Huaraz and the 3 Cordilleras

Huaraz was a taste of real Peru. A town set on the frontiers of many massive mountain ranges, the push and pull of gravity is palpable. It felt great to get out of the city and up into some air clean and thin enough for a quick and easy case of the soroche, or altitude sickness. We took many beautiful day hikes up to passes and hanging lakes that are as high as the summits of peaks back home. The weather was predictable as the rainy season sets in, with rain pretty much every afternoon.

The three main mountain ranges are the Cordilleras Blanca, Huayhuash, and Negra. We spent several days with our good buddy Dave at a refugio in a rock forest called Hatun Machay. Sport climbs have been put up there and it felt great to finally break out the gear we´ve been carrying and get down to business, leading out at 14,000 feet. We hiked to a summit of a larger foothill of the Cordillera Negra, where one can supposedly see the Pacific on a clear day.

The climbing was really fun and the rock was beautiful, but the real imprint that the place had on us was through the people we met. We met a campesino woman and her two daughters who had been sheparding through the hills for the past few days. She was very sweet but she had little beyond what she could carry bound up in a colorful bundle on her back. We offered her some of our food and listened to our first exposure to quechua, with some castellano sprinkled in. Seeing the way they spend their days was a gift. Another woman drove her herd to a small summit with her dogs and rested looking out over the mountains, pastures, and down toward the distant sea. Her red skirt had beautiful shimmering beads in a sparse decorative pattern. The contrasts of colors and nature here are stark.

Moving in Peru

Here we are back in Lima after spending several days in the Huaraz area. There are so many memorable moments, but the ones that made a mark are those spent in transit. And when we say a mark, we mean a mark.

The first and most intuitive method of transport is by foot; which we´ve found to be the best. Mostly because you can be the master of your own destiny, for the most part. You just need to know where you´re going and to keep an eye out for vehicles blurring past...

Step into one of those warp speed warped metal contraptions and, well, you´re in for who knows what...

Here are a few things we´ve experienced on various sets of wheels, most of all in combis, the Peruvian staple of the road. A combi is basically a VW bus with retrofitted seats.

• -Cramming 20-25 people inside, and that´s not all babies
• -A driver reading the newspaper about Peru´s loss to Bolivia 3-0
• -Incredibly pushy drivers who don´t mind laying of the horn for as long as it takes for traffic to move; and their attendants, who also direct traffic unofficially, when other cars are moving too slow
• -Sheep. That´s right, a couple sheep are welcome passengers
• -Vomit-buckets
• -Antique speaker systems blaring cumbia
• -Roads that require more than 2 sports bras
• -Milking mamas
• -Splitting headaches as you come down from a dizzying height, the soroche setting in and, as the vice tightens around your temples, another hairpin turn at terminal velocity
• -Femur-crushing ergonomics and surgical insertion of a metal edge right into your spine
• -A variety of horn sounds you can choose from to soup up your ride, including police siren, ambulance and cat-call whistle

Would you step into or off of a moving combi? Oh yeah, we forgot to mention that they barely slow down to pick up and drop off those, what do you call them? Oh, that´s right: passengers!

Second-favorite Peruvian bumper sticker: "Pasame, pero a tu hermana"

This list will surely grow as we continue poking around South America and other destinations. Tomorrow, we leave Lima for Cusco and finally begin moving South in a real way.

Huaraz post to come.

Yahoo Peru!

So, our time Brazil has passed. It´s stolen my heart. In Brazil, all you need is a smile (many people wear little more than that anyways haha). The people are as warm as their sun and the water. Wow, absolutely one of the best places on earth that we´ve seen. We´ve added all our photos to the Brazil album on Picasa, and we´ve started our Peru album. Check them out!

