Paragliding school in Lima, Peru...

Day 1- What a cool feeling fliying over the skies. I had my first day of school today. I hope to have some good pics for you of flying in the days to come!!! The iguana belongs to my flight instructor, Micheal.

Day 2- Today I feel as if I´ve acheived the impossible by climbing tandem in a paraglider to a altitude higher than the 17 story buildings that we soared by.

Late this morning in the sand dunes 20km south of Lima, I started my training using a more high tech glider than the one I used on day one. I floated on air above the desert floor and practiced turns in the glider. Later on this afternoon when the wind was right Micheal and I sucessfully attempted a tandem flight which launched us high over the littoral cliffy beach and the buildings of Miraflores.

Paragliding is an intense extreme sport that makes the participant soar like an eagle. I can´t wait to progress more, although this afternoon I was slighty petrofied of our height. If we had fallen from that height, we would have been dead in a matter of seconds!

Pisco, Paracas, and Islas Ballestas...guano gallore!

The poverty sticken town of Picso is a great place to take a tour to the quaint fishing village Paracas, the Island of Ballestas, and Reserva Nacional De Paracas. Pisco´s nearby island tour is dubbed the ¨poor man´s Galapagos,¨ and offers views of the enigmatic candlabra, sea lions, penguins, many other birds, and lots of dramatic ocean scaped scenes draped in guano gallore.

The area is on the ocean and about 4 hours south of Lima.

Wacky Huacachina (resort town near Ica)...

Wacky Huacachina...the hip strangness of a desert enclave emanates from this oasis gathering of eclectic travellers. Giant wind swept dunes with perfectly rippled precision caresses of time frame the town of Huacachina which has a scenic lagoon anchored in it´s center. One knows that he is becoming an invetorate to a country, when he starts to become familar with the scenes on the countries currency. The Peruvian 50 Soles note proudly displays an iconic image of the one and only Huacachina.

Kirstin and I stayed two nights in Huacachina...and recomend the Huacachinera Hostel which offers a nice pool with a pretty sqawking macaw. The first hostel that we stayed in had a sloth as the garden pet and mascot. If you visit Huacachina, you must try the dune buggy rides and sand boarding. The dune buggy rides are much like a crazy roller coaster ride and well sand boarding...like snowboarding but not cold and much kinder to the hiney for massive wipeouts!

I jogged up the sand dunes and must say that jogging on sand dunes is probably some of the must difficult jogging I´ve ever done. While on the crest of the sand dune, I felt like I was hiking up the back of a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog.

Nazca Lines: pre-Incans, queers, and aliens.

Archaeologists believe that the Nazca Lines were created between 400BC to 1200AD by a pre-Incan Society. The lines span several miles of desert terrain, and one has to view them in awe wondering how and why they were created. Many theories abound as to the origin of the Nazca Lines; however, I´ve postulated my own!

The queers are in it with the aliens. Yup, they created landing strips for gay Martians...and showed the pre-Incans how to create them in the desert.

(the above mentioned is in reference to a song off of the Dead Milkmen album Beelzebubba — 1988 and is only meant to be amusing...not offensive)

The pics show:
1) a smiling Kirstin in the airplane...
2) the Monkey
3) the gay alien as drawn by the pre-Incas...

Last supper in Arequipa...

Our last supper in Arequipa was a delicious one! One of the restaraunts on the square was empty and cajoled us into to coming for a local specialy that consisted of Alpaca ribs and an avocada salad garnished with local varities of potatoes and maize (corn). All of which was delicious and of course was washed down with a frothy Arequipena cerveza. While we shared our feast, we gazed down at the happenings of the square...truely from the best seats in Arequipa!

Kirstin´s caption: ¨umm, umm, I can´t wait to dig into these ribs!¨

Running your business on a shoe string...literally!!!

I´d like to deadicate this posting to CP, who ran the Maersk Charlotte region while I was working in Memphis.

