MEXICO VIAJE

MEXICO VIAJE

Bienvenido, Welcome, Bienvenue

Hope you enjoy my travel blog, comments are not necessary but much appreciated.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Hola Everybody:
I know I had said yesterday's would be my last email but today I had access to a free computer so it would be silly not to take advantage of it.
After thirty-two long distance buses, excluding tour buses, and thirty hotels we finally reached our last destination. If you will allow me a few observations of a more anthropological nature regarding this vast continent. These are not in any particular order of importance.
-pissing in public, for men, and breastfeeding in public, are perfectly acceptable
-show up at any bus station and you will inevitably find a bus ready to take you to your next destination.
-buses will stop for you anywhere, anytime, there is even a person whose job it is to do just that, round people up. It's fierce competition because there are so many companies.
-there is absolutely no law preventing bootleg CD's and DVD's from being sold legitimally in stores.
in Peru and Ecuador these stores are everywhere
-one of the curious facts with money resides in the difficulty of obtaining change for even small bills. This is particularly true of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. It is absolutely common to have a person running around trying to get change from other stores so they can pay you back.
-local T.V. programming is generally shit - total paucity of locally produced quality programming and as a result there is a deluge of american programming avalable.
-sadly the best news is to be found on CNN, en espanol - the news available on regular stations is also very poor and too often of a sensationalistic nature.
-most newspapers are poor and tabloid like - there is a particularly lurid one which comes from Guayaquil, in Ecuador. It always features a naked to the waist bimbo side by side with a gruesome murder victim. If there's more than one murder they drop the bimbo.
-in this teacher's eyes education is a conundrum wrapped in an enigma, yes it's that confusing.
children are out at all times of the day, in uniforms, there is school at night or they are out at 12:30 or sometimes at 1:30 - kids are out with their parents when they should be in school. there always appears to be a school trip going on - I suppose it doesn't feel very regulated and since many other things aren't that shouldn't be a surpise.
-Quito is the most heavily policed city we've been in so far and that's saying a lot. There are cops, military, private security, transit cops and they are all armed to the teeth.
-irony in the whole religious legacy is not lost on me but certainly lost on many here - after having been an excploiter of incomparable magnitude the church and its attendant colonial past are now heavily exploited for the purpose of tourism-South America remains a deeply religious continent but it's no longer just catholicism. There are many other religions here vying for new converts and winning.
-cellphones are everywhere - it's almost as bad or worse than in Canada. Twelve million people now use cellphones in Ecuador.
There is much more but will save it for later. This is definitely IT. Don't forget to keep in touch if you don't live close.
Adios,
Josiane


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Holla everybody:
This will be my last email since we are leaving at 6:45 on Saturday morning. We will have to get up at 3:00 and take a cab to the airport to be there at 4:00. It's going to be a very long day since we arrive in Vancouver at midnight on Saturday. Not really looking forward to that but it can't be helped. I promised something a little more on the light side after the "prison visit" episode. We have been in Quito almost 10 days and it's the capital where we will have stayed the longest. Luckily for us it's also one where there are quite a few things to do and the food is more on a international palette level than elsewhere. The other day we found a French bakery and the pains au chocolat and croissants were heavenly. We have also eaten a lot of arabic food. Shawarmas and a pop cost $1.50 so it's very reasonable. We have been a little tired of south american food which is not exactly varied. Overall it's potatoes in the form of fries and rice with some meat, usually chicken. Chicken is the king of meat here and elsewhere. I don't want to eat barbequed chicken for a while.
Lest you think we have been complete philistines throughout this trip that is certainly not the case. We have visited many museums, churches, archeological sites but it doesn't always make for riveting reading.
Yesterday we visited two such extraordinary museums. One was the house of the most famous painter in South America Oswaldo Guyasamin and the other is called "la capilla del hombre" which means the chapel of man dedicated to the suffering of the poor, the exploited, the hunted and the disenfranchised. The building is absolutely magnificent and the paintings are equal to the setting. For those who have an interest in art you can look up his work on the internet. His house contained one of the best archeological collections we have seen throughout the trip. It wasn't huge but the pieces were very impressive and big which is quite rare.
In addition to visiting museums we also took two trips. We went to the village of Otavalo on Sunday, it's two hours away. Otavalo has the biggest artesania market in all of South America. We bought more than we should have. The women of Otavalo are particularly striking. They wear a peasant type blouse, white with long bouffant sleeves, a skirt which is either dark blue or black and the two items a joinged together by a multicolored sash wrapped very tightly around their little waists. Their hair is always long and usually in a braid or piled high with some kind of decoration. They also wear wear strings of golden beads around their neck. On their feet they have these cute, chinese like black slippers. The whole effect is very appealing. The men all have long hair, tied in a braid and most of them wear hats and ponchos and white pants.
We also went to the town of Latacunga hoping to see quite a few volcanoes along the way but we only saw three before the weather turned to cloudy obscuring the tops.
It's hard to believe our trip is over although it feels like we have been on the road for a very long time. There is much more to say about South America, the social, the political and the cultural. I have many opinions about those topics but opinions are better debated "en vivo". Our spanish is quite good. I have practiced a lot. The whole jungle trip was completely in Spanish and wasn't a problem.
Hope you've all enjoyed reading about our travels. Nissa is going to make a little book out of all the emails I wrote. Feel free to write back. I will check my emails when in Vancouver or Summerland. It feels strange to write that.
Lots of love, thanks for reading,
Josiane


