Travels with Anna - A Trip Down the Amazon

I decided to dedicate a blog post to the journey I took from Chachapoyas to Iquitos. For the sheer fact that the voyage itself took over five days... I took a long, I mean long ride to Iquitos, Peru, the city most land trapped in the world. It is only accessible by river - the Amazon - and plane. I chose the first - a little cheaper and much more

interesting. And, oh how it was.

What was said to be an 10 hour trip turned into an overnight, 12 hour trip. I took over six convis and one nice bus inbetween Chachapoyas and Yurimaguas, stopping in Tarapoto to sleep. It was very interesting and fun. I first left the small, interesting town of Chachapoyas for the city of Yurimaguas. I left in the morning at around 8:00.

I made it to the next town over, Pedro Ruis, at approximately 9:00 a.m. I then went from Pedro Ruis to Nueva Cajamarca (originally three but really five hours). From Nueva Cajamarca to a place whose name I have forgotten the name. From ?? ??, to Moyatombo. And, finally from Moyotamba to Tarapoto, where I slept. I did this all with no napping and two very large, uncomfortable bags! It was much more interesting, though, than the normal bus. I realized with this adventure that I am in fact my father's daughter.

These horrendous photos of myself are here to show everyone what ten hours in five different convis (the vans in the pic above), a coca cola, a papa relleno con pollo (friend potato stuffed with chicken), a chocolate and lucuma ice cream sandwich, two egg sandwiches, two cups of coffee (with A LOT OF sugar), and fried platanos oh one, small,

bottle of water can do to you... It's not pretty. I ended the night in Tarapoto with a session of yoga, an unfortunate chicken leg with rice, and an episode of Latin American "Intervention". But, I did have a nice bed and a toilet seat, so it was a step up from the days on the boat!

I woke up the next morning and made my way to Yurimaguas where I started my three day boat trip through the Amazon Jungle. I arrived in a chaotic Yurmiguas.. Everyone was trying to sell me something. I also arrived to a boat that

carried, along with a lot of people, cows, chickens, eggs, toilet paper (not in the bathroom), food of all sorts, electronics, and anything else that the town of Iquitos needs or wants.

The passengers on the boat were mostly Peruvians, but there were a handful of travelers like myself. There were also two puppies, which weren't allowed on the boat until the boat left land.. And, then anything went, along with smoking and throwing your trash into the river. I stayed on the boat for three days, and the third day we made it to the Amazon River, which is

spectacular. We were served three meals a day; which weren't too bad, except if you're trying not to eat meat, but I've found that's the case with the majority of South America. I did have a small freak out session when I realized that I hadn't planned for life without coffee.. But, I managed when we stopped at a riverside village and a young girl sold me a Coca-cola for two Peruvian Soles. We also discovered, on the second evening, that the boat had a "store" that served cookies, soft drinks, and beer. This was a relief from the chicken and rice we had been served for three days.

I spent my time during the trip meeting new folks, eating coconut, playing with a puppy, doing yoga, thinking, reading two books in Spanish, and enjoying the sunsets.

It was a challenging, beautiful ride. I titled this post "Travels with Anna" because I am traveling with my big old brain, everywhere I go.. This thing really kicked in when on

the boat when there was nowhere to go but up and down stairs. I always seem to forget that the brain is a tool. And, like any other "tool", can be used for good or evil. It is all in how we use the

tool. It was driving me crazy on the boat; in other words, I was not using it wisely. Nice to realize this again.

I remembered, also that decisions are made from the heart and aided by the brain. This is why I have decided to pursue professionally (and personally) the things that I love: appropriate technology, education, traveling, and yoga. It feels good to have experimented with other things and return to something you love. I am, again, on the pursuit of a PhD.. This time more confident. Now, if I can just make more decisions about my personal life.. Ha ha!

I am currently traveling in Colombia eating the best food I have had since arriving in South America. I will be a gordita (little fatty) when I get home, but I will be happy! I am ALSO in a hostel now with 21 year olds at every glance...

There's a pool and a bar, and I am sharing a room (that's next to the pool) with nine other people. There's a great roof for yoga, which I already used - until someone made a crude joke about Downward Facing Dog... To avoid killing a 19 year old from Nebraska, I will probably have to leave tomorrow. Homesickness is also kicking in pretty hard, but everyday I am enjoying Colombia more. I just left Cartagena and am now in Santa Marta. Both cities are on the Caribbean, so I will be checking out the beaches tomorrow. Chao amigos and thanks for listening to my rant!