Business is handled a little differently in Latin America as you can observe from this picture. This guy is one of my favorites. He walks around the street wearing a jacket with thousands of shoe strings on it yelling, ¨heladras¨ (shoestrings) as he walks down the street. He looks like a some kind of strang animal walking down the street, like a sloth or a wooly mammoth. Well he gets the job done and litterly is running his business on a shoe string!
JLD

Rafting the Majestic Majes...

On Sat, June 17th Kirstin and I caught a bus (3 hrs) from Arequipa to a launching spot on the Majes River. The water was warm enough so that we didn´t need wet suits. The scenery was incredible, and the river was kind...although we both wish that the river had been a little more challenging.

Colca Canyon Adventures...

Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world (nearby Cotahuasi is the deepest), is a scenic 3 hour drive from Arequipa. The drive takes on a steep ascent to climax of close to 5000m (15,500ft), and then a decent of 3800m to the charming mtn town of Chivay. In the pictures above you can see: 1) me posing by a sign pointing to Mt Ampata, where excavations took place for the finding of Juanita the ice mummy.

2) JLD at the hot springs outside of Chivay...well worth the trip if you do the Colca Canyon Tour.

3) an Andean condor flying above Colca Canyon. I really enjoyed this part of the excursion.

4) Llamas being hearded down a mountian rode above the canyon.

The altitude is very high on this tour so if you take the tour be prepared to get a head rush when you go over the mtn peaks. I sprinted for about 100m so that I could feel the altitude and almost fainted. Best to bring some fresh coca leaves if you can find them to help with the altitude.

Arequipa...update on life in the ¨white city.¨

Kirstin and I have spent close to a week in Arequipa and have really enjoyed this charming and enchanting city. The food is great in Arequipa and the sites are spectacular. Seeing Juanita at the Andean Museum was one of my favorite highlights.

Travellin' Man's Blues...

Travelling defintely has it's finer moments. However, I'd like to point out that travelling is not all the glamour and problem free times that some might think it is. When it's the fifth day in a row that your food comes and you find a hair in your soup or pasta, you know that you're not dining at Applebee's or even in the USA for that matter. Not to mention are those late nights when the only bus out of town leaves at 2am and no taxis are to be found for you walk to the bus station and all you hope is that you make it alive to the bus station. When you finally get to the bus station you board the bus hoping for good night's sleep only to find that the road to your destination hasn't been paved and that the pot holes on the road are the size of artillery shell explosions. For some strange reason the big fat guy that hasn't showered in a month and snores like a freight train always seems to find himself sitting near me on the night buses. Of course the next bus you book you decide to go with the best service in town. Once your ticket has been purchased you gather you things and head out to catch the bus. The first bus ride goes smoothly and the scenery is spectacular...it's the second leg of the ride where you find yourseld slightly annoyed. You arrive to the bus office, Pullman in this case. Pullman is known for havings some of the nicest rides in town but draconian rules which also make them the most anal retentive company in town. You kindly ask for directions at the office in Spanish, which is the native language; and they look at you like you are stupid, don't have any idea what you're talking about and tell you that it will cost you 500 pesos to leave your bag in their custody for 3 hrs while you wait for their next bus. When this happened to me my annoyance level grew, until I decided to thank them for their politeness and kindness.
Knowing that no one in the office spoke English, I turned around as I was leaving and said, "you guys are a bunch of assholes, and your customer service sucks, gracias!" Of course all they heard was, "Gracias (thank you)," and they appropriatley responded with, "dinada (you're welcome)." Of course they're are times like in Bolivia when I was travelling and didn't find a hot shower for days. When this happens it's difficult to shave; therfore, you have nothing to do but put the cap on and let the beard grow. When you do find hot water and you can't stand the itchyness of the beard anymore, it makes a good laugh to shave off the remnants of the beard one by one...goatee one day, 1969 Grateful Dead look the next (as pictured above), and finally the just taking it down to the big fat Elvis side burns.

