"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same" - Anonymous
Many people never travel in their lives further than the next city or state. Some do not have the urge to leave the comforts of home for the unknown. Others do not dare to subject their world-views to the confrontation of an alternate reality outside of their know sphere. Still, some simply do not burn with the desire to see other places and blame their lack of desire on the lack of time and money.
Then, there are people who make the choice to travel and see the world outside of their comfort zone. Some do it because they are told that travel is good for the mind and soul. Sometimes they travel with closed eyes and closed mind; they insist that their comfort zone is better and pity anyone not within it. To them, travel is a challenge, a dare to the world - even a bragging right.Travel may open their eyes to reality around them; however, it also may not.
The other type of a person who chooses to travel is one affected with wanderlust. This person wants to see life as it exists outside of his culture. He travels with an open mind and open eyes and is ready to see and accept other cultural traditions without derisive sneering and comparing other cultures to his own. He does not challenge or dare the world - he challenges himself to learn and understand life in our diverse and awe-inspiring planet. This person is exited about meeting new people and making friends in places other than his comfort zone because people are the key to understanding other cultures.
I never really understood the age-old wisdom that travel changes people until this summer when I spent more than two months in South America. Immersing myself in a different culture, meeting new people, and exploring heights of unknown changed my perception of myself and the world around me. This change wasn't an all-explosive revelation of some grander truth. As I left South America, I still felt much like the same person that came there. However, my experiences in South America subtly allowed me to develop a different attitude about life. In many ways, this trip was the transition into adulthood. This summer was the first time I traveled out of the country without the supervision of my parents to take care of me every step of the way. Even though I traveled with my profesors and my friends, I still had to make my own decisions and take care of myself. The biggest thing that I learned from this summer is to trust and respect myself, and I hope I can carry this lesson with me throughout my life.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Between the two hemispheres.
"You can fall in love at first sight with a place as with a person" - Alec Waugh
I spent the last month in Quito, an Ecuadorian capital city located on the ecuator. While Quito is almost as high up in the Andean mountains as La Paz, my experiences in the capital cities of the two Latin American states were different in many ways. In La Paz I had more free time to explore the city, and living in downtown helped me to get out on my own and explore. In Quito I had little time to explore because I had class for five hours a day and lived in the suburbs of the city. There, I mostly hung out with my host family and got to know family life in Ecuador, which was a very fun experience.
Quito is a beautiful city with a rich historical and cultural backgrounds. My first memory of Quito is the tour of the historical center - the heart of the Ecuadorian capital. There are giant cathedrals and old churches constructed in the gorgeous style of the colonial architecture on every street of the historical center, sometimes more than one per street. Many of these have priceless paintings and artifacts, dating back to 1500s.
After touring the historical center of Quito, we went to the ecuator line that divides the city into northern and southern hemispheres. Basically, that means that it is winter in southern half of Ecuador and summer in the northern half.
Another flashback that stands out in my mind is the first day at the University of San Francisco de Quito. This is one of the most expensive private colleges in Quito - the tuition alone costs around $10,000 a semester. Even though USFQ is tiny, the campus is gorgeous, with beautiful landscaping, a pond, and a pagoda.
My last memory of Quito that I want to share is that of the Panecillo - a bread-shaped hill on the outskirts of town that has great views of the entire city. On top of the hill, there is a statue of the Virgin of Panecillo, who watches over Quito. Even though we came to Panecillo on a cold and cloudy day, the views of Quito were still impressive. Through the dark cover of clouds and smog, the buildings spread out into the distance as far as the eye could see. Thousands of cars passed by on the highways below, all hurrying to get more than two million inhabitants of Quito to wherever they were going. Below only the Virgin of Panecillo, we watched life from the top of the world, it seemed.
I have many other memories of Quito and Ecuador; most of them come from spending time with my host family - playing games, learning to dance, watching movies, etc. I am grateful for those memories because the best travel experiences don't come from places themselves - they come from people you meet there. Traveling opens up new doors to different worlds -but the people are the keys to understanding new cultures.
I spent the last month in Quito, an Ecuadorian capital city located on the ecuator. While Quito is almost as high up in the Andean mountains as La Paz, my experiences in the capital cities of the two Latin American states were different in many ways. In La Paz I had more free time to explore the city, and living in downtown helped me to get out on my own and explore. In Quito I had little time to explore because I had class for five hours a day and lived in the suburbs of the city. There, I mostly hung out with my host family and got to know family life in Ecuador, which was a very fun experience.
Quito is a beautiful city with a rich historical and cultural backgrounds. My first memory of Quito is the tour of the historical center - the heart of the Ecuadorian capital. There are giant cathedrals and old churches constructed in the gorgeous style of the colonial architecture on every street of the historical center, sometimes more than one per street. Many of these have priceless paintings and artifacts, dating back to 1500s.
