Arica (Day 2) April 29th

Arica (Day 2) April 29th

Surf lessions by Yo-yo. I have to say that my second time surfing was a heck of alot easier than in Hawaii. The conditions may play a part but I was able to get up and have a real ride for at least a 5 seconds.

Yo-yo caught a manta ray about 14-16 inches diameter and subsiquently cut himself on the stinger.

CHILE CHAPTER Tacna to Arica April 28th

CHILE CHAPTER Tacna to Arica

After a relaxing stay in Tacna Peru cable tv (more english chanels then just fox news yeah) private bathroom and a queen bed for 35 soles (13 dollars USD) it was time to get another stamp in the passport.

The stamp you get for the Inka Trail is an optional stamp and is by far the coolest I´ve seen next to the Galopagos Islands. (another point for going right Erich?)

The International bus station in Tacna is a series of charter companies but no offical transport lines thus the swarms of private car drivers to bus companies all solicat customers. I headed yo the laziest looking stall in hopes that negotiating a price would be reflected by the same attitude. I was in luck and soon boarded a bus filled with a group that spoke nothing but spanish. The language hasn´t been a problem yet and I have probably learned more vocabulary in body language than spanish. Well I was not let down I made it through with a slight hitch of produce that I offered to through in the garbage before passing which the guard graciously accepted but made me fill out the form again stating that I had produce which he had just taken.

The beach in Arica is lovely and the buildings around look like a shell from a expected wealthier past.(does that make sense)

Sunny Days Hostel is a perfect location from the beach and the owners (a chilian and a kiwi) are most hospitable and provide a lovely ¨included¨ breakfast.

Nasca April 24th

Naca April 24th

A German lady came to Nasca in the early 20th Century to explore the heritage of the Nascian people. After 50 years of research she descovered most of what is currently accepted as doctorine today.

Touring 2000 feet above the desert you can see the empression in shapes of animals such as a Condor, a humming bird, a dog, a whale, a monkey, there is even a tree, a space man and various trapizods. Some of the impressions believed to be created by the Nazca (a theory supported by the potterys simular designs) are a meter deep and multimeters wide. Seen from above is truley impressive.



Som,e beleve that the Nascians used ballons to view there workmanship. I would have rather gone up to see the line in a ballon as I took my sickness pill too late and began to get nasiated from the 90 degree bank tunrs while looking through my camera view finder. I didn´t puke and fortunatly only one of our group did though many had the ¨URGE¨




The town of Nasca has some descent local food but over all the hotel was the prefered spot as it had a pool and was right across from the air strip.

Nasca to Lima April 25th

Nasca to Lima
5am start and soon to one of the best days of our trip. Sand bugging and boarding and then Nature wathcing at the Bailliste Islands (not sure on that name).

To my disapointment of not getting a more customized session of a smaller vehicle the sand buggy come in sizes of five and nine seaters but after taking the first drop in the very back of the nine seater I was happy to enjoy what seemed more like a roller coaster then and motorized ride I had been on. Anique of Dutch descent could not stop laughing most of the trip and every bump sen her into a renewed fit of hysterics. Sand board was fun but quite difficult to get a consitant feel of the terrain as the wax wore off it was almost impossible to maintain speed. Maybe a straight line is the best option so long as the friction of a wax less board dosnt kick in like it did on Erichs first try. I wipped out evry time down thouroughly absorbing sanding into my hair and powdering my skin. Infact later that night by shaking my head I could produce a visible shower of sand.



Probably the funnest misplaced breakfast experince happened to Erich Tess and Louise who order Tea con Letche (tea with milk) well they got the milk part a steaming mug of it each with the tea bag on the side. Erich determined to enjoy his tea took multiple tea bags squeezing as much essesence from each as possible.



Bailliste Islands(¨poor mans galopagos¨) had an assortment of pelicans boobies and seals. Boobies are sweet birds they will fly up to 40 feet in the air and then tuck thier wings in and dive bomb into the water for fish emerging into the sky seconds later. The seals were pretty lazey an mostly basked in the afternoon sun on clumps of rocks. A few fights over territory were had but didn´t last too long as an concerted efforts seemed to be a waste of energy.

