Colca...Colca Can-canyon-(sing to the tune of Copacabana)

Kiah and I awoke in the little sleepy town of Chivay multiple times throughout the night for various reasons. Our alarm officially went off at 5:00 and we slowly dragged ourselves out of bed. The night before we realized that our toilet leaked so we did everything we could to avoid the bathroom as we got ready. The other nifty thing about this hostel was that it was freezing in the public areas because one of the windows above the doors was completely missing. Although that hostel in Chivay was the worst one we have stayed at in all of our hostel life, it didn't look like the worst one in Chivay.

We ate our bread and tea (and I cannot wait for a breakfast that offers me something else than bread) and were off to drive around Colca Canyon. Colca Canyon is a canyon in Peru that is twice the depth of the Grand Canyon. We visited three different cities inside the canyon and each one was smaller than the other. There were Quechua women selling the opportunity to have you picture taken with alpacas, hawks, and llamas. You could also buy your Peruvian goods to take back home if the mood suited you. 

After visiting the little sleepy towns of Colca Canyon we went to this Condor Sancatuary. The condors fly around the deepest part of the canyon and tourists wait in various locations waiting for a picture of one of the condors. What did you learn today you ask?  I learned that the pre-adult condors are brown and the adult condors are black with a white streak around their neck and back. The female condors have redish brownish eyes and the males have black eyes. And now we all know how to tell a male and female adult or pre-adult condor apart. And yes, I did get a picture of one of the condors. 

We had lunch and Kiah and I slept on and off until we got back to Arequipa. We were to be dropped off at the airport. The van that we were in stopped down the street from the airport (maybe 3 or 4 blocks away)....(oh and let me add that it was a main street that runs through the town) and Paola (our tourguide) pointed and said "there is the airport. You can walk but it's a little far, let me get a taxi." and she called a taxi over to us and we climbed in. We arrived at the airport 4 hours early for our flight. Unable to check in until 2 hours before our flight, we played cards and hung out at the lovely Arequipa airport. 

Bon voyage Arequipa.

The day that would never end

As Kiah and I were blissfully stretched out and sleeping in our warm beds, I was jolted awake by a 4.9 earthquake. I laid on the top bunk of our bunk bed thinking "Oh shit, if this is a big earthquake, I don't know how I will get down fast enough." (Also....bunk beds have stairs.....I could not walk down stairs fast enough after Machu Picchu let alone go down a ladder from a bed during an earthquake). After the shaking had stopped, I asked Kiah, "Are you ok?" Kiah responded with "Yeah. Why?" And I said "Did you feel the earthquake?" And Kiah responded with, "Oh yeah, I thought it was part of my dream."   And I said "Oh, ok, well good night." Word on the street, is that Peru averages about a reasonably sized earthquake about every other week. That might have been good advice to be found in all of our reading. We learned about the wet and dry seasons, safety, money, electricity, voltages, verified by visa but NOTHING about earthquakes. Good news was, we were both able to go back to sleep. 

We awoke at 7 because we did not know if our tour would pick us up at the hostel or if we had to go to the travel agency. Supposedly, the night before we were supposed to contact the travel agency to make sure everything was in order. We got to the hostel late and they were closed. We tried multiple phone numbers but no success. So we decided to wake up at 7 to try and contact the agency to see if they would pick us up or if we had to go there. We had to either be at the travel agency at 8 or they would pick us up between 8:00a.m.-8:30a.m. The lady at the front desk was very sweet and called all the numbers (4 different phone numbers-work and cell) on our voucher and was still not able to get a response. She called all the numbers 3 times, 7:30, 8:00, and about 8:15. AND Googled more numbers to try and contact the agency. At 8:25 she tried calling different agencies to try and find a phone number that would connect her to someone at our travel agency. At 8:29, Kiah comes in and tells me that they are here to pick us up. We grabbed our stuff and hopped in the bus. 

The rest of our day, has been pretty uneventful, considering how eventful the rest of our trip has been. We were in a bus, driving around the country side, seeing llamas and alpacas, and rocks, and vacunas. On the bright side, we learned the difference between llamas and alpacas-Llamas are bigger, and can be different colors and they have bigger ears. Alpacas are white, and have smaller ears and are just smaller in size. And now, we all know the difference between alpacas and llamas. You're welcome. We also learned why Arequipa is known as the White City. 1) The stones that they use to build the city are made of ash from the 3 volcanoes that surround the city. 2) The snow that covers the volcanoes around the city. 3) When the Spanish arrived, they were the only ones living in the Arequipa city center=The White City. 

