Joel's Wander

What a way to finish....

2008-07-22T16:08:00.003-03:00

Don´t get too excited. I don´t have a particularly epic story from my last week of my trip. But, it was a sweet on an incredible beach!

But... before that were a few other adventures....

After finally dragging my but out of Pisac (not easy - what a beautiful farewell!) Nick, Rani and I made our way into the jungle. Yep, the Amazon Jungle. Maybe you have heard of it? After 3 days on buses we finally rolled into Puccalpa, a city of about 300,000 people and basically the end of the road. literally. Everything travels by boat from here. We explored Puccalpa for a bit and checked out some Shipibo villages (interesting indigineous tribe known for their amazing art which is inspired by the halucinagenci plant medicine Ayohuasca). We bought up the place! Very cool stuff.

A family in San Fransisco (Shipibo village)

From Puccalpa we embarked on what would end up being the craziest boat ride of my life (I havent taken many boats...). As I mentioned, everything travels by boat, so these boats are big and have a complete lower deck full of cargo and then 2 upper decks full of people in hammocks. pretty crazy scene. likely close to 200 people. We scored the top floor which turned out to be a bit hotter but not nearly as crowded. The captain informed us that the boat would be leaving tomorrow and that we were ok to sleep on the boat that night. So we did. But it would be 2 more nights before we woudl even leave the dock of Puccalpa! The trip was supposed to take 3 days. Well 3 days in we finally left town. Once rolling though it was beautiful. Small villages along the river banks, beautiful jungle, beautiful sun sets and sunrises. Basically it was endless hours of relaxing in our hammocks. Reading, sleeping, eating, making stuff (made my first necklace from a piece of jade I have been carrying around for almost 10 years. sweet!). Some quality down time.

An old man fishing along the side of our boat. Still docked in Puccalpa....

¨chocolate water¨ as the locals call it....

ONe thing about this journey was hygiene needed to be forgot about completely (not hard for NIck and I!). The only water on the boat (sinks, showers, etc) was coming directly out of the river. This doesnt sound so bad but when you look over board into the water you quickly realize that this is one big sewer. shit coils floating right before your eyes! All the towns along this river dump their sewage and all their garbage into the river. Nice one. So yeah, I didnt shower.

And then there was the food.... (yep, cooked with the river water too. at least it is boiled...). Chicken feet soup for the first couple days.... MOstly we just grabbed plates of rice and doctored them up with our stockpile of vegies and various fixings. we ate pretty good. we even scored fish a few times. thanks Captain!

Chill chill times!

ONe of the many small villages we passed.

So after a couple days of cruising down the river, as evening was rolling in, rumours started to circulate around the boat that there were bandits (river pirates, whatever you want to call them) up ahead and that they were going to rob the boat. people freaked out! people were all over the place trying to hide their valuable things (or whatever... no doubt there were a few drug trafficers on this boat). The captain decided to dock the boat, seemingly for the night. With the crew running all over the boat, some carrying rifles, we all tucked in to try to get some sleep..... Not much later the engines fired up and it became clear that we were going to make a run for it. All the lights were turned off, the plastic sheets lowered over the open windows and with the occasional gunshot fired (seemingly used as a teterant in case anyone was approaching), we rolled on into the night. pretty damn scary! I did not sleep well. But morning eventually came and all was fine. It was a beautiful morning.

A couple days later, 7 days after boarding the boat in Puccalpa, we rolled into Iquitos at 6 am. still half asleep and 7 days away from civilation made for a major shock to the senses! but at least we back on land. and it was shower time!

Iquitos was a good time. Myra, a Nelson beauty that we met in Pisac, flew over and met us in Iquitos so the four of us had some good adventures. A few interesting Ayohuasca ceremonies. Nick, Rani and I spent 4 days going to this local medicine man who basically just sings.... all his customers are locals and the stories of what this man has done for people is incredible. I could definitely sense his power and believe that he can do some real magic.

After a week or so in Iquitos it was time to get my ass to Columbia. I wanted to spend my last week on the beach before my flight out of Bogota and the 22nd was coming up quick.... So, i jumped on the fast boat (10 hours vs 2 to 4 days...) for la Frontera (the spot on the Amazon river where Columbia, Brazil and Peru all meet). what a wild place. pretty lawless but beautiful and the people are great. Walked into Brazil for a beer just because I could. The next day I caught my flight to Bogota and then immediately found a bus to Santa Marta on the northern coast (hellish 20 hour ride! - last one though!).

The flight made for some amazing pics of the Amazon River. so cool

There is a park outside of Santa Marta called Tayrona Park. It is incredible. MOnkeys, massive blue crabs, tons of lizards, butterflies and the ocean.... crystal clear, lots of fish, octopus, coral.... I spent my last 4 days of chill time in the park, sleeping in a hammock and lounging on the beach all day. Just what the doctor ordered. speaking of doctors.... could use one. have been sick basically for the past couple weeks which is a major bummer. first a weird fever, and now a sinus and ear infection... the flight to Toronto tonight should be fun!! thank goodness for cheap over the counter pain killers!

Rad little lizards.

Still dont know what this crazy thing was. He was friendly.

A final pic of scruffy ol´ me relaxing on the beach..... Love it.

Well, that wraps it up. I am off to Ontario for an unknown amount of time to visit with my Grandma, likely a stop coming in MOntreal, then maybe the Maritimes...... why not!

Much love to you all,

Joel

Andean Wander - Part 2

2008-07-10T15:38:00.002-03:00

......

In the morning we awoke to grazing cows all around us and the sound of Eugenia, Alex and Christina enjoying the tub that by this time was almost completely full. Good morning!

Side Note: Self-Filling Tubs
Still can´t figure this one out. Interesting though that the explanation provided by the young boy that came to visit in teh morning was that it was rival villages that came and emptied the tub to spite this village. hmmm....

