Laguna 69 at 4650m
A waterfall we found on the way to Laguna 69
Valley of Quillcayhuanca
our mobile home
Friday, November 19, 2010
the cordillera blanca
(from luke) Greetings from the rainy season in Huaraz Peru, at the base of the Cordillera Blanca, mountains I never knew existed. This is the ¨tallest tropical mountain range in the world¨ (whatever that means). we did find that climbing to a lake at 14,600 feet above sea level gets your heart going. The weeks were spent camping at various lodges at the base of the mountains, so that we could feel really rustic (and cheap) but still have the luxury to go inside whenever we wanted. No words really describe the sights that you see in any mountains- when the clouds clear to a huge peak or the bend of a path gives you a clear view of a new waterfall cascading down the rock face. We have been enjoying the beauty and the simplicity of camping and hiking for several weeks. No words or pictures can really portray nature, but we will give you a few here to look at. Next week: Kats mom arrives and we travel to Cuzco, Macchu Pichu, and the Sacred Valley! Happy thanksgiving! Hope you find yourself with plenty to be thankful for, much as we are. (ex: new baby niece, new sights to see, a new marriage and a chance to see family!)
Laguna 69 at 4650m
A waterfall we found on the way to Laguna 69
Valley of Quillcayhuanca
our mobile home
Laguna 69 at 4650m
A waterfall we found on the way to Laguna 69
Valley of Quillcayhuanca
our mobile home
Friday, November 12, 2010
beach or mountains... why choose when you can have both?
(kat´s ramblings)
when thinking about where to go on a honeymoon, luke and i pondered some of our favorite ways to enjoy nature. the beach, a river, the mountains. and now that we are actually on our trip, turns out we haven´t had to choose, but rather have been able to enjoy all of the above! since our arrival to peru, we passed through the less traveled northern parts of peru on our way to the beach. i was having a bit of a sore tummy, so we basically bummed around the beach called Huanchaco for a week. we enjoyed falling asleep to the sounds of crashing waves from the comfort of our tent, drinking lots of mate while marvelling at the beauty of the waves, and eating lots of fresh mangoes (which are currently costing about $1 for 6 or 7 mangoes). we explored some ancient ruins of the Moche people, took our first night bus, and landed in Huaraz, the gateway city to exploring the Cordillera Blanca (some of the tallest mountains in South America). from our base at a lodge way up in the hills, we have been able to be amazed day after day by the stunning, jagged, snow covered peaks poking out from behind the andes. taking walks into valleys and following winding rivers, climbing up ridges to glacial lakes, and enjoying the daily light show that is sunset in the mountains, we have been so blessed to see the creativity of our heavenly father. we are now back in huaraz before heading up north to enjoy more of the cordillera before my mom gets here in one week to enjoy thanksgiving and machu picchu with us!
little fishing boats called caballitos in huanchaco made out of totora reeds
since being in peru a few weeks, we have noticed a few differences from life in ecuador. sure, there are the obvious things like the currency, the increased amount of quechua (an indigenous language spoken by people who live up in the mountains) that is heard, and the food. but there are also some more subtle differences and one of them would have to be the fact that peruvians are always willing to stop whatever they are doing to engage in a conversation with us- to tell us about their country and ask us about ours. i could write for hours about peruvian culture and how we have experienced it, but want to tell you about two different times in which we felt this particular friendliness of peruvians.
1. we had just arrived in the city of trujillo, peru on the coast and were ready to begin our exploration of the city. armed with our dinky map that the lonely planet guide book gives us and barely legible street signs, we headed towards the plaza de armas (the main square). in our wanderings, we landed in a plaza that was full of girls all dressed in school uniforms and a few in elaborate costumes. we realized we must have made a wrong turn and just as we were about to turn around to fix our mistake, luke was being pulled on both arms by pre-teen girls that were guiding him towards what seemed to be a display of sorts. in spanish, all the girls soon crowded around and encouraged the gringo to try a variety of food dishes prepared with camote (sweet potato). they asked us about where we were from and what we eat, and a myriad of other questions, the whole time giggling every time luke would try a new food. after we tried all the dishes, several gals took pictures of us with their group. as we left, we asked them to point us in the correct direction and we walked off, chuckling to ourselves at the novelty of being extranjeros and they were all beside themselves that they have succeeded not only in getting someone to check out their display, but the fact that we were americans to boot!