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Hola Everybody:
You won't be receiving too many more of these so you can all heave a big sigh of relief.
As I promised here is the email on our prison visit. We belong to South America Explorers' Club and they organize a visit every Saturday to either the men's prison or the women's prison. I had to do a little arm twisting to convince Stan it would be a very good thing to do. We arrived at the club at 9:30 but the Ecuadorian guide did not show up. Apparently he's quite tired of doing those visits or at least that's what he was saying. We later found out from Zoe, who we visited, that he was having sex with an inmate and had been banned from the prison. Yes that's the kind of chaotic, infernal place I am talking about.
We arrived for our visit, alone. The guy from the club just dropped us off, by cab, at the door.
He told us that Zoe was an inmate that club members often visited so we said her name at the door. We had to surrender our passports, get patted down, searched, I had brought a bag of assorted goodies, and stamped twice. Besides the guards and matrons at the door there was no other visible guard presence in the prison. We went down this open corridor with inmates free on both sides. There were children running around, men visiting, people cooking etc... We didn't get too many dirty looks. Zoe was brought down by an inmate who I had to tip. Zoe Savage is an Irish woman serving an 8 year sentence for drug posession. She has already completed over 4 years of her sentence in that hell hole. She's quite a well known case. You can google her name and find out about her case. She maintains she was framed and there were many irregularities in the course of her investigation. She filled in the details of the prison for us.
The prison was built for 250 and currently holds about 800 plus children. You have to buy everything, food, toiletries etc... You can buy from various outlets run by prisonners. The price is usually two or three times higher than on the outside. When you get your cell it's almost bare.
You have to buy and build your bed, shelves, cupboards etc...The previsous inmates usually take what they can with them. There are two gated wings for inmates with money. Each inmate who lives there has the key to the gate. Zoe lives in one of the better wings. I use better euphemistically. The cells are tiny rooms which can house two or three inmates, very uncomfortably. In the general population there can be up to 9 people in one cell. It seems impossible but it's true. You have to lock everything down because many people steal. Drugs are common in the prison brought in by corrupt guards. Inmates who have no money hire out their services to inmates who do, for laundry, cleaning, cooking. The pecking order is, as usual, always intact. Zoe has had a rough time in there but she had to learn to accomodate in order to survive. There are about 6 other foreigners in the jail, two are German addicts and one is from Bulgaria. She has served two and a half years and has yet to be sentenced! There is no Bulgarian embassy in Ecuador.
The inmates are basically free to roam from about 5 in the morning to 10 at night when there is lockdown. No attempt at rehabilitation here, nothing is offered. The yard is a pile of rubble. Picture an empty construction site and you will have a good picture.
The saddest is the children. Zoe says that early in the morning, they line up outside and pick up either newspapers, candies or whatever to go sell on the streets or in buses. This to support their mothers in jail. We have seen these children, some as young as 5 or 6, it really breaks your heart. There is a lot of violence and intimidation in the prison. Zoe got cut a couple of times and once they cut off her hair. She has long blond hair. It's really a dismal picture. Most of the Ecuadorian inmates are in for either drugs or murder. There are many so-'called "crimes of passion" in Ecuador. Murderers get less time than drug convictions. The U.S. exerts a lot of pressure on Ecuador to convict drug offenses very harshly.
It was a very moving experience in many ways. It's sad to see so many wasted lives.
Zoe was really happy to have visitors. I know I would have been if I had had that experience.
Hope this wasn't too depressing. I promise to write something lighter for my final email.
Josiane



