Journey to the Andes

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Back Home

After a 20 hour busride from Cuzco to Lima, plus most of the next day in transit between Lima, Miami, Dallas, and Vancouver, I'm finally back home in Canada. My final days in South America were...well...kind of tiring. The whole Inca Trail thing to Macchu Picchu was kind of lame...you just, well, walked...for like, 3 and a half days. I can't say I understand the enjoyment of hiking. Walking uphill and downhill with a heavy backpack...it was kind of dumb. And Macchu Picchu was infested with tourists, though a beautiful archeological site. The saving grace was that I was put with a really nice group of people for the trek, and I befrinded a likeminded dude from Toronto, so we lazily took our time on the hike and talked about politics and culture and art the whole time. w00t.

After I left Cuzco and arrived in Lima (a HUGE city, like 8 million people or something) I paid a taxi driver to take me around the city (which is a huge dirty metropolis) and show me some of the sites. We went for dinner at a chinese place (where I actually had my first glass of chicha! It seems easier to get in Peru than in Bolivia) which was really tasty...went to the airport and said my goodbyes to South America and got on the overnight plane to Miami.

It's strange being back in Canada...it's great seeing my parents again, and Erin met me at the airport to say hello, which was great. I've been enjoying many helpings of sushi as well as listening to my music that I missed SO much and drinking lots of tea...but Canada is weird. I went to a supermarket today. A SUPERMARKET. What strange places they are...I miss walking around in Bolivian street markets and seeing indigenous people in traditional Andean dress on the streets...I miss hearing folklore music, all my friends that I've met on my trip, going to the Gota de Agua to dance and La Prensa for lunch, I miss the kindness of the people, the wonder of exploring a country and being in such a different but at the same time comfortable world...hah, and so many more things. Going to Bolivia has been the best experience of my life, and I hope that someday I will be able to return. Someday I'm sure that I will.

Take care everyone, te cuidas.

posted by Ben @ 11:28 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Road Back Home

Just came back from Macchu Picchu. It was pretty cool, but touristy to the absolute extreme. The group I went with was really great. I can't really bring myself to write a full entry right now...just letting you all know that tomorrow morning I'll board a bus to Lima which will take 24 hours, and then after a few hours in Lima I'll go to the airport and start my journey home. Maybe I'll write about my Macchu Picchu trip when I get back.

See you all soon. Really sad to have to go.

EDIT: Found an excellent article on the Upside Down World website regarding Bolivia's constituant assembly vote that they had a few weeks ago, you should read it.

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/353/1/

posted by Ben @ 11:24 AM 3 comments

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Solo Once Dias Mas....que mierda es esto!?

Hey hey everyone. I only have 11 days left to go on my epic journey accross the vast andean nation they call...BOLIVIA!!! Been thinking lots about coming home lately...especially how weird it will be. I left La Paz last week and headed off to Cochabamba, where I wasted 3 days doing absolutely jack shit, as I never obtained the number of the girl I was planning on meeting there. It was a nice city (though the people weren't quite as nice as in La Paz or Potosi!!!) but I didn't really have anything to do the entire time...so I left. I'm back in Potosi right now, after a very very cold bus ride that left the better half of my left foot numb with cold for the following 3 hours. I guess I'm a far cry away from what most people think of when they think of South America (ie: beaches, girls in bikinis, palm trees, etc...) as I'm damn cold walking around at night in my touque, scarf, and wool hoodie. I've been visiting my friend Zelida again, which has been fantastic...it'll be really sad to say goodbye...especially since I've only had a few days here and I have to leave tomorrow! Today was the vote for the Constituant Assembly and most of the city was pretty "tranquilo" as they say here (ie: chill). Evo Morales has issued a partial rewriting of the constitution of Bolivia, and members of different political parties have been campaigning for seats on the committee that's going to do this. Fingers crossed Evo's party "MAS" will win!!! Honestly, Evo has kind of fucked up the whole process, since they'll only be rewriting a PART of the constitution (the whole damn thing needs to be redone) and they also have virtually prohibited anyone outside of legit political parties from running, SO, people from unions, social movements, etc were not able to enter the race, which has really pissed a lot of people off. But hopefully things will work out! And best of luck to the left-wing candidate in today's Mexican elections!!! After the crap luck in Peru and Columbia I'm not holding my breath...but we'll see!!! Off to La Paz again tomorrow (or the next day, if I'm lucky) for a day, then Cuzco, Macchu Picchu, Lima, and home. Then...work? *gulp*

posted by Ben @ 5:03 PM 1 comments

Monday, June 26, 2006

LAP...az

Back in the highest capital city in the world. The visit was so short I almost didn't have time to catch my breath...literally. Tonight I head off to Cochabamba for the final stretch of my journey...here in La Paz I've been visiting with old friends, it hardly feels like traveling, it's almost like I've come back home. Even had a night at the Gota de Agua, my favourite nightclub here. HAH! I've been here so long I even have a favourite nightclub. Sent another package home today...my freaking third. WOW. This entry is very uneventful. Well, after Coche I'm going to Potosi again, then squeezing in a long-ass journey to Cuzco in a day or two, then finally to Lima (for like, a day) and then home. WOW!!! Blah blah blah. SEE YA!!!

