Good news from the Universe

Just so you know beforehand, we live very simply and close with the land-- living in tents, bathing in the river, dealing with bugs and jungle creatures, and living communally with other volunteers and us. A typical day: we get up early, practice yoga and meditation (optional), start work after breakfast, go till midday, eat a big lunch, then have the afternoon to play in the river, do crafts, nap, personal projects, or whatever you like, then some gardening and watering the evening, and a light dinner before bed. Very simple and relaxed. We like people to be self-motivated and even create their own projects. You´ll see, we have lots of room for creativity, and practicality too!

This is the note we got from our WWOOFing host in Misiones, Argentina (It's right next to Iguazu falls...!!!). We start March 2nd. We end...who knows when. It sounds amazing and like such a wonderful opportunity to get in touch with the land and with ourselves and our inner work ethic and motivation. I know I'm especially excited about getting to know our hosts and the other workers on the farm, most of whom will be other foreigners from across the globe.

In other news, we're nearing the end of our stay on Lago Titicaca in the town of Puno. We just came back from a very ridiculous, if rewarding, trip out on the lake in which we toured the Uros Floating Islands and stayed overnight at the house of an indigenous family on the relatively untouched island of Amantani. The night was freezing and absolutely silent; there are no cars, televisions, or electricity on the island. We were up so high (over 4,000 meters) that the relatively mild hike up to Pachatata (a local holy site) took the wind out of all of us--as did the impromptu soccer game that broke out on the field below. Today we spent a few hours on the island of Taquile, a much more touristy island whose socialist government has decreed that tourist restaurants may only serve fresh grilled trout...seriously.

So why was the experience ridiculous? Mostly because of the obvious exploitation that occurred, both by the locals and implicitly by us, the tourists. Tourism only came to Amantani seven years ago, before which point they subsisted on a barter economy with little to no contact with the mainland. Now, even the host families try to sell you their wares and it is clear that the influence of electricity and oil companies has created a demand for their products that has not existed in the hundreds of years the community has been around. It was truly sad to get to the top of Pachatata with panoramic views of the island and the lake at sunset--the air is so clear and thin--and be assaulted by several small children selling simple bracelets for 1 sol each (around 33 cents). Not having brought my money--and not feeling compelled to buy compulsively--we tried to politely refuse, which elicited a reaction of anger, frustration, or persistence, depending on the child. This dependence on tourist cash for their existence saddens me, because I know that there is no other way for them to fulfill their lives at the moment and the trend is certainly to heed the desires of the outside world, which clearly state a need for an increase in tourism and a decrease in the traditional lifestyle.

The flipside of this is that they peddle their culture for our dollars in ways that make us feel that we are tapping into something genuine, such as the traditional dance they threw for us last night. We were somewhat forced to dress in the traditional garb and then danced with the locals somewhat obligatorily to traditional music. It felt weird not just because of the condoned social appropriation but also because it seemed that the locals were fulfilling some sort of contract that they had verbally signed by saying there would be a dance. There was no genuine interest on their part, and that absolutely affected the experience. I would have to say that besides the fact that we were able to pay our family directly for the service of staying at their house that this was a troubling and problematic tour at best.

We DID meet a lot of great travelers on the way, though, the most notable being the British couple who we shared a family with and whose travels include choosing a camper over a fancy hotel at a friend's wedding.

So. That was this morning. Right now we're back in our 35 sole room in Puno (that's $6 a night per person) waiting to go out to a local bar with some australians we met on the tour. I feel a bit odd being even a little sedentary after all the exercise we just experienced, and it will feel good to get out tonight and then to be on the road again tomorrow to Arequipa. Puno is generally unremarkable and besides the lake experience I cannot say I will have many memories of the place itself--good or bad.

That's it for now, more to come later, as always. Apparently I end all my posts with ¨stay tuned,¨ so don't even bother checking the gorgeous lake photos we will be uploading sometime in the next day or so.

(that was sarcasm. stay tuned.)

Still Alive

yup. still alive. Ok so perhaps its a bit much to assume that you were worried in the least, especially considering the possible vast amounts of time (read: weeks) we may go without posting in the future. Anyway, We're in Puno, a town on Lake Titicaca. It's gorgeous and the police dance all day. Stay tuned for video proof.

Love you,
Sam

My New Look

photos

we've posted a bunch. take a look. (link at left)

Gastrointestinal Tract: who needs it, really?