Chachapoyas - Gocta Reflections

So, I spent four nights in a sleepy little jungle town called Chachapoyas. I arrived, again, at 5:00 in the morning and stayed at a hostel called Hostel Chachapoyas. This hostel had HOT WATER and a TV, with MOVIES!! These are secretly (well, were secretly) why I stayed in the town for so long. Screw the waterfall and ancient ruins, give me my creature comforts. Not really...

But, I did realize later that this was the first room that I have had to myself since Galapagos, which is almost four months. It has honestly taken a little getting used to.

Strange for me to say because I lived alone for five years, and now, after living with Kehren and Taylor for a year in Boone and living first in a house and later in a room with three other women, I have a hard time being alone. I am constantly finding the balance between being alone and being with others, but honestly, it feels good to long for the company of others.

The first day, I was having slight problems with my stomach, so I relaxed for the afternoon and found another coffeeshop called Fusions. Here I met with a Peruvian guy and French girl who helped me with my Spanish CV. I also ate a scrumpous lentil burger.

The second day, I took the morning off and in the afternoon headed to a local village called Huancas and a nearby canyon. I took a taxi up the hill and walked down alone. I made it back to town right before the rain. Thankfully this luck with the rain seemed to follow me throughout my ventures in Chachapoyas.

When I returned to my hotel I found a good PSF friend of mine in the lobby of my hotel, Matt Bell from New York City.. That's right NEW YORK CITY. After spending my share of quality time alone, my heart was pleased to see a familiar face.

Matt and I went to the Sarcofagas the next day. We took a taxi to a nearby pueblo and hiked down a hill for about twenty minutes When we reached the bottom, we saw the ruins. The faces that you see are depictions of significant kings from the Chachapoyas people. The tombs of the kings are buried under the statues. The "kings" are looking over a huge valley where once stood a small Chachapoyas pueblo. There are still a few ruins scattered throughout the valley. To be more in sync with nature, the Chachapoyas built all of their structures in circles. We even stumbled upon what seemed to be human bones.. This is me staring at them!

The return trip was honestly the best part of my Sarcofogas experience. First, as we waited for our taxi, we met a 13 year old boy named... HITLER. Yes, that was his name. I double checked and asked him to spell it. While in South America, I have met my share of Stalins and Lenins, but never a Hitler. This was a shocker, especially to Matt, who's Jewish. Although you can't hate a 13 year old, you can despise the Peruvian education system for being completely oblivious.

We had also just missed a huge downpour, and on the way home, we met a truck stuck in the mud. Matt, being the young stud that he is, got out of our taxi and assisted the Peruvians with the ordeal. The whole population of the 300 person town came to watch the show. After 30 minutes, the truck was finally pulled out and we made our way down the road.

The next day, Matt and I went to Golcta, the third or fifth, depending on your resource) largest waterfall in the world. We started this adventure at 5:00 in the morning. After an hour convi ride, we arrived at a crossroads. We were dropped off there and started on our twelve mile hike.

After hiking uphill for approximately an hour, without coffee, we found a nice little house/shop to stop at for breakfast. We, being the Americans that we are, walked directly in to what we thought was a small tienda. We didn't know, however, that there was a mother and child sleeping in the room. No one seemed to be bothered by our entrance, and we asked for hot water and eggs. The hot water was for our portable coffee machines, Matt's strainer and my French press...... And, yes, we're Americans. We had a lovely breakfast and shared some of our coffee with the girl who we had woken up. Interesting fact: Although Peru produces delicious coffee, most Peruvians drink instant coffee made by Nestle.

After breakfast, we made our way to the waterfall. We only got lost once. There is always a predictable lack of signs on Peruvian trails, and we failed to check another route. We made it in a little over three hours. We ran into a sugar cane mill along the way (to the right). It reminded me a little of home.

We could barely stand at the bottom of the falls because it was very wet and windy, but we did manage to stay and watch the water falling. The water reminded me of smoke flowing down from the top of the rock. It seemed like something you would see if you were tripping on some type of hallucinogenic drug. We watched the water fall for probably thirty minutes.

On the way down from Gocta, I found myself thinking and worrying about my future in the states. What am I gonna do? How will I make money? Do I want to get my PhD? When suddenly, it hit me that no matter what, it will be okay. And, that the risk that I took by coming here greatly outweighs the stress that I may or may not meet in the future. This, gave me peace, and a refined vision on how I want to live my life.

