Here are the links to my Facebook photo albums from Peru, I finally put them up and they are all captioned, so enjoy!
Album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075556&id=1280460131
Album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075565&id=1280460131
Album 3: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075566&id=1280460131
Sorry there are so many but they are a highlights (90% of everything) compilation of my and my father's photos.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Galapagos and Inca Trail
So 8 days in the Galapagos, it was not too shabby. The islands are amazing and were definitely worth the trip, I have to say. I cant even explain how great it was but if any of you would like to try and understand how nice of a trip I had you can look at some of my photos, which I have posted on Facebook...
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074799&id=1280460131) is the link to the first photo album and
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074781&id=1280460131) is the link to the second photo album.
After my cruise I flew from Guayaquil to Lima, where I had a LOONNGG lay over waiting for my dad. He finally got into Lima and after taking care of the details we just hung out until 4AM when we could check our bags for our flight to Cusco, at 540AM. We spent 2 days in Cusco, exploring the city and the Incan ruins as well as getting accustomed to the altitude.. (10,860 ft). We took the opportunity to try out some of the local foods while we were in the area, my Dad had a pastry that was just flaky bun filled with dulce de leche called la lengua de la suegra (the mother in law's tongue) and then we shared a dish of guinea pig. Yup, thats right, they eat household pets in Peru, not really, they raise them to eat, and then on Sunday, the 16th we met up with our group at 4:30AM in order to head out on the Inca Trail Hike to Machu Picchu. We took a bus for a while and then stopped to eat breakfast before starting the trail. The first day we saw some Inca sights and got accustomed to carrying out packs on the up and down undulating terrain until the final two hours of our hike on day 1, when we started our ascent up to the highest summit on the trail. From where the ascent started it is a 6km hike up rocky, uneven, unrelenting mountainside. We had amazing porters (20 for our group of 14 hikers) who carried enormous packs. Our group was made up of my father and myself, the only Americans, 8 Canadians from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and then one couple from the Isle of White off of Britain and 1 couple from Sydney, Australia. Our guide Alex was a 43 year old Peruvian and the closest in age to my Dad, by far the oldest person we saw walking the trail.
One of the beautiful orchids that we saw along the way.
The second day saw a grueling 4 hour ascent to the first summit, a rapid descent losing half of the altitude that we had gained, and then a second ascent to the original height of the first peak. We then had a more leisurely descent and a stop at an Inca sight to break the afternoon hiking up. The first two days we had spectacular weather, no rain during the hiking hours but also not very hot and the sun was out but not scorching us.
Dad and Chris (one of the Canadians) descending a very steep staircase.
One of the coolest sights that we saw during the hike before arriving at Machu Picchu, this was a 5 minute walk from our camp on the third day.
January is one of the two rainiest months in Peru, and most people who chance hiking the trail then get poured out, so it made sense when the third day it rained on and off all day and the fourth day, after we got up at 3:20AM to make it early into Machu Picchu was more of the same.
Me, hiking along, wearing the same clothes that I wore for 5 days straight.
We spent 1 night in Aguas Calientes, the touristy town at the base of Machu Picchu mountain that exists for tourist purposes and then ascended to Machu Picchu a second time on the 20th of January. We were pretty wiped out from all of the hiking by then but excited to see the sights. On the 21st we flew back to Buenos Aires and we are now here with my Mom, and tomorrow morning we are flying out to El Calafate, a southern city in Argentine Patagonia. More updates to come!
Oh yeah, a picture of our group in front of Machu PIcchu.
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074799&id=1280460131) is the link to the first photo album and
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074781&id=1280460131) is the link to the second photo album.
After my cruise I flew from Guayaquil to Lima, where I had a LOONNGG lay over waiting for my dad. He finally got into Lima and after taking care of the details we just hung out until 4AM when we could check our bags for our flight to Cusco, at 540AM. We spent 2 days in Cusco, exploring the city and the Incan ruins as well as getting accustomed to the altitude.. (10,860 ft). We took the opportunity to try out some of the local foods while we were in the area, my Dad had a pastry that was just flaky bun filled with dulce de leche called la lengua de la suegra (the mother in law's tongue) and then we shared a dish of guinea pig. Yup, thats right, they eat household pets in Peru, not really, they raise them to eat, and then on Sunday, the 16th we met up with our group at 4:30AM in order to head out on the Inca Trail Hike to Machu Picchu. We took a bus for a while and then stopped to eat breakfast before starting the trail. The first day we saw some Inca sights and got accustomed to carrying out packs on the up and down undulating terrain until the final two hours of our hike on day 1, when we started our ascent up to the highest summit on the trail. From where the ascent started it is a 6km hike up rocky, uneven, unrelenting mountainside. We had amazing porters (20 for our group of 14 hikers) who carried enormous packs. Our group was made up of my father and myself, the only Americans, 8 Canadians from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and then one couple from the Isle of White off of Britain and 1 couple from Sydney, Australia. Our guide Alex was a 43 year old Peruvian and the closest in age to my Dad, by far the oldest person we saw walking the trail.