So our breakfast reservations were for 10:30 am. We were late! We made it back into the village around 11 and the door to the shop was shut... The man had mentioned that we needed he needed to get to the fields to work so we shouldnt be late. Had we missed breakfast? After some hollering from the street they eventually appeared. Breakfast hadnt even been begun. No surprise. However, it was 3 or more hours before we sat down to eat! After eating, buying some more cookies and bread and getting into a heated talk about the bill, we finally got out of dodge. WE had pretty much lost the day but at least had found another meal. Onward!

This was another beautiful day of walking. The trail was beautifully built by the Incas and it led us up to the mountain tops and up into the clouds. A beautiful blanket of mist all around us atop a high mountain peak. Gorgeous. We made some beautiful friends on this walk. 2 young brothers (maybe 5 and 10 years old) and their sister (12?). The girl took immediately to Christina and they had an amazing time together. I played with the boys and after taking some pictures of them, the older boy was keen to get his hands on my camera. I showed him the basics and he was off! It was so incredible to see this young boy who has almost certainly never used a camera shooting like a pro. Really amazing shots. I had my own personal photographer! ¨amigo, un photo?¨ I would say to him when I saw I was in a cool spot for a shot. He would turn towards me, frame the shot and click away. So cool. He was beaming with excitement. And when it came to other locals on the trails, and in particular a couple of cool men walking thier horses, this kid could get the shots that can be difficult for gringos to take (andean people generally do not like their picture taken). The boy took close to 150 pix! Manyof which are truly incredible. If any of you have seen my Facebook profile picture, you can credit this rad little dude. Beautiful experience.

Eugenia relazing on the misty mountain top...

What a pic!

It was really funny trying to talk to people whom we met because many of them did not speak Spanish (and certainly not English), they speak Cechua, the triditional language of this region of the Andes. It is so beautiful seeing this indigenous language holding on.

We made our way down the other side of the misty mountain and once again found a home for the night on the edge of a sugar cane plantation - that stuff rocks! so juicy! When we got up in the morning (to a bit of traffic of morning walking commuters) we confirmed that we were indeed in the jungle now. Wow! But of course this was not enough for this eager posse of andean explorers. We were really just on the outer fringe of the jungle and if we could make our way a bit further we would really be in the action.... We decided that we needed to be ¨surrounded by fruit¨... So... time to catch a ride (or 2 or 3...).

Throughout the Andes (like much of South and Central America) there are many trucks cruising the winding roads transporting coffee, potatoes, maize and people.Trucks (¨camiones¨) are a major part of public transit and are often overflowing with andeans and their daily gathering of.... whatever they are gathering...

Our first ride was a sweet one. We had this particular coffee truck almost all to ourselves. Our hair blowing in the wind, the sun shining on our smiling faces and the jungle becoming more and more dense as we descended further and further down into the jungle. We rode into the night, the sky darkening into an incredible wash of bright, beautiful stars. When we finally cruised into Quillabamba, one of the larger towns in the area, while still buzzing from the amazing ride, we were pooped. Time for a night in a real bed! It was a real shock to the senses to be in a ¨city¨ after so many days in the tranquil mountains but a good rest was a serious treat.

Hitching in the Andes....

Stumbled across some ancient rock engravings...

In the morning we all rushed around on our own taking advantage of the much needed conveniences like the proper market, hot coffee and ATM´s. After gathering the required supplies we began to search for a truck out of town. We couldnt get out of there quick enough! But a ride was not easy to come by so we eventualy settled for a taxi to take us to a waterfall that we had heard was nearby. After a refreshing dip and aqua-massage in the waterfall and another epic round of sandwiches and fresh fuit we again hit the road looking for a ride. There was talk again of heading back towards Pisac but it was a short talk. Even after more than a week of wandering we were still not ready to head home. With few trucks passing by we began to walk, searching for a path through the thick jungle in hope of reaching the river for the night. WE found what looked to be a trail (actually a path through a farm) lead off into a field of papayas that we followed and after a short time we found out spot. Perfect again. Nice patch of sandy beach on the edge of the large flowing river. Our luck was beginning to get boring!

But the next morning brought with it a new day and the luck-fountain simply kept flowing. A young man wandered by and sat down to chat, very curious where we had come from and were we were off to. Turns out it was his family´s farm we had walked through and after offering to bring us coffee on the beach (which we accepted with huge, un-believing smiles) he took us on an amazing tour of his porperty. What!? An amazing sight. A true permaculture farm with multiple different plants growing in the same area, root vegetables underground around papaya and orange trees. He dug us up tumeric roots, climbed orange trees to pick us fresh fruit and helped us pick bags of fresh coca leaves. So incredibly interesting and such touching generosity.

After the tour we jumped in for a final swim in the river before packing up and heading back to the road. Pisac? Nope. We found another great truck ride and were headed to Santa Maria. Without realizing it we had made it almost all the way to Machu Pichu! One of the alternative routes to Machu is through Santa Theresa, a small town near Santa Maria, accesible by only one road and surprise surprise, home of another beautiful hot spring. Why not?

We rolled into Santa Maria after dark and after some stalling and haggling accepted the fact that we had little option but to take an over-priced truck to Santa Theresa. WE piled into the back and started off on a very dusty and crazily treacherous ride (the extent of which we would only fully realize the next day in the daylight on the return journey - sheer, massive cliffs stretching down to the river far far below). When we arrived we all had a good laugh at eachother as we hopped off the truck as the thick layer of dust covering us seemet to have added 30 years to our ages as our hair was grey dust. WE had made it. Well almost. WE still had a 30 minute walk to the springs. What we found was spectacular. Large, beautiful built tubs full of the cleares hot spring water I have ever seen. It had been a long day and a soak in this beautiful place was like a hug from Grandma. We soaked into the early hours of the morning and then slept oh so soundly.

The next morning, after another required soak, we finally agreed, it was time to head home to Pisac. Well some of us. Alex and Christina decided to take advantage of our proximity to the infamous Machu Pichu and they headed for the famous ruins. Rory, Eugenia and I headed back. Tried to anyway. After another typical late start and some poor luck finding a ride out of Santa Maria, we finally scored a great ride in an empty minivan with a guy who was driving back a load of mountain bikes from a Machu Pichu tour. WE would be spending the last night of our adventure in the stoney madness of Cuzco. Why not?

