Volcanoes!

For those of you who heard about the volcano in Ecuador we were not near the affected area.  However, we're planning on heading there tomorrow. . .  Our hostal called the hostal in Banos and they said the ash blew in the opposite direction, that the roads are open, and that you can still hear the volcano erupting.  My reaction to hearing that you could hear the eruption was slightly different than Mike next to me who was reveling in excitement.  Just like Chile we got lucky by not being in that part of the country when the natural disaster occurred.

~Suzanne

Galapagos Pictures

Hey everyone,

Again a long time since we posted, so sorry about that. We just spent 8 amazing days in the Galapagos Islands! It was incredible. The animals were so close! We took over 1800 pictures! So, now we have the difficult task of going through them and keeping only the best. Over the next week therefore we'll be uploading lots of pictures, but definitely not all 1800. Then we'll come up with an amazing blog to describe it all (we hope). For now, you can check the pictures and videos in picassa here Check back often! We're constantly uploading but the connection is slooow.

~Mike

The salt flats of Bolivia

From Uyuni Salt Flats

It all began with a piece of meat.  It sat there, on the window sill of the bus we had just boarded in Potosi, looking just cooked and yet inexplicably there.  Further examination yielded two other pieces on or near the window.  Funnily enough, that wasn't the first sign that things weren't going exactly to plan.  We had bought the bus ticket to Uyuni from a little store with a nice big bus sitting in front of it and we were assured that we were taking a bus of similar quality.  Ten minutes before departure, the lady who sold us the ticket received a phone call and became quite distraught and angry.    We didn't piece together until after we saw the meat that the subject of the call was probably that the bus wasn't coming.  So instead of our modern, big bus, we were put on a small micro bus with meat in the window sills.  Our destination was Uyuni and the salt flats of the same name.  Our guide book had mentioned these flats as one of the top places to see in South America, not just in Bolivia.  Giant white expanses of salt as far as the eye can see give it an other-worldly appearance.  Not only that, just south of the flats are tons of lagoons of different colors, flamingos, geysers and very-high mountains all around.  “Sounds like fun” we thought.

We had been warned by a nice English couple that all trips to the flats began or ended with a story about Bolivia and its roads.  They had told us of their adventure, on the way back from the flats, their overnight bus had somehow lost functionality of its alternator or its connection with it and the battery and all electricity went out, including headlights and dashboard lights, so the driver couldn't see how fast he was going, nor did he have any lights to illuminate the road at night.  After trying to diagnose the problem, he gave up and went through the bus asking for flashlights so the driver could see the dials on the dashboard.  As for headlights, he decided to be guided by a luckily full-ish moon!

So we were slightly prepared for something on the way to Uyuni, and the meat on the window told us that this might be it.  “Well, that's not so bad” we said.  “Definitely weird, but not as bad as the headlights going out”.  Then the other passengers got on the bus, including a lady with 3 large cartons of eggs who stood along with 5 other people in the aisles of the bus for the entire 7 hour bus ride to Uyuni.  Still, not so bad as our English friends.

We got to Uyuni that night and booked our tour for the next morning.  Tours consist usually of 3 days, 2 nights.  Day 1 is at the salt flats, staying at a hotel made of salt, Day 2 is seeing various multi-colored lagoons, and Day 3 you see geysers and head back or if you like cross the border to Chile.  Since we wanted to get to Chile we chose the latter option.

The next day we began our to the flats.  They were quite amazing.  Nothing but flat, white salt for as far as the eye could see.  The only down side was that it was a bit cloudy that day, but it didn't rain or anything.  It was great for pictures also.  The real adventure began the next day.


After staying a night in a salt hotel (fully made out of salt, the chairs, tables, walls, box-springs, etc) we woke up to the sound of rain falling on the roof.  As we set out, we found out that it doesn't rain there very much at all this time of the year and consequently, the great flat plain we would be driving over turned into a giant lake with very deep mud.   Check out this video:

From Uyuni Salt Flats

It wasn't all that bad until our companion land-rover suddenly stopped in the middle of the lake.  We pulled up behind and our driver got out and tried to help the other driver figure out the problem.  They thought the wires of the vehicle had gotten wet and they tried to dry them off but after an hour of trying, they gave up.  The next plan of action was to seek help at a nearby military base that was only on the other side of the lake.  So we all got in and drove to the military base, leaving the other car in the lake.