Go Where There Is Always Some Action - The Movies!
Hola Everybody:
There won't be too many more emails after this one just a couple more perhaps. Starting with where I left off. After our trek through the jungle we had a very nice lunch and some free time, just like at camp. In the late afternoon we went by pirogue again to visit a family of Quichua Indians. After a twenty minute boat ride we walked through the forest again wearing rubber boots provided by the hotel. Rubber boots are absolutely essential. There is water in many places, plus snakes, spiders and most terrifyingly conga ants. Conga ants are huge and black. They have a ferocious bite which is not only intensely painful but will leave you with a tremendous fever. There is a cure available from a plant found in the jungle but it's not always close by.
This family only buys 3 essential things for which they need money. They buy salt, kerosene and matches. The rest they mostly grow themselves or trade although jungle conditions are certainly not ideal for growing any kind of food. We saw a few coffee trees. They have mostly abandonned growing coffee because it pays so little. Wait till you hear the figure it willl be enough to make you run and hide your face in shame, I know I felt that way. Here it is $3.00 for 50 KILOS. Unbelievable and shocking but true. Most of their money comes from coco beans which pay a little better, $50.00 for 50 kilos, still it takes a lot of coco beans to make up 50 kilos.
They also grown corn and yucca which is the real staple of their diet.
We arrived at the clearing where the house stood on stilts. A very simple, basic structure consisting of one room open all around, no windows, with a peaked roof. Unfortunately the shaman, a healer, was gone with his wife to attend to some illness elsewhere and the couple who also live there were gone as well on some unspecified business. Left behind were 5 children 2 boys and 3 girls between the ages of 14 and 4, it was a little hard to tell. They were very shy but also very curious about us. We walked around the grounds a little more and then went into the house. Basically it was a bare room with only the most rudimentary cooking items to be found. In the middle of the room was a rectangle packed with sand with a fire going on top. This is where they do most of their cooking. They never eat three meals a day and most of their nutrition comes from an alcoholic beverage called chicha which is fermented mostly from yucca roots but also from platana. It's only sweet during the first 5 days and then it's super stron at about 80%. The children are accustomed to this and apparently do not suffer any ill effects.
This chicha gives one the illusion of being full even if one has eaten very little so that is its main advantage. The children wore fairly grubby clothes and we did not see any other clothes elsewhere in the room. They all walk barefoot. They sleep on the bare wooden floor with just a thin blanket for cover. Nine people live in this house. They do not make a lot of demand on their environment. We contrasted it with all that we needed just to come for 2 days! Draw your own conclusions. Our lives are just so full of stuff and we always want more. It would be a mistake to assume that their lives are pure drudgery. It's what they know, it's their place in the world even if it could never be ours.
The next day we went for a four hour hike into the Jaguar reserve. The jungle can heal you but it can also kill you. There is a leaf so potent that when ingested your abdomen swells up as your intestines are being liquified. In years past women chose to kill themselves that way to escape family violence. There is a leaf that is so sharp that it can almost cut you to the bone. There is a palm tree that walks at night, no shit.... There is a leaf in the shape of the manta ray which can heal you from that poison. There is a leaf called "sigame" follow me which can make a person fall in love. There is a liana root which can provide you with one liter of water in half an hour and there is also a liana root which is a potent hallucinogenic. It's a veritable pharmaceutical cornucopia. I've only named a few examples but there are so much more.
Our ride back, that same day, was leisurly and beautiful, the sun was shining. We finally did get to Amazoonicos, the animal refuge and saw a variety of animals from the selva. We arrived back happy and tired. Our last day in Misahuali was uneventful except for our supper meal where we got to listen to a tango music player on his bandoneum, those queer little accordeons which they use to create that inimitable sound. It was a beautiful finish to our amazone adventure.
Today we visited the womens' prison in Quito but I will write more about that later. It was quite a harrowing experience. Lots of love,

