Viva Colombia: Scared on the Road

"Peru has nothing, Ecuador a little, and Colombia is the best" says our taxi driver with obvious pride on the drive from the Colombian border into town. He lays out this hierarchy with regard to food, and his love of country comes through loud and clear.

Which makes it all the more troubling when not more than 3 minutes later he is calmly explaining the problems with violence, guerrillas and safety that he sees in his country. This becomes a common thread of our first several hours Colombia, a country that I have been eagerly anticipating visiting for weeks. It starts with the immigration officer who stamps us into the country, and finds time to let us know that it is not recommended, nor particularly safe, to ride buses at night.

We have crossed the border in the extreme south of the country, a region that is well known for violence. For example, there was a big battle (and international incident) in 2008 near the borders between the countries that killed 19 rebels, in this case, members of the the most well known guerrilla group in Colombia - FARC). In fact, when you try to find out the distance between where we came from (Quito) and where we are going (Cali), google maps says there is no route between the two, even though the primary highway of South America (PanAmerica) goes directly between the two cities.

FARC and the Colombian government are currently in ongoing discussions about resolving the multi-decade conflict. However, farther east there have been recent kidnappings of foreigners, including an American and a group of French travelers. All of this plays on our mind as we enter Colombia, which has the effect of heightening Muriel's and my awareness of our surroundings (a good thing) and our nervousness (not so great).

Being scared to travel at night is a big departure from our usual approach to travel in South America. Up to today, we have covered about 9,800 kilometers by bus, snaking our way overland from Santiago, Chile to Cali, Colombia. These cities are separated by 4150 kilometers as the crow flies, but we certainly have not been taking the most direct route. Which is the wonder and joy of travel, it kind of blows my mind that we have covered nearly 10,000 kms overland, seeing and experiencing the land and counties in a more direct and tangible fashion.

Today, we still have about 450 kms from the Colombian border to the en-route city that we will stay in, Popayan. This city was founded in the early 1500's and is supposed to be a colonial gem. It is also a few hours south of Cali, where we need to be in a few days for our first flight in months up to the Caribbean coast. While it is sub-optimal to be on the bus some of the night, we figure that it will be just from 7 pm to 10 or 11 pm and decide to take a chance and go against what people here have recommended and what all the guides and online resources say as well. One last turn on a night bus, only 3 or 4 hours we think and crossing our fingers and hope for the best.

The first part of the trip is spectacular. These massive and verdant valleys, steep and deep, unfold along the first several hours. The bus careens around curves, passing trucks with nary a hint that there are hundred foot cliffs to our left. The countryside is attractively terraced with agriculture, combining with the natural topography to create stunning vistas.

We then arrive at the only pit stop of the trip, a town called Pasto, where we wait about 30 minutes for others to get on the bus and then head out into the sunset. A huge rainbow crosses the entire sky over the town, hopefully a good omen for tonight. As darkness descends, I pop on some favorite music and stare out the windows. One thing I notice is that we keep coming across checkpoints staffed with military, every 15 or so minutes. Each stop is similar, the bus driver talks to the guys at the checkpoint and then we head on through. The high security presence contrasts to an efficient civil presence of both regular toll booths staffed by workers in sharp uniforms and the high quality of the road, smooth and fast considering the geography.

At the 4 or 5th stop, instead of continuing onward, we pull to the side of the road. Uh oh. This trip might be a bit longer than we thought. There is no explanation and fellow traveless seem mostly resigned to the process. We ask why the delay and are told - 'security'. This stop ends up being about 80 minutes and then we are on our way again, unsure of what broke the logjam.

After a tense hour or so, the bus starts driving quite a bit more aggressively. Mu and I look nervously out the window, trying to discern what is going on. Then, we are in a town along the road and pull to the side again. It is now about 11 pm, or the time we were supposed to arrive in Popayan. At first we think this is just a late dinner stop, as people get off and hit up the local chicken broaster counter. However, Mu does some investigating and learns we have stopped because the road ahead is 'very dangerous'. No one is sure when the police will let us continue onward, and there is a palpable anxious energy on the bus.