We arrived in Chivay, at about 1 and is the smallest town we have seen so far. We walked the area that had tourists and as we ventured out a little farther, Kiah started to get stared at by the locals. The Mormons that walked by us, fit in more than Kiah did. We then went to get a piece of chocolate cake and head back to our cold, leaky, internet-less hostel. We played cards, read and ate dinner. Kiah contemplated painting her nails and she hasn't done that since she was 12 and I thought about reorganizing my suitcase. We are now back in the hostel wasting time before going to bed because we aren't sure we could sleep through the night if we go to bed at 9:45. 

Hopefully, tomorrow will be more eventful. 

Puno

We arrived in Puno at about 4:30 after our overnight bus trip from Cusco. The sun was already coming up over the lake. It was really pretty. However, we did not sleep much and the travel agency wouldn't be open until 6:30. So we hung out at the bus station, eating in their little restaurant area and then at 6:15 we were off. Over breakfast, I told Kiah that I could really go for a couch right now. Just something to sit down on and fall asleep on. But didn't know when that would happen.

We arrived at the travel agency and they were still closed. Kiah saw this lady peak her head out of this iron door and wave to us. She had us bring our stuff inside explaining that she worked at the travel agency that we had booked our boat trip through. We went up 2 flights of stairs (and I don't know how I walked up more stairs but I did) and we were brought to her living room. She told us to relax and she would open the travel agency soon. Kiah pulled out her book and I soon drifted off to sleep in an arm chair. We were there for about 2 hours because the person that had closed the travel agency the night before had taken the keys and she couldn't open it until he got there. I slept on and off for the majority of the 2 hours. It was as if God heard me cry out that I needed more sleep and something comfortable. It was some of the best sleep I've gotten on this trip.

At about 8:30 the van came to pick us up to go out on our tour. Our travel agent friend let us keep our stuff there (which we didn't know what we would do if we couldn't leave our stuff there) and we hopped in the van. We got to a boat that took us out on Lake Titicaca. However, the correct way to say it is Lake Titihuaka. Lake Titihuaka was the Quechua way say it. It translates to gray puma. Looking at a map of the lake upside down, you can see the puma eating a rabbit. It all makes sense now. The lake shares it's border with Bolivia and has floating islands and that is what we wanted to see. 

Our boat tour took us out to Uros which is the largest floating island community. The islands are built with the root and dirt of what look like reeds. The roots are chopped into small pieces, about a square foot around and secured into the ground with a long stick used as an anchor. They then put reeds upon reeds crisscrossing in every direction to build the islands. Each island lasts about 20 years and it takes about one full year to fully successfully build one. Stepping out on the island was weird. Your first few steps sink into the floor as if you are stepping onto a pillow. Maybe not pillow but it was fluffy. It was kind of trippy. After they described the island and how it's made, the ladies on the island break you up into groups and invite you into their homes so you can look at it. They have solar panels to bring electricity into their homes so they watch tv and listen to the radio. They were able to mix their cultural way of life with the modern entertainment that we probably take for granted everyday. They do kind of pressure you to buy stuff since that is their way of life (and as you are listening to the island explanation, you can watch them making stuff right in front of you) but it was worth seeing.

We were only in Puno from 4:30a.m. to about 3:00p.m. We slept, did the boat ride and ate at a little place that our travel agent friend told us about. She got a taxi for us and we finally found out that her name was Maruha (so Kiah says) or Baruha (as I say because we still aren't sure. Whichever it is, it's common in Peru.)  She was like the Peruvian grandmother that we always needed but never knew we wanted. We bid her adieu and were on our way to the bus to take us on a 5.5 hour bus ride to Arequipa-the White City. 

We arrived at the bus terminal at about 8:30p.m. and got a taxi. I heard a local tell this Chinese woman to get a taxi within the bus terminal and that it was unsafe to get a taxi outside the bus terminal. Once we got our luggage, we went to the taxi area and got our own taxi within the terminal. As we were leaving, the taxi driver noticed the Chinese woman out on the street walking out of the bus terminal and got her attention to ask if she was going to the city center. Through the language barriers, she got into our taxi and we became her translater. The taxi driver reiterated, MULTIPLE TIMES what the local had told this Chinese woman earlier. However, since he only spoke Spanish and she only spoke English, Kiah and I then had to translate this important message again, MULTIPLE TIMES. We soon learned that she lived in West Virginia with her husband who was getting his Ph.D. in something doctorate like. The taxi driver soon dropped us off and Kiah told her to be safe and she said that she was now worried about traveling around the country by herself. Kiah just told her to not to be scared and careful of her surroundings. 

