TravelStream™ news feed for member bjergaard on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/bjergaard en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:50:42 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251990170/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251990170/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251990170/tpod.html Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:50:42 -0400 Xi'an China - the Wild Wild East

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Aguas Calientes, Sacred Valley, Peru

The last few days have been long, but worth it. I am writing retroactively and I am absolutely exhausted. Andy is sleeping in the chair in front of me and Eric is reading next to me. We have all taken off our shoes after 18 hours of hiking in two days, and luckily the train employees haven’t kicked us off yet. Our feet smell fantastic.

We arrived in Cusco after a 20 hour bus that was actually 23 hours. We also arrived no less than 5 minutes after the South American Explorers office closed; so much for checking our luggage, getting directions, or buying maps. We were lucky to get an intelligent person at the information office, however, who was able to give us extremely accurate and helpful information, though we found out later it wasn’t entirely complete. After having dinner at a great polleria (rotisserie chicken restaurant) and debating plans, we headed off to catch yet another night bus. This would be our third night bus in a row, preceded by a week solid of sleeping in a hammock on a cargo boat, 4 days sleeping in hammocks in the jungle, and 3 more days before that sleeping in a hammock on another cargo boat. A full night’s sleep on a mattress right now sounds amazing. And hot showers?? We have had one hot shower in exactly three weeks.

Anyway, we took the s/15 ($5) night bus to a town called Santa Maria. This went up and down some standard Peruvian bumpy, windy, unpaved roads. The seats aren’t made for tall people and sleep…we tried the best we could. When we arrived at 2:30 in the morning there was a combi, or minivan bus, waiting to take people to Santa Teresa and the Hydroelectric plant somewhat nearby. Not exactly excited about hiking the 5 hours from St. Teresa to Aguas Calientes at that hour, we took the combi down the extremely bumpy, windy, pothole ridden road to the Hydroelectric plant. We bounced around so much on the ride down that we were lucky the lines in our butts didn’t get erased. What better way to make hiking sound appealing?

We hiked 3 hours to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Mach Picchu, accompanied by another American that we randomly met on the way. The trail was surprisingly easy to follow in the night and it was even lit for part of the way. We took a staircase shortcut about ten minutes into the trail that veered uphill and to the right, by a sign. The shortcut was easy with our flashlights-except when we arrived back at the railroad tracks we took a right instead of a left. Fortunately an early-bird farmer was awake and kind enough to point out that we were headed the wrong way. Beyond that minor detour, the railroad tracks were very easy to follow. There is only one set of railroad tracks which goes straight into Aguas Calientes so beyond screwing up the only turn like we did, you can’t really get lost.

We arrived at Aguas Calientes by 8 am and dropped our stuff off at Puna Wasi, a hostel over the town bridge and directly across from the backpacker train station. For s/15, ($5) the place was great. The windows overlooked the valley and surrounding hillsides. This was the only hot shower we had in the last 3 weeks. And for part of the night we could sleep on a nice, thick, not moving mattress! The guy who owned the place was extremely nice too. He told us about a nearby hill that overlooked Machu Picchu that we could hike to for free. He also told us about the hot springs in town (s/10=$3.33) and how to get there.

We grabbed breakfast and then took his advice on the hot springs. The hot springs near Cajamarca are better, but these were well worth the visit. The water was warm, but not boiling. There were people, but it wasn’t crowded. There were several pools, some cold, some hot, but we found one hot pool and got comfortable and just stayed there. Our ‘quick stop’ at the hot springs turned into relaxing for the entire afternoon & our only regret was that we hadn’t thought of smuggling in beer until after we already paid to get in.

We headed off to the hillsides to get a sneak peak at Machu Picchu, with our group of four becoming a group of five. We didn’t leave any time for acclimating to the altitude and the hillside hike left us surprisingly winded surprisingly fast. It was a fairly well trodden dirt trail that went up a karst-like hill outside of the city. We had probably gotten twenty minutes into it when we ran into a super long, dodgy, makeshift wooden ladder that went up for a solid 25m or more! That’s what health insurance is for right? Accidental death and disability…. It actually looked like the ’sky ladder’ on the Tiger Leaping Gorge trail, or the East Peak of Hua Shan in China-and we have photos that our mom’s will love.

After an hour and a half of dusty trails and dodgy ladders, we reached the top. Machu Picchu could be seen well from one side, although we were far enough away that the view didn’t do the ruins justice. We spent some time taking photos and enjoying the view until our stomachs reminded us that we had skipped lunch.