We settle in and consider our options.

A) We stay on the bus and hope for the best, arriving an hour and half down the road at the city in the middle of the night. The positive for this option is the safety of numbers, while the downside is the reality that entire buses have been stopped along the route before and terrible robberies, murders and rapes have occurred.

B) We bunk up the night in a crappy hotel on the side of the road and wait until morning to continue onward. This gets out out of danger on the road, but those hijackers must live somewhere and we would be isolated and very much alone in this no-name town.

What would you choose?

We went with option A, after several other buses arrived and an informal caravan was formed, with our bus in the co-pilot position. A little safety in numbers, hopefully. It recalls a taxi-brousse ride we took in Madagascar in January, when the micro-buses waited until forming a caravan to get through another dangerous stretch of road in the interior highlands. That trip was nerve racking, but ultimately successful.

This one ends the same, as we get through the dangerous stretch of road and pull into Popayan at about 2 in the morning. I am bone tired, thankful to be safe, and oh so ready to fall into a deep sleep. Thankfully, there is a nice enough hotel across the street from the deserted bus station and we are in our room within minutes. Asleep in a few minutes more and ready for a new day, daylight and a little less nerve racking adventures. One that reiterated to us the constant need to be making informed and sound decisions.

This is our last night bus for a while, I can assure you. Promise mom.

 

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Fitness from the Road: Trying to Avoid Trans-Fats in Ecuador

Wilson and I slept poorly last night. Well, that's an understatement -- we woke up frequently throughout the night -- at times, acknowledging our joint insomnia and at other times, pretending to be asleep. Our rough night of sleep was puzzling. We had better than normal sleeping conditions in Cuenca, Ecudaor -- our hotel bed was more comfortable than usual, there were no loud street noises, and it was one of our very few accommodations where the room did not have some sort of annoying ambient light. What we didn't realize was that there was a smoke detector in the room emitting irregular quiet beeps and those irregular beeps were most likely the unknown cause of our sleep distress. I only noticed the beeps in the late morning. I couldn't believe that we hadn't heard the first beep from that smoke detector when we first entered the room.

Cuenca, Ecuador

Our failure to notice that omnipresent (and very annoying) noise made me think about other unseen unnoticed elements that infiltrate our health and wellbeing. These elements can be anything from the particulates that we breath in on a city run to an undiagnosed health condition that remains undiagnosed because the person simply suffers through it. Most of the time, we think of the obvious health infiltrators such as germs like rhinovirus or giarrdhia that make us sick from improper sanitation. But the unseen and infamous ones can be just as, or more, potent.

Caja National Park

While traveling, I spend a fair amount of effort trying to avoid or battle the obvious "infiltrators". Armed with hand sanitizer, ciproflocaccin, and my personal favorite -- zinc, we've been relatively successful in avoiding or battling sickness. Knock on wood. But beyond these obvious battles for health, there is another long-term health infiltrator that I have been thinking about lately-- trans-fat.

Trans-fat or partially hydrogenated oils is a human created fat from either corn or soybeans that is ubiquitous in American (and now global) snack food. Trans-fat lengthens processed snacks' shelf life. Unfortunately our bodies also have hard time breaking down these fats. In fact, some people argue that our bodies just continue to store these fats and that is why trans-fat is a leading contributor to heart disease, lowers good cholesterol, and increases bad cholesterol. Research has also confirmed that trans-fat plays a role in body inflammation and body inflammation has been linked to increased sports injuries and even cancer.

While we have been traveling, I have been thinking about transfats because there are processed snack foods everywhere! Including my fave- OREOs (or Oreitos). These processed snack foods are all too accessible when we are running to catch a bus or on a bus all day. Especially as a pescatarian (a vegetarian who eats fish), my 'fast food' options are limited. I have had a hard time finding non-meat unprocessed options. I have also recently discovered that my reliance on french fries and fried fish while traveling might also contribute to my trans-fat consumption, a lot of cheap oils used for trying that 30 cent batch of french fries contain trans-fat oil as well.