After touring the historical center of Quito, we went to the ecuator line that divides the city into northern and southern hemispheres. Basically, that means that it is winter in southern half of Ecuador and summer in the northern half.
Another flashback that stands out in my mind is the first day at the University of San Francisco de Quito. This is one of the most expensive private colleges in Quito - the tuition alone costs around $10,000 a semester. Even though USFQ is tiny, the campus is gorgeous, with beautiful landscaping, a pond, and a pagoda.
My last memory of Quito that I want to share is that of the Panecillo - a bread-shaped hill on the outskirts of town that has great views of the entire city. On top of the hill, there is a statue of the Virgin of Panecillo, who watches over Quito. Even though we came to Panecillo on a cold and cloudy day, the views of Quito were still impressive. Through the dark cover of clouds and smog, the buildings spread out into the distance as far as the eye could see. Thousands of cars passed by on the highways below, all hurrying to get more than two million inhabitants of Quito to wherever they were going. Below only the Virgin of Panecillo, we watched life from the top of the world, it seemed.
I have many other memories of Quito and Ecuador; most of them come from spending time with my host family - playing games, learning to dance, watching movies, etc. I am grateful for those memories because the best travel experiences don't come from places themselves - they come from people you meet there. Traveling opens up new doors to different worlds -but the people are the keys to understanding new cultures.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Chimborazo: a mountain closest to the sun
"You can never conquer a mountain. You can only conquer yourself" - James Whittaker
The past week I had spent in Riobamba, a settlement rich in history located at the foot of the Chimborazo volcano, a mountain of over 6300 meters. Due to the bulge at the equator, Chimborazo is the furthest point from the center of the earth and, therefore, the closest point to the sun. The volcano attracts many mountain climbers as the climb offers amazing views of the Ecuadorian Andes. However, everyone climbs at his own risk as Chimborazo is still an active volcano - the last eruption occured in 2006 and destroyed many indigenous settlements in the area.
We left Quito early Friday morning and made our first stop three hours later at a house of an indigenous shaman. He showed us his small farm with a garden of native Ecuadorian herbs and a few skinny goats, pigs, and cuys (guiney pigs, a delicacy in Ecuador). He also showed us how to make shampoo out of the aloe roots - he beat the roots with a stone, rubbed them together vigorously, and then the mixture became shampoo. The things one can make with a simple plant root are pretty amazing. To end our tour, the shaman offered to cleanse the energy of one volunteer in our group. After a few minutes of nervous silence, a brave soul volunteered for the procedure. She walked in a cross over a bowl with a burning flame and stopped in front of the shaman. He blessed her with tree branches and spit aloe vera juice in her face. We left the shaman's house and continued on to our hotel in Riobamba where we got lunch and had a city tour.
Even though Riobamba is one of the five biggest cities in Ecuador, the place is more a relic of history than a booming city of modernity. There are some museums, churches, and a beautiful colonial center but not much else. Honestly, I liked Quito much better. We finished our city tour and went to sleep early to be ready in the morning to scale the Chimborazo.
Next morning we left our hotel at 8:30 a.m. and rode up the windy mountain road to the towering volcano of ice and clouds. We got out at the first shelter at 4200 meters and, after the ritual partaking of coca tea, began the arduous climb to the second shelter at 5000 meters. The short climb took almost an hour of covering the distance step by step and many rests. The towering peak of Chimborazo, hidden behind an ocean of clouds, laughed at our puny efforts to conquer it. On our trek up the mountain I talked to the guide and learned an interesting indigenous legend of the mountain. Apparently, Chimborazo is a god in indigenous mythology and its mate is called Cotopaxi, another volcano nearby. One day many, many centuries ago Chimborazo caught Cotopaxi with somebody else and, in anger, turned her into a mountain. However, he did not want to live without her, and he himself turned into a mountain. The indigenous people in the area go to Chimborazo in order to cleanse their energies and to ask the god for favors - there are ruins of the indigenous temples in Chimborazo, but they are on the other side of the mountain and very hard to reach.
We reached the second shelter of Chimborazo and went a little further to maybe 5200 meters, but we had to return to the bus. I was slightly dissapointed - I really wanted to climb to the top. Chimborazo is a good mountain to climb for beginners - it does not require any special equipment, and a climber can just hike to the top if properly acclimatized. One day I want to come back and reach the top of Chimborazo - a hike of approximately seven hours. We came back down (a lot harder than coming up because of the strong wind hitting the back) and proceeded to the next stop on our journey - the visit with the last ice merchant of Ecuador.
