In Huanchaco I met a super nice English couple with whom I took a night bus to Huaraz. It's the mountain town in the Andies. It was the most uncomfortable bus ever that took 9 hours. I sat right at the back beside the washroom, and at the end of the journey could barely breath, it stunk so much. Not only me, there were a few people at the back holding a scarf to their noses. Huaraz is a nice town with views on the mountains. That day I tried to sleep after the night bus, but even under 2 wool blankets it was too cold. Spent the day wondering around looking for tours. Everybody comes to Huaraz to do a 4 day Santa Cruz trek that takes you near the mountains which are considered to be ones of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. As always there are hundreds of agencies, and you really need to spend a whole day trying to find the best (i.e. the cheapest) one :) I found one for $90. Back at the hostel, there was one guy that said that he leaves for the trek tomorrow and I should join ... wait wait wait ... tomorrow???? I'm not emotionally ready for that yet, then I thought for a few hours, and decided there is nothing to be emotionally ready for, and went to the agency like a minute before it closed down, and negotiated a price for $75! while he paid $100. It looked like the agent was so ready to get rid of me that he just agreed to anything :) Then at night we went to see a movie about some guys mountain climbing in this region and one of them broke his leg, and his partner accidently lowered him onto a cliff, and then he had to cut the rope because he couldn't hold him for that long. He actually survived a 35 meter fall into some cave, and then had to crawl 100 kms into the base camp! He lost a third of his body weight, 2 years and 6 operations later, he continues to climb. At 10:30 we got back to the hostel, I still needed to repack everything for the trek, and put the alarm on for 5:30 .... GRRRR !!!
Mini van picked us up at 6:00 in the hostel, there were 12 people in total, and we drove for 2 hours to the start. Everybody got 1 donkey for every 2 people to carry the stuff and all the tents and food for the night. 4 people got sick right away. 2 Korean girls already white by nature had this snow white color on their faces that I've never seen before. They had to hire horses to take them these 4 days, cause they just couldn't walk at all. And 2 other guys had some stomach bugs, and couldn't eat anything. Trekking was alright. As always I went at the back. I'm just not enjoying walking so fast looking at the ground instead of the views, so everybody had to wait for me like every half an hour. But we still arrived "on time" at the camp. I still don't get it. One day we were running, and got to the camp at 2pm, with absolutely nothing to do till the night, so what's the point???
Every day we woke up between 5:30 and 6:00 am, had terrible breakfast of coca tea (which supposed to give you energy, suppress hunger and help with altitude sickness), and 2 pieces of bread. Then we were given a bag with 2 pieces of bread, 2 fruits, and 2 candy bars, and that's until 7pm. At around 6-7 we had a nice dinner with soup, chicken/fish rice/potatos. One day the guide was catching a fresh trout from the river. It was the best fish I've ever eaten! And I don't like fish :) After dinner, around sunset, it was time to sleep :) So after 4 days of barely eating and walking 8 hours, I think I lost some weight :) The trek itself wasn't too bad, we just walked up for 2 hours, and the rest was either flat or downhill. We were constantly surrounded by beautiful snow mountains, visited a lot of lagoons on the way, and camped with a 360 degree beautiful view. I expected to get closer to the mountains, but oh well ... First night I couldn't sleep at all (and apparently not just me), cause it was freezing! I was shivering all night long, and just waited for 6am to arrive so we could have a hot tea and start walking. I have no idea how I had energy, and quite a lot of it after 3 nights of not sleeping much. 2nd night was good :) I put on 2 pairs of wool socks, and 4 layers on top. wool shirt, wool sweater, 2 winter coats, and 2 sleeping bags :)) that night I actually slept :)) but even in these cloths, I shivered all through the body a few times :) 3rd night couldn't sleep again, this time not due the cold, but due to the lack of space. These sleeping bags are so uncomfortable!
Good thing that the weather was cold because we didn't shower for 4 days, the rivers were ice cold glacier waters, although 1 crazy Canadian did jump in a few times. It was freezing just to wash the hands :) The temperature changed like 10 degrees with sun or without sun. Once we were having a lunch break, and all were lying around with a shirt on sun bathing, it was so warm, even boiling. Then the sun went under the cloud, and everybody started wrapping themselves up with winter coats :) It's strange that so far away with almost no people we didn't see any wildlife at all. Just donkeys and cows, and maybe 20 birds. The landscape was beautiful though with seas of different flowers, lakes, waterfalls, and mountains that made up for the lack of animals. 2 times we saw a mini avalanche which I was expecting to see. I was sad that it wasn't bigger :( But the sound was cool, I was walking and suddenly I hear a thunder, I couldn't understand it because the sky was clear blue, then it got to me that it might have been an avalanche, and it was :)
Last day I got a blizzard :S and I just had enough with walking. Couldn't wait to get back to the city.
The group was very nice. We had 4 French with whom we did Yoga and stretching in the evenings. 2 super funny Korean girls who barely speak English and no Spanish, but their emotions and body language are so animated and exaggerated it's stomach hurting every time they tried to speak :) 1 Argentinean, 1 Israeli guy who told me a bunch about Israel politics, 1 Israeli girl who kept complaining about mosquitoes every 2 minutes :) 1 Torontonian guy who is a lawyer. Do you know btw that in Toronto they announce stations in TTC because 6 years ago 1 blind man filed a lawsuit against TTC that it's impossible to ride it. And TTC instead of doing something about it, hired a lawyer for 25 million to go into court. So this guy defended the blind man. The judge was so frustrated with TTC actions that although the blind man didn't ask for any compensation, he was given quite a generous amount which he donated to some blind society.
