Huaraz 8/18/07 - 8/20/07

We took the over-night bus to the central Andes of Peru, to a town called Huaraz. What is another 14 hour bus ride through Peru like, in a "few" words? crazy bus driver racing cars on the highway, crazy bus rider racing death on the mountain´s edge, Sasha cursing crazy bus driver as she is hurdled into the 2 square foot bathroom wall for the 5th time as she tries to take her 7th piss of the trip . . . and finally, Sasha finding her special nook and lets Misha sleep for a few hours.

Huaraz has had its share of disasters, the most memorable being the earthquake of 1970 that measured 7.7 on the Richter scale and killed 70,000 people from central Peru (30,000 of them being from Huaraz.) How does an earthquake do that exactly?? Well, when you´re up in the mountains, an earthquake can cause water to cascade down to the valleys below creating a combination of avalanche, waterfall, and landslide!

But what a place! In the mountains, it is common to chew coca leaves or drink coca tea to help with the elevation.

No, it doesn´t get you high (you dope fiend!) Yes, it really helps!

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Upon arriving in Huaraz, we just happened to look out the window of our hostel and noticed ICE CAPPED MOUNTAINS!!

A first for some of us! We immediately decided to do a trek through the mountains, but eventually decided against it since all of us were getting pretty sick at this point. But that doesn´t mean that we can´t have fun! Matty and I left Misha to recuperate while we went on a bus tour through Parque Nacional Huascarán, enjoying distant views of Cordillera Blanca and Negra.

Bus tours are a funny thing, since they shuffle a bunch of people in and out of the bus for about 7 hours, to take pictures and such. . .yet it is a great way to see a bunch of places if you have a time restraint. Most of the guides speak only Spanish so no, you won´t understand much and sure it´s touristy, but you really have to take these things with a grain of salt, and ENJOY . . . you ARE in Peru for crying out loud.

First, the bus shuffled us out in front of a beautiful lake (the lake of seven colors) which had bubbling mineral water . . . explains all those colors! We were shuffled back in until we came upon a valley of the largest flowers in the whole world...

Puya Raimondii. This is one of the most ancient plant species in existence and can only be found in some parts of the Andes of Peru and Bolivia. The plant takes about 100 years to grow (about 10 meters high)at which point it blooms over 20,000 flowers for three months, at which point it comes to its tragic end and dies .Obviously, we missed the months of its magnificence. . . so I had to help it out. Ah, what a sight!

The bus briefly stopped at some cave drawings where I was lucky enough to snap a picture (only the right side of the bus got this privilege!)

(and its reproduction for better view)

Finally, the bus tour let us off near a walkway by some breathtaking views of Nevado Pastoruri, where Matty and I jumped on some donkeys and began the climb to see some glaciers! Matty´s six-legged donkey had a good climb up

Hahaha!!! What! He´s tall as hell!

We enjoyed climbing in, out, and about the glacier. . . even though we weren´t allowed to enter it at all (what a surprise!)

I have to say, Matty was a total natural on the snow . . . hopping to and fro like a gazel, venturing out past the "Danger" signs, enjoying his new found freedom to the maximum. Salut!

Here are some highlights:

You know I had to have a taste! Hmmm, a taste of childhood, yum! I just had to give it a big hug for old times sakes . . .

On the way back, Matty´s donkey got startled and started galloping away! Tiny Peruvians dashing left and right while Matty is almost thrown off . . . you had to laugh! And snap a picture for memories of course . . .

I ventured off into the nearby valley to enjoy some overlooked treasures.
All in all, a wonderful day, a lovely trip, and great memories.

Happy Birthday Misha!!! 09/12/07

The day has come!! The celebration begins! Even Misha´s parents are here in Peru to make it a memorable event and it will be a birthday to remember!! A lot of you have sent in personal e-mails and stuff like that but hey, twice never hurt . . . so leave a nice comment and wish Misha a wonderful year filled with love, luck, and laughter.

Happy Birthday Baby!!!!

Chiclayo 8/14/07 - 8/18/07

We caught the 7am early morning from Cajamarca to our next destination, Chiclayo. Our crew was intact with me, Sasha, and the newest addition to the team, Matty. It was a beautiful 6 hour ride as we descended from the towering Andes into the coastal desert of Peru, which runs through the whole coast of Peru.

The desert is how you would imagine it . . . lonesome, dry and empty except for the giant piles of garbage which create their own "havens" and break the peace of the desert. And it seems like it goes on forever. Little rivers snake through it, run around little "dams" made by farmers and feed their fields. Outside of the small green squares which grow rice, corn and the like, the desert is waiting with the patience only it has waiting to swallow up the green fields at first sign of drought. We however, drove past this lonely scene as we made our way to the coast.

Chiclayo is said to be a modern city, the commercial center of northern Peru. Really it's just another almost big city with its street markets, it's Plaza de Armas, the church looking over it, the bodegas, the crippled begging on the sidewalks, the rotisserie chicken joints on every corner, tiny combis (little buses which pack too many people in them) with guys screaming out destinations onto us, and the Peruvians going about their business.

We stepped off the bus ready to be courted by the local taxi drivers. Probably about 90% of the cars are taxis, all fighting over you. And all the taxis have their own personalities. Some with zebra designed seat covers, some with leopard ones. Some with neon lights inside and of course outside of the car. In fact some of the decorations would make you feel like being in a rap video. All I felt I needed was a bottle of Crystal and a feather in my hat. Pimpin' ain't easy!

