Sonali does Last Day in Peru

There were still a few things left to do before I left Peru.

Peruvian Cooking Class: This was a fun and rewarding experience. My sis and I learnt so much about the local produce and how they are used in peruvian dishes. Our instructor took us to the San Pedro Market, a huge local market that sells everything from cheese, potatoes, chocolate, maca to dried llamas, llama snouts & hooves & intestines! We did our shopping here to source ingredients for our lunch menu: Stuffed Rocotos Peppers, Creme de Quinoa, Arroz Con Leche and of course Pisco Sour. Rocotos are the third spiciest peppers after Ghost and Habanero. We had to boil them thrice to reduce the heat!Arroz Con leche or "Rice with Milk" is not complete without 4 spoons of Pisco.  We started with quinoa grains and actually ground it down to a powder with this "ammi kal" contraption to form the base of the soup. In my enthusiasm to excel, I doubled the quantity of pisco in my drink and so ended up with two servings of Pisco. Can't complain! Here's a link to their website:  http://www.peruviancookingclasses.pe/#_=_

Mailing postcards to the US: I'm not saying who I mailed it to, but you'll know soon enough!

Shopping: Peruvian sweaters made out of 100% baby alpaca wool es muy caro, something like $150. But I did buy random ponchos, chocolate and other trinkets because, why not!

ammi kal

stuffing those rocotos real good

pisco sour!

creme de quinoa

arroz con leche

rocotos peppers stuffed with carrots, peas, minced beef

Sonali does Macchu Picchu!

This was clearly the highlight of our trip! The views were spectacular; you could keep looking at it all day.

Things I learnt:

1. The iconic picture that features the mountain is actually Wayna Picchu(8000ft) or "Young Mountain". This is limited to 400 climbers a day. 2. Bang opposite Wayna is the actual Macchu Picchu or "Old Mountain" which has a Peruvian Flag at its summit (10,000ft). 3. There is a third mountain called Phutuq K'usi(8400ft) or "little zucchini" that is considered pretty hard to climb. 4. The Incas built a university/elite settlement/royal retreat (Macchu Picchu) which they abandoned just in time so the Spaniards never actually found it! 5. The Incans were super hardworking and built these amazingly polished dry stone wall constructions. 6. Celebratory Pisco Sours that the three of us imbibed in, is the way to go. 7. You can stamp Macchu Picchu on your passport as a souvenir. 8. When I asked the guide he said the Govt. of Peru will eventually close down the site but when that'll happen is anyone's guess. For now, they've restricted it to 3000 visitors a day. All I'm saying is that if this is on your bucket list, DO IT ASAP!

Here are some pics that prolly do not do it any justice! 

The mountain you see is Wayna Picchu

The one on the left is Phutuq K'usi

Sonali does The Inca Trail

It all culminated in this: A full day hike along the inca trail to get to Macchu Picchu. 

At 9:30 in the morning, we were literally dropped off the train tracks at km 104 to begin a day long hike on the famous inca trail. The trail is about 9 miles to Sun Gate (a view point from which you can see MP from a distance). This is followed by about an hour long hike down to MP. Most of the 9 miles was uphill, consisting of the infamous steps and the rest is what they call "Andean Flats". That just means a string of camel backs one after another. For someone like me, hiking with a backpack for the first time I did pretty well (mid pace: enough to only warrant small breaks and still catch up with the trailblazers). I was surprisingly quite fast downhill when a lot of the trailblazers seemed to have knee issues! 

The trail carved along the edge of the mountains provides breathtaking views! You could literally throw the camera up in the air and click a picture and it would be brilliant. We passed bridges and waterfalls along the way. Shortly around 1:30pm we arrived at Winay Wayna, one of the ruins along the way to Macchu Picchu. We  finally broke for lunch around 2:00pm. You prolly guessed, but yes, we had boxed lunch provided by the tour company. Let's just say, we were too hungry to care if the food tasted good. The little pineapple juice box hit the spot though!

