To the dentist in La Paz

Saturday night, I have a horrible paint in my back tooth. Should I go to the dentist? NO!! I and the other two idiotas decide to buy some rum and coke and go out to the disco..."If you drink your back tooth will be ok..." and it was ok during the night but the day after I had the worst paint I've ever had. So Sergio took me to the dentist...but it's sunday, there is no dentist, we didn't find a dentist even in the Central Hospital of La Paz!! But a nice nurse from this hospital told us she could help us; she is not a dentist but she sais she can pull out my teeth, so that's what I need!! I went into this little dark room with a dentist-bed in the midle, old machines and tools everywhere; I have to recognize I was a bit scared (basically because the patient that just left that room was crying...).
Anyway, this nurse gave me an injection to calm down the area and immediatly she takes the teeth and starts pulling out...
- Auuuuu, it hurts!! - I said!
-Ups, sorry I could give you another anaesthesia...
So she did, but it was still hurting, so, as you can imagine, I didn't stop complaining and I let her know that something was going wrong. After four more injections my back tooth was still there and that young woman looked desperate trying to take it out. What about me? I was getting crazy, that paint was unbearable and I was just praying to finish this torture...
Suddenly, a Saint appeared!! A real doctor came and had a look at my mouth (meanwhile the nurse left). He just put one more injection in the right place, took the right tool and pulled my back tooth out in a minute and no hurting...
So now, no hurt, no teeth, no cigarretes, no real food (just for a while) but a "funny&scary" experience for us.
And remember to brush your teeths after every meal!!!

Héctor, Peace

About travelling

The 3 idiotas watching Titicaca

Yeah yeah, "Casa Reggae" might have been out of electric support and hot water (so far the water is warmed up by an electric device put at the end of the tube, so if you want a decent amount of water running all over your body you can forget the hot water), the bed of Sergio was defenetely a desaster and ther was no music for most of the time. But that place for the time we were there was full of travel speeches, discussions about all the places the real travellers have been or are going to go, best way to reach, how to save money, where to find occasional jobs to hang on some more time in Latin America. We have only few months, and it seems already that the time is running toooo fast. We met some real good travellers, amazing people who always give me a living example on how easy is to travel if you love it, just saving money and leave, without thinking about the future. I still have the words of Javier in my ears saying "I cannot really think about the next 2 months", there is a place they haven't seen, and thats their destination. I feel like a beginner, and I am already making new plans, thanks to the stories of this people, which make a dream easy to accomplish.
Regarding our trip, we keep on meeting people telling us that going down till the extreme south of Argentina, to get back to Buenos Aires with the time we have is a bit too crazy, yesterday I ended up talking untill 7.30 in the morning with some colombian, german, ecuadorian friends, and a girl from Rome, the second italian I met so far in this trip. One of them travelled by car from Medellin all around the continent, till the south, driving for 28.000 kms! not bad, and he also said that what we want to do is crazy...well..we are idiotas but maybe some change in the plan might come...well see.

Going south Bolivia now, taking it real easy and meeting good people. We had a medical emergency, and I think hector will write about that, but now everything is again smooth, I am going back to the hostel now, reading and resting is my plan, domingo, day of relax!

Ste


Titicaca watching idiotas

Mama, tranquila (parte 4)

Pues seguimos por Bolivia; después de que os llamara ya veis que estoy vivo y que no me ha cambiado la voz (supongo). Lo que ahora me ha dado bastante el sol y estoy como si hubiera pasado el verano entero en la playa de Vilanova... No creo que nos quedemos demasiado tiempo más por aquí; las montañas me gustan pero ahora estaría bien ir un rato a la costa, ¿por qué no? Así que estamos tirando para Chile pronto; parece que es bastante más caro por allá así que hemos pensado comprar una tienda de campaña y economizar un poco el tema. Todo bien, bajo control, lo único las picaduras de bichos, pero ya me acostumbré.

Un abrazo,

Sergio

Literatura de voyage, what do idiotas read

So, some information abot where idiotas´s heads go while travelling:

Héctor; in Arequipa, sergio reccomended him to buy one: El túnel, by Ernesto Sábato (Argentina). I have also read it (gracias Oliver por recomendármelo a mí una vez) so I can say it is a sick, desperate book; you can find out more, briefly it is the confession of a man that killed the woman he fell in love with. Now he's trying to get over with a tiny-typographied edition of Cien años de soledad; it feels bad to see him suffering in the bumping roads trying to see something.

