I heart Peru (unless im sick on a bus)

After many hours spent in various airports in the weeee morning hours, we made it to Cusco! It was freezing, and by freezing I mean by bag felt like an ice cube and my fleece did nothing to keep me from shivering. We hopped into an over-priced Taxi, ignored comments that our hotel was in a dangerous neighborhood and arrived around 8am at Los Ninos Hotel. I highly recommend it to anyone going to Cusco, its run by a Dutch woman who started this cute funky hotel to help street kids! I believe she is currently supporting about 150 kids through her schools and restaurants, not to mention how many she has personally adopted.

My mom started to feel the affects of altitude, such as being out of breathe just walking down the street, stomach issues, and then the worse came... Cut to a few days of her laying in bed, eating nothing and barely drinking some water, she slowly adjusted to the altitude so we could head into the Sacred Valley for the Sunday market.

We hired a Taxi driver for the day and headed to Pisac! We spend a few hours shopping for the glorious woolen crafts Peru is so well known for, snapping some shots of colorfully dressed women selling fruits and flowers, and generally enjoying the fact my mom was alive again!

On Monday we took a taxi back into the sacred valley and caught the Vistadome train to Aguas Calientes. This train served drinks and snacks while you cruise through the valley with glass windows above you so you can fully appreciate the magnitude of where you are - seriously, it makes our mountains look like hills.

We didnt have a reservation, so we spent a little while scouting out a nice place to stay and hit up a pizza joint for dinner. We spent a few hours playing cards and I was laughing so hard I was almost in tears. Theres nothing funnier then having your mom thinking she´s almost won a long game of cards, then sweeping in stealing her last card. Excellent.

We got up at 4am, grabbed the banana and rolls waiting for us downstairs and took off into the darkness to catch a bus up to Macchu Pichu! It was raining a little bit, last nights dinner was making it difficult for my stomach and the women selling ponchos were so annoying I seriously was going to punch them if we didnt get on a bus soon. Fortunately I didnt have to resort to violence and we started up the muddy roads looking out of fogged up windows. The sun had started to rise by the time we were in line at the top, but we couldnt see much cause of the heavy clouds that morning. At the same time Macchu Pichu has a very different vibe when its covered in clouds. Its almost like you are back in time when you are up there that early.

Turned out the llamas were in full force in Macchu Pichu that day. They were everywhere! On the stairs, the paths, fighting, mating, everything! We tromped around, climbed up to the Inca Bridge, followed around tour groups and ate some snacks. At one point my mom did slip down the steps and bent her leg back pretty far. She was alright and I insisted on her holding my hand anytime she got near a step. Seriously. We headed back down in the afternoon, had some soup and frozen lemonade (Yep Jnae, the same place), and hung out til we caught the backpacker train back to Cusco. The seats of this train are two bench seats facing eachother and are so close together that anyone who is taller then me would be insanely uncomfortable. This is why when the rows across the aisle from us had 4 European men with long legs, we couldnt help but laugh a little bit watching them try to figure out what knee fits where.

he next day we went shopping again, had a big last lunch at Jacks, said are sad goodbyes and my mom took off in a Taxi for the airport. I was really bummed. I spent the rest of the day being sad about it, she´s always joined me at the end of my trips so it was weird having so much time left which I hadnt planned out at all. I seriously didnt even have a reservation for a place to stay that night, go me! So I was able to extend my stay at the hotel one more night, and bought a ticket heading for Lima the next day.

I spent my last day in Cusco having a phone interview to work for an NGO in Santiago, then met up with some people at the Loki I worked at for food and some hanging out. Once on my bus that would take 22hrs to reach Lima, I started to feel a little sick. I virtually spent 22 hrs trying not to throw up, it was awful. THEN with about an hour left to go we ran into a road block put up by people on strike. All the stories I´d heard about people who had to walk miles with their bags, or being injured when the locals started throwing rocks at the buses trying to drive around the roadblocks flashed threw my head and I knew was feeling way too sick to handle that. Fortunately after an hour of sitting in place, traffic started to move and we were allowed to pass into Lima.

