Petrogliffs encountered while rafting
Part of the Colca Canyon trail
Some giant cacti of Colca Canyon
Our raft on Orlando's Taxi
Ancient Stairs at Macchu Pichu
Macchu Pichu
Bridge in Colca Canyon, Cabana CondeThursday, March 31, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
round and round...36hrs
I arrived in Quito the morning of the 25th from Lima after around 36 hours on two different busses not including several layovers.
As a catch up: from Arequipa I bussed near 8 hours to Cabanaconde on the edge of the Colca Canyon. A magnificient place in the low season with few tourists and for me a lucky window of weather. I arrived late evening and stayed at a great Peruvian/Dutch run hostel Panchamama.
Working at Panchamama was an American Peace Corps Volunteer Christina who has been in Cabanaconde about a year and a half of her 2 year service; and is planning on staying an additional year and a half. Was really great to learn about her projects focusing on small buisness development in the area and community development programs. Really inspiring work including a recycling program where locals can bring plastic bottles (the number one kind of trash) and exchange them for a voucher good for grains, potatoes, veggies etc. at participating vendors. The bottles are then taken to near by Chivay where they are sold to be turned into fleece material, the money being put back into the program to pay for the voucher goods. Christina also teaches language and basic buisness management classes.
From Cabanaconde I spent two beautiful days in the Colca Canyon. The first day I hiked down into the canyon and up the other side (8 1/2 hrs) spending the night in the Village of Fure. The next morning I left at 7 and hiked up to the nearby gigantic waterfall for a little bit before heading back to CabanaConde via a different route. The terraine is super steep and dry eventhough it is the wet season. The main vegatation is various types of cactus and low shrubs. A very dramatic landscape dotted with distant villages and mind blowing terracing.
From pictures I´ve always known the the Andes Range as being steep and ruged but it is another thing when to be on the hill sides watching the winding waters below, feeling the pull of gravity, and trying to go against it. Parts of the trail were no more than 8" wide or otherwise challenging requireing placing each foot with intention. The main means of transport once you cross the river is by donkey, amazingly surefooted and strong creatures. The first day the only other people I saw once across the river was a very elderly woman who only spoke Quechua, her donkey, and two distant people working in the fields who once directed me back to the "trail" when it dissapeared as it often did.
My return hike to Cabanaconde took about 10 hours the last part seemed a never ending up hill. But I made it back to town just before dark and moments before the down pour. The last half hour or so I was be hind a sheperdess and her good sized flock of sheep, a fun albeit a dusty experience.
The next morning I bussed back to Arequipa and then to Cuzco on a night bus. I wandered Cuzco for the day and promptly fell asleep for some much needed rest. Sleeping on buses sadly doesn´t happen for me. On another bus I took a round about way to the famed Macchu Pichu the next morning. There is a train service to Aguas Calientes the main town closest to Macchu Pichu but is extremely expensive. A 2-1/2 hour bus ride is also required to get to the station from Cuzco. An alternative route besides a multiday trek which sadly I did not have the time for is via Santa Maria and Santa Teresa. From Cuzco´s Terminal Terrestre one can catch a 6ish hour bus to Santa Maria, plesant with the exception of two sales men peddling wares with the cappability to talk for abnormally long periods of time (one talked for almost two hours straight).
From Santa Maria I joined a group of other travelers also going to Macchu Pichu, and split the price of a taxi to Santa Teresa. A taxi that is almost-ish to Santa Teresa; about a half hour outside of Santa Maria we had to stop as there had been a landslide from the recent rains. After waiting and watching the road clearing progress for an hour the road was finally cleared and we continued on our merry way, screaming. The elderly driver and his magic taxi drove like a bat out of hell trying to avoid further landslides etc. A while later we had to stop because the road was blocked again but this time had to continue on foot with a good sized hoard of other people heading in the same direction.
Landslides are a near daily occurence during the wet season so there is a well defined foot path following the river to Santa Teresa.
The group that I fell in with was composed of four other travelers. Natalia and Sebastian are from Medellin in Colombia, Karol a Polish architect who lives in Spain and Nicolas a Swede.