Josiane


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Hola Everybody:
I don't have too many more of these to put together since our trip is slowly coming to an end.
When I last wrote we were still in beautiful Banos. On the day before we left the sky cleared up magically and allowed us to have a good view of our first active volcano. We had to hike for about 45 minutes but what a view when we got up there. One side of the volcano still had snow on it and the other side was spewing thick black smoke. If it had been at night we would have seen lava flowing down as well but as it was we were quite happy to have seen at all. It was a fitting end to our time in Banos.
We left for Puyo the next day and only stayed one night. We did visit an animal reserve in Puyo where they are in semi-liberty. The monkeys hang around but some of the birds have had their wings clipped. Sad, I know. We pressed on towards Tena and our final destination which was a tiny jungle town called Misahualli right at the junction of the Misahualli river and the Napo river, population maybe 500. It really felt like the end of the world with jungle all around us and what incredible abundance of vegetation and flowers like bird of paradise, bromeliads, and too many others to list them. Misahualli also has its resident monkeys. A group of about 37 Capuccin monkeys, just like the one I had. They were so mischievous and quite entertaining. One jumped on my bag and stole my cigarette pack right out of the pocket. Luckily there were only 2 left but they proceeded to share them and EAT them. One was really pissed when Stan attempted to retrieve the pack. They are beloved by the town people and treated like naughty children.
We were staying at a wonderful hostleria and paying only 14.00 U.S. for both of us. We had a balcony overlooking the rio Napo. Through this hotel we arranged a tour to the jungle, just the two of us. We paid a little bit more for this privacy but it was worth it. We set out in a long dugout canoe, pirogue in French, with a cover on top in case of rain. The Napo river is the longest river in Ecuador at 1,400 kms. from its source to when it throws itself into the Amazon.
It was just like in those movies about South America that are set in the jungle. The boat, the trees, the guide, the whole thing was quite spectacular. We arrived at a beautiful lodge. We had our own cabin with private bath and cold shower. Our cook prepared all our meals and the setting was the cooking and dining lodge in company of 2 delightful and one not so delightful parrots. We went for a long 2 hour hike in the jungle and surprisingly very few mosquitoes were present. We learned a great deal about medicinal plants and I will write more about that in Episode 2. We also visited a family of Quichua who are the indigenous people who still live in remote areas of the jungle. I don't want to write it all now because it will be too much to read and I don't want to try your patience. On another note the day before we left we walked quite far to attempt to go to this place called Amazoonicos, a refuge for animals. We had to walk, take a one hour bus and waited for more than an hour for a pirogue to take us to the other side of the river, all this in the pouring rain and it poured like it can only pour in the jungle. I needed to go to the bathroom and fell on some slippery mud and gashed my arm pretty badly. The good thing about it was that we learned about this salve called Sangre de Drago or blood of the dragon which is quite miraculous. It comes from a tree in the jungle which literally weeps these gooy tears that resemble blood. My wound dried up in just a couple of days. I will write again about some of these amazing and not so amazing plants sometime this week.
Josiane
Hola everybody:
Hope all is well in your corner of the world. We are starting to see the finish line, our time in Ecuador is progressing very nicely indeed. We had a lovely time in Cuenca a beautiful colonial city with wonderfully preserved architecture. We stayed there for 5 nights in a hotel where I could use my visa card. It was not total luxury but it was very comfortable indeed and the price was not bad as well. We visited a private museum with a beautiful collection of most of the aboriginal cultures to have been found in Ecuador. There were many unusual pieces including musical instruments, the same principle as with a xylophone but with rocks of different timbres and all dated over 1000 years ago. The museum alsor had some lovely reproductions, some of the best we have seen so far and we bought a few small items. We are running out of room and the bags are getting heavier and heavier although thankfully we have only had to pack them around on the odd occasion. Taxis are both cheap and plentiful everywhere so it's been quite convenient.
After Cuenca we went to Alausi, a small mountain city, where we were hoping to catch the train the next day to the Nariz del Diablo. This train is an engineering marvel with lots of switchbacks and a precipitous descent. Unfortunately it was not to be. There had been a landslide between Riobamba and Alausi so there would be no train on that day. We almost expected it because this train has been extremely unreliable. It's still the rainy season in Ecuador so there has been rain almost every day but it stops at periodic intervals so it hasn't been too much of a bother.
We left Alausi for Banos which is a resort town only one and half hour away from the Amazon basin. It's a beautiful location with a very active volcano. The town was completely evacuated for a year in l999 because of threats from the volcano. It's active as I write this. We went to see it at night but there were too many clouds so we had to settle for the fire eater show, not quite as spectacular but you can't control mother nature.
The next day we went rafting on the Pastaza river. There was 8 of us with a rafting guide and two kayaks as well for those unpredictable events. Safety was very good. We wore wet suits and helmets and got a crash course in how to paddle. This river is mostly a category 3 with some categoy 4 rapids. Our group was really fun and Enrique the guide was a blast.
Everything started off well. We hit some pretty intense rapids but we did O.K. At about the halfway point, we were going down for 18 kms., we hit these really intense rapids. Everything happened really fast. Before I knew it I was down in the water, I went under and started to panic, I was swallowing water, I came up after what seemed like an eternity, there was a rock wall nearby and I crashed into it but then I saw the boat nearby and was able to reach it. Stan had the fright of his life when he couldn't even see me. I was a little stunned after that and didn't have to paddle anymore. It was pretty darn freaky but hey I'm O.K. We continued down the river and got to a place where there was a wide sandy beach. Enrique asked if people wanted to jump in and everybody did so I thought what the hell, I'm no wimp, so I went in as well. I thought the rapids would carry you to the sandy beach but not such luck. It sort of forked abruptly and you could feel the power of the river just carrying you along. I was the first one back on the boat but everybody else was not long after. It was quite terrifying and they were holding on to the kayaks for dear life. Stan was also scared and was the third one back on the boat. We finished with 2 category 4 rapids but nothing else happened. It was still a wonderful experience and we really enjoyed it. I was a bit battered and bruised from being pulled up and the wall but nothing else. We then went for lunch and finished with rope jumping off a bridge, not us though and only 4 people did it.
The road to the river was incredibly beautiful with a lush tropical vegetation peppered with wild orchids and waterfalls. WOW, I would have given the day a 10 if it weren't for what felt like my "near death experience". Today we soaked our bruised muscles in the hot springs banos is famous for and it seemed to help. We will be leaving for Puno on Tuesday and making our way as planned to the jungle which they Ecuadorians call the near Oriente. Hoping for some more adventures although none involving life or limb. Always nice to hear from whoever cares to write back. Still breathing in Banos,
Josiane