Thus, surprisingly, buying Oreitos might be an okay health option (amongst processed foods) in a pinch, because Oreos removed trans-fats from the cookies in 2006. And from my broken Spanish, it seems that they did not reinclude transfat in their South American distribution. But eating Oreos instead of local french fries seems troubling from a global, environmental, and local business perspective. Ugh...infilitration of Trans National Companies or trans-fat! I just hope at the next bus stop that I can find some of the healthier fast-food options we've seen in Ecuador -- bananas, apples, bread "integral", and oranges. Wish we were here during mango season.

 

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Life on the Road: Comparing Development in Africa and South America

Muriel and I have now spent about 230 days abroad over the last year, of which the vast majority of time has been in countries that are either middle or lower income. This has been better for our own wallets, as the living costs in these countries are generally lower.

All told during these 230 days, we have been (or will be, once we get to Colombia in a week) to 28 countries. Between Africa and South America -- 19 countries. Knock on wood on the Colombia frontera, by the way. The breakdown is 11 countries for Africa, all on the southern and eastern sections of the continent, and 8 countries for South America, which comprise the majority of the countries for this continent.

Pretty much all of the countries we have visited have some qualities that reinforce the lower standard of living compared to our US lives. Pick one, or many of the following list - irregular transportation networks, safety concerns, toilet paper thrown in the garbage can instead of flushed, dirt cheap and unregulated street food, hygienic worries (food or otherwise), guys rocking jerseys from players in the nfl and nba that retired a decade ago, currency issues such as unsustainable black market spreads or closed currencies, huge potholes, lack of safe drinking water and spotty electricity. There are reasons big and small for all of these characteristics, and honestly they don't really bug us much as we travel. But, they are emblematic of the way that these societies could serve their citizens better.

Tana, Madagascar

While in Bolivia, which is one of the poorest countries in South America, we got to comparing our lived experience to places facing extreme poverty, like Malawi, Madagascar and Tanzania. In some ways, the countries felt similar, in fact Sucre, Bolivia and Tana, the capital of Madagascar reminded both of us of the other city. In other ways, the countries felt quite different, for example the transport in Bolivia is great, comfy buses connect cities and run all the time, while Madagascar is connected exclusively by taxi-brousses (toyota pick up trucks laden with people and stuff) and the airplanes of the elites.

Sucre, Bolivia

As we are wont to do, our minds have wandered to the economics of these countries, especially in a relative comparison of the various stages of development. Both of us have extensive work and study experience in development, from the micro approach of Mu's peace corp time in Madagascar to the macro focus of the UN system I worked in for a summer in Geneva while in grad school.

The Data

From that idea, I went and did a little research to compare some economic data for the countries we have visited in Africa and South America on our extended travel. Below is the data for the 19 countries we have visited in this sample, broken down by Gross Domestic Product per capita (on a PPP basis, see below) and then ranked according to that metric, continent and GNI coefficient, a measure of inequality in the economy (basically the higher the number the more unequal the country is).

Rank and Country GDP per capita (PPP) GNI (%)

1 Argentina (SA) $17,376 36.4

2 Chile (SA) $16,171 52.1

3 Uruguay (SA) $15,469 45.3

4 Brazil (SA) $11,845 54.7

5 South Africa (A) $11,035 63.1

6 Botswana (A) $10,866 61.0

7 Colombia (SA) $10,155 55.9

8 Peru (SA) $10,000 48.1

9 Ecuador (SA) $8,335 49.3

10 Namibia (A) $6,658 63.9

11 Paraguay (SA) $5,548 52.4

12 Bolivia (SA) $4,843 56.3

13 Zimbabwe (A) $2,413 50.1

14 Mozambique (A) $1,335 45.7

15 Kenya (A) $1,125 47.7

16 Zambia (A) $911 54.6

17 Madagascar (A) $911 44.1

18 Tanzania (A) $720 37.6

19 Malawi (A) $596 39.0

Thoughts

- The numbers: knowing some basic background context and being on the ground, even I was surprised by the results of this little analysis. Seven out of the top 9 countries in economic production are in South America, while the seven bottom countries are all in Africa. The relative spread of the wealth is large, Malawi at just under 600 dollars a year is just 3.4% of Argentina's better than $17k a year. There is more separating the two continents than similarities.

