The city in the sky

 

Machu Picchu was the most amazing place I have ever been to. Its hard to describe the magic of it all but you feel it once you go through the ticket gate. It is like entering a new world. There are massive lush, green mountains that jut out around you from every side possible. I got there early in the morning at around 7:30am so the mist and the clouds were still clinging to the mountains giving it a mysterious feel. When you walk through the clouds and the mist you almost feel like you go back in time and you half expect one of the Quechua nobles* to appear before you. When the clouds part, before you is the lost city of the Incas with its perfectly layed out stone houses and temples and its green plazas.

There are different ways to get to Machu Picchu. If you want to hike the 40 km Incan trail open to the public, you have to book it 6 mths to a year in advance. I of course, was not that organized so my friend, Gary, and I took a train to Aguas Calientes which is a small town that sits at the base of Machu Picchu. The next morning, we woke up early and started hiking the hour and half it takes to get to the top. We hiked on part of the Incan trail through the jungle. It was a pretty hard hike as it was straight up hill and rained the whole time but I really enjoyed it. Another way to do it is to take a bus up to the top but either way it is important to get there early in the morning before the masses arrive around 11am.  

At 11:45am we met our tour guide. Since we had gotten there earlier we had had some time to walk around and familiarize ourselves with the layout of the city. However, by the time our tour started, the mountain city was so crowded it felt like a completely different place and the touristy feel of it all kicked in taking away from the city’s initial mysterious feel. Needless to say, the tour was very informative and I learned a lot. Machu Picchu took 70 years to complete with 200,000 people working on it at a time. It was a city for nobles and the upper class and was split into two; the right half of the city containing houses for the highest class and the left side for the lesser nobles. On the right side of the city is where most of the temples were. The construction of them was very interesting as there was no cement or morter used between the stones (unlike in the houses). Each stone was perfectly cut and fit seamlessly on top of the next. Hard to belive that no metal tools were used-just hard rocks like obsidean! Most of the temples had three windows in them symbolizing the three worlds that these people believed in; the world of the condor, the world of the puma and the world of the snake. There was an agricultural section as well where people of the Incan empire would grow quinoa, corn, sugar cane, fruits, etc and where they would keep llama and alpacas for meat and wool.

It is amazing to think that the city of Machu Picchu was not fully discovered until 1911. Of course the indigenous people living in the area knew it existed but it was never put on the map until Hiram Bingham found it at the beginning of the 20th century.

Now, more than 5,000 tourists visit the ruins a day and I was fortunate enough to be among them!

*Only the supreme leader is referred to as an Inca. The rest of the people living in this empire were referred to as Quechuas.

Viajando

 

So, Im off once again to travel for a week or so. This time its not to the jungles of Rurrenebaque but to the mountains of Machu Picchu. I will return on the 13th or 14th and will update you all on my expedition to the Incan ruins as well as my last trip to the amazon which I have not yet written about. Hope all is well with you all and happy new year!

Salar de Uyuni

 

Sorry blog readers, I know I have not written in a while but there was a good reason I swear.  This past weekend I embarked on a journey to the famous salt desert of Uyuni and to the Eduardo Avaroa National Park.  I left on saturday with 3 other students early in the morning. We took a bus for 50 bolivianos (7 dollars) from Sucre to Uyuni which took approx 9 hours. The narrow, rocky roads through the mountains were a little disconcerting so I spent most of the trip resting my eyes.  There were short stops along the way to pay tolls. During this time, women on the road selling candy and popcorn would board the bus and sell their products to the travelers.  Other times, we would make stops for local hitch hikers who would pay a lesser price to stand in the aisles until their chosen destination.  After around 3 hours of travel, we stopped in Potosi- the once very prosperous mining city.  We only had a 15 minute break to buy something to eat and go to the bathroom so I did not get a feel for the city.  I do, however, plan to return at somepoint to take a tour of the mines. I just recently saw a movie called The Devils Miners which follows the harsh life of two boys, ages 10 and 12, who work in the dangerous mines of Cerro Rico. Life expectancy for miners is around 35 years.

