LYNN AND TOM'S TRAVELS

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Tower at sunset

Welcoming committee at the Reed Islands

Farm house

We Drove Lake Titicaca and survived!

Our Hotel in Lk Titicaca - right on the lake

Love her T-shirt

Farmhouse - note the ceramic bulls on arch - good luck

Farmhouse kitchen

We left Arequipa yesterday and flew to a small town, Juliaca, and our new guide met us for our 20 minute drive to Lake Titicaca. But there was one small problem - the people were protesting against the government who were supposed to build a new highway so the people can transport their produce and goods for sale, and the government has renegged on the deal, so they set up a blockade and were not letting cars thru. This meant we had to take the back road which would be an hour or so longer. Because of the detour, Ron decided to take us to a sight he usually does on the 2nd day, so off we went to visit Sillustani -- some towers that were built hundreds of years ago, tombs to house mummies. When the spaniards arrived, they destroyed a lot of the towers and stole all the gold that had been buried with the mummies. What is left standing is beautiful, huge towers on top of a high hill overlooking a small lake. And the fact that we reached it as the sun was setting made it a spectacular sight. We really felt the elevation - 12,000 feet, once we had climbed up the hill, our fingers and toes were tingling. Then we stopped at a family farm, and were invited in to see how the farmers live. They have no power, they have well water, and use candle light. Got a good picture of one of the ladies in her Tim Horton`s t-shirt! Now we were off to the back road....only problem was the backroad was not a road at all, it was the dry marshland of the lake and there was absolutely nothing that resembled a road. We got stuck once, everyone piled out of the coach, the men pushed and we got back in, keep in mind it is pitch dark - except for a beautiful moon, and cold....we then came to the railroad tracks and everyone had to pile out again to lighten the load, we made it over ok. Then we finally got onto what somewhat resembled a narrow, one lane dirt road, and had a standoff with the oncoming traffic at a sharp corner. After 5 or 10 minutes, some backed up, some pulled over to the side, and we managed to get thru. The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful, and we all admitted it was quite the adventure.
Today a boat picked us up at our hotel, and we visited the Floating Reed Islands, these are a group of islands - man made by the Uros tribe, from the totora reeds of the lake, and all the homes and boats are also made from the same reeds. The original purpose of the islands was defensive, and there are still many watch towers made of the reeds. We visited one island, where 8 families live and they showed us their homes, and sang for us. They are very friendly happy people. We had a ride on a reed boat, stopping at a small island for a cold Cerveza. We were told by one guide, that a lot of the families now have land on the shoreline, and just come to the islands during the day for the tourists, but the way I look at it, they are still sharing their history with us.
We left the reed islands and our boat took us to the town of Puno, across the lake from where we are staying. We had a great lunch and did a bit of shopping.
Tomorrow we head to Cusco, and again because of the blockade we are taking back roads, cant wait to see more back roads.
Love to all, stay tuned.....

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Guinea pigs,Ostrich and Alpaca, Oh my....and that was just lunch

We are now in Arequipa, an absolutely gorgeous 470 year old city. Altitude is 7000 feet, and we are all feeling some affects...some more than others. There are 2 huge volcanos that can be seen from the city, they are magnificent, they look like a fake backdrop. The streets are narrow, and the buildings look small, but you look thru huge doorways, and there is a huge courtyard, maybe a restaurant or shops. It is so much fun just to walk around, and discover little alleys that you almost miss, only to discover great little cafes or shops.
We went to the Ice Princess Museum, it was so interesting, an American team, working with National Geographic found the body of a 12 or 14 year old girl that the Incas had sacrificed to the Gods. She was frozen very shortly after death, as they were at such a high altitude, so her body was preserved along with a lot of the clothing, jewelry and pottery that she was surrounded with.
We are staying in an amazing hotel that was once the Mint, there is a huge courtyard with beautiful stone arches and statues, fountains. It is very central to the Plaza dàrmes which is a great place to people watch. We went to a great restaurant for lunch yesterday and had an authentic Peruvian lunch (their big meal of the day). I was going to try the guinea pig, until i realized i was looking at his little head and feet, Tom tried it and said it was quite like chicken. We also went to dinner at a very interesting restaurant (these are all ones that Ron has pre arranged) and were served our meal on a hot stone, 3 small steaks, alpaca - it was very good, ostrich, it was good too, and good old beef. It is a good thing we are doing lots of walking, as we have been eating way too much.
Yesterday we were walking back to the hotel, and i spotted a motorcycle with a BC license plate, so we stopped to chat - It is a girl -a lawyer from Vancouver who is riding alone across South America, she is 2.5 months into a 6 month trip, she was great to talk to.
I am not uploading any pics today, this computer is very slow, and i think about to explode.
This afternoon we head to Puno-Lake Titicaca, this will be the highest elevation we hit.
love to all, stay tuned.....