The military base was tiny as far as bases go more of an outpost really.  Just a couple of oval-shaped buildings surrounded by a fence.  Once we arrived the soldiers stationed there came up to talk to the driver and see what was up.  The driver explained and the soldiers began scouring the base for a cable to help us out.  The best they could find (apparently they don't do this much) was a very thick cable about 10 feet long.  It was about as thick as a bridge suspension cable and it was only a cable.  It had no hooks or anything else to attach it.  We had no idea how they were going to use it to tie two vehicles together but that was all they had so we put it on the roof of the car along with two of the soldiers and headed back to the other car.


Once at the other car, we witnessed the ingenuity of the soldiers who must improvise all the time.  They took some pliers and unraveled the cable into smaller cables until it was thin enough to be malleable to tie knots around the car frames but still strong enough to pull the other car through the mud lake.  Only twice did the knots they used fall apart on the way but eventually we were able to pull the other car and its passengers to the military base.  Since we were on a paying tour, our driver said we had to leave the other group there and try to continue on, even though we were four hours behind.  So we did, the other group was forced to spend the night at the military base.

So four hours late, we continued our journey, but the rain did not stop and as we got higher the rain turned to snow!  Hence most of the usually very picturesque landscape was hidden behind snow clouds while it got darker and darker.  Suddenly we realized that our driver was driving at over 13,000 feet in a snowstorm at night.  We prayed our truck would not break down as there were definitely no trucks behind us and we knew that we had no radios or cell phones to call for help.  We got to the sights, lagoons and the tree that looks like a rock but it was night and snowing so we didn't linger.  Our one desire was to get to the night's lodging.  Finally as we got close the driver turned out his headlights and asked us to look for lights that would be the sign of the hotel.  Luckily we found it quickly!

We had a late dinner but we were soo cold!  We were over 13,000 feet and there was a snow storm outside and the hostel had no heat and only a couple of blankets on the beds. We decided to sleep together with our clothes on in order to combine our blankets and body warmth.  Unfortunately we were not quite used to sleeping together on a twin bed so with the cold and the space we didn't sleep well.  Luckily this would help the next night!

So we woke up still freezing but in a way happy.  Today the sun was out and we were leaving Bolivia!

Plus we were to see the Laguna Verde (green lagoon) which is a highlight of the trip and then we were only a 45 minute bus ride over the Chilean border where warm water, showers and civilization awaited!    After seeing some beautiful lagoons full of flamingos which gave us some wonderful flying shots, we split from our tour group to head over to the border.


 All we had to do was wait for the bus that would take us down from the altiplano.  Here nature took one final shot at us.  A sudden storm came up from the west and we waited and waited but the bus did not come.  After two hours of waiting, the guides came out and told us that the border was closed and that we'd have to spend the night at another (even higher) hotel and hope the border opened in the morning. So we went back and the long wait began.  If the previous night was cold, this was even worse!  We were convinced the hotel was just a degree or two above freezing.  We were able to take our backpacks and put on every speck of clothes we had and still we were shivering.  So we ripped blankets from the beds and cloaked them around our bodies and waited.  The storm blew and blew and the day we waited felt like three.  We went to bed assured by the guides that at 9:00 am we would be able to go if the border was open.  From the night before we learned that we needed more blankets so we stole 3 more from another empty bed and pretty much wrapped our bed in blankets.  Exhausted, with a slightly larger bed, my warm wife by my side and covered in blankets, I actually slept very well.

The next day we woke up and of course at 9:00 am we found out that the border was still closed.  Our next best hope was 11:30.  Then after that deadline passed we were told 4pm.  At this point Suzanne lost her cheery outlook as the prospect of another night at the hotel loomed at us.  Then at about 3pm we heard a cheer from the crowd of tourists who were outside in the sun and we knew the border had been opened.  We got in a clean bus (with no meat on the windows!) on a paved road and no one stood in the aisles!  We had gotten out of Bolivia!   Hot showers and a warm bed awaited! At least for one night... Next began our 4 day and night bus journey to Quito. But that is definitely another post...