Finally after travelling for what seems like ages, we have reached the pacific coast in a small town called Pimentel.

And of course there was a welcoming committee waiting for us...

The coast was not how I imagined it. Cold, windy, and empty just like the town. It felt like a plague came through here before us and took everyone except for the dogs, the little kids selling keychains and the angry Argentinian bum who cursed at me and Matty with every bad English word he had in his vocabulary. But here we are finally across the continent. It means a lot because almost the whole way for months, we took boats, smelly overpacked buses and horses to get here. Wow!
Really, Chiclayo is most famous for a recently found Moche Tomb of The Lord of Sipan. You see, back in 1987 there was an unusual amount of gold and other cool artifacts on the local black market. I personally couldn't find this market. It sounds like it would have a lot of cool stuff for sale. But no, no sign of it. Well, through some investigative work, the authorities discovered new tombs that we're getting robbed. Needless to say they stopped that, dug everything up and put it into a state of the art museum.

We checked it out of course. It was an amazing museum with lifelike wax figures of warriors and jewelry on display. We weren't allowed to bring any cameras, but me and Matty being rebels and all brought ours in. Here are some pics before I got caught with my camera and got escorted out:

Yeah, I didn't get to the good stuff yet. After, we checked out Tucume's valley of the pyramids. This guy came to meet us.Its an area of about 50 broken down pyramids which look more like big sand bumps in the ground. Those ridges below are the pyramids. Peru is so rich with archaeological sites that very little work is being done at this place. The grounds are littered with broken pieces of pottery, human bones, etc. Of course this is in places that tourists are not allowed to enter, but we helped ourselves there. I don't intend to make us sound like a bunch of misfits, but our curiosity gotten the best of us. We were like little kids filled with adventure stories wandering around the site.
We climbed the mountain in the middle of the ruins and got to enjoy the incredible view.

Also after all of our adventures, we found an awesome little taco place in Chiclayo. Sorry, no pics.
Anyway guys, I'll talk to you later. Gotta get back to the video game on the computer. Peace!
Oh, I will leave you with Matty rockin' out his Spanish with the taxi driver before the guy tries to rip him off...

Cajamarca 8/6/07 - 8/14/06

Cajamarca is best known as the city where the Incan Emperor Atahuallpa was imprisoned, held for ransom, and then killed by Spanish Conquistadors led by Pizarro back in 1532, drawing an end to the all powerful Incan Empire. The small Spanish troop of 170 "conquistadors" outsmarted and defeated an army of 80,000 (by promising a peace ceremony in order to lure Atahuallpa and then using guns and horses against people who have never seen either-- the Incas had no chance.)

Atahuallpa was held for ransom . . . which he delivered in the hopes of saving his life-- a room full of gold and twice of silver, as tall as the level of his out raised arm. This room is the only remaining Incan structure remaining in Cajamarca and is known as El Cuarto del Rescate, or "The Ransom Room." No you can´t go inside, no you can´t touch the wall, but you can stand outside and admire! Finally, of course, the Spanish killed Atahuallpa anyway. They spared him the death of burning at the stake to a more deserving one of strangulation with a garrote, once he miraculously decided to be baptized as a Christian! (Actually, the Incas believed that the soul could not have an afterlife if the body was burned. So there you have it.)

The city of Cajamarca is like any other large city . . . it has its bars, restaurants, churches (not in that order) and it has its markets.
Upon arriving, we ran into our friends from Celendín hot baths . . . Hector and Denis (they happened to be wearing clothes this time) and they helped us find a cheap hostel in the area . . . sure there was no hot water available for most of the day AND the mattress felt like a box-spring! But it was cheap . . . and just what we were looking for.

Mishka had to travel to Lima to pick up Matty, an incoming visitor from the good ol´U. S. of A. And of course we made a sign to welcome him

Which he loved! And promises to frame when he got home.
I decided to stick around and relax a bit, go the the hot baths and maybe dancing.The famous Baños del Incas where sort of disappointing . . . especially after being spoiled by the wonderful and natural springs in Celendín. For example . . .

Baños del Incas

(don´t touch the water, don´t cross the walkway, don´t try anything other than taking a pic!)

Older Baños (same rules apply)

And finally, my Baño where I was allowed to take a bath . . . Looks like a little tile closet don´t it? At least the water was medicinal . . . otherwise, it would have been like taking a bath at home!

Next day I went out dancing to a local bar before heading out to a festival in a nearby town. Needless to say, we never made it to the festival . . .Why fix it if it ain´t broken??Thank you Remac Crew, especially Denis and Hector!

Mishka returned with Matty from Lima and we hit the streets of Cajamarca. . . Ransom Chamber, Historical District, and other local delights. My favorite? Locking Misha up in a display case! Talk about fun!
Before heading for the coast, we decided to check out the Ventana´s of Otuzco (burial grounds in the mountains). Armed with sandwiches and strawberries, we had a picnic while reading "The Alchemist" aloud and pondering the afterlife.
Word to the wise: Peruvians love to plant cacti around their territories...so if you decide to climb over, be very careful! The cactus poison can hurt for days, in you joints! Very painful! Wink wink

Adios for now!

From Mishka and his two girlfriends:) Aren´t we pretty?