Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Chiclayo

Well the surf was great. We spent our fair share of time on the beach and finaly had to set out to get Jordan on his plane. It was a very entertaining 3 hour bus ride with a few salesmen selling all sorts of stuff. Then we had a flute player play us a little tune then a guy with a guitar stumming away! The local buses are a little crazy.

We are just on our way back fro the main market in town that has everything. Hundreds of vendors selling everything from fabric, fruit, veggies, meat, tupperware and realy anything you could ever imagine. Sage is feeling a little sick today so the boys are out running arround trying to speak some spanish. People in Chiclayo realy like to stare, and when we were at dinner last night these 2 kids watched us for about 20 minuates steady till there parents left and they followed.

Well Jordans plane leaves tonight, so we will send him off, stay the night, then head to equador tommorow hopefully if Sage is feeling better. I believe that its only about a 12 hour bus ride right into Quito so it shouldnt be to bad. The boarder crossing is suposed to the worst in south america so we will see how that goes and hopefully we can just cruise into equador without any trouble.

Recent reports have told me that the weather is getting better in the okanagan and in vancouver, so I hope that everyone is enjoying it and riding there motorcycles as much as possible. jajaja

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Surf

After tortugas we jumped another bus a headed north to Huanchaco. Its a awesome town and are looking forward to spending a week here or so. Jordans flight is from the city about 2 hours north of here and the surf is awesome and so is the cheap food. We realy cant see any reson why we would leave.

We have just been hanging out and relaxing! Theres random people with little BBQ´s arround on the steets that have amazing kabobs for a buck or so, and these wonderfull stuffed potatos. A few liver kabobs and a spud make a great meal for under 4 bucks! We have are ladys picked that we go to, and they seem just thrilled to see us.

We surfed the second day we were here and the next working I awoke feeling like I have fallen down the side of a mountain. I think a few weeks of surfing would whip you into the best shape of your life. We have now taken 2 days rest and are looking to get back in the water tommorow. The surf is huge today and its supposed to be big still tommorow, so im a little nervous but with bigger surf comes way nicer waves that look easyer. Im just not looking forward to battling through them to get out to where there not breaking where I can just sit on my board in awe waiting for a wave that looks good.

We are livin the life now and realy enjoying it. As soon as Jordan takes off we are going to head to Equador and hit some surf on the southern coast then bust it to Columbia where we can do some snorkeling and hopefully get our diving tickets on the Caribbean!!!!

Well sorry I took so long to do a little writing. I regret waiting that long since I just never feel like writing so much and I feel like my writing goes to shit, so im going to try and keep this thing up to date. Dont know how many times I have had to say that. My journal has that in it at the begining of every page...

Orin

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Such a Long Time Ago...

We left Cuzco arround 8am, and got tossed in a van and headed up and over the hill to Machu Pichu. None of us realy had any idea how far the van ride was going to be, but I was thinking somewhere in the 2 hour region, boy was I wrong. The road twised its way to Ollantaytambo, where most people jump off the bus and get onto the train. This is a very expensive option since the train is owned by and european company now and they have made the prices just rediculous. So we pressed on for Hydroelectirca.

The road past Ollantaytambo was the most impresive roads I have ever seen, and made Jordan I drool in disbelief that roads like this exist only when our motorcycles and thousands of miles away. It was probly over an hour up and and hour down of 1/2 - full mile straight aways with hairpins on either end and brand new pavement. Would have been wonderfull. Sage on the other hand was not enjoying tyhe road so much and was starting to get a little pale in the face region. By the time we got to the top and saw that we had just as far to go down she had had enough and made the driver pull over for a few minuates to stop the spinning in her head.

After we left the pavement it was still a good hour till we got to our lunch spot. Oh and we expected to eat breakfast at our hostel before we left but for some reason on that day they didnt feel like making any breakfast so we were all starving. The dirt was a little slower so Sage was in stable condition as we wound through the jungle. It was the first real jungle we have seen, with banana trees everywhere!

Things were looking up and it apeared that the road was going to chill out a little bit but soon agin we started climbing and climbing. This road was just as impressive but in a different way. It clung to the steep mountain side for what seemed like forever about a mile over the canyon floor. I was sitting on the cliff side of the van right at the window and was TERRIFIED! The driver actualy had to get out and move some of the rocks that formed a little barrier so we could get the van by!!! It was about an hour of terror before we got to the town where we ate some food then contiued about 30 minuates to Hydroelectica where we got the train to Aguas Calientas, our base camp for Machu Pichu.

