Too much fun

We are having too much fun to stop and update our blog at the moment but we did upload some pictures so check them out... Merry Christmas from New Zealand where the beaches are full of surfing dolphins, penguins, albatross, and seals oh my.

Almost back to Brazil!

Iguazu Falls, on the border of Argentina and Brazil. It was great to hear some Portuguese again. Oh, and it was Tony´s B-day.

A little nest under the catwalk.

That´s the kind of wheelchair they use in the Jungle.

Bird park on the Brazil side.

Don´t forget not to give the animals a hamburger.

This isn´t one of those websites...

Making the best of the crutches situation

A real Argentinian asado!

Making ourselves at home in the bus station in Federal after getting dropped off pre-dawn.

In the Truck

Tony and Julio at the Campo he built.

Tony with Lucho, our new good friend.

Believe it or not, Thanksgiving dinner on the bus!

Now we´re in Mendoza, almost back to the border with Chile. We´ve been spending a lot of time on busses lately, getting a lot of reading and uncomfortable sleeping in. On Wednesday, we fly to Auckland, New Zealand!

Desert Whirlwind

Whew. Okay, we´re back in civilization after lots more traveling. Sorry for taking so long for the update, but we´ve been as capricious as the South American wind.

We took a half-hour flight due south over the riots in Tacna from Arequipa, Peru to Arica, Chile (we lost two hours in the time change, oddly enough). Arica is beautiful and, apparently, the scene of some big wave surfing championships. We were quick to pass through, though, and caught the overnight bus to San Pedro de Atacama, smack dab in the middle of the dryest desert in the world. It was great to back in the desert, continuing our Desert LoveAffair (as I like to call it). There, we met up with bunches of other travelers, including some Californians land roving over South America with their dog. We hopped in with them to ride over the border to do some climbing in Tugzle, Argentina, where a bashed ankle happened. We met another "overlander" couple, who are really doing it right! Checked into a great hospital experience in Salta (where all visits are free and the service was very fast!) and were relieved to see a crack-free x-ray. That was good. Anna´s still getting around on crutches, but getting better all the time. After reposing in Salta for a few days, we got a crazy hair and decided to take 24 hour (!!!) bus ride to Iguazu Falls, back on the border with Brazil and Paraguay, which is where we are now. It´s hot and there´s a pet monkey down the street named Mona who mostly ignores you, but when she looks at you, she raises her eyebrows in the most curious way. We head to the Falls proper tomorrow, and I´m sure there will be lots of photos to share about that!

Ok. Here´s a bit of what we got:

Wow. The Valley of the Moon. Sunset bike ride. Awesome.

Dunes

Near San Pedro is the Chuquicamata copper mine, the world´s largest copper mine (this place is full of superlatives). My grandfather (this is Tony writing), Robert Lydon, worked there as a chemist in the late 1920´s and early 1930´s. Here´s a photo of him from the same epoch, in front of the monument in Civic Center Park in Denver, where he grew up.


It was emotional for me to be there. I never met him. Things sure have changed since he was there. The Chuquicamata town and it´s buildings have all been closed off; most North Americans are gone, and the mine has expanded to epic proportions. Nonetheless, it felt good to make some connection to the past and to a place where he was as a young man.



So, about our friends from California: check their page. We had a lot in common! Turns out, they were on their way to do some rock climbing across the border from Argentina. "Well, how about that!", we said, and promptly tagged along!

The beautiful rig.

Steve and the GPS wait for the llamas to cross the road, somewhere out in the middle of the Altiplano, on the Tropic of Cancercorn (as we kept calling it; the altitude was going to our heads).

With Sierra, the dog, always on the lookout for stray vicuñas and llamas that have wandered from the herd.

Pretty good volcanic tuff bouldering to be had at Tugzle, with lots more to be cleaned up and climbed on. Although at 4000+ meters, even walking is tough.

A delicious frisbee of bread for lunch. Mmm! Gus, you´re missing out!

The beautiful view from SprainedAnkle´sVille. Look at the size of that thing!

Anna getting around with her make-shift crutches: a shovel and a camp chair, showing off the cruiser of a couple from Holland who have been traveling the world now for FIVE AND HALF YEARS!! Check out their site.

Unbelievable. I think all this exposure to these long-term overland travellers has planted some ideas in our heads...

Love that desert! Blazing hot and windy during the day, and freezing cold and still windy at night! It´s the only way to keep the dust out of your eyes.

Thanks for reading and we love you all! More pics in Picasa!

Southern Peru Stalemate

We´ve been in Arequipa for about the past week and as soon as we arrived, we heard from a cabbie that new strikes and roadblocks are flaring up further south. No!! That´s the only direction that we need to go! North is where we are coming from, to the west is the ocean, east is Bolivia (with its expensive visas for us estadounidenses, and an explicit official dislike for the same). The strikes are brought on by disputes over the distribution of the mineral wealth of the region. Two cities are at odds: Moquegua and Tacna. Under old rules, one was losing out. Under new proposed rules, the other stands to lose out. Hence, stalemate. So bad that the government here has declared a state of emergency! More here if you´re interested.