The hostel that we arrived at was super nice for a hostel. We checked in and basically had the room to ourselves except for our roommates luggage. We were so excited to take showers and sleep in a bed since we had spent the previous night on a bus and hadn't showered since before Machu Picchu. We were super gross and just excited to go back to normal. Again, the room that we stayed in was upstairs and as I let out a little moan we managed to make it up the stairs with our luggage. We took a quick walk around the plaza looking for food and quickly realized that everything was super overpriced and went to a chicken place a block way that was much more reasonable. We ate, went back and showered, and enjoyed the modern convenience of the interwebs before we went to sleep. 

Machu Picchu

We woke early in Cusco to catch the train to Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes (translated as the hot springs) is also known as Machu Picchu since it is the city that sits at the base of Machu Picchu. The train was nice, very relaxing but kind of rickety at some points. They have something called the zig zag system. To save on track and move up or down in such a short period of space, they move up on the track, change the track and move backwards to move down and then change the track again to move forward all lowering the train each time it moves backward and forward. Kind of cool piece of technology. We arrived in Aguas Calientes in about 3.5 hours on the Expedition line. It was really good for the budget traveler. 

The train station exits into a market where you can buy local goods. We had walking directions to our hostel which was super close to the train station. Not only close to the train station but close to the train tracks. The front door of the hostel was about 3 feet from the train tracks. We stayed at Ecopackers which I recommend. It was clean, safe and very reasonably priced. They also let us keep our luggage there after we checked out since we said we were going to Machu Picchu the next day. 

We walked around Aguas Calientes all in about an hour. It is a very tourist town all with notion that everyone is only stopping there to go to Machu Picchu. We continued to eat light and ate a tortilla which basically is a fried egg with things in it or like a thin frittata if you want to think of it that way. We spent most of the day before Machu Picchu staying on the top of our hostel using their wifi while it rained outside and watched an awful movie in the background. It was our second awful movie of the trip by the way. But this movie was Total Recall with Colin Ferrell and Jessica Biel. Don't get me wrong I do love watching Colin Ferrell but it was very confusing and we were watching it in English. To be fair, we didn't watch  it from the beginning but we did watch about 75% of it and were still lost. 

The night before I was doing last minute hiking/Machu Picchu research because for those of you that don't know me, I am not a hiker. I am not one who likes to sweat. I was getting nervous the more I read. The hiking level is difficult and it was taller than the mountain that everyone climbs. But I tucked those fears away and we went to bed early. We made sure we had breakfast, had time to buy lunch to take on our hike and then to get on the bus to take us to Machu Picchu. You can hike from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu and save the 9 or so dollars but it does take an hour and a half or so going up and the altitude is already an issue for most people visiting the area. So Kiah and I thought bus was the best thing for us and it made more sense since we were planning on hiking anyway. 

We arrived at Machu Picchu at about 6:30. We thought we would have a guide to climb up the mountain but as we learned from the guides outside they would take us on a 2 hour tour of the ruins and then we would be off to go on the hike by ourselves. The cost for a guide was 120.00 soles. If we had more people in our group, then we could have split up the cost but because it was just 2 of us, it would have been 60 soles each. Pass. We can do this tour thing on our own. But if you do want to do the tour, find more people to join your group to share the cost. 

Because we were so high up, the clouds were surrounding us and the mountains so it was difficult to get decent shots of the area. The plan was to walk around the ruins a little bit to wait for it to clear up and start to hike up so by the time we reached the top it would be clear enough to take photos. As we walked around the area, we did learn a little about the ruins as we eavesdropped to what the other tour guides had to say. We did walk away learning more than we came in with so it all worked out. The weather was beautiful and it cleared up at about 8 and we were very fortunate that it was a beautiful day. 