This has been a trip of extremes so far. The extreme poverty of almost every city contrasted with the extreme beauty and austerity of the Andes and the self-sustaining terraced farms that cover each mountain like cartography. The extreme excitement of waking up every day compared with the extreme exhaustion we experience almost every night (perhaps we should slow down...). The extreme deliciousness of each bite of every dish we try compared with the extreme discomfort we feel almost without fail. Neither Ally nor I are particularly prone to intestinal discomfort, but perhaps as a polite farewell gesture the bug we had in Lima has decided to bite once more, albeit in a very attenuated form. We're taking it easy tonight and tomorrow, holed up in an expensive ($15/person) hotel with a TV in the room for the sake of our sanity (more on that in a bit) and our health.

The Cusco experience has been bizarre, to say the least. This is truly a tourist city, replete with hawkers on every corner and little girls dressed in indigenous garb holding llamas by a leash and asking for 1 sole (about 33 cents) to take a photo with them. We know that this is the way in which the overwhelmingly friendly and competent people here make a living, but it gets very stressful and frustrating at times.

We spent our first full night here with our first South American Couchsurfing host--or should I say, we spent it with the 12 other people he had graciously invited into his small home, we actually only ever saw him for perhaps 10 minutes. The group we met at Wilman's was diverse, interesting, and fun. The accomodations were spare and dirty. No hot water. No bed. No heat. Oh, and at night the temperature gets down to about 40 degrees. Not very much fun. So tonight, after a long day at the Pisac artisan's market (we both bought alpaca wool sweaters, so warm and fuzzy!), we're content to nurse our stomache aches in the comfort of a king-size bed and dubbed American television.

Love you all,

Sam

Cuzco

Whew.

We departed from Lima on Sunday at 6:00 PM. We got into Cuzco at 1:00 AM on Tuesday. The bus that we thought was going to take 20 hours ended up taking 31 and a different route than advertised. It felt somewhat like one of the upper circles of hell as we wound perilously and seemingly endlessly through the peruvian desert without air conditioning or water other than the small amount we had brought ourselves watching terrible hollywood movies with spanish dubbing while suffering from mild altitude sickness (nausea, shortness of breath, headaches) from climbing from sea level to over 12,000 feet, where we are now.

But we´re here now! Cuzco is an amazingly beautiful city, the Inca capital of the world, and ever so touristy. That element is something we could do without, but we are already having a blast staying with our first couchsurfing host, Wilman, who graciously opens his home up to 8 travelers at a time for free. We met several Americans staying with him and went out to an amazing (and, as always, cheap) vegetarian restaurant barely 3 blocks from the house.

Life is good. Besides the residual shortness of breath, we could not be happier. That despite the probability that we will not be going to Bolivia due to a $130 entrance fee. We´ve just contacted our first WWOOFing host and will probably be doing farm work near Iguazu Falls (do a quick google search) in Argentina. We´re also looking at volunteer opportunities in Pisco and Arequipa, helping with earthquake reconstruction and at women and chilrens shelters, respectively.

More to come later, the brisk Andean night calls!

Love you,

Sam

Health

Whew... we've just emerged from a day of incapacitating sickness. We made the ONE mistake everyone warns against while traveling in this region... we drank tap water. Not on purpose, though! Two days ago, we ate a fixed price lunch that included a glass of what I assumed was grape juice (they called it "chicha" -- turns out it's fermented corn milk). After a few sips, it occurred to us that the drink might contain tap water, so we ordered bottled sodas (I chose Inka Cola, and Sam went with the less imaginative Coca Cola). We went about the rest of the day as we normally would, going out that night with a few people who work at the hostel. At around 4 AM, though, I awoke from a very restful sleep to major gastrointestinal discomfort. The rest of the day progressed as you'd imagine. For both of us. We barely had enough energy to move around the hostel, and it wouldn't have been a good idea to stray too far from the bathroom. We basically collapsed in the TV room (we recognize how lucky we were to have gotten sick in such a nice & comfortable hostel) for the entire day. We went to sleep at around 9, after learning that the Nazca plans had been cancelled, which, considering our health, was probably for the best. But the good news: we're feeling great today! Thanks to antibiotics & lots of water... BOTTLED water. We're now in the process of figuring out exactly how to get to Cusco today, as our first choice bus company has no space left until tomorrow. Stay tuned for more...!

Love,
Ally

I have a son we live for 5 years.

Google translator has become a mainstay of our journey. We are constantly emailing wwoofing farms and couchsurfers in spanish--which we can generally create without much help, gracias a dios--and receiving many in return, which inevitably get processed by google's algorithm, generally with hilarious results (see title).