We arrived soaked and after dark to a powerless Santa Teresa and found nice lodgings for S5 (less than 2 usd) per person and arranged for an early taxi to the trail head. In the morning our taxi driver arrived promptly at 4am and drove us the 25 minuets to "Hydroelectico" the power plant where the road ends and the trail begins. We spent the first half hour or so bumbling around in the dark with two lights between us before finding the trail that shortly finds and parrallells the train tracks 10k to Aguas Calientes. More rain and more mud but it was a beautiful walk accompanied by the wonderful sound of the most raging and churning river I´ve ever seen.
Macchu Pichu was mind blowing and breath taking in more ways than one. It took all of my will power and self controll not to start climbing, the entire city is constructed and surrounded by amazing granite. I think they had to have been climbers of some kind. The morning was overcast and raining but the sun made a grand shoulder roasting appearence. The entire day was spend wandering the ruins. Back in Aguas Calientes we got a good meal and pitched a makeshift camp in the main square people watching and being watched. After our trekking in the rain, mud, and sun we were exhausted and were totally content to just hang out in town and wait for our train. We left on the last train of the night at 10:30 and arrived in back in Cuzco at almost 3 in the mornimg post a several hour van ride in addition to the train ride. Just in time to nab a few hours of sleep and catch my flight back to Lima where I near immediately caught my bus here to Ecuador.
Currently I am in Tena, the white water capital of Ecuador. It is a very beautiful medium sized city surrounded by amazing rivers and jungle forrests. We arrived here on the 26th and have rafted every day since except today is mercifully a rest day.
We are a small group a total of four.Previously I had met the two other student David and Llocklin briefly in Mendoza, so we weren't total strangers. The instructor is Travis also but not the same one as mountaineering in Argentina and is a friend of Nachos. A small group is nice but it means that our raft does not have as much power as it could, so we have had several guest paddlers Natie and Ana on different days. Natie was our driver from Quito and Ana works for Rios Ecuador.
Learning and remembering how to paddle, guide and read the river is challenging but most deffinately an enjoyable time. It is pretty hot here being just barely south of the Equator but the water is refreshing. So far we have rafted five different rivers (names and grades to follow shortly). We are working with and renting gear from Rios Ecuador the largest of the local outfitters. So far all is good and we will be progressing into learning more about swift water rescue and other river skills.
As a catch up: from Arequipa I bussed near 8 hours to Cabanaconde on the edge of the Colca Canyon. A magnificient place in the low season with few tourists and for me a lucky window of weather. I arrived late evening and stayed at a great Peruvian/Dutch run hostel Panchamama.
Working at Panchamama was an American Peace Corps Volunteer Christina who has been in Cabanaconde about a year and a half of her 2 year service; and is planning on staying an additional year and a half. Was really great to learn about her projects focusing on small buisness development in the area and community development programs. Really inspiring work including a recycling program where locals can bring plastic bottles (the number one kind of trash) and exchange them for a voucher good for grains, potatoes, veggies etc. at participating vendors. The bottles are then taken to near by Chivay where they are sold to be turned into fleece material, the money being put back into the program to pay for the voucher goods. Christina also teaches language and basic buisness management classes.
From Cabanaconde I spent two beautiful days in the Colca Canyon. The first day I hiked down into the canyon and up the other side (8 1/2 hrs) spending the night in the Village of Fure. The next morning I left at 7 and hiked up to the nearby gigantic waterfall for a little bit before heading back to CabanaConde via a different route. The terraine is super steep and dry eventhough it is the wet season. The main vegatation is various types of cactus and low shrubs. A very dramatic landscape dotted with distant villages and mind blowing terracing.
From pictures I´ve always known the the Andes Range as being steep and ruged but it is another thing when to be on the hill sides watching the winding waters below, feeling the pull of gravity, and trying to go against it. Parts of the trail were no more than 8" wide or otherwise challenging requireing placing each foot with intention. The main means of transport once you cross the river is by donkey, amazingly surefooted and strong creatures. The first day the only other people I saw once across the river was a very elderly woman who only spoke Quechua, her donkey, and two distant people working in the fields who once directed me back to the "trail" when it dissapeared as it often did.