We climbed Mount Machu Picchu. I'd like to be able to point to a post card or picture of it online to say "I climbed that" but there are no pictures of it. All the pictures of the whole area of Machu Picchu are from that particular mountain. Online people warned that the stairs could be a bit dangerous but it was safer than Huanya Picchu (that's the taller mountain in the pictures of Machu Picchu). The stairs are not that dangerous unless it's raining I suppose. During some portions of the trail, the stairs are short and steep but they are still wide horizontally. As mentioned earlier, I am not a hiker. I was super slow at climbing it and stopped probably about every 15-20 steps if even that to catch my breath. If someone was behind me, I used that as an excuse to wait and catch my breath more. As Kiah and I started and were walking up I told her "I'm sure I will thank you later....but not now." As you are hiking up there is no sign that says so and so many meters left or you are almost there or anything. So each person passing us on their way back down kept saying "30 minutes".  Hey people, it can't always be 30 minutes from every spot. I told Kiah that I think it's a lie that is passed down from hiker to hiker to make everyone feel better. As I was getting frustrated with myself and my legs because they were cramping up, I told Kiah that she could keep going and I would make it up there when I did. 

I am currently reading "Turn Right at Machu Picchu" and the author describes Cusco as a place being known for spirituality, shamans and healing. Walking around Cusco you were offered a lot of massages  and you'd see signs for readings and other things. But Cusco is also the start of the Machu Picchu journey. I didn't understand that thinking or feel it until on one of my many, many breaks I took some time to enjoy the view and quiet and take some time with my thoughts. And truth be told, I didn't have any thoughts. My head was clear and enjoying everything and taking it in. At that moment, I understood the spirituality of it. 

As Kiah was walking and people caught up to her, she would ask about me and they kept telling her that I was on my way up. Kiah made a lot of friends at the top as she was waiting for me. Kiah thought I made a friend because she described me as the girl in the black tank top. There was another girl in a black tank top that had actually met a friend and they continued to the top together. But when the other girl in black made it to the top, Kiah started to worry. Finally...and I don't know how long it took or how long Kiah was waiting but I finally made it. Whew. I got a round of applause from all of Kiah's new friends because I had finally made it. I drank so much water and just sat there happy to be at the top. As we were sitting down, this guy Gus made it to the top and said "We made it all the way to the top to look at a stick......oh but WHAT a stick!" Probably the funniest comment I heard about making it to the top. The stick is there to be like "don't pass this point." We took our customary jumping, posing and thoughtful photos before heading back down. 

Kiah and I walked down at a decent pace together as it was SO MUCH EASIER going down than coming up. Going down for me probably took about half to a third of the time. As we were going down, Kiah and I were talking about Black perceptions of hiking. (For those reading this and don't know me or Kiah, Kiah is Black and I am White). We noticed that there weren't many Black people in Peru, let alone at Machu Picchu and no one on the hike other than Kiah that is Black. We discussed different theories but didn't come up with anything substantial. The best thing we came up with was that we see a lot of Black people at social occasions getting all dressed up, pulling out their hats, getting the nails done and just looking good and presenting themselves like many of them had to do during the 50s and 60s and with hiking, it's not about getting dressed up, it's about getting dirty. I think it's a cultural convention passed down within the Black community that they always have to be presentable to be able to "fit in better". As much as we discussed, nothing was concluded and don't think anything can be concluded.

We finally got back down to the bottom of Machu Picchu and as Kiah went to take a few more shots I sat waiting near the exit. We took the bus back down and ate real food. Finally I could have some Lomo Saltado. Yum!  We then grabbed our stuff and took the train back to Cusco. We had another driver meet us to take us from the train station to the bus station. We took the Cruz Del Sur line overnight to Puno. Our bus left at 10p.m. and got into Puno at 4:30a.m. Damn, the Cruz Del Sur line is the best bus line I have ever been on. It's a double decker bus where the chairs lean back far and they have leg rests that fold into place that make you feel like you are in a recliner. They also give you a blanket and food if your bus ride is more than 4 hours. Very clean and very reasonable. I would highly recommend Cruz Del Sur, I just don't know if being stuck on a bus after hiking Machu Picchu is the best idea since I couldn't really stretch out and my legs kept cramping but it was or sure a great way to travel. 

Machu Picchu was awesome but a whole 24 hours later my legs are still feeling it and even stepping down a step is painful. But I do have the pictures that will out live the pain (I hope). Thank you Kiah. 