Continuing our hike along the andean flats we reached the Sun Gate a little before 4:00pm. You could already see the clouds settling in. We had time for a few quick shots before it started drizzling. That was our cue. We readied ourselves with rain jackets, ponchos and other rainwear we had. I was totally not prepared for the torrential rain that followed. My rain jacket managed to keep my top half dry, but my pants and shoes were soaked to the bone. The worst part: my non-water proof backpack was taking a hit for the worse. 

After a slippery downhill descent in the downpour for an hour, we made it to MP. Even in the rain the view was spectacular. But alas, we had to keep going to catch the bus to aguas calientes, a small town at the foothills of MP which primarily serves as a tourist rest-stop. When the rain finally stopped, the double rainbow showed up as a nice surprise!

So far so good. When we got to AC, our trip started to unravel. You see, we were supposed to have had 2 guides to help us with the hike. Only one of them showed up because the other was sick. This meant that the single guide had to take care of all 9 of us going at different speeds.  When we got to AC, he didn't know where the hotel was. This was disconcerting to say the least, especially after a solid day hiking and rain-soaking. Eventually we found the hotel and checked in. The hotel, very spartan and tiny was what I had expected but not what I wanted at that moment. This is also where I discovered that the contents of my backpack were wet! My presence of mind kicked in and I grabbed a few of my wet clothes and took it to a laundry service a couple of blocks outside the hotel. Best 6 Soles I've spent! The guide had also organized dinner at a local restaurant. As we followed him into the sketchy alley ways, we quickly realized that we wanted to make our own arrangements for dinner and so we did.  In the meantime, extreme paranoia began to set in for some of my friends. In this scenario, they thought that the guide had brought us to this hotel to get his friends to kidnap us ALL! I on the other hand just figured he was incompetent at his job, prolly because he was always second in command. Today with the main guide being sick, he had to step up to the challenge, which he clearly failed at. While we were dinnering, the guide decided that he needed help and reported back to the tour company to call for backup. So when we got back to the hotel, we had a new guide assigned to help us with the logistics of the next day. The day we REALLY see MP!

All set for the hike at Km. 104

Hiking Selfie

The Inca Trail

Winay Wayna

Sun Gate

Sonali does Peru

This day will always be remembered as the day my bro-in-law forgot his wallet. We were taking an early morning flight from La Paz to Cusco. Even before we headed out he had a feeling he didn't have his wallet with him. But of course instead of checking we made our way to the airport only to confirm that! My friend's dad was kind enough to go over to the house and confirm that the wallet was in fact in the house. But it was too late to surpass the traffic and get to the airport on time. So we did the only thing we could: the rest of us checked in and were on our way while my sis and her husband stayed back an extra day to take the flight the next morning. What really sucked? The flight was delayed by an hour and 15 mins. 

I loved Cusco! The architecture was unique and quite pleasing to the eye. The ground floor of all buildings were made out of stone (preserved from the ancient Incan empire). The first floor built mush after of course was made in the traditional colonial style(bricks). The main plaza, Plaza de Armas was charming surrounded by cathedrals, shops, restaurants and a million tour/travel agencies. For lunch, i gave the alpaca medium rare a try and to be honest, it was quite good! With almost 0 cholesterol, this lean meat is preferred over beef (also, they have more alpacas than cows in peru). 

One of my favorite places: Choco Museo (Chocolate Museum). It really wasn't that much of a museum in that it had a very brief history of coco beans starting from the Mayans all the way to Nestle. But the most awesome part was the cafe inside the museum that served hot melted chocolate. I tried the Mayan Style: Melted Bitter Chocolate + Chilli + Honey + Milk = YUM! I could have stayed all day but the awesome hotel beckoned. Casa Andina Private Collection, a beautiful 4-star hotel about 2 blocks from the main plaza was just perfect. The courtyard style architecture and unique Cusqenian decor was refreshing!

This is also where two of my friends(A & R) joined us for the next 3 days before they carried on with the rest of their vacation.