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Hola Everybody:
Hope you are all well and the weather is finally more temperate where you are. We are nearing the end of our trip in Peru. When we crossed the border they only gave us one month even though we are entitled to three. I wasn't quick enough and didn't catch it till it was too late to do anything about it. In any case we must leave before April 6 which is fine because we still have all of Ecuador to explore. We left Lima for the town of Huaraz smack in the center of the Andes. There is the Cordillera Negra on one side and the Cordillera Blanca on the other. We didn't see the top of the tallest mountain in Peru, Huascaran, but we still got a pretty good look.
The cordillera was a very pleasant change from the coast. On the negro side the mountains appear dark brown but they are actually verdant with vegetation and crops. On the white side the mountains are steeper and snowcapped. The Andes are the only tropical mountains in the world that have glaciers. We took a tour to a beautiful laguna which looked a lot like Lake Louise without the development. This laguna is in Huascaran Park which is a paradise for mountain climbers and real alpinists, the kind that scales peaks. We are neither of those but were content enough to go for a walk in the area surrounding the laguna. It's bizarre because you're very close to a glacier yet it's not cold at all. You can walk in your short sleeves.
The town of Huaraz was bustling with activity and its setting, surrounded as it is, by gorgeous mountains made it a prettier site than many of the other cities where we have been. We also scored our cheapest hotel here: 13 dollars Canadian a night and we still had t.v. with cable but the remote didn't work and hot water in the shower well let's just say they lied when they said 24 hours.
We usually stay 3 days or 4 and then move on. We wanted to go back to Trujillo, on the coast, but we didn't want to take the night bus, those are killers and you can't see anything,. We found out that there was an "economico" kind of minibus, a bus but not full size, that was going to Chimbote from an alternative route and leaving at 8.00 so we decided to take that. Well, we were in for quite a ride. First of all we were the only "extranjeros" on this bus. All the luggage is stored on top, not the first time for us so that was O.K. The road is basically a thin ribbon and I mean thin hammered out of the Cordillera snaking its way upwards and then downwards. It's unpaved, full of rocks, washed out in parts and skirts precipices that are so high and the road so narrow that from your window it feels like you're going to drop down any minute and be lost forever into that Peruvian abyss. I mean it was freaky. I happened to be sitting by the window and honestly there were many times I had to close my eyes, it was that scary. Even Stan was scared. Everybody else on the bus appeared quite oblivious. That's another thing. They kept letting people onto the bus, a bus which only had 30 seats was now carrying 50 with all the extra people in the aisle so you couldn't move at all. At one point we were so high that we were in the clouds, literally, you couldn't even see below which was a relief I suppose but the driver had very little visibility and had to negotiate those endlessly tight corners. This went on for at least 5 hours before we finally reached the bottom and then a paved highway. The scenery was beautiful but I have to admit that when you're white knuckling it, scenery becomes a distant consideration. What a trip that was, a memorable one for the books.
We are now in Huanchaco which is as good a seaside resort as Peru can offer and spoling ourselves in a three start resort with a beautiful setting, pool, really, really clean roon etc.. It's a bit of a treat for us and we're enjoying it. Hope everybody is well.


Josiane

Hola:
We arrived in Lima yesterday from the small town of Pisco but first a few news on our adventures prior to that. To leave Arequipa we boarded another semi-shitty bus to go to the town of Camana a supposed beach resort but nothing to write home about. We only stayed one night.
The interesting part is the bus. To get on it we had to be photographed and fingerprinted.
That's right, our little index fingerprints are now floating around in the bowels of some Peruvian
bus company. That was the weirdest thing. It's all in the name of security, they appear obsess
with it. Your ticket could be checked 3 times by 3 different people. Your name and passport number is also recorded diligently. I believe it's just another make work scheme because I really don't see how any of this really enhances security. I have no idea where all this information so arduously collected, goes. On another matter, after leaving Camana we went to the beautiful oasis of Laguna Huacachina. The whole coast of Peru, both south and north is one vast desert area, bigger than the Atacama. Once again it's a mostly arid, brown coastline, devoid of much vegetation although there are oasis in some of the lower areas and surprisingly a lot of food is grown here, including grapes. They have huge vineyards. This is the prime grape growing area of Peru. In Huacachina there are huge and I mean huge sand dunes. It feels just like the Sahara. We went on a wild dune buggy ride and even went sand boarding. I never thought I would do that but I did 3 sand dunes. Stan did nine. The hills were quite steep. Our hotel was a refuge for a lot of young backpackers, it had a pool and a bar, deadly combinations. They were mostly up till 3 in the morning so we didn't get much sleep. We left for Pisco, the capital of the national drink Pisco Sour. Found a cheap hotel with a pool and cable for 15.00 dollars a night.
Pisco not much of a town, most buildings are half completed as is the general rule in the parts of Peru we have visited except for downtown Cuzco and Arequipa.
We took a tour to the beautiful Ballasta Islands and saw at least a million birds nesting there, including rare ones of which I don't remember the name. There were also penguings, the small kind, seals, thousands of them and on the way back some frolicking dolphins right by our boat.
These islands are very old, shaped into arches and caves by wind, sea and weather. We also visited the Paracas Natural Reserve which is mostly desert with its spectacular setting by the sea.
Yesterday we left for Lima and arrived In Miraflores which is where the rich have migrated. It's nothing like the Peru we know. It's high buildings, all completed, huge boulevards, parks, all the american franchises are here. In fact it's like another country. It's hard to reconcile this image with the other Peru. We are leaving this hotel and area for another one in the center. We are paying way too much for this one. We will soon be heading for the Cordillera Blanca of the Andes. We are taking a little detour through the interior to escape the unrelenting monotony of the coast. Our next destination is Huaraz. Lots of Love to all.