Stefano spent a long time reading La Casa de los Espíritus, by Isabel Allende (from Peru, I think). In his words the book was really good. I can't say much mre as I haven't read it. Now he started to read La madre (Massimo Gorki), he will do it in spanish so probably it will take a while. He got the book from Patrick in Casa Reggae; La Casa de los Espíritus (in italian) is now in that hostel in Sorata.

Sergio finished soon and sold back his Anna Frank Diary; everyone has probably heard about it so I won't explain much. I wanted to read it after visiting Poland and it was hard and sad to read. Afterwards the other two idiotas told him a bout Coelho's The Alchemist; by chance I found it in the same shop in Arequipa and read it. It is a must to read this book, your head and maybe something else deeper will move while reading. Afterwards I read some Peruvian short stories, just remember one called Pedro Yunque, quite good, and also El túnel from Héctor-Sábato. Also Patrick gave me Borges El Aleph, short stories, I will start it, probably, on the next bus to south.

Itinerary (no idea of the km) so far (part 2)

PERÚ

Lima--- Pisco-------------Arequipa---------Cusco-----Puno

BOLIVIA

Copacabana--Isla del Sol-------La Paz

.....Seems that we are gonna head south and sea now, we need some beach soon....

Los 3 idiotas

La casa Reggae

Well, there is a town, surrounded by mountains (again); there is a road which goes there from La Paz (if a road can be scary, well, it is this one); there is a street and at the end of the street there is a twisted piece of wood with the name of the hostel drawn....
In la Casa Reggae we found travellers; we might have been travelling, for a while; well, they are real travellers. We found one, a dude from Italy, he has been travelling by himself for more than one year around SouthAmerica, Patrick. He could be a finn (by his look) but no he isn't. There is a girl, from Czech Republic, she's been travelling and living around Asia, New Zealand, SouthAmerica for more than 6 years, now almost time for Elise to go back, but still a while to go. And there is a man from where else, Barcelona, Javier, who has been moving around for many many many years... So the idiotas get there and get impressed by all that. Afterwards, for three days (if I remember well), they spend time with this little family (completed with Alejandro, the argentinian who currently tries to take care of the hostel, Negro the dog, some children, two pigs and, yes, lots and lots of flies, fleas, mosquitos and a big black spider).

Things done there (basically): read, sleep, eat, smoke, drink, talk, rest, watch anything. Personally, my main activity was trying to fix a bed which was built from cheap pieces of wood that fell down every time I moved more than 3-4 centimeters. Didn t do it for fun but because I had to sleep there.
Despite the fleas and the bed the time was reggaeingly good; now back to La Paz, on the way to south.

Sergio, La Paz

PS; the name of the place is Sorata, by the way. Hope that La Casa Reggae will get better but seems that the owner doesn´t give a damn so I wouldn t reccomend to go there. Soon Alejandro is planning to start a new place, go find him there, it s a little town...

THE COCA

5000 years using the coca tradicionally without hearting the human organism show that the problem came when the western man (the white conquerors) touched the coca's leaf...and turned it into cocaine.

We have recently visited Perú and we are now in Bolivia; two of the biggest producers of coca in the world.
We haven't spent so much time in here, but we have already realized that the contumption of coca in that countries has been and still is something cultural and traditional.
The cultures from the Andean Mountains have been living in symbiosis with this plant since more than 5000 years using it as a medicine (anaesthetic), as a religious reason, to make their works easier and they even believed that the coca was healthfull for their body and mind.
But everything changed when the "white man" arrived. First of all, "los conquistadores" thought that the coca was the "plant of the devil" and it was forbidden, but later on, when they realized of its efects it was used to make the natives word harder and longer; in the 19th century the Coca-cola was invented (this product had some coca's sustances and has been the best seller we all know) and now, finally, tha plant has been manipulated to obtain and sell illegally one of the most used drugs in the world, the cocaine.
Nowadays, in some south american countries there is an argument about the right of "the campesinos" (country side workers) of using and cultivating coca in a traditional way, because since the cocaine exists there are lots of ilegal cultivations of coca and their respective mafias...
...and we are wondering: Isn't it unfair what's happening to this people that has nothing to do with the drugs dealing?

S. S. H., La Paz

LA COCA

5000 años de consumo tradicional o acullico de coca sin daño para el organismo humano demuestran que el problema surgió cuando el occidente (el hombre blanco) tocó la hoja de coca...y la convirtió en cocaina.