We just arrived in Huaraz, Peru, after spending 3 days in Lima looking at Incan ruins; downtown Lima where we saw all the Spanish architecture and cathedrals; we surfed, yep, in Peru; it was great. We also met up with the Gringo camera crew for a SciFi show called Ghost Hunters International and have been hanging out experiencing the night life with their crazy paranormal group. They are getting paid to travel and explore creepy, old, haunted fortresses, houses, and well you name it.... They´ve really been a fun group! We saw some live music including a U2 cover band which I think was really U2 disguised as latin men. The other group we saw was a sweet fem all girls band who loved the 80s and wore black and pink plastic sunglasses. I hope to get the videos from one of the SciFi camera techs and post it here. Although he fell into the pool yesterday with his camera and all his clothes on, so hopefully the memory card is still intact.
We were staying with a CouchSurfing friend, Paulo, who just got back from some time traveling on a surfing trip and doing a little couch surfing of his own. He was the best guide and a fabulous driver in the chaos of Lima. Who knew there could be so many car horns sounding at once? His family took us in and we stay in their guest section of their house. They were a wonderful, well educated, english speaking family and had similar beliefs about holistic health so it was fun to explore their ideas. Our fist day there we cruised around the city on sweet, townie single speed bikes. It was so nice to get some real exercise after a 16hr traveling day the day before. Although, being on a bicycle (or on foot, for that matter) in hectic Lima traffic is a little scary. I didn´t think traffic could get much worse than Brazil, but what do I know? We still have a lot to see. There could even be one place worse than Lima! Then as I wrote above we explored some ruins and the downtown. For the next two days we went to a beach house about 45 min. down the coast south of Lima at a beatiful place called Punta Hermosa! The waves were pretty big for us, about 1.5 meters and there was a lot of crashing going on. The water was cold, but wetsuits made it feel very comfortable. It was so worth it. The friends that we have made here surf a lot and Nicole´s father was Peru´s national surf champion back in the 70s and she is currently sponsored by many surfing companies at the age of 20, so need I say more but we got a personal surfing lesson in the biggest waves I have ever seen or gotten on, about 1.5 meters. I think I am in heaven! I still have salt water randomly dripping from my nose.
I just have to say one thing about the food, WOW I love peruvian food! Ceviche!!! Leche de Tigre!!! Fried squid and octopus!! Fresh OJ every morning and this weird dessert made of honey and baked with flour called Torron. Mmm so good!

So we are now in Hauraz at about 3100m, surrounded by permanent snow capped peaks of the Cordillera Blanca rising about 5000m. Magnificent and beautiful backdrop! We came by a double decker bus over night and are waiting for time to pass so we can call our next couch surfing host.
That´s my update for now. Have a wonderful weekend. Love you and miss you all!

Best thing that we´ve taken with us on this trip: Smiles
Best Peruvian bumper sticker: ¨Brother, el claxón no empuje¨

Maracana stadium! Flamengo vs. Ipatinga

Maracanã madness and the Cove of Kings

Sorry we've been so long since the last post, but we've been running around southern Brazil. So, after Cabo Frio, we headed back into Rio for a short night and caught a futebol match at Maracanã stadium! Flamengo vs. Ipatinga, 1-0! The home team won! We will load a video of the crazed fans when we get a chance! It was great, and Brazil is hosting the 2014 World Cup, so now we have a reason to come back :) !!

After a sleepless night staying in a hotel near the bus station (rodoviária) in a shady neighboorhood in Rio, we hopped on the bus to Angra dos Reis, the Cove of the Kings, about 200 km west of Rio. Couchsurfing with an American ex-pat and his Brazilian wife. He is one of the few Americans we've met down here, there are mostly Europeans travelling in this area. All the locals keep asking us if we're German or French. Its nice to have an American to relate to, and he is well adapted to life down here. We enjoyed a real Brazilian family churrasco today and sipped cachaça! Life is good!

There are 365 beautiful islands off the coast here. We took a couple days to visit Ilha Grande (pronounced ilya granj), which is pretty much as close to paradise as I can imagine. Its about a 1.5 hour ferry ride (dolphins included in the green green water), and there are trails all over the island for exploring. After camping out for a few very rainy hours, trying to divert the flowing waters from the tent, the sun came out and he hiked to Praia Lopes Mendes. Check these photos; we will add our own photos asap. It was literally an untouched beach with white sand that squeeks under your feet and only one small island to stand in the way of your view of the vast Atlantic, looking south. Stunning!

Up next: A previously unplanned journey to Lima, Peru to meet up with our good friends Dave and Ansley! We leave on Tuesday morning from São Paulo! More details to follow!

