Saturday, November 21, 2009
Out of touch
We head to the Galapagos tomorrow and will be out of touch (on a sailboat) until the following Sunday. Talk to you later!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Drawing a line in the sand
Thanks to some very nice big reclining leather VIP seats on a very first-class bus, VJ was convinced to endure about 7 hours of bus ride each way, for one 30-minute fly-over of the Nazca lines.
The Nazca lines are a strange mystery located in the desert of western Peru, near the town of Nazca. Throughout the desert, gigantic figures (100 metres +) have been drawn on the desert floor, by the Nazca civilization over a thousand years ago. They take the form of hummingbirds, condors, monkeys, whales, and many are done with such precision that lines continue for 100 metres, perfectly straight and parallel. There are also hundreds of large geometric shapes (mostly long triangles) and straight lines that extend for kilometres, perfectly. What is even more mind-boggling is that the figures are so large that they can not even be seen or comprehended from ground level. They were not even discovered until this century when flights started travelling over the area. In fact, the PanAmerican highway runs right over some of the figures because they didn't realize they were there.
Not only does it make you wonder how they were able to draw these figures and do it so precisely, it also makes you wonder WHO or WHAT they did it for? If the pictures can only be understood from above, who were they for?
A woman from Germany devoted 40 years of her life to trying to figure this out. She looked at relationships between the lines and the patterns of the sun, stars, etc., but never did come up with an answer.
Veronica and I took to the air in a little 4-seater plane to get a good look at the figures. The pilot was an excellent guide who made sure that all 3 tourists got the ideal view of each figure. He would bank the small plane completely on to its side and do an entire circle around the figure, only to then quickly whip the plane onto its other side, saying "and now on the right side of the plane"....
After half an hour of this over and over again, VJ and I were pretty green but managed to make it back to the ground without using the plastic bags....
We hung out in our hotel room for about an hour before we felt ready to go out again.
The Nazca lines are a strange mystery located in the desert of western Peru, near the town of Nazca. Throughout the desert, gigantic figures (100 metres +) have been drawn on the desert floor, by the Nazca civilization over a thousand years ago. They take the form of hummingbirds, condors, monkeys, whales, and many are done with such precision that lines continue for 100 metres, perfectly straight and parallel. There are also hundreds of large geometric shapes (mostly long triangles) and straight lines that extend for kilometres, perfectly. What is even more mind-boggling is that the figures are so large that they can not even be seen or comprehended from ground level. They were not even discovered until this century when flights started travelling over the area. In fact, the PanAmerican highway runs right over some of the figures because they didn't realize they were there.
Not only does it make you wonder how they were able to draw these figures and do it so precisely, it also makes you wonder WHO or WHAT they did it for? If the pictures can only be understood from above, who were they for?
A woman from Germany devoted 40 years of her life to trying to figure this out. She looked at relationships between the lines and the patterns of the sun, stars, etc., but never did come up with an answer.
Veronica and I took to the air in a little 4-seater plane to get a good look at the figures. The pilot was an excellent guide who made sure that all 3 tourists got the ideal view of each figure. He would bank the small plane completely on to its side and do an entire circle around the figure, only to then quickly whip the plane onto its other side, saying "and now on the right side of the plane"....
After half an hour of this over and over again, VJ and I were pretty green but managed to make it back to the ground without using the plastic bags....
We hung out in our hotel room for about an hour before we felt ready to go out again.
Lima - life in the big city
Normally we're not fans of big cities when we travel. They all seem the same. But Lima grew on us a little and the city had a few cool sites. First was the monastery of San Francisco. Even though we're also not big fans of churches (Latin America has A LOT of them and you can tire of them all after a while), this one had something extra that we were interested in: catacombs! After a tour of the monestary and some cool history of what it was like to be a Franciscan Monk, we headed underground. We were soon greeted by the sight of deep piles of femurs and skulls from 25,000 bodies! And if this weren't enough, someone at some point in history went to the "artistic" effort of arranging them if various patterns: sometimes rows of femurs all aligned and then arrays of skulls, and one circular holding area where the femurs and skulls each formed alternating elegant concentric circles to fill the entire holding space.
After that, we took advantage of being close to Chinatown to indulge in what was the best Chinese food we have had ANYWHERE. Who would have thought we'd find it in Peru...
It was a nice change from the Peruvian food.
After lunch, it was off to the Musuem of the Spanish Inquisition. Yes, Lima was one of three cities in the Americas that was host to the Spanish Inquisition tribunals. The tour started in the actual room where the trials were held. From there, we walked past displays that provided history, toured the prison cells and showed some of the examples of the tortures that were delivered to people who were found guilty of not being good Catholics (including those who practised forms of Christianity other than Catholicism) and made to repent. About 30 people were punished to death in Peru (much much less than in Europe, where it is estimated that 1000-2000 people were executed). Being burned at the stake was a typical method.
The Inquisitions, however, only had jurisdiction over baptized Christians. This saved the indigenous people of Peru from being tried. The Spaniards viewed the indigenous people as being equivalent to animals and without a soul, thus they were not held responsible for their wrong-doings.
After that, we took advantage of being close to Chinatown to indulge in what was the best Chinese food we have had ANYWHERE. Who would have thought we'd find it in Peru...
It was a nice change from the Peruvian food.
After lunch, it was off to the Musuem of the Spanish Inquisition. Yes, Lima was one of three cities in the Americas that was host to the Spanish Inquisition tribunals. The tour started in the actual room where the trials were held. From there, we walked past displays that provided history, toured the prison cells and showed some of the examples of the tortures that were delivered to people who were found guilty of not being good Catholics (including those who practised forms of Christianity other than Catholicism) and made to repent. About 30 people were punished to death in Peru (much much less than in Europe, where it is estimated that 1000-2000 people were executed). Being burned at the stake was a typical method.
The Inquisitions, however, only had jurisdiction over baptized Christians. This saved the indigenous people of Peru from being tried. The Spaniards viewed the indigenous people as being equivalent to animals and without a soul, thus they were not held responsible for their wrong-doings.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Giant lilypads, almost 2 metres in diameter.
Some of the canoes at the lodge, and the vegetation that fills all of the ponds and rivers.
Going for a swim in the Amazon river, where the pink dolphins were swimming.
The amount of current was surprising, so after a few minutes of treading water, you asked for a life jacket....
