Happy New Years!

Greetings once again from La Paz, Bolivia! Our past week here has been a lot of fun and filled with great food, great beer, great people and of course great times! The transportation strike currently going on in Bolivia has been an incredibly interesting process to witness and surely an experience we all will never forget!... Especially since we all are essentially trapped in La Paz until further notice-- which hopefully is soon! Each day the hype and action surrounding the strike increases slowly and yesterday we witnessed protests throughout the streets of La Paz and as the protests continued to progress so did the police response: tear gas, power in numbers and weapons ready in hand! Our current hostel (Wild Rover) is in the heart of the political action and us gringo prostest gawkers had to make a running dart from down the street into our hostel yesterday as the tear gas was busted out by the police! Always an adventure... can't say I have ever had to run from tear gas before! Our plan is to leave La Paz and head south (or maybe even Chile) either on the 1st or 2nd of January-- hopefully the transportation strike will cooperate with us and the other billion (or at least the crowded streets feel this way) people stuck currently in La Paz! In any case, we are happy to be in this busy and spirited city to welcome in 2011...

I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year! Being so far away from all my homes (Windsor, ON- London, ON- San Francisco, CA) and loved ones this time of year makes me miss everyone so incredibly much and appreciate the brilliant people and places that have so full heartedly enriched my life and added to the endless epic adventures over the past (almost) 27 years. I feel incredibly fortunate to have so many amazing people in my life and want to thank everyone for being who they are. I look forward to seeing everyone in 2011 upon my arrival back to SF and beyond and as always letting the good times roll!

Happy New Years!

Feliz Año Nuevo!

With Love,

Rachel

Lake Titicaca and Now Stranded in La Paz

Greetings from La Paz, Bolivia! After an amazing week or so spent on Lake Titicaca (on both the Peru and Bolivia side) we have now made our way to the chaotic, crowded and fascinating high elevation city of La Paz! We will be staying in La Paz to welcome in the new year and then heading south through Bolivia... That said, a major Bolvian transportation strike started yesterday and bus service is either not happening at all or in some cases has over doubled in cost-- hopefully things will get better by next week before we head off... Or else we will get to know La Paz and surrounding areas real well!

I should say here that I have wanted to visit Lake Titicaca for a long time. It all began when my dear friend Rebecca Fox-- miss you Fox-- came home from traveling around South America a few years back and made me a beautiful card on a printed photo she had taken at the lake. She also bought me an amazing pair of alpaca leg warmers-- which was just icing on the cake. Fascinated by the name and its beauty... a few years later I finally made it!

Our time on the Peru side of Lake Titicaca was lovely. We stayed a few nights in Puno and did a full day island tour of Taquille and the floating islands called Uros. Both beautiful and fascinating, it was a wonderful day around the lake. A highlight for sure was visiting Uros-- a community of many floating islands all made out of reeds! We even got to take a reed boat ride around the lake! It was incredible!

After Puno we headed to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. After a smooth but expensive border crossing (only US citizens have to pay $135 dollars to enter the country) we made our way to Copa and checked into one of the nicest hotels in town-- Hostal La Cupula! Well worth the splurge (mind you, the splurge ran us each $15 USD/ night) we enjoyed 2 nights in the luxury of a private room and bath, clean duvets, a small fire place, space heaters and access to the lovely grounds of the hostal-- of course including hammocks and gorgeous lake views. It was heaven! Copa was a nice little town and we enjoyed hiking around and eating good food-- especially at our hotel restaurant which was delicious and fairly cheap! The cathedral in Copa is gorgeous and is the site of daily car blessings where people from Copa and beyond line their cars outside of the cathedral and get their cars all decked out to be blessed... fresh flowers adorn their precious rides, champagne is poured, beers opened and wildly sprayed, lavish decorations are hung from the cars and of course confetti is thrown in the air over the car and the car owners. It was quite a fascinating sight to see! I am thinking of bringing my Pontiac Sunfire to Grace Cathedral when I get home and blessing my beautiful pewter chariot there! Who is with me?... Gabi?