Heading down to find our dinners, we ran into a large blue wasp that had the same intentions. The wasp, easily 2 inches, was smack in the middle of the trail dragging an even larger dying tarantula off to the side. It was just fascinating to watch! The wasp moved away from the tarantula just long enough for us to take a couple pictures without getting stung. It went to a nearby hole and literally started digging the hole out-presumably to enlarge it to drag in the tarantula. That’s when the tarantula finally moved- just a couple legs and very slowly. The wasp either was lucky enough to find this near-death prey or, probably more likely, stung it, thus killing it and was now dragging it to it’s hole. Although not dead yet, the tarantula was not far from it.

The wasp came back to the tarantula and continued his tug of war. At this point quite a crowd had gathered and the wasp got spooked by an approaching camera and started to fly around. The wasp was big, and eating, and agitated, so we all got spooked as well and booked it out of there before the wasp decided to seek revenge on us.
Finally reaching the town again we headed to a place that had pisco sours on special-5 for s/20 ($6.70 for all)! This was the only thing in that part of town that wasn’t ridiculously overcharged for the typically oblivious, or not caring, tourists. After a dinner of tallarin with cuy, or guinea pig, we finally headed to our beds-the first one since leaving Chiclayo 3 weeks earlier!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251990897/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251990897/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251990897/tpod.html Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:02:09 -0400 Xi'an China - the Wild Wild East

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Pucallpa, Ucayali, Peru

We are still on the boat, and woke up here for the sixth day in row. We will all be glad to get off. A couple yahoo employees don’t cease to throw dustpans full of garbage into the river, a slob of a lady nearby mainly talks to her toddler to yell at her and has searched her tod’s hair for lice a couple of times now. This same kid runs around and plays wherever-including Andy’s nearby hammock. The captain is still unidentified and the “fast boat with double engine power that arrives one day sooner” is getting delayed and will be there two days later. The flight we didn’t take is looking a bit nicer in retrospect, but we are where we are.

The above stuff is enough to irritate you a couple times a day, but the boat really isn’t that bad. We are fed decent portions of food, and we are probably all gaining weight. It is relaxing-Eric and I will have managed to back-log our blog an entire month over the span of 3 days. Plus all three of us have knocked off a bunch of pages in the books that, until now, we have just been carrying around. The walls are open to air during the day. This simultaneously airs the boat out and it doesn’t smell like 150 people have been sleeping on it for days on end, and it also provides great views of the surrounding Amazon. Pink and grey dolphins must be very common as small groups of them surface periodically and, even after 10 days of being on various rivers, its kind of cool to watch them. An older man named Canary, our hammock neighbor, likes to sing (ironically) and has a good voice so he is easy to listen to. He also invited us over to his house in Pucallpa and offered to show us around his city.

Despite the R&R, I don’t know how people spend two weeks on cruise ships. We weren’t really committed to staying on the boat the first day as it was stuck at port, and all of us walked around. I ran for 3.5 hours the day before and I am getting a bit of cabin fever as are Andy and Eric. This is the laziest kind of travel possible-all there is too do is eat, sleep, and scratch each other‘s bug bites.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251991243/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251991243/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251991243/tpod.html Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:55:03 -0400 Xi'an China - the Wild Wild East

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Ucayali River, Peru



There is something nice about waking up to the sunrise on the Amazon. We probably have 200 shots of the sunrise/sunset, most of which are very good. Sitting in the hammock gives you a clear view of the wall-less deck and pink and grey dolphins can be seen periodically surfacing. Hawks sit in trees on the shorelines. Vultures are common and they pick at whatever they can find. We periodically pass villages, filled with stilted and thatched huts, bordered by rice patties and the Amazon jungle.

The boat employees continue to throw things overboard, as do 95% of the locals. The only time the employee showed any remorse for throwing things over the river was when I tried to take a picture of him doing it. The lady next to Andy seemed to be picking lice out of her kids hair. This same toddler ran around unpunished by her mom, touching everybody’s stuff, clinging onto other’s hammocks, and mom was too lazy or cowardly to use any discipline. The only word in this kid's vocab was "ma," which she repeatedly yelled in a high-pitched whiny voice.

Fortunately my hammock neighbor, Canary, has an I.Q. greater than his shoe size and is good company. He has a good sense of humor and interesting to talk to. Andy’s hammock broke and Canary tried to explain to Andy how to fix it. Andy, with less Spanish and travel experience than Eric and I, basically just blinked at the guy. I stepped in to interpret, and we jerry-rigged Andy’s hammock and it has worked ever since. Canary’s original idea was better, but we didn’t have the resources to properly fix it, so that will have to wait till we get home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251476755/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251476755/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1251476755/tpod.html Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:38:02 -0400 Xi'an China - the Wild Wild East

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Otavalo, Ecuador

We left our stuff at South American Explorers in Quito (a kind of home base for us), packed day bags, grabbed lunch, met Danni at the hostel, and headed out to a nearby town called Otavalo. The bus ride took twice as long as it was supposed to, and we wound up getting there rather late in the evening. We stayed at a hostel* two blocks away from the market square. It had a nice rooftop, decent mattresses, and cost $4 or $5 a head.