My return hike to Cabanaconde took about 10 hours the last part seemed a never ending up hill. But I made it back to town just before dark and moments before the down pour. The last half hour or so I was be hind a sheperdess and her good sized flock of sheep, a fun albeit a dusty experience.
The next morning I bussed back to Arequipa and then to Cuzco on a night bus. I wandered Cuzco for the day and promptly fell asleep for some much needed rest. Sleeping on buses sadly doesn´t happen for me. On another bus I took a round about way to the famed Macchu Pichu the next morning. There is a train service to Aguas Calientes the main town closest to Macchu Pichu but is extremely expensive. A 2-1/2 hour bus ride is also required to get to the station from Cuzco. An alternative route besides a multiday trek which sadly I did not have the time for is via Santa Maria and Santa Teresa. From Cuzco´s Terminal Terrestre one can catch a 6ish hour bus to Santa Maria, plesant with the exception of two sales men peddling wares with the cappability to talk for abnormally long periods of time (one talked for almost two hours straight).
From Santa Maria I joined a group of other travelers also going to Macchu Pichu, and split the price of a taxi to Santa Teresa. A taxi that is almost-ish to Santa Teresa; about a half hour outside of Santa Maria we had to stop as there had been a landslide from the recent rains. After waiting and watching the road clearing progress for an hour the road was finally cleared and we continued on our merry way, screaming. The elderly driver and his magic taxi drove like a bat out of hell trying to avoid further landslides etc. A while later we had to stop because the road was blocked again but this time had to continue on foot with a good sized hoard of other people heading in the same direction.
Landslides are a near daily occurence during the wet season so there is a well defined foot path following the river to Santa Teresa.
The group that I fell in with was composed of four other travelers. Natalia and Sebastian are from Medellin in Colombia, Karol a Polish architect who lives in Spain and Nicolas a Swede.
We arrived soaked and after dark to a powerless Santa Teresa and found nice lodgings for S5 (less than 2 usd) per person and arranged for an early taxi to the trail head. In the morning our taxi driver arrived promptly at 4am and drove us the 25 minuets to "Hydroelectico" the power plant where the road ends and the trail begins. We spent the first half hour or so bumbling around in the dark with two lights between us before finding the trail that shortly finds and parrallells the train tracks 10k to Aguas Calientes. More rain and more mud but it was a beautiful walk accompanied by the wonderful sound of the most raging and churning river I´ve ever seen.
Macchu Pichu was mind blowing and breath taking in more ways than one. It took all of my will power and self controll not to start climbing, the entire city is constructed and surrounded by amazing granite. I think they had to have been climbers of some kind. The morning was overcast and raining but the sun made a grand shoulder roasting appearence. The entire day was spend wandering the ruins. Back in Aguas Calientes we got a good meal and pitched a makeshift camp in the main square people watching and being watched. After our trekking in the rain, mud, and sun we were exhausted and were totally content to just hang out in town and wait for our train. We left on the last train of the night at 10:30 and arrived in back in Cuzco at almost 3 in the mornimg post a several hour van ride in addition to the train ride. Just in time to nab a few hours of sleep and catch my flight back to Lima where I near immediately caught my bus here to Ecuador.
Currently I am in Tena, the white water capital of Ecuador. It is a very beautiful medium sized city surrounded by amazing rivers and jungle forrests. We arrived here on the 26th and have rafted every day since except today is mercifully a rest day.
We are a small group a total of four.Previously I had met the two other student David and Llocklin briefly in Mendoza, so we weren't total strangers. The instructor is Travis also but not the same one as mountaineering in Argentina and is a friend of Nachos. A small group is nice but it means that our raft does not have as much power as it could, so we have had several guest paddlers Natie and Ana on different days. Natie was our driver from Quito and Ana works for Rios Ecuador.
Learning and remembering how to paddle, guide and read the river is challenging but most deffinately an enjoyable time. It is pretty hot here being just barely south of the Equator but the water is refreshing. So far we have rafted five different rivers (names and grades to follow shortly). We are working with and renting gear from Rios Ecuador the largest of the local outfitters. So far all is good and we will be progressing into learning more about swift water rescue and other river skills.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
From There to Hear and Now to Where Again?