The day before Christmas we took a boat over to Isla Del Sol to spend a night on the Island of the Sun! We took the boat to the north of the island and then hiked to the south, to the community of Yumani. It was an amazing hike and we were lucky to have perfect weather along the way. We got to visit some Inca ruins too and check out the small island communities as well as we hiked across the island. We had a great evening in Yumnai with our friends Catie and John from the UK: playing cards, drinking whiskey and watching the sunset. After a relaxing and early night, we awoke on Christmas morning to see that it had snowed on the island and everything had a nice coating of white! I thought I escaped white Christmases once I moved out of Canada... but I guess not! Due to the wet and wild weather, we caught the first boat out to Copa and thankfully enjoyed some afternoon sunshine and no snow back on the mainland!

And now, we are starting our second day in La Paz and are enjoying ourselves so far. Our hostel here is called the Adventure Brew Hostel and is a hostel and microbrewery! In the morning we get to enjoy all-you-can-eat pancakes and in the evening we get a brew on the house. It is pretty awesome! Who knows, if the strike keeps up, we will be enjoying LOADS of free pancakes and beers! We shall see...

A Good Night's Sleep is Overrated

We woke this morning at 4:30 am to begin hiking up and out of the Colca Canyon by 5:00 am. Just 3 days ago, we were picked up at 3:00 am at our hostel to begin our Colca Canyon trek. This early morning routine is nothing out of the norm for a traveler. There are oh so many reasons that one could get a less than restful night's sleep; let me count the ways...

Well, of course as already described there are the hikes, tours and other excursions that require a ridiculously early wake-up. The early start can be to tackle the long drive ahead, to beat the bad weather awaiting at the top of the mountain or volcano or as was the case today-- to beat the blistering afternoon heat.

Sometimes you don't get any sleep at all because you stay at a 'party hostel' where sleep is just not an option. For us, we learned this the hard way at Luna's Castle in Panama City, Panama. No big deal, we only had a flight to catch the next morning at 7:00 am. Now, we only stay at 'party hostels', when we indeed want to party. It's a simple concept-- but it took us a little while to learn.

Sometimes you stay in a hostel that is just so disgusting, that getting a little shut-eye is nearly impossible-- as you lay still praying you do not move in your sleep and expose yourself to more of the bed than you have to. We experienced this joy at Casa Argentina in Xela, Guatemala. A few dollars saved on a hostel, often directly equates to a few hours of sleep lost. Now we splurge a bit, an extra peso, soles or cordoba can go a long way around here!

Then there are the overnight bus journeys that somehow always leave us exhausted and grimy. My personal favorite is when you are told you have a 'direct bus' and end up getting dropped off in the middle of the night/early morning at some random bus station, waiting in the cold for a connecting bus. Our latest bus trip from Cusco to Arequipa had this fate-- it was awesome visiting the fine town Juliaca at 4:00 am!

And lastly, there are those nights where the 'all nighter' is self inflicted: crazy nights out and/or an unyielding addiction to the rare opportunity for free cable TV (in English) and internet at a generous hostel. I will admit I sometimes fall victim to these type of all nighters...  it happens to the best of us!

The moral of the sleep story is, that no matter what the mode of sleep deprivation-- you somehow end up with a smile on your face the next day and enthusiasm for the upcoming adventure. The travel experience is just that incredible that no matter what comes your way and no matter how little sleep you have had... it's all good and just part of the experience. I must say Beth and I have gotten pretty damn good at functioning at a high level under the influence of very little (and sometimes no) sleep. We are proud of our progress.

And that is why I write this blog now with a smile on my face at 9:30 pm after waking up at 4:30 am to hike out of a canyon-- a canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon in fact!

Speaking of the Colca Canyon trek... it was AMAZING! It was the perfect mix of quality trekking and time to relax in beautiful places along the way. We got to visit and spend time in some of the small canyon villages, spend a day laying poolside in the sunny, green and palm tree filled canyon 'oasis', eat fresh fruit our guide picked for us along the trail and also enjoy hot springs on our way back towards Arequipa. The Canyon was gorgeous, our group of fellow trekkers amazing and the weather was perfect. An awesome adventure from beginning to end.

We are spending tonight (at a quiet hostel) in Arequipa and are catching the bus tomorrow morning to head to Puno on Lake Titicaca. I am incredibly excited to explore both the Peru and Bolivia sides of this ridiculously named lake...Lake Titicaca here we come!

