Hola from Aguas Calientes, Peru

Hello again everyone!Our jungle expedition the last few days to the Amazon Basin in eastern Peru was amazing! We traveled by specially equipped vans along a dirt road from Cusco, descending out of the Andes into Manu Nacional Park. There were four others in our group: two people from Toronto Canada, one from Sweden, and one from Norway. Wednesday night we stayed in the Cloud Forest. Thursday we left the cloud forest lodge on mountain bikes and descended further. We rode the bikes for about 3 hours until we arrived at Pilcopata on the Rio Madre de Dios. The views of the cloud forest and transition into low tropical rainforest were fantastic. We also passed through several small villages and visited a coca plantation. In Pilcopata we transfered to an inflatable raft where we did about an hour of whitewater rafting down the river. At one point we were able to swim and jump off a 25-foot rock into the swiftly flowing river. We then arrived at another village where we transfered to a narrow wooden boat that took us further down river to a jungle lodge. I can´t wait to show the pictures. After resting a bit, we headed off into the jungle on an evening hike for a couple of hours. It was all an amazing adventure. All the food they cooked for us was also delicious. I´ve never had fried rice mixed with both soy sauce and mayonaise with lime juice before - but it was great. Friday morning we got up at 5:00 am and headed further down river by boat to visit a "parrot clay lick" - a cliffside along the river where hundreds of parrots come to eat the clay to help their digestion of seeds and things. They are beautiful birds. Seeing the rainforest come to life early in the morning was interesting as well. It sounded like nature´s symphony getting warmed up. After breakfast back at the lodge, we hiked uphill for a while to do the canopy zip line type thing. We were all outfitted with rappelling gear, and then attached one by one to a pully system on a cable, from which we went sailing from one platform to the next through the rainforest canopy. Quite thrilling!!! There were four cables and five platforms in all. The first cable was about 100 meters long and 50 meters above the ground. All the others were a bit shorter. But it was an amazing vantage point to view the rainforest as you go sailing through the air. On the final platform, which was very high in the air on a tree, we had to rappel down the tree to get back to the ground. After all that, and lunch back at the lodge, it was time for James and I to leave to head back to Cusco.Some of the animals we saw on our trip to the jungle include: the "cock of the rock" (peru´s national bird), several types of monkeys, wild pigs, baby tarantulas, other spiders (one type we saw was larger than a person´s hand stretched out - this type floats on water to catch fish to eat), snakes (we saw one very venomous type too), a slug with glowing eyes staring at us in the darkness during the night hike, many types of birds, many brightly colored butterflies everywhere, and more. After hearing and reading about rainforests every now and then all through school, it is finally neat to now have been to part of the famous Amazon rainforest. The heat and humidity reminded me of what we´re currently missing in Alabama. But it was a welcome break from the cold dry air, and lack of oxygen, of the high Andes. The air in the rainforest smelled so fresh and pure, and oxygen-rich. At night, after the 2 or 3 hours of electricity was cut off, we were able to see billions of stars and the milky way very clearly (when the clouds cleared of course). The sound of the swift river flowing right near the lodge was relaxing to fall asleep to.We got in to Cusco from the jungle very late Friday evening. We had left the jungle lodge by boat around 12:30 pm yesterday and then arrived at a village upriver about an hour later where we waited around a while and then got on a van. When we got to the village of Pilcopata, we had another pit stop to unload some rafting supplies, before continuing. Outside of that village we then ran into an accident site where a bulldozer had rolled off the dirt road into a ravine, and many people were around trying to help. And a couple of other tractors were attached to it by cables trying to pull it back up. So, we sat there for an hour or so and then finally they were able to upright the thing and clear the roadway of all the help equipment. Next, after a fast thrill ride up the dirt road into the Andes, careening around sharp curves next to several thousand foot drops into what looked like a black abyss, all the way back to Cusco, we finally arrived.Then we had to get up around 4:00 am this morning to be taken to a bus to take us to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley (about one hour and fifteen minutes ride) to catch the train from there to Aguas Calientes (below Machu Picchu). We arrived here in Aguas Calientes around 7:15 am, and after some confusion as to who was meeting us, arrived at a simple hotel by 8:00 am. So, not much sleep lately, but we´re getting to see some amazing things.We´re now here in Aguas Calientes checking backed up email. Its kind of rainy here, but looks to be letting up. Might try to hike a mountain next to town this afternoon, with a good vantage point of Machu Picchu across the Urubamba River Canyon. Tomorrow we´ll enter Machu Picchu and hike Huayna Picchu (the pointed peak in the background of most photos of the place), and then return to Cusco in the evening by train/bus. Monday morning we leave Cusco by train and arrive in Puno on Lake Titicaca in the evening. Tuesday we leave Puno very early and head towards La Paz Bolivia, utilizing buses and boats, visiting an island and a village on the lake, and arriving in La Paz late in the evening.I hope all of you are doing wonderfully! Take care and best wishes to all!