In Aguas Calientas we met with our guide Freddy, who showed us to our hostel and eatting spots. He was a little scatterbrained and realy didnt know what was going on sice some of us had 2 days there while others were only there for 1. He got us our tickets for Machu Pichu and we went straight to bed to get some rest for our 4am departure.

The alarm beeped and no one moved. 4am was a terible time to be starting a hike, but after a while we all realized that we best get moving if we want to see the sunrise. The hike started out quite enjoyable. Even tho it was 4 there were quite a few people stirring arround town. I guess its a popular time to leave. The hike startes with about 20 minuates of flat road walking before the trail heads straight up the mountain for 3 kms of hell. It was one hell of a climb that left me gasping for air quite a few times. Once we got to the top we realized why we left so early, as the line was already quite big and the busses were pouring people in.

We had been told that we were allowed to bring in 20 litres of whatever we wanted, so we packed up some nice lunch stuff and a bunch of water. But at the top there was a stir of people that were pissed of cause they were getting there bags searched and getting told that they couldnt come in with there bags and they had to leave them in the storage area. With some stroke of luck just as we got to the ticket booth, the other side opened up and the guy on that side didnt seem to care at all and just waived us through. Perfect!

We waled for about 500 more feet to where it all opened up and we could see it all. It was amazing, so green and peaceful. Of course there was one more "rush" that had to be done. That huge mountain you see in the back of all the pictures of Machu Pichu is called Huanupich and actualy has a ruin on the top of it and of the thousands of people that come to Machu Pichu everyday, they only let 400 up. So we had to go jump in line to get our stamp so that we could go up. After we got our stamps, we headed to the highest point to watch the sunrise over the mountain.

The sunrise was so beatutif that we missed our tour. Whoops. We figured that we could just wanted and toss an ear in on some other tours that were taking place so thats eaxctly what we did. We wander arround in awe till 10 when the gates to Huanupichu opened when we started another gueling climb to the top. This climb seemed a little easyer for some reason and reach the top in no time. What a view, you can see the intire machu pichu ruin along with the inca trail cut across the mountain.

Huanupichu is crazy, you look at a stone and cant imagine how anyone could have got it there. That one picture of Sage laying in the dirt looking down over the edge is incredable. The pitures dont realy show it but that is a cliff that is over 1km tall!!! and somehow there is a little rock wall along to the top of the cliff. It was terrifying yet amazing.

After we were done browzing Huanupichu we desided to go check out the "great cave" and there was a trail that went down the back side of Huanupichu that apparently went to this so called great cave. After about a hour of walking down and down we were getting a little nervous. Finaly after alot of downhill walking (very hard on the knees) we got to the cave. It was cool and there were even a few other people there wich was exciting since we handnt seen anyone for about an hour of wandering through the jungle. The only problem was that we were exhausted and the hike from the cave back to machu pichu was over an hour!!!! This was hell and just about killed us.

After reaching Machu Pichu completly exhausted and out of water, we recharged and headed for the inca drawbridge. A nice flat walk to a cool little structure built to try to stop intruders from getting to machu pichu. There we ate some palta sandwiches and decided it was time to head back to home base. It was raining at this point and the walk sown to the valley floor seemed like a very long way, but once we got going it was alright and we made it just after dark. We then hit the hot springs for a quick dip in the pools before the power went out and we were sitting in the for some reason, draining pools.

The next moring we headed back to Cuzco arround noon. We had a smaller van this time with AC and Sage sat in the front and had a way better journay. Jordan, Riley and I were in the back having a great time singing along to all the 80´s hits the driver had on his cds. Clare I sang the Rocky tune extra loud for you! We got to cuzco arround 9ish and hit McDonalds!!!!! Its exactly the same as canada, except they provide mayo in the pump beside the ketchup.

We stayed one more night in Cuzco and hit the bus terminal the next day to catch a bus to the coast and that we did. We wanted to go to a town called Pisco, but the bus never stoped there so we continued the 24 hours through to Lima, than grabed some KFC (crazy amount of fast food latley) and continuted a few more hours to Tortugas. It didnt say much about it in the book, but what it did say sounded nice. I supose sometime in the year this is a hip hapenin little town but definatly not at this time of year. We seemed to be the only people in the town and had to walk a few Kms to find and elderly lady to cook us some food.

Speaking of food the guy running this internet cafe seems to want to go and get some of that himself and is closing us down.... More to come. Along with editing.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Machu Pichu

You see hundreds of pictures of this place but none can do it justice. What an amazing day, exhausting but amazing. Them Incas sure hate flat ground! I spent most of my allowable time uploading photos so the story to go with them will have to wait. We had an awesome time and we are now heading for the coast to catch some rays and enjoy the ocean.