Hemos visitado recientemente el Perú y ahora estamos en Bolivia; dos de los mayores productores de coca en el mundo.
Llevamos poco tiempo aquí pero ya nos hemos dado cuenta de que en estos paises, el consumo de hoja de coca ha sido y es algo cultural y tradicional. Las culturas Andinas han convivido con esta planta desde hace más de 5000 años, utilizándola para soportar los duros trabajos de la vida cuotidiana, como medicina anestésica, para motivos religiosos, incluso creían que era saludable para el cuerpo y la mente.
En cambio, las cosas canviaron mucho con la llegada del "hombre blanco". Primero, los conquistadores creyeron que era una planta "del diablo" y la prohibieron, luego, cuando conocieron sus efectos la utilizaron para hacer trabajar más a los indígenas esclavizados, siglos más tarde inventaron la Coca-cola (producto que levaba sustancias de coca y que acabó siendo el producto más vendido), y ahora, finalmente, se ha manipulado esta planta para obtener y comercializar ilegalmente una de las drogas más consumidas en el mundo, la cocaína.
Hoy en día, en estos países y en otros del Sur de América, se debate sobre el derecho de los campesinos a cultivar libremente sus plantas de coca para consumo tradicional, ya que a raíz de la cocaína existen muchos campos ilegales de cultivo de coca y sus respectivas mafias de contrabando...
...y nosotros nos preguntamos: No es injusto lo que les está pasando a estas gentes que no tienen nada que ver con el mundo de la droga?

S. S. H., La Paz

Futbol 3800 meters high

If you haven t heard about it the altitude sickness can happen when you travel to some place with a high altitude above the sea. It can end up in headaches, stomach problems and breathing problems (this, at least we have noticed it clearly in Bolivia). One of the solutions is chewing Coca leafs. Next, one of the things you should be an Idiota to do in these circumstances...

The match

-hei! Play some football?
-Where at?
-Just up there
Of course, the 3 idiotas who can't literally almost breath after walking for 30 minutes in Isla del Sol (Bolivia) follow the healthy bolivian teenagers.
The field was on top of the island. If the ball fell it would go almost straight to the Titicaca; under the goals, llamas are eating some grass for dinner. The boys are so sure of the victory that bet a beer on the game; the idiotas accept and start searching for coins. Game starts.
The idiotas score fast, can it be possible? As the game goes on every time they run for more than 10 meters they lose breath completely so they decide to trust their bigger experience and size (even me I was taller than them....) Héctor is doing well on attack and Stefano already knocked two of them down (by accident). After 10 minutes the game ends; the idiotas have won and they are still alive (more or less).
Ste (looking at Sergio)- You look purple! - so it was. That is what happens when you do things like that.

The Idiotas are now in Bolivia. Not in the plan, just came like that. Left Isla del Sol, the place where the sun was born according to the Incas. Now, between huge mountains, la ciudad de La Paz.

Sergio, La Paz

Chau Perú

Writing from Bolivia, La Paz

Peru is children talking to you
Peru is Angelito´s family
Peru is Ceviche and Cusqueña
Peru is travelling on the roof
Peru is crazy Lima
Peru is the mountains
Peru is a lot of people we met

Hasta luego...

Accomodation in Peru

If you want to stay in the places where The Iidiotas had their dirty clothes once...
Prices are from low season and for 3 people shared room; of course, in Peru, you should always negotiate everything when you arrive...

Pisco- Hostal Los Incas. 20 soles/person. Own shower, hot water, tv. Clean place, a bit expensive maybe.

Arequipa- Hostale Verona. 20 soles/person. Same as above. Place is nice. The staff as fun to see, young guys taking a lot of care for everything but kind of disaster way of doing.

Cusco- Hostal Vilcabamba. 15 soles/person. Shared hot shower, breakfast included. Go there.

Aguas Calientes- La Fortaleza. 15 soles/person. Cheap enough for a place like that, Next to the railway station. Staff was not nice. Not reccomended by The Idiotas.

Aguas Calientes- Sucre. 15 soles/person. Very basic but better than La fortaleza.

Puno- Posada Real. 10 soles/person. Extremely basic beds but shared showers (hot is relative). Not so reccomended neither but yes, cheap.

Hostal Vilcabamba, Cuzco

We own something to many people on our road here... This is something we can give in exchange...