At night we were all warming up in the kitchen tent and playing cards until the food got ready. One guy was losing all the time, so he said, oh well, in life you either have luck in cards or luck in love, he looked at Korean girl and asked what she chooses, she thought about it for a while and said "7" :))) We needed to explain it to her again :)
The local/indigenous people are so stupid. We were playing this simple game in which you have to put either the same suit or the same number, with some special cards with which you skip a turn or go in a different direction, but pretty much simple rules, and he just keep putting random cards, 3 on a 7, heart on a club. Constantly checking with guys beside him if he can play or not. But it was great fun :)
Overall, this trek was nice, but shower is nice too :))
After the trek we all met in a restaurant for dinner. I didn't want to do anything the next day, just relax and that's it. I felt so lazy. I don't like spending days doing nothing. So in the restaurant I asked everybody what's the plan for tomorrow, and EVERYBODY just said "sleep" :) Some people even wanted to stay a few more days and do nothing :) So I guess I'm not that lazy after all :)) The restaurant was a disaster. All 12 orders were somehow screwed up, and I didn't get anything at all. I kept reminding the waiter, what about my pizza, and he's like , yeah , yeah, it's coming, and half an hour later, he asked me "what pizza" ??? SA service, it sucks everywhere !! good things that people around me at the table couldn't finish their food so I finished theirs. It was a nice half a pizza and a juicy steak :)
Next day I couldn't just sit there and do nothing, so me and one of the Korean girls went to a village of Yungay 1 hour away which was buried by an avalanche in 1970. There was a 7.9 magnitude earthquake which damaged a big part of the country. From wikipedia - The earthquake struck on a Sunday afternoon at 15:23:31 local time (20:23:31 UTC) and lasted 45 seconds. The quake destabilized the northern wall of Mount Huascarán, causing a rock, ice and snow avalanche and burying the towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca. The avalanche started as a sliding mass of glacial ice and rock about 910 m wide and 1600 m long. It advanced about 18 km to the village of Yungay at an average speed of 280 to 335 km per hour. The fast-moving mass picked up glacial deposits and by the time it reached Yungay, it is estimated to have consisted of about 80 million cubic meters (80,000,000 m³) of water, mud, and rocks.
18,000 people were buried and died. Right now the village is a huge beautiful rose garden, with a big cemetery with the statue of Jesus overlooking the mountain. In the guide book it described that you could see the tops of some houses, but there was nothing, just a few stones left from the church which was the highest building in the town, and that's it.
The Korean girl was funny. Apparently it's common in Korea to meet travel partners online. So she met this other girl just once before and now they're travelling together. They look like they've known each other forever, not just 4 days. She is 33, and still lives with her parents. She never cooked in her life. Girls are not allowed to live alone. They can only move out of the house if they get married, and expected to be house wives. I don't know what she's gonna do because she doesn't want to get married, doesn't want to have children and wants to run for some office. Right now she told her parents that she went to New York to see some friend of hers, because her parents would never allow her to go travel by herself, and especially in South America. It was very hot that day, and she was wearing a rain coat with a hood. I asked her what is she doing, and she said that in Korea white skin is considered to be more beautiful, so she's hiding from the sun. she also mentioned that she needs to buy gloves, cause otherwise her hands would be darker than the rest of her body :)
Next day went ice climbing. 2 hour ride on a dirt road. In there we passed pretty lakes, mountain view and a blue glacier. On the way there, the Torontonian guy from above told me (as a joke) that I need to climb some hill to get up. So I was climbing and climbing, something like a 4 meter hill, and the sand and stones that it's made out of kept falling down, and I was sliding down with them. It took me like 5 minutes to climb it, with scratches on my legs I finally made it, and then I saw a trail going around the hill :S but it was fun to climb :)))) When we got there, it was pretty, but the wall itself was brown :( with rocks constantly falling off of it. The guide cleaned the top of the path, but still. It was cool beside the glacier, cause we could constantly hear ice crashing and falling into the water, but we didn't see anything! This thing was full of inside cave systems. I climbed 3 times, the slowest. I had to stop a few times on the way up because of altitude. It wasn't too much fun. The side of the glacier was inclined but flat, so you hit the ice axes into the ice until it goes in, and then with the crampons on the feet you dig in further up, and so you climb. The glacier was full of small rocks and dust, so when we hit the ice, it all flew at us, the face, hair, cloths. At the end we were all covered in this mud thing all over! In the hair, ears, nose. Once quite a big rock landed on my leg ... it hurt, but it was bareble, I continued climbing afterwards. It wasn't too cold, but at the end it started raining with hail. I got completely wet, my shoes, my pants, all the coat, my lips turned blue, and on the way back in the car they had to keep the windows open so the driver could see where he's going. It was cold !!! And we already checked out of the hostel, so couldn't warm up with a nice hot shower.
Rock climbing is so much better !!!
We then spent 5 hours in a nice coffee place, where my cloths dried ... yeeiii :))) And then caught an 8 hour night bus to Lima, and another 5 hours bus to Ica.
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Huaraz#
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Chiclayo & Trujillo
Took the most comfortable bed bus from Lima to Chiclayo in the north. There are 2 floors in the bus, on the top the seats are regular, and on the bottom there are only 9 "beds" which incline 160 degrees. Paid $7 over the regular price, but I slept all the way. They also give out blankets and dinner :)
In Chiclayo, booked a full day tour. Just some 20 years ago, a whole new culture was discovered. Some archeologist found ancient jewelry on the black market, and with some questions found the tombs of Sipan which are over 1700 years old. These cultures built their palaces and tombs out of mud bricks (adobe bricks), and over the time they obviously eroded, so now they look like regular hills. Most of these adobe bricks have signature on them, signifying a family who made them. There could be one dot, or a happy face or any other symbol. There was even a road going between two of these hills, and nobody knew that there were the tombs. In here the grave robbers find the sites first, they dig everywhere until they find something, and only then the archeologists somehow take over the site. In this case, there was a shooting between the police and the looters. And now actually all the looters work on the site excavating and maintaining it, so they were given a job to protect it, instead of rob it. I think it's a great outcome. The tombs were excellently preserved, since they were untouched and covered all this time. The lord of Sipan didn't walk, he even had golden shoes. He was carried anywhere he needed to be. So all the kings usually died young (at about age 40 - 45) due to arthritis. The skeleton is in poor condition because of it. The lords in their lives wore silver, gold and shell jewelry. They had a huge nose ring that covered most of their bottom half of the face to hide their emotions, and also to hide that they look like humans. All lords or important people like warriors and priests were buried with hundreds or thousands of pots with seeds inside and jewlery (one lord with 1 ton of gold!!). Also a few people were poisoned from upper class, it considered to be an honor to go to the next life with the lord. There would always be a guardian without legs, so he won't be able to run away, it's his job to protect the lord forever. A watchman who would watch over the tomb, a few animals like snakes, dogs and llamas). So the whole tomb would be full of exciting stuff :)) with the lord in the middle and a bunch of these things around him.