WE had a nice dinner in Cuzco, did the required morning shopping (Cuzco is the only place around where you can buy numerous things such as tobacco, good coffe and chocolate) and hopped on the bus for Pisac with bags full of jungle fruit and many amazing memories. What an incredible wander!!

Well there you have it. More of a detailed window into one of the more memorable journeys of this amazing trip that I am on. Made that much more special by the incredible friends with whom I shared it. Thanks for reading!

I am now in a whole nother world. The Amazon Jungle. HOt and sticky baby! The trip is drawing to a close and I will be making my way to the northern beaches of Columbia in a few days before flying home July 22nd....... Not sure if I will do another post or not so I am sending you all lots of love and smiles. Hope you are all smiling as much as I am at the wonders of this crazy life we are all so lucky to be living.

Much love,

Joel

An Amazing Andean Adventure

2008-06-17T00:48:00.006-03:00

Well I am still in Peru. Still bumbing around the Sacred Valley. Still loving it. To date I have not made my blog entries too in depth due to the limited time I can justify sitting in front of a computer but for this post we are going deep!

It was a couple weeks ago now that a posse of beautiful people and I headed up for a night at the hotsprings in Lares, 3-1/2 hours by bus from Pisac. We pulled into the hotsprings after dark, Meed in hand (honey wine made by this cool guy in Lares. mmm mmm) and hit the tubs. The hotsprings were beautiful, though not exactly clear water as it is heavily mineralized resulting in a murkey yellow hue. A beautiful soak under the stars.

Downtown Lares.

We attempted to make a move the next day but it just didn´t happen so a second night in Lares was needed. The next day we again attempted to head back to Pisac. After a nice walk up the valley we packed up and headed into Lares to catch the last bus of the day back to Pisac. We missed it. Surprise surprise! So we sat in the main square of this small mountain town for a bit thinking another ride would likely come by. Never did. So..... "That valley sure is beautiful...." We decided to start walking up one of the valleys that headed out of Lares. We made our way down to the river (after picking a few Doturo flowers - highly halucinagenic flower that you can place on your pillow for some crazy dreams!) and after a mere 15 minutes of walking we found a beautiful camp spot on the edge of the river. Though we were only a few minutes out of Lares we were an attraction. The path above our camp was quite busy with villagers walking by and shortly after setting up camp a group of teenaged girls spotted us (it was just the boys (Alex, Ruairidh and I) sitting on the river´s edge - the girls were off collecting firewood) and after some hesitation they walked down to where we were to say hi. They gave us some freshly harvested maize (andean corn) and then left. So sweet. We cooked the beautifully coloured yellow, red and purple maize on the coals of the campfire after a soak in teh river. A bit tough but deliscious. In the morning, with Christina and I lounging on the rocks in the river after a refreshing morning swim a large group of young boys on their way to school stopped on the path to view the strange group of gringos. They just stood up on the hill, waving, smiling , running from Ruairidh´s attempted photos, laughing..... Kind of fun being a freak-show! Just up fromour camp was a little marshy area that was teeming with beautiful, small, yellow butterflies fluttering about. Reminded me of a school of little tropical fish filling my view while scuba diving. It was a gorgeous spot. But..... after a nice night, a couple cold dips in the river and a beautiful birthday fruit salad for Christina´s b-day the notion of "just heading a little further up the valley" took hold.

We packed up and hit the trail. We had picked up some supplies in Lares to last us the day but otherwise had no idea where we were headed. Didn´t matter. These mountain trails are so beautiful, winding along the mountain sides from one valley to the next. The hillsides thoroughly covered by ancient Inca crops and terraces with the occasional one in current use growing maize, quinoi, potatoes... (the number of fields that are not in use today gives an amazing sense of just how many people lived here at one time). There is a fairly regular stream of andean people and their goats, donkeys, horses, sheep and cows moving along these paths along with others who have spent the day in the mountains collecting herbs (sure wish I could spot more of these), firewood, etc. The people are genuinely friendly and very helpful. Not to mention a bit curious about what exactly we were doing there and where on earth we were headed. They don´t see many tourists out here on the trails and the direction we were headed was even more remote. As would become the theme, we had a slow, relaxed departure from our camp so after a beautiful few hours of walking it was already beginning to get a bit dark. As would also become the theme, we stumbled across another perfect camping spot just before dark. We had made our way from the river at the valley floor up to the higher elevations and set up camp on an Inca terrace at the top of a mountain with a spectacular view of the 3 valleys that converged here. Wow! Lares already seemed very far away. It was. After clearing away the cow shit that blanketed our camp, we set up shop. Started a fire. Ate sandwiches and had a great sleep. We had borrowed Eroca´s 6 person tent so we all slept there comfortably. My little 0.8 person tent was used occasionally to store our bags. Very cozy.

This is the river that we essentially followed our first 5 or 6 days.

Ruairidh, Christina and Eugenia. Taking a break.

Side Note: Meal of choice for this adventure. Sandwiches! It is very limited what you can find in these little mountain villages and we didn´t have a stove or a pot so.... Bread, garlic, cheese (when we got lucky) and vegies were the ticket. We had also stocked up on honey in Lares so that was a treat for a few days...

So... after a night on the mountain it was once again decision time. Back to Lares for a bus or..... We had heard from people on the trail that there was a village a couple hours further up the valley. Why not?! We packed up and continued on.

What an incredible walk. We were in some seriously remote valleys now and when we finally rolled into the town we were struck by the traditional way of life. The houses were all thatched roofs (clay roofs are what is seen in teh larger towns), houses built in traditional Inca-style (the roof beams are tied with leather to the mud walls), and amazing maize crops. The patterns of these crops are incredible as you view a hillside from afar. And the people..... So incredibley friendly. There was a young girl and her grandma whom we met and the girl simply couldn´t stop laughing! It was adorable. We were just TOO strange! She likely had never seen a whitey adn she found it seriously amusing. Funny clothes, funny skin and hair colour, funny bags on our backs, me with my huge beard (you don´t see that on Andean men).... So beautiful. We also got hit by a brief hail storm. Why not?!

