Peru week #1: The Peru Sprint!

My Peru prep and travels were quite different in many ways than previous trips. Best of all, I got to be with Shinae from start to finish. No solo traveling at all! Also, it was the most planned trip. We had a legit itinerary with all hostels book. Surprisingly most buses were also booked from the stateside which I didn't even know that was possible. So long for getting bus tickets the morning of and hostels upon arrival. And we actually had a small grasp of the local language. Unfortunately, I bought along work for the first time for those long bus rides. That's life. But Peru was the same in the sense of strapping on the backpack and "do-it-yourself" trying to take the local way. As always, Peru bought crazy adventures as my travels always do!

Week 1: The Peru sprint

In our first week, Shinae and I made a grand tour around Peru. We started in Lima. Then we bussed 8 hours down the west coast to Nazca. Next we took a 9 hour overnight bus southeast to Arequipa and then a 6 hour ride east to Puno to island hop on Lake Tititaca. Finally we headed north 7 hours to end in Cusco. We moved every single night and was on some long mode of transportation every single day for the first week. But it was definitely worth it! Here's what we saw.

Lima: a decent capital

We spent a morning walking around Miraflores, a nice district bordering the beach before heading on our 8 hour bus ride in the afternoon. We were surprised at how pleasant this section of the city was compared to the Central American capitals that we'd been in such as Guatemala City and San Jose.

The beach view at Miraflores in Lima. It was a very gray morning.

Nazca: a desert town with wacky wonders
So we purposely scheduled an extra 20 hrs of busses to stop by this desert town to see the Nazca lines, which are wacky formations dug out in the desert sand by the natives sometime between 200 BC to 600 AD. These lines range from drawings of monkeys, whales, birds, geometric shapes from a few to several hundred meters long. The motivation behind these lines is still not entirely clear, but they can only be discerned from the air. It was just the type of quirky thing we were interested in.

We had to take a sobrevuelto (overflight) to see them. After waking up at 7:30 am and much miscommunication and waiting around a random swimming pool, we were finally transferred to the tiny airport at 2 pm where 6 of us and a pilot boarded a propeller plane to get a peek at the lines.

Shinae and I in front of the 6 passenger plane to see the Nazca lines.

Nazca lines: Do you see the astronaut waving at you?
He's probably over 1000 ft tall and was our favorite.

It was fascinating, if not a little upsetting on the stomach as the tiny plane plunged left and right.

La hummingbird.

The flight was 30 minutes long. Our stomachs probably could not handle any more.

View of the desert from the plane.

The town of Nazca itself was actually surprisingly a happening place. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just chilling here, and even went to the local planetarium (how could we not? Shinae is an astrophysicist and I taught astronomy) with our newly acquired friends from our hostel, Rob and Nick from the UK.

Nazca's main square was clean and a great place to watch the locals.

We had some of our favorite food in Peru in some of the local joints in Nazca. We got a two course feast for 6 soles ($2).

The set lunch menu at a local restaurant.

When we asked for the menu, the man just took this sign off the wall and bought it to our table.

We had no idea what the items were so we just named two and hoped for the best. It was delicious. And our items got erased from the board rather quickly so we must've chosen well. We were the only gringos (foreigners) eating there.

Man with his fruit at the Sunday market smiling for my camera.

Rob, Nick (two Brits we hung out with around town), me and Shinae at our Walk On Inn hostel before our night buses. This is where the roosters crowed at 1 am!

The Nazca lines was definitely worth the extra 20 hours of bussing. Plus we got to see a lot of the Peruvian countryside and an interesting small town. Now off to Arequipa on the night bus.

Cruz del Sur bus: rolling high classMe cold on the bus, but riding in style!

OK. Anyone who had to take any long bus trips should definitely go VIP on the first floor of this bus. It's the most luxurious bus I've ever ridden, and I've ridden some pretty nice ones abroad. But most importantly, they were keen on safety. We heard stories about the Pan American highway being notorious for robberies, especially on night busses. I normally like to travel long rides overnight since it kills two birds with one stone, but for safety we always tried to travel during the day. I remember Shinae asking "Is it just robberies? If so I'm fine with that. But if it's violent robberies and rape, then that's not OK." We read that it was the latter. Not OK. But Cruz del Sur video-taped each passenger, had speed limit control and a GPS system to track the busses, so we felt safe. And so goes our bussing around Peru in style.

