Sossusvlei and Deadvlei-"What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlovely being alone can be."--Ellen Burstyn

Sossusvlei and Deadvlei,

Words cannot express the beauty and majesty of this area. We booked our  trip to Sossusvlei when we arrived at the hotel but I would strongly encourage you to book the tour early if visiting in the busy season. Sossusvlei was probably the busiest area we have seen. 

You can go on your own to the area, hike Dune 45, and then take a shuttle to Deadvlei, but I would not recommend it. The shuttle gets busy and crowded and the driving their on your own is dangerous because the sand is so fine, that you risk getting stuck in the sand or worse, in a pothole surrounded by sand. Spend the extra money and get a tour guide. 

We left the hotel at 6 in the morning with Michael, our tour guide and Melvin, the third person in our small little tour group. Michael drove, Melvin slept and Kiah and I watched the sun rise over the area and hit the sand dunes. When we started to get into the area, the morning was still early enough where the shadow of the sand dunes shaded the area to create a bright and dark contrast of the dunes. Kiah wanted to make sure she got some cool photos so here is one of her doing a handstand in front of some dunes. 

We passed what Michael called the famous trees (the ones that are the majority of the postcards featured above). He had stopped at what used to be the famous tree but a branch broke off so now it is not as famous. He then drove us to Deadvlei and Kiah, Melvin and myself started to hike "Big Daddy" which is the tallest sand dune in the world at 350 meters. I hiked up a small portion and said "fuck this" and went back down but not before getting an awesome photo. Michael met me down at the bottom and took me around to Deadvlei where Kiah and Melvin would meet us. Kiah and Melvin hiked to the top of the dune and then walked barefoot all the way down from the top into Deadvlei. Towards the bottom, I would recommend putting shoes on because twigs and sticks are in the sand and Kiah got a blister at the bottom of the hill. 

Deadvlei is beautiful. Truly. The sand dunes surround this area where a lake once sat. The dunes kept the water from coming in and the lake dried up. The sand was caught in the trees and just started growing bigger and bigger. The acacia trees in the area have been dead for about 600 years. The sun scorched their trunks, but although they are not petrified, they do not decompose because they are so dry. But the area is getting smaller and smaller and we saw one tree on the side that was about half covered as a testament of the area getting smaller. 

We took so many pictures because the landscape and area were so beautiful. the best ones were the photos that Melvin shot on his Go pro. We look like we are in an album cover. We spent maybe an hour in Deadvlei total and the whole hike and photos took about 3. 

After Deadvlei, we had lunch and then Michael drove us to Sesriem Canyon for some photos. He said that the last time the area got water was in 2011. We have seen water and flooding signs everywhere but seen no water at all while driving around. 

Later in the afternoon, we hiked up some mountains for a view of the sunset and had a BBQ at the hotel. The food was delicious and we were treated to some entertainment by the people at the hotel singing some songs. 

I would put Sossusvlei and Deadvlei on everyone's bucket list. 

It's a lifestyle. I don't own anything, but I travel-Kari, from Finland

Tuesday morning of our trip, we woke up and walked to pick up our Toyota Rav 4 for the next 10 days. We drove back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and as Kiah as co-pilot we made it. We kept reminding ourselves to drive on the left, turn to the left lane, stay on the left.

After a light breakfast, we were out and on the road. We drove for about 4 hours from Windhoek to Sossusvlei. When we picked up the rental car, we had to watch a safety video and I'm really glad we did. Leaving the city, the road is paved, but after a turn a third of the way, you turn on to a dirt, gravel road for the rest of the trip. The dirt road is bumpy and most of the way held the tires in place. However, there was a section of the road that I seriously thought we were going to spin out. It was about half way and the car started to veer to the left and into the side of the road. I overcompensated to the right and then the car started to loose it's traction and spin, but I remembered my high school car training and stepped off the brake and had the car slow it's self down to get ourselves situated again. It was a little scary being my first time skidding, but we were able to make it out ok. 