We got up early that Saturday morning to see the Saturday market which is relatively famous in the area. It takes place at the Plaza de Ponchos, which is the main plaza of the town. It was actually quite impressive with so many vendor stands that the streets converted into mazes. The market spilled from the plaza to the streets and went for several blocks beyond in just about any direction.

Our two hours shopping wound up converting into the whole day. We would probably have bought more if luggage and space capacity wasn’t a problem. Andy and Eric picked up alpaca wool sweaters for about $10 a piece. They had thick, wool, winter hats with ear flaps and felt lining the inside. As a MN girl who loves the cold and as a silent environmentalist who bikes to work even in the winter, I know how valuable those hats are-and how hard they are to find. I bought a couple. Those hats should get imported to the United States. At ski lodges those hats would sell faster than hot chocolate. Skiers and snowboarders know good winter clothes when they see it, and understand the need of buying stuff that’s functional as opposed to just simply fashionable.

We met Aden at the pie shop on the Plaza de Ponchos. This was the best pie Eric and I have had since we left in Jan of 2008, and better then most pie in the States. Should have asked for her recipe. The burgers were enormous and had spices and minced veg mixed in the patty-another thing to replicate when we get back home. Don’t know why I never thought of that.

We continued walking around for the evening and spent another night at the hostel. Aden met up with some friends of his for the night and met us at the hostel the next morning. We grabbed breakfast and were about to head out when I realized I forgot to pay my credit card bill. I ran over to an internet café to quickly take care of that. Unfortunately for me, the security system somehow recognized that I was accessing my account from a foreign computer and sent me through my security questions-which I had forgotten. We have moved so much I had no idea as to what phone number or address was saved. It took me two hours to figure out how to transfer money from my savings to checking account and pay the lousy bill.

We had to make a phone call to clear everything up with the credit card company. This simple call ended in a brief chat with the police about getting overcharged from the phone cabin lady. We got back part of our money (1 dollar) and moved on - weary about getting overcharged again.

The others were kind enough to wait for me and we headed out, no longer on the earliest of starts. We took pictures on the rooftop, and Danni parted ways. Aden and the three of us caught a twenty cent bus to Quiroga and caught a ride in the back of a pick up truck, and paid the two dollar park entry fee just outside of Lake Cuicocha, or guinea pig lake. We spotted the trail that surrounds the lake and hiked probably a third of it as the sun went down. Andy and Aden saw a mt ledge they liked and we bushwhacked down to it. Having done our share of bushwhacking in AK by Denali, and on random hikes where we just got lost, Eric and I reluctantly followed, wondering why anyone would plan to bushwhack. We seem to get enough of it just by accident.

Well, the bushwhacking was short lived and we got to the mt ledge and set up camp. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped and it was actually a bit chilly. Eric fell asleep in his new wool hat. The night sky was amazing, and with no light pollution for miles, zillions of stars could be seen. Aden pointed out some constellations, some of which I guess you can’t see from our northern hemisphere. Nothing better than good company, good views, and being out in the middle of nowhere.

We got up the next morning and hiked the rest of the way around the like. Guinea Pig Lake (Cuicocha in Quechua) gets its name from two islands in the middle that look like sleeping guinea pigs. The lake is set in volcanic culdran that collapsed some few thousand years ago and surrounded by forested Andean mountains- the whole place is just picturesque. It only took a few hours to hike around the lake, and we were probably done by noon. Immediately as we returned to the road, a truck driver said he would give us a ride to town for a dollar a piece. We said we’d walk. An hour later we were kind of regretting that. We got lucky though as maybe 20 more minutes later another truck passed and the driver just said he was headed to town and we were free to jump in back and catch a ride if we wanted. We thanked him and hopped in.