Cusco-Rain, shopping and food

Leaving Lima, we had the hotel call for a taxi for the morning since we had an early flight and figured we would leave the wedding late. Kathy had said if we left at 6:45a.m. we would be fine so that was when the taxi was to arrive. At 5:30, we got a call from the lobby that our taxi was there. Nope, couldn't be ours, we asked for one at 6:45. The hotel asked us to be ready at 6:30 so the taxi driver could pick up someone else and come back. Ok, fine. We'll be a little early. At 6:30 we went out and low and behold it was the driver that Loren's mom was yelling at the night before. He must have a chronic early bird gets the worm synrdome because he was super early for us too. Driving to the church though the night before, Kiah and I were fine. But driving to the airport, I was so scared for my life AND nothing looked familiar. I was so happy when I saw the sign for the airport. Thank goodness we would be there on time and alive. 

On our plane, we were served little tuna sandwiches....with nuts! Who puts nuts in their tuna sandwiches? No people. No. On the right of me, we met a spontaneous chap by the name of Chris. He was English and had black rimmed Harry Potter glasses. He had booked the trip 4 days before and planning on maybe meeting his brother, that is if his brother got the message that Chris was on his way. They were going to try and do the Inka Trail which is a 4 day hike but he really had no idea what he would be doing. 

We arrived in Cusco and were met again with someone who was holding a sign for us. His name was Percy and he was very chatty giving us some local history of the area. He asked us our plans and gave us his number so we could book a taxi with him directly. When it came time to call him the number didn't work and we had to call someone else. When we arrived at the hostel we had to wait for our room to be cleaned. Waiting outside we heard this man (turned out he was Colombian) snoring soooo loudly we were concerened how we would sleep. However, we met a nerdy Argentian that was sharing our room and he said the guy would probably come in at 5 which was ok with us cause we were waking up at 5:30 to catch the train. And then the best part, a little puppy that lived at the hostel came frolicking along. Her name was Miel which is Honey for you non Spanish speakers. She was cute chasing after people's shoelaces and eating the plants. While the hostel was an ok hostel, the restroom in our room smelled like mildew. It was so bad it was a mad dash to use the bathroom, shower or brush our teeth. It permeated the area. Other than that, the hostel was ok and in a good part of town. 

Cusco is something like 10,000 feet up so Kiah and I were really feeling our asthma kick in and our chest starting to restrict it's breathing. My cousin who is half Peruvian and half Ecuadorian had warned us to eat only tea and soup. And for the first day and a half we did. I had a delicious pumpkin soup while Kiah had a chicken soup. However, for dinner, we thought a won ton soup would be good. WORST decision ever. It was the grossest thing I've had. The won tons tasted like detergent to me and was super unedible. I cannot survive on soup but to avoid altitude sickness and to be light when I went to Machu Picchu, we sucked it up. 

Other than our bad luck with the rain and food, Cusco was nice. Much cleaner than Lima and we felt safer. However, when you get out of the city center, it is dirty. Dogs and trash line the streets. Piles of garbage are in corners waiting for someone who will never come to pick up the trash. The city center was a bit Americanized and Europeanized as well. There were British pubs, a Starbucks, McDonalds and more pizza places we knew what to do with. Cusco also has its own school of art that you can see when walking around and peaking in on artists work and inside churches. In Cusco, we walked around a lot but didn't go intoo the churches too much. 

When we first arrived we were lucky and it wasn't raining but we jinxed ourselves and we got caught in the rain going to the market to buy some souvenirs to take back home. Kiah and I agreed that if we were both there with a romantic interest, the moment would have been much more romantic than being with each other. We bought some good things but are going to buy the rest in Lima. Words of advice: if you are going to buy a lot of stuff, find the one shop that has all of your needs because if you buy lots of stuff, they'll knock down the price some. I recommend Cusco for a couple of days but not much longer than that. 

"For good and evil do not exist in themselves, each is simply the absence of the other." Jose Saramago

Jose Saramago is a Portuguese author. I picked up his book "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" in Lagos after walking into the bookstore and asking for a Portuguese author. In Italy I hadn't had time to read, but in Ireland I read James Joyce's the Dubliners, in England I read Sherlock Holmes so I thought that reading from a Portuguese author in Portugal would be a great idea. I wanted a Portuguese author to write about his travels or experiences in Portugal but I am enjoying this book. It won the Nobel Prize of Literature a few years ago so I had always known about it. It's difficult to read because the author does not break down the conversations and keeps them in very long paragraphs but it's still interesting. That is where the quote comes from for my blog post.

Riding into Lisbon on the bus we were in traffic. While in traffic I saw 2 car accidents. I felt like I was home!

