vagabonding - making extended, personally meaningful travel possible...

"When I was very young a big financier once asked me what I would like to do, and I said, "To travel." "Ah," he said, "it is very expensive; one must have a lot of money to do that." He was wrong. For there are two kinds of travelers; the Comfortable Voyager, round whom a cloud of voracious expenses hums all the time, and the man who shifts for himself and enjoys little discomforts as a change from life's routine. Both kinds may enjoy themselves equally, but the latter probably sees much more of the country and its people, and has the added pleasure of going where lack of comfort excludes the former."
--Ralph Bagnold, Libyan Sands (1935)

Our last Peruvian sunset, near Huacachina, Peru. A great end to a great adventure.

View of Huacachina oasis from the top of a nearby sand dune. This was our first full-on desert oasis experience, and as you can see it really does look like an oasis out of the movies, beautiful. We stayed at the hotel with the bright blue pool roughly in the center of the picture.

Our last hotel of the trip in Huacachina, Peru. Note the sand dunes that magically appear each morning from the mist. We arrived in the evening and knew that we were in an oasis, but had no idea that there would be such massive sand dunes right in the back yard, a real treat.

Huacachina oasis

Getting ready to try sandboarding on the dunes near Huacachina, Peru.

Our green 'buggy' that we took to the sand dunes near Huacachina, Peru. It was a wild ride and felt a lot like a roller coaster. Our driver was constantly looking backwards at us to see our reactions while we screamed and told him to watch where he was damn well driving! He loves his job. We highly recommend this adrenaline-pumping experience.

Steve perfecting his sandboarding technique... Deb ended up using the board like a toboggan, but either way you can gain some serious speed! What we liked the most was the use of gloopy floor wax on the boards before each run.

Sand, sand everywhere... Huacachina Oasis, Peru

Enjoying our last few days in Peru, near Huacachina, Peru

Windswept area near Chauchilla cemetery, Nazca, Peru. This is an area of natural mummification due to the almost complete lack of rainfall in the area - it rains for a total of about 2 hours per year.

Mummified remains, Chauchilla cemetery near Nazca, Peru

Human remains with very long hair, Chauchilla cemetary near Nazca, Peru

Gearing up for the flight in the vomit comet (actually it was perfectly fine!) over the Nazca lines, near Nazca, Peru in a 4-seater Cesna. Nazca lines are located in the Pampa region, the desolate plain of the Peruvian coast and they can only be seen from the air. There are hundreds of geometric patterns, animal shapes, and perfectly straight lines that go on for kilometers.

Various Nazca lines viewed from the air, note the highway running along top left corner.

Nazca lines, viewed from air. Hummingbird image.

Slightly hard-to-see image of a monkey, seen from a 4-seater Cesna plane, Nazca.

View of Cusco and surrounding hills from the Inca site of Sacsayhuaman, pronounced 'sexy woman.' Viva El Peru Glorioso!

Inca walls, Sacsayhuaman, Cusco. This is the area where the Festival of the Sun, or 'Inti Raymi', is held each year on June 24.

Incan walls meet Colonial stonework, Koricancha, Cusco

The other side of Cusco

Mercado Central in Cusco... this lady later threw a piece of produce at Deb!

Top of stone archway in Cusco

Peruvian style taxi... it's really a motorcycle with another couple wheels added... and cheap, too! Anywhere in (a small) town for about 1 sol, or $0.40 Canadian.

Home Sweet Home

We made it home safe and sound this morning from Lima, all's well!
We are exhausted but happy to be home.
Will talk to you all soon
D & S

Our last day!

Hola from Huacachina, Peru, near Ica - home to giant sand dunes, sandboarding and Pisco, a drink made from white grapes. Powerful stuff!

Tomorrow we leave for Lima, the capital, about 330 km away. We then board a flight at 9:40pm for Toronto and then back to Edmonton by about 10am on Sunday.

Tim Horton´s steeped tea here I come!

I will be posting some additional pictures upon our return (no USB connection here), as well as a couple stories about Cusco, Machu Picchu and our sandboarding/dune buggy experience which I thought was absolutely terrifying - yet fun! Steve loved it, of course. (Dan Fyfe, you need to come work here, you´d get paid for scaring the shit out of everyone with your adventurous driving skills, what could be better!?)

