Nasca

My next stop was Nasca. The main attraction here are the Nasca Lines
- geoglyphs carved in the middle of the desert hundreds of years ago
by pre-Incans that are only visible by air. I took a flight in a
Cessna to view the lines, but archeologists are baffled as to how the
ancient people created the drawings. Since they are only able to be
seen from above, it is a mystery how the geometry was worked out
initially. Incidentally, most Peruvians I talked to are convinced
that the Nasca people used San Pedro cactus to create the drawings -
the incredibly-potent hallucinogenic supposedly allowed the Nasca
people to leave their bodies, fly above the desert, and direct the
drawings from the air.

The other interesting thing to do in Nasca is sandboarding. I hiked
for hours through the desert before dawn to climb the world's tallest
sand dune (2,000 meters!) only to slide down the whole thing in about
25 minutes. It was amazing, but I was camera-less for fear of ruining
lenses with sand. Seriously a beautiful hike though.

Colca Canyon

Six hours north of Arequipa is the Colca Canyon - twice as deep as the
Grand Canyon, but almost an afterthought on the tour circuit. I spent
three days walking from the rim to the base of the canyon (and back),
stopping to view a family of massive condors, swim in natural hot
springs, eat cuy (roasted guinea pigs) in a small village, and watch a
woman check her llama in the luggage compartment under the bus back to
Arequipa.

Arequipa

After Puno and Titicaca, I headed west to Arequipa. Set in the
foothills of eight active volcanoes, Arequipa is known as the "white
city" because the mineral content of the lava rock used to construct
its major buildings makes the stone bright white. Arequipa ended up
being my favorite city in Peru - in addition to the eye-catching
building materials, there was an enormous monastery in the center of
town that boasted great architecture and plaza space, a museum devoted
to the "ice mummy" Juanita (a young girl sacrificed by the Incas in
the mountain tops, then discovered perfectly intact hundreds of years
later after volcanic activity dislodged her from the ice at the peak
of the mountain where she was killed), and some of the spiciest (and
tastiest) ceviche I ate in Peru.

Titicaca, continued

My second stop in Lake Titicaca was the island of Amantani. The
island was nearly as rustic - it lacked running water and electricity,
though it featured buildings set on solid ground - but it was a
pleasure to spend the night on the island. I stayed with a host
family that was very welcoming - I played soccer with the 10-year old
boy before eating a meal of quinoa, potatoes and eggs with the family
- despite only knowing a few words of Spanish (the main language in
this region is quechua).

In addition to hiking around the island to take in a sunset, I went to
a "traditional" island dance, with live music and Inca Kola... plus,
my host family provided me with a poncho and stocking hat to help me
fit in at the party. I didn't have my camera with me that night, but
there are enough pictures of me and my fellow tourists in our costumes
on Facebook that I am sure you can seek one out if you are really
motivated...

Urso Islands

After leaving Cusco, I headed south to Puno, the port city on the
Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. The city didn't offer much - it was
small, suffered from a malodorous lagoon, and was overcrowded - but
the trip to the lake made it worthwhile.

I took a two-day tour of the lake; the first stop was a floating Urso
"island" built out of reeds. The Urso culture pre-dates the Incas in
Peru, and they were notoriously isolationist. Rather than allow
themselves to be assimilated by the Incas, they left their original
homes on the banks of the lake and built boats, houses, and civic
buildings out of floating reeds, then left land behind. Today, they
still live on these small floating islands, but are much less focused
on isolation - they subsist primarily by giving tours of their homes
and selling crafts to tourists.

And we're back!

Again, sorry for the delay. After leaving Cusco, I had really poor
WiFi coverage and few opportunities to upload photos. Please bear
with me while I catch up on the last three weeks of my travels in
Peru.

To kick things off, here's one of my favorite pictures from Machu
PIcchu. Nothing new to say about it, I just thought it was a pretty
way to reintroduce myself to blogging.

Disculpeme...

Sorry for the lack of activity in recent days. After Machu Picchu and
Cusco, I traveled south to Puno, spent two days on islands in Lake
Titicaca, went trekking for three days in the Colca Canyon, and now
find myself in Nasca preparing for a flight over the Nasca Lines and
sandboading on Cerro Blanco (the world's tallest sand dune).

As the trip has become more rugged, wifi access has been limited so I
haven't been able to upload photos. I'm back home in a week though,
so stay tuned for full reports and lots of new photos soon!

Not sure why...

...but one photo didn't make it up yesterday, and everything was
posted out of order. Regardless, there are two pages of new posts and
pictures below to check out!

All's well that ends well

Despite some headaches, nothing can detract from how special a place
Machu Picchu is - one of the most awe-inspiring places I have ever seen.