From wikipedia - His jewelry and ornaments which indicate he was of the highest rank, include pectoral, necklaces, nose rings, ear rings, helmets, falconry and bracelets. Most were of gold, silver, copper, gold and semi-precious stones. In his tomb were found more than 400 jewels.
All the originals are in the museum, but the tombs have replications of how they were found. Really cool !!
There is a museum of everything that was found in the tomb, with a lot of pieces that were stolen and returned somehow. For example there is a head crown worth $1,600,000 that was going to be sold in an auction in Miami and was recovered and returned by FBI :)
A lot of cultures were destroyed by bad el ninos. Either lots of rain, or no rain at all, drove lots of cultures to extinction.This area is a pure dessert, and in there lives a hairless dog that has a temperature of 40 degrees, it dies when the temperature falls to 20 :) it's used to cure arthritis :)
Next day went 3 hours south to Trujillo. I also booked a tour from Chiclayo. It was nice, I was picked up in the hotel (although at 6 am), driven to the bus station, and in Trujillo a driver with my name on it was waiting beside the bus :)
In Trujillo went to the temple of the moon which has greatly preserved paintings. This culture made a lot of sacrifices, and it's evident in a bunch of paintings, with birds eating the bodies. There is also a mountain beside the temple, it's thought that people were sacrificed on the top and then the bodies were thrown down. This day also visited chan chan which is the largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, but I forgot everything about the explanations :)
After the trip, I went to the beach town, and just hung out there for 2 days, doing absolutely nothing. So tiring of 3 days or continues travelling and 10 hour tours. There is surfing in there, but the water is cold, the beach is not really nice, and the waves were huge, even for beginners. So I just relaxed in the nicest hostel I've ever been to. So spotless, with a bunch of green and resting areas. Got a hot stone massage there too :)) And ate ceviche, which is raw but marinated fish .. soo good :))
All pictures are downloaded from the internet as the camera was stolen :(
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/ChiclayoTrujillo#
In Chiclayo, booked a full day tour. Just some 20 years ago, a whole new culture was discovered. Some archeologist found ancient jewelry on the black market, and with some questions found the tombs of Sipan which are over 1700 years old. These cultures built their palaces and tombs out of mud bricks (adobe bricks), and over the time they obviously eroded, so now they look like regular hills. Most of these adobe bricks have signature on them, signifying a family who made them. There could be one dot, or a happy face or any other symbol. There was even a road going between two of these hills, and nobody knew that there were the tombs. In here the grave robbers find the sites first, they dig everywhere until they find something, and only then the archeologists somehow take over the site. In this case, there was a shooting between the police and the looters. And now actually all the looters work on the site excavating and maintaining it, so they were given a job to protect it, instead of rob it. I think it's a great outcome. The tombs were excellently preserved, since they were untouched and covered all this time. The lord of Sipan didn't walk, he even had golden shoes. He was carried anywhere he needed to be. So all the kings usually died young (at about age 40 - 45) due to arthritis. The skeleton is in poor condition because of it. The lords in their lives wore silver, gold and shell jewelry. They had a huge nose ring that covered most of their bottom half of the face to hide their emotions, and also to hide that they look like humans. All lords or important people like warriors and priests were buried with hundreds or thousands of pots with seeds inside and jewlery (one lord with 1 ton of gold!!). Also a few people were poisoned from upper class, it considered to be an honor to go to the next life with the lord. There would always be a guardian without legs, so he won't be able to run away, it's his job to protect the lord forever. A watchman who would watch over the tomb, a few animals like snakes, dogs and llamas). So the whole tomb would be full of exciting stuff :)) with the lord in the middle and a bunch of these things around him.
From wikipedia - His jewelry and ornaments which indicate he was of the highest rank, include pectoral, necklaces, nose rings, ear rings, helmets, falconry and bracelets. Most were of gold, silver, copper, gold and semi-precious stones. In his tomb were found more than 400 jewels.
All the originals are in the museum, but the tombs have replications of how they were found. Really cool !!
There is a museum of everything that was found in the tomb, with a lot of pieces that were stolen and returned somehow. For example there is a head crown worth $1,600,000 that was going to be sold in an auction in Miami and was recovered and returned by FBI :)
A lot of cultures were destroyed by bad el ninos. Either lots of rain, or no rain at all, drove lots of cultures to extinction.This area is a pure dessert, and in there lives a hairless dog that has a temperature of 40 degrees, it dies when the temperature falls to 20 :) it's used to cure arthritis :)
Next day went 3 hours south to Trujillo. I also booked a tour from Chiclayo. It was nice, I was picked up in the hotel (although at 6 am), driven to the bus station, and in Trujillo a driver with my name on it was waiting beside the bus :)
In Trujillo went to the temple of the moon which has greatly preserved paintings. This culture made a lot of sacrifices, and it's evident in a bunch of paintings, with birds eating the bodies. There is also a mountain beside the temple, it's thought that people were sacrificed on the top and then the bodies were thrown down. This day also visited chan chan which is the largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, but I forgot everything about the explanations :)
After the trip, I went to the beach town, and just hung out there for 2 days, doing absolutely nothing. So tiring of 3 days or continues travelling and 10 hour tours. There is surfing in there, but the water is cold, the beach is not really nice, and the waves were huge, even for beginners. So I just relaxed in the nicest hostel I've ever been to. So spotless, with a bunch of green and resting areas. Got a hot stone massage there too :)) And ate ceviche, which is raw but marinated fish .. soo good :))
All pictures are downloaded from the internet as the camera was stolen :(
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/ChiclayoTrujillo#
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Lima
In Lima went to the shopping center right on the shore line. It was so beautiful. Well, I guess it was normal, I just haven't been to a big city since Guayaquil which was 2 months ago :) It's very modern, very clean, and very expensive. Here and in all of touristic Lima English is more often heard that Spanish. I think it's the most touristic city I've ever been to.