Josiane



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Hola everybody
Well my last long email went the way of the dodo bird since it now appears that nobody got it. I have to remember to save those long emails. They take a while to write on these less than pristine computers. On this one the keyboard is all messed up so it's a bit of a hit and miss. We left La Paz in a shitty little bus and visited some fairly unsavory toilets along the way. First rule of traveling, always carry toilet paper with you. I had to use a bill once which was better than nothing. Unfortunately it was a small bill so it barely did the job. I'll spare you the details. Copacabana is another one of those funky little towns right on Lake Titicaca which is incredibly big. It's the highest navigable lake in the world. The weather was nice when we arrived but it soon turned rainy, especially at night and in the early morning. We did a fair bit of walking. They have the Calvary of the cross up this really steep mountain and we did that. Not an easy thing at almost 4000 metres altitude but we were met with a wonderful view which is more than Jesus could say! Hope that last bit doesn't offend anybody. We wanted to go to Isla del Sol for the day which is reputed to be the birthplace of the first Inca king-god. We did end up going but only for a half a day because it rained in the morning. Think Greek island without the olive trees and not nearly as warm water. It was beautiful with no cars. Cars have been a particularly toxic presence in the cities. There are so many of them, all taxis and vans. The pollution is unbelievable. It's not all pretty pictures. These cities are hard to live in. I couldn't do it. They are noisy and dirty mostly except for the colonial legacies mostly in the form of churches or religious buildings of one kind or another. The church has not been kind to people of South America when you look at the history so there's a certain hypocrisy in viewing all those remnants of a brutal colonial past and marveling at the splendid architecture and the gold relief of the altars.
We're sort of down on churches and religious buildings in general right now. We have seen too many of them.
We left Bolivia for Cuzco which is probably the most beautiful city we have seen on this trip yet.
It is filled to the brim with yes Churches, colonial buildings, hotels, restaurants, Inca ruins on which many houses are built and other incredible Inca ruins right near by. We walked uphill to one such ruin called Sacsayama - pronounced like Sexywoman. Those Incas liked to build things the hard way, the higher and the heavier the better. In that site we saw stones weighing up to 150 tons perfectly fitted together with other stones. Hard to imagine how they ever made it up there.
It would have taken 2,500 people to move just one stone like that! They explain how it could have been done but you still can't visualize it.
For those teachers out there I managed to participate in one demonstration staged by retired teachers of Cuzco. I went to ask a question and next thing I knew I was marching alongside of them chanting slogans in espanol. It felt good. Back to the churches though, in Cuzco you have to pay to enter all churches and religious buildings. It's something that the clergy of Cuzco decided upon a while back. You also have to buy a sort of passport which allows entry to some of the museums and the ruins in the city and outside.
We did a tour of the Sacred Valley and that was fantastic. Too long to talk about here.
Of course we also went to Machupicchu which is our biggest expense so far. It cost us almost 300 dollars. You have to go via Peru Rail which is owned by a Chilean British Consortium damn capitalistas, plus a bus plus entry to Machupicchu itself which is 40 bucks U.S. per person.
We took the train at 6 in the morning and arrived in another cool town called Aguas Calientes.
The setting is breathtaking. If you can imagine huge vertical mountains covered in lush vegetation which completely surround the town and a roaring river below and no cars because there is no road access. Spectacular really. We took the day to hang around the town and went to the hot springs just a hop and a skip away. The only problem with Aguas Calientes was the rain. Believe me you need a poncho there. However it was warm so it was still O.K. The next day we got up at 6 to take the bus to M.P. The bus ride itself was something else. All hairpin turns up thse steep, steep mountain roads with barely room for the bus itself.
Machupicchu is at the very top of one of these mountains. When we got there it was a bit cloudy but the clouds started to lift and it revealed itself gradually in all its glory. It's much bigger than we thought and a lot more impressive than the one picture everybody has seen. Once again the site is so spectacular that it defies description. How they managed to build a city so high and with such ingenuity remains a big mystery. We spent 5 wonderful hours there and by the way it's not for people who suffer from vertigo, it's that high. Stan went up a mountain, I went halfway and waited for him. It was too freaky with my little sandals.
A really wonderful experience, not to be missed and worth the money.
We are now in Arequipa, too loud, too big, too something and will be leaving tomorrow for the beach making our way up slowly to Lima. The food has been the best so far in Peru and I do like that Pisco sour which is the national drink.
Lots of love,