The Cold Cape and Blue Sea

The weather has finally started cooperating and we've been able to enjoy some beautifully sunny days on the beach. Cabo Frio is a great city and our host, Mariana is very sweet and patient with our feeble Portuguese! But she speaks english very well, and has showed us much about what daily life is like in this part of the world. For the most part, life is good. People take the time here to enjoy eachother and there is very little rushing around, even when there is work to do. The idea of 'lateness' does not exist in the same way as it does back home. We put so much emphasis on time, that I think we forget to just enjoy eachother's company. We have a lot to learn from this Latin American lifestyle! They know what are the most important things in life!





We visited a town called Buzios and another called Arraial do Cabo. Both were absolutely amazing places. This picture of the sea was taken from a vista above Arraial do Cabo, from which you can see the Great Atlantic stretching out to Africa. The feeling there was beyond words. The sun shone intermittently as the thin clouds raced by in the brilliant blue sky above. The green waves crushed against rocks and the spray hung in the air, allowing plenty of time to reflect on the meaning of the contacts that we make in our own lives. The friends we have made here are like family already, but we've got to keep moving.



These places are absolute paradises. I just keep getting this feeling that we are going back in time. This simple life is the good life.

We checked out a samba 'class' that was more like a party in the town square. Anna learned some new dance moves from some very good Brazilian ladies. They are already getting ready for Carnival 2009 down here! Any reason to have a party is a good one! Another fun and easy dance style we've seen is called forró. Music is everywhere and everyone is as willing to teach you a new dance as they are to listen to you butcher their language!










Let me use this forum to make a plug for this amazing cultural-exchange/cheap-travel website that we've found:

http://www.couchsurfing.com/

Highly recommended!

Our profile:

http://www.couchsurfing.com/people/thecappas

It is exactly what it's name suggests! Contact people in cities that you are visiting and you can stay with them in their homes, instead of in a hotel or hostel where you'd be more likely to meet other foreigners. It's allowed us to see much deeper into the regular life and customs of our global neighbors. It seems quite safe, and if your host/guest is not a good match, you can just move on. We've really made a good friend of Mariana in Cabo Frio, and hope there are many more to come!

For the most part, people are really welcoming and the Portuguese quote of the day is:

'Fica vontade'!

Getting out of town!

So, we're finally out of the big bustling city; we made the move to a smaller city to the east of Rio called Cabo Frio. But before we left, we made a stop at the botanical gardens. I don't know if anybody has been keeping up on the weather in Brazil, but we're under some kind of cold front, and it's been downright chilly round here. The temperature changes very little throughout the day, but its been raining off and on, but mostly all day just misting. So even, with an umbrella its hard to stay dry, with tiny droplets of water attaching themselves to you from all directions. But it's okay; we've just been having quite a few Funbrella days. But today is the first day with some substantial sunshine, so I'm going to try to keep this post brief.

Anyway, the Garden is full of all kinds of strange plants. It felt like we were on another planet. Incredible succulents, bromeliads, and orchids, huge trees. But honestly, the most memorable and entertaining thing about Rio are the buses. They are CRAZY! We've decided that they are like flying sardine cans! They barely slow down for anything, if at all, for pedestrians that better hurry up and get across the street!

So, we have found a very friendly and gracious family to host us here in Cabo Frio. With very little notice, they have welcomed us into their home and only the eldest daughter speaks english. She has been our guide around this beautiful city and our teacher of Portuguese. The hardest word for us to learn has been 'dog' (cachorro), which also happens to be the only problem here at the house; that one dog is very sweet, named Vitulho, and the other is mean and bites. His name is Fofão, and he broke his chain and escaped into the house, where everyone is terrified to go near him.

There are elections coming up in Brazil. There are competing sound-systems blaring campaign ads and music from speakers lashed to the roofs of cars driving around the bairro (neighborhood). Its quite entertaining to try and tease out the different sounds, and now we have some cheesy songs stuck in my head. Here, what we would call 'elevator music', they call 'dor de cotovelo' (elbow pain), so to indicate that you don't like this music, all you have to do is point to your elbow and smile! Never going to forget that one!

Thanks everyone for reading and we love any comments. See some more of our pictures on our picasa album!

Quote of the day: 'Deixa estar jacaré, sua lagoa ainda há de secar.'