On the equality front, I was quite stunned to see the degree to which GDP and the GNI coefficient were negatively correlated. For whatever reason, the low income countries on our list have lower GNI numbers, and hence more equality. The worst countries for equality ended up being the richer countries in Africa, with Namibia being the shameful leader.

Spitballing some possible contributors to these results;

- Length of independence: reading the histories of the South American countries, i have been surprised at the length of time that they have enjoyed independence. Most gained it in the 1820's and 30's from Spain, although there were frequent debilitating battles and wars between the various countries. Still, that is in stark contrast to the history of Africa, where independence was earned almost exclusively after WWII, often two decades after. It makes sense that this difference has some role in the imbalance of economic results, after all residual impact of colonialism has a long tail and I believe it takes generations to get out from its corrosive sphere. Fast forward a century and surely many of the countries at the bottom of this table will have made impressive advancements.

The fun times driving in Kenya

- Infrastructure: the difference in size, functionality and depth of the infrastructure between the two continents is vast. I had the pleasure, but not exactly the genuine kind of pleasure, of driving around Kenya for a week or so with my wife and parents. Some of it was amazing, 4x4 through the national parks with lions, buffalo and rhinos not more than 30 feet from the truck. That was amazing. But, most of the time, the driving was unbelievably stressful for 2 reasons. First, there are millions of potholes just waiting to grab you and throw the truck for a ride and secondly, the other drivers on the road. You can't let up for a second, and that is on the principal road in all of the country. When we got to our destinations, not just the drivers (my dad and I) but everyone in the car needed mental siestas to recover.

View from a speedy bus in Uruguay

 

Contrast that to all the bus and taxi rides here in South America, which can comfortably average 100 kph for hours at a time, cover vast distances and much more closely approximate the experience of driving in the US or Europe. The roads are simply better, so the transit can flow at rates I would hazard are at least 2x faster. Think of all that time and resources retained, not wasted.

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Furthermore, in the urban centers the relative size of the built environments are dramatically different. For example, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the main part of the city is gridded up as is typical of colonial centers. However, this grid begins to disintegrate after a kilometer or two, and then gets into straight chaos. Contrast that to Buenos Aires, which must be larger than San Francisco on a square kilometer basis. The buildings there are hefty and solid, and extended for farther than you would like to walk in a day. Huge difference.

Spiffy Buenos Aires, Argentina

- Piggy backing: another concept i think might be in play is that the modern societies in South America seem to have built on top of the indigenous past, while in Africa none of the capital created by pre-European societies seems to have been utilized. The best example on our trip is Cuzco, Peru, which is literally built on top of indigenous capital of the Incas. Many, many churches and buildings in the city have a 10-20' foundation of perfectly constructed Incan stone work. I think of this as an apt metaphor for the continent, even while recognizing that much of this was a straight show of power and domination. The conquistadors of Europe took much, plundered terribly, but also kept some power structures in place and utilized some native agriculture. In Africa, colonization tended towards pillaging and extraction, leaving much less behind when independence took place.

Piggybacking in Cuzco, Peru

- Development in action: lastly, and more positively, I have seen such tangible development just over the last decade or so. The change over the last 8 years since I saw 5 of the countries we have visited in South America is tremendous. There are WAY more buses, the food is much better, you feel safer, the connectivity is many orders of magnitude better. All positive, and not just for travelers but for citizens. Mu wrote about this beautifully in her impressions from returning to her Peace Corps village. Her friends now had cell phones,a more regular supply of food, and even motos. Also, my dad talked about development in action with respect to Kenya when he wrote on his return after 40 years. He felt like he was coming back to a different country in many ways.

Those are two of my all time favorite post from this blog, by the way.

