I am off to a new trip...this promises to be a true adventure as I shift to more and more remote destinations in my travels. I am starting in Columbia, then off to Ecuador, where I will visit the Galapagos islands, followed by Chile and Easter Island, the most remote inhabited island in the world. Additionally, I will have a new type of a travel companion, my girlfriend Sara, which will probably help me to explore a more luxurious side of travel as she is not into hostels.
Our first stop was Bogota, Columbia where we only able to spend one night. We stayed in the city´s historic district and went to LaRosa at night. Although, we didn´t spend enough time in Bogota for a fair opinion to me it seems like many other cities with good parts and bad...there were many brand name stores as well as some very poor areas. What remained with me is that typically residential garbage is thrown on the street. Our italian hotelier Massimo explained that the homeless would steal garbage bins if the city had them.
Next morning we are off to Cartagena, the so called Miami of Columbia named after Cartagena, Spain. We stayed in the old city at the Charleston hotel, which is one of the best hotels in Columbia. The old city is an impressive reminder of european beauty that the Spanish have left behind. The best attraction is simply walking around and taking in the beauty of it. We took a day to visit the famous Playa Blanca beach on Isla Rosario. Due our basic knowledge of Spanish or lack thereof, we missed the boat´s first stop at the beach and ended up at the aquarium that we were warned would be boring so we quickly jumped or tresspassed on another boat that took us to the beach. Although, a must destination for anyone visiting Cartagena, since the city itself does not have a good beach, it is not as nice as some of the Carribean beaches. There are many locals who approach you every few seconds and try to sell you anything from ice cream to a massage. We did end up buying ice cream and a mysterious yellow fried snack, which was 2 for 50 cents. Although many a woman and man offered to wash our feet, we did not get that.
The next day we are off to Ecuador. We started with Quito, at 9000 ft above sea level it is one of the tallest capitals in the world, second to only LaPaz in Bolivia. Quito was very inexpensive but apparantely not very safe as even to go 3 blocks in the historic district we were recommended to take a taxi. The restaurants were on par with anything that you can find in NY and there were many real estate offices selling newly constructed homes at fire sale prices. Sara asked our hotel if there is anywhere we can walk in the evening and he said no, nothing is safe. Not following his advice we went to the historical center anyway and much to our surprise he was right.
After Quito we are off to the Galapagos Islands, a group of islands in Pacific Ocean, that lie on the equator and were made famous for their contribution to Darwin´s theory of evolution and natural selection. The only way to see the Galapagos Islands is on a cruise and we chose the M/S Santa Cruz, a 90 passenger, expedition ship to see them. Over the last 3 days we have seen a truly amazing group of animals ranging from Flamingos to Penguins. It was amazing to see many animals peacefully living with each other and many are only found on Galapagos and furthermore, many have adopted to the Galapagos and have little resemblance to their ancestors such as Swimming Iguanas. The peak of the expedition was snorkeling with the sharks. Another perk was that our room, which was supposed to be the worst room on the ship on the lowest deck, got upgraded to one of the best suites on the ship.
During our trip we found out that there was an earthquake in Chile, near the capital city of Santiago, our next destination. This will definitely affect our travel plans and we will keep you updated. Now we can let spontaneity take over.
Showing posts with label south america. Show all posts
Showing posts with label south america. Show all posts
Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturday, January 10, 2009
South America - Day 2
I have not slept since 6 in the morning on Friday, when I went to sleep at 3am the night before. So far the adventure to South America is very interesting. Our first destination is Machu Pichu, The Lost City of the Incas, built more then 500 years ago and now one of the new seven wonders of the world.
Our flight to Atlanta was at 1pm after which we transferred to our flight to Lima, Peru. We arrived to Lima at around midnight. My travel partner for this trip is Vladimir and he was held up by Peruvian customs because of an Interpol alert. Fortunately, the guy they were looking for had the same name but no other informaiton matched and they finally let him go. I already jotted down Vladimir's passport number and was getting ready to call the American Embassy in Peru.
Our next flight was at 5:40am so I convinced Vladimir to forget about our hostel reservation and sleep in the airport. After sleeping for about 2 hours we found out that our flight was delayed by 5 hours, which means that we would not make the train to Machu Pichu and our flight back to Lima the next morning. We were lucky and were switched to another airline and at 8am were on our way to Cusco, the nearest city to Machu Pichu that has an airport.
My first impression was that Cusco is very poor as the street were not well kept and houses had much unrepaired damage. However, once we got closer to the center the city became more beautiful, which made sense. Tourism is the most important thing in Cusco and all the tourists live in the center. Outside of the city centers poverty prevails despite Peru's much progress as fastest growing economy in South America due to mineral exports, food exports, trade, and private investment.
