Monday, January 19, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
January 15, 2009 La Serena
Paris had landed and efforts are being made to resusitate her back into action. I truly believe she is need of a good rest and relaxation period and is just asserting her feminine need to be heard! I hear you Paris!
As for Ricardo and I, I think it took us a couple of days for the new found home country to sink in. We were racing to get to appointments on time - in South America we had somehow forgotten the ¨must be 30 mintues late¨rule.....go figure! Now we are slow as turtles - god bless turtles! and muster ourselve out of bed around 9 or 10 am - even me the 0600 girl. I´m fighting to find some purpose for the day already as my old workaholic self is just as restless as ever I´m looking forward to reaching Santiago and starting spanish lessons which will be occupying 4 hours of time a day. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the 20 other hours in the day!?!?
I will be posting more pics soon just can´t connect our laptop at the moment - be patient - be still - be one with the silence:)
As for Ricardo and I, I think it took us a couple of days for the new found home country to sink in. We were racing to get to appointments on time - in South America we had somehow forgotten the ¨must be 30 mintues late¨rule.....go figure! Now we are slow as turtles - god bless turtles! and muster ourselve out of bed around 9 or 10 am - even me the 0600 girl. I´m fighting to find some purpose for the day already as my old workaholic self is just as restless as ever I´m looking forward to reaching Santiago and starting spanish lessons which will be occupying 4 hours of time a day. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the 20 other hours in the day!?!?
I will be posting more pics soon just can´t connect our laptop at the moment - be patient - be still - be one with the silence:)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
January 13, 2008 La Serena Chile
First apologies for the deliquency on the blog writing. But I´m here now! We have made it to Chile all the way to Ricardo´s mom´s house in La Serena which has felt great to be in a house and do laundry and make food in a kitchen - it´s the little things you miss the most. Our journey here was not without some final drama. We drove into Chile int he evening and spent the first night at a Copec gas station in Arica the most northernly Chilean town. The next morning we left and headed to Iquiqui a few hours south after doing some errands we headed off toward San Pedro in the Atacama desert only along the way we ran out of gas in the dark in the middle of the desert not the most ideal situation. Luckily we were only 5 mintues from a another Copec so Ricardo hoped a ride with a truck and hitched back. We pulled into the Copec for the night to sleep along with a bunch of truckers. Woke up the next day and to our surprise Paris refused the start. And so the drama begins - or did it begin with the running out of gas in the middle of the desert? Eventually we tow her to a little town int eh desert with a mechanic reccommended bythe police. I steer Paris while Ricardo tows with a little pickup truck with a rope less than a meter long. It was a LONG 70kms I think I have some gray hair now:( Two days the mechanic works on her and nothing - nothing she starts but seems unmotivated to go anywhere. Maybe we forgot to tell her we wanted to get all the way to Santiago and she thought the job was done? Anyways to make the long story shorter we have put her in thebelly of a truck and she will be arriving in La Serena tomorrow and straight to a mechanic apparently Paris´lack of motivation to continue has something to do with what the mechanics call the ¨fuel injection¨.
SO Ricardo and I uncerimonously arrived afetr a 17hours bus ride fromthe north at 6am to La Serena wher we fell into bed and slept for a few more hours. It wasn´t the happily ever after in Chile ending we had planned but we are here and trying to figure out what to do next!
SO Ricardo and I uncerimonously arrived afetr a 17hours bus ride fromthe north at 6am to La Serena wher we fell into bed and slept for a few more hours. It wasn´t the happily ever after in Chile ending we had planned but we are here and trying to figure out what to do next!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Jan 2 2009 REVISITED Re: Dec 31 2008 It Started and Ended with Potatoes
To all those who have secretely muttered something along the lines of ´lucky bastards`while reading this blog, you´re going to like this entry.
To bring you up to speed our mission was to get to Cusco to get to Machupicchu, Peru. That was going to take about 3 days from the coast.
So first day (Dec 29), we drove up and up and up on a really good highway. We reached our elevation peak of 4800m at which we stopped for Kim to take a picture of Paris. To not waste time she decided to run back to the van about 20m away. When she arrived she had the biggest head rush of all time and was heavily panting. That did not go away she had a horrible night and the next day she felt a huge migrain and now understands, she says, why people can´t come to work when they have one.
On this day, day2, we entered a town (Ayachuco) where the paved road unexpectedly ended and gave way to a winding dirt road. We were told it would be for about four hours, little did we know it was going to be for the next two days... 370 km of dirt road with sharp curves, steep up and downhills!!! So needless to say day two ended on a dirt road in the dark in some little village. Exhausted.