~Mike

Slideshow of Uyuni with all shots:


Slideshow of Potosi (mostly the mines):

Oh Retirement!

It was a Tuesday morning and we were catching a bus in the evening.  We started the day reading the news after breakfast.  Then we decided to run a few errands looking for a new filter for Mike's camera, his hobby of choice.  After walking around the now familiar streets of Mendoza we decided to stop for lunch.  At 12:00PM we were well ahead of the lunch rush.  We were on our own schedule quite different from the local routine.  The only other couple in the restaurant was an elderly couple.  All at once it hit me.  Our trip was like a brief experiment in retirement.  Some might say this is obvious since we both are not working.  However, what I felt was more than just the absence of a work schedule.  At that moment I felt like I knew a lot about the lives of the people next to us even though I knew nothing about them besides the fact that they were retired.

Our trip has provided us with a freedom that I have never experienced before for this length of time.    Everyday we can decide what we want to do that day.  All travel deadlines and schedules are self imposed.  The one constant of each day is that we will face the day's journey together.  Three months into the trip, Mike and I have spent more consecutive time together on this trip than we have ever before in our lives (probably with anyone since we each started kindergarten).  We eat each meal together and sometimes there is nothing to say.  The silence is not uncomfortable.  It allows for inner reflection and a comfort in knowing that nothing needs to be said.  We are both content enjoying the time that we have together and the sights we are able to see.  At the same time there is an understanding of the other person.  I feel as though we completed our two year newlywed time and leaped to knowing each other at a much deeper level that would normally take years.  The couple next to us also sat in intermittent silence.  There we were, two couples enjoying the early bird special of retirement.

The trip was a goal that we had saved for the past couple of years.  Each month we made a contribution to a bank account.  We named it the trip saving's fund and made no real plans for the trip other than the contributions.  It was fun to see the amount go up each month and reflect on the grand adventure that we hoped would one day be realized.  Now we are living our dream and enjoying each day fully with newfound freedom.  It is a strange feeling to see the withdrawals from the trip savings fund.  There is a sense in satisfaction of reaching the goal but also a little fear as you wonder if  you saved enough for the plans you've made.  There is a want to save a little more even though you know in your head you've budgeted it out and everything will be fine. We are willing to spend extra time searching for the best deal weighing the importance of luxuries that we don't really need.  Mike has created a spreadsheet where we document and categorize the spending of the day (so we can answer questions like 'how much have you spent on food so far').  In some ways the documentation helps to assuage the voice in the back of your head wandering where you stand.   Perhaps that is why some people who are able to retire choose not to and continue to work.  It is hard to  see the numbers go down and the freedom to do as you please can be unsettling.  It seems far easier to have a routine, earn money, and feel needed.  Each day at work there are tasks at hand and deadlines that make the day fly by and less time to think about the big picture.  Although I don't wish that I was working right now I am glad that I'm not retired.  The trip has given us the opportunity to analyze the type of life that we want to live.  The importance of family and friends continues to surface as a top priority in life.  Without these relationships working hard to really 'live' in retirement seems comical.  I hope the future holds a big family in store for us to keep us focused on what is really important.  