Arequipa: a beautiful city nestled in the mountains

After the most pleasant overnight bus, we arrived in Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. It's tucked high in the mountains at 2500 m.

Me in the city center .
We bartered for paintings from a local artist here.

We really enjoyed this city. It was filled with locals, and the buildings, though rebuilt after earthquakes, had character. The city was admist a week long celebration of its founding so we happened upon festivals. It felt manageable and walkable.

We enjoyed wandering this monastery and getting lost in all the nooks and crannies.View of the mountains from inside the monastary.
The mountains and volcano Misti are the backdrop of the city.

Alpaca relleno with quinoa cakes.

Our first "luxury" meal for about $10. We had alpaca relleno (alpaca meat, which taste like beef but is 50% less fatty, in red bell peppers). It was quite tasty. Though overall the food in Peru is nothing spectacular, but I didn't have high expectations.

Shinae in front of our favorite hostal - La casa del los penguinos (Penguin House)!

How can you go wrong here? It's runned by a kind Dutch lady, was impeccably clean, had hot water, had marvelous breakfast with peanut butter AND was decorated in penguins.

We were traveling mid-class. Most of our hostels were about $30/night for 2 ppl with private bath so $15/person. We could get as cheap as $8/person, but we are working people, not that young and only traveling for two weeks!

View from the cafe overlooking the main square.

What AM I wearing?!?! Sandals and socks? Never in the states...

When traveling I start to get creative with my limited clothing. I only bought one small backpack. The temperature sometimes got up to 75 deg during the day with scorching sun, but dropped to 40 deg in the city at night once the sun disappeared. COLD! It was winter in Peru. But winter = dry season.

Our day in Arequipa was quite relaxing and eventful. And it also allowed us to slowly acclimate to higher altitudes. Off to our next destination.

Puno: uninteresting town, but a launch point for Lake Titicaca

Our morning bus crept and winded up through the mountains as we climbed to an even higher altitude of 3800 m. 6 hours later we descended upon Puno, the town which is the hub for the beautiful Lake Tititaca. Forced to spend the afternoon and evening here, we managed to find an ineresting coca museum and some of the tastiest food.

Ceviche!

We accidentally got raw trout. We were very cautious about eating the food in Peru; everyone we knew who went to Peru got terrible food poisening. It was a shame since I normally love street food, but since we were traveling everyday, doing homestays without proper bathrooms, trekking, etc, being sick did not bode well. But we broke our rule for 5-6 deliously fresh, savory lime infused pieces of forbidden trout. Fortunately there were no negative consequences.

Lake Titicaca: the highest navigatable lake

Uros: Floating Islands
These islands are unique. Familes live on one island with about 5 or so houses. There are about 50 islands though it changes daily as families join their islands for fiestas or break apart during feuds. They go into Puno, about 30 minutes away when they need certain ammenities.

Local moms bidding us farewell on the island.

Jumping on the island.

It's made of about a meter thick of reeds which is very bouncy! The houses and boats are also made of reeds and you also can eat too. Very useful.

Amantani: our homestay

Our main goal of the islands was to do a homestay. We arranged to stay with a local family here through a reputable tour group, All Tour, that worked closely with the community. After a 3 hour boat ride from the floating islands, 10 of us went to different houses.

Shinae following our "mom" and her cute little lamb from the dock to our home.

Me in front of our home. It was surprisingly a nice proper structure.
We got a spacious room with beds and a decent outhouse!

There is no electricity, roads or cars on the island. The 5,000 people lead a simple, yet happy life. We got a glimpse of the locals' daily life. Their native language is Quechua, but fortunately the mom and daughter spoke Spanish also so we could communicate.

Reading with the children at the local library.