Hola from Cusco, Peru

¡Hola a Todos!I hope you all are doing well. My brother James and I have had many adventures since last I wrote in Ecuador. We are now in the Inca capital of Cusco, at about 11,500 ft. elevation in the Andes mountains of Peru.To get to Lima, we took a 10 hour bus ride from Quito to Guayaquil, Ecuador, spend the night there, and then took a 30 hour bus from Guayaquil, to Lima Peru, arriving there last monday evening. We spent four nights in Lima. Lima, on the Pacific coast, is covered by a grey haze for much of the year apparently. I think there are around 8 million or more people living there, with more arriving each day. We saw many parts of the city, which offered a glimpse of many contrasts. Of course we saw the main historic and colonial sights, a monestary, the main plaza and surrounding sights (during the daylight and at night - everything is beautifully lit up at night), the upscale Miraflores and San Isidro areas and the seaside cliffs. But we also ventured into parts of Lima on the outskirts where many people from the countryside move to, and saw how most Limeños live. I got to visit a school and a church in one of these areas and talk with the students. That was a very meaningful experience, and I really learned a lot such as how some parts of Lima have very wealthy people and nice amenities and resources. But here in this community there is a twenty percent plus unemployment rate, and the average family income is less than US$60 per month. As I know from previous travels, this scenario is common in some form or another around the world.Well, concerning other stuff. My mom and her colleague´s speech at the conference on Problem Based Learning in Lima went well Thursday morning (James and I met up with them in Lima on Monday). All the food we´ve been eating has been quite rich. I think a meal or two every now and then of just rice and potatoes my be in order to offset all these full, tasty meals. My favorite dish so far is Lomo Saltado, which consists of beef strips grilled with onions, peppers, sauce, fried potato strips, and sometimes other stuff. Potatoes and rice do usually work themselves in with most entrees. Límonada (fresh limeade) is always a refreshing beverage.Well, our trip to Macchu Picchu has now come and gone. We arrived in Cusco after about an hour flight from Lima over the beautiful Andes around 9:00 am Friday morning (after waking up at 5:00 am), then were taken to the hotel to rest. The altitude in Cusco is around 11,500 feet and you can definitely tell it. We were all suffering from mild altitude sickness due to less oxygen and extremely dry, thin air. I can still feel the altitude even today, so I guess it takes a while to acclimatize. Friday afternoon was a 4 hour tour of Cusco - a monastery, the cathedral, the Plaza de Armas, and three Inca sites in the hills above the city. The guide, Odilia, was very good and had a lot of interesting information. We went to bed early friday night, and got up around 5:00 am again on Saturday. The train to Aguas Calientes (about 6,000 ft. elevation) and Macchu Picchu left around 6:15 am and arrived about 10:00 am. We then took a 30 minute bus ride up a switchback road on a cliffside to the entrancce of Macchu Picchu (around 8,000 ft. elevation). Our guide of the site has written several books about the place and has also been a professor and archaeologist. Every view of the site from all points was absolutely incredible. One of the most interesting places I have been to. I would say that it is a must to see for anyone traveling to Peru. Words and pictures really can´t substitute seeing it with one´s own eyes (but I took countless photographs though). The steep mountains here in this cloud forest are covered with lush vegetation as it is on the border with the jungle region. It was a nice contrast to the barren hills surrounding Cusco (although they have a beauty all their own as well). After that, we ate lunch in Aguas Calientes, on the Urubamba River, and then got on the train which left around 4:00 pm and got back to Cusco around 8:30 pm. This morning, my Mom, her co-worker Janet, and Janet´s husband Dexter, left for the airport to fly back to Lima around 10:00 am. We were sad to see them go because we´ve all had such fun together over the past week. I think they land in Atlanta around 8:00 am monday morning. I´ve had a bad cold over the past couple of days (soar throat, aches, etc.), and James has had a sour stomach I think. We´re both still literally winded here because of the altitude and less oxygen. So, today and tomorrow we´re going to take it easy. Tuesday, if we can get it booked, we´ll go on a four day expedition east of here, and much lower, into the Peruvian tropical rainforest and stay at a jungle lodge. Next weekend we may return to Machu Picchu again to do some more things there such as hike to the top of Huayna Picchu - the pointed mountain in the background of most pictures of Machu Picchu). Next monday we´ll probably depart Cusco by train and ride all day south of here to Puno on Lake Titicaca - the highest navigable freshwater lake in the world, at about 12,000 ft. I think. After that, we´ll try to go into Bolivia a little, maybe to La Paz, and then start making our way back to Lima for the flight to Mexico City on Aug. 8. We return home on August 12. I would probably say that this has been the most exhausting trip I´ve ever been on, but it has been well worth it. Wish us a continuing safe journey!I hope all of you are having a nice summer, whether at home or on a journey of your own. Take care everyone!