Lima to Arica April 27th

Lima to Arica April 27th

Well the Tucan tour is officialy over. I spent an extra night last night before I leave for Arica. The original plan was to meet Ryan in Pichilemu 4 hours south of Santagio Chili but I recevied an email this morning letting me know that the cold weather in Chili was too much and that more accomadating climate further north was in order. This is perfect for me as I am flying only 60km or so from Arica which is at norther border of Chili. The flight to Santagio that I had considered was 550 before taxes so I am quite glad I didn´t book it only to return over hal the distance up north.

Lima April 26th

Lima April 26th

Well there´s not too much to do in Lima of 8 million people. driving in the previous day we passed a shanty town of over 300 thousand people established in the laste 70´s. Over the past couple of years they have running water electricty and even satelight tv.

Our hotel is in the middle of town a couple of blocks from the Palaza des Armas, the neighbour hood almost immediately becomes extremely poor and not very safe to travel alone at night. Qutie a difference from the resort towns like Cusco and Ariquipa with armed guards in every park.

There is a nice area that we visited towards the beach called mira flores (not sure on the spelling here) there are beautiful parks, nice resteraunts that over look the beach and shopping for those so inclined.

One of the coolest things to see is an open gallery at the main park that is an outdoor exibition of photographs from around the world and a giant map displaying where the 60 odd photographs were taken.

The night life in Lima can be exhusating with sprawling night areas competing for whities patronage. If some one tells you Tequilla rocks is a good place to go, give it a miss as it is free for females and charge a hefty cover charge for men. Most of if not all the Peruvian ladies are looking to make some money off whitie.

Inca Trail (Day 3) April 13th

Inca Trail (Day 3)

With the old lady out of the way the third day promised to be much easier, but in in sincerity it proved almost as difficult as day 2 longer distances on tired legs. The ruins along the way were the best so far giving a glimpse of what was to come. It´s hard to believe that these ruins that not but a hundred or less years were covered but now stood as solid as any other piece of modern architechure, with the added bonus of earth quake resitance from individual stones stacked upon each other.

Inca Trail (Day 2) April 12th

Inca Trail (Day 2) April 12th

Dreaded day two the Dead womans pass. The highest elevation and longest uphill stretch of the Inka Trail 3900 meters above sea level (don´t quote me!) One of the members of our group who had done the hike into Mount Everest base camp said that he found this harder although quite a bit shorter (Base camp take two weeks...) That makes me feel better about all the huffing a puffing but I still question weather it is human nature to remember past events in camparison to current events in rose colour glasses.

Nishi Smitke who suffers from Asma had a rough go but soldiered through conquiring her inner lady and to winning the applause of the posse of onlookers from the top. (Too be honest there were time on the hike that I grew tired of waiting for the group but that afternoon I was content to watch any and all participants.)

Too add to the burden on my heart and lungs I thought I would ¨help¨ one of our portes by switching bags. What a great and noble gesture, I would be a ledgend! I told our guid Hernan that I would carry the bag for an hour and then swtitch packs secretly I planned to carry it as long as I could muster (at least 1 and half hours I reasoned) every minute above the hour mark adding to my fame. Well I fell short of my goal by fifteen minutes returning an eager porter his pack where it belonged. If nothing else I realized in a very small way how demanding a job our 19 friends have and gained even more appreachiation for there help.

Inca Trail (Day 1) April 11th

The Inca Trail has so far been the high light of the trip. Not really knowing what to expect but having high expectations of the trail I was not let done. We had great weather and the altitude sickness that I had been warned about did not come. The first day was realitivly short in distance and flat in altitude lunch and every susquent meal did not cease to please vegetarian and carnivores alike. (We actually had a stove with propane that one of the 19 porters carried) I must admit I felt for the the portetrs and the demands of thier loads. men of ages 21 to 57 carried our tents food and other supplies for the 34 km journey, although we left right after each meal the porters were soon breezing past us in order to set up for the next stop.