I'll leave you with one other story. I arrived in Arequipa a few nights ago and looking fwd to nice night's sleep which I was getting until 2am when the obnoxious Isreally girls came back to their room and proceded to start up a loud slumber party in Hebrew. I waited a few minutes hoping that things would calm down. When they didn't, I politely knocked on their door asked them to please keep their noise down so I could sleep. About 5 minutes later the party continued to rage as did I. I once again went to their door. Only this time I stated, "alright this is you last warning...continue the loud banter if you chose. However, pls note that I wake up with the sun and will gurandamntee you if this noise keeps up, I'll be at your door around 7am knocking every 5 minutes so that you can appreciate how I feel right now."

About 2 minutes after I left, the conversations came to a halt, and I was once again back to sleep.

Enchanting Arequipa (Peru)...

Arequipa is a great refuge from the tacky beach towns of Northern Chile. The weather is warm here in the day time and cool at night. You have to respect and admire the awesome mountians, El Misti and Chachani, that give Arequipa it's signature look. El Misti is shaped in a perfect conical form while Chachani has three peaks and a frosty topping. If you visit Arequipa and find yourself drinking an Arequipena cervaza, take a close look at the label and you will see the great El Misti.

Yesterday I toured the Museo Santuarios Andinos which contains the infamous ice mummy, Juanita. The museum had a great collection of artifacts that were found in the graves of the mummies as well as a temperature controlled glass bedroom for the. lovely Juanita. Seeing Juanita was completely awe inspiring for me. When the Incas climbed the 6288m / 20,000+ft Mt Ampato with their minimal hiking equipment by modern standards to sacrifice Juanita, they believed that they had entered the house of the Gods. When the weather abruptly changed while they were at the high altitude, the Incas believed that this was a sign from the God's. The Incas sacfriced Juanita and several children on the mountian to pay homage to the Gods. Juanita was dutifully sacrificed and believed that thru her death she would sit with the Gods on the mountian. At the time of the sacrifices little did the Inca's realize that they were creating an ingenious time capsule that would be discovered some 500 yrs later. I know that my blog will never provide as much tangible information as an ice mummy; however, I only wish that one day the ancestors of my ancestors will have access to this blog and will be able to study and enjoy my observations and pictures.

The museum doesn't allow pictures to be taken, so regretfully I can not provide any for you...guess this makes an excuse for you to see Juanita for yourself in Arequipa.

The excavation of Juanita took place in 1995 under the direction of Dr. Johan Reinhard, who also oversaw the excavation of the mummies that I wrote about during my time in Salta. Attached is a link that will assist you in learing more about Juanita: http://www.mummytombs.com/mummylocator/featured/juanita.htm

Unimpressive Iquique and Arica (Chile´s Norte Grande)...

Don´t have much to say about these towns accept that I was disappointed in them. I really want to try paragliding in Iquique but was impeded by Sunday´s business shutdowns which carried over into Monday, June 12th which as a holiday in Chile. No worries I´m going to try to enroll in a week long paragliding class when I get to Lima.

Arica and Iquique both have pretty Pacific Ocean setting are are both juxtaposed against gorgeous cliff settings; however, the mood is detracted by the dingy, dirty cheap beach feel of the grungy streets. While I was in Iquique, I ventured to the famed "Zofri," which is the tax free travel mall and one of the only things open that Sunday.

Archeological Musuem in San Pedro de Atacama...

Arqueologigas y Museo RP Gustavo Le Paige in Chile´s remote but enchanting San Pedro de Atacama is well worth the visit if you are interested in seeing Paleo Indian to modern day artifacts (11,000 BC - 2006 AD). The curators of the museum did a fantastic job of setting up a chronological display of artifacts from the Atacama area. The dryness of the Atacama and it´s ability to perfectly perserve artifacts and fossilized bones attracted Gustavo Le Paige to San Pedro around the 1950´s. The display of Clovis points which are pictured above was amazing. Clovis points are one of the oldest styles of arrowheads found in the Americas. The technology of carving the stones into Clovis points possibly came over from Europe via a land bringe or by very primitive boats. One spectator in the museum who shares the same love of archeology as I do, suggested that I check out some of the museums in Europe, especially one in Spain, as these museums display the same technology that is displayed in these Clovis points.