The Ceremony
It was the last day in Cusco when at last we had a breakfast with Francisco under the sun; he pruposed a ceremony to us. Words and himself sounded a bit enigmatic (if this is a word in Englishm excuse me Julie if I am wrong). We said yes, of course. Everything went smooth; coca leafs, cigarettes,liquour from the mountains, candles... everything framed by a mixture of quechua and catholic tradition, the forces from the mountains are to be protecting us after that. Thanks for the really good wishes you gave to us and to our people...

-----
Francisco is the owner or the friend who will welcome you warmly and sincerely in Cusco. This is a straight commercial for his hostel as it is a special one. The place is old and has charm and the family running it are helpful, friendly... well, I don´t know about Lonely Planet but The Idiotas are recommending you this (tell him you know us and he ll be even more glad to welcome you ;)

CASA HOSPEDAJE FAMILIAR VILCABAMBA.
CALLE FIERRO 577, CUSCO

The Machu Pichu Sol

To make an exception I will just copy some of my diary´s texts from the trip, just because...

Machu Pichu...
(...) Mover un pie, los ojos arriba, abajo, a un lado, pasar de una parte a otra... ello dá lugar a una vista nueva, totalmente distinta; espacio y tiempo juntos, colindantes, creándolo todo, el lugar y el momento. Ni siquiera turistas como hormigas pueden ensuciarlo...

Some tips for visiting (you should someday if you haven t already):

Machu Pichu is economically overexploted by some company from Chile where the daughter of Fujimori is also involved. Of course you dont have much more possibility to get in than pay but... you can save some money and avoid giving the money to someone who is not even the own peruvian people so, here you go our way:

Try not to take the ´backpacker train´which is only made for tourists visiting the ruins. At least dont take it all the way, it is a robbery. Instead:
-From Cuzco take a local bus to Santa Maria. The bus trip is long but in daytime should be amazing (climbing a 4200 peak), we did it at night, tough...
-From there go to Santa Teresa, wether by foot or catching a truck as we did (when we came back)
-Santa Teresa-Aguas Calientes (by foot)
-Aguas Calientes-Climb for 1 hour and you are in Machu Pichu. Also, Aguas Calientes is a money-village so try to escape as soon as possible

We did this on the way back; on the way there we took the train (only half way, which is also a good option)


Sergio, from La Paz

Whats going on in peru...

The last weeks has been politically tense in Peru.
There are now two pending issues wich are filling the papers on the streets and animate the discussions of people in cities and countryside.
Tension raised some time ago between the peruan and the cilean governments regarding the borders of the territorial sea; Chile suddenly changed an old agreement without consulting the peruans, so now the government of Lima saw its territorial sea drastically reduced. This event has been manipulated and exagerated by the press (at least in Peru), and one day the idiots are walking down the street and they read everywhere this kind of titles: "Peruan troups are mooving towards the borders with Chile". Calmed down by our friends, we started to read more carefully and asking people, which seems to be a better idea.

But what is now hooking the attention of the pubblic opinion is the attempt of the ex president Fujimori to come back to Peru, after he had to escape the country in 2000 because of money laundry and corruption. He landed in Santiago and peruan authorities are trying to extraddict him who is arrested in Chile. Even if nobody really believes he could run for the presidentials, he still has a huge power, and in many walls of Peru we could clearly read: "vota por Fujimori", which is quite scary!

We are now in Bolivia, and the political situation is quite tense here as well, I don't know if it is normal, but many soldiers are on the streets of La Paz, and the 18th of december there will be the elections. In this country a coup is not a remote possibility...
The idiotas will investigate and report their opinions about that.

La Paz,
Ste

Write to us, write to The Idiotas

Our little trip is getting on wheels, we already had more tha 1200 visits so it seems that someone is behind there...

Kiitos, Gracias, Thankyu very much....

To celebrate this The Idiotas will publish soon some really great articles; trip is like that, now we have five minutes to wait for a bus so time to go, just a bit of patience...

As an advance, coming soon:

-Machu Pichu and the Sacred Valley
-Quechua tradition in Vilcabamba hostel
-Pictures pictures pictures

----------------------------------------------------

El destino...?
Pero, se puede grabar encima de lo que ya has grabado?

Destiny...?
But, can you record on top of what you vre already recorded?

de Peruvian Cusine

Not pretending to be an exhaustive guide to peruvian tastes... Just a short info of things we have tried or at least seen around here:

Prizes and orientation:
You can get a menu (soup plus second dish plus drink) from 1,5-2,5 soles (less than 1 euro).
If you want something more fancy you can spend 4 or 5 soles (1, 2 euros).
If you want to be a tourist and go to the wrong place then you ll pay more than 15-20-100 soles (more than you should).

