Peru – Pisac: Peace, fire and a dog bite

So after having spent some time in Cuzco it was time for a little change, considering that Cuzco is a fairly large city I was set on finding something nice and quiet which as it turned out was Pisac. I got there early in the day after about an hour long bus ride, and it turned out to be a really nice small town located in the entrance to the sacred valley. I had found a nice little hostel sporting a big garden with a nice little pavilion in the middle, the rooms were basic, but the garden was a little slice of heaven. My first 2 days in Pisac I did very little other than quietly walk through the small streets taking in life as it goes, and sitting by the local corn fields. As it turned out, Pisac was another haven for Ayahuasca tourists, so there were again a lot of those around, generally speaking they are quiet and nice people, but every now and then you meet one that is shocked if you’re not there to drink Ayahuasca, and will try to convince you that their particular shaman is the real deal, and the right one for you. I however did not feel more comfortable with any of them than in Iquitos so again I opted not to partake in one of the fairly large tourist ceremonies, I think the biggest one I heard about was around a hundred people which would have been way too many for me! Instead I opted to explore the surroundings of the small town, climb up the mountain to the old Pisac ruins, and just enjoy the view and feel of the place! So one morning I headed up the mountain starting at an altitude of around 2900m climbing up to about 3600m. It took me the better half of a day to actually make the climb. Not that it is such a great distance to cover, but it is fairly steep territory, and I had to take a short break about every 80 to 100 m in altitude. Having failed to acquire new coca leaves, there was not much of a choice. First on my way up I came across the temple area, which is much smaller than for example Machu Picchu but has the same features, such as a place that points out the summer and winter solstices etc.. Smaller also by default means less crowded so that was something I greatly appreciated, as unlike Machu Picchu, you can actually take some time to just sit down, and enjoy whatever it is you’re looking at! After some time in the temple area I kept on climbing and came to a tiny tunnel which made me realize how small the Incas actually had to have been, as I had to bend down quite a lot to make it through, past the tunnel it was only a few more hundred meters to make it to the old ruin of Pisac, which turned out to be set on 3 distinct little levels, on top the main town, a little down, a second little settling, and further down still there was the temple area! About 4 more km uphill you can find a little town of people still living traditionally, but in all honesty I was just to beat to climb uphill another 4km, so I settled next to the ruins, and climbed around there quite a bit before heading back into town for a nice Alpaca steak dinner! Alpaca is truly excellent meat, and the best steak I had in my time in Peru was indeed in Pisac in a place called Ayahuasca café.

On the full moon night I had in mind to climb the mountain back up a bit to “meditate” under the full moon, and after arguing my case with the entrance guard that I had no intention of revisiting the ruins, I was allowed to climb up a bit without paying again. When I finally had found a great spot to sit/lie down it took about an hour until one of the other guards actually asked me to go back down as the sun was setting and they preferred not to have visitors on the mountain at night. So I said ok, and moved my full moon session down to the hostel garden, which turned out to be great as well! It sure is a nice feeling to lie down, and stare at a full moon at 2900 m of altitude, it just looks so much clearer and bigger, it is wonderful! The only down side of the spot was the company of some girl who told me her story of the day, how she had been in Cusco at the templo de la luna, and was stunned with an electro shocker by two guys. She was fortunate enough not to pass out, and scream for help so the 2 ran off, but I still over empathized with her, and actually felt where she had been shocked, and how the electricity had flown through her body, not a good feeling, but I was still happy she had made it back safe and sound, at least more or less. That night I spent in the company of a Norwegian dude that has been on the road for 4 years, and an American girl that was on vacation for a little bit. I sat there observing the 2 and it turned out to be quite hilarious! The Norwegian guy tried to expand her mind with talking from a global/political perspective, while she took everything he said on a very personal, “but Americans are not all bad” kind of level. Quite fun to observe how their talk and energy kept passing by each other for a few hours.  The Norwegian had a bottle of booze called Flor de Anis which was not bad at all, but that night I did not really feel like drinking so I just had a little taste while the 2 others got wasted. Considering that it was quite cold the Norwegian guy came up with the idea of a small coal fire in front of the pavilion for heat, all in all not a bad idea, but considering it was the middle of the night we decided to get together a few days later to drink around a small coal fire and spend a more comfortable night!

So 2 days later I picked up a small clay bowl and some more of the Flor de Anis while the Norwegian guy said he’d get coal and something to start the fire. So we met around 9pm and started drinking, listening to some music, and lighting the fire. Turned out his idea of starting a fire involved pure medical alcohol which although it burns very well is not a good fire starter as it soaks the coal, and once the alcohol has burned leaves the coal wet, and not burning well. Instead of adding a little bit of paper or the like, he kept on adding alcohol creating small burst of fire. After a while even the coal had enough heat to give of a little, and our supposedly fireproof bowl cracked already, which was not the best of signs, but oh well… We kept on going, drinking and mostly discussing music giving suggestions to one another about what we each should still explore. The Norwegian meanwhile kept on poring alcohol over the fire, and even though he started out with only a shot glass, he had somehow brought around a bigger glass and kept on adding more and more alcohol creating larger and larger flames, which was not a good idea, considering that although the bowl was standing just outside the pavilion, the straw roof was still in danger. Being that I don’t drink all that much I got pretty wasted and shortly after midnight actually started puking my soul out of my body. Meanwhile the flames kept getting bigger. I remember he asked me to do the honours and poor some more alcohol over the fire but it refused with the argument that I was way too wasted to still be playing with fire. So I packed up my music gear as he did not want to hold on to it until morning and bid goodnight… I puked a few more times in my room before passing out, holding on dearly to the wall, as everything was spinning out of control. I woke up around 10 in the morning and felt like shit. When I headed to the kitchen I ran into the Norwegian, and he said “well I have been kicked out of the hostel, and have to pay around a 200$ fine”. So I looked at him quite puzzled and he just pointed to the pavilion at which point I realized he had actually put the roof on fire. Turned out that around 2:30 in the morning he had so little control left of what he was doing that he probably made such big flames that the roof caught on fire. Luckily one of the receptionists lived on the premises and for some reason woke up to the flaming disaster and managed to extinguish it before the whole thing caught on fire. In the morning they of course added new house rules, no strong booze, and no fire. Fortunately I was drunk early enough to not be considered part of the whole fire experience, and was allowed to stay for a few more days.

I was actually sick for 2 days from that drinking experience, and swore to myself I’d never get this drunk again, which I am happy to say, at least to this day has not happened again! So the next 2 days I pretty much spent recovering trying to drink as much water as possible, and to eat whatever little bit of food I was able to put into my body.

That weekend I finally headed out to discover the small waterfalls I had been told about, and after about an hour walking I arrived at a wonderfully lovely little place, 2 streams coming down the mountain, and in the middle of them a giant boulder that had a perfectly shaped place for me to lie in. I spent almost the whole afternoon there on that boulder just exploring the surroundings a little and figuring I’d come back the next day to enjoy it some more. Along the way back I noticed that people really are pigs anywhere in the world, as there was enough trash around to fill a couple of large garbage bags, but still the place itself had a nice flair to it.

The next day I did head back to the waterfalls, but as I got there I started to rain, so instead of on the boulder I sat beneath it waiting for the rain to pass, again I found a rock to sit on that was perfectly shaped for my body so I stayed and watched the rain for quite a while. When I finally headed home is when things got interesting, somewhere on the path I encountered a pack of about 6 dogs, so it was impossible to keep an eye on all of them all the time. The path was fairly small, about 1 to 1.5 m large with a wall on one side, and a stream on the other, and when I was almost past all the barking, one of the dogs bit me in the leg from behind, little fucker I thought! But walked on a bit to get out of sight before checking the wound. Fortunately it was only a small bite so I headed to the hostel to disinfect it and thought that would be it. But the next day the wound started to itch like hell, actually more than any cut or wound I had ever had. So that did start to worry me a bit. I headed back out the next day to see if I could find the owner of the dog, but was fairly unlucky, as I could not find out whether the dog had actually been vaccinated against rabies or not. Following a bit of research on vaccinations and the like in Peru, with a bit of a heavy heart I opted to get on the next plane back home to get myself into proper care, and be sure I had not gotten rabies. So 2 days later I was sitting on a plane back home to get to the hospital for some antibodies, and my vaccination against rabies. Considering that to this day Pacha Mama had guided me quite well on my trip I took it as a sign that I should no longer stay in Pisac. So going home for some vaccination was not too bad, as I had to book a 2 way flight as those are generally cheaper than 1 way I figured I’d come back to Peru in about a months’ time. Turns out Pacha Mama had a different plan, as a day before I was supposed to get back on a plane I found a fairly large hole in one of my teeth that I need to get fixed before heading back out… So next week I’ll go to the dentist, and then I’ll take it from there, considering that there were 2 signs, one to get me out of Peru, and one keeping me from going back on the intended date I figure I’ll do something else next. As of now not quite sure what it will be, but considering that I rediscovered my ability to really look into nature and see its true beauty anywhere I am, wherever I will be heading next will be just perfect.