The second picture shows a classic mummy. It reminds me of Grateful Dead´s untitled album cover known by fans as ¨skull f&ck.¨

Crossing from Argentina to Chile (San Pedro)

Passing from Argentina into Chile:

Like an army of mad bandits running through the dark of night, I escaped the cold torture of the Bolivian altiplano, and tasted the last days of the colorful waning Argentinian autumn. Now in this time being the general of travel that I am, I have launched the orders thru the ranks. The weary are once again motivated. The battle wounds from this incessant journey have momentarily healed. Onward thru the dawn into Chile, I will pass. There´s no stopping me now! A Peruvian return is not only a foreseen destiny, it is in evitable. Chile´s Norte Grande will soon be conquered and a clean sweep from Cusco´s ancient revered epicenter will be had. One by one I will take South America!

Like most other spectacular South American settings, the passing from Argetina into San Pedro de Atacama, Chile contains verdant landscapes littered with remains of lost civilizations and vistas of snow capped craggy Andean peaks indelibly chisled by the sacred spirits of the mountains. These landscapes appear as if God came out of the sky and personally sculpted them. In this perspective appears a perfectly transitory blend of light, blue firmament with a thin white backdrop of clouds against the verdant cactus studded divinely carved mountains. In the center of the sky stands the almighty Incan worshiped sun which perfectly illuminates the spectacular scenery.
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While I paint my masterpiece (first night in San Pedro de Atacama):

This quaint desert town evokes eclectic vibes. The wave that you feel upon the first hours is one of extreme remoteness; however, as day becomes night the mood quickly changes to realize that this town is still in the throws of a primitive ambiance.

While I walked thru San Pedro´s limited but inviting streets with my torch, I found the heart of the town. After a quick dinner I found myself in a livily bar with traditional Andean music piping out of a local band. Had I been transported thru time in a portal to a small town alive 100 yrs ago or was Jaba the Hut sitting close by in the bar waiting for Lando Carillsen and Luke Skywalker to appear...wait I think I hear Chewbaca´s roar.

This was the spookey yet inviting feel that was evoked during my first night in Chile´s San Pedro de Atacama. San Pedro offers such a unique enviromentl that you drift along it´s streets as if in a dream. The feeling reminds much of being in a Dead or Panic parking lot scene. In this truely unique spot you become a fixture of the environment...much like the Twlight Epispode where the main character returns night after night only to be trapped in the same repetitive scene.

Any town where half the bars and restaurants use candle light in 2006 as a standard for illumination, becomes a wonderful pueblo for exploration and magical tranquillity before the next launch of the journey.

All I have on this journey to accompany me is my trusty ¨mochilla,¨ (backpack). Sometimes when we reduce ourselves to the simplest of settings with minimal belongings, we are forced thru frugality to find the quintessential core of the Earth´s aesthetic beauty. During my morning stroll in the Atacama, the driest spot on the planet, I found an ancient graveyard deadicated to ¨Pachamama (sp?),¨ Quechua for ¨mother Earth.¨ In this tranquil spot surrounded by towering snow capped Andean Peaks, I kindly observed piles of volcanic, quartz, and pyschedelic rocks which were symetrically placed for the gods of the mountains to observe and bless. In the blink of a monumental now forgotten thunderstorm of time, a hard worked man who knows not the throws of modern dinero, painstakingly placed these stones in a precise and symetrical position. These men didn´t know the trappings of our modern culture. As I´ve been reduced to packing a few key belongings day after day, I´d like to communicate that I can remotely relate to the beauty of ancient simplicities.