Went to the center of Lima. There was so much traffic. I'm really not used to that anymore. In there saw the main square and went to San Fransisco monastery. This is the coolest monastery I've ever seen! Everything is so thought out to the smallest details. So many designs of mosaic. The people who designed it, didn't want to repeat designs. In this monastery there are 60,000 people buried, and some archeologists decided to make designs of the bones, so they're all neatly arranged :) It has the most wicked library ever. When I got in, the first thing I thought was Harry Potter. There are so many books, looks like a lot of them are covered in dust, 1000s of years old. Some are huge with huge writing on them. Too bad pictures are not allowed, but I still took one, and downloaded a few from the internet, although they're not as impressive as the real thing ... as actually all the pictures are.
Lima also tried hard to change its look. When we walked in some park, there were a lot of before and after pictures, the changes are very impressive. Next day went to national museum which was extremely boring. Good thing that it was for free, otherwise I would be very upset. The "Shining Path" waged a terrorist campaign against the government from 80 - 90. The museum had an exposition on that. Some 60,000 Peruvians were killed. The history of Peru is very sad. Every time somebody conquered it, the Incas and Spaniards, the presidents who came to power also abused it, stole a lot of money from the country and then fled. 1 president cut taxes and froze prices, but the economy couldn't support it, and the currency was massively devalued. When the new sol came out, it was equivalent to 1 new sol = 1 billion old soles !!
In the evening met up with Eva, had desert and went to parque de aguas with many beautiful fountains all in different shapes and colors and music. They change to the music too, and it's unbelievably amazing. Some are playful fountains where you can jump into them, and you have no idea when and where and how they will shoot out water. There are change rooms, but it was evening and cold :( The entrance fee was a bit over a $1.
Mellisa left at night to Cuba.
Next day went out with Eva to lunch. The food is really really good there. The preset menues unlike Colombia and Ecuador have like 10 choices. Nice change to "do you want chicken or beef?". Also got manicure, a haircut, and ate a super delicious desert :)
2 nights in a row went to clubs till 5 am! It was surprising too that I wasn't that tired. I wonder why? Is it because of night buses, or just tiring trips all the time?
Had another tasty lunch. It had excellent raw fish (ceviche, from what Eva got sick :) ), a tasty juicy steak and a dessert for <$3. And it was in a nice restaurant with good service, quality, and nice arrangement! I love Peruvian food !! :))
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Lima#
Went to the center of Lima. There was so much traffic. I'm really not used to that anymore. In there saw the main square and went to San Fransisco monastery. This is the coolest monastery I've ever seen! Everything is so thought out to the smallest details. So many designs of mosaic. The people who designed it, didn't want to repeat designs. In this monastery there are 60,000 people buried, and some archeologists decided to make designs of the bones, so they're all neatly arranged :) It has the most wicked library ever. When I got in, the first thing I thought was Harry Potter. There are so many books, looks like a lot of them are covered in dust, 1000s of years old. Some are huge with huge writing on them. Too bad pictures are not allowed, but I still took one, and downloaded a few from the internet, although they're not as impressive as the real thing ... as actually all the pictures are.
Lima also tried hard to change its look. When we walked in some park, there were a lot of before and after pictures, the changes are very impressive. Next day went to national museum which was extremely boring. Good thing that it was for free, otherwise I would be very upset. The "Shining Path" waged a terrorist campaign against the government from 80 - 90. The museum had an exposition on that. Some 60,000 Peruvians were killed. The history of Peru is very sad. Every time somebody conquered it, the Incas and Spaniards, the presidents who came to power also abused it, stole a lot of money from the country and then fled. 1 president cut taxes and froze prices, but the economy couldn't support it, and the currency was massively devalued. When the new sol came out, it was equivalent to 1 new sol = 1 billion old soles !!
In the evening met up with Eva, had desert and went to parque de aguas with many beautiful fountains all in different shapes and colors and music. They change to the music too, and it's unbelievably amazing. Some are playful fountains where you can jump into them, and you have no idea when and where and how they will shoot out water. There are change rooms, but it was evening and cold :( The entrance fee was a bit over a $1.
Mellisa left at night to Cuba.
Next day went out with Eva to lunch. The food is really really good there. The preset menues unlike Colombia and Ecuador have like 10 choices. Nice change to "do you want chicken or beef?". Also got manicure, a haircut, and ate a super delicious desert :)
2 nights in a row went to clubs till 5 am! It was surprising too that I wasn't that tired. I wonder why? Is it because of night buses, or just tiring trips all the time?
Had another tasty lunch. It had excellent raw fish (ceviche, from what Eva got sick :) ), a tasty juicy steak and a dessert for <$3. And it was in a nice restaurant with good service, quality, and nice arrangement! I love Peruvian food !! :))
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Lima#
Chachapoyas & Iquitos
In Chachapoyas, I got up 45 minutes later, figured that the trip could wait :) When I got to the agency, I was right on time, but I didn't have any breakfast yet, but a few people were just getting their food, and turns out they are on the trip as well. Good think I didn't wake up on time :)On this trip we were supposed to see 2 burial sites. We hiked to one of the sites. The views were really nice with mountains, rivers and waterfalls. The site wasn't impressive because we were like 200 meters away from it, and could barely see it with a camera zoom. There was another site, but here when archeologists find anything, they move it to the museum, so there is nothing left to see. 30 years ago, some village nearby was struck by a disease, and the locals thought that the ancestors got mad at them for some reason and sent the disease to them. So they went to the site and tried to burn it! Apparently some villages here don't have any educations what so ever, so they still live in the past.Went to another site, but again it was far away, and the hike was very long. At least I got some exercise out of it. At 7pm we were back. We all agreed to go out, but I was still too tired, and just went to sleep.Next day went to an ancient city of Kuelap. It's second to Machu Pichu. 2.5 hours drive. The driver was so careful, made a full stop at places where other drivers just jumped over. The guide spoke both Spanish and English, and during the Spanish explanations, I understood like 90% of it :) The walls around the city are 12-19 meters high, with approximately 300 houses inside. Incas conquered the city, but they lived with them. When the Spanish came, they just burnt everything to the ground. All the houses are the same. Very little, with typically 5 people living in them, has a living room, the beds are hung like shelves (it's cold to sleep on a rock floor), a kitchen, animals and a place to bury dead people. And we complain now about lack of space :)Next day went to the 3rd highest waterfall in the world at 741 meters. It was just discovered 3 years ago, because the locals (again) believed that there is a mermaid living in there, and caught people. So nobody went there, and didn't let anybody else near it. Hiked there with 2 french guys. 2 hours up in the sun, then in the jungle. We were walking pretty fast, so after 2 days of heavy hiking, I actually got into a better shape :) On the way there saw a bunch of butterflies, a big snail, and picked up some fruits. When we got there, just stayed for 5 minutes, got all drained, and it wasn't interesting, because the waterfall has 2 parts, so we only saw 200 meters of it. I've seen bigger waterfalls than that. After 5 minutes we started walking back. I went back to Chachapoyas, and the French guys continued to the jungle (Iquitos).Overall, I wasn't very impressed by all these sites.