I had started my trip with my mind set on staying in Central/South America for a whole year, so as to have completely new surroundings for my journey inward, but as usual a plan turns out to be a list of things that don’t happen. Considering that I have probably learned more in the four and a half months in Costa Rica and Peru than I had in mind for the whole year, and considering that while being back home for a month I learned a few lessons that I could or probably would not have learned while being on the road; I think everything is great, and my trip is still going on even though currently I am in a location that I have known for quite some time. My recently rediscovered ability to look at things, places and life with a fresh set of eyes, has turned home into a brand new place to explore as well. But being that I still have the rest of the year off from work, as soon as I am done with the dentist, I’ll be heading back out, even though I don’t have set my mind on any specific location as of yet, I am sure the right thing will happen. Whatever that right thing may be! As long as you have a really open mind, and are comfortable with yourself you’ll find yourself in the right place all the time. So look forward to more adventures from the road in the near future, whatever they may turn out to be!

Peru - Cusco – somewhat dangerous and cold

Cusco, a large city up high in the mountains at an altitude of about 3600m, fascinating and dangerous at the same time with nights that are as cold as most winters back home. I got there by plane, and fortunately had arranged a pick up to my hotel as right outside the airport there are loads of taxi drivers trying to pick you up, most likely at triple the cost of what an actual ride should cost. Fortunately my pick up was waiting for me and took me to the hotel I had booked for the first few nights. I found in my travels that whenever I arrive in a new place it is reasonable to stay the first few nights at a somewhat upscale place until I have made my bearings in the town. Arriving at the hotel I was immediately offered a Coca tea in order to start adapting to the altitude, although I have been in the Alps a few times, I don’t think I had ever been in a city this large at such a height. The first night was very quiet, I only went for a very short walk which left me breathless but with a good first impression of Cusco as during the half hour walk I was not hassled once. I then returned to the hotel for a light dinner consisting of only a chicken broth, which is recommended for the first night until one adapts to the height. I pretty much slept like a baby until 4am when I woke up feeling a bit short of breath, which was a really strange sensation.

The next day I ventured out into town to walk some more and adapt to the height, and pretty much spent the entire day walking the historic centre of town, which is filled with Inka culture contrasted by the many churches and Christian monuments that the Spaniards erected often on top of the previous Inka structures. I walked around quite a bit, and saw some very fascinating buildings, and of course Plaza de Armas, which is the main square and quite busy, but a wonderful place to sit down and just observe locals and tourists interact in various forms. Spent a bit of time at the central market which is quite large, and where you can find just about anything from food to clothing and jewellery. A nice place to visit. In the evening I had dinner once more at the hotel but this time with a bit more consistency as I had been chewing Coca leaves pretty much all day long, and that turns out to be more efficient than drinking them as a tea.

After dinner I mapped out my hike for the next day, which turned out to be quite a long one. First I headed up on foot to Saqsaywaman, a relatively large archaeological site that actually has 4 or 5 distinct areas. Walking up was quite the experience as from the 3600m level of the city you climb to about 4000m which left me breathless more then once, so I think it took me about 1.5 hours to actually make it up to the site. Once I arrived I took the long route around the site and took my time taking in all the sights, and ruins in detail. The Inka culture is fascinating, just looking at the precision with which they built their structures it is amazing! Giant stones perfectly carved to fit on top of each other without any cement or the like to hold them in place. I ended up walking from one place to the next totally fascinated and drawn to stay quite a while, unfortunately and understandably most of the monuments are actually roped off and access is forbidden, but you still get a good view of most. From the main site I headed over to the water temple, a coliseum like structure to the side of which there is a rock formation with small tunnels underneath it which are open to access, but do not run very deep, and are indeed quite small, the Incans must have been quite small people.

Once I had been to every monument in the principle Saqsaywaman area I headed further up the hill to go to the Temple of the Moon, a sort of stone hill that has halls carved into it, unfortunately again here the main hall is closed off, but on the lucky side, when you are standing in front of it, on the right hand side there is a small cave that is open to visitors. The entrance is guarded by 3 snakes, and 2 pumas (1 of which I was able to make out) carved into the stone. At the back of the hall there is a small meditation table with a hole above it where once a year on just the right date the moonlight falls in and right on the table. Although generally speaking the moon is considered a female energy I could not resist lying down on the table to meditate a bit after I had made a small offering of Coca leaves and Mapacho tobacco. I only laid there for about 10 minutes but it was quite energizing nonetheless, a little later a small group of tourist arrived with maybe a shaman as there guide who made the girl of the group lie down, and chanted a little. After the chant she said she felt quite strange lying there, as though she had been spinning all around. Very interesting to observe.

I walked outside and over the temple and had a little lunch right on top of it sitting on a beautifully carved stone that felt like the perfect place to sit. After that as it was already about 3 in the afternoon I started to make my way back down on what turned out to be a traditional Inka route right back down to the Plaza de Armas. The next day I pretty much did nothing as my legs were aching quite a lot from about 8 hours of walking in total.

I spent a couple more days in Cusco just hanging around discovering small places here and there, and spending some time each day sitting at the Plaza de Armas doing some writing and observing people as they went about their business. Ultimately I think there are as many if not more street vendors and people hassling tourist as in Iquitos, they are just a little less obnoxious.

Sometime after that I left for Machu Picchu, a review of which can be found here.

Upon returning from Machu Picchu I had a few more days in Cusco as I was not really sure where to head next, and got to know a woman by the name of Sophia a bit more, one of the street vendors who had sat with me the week before and had taken the time to just talk for a bit, which as it turns out was just a build up to suck me into her story a few days later. Before I headed to Machu Picchu I already had bought a small necklace from here so I was not intended on buying anything else, she did however lull me in with her story about how she was going to lose her home and would have to live on the streets with her 4 kids which of course she was raising by herself. So at the point where she actually added tears to the mix I got really weak and ended up giving her a bit of money in hopes she would use it towards her rent or food for her kids. Looking back I doubt she even has 4 kids, but oh well, the whole story made me think quite a lot, and thought me a thing or two about life in Peru as well as myself so I do not consider it a total loss. The next day she came back again and as I had told her I would be going to Pisac for some time, a small town north of Cusco she actually asked for a loan that she would of course give me back in a month, even though it was very unlikely for me to be around a month later. I kindly refused and actually explained to her that even though I was able to travel for quite a while I had to work my ass off to get to this point which she just ignored, and re-asked for a loan, which again I refused, and then she left, and I did not see her again, or rather I did not see again up close, but kept on observing her a bit now and then at the Plaza de Armas.

On my last night in Cusco I went for an early dinner and met some people from Argentina with whom I had a few drinks in a place called Cross Keys where there were 2 live bands, a 2 man cover band to begin with and Salsa band after that, both of which turned out to be quite good, but I ended up going home only around 1 am, and on the way back to the hostel I was staying at that point was almost mugged. Essentially I just slipped into the hostel door before some drunk guy caught up with me and ended up banging on the door to be let in, which was not my responsibility as the hostel had security cameras in order to insure that they only had actual guests entering the premises. The next day the hostel owner asked me if I had been mugged, to which I repeated that no I just had gotten in before anything happened.

In the morning I left to Pisac, a review of which will come up sometime soon, and there I heard quite a few more little horror stories about Cusco from stolen cell phones to muggings to actually one girl being zapped with an electro shocker up close to the temple of the moon, fortunately nothing bad happened to her as she did not pass out from the electro shock, but still quite a frightening story. So all in all, if you are to visit Cusco, either do so in a small group, or watch your own back very diligently. Personally I had little to no problems, as I carry the few valuables I have very close and mostly hidden under my cape, and most of the days went back to the hostel at a very reasonable time, but it seems to be a bit of a dangerous place nonetheless. And as mentioned in the title, the nights are indeed very cold, so be sure to pack a couple pyjamas so that you can get good and comfortable nights of sleep, as by far not every hostel has heaters, and if they do often it’s small electrical ones that don’t have enough power to warm the entire room. Overall still a charming city, but as most big cities go, not my favourite place thus far.