From Quiroga, we took another twenty cent bus to Otavalo. Aden led the way to a great pizza place and we grabbed dinner. After discussing plans over pizza, the three of us decided to gun it to Laguna Mojanda while Aden headed back to Quito. We tried to find a bus to the lagoon, but I don’t think any go there. Then we ran around and tried to find a cheap taxi. After wasting 45 minutes running around trying to find a decent price, we jumped in a $8 cab and headed out to Laguna Mojanda. After 30 minutes in the cab, we could see why this cab ride was higher than the standard couple of bucks. It was a long way from Otavalo, up an unpaved, windy, potholed, dusty road. After probably an hour we got there, and $8 looked more like a bargain price as the guy turned around to drive back to town. We started heading to the south side of the lake, where there was supposed to be a camping spot. Where we got dropped off, we noticed two signs. One was for a circuit trail that looked like it went around the lake. The other went up the Andes to a nearby peak Fuya Fuya.

We walked for over an hour, but we didn’t reach the south side of the lake. Not knowing where the campsite was, we bushwacked again to a slight valley in the mountainsides that looked like it might be a little more out of the wind. We pitched our tents. After we had our tent up, we noticed a pair of large raptors nesting on the cliffs to one side. They didn’t bother us, and we didn’t seem to bother them.

It got cold, dark, and windy quickly and we went to bed not long after the sun went down. Going to bed with the sunset is actually kind of nice as you get up with the sunrise. After a quick breakfast, we continued heading around the lake in the direction that we had started yesterday. The map that we saw initially looked like the trail went all the way around.

We arrived at the actual campsite probably only 20 minutes after setting off that morning. Oh well. We kept moving on. The trail got a little thinner and the weeds got a little thicker, but we pressed on. Andy saw what he thought was “definitely a trail,” and we kept going counterclockwise around the lake. The long grass became more and more tree studded and Eric and I passed a decent sized hole in the ground. We scooted past it quickly, wondering if it was a coyote/wolf den. There were signs that marked that wolves were among the protected species of the park area, so a wolf den seemed like a realistic possibility. Well, definitely a trail came to definitely an end and we entered basically swampy forest land. Perhaps the trail goes all the way around in the dry season, or drier season, or perhaps we just lost it, but if it was there, it wasn’t easy to follow going counter clockwise. The dense forest took forever to bushwhack through and got very mucky in parts. Going through the thicket took a solid hour. Keeping the lake on the left, we made it through. Bits and pieces of garbage we found on the ground indicated that other people had been there before, but it seemed more like we were making our own trail at this point.

The forest ended and a marshy swamp started. And this took forever to walk through. In the drier season this flat ground would be a cinch to walk through. But early July is not dry enough and we sunk into just about every step. We weren’t prepared for that and didn’t have rubber boots. Eric lost his shoe to a footstep full of mud twice. I did once, and then later slipped and landed flat on my butt. Andy was beginning to gain our perspective on bushwacking-it occasionally is needed to get you where you want to go. After tromping through the marsh forever the land climbed back up and out of the muck. We hit grasslands, and then Eric spotted a trail, which we eagerly jumped on. This led us back to the point where the taxi dropped us off-except on the other side of a narrow river! The three of us stared at the river, below a 5 foot valley like gap, and wondered if it was narrow enough to jump across. I ran around looking for a point where the gap narrowed and luckily found a small bridge. We heard an engine rev, and I quickly ran across the bridge and up the hill to the road. I waved at the car as it passed us by, and then drove on. Crap. There wasn’t anyone out here and it was probably going to be awhile before another one came. And it was a long, long walk back into town. And it had taken us until 2 or 3 in the afternoon to get around the lake. Thankfully the car slowed to a stop, went into reverse, and pulled up next to me. Andy and Eric caught up. The Spanish/Ecuadorian couple said they’d give us a ride into town. We thanked them for the ride and shared a couple of gratitude beers with them when we got back to Otavalo. Latinos can be extremely nice people. Knowing that we weren’t from around here, the Ecuadorian lady suggested a bunch of things for us to see and do during our time in Ecuador. She also showed us where her sister lived in town, and where her mom lived, and showed us where it was in relation to the town church so we could find her mom’s house on our own. She told us that if we needed anything, or had any problems with anything, we could go to her mom’s or sister’s houses and that they would help us with whatever.

Latinos can be very welcoming, friendly, kindhearted, and hospitable people, and it wasn’t the first or the last time we have had someone just randomly offer that. The culture is just different here, and the funny thing is if we would have showed up at the girls mom’s house, her mom would probably have cooked us breakfast while we were there. In the States, we put our jobs first, then people. Here, it’s the reverse. It’s just different…but kind of nice.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252019224/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252019224/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252019224/tpod.html Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:10:06 -0400 Xi'an China - the Wild Wild East

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Iquitos, Peru



We spent the night at Mad Mick’s and headed out for the jungle bright and early at 6:45 a.m. We took a car to Nauta, and from there it was all by boat. The Amazon River starts where the rivers Ucayali and Maranon meet. It is so wide that in parts it actually looks like you are in the middle of a lake. We headed up the Ucayali, transferred into an even smaller motorized canoe, and headed out to the lodge. The lodge, like most of the houses we could see on the shore, was elevated on sticks about 5 feet high and a thatched roof and mosquito net walls that were mostly intact. Very basic, but functional. We asked why all the houses were lifted. 2 reasons: apparently, in the wet season, everything is flooded over 5+ meters and the villages on the riverbank become a small venice with everyone forced to get around on canoe for several months. And, in the dry season, which is what we are in now, animals and critters are everywhere on the ground and the elevated floor is safer. Fantastic.

