Cuzco

We arrived in Cuzco a little earlier than expected as we were afraid that we might not be
able to get a place on the trail to Macchu Picchu --- it is highly regulated for permits.
We took the horrendous bus ride from Copacobana to Cuzco. We were promised so much a
and it turned out to be a rip off. Not to mention, one of the other travellers got his backpack stolen in the bus station.

Upon arriving in Cuzco, we were able to sign up for the 5 day Salkantay trek to Macchu Picchu.
Since we had 4 people in our group (myself, mom, Alissa, Ruben), we were able to make our own group!

The next day, we went on the tour around the city -- via the local San Franciscian like trolley.
We were nice enough to meet a dude from Lima, Luis. He was in town on business and took an extra day to tour around. He was so nice, that we invited him out for drinks. He was a local and spoke English. He was our age, but married with twins! We had a hard time comprehending the the thought of two kids. We promised that we would meet him in Lima upon the return from the M.P. trek.

My mom arrived a couple of days after we did, along with her friend and client, Ruben.
We were so happy that they came because we were in need of a nice place to stay, and one that had heat!

There is so much to say about Ruben -- a 21 year old in a 43 year old body. He has so much energy!!! He is well versed in so many topics and has travelled the world. He took us around the town himself and to the nicest restaurant-bar, where we had the best food!

Road to Titicaca

We ventured out and took the bus to Lake Titicaca --- border or Peru and Bolivia. The day that we decided to go --- it snowed!!! Yes, the entire bus ride was filled with a white country side. The best part was that there was no heat and not only did we have to take a bus but had to cross a straight as well. I thought that the boat was going to sink with the bus on it.

We finally got to Copacobana -- last stop in Bolivia before entering Peru. Copacobana is at 4000M! Alissa had a hard time with the altitude. Needless to say, we didnt do too much. None of the "hotels" had heat, so we didnt sleep very well. Both of us camped in our sleeping bags, with hat and gloves.

We decided that Lake Titicaca is a place to snap your token picture and move on. The Lake is the highest lake on the planet --- this is the calim to fame!

We decided to buy a ticket to Cuzco the next day because we were getting concerned about the trekking details. So, we hopped the 10 hour bus to Cuzco via Puno. Puno is the town where many pictures are taken of the women with brown top hats.

We dished out the money for the deluxe bus and were given the chicken bus!!!

La Paz Tour

Im not sure where I left off, but the most memorable day in La Paz was the city tour. We bought a 6 buck bus ticket to be taken around to see the sights. We waited at the bus stop for an hour before we decided that we needed to do something. I called the company and they said that they didnt work that day. Great, why would a company sell a bus ticket if it was not running. We asked the lady (with her grocery stand) about the bus and she said that it comes everyday, another guy chimed in saying that it was late. An hour and 15 mins??

Then, this local boy told us that the bus broke down and will not be fixed for two days. Just our luck. So, we decide to hop a collective mini bus to the Valley of the Moon. We are the only foreigners and the only ones who speak english. After driving for 25 mins we stop at something called Valle del Sol (Valley of the Sun), then the following conversation occurred:

alissa: I think this is it.

amy:It looks like a housing project!

alissa: I guess we will stay on till we get back to La Paz.
(both of us were clueless!)

amy:It must be on this road, we will get off at the next stop.

(we drive through the entire town and back on to the main road back to La Paz.
Thank good ness, it stopped just on the outskirt)

alissa: Where the hell are we??

amy: On the moon

We walk about half a mile to the entrance to the Valley of the Moon. We were greeted by 3 high school boys doing a project for their english class. (note: this is the 3rd time that we were stopped and asked for an interview) Basically, they must ask us 10 questions in english and they must record the answers on the machine. I hope that they are not all in the same class because the teacher is gonna wonder who amy and alissa are???

The Valley of the Moon is exactly what is says. We were the only ones in the park. We did a little trek and talked to a local dude, then went back on our way.

We hopped the local bus back to town --- or something that we thought was the local bus. It had the same sign that stated where we wanted to go. Well, we get on with about 6 grade school children. We exchange questions and they are entertained by us. They ask is we are students, too. We said,"no"...they looked confused. After 30 mins and after they got off, we realised why they were confused, it was the school bus. It dropped us off about 45 mins outside of town!

We managed to get back in one piece, but it took us most of the afternoon.