Pouring One Out for Pachamama on the Inca Trail

The Inca Trail... Where to even begin? Well to start, I should say it was amazing, inspiring and truly an experience like none other!

After 3 days in Cusco, Peru-- drinking lots of coca tea to help acclimate ourselves to the 3,300 meter elevation, exploring the city and Sacred Valley and getting ready for our trek-- it was show time!

The Inca Trail is a 4 day/ 3 night journey where you hike through small villages, mountains and rainforest to end on the last day at the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu. The trail is challenging, the weather can be less than pleasant (rain and cold weather) and your knees will hate you for the primitive, rocky and steep trail you must follow-- but none of this matters, because you are hiking the Inca Trail and it is all worth it... every single step of the way!

Being on the Inca Trail made me feel like a camper again. The company we booked our trek with (Peru Treks) prided themselves on being locally owned featuring delicious food, ethical treatment of the staff and high quality equipment. Short of wiping our behinds after using the squat-over-a-hole-in-the-ground ´toilets`-- they took care of it all for us! The food was out of this world and plentiful-- seriously delicious! A typical meal had about 5 courses, complete with hot beverages, desserts and multiple meal options served family style with plenty to go around. I should mention that meals were served in a giant tent, with a banquet table, table cloths, proper silverware, lighting, etc.-- it was amazing! After a full day of hiking we would arrive to our campsite, sometimes wet and cold and often tired to find our tents neatly set-up and prepared for us. We were woken in the morning with what they called ´room service`-- hot drinks served to us from the comfort of our sleeping bags inside our warm tents! Every night at 5:20 was ´happy hour`-- hot drinks and snacks to tie us over until dinner, only a brief 1 hour away. It would have been luxuious treatment and service in a city... let alone backpacking in the mountains of Peru somewhere around 3,000 meters elevation!

The trail itself was gorgeous and was enhanced with Inca ruins which we visited along the way. Our guide Frank was incredibly knowledgable and provided us with information about everything we saw. Our assistant guide was a slightly overweight man named Ernesto, who was an incredibly slow hiker. We all got a kick out of  Ernesto our `guide´arriving to the campsite, huffing and puffing, dripping sweat-- about an hour after we all arrived! I was shocked to find out on the last day of the trip that good old Ernesto was carrying the 1st Aid Kit-- thank goodness no injuries arose, or else we would have been out of luck! Despite his slow hiking, he was a good guy with a great sense of humor! Our trip had 16 participants, yet a staff of 2 guides, a chef, an assistant chef and 21 porters who carried nearly everything along the trail for us from giant propane cylinders to chairs and our delicious food!... It was quite impressive! The porters are incredible, hiking along the Inca Trail with an unfathomable amount of weight on their back, strapped on with bungee cords, rope and who knows what else-- all while wearing sandals! One of our porters was 71 years old and was carrying rice, oil and other cooking staples along the trail! Needless to say I felt a little silly when the 71 year old barely shedding a drop of sweat, passed by me on trail while I slowly hiked along gasping for air! Once again-- impressive!

On the last night of the trip, there is an awkward ´ceremony` where all the trek participants give hugs and kisses (and let´s not forget tips) to all 25 Peru Treks staff members. It was one of the funniest things I have ever experienced and likely the favorite part of the trek for all the staff members-- money and some tourist loving-- score! 25 hugs and kisses later-- we were ready to hike to Machu Picchu the next morning!

On the last day of our trek we were woken up at 3:45 am to make it to Machu Pichhu in the early morning hours. Machu Picchu was everything I had hoped for and then some. I had dreamed of visiting for years and truly loved every moment there. The ancient city is fascinating and mystical and full of detail and lore to keep you endlessly engaged and peeking around every corner. In the first hours at Machu Picchu our guide Frank gave us a tour, which was very interesting. After the tour, Beth and I maged to hike our weary bones up to the top of Waynapicchu (the giant mountain that overlooks Machu Pichhu), which was also an incredible experience. The views were spectacular and the trail itself was a challenging combination of hiking, rock climbing and awkward side stepping down frighteningly steep stones-- pure awesomeness!