Finding a tarantula on a trek near the lodge
(when you're decorated with war paint like a local tribal warrior, you feel confident enough to do anything)
Another big catch during a morning of piranha fishing in the Amazon. There were a few BIG bites on the line but we didn't manage to get the big ones out of the water.
The chef at the lodge cooked these up for us. The meat is tasty enough, but there are a lot of bones in a piranha.
Still, it's great fun trying to catch these guys and pull them out of the water, but they are reeeeaaaalllly good at eating all of the bait off your hook without getting caught.
Our hut in the Amazon. The stilts are necessary for when the water level gets higher.
A Fer de Lance, a very poisonous snake.
Touring around in the boat at night, looking for caimans on the Amazon.
Finding an armoured millipede during one of our jungle walks.
Djungel Boken
Vi är tillbaka från vårat besök till Amazon floden och dess djungel. Och vilken resa! Det är svårt att beskriva känslorna man har när man får uppleva ett ställe man aldrig trodde att man skulle få se.
Våran djungel lodge låg 140 km upp för floden från staden Iquitos och det tog oss 3.5 timmar med båt att ta oss dit. Vi blev hälsade välkomna med ett kallt glas juice av lodge chefen och sedan fick vi en buffe lunch. Efter lunchen gav vi oss ut på en liten upptäcktsfärd i djungeln precis bakom våran lodge. Det var inte en särskilt lång vandring, men vi hade turen att se flera olika apor, insekter, fåglar, och en tarantula spindel. En utav aporna var en "Howler Monkey". Vet inte vad den heter på Svenska, skrikande eller gapande apa kanske. Den låter som ett stort lejon, men är inte särskilt stor. Våran guide gillade verkligen att se dem, eftersom de är ganska skygga och ofta drar sig undan när människor kommer. Våran guide var rätt så förtjust i att härma djur för att försöka locka dem till sig...men det funkade naturligtvis aldrig!
Vi han med två till tre upptäcktsfärder om dagen. Vi gick på längre djungel turer, båt turer och simturer. Vi såg jätte många olika apor, fåglar, ormar, fiskar, insekter, spindlar, ett trögdjur (sloth), caymans och mycket mer. En av ormarna var en Ter De Lance, områdets mest giftiga orm. Vi blev även påminda att alla spindlar är giftiga, även de minsta.
En båttur för att fiska pirana fiskar blev avbruten av ett oväder. Regn och åska kom farande men en himla fart! Vi vände båten för att åka tillbaka men blev fast i ovädret. Två blixtar slog ned framför båten och man kände hur håret reste sig och kroppen kändes konstig. Motorn slogs av och båtföraren hade lite svårt att få igång den igen. Vi satt hukade på golvet så gott vi kunde och hoppades att vi skulle slippa undan fler blixtnedslag. Som tur var tog vi oss fram till våran brygga oskadda och vi kunde pusta ut. Vi sköt upp fiskandet till nästa dag!
Vi fick flera piranafiskar var nästa dag och jag fick även en annan kostig fisk. Kockarna på lodgen lagade till dem till lunch och de var jätte goda! Samma dag fick vi även se näckrosblad som var 2-3m i diameter (de når sin maxstorlek på bara 8 veckor!) och vi fick simma med delfiner i Amazonfloden. Det finns två typer av delfiner där, en rosa och en grå delfin. Vi såg båda två. Vattnet var ganska strömt så vi hade flytvästar på oss när vi badade.
Det är slutet på den torra perioden i Amazonen just nu så vattnet var ganska lågt. Under regnperioden som börjar i slutet på November så stiger vattnet med 8-12 meters. Skulle vara kul att se floden då.
För dem som gillar fåglar så är det här ett paradis. Vi såg så mycket olika fåglar varje dag. De flesta hade man aldrig hört talas om men en hel del kände man igen som papegoja, toucon, häger och hök. En del fåglar såg ut som regnbågar och en annan liten fågel gav ifrån sig ett jätte lustigt ljud. Det lät som om en stor vattendroppe föll ur en kran (plopp). Och den lyfte alltid på skjärten när den ploppade.
Vi har varit i Lima en dag nu. Var på museum och i ett stort kloster med katakomber i morse, men det bästa i dag var kinamaten vi åt till lunch!! I morgon ska vi ta en buss ned till Nazca för att se Nazca linjerna.
Våran djungel lodge låg 140 km upp för floden från staden Iquitos och det tog oss 3.5 timmar med båt att ta oss dit. Vi blev hälsade välkomna med ett kallt glas juice av lodge chefen och sedan fick vi en buffe lunch. Efter lunchen gav vi oss ut på en liten upptäcktsfärd i djungeln precis bakom våran lodge. Det var inte en särskilt lång vandring, men vi hade turen att se flera olika apor, insekter, fåglar, och en tarantula spindel. En utav aporna var en "Howler Monkey". Vet inte vad den heter på Svenska, skrikande eller gapande apa kanske. Den låter som ett stort lejon, men är inte särskilt stor. Våran guide gillade verkligen att se dem, eftersom de är ganska skygga och ofta drar sig undan när människor kommer. Våran guide var rätt så förtjust i att härma djur för att försöka locka dem till sig...men det funkade naturligtvis aldrig!
Vi han med två till tre upptäcktsfärder om dagen. Vi gick på längre djungel turer, båt turer och simturer. Vi såg jätte många olika apor, fåglar, ormar, fiskar, insekter, spindlar, ett trögdjur (sloth), caymans och mycket mer. En av ormarna var en Ter De Lance, områdets mest giftiga orm. Vi blev även påminda att alla spindlar är giftiga, även de minsta.
En båttur för att fiska pirana fiskar blev avbruten av ett oväder. Regn och åska kom farande men en himla fart! Vi vände båten för att åka tillbaka men blev fast i ovädret. Två blixtar slog ned framför båten och man kände hur håret reste sig och kroppen kändes konstig. Motorn slogs av och båtföraren hade lite svårt att få igång den igen. Vi satt hukade på golvet så gott vi kunde och hoppades att vi skulle slippa undan fler blixtnedslag. Som tur var tog vi oss fram till våran brygga oskadda och vi kunde pusta ut. Vi sköt upp fiskandet till nästa dag!