BIO conversation on Peruvian Island in Spanish? Eh? We ended up conversing with a young local of 25 yrs old (on the left) who was curious about biology. He asked "Why do virus attack humans?" "Why do we get headaches?" "Why do we dream?" We explained about viruses in our broken Spanish. The second two questions were a bit harder since even in English the answers are a bit unclear, let alone convey that in Spanish! But this was definitely one of the highlights of the homestay for me to be able to share my knowlege of biology with the locals. How cool is that!?! I could see myself doing that more long term.

View on our 45 min hike UP to patchapapa temple at the top of the mountain.

The temple at sunset.
We circled it 3 times to gain energy from the lake. I hope this last me a long time!

Mom prepping me for the fiesta after dinner. And we thought we would just go in our fleece.

Me and Shinae in our fiesta clothes. Notice the stylish headlight which we had to use to walk around at night. Our mom had so much energy and kept us dancing!!

Our host mom, her 12 year old daugher (Maria Luz) and 3 year old daughter in the kitchen.

We had 3 delicious meals here - lots of potatoes (oh so many potatoes in so many colors! white, purple, yellow...). We were so grateful for their hospitality and insight into their daily life. They seem to be kind and happy people.

Boating away from Amantani in the morning.

Tequile: Island hopping

The next day we took a 45 min boat ride to another island, Tequile. The culture is slightly different. It's more industrialized on this island, and they specialized in textiles.

Ridiculous views all around!

We hiked admist crystal clear blue waters and skies. It reminded me a bit of island hopping in Greece, except obviously a bit grimier.

Handmade textiles which the islanders specialize in.
The top is actually a back brace. Maybe I should've bought one!Shinae and I on Tequile.Shinae chilling while boating back to the mainland.
I got sunburned through my pants.

After another night in Puno where we hung out with more newly aquired friends Jessica and Dana over good food, we were ready to head to Cusco to meet up with Sharlene and Andrew. We couldn't believe our trip was half way over. We had covered so much terriotory already and were extremely pleased with our variety of experiences - capital city, dessert with wacky wonders, town, city nestled in mountains, islands and homestay. 7 days, 5 places, packing our bags and moving each night, 32 hrs of busses, 8.5 hrs of flying and 8 hrs of boating. Not bad at all!

Shinae and I had a wonderful time bussing around and exploring beautiful Peru! We acquired a good sense and appreciation for the country.

Off to Cusco!

PERU

At last - South America! I've been planing on going since ... 2005? Shinae and I talked about going to Peru when we spent the summer in Guatemala in '05. It was the first place I wanted to go to on my year long trek around the world after graduation. And that didn't quite pan out so much - well the graduation happened fortunately, but one year got shortened to 2 months, and those two months went east to Europe and Asia. But rest assured, I am finally making it to S. America, though barely!

This summer has been quite crazy needless to say. The chill and wonderfully rejuvenating Baltic saunter seems oh-so-long ago, and I think I am barely making it to Peru alive. But the important thing is that I will make it AND for once I am writing not 20 minutes post-departure time, but a whole 5 days (gasp!) pre-departure time. Eh? Yup. Maybe it's because we are trying to do a little pre-planing since I'm actually traveling with friends who are living in the U.S, which makes things a little easier, and our schedules require some coordination.

So, who's going? Well, I'm not going solo for starters! In fact, we got a full crowd. Shinae, my college roommate, and I are going for two weeks, and I acutally get a flying buddy the whole time! This is a first. Sharlene, my friend I met in Denmark, and a fellow California/UC/Brooklynite is meeting us 6 days in as is Andrew, Shinae's husband. Shinae and I are flying into Lima and bussing our way around the country. Then we are all convening in Cuzco to do a homestay and go on the 4 day Inca trail trek to see Macchu Picchu. We are excited!

Now, I just need to get the energy and peace of mind :) Hopefully I will be alive post-Peru to resume my new job in the fall (yes, another one...) and to post pictures of course. Let's also hope that I'll be efficient at posting before the madness of work takes over like last year and prevents posting til absurdly late. Please bug me about it! 'Til later...

A bit delayed, but here's the final post of the Scandinavia/Baltic trip, before I head off again.

