Who Had 16 Days?

Well only 16 days in and I have already visited a hospital. I suppose I should have continued my Cipro longer but the instructions state to stop when the symptoms subside. Oh well, as the immortal Alanis Morrisette so poetically put it, "you live, you learn". So after writing my last post I returned to Hostel Europa to experience stomach craps and the regurgitation of my desayuno. After several hours sleep interrupted with visits to el baño, I decided I should visit a doctor just to be safe. Feeling like crap for the last 10 days kinda sucked so why not.
Arriving at the hospital I found the emergancy room empty. The only sound was that of a woman on the phone in the next room. So I waited... about 15 minutes later the woman appeared and after giving her the international sign for irregular bowel movements (thanks pepto-bismol commercials!) I was ushered into another room with a doctor.
Now, trying to explain that I have to call my insurance, seguro in case you ever find yourself in the same situation, before receiving any treatment is quite hard with a language barrier. I gathered they we telling me that they don´t deal with insurance companies, but I could not explain that I needed to call them so I would be reimbursed, not them. For those playing the home edition, "reimbursed" is not in the Oxford Spanish Minidictionary. Luckly, Jon, who can speak a fair amount of spanish, showed up and helped sort things out. What was trying to be said was everything was going to cost me less than $20 dollars so calling my insurance was kinda a waste of time. So what do you get for $20 dollars at the Puno Hospital?

1. a tour of the hospital where you first, carry an invoice to the central stores, then carry a bill to the cashier, and finally carry the receipt back to central stores to pick up your newly aquired merchandaise.
2. a comfy bed with blood stained sheets, which I pray were bleached, but then again, should bleached sheets retain their blueness?
3. a rusty tin bed pan for which to deposit your stool sample. That's right Ryan, no fancy sterilized stool sample containers here.
4. a polite, but ungloved, nurse to start your IV session.
5. a hand-written lab report
6. and lastly, a precription for Cephlosporin that can be pickd up at any local Peruvian Pharmacy. I'm a fan of InkaFarm personally.


Getting My Electrolites On

So, all in all, not a completely revolting experiance. When Val, who was also there, inquired to the doctor about the blood stains on the sheets, the doctor gave a wave of dismissal and muttered somthing below his breath, so I'm fairly confident it was all good.

In other news, some people have inquired as to where exactly I am travelling in South America. Well, being the last minute person I am, I have been hesitant to outline an intinery. None the less, here goes a shot at my next few weeks.
- Copacabana
- island of the sun daytrip
- Rurrenabaque
- couple day river/jungle trek (canoe/hiking)
- couple day wet-lands trek (jeep)
- La Paz
- Cochabama?
- Villa Tunari?
- Visit Val doing his volunteering at animal life refuge
- Surce
- Potosi
- Uyuni
- 3 or 4 day jeep trek in the Salar de Uyuni

Obviously I am gunna have to cut some out to get it all in so we'll see... later for now...

Puno

On my fist day in Puno I took it fairly easy and visited the iron hulled ship, the Yavari. The Yavari made it to Lake Titicaca (hahahhaa) first by shipping it, in pieces from England around Cape Horn and to Arica. The 1383 pieces were carried by mule over the Andes to Lake Titicaca (smirk). Anyhow, after a year of service as a cargo ship, and a short stint on a beach, it is now a museum with the donations generated going towards retro-fitting the cargo boat into a passenger liner.


Centering photos is so 2005


She´s little in the front but she´s got much back


The Wheel House


A whopping 320 horses of pure steam!?!?

So, apparently my camera´s autoflash is not the brilliant piece of artificial intelligence I thought it was. It is easily fooled into believing there is sufficient light when it is sunny outside and the room has windows. Most of the photos I took of the vessel are too dark to bother posting. However, I must say she is a beautiful ship. "She" you ask? Well the reason for calling a boat a she is summed up by this plaque hanging in the mess hall (sorry ladies).


Oh no you didn´t!

Goodbye to Cuzco (and Frakenstein?)