~Suzanne

Potosi

We're now in Potosi, the highest city of its size in the world. It's sole purpose since colonial times was the mines of Potosi, which underwrote the spanish economy for centuries with tons of silver extracted under brutal, dangerous and midieval conditions.  Nowadays the mines are run by a cooperative between miners who pay a small tax but get to mine with whomever and wherever they like and keep all their findings.  Yesterday we took a tour of the mines, and wow, we both couldn't believe that people worked in these mines!  Crawling on all fours, so hot, dusty, and the altitude (at almost 14,000 feet) made it quite difficult for our 2 hour tour of the mine.  Then we found out that some miners work there 12 hours or more a day without eating anything besides chewing coca leaves!  As part of the tour we brought them gifts that we were able to buy in town.  That was the last time I think I'll be able to buy a stick of dynamite and fuse for less than 3 bucks.  Besides dynamite, we bought them a gift they seemed to love more than anything else, and that was a bottle of 98% (196 proof) alcohol.  I also got to taste a thimble ful of this and I was glad to learn that they at least mix it with juice or Coke before drinking it.  We talked to the miners for awhile deep in the mines for like 20 minutes.   They particularly liked two sisters who were in our group and made a lot of jokes about them in typical miner humor.  It was overall a very crazy experience.  I have a new respect for miners and what conditions they work in.  Eric S, you are a brave man.  I hope you didn't work in coditions like that though!

We took Suzanne's little camera (didn't want to destroy my nice one with all the dust), but haven't uploaded pictures yet. Hopefully we'll find a place with wifi soon. 

Next plans are to go to Uyuni Bolivia, and take a tour of the vast salt flats there as well as see some multi-colored lagoons, flamingos etc as long as the rumored farmer strikes don't block our road!     

Bolivia!

It seems like we've been very lazy lately. We don't seem to have the motivation to do much blogging or filtering of our pictures. I'm not sure why. Perhaps now that we've passed the 3 month mark it's not as exciting. It may be the closest thing that we do that resembles work and that's why we avoid it! How funny is that? Or perhaps its because it really is hard to go through all the hundreds of pictures that we take and only select the ones that are good enough to post and tell you all about. We really should try to do better but oh well. Here's the latest on the Macaulay's adventure!

Arequipa

From Colca Canyon

We wrapped up our time in Arequipa with Easter Sunday and a trip to Colca Canyon. Easter was very nice, we got a couple of chocolate eggs from the tourist street vendors and some wonderfully-smelling Easter Lillies for our room to make it a little festive in our hotel and went to mass in the Cathedral. It was a great wrap-up to Holy week. The next day we hopped on a tour of the Colca Canyon which is almost the deepest in the world (There's one nearby that's slightly deeper). We took a three day tour, which involved hiking all the way down the canyon and staying in a village on the opposite side. The trail we took is the only way to reach these villages, who live on agriculture fed by the waters of the mountains above. The canyon itself was very deep (over 13,600 feet in its deepest part) and we descended all the way down (we weren't in the deepest part though) to the river and halfway up the next side that first day. The place we stayed on the opposite side had a wonderful family who fed us a delicious meal and breakfast the next day. Our group was only four people, us two, the guide (Hornorio) and Peruvian tourist Pablo. We had a great time together and spent the entire three days speaking spanish! We felt more confident than ever in our language skills after that. The next day we hiked back down to an “Oasis” which was full of palm trees and swimming pools fed by a spring gushing out of the canyon wall. After a relaxing swim and nap in the hammocks, we started up the canyon to reach our hotel back on the top. This was a very demanding 3 hour hike straight up the canyon with absolutely no flat parts. Suzanne was sorely tempted by a passing donkey train by the driver's calls for “Taxi?” but she resisted the urge to use her “Suzanne dollars”. Then we hopped on a bus back to Arequipa, with a quick stop at some hot springs to soak our sore legs and another stop at the highest point in the area (4910m or 16,200 feet!). It's crazy thinking that in Colorado the highest peaks are only 14,000 feet and here we were at 16,200! Little did we know that that was only the beginning!
Slideshow:


Puno and entering Bolivia
After returning from Colca Canyon, we hopped on a bus to Puno to get over to Bolivia. We spent a couple of days in Puno, which is the main city on Lake Titicaca, taking a tour of the islands on the Peruvian side of the lake.