Here are the photos.....

http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a55/slowring/South%20America/

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Cuzco Peru.

Jordan and Riley arrived safely and on time. The only set back was that the airline lost Jordans bag. I dremt that that had happened and some how it came true. He was smart tho and carried on what he needed to survive, money, a few magazines and his camera equipment. He was looking very sharp in the new alpaca sweater that he bought at the airport to try to stay warm. Riley got in about half an hour after Jordan and we jumped on a bus for Puno.

Puno is not the greatest place to be. Bolivia definatly got the nice side of lake Titicaca and puno got a dirty shore line littered with all sorts of crap and not a trout stand as far as the eye could see. Luckly Jordans bag was supposed to be in Juliaca the following day so we could pick it up on our way to Cuzco. Of course when we got there the guy had no idea what was going on a was not in the mood to help out much. He had the nerve that when we asked him a question he responded with "im working and your going to have to wait". This realy pissed me off so I went and sat down. We realy didnt get anything done at this stop except we told him that if the bag came to Juliaca that they need to send it to Cuzco where we were going to be.

We thought that Puno was a dump but its got nothing on Juliaca. What a dive, we were lucky to only have to spend a few hours there while we waited for our bus, but a few hours was a few to many. The dirtyest town we have been to yet on the trip. Smelled like there must have been a pig farm right in the city center and there were troffs (sp?) of god knows what kinda goo running all over town. One positive side of Juliaca is that Jordan got ahold of someone on the phone who had seen his bag a few hours ago and personaly put it on the plane to Lima where it was going to get transfered to Cuzco!!!!! Apparently his bag was still in L.A!!!!

The bus ride from Juliaca to Cuzco was great. It was night wich was a little lame since the mountains were spectacular, but thankfully it was a clear night with a big moon so we could see a little. Steep snowcaped peaks were everywhere on both sides of the road. The best part was that when it was time to sleep I headed for the back of the bus with my sleeping bag and pillow and sprawled out over 4 empty seats. I didnt get a whole lot of sleeping done due to the driver being in some sort of un sanctioned rally race but it was definatly the most comfortable I have ever been on a bus.

We got a wicked hostel in Cusco about 5 minuates from the central plazas. Its got the nicest shower I have had since I left home, Cable tv in the room (nice to watch some movies and relax), and a nice kitchen upstairs on the roof that we have made a few great meals in. At the market we can get all the fixins for a wicked stirfry and rice for about 40 canadian cents per person!!!!

Cuzco as "touristy" as it is had been alot of fun. Its nice to be in a beautiful clean city with lots of stuff going on and no reason to ever feel thretened. You can even walk arround here with the camera hanging arround your neck with no worries. Today we went a checked out some of the cathedrals arround town. They definatly know how to build them down here as they are the most amazing works of art I have ever seen. No idea how they could ever build something like that without the use of at least a trusty forklift.

Well we are heading up to Aguas Calientas tommorow morning at 7 to stay the night then the next day we head to Machu Pichu for sunrise till sun set!!! We are all realy pumped to finaly be going to see it in person so we can say "i've been there" when we see all the pictures EVERYWHERE.

Im sure there will be a wack of pictures to come within the next few days.

It for now. Orin

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

A few more Pictures

http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a55/slowring/South%20America/

Puno Peru

La Paz for the second time was awesome. We met up with the crew, and were cruisin with 7 again. This time we were all staying at the same hostel in La Paz so we didnt have to worry about sneaking a few to the rooftop where we spent most of our time. Our friend Matt had to head to Uruguay on his 55 hour bus ride, so we said our farewells to him and sent him off. After Matt left we headed up to the top of the hill to watch a little wrestling! It was prety helarious, basicly it was amature WWF with a few woman tossed in to fight. They put on quite a show. We also went and saw Wolverine the movie! The movie is not up to par in my mind but it was fun to relax and watch a film.

There are thousands of little vans running arround La Paz and most of the populated areas of Bolivia that we have been. Its quite a sight. They just rip arround town, with usualy either a woman or child hanging out one of the windows just yelling where the bus is heading. Even the spanish speakers in the group usualy dont know what they are saying. The first step of getting to Peru is taking one of these buses to Tiwanaku. Tiwanaku is a ruin about 40kms from the Peru border. These ruins were a little lame but still neat to see. I got a few pictures that are posted!

We are traveling into Peru with Simon and Brendon. So the last night we were in La Paz we did a little partying before breaking up the crew. Some stayed out a little later than others and a few (Sage and Brendon) had a little trouble with our travels into Peru. Alot of resting on rocks was need by those two. I like to rub this in.