These past few months have flown by! We look forward to hearing from everyone in the next few weeks, as well as summer bbq´s, camping, toilet seats, good toilet paper, real milk, stocked supermarkets, cooking, usable pillows, EFL (English as a First Language), and yes, maybe even heading back to work!

We will miss cheap-as-dirt taxis, Pisco sours, parrots squawking, not going to work, the ever-changing scenery, opportunities to practice our bad Spanish and meeting new and friendly people each day.

Talk to you all soon, and don't forget to check back in the next few days and weeks for additional updates and pictures.
Deb & Steve

Setting off for Machu Picchu on the 'Inca Train'

Machu Picchu

Classic Machu Picchu shot

Machu Picchu

One of the resident llamas, Machu Picchu

Terracing, Machu Picchu

Furry friend

Machu Picchu

View of Machu Picchu from Huayna Picchu

Steve resting atop Huayna Picchu with a view of Machu Picchu

Chillaxin' at Machu Picchu

Waiting for the train back to Cusco, Aguas Calientes, Peru

Shoe shine stand, Cusco

Man holding non CSA approved homemade fireworks at San Blas street party, Cusco. And we thought Bev Fyfe was in Winnipeg!

Looking up a chicken�s butt in Plaza San Blas, Cusco. Getting ready for a festival.

Plaza de Armas and Catedral, Cusco, Peru

Famous 12 sided stone in Inca Wall, Cusco, Peru

Watch out for varmints

Vicu�as at Reserva Nacional Salinas y Aguada Blanca, Peru

View at our highest elevation, 4913m, near Colca Canyon, Peru

Barbed wire, Peruvian style

Typical Peruvian dress

Colca Canyon, Peru

Andean Condor, Colca Canyon, Peru

The edge of the Colca Canyon, Peru. Note the terracing for agriculture.

Deb & Steve sitting on the edge of the Colca Canyon, Peru

Monasterio Santa Catalina, Arequipa, Peru

Monasterio Santa Catalina, Arequipa, Peru

Monastario Santa Catalina, Arequipa, Peru

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru

We took a long and twisty bus ride from La Paz to Copacabana on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is considered to be one of the highest navigable lakes in the world and sits at about 4000m asl. Bolivians crudely joke that they got the 'titty' and Peru got the 'caca' part of the lake, but truly, both sides are beautiful.

We hopped on a boat and went to Isla del Sol, Island of the Sun, a 2 hour ride from Copacabana. This island, and its sister island the Isla de la Luna, feature very significantly in Incan creation legends. They believed that the sun was born at Isla del Sol and that it is the birthplace of the first Inca.

From where the boat dropped us off we took a 10km hike, with our new friend Jason Thorne from New Brunswick, to the village where we would stay the night. It was a beautiful walk and along the way we say many ruins, fields, sheep, and the beautiful blue lake which looked just like an ocean. We watched a beautiful sunset and then a full moonrise over Isla de la Luna, perfect.

The next day we headed for Puno, across the border, to check out the Peruvian side of the lake. There was a road block about 4km outside Puno, so we had to get off our bus and walked a bit to the other side of the block. We thought we had left road blocks behind in Bolivia! Apparently the residents of the floating reed islands were on strike.

We took a boat tour to Isla Taquile, a very traditional island. They speak Quechua, an indigenous language, and they very rarely marry non-Taquile people. They have a fascinating tradition of knitting and weaving. We saw many men knitting very complicated patterns with multiple needles, amazing. It is some of the nicest traditional clothing in Peru.

We also visited a floating island, inhabited by the Uros people, made entirely of bouyant totora reeds that grow in the shallows of Lake Titicaca. These reeds are also used to make their homes. The islands are made from layers of reeds which are replenished monthly as the bottom layer rots away.

Because of the stike of the floating island residents, we were only able to visit one of these islands, but we were greatful for the experience.

From Puno we travelled to Arequipa, close to some of the deepest canyons in the world and the subject of our next blog entry.

Road block just outside Puno, Peru. The residents of the floating islands were on strike, protesting the government. We walked through most of it and caught a cab to town.

