Russell is an Idiot, Bolivia is Dank

Bolivia is a place of immense and unreal beauty. Enormous white and grey clouds sit low on the altiplano, or high plain, pierced by the snowcapped peaks of the Andes. In the foreground lie rolling hills of green and tan, their ancient terraces resembling digitized waveforms. Rocky outcroppings buckle out of the earth every so often, a reminder of the violent past responsible for this astounding landscape. Much of the altiplano is reminiscent of the edges of our own great plains, specifically those of Wyoming and Montana, though it sits several thousand feet higher.

 

 Rain comes frequently and dissipates quickly as sunlight burns through morning clouds. The sun is bloodthirsty in this otherwise cold part of the world. It is almost necessary to dress according to the direction one is facing, with the heat of the sun in harsh counterpoint to the chilly air that hangs around throughout the day. At dusk, the retreat of the sun below the horizon brings near freezing temperatures. It is a land of late spring during daytime and early winter at night. This is using the northeast United States as a reference.

The buildings are brick and the people are short, stout, and colorful. Their Spanish is clean and easy to understand. Towns are bustling with merchants. Roads are half paved and fields are half planted. Landscapes stretching as far as one can comprehend are dotted with cows, sheep, and brightly clothed women in bowler hats. Though there are signs of industrial growth, the land seems almost completely untouched.

We left the lakeside town of Copacabana yesterday for La Paz. In Copacabana we explored the ancient ruins and rocky landscapes of the Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca. The town is relaxing and the views are unbeatable. The food, other than the pizza, was good too. The pizza is crap everywhere in these countries.

 

Bolivia!

We are there. Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. Just gorgeous.

Nazca and Northward

We boarded the Cruz Del Sur night bus to Nazca at the Arequipa bus depot. The nine hour bus ride was daunting, but the seats reclined so we stayed optimistic. Unfortunately optimism wasn't enough as the seats, like many other things in Peru, are designed for people maximing out at 5ft 6in. Sleep was attained, but none of it was good.

We arrived in Nazca, a rocky desert landscape laced with brown and red mountains, about 7AM. The region is know for a series of enormous petroglyphs that can only be viewed from the air. Archaeologists believe these glyphs are the remnants of open-air temples of the Nazca people. The simple goal was to board an airplane, check out the Nazca Lines, and head out to Ica. After a bit of unsuccessful haggling we hopped a van to the airport. We were in the air in a plane the size of an escalade within an hour.

I had seen these things on the internet many times. I never truly understood the scale and complexity of the entire landscape - crisscrossing roads, trapezoids stretching hundreds of meters across then desert, and a few strange animal glyphs -

From Nazca we hopped a bus to Ica, home of sand dunes and Pisco. The place to stay in Ica is about 10minutes outside of town in a tiny desert oasis called Huacachina. It's more or less a tiny hippy hideout with paddleboats and dune buggies. A couple days there is almost too much unless you are really good at doing nothing. Day 1 was nothing but food. Day 2 we hopped a cab to the Museo Regional de Ica, home of desiccated mummies and elongated skulls, but were sidetracked by an offer to drink Pisco.

Marco the driver brought us first to Bodega Lazo, where he proceeded to get us hammered on every wine and pisco available. Pisco distillation is a simple, single pot distillation of fermented grape juice. The liquor is stored in clay jars to rest, but typically is not aged like a whiskey or rum. Approximately 5kg grapes go into each liter of product. I don't know why Pisco isn't more widely known. The stuff is delicious.

 

We continued our tour to another distillery, El Catador, and were fed more drinks. Drunk and hungry, we got our cab driver to bring us to a food spot, but the guy backed his car into a pole and decided to drop us at the museum instead. Seeing as we were too far gone to properly enjoy the museum, we wandered to a mall down the road, got some KFC and Pizza Hut, and caught a cab back to Huacachina. Our next task - Dune Buggy and sandboarding.

Not much to explain here other than holy crap is it awesome. Here are some pictures:

 

We moved on to the beach town of Paracas the next day, where we did little but eat and relax. We then hopped a bus back Lima, where I am currently writing this. Tomorrow we leave for Puno on shore of Lake Titicaca, from which we will cross into Bolivia.

More Pictures

Check out the new "More Pictures" link at the top. It's pretty much every picture we have taken. The album is unlabeled and unorganized, but maybe you'll find something neat.

Arequipa and the Colca Canyon

The week had us sleeping in the shadows of volcanoes, descending part of the deepest canyon on earth, and hanging in a tiny desert oasis surrounded by enormous sand dunes. Our flight to Arequipa put us in town about 9:30 Friday night. Exhausted and slightly hung over, we looked up a crepe spot, did a little wandering, then slept.

 

Arequipa is a beautiful city situated in the Andes at 2335 meters. The first thing one notices when having breakfast on the hostel rooftop is a presence of three enormous volcanoes - Misti, Pikchu Pikchu, and Chachani - dominating the skyline. A gorgeous breakfast view indeed. While still hot during the day, it is a more mild climate than Lima. Definitely less humid.