Rio to Sao Paulo

Alissa and I left at 6AM on the 11th of Sept to the Sao Paulo airport -- this is the hub for all flights, every flight goes thru Sao Paulo. We jump on the 7.40am bus, which should take us about 5 hours. Of course this is always under estimated!!

We scored this awesome bus!! It big and spacious, Alissa and I cruised in style!!! The ladies next to us were trying to help us out with getting to the airport, because we had no clue. We were expected to arrive at 1.10pm and then jet to make out 4pm flight. They said that it was no problem. I got all of what they were saying and then 3 other peeps started to chime in and add their comments. However, they were talking to fast that I could not understand.

Of course, we pull into the bus station at 1.40pm. We were told that we had three options of getting to the airport...bus, taxi and subway. Sao Paulo is a 3rd world NYC --- it is huge and the subway foes everywhere. Both Alissa and I regreted that we didnt spend time in the city.
We chose the cheapest possible way to get to the airport, this also means the slowest. We took the metro and then realized that we needed to take a bus as well. We arrived at the the airport at 3pm.

Upon arrival, we ran 4 terminals to get to ours. And here is the breakdown:

3.05pm -- We hand our paper ticket to the lady at Aero Sur. She looks at it and then proceeds to take it to another attendant. A moment later, 4 peeps are standing around her and analyzing the ticket.

3.10pm -- Everyone reviewing the ticket is shaking their heads. Bad sign.

3.11pm -- We were told that we had to pay the change is fare price because we didnt change the ticket in time. We responded by saying that we would not pay the extra fare ($170 USD) because we had been called Aero Sur on the 2nd of Sept (one day before the ticket date). Alissa got agressive and told her to talk to her manager.

3.15pm--The attendant disappeared to call the main office.

3.32pm -- She returned from the phone call and told us that we had to pay the extra fare price. We refused and asked to talk to her manager. She said that he was at the gate and would not return for another 20 mins. We decided to protest and would wait for his return.

3.33pm -- I decide to walk around the airport to see if I could find another airline that could get us to bolivia for cheap!

3.35 to 3.50pm--I strolled thru 3 terminals to see the LAB (Linea Aerollineas Boliviano)

3.51pm - 3.55pm-- I hear "Emi Wezzner" over the P.A. system. I thought why in the world would I be paged? I started to question whether or not to walk back. I thought maybe Alissa needed help. I started to walk back. Then, for some reason I thought I should run. Again, I ran from terminal A to D. Then, the P.A. system called for "Alissa Nickey"....great! Something is wrong.
I ran faster!!!! Just as I turn the corner from C to D, I notice that the entire Aero Sur staff---6 people are waving me to run faster. I get there and they whisk us off to the security and passport control. We were allowed to board the plane, the manager escorted us thru passport control in 2 mins. We bypassed the 100 people waiting in line. The passport dude didnt even look at our tickets -- no exit fee for us!!! (We were told that there was a $36 exit fee).

3.55-4.00pm--We ran to the gate where the staff was cheering us on. They all cheered us on the plane and said goodbye. We were on our way. The entire plane had waited for us. The plane was almost empty, and we had our choice of seats. To celebrate, we drank wine.

I think that we received good karma because we were nice to son many people and got ripped off several times and did not protest. It all works out in the end. Otherwise, our plan B was to bus it to Bolivia --- 4 days excursion to La Paz.

We landed in Santa Cruz de La Serna (Bolivia) --- sight of the year´s protest by the migrant workers against the government, up until July the State dept declared Bolivia not be visited, just like Nepal. We waited in Santa Cruz for a couple of hours until the next plane took off. We were in the "campo" of Bolivia, it was a definet difference from Rio. All of the cute Bolivian farmers were chillin´in the waiting area all bundled up. It was about 50 degrees outside! We were dressed in open toed shoes and no jacket, while everyone in the airport were wearing parkas.

At 8pm we were to leave for La Paz (via Cochabamba), however we went to the wrong gate. There are only 10 in the entire airport. We ran to the correct gate, thinking that we missed it. We spoke to the attendant and he told us that it was delayed for 30 mins, another miracle.
At 8.30, we were on our way. We arrived about 10pm and made it to a cheap hotel in downtown La Paz. It was definetly a 3rd world country with the dilapidated buildings. We were just happy to be in a bed. We even forgot about the altitude change -- 13,000ft! The airport has an oxygen recovery room next to baggage claim.

