Odds and ends

Lima: The Aeroclub del Peru, which we found by accident last trip, seems to have moved, as we could not find it this time.
La Paz: Most will know that I have a taste for rum or ¨ron¨in Spanish. Well it goes beyond the liquid to ice cream. The best ¨pasas y ron¨(rum and raison) ice cream that I have ever tasted seems to only exist in Bolivia and maybe only in La Paz. Now that I am here for a while, I am trying to get as much as possible!
The last 2 days have been a whirlwind of meeting new people and gathering art supplies for us to take to Aucapata for the art project. Yesterday finished with a search for chicken wire, house paint, and masonite.
Jim

First Days at IMIF

Well you can imagine how meetings go with 5-6 new people and 2 languages. We met at the offices which are down the street, at 10am and met Ernesto, Lucy, and an old friend Ivonne (a Dentist which we met last trip to La Paz) as well as Yumey. There was a lot of questions and joy had to tell them her vision of the three weeks we were to have in Aucapata. For those that don´t know Aucapata and a number of surrounding villages high in the Andes and many hours by bus or truck from La Paz have been receiving dental care and breakfast program for chidren in schools through the IMIF headquartered in Halifax and Lima. Joy sponsored the idea of sending and art student to the area to teach art in the same schools. Now it is Joy´s turn. She (and I ) will spend the next three weeks in Aucapata trying to mix art and dental health. The first day we didn´t quit until 7pm! This regular working must be for the young!
Jim

Lima

Folks:
I believe that I left you as we were checking in with the young lady at the Hostel España in Lima. It was nice to see that security for the ceremonial changing of the guard at the Legislative Palace had been reduced. There were 5 very bored riot police, about the same number of guys with automatic weapons, no armored vehicles, and the public was allowed inside the gate. The ceremony has lost some of it´s military significance and format and now is a band and drill display. The last time we saw it the President actually took the salute. This time ¨nada¨. We did manage to find a ¨Churra¨(pudding filled deep-fried good thing) which made my day. We visited a very nice museo in the old national mint. The history of currency was educational. After watching a wedding and having a good night we were up and in a cab for the airport at 0430. Flew to Cusco with one airline (because the others rip off tourists and then changed) and arrived safely at El Alto airport obove La Paz (at 4000meters) to be greeted by Yumey, the executive director of the Ivor Mendez International Foundation (IMIF) and an old friend Paz, a delightful man, and the only safe driver in all of La Paz. They quickly got us bunked down in the Hotel Torino (5 stars minus 4.5 and therefore just our kind of spot). Although we had a chance at our old room (that we had the last 2 times) we decided on a new and better room and it is great!
Security is higher right now as the disabled have been demonstrating for a payment of some sort for about three months. The roads are now blocked by riot police and a metal barricade a block from Plaza Murillo in all directions including the block on which the Torino is found. I got $ from the safest ATM in La Paz as a dozen police watched. I had to ask them to get out of the way (permisso) so that I could get in.
Joy is much better although neither of us are operating at 100% at 3800 meters.
Jim

Huarez 2

On our last day before taking the bus to Lima, we decided to take a tour to a lake in a national park up in the mountains. As with most tours there are always stops along the way that you have to put up with before getting to the place that you want to see. This resulted in a looooong day tour. The main excitement occurred high in the mountains within the national park, when the road was blocked by a dumptruck being loaded with dirt by a crew of men. Although he was tempted the bus driver did not try to go by and we were off-loaded and had to walk the last 20 minutes (up-hill, Fred). Apparently the driver of the truck had left the vehicle to go to the little restaurente by the lake. I learned some new Spanish words!
One observation of a difference between the coast and the mountains in Peru is the variation in cabs. Along the coast most cabs were moto-taxis or a very short and yellow vehicle (think shortened Ford Festiva). In Huarez, the cabs were almost all white toyota station wagons and much easier to handle for 2 larger folks with packs.
On Friday we took a 0930 bus for Lima. Most of the better buses went at night and we wanted to see the views. And the views were worth it. In the high country there was a desolate landscape with no trees, although very green with a short grass and many cattle and sheep. The down-hill went on for at least and hour and a half switching back and forth with a convoy of five gasoline trucks behind us. There is a real art to passing slower traffic on this kind of road! In Lima, a quick taxi ride got us to our favourite hostal in Lima; Hostal España. Not much has changed from the old art to the skulls from indigeous graves, that meet you in the lobby. What had changed was the lovely 20 something young lady at the desk happily feeding her 2 year old while signing us in.
Jim