Volcanic Eruption in Ecuador

Today was action packed. After riding on the roof of the train through El Nariz del Diablo this morning from Alausi, we continued back north by train, over 4 hours, to the town of Riobamba. While descending into Riobamba on the rails, I could see one volcanic crater on the horizon that very much resembled Mount St. Helens. However, to the left of that one on the horizon of mountains I could see another volcano that appeared to be currently undergoing a major eruption. It looked quite close, the gray ash cloud shooting miles into the sky, and pyroclastic flows descending down the mountainside. So, we got on a bus to head out and return to Quito.

We are now back in Quito and have learned that what we saw was Volcan Tungurahua having a major eruption, about 85 miles south of the capital. Several towns are being evacuated, including the touristy town of Banos, the other option of where we would have gone had we not chosen to do the El Nariz del Diablo train.

Here is some information about the eruption:
BBC - Ecuador Volcano Sparks Evacuation
BBC - News in Pictures - Ecuador Volcano
BBC - Volcanic Eruptions Score Melodies - Interesting article about how volcanologists use the low-frequency, seismic rumblings of volcanoes, transforming them into delicate musical scores, in an effort to predict when they will erupt.

Hello from Alausí, Ecuador

Yesterday was another fun day in Quito. We rode the Teleférico to the top of the mountains again (spectacular and breathtaking views of Quito and the surrounding mountains and volcanoes), and then went to Mitad del Mundo - a monument on the equator. Today was a 7 hour bus ride, crammed full of people, from Quito to Alausí, far south of Quito but still in the Andes mountains. We were just dropped off on the roadside of the PanAmerican Highway high above the actual town and had to walk down, luggage and all, into the central area too look for a hotel. Alausí is a very small town set deep within a small valley surrounded immediately by towering barren mountains. It really resembles a wild west sort of town. Tomorrow morning we will catch a train here that will take us through the ¨Nariz del Diablo¨ - the Devil´s Nose - which is supposedly one of the most spectacular train rides in the world. Afterwards, the train should return to Alausí. Then, Friday evening, we will have to either return to Quito, or find a bus to Guayaquil, because those are the only two cities that have international bus terminals (apparently) with service to Peru. The bus ride from Guayaquil to Lima is around 24 hours, and therefore would be much longer from Quito to Lima. Another option would be to return to Quito and then fly from there to Lima. We´re still looking in to all the options.

Hello from Quito, Ecuador

My brother James and I arrived in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, late Monday evening. We are staying in a Hostelling International youth hostel. So far in our first full day here we have seen the colonial and historical center of the city, Plaza de la Independencia, a few cathedrals (one of which we climbed to the top of one of the towers for a beautiful panoramic view of the surrounding city), and rode the teleférico (cable car) to the top of a mountain - probably over 10,000 feet. Quito sits in a valley at over 9,000 feet in the Andes mountains, and is surrounded by several snowcapped volcanic peaks. It has been quite cool here compared to Alabama, in the mid-50s to low-60s. Tomorrow we may visit a monument on the actual equator and some other sights. We´re heading south out of Quito on Thursday, but don´t know yet specifically where to. But we do have to be in Lima, Peru, by Sunday.

New York City

Well, I just got back from a jaunt to New York City yesterday. My youngest brother was doing some auditioning for various things, so we stayed in his hotel room. We left early Sunday morning - July 2 - and got back yesterday afternoon. This was my third time there. Monday we took a cruise all the way around Manhattan Island and saw many interesting sights including the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, United Nations, the many bridges, as well as the general scenery of Manhattan. Then we looked around in Central Park - specifically Strawberry Fields. That evening we met for dinner and went to a fancy Mexican restaurant. The guacamole prepared right at the table from fresh ingredients is delicious. That night we all went up in the Empire State Building.
Tuesday, Independence Day, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Chinatown, Little Italy, and then saw the fireworks show from Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan Island.
Wednesday we went on a tour of the United Nations - something I've always wanted to see as I've had an interest in the organization for some time. We also saw the Museum of Natural History, which was absolutely spectacular with all its rooms and displays from different regions around the world.
Thursday we rode the train back out to Long Island and flew home on Southwest Airlines.

Also, Thursday evening, one of my Aunt's friends from Thailand - but Chinese - was cooking Chinese food for my other brother and some of his friends, so we went as well. All the dishes were quite delicious!

My other brother and mom get home from NYC this afternoon.

Now I have to get ready for another trip. Monday morning, one of my brothers and I leave for Ecuador, with subsequent travel to Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico - in all totalling about five weeks. I'm extremely excited!