After Tiwanaku, we grabed another bus to the border. Filled out our little slips of paper, got our stamps and headed to find a bus for Puno. It was dark at this time and the boarder town was getting a little sketchy. Simon is quite the spanish talker and managed to get us the last "four" seats on the bus. Four seats meaning, 3 seats and Orin sitting on the center console, with the driver on my left, the stick shift where my left leg would have liked to have been and two Peruvian women on my right. Luckly it was only 2.5 hours and it wasn´t to to painful.

The bus stations are always in the creepy areas of town for some reason, but we were all exhausted and desided to grab the closest hostel. After seeing the first hostal sign we moved on the the second hostel and went for it. It was prety dirty and shitty but we desided to get some sleep and find a new place in the morning. We went out and got some cash, ate some chicken then went to bed.

This morning we found a beautiful hostel in the nice part of town and are very happy about it. We cruised town and found a terrible place to eat! Simon is extremly cheap and hates spending more than a dollar on anything. We may have to split up for meals since Sage and I like to feel good during and after eatting. We did find the donut shop on our travels, and I very much enjoyed one of them.

Anyway, Jordan and Riley should be in flight as we speak on there way. Sage and I have got a room for all of us and are heading the hour north tommorow morning at 6!!!! to go and pick them up. I cant believe that they are here already, this means we have a mere 6 weeks left of slacking off. All tho we are so pumped to see some fimiliar faces indeed.
Hope you all are enjoying spring.
Orin

Friday, May 1, 2009

Copa Copacabana

La Paz was great. We met some great people at our hostel and the hostel next to us. There is Kate, Matt and yet another Matt from New York and Brendon from New Zeland. We all had a great time together on saturday night and sunday. So much fun infact, that we decided on sunday night we would head out to Copacabana with Simon and the others. The bus ride out was only 3 hours but the bus was made for children only and I had to play some musical chairs so I could ferel my ass again.

Copacabana is a wicked little town. Its right on lake Titicaca and the lake goes as far as the eye can see from almost everywhere in town. We rented the intire top floor of a hostel for all 7 of us at a hefty 2 canadian dollars a night including breakfast! Its great, its just a huge room so we are all "camping" in one corner. All of us have been having a blast and eatting a lot of fresh trout. It seems to be quite the staple arround the lake and they sure know how to cook it up. A little hut (number 9) down by the lake was recomended to us and its absolutly out of this world delish. 4 canadian for a whole trout, rice, big thick french frys and its all smothered in a sweet onion, pepper and tomato topping. This will be the reason we may never leave.

We ran into Alex and Catherine (from qubec) randomly on the street and decided to head to Isle de Sol (island of the sun) with them. Being the "hard core" hikers that we are. We decided to do the 17 km hike out of Copacabana threw some small villages to a very small village where we could hire a small boat to take us to the island. As opposed to taking the big boat right from Copacabana. The hike was awesome, it took us through some cool little villages that all seemed to be in the middle of a potato harvest. The women out here are crazy they work so hard and cary HUGE sacs of potatos on there backs wearing little leather shoes and full on dreses!

We got to the village on the island at dark after checking out a Inca ruin that is on the southern tip of the island. Sage and I got quite a start when as soon as we walked into the dark room of the ruin a swallow freaked and bailed out right beside us. The last part of the hike was quite trecherous as we had to gain quite alot of elevation. After some huffing and puffing we finaly found an beautiful hostel with absolutly amazing views of the lake, La Paz mountain and Isle de Luna. Thanks Pam.

We spend most of our time on the island relaxing on the grassy slopes between little terrised fields and donkeys. Donkeys seem to do everything on this island. There are no roads or motorized vehicles of any sort, just donkeys carying everything everywhere. Including water to the top of the hill for everyone to use. Its a very peacefull life on the island with nothing much besides farms. The trout is not as good as Copacabana and the runing packs of sheep are sketchy. All and all a great time.

We grabed the morning ferry back to Copa today, mostly for the trout but also to see if we could meet up with the others before they left. Luckly as we jumped off the boat and headed for number 9 trout hut, all the others were heading to the exact same place. Just wanted to get in one more trout before going back to La Paz. We enjoyed a beauty with them, said our farewells for one more night as we are staying here and meeting them in La Paz tommorow.

It has been a very peacefull last few days spent on the lake. La Paz should be fun for the weekend, then we are heading to Tiwanaco to see some ruins on our way to Puno to meet jordan.
6 more days! Congradulations Mom are all you motorcycling achivements! cant wait to ride with you as soon as I get home.
It for now. Orin