During the last third of the trip, there was a sign warning drivers about a steep gradient. Before the steep hill, the road turns from dirt to brick and is paved in a small brick pattern and thank goodness. There were portions of the road that when you got to the top and went over the hill, you couldn't see the rest of the road ahead and just hoped it was there. The anticipation of the road being there was the scariest part of the drive. The majority of the roads in Namibia are not paved so overall driving is a little scary and a little difficult. 

We arrived at Namib Naukflat safe and sound. We checked in and headed out for a sunset drive. We saw a few animals-geckos, springbok, oreck and warthog. I was trying to explain warthog to someone in the car we were in, and someone helped us out by saying "Pumba, from the Lion King" and Kiah thanked him for speaking Kiah. 

This gentleman ended up joining us for dinner. His name was Kari, from Finland who I got the title of this post from. Very nice guy, traveled all over and we were able to talk to him about his many adventures. After a delicious dinner of chicken stew and oreck ribs, we headed to our hotel room to get ready to get up at 6 the next morning. Our first day of driving was completed and our 10 day trip around the country was beginning. 

Windhoek Day 2-To Every Man His Own -- Namibian Motto

Kiah and I walked into town on our second day in Windhoek. We noticed that it was much livelier on the Monday than Sunday. Children were in school, cars were zooming around us and people were out on the street. Forgot to mention that they drive on the left side of the road in Namibia. Kiah pointed it out and reminded me that we will be driving on the left side of the road and that left me a little worried so I spent the day reminding myself, left, they drive on the left, stick to the left. 

I also forgot to mention that most things are gated with barbed wire. The houses, stores, shops were hard to get to because of the gates and wire. While we felt safe walking around, it did kind if hard to feel that the city felt at ease with the community. 

We first went to the bookstore "Book Den". Small bookstore but good. We went in looking to find more books to read as well as books about the area or from local authors. We bought 5 books in total (one is a gift) to share back and forth as we have time to read.

We then went to the Craft Center in Windhoek. The idea is that you could buy locally crafted items and are open 9-1. The problem is that all of the stalls had all of the same times so it looked more mass produced than anything else so we didn't buy anything. However, if we decide we do want something, we know where to go. 

After the craft fair, we went to Christkurche which was built in 1910. On TripAdvisor, it's one of the top rated things to see in Windhoek. We walked in, walked around and then walked out not sure what we were supposed to see or notice. 

Looking around Christkurche, we noticed a building across the street and then proceeded to walk towards the much more impressive and modern building that turned out to be the Namibian Independence Museum. The museum was free and all you had to do was sign in. The bronze work for the museum was outstanding and I personally think stood out and spoke louder than the rest of the pieces in the museum. The museum itself raised more questions than answered such as-If Namibia was colonized by the Germans, how did it then gain their independence from South Africa? What is SWAPO? It took 50 years for them to get their independence? And so on. We went home and went on Wikipedia and did a little more research to fill in the gaps. 

This a very, very simplified history of Namibia-- After World War I, Namibia fell under English rule. We believe, that when cars were becoming popular, under British rule, Namibia then found themselves driving on the left side of the street. After a few more decades, South Africa's apartheid ruled Namibia. Guerrilla warfare broke out, war and then after several petitions to the UN, South Africa granted their independence. After about a year of writing their constitution, Namibia became independent in 1990. It's weird to think about, but I'm older than this country. 

After the Independence museum, we went to lunch at Joe's Beerhouse. They took the tiki, outdoors theme and ran with it. Dining tables were under individual huts with lanterns on the tables. It reminded me of the area around Indiana Jones at Disneyland. The food was a little too fried for us, but good. We had the hardest time opening a bottle of water but after trying to cut it off, a gentleman at a neighboring table was able to get the bottle opened for us. 