EDIT: HOLEY HELL!!! I just saw possibly the funniest fucking video EVER. WATCH IT!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r7JHAqoZJs&search=gringo%20bolivia

The BEST part is that I've been to all of those places in the videos...so even if you guys don't understand the jokes (maybe you'd have to visit here to understand...but that is SUCH a typical freaking tourist idiot...) it'd at least be cool to see some places I've been to. CIAO!

posted by Ben @ 9:53 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

HAY YAY YA BOLIVIA!!!

WOW. All I can say is that the Aymara New Year festival was one of the best experiences of my trip, if not my whole freaking life. I ate some slightly dodgy salchipapas (french fries and hot dogs cut up) an hour or so before I left on the bus, so my stomache wasn't at it's prime, so I was a little late leaving, but caught a minibus to Tiwanaku, the town an hour out of La Paz with old old pre-Inca ruins. Met some guys on the mini bus (as well as that weeeeird liberal extremist dude from Coldorado that I talked to a few weeks ago...) and ended up spending most of the night with them. When we arrived at the main plaza the party had already started without us, with Kala Marca (the group I saw in Potosi) rocking the kasbah. EVERYONE was dancing and jumping around and smiling. I didn't feel like a tourist at all, everyone was so inclusive. After they played we hung around a bonfire for a while in the freezing freaking cold...and then walked to the ruins and froze our asses off waiting for the sun to rise. Evo Morales came via helicoptor and raised the Bolivian flag outside the ruins. As the sun finally came up everyone held their palms out to catch the rays of the new year sun, and it's said that by doing this you will be blessed by the Aymara sun god. Everyone took a few swigs of 96% alchohol and embraced each other and said "hay yay ya" which means something like "long live". For the next 2 hours or so folklore groups played music and everyone danced around in circles together.

When I returned to La Paz at 11:00 or so, I slept. Lots.

It was freaking awesome.

posted by Ben @ 3:49 PM 4 comments

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Back in La Paz

AGAIN!!! I'm back in La Paz now...it was really sad leaving Potosi and saying goodbye to Zelida and my other friends. Traveled on the (actually paved!!!) road all night and got into La Paz at 5:30 in the morning, where I promptly found a hotel room and fell fast asleep. Met up today with Patricica and Tanya, some of my buddies from a few months ago. Tomorrow I'm going to spend some time with some of my other old buddies from the start of my trip...it should be great. In just a little bit I'm off to the Aymara New Year festival, marked by the winter solstance, the shortest day of the year. It's the New Year because after tonight, the Sun will come back. Kala Marca, the cool bolivian folklore band that I saw in Potosi, are going to be playing in the morning, and some dude on the street told me that National Geographic is going to film the concert it in the morning!!! WOOHOO!! YEEEAH, I'LL BE THEEEERE!!! God, I have NO idea how I'm going to stay up all tonight and watch the sunrise with everyone else...hopefully there'll be someone selling coffee at Tiwanaku, and lots of it.

posted by Ben @ 6:51 PM 0 comments

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Todavia soy de Potosi...CARAJO!!!

Ahhhh! I'm still here and I love it!!! I went to a concert the other night with my bud Zélida, and it was freaking awesome. After 2.5 hours of waiting (Bolivian time, you see) the concert started, it was in this big soccer field and there was about 2000 people there, I being the only tourist there. Bolivian folklore bands played there, as well as a dancing group from Tarija (the south of Bolivia). They have such a strong culture here in Bolivia, it's so freaking cool. "We in Bolivian, we're not poor, look at all this culture that we have!" said the lead singer of Kala Marca, a band from Bolivia. The audience cheered. Everyone was dancing and jumping along to the music, and there were people in cultural dress dancing in front of the stage as part of the performance. It was one of the coolest experiences of my trip so far. I'm going to go out and buy some Kala Marca CD's right now, actually!!! I have until Monday here in Potosi and then I sadly have to leave to La Paz...then to Cochabamba, and then maybe back to Potosi for a few more days. Because of my dumb visa I have until the 30th in Bolivia, and then I have to go to Peru. Less than a month left...

posted by Ben @ 9:24 AM 1 comments

Ben Martin's log of his 6-month journey to the South American Andean nation of Bolivia.

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