Thatched roof.

Another dip in the river....

So we made our way into the town. Not much here! After asking around we eventually found a tiney store to pick up some supplies. Little shack attached to a small shack of a house. Didn´t have much. No vegetables, no fruit, no cheese, no bread..... Bottles of pop, packages of crackers and cookies... Thanks to Eugenia´s strong spanish we managed to get the woman in the shop to hook us up big time. Keep in mind that this shop was our lifeline at this point. Darkness was coming and there was not another town for 3+ hours further up the valley. She agreed to cook us up a late lunch of rice, fires and an egg and she also cooked us up an extra bag of rice and some hard boiled eggs for the next morning. Wow! Sure, it took 3 hours or so before being served our lunch but who cares! After some nice hot cocoa and some bread from up the street we quickly went to check out the local ruins before darkness hit.

These ruins were very interesting. Perched atop the hill overlooking the valley with terraces and these strangely un-Inca style remnants of houses. They were stacked rock like the Incas but they were round. Incas really seemed to like there structures square! Want to figure out what these ruins are....

Side Note: This amazing hook up in this village - lunch and breakfast (cooked over an open fire) for 5 people plus snacks for 35 soles (about $12). Amazing.

With the moonlight guiding our way once again, we began down the mountain towards the river. Even with the moon it was dark going, but the route down was a road so all was good. No need for torches. After a splitt pit stop and a singing lesson from Eugenia to Christina about half way down, we continued down into the darkness. We had no idea where we were going to camp for the night but at this stage in the journey we just knew we would find one (not an obviously esay accomplishment as these mountain sides are steep!). After numerous switch backs and the sense that we must be getting close to the river, we spotted a ¨path¨ (not really!) leading off the road. I volunteered for the scouting mission as it was a steep bush-wack down this trail. It was not far down that I found the river and right on the shore, on the edge of what looked like a Eucalyptus plantation (they love these hardy, fast-growing trees here!), there was our camp. A perfect spot. Of course. We set up camp, lit another nice fire and generally smiled at eachother at our luck and the beautiful wander we were all sharing.

When we awoke we saw the full splendor of our location. Gorgeous. Another beautiful morning dip in the frigid river. In a morning wander, Ruairidh found a big field of maize not far away. Alex, Ruairidh and I decided to go steal a few cobs (would happily have paid but with no one in sight what is a group of gringos to do?!). Just as we were leaving, these beautiful young boys strolled into our camp. They were brothers and it was their family farm that was growing the maize. We asked if we could buy some and they happily agreed. Ruairidh went off with them and returned with a welcome addition to breakfast. He also returned with a couple wheels of homemade cheese. Nice one! These boys (their sister showed up as well) were so cool. The one had a sling-shot, the other had a popular andean toy consisting of an old bike tire and a stick that, with some skill, you can push along the ground rolling, guided by the stick. They hung out with us for a bit, watched us eat, then went about their day.

Nice shot Christina!

Christina

Nice old lady on the trail.

We packed up camp (something we were getting very good at by now) and started treking. Where to now? It really as as if we were in some kind of rip-tide, taking us further and further down these remote valleys. At this stage we were adventurers, all keen to see what was around the next bend, confident in our abilities to find whatever we needed to keep going. All we needed was the notion that there WAS a town not too far off and that was enough for us. Pretty incredible to have a group of 5 people that is so keen and adventurous. We seemed to feed off of eachother and we just wanted to keep going. There was also this little idea that had started to form from bits of info we had gathered along the way. The jungle wasn´t far away! Walking from Lares to the jungle? Seriously? Sounded very cool to us.

But for now, we simply needed to get to the next town. We ended up crossing over the river and after a steep ascent found ourselves in a village across the valley from the previous village he had found. Quite a place. It had a large central square with a large Inca wall that had 10 large Inca alcoves. This town seemed to be very poor. Furit and vegies were not to be found. We found a small store for some packaged supplies. We chatted with the family in the store about where we were headed and they informed us that there were some hotsprings not far away. But of course! They offered to have breakfast ready for us the next morning so we headed off in search of the baths.

Inca ruin in the center of town.

Rush-hour.

Ruairidh with his game-face on.

After a couple wrong turns and with the sun falling quickly, we finally found them. Two square concrete walled tubs perched on a steep hillside overlooking the river and cows grazing all around them. We were stunned. However, as we got closer we became a little less so as we found the one bath covered in a a thick green layer of algae and was definitely not usable. The other pool was basically empty.... But not quite. With about a foot of fairly clear, and nicely hot water we could at least get wet. We went about setting up camp, with some difficulty as the terraces were very small and not level. In the end our tent was perched fairly precariously on an incline with a steep sequence of terraces below. Pretty freaky and not a very comfortable sleep as I was constantlhy sliding down to the bottom of the tent. Oh well!

Then, after relaxing for a bit, we noticed something very interesting. The tub was filling up! It was bizarre. Within a few more hours it had filled to a level that was perfect to sit in, coming up to our necks. Ruairidh and I (the others had gone to sleep) hopped in for an incredible soak under the starry sky. The bats came to say hello as well, diving down inside the walls of the bath adn along the top of water right between the two of us. Many more flew quickly over-head. We got pruned and then hit the sloped tent.

Hold on!

to be continued......

much love,

Joel

The Sacred Valley... Mmmmm mmmm mmmm

2008-05-09T18:22:00.001-03:00

Where to begin..... These days, I awake to ancient Incan-terraced mountain sides and mountain-top ruins overlooking the small andean village of Pizac near Cuzco, Peru. Machu Pichu among other incredible ruin sites are within feeling distance... There really is an amazing energy here. Likely why many travellers end up here for much longer than expected....

Since the last post..... Made my way to La Paz. Not much to say other than lots of people, lots of smog but all in all an amazing setting as you have 3 million people squeezed into a small valley with the houses literally climbing the mountain sides.

Near La Paz is the ancient city of Tiwanaku, the capital city of the Tiwanaku Empire which was one of the most influential (and brutal!) in all of the americas (existed from 1500 BC to 1200 AD!). Here are some pix of the tour I went on. The monoliths were amazing!