Lisbon. Lisboa. I loved it. So in Faro and Lagos I mentioned that the streets weren't regular cement but were smaller smooth stones that created a pattern around the streets. Lisbon is much the same. They are super slippery so if you go, get shoes that have good traction. Anyway, much of the streets are lined with white stones and the black stones create the pattern. White and black are also the colors for Lisbon so it all fit. 

Coming into Lisbon from Lagos I kept thinking "this totally reminds me of San Francisco. Oh this looks like the Golden Gate Bridge". I later found out that the designer of the bridge in Portugal also designed the Golden Gate Bridge. Hmm no wonder it looked familiar. Anyway, Lisbon apparently is one of the oldest cities in Europe if not the oldest because of its location on the Atlantic. It was used as an advantage point and many a ships sailed from the Belem Tower for their Portuguese expeditions. I went by the Belem Tower and it was kind of cool and not what I would have imagined had someone told me "that's where they sailed all their expeditions from." I can't describe it but I liked visiting that area and realizing, they made history here. They literally made history by looking for something new. 

Lisbon's graffiti was pretty cool too. For those of you that don't know, I really like taking pictures of graffiti from the different places I have visited. Either it is significant of the city, beautiful and someone should notice it or completely random. Well in Lisbon it wasn't full on graffiti but they had paintings that covered the whole side of a building that were just beautiful and made the city feel beautiful. Also, I did not know this but Lisbon is known for their tiled buildings and tile as art. I have pictures as samples and brought a couple of pieces home. 

For those of you that don't know, I went to Portugal to try and discover my roots. My last name is Americanized Portuguese. Hundreds of immigrants that came through Ellis Island had their surnames changed or "Americanized" so that Americans had an easier time to pronounce and spell them. Many Americans assimilated and embraced this new identity. My family was amongst those hundreds of thousands that did. We believe that my great, great grandfather was illiterate and didn't know how to spell his last name of Amaral and it was Americanized to Emerald. I did some research in Italy to try and find out where my Italian family was from only to discover my Portuguese side was from Azores, the islands off the coast of Portugal. It was then decided I was going to Portugal. To travel to the islands was EXPENSIVE. No thank you madam, I do not have 700 euros (which would be about 1200 dollars) to travel for 4 days to the islands. Off season for me please. Either way, I would still travel to Lisbon to experience Portugal. 

In Lisbon, at my hostel, I told two guys of my quest to get my family coat of arms or a family crest. One guy who's name I never learned was really interested and wanted me to succeed because he wanted to do the same. He told me that John Emerald was probably João Amaral. But because Amaral was so common I should see if there is a second name like De Amaral or D'Amaral, etc. So with this new information I went back to looking and found that there was a Joao Amaral who sponsored a man and woman to come over from the islands and was born in the same year as my great great grandfather so it could be him. I tried to go to the registrars office in Lisbon to see if I could get a birth  certificate but alas because I did not speak the language no one was able or wanted to help me. So I will soon put my sister's Portuguese to use and have her inquire further once I return to California. Although I did not succeed in my quest for my family crest, my search is not over. 

One of the owners of the hostel kept trying to get me to talk to the other people at the hostel and kept introducing me to everyone. The group that she made me sit with were talking about smoking, tobacco and other drugs. Uh....I have nothing to contribute to that conversation. Anyway, at the hostel I did make a friend, Pedro. His second name is Tiago and I was like "Oh can I call you PT?" And he said "yes....but don't you think it sounds like pity?" "Oh....yeah Pedro it is then." Anyway, he was very cute and very nice and I enjoyed talking to him and getting to know him. He was asking me about things he had seen on TV and if it was true or not. Don't worry, we exchanged information and plan to be Facebook and emailing friends. And I have a friend to visit next time I'm in Portugal. He also made a special Portuguese meal for the people at the hostel if they wanted to contribute. It was really good with bread, clams, prawns, olive oil, salt, cilantro and I think that's it. We made a deal that when I returned to Portugal, he would then cook a special Portuguese dish with crab. He loves cooking so I was ok with that deal. Especially since I have already tried his cooking. And seafood is involved. I wish I could have taken a picture of him smelling the cilantro. I have never seen anyone so in love with the smell of fresh herbs in my life. After the owner saw that when Pedro wasn't working he would come and talk to me, she was like, ok I get it. So the moral of the story was you don't need to have a lot of friends, just one is enough if its the right person. I appreciated the time he took out to talk to me and keep me company and am glad to call him my friend. 