Peru - Aguas Calientes - Machu Picchu

First off to get that off the table, Machu Picchu itself is great! Aguas Calientes on the other hand is nothing other than a tourist trap, as there is nothing around, and no possibility to go anywhere else once you are there, be aware that prices for just about anything are 1.5 – 3 times higher than for example in Cusco which in itself is not the cheapest town either. So I got to Aguas Calientes on Thursday afternoon by train, as does everybody as there are no roads leading there. Train ride is quite nice and I would recommend at least going one way on the Vistadome train as it provides stunning views! (Albeit not being the cheapest option). Aguas Calientes is a small town, and has no more space to grow horizontally, so it looks like it is growing vertically. I had booked a place called Cusibackpacker B&B based on a relatively large number of reasonable reviews I had found, and the fact that it was not the most expensive place in town. When I got to their front door, there was a little sign indicating that they were closed for business and now in a different location under a different name, the Machupicchu Royal, which sounded promising, but I was still annoyed a bit that I had not been informed ahead of my arrival, for which there had been plenty of time as I had booked 3 or 4 days before going. After walking back across town I finally found the new place, and at check in is where the shadiness started, I had booked a private room, but they wanted to set me up in a dorm. After insisting that I had indeed booked a private room, I was shown to one, with no furnishings other than the beds. The windows were open, and it looked like a reasonably clean and nice place. However when I laid down on the bed to rest a bit, the bed itself, the blankets and pillow turned out to be smelling quite moldy, just as when you forget to take your clothes out of the washer and they adopt quite a moldy smell.. Not very nice to sleep in. At first I did not say anything as it was not overpowering. But when I got back form a little walk it was even more intense, so after letting the front desk know, they changed me to a different room, which again had all windows open, and thus smelled ok. I got a fresh pillow as well, and went for dinner. Upon my return this room had just the same smell, as I had closed the windows as otherwise anyone could have come into the room from the corridors to which the windows led.  Not only was the moldy smell quite strong, it got cold as hell, as there no isolation whatsoever. I slept in my clothes and under the provided blanket and still woke around 4 am shaking cold. So I checked out the next morning instead of staying 4 nights and went ahead and booked a relatively expensive hotel, which provided a small electrical heater in the room, hot water in the shower and reasonably isolated windows.

After checking into the new place early in the morning I went to the thermal baths to heat my bones again, and the thermal baths turned out to be quite reasonable and relatively cheap for 10 soles you can pretty much stay the entire day. Be sure to bring your own bottle of water or whatever you like to drink as although there is a bar it is as most food and drink in town totally overpriced.

Following a good night’s sleep I headed up to Machu Picchu by bus at 5:30 am on Saturday, and as it was very busy  got up to the first terraces just in time to watch the sun rise over the mountain, which is quite a sight to behold! Amazing scenery! I stayed on that same spot for a little while, as the suns heat dissipated the small clouds, and rose new banks of fog from the valley which made for a gorgeous play over the Machu Picchu town ruins. One moment covered in thick fog, barely visible, the next clearing up again, just to be recovered a little while later. Following about 30 or 45 minutes of this play I looked around and noticed that the fewest people were heading up to Intipunku, one of the old entrances to the town, where the Inka trail actually comes into town, so that is where I headed first. It took me a good hour to get up there, as it all is quite high and the air is quite thin, and I have to admit, I am not in the best of shapes! But the walk was more than worth it, providing stunning views of the whole town, of the face behind the town, and of Waynapicchu as well!

After enjoying the view for a while I headed back down with the intention of then heading up to Machu Picchu Mountain which it turned out required a separate reservation as they only let 400 people a day climb it. I was aware that Waynapicchu was limited to a few hundred a people (actually 2 groups of 200) per day but did not know about the mountain, so that was a bit of a bummer, but I did not let it bring me down, instead I headed in the direction of the Inka Bridge, and on the way found a nice boulder sitting on one of the terraces so I decided to sit there for a while and meditate a bit with a stunning view of the surrounding mountains and valley! As I was sitting there in my black cape one lady ended up calling me Santo de Muerto (saint of death) and a few other tourist took pictures… I should have asked for a few soles as the locals do when you want to take a picture, but I just smiled and let it go.

A little later I went to the Inka Bridge which is one tiny bridge and from the looks of it leads to nowhere or maybe to a long abandoned tiny walkway, but was very interesting to see nonetheless! After that it was around 11, and I decided to have one of my concealed snacks, and headed back to discover the town of Machu Picchu itself! The ruins are amazing and the precision with which the Inka’s built this town is absolutely phenomenal! The stones and how precisely they are carved and placed on each other is something rarely seen in modern day buildings! The town is crawling with tourist, but if you have a bit of patience you can take a lot of nice pictures without anyone in them! Around 1 it started to rain a bit and I found shelter under a rock where a couple from Chile was hanging out as well, I talked with them for a while and they turned out to be very nice people. I ended up walking around a bit with them after the rain had stopped.

A little later I ended up walking alone again, as the couple had left for their train, and I ended up in a nice little quiet spot where I saw a few Machu Picchu arboreal chinchilla rats, (Cuscomys oblativa), funny little creatures. Besides a few Lamas and birds these were the only animals is saw up on the mountain.

Around 4pm I headed back down to Aguas Calientes which is about an hour walk if you are not going to slow and goes down mostly steps, for about a 1000 meter drop, so quite intense.

Back in town I went for an Alpaca steak which turns out to be some of the most delicious meat I have had in quite a while so if you ever get the chance to have one, do so! Sunday I spent all day in bed as my legs were quite sore, and on Monday morning before getting back on the train I went looking for the local waterfall, which in the end I did miss, but ended up seeing Machu Picchu again from below on the back side, which was a very gnarly view as well!

Overall I would definitely recommend visiting Machu Picchu if you are in Peru! Be sure to go for at least 2 days on the mountain and have a reservation for Waynapicchu as from what I gather there are some amazing places up there as well that I have unfortunately missed! Be sure to have a decent budget for your stay in Aguas Calientes, as you’ll want to stay in one of the better hotels as with all the walking there is to be done, you’ll need some good rest at night.  Be sure to take the Vistadome train at least one way, as there are some amazing sights to behold on the way to Aguas Calientes as well. My final recommendation would be to go in the off-season as then the visitor numbers are limited to 3500 per day, as I overheard a guide say that in high season although the official limit is still 3500 they often let in up to 5000 people.  Below you can find a small selection of photos which I’ll hope you’ll enjoy! In any case you’d be better off to go visit yourself as the images hardly capture the magic of the mountain! Machu Picchu is indeed one of the nicest spots I have seen in Peru to date, as it was never discovered by the Spaniards, and thus there are no churches or crosses or statues of Jesus around. So if you want to witness old Inka ruins with a lot of flair, this is indeed the place to go to. Be sure to take your time so you get to see all of it, and not just the main ruins.

Travelling ? Part 2

So following my moral dilemma whether or not to continue my travels, I am happy to report that I will indeed go on. There are a number of reasons, first and foremost, indeed there is poverty all over the world, and I won’t be able to change that by myself and it’s not bound to change anytime soon. I will go on keeping an open ear to anyone that wants to share their story with me, or wants to just talk for a while. I will keep on helping when and where I can, but came to the conclusion that ultimately it’s not my responsibility to help everyone or to help more than I can.

Thinking about the whole thing has grown my recognition of how fortunate I am to be able to travel, and that I cannot ignore.

Additionally I am yet again amazed by how my travels unfold, today I arrived in Pisac, a small town, that is essentially the gateway to the Sacred Valley, which supposedly plays a large role in the planets Kundalini energy, and I got here just in time for full moon on Sunday, which I will most certainly enjoy a lot! Funny thing is that the last full moon I witnessed was in the Amazon, and now I am up high in the mountains. It all just flows much too perfectly to abandon such an opportunity!

Thank you to each and every one of you that responded in some way shape or form to my last post! I will keep you all updated as to how my travels progress!

Travelling?

So I have been on the road for 4 months, and one of my reasons to travel was to find answers to some personal questions that have been bugging me for a while, I am glad to report that I did indeed find some answers, not all of what I was looking for but some at least. However I find myself with even more and new questions to which I have no answer. The following has been bugging me for a few days: Can I keep travelling the rest of the year in good conscience? Considering that I am travelling in relative luxury, meaning a roof over my head, and at least one warm meal a day, when there is so much poverty around? I mean sure tourism creates jobs, and helps to boost the economy, or so they say, but ultimately the money goes to people who already have money, meaning restaurant owners, and hostel/hotel owners with very little going to the people who would actually need it the most. Sure they employ people who benefit from my spending, but the wages are mostly still very small and limited, allowing for bare survival rather than living a good or even just a reasonable life. I do give away some money in the streets as well to people who I think need it the most, but most of what I spend goes to those that already have probably more than a fair share depending on the city and/or country.