We didn´t know where we were but we stayed in somebody´s driveway that didn´t have tire tracks so we figured we wouldn´t be in the way. This was in a small, small indigenous village called Airabamba Baja. Pay attention, this is important.
And so we began December 31st. We woke up in the van heard some kid outside, he was startled when we came out and several localsfolk were admiring the van. ¨Que bonito el carro!¨ they would say.
A couple of the townswomen said come over for breakfast just down the road. And we did. And it was incredible! There we were in a little adobe (mud brick) house with many guinea pig and little kids running around accepting steamed cowmilk with oatmeal, cheese and baked potatoes for breakfast. We shared a lot with the family, learned about their way of living and we explained ours and our trip. We felt bad about not being able to finish all the potatoes they put on our plates, but it was A LOT of potatoes really. And really, how many baked potatoes can you scarf down first thing in the morning? No biggie. It was an amazing experience and an unexpected one but it was time to hit the road, so we gave them a few gifts of appreciation and were on our way. We returned to our van Paris. She started, then stalled and never started again. We tried to be cool but really we were freaking out cuz we were in the middle of nowhere with a van that wouldn´t turn on! This had happened to us before in California and I was afraid it was the relay switch. So the town didn´t have a mechanic but it did have many eager taxibuses willing to ¨tow¨ us to the next town.
And so with a single rope Paris was hauled to the next town. The trip was one for the books because we only had a bout 2m clearance to the back of the ¨tow truck¨ which of course had no working brake lights so it was a lot of close calls. On the downhills he would untie me and I would go in neutral downhill. We did a whole mountain face just on neutral and the little brakes we have left!
We arrived to the next town and fortunately the mechanic really knew his stuff and we were on our way by noon. High altitudes do funny things to your car. About four more hours and we FINALLY made it back to paved roads we were so extatic. We vroomvroomed our way up other mountains all the way to Cusco.
We arrived in Cusco at about 10 o clock at night and it was raining and very very busy with the whole new year looming. Now Cusco is a very touristy town with lots of nightlife and streets as narrow as Paris I´m not kidding. Add new yars buzz and rain to that? It wa sperfect chaos. And in these roads taxis were running in both directions such that if two were going up and one was coming down, the down guy lost and had to reverse outta the way. We didn´t know where our resereved hostal was but we did give a local a ride so he could help us. We finally arrived at the said hotel and it was sketchsville. We were guided to a overnight parking lot in the rain and taxied our way back to the hostel, hotel whatever you wanna call it. They let us into our room and we didn´t say it but were both thibnking it. THIS PLACE SUCKS. There was a knock a t the door and I thought it was to give us our towels ( I can hope right?) actually it was the owner lady saying she lost our reservation she thought were somebody else so we were out. Fine I said I´m not gonna fight to stay in the place but for your mistake the least you could do is let us leave our bags here while we find another place. Actually, she said, the couple with the reservation is outside waiting to get in. Well, I thought, it´s not their fault so fine we put our bags in the office with Kim guarding them.
Now let´s recap here people. It´s 11pm on new year´s eve we´ve been travelling uphill on dirt for three days,we´re very wet , very cold from the rain and have no place to stay. Earlier that day I asked Kim how she wanted to end the year. To which she replied ¨happy¨. And I thought to myself I just wanna end it with a nice place to rest my head. HAHAHAHA!
So at 11:07pm I´m out on the streets in the rain looking a place, any place that has a aroom available for that night. Place is filled with young tourists laughing and begginning their shennainags and there I am deperate for a place while Kim´s alone in a crappy hotel office guarding hte bags waiting for me to get back.
Before midnite we were in another place that was not great but at least quiet. And Kim is very very upset. I tried my best to cheer her u. She said how she missed home and Sage and Diesel. That is how we ended 2008.
Now it´s January 2nd we´re about to hop on a train to Machupicchu and have seen many amazing ruin sites today already as a warm up. This year´s been filled withadventures too but that´s another entry.
Until next time!
Kim + Ricardo
To bring you up to speed our mission was to get to Cusco to get to Machupicchu, Peru. That was going to take about 3 days from the coast.
So first day (Dec 29), we drove up and up and up on a really good highway. We reached our elevation peak of 4800m at which we stopped for Kim to take a picture of Paris. To not waste time she decided to run back to the van about 20m away. When she arrived she had the biggest head rush of all time and was heavily panting. That did not go away she had a horrible night and the next day she felt a huge migrain and now understands, she says, why people can´t come to work when they have one.
On this day, day2, we entered a town (Ayachuco) where the paved road unexpectedly ended and gave way to a winding dirt road. We were told it would be for about four hours, little did we know it was going to be for the next two days... 370 km of dirt road with sharp curves, steep up and downhills!!! So needless to say day two ended on a dirt road in the dark in some little village. Exhausted.