From Puno

Mostly Puno was our staging point to enter Bolivia. No longer can Americans just enter Bolivia. Since the election of Evo Morales, the countries first indigenous and highly popular socialist president, relations between the US and Bolivia have been a bit strained. Bolivia instituted a a system of “reciprocity” with the US. What this means is that since the US started charging $130 US Dollars for anyone who wanted to apply for a visa, Bolivia now charges the same amount to all US Citizens who would like to enter their country. Bolivia is not the only country to do this (Argentina did it to us when we flew in to Buenos Aires) but they are the worst about it. I believe their aim is to demonstrate how humiliating it is to have to spend such a large amount of money just to apply for a visa, and I believe it works. The immigration officials were extremely picky about all our details and wouldn't accept US bills with slightly worn edges or color markings. They also required ridiculous amounts of photocopies of our passports and visa pictures as well as our yellow fever vaccination certificates. Meanwhile while we're running back and forth to get our photocopies every other tourist from every other country flew by without a hassle. It was very frustrating. While I'm sure it makes the political point very effectively (at least to those who travel here) I think its very bad for their tourism industry. How many Americans would love to hop over to super cheap Bolivia (delicious dinners with alcohol only 10 bucks) after visiting super expensive Macchu Pichu but don't want to deal with the hassle we did? Who knows if I'm right but I can be certain it isn't helping. And from what we've seen of Bolivia, tourism should be something that they're promoting.
Slideshow:


Copacabana
I was excited about visiting Copacabana, the nicest city on Lake Titicaca from Bolivia's side mostly because of the song by Sinatra (or one of those guys) about how fun it was. Then Suzanne ruined my day by telling me that beach was in Brazil. Thanks Suzanne. But it turned out to be a nice place to stay once we got out of a terrible hotel experience. The town is beautifully situated on the lake and has a nice beach and port. It's also the jumping off point for visiting the Isla del Sol or Island of the Sun, the legendary birthplace of the Incan civilization. We did the tour of Isla del Sol, which was nice but not the best tour we've done, mostly because since the Spanish stripped all the gold off the rock of the Puma (the most sacred spot for the Incas). The Rock of the Puma is actually where the name Titicaca comes from. “Titi” means “Puma” and “Carca” means “Rock” but the Spanish messed up the name and called it “Caca”. So anyway, all the island was left to the imagination, since the island itself is kind of unremarkable, but in the end we were glad we did it.
Slideshow:


La Paz
We like La Paz! The semi-capital city (well, the legislative and executive branches) is amazingly built all over the inside of a canyon. There's a main avenue that goes down the center and on both sides the roads go up the sides of the canyon. It's the highest capital city in the world at 11,942 feet and you're constantly trying to catch your breath. We're staying in a nice hotel with great views of the city and mountain rising in the distance. Here we took another week to relax and get used to this new country. At first we were quite scared. Our guide books told us about many scams, corrupt police, pickpockets and the like. We've consequently upped up our precautions but luckily we haven't run into any problems yet. I think as long as you are careful, and don't make yourselves a target, you'll be fine. On Sunday we went to a soccer game in the highest stadium and had a lot of fun. One of the players reminded us of Dave Rosembaum. He was one of the smaller players on the team but one of the best, scoring 2 of the 3 goals of the winning team. Then on Monday we went on a tour of the biggest archeological sites in Bolivia (Tiahuanaco) which was a pre-Incan civilization that lasted for 1500 years before dying out. (My favorite theory is that they liked to deform the heads of their children by placing molds over their heads to mold their soft skulls into shapes they considered more beautiful. Consequently the upper class got more and more mentally ill that they couldn't handle the task of ruling their empire.) Tomorrow we're going to head to the Valley of the Moon and climb a 17er (take that Coloradans!).
Slideshow:


Other updates:
We've decided that we're going to take a vacation from our vacation and head back to the states for the month of July! Our main reasons are to go to the weddings of two very good friends of ours and therefore all the friends of ours who will go to their weddings. The other reason is the chance to be in the summer music video of the coolest cats in Bellingham, WA.

My brother and dad will be visiting us in June for the trip to Macchu Pichu! My mom will be coming to join us for a trip of northern Peru archeological sites at the end of July!   If anyone else would like to join us for these fun shorter trips, please let us know!

