Journey to the Andes: July 2006

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

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

About Me

Name: Ben
Home:
About Me:
See my complete profile