Vi fick flera piranafiskar var nästa dag och jag fick även en annan kostig fisk. Kockarna på lodgen lagade till dem till lunch och de var jätte goda! Samma dag fick vi även se näckrosblad som var 2-3m i diameter (de når sin maxstorlek på bara 8 veckor!) och vi fick simma med delfiner i Amazonfloden. Det finns två typer av delfiner där, en rosa och en grå delfin. Vi såg båda två. Vattnet var ganska strömt så vi hade flytvästar på oss när vi badade.
Det är slutet på den torra perioden i Amazonen just nu så vattnet var ganska lågt. Under regnperioden som börjar i slutet på November så stiger vattnet med 8-12 meters. Skulle vara kul att se floden då.
För dem som gillar fåglar så är det här ett paradis. Vi såg så mycket olika fåglar varje dag. De flesta hade man aldrig hört talas om men en hel del kände man igen som papegoja, toucon, häger och hök. En del fåglar såg ut som regnbågar och en annan liten fågel gav ifrån sig ett jätte lustigt ljud. Det lät som om en stor vattendroppe föll ur en kran (plopp). Och den lyfte alltid på skjärten när den ploppade.
Vi har varit i Lima en dag nu. Var på museum och i ett stort kloster med katakomber i morse, men det bästa i dag var kinamaten vi åt till lunch!! I morgon ska vi ta en buss ned till Nazca för att se Nazca linjerna.
One of the locals in the village of Colchani, helping his family process and bag salt from the salt flats
The locals bagging up the salt. Once they bag 50 of these 1-kilogram bags, they sell that batch for 8 Bolivianos, just over a dollar. (that's after gathering, drying, treating and iodizing)
Veronica crossing the border from Peru to Bolivia
The floating islands (made of reeds from the lake), reed huts and a reed boat on Lake Titicaca, Peru
Hanging out with the Inka king in Cusco, Peru
Jungle Fever
Wow, what an amazing trip into the Amazon!!! After spending a day in Iquitos fighting the extreme heat and humidity, we escaped 140km upriver on the Amazon to a jungle lodge called Muyuna Lodge. The lodge complex was sitting on a side arm off of the Amazon right in the middle of the jungle and it was absolutely stunning! We had a little jungle hut with our own private bathroom and our own hammock to ourselves. The entire thing was covered in mosquito net to keep the gringos safe from the creepy crawlies (and there were a lot of them, trust me!).
Upon arrival we were greeted by the manager with a cold juice while some lodge staff took our bags to our hut. Immediately after lunch we set off on our first jungle trek. This was a shorter hike that took us in behind the lodge, but we managed to see and hear more than some people see in their entire stay at the lodge. Several spieces of monkies, including the famous Howler Monkey and the smallest monkey in the world, the Marmoset Monkey, lots of birds, a tarantula spider, bullet ants and a bunch of other insects and plants. Our guide Julio was quite excited by the Howler Monkeys and when they stopped making the howler sound, he quickly took over and made his own howling sound. Not sure why it is that most natural guides think they can attract the animals by trying to imitate their sounds....it never works!
We met a bunch of other lodge visitors over our buffet dinner and in the evening we were all treated to a night ride in the boat looking for nocturnal life. Again we were super lucky and managed to catch a Caiman. Caimans in the Amazon can live up to 70 years and grow up to 7 meters long. The one we caught was about 3 years old and roughly 1 -1.5 meters long. We all took turns holding it. Very, very cool!
The following couple of days we made excursions of various sorts, looking for wildlife in the area. Another jungle trek which was more remote and a bit longer than the first one had us discovering more monkeys and snakes. One of the snakes that we saw is the most poisonous land snake of the area, the Fer De Lance. It was sitting on a log by the water's edge and it had a serious cut on its body. Our guide thinks that a hawk must have grabbed it and then dropped it. Lucky for the snake to have survived! We also saw an aquatic Fer De Lance.
We made an attempt to go Piranha fishing but a severe rain and thunder stormed moved in on us. We got caught in the storm on the water trying to rush back to the lodge. The rain was so heavy that it was almost impossible to see where we were going. Two lightning bolts hit the water right in front of our boat making us all feel tingly and strange....and very scared. One of them killed our motor and the driver had to work pretty hard to get us moving again. Very strange that it didn't hit us since our boat was made of aluminum or something similar. I had a moment of "Hmm, this is why I was so afraid of thunder as a kid - I'm going to die from lightning", but thankfully we managed to get back to the lodge. We were all pretty shaken up and decided to go fishing the next day instead. Piranha fishing was super fun. We both caught a bunch and I also caught something else fun and weird. The chefs at the lodge cooked them up for us for lunch and they were all very tasty. We also had a chance to see giant Lily pads, prehistoric birds and river dolphins. There are two kinds of river dolphins in the Amazon, the pink dolphin and the gray dolphin. During the dolphin searching we also got a chance to jump in and swim around in the Amazon! Pretty amazing! But also a bit weird since the last few days had been spend getting information about all the poisonous and dangerous stuff that lives in the jungle and in the river.
This place would be heaven for any bird lover. Every morning we would wake up to a very loud concert of birds hanging out in the trees outside the hut. When on the river we would see so many different birds that it was hard to keep track. Parrots, Toucans, Herons, Hawks, Vultures, and so many birds native to the area that I can't remember the name of. One of them was especially fun. It would sit down and make a sound like a big waterdrop was dripping out of a huge tap (blooop), and while making the sound it would flip the bum feathers up in the air and expose the bum.
On the last night after a rain storm had blown through I was hanging out in our hammock and really enjoying the cool air moving in. I thought that if the air gets this cool, I could easily enjoy living here. As the evening went on I kept getting cooler and I keep thinking that "this is great", but after a couple of hours I found myself in bed with a big fleece blanked wrapped around me and I realized that the air was not getting colder....I was having a fever! It was over in a couple of hours and then I felt fine again. I probably reacted to the very hot weather and might have been a bit dehydrated.
It was hard to leave the lodge. We had so much fun exploring the jungle and the river and all the people at the lodge were super fun to hang around. I would very much recommend anyone who would like to see the Amazon to visit the Muyuna Lodge. The staff makes the entire trip super easy. You can be met at the airport in Iquitos and be taken care of from there on. Seeing the Amazon is an experience unlike any other! A very special trip!