Food
Seco.. Very good, Carlos made it for us once. It has meat and rice. Somewhow rice here is everywhere, reminding a bit of chinese food...
Caldo de Gallina: Gallina (chicken female, you know what I mean, gives lot of energy)
Aji: I don t remember exactly what it was
Pollo a la Brasa: mmh... simple, fast, good
Cebiche: Lima s greatest, unfortunately I only tried it in Cusco and should be done near the sea (fish dish)
Cuy: Guineapig (seen it only in the market...)
Fruit fruit fruit

Drinks
Pisco: Hard alcohol, clear, quite good (typical from coast region, Pisco is also a town)
Inca Cola: people here drink it more than CocaCola; unfortunately I didn t like it so much; and unfortunately CocaCola bought it.
Chicha mora: ask Angelito s mama, she did a great one
Fruit fruit fruit juices: Natural ones, find them in many places
Mate (including mate de coca): certainly special

Bon appetit...

Chef Sergio

PS: Daniel, traduce eso al papa pa que le de envidia...

On the road, on the roof

The bus driver was waiting for a gropu of children. We were in Santa Teresa, a little town on the way from Machu Pichu (at least if you take the economical route). He said that even though the van was little and there were 16 little ones coming there would be place also for us. Until then lazy sunday after the great Machu Pichu experience, soon to be told too, sitting out covering from the sun like everyione else did tgere... After a delay of around three hours according to the time he promised to leave, the driver waved us from the end of the street. We started walking and soon we could see that the little van was packed with children. No problem; look up, look down, just one possibility: the roof. I said it as a half-joke to the other idiotas but the driver just looked at us and said, up up!

5 MINUTES AFTER...

Driver -Lay down, police!
Stefano laying inf ront-right side, Sergio left-front, Hector on the back. The three idiotas were travelling at a height of more than 2000 meters through serpentinean roads on the roof of a van. On the road...
Diver - Make yourselves comfortable!
So we did, sitting on the roof, waving to the people on th greatest trip so far. Many would have had paid a lot, we paid a single bus trip (6 soles). Amazing mountain views, excitement, children talking to us and singing below... and no film in camera... But no way we can forget..

It took one hour, I wish it could have been longer..

Sergio, Cuzco

updatings from cuzco region

Cuzco is located in a valley surraunded by mountains, its quite touristic, as massive flows of people stop in here as a starting point to visit the ruins, the inca trail and the other thousands of tours you can chose. Ok, but there is something more in here, I guess it depends on how carefully you are able to listen,feel or what ever inspires you.
Moving around the city center last thursday, looking for some cheese, bread and fruit we ended up in the city market and once found the cheese and the rest of the food something found us, using an old lady as a way and her nepew as a call..."hey come and try the san pedro" she said, while we were already looking at this wrinkled and short human being offering us something in a small plastic bag, "you have to mix it with the mate of coca, i use it sometimes and it clears up my mind, only for 5 soles". Fortunately we reduced the dosage, just a bit, as we are not Inka shamans, got home and mixed the dust in 3 cups of of coca leaves infusion, and well, i cannot really describe what happened, I guess you have to try it if if you come toPeru, but the effect was quite strong and lasted 2 days (yes, not recommended if you have to work the next day),
we were really relaxed after all, and full of strengh; ready to leave for the 3 days excursion to acchu Pichu. This cactus is absolutely legal here in Peru, used for mistic pourpouses an not as a mere drug (nobody refers to it as a drug). Apart from san pedro there are a lot of plants and flowers which are considered "special", and according to a lady we met on a bus, the flower called "Ayaguaska" enables you to see your future, but regarding this we don't have no records...

I leave to S. & H. the cronycles of our raise to Macchu Picchu, our amazing and unexpected trip from Santa teresa to Santa Maria.
Last week was really great!

From Cuzco,
Ste

Mama tranquila, Parte 3

Hola hola, pues os ecribo ya desde uno de los sitios que más ganas tenía de visitar. Estamos en Cuzco, la ciudad inca en las montañas. Parece mentira pero estamos a más de 3000 metros de altura... Pronto saldremos para el MachuPichu y también a otras ruinas y montañas aquí cerca. Todo bien, el viaje en autobús se hace a veces un poco durillo pero los hostales están bien, se puede descansar y nos estamos cuidando bien con las comidas.. Así que nada, ya os enseñaré las fotos... Todo controlao...