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Millipede

Friendly Parrot

Morning on the River

View from a river village

Tom and his new friend

Yagua Village Blowgun demonstration

IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!!

Relaxing in the Hammock House

Dianne and Suzi heading for the Tukan Bar

The stairs from the River to our Lodge

Arrived at our jungle lodge around 7pm on Thursday, after a 1 hour boatride down the Amazon River. It was dark and raining, so did not get a great view of the river life, but our next few days more than made up for it. We ended up taking 6 or 7 boatrides and just seeing the villages, the fisherman, the interesting boats that somehow stay afloat, the children washing clothes, bathing, the river is the centre of their life for sure. you can be going downriver and every few minutes you will see the top of a building popping thru the jungle.
We stayed at the Ceiba Tops lodge, named after a 300 year old Ceiba tree, I am pretty sure it was the one that Tarzan lived in, lots of vines hanging down, and apparently is host to over 1,000 different plant and animal species. I swung from a vine....that is way harder than it looks by the way.
We visited 2 native villages, one being the Yagua Indian tribe, and they taught us how to use a blow gun, Tom got a bullseye on his first attempt........I had to have a few tries, and my foot is healing nicely. They put on a show for us, and of course I had to get up and join in the dancing.
We went to Laisla delos Monos, better known to us as Monkey Island. This is an island that takes in orphaned monkeys or ones that people have caught and tried to sell. We had to walk about 20 minutes from where we got off our boat, thru the jungle, the walk alone was amazing, passing banana, mango, palm trees, as well as many types of flowers growing everywhere. When they started this project, they spent the first 6 years planting trees and creating the food for the monkeys before they arrived.
The temperature was 107 with high humidity, we were just dripping wet the whole time. There were 8 types of monkeys, and they were so entertaining. There are about 30 or 40 that hang around the camp and are very comfortable around humans. Tom found that out when one climbed up and hugged him, then sat on his shoulder and licked the sweat off his forehead for him. Tom had his camera in his other hand, so he just lifted it up slowly and snapped a picture, and the monkey promptly slapped him upside the head, and jumped off. I guess the monkey thought they were bonding, only to discover we just wanted a good picture. Another one took a liking to Jane and hung off her arm upside down, and stuck his head up her pant leg....he will never be the same.
No luck with the piranha fishing, but Tom did catch a poisonous catfish / I did not know that catfish bark, these do.
We also saw pink dolphins in the river, they are beautiful.

We also visited another village this morning, before leaving the Amazon, and this one, we were able to go into some of the houses and see the school and the soccer field. The men of the village were busy roofing the community center...a palm leaf roof.
We flew back to Lima today, and just had a fabulous meal at our hotel. Tomorrow we are up bright and early to catch a flight to Arequipa, sunniest spot in Peru, 8000 ft. altitude, we have started taking our altitude medication. We will be there a few days, then off to Puno, Lake Titicaca. Should be able to get some internet access there, but who knows. There are 12 people on our trip, and they are all so much fun, we couldnt have a better group. Love to all, stay tuned.