Once upon a time all the ice in Ecuador was provided by the ice merchants - indigenous men who went up the Chimborazo volcano to mine ice at the top. They climbed to the top of the mountain everyday, broke off blocks of ice from the glaciers, rolled them up in hay to prevent melting, and brought ice down to the market to sell it. Over time the practice died out as ice became a factory-sold commodity and today there is only one ice merchant in Ecuador - Balthazar. We visited his house high up in the Andes and met him and his family. The man is over seventy years old, but still he climbs the Chimborazo twice a week and brings ice down to the supermarket. He can't make much money because he can't compete with the prices of factory-produced ice, but he still persists in this centuries-old tradition. Meeting Balthazar was a fascinating experience for me - he is a part of ancient history that refuses to bow down to the demands of modernity and resists change in his lifestyle passed down to him by his ancestors.
Going back to the hotel from Balthazar's house, I had much food for thought as I stared at the patchwork quilts of green and yellow mountains. I thought about how important is the respect for yourself and who you are in this world. Like one of the three biblical magi that granted gifts to baby Jesus (the name Balthazar is a biblical allusion to the tree wise men), the last ice merchant appeared in our lives for a brief instant and showed us the wisdom of knowing and respecting who you are and where you come from. Because if you don't respect yourself how can you expect somebody else to respect you?
The past week I had spent in Riobamba, a settlement rich in history located at the foot of the Chimborazo volcano, a mountain of over 6300 meters. Due to the bulge at the equator, Chimborazo is the furthest point from the center of the earth and, therefore, the closest point to the sun. The volcano attracts many mountain climbers as the climb offers amazing views of the Ecuadorian Andes. However, everyone climbs at his own risk as Chimborazo is still an active volcano - the last eruption occured in 2006 and destroyed many indigenous settlements in the area.
We left Quito early Friday morning and made our first stop three hours later at a house of an indigenous shaman. He showed us his small farm with a garden of native Ecuadorian herbs and a few skinny goats, pigs, and cuys (guiney pigs, a delicacy in Ecuador). He also showed us how to make shampoo out of the aloe roots - he beat the roots with a stone, rubbed them together vigorously, and then the mixture became shampoo. The things one can make with a simple plant root are pretty amazing. To end our tour, the shaman offered to cleanse the energy of one volunteer in our group. After a few minutes of nervous silence, a brave soul volunteered for the procedure. She walked in a cross over a bowl with a burning flame and stopped in front of the shaman. He blessed her with tree branches and spit aloe vera juice in her face. We left the shaman's house and continued on to our hotel in Riobamba where we got lunch and had a city tour.
Even though Riobamba is one of the five biggest cities in Ecuador, the place is more a relic of history than a booming city of modernity. There are some museums, churches, and a beautiful colonial center but not much else. Honestly, I liked Quito much better. We finished our city tour and went to sleep early to be ready in the morning to scale the Chimborazo.
Next morning we left our hotel at 8:30 a.m. and rode up the windy mountain road to the towering volcano of ice and clouds. We got out at the first shelter at 4200 meters and, after the ritual partaking of coca tea, began the arduous climb to the second shelter at 5000 meters. The short climb took almost an hour of covering the distance step by step and many rests. The towering peak of Chimborazo, hidden behind an ocean of clouds, laughed at our puny efforts to conquer it. On our trek up the mountain I talked to the guide and learned an interesting indigenous legend of the mountain. Apparently, Chimborazo is a god in indigenous mythology and its mate is called Cotopaxi, another volcano nearby. One day many, many centuries ago Chimborazo caught Cotopaxi with somebody else and, in anger, turned her into a mountain. However, he did not want to live without her, and he himself turned into a mountain. The indigenous people in the area go to Chimborazo in order to cleanse their energies and to ask the god for favors - there are ruins of the indigenous temples in Chimborazo, but they are on the other side of the mountain and very hard to reach.
We reached the second shelter of Chimborazo and went a little further to maybe 5200 meters, but we had to return to the bus. I was slightly dissapointed - I really wanted to climb to the top. Chimborazo is a good mountain to climb for beginners - it does not require any special equipment, and a climber can just hike to the top if properly acclimatized. One day I want to come back and reach the top of Chimborazo - a hike of approximately seven hours. We came back down (a lot harder than coming up because of the strong wind hitting the back) and proceeded to the next stop on our journey - the visit with the last ice merchant of Ecuador.
Once upon a time all the ice in Ecuador was provided by the ice merchants - indigenous men who went up the Chimborazo volcano to mine ice at the top. They climbed to the top of the mountain everyday, broke off blocks of ice from the glaciers, rolled them up in hay to prevent melting, and brought ice down to the market to sell it. Over time the practice died out as ice became a factory-sold commodity and today there is only one ice merchant in Ecuador - Balthazar. We visited his house high up in the Andes and met him and his family. The man is over seventy years old, but still he climbs the Chimborazo twice a week and brings ice down to the supermarket. He can't make much money because he can't compete with the prices of factory-produced ice, but he still persists in this centuries-old tradition. Meeting Balthazar was a fascinating experience for me - he is a part of ancient history that refuses to bow down to the demands of modernity and resists change in his lifestyle passed down to him by his ancestors.