Gate to the Sun....

After La Paz I made my way to a beautiful mountain town north of La Paz named Sorata. What a stunning place. A small village nestled at the base of snow-covered peaks overlooking a beautiful open valley. I went to Sorata with some really nice Argentinean friends I met in La Paz and had a great time relaxing and eating some rockin meals!

Then we explored this amazing bat cave....

For a perspective, notice the little pedal-boat in the water...

From Sorata, I made my way directly to Copacabana. A crazy little town on Lake Titikaka very close to the border with Peru. Funny place with lots of wandering, jewellery-making travellers and drug-hungry gringro... a bit odd but i met some really nice people and the setting for this town is incredible. This famous lake (from the Incas) is a powerful place.

Nice pic Nacho!

From Copa I popped over to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun - where the sun was born according to the Incas) for a couple nights. What a wonderful couple of days. I walked the length of the island twice, once along the ridges and then back the next day along the coastal path that passed through the various villages on the island. Both trails are original (parts have been restored) Inca trails - lots of lots of stones!

Southern tip of Isla del Sol.

Three-sided view of the lake, kitchen for me to use.... $7!

On the northern tip of the island is the major ruin site on the island. Incredible. I arrived after the throng of day-trippers as I had walked from the south so I had the whole place to myself. I set up on a comfy spot on the ruins and made lunch (pre-made rice, salt, raw garlic, tomatoe and cucumber.. mmm mmm!) and before long, the sheep decided it was lunch time too and they had a reservation at the same restaurant... About 20 sheep (including a stupidly cute baby - what the heck are baby sheep called anyway!?) strolled into the ruins and went to town. It was incredible. Complete silence other than the sound of squeaky grass in the teeth of the sheep and the distant rumble of the ocean far far below....

Table with a view please.

Baaaaa baaaaaaaaaaaaa

Well, that completes Bolivia! Onto Peru. But I am starving so I will finish this post here.

As always, much love to you all. I hope you are all happy and inspired. And don´t forget Mother´s Day!

Joel

Salt Flats - continued!!

2008-05-05T16:45:00.003-03:00

Finally uploaded the rest of the pictures from the Salt Flats tour. Here are a few more. A ton more have been loaded up to the Picassa page.

I have finally arrived in Peru! Will try to get another post up soon.......

sending you all a little Inkan love...

Joel
ps. if any of you are seeing the same weirdness as i am as far as the sizes of the pictures.... don´t know what to tell ya!

A Little Sugar and a Whole Lot of Salt!

2008-04-14T13:28:00.003-03:00

Well, Bolivia has taken me in with open arms after an amazing couple of months in Argentina......

To bring you up to speed. I left Mendoza with Bolivia firmly in my sights. It was time to get rolling north.... But as fate would have it, I met the most amazing crew of Argentine travellers who were all on seperate journeys, exploring the northern region of their country, but had all found eachother and then they found me! What a great time. With this fateful meeting, my quick dash to Bolivia turned into an amazing 10 day wander through some of the most amazing sights in Argentina. Thanks guys!

Our patio in Mendoza! Thanks to the beautiful Rothkops!

Vineyards, vineyards and more vineyards...

First, stop was a spot recommended by my BA amigo Imanuel (Cabo Palonio, Uruguay post) Tafi De Valle. A beautiful little town nestled into the mountain side. Truly magestic. Did a little hike, tried my first Plato Regionales (traditional indian plate of maize, and who knows what else - deliscious). Then it was onto Amaicha which is not a real hot spot on the backpacker route but somehow i ended up there. And of course this is where I met my Argentine crew. We all checked into a hostel and then lined up an excursion of the local sites with a great group of local guys and their invincible jeep. The sights were amazing. lots of old old history here. ancient indian ruins. including the very famous Ruins of Quilmes. An incredible display of ancient indian culture. large sequence of terraces built into the mountain side in the middle of nowhere! water? no idea!

A little walkabout in Tafi de Valle

One serious traveller.....

One serious artist.... Hardly! This guy was super cool

First humita.... so good!

Now THAT is a cactus!

RUINS OF QUILMES

Smile...

Dani taking in the view...

Holes from grinding maize.

Cruisin in style with the Land Rover.... Tough jeep!

Amazing artist.

Tools of the trade.

From there it was onto Salta. I was lucky enough to line up a home through Hospitality Club and Mariela took me in with amazing hospitality. Her and her bright young daughter were wonderful. Thanks so much! Salta was very beautiful. Lots of beautiful buildings and a couple of incredible churches.

Out the right side of the gondola...

Out the left side of the gondola... Welcome to Argentina

Church of San Fransisco

From Salta it was up North to more beautiful sights... The mountains and rock formations are breathtaking. You cam't believe the kind of colours that can come out of rock! The 7 Colour Mountain in Purmamarca sums it up. Then to Iruya where we stayed in a small little village nestled on the steep side of a mountain hours from any other town. This was one wild drive! what an amazing place. From here we did a 3 hour hike into a nearby village that had no road access. Wow! This could have been the 1200's. incredible. the people are so wonderful too.

7 Colour Mountain. Incredible.

The entire region is filled with these amazingly colourful mountains.

Drying peaches (mini peaches actually - same size as an apricot)

MMMM mmmm mmmm... Empanadas baby!!! A staple in Argentina. Even more deliscious when you are 3 hours hike into a remote mountain village.

Yet another mountain side jam session. Thanks Ricardo (i mean Richard, I mean Roberto...).

Well, from here is finally was time to hit Bolivia. After a couple of nice farewell meals, I said goodby to Argentina and hello to wild world of Bolivia. wow what a different world it is. you see as soon as you cross the border (on foot by the way). food is sold out of big pots on the side of the streets. home made magical good. costs about $1 for a big plate. but watch your chicken! my friend Lisa had a guy nab her piece of chicken right off of her plate as she stood holding it... Good first lesson on Bolivia. watch your stuff. ALWAYS! but the people are very friendly and the landscapes are out of this world.