Can I keep on supporting this two class system? Considering that there are so many poor people around it is just out of my budget to financially help everyone.

Sure I have seen some great places, and have taken many a great picture for memory, but am I really helping with my travels? Or do I only further the gap between the rich and the poor?

A recent example would be Sophia, a woman in her early 50’s who has 4 kids and has been left by her husband, and thus has to support her kids by herself, she works as a street vendor selling necklaces and the like to tourists, she had sat down next to me last week, and we had talked for a while, and I bought one of her trinkets. Today I ran into her again, and as I asked how she was doing she told me she was about to lose her place of living (1 room with a small kitchen that the 5 of them share), and probably by the end of tomorrow would be living in the street with her kids. Apparently she has been going from place to place to find a steady job, but was refused on the account that she has kids, and thus would not be the most reliable worker, as she would have to take care of her kids when they’d be sick etc. I did give her some money, but that is only a small drop into a fire that swallows it faster than she can make it.

So I find myself wondering if I can really keep on going in situations like this and supporting owners that do not care to give a chance to those in need? Can I keep on travelling when I have to say no to many of the poorest people around just to ensure that I can keep on travelling?  Sure I did work to be able to travel, but what if I was in the same situation that no one would even be willing to give me a job for whatever reason.

Another part of the question that is begging to be asked, in a place like Peru where a lot of the tourist industry actually leads to abuse of nature, for example in Iquitos where you can eat endangered species, and take pictures with animals taken from their mothers etc. Is that really an industry that I can support? Sure I avoided all these places, but overall I still supported the industry as such.

Any and all input is more than welcome here, as I really have no answer or solution!

Peru - Iquitos – Wonderfully weird place

So now that a few weeks have passed since I left Iquitos, it’s time to look back. Iquitos is a wonderfully weird town, and hard to describe as it’s filled with such contrasts that it’s hard to either pin it down to positive or negative or just plain crazy, which probably sums it up best, crazy indeed! It’s a place where you can easily lose yourself, and judging by the number of lost Ayahuasca souls I’ve seen there, quite a few people do get lost in search of something that Ayahuasca probably was never meant to deliver. Traditionally speaking or at least so I have gathered Ayahuasca is more of a cleansing than anything else, and as far as I found out, the tourist brews as I like to call them do not deliver much of that either… Naturally it depends on what you are looking for to begin with. Although I was very open to the idea of drinking Ayahuasca, I did end up not drinking any, as I did not find a local traditional Shaman. So this report will stay focused a bit more on Iquitos itself. Katoo the owner of the Green Track Hostel and Tapiche Jungle Reserve (a review of which can be found here) put it quite well I think: “Iquitos is like a river turn”. And with that he meant that everything that flows on or in the river gets stuck in the turn, at least for a while, and that sums up Iquitos quite well. In the first few days all I wanted to do was get out again, and as more time passed, the more comfortable and at home I felt there. Another guy, Tim from Australia, put it this way: “When I got here I felt very uncomfortable, but after some time, if nothing else, my comfort zone has been expanded. And that’s always a good thing.”

So Iquitos is one of the poorest towns around, and it shows at every corner, on the other hand, you can still see that back in the rubber days, Iquitos was one of the richest places around, proof of which lies in some of the amazing buildings that have lost little of their charm even though they have been converted to new purposes, such as the once upon a time best hotel in all of Peru, which is now some kind of military installation. The general population is relatively poor, and yet there are a ton of Jewellery stores, shops for the newest cell phones, and gambling joints. The streets are filled with roaming vendors, beggars, dealers, and kids trying to sell candy for a Soles or two. And then there is the very special kind who’ll provide whatever you are looking for. You won’t be able to go far without being hassled in some way shape or form, so if you have a hard time to say no in your life, this is the place where you’ll learn it quickly, or otherwise you’ll spend your entire budget within a few days.

Nonetheless the town at least to me seemed like a relatively safe place, and besides an Ayahuasca tourist group being relieved of all their possession by pirates while on the boat to their camp, I did not hear of much crime. Of course there is the Belen market, where you can find just about anything from Fruits to Animal parts in glass jars, which is a bit of a different story, this is not the place where you want to take out your camera for a few shots even though some people do, there is a certain amount of danger in the air. As long as you stay on the top part of the market it’s relatively safe, but down by the river it’s a different story, as there, a body can quickly vanish in the dark waters of the river. If you want to go there, do so on a dry day or wear rubber boots to make it through the gooey substance that once was earth, but nowadays is a mix of god knows what, from trash to fish and animal entrails, it probably holds everything. The contrast here is the promenade by the river which is actually one straight shot into Belen, but is the complete opposite, concrete floors, and tourist restaurants and a fountain, around which loads of people gather pretty much every evening to hang out and enjoy the slightly cooler nights. If you go there be sure to stop by the Dawn of the Amazon for their “peanut butter conspiracy” one hell of a tasty smoothie. In general if you like fresh fruit, Iquitos is a good place to be in as they have loads of it, and loads of fruits you cannot even get in Europe. Then there is Green Go a sort of pharmacy where you can all kinds of strange powders and super foods, from Una de Gato down to Sangre de Grado or Mapacho Tobacco, all of which you can also find at Belen market for a cheaper price, but where it’s less easy to make sure you are actually buying what you were looking for, especially if you are not yet familiar with the substances!

Of course as most town it’s the people that make it what it is at the end of the days, and besides the hagglers, in Iquitos you can meet all sorts of freaks of nature, from the complete madmen down to people with amazing stories. One of which was a guy named Rob Dowling, the founder of http://amazonchildren.com   whose website I urge you to visit! I won’t go into too much detail here, but he is a guy who’s set himself to conquer 4 very peculiar challenges in order to raise awareness for his website with the goal of building a medical centre on the river bank for amazon children that often are in dire need of medical attention. Another interesting person I met was called Allen, who does work as a healer and has been travelling for the past 8 years. I had one relatively long talk with him, and he did help me quite a lot in dealing with a few personal issues I have been carrying for quite a while, with a few tips and tricks for my meditations. Not to forget all the rest of the people I sat down with and had more or less fascinating talks just about everything from drugs to nature and life in general. Some who thought they were wiser than they in fact are, and some so humble and knowledgeable they could come straight out of an Indian Ashram.

Iquitos also is a prime hub for excursions into the Jungle, a lot of which are to be avoided if you ask me, as they try to lure you in with the promise of holding animals to get your picture taken, so mostly young animals whose mothers have been killed in order to make some money, but there is for example the Tapiche Reserve, which is well worth a visit! The problem here is that the region is so poor, and there are few to no regulations from the government as to what is ok and what is not, here there is still a lot of work ahead for the people and the government, as currently the government encourages people to live off and support their life off the jungle in any way they can, which most of the time is anything but sustainable. So nothing for the long run, I hope that more and more tourist that go there will avoid the places that abuse nature, in order to play their part in changing things for the better so that the locals can actually keep on living off and with nature for a long time! But as long as there is demand for things like animal trinkets and pictures with animals, it’s normal that the locals will provide just that in order to make a living! Demand and supply, as usual strongly linked.

Overall Iquitos is well worth a visit, but not necessarily for the faint of heart. I for one had a great time there, and met some amazing people, but you’ll have to be able to say no, or learn it quickly, and not let yourself get carried away in some of the quick sensations and temptations that are offered.

Peru - Tapiche Jungle Reserve

Following a more or less chaotic week in Iquitos, I finally headed out to the Tapiche Reserve (www.tapichejungle.com) on a Monday at 1 pm, with Kat a volunteer from the Green Track Hostel (which has the same owner as the Tapiche Reserve).  Normally one leaves in the morning by bus to Nauta and then by speedboat to Requena and arrives at Tapiche about 4 to 5 hours later in a smaller boat, but as the road to Nauta was closed that was not an option. Instead we got on a slow boat directly to Requena, where we arrived about 6 am the next day, and then took the small boat to Tapiche. Travelling by slow boat was quite charming, we had a cabin to store our stuff, and also set up our Hammocks on the top deck, there were a lot of people, and the Hammocks hung pretty close to each other so it was really cosy. Considering that the slow boat is much cheaper than the speedboats, it was quite crowded, but that is the way the locals’ travel, so I enjoyed it very much! It actually gives you time to enjoy the Amazon River, and the views were quite stunning, the sunset in particular is a sight to behold while you are peacefully going down the river. Kat opted to sleep in the cabin as she gets a little cold at night, but I figured since so many locals were sleeping in their Hammocks I should do the same, granted I should have worn a bit more than a long-sleeve and shorts, as about 4 in the morning it got quite cool due to the pouring rain.  Nonetheless I slept quite well until about 5 when a couple of ladies came around trying to sell cheese, and they were close to screaming advertisement for their product, the flashlight that they shined straight into my face did not further sleep either. But that is the way it goes. Overall the slow boat was quite an experience, and other than the 2 toilets for about 150 to 200 people it was great, the toilets did get a bit messy, which is normal when so many people share only 2. Being the only 2 white people on the boat we got quite a few strange looks, but that is to be expected when you go to a place like Requena, where there is only few tourists coming through, pretty much only the people that go to Tapiche.