One of the many stone archways on Isla Taquile, Lake Titicaca, Peru

Hanging out on Isla Taquile, Lake Titicaca, Peru

Isla Taquile, Lake Titicaca, Peru

Modelling our new alpaca wear, Isla Taquile, Lake Titicaca, Peru

Floating island, Lale Titicaca, Peru

Uros Island, made of floating reeds, Lake Titicaca, Peruvian side

Our bus being ferried across the Bolivian part of Lake Titicaca.

The Copacabana Cathedral, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

A vehicle being blessed at the Copacabana Cathedral, Bolivia. For a requested $1.35 USD per vehicle donation, it�s a cheap alternative to insurance!

Our new alpaca friend, Copacabana, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Copacabana, Bolivia at night

Chincana ruins, Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

The Titi�karka rock, namesame of the lake. Supposed to look like a crouching puma but you need a bit of imagination.

Deb and a Mesa Ceremonica, a ceremonial table, thought to be used for sacrifices, Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca

Quinoa, a very important grain cereal in Bolivia and Peru

Looking at Isla de la Luna and the Cordillera Real from the window of an Incan ruin, Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Incan ruins, Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Reed boat, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Lofty La Paz, Bolivia

We flew from Sucre to La Paz, elevation 3660m, on May 20 and the flight was an adventure in itself.

At 4050m, La Paz´s El Alto is the world´s highest international airport; larger planes need 5 km of runway to lift off and they land at twice their sea-level speed to compensate for the lower atmospheric density.

A fellow passenger, a nice gentleman from La Paz, explained to us that we should try to get out of La Paz by Sunday, May 22nd as the road blocks were going to get much worse by the Monday. The weekend was going to be spared as there was a large festival and parade planned for Saturday. We ended up taking his good advice!

La Paz is a massive city of 1.5 million that fills a canyon, creeps up the bowl, and spreads out to the flat area beyond called El Alto. Once a La Paz suburb, El Alto´s ongoing influx of immigrants from the countryside has morphed it into Latin America´s fastest growing city.

With only 2 nights to spend in La Paz we had hoped to quickly see the sights, but our plans were a little hampered by the enormity of the festival that was planned for Saturday. As we walked along the streets and did a little shopping in the many artesania shops, we noticed that most of the shopkeeps and hotels were setting up bleachers for seating. They sold seats for about $6 Cdn. Beer stands were being set up, and confetti cannons were installed. Apparently this was going to be a big party!

Saturday morning at 7am we awoke to the sound of brass bands and big drums. The parade route was right in front of our hotel so we got an excellent view. It was supposed to go from 7am to 4pm, but it ended up going to after 11pm, and it was like nothing we had seen before. The festival is called La Festividad de Nuestro Señor Jesus del Gran Poder, or Gran Poder for short. It began in 1939 as a candle procession led by an image of Christ through predominatly poor neighbourhoods of La Paz and has grown to include over 25,000 participants, 52 separate groups, and a parade route that takes 4 hours to complete.

A number of dances are featured, including one in which the dancers are decked out in ostrich feathers, several which duplicate Inca ceremonial dances, and La Diablada, the Dance of the Devil, which illustrates the triumph of good over evil. The costumes were amazing, with beautiful embroidery and very strange noicemaking devices. There was a lot of partying going on, and by 11pm most of the participants and spectators were drunk.

All in the name of Jesus!

A shot of La Paz from the air... the city just goes on and on.

Gran Poder, La Paz

Gran Poder, a break in the action

Gran Poder Parade, La Paz

Llama fetuses at the La Paz �witches market.� A fetus is placed under the cornerstone of a new business as an offering, or cha�lla, for good luck.

More Transportation Stories

We should have known it was going to be an interesting day when our bus driver stopped to pick up shovels and a pick...

From Uyuni, we took a bus to Sucre, Bolivia and were confronted with the common problem of road blocks. Our bus company went ahead, though, and took an alternate route through the bloody desert. We got stuck several times and had to push our large bus through several washed out river beds and especially sandy parts. See photo below. It was quite a hoot.

During the last few weeks, transportation is the whole country has been severely affected by road blocks. The road blocks are for a variety of reasons, but most of them have to do with the need for national petroleum processing as opposed to a non-Bolivian company coming into the country and reaping the profits.

Unfortunately, Bolivia is too far in debt to take control of their own resources and may not have a choice. This has created huge jumps in the price of gas, protests, a call for the Presi