The two days I meant to spend in Lima (while I figured out some sort of plan) turned into 6 pretty quickly. I met up with Ryan, a friend of friend, doing work out in Lima. He arranged for me to go with him out to the slums of Lima, San Juan de Miraflores, and check out the amazing work being done out there. I visited health clinics, rehabilitation centers, a kindergarten and day care centers, and a maternity ward. I saw a baby getting its feet stamped, brand new mothers sleeping with their babies and the delivery room. It was quite an amazing place and Im thinking of returning to volunteer for a little bit. But first, I needed some beach time.

Mummykins in South America!

Despite very long segments of flights, my mom showed up at the airport fresh as a daisy and ready to get to business! We headed back to town and went straight for lunch at El Federal (I know, but this place is sooo good). We had a tapas platter and a bottle of wine which inevidably got her tipsy. Lets just say the walk back to the hostel was filled with my mom making random bursts of delight noises and laughing while I pulled her across streets to dodge traffic. Mothers.... so easily delighted.

Our days in Buenos Aires were filled with visiting good restaurants, cafes, wine bars and lots of window shopping along the way. We even hit up an underground Tango club one evening after lots of wine and a big steak dinner. We got our bus tickets for a 16hr trip to Iguazu AND it was the first time I got the executive class Ticket. While my mom wasnt totally impressed with fully reclining leather seats big enough to curl up in and meals that didnt consist of day old cheese sanwiches, I was so happy I would have stayed on the bus for another few hours.

We stayed at Los Troncos Bed in Iguazu and it was fantastic! The woman that runs the place couldnt be nicer, our room had a loft with a deck and there was a pool! It was so nice to be in a tropical climate again - even though I got plenty of mosiquito bites. My mom discovered the Caparaina (a brazilian drink) and fell in love. All those in Portland, be prepared for a tropically themed house warming!

The falls were even more spectacular then I imagined. We walked down to the first set of falls,snapped some shots, then took a boat across to an Island that had a lookout point right under one of the falls. Later we took a power boat ride that actually went under the falls. I dont think Ive ever heard my mom scream like that before, it was hilarious! Afterwards we took an open canopy trunk ride thru the jungle. We saw some monkeys and this little rancoon-anteater looking animal. Next we took the train to Devils Throat (the main falls). Words cant describe the grand scale of this fall and the pressure of the water right under your feet. Amazing! After being misted by the falls for a little while we headed back to town to eat our leftover steak, drink some beers and watch some TV in our big comfy loft bed.

We flew back to Buenos Aires and moved to a botique hotel in San Telmo called Telmoho. Very chic and cute with an awesome breakfast. We toured around the sunday markets the next day and hopped on a ferry headed for Uruguay.

Montevideo was like a ghostown. Nothing was open, the ferry ride had made half the boat seasick and the wind on land was chilling to the bone. Brrrrrr. We FINALLY found our hostel after wandering around empty streets, ate dinner and passed out. The next day we took a bus to Punta del Este! Beach time! We arrived with enough time to walk the beach down to the docks where we drank a Caparaina while sitting in the sand and watched the sunset. We went to dinner at a nice steakhouse and overall had a pretty nice day.

The next day we rented a car and drove up the coast as far as Punta Diablo, hitting al the fishing villages along the way. Since its off season there wasnt much open, but it was still nice to tool around the coast. My favorite towns included this surfing village called Jose Ignacio (some of the cutest beach huts Ive ever seen) and also Punta Diablo with its vibrant colors and little antigue fishing boats lining the beach.

We left the next day for Buenos Aires, had a wierd encounter with a drunk italian, but made it back to San Telmo in one piece. We had one more afternoon in Buenos Aires then headed to the airport and flew off to Peru!

*PICS ARE COMING SOON*

My Birthday...Quarter Century!

I arrived in Buenos Aires a few days before my birthday and it was pretty strange to be back in Argentina again. I also discovered that all my clothes smelled worse then I had previously suspected (probably cause everyone in Peru starts to smell the same after a while) and was feeling pretty grungy next to all the freshly arrived backbackers in Hostel Estoril. I was glad my mom would be arriving shortly with some new shirts and products to make me feel civilized again.

