PERU (I): Vamonos, Vamonos !!!

Chicos y chicas,

My plane from Panama City to Lima has landed safely on the soil of Peru! Leaving customs and after picking up the luggage everybody has to press a button in the airport. It is a sort of sampling system that indicates if your luggage must be checked or not. When it is green you can just move along but when it turns red, your luggage has to go through control. Carrying my machete, I really hoped it would turn green but of course it didn`t (who was that guy again with his law). Adrenaline rushed through my body and I faced the dilemma of telling on beforehand I carried a 40 cm long knife or just act stupid if they would find it. I chose the latter one of probably being the best strategy. My backpack went through their screening system but apparently you are allowed to bring a machete into the country as they didn`t give any remark at all. Happily moving further I was picked up by a taxi driver the hostal had arranged for me. Crossing Lima and exercising my new learned language with him, I arrived in the beautiful and extremely safe part of Lima called Miraflores. There I stayed for 2 days sightseeing the town and relaxing (watching the final of the US open and seeing Kim Clijsters win it). I was the only person in a room that had the capacity for 8 people. As for me every capital is more or less just a necessary stop for further crossing the country, I left it after 2 days and headed for Nasca. Capitals can be so lonely as the majority of tourists now are couples and older retired people.

Nasca is the little town famous for the mysterious Nasca lines and figures. These are lines created in the soil of the extreme desertly landscape and are more than 1000 years old. To get to know the history of these lines a little bit more, I visited the local Maria Reich Planetarium the first night. The reason and construction of these lines are still not perfectly clear and one can only assume how and why the Nasca people did it. Some theories say it was for religious purposes but also astronomical creations could be a possibility. For example the Monkey could represent the Great Bear constellation. After having had this explanation, obviously I needed to see these lines since I probably won`t come back to this place. The only way you can see them however is by air (this is why they were only discovered in the 20th century and why the panamerican highway runs through one figure) and this is evidently exploited by the peruvian people. So I paid an expensive 60 $ for a 30 minute flight with a CESNA C206. As copilot ( :-) ) I really enjoyed the take off and landing but during the flight the pilot was turning the plane for about 30 times in order for us to clearly see the figures so that it made all of us somewhat nauseous untill I sensed a certain vomit smell. The inevitable had happened and the old lady in the back threw up. Luckily this was at the end of the flight so the other passengers and the 2 pilots weren`t to bothered with it. I certainly enjoyed the view and thought the monkey, spider and hummingbird were the most spectacular nasca figures.
In the afternoon I visited the Chauchilla cemetery ( first I didn`t want to go, but as there was still one place available and price had dropped, I agreed to it). This place is a cemetery (the only one in Peru where mummies can be seen in their original graves) with all mummies of nasca people that are extremely well preserved because of the dry conditions in this part of the country (it only rains here four hours a year). The cemetery was looted by grave robbers for many years so all the treasures the mummies kept in their tombs were taken away. After seeing these chauchilla mummies the trip went on to 2 places where the processes of pottery making and extracting gold were explained.


Continuing my journey in Peru, I had to go to Arequipa to hike in the nearby Colca canyon. This canyon is twice as deep as the grand canyon and the deepest in the world.
I went on a 3-day hiking tour including guide, food and place to sleep for the same amount of money as the flight above the Nasca lines. Unbelievable (what a rip off the flight was). There, for the first time I was exposed to high altitudes (4900 m max) which my body beared without any problem. The first day we went to the highest point of the canyon by bus stopping at Cruz Del Condor where these majestic birds (vultures) could be spotted. Their wingspan really was incredible to see. The trip continued to Cabanaconde where the real hike started. We descended the canyon for three hours in the blistering sun. During the descent I was constantly leaving the group behind because the pace was just not fast enough. I tried to stop and wait for them in the beginning but eventually hiked down on my own tempo wearing my headphones and listening to Oasis to have some company. I just can`t do something without competing and testing my limits. I think it is just in my blood, I need competion in almost everything I do. The guide even gave me the nickname Speedy Gonzales. I was constantly shouting vámonos vámonos (let`s go) to the frustration of some other hikers. Arriving at 16u we stayed in beautiful cabins and had alpaca for dinner that night. There we sat eating alpaca at the bottom of the colca canyon (didn`t see that one coming). The program of the second day was also not too difficult and was just heading for the nearby oasis with swimming pools. So cool to have an oasis in the middle of the deserted canyon. The final day we had to climb 1200 m to reach Cabanaconde from where we started the first day. We started at 5 AM to beat the sun. It was supposed to take 3 hours but I did it in 1 hour 35 minutes and was the first tourist to reach the top (VAMONOS VAMONOS!!). On the way up I was caught up by a local young guy which I tried to follow but that was simply not possible (he was running up the mountain!). After this we had breakfast and went to the nearby hot Springs to rest and relax our tired legs. Going back to Arequipa at 1u00 PM stopping on some miradors for panorama pictures I arrived at the hostel at 6u00 PM ,went to bed and slept like a baby.