From Punta Arenas in Chile I flew North to Lima, Peru.
Lima is the largest city in Peru and sits on the Central Coast of Peru.
In Lima I spent several days adjusting to non tent and outdoor life. I also got some of my clothes washed. Should taken before and after pictures. They even smelled clean possibly even cleaner than new if that´s possible. Audios back pack funk for a tad.
Lima has some amazing museos. Including El Museo de la Nación, El Museo de Arte de Lima and another on the anthropology and archeology of Peru´s ancient cultures. Spending a few days wandering Lima was fun but reaffirmed in my mind that I´m not much of a city person.
A highlight of Lima was deffinately meeting up with one of my best friends Eva. Eva has been traveling Peru from three months studying anthropology and was in Lima for her flight home. A friend of hers from traveling, Eva and I spent a day or so in the Barrenco district where we were staying.
Was unbelievably nice to see a familiar face from home. Although it seemed oddly out of context but fantastic. We´ve now been to three contries together first in India, then the States and now Peru.
We found a fantastic hole in the wall of an alley where we ate dinner and lunch the next day. The place as far as I could tell was signless and is open only on Saturdays and Sundays. The entrance to the resturant features the extremely smokey grill, and a long table spread with examples of their entire menu and the tasty desserts with samples. Ceviche to die for along with everything else. The deccor consisted of plastic lawn furniture and as we later discovered a balcony with a spectacular view. The ladys who ran it were very kind and full of laughter. One periodically picked up a giant floor standing fan possibly larger than her to hold it up to the grill to redirect the smoke. Best meal in a while by far.
We spent a good chunk of time with some street artists they had met. Eva´s friend Riley spins poi and spent some time spinning and juggling with some of the street vendors.
Eva and I set up my slack line in a quiet residential area with ocean views. Was so good to finally set my line up and catch up with Eva. Riley came and met us with the street artists and two friends of theirs. One was a older woman who I think is one of their´s exes or something. She was very nice at first and then started raving in Spanish: ` I´m going to cut your line, don´t come to my country to make money, do this on the main plaza, they´ll treat you like trash, they´re going to take your money(her friends) and on and on and on´. For at least ten minuets despite explaining to her that we were not asking for any money, hence setting up in a quiet street etc. that we slack just for us because it is fun and that if anyone else wanted to try it we would gladly help them for free. Her friends insisted that she was crazy. She left, and then came back a few minuets later to continue as we were walking away. All the while we had an audience of several children from their windows cheering, a few passing cars, and the few current park inhabitants an old man and his newspaper, and extreemely elderly lader and her nurse, a family and a ton of pigeons.
The street artists were nice and all but was a little odd having them follow us arround for having nothing else to do as it was Sunday and they were not working. Eventually they left.
After spending the day with Eva and Riley I caught a bus to Arequipa where I am now waiting for another bus. Arequipa I believe is the seccond largest city in Peru and is almost 20hs South East of Lima.
For two days I wandered Arequipa´s streets and museums. A very pretty city that on clear days has spectacular views of several volcanoes. Definitely city wearly I´m off to Cabanaconde in an hour to hike in the second deepest canyon in the world, Colca Canyon.
So far Peru has been fun, I think I´m still a little shocked to be back in civilization post three months of near exclusive tent life. The one problem here is everything is so far away so by the time I get to Ecuador on the 24th or so I will have spent over 4 days entirely in busses. Conclusion 20ish days in Peru is NOT sufficient unless you are a bus afficionato. Granted they are the nicest buses I´ve ever been on. Akin to flying first class sans the plane including food, blankes, pillows, and stunning views.
No pictures. Sorry. Soonish. I hope.
Lima is the largest city in Peru and sits on the Central Coast of Peru.
In Lima I spent several days adjusting to non tent and outdoor life. I also got some of my clothes washed. Should taken before and after pictures. They even smelled clean possibly even cleaner than new if that´s possible. Audios back pack funk for a tad.