But, a message to moms, we are still very far from any violence. So don´t worry about us. The city of Arequipa is beautiful. People here are very proud of their city. The area here is surrounded by volcanoes, and many of the buildings are built out of large blocks of white volcanic rock and everything is kept very clean, the cleanest city we have seen in Peru. Part of our love for this place is that it reminds us so much of home. A high, dry, thriving desert city perched below tall mountains and blue skies. The outskirts are very green and lush; a great deal of irrigation has allowed life here. Ranching, livestock, and mining abound. We heard about corridas de toros in which two bulls fight in the ring. We are yet to see it, but it sounds really interesting. In many ways, it feels like we have stepped back in time quite a bit. The shops are full of dusty leather, saddles, guitars, and flutes. We saw a shop that had this old school printing press:

But at the same time, the city is flooded with young people, and here we are connecting to the universe on the web. Here, you can see, from a simplified perspective, two ways of life. The older generation with their traditional dress, and the younger people yearning for a modern lifestyle. The culture of the city seems to be blossoming. We went to see a free presentation of Bizet´s Carmen at the Claustros de la Compañia near the Plaza de Armas. It was an amazing show in a peaceful courtyard under the moon and Southern skies, with the guest director coming from Buenos Aires. The lights went out halfway through the final act, and the orchestra finished the climax in the dark! We also saw a choral concert that was very fun and playful and also deeply expressive and appreciative of the artform of composition as it grows in its own way in Latin America.

Nearby are some massive cañones and some incredible countryside. Colca cañon is, apparently, one of the deepest canyons in the world, so we decided to go check it out. Deep is right! Getting down to the bottom was work enough, but getting back up to the top, well that was another story. We hiked around for 3 days, and 2 nights, coming back early than we would have liked so that we could keep travelling south. Oh well. We are flying to Northern Chile tomorrow afternoon. Here´s some pics from the canyon and from our time here:

The local paper with pics of what´s going on in Tacna

We Cuyed! That right there is a cuy chactado (i.e., fried guinea pig)

The view from the Colca Canyon´s rim

With our buddy, Rob, at the mirador de Yanahuana, with El Misti in the background

We´re on our way to Arica, Chile, tomorrow. The roadblocks and strikes show no sign of stopping (already in their 9th day), so we´re going to fly over that mess in an aeroplane.

Hope everyone had a great halloween. People here are also relieved that Barack won. I think that the rest of the world is proud of us, America. I have a feeling that the States that we will return home to next year will be a different one...

Whew! What a trip!

We made it out of Cusco to Arequipa (which is one of the most beautiful cities we´ve seen in a while) on an overnight bus that drove right into the middle of the roadblock! We decided to take a less well-travelled route than the Panamerican Highway, and opted for a dodgy-sounding back road that was supposed to take "just a little bit longer" than the main route that was very officially closed. So, after stopping the bus and sitting quietly for a while, 2 truckloads of police with shields and guns drove up to escort our group through the midst. After several more delays, we started to see rocks piled up in the road, big ones, small ones, trees, you name it. Our bus driver muscled his way through the pack and as we approached a small town, the tension in the air was practically palpable. We rolled past a burning tire on the side of the road, but there was some talk about the bridge into town being on fire...

Very exciting. We crept up to the flames, but sped by as the fumes were nasty. In town, there was another bottleneck. People on the side of the road, many obstacles, including a smoldering tree trunk. The instant we passed the tree, a rock came flying right at our window! Bam!! No broken glass or anything, just a mark, but it was definitely frightening. The whole time, we were afraid that we would hear the word that we would have to turn around and head back to Cusco through all that mess as we had seen other busses with "Arequipa" in their windows heading the wrong direction. But finally our salvation was in sight. The road ahead was completely dark and crossed one more bridge before heading up into the hills and out of the populated valley. Our bus attendant got out and paid a toll (or bribe) to someone at the bridge and our bloated bus crawled onto the wooden planks lining the bridge. After a little creaking (but no cracking, luckily) we were homefree! Homefree on a rainy night on a hairpin switchback dirt road also too small for a bus. At several bends, the bus driver had to make couple-point turns, tapping some boulders while he was at it. These poor busses take a beating.

The rest of the road was long and dark and uneventful (including too few bathroom stops; ask Anna about that), and we rolled into Arequipa as the sun rose over this beautiful high desert with volcanic peaks scratching the skies.

Heres some more photos from our world:

Compare these photos. One shows modern restoration of walls at Saqsaywamán, an Inca site just outside of Cusco. The other shows an original section of wall, including a couple limestone blocks weighing in over 100 tons that were dragged from a site 7 km away!

The original stone at this area is this beautifully carved granite.

These are the festive breads of All Saints week. There are baby ones too, but it would have been just too wierd to eat a baby.