After enjoying some time on top of Waynupicchu we enjoyed more time exploring Machu Picchu... from temple to housing, watchtower to sundial-- it all was incredible!

The Inca people were devout believers in Pachamama-- mother earth. At all Inca sites, there are shrines to Pachamama and intricate artwork and design in her honor. We were encouraged by our guides at meals to pour a little of our drink on the ground in respect of Pachamama along the Inca Trail.

So on that note, I thank Pachamama for an amazing experience on the Inca Trail and even more so for our wonderful adventures in Peru... Next stop is 9 hours south of Cusco to Arequipa for some canyon hiking,  mummy viewing and warmer weather!

Eating Well in Bogota

We are now enjoying our final day in Bogota and have really enjoyed our time here! A little city sophistication is a nice treat after being off the beaten path for so long. We can use credit cards, enjoy a latte and drink the tap water-- this is about as fancy as we will get for a long time!

 

It rained (more like poured) for the bulk of our visit to Bogota. That said, we never let the weather get in our way and conveniently our hostel loans out giant and durable umbrellas which have been keeping us for the most part dry.

 

Highlights of our time here include a cable car ride to the top of Monserrate featuring epic views of Bogota from 3,150 metres above the city. We´ve visited a cathedral in a town just outside of Bogota called Zipaquira which is made entirely out of salt from alter to benches-- it was incredible! We licked various parts of the cathedral multiple times to confirm it was indeed made out of salt... and it was! We enjoyed a night out on a party bus hitting up clubs around Zona Roza-- the hub of nightlife in Bogota. We also treated ourselves one rainy day to a movie in English at a fancy mall and lunch in the foodcourt to mix things up! We visited the fabulous Botero Museum, full of paintings and sculptures of obese and often naked people and also checked out the Man Ray exhibit. Yesterday we did an incredible 5 hour bike tour of Bogota and saw everything from the red light district to the presidential palace. We even learned how to play ´toja´a Colombian billiards game, which is kind of like shot-put but also includes clay and gun powder. I hate to brag, but I had a natural talent for the game! But no tour is complete without food-- we also visited the fruit market and sampled rare and exotic fruits and also had lunch at the National Park, enjoying the delicious street food sold there.

 

The people in Bogota seem to enjoy celebrating on a daily basis!... The streets and parks here are illuminated in Christmas lights and the main streets are nearly always lined with people performing, food vendors and people out and about to enjoy it all. Every Friday night is Septimazo, where the main street is closed for over 30 blocks and the whole city, young and old,  is out to celebrate. We spent over 3 hours that night out roaming the streets eating, drinking and enjoying the various street performers from comedians, jugglers, midgets singing (I´m serious) and of course Christmas carollers.

 

The food here is incredible and cheap! I think I have developed a small addiction to the food-- namely the street vendor steak skewers that cost 1,000 pesos or 50 cents each. They are BBQed with love and topped with a potato... delicious! Other Colombian classics include:

 

Ajiaco: A creamy soup with chicken, potatoes, corn, sour cream, capers, and avocado. Oh and by the way, the avos here are the size of a melon back home. It is impressive!

Arepa: Bread made from cornmeal, similar to a thick pancake. It can be ordered with a variety of fillings or toppings... my fave is ham, cheese and pineapple!

Chocolate Santafereño: Hot chocolate served with bread/butter and cheese. The locals put their cheese in their hot chocolate-- I opted to enjoy each component seperately.

Obleas: A circular waffle cracker that is loaded with jam, carmel, cream, and sometimes cheese. It is topped with another waffle and makes a deliciously messy dessert sandwich!

Anyways, I could go on forever about the food here as it is just that good. I will certainly miss the Colombian cuisine as we continue to journey south... Peru here we come! I think I can enjoy BBQed guinea pig in Peru... perhaps I will give it a try!

This evening we are catching a flight from Bogota, Colombia to Cusco, Peru. We will be in Cusco acclimating for a few days and then leave to hike the Inca Trail beginning on December 10. The Inca Trail has been on my bucket list for years and I am beyond thrilled to start our journey to Machu Picchu!

Machu Picchu and alpacas... here we come!