So much has happened serendipitously in the last couple days that I am beginning to wonder if this is a very pleasant dream from which I must inevitably wake. Our friend we met in the airport, Olga, took us out to dinner last night with her friend Richard (they are both lawyers in Lima) and we have a date for sunday at 5:00 AM to drive to Nazca where we will fly above the Nazca Lines, beautiful pre-incan formations the purpose of which are as of yet unknown. I've always been fascinated by the mysterious nature of these gigantic, multi-kilometer drawings in the sand, and I feel like a little kid on his birthday when presented with that special guitar or remote control car or whatever it was that I yearned for silently until my parents divined the target of my desire.

Everything is falling into place, in a sense. The days in Miraflores pass quickly, almost too quickly, and it is hard to believe that we will be leaving Lima on Sunday for Nazca and eventually Cusco, where we will be staying for perhaps a week or more and experiencing our first couchsurfing stay of the trip. We are also hoping to trek to Machu Picchu while in Cusco, but we will be satisfied with a postponement until May if the trail is full, which it generally is.

Today we are set to explore Barranco, one of the oldest parts of Lima, which still sports colonial style houses and architecture and many, many, many nightclubs and bars frequented primarily by locals. We were also alerted to the presence of a used bookstore in Lima Centro which perhaps will consume most of the middle of our day as we search for the best way to hone and develop our spanish (we find that speaking it can get very exhausting and perhaps reading is the solution in the interim, especially in a hostel containing mostly english speakers).

But we must get to it now. Sorry for not posting photos directly to the blog, please follow the photobucket link to see our galleries. More to come later!

Love you All,

Sam

Our trip feels like this:

It's hostel time

we're in Miraflores. And I think I want to stay here forever. I had something to eat today called ceviche (sayveechay) that is basically sushi-grade fish served raw under a marinade of lime juice and onions with spicy chilis and cilantro. Wow. Possibly the best food I've ever eaten.

Anyway, the internet here in our hostel (with an incredible view of Lima) is very very very very slow, so perhaps I'll hop on tonight to finish uploading the photos once the tubes unclog themselves.

Oh, and guess what. I met 3 brazilians from Habonim Dror (google this if you don't know what it is, I went to camp at a habo camp for 4 years. They offered habo houses to Ally and I when we travel to Brazil. Excellent.

La Playa

We just got back from the beach, and i´m busy uploading photos right now, which I should be able to post on the blog at some point later today. Feel free to look at them on our photobucket site, though.

We are SO sunburned. Forget the fact that we were only at the beach for like 3 hours, during which time I applied sunblock (spf 30, mom) 3 times to various parts of my body, stayed in the shade when I wasn´t in the water, and generally didn´t notice that I was burned until late yesterday evening, because I´m about as red as a freaking steamed lobster. Besides that, though, the beach was great. The sense of community and the open, breezy feel in Patti and Javier´s beach house lent itself to long hours spent lounging and reading (Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, right now) as well as spending time with their two children and Patti´s father Guillermo and his girlfriend, Betty.

Right now we´re back in Patti and Javiér´s house, and later we´ll be in Miraflores. We´ll post again when we get to our hostel.

Note: the number for our phone is correct, but you have to dial (011) first to call internationally.

Yay Backpacks!

Tenemos nuestros maletas!!! Finalmente! Me encanta mucho Lima. El conductor taxi, Jorge, nos condujo al aeropuerto y después, al mar (para que celebrar). Él es muy simpático. Bueno, no quiero escribir más en Español porqué estoy muy cansada y necesito hablar en (broken) Español todo el día.

We have our bags!!! Finally! I love Lima. The taxi driver, Jorge, drove us to the airport and after, to the beach (to celebrate). He is very nice. Well, I don´t want to write more in Spanish because I am very tired and I have to speak in (broken) Spanish all day.

I´m incredibly relieved. It definitely feels as though we´re beginning our trip anew. Patti and Javier have been amazingly helpful and accommodating. Without their hospitality and assistance (unlimited phone & Internet access!), I´m not quite sure how we would have gotten ourselves in contact with all of the necessary people. Speaking of which, shoutout to my Mom for being another vital element of this success story -- she got in touch with the woman who finally located our bags!