Josiane


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Hola:
Here is another installment of our trip so far. First a few things about food. The bread in La Paz is absolutely delicious. It tastes just like a french baguette so it's a welcome relief from the stuff that passed for bread in Chile. Most of the hotels include breakfast in their price and the breakfast at this hotel has been the best so far. Fresh fruit, papayas, mangoes, watermelon and bananas with yogurt and cereal. Coffee with warm milk and of course bread with jam and butter.
In Chile all we had was one piece of bread with jam and nescafe. Still it was better than nothing first thing in the morning. Another little tidbit of related info. on smoking. The great wave to
marginalize smokers had hit Chile 3 months before we got there so I couldn't smoke indoors at all.
Secondly every package of cigarettes has this naked from the waist up bald guy on it. It's pretty unsettling when that's what you're staring at in a store. Mercifully they only have him on one side. I only bought one pack there, it was just too freaky. People in La Paz hardly smoke at all.
I've barely been smoking myself which is a good thing at this altitude.
La Paz is pretty mindblowing. Yesterday we went to the witchcraft market where they sell amulets, little ceramics of various gods, dessicated llama foetuses at various stages of their development which are supposed to be for good luck. Anybody want one? They also have dried up toads and frogs on which they put huge googly eyes. These guys in black, brujos or sorcerors, will read coca leaves but not for gringos. That's O.K. by me. Some things need to remain private, just for them, too much has been commodified already.
It's unbelievable how hard the people work. From my hotel window I saw a cholla buy about 30 pounds of potatoes, put them in a plastic bag, tie it up and stick the whole thing in a shawl,which they all seem to have, and put it on her back. They push, pull, drag but mostly carry all sorts of incredible loads and a lot of it uphill. We are so soft, sheltered and pampered. We wouldn't last 2 days if we had to make a living in this kind of envronment. Today I just threw out a pair of socks which had holes in them because I can't bear to wear socks with holes. It's cheaper to buy than to fix. That's because I'm a stupid, pampered Westerner. Anyways we bought 2 pairs of socks for Stan for 5 bolivianos and it's about 7 bolivianos to 1 Canadian dollar.
Today was market day in many of the streets of La Paz. I can't describe what it was like, it was Kafkaesque, delirious in scope. First you have to fight through huge crowds and traffic to climb up this steep street with stalls and shops on both sides and people who have no stalls but have just set up anywhere basically and are selling juice or whatever. Meanwhile there are still buses, cars, combis taxis going both sides of the street. The stench of shit from sewers was quite overpowering. A pure vision of chaos. We ended up taking a collectivo, one of those countless vans with a person screaming out where the van is going. It was already packed so we squeezed in in the back. It was going to the cemetary which was our destination for buying tickets to Copacabana and don't ask why. Beside the cemetary is a huge flower market and that was a beautiful sight indeed. The cemetary was a welcome break from the madness of the market.
There must have been thousands upon thousands of little crypts and almost all of the ones we saw had fresh flowers. The cemetary was lively with people, cleaning the crypts, putting fresh flowers, kids running about. They really know how to cherish, remember and honour their dead.
We certainly don't do quite as well. It was a profound experience to witness that.
It always rains in La Paz every afternoon and it's mostly about 65 degrees so it's not a warm place. When it rains the chollas put plastic bags over their hats, it's quite a sight. The coca leaves don't give you any buzz at all. You can chew till the cows come home but it's fun to try.
You imagine the buzz rather than actually feel it. In any case the buzz is just being here in this wild and crazy place. Hope this wasn't too long or boring. Lots of love,