At 6 am José, our jungle guide, picked us up with a small boat and no engine, which we went to pick up a bit later. The engine was supposed to have undergone maintenance the day before, but it took about an hour to get it started, and then when we picked up José’s backpack for the trip, died again, and took about another hour to start, so all in all we left around 8:30. The breeze was cool, and the closer we got to the reserve the more beautiful the sights became, we saw quite a few river dolphins throughout the journey. José took us through a couple of shortcuts, one of which is actually only possible when it’s rain season and there is quite a bit of flooding. We arrived around 1:30 pm, and since we had not had much food on the first leg of the journey, to avoid the bathrooms, were quite hungry, Melitta the cook at the lodge quickly prepared a simple but delicious meal consisting of rice, pasta and some vegetables, which was more or less the diet for the rest of our time there, as there is no electricity except for a bit of time in the evening. Following lunch we sat up our hammocks, and I went for a nice little nap in the main room of the lodge, which is topped by a small birdwatching tower that also gives quite a nice 360° view of the camp. Since flooding is a normal occurrence the entire camp is built on stilts and that has its own charm. The nap was quite necessary as we had been on the river for pretty much 24 hours.

Following a nice shower with river water we had dinner around 6:30 when the generator was also turned on to provide a little bit of light, and a chance to charge our camera. Normally it runs for about 2 hours, but after 40 minutes, and some weird sounds it was done for the day. They set me up in a separate little cabin that has a bunk bed and was really nice. Sleep time in the jungle is about 9pm at the latest as the days start quite early, with breakfast around 5am and a departure out into the jungle about half an hour later. Normally the day trips consist of some time in a small boat, and some hiking, however as everything was pretty flooded we only used the boat.

The first morning we went out to Keito, a small lagoon or creek depending on how you look at it, and pretty much right away ran into a group of Squirrel monkey, which are very cute little buggers, agile and fun to watch, ultimately I think they are my favourite monkeys! We also saw a Mama Viejo (old mama) a bird that is named so as it sits on a tree and mostly just jabs away at anything that passes by, just as you would picture an old mama sitting behind her window complaining about anything and everybody.   (A full list of all the animals we saw by day and location as well as some pictures can be found at the end of the article.) Around 9 am we had 2^nd breakfast on the boat, which is mostly for the benefit of the guide who does quite a lot of rowing as you have to move through the jungle as quietly as possible in order to spot animals. The rest of the morning was relatively quiet and we saw a few more monkeys, parrots, and loads of spiders. José turned out to be a great guide as he can discern most animals just by their sound, and is quite good at tracking them!

We went back to the lodge for lunch which consisted of rice, pasta, vegetables, and a raw beetroot salad. The beetroot salad was new to me, as I am not much of a fan of cooked beetroot, but here they just grate it and add mayonnaise which makes for a really tasty salad, a recipe that I will actually take home and start eating there as well, as it is really delicious and tastes a little bit like carrot with a twist.

Following a quick nap we set out to Wimba around 2:30 pm, and following a bit of very skilled chopping of branches made it past the many water-lilies, which can actually make it impossible to pass. Wimba was very dense, and José had to chop away quite a few branches in order for us to pass at all, but at Tapiche wildlife is actually still wild, so clear cut paths etc. are not an option!  We saw a few more different kinds of monkey, loads of spiders, and overall had a very good exploit so to speak. The coolest thing that did however happen was us running into another or the same group of Squirrel monkey, one of which became so interested in us that it actually followed us around for quite a while as we made our way back from a really old Ceiba tree. José opted to take us out of Wimba a slightly different path, and eventually the water became so shallow that we had to backtrack a little bit as the boat could no longer advance. With the shallow, stagnant water and the heat, we were surrounded by mosquitoes, and actually killed quite a few of those, but Kat still got stung quite a lot. Me on the other hand I only got bitten by the hardcore mosquitoes as I had been having loads and loads of raw garlic with every meal, and they don’t like that smell too much.

In the evening we had a quick shower before dark, as we could not count on the generator to provide much light (it again ran for about 40 minutes, which was a bit of a bummer as my camera was fully drained and I only could charge it a little bit, but these things happen, and the guys at the lodge said they had tried everything to fix the engine but needed supplies from the town to get it going fully again). Dinner included fresh amazon fish that was really delicious, however I do not recall its name, in any case I doubt I could ever find it back at home. Right after dinner we, or rather José, spotted a baby caiman in the shallow waters below the lodge, which was fun to observe while hunting small fishes. Well-fed I turned in quite early as even though I had not done much paddling, I was exhausted from all the sights and impressions and looking for animals. As I closed my eyes all of those impression started to appear before my inner eye, and boy there were a lot, so it took me a little while to fall asleep to the jungle sounds, which consisted of crickets, birds, and Zapo frogs, which can get really loud, sort of a rolling sound going back and forth between each other. The loudness of the frogs did not keep me from sleeping as they were quite rhythmic!

The 2^nd morning we headed out to Chambira, a relatively large creek along the main river, and shortly after getting there were able to spot a white 3 toed sloth, which is a very rare sight, as they don’t move a lot and usually don’t come out much. At the same time as the sloth we saw a Zigzag Herron which was one hell of a funny looking bird, keeping its body straight and stiff to imitate a branch so it does not get attacked while protecting the one egg that was in its nest. A little later we saw a caiman lizard which I did not even know existed and it was quite agile and quick in the water. We ran into a second group of monkeys that actually were quite interactive and came down a little bit from the tree crowns in order to let us know that we were intruding in their territory. Right next to them we saw a family of  Nancy Ma’s night monkeys which looked really cute hiding in a cavity of a tree, you could see four heads one above the other, and they looked a bit annoyed as they were kept awake by all the noise the other monkeys were making. Also saw loads of butterflies of which the most impressive one sported a set of bright blue wings.

Around 11:30 we headed back to the lodge for lunch as the sun was actually scorching. Following lunch and a quick nap it started to rain intensely so that it made little sense to go out in the afternoon as all the animals would have been seeking shelter from the rain anyway as well. Up to this point Kat and I were the only visitors in the camp, so it had been very quiet and relaxing. In the afternoon however another group of 4 arrived, which was fine as well, as a little company is fun every now and then, 3 of the 4 I had actually already met and hung out a bit with back in Iquitos before leaving to Tapiche. One guy was going to sleep in the same cabin as I, and he advised me that he snored a little at night, which is fine by me, a little snoring has never kept me awake so I had no problem with that, the others sat up their hammocks in the main room. We hung around the lodge smoking some Mapacho, and chatting the afternoon away. The 3 Germans were quite anxious to get the generator on in the evening for some light, I hoped to charge my camera so that it would not run out of power the next day, but it only came on late, and this time around for only about 15 minutes, which was a bit of a bummer, as I had to very carefully choose what to shoot the next day and what not. Carlos, the guy who was supposed to look after such things said there was nothing he could do, so we had nice dinner in the dark. It was actually the best meal of all as we go to eat pan-fried Piranhas, which was also a first for me, and it’s quite a tasty fish, albeit quite bony with only little meat, here again it would have been nice to still be alone in the camp, as there were only 5 fishes each of us only got half a Piranha, but I’ll remember the taste for sure! Following a few more smokes we all settled around 9. My room-mate fell asleep within a few minutes and turned out to not be snoring a little but shitloads! Basically I can sleep through any kind of noise but I need to be able to fall asleep. As we had spent the afternoon in the lodge, there had been a lot of noise, and so not many frogs had ventured into camp to cover the snoring. I don’t blame the guy for snoring, as it’s not something one can control, but a little heads up about the actual intensity would have been nice, and in that case I would have set up a hammock in the afternoon. As I had packed lightly I did not have any Oropax with me either so I tried to meditate and calm my mind to fall asleep, but there was really no rhythm to the snoring that I could have gotten used to, still awake at 11pm I shook the guy above me out of his sleep (as he had advised me to do), I told him he was snoring a lot and loud, and he cutely answered: Oh am I? I tried to go to sleep right away, but within 2 minutes he was back to snoring and even louder then before. So I just laid there trying to calm my mind and fall asleep, which just did not happen. Shortly after midnight with only 4 more hours before having to get up again I ventured out to find a different spot to sleep, the next cabin proved useless as the snoring was still very loud there. I then headed very quietly to the kitchen, where I put 2 wooden benches together to get some sleep, but after about 10 minutes was “attacked” by a few cockroaches, so that was not going to happen either. I did not want to enter the main room to set up a hammock as I did not want to wake 4 more people. So I resigned and went back to our cabin. Around 1 am with only 3 more hours to go and a full day on the boat with no lunch at the lodge ahead of me I woke him once more, and said that if he could not give me 20 minutes to fall asleep I would actually smother him with a pillow, I was getting a little desperate. Fortunately that speech helped and I finally managed to pass out for a few hours. I got up at about 4 and was quite cranky. When I met Kat having her morning cigarette I told her my night, and she said she even heard the snoring in the main room, about 20 meters away from our cabin, so at least I knew I was not imagining it to be loud as hell.