Anyway, he also was telling me that he came from Coimbra which is where there are 3 universities. I did not get to go, but as I was driving through at 2 in the morning, I wished I had. It looked so beautiful and just so like the college town that I would want to work and live in. I wish I can go back when they are in session and experience the Coimbra culture. 

Anyway, my trip to Portugal ended with me traveling up north to Porto and flying out of Porto to Paris. Oh Portugal you have a special place in my heart! 

Florence

I am currently on the train leaving Florence and going to Padua to go back to my first host family and stay with them for a couple of days before I head off to Dublin. Florence was great with tons of history both medieval as well as the Renaissance. Florence is a tourist capital not like anything I have experienced yet in Italy. EVERYONE spoke English. It was ridiculous on how much English was spoken by everyone. And I don't know if that turned me off to Florence but I didn't love it. I liked it, and I would for sure go back, but I only liked it.

My first day in Florence I just walked around looking at the sights. Generally what I do when I first get into a city is walk to the center of the area without a map, literally getting lost in the city and then find my way back somehow. It has been a great system so far because I have always found some of the coolest things that way. Anyway, after I left my stuff in the hostel I just walked to the domes of Florence that you so often see in postcards and pictures. On my way there, I found a bunch of cool shops and leather goods. After looking in the stores, I rounded the corner of one street and there stood the Duomo or Cathedral of Florence. You have seen the Cathedral from aerial views hundreds of times, maybe thousands but to see it up close, with the intricate detail and colors that you have almost never seen is completely surprising and breath-taking. In my opinion anyway. I was so surprised that the front or the sides of the Cathedral are not photographed more. As many of my readers are also my Facebook friends I will mention that when I got to the Duomo the first day it was closed so I could not go inside. The next day is when I went back and climbed to the top of the Duomo to take my aerial shot of the area.

So walking around, I found this piazza, Piazza Vecchio that has lots of statues and is just a fun place to be around. I found the replica of Michelangelo's "David" in the piazza which was cool. It was the original place he was displayed representing a sense of freedom. In the 1800s, he was moved as a museum, the Academia Gallery was built around David and I eventually went to go see. My recommendation: Don't wait in that line without a ticket and don't buy your ticket online. Go to the little office across from the museum and make a reservation and buy your ticket. I waited 5 minutes to make a reservation the next day in the morning before lunch. So I went the next day, went to the museum which was kind of surreal to be seeing this famous statue that you know all about, and about this artist that you have studied even if you weren't an art history person and the statue being right in front of you. I walked around the whole thing and then went to get lunch. All in all a good day.

I went on a walking tour of the Renaissance architecture of the area. It was pretty cool and I learned a lot and it was cool to see the differences between the buildings of Medieval times, next to buildings of the Renaissance next to some newer buildings that kind of just built up around the original buildings.

And as previously mentioned leather goods....in a previous post I mentioned on how I asked a host mom where I can buy leather goods. The words "Florence" or "Firenze" never came up in that conversation. But holy cow, there are shops after shops and little booths after little booths of places to buy leather goods ranging from gloves, to bags, to shoes, to belts, to wallets, to anything you want to be leather. After a while of shopping around, I bought several leather items as presents (sorry folks, can't reveal it here) and on my last day, found a leather jacket. I had resolved to not get a leather jacket because they were too expensive. Way out of my price range. And I had thought, I could buy one in California from Italy cheaper than buying it here. Oh well! And I had gone to buy myself an "Italia" jacket, a blue one just like the one I had been eying all summer. After I bought it, I saw "Made in China". I was so disappointed that I went to go buy myself another jacket that said "Italia", a green one that was specifically made in Italy and that will be accompanying me across Europe. And I was ok with the purchase of two jackets since I had not gotten a leather jacket. However, as I was walking around with some people I met at the hostel who were also in the market to buy leather goods. As I was showing them around to the shops that I had found, there it was, standing out in the middle of one of the stalls, the jacket I had to have. I went from the little booth to their store because I hadn't found a leather jacket in my price range, in my size or in the color I had liked in 6 weeks, it wasn't going to work out now right? Oh but it did, and it was meant to be! I went in to ask for the style I fell in love with but in black. The guy ignored me and grabbed me a dark red one because it was in my size....it was beautiful and beautiful on me. He then pulled out the black one which looked good but the red was good against my skin tone. After I said, "nope, gotta have the red one" he then told me that he knew it would be perfect for me, that's why he pulled it out first and then the black one later. Tricky tricky, but he was right! I cannot wait to go out somewhere so I can wear it! Too bad it won't be for another 6 weeks because I do not want to take it to rainy countries only to get ruined before I have a chance to wear it. Le sigh...but I have a beautiful jacket to wear when I get home!