Sam and I have already encountered so many wonderful & interesting people, and it´s only been about 24 hours. At the Miami airport, we met a woman from Lima who very quickly shared stories of her life and relationships with us. I was struck by how immediately friendly and comfortable she seemed. One of the things I´m most excited about with respect to travel is learning people´s stories, witnessing their interactions, getting a sense of their views and lives. I can´t quite tell if I´m a sociologist or a writer when it comes to my love of humans & their personal histories. Maybe, by the end of this trip, I´ll have more of an answer.

The past 24 hours have been exhausting. It´s definitely time to put on a clean outfit (for the first time in about three days... I think this makes me a bonafide backpacker!), relax, and drift off to sleep thinking about la playa (the beach), where we´ll be tomorrow!

Much Love,
Ally

wait, what?

...is what we keep asking ourselves as we wade through the bullshit the airline industry has been chucking at us since we started our journey. We ARE in Lima, and we´re safe in Patti and Javiér´s beautiful house in the Magdalena neighborhood (not far from Miraflores, full of hippies, as our taxi driver indicated last night). BUT. We don´t have our luggage. And no one knows where it is. Especially not the airlines whose job it seems to be to staff thousands of employees solely for the purpose of passing the buck (Ally´s edit: the airline employees have an enormous amount of work to do and its not our place to criticize them and sam is insensitive). We´ve been calling in since 11:00 trying to find out ANYTHING, but to no avail. Ally´s mother claims to have found the elusive holy grail of an employee who can actually do something right (Ally´s edit: sam, you´re a jerk). She thinks our bags are at the airport in Lima. Whoa. Crazy. We might be on the same continent as our clothes, camera, and medication for traveler´s diarrhea (which we assume will set in eventually). So, off to the airport we will go once we have some sort of confirmation that they are in fact there.

Oh. important bit of news: we got a cell phone today. The number is (51) 1-985546741. By calling us, it costs us nothing since the GSM network in every other country only charges the caller, not the callee.

So, baggage aside, we´re having a great time. We tasted alpaca today along with beautiful purees of papaya and naranja (orange). We also toured a bakery (paneteria) that is literally 100 feet from the front door and sells huge numbers of gorgeous pastries and ready-made sandwiches costing so little as to encourage unnecessary spending sprees. All in all, peru consists of three streets and a grocery store to us right now, so of course we´re eager to see and do so much more.

first, let´s get our bags.

oops.

So, we're in Miami.

We fly out at 5:15 today. The airlines...well, let's not get into it, but they aren't on our "good" list right now. More to come when we get to Lima.

Love you all,

Sam

Endogenous Caffeine

It's about 12:45 AM the night before we depart for Lima.  I'm all packed.  I'm quickly removing all the old photos from my camera so that I'll have the whole 9,000 photo capacity I budgeted for the time up until Buenos Aires, at which point I'll probably buy more memory cards.  Ally is sitting next to me on the bed calmly reading the end of a comic we picked up in a comic shop in the West Village yesterday from a cute, balding man of around 45 with a pony tail and glasses whose descriptions of the comics went about one or two sentences too far into the story.

I'm feeling like I can't sit still.  Sleep seems like a very distant goal that I might as well group with such things as applying to graduate school or finding a career:  I just can't feel tired when something as momentous as this 5-month trip looms on the horizon.  

We've contacted two volunteer agencies, one working with underprivileged children in Buenos Aires called Conviven and another that's actually an Eco-Lodge offering discounted rates if we teach english to the community or help maintain their trails and facilities.  We've also looked at wwoofing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) in Bolivia, Argentina, and Ecuador.  All these things keep a person up even when he's dog-tired.  Maybe I'll try to go to bed when Ally finishes the comic.

Love you all, see you in 5 months.

Bienvenidos!

Hola! Este es mi primer... blog post. Estudié español en colegio pero ahora, no recuerdo mucho. Quiero escribir todos mis entradas en inglés y español para qué más tarde, puedo ver los cambios en mi abilidad escribir español. Ahora, estoy muy ocupada porqué hay mucho hacer antes de salir. Inca Roads es una diario de mis experiencias durante los cinco meses en América del Sur. También, "Inca Roads" es una de mis canciónes favoritas (Frank Zappa!). Voy a escribir más cuando llegue a Peru. Gracias por mirar nuestro blog!

Hello! This is my first blog post. I studied Spanish in high school but now, I don't remember much. I want to write all of my entries in English and Spanish so that later, I can see the changes in my Spanish writing. Right now, I am very busy because there is a lot to do before leaving. Inca Roads is a journal of my experiences during the five months in South America. Also, "Inca Roads" is one of my favorite songs (Frank Zappa!). I will write more when I arrive in Peru. Thanks for checking out our blog!