Next day, set up an alarm at 5am to take a bus that goes closer to the jungle. When it went off, I thought to myself that I'm not crazy, and went to sleep until 6:30 (yeah ... much better :) ). Went to the next town 1 hour away where all the buses leave from. Arrived there at 9, but the next bus leaves only at 12. When I ate at the restaurant, met a girl Melissa who goes to Iquitos too. Got on the bus, and instead of 6 hours, it went for 9 !!! I think they decided to fix the whole road on the way there. Got to Tarapoto, and it was too late to go to the next city, so we stayed overnight. Gosh, the noise ! The city doesn't have normal taxi cabs, it has mototaxies which are noisy as hell.Next day we wanted to stay in Tarapoto to go see a waterfall, but it rained heavily, so we got on the bus to the next town of Yurimaguas. We passed so many landslides, but by that time most of them were already cleaned up. These workers really have a secure job in there. It was raining heavily and we went through some thick fog for a while, with visibility of 3 meters, but then it cleared up, and it was beautiful, all green and warm and jungly like :) When we got to Yurimaguas, we didn't know anything, but the taxi guy took us to the store to buy hammocks, told us everything we need, drove us all around, and took us to the boat that goes to the jungle. When we approached the boat 2 guys surrounded us, took our bags, and went to the boat. They're the local helpers. By that time it was too late to say no, so we kinds unwillingly hired them. They took us to the better spots, hung the hammocks, went and bought everything we needed. I felt as though they were our slaves or something. The boat was extremely weird. At the front there was a space for maybe 30 cows and other cargo. And a capacity for 300 people on 2 levels. Hammocks were set about 1 meter away from each other in 2 rows. So at night if you turn you would definitely kick somebody. So our personal space completely disappeared for these 2 days. The boat was supposed to leave at 3, but left at 5. We were lucky, because sometimes they say, yeah, in an hour, in an hour, and it leaves 2 days later.The boat ride was very relaxing, 2 days, the scenery is pretty but pretty much the same, green on both sides with occasional villages. The boat would stop a few times a day to load and unload cargo, and girls would run around the boat selling sweets. We wouldn't even get off our hammocks. "What do you have?, and you and you?? ", they would all come and offer stuff, which was nice considering that the food on the boat was terrible. Lunch and dinner were the same, a bunch of rice with a tiny piece of chicken and a disgusting boiled banana. The call for the food was funny though, the loudest bang of metal against metal. After which for the whole length of the boat there would appear a line up of hungry Peruvians with any kind of container they could find. Breakfast was really bad, 2 buns of white bread with margarine in the middle and some white or brown water of I don't know what, and the worst part of it, that it was at 6 am :) I would usually eat half a bun, and then go back to sleep until lunch :) It was a really good time to relax after the long ride to Peru and all the excursions. On the boat there were 300 people, but it was very quiet, everybody's chilling in their own hammock, so I just read, read and read. I read 400 pages in 2 days, which for me is unusual :) One woman beside me was doing her makeup every half an hour, while her legs were completely covered with long black hair, meanwhile her husband was peaking his beard hair out with her twizzlers :)One guy on the boat bought a beautiful Amazonian parrot. I got so mad !! I asked him how much it was, and he said $10 !!! In Canada this kind of parrot costs over $1000. I went to the captain of the boat to complain. I explained to him that it's illegal to buy and sell wild animals, and they shouldn't allow sellers on the boat. And because people buy them, then there is money in it, and a lot of animals are killed because of it and are really mistreated, but they just laughed at me, and said that it's allowed in here. They're so ignorant !! Around Iquitos there are no more animals, they all got killed. Now around Iquitos there are a bunch of zoos where animals are in cages for protection, because if they'll let them out, somebody will kill them for sure. I really get in a bad mood when I see something like that !! :(((Arrived at noisy Iquitos. It is the largest jungle city in the world (500.000) which is unreachable by road. You either have to take a boat or fly in. Taxi driver was super nice, drove us around hotels, and recommended good and cheap tour agencies. We took a hotel off the center (thank god), because it was good, cheap and quiet. The noise from the mototaxies drills your head every time! We just walked around. There was nothing special, a few tiled buildings which remained after a rubber boom.Next day was a touring around day. We wanted to wake up at 5:30 to see some floating neighborhood, and it says in the guide book that the best time to visit it is at 7 am. Naaahaaaa ... continued sleeping :))) Got up at 8 instead. Went to a butterfly farm. Got to the port to take a taxi boat over there, and all the drivers attacked us. 2 remained and continued arguing with whom we should go. So we ended up flipping a coin :) Got there, it was super cool. There are monkeys living in there, but they are not as friendly as the ones in Puyo. They're brown with red faces! They also have cages for monkeys, jaguar, some other cool cat, a crocodile and a sea cow. Butterfly farm was very interesting. Apparently butterflies live maximum to 2 weeks, and it takes 6 months to get born. There is one big butterfly which doesn't have a mouth or a digestive system, it only lives for 3 days, and mates for 36 hours. The females produce a scent that the males can feel from 15 kilometers away. We saw different stages of caterpillars and cocoons, and let a few butterflies out into the jungle.In the farm a big fly bit me, and I only noticed it minimum 15 minutes later. So when the driver killed it, all his hand was in blood, and a huge stain on my pants. We went to some indigenous village presentation, and they had some homemade natural medicine, so I put it on, and right away the bleeding has stopped and it never itched later. In the presentation, there were like 10 people with just a skirt. So all women were topless. The tourists got a hat out of parrot feathers, and they drew three lines of some black paint on our faces. They "sang and danced" their traditional stuff, and we run around with them for a few songs too. But it was expensive. 