He crecido bastante aquí, ahora tengo que agacharme cuando entro por las puertas. Monasterio de Santa Catalina (Arequipa)

Arequipa, the city of Pastelitos

They were good but we had too many pastelitos; it was supposed to be a really nice city and even though it was quite amazing to see a 6000m volcan behind the city, the place was a bit too touristic... Arequipa...

Highlights
1.Borrachitos: little sweets covered with chocolate and drowned in rum -I guess- They were small but weight soo much...
2.The fantasticos three hostel dudes: They worked hard, the three of them together, just to prepare a papaya juice for us in the morning.
3.El embrujo: A coffee place-restaurant-old disco hall, kind of reminded me the ghostly hotel in The Shining. Even the name was there for some reason, maybe...

.Sergito

Bus tripping

It´s time to leave Arequipa. Our next stop: Cusco, were we'll visit the Sacred Valley and Machu Pichu. We are really looking forward it and we all know that something special is going to happen up there...but before that there is a 12 hours bus trip to get there, so here we are, in the station waiting for our bus. In a moment we were into a surrealistic situation: a young peruvian guy started talking to me in a very nice way (well, we had the typical conversation: where are you from, where are you going...), but when this boy realized that Stefano was italian, he got nuts!! He kept saying "Arrivederci, arrivederci..!!! look, he understands me!!! Arrivederci!!" and he was like that for the next five minutes. Meanwhile, a middle age peruvian couple sat down next to us and they started talking to us about the jungle, natural medicine and how they can help on your health...we kept that nice and interesting conversation till the bus arrived at the station. That couple was going to Cusco too, so we went together to the bus and we left our italian speaker friend with his own thoughts.


Child sleeps in bus from Arequipa to Cusco (left)

Here it comes the funny thing of the trip: we were already on the way to Cusco, sitting on the front, when suddenly a really disgusting smell filled the bus: someone forgot that the bus toilet was only for "little business" and made such a good job that everyone could apreciate...People on the bus was crazy and finally the bus had to stop to open all the windows and clean it...disgusting!! later on we figured out that the creator was a charmy young girl cause one of the passengers told her: "you were the one! you made two, should go and clean it!!" she just passed and besides she ruined Stefano's trip cause she kept talking the whole trip with his friend and didn¡t allow Ste to sleep...we all send our warmest greetings to that girl!
But finally we arrived at Cusco and something diferent was going on arround us, energy, mistery...don't know, but the feeling was so good! I think lots of stories are going to happen to us in Cusco, we'll let you know!

My backpack (Sergio)

Do you want to know what the idiotas carry while moving? Here you go the first chapter... Sergio, not such a practical mind

I ll try not to forget anything (as my backpack is now at home) and explain what are my big and little things there:

For Sergio not to be naked (clothes)
Normal sport shoes
Sandals (Menorca style)
Mountain boots (so far still unused)
4 pairs of socks
Black jeans
Extra trousers (long-short)
Shorts
Swimming pants
4 t-shirts (1 cotton-3 poliester)
1 shirt
1 sweater
1 polar
Rain-winter jacket
5 underwear
Scarf
Handkerchief
Gloves (my Finnish midgeons, one is somehow bigger than the other)
Hat

For Sergio to be clean and healthy (somehow)
Toothbrush and all these higiene things...
Some medicines and mosquito protection
Towel (Blue-red)
Clothes soap

For Sergio to create and for entertainment
Pocket knife (Ollie and Angelito's present)
Notebook (traditional, not computer) and pens
MP3 player-headphones
Digital Camera-Minitripod
VideoCamera and microphone
Book- The diary of Anna Frank (not so cheerful, almost finished) Today I got some cheap book, antology of peruvian short tales...

To carry all this
60 liters bacpack (working good)
Green SuomiArmy Bag- getting broken
Little backpack- not fancy at all
Plastic bags- one from spanish supermarket...

Other little things I didn t know where to fit
Sleeping bag, still unused, looks good in the backpack
Travel pillow (one of my favourite objects)
Water container- blue
Tape- for...?
Guide to SouthAmerica
Documents


This is it, the one..