We had to take a taxi for over an hour through the Huatanay Valley to catch our train. The taxi ride only cost $25..compare that to a yellow cab. While driving we saw some of the most amazing landscapes; there was perfectly manicured farmland nestled in the valley between the mountains, animals such Cows, Lamas, and Pigs roaming freely in the fields, snow caps on the higher mountains, and everything else that you would expect from such a place.
Once we reached the train station we just missed the train and had to wait for the next one, which was a luxury train and cost over $50 for the 90 minute ride to Aguas Calientes, city on the bottom of the Machu Pichu mountain. Once there we took a bus to the top at a cost of $14. We did not have much cash since we expected to rely on credit cards and bank cards but strangely almost no one accepted them. At the entrance to the Machu Pichu site we had to buy tickets at a price of $40 each. We scraped together every penny we had and were lucky because after we paid for the tickets we were left with only 1 Sol, about 33 cents US. Hence, eating, drinking, and using the restroom were out of the question for us until we can find an ATM. It was scarry to think that we traveled for over 24 hours and almost not get in.
Machi Pichu is one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen, I can only compare it to the great Wall of China. Its a real city located at 8000 feet above sea level. It's clean, well maintained, and extremely peaceful. There are over 140 structures made from stone.
After walking around for a few hours we started making our way back to Cusco, the location of our Hostel - about a 4 hour trip. At around 10pm, about 32 hours into our trip Vladimir's body totally gave up and he fell asleep in his clothes as soon as we got to our hostel. I am debating if I should take a shower since the shower is outside and it is not very warm here.
Tomorrow, we will go to Lima for a day and then will take the red eye flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Our flight to Atlanta was at 1pm after which we transferred to our flight to Lima, Peru. We arrived to Lima at around midnight. My travel partner for this trip is Vladimir and he was held up by Peruvian customs because of an Interpol alert. Fortunately, the guy they were looking for had the same name but no other informaiton matched and they finally let him go. I already jotted down Vladimir's passport number and was getting ready to call the American Embassy in Peru.
Our next flight was at 5:40am so I convinced Vladimir to forget about our hostel reservation and sleep in the airport. After sleeping for about 2 hours we found out that our flight was delayed by 5 hours, which means that we would not make the train to Machu Pichu and our flight back to Lima the next morning. We were lucky and were switched to another airline and at 8am were on our way to Cusco, the nearest city to Machu Pichu that has an airport.
My first impression was that Cusco is very poor as the street were not well kept and houses had much unrepaired damage. However, once we got closer to the center the city became more beautiful, which made sense. Tourism is the most important thing in Cusco and all the tourists live in the center. Outside of the city centers poverty prevails despite Peru's much progress as fastest growing economy in South America due to mineral exports, food exports, trade, and private investment.
We had to take a taxi for over an hour through the Huatanay Valley to catch our train. The taxi ride only cost $25..compare that to a yellow cab. While driving we saw some of the most amazing landscapes; there was perfectly manicured farmland nestled in the valley between the mountains, animals such Cows, Lamas, and Pigs roaming freely in the fields, snow caps on the higher mountains, and everything else that you would expect from such a place.
Once we reached the train station we just missed the train and had to wait for the next one, which was a luxury train and cost over $50 for the 90 minute ride to Aguas Calientes, city on the bottom of the Machu Pichu mountain. Once there we took a bus to the top at a cost of $14. We did not have much cash since we expected to rely on credit cards and bank cards but strangely almost no one accepted them. At the entrance to the Machu Pichu site we had to buy tickets at a price of $40 each. We scraped together every penny we had and were lucky because after we paid for the tickets we were left with only 1 Sol, about 33 cents US. Hence, eating, drinking, and using the restroom were out of the question for us until we can find an ATM. It was scarry to think that we traveled for over 24 hours and almost not get in.
Machi Pichu is one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen, I can only compare it to the great Wall of China. Its a real city located at 8000 feet above sea level. It's clean, well maintained, and extremely peaceful. There are over 140 structures made from stone.
After walking around for a few hours we started making our way back to Cusco, the location of our Hostel - about a 4 hour trip. At around 10pm, about 32 hours into our trip Vladimir's body totally gave up and he fell asleep in his clothes as soon as we got to our hostel. I am debating if I should take a shower since the shower is outside and it is not very warm here.
Tomorrow, we will go to Lima for a day and then will take the red eye flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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