Tomorrow I will go to Puno, a little town located on the peruvian side of Lake Titicaca.

Ciao

Competitive hiker Clint

PANAMA: where oceans (and dreams) meet.

Buenos everybody,

I have experienced the last 10 days with different feelings. I had my first lonesome crisis (03/09) since I left Belgium. At a certain point I didn't want to talk to anybody anymore because of the same superficial conversations every single time (where are you from, where are you going, etc... ). The next day each of us would go different paths anyway and the story would repeat itself again with other travellers. Out of experience I can tell you it is very difficult to find people that share the same interests as you do. Because of this small crisis, my dreams were becoming stronger and stronger. The theory of the opposites says that what you are missing consciously will be compensated by the unconscious. Because dreams are a pathway to the unconscious it looked like my unconscious was trying to tell me something. Jung's book learned me somehow to analyze those dreams and in that way it could help give me more insigths in my deeper self. I even started analyzing my dream inside the dream itself what was a very strange affair, I can assure you. I knew perfectly well how to analyze and explain them but finding a solution for them is something completely different. Anyway, this little crisis faded away after a few days but undoubtly is still present in the depths of my mind.


Back to reality... the 4th I arrived on the island Isla Colon where the touristic town of Bocas Del Toro is located. There is not so much to do there but 'party' and going to the beach. My state of mind didn't allow me to party a lot though. During daytime I had some fun with a German guy Eric with whom I could have normal conversations once and a while. The first day in Bocas I did a tour where we were supposed to see dolphins but did not see any, we snorkeled on a place just to see sand (major setback compared to Belize) but nonetheless finally arrived on the idyllic beach of red frog island. There I saw a sloth (Sid from the movie Ice Age for those who don't know the animal) just at eye level. I tried to give it a cookie but it started sissing like a snake and lifting its arms (in an ultra slow pace) so I wisely decided to stop. Who knows what this animal is able to do even at this speed.

After 3 days on the carribean island I had had it with Bocas Del Toro and headed straight for the Chiriqui highlands. Here I stayed for 3 days in the beautiful town Boquete biking and hiking in the mountains. The high season is almost finished and you can feel it on the number of tourists. Each day it is diminishing exponentially (as a figure of speech).


Next and last stop in Panama after the mountains was Panama city from where I had to visit the Panama Canal also known as the Big Ditch. Any self-respecting engineer visiting Panama should do whatever it takes to see this constructional phenomenon created by man. I knew it was a tiring journey on the chicken bus but I did not want to take a taxi because I was on a very tight budget. Being the only tourist on that bus, I arrived at the Miraflores locks after 1 hour and 25 c$ . There I learned something more about the history of the Panama canal and how the canal works. Just in short it is an artificially built canal aging from 1914 that connects the Pacific and Atlantic ocean. It takes 8 hours to cross this canal and some ships pay 200000 $ to cross it. From either oceanside the ship is lifted to a higher level by water that comes from the higher located lakes, which are formed only by rainfall. When the ship is lowered again the water is just wasted away in the oceans (so no pumps are used). In panama, it rains 9 months a year and this large amount of rain is controlled to serve different purposes in the canal area. 58% is used for lockages (procedure described above), 36% for hydropower and 6% for human consumption. If there is too much water (rain), it is just dumped into the ocean through dumplocks. Seeing the locks, there were unfortunately no huge ships passing by but with a little imagination ... (little men can do great things).