Here is not Tampere

Touching wood, so far everything went smootly, and according with an old italian tradition, while writing I am scratching my...but this is not what I wanted to say. Anyway we all have realised one thing, everything can happen if you are in the wrong place and at the wrong time.
So, when you take the wrong bus and you end up in the wrong suburb, which you have been warned not to end up at night, and its night, and the first person you meet tels you "hombre, no pares aqui esta mui peligroso por la noche", "man, dont stay here, its very dangerouse", whell, something down there becomes suddenly smaller while the red light on your back part of the brain start blinking, you suddenly love a policeman walking on the other side of the street, and you have no problem to walk away with him, as I did.
Or when you just arrive on a new place and casually walking around a car stop and a man screams to you from the window "No vayas por alla porque te van a sacar hasta tu propria mierda!"(which I cannot really translate in english), you just stop and walk back, as we all did.

Fortunately the people keep on warning us, I guess we are learning the lesson well, scratching..hem, knocking wood.


From arequipa,
el idiota numero 1.


Below, example-tutorial of behaviour in case of assault. Starrting: Hector M. and Stefano C.

THE ASSAULT

Tourist reads peacefully unaware of dangerous dude

Dangerous dude assaults tourist with pocket knife

Tourist runs away really fast

THE END...

Islas Ballestas (Ballestas Islands)

So we have already left the city of Lima and now we'll see the deep and real Perú. The landscape does't change so much, just desert and sometimes, suddenly, a little town apperars from nothing...the trip from Lima to Pisco was not boring at all, many people were getting on and off the bus in every bus stop trying to sell anything: chocolate, chips, drinks...After four hours in the bus we got Pisco, a smaller city (100.00 inhabitants), quite poor and dangerous actually but with a very busy and lifely center. We found a cheap and nice hostal so we had some pollo a la brasa (grilled chicken) and went to bed. The day after we took an excursion to the Ballestas Islands, near Paracas (20 min. from Pisco). On the way there, we thougth Stefano was going to suffer a lot, cause the fish smell was really strong and he hates fish!! But luckly when we were at the harbour the smell had dissapeared.
So here we are on the boat, with a good coat to don't get wet and our life vests on, ready to admire the wildlife of this peruvians islands. The guide took us first to have a look at an extrange symbol that was drawn on a little sand's mountain; It was called El Candelabro and it was a kind of candel lamp. The origin of this huge drawing is still nowadays unknown (like the famous ones in Nazca) and somebody even says that it was done by creatures from other planets..uuuhhh!!

El Candelabro, from the boat. Islas Ballestas

Anyway, later on we spent one hour arround this little islands watching penguins, sea lions, and different kind of birds typical from this area...it was like being inside this documentries that we use to watch at home, seing how this enormous sea lions were fighting and shouting, or the funny penguins standing on the rocks enjoying the sun, or the weird and curious shapes that the cliffs and rocks created by the water erosions such as a chinese face, a monkey, a mamut...(Sergio's papa will be very proud of his son when he saw the documentry that Sergio filmed for him) and everything trying to avoid bird's shit (excuse my words) that were falling like bombs next to the boat (luckly we were not reached!!)
After the excursion by boat, time to go back to Pisco, get everything ready for our next journey to Arequipa (south of Perú) and it was then when we realised that we had to use some sun protection on the boat: all of us were with a horrible red (burned) face because of the sun...uff! this is gonna burn tomorrow!!

Héctor


Pelicans near the harbour, Paracas

Itinerary and km so far 1

Lima----Pisco---Ica------------Arequipa

4h 1,5h 13h

-1050km-

Sunday morning, Pisco

'the Tres Idiotas'


We are moving. Like a fist closed for too long time and finally released... Now head and legs can finally see something else... It s gonna be a lot, yesterday we took a bus from Lima to Pisco (around four hours to south) and just the picture of Lima suburbia and the desertic poor lands in the coastline where not easy to digest -suddenly many new things- Also, after we arrived we felt something that -maybe- we are going to feel some times, the people come to us to sell souvenirs, offer restaurant dishes (even if we wouldn t like to we look too much as tourists). Of course being taken as french or israelis was a bit surprisning but, anyway, it´s sunday morning here in Pisco, time to run up and see if the boys are still sleeping. I like sundays even when some things are missing..
Sergio


From Lima to Pisco, pictures from the bus

Lima adios...

estamos ahora en Pisco, ciudad mas tranquilita, y (con mi feo español) querìa decir a todos los amigos de Lima un grande "muchas gracias", en particular a Carlos, nuestro hermano que nos ha cuidado mucho, su mama que fue como la nuestra mama en sur de america, y un saludo particular a Teresa, buena amiga de Lima.
Fueron 11 dias muy bonitos! Gracias!