After lunch, we went to the cultural museum-Owela. This museum was also free after signing in. There was so much information to read that it was overwhelming. So many cultures and tribes and people. I wished they had a tour guide to kind of sum up the information or make it more interactive. There was so much to read that after a while, you just looked at the pictures to get an idea. I would recommend the Independence museum over Owela. But to be fair, Owela was a work in progress and you could see that so maybe in some months or years, it'll be much more streamlined. 

After the museum, we went to a coffee shop - Slowtown to read and relax. The coffee at this place was amazing and so good and fresh. I got an ice coffee and it was the best ratio of cream, ice and coffee. Yum. 

From coffee, we went to our hotel to relax until dinner. We walked down to the restaurant Nice (Namibian  ) for dinner. And wow, did it live up to it's name. The ambiance, the food, the hospitality were all great. It was also one of the few places in the city that didn't seem to be gated or barb wired up. The bathroom also was one of the nicest bathrooms I have ever seen. They do all of their food as fresh as possible and really made the place feel very high class without being expensive. 

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel to prepare for the next day. Day 2 in Windhoek, complete. 

Windhoek-First Day in Namibia

Kiah and I arrived in Windhoek earlier today. I after my 27 hour flight and Kiah after her 13 hour flight are in our hotel room planning for the next day. We arrived at about 2 pm, and after going through customs (which a local told us they just updated their system last week ) arrived at our hotel a few hours later. The airport, Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH) is about 20 miles outside from the main part of the city. We were expecting to see nature and animals and already on our way here, we already saw 3 monkeys and an ostrich on the side of the road.

After checking in to our hotel, we went for a walk to buy water and explore the city. We were told by our taxi driver that stores would be open, even on a Sunday but when we started walking around, we couldn't find anything open. We were able to walk through the mall, but they were already closed as we walked through at about 6. We even tried to find something to eat and thought just by walking around we might find something but still had a hard time trying to find something. We finally decided to walk to the Hilton hotel we could see from a far figuring that there should be food places near the tourists and finally found a place to eat. 

We ate at a very American inspired place called "Spur". I took a picture of the restaurant and if you notice, a couple of the Spur staff gave me great big smiles. I had a very delicious t-bone from Namibian beef which was one of the best I have had in a long time. Our waitress, Devine, was a local girl of about 17 or 18 who said we had "popped her cherry" because we were the first Americans she had ever met. She also wanted to make sure we were safe in the country and reminded us to keep our items close to us. She was very sweet and asked if we could keep in touch.

We found Windhoek to be a very quiet and slow paced city. My Namibian friends had warned me about that, but I thought they were telling me that because they knew I have lived in Los Angeles all my life and anything slower than that, would be considered quiet. But in general, we saw very few people driving or walking around. It is one of the quietest cities I have ever visited. I cannot stress how quiet the city was. We took a couple of photos and didn't have any problems trying to get cars out of the shot because there were none. Today we took it slow and hope tomorrow we will see more people and get to check off some of the items on our to see list. 

Naples Napoli

It has been years since I have posted on this blog and a lot has changed. The biggest thing is that I have a job at a prestigious university, that I love and am truly blessed to have. I get to travel for work and that is what has brought me to Naples. We have an alumni trip that starts tomorrow that will travel around the Amalfi Coast. I arrived a day and a half early and was able to explore.

I spent the first day walking, much like I do in every city and ended up shopping, which I hardly do. I found some really reasonable, great fitting and great looking pieces. The problem is that I am carrying around towels, thermoses and notebooks to provide to our tour guides at the end of our trip. So until then, I am stuffed to the brim of clothes. I also bought my new Harry Potter book (I buy one from each country with the countries language and different cover to add to my collection) and gloves for my mom. I'm basically done with my shopping unless there is some souvenir that screams out to me. I have looked already but nothing seemed worthy to pass out.