Upon arrival we were greeted by the manager with a cold juice while some lodge staff took our bags to our hut. Immediately after lunch we set off on our first jungle trek. This was a shorter hike that took us in behind the lodge, but we managed to see and hear more than some people see in their entire stay at the lodge. Several spieces of monkies, including the famous Howler Monkey and the smallest monkey in the world, the Marmoset Monkey, lots of birds, a tarantula spider, bullet ants and a bunch of other insects and plants. Our guide Julio was quite excited by the Howler Monkeys and when they stopped making the howler sound, he quickly took over and made his own howling sound. Not sure why it is that most natural guides think they can attract the animals by trying to imitate their sounds....it never works!
We met a bunch of other lodge visitors over our buffet dinner and in the evening we were all treated to a night ride in the boat looking for nocturnal life. Again we were super lucky and managed to catch a Caiman. Caimans in the Amazon can live up to 70 years and grow up to 7 meters long. The one we caught was about 3 years old and roughly 1 -1.5 meters long. We all took turns holding it. Very, very cool!
The following couple of days we made excursions of various sorts, looking for wildlife in the area. Another jungle trek which was more remote and a bit longer than the first one had us discovering more monkeys and snakes. One of the snakes that we saw is the most poisonous land snake of the area, the Fer De Lance. It was sitting on a log by the water's edge and it had a serious cut on its body. Our guide thinks that a hawk must have grabbed it and then dropped it. Lucky for the snake to have survived! We also saw an aquatic Fer De Lance.
We made an attempt to go Piranha fishing but a severe rain and thunder stormed moved in on us. We got caught in the storm on the water trying to rush back to the lodge. The rain was so heavy that it was almost impossible to see where we were going. Two lightning bolts hit the water right in front of our boat making us all feel tingly and strange....and very scared. One of them killed our motor and the driver had to work pretty hard to get us moving again. Very strange that it didn't hit us since our boat was made of aluminum or something similar. I had a moment of "Hmm, this is why I was so afraid of thunder as a kid - I'm going to die from lightning", but thankfully we managed to get back to the lodge. We were all pretty shaken up and decided to go fishing the next day instead. Piranha fishing was super fun. We both caught a bunch and I also caught something else fun and weird. The chefs at the lodge cooked them up for us for lunch and they were all very tasty. We also had a chance to see giant Lily pads, prehistoric birds and river dolphins. There are two kinds of river dolphins in the Amazon, the pink dolphin and the gray dolphin. During the dolphin searching we also got a chance to jump in and swim around in the Amazon! Pretty amazing! But also a bit weird since the last few days had been spend getting information about all the poisonous and dangerous stuff that lives in the jungle and in the river.
This place would be heaven for any bird lover. Every morning we would wake up to a very loud concert of birds hanging out in the trees outside the hut. When on the river we would see so many different birds that it was hard to keep track. Parrots, Toucans, Herons, Hawks, Vultures, and so many birds native to the area that I can't remember the name of. One of them was especially fun. It would sit down and make a sound like a big waterdrop was dripping out of a huge tap (blooop), and while making the sound it would flip the bum feathers up in the air and expose the bum.
On the last night after a rain storm had blown through I was hanging out in our hammock and really enjoying the cool air moving in. I thought that if the air gets this cool, I could easily enjoy living here. As the evening went on I kept getting cooler and I keep thinking that "this is great", but after a couple of hours I found myself in bed with a big fleece blanked wrapped around me and I realized that the air was not getting colder....I was having a fever! It was over in a couple of hours and then I felt fine again. I probably reacted to the very hot weather and might have been a bit dehydrated.
It was hard to leave the lodge. We had so much fun exploring the jungle and the river and all the people at the lodge were super fun to hang around. I would very much recommend anyone who would like to see the Amazon to visit the Muyuna Lodge. The staff makes the entire trip super easy. You can be met at the airport in Iquitos and be taken care of from there on. Seeing the Amazon is an experience unlike any other! A very special trip!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Random observations...
We´ve returned from the Amazon and have plenty of great stories to tell about that. We´ll save that for tomorrow when we have some more time. Also, hopefully we will find a good internet connection so that we can upload some more photos; uploading photos is almost impossible when the connections are slow. We're now in Lima and I can assure you that the hostel we are staying in is better than our first introduction to Lima....
Here's just a random observation or two about South America or travel in general....
is it just me, or does anyone else find it strange/unnerving that:
...your shower is heated by an electrical shower head. Soooo.... you are standing there, soaking wet, underneath 220 volts of electricity, and the wiring has clearly been twisted together by hand and is barely covered by some cheap electrical tape that is peeling away... I'm sure that this is similar to how they executed people before they invented the electric chair... (we actually did meet one girl who had been electrocuted twice so far on her trip)
...you walk down the street and are politely greeted by some really big guy who asks you, in a very official manner, whether you would like to change some money. He is holding a huge wad of local currency that he proudly shows you, and seems to be just standing on the curb, doing business...
... everywhere in Bolivia seemed to require a bus ride that was about 10 to 13 hours long, even though the distances were only about 250 to 450 kilometers. Most of these buses ran at night which meant that if you don't sleep well on buses, you were a wreck by the time you arrived.
... everyone in South America seems to have at least 2 cell phones. I'm still trying to figure out why...
Here's just a random observation or two about South America or travel in general....
is it just me, or does anyone else find it strange/unnerving that:
...your shower is heated by an electrical shower head. Soooo.... you are standing there, soaking wet, underneath 220 volts of electricity, and the wiring has clearly been twisted together by hand and is barely covered by some cheap electrical tape that is peeling away... I'm sure that this is similar to how they executed people before they invented the electric chair... (we actually did meet one girl who had been electrocuted twice so far on her trip)
...you walk down the street and are politely greeted by some really big guy who asks you, in a very official manner, whether you would like to change some money. He is holding a huge wad of local currency that he proudly shows you, and seems to be just standing on the curb, doing business...
... everywhere in Bolivia seemed to require a bus ride that was about 10 to 13 hours long, even though the distances were only about 250 to 450 kilometers. Most of these buses ran at night which meant that if you don't sleep well on buses, you were a wreck by the time you arrived.
... everyone in South America seems to have at least 2 cell phones. I'm still trying to figure out why...
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Amazon
The Swedish keyboard doesn't work here so a Swedish post will have to wait.