Final Days in Brazil

DAY 10-- I think that this is the day that started with Duncan betting Rich that the US Prez can not run for 3 terms. It started by a discussion on whether Bill Clinton should run again. Duncan said that there was a 2 term max, and Rich said that it was only a 2 consecutive term max. Duncan´s response, " I read the Constitution on the plane and I know that the cap is 2 terms." Alissa responded," Why on earth did you read the Constitution on the plane? I never heard someone say that before!" Yes, Duncan is a nerd, but a cute one.

On this day we also made a hike to "waterfall". The trail went around the island and passed the old prison -- Ihla Grande housed prisoners at one time. The trek to the "waterfall" was very anticlimatic. We were expecting a grandiose sight and got a small running water tap. Ok, it was not that bad. The highlight was that we got to eat more cebolitas. After the "waterfall", we decided to go to a nearby beach, but this meant a further hike back. Being risk takers, we went on, hoping that there would be a ferry back to the town. When we got to the beach the sun was out in full force, it was nice. But, we would only stay short time as the sun was going down the trek was nearly 3 hours back.

As luck would have it, this speed boat came to our rescue and said that he would take us back to town. Awesome!!

DAY 11 &12--Back to mainland. We checked out of our hotel in Grande, but not before a major confrontation occurred. The lady billed us for 3x times the amount that was quoted to Alissa and Rich. We didnt know what to do or say other than just pay it. We did, but not happily. Alissa and I talked about it the whole boat ride to the mainland. Duncan´s advice was to just move on and accept it, otherwise it will cause us suffering and anxiety. After a week, I got over it. Yes, I got over it, Duncan.

We made our way to Paray, a town about 4 hours south of Rio. It was a really cute town, but alot of the museums and shops were closed due to the down season. Basically, we just hung out because it rained bother days that we were in town. Although, the highlight was that we got to see the soccer match between Ireland and France. It brought out all of the Leprechauns in Paraty;)

DAY 13--Duncan and I made the long journey to the north of Rio. It was suppose to be a nice moutain town. We arrived late at nite and nothing was open. We were forced to take a hotel room clase to the us station. Words can not describe the hotel. I will quote Duncan, "I just want to get this night over with, I will put on my eye patch and ear plugs and go to sleep."

We woke up the next day and headed straight back to Rio, as the town matched the hotel.

DAY 14--We were in Rio at about noon and checked into the hotel. Unfortunately, Duncan was not feeling well and neither was Rich. They both spent the afternoon in bed:(

Both Alissa and I did enjoy a nice meal at the local churrascarria --- BBQ joint. We had some nice pieces of meat. Both Rich and Duncan joined us, but didnt eat to their potential.

DAY 15-- Yes, I know that I said 14 days in Rio---I cant count. This was a sad day both Rich and Duncan left for the states. Duncan was such a good playmate, that he took my extra bag with him on the plane.

My apologies

Im sorry for my poor grammar and incoherent thoughts in the last few blog entries. However, we landed in La Paz yesterday and the altitude (3600M) has caused me to become delusional and scatter brained. I will try to make a better attempt tomorrow.

14 days in Brasil - part 2

DAY 5--Our time in Rio was coming to and end and it was time to move onto another location. Alissa and Rich moved onto Ihla Grande -- an island of the green coast. We opted for one more day in Rio. This was our chance to see the mountain that overlooks the other side of the city, referring to the Christ statue. This requires a gondola ride to the top. I had to hold Duncan´s hand as he was getting nervous. I told that I would take care of him and that everything would be OK. As luck would have it, the cloud covered the top of the mountain when we reached the summit. So, when just made-out till the gondola came back down.

DAY 6 -- Our journey to Ihla Grande, started at 8am. We had to take the bus to the ferry in on the Green Coast. This town, Angra, was about 150km in distance, but 3 hours in bus. Not to mention, the slow pace, the 5 stops and the flat tire. Yes, another flat! Just our luck, we can´t travel anywhere without having some sort of technical breakdown. The driver jumped off the bus and took another bus that was going the other direction. We sat for about a half hour till we realised that the bus was not going to be fixed. Moments later, another bus picked us all up. We only had 1 hour to catch the ferry. We made it at 3.15 for a 3.30 ferry. It was all good! Onto Ihla Grande.