The ticket "window" at Garcilaso stadium where we caught a Sunday game. Ciecianos (Cusco) beat Melgar de Arequipa 3-1 .

The police aren´t above helping to resolve disputes on the field. They also protect the visiting team from flying objects.

The penalty kick that won the match.

That´s about it for now. Thanks to everyone (the faithful four) who voted in the poll. You guys are probably sick of being polled right now anyway. The election is almost here!! I guess we´ll keep mixing it up with some photos and writing. Videos take too long to load on these South American connections.

Cañon de Colca and some tall mountains around here are calling our names right now. Although, there´s rumor brewing about another roadblock in Möquegua further south... More stories in our next installation! Until then!!

Cusco

Here we are stuck in Cusco. But we are making the best of it. It has been raining pretty much everyday and today has been a deluge. So I (Tony) started a Facebook account, finally. I guess its okay haha. So if you have a profile, look me up. I'll try to convince Anna to start one too. I´ve also had some free time because Anna is taking a Spanish course in the afternoons. The school is up and coming in Cusco. It is called Fairplay Peru, and it is a non-profit that employs local Cusqueña single mothers at a fair wage to teach Spanish to foreigners. Pretty cool. There is a great sense of community and the other night, we attended a cooking class where we learned how to make papa rellena. Highly recommended. Oh, and there are a lot of foreigners here.

The reason why we are stuck is because of a road-block and riots that have been going on to the south, in a little town called Sicuani. Here is a link to the only English-language article about it that I could find, if you are interested. Apparently there is some resistance to the constrution of a hydroelectric plant as the chief complaint. But people down here, especially the campesinos, the country people, have plenty of reasons to be disgruntled and they aren´t afraid to show it. Much of Peru´s population lives a traditional lifestyle in the hills, farming in small communities and speaking Quechua, the language of the Incas. But, a friend told us that when they want their voices to be heard about something, there is pretty much no stopping them. These strikes and road-blocks are pretty much a weekly occurence, from what we hear. The government on many levels is riddled with corruption, infrastructure is in tatters, and the economy here is worse off than many of Peru´s neighbors. On top of all this, the Sendero Luminoso, the Shining Path, is making a violent resurgence in southern Peru.

So, for what its worth, in the mornings this week, we have been volunteering at a local comissaria, or police station of sorts, in the Santiago district of Cusco, that takes in children that have been abandoned, have run away from home, have been abused in some way, or have been getting involved in some minor crimes, like stealing or using drugs. The kids range in age from 0 to 17 years and may stay in this detention, which is basically one-room with bunk beds and spare mattresses, for weeks or months until their situation is resolved. We did what we could to help, taught a little English and math, took the kids out to run around and play ball in a nearby court. The organization that arranges this is called Aldea Yanapay, which is interested in keeping volunteering free, as it should be. I don't know if anybody who is reading this has looked into international volunteering opportunities, but there are many agencies out there now trying to make a profit off placing volunteers with organizations that may need them. If you ever find yourself in Cusco, look them up.

In any case, we are hanging in there, and hoping that these conflicts will be resolved so we can figure out where we are going to go next.

Much love,
Tony

Old Mountain

wow. That´s about all I can think to say right now...



Here´s what Pablo Neruda had to say:

"Entonces en la escala de la tierra he subido

entre la atroz maraña de las selvas perdidas

hasta ti, Macchu Picchu.

Alta ciudad de piedras escalares,

por fin morada del que lo terrestre

no escondió en las dormidas vestiduras.

En ti, como dos líneas paralelas,

la cuna del relámpago y del hombre

se mecían en un viento de espinas.

Madre de piedra, espuma de los cóndores.

Alto arrecife de la aurora humana.

Pala perdida en la primera arena.

Ésta fue la morada, éste es el sitio:

aquí los anchos granos del maíz ascendieron

y bajaron de nuevo como granizo rojo.
Aquí la hebra dorada salió de la vicuña

a vestir los amores, los túmulos, las madres,

el rey, las oraciones, los guerreros.

Aquí los pies del hombre descansaron de noche

junto a los pies del águila, en las altas guaridas

carniceras, y en la aurora

pisaron con los pies del trueno la niebla enrarecida,

y tocaron las tierras y las piedras

hasta reconocerlas en la noche o la muerte.

Miro las vestiduras y las manos,

el vestigio del agua en la oquedad sonora,

la pared suavizada por el tacto de un rostro

que miró con mis ojos las lámparas terrestres,

que aceitó con mis manos las desaparecidas

maderas: porque todo, ropaje, piel, vasijas,

palabras, vino, panes,

se fue, cayó a la tierra.

Y el aire entró con dedos

de azahar sobre todos los dormidos:

mil años de aire, meses, semanas de aire,

de viento azul, de cordillera férrea,

que fueron como suaves huracanes de pasos

lustrando el solitario recinto de la piedra."

-Canto General, Las Alturas de Machu Picchu (1950)