We unloaded our stuff at the lodge and our guide, suggested a hike. He was raised in a small village inside the jungle and grew up knowing first hand the ins and outs of the wild. At this point we had already met a few jungle folk and appreciated the local flavor to which their names where chosen - Achilles, Diesel, and Gedrani. Our guide came from a family with no less imagination and was named Falcon. He grabbed a machete (the tool of the jungle. If you cant do the job with a machete, it probably cant be done) and we headed out the back door of the lodge and into the jungle. Within minutes, we realized just why we had paid for a guide. Falcon tapped a leaf with his machete and stood back. A bunch of ants just fell off of it. “Fire ants. The little ones. They are no problem, but your skin will burn like fire if they bite you.” He tapped another leaf and big red ants scurried up and down the stalk of the branch. “But a few bites from these guys will give you a serious fever in minutes.” We kept on walking, each of us mentally analyzing how we were going to manage walking through this impossibly thick passage of trees without brushing up some poisonous crawling things when even an innocent leaf held lethal fire ants. Falcon meanwhile continued to casually whistle out random bird calls. We saw hawks, termite nests the size refrigerators, loads of butterflies, and a group of monkeys. The monkeys jumped from tree to tree and made an impressive amount of noise for their small size. On a smaller termite nest near the ground falcon chopped off a corner with his machete, exposing hundreds of small brown termites. He showed us how you can hold your hand to the nest and let the termites crawl up your arm. You can then rub your hands and arms to squish all the termites to make an effective natural insect repellent. We mimicked and squished a few termites on our own skin. It would not be until later that we would fully appreciate a good insect repellent.

Near the end of our walk Falcon pointed out the base on a larger tree. First, lets point out the trees in the jungle are tall. Some easily towering no less than 100 meters above. Because of the annual flooding, the soil is permanently soft. So soft, in fact, that many trees hold themselves up in it. Everywhere you try to walk, or even take a canoe, you will come across a felled tree in your path. The taller trees standing above you have made it to this point by developing a huge root structure. As the ground erodes away underneath of them, the base of the tree becomes the roots. Some taller trees appear absolutely gigantic at the base because the roots are fanning out above the ground. We would find out latter these root folds in the tree were home to few interesting characters that come out at night. Falcon grabbed a dead branch of tree off the ground and swung it like a baseball bat at the exposed root. The flat and hollow root worked like a big drum and echoed all the way up the tree and out into the forest. “this is the jungle phone”. Its a distress call to others if you ever get lost. We all grabbed a club and started thumping away on the tree. Not sure how effect the SOS call would be, because with our enthusiasm, we should have had a barrage of help running in- but no one came.

We had lunch at the lodge and then headed out by canoe to a nearby indigenous village. Our first thought would be of people with face paint and loin cloths. However, this thought passed quickly when we realized we arrived during their organized weekly Sunday soccer tournament. Every village in the area rounds up a soccer team (some more equipped than others - read no shoes) to compete for a tournament. Eventually we got bored watching soccer and decided to walk around in the village-or the one street that it consisted of. The houses in the village were all identically elevated off the ground with waist high walls, thatched roofs, and surrounded by some nice looking rice fields. Mid-step Andy grabbed my arm and yelled at me to watch out, but I didn’t know if I was supposed to duck or jump or what. “You just about stepped on it!” I looked down to find a tarantula sitting smack in the middle of the trail It had hairy black legs and a brown patch down the middle of its hairy back. Falcon, our guide came over and picked it up. “The pure black ones are dangerous, not the brown ones“, he says. “This one is just a little baby”. It was about the biggest and hairiest spider I had ever seen. We all took turns holding the tarantula until he decided to run up Andy’s shoulder and Andy swatted him off. The tarantula didn’t seem to like that very much and ran-jumped away into the rice patties. We started to chase to pick up again, but he scrambled and proved pretty fast despite his “baby” size. After the third unsuccessful snatch, we thought to ourselves, “what are we doing!!??” We are trying to pick up an angry tarantula. So we let it run back into the rice fields.