I arrived, yesterday, June 30th to Napoli. I stayed at a hostel near the old downtown area near Piazza San Gaetano. The streets are small. A little more to let one car pass through. The streets were built small to bottleneck any invaders that might have tried to overtake the town. Scooters honk you out of the way and tend to use the "one way" signs as loose guidelines.

After my shopping, I went to L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele and ordered a Margherita pizza. It's supposedly the oldest pizza place in Italy, maybe the world. Naples is the birth place of pizza so it was a must eat. I felt like the pizza was sweeter than normal. From the last time I was in Italy, I heard that they put sugar in the dough. Maybe this place did as well. What I don't like about getting a pizza in Italy is that it's one size and it's HUGE. But I ate all of it, the dough was thin enough where I didn't feel guilty but thinking about how big it was, it's like ugh, just make different sizes!

From the pizza to my hostel room I went in to crash early. I did not sleep well on the plane due to all the turbulence on the plane so I needed my rest. Due to climate change, scientists are saying that turbulence is only going to get worse. This was the worst turbulence I had ever experienced. So I hope that it doesn't get worse cause I don't know if I can go through that again.

Today, July 1st I woke up after a horrible night's sleep. I stayed in a hostel to keep the cost of this trip small BUT I did get a private room cause....no more shared rooms if I can help it. I slept about 4 hours and was woken up by a bang in the hostel from somewhere. To be fair, it was about 2 o'clock and in hostel life people are just falling asleep so not a big deal but I was unable to go back to sleep at that point. After 2 Sherlock episodes, I was able to go back to sleep for the last 2 hours.

After breakfast, I went to the Underground Napoli tour. It was pretty cool. They took you on a tour of the aqueduct system that was built by the Greeks and expanded by the Romans. Our guide put it this way, the Greeks were a people, but the Romans were an empire. The aqueduct had many stairs leading down that opened into a wide space. The aqueduct hadn't been filled for about 150-200 years after a cholera outbreak forced them to close the wells. During World War II they were able to use the space for a bomb shelter. I did not realize this but the Italians were bombed by the Allies due to Fascism. I never had really thought about Italy being bombed and learned something new.

After my tour of the underground, I got lost in the city. I walked around until lunch looking at artwork and the things they were selling. After lunch, I walked to my hostel to pick up my luggage and started my 1.6 mile walk down to my hotel. I didn't want to get a taxi but even if I wanted to, I did have to walk a ways to a taxi stand because they don't drive to the area I was staying. I learned that there were only 3 main roads and then expanded to about 6. You can drive down the other roads but they don't really do that. And walking with a rollie luggage is not easy on cobblestone or large stoned sidewalks. My luggage must have toppled over 50 times. No joke. But I was able to find shops along the way that let me find leather gloves for my mom so that was a win.

All in all, a very good beginning.

Leaving Peru

I don't know or don't remember how this came up but, when we were at my friend Loren's wedding, his friend Catherine's husband leaned in and told Kiah and I "Lima reminds me or Iraq." Kiah and I turned to each other and before we could say anything in response, we were interrupted by the festivities of the evening. Kiah and I talked about it later. Lima reminded him of Iraq? That's pretty bad. Lima, at least the part that Kiah and I were in, does not have any charm to speak of. To be fair, we hadn't ventured far since we were only in Lima for the wedding but still, the part we did see, was not anything that subdued us into leaving Lima with a good impression. 

Our last night we spent in Miraflores, the upper class area of Lima. They had named brand hotels, American restaurants,  tourists and the beach. It was beautiful and totally was the exact opposite of the first couple days of Lima. Our hostel was very party esque and down the street from a drive thru Starbucks. We spent the last day walking around, shopping and eating typical Peru food that we hadn't gotten earlier in the trip. I finally got my ceviche. Yum. And my papas salchichas from a specialty restaurant that only had various flavors of papas salchichas.  Felt like a little kid again. 