My take away is that development is working, but way too slowly. We have seen it across these two samples of countries. But, there is much work still to do, obviously. I do feel that sometimes the first part of that equation gets forgotten, even though it is the one that should make all of us ready and willing to move forward on all that is left to do.

Editors note

The two main metrics I looked at above are GDP per capita on a purchasing power parity basis and the GNI coefficient. Below are slightly more in depth explanations of how those are calculated. In essence, PPP puts all of the economic production in these various countries into a single, comparable metric and GNI reflects the inequality in an economy, the larger the number the more unequal the society.

- GDP Purchasing power parity (PPP): is an economic theory and a technique used to determine the relative value of currencies, estimating the amount of adjustment needed on the exchange rate between countries in order for the exchange to be equivalent to (or on par with) each currency's purchasing power. Basically, this method tries to account for variance across countries in what a dollar, or euro, or peso buys. In theory, once the accounting is done, a dollar should buy you the same bundle of goods in one country or another, allowing comparisons between those countries.

- GNI coefficient definition: The Gini coefficient is a number between 0 and 1, where 0 corresponds with perfect equality (everyone has the same income) and 1 corresponds with perfect inequality (where one person has all the income—and everyone else has zero income). For the above chart, the coefficient has been resized to a percentage. Income distribution can vary greatly from wealth distribution in a country.

 

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Recharging at the Beach

I have a confession.

While we have been living the high life up at altitude for most of the last month, having an amazing time, I have been feeling some jealousy for home. Seeing and reading all the posts/emails about the fun things of summer have that effect. BBQing, hanging out at the beach or the lake, the 4th of July, ice cream and idyllic climbing trips. All beloved in the korol household and not in much supply in Bolivia and the highlands of Peru.

After all the subtle pangs of jealousy, and with both of us in need of some oxygen rich sea air and sun to dry out our souls. Thankfully, Mu and I got a little taste of the summer living over the last couple of days, getting in some much needed recharging in Mancora, Peru. This town is about 2 hours south of the Ecuadorian border, with beautiful vistas across the Pacific. The beach is steps from our hotel, were we have a 3rd floor room with a balcony overlooking everything. Mancora has good surf, and I had anticipated getting in the waves. But, this time of year a wetsuit is mandatory and the main break off the point has been super crowded, so I took a pass. The waves are nicely shaped, but on the smaller side, and hence the lineup recalls the first couple weekends up in tahoe when only moderate blues are open with way too any people for the 5 or so trails. No thanks.

Mancora is also well known for the fresh seafood on tap, and cheap too. In the last 3 days, I have eaten ceviche 5 times, getting in as much as possible until we push on. Most of these have been dirt cheap, like $1 per plate cheap. The ice cream here is also delicious, and all the other food has been great with seafood in various forms. The eating in Peru generally has been amazing, I highly recommend to any foodies.

What have we been doing during our recharge? It is a mixed bag, none of it at a particularly high tempo or with tons of urgency. It has been a mix bag of yoga, runs on the beach, playing around on the net, reading, connecting with family and friends, listening to some podcasts and eating. Mu has also been battling the head and chest cold I passed along to her, and seems to be coming out on the other side of the cold. She really needed this time and is glowing a bit from the sun.

Tomorrow, we push on from Mancora, heading to the hills of Ecuador for a few days of tropical mountain hiking. We will miss this place.

 

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Trekking la Cordillera Blanca: Amongst True Giants

My lungs are burning, yet we have been hiking for only thirty or so minutes. This is clearly going to be a little different trek than I am used to and I will be pushing my limits in a slightly different direction. Soon, my lungs are doing this new phenomena, which I dub 'razor lungs', as it feels like there are tiny little blades cutting me from the inside. Thereby making each breath feel like a chore, at best, and escalating painful. It is going to get worst before it gets better.