We arrived in Iquitos (north east Peru) yesterday evening while a very cool thunder storm was displaying some neat lightning at the edge of the city. As soon as we stepped off the plane we knew that we were in the tropics with a humid heat hitting us like a blanket. We had some trouble finding a hotel room since many places were booked full but finally found a nice place with AC and clean rooms....a huge step up from the place we stayed at in Lima (a really bad place that had not been cleaned for a while -- used condoms on the floor, dirty bathroom and dirty sheets).
Iquitos is a town that can only be reached by air or by river. No roads lead here and it feels like you are dropped in the middle of nowhere, which I guess you are. Surprisingly, there are lots of cars and motorcycles in town. Must be expensive to get a car delivered here.
We had an awesome Chinese dinner last night and the lunch today was even better with fish and rice. We seem to be staying healthy now too which is a bonus :). We even dared to have some ice cream in Lima before our flight. It was sooooo gooood!
Tomorow we head into the jungle on a 4 day Amazon trip. We will stay at a jungle lodge about 140 km upriver from Iquitos and from there we will explore the area. Lots of fun stuff like seeing river dolphins, hunting for spiders and snakes and fishing for Piranhas. We will also get to swim in the Amazon River.....hopefully we will not catch some weird parasite! Ironically, we have TV in our current hotel and this morning we watched a show on Discovery about parasites....the majority of them South and Central American! Bumps on the head that were some fly larvae and lung problems that were eggs of some other type of flying insect.....yikes!
We arrived in Iquitos (north east Peru) yesterday evening while a very cool thunder storm was displaying some neat lightning at the edge of the city. As soon as we stepped off the plane we knew that we were in the tropics with a humid heat hitting us like a blanket. We had some trouble finding a hotel room since many places were booked full but finally found a nice place with AC and clean rooms....a huge step up from the place we stayed at in Lima (a really bad place that had not been cleaned for a while -- used condoms on the floor, dirty bathroom and dirty sheets).
Iquitos is a town that can only be reached by air or by river. No roads lead here and it feels like you are dropped in the middle of nowhere, which I guess you are. Surprisingly, there are lots of cars and motorcycles in town. Must be expensive to get a car delivered here.
We had an awesome Chinese dinner last night and the lunch today was even better with fish and rice. We seem to be staying healthy now too which is a bonus :). We even dared to have some ice cream in Lima before our flight. It was sooooo gooood!
Tomorow we head into the jungle on a 4 day Amazon trip. We will stay at a jungle lodge about 140 km upriver from Iquitos and from there we will explore the area. Lots of fun stuff like seeing river dolphins, hunting for spiders and snakes and fishing for Piranhas. We will also get to swim in the Amazon River.....hopefully we will not catch some weird parasite! Ironically, we have TV in our current hotel and this morning we watched a show on Discovery about parasites....the majority of them South and Central American! Bumps on the head that were some fly larvae and lung problems that were eggs of some other type of flying insect.....yikes!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The job from hell...
After recuperating in our fancy $35 US hotel room that we spoiled ourselves with, I felt ready to do a tour of the mines at Potosi.
No one is certain how much silver the Spanish colonists took from the mountain next to Potosi, but it is claimed that the Spanish could have built a bridge from Potosi all the way to Spain, completely made from silver, and still had silver left to carry across it! The population reached 200,000, making it one of the largest cities in the Americas in its day. The mining was done by indigenous slaves, most of whom died either in accidents or due to silicosis pneumonia. Eventually, the Spaniards had to bring in African slaves by the millions to augment the labour force. It has also been said that with the bones of the slaves that died in the mines, you could build another bridge all the way to Spain (one estimate claims that 8 million lives were sacrificed).
The silver is now almost entirely gone, but there are traces of tin and zinc that can still be found, in tiny amounts. The locals have set up cooperatives, whereby they continue to work the mine for the few minerals they can find and the small amount of money it provides. Veronica and I were kitted out in miner´s pants, jackets, helmets, lamps and boots, and headed in to see what the working conditions are like. With scarfs over our faces, it was so hard to breath but you didn´t dare pull the scarf down because the amount of dust was horrible, nevermind knowing what it can do to you. Silica dust, arsenic gas, cyanide and asbestos were just a few of the substances that our guide, a former miner, mentioned. The tour agencies warn that anyone with asthma or even any doubts about their medical condition should not go, and the waiver you have to sign is pretty extensive (including risk of mine cave-in etc.). We dropped down through 4 levels of the mine, and the heat just got worse. Most places required you to hunch over as you walked, while several places required you to crawl on your hands, noting the colours of what you were placing your hands on after the guide explained: yellow is sulfur, green is copper, white is arsenic... There seemed to be a white coating everywhere....
The typical worker dies within about 10-15 years of entering the mines, due to silicosis pneumonia. In addition to that, Ronaldo (our guide) explained that 45 people were killed in mine cave-ins during last year alone. As if that weren't dangerous enough, the workers are all continually chewing huge wads of Coca leaves. They insist this is not a drug, but also boast that when chewing coca, they have more energy and don't need to eat, drink water or go to the washroom. Further, they drink 96-proof alcohol in large amounts. They believe that the more pure the alcohol, the more pure the minerals they will find. Hmmm.... Coca, wickedly strong alcohol,.... oh yeah, and they buy dynamite for $3 and use it to open up new faces of the rock underground....
After about an hour underground, gasping for air due to trying to breathe through a scarf, the intense heat, and the elevation (4200m, even at the deepest points), Ronaldo would often ask "so, would you like to be a miner?". Hell no. I typically love any tour I'm on and always wish it were longer, but 15 minutes in this mine would have been more than enough. I couldn't wait to get out. Near the end, we took another break to catch our breath and Ronaldo explained that from here, we only had a 6 minute walk to get to the exit. Upon hearing that, everyone replied 'then what the hell are we waiting for?' and got up and started walking quickly. The fresh air couldn't come soon enough.
On a lighter note, once we were outside of the mine, we got to play with something we picked up at the miner's market: anyone who wanted to could purchase their own dynamite kit for $3 ("un completo" = a stick of dynamite, a fuse, and a bag of ammonium nitrate to give it even more power). Ronaldo showed us how to prep it all, then lit the fuses and handed them to us and said "take a photo", with no sense of urgency. While he was completely comfortable with the 2-minute fuse, we were all happy to give them to him to run away with. He went about 100 metres, left them on the ground and we waited. When they went off, each one of them felt like a shot to the chest, even from that distance!