¡Llamame!

This is a sequel to the playful buffalo picture I took in Yellowstone
last summer.

Machu Picchu from above

The fog lifted before long

But that makes it look dramatic!

Almost there!

After crossing over the mountain and descending through a cloud
forest, we only had a few more hours of walking along the river to
reach Machu Picchu.

It was a little foggy when we showed up

Mount Salkantay

This is the 4100 m high mountain we walked over on the way to Machu
Picchu.

Somos Peru - ¡Juntos Lo Podemos!

Unfortunately I think the above slogan refers to taking advntage of
tourists. Matthew and I signed up for a five-day trek over Mt
Salkantay to Machu Picchu, covering 78 km and crossing a 4100 m peak
en route. We had a number of lowlights, including:
- a leaky tent with a zipper that required four hands and 20 minutes
to close; two inconveniences during the rainy season in mosquito
country;
- a wet down sleeping bag without a working zipper; only an issue the
first night while trying to sleep above 3600 m;
- an anti-semetic tour guide; bad in general, more of an issue because
of the six Israelis in our group...
- a booking agency that failed to buy us return tickets from Machu
Picchu, but didn't tell us until 20 minutes before the last train was
supposed to leave; no one wanted to go back to Cusco (where there is
hot water, nice food, flush toilets and clean clothes) anyway.

But honestly, despite being a bit irritated by the hassle and lack of
service, the trip was amazing. The Peruvian countryside is lovely, and
I walked over a snow-capped mountain, through a cloud forest, and
along a river valley in just a few days. I saw stars, monkeys,
orchids, llamas, hot springs... All en route to Machu Picchu, which
was a site worth any amount of hassle to visit. Plus I learned a new
card game, Yanof, from the Israelis, my Spanish got better with lots
of help from Matthew, and I met some fun fellow travelers along the way.

¡Vale la pena! To prove it, some nice photos will follow this post...

Inca bound

I arrived in Cusco this morning, and after a hearty lunch of fried
trout and two mugs of tea I felt properly amped to plan my hike.

This photo is taken from the balcony of my hostel, which I'll be
leaving at 430 tomorrow morning to start hiking up to Machu Picchu.
The trek lasts five days, but I'll update photos and impressions when
I return to town next week.

Torres del Paine

The iPhone can do quite a bit, but it doesn't really do justice to the
color landscape, the scale of mountains, or the intensity of the sky
here. Still, it is better than nothing...

Hiked about 500 meters up the mountain in the foreground today, then
down an equal distance to a river for lunch before reversing course
and catching the bus back to town. Nice warm up for the multi-day
kayak and camp trip I am doing on Monday.

Big sky

Wow - the town is pretty tiny and remote (go figure) but I don't think
that it is an overstatement to call the scenery dramatic.

A la frontera

Crossed the border in to Chile today to spend five days hiking,
boating, and outdoorsy in general. I hope it was worth the six hour
bus ride along a mostly unpaved road - I'll report results when I can.

The cold part of the world

After five weeks in BsAs, it was something of a relief to get away
from the hectic pace of the city. Patagonia feels worlds away from
BaAs; outside of Alaska it is the biggest area of untouched land I
have seen.

Flying in to El Calafate, a small town on Lago Argentina that is the
closest outpost to Argentina's Glacier National Park, the only things
I could see were lakes, snow-capped peaks of the Andes, and brown
earth wiped flat by glaciers as the ice retreated at the end of the
last ice age.

The main attraction here is the Prieto Moreno glacier, one of the few
advancing glaciers in the world and part of the world's third-largest
ice field (after Antarctica and Greenland). I spent nearly an entire
day here watching the glacier from across the water. Spending six
hours stating at a block of ice might sound dull, but I loved it. The
sensation was a little like watching the tides - from dawn through the
early afternoon the view continued to evolve as the changing light
brought out different colors and tones in the ice.

The glacier moves in the same way a river with whitewater does - it
advances at different rates over obstacles and changing terrain,
creating turbulence and motion at the surface. The frozen rapids of
the glacier can be unstable - I was lucky enough to see several
iceberg-size chunks dislodge from the main glacier and crash into the
water below.

For Day 2, I joined a tour and went out on the glacier itself,
trekking about for several hours. Despite feeling worn out from hiking
(and sun exposure), it was great getting close to the ice.

Perito Moreno

I don't have much time or bandwith, but I wanted to get one photo up
quickly. Day 1 in Patagonia was spent gazing at glaciers, tomorrow we
will be trekking on the ice itself. More details when I can...

a few more photos

I've been shooting some real film on a camera I was given for
Christmas (thanks, Diana!) and wnated to share a couple of shots I
took with it. I don't have a film scanner with me, obviously, so I
took pictures of the pictures... they lose a little bit in the
translation, but I think they are still sort of neat.