~Mike

La Serena and the bus trip up to Arequipa

Since we were in a hurry to get to Arequipa we only spent one night in La Serena but we made the most of it. On top of our list was the observatory that is located in the hills east of the city. It's built especially for tourists but in a way I was glad for it. The tour was excellent and the guides had these awesome green laser pointers that they would use to point out constellations to us. It was hard to tell myself to look at the constellation being pointed at and not longingly at the laser pointer. But in the end it was great to find out how to find south in the southern hemisphere (no northern star here). First you find the southern cross, then take the long end and count 4.5 lengths towards the bottom of the cross and that's south. They also showed us this real cool computer program Stellarium that gives you a nice map of the night sky wherever (and if you want, whenever) you may be.

Next we hopped on a bus for Arica, Chile which is right across the border with Peru. We didn't stay longer than to catch a taxi over the border to Tacna where we bought a bus ticket to Arequipa. The first bus ride took about 20 hours and was overnight and the second about 5.5 hours during the day. Pretty much the whole time in the bus we were going through the Atacama desert, the driest in the world.

From Arequipa

We thought patagonia was dry but there's nothing but dirt in this place. The only exception was when a river happened to be going by. In this case a settlement sprouts up and irrigation brings a refreshing bloom of green to the otherwise brown landscape. We thought that when we got to Peru this would stop but it didn't. Arequipa is (we hope) on the edge of it, but it is very dry as well and the whole trip up it remained very much the same. Irrigation again saves the day, making this a beautiful city with a beautiful temperate climate.

We are staying in a most wonderful little bed and breakfast. It is run by a European (Dutch I think) guy named Hans who bought the house and restored it 5 years ago. While restoring the place he found a pre-columbian archeological site filled with pottery and little stone structures. All the pottery is on display as well as the site so you can walk in and step back in time. In addition to the pool right outside, our room is amazing. We have a beautiful balcony where we sit in the mornings after breakfast and read or relax with the Volcano Mount Misti in the background.

Palm Sunday


Our Palm Sunday started with a delicious breakfast after which we headed downtown to the Plaza de Armas.  When we got there, we heard and saw a band marching around the plaza and headed to the cathedral.  Mass had already started so we hurried inside where there was standing room only.  Before we went in we bought from some street vendors our beautiful palms.  The bishop was saying mass.  During the  “Hosanna Hosanna” chorus, everyone shook their palms in the air.  Later that night, at dusk the procession started. We watched as a band moved into position followed by official looking men and women.  Then the giant doors of the cathedral opened and out came a float with Jesus carrying the cross.  Jesus was carried by about a dozen men in front and another dozen in back.  The crowd clapped and the church bells rang as they got the float down the stairs and then they moved down the plaza a little bit.  Then the same thing happened again, this time with a float with Mary on it.  Then the procession began officially.  Between the floats there was a car with speakers on it which broadcast a woman who was leading the rosary.  Suzanne and I, after taking some pictures and video, joined in the procession and followed it for its whole course.  It was a very prayerful and spiritual experience for us as we contemplated a similar procession that occurred over 2000 years ago as Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem.  Overall the procession went 3 blocks south, 3 blocks east, 3 blocks north and then 3 blocks west to arrive back at the cathedral a little over 2 hours later.

Santa Catalina Convent

On Monday we took a tour of the Santa Catalina Convent.  It's a whole block of the city that was used by an order of Dominican nuns who had cloistered themselves behind these high walls.  Their job was basically to pray all day.  However it was not exactly the ascetic lifestyle that we think of when we think of convents.  This convent was founded by a woman from Spain who recruited her nuns from among the richest families in Spain.  Somehow the nuns were allowed to live in a manner befitting their birth so they were able to have private apartments as well as servants and private things.  According to our tour guide, the 1st daughter of a family was to be married, and the second to go into a convent.  All nuns that entered the convent had to pay a dowry until 1871 when complaints of the extravagance reached the Pope and general reforms began to have their effects.  The Pope sent a strict nun to clean up the convent and she forced all the nuns to live communally and no longer have servants or as many private possessions.  In 1970 the city forced the convent to open up by requiring the convent to have electricity and plumbing.  Now poor, the convent had no option but to open itself up to tourism and that is where we come in. It was like stepping back in time and it's a photographer's paradise.  As you will see, we took a lot of pictures. :)