As with any big metropolitan town you imagine some sort of public transportation. The buses in Peru are large vans that have general street or suburb names listed on the side of the van but you don't know exactly where that van is heading until someone hops out of the van while it is still in motion and shouts where the bus will be off to next. In reading blogs and books about Peru, everything recommended taking taxis....I stand by that fact. 

When we first arrived in Lima, we saw tons of dogs. The only thing that all the cities we have visited have in common is that there are TONS of stray dogs that roam the streets. Although, sometimes it was hard to tell if they were stray or loose but regardless, each city had dog, after dog just walking around the city. In one city, Kiah turned to me and said "this country has the most dogs I have ever seen. And I've never seen half of these breeds before." The dogs aren't rabid, they aren't vicious, they don't beg, they were just there....in the background of all of these cities. They all looked well fed and would casually just meander around the town or watch you as you walked by. 

However, walking around Miraflores we didn't see ANY dogs. We saw only cats. We found where all the cats live. Of course they lived in the posh area of town. They invaded the parks, streets and stores. The opposite of the rest of Peru. It was so weird. 

All in all it was such a whirl wind trip that when we tell people I get tired trying to remember what we did. Each day wad a different adventure and I'm glad Kiah and I had the samr attitude-"go big or go home"

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.

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. 

Roses are red, Violets are blue, Kiah and I are in Lima, Without You

Yesterday started out just like any other. We slept in, woke up, got ready and left the military club...that we had stayed in the night before. We tried to find a coffee shop and without finding it, we wandered around Lima. We tried to find a place to get ceviche but I felt they were expensive for the amount I saw them give to other patrons so we found a place down the road that did not offer ceviche. We returned to the hotel at about 2, to get ready for the wedding. 

The night before, my friend Loren, emailed me to tell me that my friend and I would be picked up at 3:30 to go to another hotel and everyone would be caravaned over to the church. My friend's wife, Kathy, came by our room after this email and told us that the plans had changed and we would be going with my friend's aunt to the airport at 415 and my friend would pick up his mom at 330. As we were getting ready, we received a phone call from my friend's aunt at 330 asking about the details of the plan. She asked if we were ready cause our taxi was there. I went out to the lobby and saw that Loren's mom had already gotten in the taxi and drove off. So then a few minutes later, Kiah and I went to sit with the aunt and wait for our taxi. Soon, a taxi rolled up and my friend Loren stepped out of it. Uh oh, THAT was our taxi....but oh wait, the original taxi with Loren's mom pulled up right after Loren. Loren's mom came out of the taxi, upset because the driver didn't know where he was going AND when they found the church, no one was there. Loren's mom was still yelling as Loren stepped out of the car and I hugged him and he told Kiah, "Hi, welcome to Peru." After a few quick words we were off to the wedding. We got in the taxi that was meant for us and Loren and his mom got in the taxi he arrived in. But our driver told us he didn't know where he was going, so I finally got to use the phrase, "Follow that taxi!" Super cool. 

When we arrived at the church, we had to wait outside becuase there was a baptism inside. Loren's high school friend Catherine (who also goes by Cathy) and her husband, son and parents were all outside the church. Loren was talking to them when Catherine's mom walks up to me and Kiah and asks how we know Loren. I explained that I had gone to college with him and met him my freshman year of college and that Kiah was just my traveling buddy. Catherine's mom then said "oh, so you are the one that replaced Catherine." Sure grandma, if you want to look at it that way. But then....she said it AGAIN! She told someone else that "this is the girl that replaced Catherine." Ok lady. Point taken. 