My birthday was a very very busy day. I got up in time to snag a pastry for breakfast before they were all gone and headed out to the Recoleta market with Ian (he thought he was going to study spanish in the park but was convinced otherwise). I shopped around for a new silver ring, got a fresh fruitcup with fresh squeeed OJ and then headed back to the hostel to meet Miriam. We walked to the Microcentro for a Tango lesson. Kat and Miriam were sporting some amazing tango shoes and I had to dance barefoot standing on my toes (my shoe choices are flipflops, crocks or hiking boots). The lesson was awesome, very difficult but I understand why its the forbidden dance...sheeesh. The best part is that I realise now its a dance of feet flirting. Your feet are essentially flirting with little taps, rubs, slides and teases in a totally unchoriagraphed way. Not to mention there is no space between you and your partner in order to anticipate their next move since again...unchoriagraphed.

Next I headed to San Telmo with Kat where we watched some Afro-Cuban dancing and went to a tapas restaurant called El Federal for some wine and cheese. I had a big Argentinian BBQ at the hostel for dinner and went clubbing that night! The techno music inspired some very unique dance moves that evening which have resulted in embarrassing pictures of Facebook now...oh wells.

It was a pretty awesome birthday, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes - you guys are the best!

Peru

After Machu Picchu I decided to stay around in Cusco for a few more weeks working in the Loki Hostel. I worked mostly reception which resulted in having to give some tours of the hostel in Spanish, which was embarrassing enough much less when some Argentinian guys who also thought it was funny decided to video it as well. Argentinian men...grrrrr.

Days in Cusco went by fast and all of a sudden Id been there for 3 weeks and decided that I couldnt take the cold anymore and took off for Arequipa (central peru)! The day before I left I wasnt feeling very well and decided to talk to a Doc, who informed me I needed to be on antibiotics for a bacterial infection in my stomach caused by....who wants to guess?! A Parasite...the grand prize of south america. So I left on antibiotics and antiparasite medication for some sunnier days.

Outside of Arequipa is the Colca Canyon, the second deepest Canyon in the world. I ended up doing a 3 day Canyon trek with Land Adventures. The trip began with a 4am bus ride out to the Canyon to watch Condors 3x as big as me soar about 3000 meters over the Canyon. We then headed for some lunch (Alpaca meat and soup) and began the 3 hr trek down into the Canyon. It was stunning. Cactuses, wildflowers and jagged rocks slowly turned into lush terraces as we reached the river running thru the Canyon. We had a little stop to dip our feet into the ice cold river (the river tried to steal my sunhat but did not prevail - just made my hat smell like river). Then headed through gardens and small farms, passing avocado trees and various weird looking pumpkin things. We scaled the ledge of a irrigation channel and hiked to a small village where we spent the night with a local family. I decided to skip the ALpaca meat for dinner which I watch being tendorized with a large stone and instead ate some fried sweet potatoes and avocados with lemon. Very delicious!

The next morning we got a little tours of various huts (including the Guinea Pig hut the locals keep for eating these little fellows on special occasions). I tried to help the Guinea Pigs make a prison break but they were more interested in eating grass. We met a man who was over 100 yrs old and survives on eating coca leaves. We hiked down into an Oasis which was a much needed stop since it was soooo hot at the base of the Canyon. We ate lunch and swim a bit before heading out of the Canyon. The hike out looked like more then my unhealthy stomach could handle, plus I has a blister the size of a quarter on the pad of my foot, so opted for a mule ride out. The beginning of that trip was terrifying with the mules fighting over who would be in front by jumping off the gravel rock path and pushing the other mule out of the way at EVERY corner. Eventually the order was established and the man who rented us the mules was very entertained (the look on our faces said otherwise).

I spent another day in the white city (Arequipa) eating tons of Turkish food and left for Lima. I only had about 10 hrs in Lima before my flight to Buenos Aires. I did a little tour bus ride through Miraflores, made dinner with some travelling buddies and headed to the airport for my 1 am flight (which I had thought was 1pm until the day before - good thing I discovered that mistake). I had spent exactly a month in Peru when I was stamped out at immigration, but Ill be back!

Machu Picchu!

After La Paz, we arrived at Copacaba (The Bolivia side of Lake Titicaca) and did a full day tour to Isla del Sol, which is the orgin of Inca worship. The boat ride was soooo slow it was almost painful. On the upside, my travelling companions from Australia and Ireland were both accused of being from the US and Canada which I found to be hilarious, they´ve obviously spent too much time around me. Mwahaha.