The first stop was Uyuni. The gateway town to the infamous salt flats of Bolivia. We booked a tour and were off..... 2 nights and 3 days on the salt. wow!!!! 12,000 sq kms i believe. souvenirs made of salt. a salt hotel with everything inside and out made of salt. more crazy rock formations, violent geysers (no fences or gates here! love Bolivia) and topped off by an amazing soak in a natural hot spring as the sun went down. A great group, and a great guide equaled a really amazing time.

The first night we stayed in a families house. Lots of kids (dirty but smiling).

Lunch in the Salt Hotel. Everything but the roof is pure salt!

Hot Spring Time!!

Perfect!

Great game of soccer with some local kids. Should have seen their smiles when we let them keep the ball. Amazing.

Then it was off to Sucre.. Have neglected to mention so far that while in northern Argentina i had my wallet stolen. nice! not much cash but my credit card and more importantly my bank card are now gone. luckily i had brought a couple hundred bucks in travellers cheques (so damn hard to exchange down here!) but they could only last me so long. so..... i am basically out of money and waiting on a wire transfer of cash. luckily i have a place to stay here for free. my bank is sending a new card but it takes 10 or more days so i will pick it up in La Paz. at least that is the plan....... i may have said this before but. ohhhhhhh the joys of travelling!

Well, it has taken me 5 days to get this post to this stage and I think I might as well just cut my losses! It is not easy uploading photos in Bolivia!! Check the Picassa page for the full selection. Tons of pix. Though not all are up yet.....

Hope you all stinky and smiling. I am.

Love,
Joel

Glaciers, jagged peaks, hitchhiking and lots of crackers....

2008-03-20T18:09:00.004-03:00

Man, it is hard to keep up with this blog!....

where to begin?....

after my last entry, i spent 5 days or so in Ushuaia. hiked to some glaciers. stayed with a super amazing woman, Marina and her beautiful 5 year old son Tomas. They were so hospitable. Made me feel right at home. did a little boating, hiking day tour with Marina´s company which was very cool. got to see my first penguins! cute little guys.

Glacier overlooking Ushuaia.

Met some great Brits, Ant and Lisa.

Penguin tour

penguin redneck. nice kelp stain.

"hold it right there buster!".... "i didn´t do it, i swear!"

Another crazy Canadian! this water was cold. southern most swim... check.

from there i started the journey north with the first stop taking me into Chile. the south of Chile was great. did some amazing couchsurfing, met some great Chileans, climbed some amazing mountains...

i decided to buy a tent in Chile so that i could hit the Torres Del Paine park (home of the Torres Del Paine peaks (likely the most famous mountains in South America). However, the Patagonian mountains are known for their unpredictable weather and heavy winds and this tent was not exactly top notch... $40 and only one layer.. seriously! it was super small and light though! and now i had a house whenever i needed one - even if it wouldn´t necesarily keep me dry. that is what garbage bags are for!

so i arrived in Puerto Natales, Chile at 8 pm, booked my bus ticket for 7 am the next morning to the park and hit the streets to prepared for 6 days in the mountains... i didn´t even have a stove! but i found one, along with a pot that i rented. a young guy at the hostel gave me a foamie and lent me a fly for my tent. quick trip throught the supermarket and i was ready. ready enough anyway.

what an amazing experience in this park. i covered over 100 km in the 5 and a bit days. over 20 km on day 3. met some great people along the way. ate a ton of rice and pasta. and the sites... wow! hopefully the pictures give it justice... on night number 4 we arrived at the camp at the base of the Torres Del Paine peaks (i was hiking with Chris from Atlanta at this stage - great guy!). it was raining.. hard. at is was bloody cold.... we finally took refuge in our tents and hoped for a decent morning to catch the sunrise on the peaks (a very steep one hour hike from camp)... no dice. the morning was wet and cold.... some people still went for it but we knew there was no point. lucky for us we had enough food to stay another night and so we did.... and as fate would have it, the skies cleared, we got up nice and early, heated up some hot water for tea on the peaks and started treking... it was incredible! this really is a rarity to catch the peaks in these conditions. very very lucky!

fresh face.... day 1 of my epic ( i love that word) 6 day trek through Torre Del Paine national park in southern Chile. Considered by many to be South America´s top park... truly amazing!

my first ice bergs...... breaking off of Glacier Grey...

Glacier Grey at sunset....

Crazy rock formations. weird trees...

these suckers are amazing! they eat rock for lunch... and dinner...

yet another glacier swim.... this one was beautiful. 8:30 pm. in the middle of a trek with all of our gear to the next camp.... couldn´t help myself. people really do think i am crazy. they are probably right.

Sunrise on the Torres (means towers)

i did what is called "The W". if you can see the darker green bit that kind of forms a W around the glaciers and mountain peaks in the middle of this picture.. that is the trek i did. so sweet!

after the park, i jumped on a bus back into Argentina and up to El Calafate, home of the most famous glacier in S.A. Perito Mareno glacier. mad mad chunk of ice! so massive. so close. and moving/growing so much! up to 2 meters per day! massive chunks would fall off and make the most incredible bangs. one of the most incredible sites i have ever seen.

from there i was off to El Chalten, the base town for the other well known park in S.A. Los Glaciers National park and home of the Fitz Roy mountains. this was an incredible 4 days of hiking and camping. i met some wonderful people from the states who are studying in Buenos Aires and we all hung out for the whole trip. so much fun. and like the other park, this area is known for very harsh weather, rain, hard winds... generally very rough conditions. We had sun for 4 straight days, saw the most amazing display of stars and caught the Fitz Roy peak at sunrise in perfect conditions 2 straight days! i am really starting to wonder how much good luck a guy can have in one lifetime......

Anna, Patrick and Ryan. Great crew!

Now i can die happy!

Fitz Roy at sunrise.