One other point of clarification for this travel, the destination has little if no relevance to the journey. The main understanding and points of observation should be observed thru the day to day minute to minute, beauty that is caught and obtained during the transaction of the sojourn.

Notes:
Hostal in San Pedro de Atacama : Hostal Soncheck...great setting!
Beer that I liked: Austral Lager...this beer is made from the water in Punta Arenas which is in Chile´s Lake region.

Rates of Exchange : Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile

Peru May 5th $1 US = 3.30 soles
Bolivia May 25th $1 US = 7.9 - 8 bolivianos
Argentina June 3rd $1 US = 3.08-3.10 pesos
Chile June 10th $1 US = 520 - 530 pesos
Peru June 15th - June 24th $1 = 3.20 - 3.31 soles (rates vary althougth the standard rate seems to be around 3.25)

Sunset over Salta and Cafayate´s hidden waterfall...

Here are some pictures from my hike thru the cactus studded valley in Cafayate to an amazing waterfall. I started the hike in the center of town which is shown in one of the pictures.

When I returned to Salta, I hiked to the top of a mountain and observed this beautiful sunset over the city.

Just another day at the office...Cafayate.

Wow, what a perfect mixture of activities for me to do in Cafayate today. I´d like to dedicate this posting to my good friend DVD of Greer, SC. He truely appreciates, knows the finest of wine, and has shared several from his collection with me for my edification.

I started the day out with a wine tasting tour of 2 Cafayate vineyards. My comments from the tour are listed below/

1) Domingo a)Torrentes - this wine tasted like a very bitter Chardonay. b) Merlot - great nose, but with a very dry taste

2) Vasija Secreta a) Torrentes Lacrado - dry with bitter after taste. b) Cabernet Lacrado - dry but with a fruity after taste...nice complexity. This is the best wine I´ve tried so far. I´m going to surprise Kirstin with a bottle of this wine when she gets to Arequipa. In the above picture, you see me holding the bottle.

After the wine tasting we went to a goat farm that produces goat cheese. The goats are visible in the above ment pictures. The goat cheese was extremely palatable. My hostel rommmate, Christian from Germany, and I bought a block of the goat cheese with basil in it. We picked up some bread at the local market and made a scrumptous goat cheese sandwhich for lunch. After lunch we embarked on a challenging 10km hike to an amazing waterfall. We hiked thru the center of town into a canyon aligned with tall torturous cactus trees. The scenery was like no other scenery I´ve ever seen. We found ourselves in a percarious position trying get over the top of the waterfall. Eventually we climbed to the right spot and were able to traverse over the top. Waterfalls are one of my top aesthetically pleasing subjects of nature. This waterfall was especially scenic because it was surrounded by cactus trees in gorgeous canyon.

El Balcon, my hostel in Cafayate, did a great job of providing many activities for the occupants. Later that night the hostal had a large BBQ which 30 people attended. There was a lot of meat, veggies, and of course local vino on hand.

EXCHANGE RATE IN ARGENTINA- $1 for 3.07 - 3.10 ARG pesos

Photo Gallery- Cafayate and Bolivia...

The first picture was taken in the Garganza del Diablo, (the throat of the devil) which is in a canyon north of Cafayate. The second picture shows one of the breath taking canyon scenes. The red color that you see in this picture is from iron deposits that are imbeded in the hills of the canyon.

The train picture shows me playing Casey Jones at the old train cemetary just outside of Uyuni. This was the first stop on the Salar de Uyuni tour.



Here is a picture of me sitting in the ventana scene in the canyon north of Cafayete. It looks like I´m hanging out beside a giant tonsil. The scenery in the canyon is fascinating.

The next picture exhibits a stunning landscape scene from the canyon which was shot during a colorful sunset.