One of the beautiful orchids that we saw along the way.
The second day saw a grueling 4 hour ascent to the first summit, a rapid descent losing half of the altitude that we had gained, and then a second ascent to the original height of the first peak. We then had a more leisurely descent and a stop at an Inca sight to break the afternoon hiking up. The first two days we had spectacular weather, no rain during the hiking hours but also not very hot and the sun was out but not scorching us.
Dad and Chris (one of the Canadians) descending a very steep staircase.
One of the coolest sights that we saw during the hike before arriving at Machu Picchu, this was a 5 minute walk from our camp on the third day.
January is one of the two rainiest months in Peru, and most people who chance hiking the trail then get poured out, so it made sense when the third day it rained on and off all day and the fourth day, after we got up at 3:20AM to make it early into Machu Picchu was more of the same.
Me, hiking along, wearing the same clothes that I wore for 5 days straight.
We spent 1 night in Aguas Calientes, the touristy town at the base of Machu Picchu mountain that exists for tourist purposes and then ascended to Machu Picchu a second time on the 20th of January. We were pretty wiped out from all of the hiking by then but excited to see the sights. On the 21st we flew back to Buenos Aires and we are now here with my Mom, and tomorrow morning we are flying out to El Calafate, a southern city in Argentine Patagonia. More updates to come!
Oh yeah, a picture of our group in front of Machu PIcchu.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Quick Update
puffer fish
penguins
white tipped reef shark
the group on my cruise after a hike
my roommate on the cruise, nicola (guess her age and I will tell you if you are even close)
sunset sailing
giant iguana
baby sea lion
giant tortise
the first island, south plaza
Addition, I am now bored out of my skin sitting in the Lima airport waiting for Peter as his flight was supposed to be arriving at this very moment but somehow got dealyed over one and a half hours when it was leaving Dallas. Blast the damn Texans.
Hello everybody, I am currently bored out of my skin sitting in a hostel in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Probably one of the most boring cities I have ever been to, as it is quite dangerous and I am not willing to wander around solo, plus I now need to be at the airport in two hours in order to head to Peru. I read a full book today, "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks and I can recommend it to anyone who like "The DaVincci Code" because it deals with an ancient Jewish codex and is quite well written. A little info on what I have been doing..
I left Colombia on the 3rd of January, or so I had planned. The airport in Cúcuta, the city I was staying in (remember..) was closed when my flight was supposed to leave for Bogotá because of the heavy rains that they were experiencing. The rains also happened to knock out the computer system so it was taking a minimum of 5X as long to check all of the passengers in, and I had a few hours waiting in line, probably two, before I actually checked my baggage. When I arrived in Bogotá the airline had someone waiting for me at the door on the plane and we legitimately sprinted for about a mile to the international check point but the line was realllly long and the woman who could have authorized us to skip the queue was apparently in a sour mood, so we just kind of stood there for a few minutes before he told me I missed the flight. This was at about 9:30PM and I was kind of flustered, having just ran all that way carrying a lot of things and being on my own in Bogotá with no clue what to do. The guy turned out to be really quite nice and the airline, COPA, had exceptional customer service. Since the 10:45PM flight from Bogotá to Guayaquil is the only one that runs on a daily basis through their airline I had to sit in a back room reading and listening to my ipod for almost two hours while they organized a morning flight that would bounce me through Panama City, Panama and then get me to Guayaquil relatively early in the day. Around 11:30 I finally got the airport hotel that the airline paid for me, and it was quite luxurious, so that was all great, as I had planned on spending the night in a $10 a night hostel in Guayaquil. I got a free steak dinner, but by that time of night I couldnt bring myself to eat a full meal, so I kind of just left my steak on the table and felt like a real waster. I woke up at 6:30 and headed back to the airport, and got some cool pictures of the Panama canal as we were landing, so the detour wasn't too bad all in all.
I spend 1 day and 1 night and then went to the airport quite early on the 5th in order to catch my flight to the Galapagos Islands, where I spent the next 8 days on a cruise ship with 6 crew members who didn't speak English, 1 bilingual guide, 2 Australians, 3 Scottish people, 3 people from London and 4 other Americans. It was quite a shock speaking so much English and I will update you all on the Galapagos when I have a change to put up my photos, because I can't really do it justice and I don't quite have the time at the moment. On Wednesday, or yesterday the 12th I flew back from Baltra airport in the Galapagos to Guayaquil, and spent yesterday and today insanely BORED OUT OF MY MIND. My flight to Peru tonight is at 730PM and my Dad won't get in until after 9:30 so I have a few hours of sitting around before he gets there. Then, after eh arrives we have an overnight in the Lima airport before our connection to Cuzco leaves around 5AM.
I will post photos after Peru once I am back in Argentina and have my computer. Hope you are all enjoying the start of 2011!
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