Huarez

Definitely a beautiful spot surrounded by snow-topped mountain peaks. Unfortunately Carnavale hadn´t run it´s course yet and our first day was ¨water war Tuesday¨! Mobs of young people, male and female, coursed up and down the streets (even closing the main street) hurling water, either in balloons or without. Although they try to avoid the tourists, the old, and the indigeous folk in traditional outfits, secondary casualties are a result. At the same time fireworks are going off all over. The police, and they had brought in extras, showed a lot of restraint, allowing the hi-jinks to go on. Police here are about 50% women wearing snappy uniforms with big guns. Anyway the fun ended when God decided to enter the event with lightning, thunder and a down pour.
We spent the next few days in Huarez resting so that Joy could get over a cold, we could get a flight to and from La Paz and catching up on blogs. We were successful at all. Few hints for folks: debit cards are the best way to access $ here in SA, and domestic flights cost next to nothing (unless to a tourist destination ie: Galpagos or Cusco) and flights across borders are expensive.
Jim

My Big Blunder

I must apologize to Joy in public. I had suggested (decided) that our next stop should be Chimbote,farther down the coast. On the map it looked like a good move. Unfortunately in my wisdom, I had not read either of the guidebooks we had with us until we were on the bus. Turns out Chimbote is the place you do not want to stay in Peru. It is the largest fishing port in Peru and smells like it. In addition it is apparently a very dangerous place to stay. After I confessed to Joy (she is still working on forgiveness), she said that we would just take the next bus out of town towards Huarez but probably stopping in Casma. Well we got a rather beat up small Mercedes bus that was going to take us to Huarez via a short-cut over the Corillero Negro to Huarez in the heart of the Cordillero Blanco, the highest mountains in Peru and second highest in South America. The description of the dirt road climbing from Casma to the pass at over 4000 meters was not encouraging,but of we went after agreeing that life had been pretty good to this point. Fortunately the book was out of date and the road was paved 2 lane road except where rock slides had narrowed it to one or less. It is hard to describe to climb into and above the clouds and the vertical drops that just go down forever. Amazingly there were people living up there on the edge of these cliffs. I would have taken video but my eyes were closed most of the way. Thank goodness for night as we rose. Then we saw the lights of Huarez below us when we were still almost 50kms away. The downhill, twisting back and forth on hairpins, went on interminably,but we finally arrived safely in Huarez and got touted into a hostal by Johnny who wanted us to take a tour the next day. I needed a few days rest!
Jim

Peru vs Ecuador

There are some changes almost as soon as you go over the border. First is an architectural quirk relating to industrial buildings in Peru.All have walls and guard posts allong the wall. Didn't notice any of that in Ecuador. Also there is the sudden appearance of motocycles converted to three wheels to carry paying passengers. They seem to have various names ie mototaxi. Those are fairly harmlessobservations but the other big impression Peru makes and which I had forgotten was the road-side garbage. It makes the little dumps along the West Montrose Road at home look positively spotless.
In Chiclaya,we took a trip out to LLambeque to see a fantastic museo dedicated to a pyramide tomb created 1700 years ago for a leader of the Moche culture (the Mochicas). Housed in a spectacular building with marvelous displays of the finds and how the tomb may have been laid out.A truly great museo that must not be missed. I must be retaining some of the hard-earned Spanish as I understood most of the displays. We went to another museo in the same town but it tried to cover too much and did so without any continuity.
Jim

Peru!