Then....Kiah and I made a little friend. I should say Kiah made a little friend....and I just made a friend. Catherine and her husband's son, Andrew. Light, sandy hair, green eyes, cheesy smile and 2. He was super talkative and super smart. He kept me and Kiah pretty entertained throughout the evening. He kept wanting to arrange the seating but always wanted to keep sitting next to Kiah. Kiah made a new best friend. However, she was soon replaced by the flower girl. *Enter dramatic music here* The flower girl kept drawing happy faces in Andrew's coloring book and he was overwhelmed with her different happy faces that Kiah was soon forgotten. However, Andrew's night was cut short when he had to leave and it was past his bed time. He did not want to leave his new friend. He was reaching out for her. It was very sad. Love knows no language barriers...or age apparently. My friend was Catherine's mom who was a chatty Kathy. She talked, and talked, and talked, and talked. Catherine, Loren's friend, barely spoke to us and his wife Kathy, we barely saw. Despite the other Katherine's going by Kathy, the mom was the TRUE chatty Kathy. 

The wedding as you can imagine was very Catholic with the mass in Spanish and the up/down, up/down that goes along with any Catholic ceremony. It had it's punny moments with the priest talking about the perfect recipe of a happy marriage (Loren is a cook.) The ceremony ended and we were whisked away in a van. But wait, the driver that originally picked us up (cause you know, we had a driver) was the same driver that took us to the reception. All good things come full circle I suppose. 

The reception was beautiful: Open bar, specialized Peruvian drinks, great food, even better dessert. Yum. After a few hours, I finally got to talk and catch up with Loren. When we first sat down, we all noticed that there were bottles of whiskey on the table. I asked Loren if it was for the Americans and he said no, whiskey is very big in Peru. Most of their specialty drinks have whiskey. AND that the water and ice were for the Americans. Hmm, interesting. Loren also warned me that we had to wait til after 11 to leave because that's when the party really started. They had Peruvian dancers all throughout the night but at 11, it was a whole Mardi Gras theme. Loren had a crown, Kathy had feathers in her hair and everyone was given a long balloon (the kind that you make into balloon animals) to dance with and bounce around with. It was really cool to see. Loren thought at 11, they would have hats and bears for everyone, as that was the tradition. But no such luck so we had kind of a goofy photo but not a ridiculous one. At midnight, the dancers came back out after they changed and had hats and headbands for everyone. Loren brought me my personalized black hat that had black braids coming out of the sides. We took a thug photo with his new hat and mine. 

It rocked. I truly am grateful that I missed Loren's wedding in Lake Tahoe so I could make it to this one in Peru. It was totally a social experience worth having. 

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving."- Lao Tzu

Currently, Kiah and I sit in a Peruvian Chinese restaurant, alone....in a corner....sitting around empty tables that are set up for a wedding. 

We arrived this afternoon and went through customs with no problems. Our biggest problem was finding our driver. Yes, you read that correctly. We had a driver. My friend Loren and Kathy could not meet us at the airport so they hired a driver for us. He drove us for about half an hour and stopped outside the gate of a military base. He then proceeded inside after he got the ok and dropped us off. So I had an idea that we were staying in a military area from Loren but I had no idea that we were actually staying on a military base or military protected area.  I turned to Kiah and said "now you can tell your mom that you are staying at the safest place possible-a military base." 

It's only been a few hours but between my Spanish listening and understanding experience of more everyday conversation Spanish and Kiah speaking more of it in class in a formal setting, we make quite the Spanish traveling duo. I understand and she speaks and we are both quite happy with that. 

The flight was not the worst I've been on but not the best. We had at least 8 little kids on our flight. The ones that we thought would be the worst, did not sit near us and were relatively quiet. We were lucky to sit near these cute little girls. But one little girl did not stay quiet long and cried, CRIED throughout part of the flight. She always cried when I was in the middle of what seemed like one of my REM cycles. I could hear it through my headphones. And it wasn't just like a "I'm scared and crying" but it was "I'm scared and going to cry so much I choke and that will make me cry harder cry." And I sat next to an older man who did not understand "you only pay for one seat." He kept intruding on my space, and particularly elbowing me while I was trying to sleep. He also had the wonderful habit of biting his nails but his nails were so short that it was like he was just chomping at thin air since he couldn't reach his nails. AND even with all that, that still was not the worst flight I've been on. 