We headed back to the lodge for dinner and as the night set in the mosquitoes started to come out. Being both the winter and the dry season, this is about as good as it will ever get for mosquitoes in the Amazon. And despite that, more and more mosquitoes kept coming out. They were as bad that night as they are in the Boundary Waters. We fell asleep that night grateful for mosquito nets and bug spray loaded with 98% deet.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252018614/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252018614/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252018614/tpod.html Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:59:06 -0400 Xi'an China - the Wild Wild East

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Yurimaguas, Loreto, Peru



After four days aboard a cargo ship living on steel floors and a hammock, you would think that getting feet back on land would be amazing. Unfortunately, however, our destination was Iquitos and the appeal of being back on land evaporates as quickly as the water in the hot Amazonian sun. The port we arrived on is dirtiest, most litter strewn, disgusting beach I have ever seen. Tour operaters hung out on shore, just waiting for people to get off the boat, to lure them into taking their tour. It seems like the louder people yell their ‘great deals’ out to you the less integrity they have. Taxi drivers yelled at us to get in their cabs-they would take us wherever we want to go-oh, how helpful.

We fortunately new where we were going, and a handful of just nice people on the boat had kindly warned us about the safety (or lack thereof) on the dock, and we scooted out of there as fast as we could. We spent the afternoon booking a tour with the agency that ran out of Mick’s hostel. Figuring the hostel was fairly reputable, and they worked together, he would have to be reputable by default. For five all inclusive days in the jungle, and four nights, it wound up costing us s/100/day/person ($33/person/day). However, since there are 5m (15 ft) alligators, 6 m (18 ft) anacondas, even larger boas, deadly spiders, jaguars, and God knows what else, I didn’t really want to try a “Do It Yourself” jungle walk. DIY is great, but we figured probably not for the Amazon, and the 33 bucks a day was probably a good investment.

That night we ate with a Belgium couple we had met on the boat ride up. They had spent the whole day running around with a boy they met on the boat the day before. Apparently, the boy had some kind of medical condition that was causing serious acne on his face, but couldn’t afford any care. Peru has a state run health care system, but it is not very good care. For real treatment, he had told them, he has to pay and it is too expensive for him to afford it. The Belgians offered to pay for all his treatment but insisted on coming along to make sure the money went to get the actual care. They picked up his medication, took him to get shots, and waited with him at the private hospital. Really good people these Belgians were. We ate pizza with them and had a good talk at a pizza place called Chez Maggie. We thought the restaurant would be good because it is in about every city we had seen, but it was disappointing - pizza from home is hard to beat.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252018382/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252018382/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252018382/tpod.html Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:55:25 -0400 Xi'an China - the Wild Wild East

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Yurimaguas, Loreto, Peru



The next morning we woke up in time to see the sunrise and it looked amazing on the amazon river. Andy’s hammock had somehow already broken despite us selecting the top quality 7 dollar brand name. We took the hammock all the way back to the shop and asked for a refund. The owner didn’t look surprised when we explained to him that it had already broken and readily allowed an exchange. (… I am sure now later he must have known that his product was bad, his exchanged hammock didn’t last the return trip either)

Jen and I took a short run through the city anticipating a few days of restlessness ahead of us. We went early enough in the morning to beat the heat, but not early enough to beat the traffic. I am convinced this town has some kind of law in place to limit the size of the automobiles, because we never saw anything on the road with 4 wheels, but did see at least several hundred 3 wheeled motor taxis.

A kid next to us on the boat was laid out on the steel floor and wet washcloth was on her head. The parents were placing water on her stomach and obviously fighting a case of heat exhaustion for the kid. Andy and I ran back into the city to pick up a bottle of electrolyte from the pharmacy to give to the parents. The next morning the girl must have gotten better because she was running around playing tag.

The puppy from the woman next to us was cute until it pissed all over about 2 feet from our bags. This would normally not seem too close except the floor was sheet metal and we were on a moving boat. A crew member saw the puppy and asked the family to send him to the engine room. This resulted in a lonely puppy barking all night long from right below our hammocks. The family never cleaned up after the dog the whole time, it sat in its own urine and feces for days. We slipped it food and water as we went.

Despite missing our 2pm time yesterday, the boat did leave as promised at 11AM Thursday. We should be upset the boat didn’t leave on time, but we were just happy at that point that it did leave and we were on the water.