20 soles (3 soles =~ 1 US) for half an hour! After that we drove to some zoo. It wasn't really a zoo. They had 2 sloths, 2 anacondas, and a crocodile. But it was all worth it just to hold the sloth, he was so so cute, we couldn't stop taking pictures !! :)) Then we got a shot of some jungle liquor.Next day we went to a 3 day jungle trip. In the morning the 2 french guys whom I went to the waterfalls with showed up in the hostel. We were both very shocked! How did they leave a day earlier and arrived 2 days later??!!?? We couldn't figure that out. They said that their boat didn't leave for 2 days, but how come ours did??On the way there I ate half of a fried warm ... man it was disgusting !! Chewy too :)) The lodge was only 60 kilometers away, so we didn't see much jungle and no animals. The trip per day cost $130 soles, including a guide, lodge, transportation and food. Went there with 2 more Peruvians. And in the lodge, there were only 7 of us. Right now is a low season, but in a high season, the lodge is full, with 50 people, and it costs $120 dollar a day. The lodge is really nice, resembling a mini resort. It had a cut grass with flowers planted around, and a very cute and spacious room with mosquito nets instead of windows throughout all the length of the walls. We drove on a motorized canoe. There is a place where 2 rivers merge. Some river with Amazon, and they don't mix, so you could clearly see the difference like a line separating them. Different color and texture. One is darker, and wavier than the other. During the rainy season, the river rises 6 meters, widens a lot too, and a lot of villages are flooded. That's why all the houses are built on high sticks, but some times even that doesn't help.That day it was raining. We went to some zoo, saw monkeys, toucans, crocodiles, anacondas, and the coolest prehistoric turtle ever!! Its face is triangular, with the longest neck ever, and stuff hanging out of it. Later we saw a sun set which was beautiful, all 360 degrees were lit with red, yellow and orange colors, and the river became red as well.There is no electricity at the lodge, so all the paths are lit by gasoline lamps, and we had a lamp in our room, which makes the room a little bit lighter than pitch black :)The next day we went for a walk, learned some about medicinal plants, but it wasn't interesting, I didn't even take any pictures. Then got out cane juice out of a sugar cane. Then fished piranhas, the guide caught 3, and I caught some other little fish. Then drove around looking for pink dolphins. They're really hard to spot, you have all this space around you to look, the water is really brown, so you can't see through, so you have no idea where they will surface, and by the time the guide yells "over there", all you could see is some water splashing. But we saw a few very very close to the boat. One swam just beside a boat, a few centimeters from it, but it didn't surface, we only saw bubbles coming from underneath, and then it surfaced a few meters away. It was cool nevertheless. What's sad is that at some lake nearby, one fisherman poisoned and killed 20 dolphins because he believes that these are humans turned into animals !!! I hope he's gonna go to jail for that, but the law is not really enforced at that part of the country. At night we went for a night walk. I really liked it. You can't see absolutely anything. There were bats flying around, and we found 2 spiders, 1 of them was a scorpio spider, and 1 frog. But it was interesting, because you can't see anything, and there are branches breaking off like a few meters away, and you have no idea what it is. It's also fun walking around of course :))Next day we went to a black river through some village. People there look like normal people. They go to school. But they live in wooden houses made just out of anything. Holes patched with broken umbrellas or some plastic bags. They have cloths, but they're all ripped and dirty. Girls usually have babies around 13. We got into a canoe, it was nice. Finally felt like a real jungle. There are some trees that have roots in the water, and the roots give off black substance that make the water in the river black. There were birds flying around, and it was very beautiful and relaxing until we got into a very closed area (to go see some big trees) where the mosquitoes attacked us. We were all swinging our arms around and hitting every spot on the body where they sat for like half an hour. And they're much bigger and faster. Usually the normal mosquitoes will slowly fly around, find a spot to sit on, then pock around for a bit looking for a good bite. But not these ones, they're like rockets, straight and solid attack. Thank god we had boots on, and rain coats, so the only thing bitten was the butt and upper legs. I have over 100 bites which were itching for 4 days. That day we left back to Iquitos. Overall it was a nice trip. But we didn't do or find anything super exciting. To be in a real jungle, you need to go way way deep, and it costs a fortune, definitely not done on a backpacking budget!Next day we did manage to get up in the morning to go to the floating houses neighborhood. It was very interesting. You walk through the dirtiest market, and then hire a canoe. Our guy was nice. He charged us 5 soles less, and the trip was 20 minutes longer. Should've left him a tip :( Anyway ... it's this poor neighborhood with long sticks coming from a ground somewhere beneath, and the houses are tied to it. So they go up and down with the level of the water. The house there costs $500 dollars. It's a very poor neighborhood. People there get sick very often with infections and worms, they don't have an access to clean water. They wash their dishes and cloths in the water, swim in the water, and go to the washroom to the water. It was very strange to see some businessmen in clean dress pants and shirts taking the canoes and I have no idea where they were going :) Some houses on the mainland are not built on sticks so all the first floor is flooded right now.In the afternoon we got a plane out of Iquitos to Lima. It is strange for me to go to Lima, since it's completely out of the way, but a plane to where I needed to go, costs more (although it's 1 hour less of a flight), just because there is no competition, and then I would've had to take a longer bus ride to the coast. So now I'm in Lima and have to take a 12 hour bus ride back up, and then come back down. In the airport, the official taxis cost 45 soles, but in the guide book it says to walk a bit further and get a regular taxi for 30. So we did, and bargained until we found one for 30 soles. Got to the hostel, Melissa gave him 30, and he's looking at me to receive my 30. OMG I got so mad. I said that in taxi you never pay per person, and what do you think we didn't take an official taxi for 45, and now you want to receive 60? We're tourists, but we're not stupid. Took our bags and got into the hostel, but oh he was a good actor, with such a sad face, looking at the money at hand and looking at me ... GRRRR !!!!!