We arrived in Uyuni at 6 pm and immediatly set up shop in a cheap, clean hostel (3 dollars per person for a night). Uyuni reminded me of an old mid-western town and I half expected to see a showdown between cowboys in the street, tumbleweed rolling by in the background.  It thrives soley because of the Salar and the tourists that pass through. The next morning we woke up early because we had to scout out the different tour companies that offer trips to the Salar.  There were dozens and we only had a couple hours to find the best deal.  We eventually settled on the Castilla tour company. The determining factor was the menu they offered which consisted of pancakes, fresh fruit, chicken, pasta, wine etc. We were sold after hearing the word pancake. Castilla tours offered us 460 bolivianos (65 dollars) per person for 3 days and two nights. They even offered to get us bus tickets (50 bolivianos) back to Sucre so we would not have to deal with that when we returned. 

We set out at 11am and got to the Salar around 2pm. The Salar de Uyuni “is the world’s largest salt flat (12,106 sq km)” and its blinding white plains are a sight for sore eyes- literally. Sunglasses are a must! We stopped to have lunch at the well know Isla Incahuasi.  This island surrounded by the sea of salt was incredible: a hill of coral rock covered in catcti over 100 years old. Lunch was amazing and consisted of chicken, quinoa- a local grain rich in proteins and vitamins, and salad. At first I thought our guide had made the lunch for us but later realized that there were indigenous women in some of the vans who went as cooks for the tour groups.

  After lunch we took some funny photos manipulating the lack of perspective there was in the salt desert. We then contiued on our way past inactive volcanoes and onward towards the village of San Juan where we would stay our first night. 

San Juan was a small village with llamas everywhere. We stayed in a little hostel owned by a local family. Here, the women in the family cooked on Castilla’s gas stove with the ingredients that Castilla tours provided for her.  It was an interesting system. Instead of bring a cook along like some of the other tour companies, locals were given work thus bringing business to their remote villages. 

The next day we hit the road again or lack there of- we were essentially off-roading the whole trip- and stopped to take pictures of an active volcano, smoke rising out of it.  We also so saw the amazing laguna Colorada which was a brilliant red due to the “algae and plankton that thrive in the mineral rich water.” At the laguna you can find deposits of sodium, magnesium, borax, and gypsum which assist in the production of fertilizer, paint, toothpaste, and plastics.  We also saw a great amount of flamingos at the luguna. The Laguna de Colorada was certainly my favorite site of the trip!

The second night of the trip we stayed at a very poor, small village (ten families in total lived there) high in the mountains.  It was just us “gringos”  staying in the small hostel. There were a lot of other groups from all over; Isreal, England, Australia, Sweeden, the states, Japan etc. All of them were backpackers, just traveling from one country to another, trying to take in as many sites as possible.  I noticed an extreme difference between most of the backpackers and our group which consisted of volunteers who were all living in one city and taking spanish classes.  The attitudes of the backpackers, like I said, seemed to be one of seeing as much as possible in a short period of time. With that came a certian disconnect to the culture around them, and they tended to stick to their own groups, seeking out the only bars in town, talking only to other “gringo”. Whereas, volunteers and those living with a family and taking classes seemed more connected to the Bolivians and genuinly interested in their surroundings. This is not to say that all backpackers are like this  nor that all volunteers are more connected to their surroundings. This was just the observation I made during our particular trip about our specific group and the groups of backpackers that were in Uyuni with us. While the backpackers preferred to stay in the bar and drink Huari, my group preferred to walk around the town and play ball with the local children.  It was extremely interesting to see the differences in objectives between the two groups. I am not trying to say one way of traveling is better than the other, I am just glad I decided to stay in Sucre and volunteer.

While I was in Uyuni I also realized how much I disliked being waited on.  At both hostels, there were young indigenous women bringing us our food, clearing our plates, and washing our dishes. Some of the women were younger then me and it just felt akward to have them wait on me in such a intimate, family like setting. I constantly asked if I could help with anything and they would refuse, sometimes very coldly.  After thinking about the whole situation for some time and discussing it with others, I realized that I had to accept the reality of things like this in Bolivia. By asking to help, I was only insulting the workers. One, becuase asking implied I did not think they could do their job properly and two, because they seemed thankful to be able to earn money in such a remote place and  my offering to help just took away from all of that.  So now, I plan on biting my tongue when put in that situation again.

 Our last day in Uyuni consisted of driving to the geysers which stood at 4870m (16,000 plus ft) and to the hot springs to soak.  All in all,the trip was an amazing experience filled with breathtaking views and some important observations.