Park in Lima seaside

Taxi conversation

Sol, that s the name of the money here. You need them to pay to Combis and Taxis. Here a sample of a taxi chat here in Lima (1 day to leave).

Carlos raises hand.Taxi stops
-Centro Lima, how much?
-10 soles
-Nooo... too much, 6 soles...
-Mmm.. no...

Taxi leaves. Carlos raises hand again. Taxi stops.

Taxi 2
-Centro Lima, how much?
-7 soles
-6?
-Vale
Carlos nods head. Ste,Hector and Sergio get in car. 6 soles is around 1,5 euros.

Taxis are usually small and taxi drivers and everyone in general drive like desperate... They found place where there is no place and the average of almost-heart-attack situations might be around 1 per 5 minutes.. Indicators don t exist (seems so). Haven t seen a single carcrash yet thogh so, it's ok (as the song says).

Today.. Hector is sleeping at home, Stefano somewhere out in town, me I was paying a visit to the post office. Reccomendation: if you want a send a letter (from Lima or from anywhere) remember to carry it with you. Idiota Sergio, desde Lima.

Easy mama easy 2

Stiamo in procinto di lasciare Lima, finalmente, stiamo bene e siamo in forma perfetta per affrontare il lungo viaggio fino a Cuzco. Sergio e Hector non vedono l'ora di partire, io invece lascio questa citta con un po di malinconia...ma il nostro tempo qui é giunto al termine..
Baci da Pueblo Libre,

Ste

Post mortem (some photos after sickness)

Yes... I m not sick anymore and I start seing things with eyes wide open (and they look different...). Here some pictures from this week in Lima...


Sergio been take care by peruvian familia (mama and tia de Angelito)


´El cielo blanco de Lima', white Lima sky from the window of our home


Capullitos de Jesus; a kindergarden in Pueblo Libre (Lima)


Typical peruvian drawings (found them in Angelito´s family blankets)

Ja he arribat!!!

Despres de moltes, moltes hores de vol, esperes en l'aeroport, retrasos de l'avio, maletes que no arribaven mai, cues inacabables de gent...he arribat a Lima gairebe a la 1 de la nit (quan tenia l'arribada prevista a les 21:00h)...pero be, ens haurem d'anar acostumant a un continent on totes les coses sembla que van amb molta mes calma que a Europa.
Doncs aixo, quan vaig arribar, l'Stefano i el Carlos (el nostre contacte al Peru) m'esperaven a l'aeroport...i de tanta estona que portaven esperant-me i de les ganes que tenia jo d'arribar, gairebé no ens vam ni saludar i vam anar directe a buscar un taxi cap a caseta...un cop allí, tot va anar millor: una estoneta petant la xerrada per posants al dia i a dormir que es tard.
Avui es el primer dia a Lima, o sigui que encara no puc dir gran cosa...ciutat bastant caótica, enorme i molt contaminada...hi ha un ambient gris que ho envolta tot, pero deu ser normal en aquestes ciutats inmenses (Lima te uns 8 milions d'habitants)...ara suposo que anirem cap al centre, a la nit sortirem a veure que trobem i segurament que dissabte ja marxarem cap al sur, ja que el Sergio está fart de Lima i vol marxar ja! el pobre noi ha passat una setmana malalt i ja no aguanta més aquí...
Doncs res, finalment ja ens hem reunit tots els viatgers i a partir d'ara que sigui el que Deu vulgui!!!

Héctor

he came!!!!

Yes! Hector is here, and we all feel better...
there is really nothing new here in Lima, I hanged around pretty much these days, made some very good friends who took me almost everywhere, while Sergito "preferred" to stay at home, poor thing, sick and tired of this city he defenetely doesn't like.
I have to say instead that I enjoy being here, there is a lot of humanity, mess and a lot to talk about, about, about everything, from policy to my hair...

Aerport conversation1:
Girl in the customer desk: "I like your hair, how do you do that" (tu pelo me facina...como lo haces?)
Stefano: mmmm
And then we spent almost 15 minutes talking about travelling and the power of internet..

One thing is clear, from taxi drivers to my new friends, everybody mention a sort of "Energy", which has nothing to do with the new age stuff I have been listening in Europe, but its more like a way to express something I still have to define...
Well, this was a fast comment, we have many things to do today, then well go out, finally all together and if it will be time well eventually leave Lima for other places, trying to define what people mean with energy..ok, ciao a todos,

Ste