The one set of ruins that we encountered our first day was found less then 40 years ago and ruins are bieng undercovered regularly on as recent as a year ago.

Puerto Maldonado, Jungle (Day 1) April 16th

Puerto Maldonado, Jungle (Day 1) April 16th

Welcome to the Jungle refrains came from our tour minstrel Anique.

Cusco April 15th

Cusco April 15th

Recovery day and tour of the Sacred valley on horse back. There is a lot of interesting symbolism used by the inka and pre-inka cultures. For example there worship of the sun the moon the three degrees on the the southern cross and symbolizing the three tiers of Inca life. The lower world - snake, this world - puma and the higher world - condor. As well the numbers 12 and 24 continually are represented. If you look at the pre inka hirogliffs there is a definite similarities to Egyptians gliffs as well as the the construction of the buildings.

Reed Island, Lake Titicaca April 8th

Reed Island, Lake Titicaca April 8th

Ruins of Sillustrani April 9th
Cusco April 10th
Inca Trail (Day 1) April 11th
Inca Trail (Day 2) April 12th
Inca Trail (Day 3) April 13th
Inca Trail (Day 4) April 14th
Cusco April 15th
Puerto Maldonado, Jungle (Day 1) April 16th
Puerto Maldonado, Jungle (Day 2) April 17th
Cusco April 18th
Colca Canyon (Day 1) April 19th
Colca Canyon (Day 2) April 20th
Arequipa April 21st



Lake Titicaca is famed as the worlds highest navigatable lake in the world. It is huge spanning over a hundered km in one direction and just under half that in the other. The Lake also has something unique to any other that is a group of indiginous people that have built and inhabit islands made from reeds. The Reed Island are a few meters thick and last for about thirty years, the best part about the Reed Island is if you get sick of your neihbours you just saw off a section around your house and join another Island.

After our Reed Island excursion and my first purchase of a tapestry we headed to our home stay program on the largest Island of Lake titicaca. On the Island we stayed with a host family who dressed us up and paraded us around infront of the other Islanders in our authentic garb, there wasn{t alot of commnutication so our dinners were a spatter of thankyous and delicious in Amirain (there native language) and Spanish.

Inca Trail (Day 4) April 14th

Inca Trail (Day 4)

Made it. 4am wake up call so that we could get a good place in line for the opening at 5:30am we would still need to walk 2km to the sun gate so it was a bit of a ruch to get ahead of the other groups as to claim the pristen glimpses of Manchu Pichu before the buses full of day trippers.

It´s weird the longer the day wore on on the more frustrated I became and more entitled I felt to have an secluded piece of the ruins to myself. I finally lost it when a group of out of shape tourists stared scathing looks at out worn group of trekkers. Presumably I was done hiking and barely considered hiking Waichamiu another 2hour hike to a look out point of switch backs however craving a place away from the flabby freshly showered onlookers I swept past there procession and in my own way telling them were they could go. A light rain that accompanied the morning wake up call returned mid way up the mountain and took from the photograph at the summit but that was secondary to completing the task.



there is something called the 24hour challenge which is that trekkers upon completing the trail stay up till 4am the mext morning while calibrating their accomplishment. Well There was a group that took up and surpassed that challenge... One of those being Carl from Ireland The refrain ¨your a good buy¨ is probably the most memorable next to Carl borrowing money so that he could buy me a drink that I specifically asked him not to buy. However the fun didn´t end there the later the night progressed the more aggressive the woman became.



One set of girls begging Carl and his good buy to come to there hostel. Well this is what I´ve learned. Girls from Lima living in Cusco may be after more than your company. Girls that insit that you go to there hostel or another disco probably have some friends waiting for you before you get there. If you ask a girl if they are a prostitute they really don´t get as mad as a girl ought to if asked that question.