We didn´t know where we were but we stayed in somebody´s driveway that didn´t have tire tracks so we figured we wouldn´t be in the way. This was in a small, small indigenous village called Airabamba Baja. Pay attention, this is important.
And so we began December 31st. We woke up in the van heard some kid outside, he was startled when we came out and several localsfolk were admiring the van. ¨Que bonito el carro!¨ they would say.
A couple of the townswomen said come over for breakfast just down the road. And we did. And it was incredible! There we were in a little adobe (mud brick) house with many guinea pig and little kids running around accepting steamed cowmilk with oatmeal, cheese and baked potatoes for breakfast. We shared a lot with the family, learned about their way of living and we explained ours and our trip. We felt bad about not being able to finish all the potatoes they put on our plates, but it was A LOT of potatoes really. And really, how many baked potatoes can you scarf down first thing in the morning? No biggie. It was an amazing experience and an unexpected one but it was time to hit the road, so we gave them a few gifts of appreciation and were on our way. We returned to our van Paris. She started, then stalled and never started again. We tried to be cool but really we were freaking out cuz we were in the middle of nowhere with a van that wouldn´t turn on! This had happened to us before in California and I was afraid it was the relay switch. So the town didn´t have a mechanic but it did have many eager taxibuses willing to ¨tow¨ us to the next town.
And so with a single rope Paris was hauled to the next town. The trip was one for the books because we only had a bout 2m clearance to the back of the ¨tow truck¨ which of course had no working brake lights so it was a lot of close calls. On the downhills he would untie me and I would go in neutral downhill. We did a whole mountain face just on neutral and the little brakes we have left!
We arrived to the next town and fortunately the mechanic really knew his stuff and we were on our way by noon. High altitudes do funny things to your car. About four more hours and we FINALLY made it back to paved roads we were so extatic. We vroomvroomed our way up other mountains all the way to Cusco.
We arrived in Cusco at about 10 o clock at night and it was raining and very very busy with the whole new year looming. Now Cusco is a very touristy town with lots of nightlife and streets as narrow as Paris I´m not kidding. Add new yars buzz and rain to that? It wa sperfect chaos. And in these roads taxis were running in both directions such that if two were going up and one was coming down, the down guy lost and had to reverse outta the way. We didn´t know where our resereved hostal was but we did give a local a ride so he could help us. We finally arrived at the said hotel and it was sketchsville. We were guided to a overnight parking lot in the rain and taxied our way back to the hostel, hotel whatever you wanna call it. They let us into our room and we didn´t say it but were both thibnking it. THIS PLACE SUCKS. There was a knock a t the door and I thought it was to give us our towels ( I can hope right?) actually it was the owner lady saying she lost our reservation she thought were somebody else so we were out. Fine I said I´m not gonna fight to stay in the place but for your mistake the least you could do is let us leave our bags here while we find another place. Actually, she said, the couple with the reservation is outside waiting to get in. Well, I thought, it´s not their fault so fine we put our bags in the office with Kim guarding them.
And this was the icing on the cake: The same owner lady that had said sorry no space actually had the nerve to say "Well, I can make some space in the office for you too, so that you're not offended". Yeah thanks lady I'll pass. "Oh well no problem the place next door should shve room but just for one night then you come back here tomorrow!"... The nerve...
Now let´s recap here people. It´s 11pm on new year´s eve we´ve been travelling uphill on dirt for three days,we´re very wet , very cold from the rain and have no place to stay. Earlier that day I asked Kim how she wanted to end the year. To which she replied ¨happy¨. And I thought to myself I just wanna end it with a nice place to rest my head. HAHAHAHA!
So at 11:07pm I´m out on the streets in the rain looking a place, any place that has a aroom available for that night. Place is filled with young tourists laughing and begginning their shennainags and there I am deperate for a place while Kim´s alone in a crappy hotel office guarding hte bags waiting for me to get back.
Before midnite we were in another place that was not great but at least quiet. And Kim is very very upset. I tried my best to cheer her u. She said how she missed home and Sage and Diesel. That is how we ended 2008.
That ended kind of gloomy. I forgot to mention that after midnight I went down the streets to a street vendor I had seen. I asked for "dos jot dogs (2 hot dogs)" And he gave me this strange, technichally a hot dog but yummy nonetheless sandwiches. Then as we were eating them in the room we realized it even had frrench fries in it(!). So Kim made the observation "we started the day with potatoes and ended the day with potatoes".
The next morning we went for coffee, found a new hotel and had a laugh at the previous day. What more could we do?