After having a quick breakfast with Matt the following morning, I headed off on my never-ending trip to the real jungle. But, that story's for another blog post. I am in Iquitos, Peru right now making my way to a small Colombian jungle village called Puerto Narinyos. Although I have made acquintances along the way, I am venturing on, sola (without others). But there is one friend that I take with me everywhere, and no it's not my Mac, it's my Yoga. I visit this friend daily and our relationship keeps me strong! So, I am going to keep enjoying my adventure and meet more intriguing people along the way. Until next time.. Namaste :)

Huaraz - Literally Breathtaking

The first place I visited after leaving PSF was Huaraz, a city in the mountains of Peru. The city is approximately 3,000 meters above sea level, which is about 12,000 feet! I arrived there from sea level Pisco, so I had a very difficult time acclimating. I arrived at 5:00 in the morning via bus (see pic to the right), like always, and after sleeping two hours in a deserted Peruvian bus station, I went to my hostel. It was called "Hostel Caroline", which had a resident rabbit, Lucky, as its pet.

The view from the city of Huaraz is impeccable. Snow covered peaks tower over the city, and adventure sports relish in the community. To my delight, there were vegetarian restaurants on many corners. I also found a great little coffee shop owned by a Peruvian woman and Californian called, wait for it... California Cafe. The coffee was wonderful, and they had CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. For those of you who do not know, I love chocolate chip cookies,

and these are more precious and harder to find than gold in Peru.

I spent too much time in this "find" reading my first Isabel Allende book, El Bosque de los Pigmeos or The Forest of the Pygmy in English. It is my second attempt at reading a novel in Spanish, and I am flying through it. I needed to read a book. I have been avoiding reading in English for fear of losing my Spanish, and I had no idea how much I missed reading.

Unfortunately, I only stayed in Huaraz for three days and two nights. For my second day, I went to Lake 69, a crystal blue pool located at difficult 4300 meters. I found a British gentleman to go with me who was staying in my hostel. We also hiked down and shared a meal with a guy from Germany who was traveling through Peru.

We started the hike at 5:30 in the morning. We had to take two cars -- for a total of two hours, and hike for three or four hours to the top. The path was scattered with cows and horses - and the droppings of cows and horses.

The higher I got on the hike, the less I could breath. For the last thirty minutes of the hike, I was walking five steps, and then having to stop. But, I made it!! I was very proud of this accomplishment.

The lake itself was worth the struggle to the top. It was as blue as the Pacific that I saw in Hawaii and Galapagos, but in contrast, it had snow covered mountains as part of the view. We could only stay there for enough time to eat lunch and take pictures because we had to be at the bottom by 3:00 to catch a bus.

After the hike, I was TIRED! I ate a hearty vegetarian meal and went to sleep. The following day, I relaxed, read my book, and visited the local museum. I had planned on visiting another lake this day, but I was so exhausted and (now I know), suffering from a little bit of altitude sickness, that I decided to take it easy that day.

The museum was interesting, and like many of the museums I have visited in Peru, it had its share of mummies. The museum was also packed, both inside and out, with small statues from the pre-Incan culture that flourished in the Huaraz region before colonialism.

My bus did not leave Huaraz until 9:00 at night, so I had ample time to enjoy my remaining time at my hostel. I practiced yoga on the roof for about an hour before it started lightly raining. This forced me to look out over the town, and this is when I noticed the double rainbow that had formed over the city. Maybe it was just because there was rain and sunshine at the same time, but I had a feeling that the rainbow as going to occur.

The yoga, rainbow, and breath taking view gave me the first feeling of peace since I left my dear friends in Pisco. It reminded me why I was traveling and how beautiful the experience is that I am having. It also reminded me to look around! There is so much we miss while swimming in our own heads.

After randomly bumping into a PSFer at the hostel, I prepared myself to leave. The more I am travel in Peru, the more I realize how incredible this country is. Every town, I mean EVERY TOWN, has ancient, recently discovered ruins. In regards to nature, Peru offers the following: the beach, the jungle, the alteplano, the desert, and the Andes Mountains. I could spend another three months here and not see everything the country has to offer. I highly recommend visiting this mystical place. My next stop is Chachapoyas, a little lower and smaller and... Closer to the Jungle!

Cusco and the Sacred Valley

So, now that I have time and things to write about, I am going to write A LOT of blogs! This particular post is about a week that I spent in the Sacred Valley of Peru. It was one of the most memorable weeks of my life. I went with a very nice Spaniard named Cristian that I met at Pisco Sin Fronteras, the non profit where I had been volunteering. We met about five other PSFers in Cusco. I did not have a camera of my own, so I am using all of Cristian's photos! He is also a graphic designer, so I do not think he is going to appreciate the "design" of this blogpost.. He he.