Going back to the hotel from Balthazar's house, I had much food for thought as I stared at the patchwork quilts of green and yellow mountains. I thought about how important is the respect for yourself and who you are in this world. Like one of the three biblical magi that granted gifts to baby Jesus (the name Balthazar is a biblical allusion to the tree wise men), the last ice merchant appeared in our lives for a brief instant and showed us the wisdom of knowing and respecting who you are and where you come from. Because if you don't respect yourself how can you expect somebody else to respect you?
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Under the cupola of the canopy.
"What is the law of the jungle? Strike first and then give tongue." - Rudyard Kipling
This weekend our group of almost-fourty students traveled to a biological diversity station Tiputini in the middle of the Amazon jungles. We left Quito at 10 a.m. after a short delay and arrived in a small Ecuadorian town of Coca after a thirty-minute flight. Stepping out of the airplane in Coca felt like coming home to Mississippi - the temperature and the humidity were outrageous in comparison to the moderate climate of the mountain region of Latin America.
After getting out of the airport, I got my first taste of the jungle seeing a little boy play with a bug that was almost his size. The film Supersize Me came to mind, and the phrase became the slogan for my journey into the deep Amazon. A bus took us to the boat terminal, and we got on a small canoe in order to travel for two hours on the Napo River. Almost everybody was super exited for the trip - we took many pictures of the banks of the river and fantasized about wild adventures in the jungle. Finally, we arrived to the station of the oil company in order to embaque on the next stage on our journey - the chiva bus (an open bus). We had to go through the security of the oil company, and we were not allowed to take any pictures on the territory of the oil company for the purposes of security of this lucrative drilling business. We squeezed onto the chiva bus (barely) and began the drive further into the jungle. Trees and bushes with giant leaves passed by in a whirl as the bus speeded along the gravel road. After two hours on the bumpy road, we arrived at a bridge of the Tiputini River. Sitting on the side of the road, two indigenous women stared at our group of gringos with interest. We got on another canoe to complete our long journey to the remote station of Tiputini. As we neared the final destination of our voyage, the jungle warmly welcomed us with a torrential downpour. Floating down a river in a canoe with rain coming from everywhere is not the greatest adventure in the world. All my things were soaked; and, they did not dry for four day because of the high humidity in the jungle. I think that some of my clothes grew mold.
We finally arrived at the Tiputini station in the late afternoon. The manager of the station gave us a short orientation about the rules of the jungle and lead us to our cabins. Because the station has its own generator, the electricity only works for about six hours a day so that the researchers can do their investigations. The cabins had no hot water and smelled a little moldy. The manager also recommended that we put our technology (ipods, phones, and cameras) in a dry box in the library to avoid humidity damage. Later that night we had a presentation about the exiting creatures that we may or may not see in the forest. We went to sleep early because there is little to do in Tiputini after dark.
The next morning we woke up at 6:00 a.m. because breakfast was exactly at 6:30. After breakfast we put on our rubber boots and went off into the depths of the jungle with our guide. The first place we explored was the Tower - a 46-meter-high construction which allows to observe the animals from above the canopy. Because I am not exactly comfortable with heights, I was slightly nervous about climbing the stairs to the top of the tower; however, the view from above proved to be worth the fear. The jungle reminds me of the ocean - the green tops of the trees spreads as far as the eye can see and merge with the bluish line of the horizon. The woods are full of unsolved mysteries and new discoveries. Far below the canopy, the forest is swarming with life that is unseen and sometimes unimaginable to human eyes. We stayed on top of the tower for more than an hour observing monkeys frolicking in the canopy and birds flying through the clear blue sky. When we descended from the tower, we followed our guide through the forest (making a pit stop to snack on lemon ants) and arrived back at the station for lunch.
After lunch we had a two-hour break to nap in our cabins or, in my case, walk around exploring and taking pictures. At 2:30 p.m. we went to a lagoon far away from the station. Our guide took us around the lagoon in a small canoe in order to try to show us more of the diverse wildlife. Unfortunately, the wildlife was not cooperating (hey, we were in a biological reserve not a zoo), and the most exotic animal we saw was a vulture. The rain started again while we were in the lagoon and we had to hike back to the station through the mud and the rain on sometimes almost vertical hills. When we got back to the station (suprisingly safe and sound), we were done with the excursions for the day.