No one is certain how much silver the Spanish colonists took from the mountain next to Potosi, but it is claimed that the Spanish could have built a bridge from Potosi all the way to Spain, completely made from silver, and still had silver left to carry across it! The population reached 200,000, making it one of the largest cities in the Americas in its day. The mining was done by indigenous slaves, most of whom died either in accidents or due to silicosis pneumonia. Eventually, the Spaniards had to bring in African slaves by the millions to augment the labour force. It has also been said that with the bones of the slaves that died in the mines, you could build another bridge all the way to Spain (one estimate claims that 8 million lives were sacrificed).
The silver is now almost entirely gone, but there are traces of tin and zinc that can still be found, in tiny amounts. The locals have set up cooperatives, whereby they continue to work the mine for the few minerals they can find and the small amount of money it provides. Veronica and I were kitted out in miner´s pants, jackets, helmets, lamps and boots, and headed in to see what the working conditions are like. With scarfs over our faces, it was so hard to breath but you didn´t dare pull the scarf down because the amount of dust was horrible, nevermind knowing what it can do to you. Silica dust, arsenic gas, cyanide and asbestos were just a few of the substances that our guide, a former miner, mentioned. The tour agencies warn that anyone with asthma or even any doubts about their medical condition should not go, and the waiver you have to sign is pretty extensive (including risk of mine cave-in etc.). We dropped down through 4 levels of the mine, and the heat just got worse. Most places required you to hunch over as you walked, while several places required you to crawl on your hands, noting the colours of what you were placing your hands on after the guide explained: yellow is sulfur, green is copper, white is arsenic... There seemed to be a white coating everywhere....
The typical worker dies within about 10-15 years of entering the mines, due to silicosis pneumonia. In addition to that, Ronaldo (our guide) explained that 45 people were killed in mine cave-ins during last year alone. As if that weren't dangerous enough, the workers are all continually chewing huge wads of Coca leaves. They insist this is not a drug, but also boast that when chewing coca, they have more energy and don't need to eat, drink water or go to the washroom. Further, they drink 96-proof alcohol in large amounts. They believe that the more pure the alcohol, the more pure the minerals they will find. Hmmm.... Coca, wickedly strong alcohol,.... oh yeah, and they buy dynamite for $3 and use it to open up new faces of the rock underground....
After about an hour underground, gasping for air due to trying to breathe through a scarf, the intense heat, and the elevation (4200m, even at the deepest points), Ronaldo would often ask "so, would you like to be a miner?". Hell no. I typically love any tour I'm on and always wish it were longer, but 15 minutes in this mine would have been more than enough. I couldn't wait to get out. Near the end, we took another break to catch our breath and Ronaldo explained that from here, we only had a 6 minute walk to get to the exit. Upon hearing that, everyone replied 'then what the hell are we waiting for?' and got up and started walking quickly. The fresh air couldn't come soon enough.
On a lighter note, once we were outside of the mine, we got to play with something we picked up at the miner's market: anyone who wanted to could purchase their own dynamite kit for $3 ("un completo" = a stick of dynamite, a fuse, and a bag of ammonium nitrate to give it even more power). Ronaldo showed us how to prep it all, then lit the fuses and handed them to us and said "take a photo", with no sense of urgency. While he was completely comfortable with the 2-minute fuse, we were all happy to give them to him to run away with. He went about 100 metres, left them on the ground and we waited. When they went off, each one of them felt like a shot to the chest, even from that distance!
Bussar, bussar och bussar
Efter 11 timmar på en nattbuss från La Paz så kom vi fram till staden Uyuni i södra Peru. Bussfärden liknade mer en rallytävling än en bussfärd, med grus och sandvägar genom öknen som ibland var så smala och gropiga att jag inte rigtigt förstår hur bussen kunde ta sig fram. Det var skönt att åka på natten för det var så mycket svalare ute då, men jag sov inte särskilt bra på bussen så dagen efter blev lite seg.
Uyuni ligger precis på kanten av världens största saltplatta, eller saltöken (vet inte riktigt vad det heter på Svenska). För många mång årtusenden sedan så låg området under 400 meter vatten och när vattnet sinade upp så lämnades en saltöken med flera öar som nu består av förstelnad korall och en del fossiler. Öarna är även täckta av kaktus.
Uner en lång och intensiv dag så utforskade vi saltplattan med hjälp av en jeep och en guide. Vi fick tillfälle att se hur lokalbefolkningen tillverkar olika typer av salt, inkl. bordssalt. Mot en liten slant fick vi även packetera en egen påse av salt. Man var inte exakt lika effektiv som de som jobbade där kan man säga!
Vi besökte flera öar och fick en god lunch på en av dem. Vid ett tillfälle så fick vi vandra upp på sidan av en vulkan och gå in i en grotta där flera mumier ligger begravda. De ligger precis som de var begravda för 400 år sedan. Det kändes lite olustuigt att kliva in i grottan och störa, men vilket tillfälle på samma gång! Annars har man ju bara sett mumier på museum. Bland mumierna, hade två små barn blivit begravda och de dog gråtande vilket man kunde se på deras käkar som hade stelnat i stvå stora gap. Kusligt!
På slutet av dagen fick vi se solnedgången över saltplattan vilket var fint. Trots att det är en lång bussfärd från La Paz till Uyuni, så är jag jätte glad att vi åktde dit! Det var otroligt att se en sådan udda natur! Vi tog jätte många foton, så vi ska ladda upp dem snart.