Things are made quite a bit harder because I came down with a bit of a cold in the Lima fog. Starting the hike at 75% lung capacity is tricky, and then with the stone cold fact of the lack of oxygen at altitude, my mind is depressingly contemplating ongoing logarithmic decay. For those that have never been up at serious altitude, it is a tricky set of attributes to manage. On the oxygen front, there is simply less of it to go around up here. This has a couple of impacts on the body a) there is less O2 to get transferred from the lungs into our bloodstream leading to decreased capacity of muscles and b) the lack of O2 diminishes your brain's capacity to reason. Hence your legs get slow, your mind gets slow, and you just keep putting one foot in front of another.

We are on a 3 day trek in the very impressive Cordillera Blanca, some of the highest mountains in both South and North America. This thin spine of a range has over 30 mountains over 5500 meters, yet it is only a shade over a hundred miles long and a dozen miles wide. For those not up to the meter conversation, as i was not until we started traveling, the 5500 meters equates to a shade over 18k feet (18040 feet). When I wrote about our time on the John Muir Trail almost a year ago, I titled it as 'In the Company of Giant', and those are some of the biggest mountains in the continental US. But they are not even close to the elevations that surround us on this hike.

For another point of reference, Mt McKinley, the highest mountain in North America, comes in at 6194 meters. There are several peaks in the range higher than that near our route and it never ceases to blow my mind that we are on the scree slope, or hiking by a stream with glacier run off from another 6000 meter peak. These are some insanely high peaks, and I am even more impressed with how sharp they are in relief, with spires and towers and glaciers throughout.

Back to today's hike, we have started out at about 4000 meters (13123 feet), pretty close to the very peak of Breckenridge and the same elevation as Potosi in Bolivia. We will trek up a deep valley and then ascend to a pass that comes in at 5200 meters (17060 feet), and then head down to the floor of another valley and back out to the main road and down to Huaraz, Peru.

We are on a semi-orgainzed tour, with a nice couple from northern France. Unfortunately, they are not really ready for the physical challenge posed by the altitude and will head back to the town before things get harder on the 2nd day with topping out on the pass. It is too bad, as they are quite game and very friendly.

We hike up the valley and have lunch. Then it is time to head directly up a very steep canyon wall, with minimal switchbacks to ease the burden. The razor lungs are in full effect. But, after a full hour we are at camp and the vistas across the valley are some of the best I have ever experienced in the mountains. Muriel and I have hiked all over the world, and the sharpness of the relief, the amazing sunset and the feeling of the stars at seemingly arms reach are all unsurpassed in my years enjoying the mountains.

One interesting part of this section of the national park is the number of cows, horses and burros that are roaming. In the valleys it is hard to walk more than ten steps without having to sidestep a pile of sh*t, which took a bit of getting used to and did detract a tiny percentage from the overall experience. But on the flip side, these animals are part of the nearby pueblos' livelihood, one which easily predates the 38 years the park has been existence. The first day camp is the lowlight of the cow phenomena, as at times there are ten+ circling camp, looking for some handouts and making a general nuisance for themselves.

The next day we head back up the canyon wall, rising through the loose rock until the wind picks up and we are at the apex of the pass, 5200 meters. Wow. Literally speechless. By my count, we can see 4 or 5 peaks over 6000 meters, each bathed in steep, bubbling glaciers. Way below the peaks, the 2 immense valleys recede as far as we can see.

We don't stay too long, as it is blustery at the pass and we have many kilometers to go before we will set up camp for the day. All told, we descend over 1000 meters, past a couple picturesque lakes and a number of bubbling creeks. Eventually, we get to the flat valley floor and put in a number of hours of hiking to get to the campsite. We have been going for 8 or so hours, which is not entirely uncommon for us on our trip. Yet, both of Mu and I are more tired than usual. The cumulative impact of hiking at these altitudes seems to have taken more out of us. That first day of hiking up the steep canyon wall was the hardest physical challenge on our South American trip, and we have not been shy about pushing ourselves.

We have dinner with our guide and one of the park ranger's, in the ranger's austere cabin. After the beauty of the mountains, with the loudest noises coming from the wind and the streams, it was a bit abrupt to have a soccer game from Lima on in the background of ranger's radio. Even though we have been only hiking for 2 days, the grandiosity of the mountains and the hike has transported us far from screen, radios and electronics. Right where we want to be for awhile.