The next morning we had a fish-feeding exercise. The guides took us out into the Tiputini River on a boat and threw us into the piranha-infested waters in case the piranhas were hungry. Luckily, the piranhas, the crocodiles, and the anacondas were busy with other prey; we survived the river float intact. However, I can't say the same for the stairs to the boat ramp - a guy in our group slipped and the entire platform of the staircase went down. Not surprising considering that the humudity in Tiputini is always over a hundred percent, and the staircase is made of wood.
After the surviving the morning excursion, we had lunch and once again went out into the depth of the Amazonian jungles. This afternoon we visited the bridges - a shaky walk over the canopy. Today we had harnesses for safety reasons, but I did not feel any safer. Nevertheless, the views of the jungle were very nice. That night after dinner we went on the night walk (with our guide of course). Walking through a dark jungle at night is a completely different kind of experience - the place seems almost unreal and otherworldly in the dim light of the moon. Our guide shined the flashlight the trees and the bushes, and a new world opened up before our eyes - a world of grasshoppers larger than my palm, of giant ants the size of my finger, and of butterflies that resembled dried leaves.
The jungles are a precious and an amazing natural environment that are nevertheless very fragile. From the ancient trees which roots drape the forest floor to the walking palms to the multitude of creatures that inhabit this environment, the jungles deserve to be protected for future generations from the threatening advance of civilization with the greed for natural resources. After three days in the jungle, I feel like it would never be possible to learn all the secrets that hide in the depth of the Amazon; I left in awe of this biological environment and the incredible diversity of flora and fauna.
This weekend our group of almost-fourty students traveled to a biological diversity station Tiputini in the middle of the Amazon jungles. We left Quito at 10 a.m. after a short delay and arrived in a small Ecuadorian town of Coca after a thirty-minute flight. Stepping out of the airplane in Coca felt like coming home to Mississippi - the temperature and the humidity were outrageous in comparison to the moderate climate of the mountain region of Latin America.
After getting out of the airport, I got my first taste of the jungle seeing a little boy play with a bug that was almost his size. The film Supersize Me came to mind, and the phrase became the slogan for my journey into the deep Amazon. A bus took us to the boat terminal, and we got on a small canoe in order to travel for two hours on the Napo River. Almost everybody was super exited for the trip - we took many pictures of the banks of the river and fantasized about wild adventures in the jungle. Finally, we arrived to the station of the oil company in order to embaque on the next stage on our journey - the chiva bus (an open bus). We had to go through the security of the oil company, and we were not allowed to take any pictures on the territory of the oil company for the purposes of security of this lucrative drilling business. We squeezed onto the chiva bus (barely) and began the drive further into the jungle. Trees and bushes with giant leaves passed by in a whirl as the bus speeded along the gravel road. After two hours on the bumpy road, we arrived at a bridge of the Tiputini River. Sitting on the side of the road, two indigenous women stared at our group of gringos with interest. We got on another canoe to complete our long journey to the remote station of Tiputini. As we neared the final destination of our voyage, the jungle warmly welcomed us with a torrential downpour. Floating down a river in a canoe with rain coming from everywhere is not the greatest adventure in the world. All my things were soaked; and, they did not dry for four day because of the high humidity in the jungle. I think that some of my clothes grew mold.
We finally arrived at the Tiputini station in the late afternoon. The manager of the station gave us a short orientation about the rules of the jungle and lead us to our cabins. Because the station has its own generator, the electricity only works for about six hours a day so that the researchers can do their investigations. The cabins had no hot water and smelled a little moldy. The manager also recommended that we put our technology (ipods, phones, and cameras) in a dry box in the library to avoid humidity damage. Later that night we had a presentation about the exiting creatures that we may or may not see in the forest. We went to sleep early because there is little to do in Tiputini after dark.
The next morning we woke up at 6:00 a.m. because breakfast was exactly at 6:30. After breakfast we put on our rubber boots and went off into the depths of the jungle with our guide. The first place we explored was the Tower - a 46-meter-high construction which allows to observe the animals from above the canopy. Because I am not exactly comfortable with heights, I was slightly nervous about climbing the stairs to the top of the tower; however, the view from above proved to be worth the fear. The jungle reminds me of the ocean - the green tops of the trees spreads as far as the eye can see and merge with the bluish line of the horizon. The woods are full of unsolved mysteries and new discoveries. Far below the canopy, the forest is swarming with life that is unseen and sometimes unimaginable to human eyes. We stayed on top of the tower for more than an hour observing monkeys frolicking in the canopy and birds flying through the clear blue sky. When we descended from the tower, we followed our guide through the forest (making a pit stop to snack on lemon ants) and arrived back at the station for lunch.