As we were a total of 6 people we took out a large wooden canoe with Jose at the back, and another guy, Hilbert, in the front to help with the paddling. Our destination for the day was Garzacocha, which is one hell of a beautiful and large lagoon, back home we would actually call it a lake. As we turned into the creek to get to the lagoon the guys in the back turned out to be quite noisy, and seemed to have no concept of what whispering means, as we went further in, they even started to complain that they had mostly seen only spiders up to this point, which considering their noise was no surprise to me, and I said if they would keep up the noise they could not expect to see much more. Following a few more calls by Kat to be quiet, and pretty much no reaction I actually got a bit pissy with them, and they finally quieted down a bit. Fortunately Pachamama (Mother Nature) was very kind to us, and we still saw a lot of animals, even a second sloth, this time a black one, it was well hidden in the leaves of a tree, but still visible! A little while after breakfast we even had a small frog on the boat that decided the best place for a rest was on my arms and later my head, so I just let it stay there as long as it wanted and enjoyed its company. We ended up seeing quite a lot different kinds of monkeys, I think about 8 in total, and also saw another caiman lizard that we met again later hanging out in a tree above the water, waiting to jump down for some prey. The lagoon itself was quite a sight, and holds a small moving forest which actually has trees growing on the water lilies, quite the phenomena! At the end of the lagoon we saw a large caiman, or at least its head, but it disappeared into the lilies once we got too close. The guy in the front was quite happy to be drifting on the lagoon as we had to make our way through quite a few lily patches to get there, and that is hard work, half of the engines’ fin was even lost in one of the patches, as the roots go quite deep. At the end of the lagoon is actually a paradise for birdwatchers, as there in the trees all kinds of species mingle in easy shelter with good access to food and water in and around the lagoon. The sounds were intense and loud, and the whole thing was quite a sight to behold. We drifted down a side creek, and ended up seeing a bunch of Uakari monkeys (a type of red monkey with large tails that they can’t use as a fifth limb) right before we had lunch on the boat.

On our way back things got interesting as just past the lagoon the second half of the fin broke off, and we had to rely solely on manpower to get back, with only 2 paddles and 8 people in total it was going to take quite a while. José and Hilbert paddled and paddled and we advanced only slowly as we were going against the current, I sure as hell did not want to be in their place that day! In the lily pads Kat and I helped as much as we could pushing lilies away with our boots and a stick, but it was still a Hercules type of a job to get through so a lot of respect to the guys! To make things worse, or actually for the paddlers a bit better, I started to pour but really pour by the litre,  the guy in the front seemed to welcome the rain as it cooled him down a bit, I had my poncho on me so was not bothered by the rain at all. The rain itself was quite interesting as we could hear it from a few kilometres away as it drew closer really fast. The only down side was, that all the animals went into hiding, but considering that we had seen quite a few in the morning that was also fine by me, I just sat there, enjoying the trees, and the rain. It took quite a while to get back to the main river, but eventually we got there, and at least there we could use a bit of the current to advance, and the guys could take little breaks in between.  Once the rain died down a bit, we actually saw 2 grey and 1 pink river dolphin playing, jumping around and somersaulting, which was quite the sight, as before I had only seen them come up for air and go back under, this was really impressive to me! I got a bit of it on film but finally my battery died, nonetheless a memory that will stay with me, as will the whole trip!

We made it back to the lodge around 5, and surprise, the unrepairable engine was running like a charm. So as it turned out, Kat had taken Carlos aside the night before and insisted on him moving his ass, as he was paid to do, and all of a sudden, the unfixable engine was running flawlessly. This in the end pissed me off a bit, as the days before the only answer, if any at all, Kat got was that there was nothing he could do. So I guess I ended up missing a few pictures not because there was an actual problem with the engine, which would have been fine as these things happen, and after all we were deep in the jungle, but just because Carlos turned out to be one lazy motherfucker. I had told Kat before that I was fine with there being no electricity at all, but yeah if I had known ahead of time I would have picked up a spare battery or a solar charger for the camera while still in Iquitos, but I had been assured that charging the camera was no problem etc. I was even fine with only the short charging times, as it was supposed to be an unfixable problem, but yeah laziness is a somewhat different story, at least for me.

That night I sat up a hammock in the main room as well, as I did not care to spend another sleepless night with my room-mate's snoring, and ended up sleeping like a baby, nice and comfortable in the hammock! On Saturday Carlos, Melitta, Hilbert, and I got into one of the boats to head back to Requena, where I was put on a speedboat to Nauta, and then got a bus to head back to Iquitos, which was an uneventful trip, and although faster not quite as fun as the 24hour boat ride to get there.

When I arrived at the Hostal the owner Katoo, was waiting and apologized right away for all the problems, I said, it was still a great trip, but also that as previously mentioned the generator being fixable, and the actual problem being laziness was a bit of a bummer. Carlos was not planning on keeping on working for Katoo anyway so at least that is one problem he no longer has to worry about. I could however not resist informing Katoo that before Carlos left he actually made a stop at his house to syphon gasoline from the boat, which I think he will hear about from Katoo as well. I may be a gringo around here, but sure not stupid, because when we stopped at Carlos’ house he took out one of the gasoline tanks, asked the neighbouring kids to bring an empty tank, then asked for a larger one, and disappeared with both in his house… Going in he had to use 2 hands and a leg to carry the boats tank, and coming out had it in one had. So it was pretty damn clear what happened. Katoo was happy to know and actually a bit pissed as he actually pays his staff good money, at least for here, so does not appreciate people stealing on top of that.

Nonetheless overall, one hell of a trip that I can only very much recommend, and that I will certainly remember for the rest of my life! If you come to Iquitos and want to visit the jungle this is the tour I would recommend, it is a bit pricey at 600USD but worth every penny! You will not get to take pictures holding animals or the like, but you will see the animals in the natural environment, the way it is supposed to be! As far as my research led me, Tapiche Reserve is actually the only one around that is really concerned with preserving nature, so I give them 2 thumbs up just for that! And besides the one black sheep all of the staff was super friendly and welcoming, and José is one hell of a knowledgeable guide who will go out of his way to find animals for you to see!  So go out there, enjoy the quiet, be a little quiet yourself, and you will have one hell of a time!!!  I would recommend coming during off season, as you might actually be there all by yourself, although normally they do not send out more than 4 people at one time unless it’s a group of 5 or 6 that already know each other.  If you have a bit of time on your hands, be sure to ask if you can go down to Requena by slow boat, as that is also an experience worth having, and much more fun and fascinating than the faster route.

Below is the list of animals we saw (some of the spelling may be off a little, but yeah I am not a biologist):

Day1 AM: Keito: Squirrel monkeys (loads) Dusty titi (cola blanca) Toucans Macaw 6 together Mama viejo

PM: Wimba: Dolphins Tokon Mama viejo Woodpecker Red howler Red saddleback tamarind Baby caiman at lodge Zapo frogs

Day 2 AM: Chambira: Brown Kapuchin Squirrel monkeys Red howlers Sloth - 3 toted white sloth Garza cebra - Zigzag Herron Red Uakan Baby caimans Musmuqui - Nancy ma's night monkey Iguana Cabeza Roja - caiman lizard macaws Mama viejo Blue butterflies

PM: Rain

Day 3 All day: Garzacocha: Tucan Kingfisher Kapuchin Squirrelmonkey Sparrows Red hornbull screamer Dusty titti Red saddleback tamarind Tatatau Iguana cabeza roja Mama viejo Wasp nest Awasari Red howler 5x Green frog on my head Black sloth Macaws Kamungo Hoatzin Wooly monkey Caiman Grey dolphin Pink dolphin Shitloads of birds (actually every day, but no time to write down all the names) Uakari 2 grey 1 pink dolphin somersaulting & playing

Humans

In my travels i have met a few people that still give me hope for humanity, but some of the crap that people spit out on social media (or in Politics, or in any other way, shape and form).. Nationalist, ignorant and just plain stupid is mindblowing. Hope someday people will realise that countries, nationality, and boarders are only an arbitrary figment of our imagination.