Hi Folks:
Internet has been a little sketchy............... at least that is my excuse and I am stcking to it! After Saraguro, Macara, a little dusty border town was a complete change. Only a near-riot under our window in the middle of the night, and the usual Carnavale hi-jinks to liven the place up. I went looking for a cambio or bank to get some Peruvian Neuevo Soles and asked a bunch of guys at the market using my best Spanish (thanks Nuri) and they pointed to the man with the suitcase in the park across the road. Although I am sure that I got ripped off a little,he was a charmer.He listed of a number of Canadian cities and showed me his US permanent resident card. Said that he was too old to stay there.
At the border we made our obligatory three stops on foot: first getting stamped out at the Ecuadorian side (had to fill out a form and I wonder what would happen if you didn't qualify to get out?).then to immigration in Peru where we had to fill out the same form and I cleverly put in the wrong passport number,then across the road to check in with the police (Joy almost missed this one). Later, quite a few KMs (Canadian miles for Fred and Pat) into Peru the bus got stopped at a police check point and a number of Ecuadorians were rousted for not checking in with police. That left the rest of us in a sweltering bus waiting for the wrangling to get over. Then on to Piura where we planned to stay.When we got there we decided to go further to Chiclaya and settled down with cervaza (get used to it......it's beer) waiting for the bus. Unfortunately, when we got to Chiclaya (about 10pm) all our choice of hostels were full for Carnavale and our taxi guy earned his extra pay driving us all over town to find a hostel. He was eventually successful.
Jim

Saraguro

Well folks this was the spot for Joy. She is already talking about a one month visit next year. We only found one other tourist and the people all knew that we were strangers. The traditional garb of the Saraguros was worn relatively consistently and gave the entire town (about 5000) an indigenous flavour. The Ecuadorian government seems to be trying to improve the lot of indigenous people and the efforts were apparent here. The women wore a black shawl over a decorative blouse with lots of neck jewellery. They all had a large straight silver pin to hold the shawl in place. A few wore the traditional Saraguro hat which is a wide brimmed white fely hat with a black spotted design on the underside. The men wore black ¨Bermuda length¨shorts. They are the descendants of the Saraguros who were moved to this area from Lake Titicaca by the Incans. They were warm and friendly and Joy loved the whole experience.
One of the unusual things we have seen in Ecuador is the selling of motor bikes (we would call them dirt bikes) in the same store as tvs, refridgerators, vacuums, etc. They are very useful in the hills around Saraguro as the houses are spotted all around the hills above the village.
Today we left Saraguro by grabbing one of the local buses to Loja and then another bus to Macara on the Peru/Ecuador border. What a spectacular bus ride it was. We seemed to ride the spine of the Andes, occasionally diving into valleys. I guess that we were varying between 2500 metres and 4500 metres and the grades here are not the same as in NA. Fortunately our driver was older and experienced and had lots of religious items for protection. The views downhill as he careened around the corners were unbelievable. Some of the drops had to be 1000 metres!
Now we are in a town where ¨Carnivale¨is starting to take hold so there was a parade for us and lots of music and water balloons. Tomorrow Peru!

Saraguro

In an effort to get caught up, I am putting in this entry from Saraguro, itself. We went to the bus depot (terminal terrestre) in Cuenca and found the area where we thought that we might get a bus to Saraguro and were told that the next bus wasn´t until 6pm. We said that we wanted to go now (10am) and were pointed to a bus on the ramp waiting to go. Apparently the bus we approached first was a classy bus and we were now going on the regular bus with the locals. Once again there was great scenery as we went up and down the Andes, through passes and down, down into river valleys. Dropped at Saraguro, we found the hostal in the book (lonely planet and Footprint) and settled in. Not a really high standard but the operators are a friendly family. Joy is feeling a little öff her feed¨so I will save more about this magic place for next time.

Cuenca

Our first stop after Guayaquil (we just went to the bus depot and hopped the first bus) was Cuenca, the thrid largest city in Ecuador and home of 2 universities. The trip was in the evening and with rain and fog there was not too much to see. That was unfortunate as the trip is obviously wonderful climbing from sea level to 2500 metres (and I think that at least one pass had to be 4000 metres). We seemed to be climbing on a 2 lane highway for about 2 hours. It was a good thing the visibility was bad as the driver did not hesitate to pass slower traffic over the solid lines.
Cuenca rivals Quito for the most beautiful city in Ecuador and is a UNESCO site as is Quito. We stayed downtown in the colonial city. We toured the old and new cathedrals. One was built in the 1550´s while the other, a truly spectacular structure, was built over many years starting in the 1800s. Being Valentines Day (or the run up to it) the flower market was very busy and heart shaped balloons were everywhere. We managed to find some nice galleries/museos, as well as one archeological site and walked a lot. It was a lot of fun, but we must head South and this was a chance to visit Saraguro on our way to Peru.