After lunch we had a two-hour break to nap in our cabins or, in my case, walk around exploring and taking pictures. At 2:30 p.m. we went to a lagoon far away from the station. Our guide took us around the lagoon in a small canoe in order to try to show us more of the diverse wildlife. Unfortunately, the wildlife was not cooperating (hey, we were in a biological reserve not a zoo), and the most exotic animal we saw was a vulture. The rain started again while we were in the lagoon and we had to hike back to the station through the mud and the rain on sometimes almost vertical hills. When we got back to the station (suprisingly safe and sound), we were done with the excursions for the day.
The next morning we had a fish-feeding exercise. The guides took us out into the Tiputini River on a boat and threw us into the piranha-infested waters in case the piranhas were hungry. Luckily, the piranhas, the crocodiles, and the anacondas were busy with other prey; we survived the river float intact. However, I can't say the same for the stairs to the boat ramp - a guy in our group slipped and the entire platform of the staircase went down. Not surprising considering that the humudity in Tiputini is always over a hundred percent, and the staircase is made of wood.
After the surviving the morning excursion, we had lunch and once again went out into the depth of the Amazonian jungles. This afternoon we visited the bridges - a shaky walk over the canopy. Today we had harnesses for safety reasons, but I did not feel any safer. Nevertheless, the views of the jungle were very nice. That night after dinner we went on the night walk (with our guide of course). Walking through a dark jungle at night is a completely different kind of experience - the place seems almost unreal and otherworldly in the dim light of the moon. Our guide shined the flashlight the trees and the bushes, and a new world opened up before our eyes - a world of grasshoppers larger than my palm, of giant ants the size of my finger, and of butterflies that resembled dried leaves.
The jungles are a precious and an amazing natural environment that are nevertheless very fragile. From the ancient trees which roots drape the forest floor to the walking palms to the multitude of creatures that inhabit this environment, the jungles deserve to be protected for future generations from the threatening advance of civilization with the greed for natural resources. After three days in the jungle, I feel like it would never be possible to learn all the secrets that hide in the depth of the Amazon; I left in awe of this biological environment and the incredible diversity of flora and fauna.
On the road again.
"On the road again/Like a band of gypsies we go down a highway/We are the best of friends/Insisting that the world keeps turning our way..." - Willie Nelson
Life passes by in blinks. Blink, and I am five years old playing with my toys in the living room in Chishinau. Blink, and I am thirteen or fourteen going to Natchez with my parents for my birthday. Blink, and I am nineteen packing my stuff in bags and boxes to move away to college in Oxford. Blink, and I am twenty-one on a bus in Peru on my way to the study-abroad program in Ecuador.
We boarded the bus in Cuzco around 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday night armed with pretzels and tuna fish for our three day bus ride. I read a book on my computer for a few hours because I couldn't fall asleep. I finally dozed off around midnight but kept waking up through the night because of the motion of the vehicle.
The next morning we woke up early because the driver turned on a movie on the television. I ignored the televison and instead watched the mountain scenery we passed by. We were above the clouds on a narrow, winding road that had 360 degree turns in some places. My stomach is not very strong under the best circumstances, and I began feeling motion sick very soon. We kept driving and driving with a few pit stops along the way. We were supposed to arrive in Lima at 2:00 p.m. and get on another bus later that evening. When 3:00 p.m. rolled around we were still driving along the highway, although we were parallel to the sea coast which was a positive sign. (Lima is on the coast of the Pacific Ocean). We finally arrive in Lima at 4:00 p.m., and we were hungry, tired, and upset with the bus company. I seriously contemplated staying the night in Lima and just getting a plane ticket to Quito, but I was too far along to give up. After grabbing a quick snack from KFC (the wonders of comfort food are amazing), we went to the other bus station (across the entire city) and waited to board. We got on the bus to Quito around 7:00 p.m. and settled for a 40-hour-long bus ride.
This second bus was far worse than the first one - it was much smaller and much more cramped. The bathroom situation (already poor in Latin America as most bathrooms do not have sinks or provide toilet paper) was pathetic and only got worse with the passing of time and distance. Thursday night was not too bad as I drifted in and out of sleep, but Friday was a very long day. The scenery was not spectacular - most of coastal Peru is a drab desert - and I had nothing to do because the batteries in my computer and my ipod died. The one interesting thing on this trip happened around midday - a road block in the middle of the desert with no towns around for miles and miles. We panicked a little at first because we were concerned about getting to Quito on time, but the blockade proved to be short-lived. The police arrived at the scene and dispersed the protestors with a healthy dose of tear gas; I also caught a good whiff of the stuff as the windows in the bus were open, and I can testify to how much it hurts.