The same goes for race/skin colour. Peel back the skin, and it's all the same colour: MEAT. All of us share the same coloured blood.

So get over it, we are all humans living on the same fucking planet. Period.

Either we learn to live and evolve together or we will perish.

Costa Rica - a few concluding thoughts

So it has been a few days since I left Costa Rica, and I figured it was time for a few concluding thoughts!Costa Rica as a whole is one hell of a charming country, it has been running on only renewable energy for all of 2015, which granted has only been 3 months, but I consider this to be one hell of an achievement, as to my knowledge, no other country has been able to do this even for only a few days, let alone a few months at a time. Add the facts that Costa Rica has had no standing army since 1949, and that essentially the whole country is organic in its farming efforts,  and you have one hell of a peaceful country!

Food over there was always delicious, mostly due to the fact that it’s all organic as mentioned above, and you can live a very healthy life there! Of course poverty is still an issue, as most locals do not make a lot of money, and their main diet is rice and beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but they are nonetheless much happier people than what you see in so called developed countries! In this domain the story that struck me most, was that of the owner of La Colina in Manuel Antonio. The owner an American expat who used to live in Russia where he met his wife and where they had a child, who turned out to be pretty much allergic to everything, and was sick most of the time. They then moved to Costa Rica where there child has since been pretty much allergy free, and she can even eat foods that back in Russia would have sent her straight to the hospital.  Decide for yourself whether organic is worth the trouble or not, in my humble opinion it sure pays off for the country as a whole, as well as for the people that live there.

The Pacific coast in my opinion is a little overdeveloped as far as tourism goes, and somewhat too Americanised, but still is very charming, and has some of the best sunsets I have ever had the pleasure to witness! The national parks as well as the abundance of private reserves make it clear that as a whole the country has recognized that preserving nature is the way to go. Costa Rica, despite being relatively small has about 6% of the worlds’ biodiversity, and they work hard to maintain that level!

The Caribbean coast seems a little less developed and thus for me had even more charm than the rest! So if you want to experience raw and well preserved nature, be sure to head down the east coast of the country, especially down to the Manzanillo Wild Life Reserve where I got very lucky and saw what was probably a free living black Jaguarundi, something quite rare to happen, so take some time, and just quietly walk about the reserve, you may just get lucky!

If you plan on visiting large parts of the country, my recommendation would be to start on the Pacific coast for the sunsets, and then to head east through the country, as if you do it the other way around, the Pacific coast might turn out to disappoint you a little, but if you start there, you have memories of amazing sunsets, and all the rest just gets better the further east you head.

If you have food allergies or intolerances, consider visiting Costa Rica, as you might just be able to enjoy foods that you had to avoid for quite a while, in my case as I do not digest wheat very well, in Costa Rica I had my first slice of Pizza in forever and did not get sick at all. So that is a big plus! I am currently in Peru, and already miss the healthy cuisine of Costa Rica!

The people whether the local Ticos or the expats are all more than friendly, and crime seems to be at a very low level, not sure how it is in the capital, San Jose as I did not spend any time there, but for the rest I can assure you that it is as safe a country as it gets.

The only thing I mildly regret is not having seen the Tortuguero National Park, and the rest of the northern Caribbean coast, as I stayed longer down in the south of the Caribbean coast than I had planned, and I was coming to the end of my 90 day tourist visa but that is at least one reason to eventually return to Costa Rica at least one more time!

So whether you are setting out for a vacation or considering leaving your country behind for good, I think Costa Rica is an excellent choice!

Costa Rica - Puerto Viejo & Manzanillo

Following a few days in Jaco, I decided it was time for a change in scenery and hopefully a slightly less touristy destination, which as it turned out is the south of the Costa Rican Caribbean Coast. I drove straight to Puerto Viejo, and had a nice little dinner and a quiet first night there. In the morning I decided to drive down to the Manzanillo Wild Life Reserve, which is by now my favourite reserve, at least of the ones I have seen to date. There is no admission fee which is a bonus, and there is no map nor are there any signs pointing out the trails, so you are actually in nature… You can get a little lost, but considering that the sea is close by for orientation, you are never truly lost. Besides the 1 main trail I found, there are a ton of small trails, which sometimes are barely visible going left and right, a lot of them end up at very secluded and quiet beaches, I spent a few afternoons there, and often did not see another soul for a few hours.

Originally I had planned to stay a total of 3 nights, 2 of which in the Casa Merlin, a nice little B&B right in the middle between Puerto Viejo where I went for most dinners, and Manzanillo, where I spent most of my day time. I ended up adding 2 more nights at the Casa Merlin, as it was cheap, and quite well equipped, besides having been recently renovated the location is unbeatable, a little way from the main street in the jungle, but with easy access to everything in the area.

The second day I started off by going to the Jaguar Rescue Centre, where they take in injured and/or orphaned animals, and do what they can to set them free in the wild again. Quite a nice station, and entirely living from the tours they give, and donations they receive, so while you are here, worth checking out, and at the same time supporting a good cause! They have a lot of monkeys, snakes, some sloths, and birds. Their private reserve La Ceiba may well be worth checking out as well, but I did not go as the tours start at 7 in the morning and I have always been more of a night time guy.

One morning as I was driving to Puerto Viejo I ran into 2 girls I knew from language school so we had decided to hang out on a Thursday, and since they had no car, I took them down to Manzanillo, where we walked a bit along the beaches, discovered a nice cave that I had not seen before, and ended up hanging out at my favourite beach for a couple of hours. On the trail back to the car is where it got really interesting as we saw what was most likely a black Jaguarundi one of the wildcats still at home in Costa Rica. We saw it from about 20 to 30 meters away, and it was quite an impressive sight! Right there is when I knew why I had kept on adding nights to my stay here, it was to see this beautiful cat before heading out of Costa Rica and into Peru.

A few concluding thoughts on Costa Rica will come in the next couple of days, and by then I should also have arrived in Iquitos, Peru.

Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio & Jaco

I set out around 10 in the morning, and other than knowing that I’d head down to the pacific coast again, I had not real plan or idea as to where to go, so first I drove down to Puntarenas. The drive down the mountain was actually quite fun, and for the most part was on a very dusty dirt road where at time I felt a bit like Raoul Duke, lost at the race track in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, as I could not even see the hood of my car. I arrived in Puntarenas, around noon or so, and after one drive through the town, I decided to keep on heading south, as Puntarenas is not much more than a hub to connect other parts of the country, as in my opinion was actually quite filthy.. On the way down to Jaco there were a few nice views that I took in, and even saw a couple of parrots. In Jaco I went down to the beach, but did not enjoy the vibe of the town all that much either, so I just kept on driving, and ended up in Manuel Antonio around 5 pm, so I checked into La Colina, a nice little restaurant with sunset view rooms, one of which I got and very much enjoyed the sunset from there! In the evening I ate at their restaurant, a nice little Steak House that is open on all sides, and they actually use a wood BBQ grill.

The next day I drove down to Manuel Antonio National Parc, which turned out to be relatively small, or let’s rather say, the official hiking trails turned out to be quite short, but nonetheless make for some great views of for example the Hidden Harbor. The beaches on the other hand are very beautiful, and probably make it worth going to Manuel Antonio National Parc in any case!

I spent one more night in Manuel Antonio and then headed back to Jaco, as I had heard about a festival there, the Jungle Jam, a review of which can be found here.

Costa Rica - Monte Verde

So following a couple of rain filled days at Arenal, which were quite fun, it was time to move on.From Arenal over to Monte Verde was about a 4 hour drive, more or less, as usual in Costa Rica, there is no telling when you’ll actually arrive at your destination, sometimes it’s faster than your GPS tells you and sometimes, well it takes a lot longer.

I arrived in Monte Verde in the late afternoon, as I had opted to throw in a few stops along the road to take in the panorama sights!

After a relatively early dinner I was in bed early, in order to make the most of my time the next day. Early in the morning I went to one of the few free attractions, a tree located in small stretch of forest in Monte Verde where there is a hollow tree (still alive) that you can climb all the way to the top, the peculiar aspect is that you are climbing through the tree trunk so to speak! I hung out at the top of the tree for a little while until more people arrived, and as the space is limited I went back down, an amazing experience nonetheless!