Efter besöket i Uyuni så blev det ännu en lång bussfärd till Potosi. 7 timmar tog det med en skumpig lokalbuss över bergen till gruvstaden österut. Nu var det Mikes tur att inte må så bra. När vi kom fram och hade kommit tillrätta på hotellet så blev Mike magsjuk. Han sov inte mycket den natten men verkade skapligt återhämtad på morgonen. Tillräckligt återhämtad för en stor frukost och en guidad tur till gruvorna. Gruvarbetet är grunden till att staden ligger där den ligger. Mycket silver togs fram här under årets gång, men nu är det inte mycket kvar i berget. Trots det så jobbar gruvarbetare här dag ut och dag in under gräsliga förhållanden. Giftiga gaser andas in av gruvarbetarna genom dammet som rörs upp när de arbetar och de som går i gruvarbete lever oftast bara 10-15 år efter det att de började sitt arbete. Runt 8 miljoner personer har dött här under årens gång. Många dog av blyförgiftning då det användes i arbetet men under senare år så är det mest gruvras och sjukdom som tar de flesta liven. Förra året dog 46 arbetare i gruvras. För att uthärda sitt arbete så tuggas cocablad av arbetarna. Kinderna är fulla av cocablad och en hel del 96% alkohol dricks också. Ju starkare alkoholen är desto mer chans att hitta värdefulla metaller sägs det. Coca gör att hunger och trötthet inte känns av och överallt i Bolivia och Peru tuggas det och lokalbefolkningen säger att man inte blir beroende av drogen...jo, jo....Munnarna och tänderna på de som tuggar coca är super äckliga! Grön-svart slem rinner ur munnen och tänderna är förruttnade.
Vi fick oss en tur in i gruvan på tre plan och det var inte det lättaste. Gruvan ligger på 4200 meters höjd och det är varmt och klibbigt inne i gruvan. Dessutom är det väldigt dammigt, och dammet är inte bra att andas in, vilket gör det väldigt kväljande att vara där inne. När vi hade gått in och nått en offerstaty i en tunnel så var jag helt slut. Jag valde att gå ut medan Mike fortsatte djupare in i gruvan med guiden, vilket han ångrade några minuter senare då det blev ännu värre. Dagen vi var där så var gruvarbetarna lediga. Det var allahelgona här och jag tror att det var tur för oss. Det hade varit väldigt stressigt att gå omkring med de som arbetar där eftersom det inte är helt ofarligt till att börja med. Väl ute ur gruvan upptäckte jag att ingången till gruvan var täckt i något svart. Våran guide berättade att de offrar Lama djur till gudarna lite titt som tätt för då tror de att mindre människoliv tas i gruvan. Jag måste säga att det är helt otroligt att folk jobbar under sådana förhållanden fortfarande!!! Som en liten final fick vi tända på våran egen dynamit och se hur den exploderade. Vem som helst kan köpa dynamit är för runt 15kr pinnen!
En lång nattbuss till och vi har nu anlänt i La Paz igen. Här väntar vi på ett flyg som ska ta oss upp till Lima ikväll. Imorgon ska vi fortsätta upp mot Iquitos där vi ska ta oss en färd in i Amazondjungeln. Förmodligen blir det en färd som tar runt en vecka. Spännande!
Uyuni ligger precis på kanten av världens största saltplatta, eller saltöken (vet inte riktigt vad det heter på Svenska). För många mång årtusenden sedan så låg området under 400 meter vatten och när vattnet sinade upp så lämnades en saltöken med flera öar som nu består av förstelnad korall och en del fossiler. Öarna är även täckta av kaktus.
Uner en lång och intensiv dag så utforskade vi saltplattan med hjälp av en jeep och en guide. Vi fick tillfälle att se hur lokalbefolkningen tillverkar olika typer av salt, inkl. bordssalt. Mot en liten slant fick vi även packetera en egen påse av salt. Man var inte exakt lika effektiv som de som jobbade där kan man säga!
Vi besökte flera öar och fick en god lunch på en av dem. Vid ett tillfälle så fick vi vandra upp på sidan av en vulkan och gå in i en grotta där flera mumier ligger begravda. De ligger precis som de var begravda för 400 år sedan. Det kändes lite olustuigt att kliva in i grottan och störa, men vilket tillfälle på samma gång! Annars har man ju bara sett mumier på museum. Bland mumierna, hade två små barn blivit begravda och de dog gråtande vilket man kunde se på deras käkar som hade stelnat i stvå stora gap. Kusligt!
På slutet av dagen fick vi se solnedgången över saltplattan vilket var fint. Trots att det är en lång bussfärd från La Paz till Uyuni, så är jag jätte glad att vi åktde dit! Det var otroligt att se en sådan udda natur! Vi tog jätte många foton, så vi ska ladda upp dem snart.
Efter besöket i Uyuni så blev det ännu en lång bussfärd till Potosi. 7 timmar tog det med en skumpig lokalbuss över bergen till gruvstaden österut. Nu var det Mikes tur att inte må så bra. När vi kom fram och hade kommit tillrätta på hotellet så blev Mike magsjuk. Han sov inte mycket den natten men verkade skapligt återhämtad på morgonen. Tillräckligt återhämtad för en stor frukost och en guidad tur till gruvorna. Gruvarbetet är grunden till att staden ligger där den ligger. Mycket silver togs fram här under årets gång, men nu är det inte mycket kvar i berget. Trots det så jobbar gruvarbetare här dag ut och dag in under gräsliga förhållanden. Giftiga gaser andas in av gruvarbetarna genom dammet som rörs upp när de arbetar och de som går i gruvarbete lever oftast bara 10-15 år efter det att de började sitt arbete. Runt 8 miljoner personer har dött här under årens gång. Många dog av blyförgiftning då det användes i arbetet men under senare år så är det mest gruvras och sjukdom som tar de flesta liven. Förra året dog 46 arbetare i gruvras. För att uthärda sitt arbete så tuggas cocablad av arbetarna. Kinderna är fulla av cocablad och en hel del 96% alkohol dricks också. Ju starkare alkoholen är desto mer chans att hitta värdefulla metaller sägs det. Coca gör att hunger och trötthet inte känns av och överallt i Bolivia och Peru tuggas det och lokalbefolkningen säger att man inte blir beroende av drogen...jo, jo....Munnarna och tänderna på de som tuggar coca är super äckliga! Grön-svart slem rinner ur munnen och tänderna är förruttnade.