Lima has some amazing museos. Including El Museo de la Nación, El Museo de Arte de Lima and another on the anthropology and archeology of Peru´s ancient cultures. Spending a few days wandering Lima was fun but reaffirmed in my mind that I´m not much of a city person.
A highlight of Lima was deffinately meeting up with one of my best friends Eva. Eva has been traveling Peru from three months studying anthropology and was in Lima for her flight home. A friend of hers from traveling, Eva and I spent a day or so in the Barrenco district where we were staying.
Was unbelievably nice to see a familiar face from home. Although it seemed oddly out of context but fantastic. We´ve now been to three contries together first in India, then the States and now Peru.
We found a fantastic hole in the wall of an alley where we ate dinner and lunch the next day. The place as far as I could tell was signless and is open only on Saturdays and Sundays. The entrance to the resturant features the extremely smokey grill, and a long table spread with examples of their entire menu and the tasty desserts with samples. Ceviche to die for along with everything else. The deccor consisted of plastic lawn furniture and as we later discovered a balcony with a spectacular view. The ladys who ran it were very kind and full of laughter. One periodically picked up a giant floor standing fan possibly larger than her to hold it up to the grill to redirect the smoke. Best meal in a while by far.
We spent a good chunk of time with some street artists they had met. Eva´s friend Riley spins poi and spent some time spinning and juggling with some of the street vendors.
Eva and I set up my slack line in a quiet residential area with ocean views. Was so good to finally set my line up and catch up with Eva. Riley came and met us with the street artists and two friends of theirs. One was a older woman who I think is one of their´s exes or something. She was very nice at first and then started raving in Spanish: ` I´m going to cut your line, don´t come to my country to make money, do this on the main plaza, they´ll treat you like trash, they´re going to take your money(her friends) and on and on and on´. For at least ten minuets despite explaining to her that we were not asking for any money, hence setting up in a quiet street etc. that we slack just for us because it is fun and that if anyone else wanted to try it we would gladly help them for free. Her friends insisted that she was crazy. She left, and then came back a few minuets later to continue as we were walking away. All the while we had an audience of several children from their windows cheering, a few passing cars, and the few current park inhabitants an old man and his newspaper, and extreemely elderly lader and her nurse, a family and a ton of pigeons.
The street artists were nice and all but was a little odd having them follow us arround for having nothing else to do as it was Sunday and they were not working. Eventually they left.
After spending the day with Eva and Riley I caught a bus to Arequipa where I am now waiting for another bus. Arequipa I believe is the seccond largest city in Peru and is almost 20hs South East of Lima.
For two days I wandered Arequipa´s streets and museums. A very pretty city that on clear days has spectacular views of several volcanoes. Definitely city wearly I´m off to Cabanaconde in an hour to hike in the second deepest canyon in the world, Colca Canyon.
So far Peru has been fun, I think I´m still a little shocked to be back in civilization post three months of near exclusive tent life. The one problem here is everything is so far away so by the time I get to Ecuador on the 24th or so I will have spent over 4 days entirely in busses. Conclusion 20ish days in Peru is NOT sufficient unless you are a bus afficionato. Granted they are the nicest buses I´ve ever been on. Akin to flying first class sans the plane including food, blankes, pillows, and stunning views.
No pictures. Sorry. Soonish. I hope.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
The End of the World
Torres del Paine
It has been a bit since I´ve written anything on here but not due to lack of adventure. Please pardon the small pictures but it was taking ages to upload ones any larger.
Since climbing in Arenales I´ve made several hops between Argentina and Chile in Patagonia.The two weeks following rock climbing in Arenales I spent in Penitentes Argentina geting certified as a Wilderness First Responder (WFR). The course covered a lot of interesting material in reguard to wilderness medicine that I wasn´t very familiar with before. This was the most traditional classroom esq portion of the course. Despite the fact that we were living in our "classroom", a rented apartment practically in middle of nowhere. Penitentes is a small boarder town home to a closed ski resort and several entrences to Aconcagua National Park thus a popular destination for trekkers and climbers. I most definitely learned a lot from the course despite my feeling like it was the most unorganized section of my semester. A bit sad considering I think it should have been the most planned out and detailed part. From it I realized how interested in Wilderness Medicine I am and might eventually get my EMT certification.