Following the tree climbing I wanted to go the Monte Verde National Reserve, but arriving there saw a lot of cars, and a few buses.. And as I was not in the mood for a lot of people decided to instead go to the Santa Elena Cloud forest, a privately owned reserve that is nice and wild. On the way there I could not resist the temptation and went for another round of canopy, this time in dry weather, which I must admit is somewhat more comfortable! The lines were pretty fast, and some had to be done in pairs, in order to gain enough speed going against the relatively strong winds.

I arrived at Santa Elena a little before 3, and the guard at the entrance suggested I should take the short hike of about 3 km. As I was going through on my own, just enjoying the forest, and letting its calm take a hold of me, it took me only a short while to finish that particular track, so I added the 2^nd longest of about 5 km. This trail, as it turned out actually led to a little opening in the forest, offering a perfect view of Arenal Volcano, which for once was not hidden in a veil of clouds!

The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve is actually quite a nice reserve, offering a little bit of cemented trails in the beginning, but if you go for the longer walks, you are actually getting into a bit of wild nature, although the paths are still very clearly visible, it gets a bit muddy, and that is half the fun!

As I had caught a bit of a cold in the rainy climate around Arenal, I decided that after spending an additional night in Monte Verde I would head back to the Pacific coast where I knew the weather was nice and warm!

More on that in a later post!

Costa Rica – Arenal Volcano

So following an extended period of time in Tamarindo, I was quite glad to get on the road. I left Tamarindo on a Saturday morning, and the beginning of the journey was fun, a warm breeze coming in and the traffic flowing quite well.. Unfortunately I was not supposed to go to Orosi Volcano, as somewhere along a dirt road in the middle of the jungle the GPS battery died, as the charging cable turned out to be broken. Without a clue where to turn to when the next crossroads came up as street signs are relatively rare as well, and very limited water and food supplies, I decided it would be more reasonable to backtrack to the next large town, Liberia to get a new cable, and spend the night.. The frustration did however not stop there, as it turned out, Liberia was fully booked, and as I was making my way from hotel to hostel and on could not find a room or a bed for the night. Finally I decided to just drive back to Tamarindo for the night, and then start again on Sunday.

This time around I actually planned a little bit ahead, and booked a room at the Linda Vista Hotel next to the Arenal Volcano. I got back on the road, picked up a new cable at the car rental, and as the maps on the GPS dated back to 2011, asked if they had something more recent, which it turns out does not exist, so in addition to your GPS, if you plan driving around a little consider buying a paper map as well, and in any case be sure to rent a 4x4!!!! The drive to Arenal was beautiful, and the views of the country side and Lake Arenal were simply stunning! When you are driving around Costa Rica, and have a place you want to go to, be sure to look up the exact coordinates, as even though some roads have names, the GPS might not know these etc.. So the better you prepare your trip the easier you’ll get there. I am not one for loads of planning so usually end up taking a bit longer to get from A to B, having to occasionally throw in a U-Turn, but that is the way I like to go about as I enjoy occasionally getting lost a little.  (Since the first day I now always have a large stock of water, and at least some food in the car, just in case.) The closer I got to Arenal, the more it looked like rain, and as I checked in to the Linda Vista the clouds started to fully cover Arenal, but for a short moment I saw a bit of it, and I very much enjoyed going to the hot whirlpool with a cool shower from above, looking out at the lake.

As it started to really poor, and the dirt road to and from the hotel was quite long, I had dinner there, and went to sleep early in hopes that all the rain would have come down by morning.

Well as the saying goes, there is no bad weather, only poor clothing, I set out to go on a Skywalk and Canopy tour at Arenal in the morning! The hike turned out relatively short, but thanks to the guide quite informative! The sky bridges make for stunning views, and should you visit Costa Rica, be sure to take at least one of these hikes as seeing the rain or cloud forests from above makes for a stunning change of scenery! And standing in front of a 500 year old tree is fascinating, and to feel its serenity is mind-blowing! The hike took about 2.5 hours, and around 1 the canopy tour started with about a 10 minute gondola ride up the mountain to about 1000m height.  From there it took about an hour and a half to get back down the mountain zip-lining down back and forth over the canyon with the highest line being about 200m above ground. Quite a fun experience! Unfortunately I only have a poncho against the rain, which was not suitable for the canopy tour, so I ended up quite wet, and a bit cold, but I had prepared a fresh change of clothes for as soon as I got back down.

From here on it was on to Monte Verde, which will be addressed in a later post.

Tamarindo - Costa Rica.

Alright having spent a little more than a month in Tamarindo on the west coast of Costa Rica, I can present a little bit of a first impression to you. First off, if you do like sunsets, than Tamarindo is certainly worth a visit, as you can see from a few pictures below. The sunsets are rather fast, but the colour plays are spectacular! The twilight lasts for about an hour, and is so far my favourite time of day, along with the occasional moonset in the morning!

My first week in Tamarindo, I spent fully immersed in the tourist experience which is very predominant here, so as you can guess Tamarindo is a bit more expensive than the rest of the country, although from what I gather Costa Rica is overall a bit more expensive than other countries around. On the upside, there is little to no crime in Tamarindo, which is if you can overlook the hookers (prostitution is actually legal in Costa Rica) and dealers (which, lets's face as anywhere are a result of a failed prohibition), of which there are plenty in town, mostly catering to the American Tourist in town for a week or weekend. Getting mugged is quite unlikely as the town is so small you’d probably run into the mugger the next day at the supermarket.

Nightlife is happening daily in Tamarindo, but the quality of the entertainment varies greatly, and for my personal music tastes, there are only 2 or 3 places in town where I am reasonably comfortable. There is El Garito, which is sort of an Electronic Fusion bar, where on Tuesday nights the DJ is accompanied by a live drummer, which mostly makes for fun times. Saturdays are quite busy here as well, but usually it’s just a DJ spinning tunes, all in all easy going Electronic sound. Then there is the Pacifico which is busy on Wednesdays for their ladies night, and Thursdays for their reggae night, which to me personally is a little better, as the music is more my taste, and the crowd is more local than other nights and places.  On Friday nights there is the Crazy Monkey, with a live salsa band on one level, and a DJ on the lower level. The crowd is mixed, the upper level is more filled with locals, and the tourists gather on the lower level. The other nights and Bars, are in my opinion not really worth mentioning.  If you do like live music look into Glasseye, a little local band playing all over the place, mostly reggae covers with a few good jams thrown in for good measure. The really good thing is that they don’t mind people standing in, so occasionally you get treated to a really good solo or two on any instrument.

The main beach, Playa Tamarindo is quite nice, although for me the pacific ocean is a tad cold, especially at night, the beach is quite popular with surfers, and swimmers alike, but you have to watch out where you go for a swim, as it is quite a rocky area.  The best feature as previously mentioned are the sunsets which are splendid most of the days, and the colour range has to be among the broadest I have seen in any sunsets thus far. So as you can imagine I have spent quite a few days watching the sun set. Night time is quite as beautiful, as even on the beach close to town the sky is magically clear, the only place I have seen it any clearer was in Burkina Faso where there was not a single source of artificial light around for a few hundred kilometres. But this comes in at a close second! The most amazing night time sight to date was a large halo around the almost full moon, which was a first for me as well.  Weather is perfect, considering it is dry season it has been in the low 30's (centigrades) most days and probably in the low 20's for most night, there was 1 night so far where it mildly drizzled.

The last few weeks I have been mostly busy with going to language school, and my Spanish is actually improving though since I came here with no previous knowledge of the language prior to my arrival, overall my ability to hold a conversation is still limited. Understanding is a going quite well which is a good start! At night with a drink or two in me, the fluency is mildly increased, but not sure how grammatically accurate it is. The school itself is part of Education First, and as expected is mostly visited by relatively young people around their early twenty’s at most. Quite a few a very nice souls, and I am sure a few of them I will stay in touch with in the future. The classes themselves are alright as well, maybe a little big for absolute beginners like me, but with a bit of application outside of school I think most people could pick up at least some Spanish in a relatively short time.

Considering that I spend a lot of time studying, as the main goal of my time in Tamarindo is learning some basic Spanish skills, my explorations of the surrounding areas have been limited, but I have some time on my tourist permit left after school, so I’ll most likely rent a car then, and explore a bit more, so you can look forward to a new post sometime in the future, and certainly more pictures.

The most likely next little adventure maybe a trip to Envision Festival about 500 km from Tamarindo, just have to figure out a way to get there, and check the cost, but it sure does look interesting!