We arrived in Cusco after a 20 hour trip from Pisco. The first thing that I wanted to do was rest. The altitude in Cusco is about 3400 meters or 10,000 feet, so I

was exhausted and had a head ache. We bought tourist tickets, which included the majority of the ruins that surround Cusco (minus Machu Picchu) and museums in and around Cusco. And, of course it included a statue - located on the ROAD - that everyone has admittance to.. But, anyways.. Neither here nor there.

The second day, we went to ruins surrounding

Cusco. We started ruins that were a tribute to water and walked down through the countryside to three other ruins. My favorite, that day, was Sacsayhuaman, which is located directly above Cusco. The city of Cusco itself is said to be in the shape of a puma, and these particular ruins were the head and teeth of the puma. In the photo above, you can see the stone architecture that is typically Incan. The jagged edge to my left is part of the "teeth". There is no mortar; the stones were "engineered" to fit together. Basically, they just fit together... It is said that Sacsayhuaman took over seventy years to build.

The next two days in Cusco were spent resting and visiting museums. After we felt well rested, we went to a site called Pisac. This was another ruin located above the village of Pisac, which was very hippy. They even had Kombucha, which Cristian smelled and practically gagged, but I drank, and enjoyed, my hippy fix (kindof)! The hike up to Pisac included waterfalls and riveting views. To me, the most fascinating part of Pisac was the terraces built for agricultural production. This type of process is still widely used throughout Peru today.

The buildings of Pisac were said to be built in the 1100s, and the majority were used for worship.

After we visited the city met with friends, and ate some good food, the next stop was Ollantaytambo. This village is located more or less one hour from Cusco. I had heard of a hostel(www.casadewow.com - see the homemade bed to the right) there owned by a woman from Asheville, NC, so I had to check it out. It was amazing. Not only was I sooo happy to speak to someone from NC that said "y'all", it was also an awesome little place to lay our heads. The first day there, we hiked above the village to local ruins and ate at a restaurant that donates all its profits to a nonprofit. The following day, we went with some Spaniards on a "locally" led hike. It was very interesting. The "guide" even lit up a funny smelling cigarette on our hike. It was a beautiful hike, but we could have spent our time elsewhere. I did appreciate spending time with new people though, and the ample time in nature.

The day after our stay in Ollantaytambo, we went straight to Agua Calientes to make our way to Machu Picchu. We arrived at 8:00 at night, by train, and woke up to go hike to Machu Picchu at around 4 in the morning. We hiked all the up to Machu Picchu. We were definitely one of the first one hundred people who arrived, if not the first seventy! I had a lot of energy that morning, so we were able to make it up relatively fast.

The advantage to arriving to Machu Picchu early is that you are able to hike to another ruin called Wanupicchu. We started this hike at approximately 7 a.m. I had a mixup with the lavanderia (the place that washes your clothes), so

I had to wear a dress for the hike. I survived! The view from the top was like nothing I have every seen and more beautiful than anything that I could have ever imagined. From the top we hiked around to caves that are located beneath. And, then we hiked up (again).

We luckily visited Machu Piccu on Easter Sunday (and Cristian's birthday), so the crowd was very slim. We spent the whole day walking around the ruins and discovering this ancient, mysterious place. I was so tired that I took a short nap with a chinchilla...

After walking ALL day long, we were exhausted. We returned to Aguas Calientes, had a celebratory bday dinner for Cristian, and took the train back to Ollantaytambo (pic to the right). We slept the whole two hours of the train ride. We said goodbye to Ollantaytambo the following day and headed back to Cusco for our last evening there!

The next day, a Tuesday, I headed back to Pisco to finish out my last two weeks of work with another friend from Spain, and Cristian headed travelin'. It was an emotional goodbye, to say the least, but looking back, it was a great Machu Picchu experience. And, if you have to say Chao for Now, what better place to say it than at one of the great wonders of the world. I am thankful to have had this experience with such special people. I am truly lucky!

I will be writing more blogposts over the next week about Huaraz and Chachapoyas, two other

places I have recently visited in Peru. I am in Chachapoyas now, and I am making my way up through the jungle to Colombia. Today, I hiked twelve miles to the world's third largest waterfall, and tomorrow, I am making my way up to Yurimaguas - and then on a boat to Iquitos, Peru in the jungle. I will be heading back to NC June, 26 and then to San Fran in August to be in Erica and Bryan's wedding. Stay tuned, and I will keep everyone posted!