 

Pikchu Pikchu and Chachani

 

El Misti

 

We spent a bit of time (let's say 2 days) doing our usual wandering and eating, exploring the Spanish colonial buildings that filled the central part of town, and hanging at the dankest spot in Arequipa, Chaqchao. Chaqchao serves some excellent coffee and chocolate, teaches chocolate making courses, and has the best beer selection in Arequipa. We hung out there more than the hostel.

 

Friends were made and plans were laid out. The friends were Oz from Wales, Rachael of England, and a Dutch couple with non English names that I forget. The destination was Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon on Earth. Though I'll admit our trek did not take us to the depths.

 

 

At it's deepest, Colca canyon is about twice as deep as the grand canyon at 4160m. At the point of our descent the depth is 1200m. The descent led us to the 'town' of San Juan de Chuccha on the canyon floor on day one, an 'oasis' (commercial term, though they do have a sweet pool) on day 2, and struggling back up the canyon wall on day 3. We out of shape, I'll tell you what. Or at least we were until the hike up that canyon wall - 4km with 1.2km vertical. Not terrible but it hurt.

 

Back in Arequipa we treated ourselves to a slightly more expensive room to guarantee access to hot water. Definitely worth it. After another day in town we hopped a night bus to Nasca, then on to Huacachina, the hippy oasis in the sand. More on that later.

 



 

San Pedro for everyone!

 

 

So sleepy

It's been a really busy week. Very tiring. Hiking Colca canyon, riding the night bus to Nasca, sandboarding, dinking Pisco and wine. There will be an update soon - we are going to be relaxing in a beach town called Paracas for a couple days. I plan to get some writing done there.

New pictures

Lots of new pictures added. Some video as well. Check back soon for a recap of Arequipa and Colca canyon. Today we are relaxing and preparing to head north to Nasca, Ica, and Huacachina.

A Arequipa

We spent the last day in Lima drinking at the beach. La playa de Silencio to be specific, which is actually about 33km south of Lima. Considering our 7:20pm flight to Arequipa, drinking the equivalent of a case of beer was not the best idea, but we made it! Food for the day included crab taqueños, beef heart on a stick, fried calamari, and shells full of onion, lime juice, and scallop or octopus.

 

Arequipa is a situated in a valley with a few enormous volcanoes dominating the landscape. Here we will be hiking and enjoying the festivities of Santa Semana. Colca Canyon and El Misti are the big ones, with many other opportunities available.

 

Impeccable timing

Sometimes failure leads to greater achievement - be it luck in the short term or perseverance in the long run. With the luck we had during our tour of Central Lima, I have no idea why our night didn't end at a craps table at the Atlantic City casino in Miraflores.

It started with a tour of the Basilica of San Francisco in central Lima. Central Lima is gorgeous. It is a mash-up of old Spanish colonial and modern day grime, with enormous squares lined with tiny shops, some of which serve amazing food. The basilica stands alone away from the squares, but is a major attraction and an incredible piece of artwork. A shining example of a level of craftsmanship that has slowly devolved since the industrial revolution. Also there are a lot of bones. 12 meter deep pits of bones. Definitely worth the visit.

 

Straight Chillin at the Basilica

 

Post-Basilica, we headed in the general direction of what is called the Parque de la Reserva. Fountains and lights spread throughout the park are said to make a great show after sunset. We stopped first at a tiny lunch spot on the edge of Plaza San Martin. We went for the cheap, and our first stroke of luck brought us a very tasty burger, fresh papaya juice, and the best chicken VJ has ever had... out of his 3 total times eating chicken.

An hour or so of aimlessly wandering squares and parks as we worked our way down to Parque de la Reserva put us at the closed gates of the park. Closed Monday. Crap. Our great failures of the day. We sat there feeling stupid and watching a kid try and fail to jump a short wall on his skateboard until luck of the gods shined down upon us - two beautiful girls got out of a cab, looked at the closed gates, and put on the same looks of disappointment that we were clearly showing.

Plaza San Martin

Lia and Sena, the pair of beauties from Denmark then joined us for a night of drinking in Central Lima. We started at a strange little bar with disco lights and a video jukebox, moved on to an 80's bar whose owners were in love with Michael Jackson, and ended the night at Tanta, a joint owned by Peru's famed chef Gaston. Overall it was agreed that this was our best day yet. If our timing remains as impeccable as it was that day, we may meet again in La Paz next month. The moral of this story is to not be let down by one's own stupidity - it's always possible that a pair of beautiful, interesting women from Scandinavia made the same mistakes.

Our next move is to prepare for our trip to Arequipa. We finally have our tickets and a general idea of what to do once there. Friday is our day to leave Lima. Until then we will continue to wander this gigantic, amazing city.