I´m Sorry

Sorry that this has taken so long to get to. We have been without internet for some of the time, but mostly it is laziness on my part.
After running around Quito looking for cash to fund our last minute Galapagos trip, we took off the next day for Puerto Ayora and spent 2 days there before boarding the Archipell for our cruise. During our time in Puerto Ayora we hiked to a near by beach for a swim with the Iguanos. It was hot (30s) and the hike was tough, but between the lava lizards, birds and the only cactus that grows like a tree (has a trunk) we made it. The first beach was not for swimming, because of the undertow, but the surfers loved it. We proceeded on to the smaller beach which had shade. There were many marine iguanos and they seemed to parade along the beach.
During our stay in PA we shared a number of cervazas with Nat and Megan, new friends from Australia who tend bar and cook in the most remote pub in the UK and travel in the off season. I must confess that they were the ones who put us on to the deal with the Archpell.
The Archipell is a beautiful catamaran (powered) with a crew of 9 serving 16 passengers. I cannot speak too highly of the food, service and the quality of the program. Our guide Dario was passionate about his Islands and the balance to be struck between the value of tourism and preservation of the wildlife. We were kept busy snorkelling and hiking both through unbelievable scenery and wildlife. The passengers were an interesting and agreeable group mixing Aussies, Dutch, Americans, Swiss and Canadians. One engagement was announced during the cruise. Good luck to Julie and Jason from the Pacific NW of the US.
Highlights were many including swimming with the sea lions and sea turtles and the many spectacularly coloured fish. We got to interact with land and sea turtles and land and sea iguanos. The low point for me was when I got into a school of miniscule jelly fish, which is similar to getting into a hive of wasps. I had to force myself to get back into the water.
After hugs all around we headed to Guayaquil on the mainland of Ecuador.

Tough Day in Quito

Folks:
We saw the inside of the banking system here in Quito. It started with the search for the best tour to the Galapagos. We managed to find it in a nice classy catamaran whose prices were beat down to $850 by an Aussie couple before us. Airfare to the Islands is about $850 for the 2 of us and there is a $200 fee to enter the Galapagos so there now was the issue of raising the $1700 for the tour. We try not to carry too much money around as it is more to lose. After we used our VISA for the air tickets, some idiot decided to ignore the call I made last week to tell them that we would be travelling in Ecuador, and stop any further use of it. My Credit Union debit card did not work and the Presidents Choice one did, but there is a daily limit of $600 and we leave in the early morning. The CIBC one did not (it was their Visa too). We sprinted back to our hostal and gathered our travelling cheques and the other (MC)credit card. We were able to get $500 on the credit card and cashed in our travellers cheques (they seem difficult to use and you are charged a commission on them. Bottom line: we share a cab with the Aussies tomorrow at 5:30 and will likely not have internet again until Feb 13, when we return to Quito and work our way South toward Peru and Bolivia.
BTW Joy has done 4 sketches so far.
Jim

We are here!

Hi All: Sorry for the delay in making this, my first blog entry of this trip to South America. We arrived in Quito, on time, at 9:30 pm on Thursday night and were met at the airport by a driver with the usual SnihurWyatt sign. After a wild (there are no other kinds in SA) we were settled in the Colonial Hostal in colonial Quito. Most of Friday was spent exploring the local surroundings, taking 2 hours of Spanish with Jaquelina, and spending time at the local market.
Our room is beautiful, but a little close (it overlooks) the road. But the windows open and Joy loves the street and doesn´t notice the noise at all hours. Now that I am using earplugs, it doesn´t bother me that much either and Joy finds the street magical and that´s fine by me..
We spent yesterday on a tour to the famed market at Otavalo where Joy bought a giant bean pod and ate from it, as did I after she didn´t develop some terrible disease. Check out her blog for the details. Saw beautiful falls and lots of other stuff.
This morning we and Jaqui went down to the market for lunch and we tried some new foods. I had seco de carne, while Joy and Jaqui had a fish dish. We still don´t have a trip to the Galapagos arranged but that is priority for Monday.