 

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Machu Picchu: Biking, Hiking, Bug Bites, and Wonderment

Surprisingly, historians estimate that Machu Picchu was built around 1450 A.D. 80 or so years before Pisarro would take advantage of the Incan civil war, kill one of the Inca kings, and conquer the Incan civilization. Machu Pichu was also constructed around the same time, few hundred years after, as another man-made and natural wonder -- the stone temples in Siem Riep, Cambodia - Angkor Wat.

Like Angkor Wat, part of what makes Macchu Pichu spectacular is the stone work in the middle of a green verdant biome. The other part, unique to Macchu Pichu, is to see the stone foundations, buildings, and trails on top of and in the middle of the astoundingly steep Andean mountains. Breathtaking!

The most famous way to enter Macchu Pichu is via a 4-day trek along the Inca Trail. To preserve the Inca Trail, the amount of visitors who can hike the trail is limited by permits that can be sold out 6 months in advance. We were unable to secure a permit to hike the "Inca Trail" so we opted for an alternative trek to get to Machu Picchu -- the "Inca Jungle Trek" a mixture of biking, hiking, and the options to get a few extracurriculars such as rafting and zip-lining.

The three of us (me, Wilson, and our great friend visiting from CO- Greg) started our trek on the 4th of July. We ended up crammed in the back of the shuttle bus with two other Americans -- college students from Pennsylvania (Ronnie) and Washington (Mason). On our shuttle, we also met a very self-posessed 19 year old German (Tim) who had been a foreign exchange student in South Carolina. The America connection immediately created a bond between the six of us.

The shuttle buses took us (and our new friends) to the top of steep mountain pass where it dropped 40 or so tourists and guides off. It was spitting rain and we careened down more than six thousand feet of paved switchbacks. We started flying down the road and loved it -- it was cold, dirty, and pretty easy since it was paved but it was still an adventure avoiding the small amount of traffic, slightly racing around the corners, splashing through the streams that crossed the road, and looking out on the powerful and steep Andes.

That night and the next two days were filled with group meals, hiking, learning about the area, gorgeous hot springs, clubbing in our dirty exercise clothes, and itchy fly bites. During this time, we met some other cool folks from Germany, Mexico, Israel, Switzerland, Chile, France, and Monaco. Monaco only has around 6000 naturalized citizens. So with 7 billion plus people on the globe, there is literally less than a one in million chance of meeting (and liking) a Monacan.

 

With our group, we hiked through farms and coca leaf plantations, small towns, and on dirt roads. However, the highlight was hiking on one of the actual Inca trails. The original Inca trails provided a transportation network throughout current day Peru and many other countries in South America that encompassed the Incan empire at its peak. Some of these well-built trails have lasted for at least 6 centuries and seemed like they could last another 6 centuries.

On the 4th day, we woke up at 4 am to hike to Machu Picchu. We climbed 1767 stairs and waited until the gates opened at 6 am. Once inside, we climbed up more stairs and entered at the top of one of the lookouts within the ruins. Entering at that point, we were surround by and within the ruins and faced the iconic peak of Hayna Picchu in the early morning light. The quietness combined with the impressiveness of the natural and man-made beauty of Machu Picchu were transformative.

We were stunned and subdued by the beauty and scale of this sacred place. Although the Incan religious practices don't mesh with our own secular beliefs (cult of the dead vs. cult of the living), it was impossible not to feel a connection in these ruins. The sun slowly made its way up the valley, eventually creating a halo over the steep peaks to the east of Machu Picchu. Then, in a surprising moment in its speed and the instant warmth, the sun basked us and the ruins. It is a moment I won't forget, one of the most powerful of our travels.

The rest of the day, we wandered around the ruins, made our way to the Incan Bridge and the Sun Gate, the latter with expansive views over the valley. As we spent more time in MP, small gems of construction and differences revealed themselves. The intricate water works, or the clever combo of natural rocks and impressive construction in the Temple of the Condors. There are many ongoing debates around the original and purpose of the ruins, and it was fun to play armchair archeologist.

