July 2009 Archives » One Giant Step

Chilly in Chile

31. July 2009

We knew that traveling south in South America would be cold…it’s winter here right now…but we hadn’t expected it to be this cold. San Pedro de Atacama is inland a bit and, at 2500 meters, is the chilliest place we’ve visited yet. We got off the bus after dark and set about to look for [...]

Technical Difficulties!!!!

29. July 2009

2 Comments

Sorry for the dry spell in posts … apparently Chile’s main service provider Telefonica is not letting us see or put up new posts to the blog. We will be in Argentina in a few days so expect a slew of new stuff then. Of course there are ways to get a short note posted [...]

What Goes Up…Must Go Down

23. July 2009

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We start the descent in the early afternoon. A dusty, rocky, steep trail that switchbacks down the 1000 meters to the bottom. One thousand meters…that’s one kilometer straight down. After climbing the heights of Dead Woman’s Pass on the Inca Trail, there was nowhere to go but down…to the bottom of the deepest canyon in [...]

Lake Titicaca…hee, hee, hee…

19. July 2009

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When Jason first saw Lake Titicaca on the map of Peru all those months ago, he giggled like a schoolboy and said that we had to go there. It definitely has a name that makes us all laugh and the joke is not lost on the locals. The lake is shared by Peru and Bolivia…Peru [...]

How To Just Let Things Happen In Puno

14. July 2009

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I’d heard that Puno was the asshole of the earth. People said ‘don’t stay there, just head to the islands’. I figured it couldn’t be that bad. We took a tourist tour bus from Cusco to Puno. On board was a guide who explained all the sights along the way. We stopped at four historical/cultural [...]

Machu Picchu

11. July 2009

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The history of Machu Picchu is a mystery. Was it where the great Incan Pachacutec instructed his people to hide during the Spanish invasion? Was it the great economic center of the Incan culture? Or was it built as a prison to house those that had committed heinous crimes? In it’s current state it is [...]

Inca Trail Trek

9. July 2009

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Having not done much trekking in my life, I can’t say where the Inca Trail Trek rates in terms of difficulty. What I can say is that with a porter to customer ratio of 1.4 porters for every customer (plus a chef and two guides), I have to think that this might be on the [...]

The Porters of El Camino Inka

7. July 2009

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I can hear them well before the sun rises. They are up breaking camp, preparing for the day, making us breakfast. They each carry 25 Kg on their backs over the same trail that I struggle to negotiate. They leave after we leave, pass us on the trail, and arrive at camp before us. They [...]

Playing Fair While Learning Spanish

5. July 2009

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It’s easy to find a Spanish school in Cusco, they are a dime a dozen. It’s more difficult to find one that offers a great program, is flexible, and gives back to the community. We found that, and more, at FairPlay. Run by John, a Dutch fellow, and his Peruvian wife, FairPlay is a not-for-profit [...]