Because I am ahead of schedule and there is not so much to do here anymore I changed my flight to leave sunday the 13th of September instead of the 26th what was planned (I am a flexible guy; my boss(es) at work (should) know this :-) ). It only costed me 30 euro extra and South America has certainly a lot more waiting for me. Voila everybody, this was the first big part of my journey: in short I travelled from the USA all the way to Panama in 82 days. From Sunday the 13th of September on I will find myself under the equator and in springtime.

See you from Peru
Dreamanalysing engineer Clint

COSTA RICA: Pura Vida !!!

After having crossed 4 borders, getting hussled for 30 $, having paid 70 $ for 2 shitty hotels because I didn´t have any other choice, having crossed the ghetto´s of San Jose on foot and almost getting mugged, I finally arrived in Tranquillo hostel the 24th of August. Again this city was totally not what I expected of. The only interesting thing I did here was buying a book on analytical psychology (C.G. Jung) and for those who know me this means I was really bored.

I wanted to leave this city as soon as possible and took the afternoon bus to Monteverde (Santa Elena). The monteverde Cloud forest reserve is one of the most precious jewels on Costa rica´s crown. It gives the opportunity to see plants, insects, birds and mammals (in theory at least). Getting closer and seeing the beautiful landscapes (which by the way reminded me of scenes of Jurassic Parc), the dump image of San jose faded away.

When I arrived at the local popular hostel run by Americans ( and therefore mostly visited by the gringos), I met wonder above wonder a crazy ( :-) ) American called Zack of whom the smell of the jungle has an extremely strange image. The next day we hiked 10 km to see the Monteverde Cloud forest full of wildlife ... . However it was a huge disappointment as we didn´t get to see anything but trees. In the hope of still seeing the marvellous view on top of the forest we hiked a steep trail. At the top, the forest honoured its name as we did not see anything but clouds (no Zack I don´t believe taking a guide would have made a difference).

The next day I went horsebackriding in the forest (I have always wanted to race a horse in my life). In these countries fortunately you don´t have to take many lessons before you can race one. It was good fun and to my surprise not that difficult. The next day my back muscles hurt though. On that trip we saw giant ants carrying leaves to their nests. The guide picked up an ant and let him carry a branch. It was incredible to see how much weight such an ant can carry.
My last day in Monteverde I just went climbing a hollow tree of 20 m high and chilled. Ah, I forgot to tell this but I am in the middle of the rain season here so everyday is guaranteed by rain.

In the afternoon I took the bus-boat –bus to La Fortuna crossing lake Arenal near the vulcano. As you can see on the picture the top is covered with dark clouds during rain season so I wisely decided not to climb it (already saw the majestic Pacaya in Guatemala). I did visit the Baldi Thermal complex . This is a place with several hot springs ranging from 37 – 63 degrees Celcius. You can bade in the latter temperature if you want to be poached alive. Again it started pouring rain and I tried to stay as low as possible in the hot water with my body feeling getting sicker minute by minute. The lunch buffet was included in the entrance fee and it had been a long time since I ate such good food.

After La Fortuna I booked a rafting trip to Rio Pecuare (one of the best rivers and most beautiful sceneries in Costa Rica to raft in). This was 4 hours of rafting down a class III – IV river. Again the coolest guide of the 5 asked me to join his boat. He took all the wild lines of the river. One time we got stuck in a whirlpool and after a minute with a little panic we were able to get out of it. Because of this event the other guides were blaming him for being irresponsible. We all just laughed at it and kept on going.

After this exciting activity I got dropped off in Puerto Viejo at Rocking J’s. The first night there was an international pool tournament (18 players) which I joined and won!!! Jihaaaaa ... earned 20 $. Next day I went to Playa Cocles and spent a day on the beach relaxing and surfing. For once, it was a very sunny day but unbearable so I stayed in the shade most of the time.

The 4th of September I will enter Panama and head for party city Bocas del Toro.

I would like to finish this chapter with a quote of C.G. JUNG:
"Life has also a tomorrow, and today is understood only when we can add to our knowledge of what was yesterday the beginnings of tomorrow".

Ciao
Pool champion of the world Clint