 

It was a very long day, starting so early, but we never felt tired. Rather we were continually energized by the sun, the wonderment of the ever inspiring ruins and good people. Oh yeah, and a well deserved nap after a lunch feast at the Sun Gate.

Postcript: The Inca Jungle Trek takes 4 days and 3 nights to reach Machu Pichu and ranges in cost depending on when you booked it, where you booked it, what you wanted to include, and how well you bargained. Online, we saw this particular tour cost as much as $495. In Cusco, the day before the tour, we paid $195. Other prices that we heard on our tour ranged from 200 something euros (so around $300) to $170. Some of the more expensive prices did include more activities such as hiking the mountains at Macchu Pichu (Hayna Pichu or the mountain of Macchu Pichu) but others seemed to be more expensive simply because the individual booked online in advance. Although our price wasn't the lowest, we felt that $195 was a good deal because it included food, lodging, transportation, bike equipment, an english speaking guide, entry into Macchu Pichu and the train back towards Cusco. The face value of the Machu Pichu entry and the train back to Cusco were around $95 alone.

 

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Saying goodbye to Bolivia - too soon

Our last day in Bolivia was quite an adventure, we were staying the town of Copacabana, about 10k from the Peruvian border on an isthmus. This town is ringed by large hills and sits right on the shores of the truly massive Lake Titicaca. We had arrived at sunset the night before and today was our day to explore.

We embarked on a hike across numerous valleys, that took us by fishing villages, through forest and along the almost Med-like shores. We even got to hike a bit on a pre-colombian road that snaked through a valley and down into a forest, it was stunning to think of the centuries that have passed since the trail was built, and all the modern inventions that have come since. But, still the Quechua woman with her ubiquitous sack was using it to get home for the day, as you can see in the pic above. Along the hike, everyone was so nice, always wanting to talk to us in Spanish and with big smiles to see gringos walking along the road, just like them. We found out later that our activity for the day was kind of rare, and that most tourist zip along in cars and take boats out to the nearby islands. All told, we covered over 20 miles, and my legs have been feeling the effects the day after.

For us, this hike was a microcosm of our time in Bolivia, as pretty much everyone we encountered was so nice, from the mining town of Potosi that I wrote about a week ago, to the old capital of Sucre, up to La Paz and then finally Copacabana. We saw a fair bit of the massive country in our too-short week and greatly enjoyed our time.

Although it was kind of cold. You see, the parts of Bolivia we visited are all at some pretty impressive elevations, over 10,000 feet or so at a minimum. While the sun is powerful at that elevation once it goes down for the night, man does the cold come in. Plus, it is very dry, and hence the cold really takes it out of you. We had realization that dry climates have that affect, and the opposite of a damp climate at low temps will also do a number on the soul. Weird.

It is nice to see our Spanish improving to the point where we are quite comfy conversing about this and that with nearly everyone. We are far from perfect, but the main goal in this conversations is connection and that is something we are getting often on a daily basis.

La Paz

We had a surgical strike on La Paz, but happened to plan our visit for Sunday, when the main boulevard in the centro is shut down and a huge street fair commences. There are open air art exhibits, people selling crafts, a bunch of stages with music, lots of food and thousands of people. So cool to see this public gathering, for instance the smiles on the face of kids while they are running around in the crowd and the parents nearby enjoying their kid's delight. Or the purposefulness, precision and unity on display as a large group practicing a choreographed traditional Bolivian dance, we think it was the Caporales, in a public park near the street fair. Everywhere we went in La Paz, people were out, and pursuing their passions.

We also visited the national contemporary art museum, and even bought a piece off the gallery. The piece is a mixed media piece with half coca leaves stitched together and then painted to show an Incan warrior, with the other half a traditionally weaving. Pretty cool, we hope it shows up back in the States so we can enjoy it wherever our next home may be.

 

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