After resting for about 2 solid days... one of which i didn´t get out of bed. I went to the local Peruvian Drug Dealer, i mean pharmacy, and bought some Cipro. I am not sure exactly what you need a prescription for in Peru but it ain´t much. Almost half the travelers I talk to have purchased some valium for bus rides or percacet for their nights out. Either way, I took my Cipro and feel much, much better. I am not personnaly one who like to take unnessasary pills, especially with out a doctor´s prescription, but I just wanted to get on with my trip. Sorry Ryan, I haven´t met Pete yet, guessing he still resides in Bolivia. So, I am feeling better and Jon returned from his 8 day hike to Machuu Pichuu, an extended group of 10 of us head to Puno and Lake Titicaca (tee-hee).

So I bid fair-well to both Cuzco (look for the Karaoke-Hostel-Scooter Emporium comming soon), and to my home for the past 10 days, the Hostel Frakenstein. Hostel Frakenstien is run by the trilingual german, Ludwig, his Peruvian wife, Marita, and their adorable daughter, Fiona. Also a hired hand, Louis, does most of the menial chores with a smile. Also keeping our stay interesting was Bruno the dog, who tried to give a special good-bye to Val, Marten the iguana, who rules the second floor, and a multitude of exotic plants and fish. Here are a few pictures of the Frakensteins and their beautiful hostel.


The Frakenstein


First Floor - Staff


Second Floor - Couches


Third Floor - Patio

The Mighty Mighty Inca-Stones

Well I got at least two things acomplished over the last few days. First I toured the Inca ruins of the sacred valley and, of course, Machu Picchu. Secondly, I found a store that sold the USB cable I required for my camera so this time I have PICTURES. I also updated the past... (um blog-entries? blog-logs? blog-journals? blog-articles? blogicles!) ...blogicles with a few pictures if you care to check them again.
So on Sunday, my compatriates and I took a guided-tour of the sacred valley. First stop was the ruins of Pisac. It was at this point that I realized that a guided-tour, though cheap, was not a great idea. For it was less than 30 minutes after we finished our walk from the bus to the central courtyard of the ruins that we were told it was time to turn around and return to the bus. This allowed almost no time to explore the vast ruins that contained agriulture terraces, spring fed fountains that still flow, magnificantly constructed temples and houses, as well as a graveyardwhere more than 3000 Incas were laid to rest.


Me taking a picture of Nat taking a picture of Jon at Pisco

So after our hasty retreat from the Pisco ruins to the bus, we drove along the sacred valley river, the Urubamba, to the ruins of Ollantaytambo. This was quite a spectacular sight. The best preserved ruins lay at the top of hill over-looking the city. The hillside is reinforced with ancient terraces to prevent any landslides that would damage the city below and the temples above. These terrances, with thin staircases as an only means of ascent also provided great protection. Ollantaytambo is one of the only sights where the Incas caused the conquoring spanish to retreat. All the rocks, some weighing over 50 tonnes, were transported from a quary across the river. For some reason I didn´t seem to take any good pictures here so I will post none...

Leaving Ollantaytambo late in the afternoon, we headed to Chinchero. The main sight if the 17th century adobe church that was built using the walls of an Inca Courtyard as its foundation. The walls have niches in them where Incas would store mummies. Each day the mummies were taken out of there niches and placed in the main squared where burnt-food offerings were made. The church was much more spectacular, however, it seems in Peru photographs are prohibited in all churches (at least the ones I´ve been to). However, I did get some of the church´s bell tower, slighty ruined by the modern incandescent spotlights attached to it.


Mmmmmm... flood lights!

Completing my survey of the lesser ruins, I set my sights on Machu Picchu. Since one has to book the Inca Trail, a four day hike to Machu Picchu along an actual Inca Path spotted with ruins, months in advance, that was not an option (wow, that sentence hurt!). Other 3 to 4 day options exist but they are just a hike and do not pass any ruins. Jon, however, stumbled upon an 8 day hike that some fellow U. of Calgary friends of his were doing. Unable to convince the rest of us to join him, Jon parted ways with us on Monday for a week. Nat and I decided against any magor hiking because the little we did in the Sacred Valley left us breathless. Val, while seeming to take the altitude better than us all, was not willing to shill out the 320 USD that the 8 day hike cost. So instead the three of us went to visit Machu Picchu the way I feel it was meant to be seen, by a four hour train ride.