On February 11 I flew from Mendoza, Argentina to Punta Arenas, Chile. Punta Arenas is almost the end of the world, as far as mainland continents go. Here I spent one night after meeting up with the rest of the group to go backpacking. We did a whirl wind food shop and pack that I think went phenominaly well and then headed to Cabo Froward the actual end of the mainland for five days of beach walking and mud sloshing.The backpacking group featured a few old and new characters. The old being Jole and Jordan, Emily joined us later having recovered from a nasty bout of something back in Mendoza. The new were "Nacho" or Nathaniel the IWLS/AMG leader, and Sarah a gap year student form Boston. Some results of the trip are a new liking for Snickers bars which are just about the only bar down here with more that 80 calories in them, an appreciation for trekking poles (in my case ancient ski poles) when my bag is just about as heavy as I am, and a further adoration of Smart Wool socks doubled up I went 24 days and who know how many kilometers sans blisters.
Cabo Froward one edge of this land
Saw very few people during our time at Cabo Froward and enjoyed the fact that the ones we did see were all going the opposite direction. The majority of the hiking was on the beach with spectacular views including those of dolphins and penguins. 
The Trail at Cabo Froward
Torres Del Paine
After staying one night in Puerto Natales we caught one of the busses into the park to begin our 10 day sojourn. Torresl Del Paine is one of the most popular parks in Chile if not thee. The main attraction are the giant Torres (towers) that formed about 12mya in the Magellin Basin though fissures in the sea floor. When seen at dawn they are quite spectacular so evermorning there are a suprising number of people hiking and stumbling up and down hill and scree slope to get to the look out beore the sun. There are two main routes in the park, the over popular "W" and the longer grander and "W" encompassing "Q". We did the later which circumnavigates the entire Torres formation and much more. Once past the part of the trail that is also part of the "W" we hardly saw anypeople or much evidence of them except for the much lesser used trail and few pay use campsites. One of the many spectacular sites that we passed was Glacier Grey. More Ice than I´ve everseen or imagned in my life all in one spot.
Glacier Grey
Slacking at Campamiento BritanicoLocated in Argentine Patagonia we took two busses back over the border. Taking an entire day to complete this trip due to border formalities, random stops, and a layover in El Chaltén we arrived after dark to a warm but extremely windy Calafate. According to the Lonely Planet Trekking in Patagonia book there should have been free camping. Not the case anymore sadly. The options now are either hostels or camping in yards for the same price. The previous municipal camp ground is now a day use only picnicing area. But suited our needs nicely along with a fellow trekker that we had run into several times between Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine. Many of the visitors and hikers are only there for the day so the trails were busy but not nearly as busy as those of the "W" trek. We hiked around for 5 nights each at a different camp or squirl site that we found. Torre Fitz Roy is the main attraction in the park for climbers and non alike another impressive granite formation just over 3000M and the crown of Andean climbing challenges.
Over the entire trip we were blessed with unbelievable weather. We experienced a grand total of maybe three or four days of rain in a region known for awful weather year round. The reason for the usual crappy weather is that there is virtually no land below 40· latitude (Patagonia, Southern New Zealand and Tasmania) thus nothing to break up the
Sunrise view from my sleeping bag of Cerro Fitz Roy(large center)I´m now back in Punta Arenas and flying somewhere tomorrow. Somewhere north but I do not yet know exactly. Way for me to think ahead eh? But its part of the fun of traveling. Currently trying to figure out tickets to Peru. Possibly meeting up with two friends in Peru; Eva who I met traveling in India and lived with in Olympia and Willow from home the beloved crazy Mendoland and Albion. It will be odd to travel solo again but I´m excited about the new territory and adventures. Towards the end of March I´ll be meeting a group of people in Quito, Ecuador to do some white water rafting and more backpacking for a few weeks. I should be heading back to the Northern hemisphere, following the Summer in either April or May for a summer job in Jackson, Wyoming.
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