La Paz (day 3)

Worlds most dangerous road
Erich´s wife Nicshe sent an email a couple weeks ago with a link to a company that offers mountain bike rides down a mountain road in Boliva with a drop that would surely end in you death in many sections. My first thought was what sort of saftey equipment did this company have? Parashcutes? Saftey lines? Then the macho sid of me thought if Nischi a petite girl will do it theres no way that Im going to reneg. Well that was 2 weeks ago and yesterday I pilled on a bus with 12 other unsure but excited pasengers. The height of the starting point is around 3900 meters above sea level (Calgary is 1000 meters) It was cold and the road was smooth and paved. after an the first few stretches I became quite comfortable on the bike rarley appling the break and trying to keep up to the big boys (the guide and Seema´s husband Thad who has years of expiernce.) Well I never quite caught up and upon entering the second part of the downhill, the off road section I began to wonder if it was samrt to try to keep up. But Erich at my back kept encouraging me to go third. BOOO. Really I think I pooped my pants just a little the first time on the gravel and questions simular to whn I first visited the website two weeks eariler came to mind.

Admist my trepidation I brave faced it and keep pushing my self while avoiding the edge. At one point I told Erich that it was his turn to take the uncertain third place position. Im unsure of how it happened exactly but coming out of a corner I saw a very large bolder directly infront of me. Waht did I do? I paniced and slamed on the breaks the bike successfully stoping me contining of top of the rock luckily on the gravel. More dissapointed than hurt I grabed my bike and took off fast as possible as not to cause an accident from the ridder behind and if I was luck no one would have seen my blunder.



The rider behind me a backpacker from Austraila did and mention infront of Seema who bieng the nurturing type did exactly what I was trying to avoid was to bring attention to my accident oh well I wasn´t hurt and the guides didn´t loase any confidence in my bieng able to continue thank goodness.

We rounded the day up by having dinner and a hot shower WAHOO! at a excotic animal recover center. The nice feeling of a hot shower was short lived as I began drying myeslf to the sent of amonia or urine as I discovered on closer inspection a Red Howler (monkey) had marked it for himself and if that wasnt enough the perv was spying on Thad from the glass window above a la spread eagle against the pain while he took his shower I guess we know who is the animal lover.

visit the biking company´s web site
www.gravitybolivia.com/

La Paz

La Paz (day 2)
Cactus Hostel offers cheap although slightly dirty accomadation. I am really glad I brought a sleeping bag! (It was 30 B or 20 USD to stay in the hotel of the tour group.) 10am I knocked on Erich and Nishis door to a slightly sleep deprived couple only arriving at the hotel 5 hours earlier.

I was soon entroduced the Thad and Seema friends of Seema an old traveling companion of Nishi. we headed out for some fast food. ha the food took over an hour before we made mention to the staff and it turns out that I have the most spanish language expierence in the group wow we are in trouble. The waitress ussured us cinquo minitos. Ok 10 minutes later we approached again to a plea to stay and another promis of cinquo minitos. Well the food came and it was good, oh and did I mention cheap like two dollars each.



Later that afternoon we check out the tour of the city and the Moon Valley which is eroded sand stone in stalagtite formations. It was really cool but not as cool as the Church Choir group singing on top of one of the bluffs. I videod some of it but ran short on battery too bad for me but much to the approval of the choir boys making obscene gestures under there robes. One other ting about this valley is the development alon the hill side puts the Utah valley to shame. it is all the way to the ridge. Apparenetly the foundation cost as much if not more than the construction of the home.

It is good to be traveling with a group again albiet I am the fifth wheel for now. The ight markets in Lapaz are nice hardley a soul bothers you and the prices if not displayed are non negotiable. They are ridiculously cheap 1.5 dollars for a nice toque 3 dollars for a dress shirt... Erich Nishi and I shared a meal on the street of gourmet hotdogs, pastries and fruit smoothies for 3 dollars! This is by far the cheapest place I{ve ever traveled. 40 US lasted me 4 days including accomadation, food and transportation; two boat rides and a bus ride.