Vi fick oss en tur in i gruvan på tre plan och det var inte det lättaste. Gruvan ligger på 4200 meters höjd och det är varmt och klibbigt inne i gruvan. Dessutom är det väldigt dammigt, och dammet är inte bra att andas in, vilket gör det väldigt kväljande att vara där inne. När vi hade gått in och nått en offerstaty i en tunnel så var jag helt slut. Jag valde att gå ut medan Mike fortsatte djupare in i gruvan med guiden, vilket han ångrade några minuter senare då det blev ännu värre. Dagen vi var där så var gruvarbetarna lediga. Det var allahelgona här och jag tror att det var tur för oss. Det hade varit väldigt stressigt att gå omkring med de som arbetar där eftersom det inte är helt ofarligt till att börja med. Väl ute ur gruvan upptäckte jag att ingången till gruvan var täckt i något svart. Våran guide berättade att de offrar Lama djur till gudarna lite titt som tätt för då tror de att mindre människoliv tas i gruvan. Jag måste säga att det är helt otroligt att folk jobbar under sådana förhållanden fortfarande!!! Som en liten final fick vi tända på våran egen dynamit och se hur den exploderade. Vem som helst kan köpa dynamit är för runt 15kr pinnen!
En lång nattbuss till och vi har nu anlänt i La Paz igen. Här väntar vi på ett flyg som ska ta oss upp till Lima ikväll. Imorgon ska vi fortsätta upp mot Iquitos där vi ska ta oss en färd in i Amazondjungeln. Förmodligen blir det en färd som tar runt en vecka. Spännande!
Salty!
After an 11 hour night bus from La Paz, Bolivia, over some very rough roads (often it seemed like we were just driving across desert, with no actual road, VJ insisted she would love to come back here with the Subaru and rally race that stretch!), we arrived at the edge of Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world. We set up a custom tour such that it was just us, the driver/guide and our Toyota LandCruiser, and a custom itinerary that enabled us to pack in more than the usual tour.
We started at a ¨train cemetery¨filled with lots of old rusted-out steam locomotives, and stories from our guide about how Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had fled all the way down to Bolivia to escape the law. Also, with all of the silver mining and lucrative business going on in the area, it was yet another great place for these two outlaws. Or so they thought. Bolivia proudly boasts that they are the country that finally captured and killed these two banditos.
We then continued on to the edge of the salt flats to see how the salt is ¨mined¨, processed, bagged and sold. We got the chance to visit a local home and bag some salt with them.
Then, it got REALLY good..... we hopped in the LandCruiser and drove out into the middle of the blinding white salt flat that extends forever....
In total, Salar de Uyuni is over 12,000 square kilometers, so once you are in the middle of it, the blinding white extends to every horizon. Apparently, Neil Armstrong said he could see it from the moon. The salt surface is then cracked into an endless and fascinating number of polygons, as the moisture below the salt cracks the surface in an attempt to escape. Also, the continuous flat white surface really plays tricks with your sense of perspective, and as a result, you are able to do some really fun photography tricks (we´ll try to upload some soon).
We grilled up lunch (llama steak) at one of the islands, a coral reef leftover from when this was all 400 metres underwater, complete with huge cacti. Then, our driver treated us to a different vantage point: he invited us onto the roof of the truck where he ¨secured¨us with a large rubber strap he called a Bolivian Seatbelt. He then drove around one of the islands, but we were mostly focused on the new view of the salt flat and enjoying the breeze.
After that, we drove to a volcano on the edge of the salt flat where we saw some flamingoes and then hiked to a cave that contains some mummies. We´ve seen a few mummies in museums now, but seeing them ¨for real¨up close and in the open (close enough and open enough to touch) was strange.
We finished off by driving out into the middle of the salt flat again to see the sunset.
An amazing day! The salt flats are a bit out of the way and tough to get to, but really worth it! It´s hard to describe the incredible sight of the endless miles of blinding white salt! We´ll see if some of our photos do it justice.
We started at a ¨train cemetery¨filled with lots of old rusted-out steam locomotives, and stories from our guide about how Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had fled all the way down to Bolivia to escape the law. Also, with all of the silver mining and lucrative business going on in the area, it was yet another great place for these two outlaws. Or so they thought. Bolivia proudly boasts that they are the country that finally captured and killed these two banditos.
We then continued on to the edge of the salt flats to see how the salt is ¨mined¨, processed, bagged and sold. We got the chance to visit a local home and bag some salt with them.
Then, it got REALLY good..... we hopped in the LandCruiser and drove out into the middle of the blinding white salt flat that extends forever....
In total, Salar de Uyuni is over 12,000 square kilometers, so once you are in the middle of it, the blinding white extends to every horizon. Apparently, Neil Armstrong said he could see it from the moon. The salt surface is then cracked into an endless and fascinating number of polygons, as the moisture below the salt cracks the surface in an attempt to escape. Also, the continuous flat white surface really plays tricks with your sense of perspective, and as a result, you are able to do some really fun photography tricks (we´ll try to upload some soon).
We grilled up lunch (llama steak) at one of the islands, a coral reef leftover from when this was all 400 metres underwater, complete with huge cacti. Then, our driver treated us to a different vantage point: he invited us onto the roof of the truck where he ¨secured¨us with a large rubber strap he called a Bolivian Seatbelt. He then drove around one of the islands, but we were mostly focused on the new view of the salt flat and enjoying the breeze.
After that, we drove to a volcano on the edge of the salt flat where we saw some flamingoes and then hiked to a cave that contains some mummies. We´ve seen a few mummies in museums now, but seeing them ¨for real¨up close and in the open (close enough and open enough to touch) was strange.
We finished off by driving out into the middle of the salt flat again to see the sunset.
An amazing day! The salt flats are a bit out of the way and tough to get to, but really worth it! It´s hard to describe the incredible sight of the endless miles of blinding white salt! We´ll see if some of our photos do it justice.
And then it was Mike´s turn
It was either something I ate (can´t remember what), or I got overheated on the day bus from Uyuni to Potosi. Now it was my turn to be the sick one. To make it worse, we arrived in Potosi Bolivia on the ¨Day of the Dead¨ (day after Halloween) holiday and everything was closed. After a hot 6 hour bus ride and nothing to eat since breakfast, we then got to wander the streets looking for food and NOTHING was open. I was about to add my own statistic to the Day of the Dead....
After about an hour of walking, at 4000 metres elevation, we found somewhere. We downed some food, any my stomach immediately reacted.... badly.
Oh well. A day later we were back in action and signed up for our mine tour.
More on the tours around Uyuni and Potosi in the next blogs...
After about an hour of walking, at 4000 metres elevation, we found somewhere. We downed some food, any my stomach immediately reacted.... badly.
Oh well. A day later we were back in action and signed up for our mine tour.
More on the tours around Uyuni and Potosi in the next blogs...
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