The next day was a day trip to the Sacred Valley: a valley in the Andes of Peru. It formed the heartland of the Inca Empire where most of the terrace agriculture was done. The valley consists several towns along the way, the most significant of which are Pisac, Urubamba, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero. But first, we made a pit stop at the Ccochahuasi Animal Sanctuary. It was quite easily the highlight of the day.We saw rescued llamas, alpacas, picunyas, pumas, wild cats, condors, macaws and monkeys! Did you know that Condors mate for life and when one dies, sometimes the other commits suicide? 

After walking around the terrace farms of Pisac and listening to stories of how the incans protected their granaries, we made another pit stop for empanadas at Horno Tipico Restuarant (Typical Oven Restaurant). One word: delicious! My sis and BIL who had reached Cusco by now, cabbed it to the next meeting place: Urubamba for an organized lunch buffet. Even though they had a massive spread of local, traditional dishes, I was kind of underwhelmed. Our final stop in SV (not to be confused with the Silicon Valley) was a little town called Ollantaytambo. The primary attraction is the huge fortress built by the incans to protect well, their granaries! The temple area at the top of the steep terracing also provided excellent protection. The huge stones used for the buildings were brought from a quarry on the other side of the Urubamba river which runs through the Sacred valley. 

Next stop, Macchu Picchu, but first here are some pics:

Plaza de Armas

Mayan Melted Chocolate

Alpaca Meat

Baby Llama

On our way to Sacred Valley

Condor

Picunya

Ollantaytambo

Pisac

Sonali does the Amazon

Sonali does the Amazon

Three days in the Amazon and I'm happy to report that I survived it! 

Where: The Chalalan Eco lodge in Madidi National Park. It is managed and maintained my the local people of Chalalan and the work they do to pull it all together is quite incredible! 

How: We flew into a little town called Rurrenabaque the closest town to the forest. The tiny 19 seater propeller plane was scary as hell even for the 30 mins we were on it. We then took a tiny boat that carried us and our backpacks upstream Rio Tuichi on a 6 hr boat ride to the forest. yikes! I for the most part was trying to not fall off the boat cos apparently they are infested with all kinds of animals including the caiman! 

Accommodation: The ecolodge we stayed in (wairuro 2) had beds with mosquito nets, a storage closet and an attached private bathroom. Since they are an ecolodge water and electricity were prime resources that had to be conserved. The solar powered lamps only worked for 4 hrs in the evening. Most days I got ready in the dark with my flashlight lol. Also, we were using the water coming into the river(double purified) for showers. The river is fed by melt water from the mountains and so was freezing cold. This just meant super short showers for everyone. 

Food: the food was phenomenal. I'm sad I didn't take as many pictures of it. Every meal was a three course meal: appetizer included some kind of egg dish( boiled, fried, omelette), main course( trout cooked in banana leaf, chicken in peanut curry, lentils and quinoa, vegetable lasagna, yucca fries, steamed vegetables to name a few) and dessert ( fried sweet plantains, papayas, pineapple, peaches)! I think I haven't had a more balanced meal in a few years now. Breakfast had a variety of juices( brown sugar, orange, lemon), breads, pancakes, fruits etc. All the food we had were local preparations, the kind the people of Chalalan eat themselves :) 

What did we do/see: 1. A night hike on the first night where we encountered a whole bunch of spiders and their webs, ants (the good and bad kind), tarantula, mushrooms and other insects. 2. A 5 hour day hike through the jungle where we tracked down: the harpy eagle and its nest, black spider monkeys, Macaus, toucans, leaf cutter ants, more spiders and ant hills. We heard a jaguar trying to track down its lunch. According to our guide, the jaguar was only 500m from us. Yikes! We also did a considerable amount of log hopping! 3. Afternoon canoe ride around the lagoon where we saw yellow squirrel monkeys, capuchins, wild hens etc. 4. In the night, we went looking for caimans in the lagoon. It was pitch dark and the caiman eyes glow in the dark just enough to give you the heebie jeebies!