The view from our campsite... not bad. such an artist!

yet another glacier....

beautiful.

it has been so nice to spend time in the mountains, doing some treking, breathing fresh air and seeing some really amazing things. i have seen more glaciers in the past 2 weeks than i have my entire life. and they are not your average glaciers! the mountains here are prety bizarre too. so jagged. no trees. most of the peaks are pure granite. powerful to see up close and personal.

but after nearly 2 weeks in the mountains, i was ready for some down time... the natural next stop on the tourist circuit is Bariloche but i decided to skip it and head to Mendoza..... looked into a bus ticket... no buses for 3 days. pretty expensive... well i guess this was my time to do a bit of hitchhiking..... of course this decides to happen when i am trying to travel over 3000 km of some of the most remote areas of south america! the road up the west side of the country is famously known for its ruggedness (route 40) and for Che Guevara´s travels but not good for hitching so i grabbed a bus to Rio Gallegos (check the map!). it is basically the last city before the straight of magellan.... at this stage i was still with my american friends and they are jumping on a bus back up to Buenos Aires... but the travelling spirit in Anna was too strong and she decided to skip the 3 day of classes and hit the road with me. so cool! wow, what a trip we had the most amazing luck. our first ride took us nearly 800 km in about 6 hours! plus he gave us empanadas! (delicious pastries stuffed with beef). maybe i will post the entire hitching sinopsis later but the summary is. by 9 am on day 4 we had arrived in Mendoza. about 3500 km in less than 4 days! incredible. so many hilarious experiences. wonderful wacky truck drivers. road closures due to striking farmers, sleeping in cow fields under full moons.... the kicker was on our last ride. they picked us up at 8 pm (pitch black out), there were 2 guys in the truck so we piled onto the bed behind their seats. they drove for 4 hours or so (not talking to us at all - which was a nice break from the other guys that talked our ears off!). then we stopped, they got out, jumped in the trailer of salt they were pulling and went to sleep! no kidding. we were sleeping in their bed and they jump onto the salt and sleep. too bizarre. then at 4:30 am they get up, jump back in the cab, and start cruising. laughing and joking.... by 9 am we were on the side of the highway, 12 blocks from the city center of Mendoza. amazing!

was out of memory for the hitching so here are the few pics.... wacky times!

Not the fastest ride we hitched but it was an experience... Thanks Gustavo!

Another funny ride. Gotta love those Argentine men..... Sergio helped us out big time.

Had a whole lot of this......

yet another major route intersection blocked off by the striking farmers... had to sit at this one for an hour before they would let us continue on our way..... luckily there was an asado (bbq) so we sat back, had a beer and some meat..... very interesting.

mmm mmmm mmmm. roadside asado!

these guys were hilarious! bunch of truckers and farmers in the middle of nowhere......

Love this pic Anna!

Walter. Super nice guy. took us far... slow and steady!

we have been in Mendoza for a couple days. it is wonderful. we are staying with a wonderful family (friends of my Mom´s) who have a beautiful apartment right down town. So lucky. it is hot hot, the wine is cheap, out clothes (and bodies) are finally clean.... life is good!

love to you all,

Joel

"How the hell did I ever manage to get here?"

2008-02-25T18:22:00.002-02:00

Oh, this puppies really rollin now....

I think my favourite thing about travelling is experiencing the incredible moment of realization where you ask yourself, "how the hell did I ever manage to get here?".

So after 5 days in BA, a late wake up (partied a couple of nights with the young Swedish landlord of our apartment and his girlfriend and sister - why not?), and an inspiring email from Uruguay, I decided to head to the Uruguay coast for a couple days for some beach time. Problem being that it is a combined bus-boat trip of about 8 hours to get there. So a pit-stop in the Uruguay capital of Montevideo was in order (find me a better name for a capital city, I dare you). What a cool city. Rolled in at 8 pm or so, found a sweet ass hostel with a spiralling iron staircase, met some great travellers (Jenny from Ontario, Jack from South Africa and Mattias from Brazil). Some street-side burgers, tall Pilsen beers, good roof-top conversation.... What could be better? "hey, amigos! comer over here a check this out!" Not sure if you guys had it but on this particular night mother nature decided to throw in a complete lunar eclipse for good measure. Got some sweet pix. Jack and I totally geeked out with our Nikons! "hey, man what settings are you using? nice tripod". A dork and loving it.

The next morning an extra early wakeup was needed to hit the streets of Montevideo to blaze off some pix before the 8 am bus to paradise.

so.... when I left BA my plan was to hit Valisez in the province of La Roche, but after meeting Jenny who is destined to be a travel agent, i was convinced that i absolutely could not miss Cabo Polonio. Yeah, Lonely Planet missed this one big time! After a nap on the bus and a nice chat with Noami (super sweet Uruguayan woman who gave me the name of her son who lives in Cabo Polonio in case i wasn´t able to find accomodation - have I mentioned yet that Uruguayans are absolutely amazing people? lovely). So... how to describe Cabo Palonio... picture rolling sand dunes (you need to ride in the back of a big truck with big tires driving through sand to get from the highway to the "town") molding gently into a gorgeous penincula with a beautiful beach on each side, lapping green Atlantic ocean waves, a rocky point overlooked by a beautiful big lighthouse and the rolling hills dotted with little "ranchos". These little houses ranged from beautiful beach-front cottages to shacks made out of cut up plastic water bottles. All were small, all were unique and most seemed to be pretty much hand made.

Can you see me?....

Yet another weird self portrait!

Home sweet home with my Argentine brother!

Mate mate everywhere! Litterally everyone you see is carrying one of these and thurmos with hot water. EVERYONE.