Stockholm revisited

It was nice to be back in the city even though it was rainy and cold. Since it was my third time in Stockholm, there was absolutely no agenda. We just chilled, showered, walked around, visited libraries and grabbed hot cocoa.

The city center, with a new addition:

A truck full of under-aged drinking and dancing high school seniors (on the right)! They have a grand tradition of celebrating graduation by riding around town. We saw at least a dozen of these party trucks. Hmm, maybe the Swedes aren't so reserved and proper after all. Always something new to discover.

On a more serious note, we visited the main library (above) and the royal library.

Carl Linnaeus

Celebrating the Father of modern taxonomy. He basically invented the way we name all of our speices! (Yes, I am a scientist afterall). Science aside, I did get to appreciate Stockholm in the summer for the first time. It has lots of small beautiful parks.

And that's the end of the Scandinavia/Baltic tour. Definitely what I'd hope for. Chill, relaxing, a bit of city, a bit of nature, some adventure, and off the beaten path, but also civilization and cute cafes. Most importantly, good times with Joy. I realized that we traveled in 6 countries together in the past year, and also visited each other in our two respective native California homes and current homes in NY and Sweden! How lucky are we? I'm definitely blessed to have such a wonderful friend!

Joy and me in front of a tea house down the street from our B&B in Villnius, Lithuania. Very fitting for us.

The Archipelagoes in Sweden

The first stop of my two week trip is Sweden. I land in Stockholm for my third visit. People are a bit surprised - 3 times?! Yup. I do love Scandinavia. In fact, I have been to Sweden probably about 7 times thanks to my semester abroad in Copenhagen. I'm visiting Joy again, but this time we are heading out of town to the country house for a long weekend, which is only accessible during the warmer months.

The country houses of Otto's (Joy's boyfriend) family. We stayed in the cute red one.

You have to take a boat to get to the islands.

These houses are on Goose Island, which is about a 30 min drive from Stockholm. Sweden has an extensive network of archipelagoes. They are brimming with nature in the spring and summer months.

Exploration.

Some of the natural beauty. We went on a hike around the island. It was a bit chilly and threatened to rain.

We pick fresh chives and violet flowers.

Nope. No water in the well. Actually, there was a lack of well water overall so not only could we not drink it, we had to be conservative with water usage.

Yummy food!
We had lots of delicious food, thanks to Otto and Joy's gourmet home cooking. Roasted chicken, shrimp crepes, seafood soup, coconut flan and I got my first grill of the summer.

Grilled burgers with homemade sesame brioche buns and aoili sauce.

Relaxation!
Starting my travels with a weekend at the country house was a perfect way to finally unwind from a crazy semseter. I have to leave NYC to relax, and this scenario was an ideal option.

Sauna house!

I was introduced to the sauna culture here in Sweden. Here's the procedure (hey, I am a scientist after all):
1. Get really hot in this sauna house til you can't bear the heat.
2. Jump into the brisk water for ~3 seconds followed by laying on the deck til the coldness settles into your bones.
3. Return to the sauna house.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 about 3 or 4 times.
This night time activity can last several hours. It truly is relaxing.

Picture taken at 2 AM!!! Twighlight nights.

One of the best things about Swedish/northern summers is that it never gets dark, and the sun sets around 10 pm and rises around 2:30 am. Midsummer is in mid June, when the days are the longest. A nice contrast to my last visit when the sun setted at 3 pm!

Joy going in for a COLD dip.

Lazy morning reading my gossip magazines. Ahh to lounge and relax far from home! So happy!
Otto and Joy also enjoyed the mags.

Sabina, Joy's friend, and I lounging under the tree. When the sun is out, you go out. That's because that Swedish sun is so finicky! Out one minute and hiding the next.

Joy and Sabina. We are sadly leaving the island.

Over the long weekend, we had lots of yummy food, saunas, mellow hikes and plenty of chill time. Now I see why the country house makes Joy so happy! It gave me a different aspect of Sweden and an appreciation for the Swedes' love of their land. Thanks so much to Otto and Joy for being wonderful hosts.