Chalaza believes in observing the animals in their natural habitats. So we never tried to interact with the animals for their own good(and ours). I tried to click a few pics: 

Sonali does Lago Titicaca

Day 4 started early, I mean we had to be ready at our hotels at 5:15 am to be picked up by our tour bus(transturin). Lago Titicaca is the deepest navigable lake in South America and also the second largest one. In case you are curious, Titi means wild cat and Caca means rock in Aymara a pre-inkan culture/language. Our day trip to Lago Titicaca consisted of a 2 hr bus ride to puerto chua where we took a catamaran to the sun island, one of the bigger islands on the Bolivian side of the lake. (Yes Peru owns 60% of the lake). The catamaran built locally in Peru was pretty neat. We were served breakfast when we first got on board. It had an upper deck with fantastic,no filter views of the lake. 

Our guide( Grace Arnez) was hilarious. She spoke in English and Spanish to cater to the tourists in her group. She was able to turn the long day of buses and boats into something super fun. So yes, where was i? Sun island. Highlights: 1. lot of pre inkan steps 2. Llamas and alpacas! We saw a whole pack of them feeding. We took turns trying to get their attention with food. Quick tip to distinguish the two. Llamas have pointy ears and pointy tails. 3. Museum with cool artifacts from the pre inkan days. So we are talking tiwanaku and aymaras. 4. Totora boats and sofas, made from the Totora plant that grows in the water. The guide made us pose on the sofa for the inkan calendar ( had to stop at May for lack of time). We also took one of the Totora boats to another part of the island during which the guide decided to amuse herself with some competitive games. I obviously volunteered. Me against another girl from Switzerland. As a pre game pitch, we were asked to show what we've got on the runway. I obviously killed it. The actual competition was to see who could row the boat the fastest. I obviously did not kill it. Lol 5. Herb garden: with rosemary, oregano, etc 6. I learnt to say "I love you" in Aymara : Moonsamauwa. 7. We participated in a Kallawaya ceremony. The Kallawaya is the local doctor who offers sugar biscuits to the gods while praying for everyone's general well being. 

The next stop on our day trip was the island Copacabana not to be confused with he one in Brazil. Here we saw the cathedral of madona. The trip back to la Paz was long! We had to take a bus to get to Tiqina. There we hopped on this tiny boat with 20 other people to ferry us across. This was followed by a 4 hr bus ride all the way to la Paz. Some pics from the trip: 

    A bus being ferried across

    Llama selfie or selfie llama  

         

    Kallawaya ceremony 

    Totora boat 

Sonali does More Bolivia

Waking up from a night of partying is not easy and yes it wasn't! But of course we powered through because there is just so much to see and do in Bolivia. We started off our day with a trip to Valle de la luna( valley of the moon). It is quite possibly the most unique formation I've seen. The corrosion and erosion of the land has formed these very indescribable structures that made the local people think it was quite extraterrestrial, hence the name. See pic below so you'll, know what I'm talking about. The entire loop to walk through the trail took about an hour what with us stopped by crazy winds and picture taking. 

Lunch was back in town in the San Miguel area. Highlights: 1. My Spanish comes in handy as the waiter refused to speak in English 2. I tried llama fillet and sausage. The verdict: it's delicious, a lot like lamb. 3. Jugos sin Agua de melon was refreshing! 

Other nights from the day: 1. ATVs on the road, I mean what? 2. We tried helado(shaved ice) a local favorite 3. It being a Sunday, most of the stores and restaurants were closed! 4. Dinner was at the Casa Grande Hotel. My favorites: surubi(tropical river fish), creme brûlée and Sauvignon Blanc. 

Not a bad day at all!

Sonali does Bolivian Wedding

In preparation for the wedding fiesta I got off DIAMOX. It worked out well, so far so good. We started off our day with some good, healthy desayuno at the hotel. My friend's MIL had a day planned for us in downtown La Paz. So basically the entire out of state contingency which included my friend's in laws, fiancé, finance's brother, MIL's friend and her son apart from us of course. We commandeered three taxis for the day which drove us to places, waited while we did our business and picked us up. Pretty neat and pretty cheap!

We drove to downtown La Paz which is actually at a higher altitude than the burbs( where we we pre staying) and made our way to the Witch's market. It's basically rows and rows of stalls that sell pretty much the same stuff: dried llama fetuses, dolls, alpaca sweaters and other clothes, llama sweaters and other clothes, shoes, hats, guitars, guitar cases, earrings you name it! Suffice to say I was like a kid in a candy store! So much to buy and so little time. Nevertheless I put my two hours of shopping time to good use. The boys were pretty bored I think, but that's just the way it is. 