2. a few days later also in trujillo, we were headed back to the city after exploring some ancient ruins. we landed in the plaza de armas (that we were looking for a few days before) and decided to sit and enjoy some terere to kill time because the power was out in the whole city, meaning that we would not be able to get money from any ATM (a few restaurants had generators, but not the banks. go figure) the power was supposed to come back on at five (or at least we were told that by everyone we asked), so we just chilled and people watched. soon enough, a japanese man we had met on our tour of the ruins showed up and we started chatting with him. he generously shared some tomatoes with us that he had just got from some farmers and before we knew it, there were three children who timidly came up and started questioning us about why we were eating tomatoes plain, and not with anything else. these simple questions led to more and more and before i knew it, i was busy talking to these children about any and everything that has to do with life in the US. boy, was i thankful to have a little photo book of our life to share with them! distracted as i was by these children, i didn´t even notice the crowd begin to gather around luke. soon, there were 15-20 adults talking to him! (imagine that we are literally just sitting on the curb and everyone else is standing up around us). luke starts showing our postcard book of oregon, and explaining the guampa and bombilla for mate, our buckets, and anything else that pops into these curious people´s minds. an hour passes. SEVERAL people wander over and ask ¨¿que venden aqui?¨ (what are you selling?) we just had to laugh. we were selling nothing, but rather just sharing about us and our lives and that was enough to entertain people who chose to listen to us on a sunday afternoon in the plaza. we finally excused ourselves, not wanting the crowd to grow any bigger.
from both of those experiences, we learned to always take a genuine interest in the lives of the people we come across, although it´s something that we´re still working on and will be for awhile. we also learned that everytime we get ¨lost¨, we end up finding something that is much more memorable than what we set out to find in the first place!
as each day comes and goes, we cannot help but be incredibly grateful for all of our friends and families that gave us the gift of this trip. we are having ordinary and extraordinary experiences daily that are allowing us to experience a new place, practice our spanish and grow our love for the latin american culture, and get to know each other more and more, while learning how we work together and can grow as a couple. for that, we say MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS! we think of you all often.
when thinking about where to go on a honeymoon, luke and i pondered some of our favorite ways to enjoy nature. the beach, a river, the mountains. and now that we are actually on our trip, turns out we haven´t had to choose, but rather have been able to enjoy all of the above! since our arrival to peru, we passed through the less traveled northern parts of peru on our way to the beach. i was having a bit of a sore tummy, so we basically bummed around the beach called Huanchaco for a week. we enjoyed falling asleep to the sounds of crashing waves from the comfort of our tent, drinking lots of mate while marvelling at the beauty of the waves, and eating lots of fresh mangoes (which are currently costing about $1 for 6 or 7 mangoes). we explored some ancient ruins of the Moche people, took our first night bus, and landed in Huaraz, the gateway city to exploring the Cordillera Blanca (some of the tallest mountains in South America). from our base at a lodge way up in the hills, we have been able to be amazed day after day by the stunning, jagged, snow covered peaks poking out from behind the andes. taking walks into valleys and following winding rivers, climbing up ridges to glacial lakes, and enjoying the daily light show that is sunset in the mountains, we have been so blessed to see the creativity of our heavenly father. we are now back in huaraz before heading up north to enjoy more of the cordillera before my mom gets here in one week to enjoy thanksgiving and machu picchu with us!
little fishing boats called caballitos in huanchaco made out of totora reeds
since being in peru a few weeks, we have noticed a few differences from life in ecuador. sure, there are the obvious things like the currency, the increased amount of quechua (an indigenous language spoken by people who live up in the mountains) that is heard, and the food. but there are also some more subtle differences and one of them would have to be the fact that peruvians are always willing to stop whatever they are doing to engage in a conversation with us- to tell us about their country and ask us about ours. i could write for hours about peruvian culture and how we have experienced it, but want to tell you about two different times in which we felt this particular friendliness of peruvians.
1. we had just arrived in the city of trujillo, peru on the coast and were ready to begin our exploration of the city. armed with our dinky map that the lonely planet guide book gives us and barely legible street signs, we headed towards the plaza de armas (the main square). in our wanderings, we landed in a plaza that was full of girls all dressed in school uniforms and a few in elaborate costumes. we realized we must have made a wrong turn and just as we were about to turn around to fix our mistake, luke was being pulled on both arms by pre-teen girls that were guiding him towards what seemed to be a display of sorts. in spanish, all the girls soon crowded around and encouraged the gringo to try a variety of food dishes prepared with camote (sweet potato). they asked us about where we were from and what we eat, and a myriad of other questions, the whole time giggling every time luke would try a new food. after we tried all the dishes, several gals took pictures of us with their group. as we left, we asked them to point us in the correct direction and we walked off, chuckling to ourselves at the novelty of being extranjeros and they were all beside themselves that they have succeeded not only in getting someone to check out their display, but the fact that we were americans to boot!