DAY 7 --- Adventure kayaking, need I say more? We rented the cheapest, lightest and most unreliable kayaks from a man with a tshirt stating, "NO STRESS!" Yes, we each took a kayak and commenced on our journey (with our cebolitas and water) into the deep seas of the bay and then the Atlantic. We kayaked in the rough, but small waves of the bay for about 1 and a half hours. Duncan kept saying " around the next corner will be a beach." After the last corner we passed, the ocean met the bay. The waves were enormous and unforgiving. I was ready to return, I was not going further, even if there was the most beautiful beach around the corner. Duncan was floating up and down on these gigantic waves, before they crashed in the cliffs. Thank god Alissa was not with us, she would have gone psychotic! After 15 mins of strong paddling and rocking, we made it back to the bay. We raced back to the land, I won, of course.

Upon our return, the dude that rented the kayaks was no where to be found! I waited with the kayaks and Duncan went with a local to find the dude. He searched in restaurants and homes, without any luck. Then out of nowhere, the man with the No Stress shirt appeared. It was all good!

DAY 8 --- Adventure snorkeling in the Green Lagoon. Another day of being out on the rough and cold waters of the bay-atlantic coast of Ihla Grande. We picked the coldest day to venture into the water to view the creatures below. Again, we took our cebolitas and water on the excursion. This was Duncan´s first time with the creatures from the sea, he greeted them with a big smile! Rich jumped right and became a fish himself. Alissa didnt even get in, she was having flashbacks from the Koh Tao experience. I was the last to get in, but I made it. We saw starfish, piranha, eels, clown fish and lots of unknown black creatures. We made it back to land without a major catastrophe.

DAY 9 --- Extreme hiking to Lopez Mendez beach. We embarked on the 2 hour journey to the other side of the island. Duncan was a stud and carried 5 gallons of water, cebolitas and other scooby snacks. After trekking thru the jungle, fighting lions and bear we made it, in record time!

We were so exhausted that we got a local boat back, which navigated thru the same rough waters as we did on our kayaks. The boat almost tipped over --- need I say more.

14 days in Brasil -- part 1

I know thatI have not updated the blog in awhile, I been busy entertaining Duncan. This was a tough job, but I did well. So, to appease the many requests, I will continue to write about my journeys. Below, is the day by day summary.

DAY 1--
Disembarked from the 31 hour journey from Thailand, with the Portugese dictionary in hand, into Rio de Jainero. We met Rich, friend of Alissa, at the airport andmade our way to the cheapest hotel in town. Basically, this was a very uneventful day, although it was sunny and warm. I have to admit that we had a culture shock, as the city was very modern and cosmopolitan. Not to mention, the exchange rate was not a generous as the SE Asian countries.

Another important point, none of us spoke portuguese. My spanish was not enough, I struggled.

DAY 2--
Rio de Jainero was the rendevous point for Duncan and I. I took the local bus to the airport to greet him. Amazingly, I was on time! I do not mess with the wrath of Duncan. After our long separation, it was good to be reunited. We spent the day on the beach of Leblon. Rio is separated into districts, and the further away from the town center are the safer and more wealthy parts. The Rio beaches are filled with cariocas men in speedos and women in scantly clad bikini thongs, as seen on TV. Duncan did not want to embarass the local men, so he decided to wear the board shorts, he is always modest. Rich went forthe speedo look, and most of the girls took notice:)

DAY 3--
On this day, we went to visit the statue Christ Redemer. This is the statue that is seen when a picture of Rio is shown. It overlooks the city and provides it with a symbol. We took the local bus to the gondola--this was an adventure, as we did not know where to get off. Thank god there were some other gringos going to the same place. Duncan did a photo shoot at the top. Photos to be shown later.

Of course, no day is complete unless we hit the beach! A daily ritual for us.

Brazil is known for its meat. The popoular choice of restaurants, is a churrascaria -- bbq joint. Being the carnivores that we are, it was the dinner of choice. The typical plate included a huge slab of meat,fries and some sort of local saw dust (farifoa??) The perfect meal for Pennslyvanians and Irish.

DAY 4--
Nothing like living on the edge and renting a bike in Rio. We rented a bike around the beach of Copacabana and the Lake. No crashes for Alissa, thank god! The only major event was the argument between Duncan and the shop owner over the price of the rental.

TO BE CONTINUED.....