Our trip to Peru turned out to be a little crazier than expected. We had decided to book a nicer bus for the 4 hour journey and got scammed by a tour agency. This agency books people on buses that they dont actually work with, including our bus. The bus driver ended up letting us stay on the bus after the agency refused to pay them the fare we payed, so we didnt ended up on the side of the road in the middle of Bolivia as expected.

We did a tour of the floating Islands on the Peru side of Lake Titicaca which was like visiting an exhibit at the Epcott center. It was pretty cool to see around 40 islands made of reeds, where people really do live, but it was soooo touristy. We also went to Tequile Island which was really cool. This island is a world heritage site because of having the finest weavers in the world. I spent most of the day talking to kids and teaching them how to ¨high five¨.

Once in Cusco I tagged along with a couple of Swiss guys who said they were off to see a market in Pisaq. After shopping the markets, we went up to see some Incan ruins. It was like a mini Macchu Picchu and very beautiful. We got a ride to the top of the hill and then hiked back down into town which included many stops for crazy photos.

A few days later Jnae and I headed the backway to Machu Picchu! This included a local bus ride with chicken, ducks in a box and the random smell of cheese for about 5 hrs on the most terrifying road Ive been on so far. It was raining, we were on steep cliff roads hugging the wrong side and going pretty fast. At point the bus had to pass through sections of the road where a waterfall was cascading over the road. The water pressure was so strong that our bus was slowly being pushed towards the edge of the cliff as well creeped our way around the bends. So what does the driver do?!?! BACK UP AND DO IT AGAIN! Jnae and I were the only gringos on the bus except for a french couple and were also the only ones freaking out. We drove over some LAND SLIDES and eventually made it to Santa Maria. From there we hopped into a ¨Taxi¨which was essentially some teenage dudes car with no working gages. Again, terrifying dirt roads, going way to fast but I think I was numb to the fear of death at the point and was enjoying the scenery which had turned into a pretty dense jungle.

We arrived at Hydro and started hiking the abandoned train tracks at around 5pm. The tracks would bridge some pretty intense rapids that surrounded the base of Machu Picchu meaning you would be walking the beams across parts of the water. That was pretty cool while we could still see, but once the sun set...lets just say I was really tired of fearing for my life at the point. Jnae and I, along with the french couple that caught up to us, hiked thru the pitch black jungle for about an hour before we hit Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Picchu). After a day of high humidity, death roads and a lot of fast walking in high altitude, Jnae and I just needed a drink, a pizza and a bed.

We got up at 4am and arrived at the top of Machu Picchu at 6am to watch the sunrise. I cannot even describe how beautiful and peaceful it was. We managed to snag some tickets to climb Huana Picchu (they only issue 400 tickets a day). The climb up was almost vertical at some points, you basically are hoisting yourself up rocks jutting out from the side of the mountain. The hilarious part is when we make it thru the cave at the very top and just see this little stick ladder you have to climb and no where else to go. So you climb up the ladder, peak over the top of the boulder and realise you have to go bouldering to get yourself to the other side of the mountain where you head back down. Did I mention it was raining at this point? Jnae and I had an amazing time up there despite the slick rocks and somehow made it to the bottom without falling off the side of the mountain.

All in all Machu Picchu is pretty cool and would recommend anyone going to make sure they get there the second the gates open at 6am. Once we were back down from Huana Picchu the whole place was filled with senior citizen groups in neon rain coats (making a good picture impossible). I have read that Machu Picchu is actually slipping a little bit every year and wont be around forever, so go see this wonder of the world while you still can!

Chile to Bolivia

After a few weeks working my way to northern Chile I arrived in San Pedro de Atacama. I booked a 4 day jeep trip going from the chilean desert into the Bolivian salt flats. Its Carnival at the moment, so finding drivers that arent partying was difficult. I did a little tour out to a lagoon where you float like in the dead sea, totally surrounded by chunks of salt. Very cool! We had to be sprayed off because you turn into a salt cube yourself once you dry off a bit. Then we drove to a swimming hole that has no bottom, or at least theyve never been able to find out how deep it is using many different kinds of technology. After that was a desert sunset over another lagoon while we drank some Pisco and ate snacks.