No matter how it ends, no matter how it starts

I go to a lot of concerts, and I am usually pretty good about getting
up close, dealing with crowds, and holding out to be in the thick of
things. But man, these porteños kicked my but tonight! The crowd was
so hot, smelly, and pushy, it made the rush-hour subway here seem
pleasant by comparison. After one song, I bailed to a spot where there
was room to take this picture, and halfway through the set I moved
back again so I could get some water and air. Radiohead put on a great
show, as always, and I enjoyed how into the music the crowd was. Not
only did they sing along to almost every song, but they sang soccer
chants between tunes as well. Now that is dedication! Anyway, even
though I am probably the only one who cares, setlist is included below:

15 Step
Airbag
There There
All I Need
Kid A
Karma Police
Nude
Weird Fishes
The National Anthem
The Gloaming
No Surprises
Pyramid Song
Street Spirit
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Idioteque
Bodysnatchers

March 24 is a national holiday in Argentina - it is a day of
rememberance that commemorates the Military Government's rise to
power. Ed spoke to the crowd in Spanish (slow enough that I could
understand) letting them know that the band was aware of the
importance of the date 33 years ago, and that they joined the crowd in
remembering the citizens killed and totures during the era of military
control. Of course, given the history of the desaparecidos, I thought
the next song was a tacky choice.
How to Disappear Completely

Set Break 1
Videotape
Paranoid Android
House of Cards
Reckoner
Planet Telex

Set Break 2
Go Slowly
2+2=5
Everything in its Right Place

Set Break 3
Creep

I can't believe they closed with Creep -I think that is the first time
I have heard it live since 1996.

More falls

A few extra shots

Iguazu Falls

Ordinarily, I am inclined to agree with Bjork's lyric about waterfalls from the song 'I've Seen It All'... it's water, water is all. But these falls topped that and beat any expectations I had. Two large chains of falls make up Argentina's border with Brasil. Both sets of falls are taller than Niagra and are nestled in the midst of a well-preserved national park. My little snapshots don't do it justice, but the park was way cool - trust me.

Chau Buenos Aires

So I have finished my month of Spanish classes in Buenos Aires and am feeling much more comfortable with the language. I make a ton of errors when I speak and can't say half of what is in my head, but that isn't the worst thing ever... plus now I can follow conversations with native speakers (sometimes), make basic small talk, and navigate around without too much trouble. Lots of thanks to my great teacher, whose rapid style of speaking (and equally quick sarcastic wit) pushed me to be a better listener. Also to my fellow students and housemates who agreed to speak almost only in Spanish, even when that meant our initial conversations were limited to 'where are you from?' 'what is your name?' and 'do you like dinner?'

Luckily, I found the people of BA equally as fun and helpful. For every shop keeper that couldn't understand what I was asking for or looked at me funny before addressing me in English, I met four people willing to listen, understand me, correct my mistakes, and have a conversation about whatever (the show we were at, what type of work we did, how long I have played guitar, etc).

The friendliness of people here helped to balance out all the noise, crime, and downsides that come with living in a big city, and I know that I'll miss the activity of the city while I travel through the Patagonia then Peru over the next month-plus. Luckily, I still have a little time left here, which I'm going off to enjoy. Chau!

Mariposas, otras cosas

Although the real draw at Iguazu is the waterfall, I was equally drawn in by the animals in the park. I saw more types, sizes and colors of butterflies than I can ever remember, plus tropical birds, lizards, alligators, turtles, and coati. Que tierna!

Mar del Plata

Buenos Aires can be a demanding city. It is huge, crowded, noisy, hot... this intensity makes the city fun and exciting, but it also makes breaks from the city feel neccessary. The weekend after my trip to Mendoza, my housemates and I headed south to Mar del Plata, a beach town five hours south of BA by bus. Of course, calling Mar del Plata a 'town' is a bit if an understatement since it has nearly the same population as San Francisco, but it provided a change of pace regardless.

Despite being the start of fall (and the end of peak season), the beach was fairly crowded, and the restaurants and clubs were even more packed. I'm slowly getting used to the late schedule of things in Argentina, but it still amused me when our cab driver teased us for going out too early - hailing him at midnight after dinner (that started at 10 pm) seemed silly to him. Rather than go to a club, we ended up in a coffee shop for an hour when the bars opened, then hopped a bit until 3 when the clubs started letting people in.

So much for the restful weekend... but at least I could sleep on the beach and on the bus going home to BA.

Bife de lomo

This one is my favorite cut - a tender medallion cut from the back.
Buen provecho chicos!