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/ChachapoyasIquitos#
Next day, set up an alarm at 5am to take a bus that goes closer to the jungle. When it went off, I thought to myself that I'm not crazy, and went to sleep until 6:30 (yeah ... much better :) ). Went to the next town 1 hour away where all the buses leave from. Arrived there at 9, but the next bus leaves only at 12. When I ate at the restaurant, met a girl Melissa who goes to Iquitos too. Got on the bus, and instead of 6 hours, it went for 9 !!! I think they decided to fix the whole road on the way there. Got to Tarapoto, and it was too late to go to the next city, so we stayed overnight. Gosh, the noise ! The city doesn't have normal taxi cabs, it has mototaxies which are noisy as hell.Next day we wanted to stay in Tarapoto to go see a waterfall, but it rained heavily, so we got on the bus to the next town of Yurimaguas. We passed so many landslides, but by that time most of them were already cleaned up. These workers really have a secure job in there. It was raining heavily and we went through some thick fog for a while, with visibility of 3 meters, but then it cleared up, and it was beautiful, all green and warm and jungly like :) When we got to Yurimaguas, we didn't know anything, but the taxi guy took us to the store to buy hammocks, told us everything we need, drove us all around, and took us to the boat that goes to the jungle. When we approached the boat 2 guys surrounded us, took our bags, and went to the boat. They're the local helpers. By that time it was too late to say no, so we kinds unwillingly hired them. They took us to the better spots, hung the hammocks, went and bought everything we needed. I felt as though they were our slaves or something. The boat was extremely weird. At the front there was a space for maybe 30 cows and other cargo. And a capacity for 300 people on 2 levels. Hammocks were set about 1 meter away from each other in 2 rows. So at night if you turn you would definitely kick somebody. So our personal space completely disappeared for these 2 days. The boat was supposed to leave at 3, but left at 5. We were lucky, because sometimes they say, yeah, in an hour, in an hour, and it leaves 2 days later.The boat ride was very relaxing, 2 days, the scenery is pretty but pretty much the same, green on both sides with occasional villages. The boat would stop a few times a day to load and unload cargo, and girls would run around the boat selling sweets. We wouldn't even get off our hammocks. "What do you have?, and you and you?? ", they would all come and offer stuff, which was nice considering that the food on the boat was terrible. Lunch and dinner were the same, a bunch of rice with a tiny piece of chicken and a disgusting boiled banana. The call for the food was funny though, the loudest bang of metal against metal. After which for the whole length of the boat there would appear a line up of hungry Peruvians with any kind of container they could find. Breakfast was really bad, 2 buns of white bread with margarine in the middle and some white or brown water of I don't know what, and the worst part of it, that it was at 6 am :) I would usually eat half a bun, and then go back to sleep until lunch :) It was a really good time to relax after the long ride to Peru and all the excursions. On the boat there were 300 people, but it was very quiet, everybody's chilling in their own hammock, so I just read, read and read. I read 400 pages in 2 days, which for me is unusual :) One woman beside me was doing her makeup every half an hour, while her legs were completely covered with long black hair, meanwhile her husband was peaking his beard hair out with her twizzlers :)One guy on the boat bought a beautiful Amazonian parrot. I got so mad !! I asked him how much it was, and he said $10 !!! In Canada this kind of parrot costs over $1000. I went to the captain of the boat to complain. I explained to him that it's illegal to buy and sell wild animals, and they shouldn't allow sellers on the boat. And because people buy them, then there is money in it, and a lot of animals are killed because of it and are really mistreated, but they just laughed at me, and said that it's allowed in here. They're so ignorant !! Around Iquitos there are no more animals, they all got killed. Now around Iquitos there are a bunch of zoos where animals are in cages for protection, because if they'll let them out, somebody will kill them for sure. I really get in a bad mood when I see something like that !! :(((Arrived at noisy Iquitos. It is the largest jungle city in the world (500.000) which is unreachable by road. You either have to take a boat or fly in. Taxi driver was super nice, drove us around hotels, and recommended good and cheap tour agencies. We took a hotel off the center (thank god), because it was good, cheap and quiet. The noise from the mototaxies drills your head every time! We just walked around. There was nothing special, a few tiled buildings which remained after a rubber boom.Next day was a touring around day. We wanted to wake up at 5:30 to see some floating neighborhood, and it says in the guide book that the best time to visit it is at 7 am. Naaahaaaa ... continued sleeping :))) Got up at 8 instead. Went to a butterfly farm. Got to the port to take a taxi boat over there, and all the drivers attacked us. 2 remained and continued arguing with whom we should go. So we ended up flipping a coin :) Got there, it was super cool. There are monkeys living in there, but they are not as friendly as the ones in Puyo. They're brown with red faces! They also have cages for monkeys, jaguar, some other cool cat, a crocodile and a sea cow. Butterfly farm was very interesting. Apparently butterflies live maximum to 2 weeks, and it takes 6 months to get born. There is one big butterfly which doesn't have a mouth or a digestive system, it only lives for 3 days, and mates for 36 hours. The females produce a scent that the males can feel from 15 kilometers away. We saw different stages of caterpillars and cocoons, and let a few butterflies out into the jungle.In the farm a big fly bit me, and I only noticed it minimum 15 minutes later. So when the driver killed it, all his hand was in blood, and a huge stain on my pants. We went to some indigenous village presentation, and they had some homemade natural medicine, so I put it on, and right away the bleeding has stopped and it never itched later. In the presentation, there were like 10 people with just a skirt. So all women were topless. The tourists got a hat out of parrot feathers, and they drew three lines of some black paint on our faces. They "sang and danced" their traditional stuff, and we run around with them for a few songs too. But it was expensive. 