2. a few days later also in trujillo, we were headed back to the city after exploring some ancient ruins. we landed in the plaza de armas (that we were looking for a few days before) and decided to sit and enjoy some terere to kill time because the power was out in the whole city, meaning that we would not be able to get money from any ATM (a few restaurants had generators, but not the banks. go figure) the power was supposed to come back on at five (or at least we were told that by everyone we asked), so we just chilled and people watched. soon enough, a japanese man we had met on our tour of the ruins showed up and we started chatting with him. he generously shared some tomatoes with us that he had just got from some farmers and before we knew it, there were three children who timidly came up and started questioning us about why we were eating tomatoes plain, and not with anything else. these simple questions led to more and more and before i knew it, i was busy talking to these children about any and everything that has to do with life in the US. boy, was i thankful to have a little photo book of our life to share with them! distracted as i was by these children, i didn´t even notice the crowd begin to gather around luke. soon, there were 15-20 adults talking to him! (imagine that we are literally just sitting on the curb and everyone else is standing up around us). luke starts showing our postcard book of oregon, and explaining the guampa and bombilla for mate, our buckets, and anything else that pops into these curious people´s minds. an hour passes. SEVERAL people wander over and ask ¨¿que venden aqui?¨ (what are you selling?) we just had to laugh. we were selling nothing, but rather just sharing about us and our lives and that was enough to entertain people who chose to listen to us on a sunday afternoon in the plaza. we finally excused ourselves, not wanting the crowd to grow any bigger.
from both of those experiences, we learned to always take a genuine interest in the lives of the people we come across, although it´s something that we´re still working on and will be for awhile. we also learned that everytime we get ¨lost¨, we end up finding something that is much more memorable than what we set out to find in the first place!
as each day comes and goes, we cannot help but be incredibly grateful for all of our friends and families that gave us the gift of this trip. we are having ordinary and extraordinary experiences daily that are allowing us to experience a new place, practice our spanish and grow our love for the latin american culture, and get to know each other more and more, while learning how we work together and can grow as a couple. for that, we say MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS! we think of you all often.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Dirt Roads
(from luke's perspective)
We made it to Peru! We took quite a few modes of transport to get here, mainly because we decided to take the dirt roads: the ones that sometimes don't show up on the maps we have. The route began in Vilcabamba Ecuador, headed south in the back of a few pick-up trucks, then onto a bus-that-used-to-be-a-Pepsi-delivery-truck, then across the border to a shared taxi, on to another shared taxi, into a moto taxi, then a big van, and a bus, and a few more busses, i think. The main pass through the Andes was on a road that took us 200 kilometers in about, uh, 9 hours. Every corner that the bus went around was preceded by a loud honk, the kind that says "i'm coming around the corner, and there is not enough room for you" (whether a car, animal, or person). One lane, no guard rail, and some tremendous sights out the window. We have now ended in the town of Huanchaco- a beach town in the Peruvian desert after crossing mountains, hiking to Gocta waterfalls (770 meters tall), wandering markets, and eating our fair share of mangos (just now coming into season) and avocados.
Gocta Falls, Peru
We have learned that when taking the dirt roads, a different side of a country shows. These were the places that have always been less accessible and visible to the tourists. We are reminded of the way that many areas of the world live- their poverty and hurt unseen. Whether it was a 7 year old shoe shiner, asking for money for his brother with cephalitis, or the grandma begging for change, or the brothers selling Chicle in the Chinese restauraunt, looking over the large platters of food; hurt can't be ignored. They have asked for money for so long that their request is mumbled- they instead ask with their eyes. Part of me wants to "play God" for a while- give all the money I have away, because it's tiring to be the privileged ones, no matter where we go. But I won't do that. I am comforted to know that the good news of Jesus is that he is there in the suffering of his family and he doesn't ask us to carry that burden.
For me, I think a better start is to experience it and let my heart be changed, then let my heart lead my actions. The greatest problem might be that we so easily insulate ourselves away from the pain that goes on everywhere around us. For some strange reason, Kat and I have the chance to be Bohemians Benditos- blessed to roam around for a time and take the beauty and the pain in with open eyes- to let both impact us. We will continue with open eyes here as we travel. We look for dirt roads to take us to places that have many stories and experiences to show us. We will allow our hearts to be impacted, and we will be changed.
the road, etched into the mountain side, near Chachapoyas, Peru
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