I sure the Incas would have travelled by train if they had invented the wheel

The main problem of taking the modern route to Machu Picchu is that you hve to share the sight with a few hundred other tourists. If you hike you can arrive at dawn and view the city from the Sun Gate the way the Incas did hundreds of years ago. No, wait. A landslide took out the path to the Sun Gate a couple weeks back and you can´t reach it...


No Sun Gate for You!

Seeing Machu Picchu, however you get there, is amazimg. Although it was only inhabited by commoners and may have only been an small outpost for the expansion of the Inca empire into the Amazon, the prestine condition and beautiful mountain vistas are awe-inspiring. So awe-inspiring that Val was able to talk me into a 1 hour vertical hike to Winay Picchu, a mountain housing a Inca lookout house.


Machu Picchu and Winay Picchu (the mountain behind me)

Now, the fact that only 400 people a day are allowed up Winay Picchu, and the fact you have to sign both in and out of the trail should have forwarned me of what I was getting into. Also, the fact that I have to stop catch my breath after walking two blocks in Cuzco meant that this was not going to be a walk in the park. I have absolutely how some of the people that were on their descent of Winay while I was ascending made it up there. Only the constant mocking of Val and the encouraging words of Ifat (sp?), a israelie girl that joined us kept me going up the mish-mash of narrow stairs and angled rocks... but wow what a view!


Val, Ifat, and the 42 year old guy that kicked my butt up Winay Picchu

So I suppose that is all there is for my Inca experiances so far. I actually have to get back to the hostel for I ate some bad Mexican food last night and I am not in the mood for writing anymore.

I believe I will be heading to Puno by Tuesday or Wednesday...

Leaving Lima

So in order to get my bearings on this so-called adventure of mine I decided to stay a day in Lima, or actually Miraflores (a weathier area). On the plane I met two fellow canadians, Jon (from Calgary) and Natalie (from Vancouver). The were planning to stay at the same hostel as me so we caught a cab together from the airport. The next day while I was eating my complementry breakfast at a nearby cafe, I met another lone traveller, Valentin (from Germany).


Nat, Jon, and Val (from left to right)

The four of us went to the Monasterio de San Francisco, where over 3000 people have been buried in the catacombs prior to any creation of a cemetary in Lima. After an earthquake massive ¨wells¨ were constructed to place the bones in, thought to be more stable. I have some pictures but since I forgot my cable adapter and have yet to buy one, you can´t see them!. But here´s an internet picture of one of the the wells.

SO after a day in Lima, just another big city (10 million big), I took off to cuzco.
.2.0. h.o.u.r.s. .o.n. .a. .b.u.s. .w.h.e.r.e. .t.h.e. .d.r.i.v.e.r. .i.s. .m.o.r.e. .i.n.t.e.r.e.s.t.e.d. .i.n. .s.p.e.e.d. .t.h.a.n. .c.o.m.f.o.r.t.
so i´m not exactly sure the exhaustion i feel right now is more from lack of sleep or the altitude... however i can´t walk a block with out breathing heavily so I guess it is the altitude! So next on the agenda is to plan how I´m getting to Machu Picchu... the Inca Trail is impossible to book but there are alternatives I´ll start looking into tomorrow...

again... still nothing all that interesting to write about without pictures to back it up.

Away I Go...

Well since stupid blogger decided NOT to save my previous post I will have to write this quickly. I only have eight hours before I am in the air and on my way to Lima, Peru. Following that I will be spending the next 3 months making my way to see the wonders of Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil. Sorry if I did not have a chance for a proper good-bye to most of you but like always I left everything to the last minute. So this has to be short and I have to get to bed.... but first here's a picture of David Letterman selling monkeys!!!


Wish Me Luck!!!