end of the story, but the next afternoon, again after arriving back from walking around the power was out again! Thankfully it only lasted a couple of hours instead of the 7 or so of the day before. I wasn´t even shocked to find the elevator out this time (and to be honest I even took the stairs when the power was actually working :-)). Rain that morning had really cooled things off though, so it wasn´t nearly as sweltering as the day before.

Rivers as Streets:
Next day, more excitement! After a really good morning walking through the cemetery De Recoleta. Eva Peron was the one person I knew buried there. But, it is full of tombs, some grand and some simple. Evita´s was very simple. Joaquin(US) and Nicki (Aussie) happened to find me in the market right outside so we spent the rest of the afternoon together. Took a long walk to Palermo and found Bio, a vegetarian restaurant that I read about in my guidebook and just had to try! It was nice to have the company to eat with there too! Then we went to Palermo Soho where the bars give their space during the day to up and coming clothing designers. I couldn´t resist and ended up buying a dress! I met the person who made it though and I know that any time I wear that dress I´ll be the only one with it on! After a few more shops, which I willed myself to stay out of to avoid any temptations, the sky opened! Literally. The rain came down in buckets and had nowhere to go. The streets were flowing with water like rivers! We debated our options to get back, subway or taxi. We went with taxi! In the approx. 3.5 seconds it took us to get from under the awning to in the cab we were totally drenched! It was crazy! The cabbie was awesome though and took the drive very slowly and safely and we were very pleased to be inside and not outside. In some spots you couldn´t see the difference between the streets and the sidewalks and people were walking with water up to their midcalves in one spot! (Saw on TV later that in La Boca the water was feet deep in the streets!) We even had to turn around one time because he didn´t think we would make it throug the streets. We almost figured the rain would be cause for another power outage that afternoon, but thankfully the power was on and we could have warm showers! And then a nice nap!
That night was the Tango show!

So...there is some of the BA excitement!

Love you all very much!

Ali / Althea
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Buenos Aires, Argentina

I feel like I have been in Buenos Aires for weeks and not just days! Not sure why the time seems to be going by so slowly. Considering I didn't even really want to be here when I first arrived, I actually had a really nice time here in Argentina.

There was a lot of walking and looking through markets during my time here. The one museum I did go to with a couple of friends was full of doors...we finally figured out there was more to the Museo de la cuidad (City Museum) in the next building! After them teasing me about where I had brought them.

If you are coming to BA, get ready to party! I could only handle one night of going out with a group from the hostel. I came in pretty late, but there are days when the crowd (much more calm then the crowd at the clubs) on the terrace outside here has night owls overlapping with the breakfast eating group. I must say...I relinquish the claim that NYC never sleeps to Buenos Aires! I did try to catch up the next few nights though!

I did get to see some Tango while I was here! Made it a stipulation that I had to! Last night at the 11pm show, 2 friends from the hostel and I went to famous Cafe Tortoni to see an intimate show. There was a good bit of singing along with the dancing, but the music was what absolutely made the show!

Can't believe I'm off to Peru now...but I'm literally hurrying to get up a quick message before I get picked up to head to the airport! Getting excited...:-)

Much love,
Ali / Althea
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