A group of 10 dental students from Britton came on the boat from the village Laguna in the middle of the night. Well…. 10PM. Man we go to bed early these days. They were all traveling together with a tour guide throughout all of South America and doing it in 30 days. They just spent 7 days in the jungle and had some amazing stories to tell about it. It was fun listening to them and it really got us excited to do the same when we arrive in Iquitos. They brought a small travel magnetic chess board with them and I had a good time playing chess for the first time in ages. They must have been playing a lot on the trip because they were decent competition. Chess proved to be a perfect game for a slow moving boat ride.

The next night we sat out with the brits drinking some way too expensive beer from the monopoly shop on the boat. The night sky was amazing when the clouds are gone in the jungle. The only lights from around anywhere where from our boat. We climbed all the way to above the captain’s deck and could pretty much see the entire sky from off the river. It was a good time.

The crew on this Eduardo VIII boat were amazing. One guy was sweeping constantly, and the meals were good considering the price. The cooks in the kitchen were a little overly flamboyant - and this made sense considering the stigma placed on men doing cooking and dishwashing work. Andy was a pinata for jokes after one of the cooks asked Jen about who he was.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252018140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252018140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252018140/tpod.html Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:51:49 -0400 Xi'an China - the Wild Wild East

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Yurimaguas, Loreto, Peru



Our dodgy bus (read clearly overcharged us and later admitted to it) arrived that morning into Yurimaguas. We were greeted by a barrage of taxis “offering” their services. At one point we were getting pranced by at least 10 people encircling us. Jen commented to them that “nosotros estan como monos in en zoologico, no?” saying that we must be as interesting as zoo animals. The laughed at her wit, but didn’t seem to understand her point as they were all persistent to follow us. We eventually grabbed one taxi who appeared indifferent and probably then not trying to rip us off. He took us to the docks and we ran down to a boat that looked good with a sign reading “2pm HOY, sin falta”. It was to leave this afternoon and claimed without fault. We had already heard the stories of how boat times are usually more possibilities than truly accurate, but we felt great to just be catching a boat after all that traveling. We just made it.

With only a few hours to spare we ran back into town for lunch, a few food supplies and water, and hammocks. Our boat provides 3square a day, a bathroom, and bars to hang up a hammock. It sound like ultimate leisure, but on a cargo boat loaded with cattle and bananas and 300 other people.

We returned back to the boat at 1pm just to be safe. However, by this time most of the hammock space was taken and we forced to use the back of the boat near the engine room (this proved to be a costly error as the days wore on) in order to keep together. Next to us a woman and her puppy came on board.

2pm came. Then 3pm. Then 4, 5. At 5pm we were told the boat would not leave today. However, we were welcome to sleep the night on the cargo boat in our hammocks. OK. At least we would have a place to stay.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252017962/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252017962/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252017962/tpod.html Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:48:19 -0400 Xi'an China - the Wild Wild East

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Chachapoyas, Peru



We arrived at Chachapoyas at four in the morning. We climbed off of the bus and it was still pitch black out and everything was still closed. Man, what we would have done for a 24 hour McDonalds right then and there! But there wasn’t one and we wandered down to the Plaza de Armas in search of an open restaurant. We didn’t find anything. We sat in the empty plaza for a while, still in a sleepy stupor, and then realized that wasn’t really getting us anywhere, so we moved on.

We found a restaurant with a light on so we rang the bell. The desk lady answered, and it looked like we woke her up. We asked if we could store our luggage there if we paid her a sol a bag ($0.30) and she showed us where to leave our stuff. We thanked her and then headed out to the collectivo stop. A collectivo is a taxi that leaves when it is full and all passengers share the price together-almost like a bus taxi. We found one headed to a town called Tingo, and hour and a half away, and at the foothills of Kuelap.

Kuelap is an ancient ruin site built in a cloud-forested mountain range between 900 and 1100 AD by the Chachapoyas, or ‘people of the clouds.‘ Three levels high, with remains of 400+ circular stone houses that housed about 8 people each, and shared by all people in the population (nobility and townspeople alike), Kuelap used to be a city that held roughly 3,500 people. Although the Chachapoyans were fierce warriors they were conquered by the Incas around 1500’s and the site was later captured again by the Spaniard conquistadors who looted and eventually burned the place down. Most of the structure was made of stone and withstood the burning but had a tougher time withstanding the next 500 years of forgotten neglect. It was rediscovered some 30 years ago and restoration works are very slowly underway. During the restorations, mummies were unearthed. And to the researchers surprise, some of the mummies were blonde, making the researchers think the that the fort may have even of been of Viking origin.

700m long and 100m wide, it is half the size of Macchu Picchu, and has been nicknamed the Macchu Picchu of the North. Only most tourists haven’t found it yet and the number of tourists that enter Macchu Picchu in a day enter Kuelap in a year.