The last picture shows JLD on Lake Titicaca in Copacabana, Bolivia. I´m about to dept for an amazing 2 hour boat ride to Isle de Sol. On the Island I saw fascinating pre-Incan ruins and went for a captivating hike from the North Island to the South Island. If you are wondering about the flag, this is the flag of Bolivia. No I haven´t defected yet...

Serendipity in Salta (Argentina)!

Day 1 in Argentina:
Today I crossed the border from Bolivia into Argentina. The 13 hour train ride from Uyuni to Villizan, Bolivia was extremely monotnous. I think the train peaked out around 20mph....I´m not kidding!!! The border crossing into Argentina was pretty easy. Tonight I saw my first Argentiniian sunset! I tried to order a steak at dinner, but was brought the following tray (see the pic). I´m relaxing my no red meat diet while in Argentina as Argentina has some of the best beef in the world, and I want to make sure that I try it.

I´m in another slow internet cafe waiting around for a bus to Salta, Argentina.
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Days 2 and 3 in Salta:
Life´s unanticipated discoveries sometimes unleash great pleasantries, hence Salta, Argentina for me! One weary JLD, beleagered from 6 constant days of travel, arrived in Salta on Friday, June 2nd. Not more than 5 minutes after I got off the bus looking exrtremely deshielved and worn from travel, I had multiple offers from hostals. (Look at the pic of the gent dressed as a gladiator in the coffin if you want to see how I felt when got off the bus.) A dapper and persistant gentleman named ¨Fernando¨ seemed to have the best schtick of any hostal offer, so within minutes I is in a cab heading to the Hostal Acllahuasi, which I recomend after last night´s stay. After cleaning up, I took a walk around Salta. The town has a very different feel from the cities that I visited in Peru and Bolivia. For starters Salta is quite beautiful, surrounded by mountians with a European flare. Most of the first day I walked around the city trying to figure out how to make the best of my time in Argentina. Later that afternoon I went to dinner with Jim, an Alaskan travelling around South America. Jim is a few years older than I am, and more of an invetorate traveller. Don´t worry I´ll be near his travel status by the end of the year! He offered great insights regarding things to see in Argentina and Angkor Watt, a world heritage site in Cambodia that I intend to hit at the end of the year. Before dinner Jim and I drank a bottle of Malbec from Cafayate, a wine region in Argentina that pumps out great juice but is lesser known that Mendoza. Tomorrow I´m taking a bus to Cafayate and plan to spend several nights there...update coming soon.

For dinner I had an excellent steak (I usually don´t eat red meat, except for an occasional In and Out burger, but when in Argentina you have to try the beef.) It´s some of the best in the world. I also tried the humitas which is basically a tamale, and very delicious. After dinner I left Jim and met up with Fernando at the hostal. Fernando took me to a street teeming with local bars. I had a couple of beers and stumbled home around 1:30am. Salta has a really warming, safe feel to it. Being in Salta reminds me of my younger days when I used to drive to Savannah, GA from Charleston. Salta has a lot squares with proud generals much like the ones in Savannah.

I started out day 2 in Salta be hiting an all you can buffet for $15 pesos ($5 US). The food was great and was much needed. I eat quiche, quesa, spinach pasta, and a postre consisting of chopped up fruit. After lunch I caught a local bus to San Lorenzo and hiked for two hours in the pretty hills of San Lorenzo. If anyone makes it to this park, please let me know if you spot a tree that has the intitials, ¨JLD¨ carved onto it! Tomorrow I head out for Cafayate... Argentina is quickly becoming one of my favorite South American countries.
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My last day in Salta I toured the Musuo de MAAM, musuem for high altitude mountian anthrpological studies. This musuem had an interesting study on the 3 sacrificed mummies that were recovered from the 22,000ft high Mount Llullaillaco. Check out this site for more info www.maam.org.ar

Tonight I spent my last night in Argentina eating a delicious steak. Until another country convinces me otherwise, Argentina has the best and freshest beef in the world.