Now it´s January 2nd we´re about to hop on a train to Machupicchu and have seen many amazing ruin sites today already as a warm up. This year´s been filled withadventures too but that´s another entry.
Until next time!
Kim + Ricardo
Sunday, December 28, 2008
December 28, 2008 Punta Hermosa Peru
Christmas was great and thank you everyone for your warm wishes! We arrived to day in Punta Hermosa a small beach town a little south of Lima. We skipped Lima due to big city burnout and to give Ricardo a break from the hectic traffic in said big cities. Driving has been the name of the game for the past two days as we are trying our best to be near Cusco for the new year festivities. I can't wait to see Machu Pichu I currently dream about it on a regular basis.
So here is some thoughts on Peru thus far...there is some much sand here the desert was cool for the first hour but really the mountainous dunes get boring after awhile. The roads are well kept and Paris is thankful after the trecherous potholed piecemeal ashphalt called roads in Ecuador. We are however spending every bit of money on gas in the country it is the most expensive of the trip this far and since Peru is a fairly big country near the end of our trip our pocket books are feeling a little light:( However the food here is cheap and we've been devouring the ceviche (which they spell cebiche) when ever possible. Our addiction to ice cream has become a daily quest. they actually have a nice chocolate ice cream called "Sublime" here which quite accurately describes how I feel while eating my ice cream looking out the passenger side window....then when it's gone I want more and I think about until the next day - IT IS AN ADDICTION! (and I've dragged Ricardo down with me:)
I have also noticed that I have terrible mood swings regarding the amount of garbage lining the highways in the countries we have visited, except for Costa Rica which wasn't to bad. I swing back and forth between angry and infuriation. The amount of plastic garbage bags that are thrown out the window probably more than triples the amount of human beings living in Canada I am quite serious so PLEASE, PLEASE don't forget your cloth bags next time you go to the grocery store we are up against some serious polluters down here!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Mancora Peru December 24, 2008
Today is Christmas Eve and we treated ourselves to a nice little hotel beach front with a spectacular little pool.We've picked up all our necessary items (Baileys and wine) and the chef is planning the turkey roast for the guests, about 9 (Canadian, French, Peruvian). When we arrived yesterday both Ricardo and I commented on how relaxed we felt at this place so no doubt it will be a good Christmas as lately we are feeling the wrath of the road travel and two nights in one place will be a extra special comfort.
Contemplating on Christmas away from home always makes me a little home sick but this time I am really enjoying the lack of Christmas buzz and feeling rather detached from the whole process. Maybe I'm starting to really understand what Christmas is about since I really only miss the people aspect. Particularly the part when we all look around at each other in the morning on the 25th in our PJs and laugh at how tired we all look while reaching for our coffees and hot crossaints.
Alas while our family is spread all over the globe (Canada, Chile, Indonesia and here in Peru) I find myself wondering if it's possible to ever be all together for Christmas one year?
I'll settle for the thought that we are all connected in this universe and send out my positive energy and label it Christmas cheer:)
Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas everyone one in the universe!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Cuena Ecuador December 21, 2008
Hmm where do I start with this one.....well for starters it was amazing to see Paris at the port in Manta and then to jump in and drive off with not much hassle, well you can imagine how the reunion felt. With the three of us back together again we headed for the equator which was a hell of a drive. Ecuador has some pretty narly roads Paris was probably pleading for us to sent her back to the northern hemisphere. The equator was not too spectacular, but it was fun to jump back and forth between the hemispheres. I mean how often do you get to do that really?
Afterwards we headed back down South and took the Ruta de Sol (Route of the Sun) which was very nice and even managed to get in our first waves in the South American continent on this trip! We stopped in Monanita and took out the long board for an hour of waves riding and splashing about. The waves here are pretty small and will probably be for the rest of the trip since it's summer here. Although it doesn't fell like it today because we drove from the beach (27 degrees) into the Andes (15 degrees) and I'm freezing my tush off how do people live in this temperature?
The drive through the Andes is amazing the little towns are very full of life and colour and of course festivities for the Navidad season. Yesterday in Salinas Ricardo and I went to a free outdoor concert which started with a great Salsa band, some Rigaton which is a cross between rap with very dirty lyrics (which my husband wouldn't translate for me:() hip hop and ended with a girl pop band. Fortunately there was a ton of boobs and rump shaking on stage enough to get me through to the next year.
Some quick notes of observance:
Latin americans can move their body parts very fast
Our addiction to coconut ice cream is starting to become a problem
Ricardo has discovered green mangoes and now seeks them out with fervour
Driving form the beach to the mountains in one day is dumb and COLD!
Hope everyone has a great calm and relaxing holiday season
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