We finally stopped in a costal town around 4:00 p.m. and had a quick lunch/dinner because we haven't eaten warm food since the day before. Then, we got on the bus again and were off into the mountains once more. Around 7:30 p.m. we arrived at the Ecuadorian border; after waiting for about an hour, we passed the check-point and were on the road again.
The road from Cuzco to Quito is a triangle: we went down one mountain and then went up a different mountain. We finally arrived in Quito around 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning; we never wanted to see another bus again. We took a taxi to the University where our host parents picked us up. The new stage of our adventure has begun.
Life passes by in blinks. Blink, and I am five years old playing with my toys in the living room in Chishinau. Blink, and I am thirteen or fourteen going to Natchez with my parents for my birthday. Blink, and I am nineteen packing my stuff in bags and boxes to move away to college in Oxford. Blink, and I am twenty-one on a bus in Peru on my way to the study-abroad program in Ecuador.
We boarded the bus in Cuzco around 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday night armed with pretzels and tuna fish for our three day bus ride. I read a book on my computer for a few hours because I couldn't fall asleep. I finally dozed off around midnight but kept waking up through the night because of the motion of the vehicle.
The next morning we woke up early because the driver turned on a movie on the television. I ignored the televison and instead watched the mountain scenery we passed by. We were above the clouds on a narrow, winding road that had 360 degree turns in some places. My stomach is not very strong under the best circumstances, and I began feeling motion sick very soon. We kept driving and driving with a few pit stops along the way. We were supposed to arrive in Lima at 2:00 p.m. and get on another bus later that evening. When 3:00 p.m. rolled around we were still driving along the highway, although we were parallel to the sea coast which was a positive sign. (Lima is on the coast of the Pacific Ocean). We finally arrive in Lima at 4:00 p.m., and we were hungry, tired, and upset with the bus company. I seriously contemplated staying the night in Lima and just getting a plane ticket to Quito, but I was too far along to give up. After grabbing a quick snack from KFC (the wonders of comfort food are amazing), we went to the other bus station (across the entire city) and waited to board. We got on the bus to Quito around 7:00 p.m. and settled for a 40-hour-long bus ride.
This second bus was far worse than the first one - it was much smaller and much more cramped. The bathroom situation (already poor in Latin America as most bathrooms do not have sinks or provide toilet paper) was pathetic and only got worse with the passing of time and distance. Thursday night was not too bad as I drifted in and out of sleep, but Friday was a very long day. The scenery was not spectacular - most of coastal Peru is a drab desert - and I had nothing to do because the batteries in my computer and my ipod died. The one interesting thing on this trip happened around midday - a road block in the middle of the desert with no towns around for miles and miles. We panicked a little at first because we were concerned about getting to Quito on time, but the blockade proved to be short-lived. The police arrived at the scene and dispersed the protestors with a healthy dose of tear gas; I also caught a good whiff of the stuff as the windows in the bus were open, and I can testify to how much it hurts.
We finally stopped in a costal town around 4:00 p.m. and had a quick lunch/dinner because we haven't eaten warm food since the day before. Then, we got on the bus again and were off into the mountains once more. Around 7:30 p.m. we arrived at the Ecuadorian border; after waiting for about an hour, we passed the check-point and were on the road again.
The road from Cuzco to Quito is a triangle: we went down one mountain and then went up a different mountain. We finally arrived in Quito around 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning; we never wanted to see another bus again. We took a taxi to the University where our host parents picked us up. The new stage of our adventure has begun.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
In the footsteps of Hiram Bingham
"I do not seek. I find." - Pablo Picasso
In 1911 a man stepped onto the soil of a long-forgotten miracle, hidden high in the rugged mountain peaks of the ancient Andes: Machu Picchu, the lost heart of the Incan empire. Since that day, millions of tourists have visited this site and left in awe of an ancient culture that created this wonder. While traveling through Peru, my friends and I explored a little bit of Machu Picchu, an adventure well-worth the price of almost $200.
To get to Machu Picchu, we took a three-hour train ride to the small village of Aguas Calientes at the foot of the sacred mountains that are crowned at the top by this Incan wonder of the world. Aguas Calientes is a very small place that probably has more restaurants than people per square foot. The village survives off the tourists that come to visit Machu Picchu every day of the year. Since the ancient site is endangered by the large number of visitors, the number of tourist to Machu Picchu is limited to 400 people a day.
When we arrived in Aguas Calientes, we had a quick lunch and took a bus up to Machu Picchu. The dirt road was almost vertical in some places and rose sharply in alittude. In some places, the bus had to back up and balance precariously on the ledge of the mountain to let the buses going down pass. We arrived in Machu Picchu, went through the gates crowded with throngs of tourists, and went off to explore Machu Picchu. The ruins of this ancient city are well-preserved; a person blessed with a good imagination can almost see this place brimming with life five hundred years ago. We explored the ruins for a few hours; after walking up and down some very steep stairs, my legs were shaking from exhaustion. Despite a long day traveling and exploring, I did not want to leave. I felt like I could sit and watch Machu Picchu for hours or even days. The place has amazing energy, and I hope that one day I will have the chance to return and visit this wonder of the world once more.