Now talking about hostel life. SO I was in the hostel for 4 nights/5 days. In a previous post I mentioned the Australian who flashed me. She was only my roommate for 2 days. Through her I met other Australians and a Kiwi, and some guy from North Carolina who reminded me of Jeremy Piven a little too much. After she left, this guy from Chicago who looked 35 but was really 19 was my roommate along with this girl from Kazakhstan who made up for this guy I know from Kazakhstan. She represented really well and made up for the guy I know who I think is one of the worst people I have ever met. Anyway, this 19 year old Chicago guy was touring Europe as long as he could to look for party places to take tour groups of college kids around to party it up. I asked him if he had heard the book "Party Europe" which is the same idea (And I only know about it because I found it in rooms during check out) and he did not so I just helped a business right there grow. He was nice, and I assumed from money because that was his 8th time in Europe and he had no plans to go back. He also told me about his dreams as he rolled a joint and talked to me in the bed across from me. The next day, I met this girl from Canada moved in to the bed next to me who it turns out was doing the same Italian English touring company as me and we bonded over that. We bonded so well that we are going to see the Dr. Who Experience together in Cardiff! Eek so excited! The guy in the room turned out to be from Los Angeles, and when I asked where because I was from Los Angeles, he said "North Hollywood". Then I saw him addressing something and he was from Studio City. First of all, why not tell me the truth and second of all if you are going to be vague, just say The Valley. I would have stopped asking after that. Anyway, we went out to dinner, saw the Duomo and because we had all been traveling alone for so long, able to get in our funny shots with people that would wait for us to pose as opposed to asking complete strangers to wait for us to pose.

The next day, we walked around and shopped and then I headed back to Limena; where I started it all. Soon, my adventures will continue! On to Dublin!

Occupy Pisa

I am currently writing this on a restaurant patio looking at the Duomo of Pisa but unable to see the Leaning Tower from where I am sitting. So I noticed that no one talks about the Duomo of Pisa but I would say it is just as impressive as the Leaning Tower. I mean we all know what the Leaning Tower looks like, but the Duomo and the statues around are also quite worth taking a look at. The unfortunate thing about checking out the Leaning Tower by yourself is that you can't get one of your own funny pictures of you holding up the tower. Oh well. And as I was typing that, the girl that is staying in the same room as me in the bed over at the hostel just walked by but we never exchanged names so I couldn't call out to her. She is Australian and loves Italy and was actually in Ivrea last year so knew all about where I had just come from. As we were comparing skin tones from original to how much we had tanned she accidentally flashed me and she said "now that can be the highlight of your day when someone asks you". I thought that was a clever response so I have included the story for it. Anyway, back to writing about Pisa.

Pisa is cool but really small. When they say "you can do Pisa in a day" they weren't joking. I traveled from Florence to Pisa in an hour on the train and walked down the shops and area to arrive to the Leaning Tower about a mile and a half later. When you first see the Leaning Tower, it looks kind of fake. Cause it's a crooked building. You know? But it's completely real. You can climb up it too but I didn't want to. But I did go inside the Cathedral and found it to be beautiful. The paintings weren't as doomsday as they are in other churches. The architecture is really cool too around the building.

Walking back to the train station I walked by the university and of course took pictures of the graffiti. All around the university the theme of the students at the University of Pisa was "Occupy Pisa, Occupy Italy, we are the 99%". From Bologna to Pisa, I am sensing a theme of frustration, a theme of wanting more out of life but being stagnate. I'm sure much of us, especially the recent graduates out there can understand.

Around the Pisa area, there are tons of little shops like a flea market if you want to buy something touristy. I saw a Snoopy tshirt of him holding up the Leaning Tower and thought of buying it for my sister but decided against it. (Sorry Ani.) Also, I had discovered this shopping area after I ate but did see small restaurants from all over where I could have gotten my Mexican craving taken care of. DARN! Speaking of food and money...

Last night I bought food for breakfast and dinner to save money and eat my lunches out. I tried to survive just on chips but...I haven't found any I like and don't want to spend my money trying to find a brand of chips I like. I got yogurt and chips and tomatoes. OH and I finally saw grapes at a sidewalk store but didn't buy any cause I had my tomatoes already. Next time.