20 soles (3 soles =~ 1 US) for half an hour! After that we drove to some zoo. It wasn't really a zoo. They had 2 sloths, 2 anacondas, and a crocodile. But it was all worth it just to hold the sloth, he was so so cute, we couldn't stop taking pictures !! :)) Then we got a shot of some jungle liquor.Next day we went to a 3 day jungle trip. In the morning the 2 french guys whom I went to the waterfalls with showed up in the hostel. We were both very shocked! How did they leave a day earlier and arrived 2 days later??!!?? We couldn't figure that out. They said that their boat didn't leave for 2 days, but how come ours did??On the way there I ate half of a fried warm ... man it was disgusting !! Chewy too :)) The lodge was only 60 kilometers away, so we didn't see much jungle and no animals. The trip per day cost $130 soles, including a guide, lodge, transportation and food. Went there with 2 more Peruvians. And in the lodge, there were only 7 of us. Right now is a low season, but in a high season, the lodge is full, with 50 people, and it costs $120 dollar a day. The lodge is really nice, resembling a mini resort. It had a cut grass with flowers planted around, and a very cute and spacious room with mosquito nets instead of windows throughout all the length of the walls. We drove on a motorized canoe. There is a place where 2 rivers merge. Some river with Amazon, and they don't mix, so you could clearly see the difference like a line separating them. Different color and texture. One is darker, and wavier than the other. During the rainy season, the river rises 6 meters, widens a lot too, and a lot of villages are flooded. That's why all the houses are built on high sticks, but some times even that doesn't help.That day it was raining. We went to some zoo, saw monkeys, toucans, crocodiles, anacondas, and the coolest prehistoric turtle ever!! Its face is triangular, with the longest neck ever, and stuff hanging out of it. Later we saw a sun set which was beautiful, all 360 degrees were lit with red, yellow and orange colors, and the river became red as well.There is no electricity at the lodge, so all the paths are lit by gasoline lamps, and we had a lamp in our room, which makes the room a little bit lighter than pitch black :)The next day we went for a walk, learned some about medicinal plants, but it wasn't interesting, I didn't even take any pictures. Then got out cane juice out of a sugar cane. Then fished piranhas, the guide caught 3, and I caught some other little fish. Then drove around looking for pink dolphins. They're really hard to spot, you have all this space around you to look, the water is really brown, so you can't see through, so you have no idea where they will surface, and by the time the guide yells "over there", all you could see is some water splashing. But we saw a few very very close to the boat. One swam just beside a boat, a few centimeters from it, but it didn't surface, we only saw bubbles coming from underneath, and then it surfaced a few meters away. It was cool nevertheless. What's sad is that at some lake nearby, one fisherman poisoned and killed 20 dolphins because he believes that these are humans turned into animals !!! I hope he's gonna go to jail for that, but the law is not really enforced at that part of the country. At night we went for a night walk. I really liked it. You can't see absolutely anything. There were bats flying around, and we found 2 spiders, 1 of them was a scorpio spider, and 1 frog. But it was interesting, because you can't see anything, and there are branches breaking off like a few meters away, and you have no idea what it is. It's also fun walking around of course :))Next day we went to a black river through some village. People there look like normal people. They go to school. But they live in wooden houses made just out of anything. Holes patched with broken umbrellas or some plastic bags. They have cloths, but they're all ripped and dirty. Girls usually have babies around 13. We got into a canoe, it was nice. Finally felt like a real jungle. There are some trees that have roots in the water, and the roots give off black substance that make the water in the river black. There were birds flying around, and it was very beautiful and relaxing until we got into a very closed area (to go see some big trees) where the mosquitoes attacked us. We were all swinging our arms around and hitting every spot on the body where they sat for like half an hour. And they're much bigger and faster. Usually the normal mosquitoes will slowly fly around, find a spot to sit on, then pock around for a bit looking for a good bite. But not these ones, they're like rockets, straight and solid attack. Thank god we had boots on, and rain coats, so the only thing bitten was the butt and upper legs. I have over 100 bites which were itching for 4 days. That day we left back to Iquitos. Overall it was a nice trip. But we didn't do or find anything super exciting. To be in a real jungle, you need to go way way deep, and it costs a fortune, definitely not done on a backpacking budget!Next day we did manage to get up in the morning to go to the floating houses neighborhood. It was very interesting. You walk through the dirtiest market, and then hire a canoe. Our guy was nice. He charged us 5 soles less, and the trip was 20 minutes longer. Should've left him a tip :( Anyway ... it's this poor neighborhood with long sticks coming from a ground somewhere beneath, and the houses are tied to it. So they go up and down with the level of the water. The house there costs $500 dollars. It's a very poor neighborhood. People there get sick very often with infections and worms, they don't have an access to clean water. They wash their dishes and cloths in the water, swim in the water, and go to the washroom to the water. It was very strange to see some businessmen in clean dress pants and shirts taking the canoes and I have no idea where they were going :) Some houses on the mainland are not built on sticks so all the first floor is flooded right now.In the afternoon we got a plane out of Iquitos to Lima. It is strange for me to go to Lima, since it's completely out of the way, but a plane to where I needed to go, costs more (although it's 1 hour less of a flight), just because there is no competition, and then I would've had to take a longer bus ride to the coast. So now I'm in Lima and have to take a 12 hour bus ride back up, and then come back down. In the airport, the official taxis cost 45 soles, but in the guide book it says to walk a bit further and get a regular taxi for 30. So we did, and bargained until we found one for 30 soles. Got to the hostel, Melissa gave him 30, and he's looking at me to receive my 30. OMG I got so mad. I said that in taxi you never pay per person, and what do you think we didn't take an official taxi for 45, and now you want to receive 60? We're tourists, but we're not stupid. Took our bags and got into the hostel, but oh he was a good actor, with such a sad face, looking at the money at hand and looking at me ... GRRRR !!!!!
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/ChachapoyasIquitos#
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