Now, we rest and try to catch up on sleep and tv. Tomorrow we get to see some sites, people getting married and eat some more yummy food. YAY! 

"Gold, when beaten, shines."-Peruvian Proverb

Proverbs are so weird. They really make you think, "am I interpreting that right?" Is it supposed to mean that. And I only get more confused if I know it has been translated because I wonder if or any of the message was lost in translation. But anyway, trying to find a title for this post, I came across some Peruvian proverbs and found this proverb to best describe our travel speed bumps (pun intended).

My friend Kiah and I are going to Peru in about two days. Kiah and I have never been to Peru. We are going to a wedding. One of my friends from college married his wife last year when I was in Europe and this is the religious wedding with her family and in her home town of Lima. Since neither Kiah and I have been to Peru, we decided to try and cram in as much stuff as possible. While planning our itinerary, we made sure two things were included: the wedding and Machu Picchu.

We had read so many blogs and got so many conflicting results of what was the best way to go about booking our trip we decided that we needed to plan and read together. We got together one day and literally mapped out a day by day tentative itinerary. We found out that many of the older blogs were outdated. Previously, there was not a maximum capacity of people that could visit Machu Picchu in one day. Today, they only allow 2,500 people a day to visit the Unesco World Heritage site. Not only that, if you wanted to go on one of the tours or hike one of the mountains, only 400 people are allowed to hike per day. So because we did not know what to expect, we started making reservations.

Kiah had the pleasure of trying to book Machu Picchu: http://www.machupicchu.gob.pe/ After several attempts of trying to book the trip, we realized that the site was just not working. Problem number 1. I contacted the Peruvian government agency through the website and realized that you have to translate the page in Spanish to make and then book your reservation. Problem number 2 is that you have to make sure to pay via Visa. And not only that, you have to call Visa before booking the trip so that way they can allow the transaction to go through. The service is called "Verified by Visa." If you are using a bank Visa, then contact your bank before hand and have the amount you are going to charge ready so they can mark it off to approve it. Also, Kiah had issues with her bank (Bank of America) and after several days of going back and forth with them, it was my turn to give it a shot. I called Chase, and got it all taken care of within the hour. (Shout out to Chase!) If you are going to call your bank, make sure you specify that you are trying to make an online payment for out of the country and mention "Verified by Visa". They will either transfer you to a "Verified by Visa" person or someone who does internet orders and can authorize it. The first time I called, it was a nightmare trying to try and explain what I was doing. The other two times, it took 5 minutes. I guess it all depends on who you get but just be have the time to spend on the phone.

But 10 DAYS LATER, we got our tickets. We were set. Now we could finalize everything. And hence why I picked this proverb. We were just so beaten down and frustrated that once we got our tickets, it was like "oooohh, I get it now. The world makes sense again."

After we got our Machu Picchu tickets in hand, we could now organize and book the rest of our trip. However, the more websites we went on, and the more we looked into it, we realized that the majority of the travel websites in Peru all operate through "Verified by Visa." What a pain! So then we decided I should book transportation and Kiah would book the hostels. Each time I had to make a payment, I had to call my bank and let them know the amount I would charge so they could authorize it and not block the transactions. But after our first 10 day Machu Picchu obstacle, the rest was a piece of cake and went by so quickly.

So for those of you trying to go to Peru and book Machu Picchu remember these few steps:
1) Plan early and make your reservations.
2) Make sure you have a Visa card.
3) Book your trip in Spanish and note the confirmation number they give you. You will need it to make the payment as once you leave that page, you will not see it again.
4) Call your bank with the amount you will be charging to authorize the payment.
5) And with the noted confirmation number, go back and make your payment through the Machu Picchu site within 6 hours because then they will release your reservation.

Hope our complications can help anyone that stumbles across this page!