After the mini shopping spree we decided to check out their cable car. This is a new tourist feature in La Paz. The view was amazing. Honestly you had to be there but the pictures will have to do. After walking around for a little while longer, we made our way back to the hotel for a late lunch. 

With about 3 hrs to the wedding, the girls decided we wanted to get our hair done. So we headed on to my friend's recommended salon where we actually ran into her. ( FYI she had been there for the last 4 hrs getting a dresses). Communicating our exact hairstyle preference was tricky but the end effects were amazing! 

The church ceremony was elegant and more importantly short. The whole thing was in Spanish but we followed along with our printed English translations. Something about weddings make people tear up and tear up we did. The bride, my friend looked stunning in her strapless wedding dress and the two of them made a lovely couple. But the real fun started at the reception.

Let me just say, bolivianos know how to party! They started with champagne, progressed to wine with dinner and it quickly escalated to whisky rounds! My friend's parents had arranged for a show of sorts showcasing the traditional Bolivian dances( something one only gets to see at a parade). Each dance had its own costume, theme, and storyline. Some used hankies to do a flirtatious dance, others used hats and some others were based on the spaniards invading Bolivia. Invigorated by the awesome performance, we took to the dance floor where the DJ was now spinning the popular Bolivian songs. But wait, did I also mention that the wedding is Star Wars themed? That's right, my friend, the bride also happens to be a Star Wars geek. At some point we were handed light sabers to dance around with. Other highlights: 1. The groom is Jewish and so they did the picking up of the bride and groom 2. Throwing of the bouquet that I did my best to avoid 3. The cake was a traditional Bolivian rum cake. We closed down the place at 1am like one should. Job well done! 

One of the best weddings I've been to for sure! Tomorrow should be interesting waking up and such.

Sonali does La Paz

We kicked off our adventures with the world's longest flight ever. SFO -> DFW-> MIA-> LPB. The only saving grace in all of this is that I got Priority Access on American and was able to get on and off the plane pretty much as fast as I wanted to. After some fairly crappy experiences on all flights( watched a movie without audio because it wasn't working) and peeing a lot(side effects of DIAMOX) we made it to La Paz. This was my favorite part. We got through immigration, baggage claim and customs in less than 5 minutos! Winning! My friend's fiancé and dad were already at the airport ready to ferry us to the hotel. Couple of things to note: 1. Altitude sickness is real. We felt the effects almost instantaneously. Labored breaths with a cognitive capacity of 50% seemed to be the norm for some of us. 2. You need to belt in and hope that you get to your destination safely. El trafico es muy mala en Boliviana! After driving through smoke and exhaust coming out of a giant truck, we were thankful to be alive. I exaggerate but really. 3. The mountains are just so spectacular and they are everywhere. 4. The ozone is kinda depleted here which means the sun is very harsh and can burn through your hat and clothing! Yikes! 5. The traditional outfit that Bolivian women wear is quite something. It's basically this layered dress that wraps around giving the women a very bottom heavy look, complete with this hat that sits rather comically on top of their heads.

After checking into our hotel where we sipped on Mates de Coca( Coca Leaf tea) to help with the altitude sickness, we were invited to my friends house for desayuno (breakfast). Bread, cheese, dulce de leche, condensed milk, naranja jugo, fruits, yoghurt, coffee and coca tea makes for a delicioso and healthy breakfast. Then we did what any normal person would: napped for 3 hours. 

Waking up hungry, our tea time quickly escalated to first dinner. We decided to hit the closest grocery store to stock up on essentials: water, bananas, Gatorade, yogurt and of course sunscreen (which btw was locked in a shelf because it was clearly a specialty item). After our successful grocery run we joined my friend, her fiancé and their family and friends for an amazing rehearsal dinner at Chalet La Suisse. My favorites: Trucha al Diablo ( trout in red hot sauce) and chocolate fondue(pretty much put all things in it)! 