There is currently a visa fee that is only for Americans entering Bolivia. Once I was stamped out of Chile, my passport was confiscated, put into a brown bag and stuck under the dashboard cover in my jeep. I was almost in tears to not be in possession of my own passport in a very anti american country that didnt even have an american consulate, but I really had no choice at that point. I spent the whole trip obsessively checking to make sure it was still there.

The jeep into Bolivia was amazing! You are surrounded by lagoons of every color, flamingos and llamas. The altitude is pretty intense, you go from 2000 to 5000 meters in a day (which is 16 000 ft). I bought some coca leaves and chewed them to help with some not so fun symptoms of altitude. The first night we all stayed in a Refugio ( a cement house with a room full of 6 beds). In the evening some kids showed up to play instruments and act out poetry. There is no water or electricity way out in the salt flats, so it was an early evening.

During the trip we saw the rocks that Salvador Dali painted, went to thermal pools, got caught in a snowstorm the middle of a desert canyon and stopped a few times while our guide was helping other drivers take apart their alternaters, tires and whatnot (our jeep was a goody).

Our final day we woke up in our salt hotel, ate breakfast at 6 am and realised out driver was no where to be found. An hour later he came stumbling over, with a huge swollen face. He had been defending one of his friends at the Carnival party the night before and had been knocked out. So one of the guys in our tour got to drive the jeep to the salt flats while our driver was passed out with us in the back. Crazy crazy Bolivians.

Bolivia is pretty crazy right now. We arrived in Uyuni where they had no running water or internet and decided to hop on a night bus and get to La Paz ASAP. With no sleep for a few days and a bit of altitude sickness I just need a place to crash. Its rainy season which means the roads wash out, but our bus was still headed north, so we were too! The first 5 hrs of the journey was unpaved and our driving was gunning it the hole way. Once we reached the flooded roads I could feel the bus slipping around and heard the water slashing up the side of the bus. I just closed my eyes tightly and prayed for sleep. Once we arrived in La Paz, out driver came out to warn us there are a lot of robbers at this time in the morning, so to be careful with our belongings. Awesome eh?

There is very easy access to cocaine in Bolivia. My 2 roomates were obviously in Bolivia for that reason and basically told me I should take a Valium if I expected to sleep that night. I was able to switch rooms, and it was good I did because I watched a parade of people coming in and out of that first room all night for the party guys inside.

I was planning to go work in a monkey reserve for a few weeks, but Bolivia is having a huge outbreak of Dengue fever in that area. I also had some friends that were headed to the Salt flats down south, but severe floods blocks all roads south as well. So basically everyone is trapped in La Paz, and we are all getting outta here. There have been lost buses, deaths due to the fever in all other areas, all around dangerous place to be on top of Bolivias already bad reputation. My next post should be from Peru!

Argentina to Chile

Just a quick catchup since my last post, I took a 22 hr bus ride to Mendoza which is wine country. I now really like red wine, never thought Id see the day! I took a bus to nearby Maipu with some fellow hostel buddies and we rented some bikes to tour around the Bodegas. We skipped most of the tour and went straight for the tastings, which made for a hilarious bike ride back after about 4 wineries, hehehe. There were even police on patrol to stop drunk biking.

After a few days of sun, swimming pools and wine I took an early bus to Santiago Chile, about 7 hrs away. The ride was thru the Andes and very beautiful. I ended up sitting at the border for about 4.5 hrs (Chile is very strict about bringing in outside food so every single bag had to be scanned and searched for hidden bananas). While my bag was being scanned I had the following conversation with the Customs officer (in spanish):

As the customs officer is looking at my declaration of goods

Officer: Whats your name?
Me: Alexis....Barnes....
Officer: No..Its not. Let me see your passport
Me: Of course...(hands the passport over and he looks at my name, and gets a mad look on his face)
Officer: Your name is a mans name, not allowed
Me:uhhh, well yes. It is a male name, but in the US its also a womans name...its MY name...

At this point he walks away and talks to someone then comes back

Officer: You need to put another name here, your not a man
Me: ok... (so I put my middle name in front of my first name and he seemed to be satisfied). Ai yay Ai

Chile has a famous national dish. Its a hotdog. But its a hotdog with 2 inches mayo and guacamole and various salsas. Very hard to each and not a good choice when youre waiting at the border and still have 4 hrs on the bus to go...