I had no idea where I was going to stay (no tourist office here!) but I wandered up to a cool looking guy running a kiosk for funky crafts and at the same time Emiliano from BA rolled up as well. The cool old guy rented us his place for $30/night. This dude was wild. He and his girl had lived here for 20 years! There is no power here. A couple places have generators but essentially you are working with gas stoves, candles, well-water (one of the most critical rules of where we were staying was to NEVER let the well bucket touch the ground as this could contaminate the water as there are lots of animals around). This place is like no other, that is for sure. You have everything from the Argentinean family holidayers to the young nomad-style wanderers stopping by for a Mate before dropping some acid and walking off to Valizas in the middle of the night (there is no road, you simply follow the beach for 3-4 hours). And as you might imagine, this place is very green. No trees though. Trees would be nice as it was flippin hot! My first little burn.... oh yeah!! Made a very good friend in Emiliano. Very cool guy. Super chill. Involved with some very interesting and important causes in BA and cooks up a mean meal. Best one yet on this trip! My second and final night warranted some Whiskey so Emiliano and I hit the pub. Well many whiskeys later..... the clock said i had 2 hours before i had to catch my ride to the bus.... so i set the alarm.... laid down my head..... and..... shit! missed my bus... my head hurts.... i need to get to BA tonight and it is (as previously mentioned) more than 8 hours away if everything connects - not very likely. The bus i had bought a ticket for left at 8:30 am. after napping in the trees beside the highway, a bus finally came at 3 pm.... seriously. so i show the guy my ticket... "no tengo los asientos" - translation... "i´m screwed" because he doesn´t have any free seats on this bus. I have not mentioned that at this point I have exactly 30 pesos which is not exactly but close enough to NOTHING (about $1.25)! There are no bank machines within 50 kms...... why do i love travelling?... because, minutes later another bus rolls up, it is practically empty and after a bit of begging and excepting the "stupid american" head shake, he accepts my ticket for the morning bus. I am off to Montevideo. Very very far from Buenos Aires but at least I am on my way. So I arrive into Montevideo at 8 pm. could finally get some money. could finally eat. i have never been so flippin hungry!!!

so now what?.... The port town of Colonia is still another 3 hours away by bus and then an hour boat from there to BA. oops, next boat isn´t until 6 am.... hmmmm.. so i had to drop some cash on the 3 hour direct boat to BA. pretty sweet ride.

There is no such thing as time........ After an epic day of hauling ass backpacker-style, I arrived in BA at 2 am. I was supposed to be crashing at this Couchsurfer´s place who was having a party at a club near her place..... what to do?... no problem. flag down a cab, borrow his cell, call Paula, she meets me outside the club, walks me to her place for a quick shower and change and to the club we go for a little dancing till 7 am. What a day!!

My first couchsurfing experiencing was incredible. will keep it short but the summary is. Paula is rad! as i already mentioned, she helped me out huge the night i arrived. at this party she introduced me to tons of great people and we did some seriously fun dancing! The next day she scored me a bike and we cycled all over BA. So cool. a very special day.

Hopped on a plane down to Ushuaia today. AKA - The bottom of the world! It is so beautiful. Jagged mountain peaks in all directions. The flight was incredible as well as it was a beautiful sunny day. There is a "smokin deal" right now for Antarctica cruises... $4000! no joke. will keep sniffing around but it is looking unlikely that i will be checking that continent off of the list....

What a plane ride!

I hope you all well. Thanks for the replies and comments!

A couple of notes. if you don´t put down a "nickname" when entering a reply/comment i have no idea who is writing!

And, if you want to receive a notification automatically when i post to the blog, click on the little link at the bottom "Posts (Atom)".

Thanks for reading.

much love from the bottom of the world!

Joel

$2.50 steak, only a pan to cook it in, one of the best steaks i have ever eaten. seriously Phil.

Hot and Sticky in BA....

2008-02-18T20:47:00.010-02:00

Well it took a bit of work but the eagle has landed. Love it already!

Where to begin...

I spent the first night of my trip in a Toronto hotel..... My flight out of Van was delayed by 4 hours which meant that I missed my connection out of Toronto. Shiza! So, I rolled into TO at 4 am, hit the complimentary hotel, slept most of the day and then spent the entire afternoon and evening chilling in the Maple Leaf Lounge. For those that don´t know, this is Air Canada´s sweet ass pampering, all you can drink open bar, all you can eat, free internet... Pretty rad. Oh, the joy of travelling! Love it.

So I am getting nicely settled into Buenos Aires (BA). Been walking non stop. I have mastered the metro and the tan is starting to take its magical form. The architecture is beautiful, there are tons of parks and the people here are super friendly. And it is stinking hot! Mid 30´s and sticky sticky humid. Feels great to sweat!

I have been here for two nights and they have both been late ones. Shocking news I know. This city is amazing. At 4 am the patios of the pubs are still packed out onto the sidewalks and the clubs are "just starting" to fill up. Crazy. The city is actually fairly quiet for BA standards aparently as most locals head out of town during the summer weekends.

My second night was pretty incredible. Rob and Breanne (friends from Vancouver) had a connection that incredibly landed all of us at an amazing mansion in a suberb of BA for a party. It was a launch party for a travel website that is starting up and the party was at the most beautiful place. Gardens, gazebos, swimming pool, and of course a big grill barbequing up the most amazing argentinean beef. mmm mmmm. It was a very cool group of locals as well as Americans and Canadians as they have writers that are from all over.

sidenote: this was definitely a party where you didn´t need to bring ANYTHING. but of course we did (good canadian kids after all). "I feel pretty weird carrying these plastic bags full of booze.." - Rob

They definitely earned a plug for their website. Pass it on!
www.argentinastravel.com (sorry, still sorting out how to do links in this sucker)

After the party Chris (Montreal guy on his last night) hit up this wild nightclub. Cash-only bar so I made do with a single crazy energy drink they sell here that is apparently 5 times the strength of Red Bull. This stuff is pretty nuts. Wouldn´t be legal in Canada that is for sure! So I danced my face off till the sun came up and dragged my ass home. Great night. Glad the weekend is over though!

A pic from our apartment. Thanks Rob and Breanne!

A BA wander...

Here are some pix of La Boca, the neighborhood where the Boca Juniors soccer team play. They are the most famous team in Argentina and one of the most famous clubs in the world.

The Spanish is coming along pretty good. I am really enjoying working through conversations with people that speak no english and actually making it work. great feeling. will be amazing when I can actually have a real conversation.

Well, this seems to be pretty damn long..... Oops!

I will end it here. I am heading off to a Couchsurfing party pretty quick so I will sign off.

Love to you all,

Joel

ADIOS!!!!

2008-02-11T21:47:00.000-02:00

Welcome to my attempt at a travel blog! Fire me feedback if things aren't working. More importantly post lots of comments/replies as this will serve as my main means of communication.

Take care,

Joel