It’s a long, windy, dusty, bumpy, mainly unpaved mountain road that runs from Chachapoyast to Tingo. Tingo is a small town with two restaurants, one hostel (although one more might be opening), one bridge, two little mini markets, and probably more chickens than people. If you need to use the phone you have to cross the bridge out of town, walk uphill for ten minutes, and look for a blue building that has a phone inside. And if that doesn’t work…too bad.

Fortunately one of the two restaurants was open when we got to Tingo and we ordered breakfast before setting out. Eric found hair in his food at the restaurant here marking an astounding record of 5 meals in a row finding a hair in his food.

The trail up to Kuelap is a narrow well-trodden foot/horse path that runs up along the mountainsides. In the rainy season the muddy trail becomes extremely difficult to follow, rain runs down it creating an attractive mucky river filled with horse, cow, and donkey poop. As you set your foot down and sink into a pile of mystery mud soup, all you can do is hope the hookworm is not that common. Last time Eric and I went to Kuelap, it was in the rainy season and the hike got pretty rough-he lost his shoe to a foot full of muck and had to unbury it to put it back on, then on the way down he rolled his ankle, and to make bad worse we got caught hiking back in the dark. Fun.

Yet here we were again a couple of months later, with Andy, ready to do it again. The hike in the rainy season from the dry season is as different as night and day. We hiked up in 4.5 hours and there was no water on the trail at all. It was a nice clear trail along the Andean mountainsides with great views. An impressive number of hummingbirds buzzed around.

Reaching the top, we bought a couple of waters, bought tickets from the office which had inconveniently moved a kilometer away since we were there last, and entered the gate of Kuelap. The gate is more like a narrow 1m opening in a 20m high rock wall that extends from one length of Kuelap to the other. You walk into the first tier of the old residence, and it is pretty amazing. Circular structures are all over, some more ruined than standing and others more standing than ruined. There are decorative diamond shape patters that are clearly visible. And from any end of the ruins, all you see is Andean mountainsides surrounding you. Trees grow all over the ruins and are almost as impressive as the ruins themselves. They grow everywhere and they are filled with red and green bromeliads and some have brightly colored orchids. Where there aren’t trees there is long grass, and with the misty clouds, it could be in an Indiana Jones film. Llamas walk around and eat the grass as they go.

We spent a couple hours there -not long enough again- before we decided to go down as it was getting dark. We headed to a nearby parking lot on the other end of the fortress to since we were told there might be a collectivo that evening heading to Tingo. Well, there wasn’t. We had planned on it being there, and now it was getting to late to hike back up to Kuelap, back to the trail, and back down, so we paused for a minute trying to figure out what to do. “Ask them,” a nearby Argentinean (the only other foreigner) said and pointed to a couple getting into the car. They were kind enough to give us a ride, and it couldn’t have worked out better. We stopped at a great restaurant on the way back, had dinner with them, and hitch hiked with them all the way back to Chachapoyas. We parted ways there as they were going to spend the night in the city and we moved on to Pedro Ruiz to catch a night bus into Yurimaguas and head out to the jungle.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252017764/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252017764/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bjergaard/1/1252017764/tpod.html Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:45:11 -0400 Xi'an China - the Wild Wild East

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Chiclayo, Peru



We started off with breakfast at Don Benny’s, an absolutely great local restaurant that should be put into the Lonely Planet. It’s a simple bakery with great empanadas and cakes-everything we ordered was good. Anyone who goes to Chiclayo should stop there.

We booked our tickets to Chachapoyas for later that night and then headed off to visit El Museo de Sipan, or the Sipan Museum. The Sipan lived around the coastal areas of Chiclayo and constructed large pyramids built out of adobe bricks around 300 AD. I don’t remember what happened to the Sipan people-they were probably conquered by the Incas and later by the Spaniards, like all the other tribes before them. Regardless, with the wear and tear of time, their pyramids degraded into earthen mounds and got forgotten about. This was until the late 1980’s when a local archeologist noticed the black market was getting filled with artifacts, and he realized there was an incredible burial site was getting ransacked. After some scuffles with grave-robbers, or huaqueros, the archaeologist and the police managed to protect and restrict the site.

We never actually made it to the site as that was further out of town, (we heard it would be closed that day) but locals told us that most of the interesting stuff at the site had been moved to the museum anyway. We wandered around the museum for a couple of hours, admired the gold craftsmanship, the ceramic pottery, and read about the Sipan culture.

The rest of the day isn’t really worth writing home about. We headed back to hostel to grab our stuff, headed to the bus station, and hopped on the night bus to Chachapoyas.
]]>