In 1911 a man stepped onto the soil of a long-forgotten miracle, hidden high in the rugged mountain peaks of the ancient Andes: Machu Picchu, the lost heart of the Incan empire. Since that day, millions of tourists have visited this site and left in awe of an ancient culture that created this wonder. While traveling through Peru, my friends and I explored a little bit of Machu Picchu, an adventure well-worth the price of almost $200.
To get to Machu Picchu, we took a three-hour train ride to the small village of Aguas Calientes at the foot of the sacred mountains that are crowned at the top by this Incan wonder of the world. Aguas Calientes is a very small place that probably has more restaurants than people per square foot. The village survives off the tourists that come to visit Machu Picchu every day of the year. Since the ancient site is endangered by the large number of visitors, the number of tourist to Machu Picchu is limited to 400 people a day.
When we arrived in Aguas Calientes, we had a quick lunch and took a bus up to Machu Picchu. The dirt road was almost vertical in some places and rose sharply in alittude. In some places, the bus had to back up and balance precariously on the ledge of the mountain to let the buses going down pass. We arrived in Machu Picchu, went through the gates crowded with throngs of tourists, and went off to explore Machu Picchu. The ruins of this ancient city are well-preserved; a person blessed with a good imagination can almost see this place brimming with life five hundred years ago. We explored the ruins for a few hours; after walking up and down some very steep stairs, my legs were shaking from exhaustion. Despite a long day traveling and exploring, I did not want to leave. I felt like I could sit and watch Machu Picchu for hours or even days. The place has amazing energy, and I hope that one day I will have the chance to return and visit this wonder of the world once more.
Monday, July 4, 2011
From a window of a taxi
“Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.” - Sigmund Freud
Last Sunday was the last day of my six-week adventure in La Paz, Bolivia. Early Sunday morning, two of my friends and I left Bolivia to continue our Latin American adventures in Quito, Ecuador. Since we had an entire week to get to Quito, we stopped in Cusco, Peru in order to visit the famous ruins of Machu Picchu.
We arrived in Cusco around 10 a.m. and, after partaking a cup of the customary coca tea, took a long nap to compensate for celebrating our last night in La Paz by staying out until the wee hours of the morning. We slept most of the day away; in the evening, we walked around the main square (which boasts amazing colonial cathedrals) and had dinner at a pizza shop.
The next day we woke up early in order to buy our entrance tickets to Machu Picchu ($40) and our bus tickets to Quito ($155 for a 3-day bus ride). After accomplishing our mission for the day, we rewarded ourselves with a tour of Cusco city. The tour was bilingual – our guide spoke in Spanish at first and then translated his lecture into English for the tourists who did not speak Castellano (another word for Spanish language). We visited the famous Koricancha in the heart of Cusco – an enormous temple to the Incan Sun God that was converted into a Christian church around the time of the Spanish conquest. Then, we explored the Sacsayhuaman archaeological complex, an Incan fortress that was built from gigantic stones weighing between 90 and 130 tons each. The site was an important ceremonial center of Cusco and is the still the scene of the Inti Raymi, the Incan sun celebration held the 24th of June. We visited several other picturesque places on the tour and headed back to the center of Cusco around 7:00 p.m. Since we had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning to catch a train to Machu Picchu, we decided to go to bed early.
The next morning, we stuffed our luggage and ourselves into a small cab, and we were off to the train station. As we drove further and further away from the center of Cusco, the impressive colonial architecture changed into broken shacks, which probably had no electricity or running water. Despite the early hour, the outskirts of the city were bustling with activity as indigenous men and women dragged heavy packages to the market. Accustomed to such vistas by a six-week stay in Bolivia, I uninterestedly scanned the graffiti-covered walls and tired people who were going to work. Suddenly, I saw a little boy helping his mother carry the goods to sell in the market; the picture of this incredible poverty hit me in the face as I realized that this kind of life is probably all that this little boy will ever have. From Switzerland to Madagascar, poverty exists in all parts of the world. However, the degree of poverty greatly varies from place to place. For example, the standards of poor in the Latin American countries are not comparable to the standards of poor in the United States or Europe. We can know the facts about the poverty level of a country; however, knowing and realizing are not the same. We can see the poverty out of the window of a warm and comfortable salon of a taxi; however, seeing and believing are not the same. Even though we can change little about the way the world works, we need to realize that many of the things we take for granted are luxuries in other places.
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