The side effects of DIAMOX continues on including tingling sensations through my fingers. But that only means it's working! Looking forward to the wedding shenanigans tomorrow!

Sonali does Preparing/Packing

 I was going to write two separate posts but decided to combine it!

Prepping:

I don’t claim to be fully prepared for this trip but here are some of things I did that I think will pay off.

1. Getting in shape: Some of you might already be in good physical condition and are prolly laughing at this post right now. But for the rest of you, this might be new. I realized pretty quickly that I WAS NOT in the best cardio shape. So I started taking zumba classes (at least once sometimes twice a week) this January.  I also resurrected by Bharatnatyam(Indian Classical dance) skills last September. In fact, I performed a couple of months ago and the training leading up to it ended up having a dual purpose.  Both zumba and bharatnatyam improved my overall stamina and strengthened my quads/legs. In addition to these, my friends and I hiked a few of the local trails. Granted these are no way near the elevation we’ll actually be climbing at, but I think it helped.
2. Learning Spanish:  I started learning espanol on an ad-hoc basis last year using Duo Lingo(highly recommend). But the trip motivated me to practice on a fairly regular basis. I’m happy to report that I’ve completed all but 2 lessons and I’m hoping this pans out well for me. I’m fairly certain I can translate written Spanish.  Spoken Spanish is going to be tricky unless they slow it down.  But yes, I’m looking forward to practicing it for real.
3. International Roaming: Those were the long term preparation goals.  I recommend getting some kind of international talk/text/data plan. (ask your cell phone provider).
4. Credit Card on Travel Mode: This is one of my biggest pet peeves: Getting my card denied while on vacation. I usually call the bank and put all my credit/debit cards on travel mode so they don’t accidentally flag me for it. Some banks let you do this online as well.

Packing:

So what are the essentials (and non essentials) for this trip, you ask?

1. Clothes: I got some all-round good advice from friends and the internet. Since we’ll be traveling in different microclimates I had to think this through. For warm places, where we’ll be right under the sun, I recommend sun shirts. These have UPF (SPF for fabric) that protects you from the sun and are lightweight at the same time. Bottom line, you’ll sweat less. I tested this out at 84 degrees this past weekend.  For rain forests where it’ll be hot and humid (with very real threats from mosquitoes) wear light cotton/linen clothes that covers your entire body (except your face maybe).  In general layer up (it gets cold in the evenings this time of the year). In fact, if you are cold blooded like me, definitely take a warm jacket! If you are a girl, take capri activewear (these are the perfect length for being out in the sun).
2. Mosquito Repellents: The doc recommended mosquito repellent ointment is Ultrathon (with 34.34% DEET). Also I got these mosquito repellent bands you can wear on our arms or ankles (haven’t used them yet though).
3. Adapters: Make sure you take a couple of the universal all-in-one adapters.  Now, this only works for dual voltage devices. Most of Bolivia (except La Paz) and Peru are on the 220V system. So if you need your hair straightener or hair dryer to work, make sure they are dual voltage. The alternative is to take a converter with you but trust me those things are heavy and you don’t want to do it!
4. Microfiber Towel: These things are awesome: very absorbent, stink free meaning you can use it in the rain forest without having to worry about washing/drying it.
5. Sunscreen, Sun Hat or Visor: Take your sunscreen, just do it. If you are allergic like I am, they have mineral based ones that works just as well. I recommend: Lavanila The Healthy Sun Screen SPF 40. Also, don’t forget to take a hat or a visor (I know, the Asians know where it’s at).
6. Socks and Underthings: Take them.
7. Good Sunglasses: I’ve never been one to splurge on sunglasses, but I wised up this time around.  My boyfriend thinks my face is on the tiny side and that the usual ray bans make me look like the Giant Bug lady. He is not incorrect. I finally found one that fits me: Classic Aviator Small RB3044 (52mm).
8. Good pair of hiking shoes: Renegades if you are hard core. Just make sure you've hiked in these shoes before you take them.
9. I always carry an empty duffel in my check-in for those unexpected shopping sprees!

 I think that covers most of it! Hope this helps!