Puno - Cocabana - Isle del sol - La Paz

Well keeping up this blog is proving more difficult than I thought, between my journal entries and trying to find an internet cafe to publish them, I´ve also toyed with idea of logging all my entries on my iPod and when I find a wireless connection publish them there. We shall see but in the mean time I have a few days to catch up on

Puno
South America is cold I mean I was expecting the cold on the trekks and camping but there is no heating in any of the accomadation (any in my price range anways) but what they lack in central heating they more than make up in blankets. I arrived in Cocacabana after a mad rush to book my tickets before the agency closed the night previous. On a interesting note about Bolivia they don´t negotiate on most items. (Save maybe consumer goods.) They give a fare price and that´s that. Even the private currency exchange charge the same rates!

Cocacobana Isle del Sol
A quick stop in Cocacobana and a 1.5 hour boat ride to Isle del Sol an Island with two archalogical sites and great scenery. It´s not that Canada does´nt have comparable scenery but it´s the environment around you that makes it so interesting. The first morning I decided rather than take a boat to the north island where the main ruins are I chose to hike a map on the wall said three hours which I was sure I could eclispe easily, however I chose to hike along the coast throught the villages not the main route.



The country life style can´t be an easy one; old men/women hunch over in the fields or carrying a load much to heavy for someone of there age. Sheep, pigs donkeys, cows and lamas vocally displayed thier disapporval of bieng tied up. After three hours I reached the northern town site but was told I was still 45 min away from the site. Well having failed to complete the voyage in less than the alotted I calculated that It would be dark if I didn´t head back. It took 1;45 minutes to get back on the main trail leaving plenty of time till twilight. The previous night while returning from the internet cafe I became thourghly lost trying to find the hostel. At one point a boy came out of his house offering to help me find the hostel for 5 Bolivianos. EMMMM NO (right Duncan)so I spent the next half hour stumbling through farmers fields before I found it.

On a more positive note I meet some Germans who were teaching english to primary aged children on the Island, after dinner and showing the few phrases in German that I remembered we sat around the table and played none other than CLUE yes a cherished child hood activity, the bord game itself was in Spanish, adding to the interest of the conversations in English and German. Yep I really know how to party.

La Paz



I arrived in La Paz after 4 hours and a brief ferry ride. Our bus got it´s very own raft which was somewhat remanisant of a raft you might have seen in the coloninal days. La Paz´s landscape is simular to alot of bolivia rolling hills and an abondance of rocks. The city has a population of over 8 million and they definately have used the space the hills side are crowded with apartment complexes. The city centre has the charm of cobble stone roads and tightly woven buildings. Also I hads the best food since getting to South America a fried steak potatoes rice and salad for 1 dollar. Nice.

Calgary - Ottawa - Toronto - Lima - Julica - Puno in 24 hours

March 31 - April 1
Well this was a bit of a marathon to get down here but in roughly 24hours I arrived at a hotel. The mini bus driver dropped me off at a hotel and was waiting around to see if I would take it. This of course raised red flags as I thought most definately was waiting for his commission. The lady spoke as much english as I did spanish so it made for an interesting conversation between her myself and my spanish book. She wanted 50 Soles divid by three aprox but I was not interested the place seemed pretty above my standard, however she was out to get my buisness and bieng tired of holding my bag and trying to converse we agreed on 30 soles (just under 11 dollar.) The room at Don Julio c had hot water so I took a shower and got ready to leave however feeling the jet laugue and maybe the altitude i feel asleep waking up some 4hours later to a re-run of Lost.

Puno chile is a beautiful town with a good mix of tourist and locals, I´ve been able to get by on my terrible spanish I speach mostly english except for the pharmacy which I gave alot of head nodds and blank look. I picked a scab on my face which has swollen up rediculously I probly shouldn´t worry my mother by putting up a picture but here goes.

Mom don´t worry if these drugs don´t work i am meeting up with Nishi who is a pharmacist on Sunday. I was able to book a bus to Cocacabana (que the music) for tomorrow morning through Lima travel via Peruvian dream, who have been very helpful. Initialy I ws planning to stay in Julica but the agent at PD told me there were ¨many thieves¨ there.