Josiane

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Hola Everybody:
We made it safely to La Paz, no problem. Last time I wrote I forgot to say that we were in Arica, Chile which is where the Atacama desert ends. Arica was a lot livelier than Iquique. Our hotel room there was the worst yet but somehow they had a pool and it was actually pretty good so it made up for the shitty, little room. We only stayed two nights so it was relatively painless. The bus trip to La Paz took about 10 hours and although we had taken the pills we did experience some discomfort in the form of a headache and pins and needles sensations in your feet and hands. You couldn't put your hands down a lot and had to keep rubbing them together. It takes at least a good day to recover from such a trip. Nevertheless the scenery was spectacular although we couldn't take that many pictures because the bus windows were quite dirty. We saw similar scenery to what we had seen on our trip to San Pedro with an incredibly high snowcapped mountain towering above all the rest. There were lots of alpacas, vicunas and lamas but too far away to take good pictures.
We are staying in a really cool hotel in the old sector of La Paz. The room is nice and big, with cable T.V. etc.. and it's 25 U.S. a night so it doesn't break our budget. The shower is something else though. I'm too short to adjust the hot and cold flow output, it's super high so Stan and I have to take our showers together. We had not done that in a while! Secondly it's either boiling hot or cold so there's no real in between. It's a challenge but we are managing. La Paz is a real jumble, the streets are super narrow and steep with a cathedral, it seems, every second corner. It's hard to get a handle on initially because it seems so chaotic. I have never seen so many vans in my life. There are basically no private cars or very few. Transport is assured through a mix of combis, (vans big and small), collectivos whiich are taxis that take different passengers, buses and regular taxis. The traffic is horrendous. Crossing streets could be injurious to your health, they don't strop for anybody. The chollas, the women who wear numerous skirts and bowler hats, set up shops on the streets and sell all manner of items. Today we went to the Coca museum. Coca is a huge part of the indigenous culture. We sampled it in tea, no effect. You have to chew it to get something out of it but you have to stick a huge wad in your mouth, add some sort of soda bicarbonate, a little saliva and wait for the whole thing to liquefy before you feel any effect. We haven't gotten to that stage yet. La Paz is quite a surprise overall. I was expecting to be besieged by vendors and kids but there is none of that or very little. They don't insist at all if you don't want to buiy. There is very little bargaining to be had.
There are beautiful handicrafts but we have very little extra room left in our packs so we can't buy much. Today we had lunch for two for about $2.50 in a comedor ( a worker's restaurant).
We will be staying here another two nights and then we are off to Lake Titicaca and Copacabana. Our health is good. We seem to have gotten used to the altitude and are no longer feeling any ill effects. We wanted to go into the Yungas, a semi-tropical region but there has been lots of rain and there is a threat of dengue fever from mosquitoes. We don't want to risk it. Hope everybody is well.

Lots of love,
Josiane


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Holla everybody:
Well it's been quite a journey from San Pedro to Arica. We are now at the border with Peru and will be leaving for Bolivia and La Paz tomorrow morning. I never imagined that this part of Chile would look like it has. It is so incredibly bare that it's almost frightening. From San Pedro to Iquique which was our first stop on the Pacific Coast the great Atacama desert extends. If you can imagine massive mountains of rocks and gravel or both mixed together punctuated by endless flat stretches of desert with not a speck of vegetation in sight. It is f...ing wierd is what it is. We saw two little scrub brushes on our entire bus trip which lasted about 10 hours and involved 2 different buses. When you finally get to the Pacific it doesn't get any greener.
You have these huge mountains which drop into the ocean not just rock but enormous sand mountains as well, we're not talking sand dunes here. This is such a different coast that it's even difficult to describe. Nothing grows not even cactus. It's hard to imagine people living here and yet they do. Ostensibly Chile is fairly modern but there is still a great deal of poverty here with slums on the periphery of the big cities. Life for many is pretty hard. The hours are driving Stan loco. They open late, close early and open late again. If you want to have supper at a regular restaurant you have to wait till 8:00. Iquique was one of the most boring cities you could imagine. There was a square, not a bad one, and a pedestrican street with no pedestrians. It always felt completely deserted. We are definitely off the gringo trail here and have only encountered a few other hardy souls mostly Europeans from Germany, Switzerland and France and even those are not too common. We are still healthy in mind and in body even though these kinds of trips can sometimes get hard because, of course, you have to take care of everything yourself. It can get tiring and frustrating. I'm always fine though because I love adventure and a little challenge. Sometimes Stan gets homesick for his bed and home cooking but he's doing well overall. We have seen some amazing scenery and the best is yet to come.
La Paz and Bolivia are going to be a bit of a challenge, road conditions are not great but the people are welcoming and the sights are going to be mind blowing. I bought some pills for the saroche. We started taking them today. When we leave for Bolivia we will be going into one of
Chile's most beautiful parks, park Lauca but we will also be climbing to an altitude of 6,370 metres and I was a little worried about that. That is pretty damn high. There are going to be glaciers, volacanoes, lakes, wildlife and giant candelabra cactuses. I want to try and download our pictures in La Paz. I have to because we are running out of room. You could take a million pictures here and still not capture it all. Lots of love to everybody who is reading this and keep sending the odd message. It's fun to have them to keep us in touch, along the way.
Gros bisous,
Josiane


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Hola y Buenas Dias a todo:
We left Salta bright and early. The ride by cab cost about $1.50 so at that price there was really no sense in depriving ourselves. Our bus company was from Chile, it's called Pullman and it was very nice indeed. No unwanted music videos on this one but always plenty of B or C grade movies with lots of violence, none of it edited of course. In any case the 10 hour drive to San Pedro went like a charm. The scenery is absolutely stunning. We climbed to an altitude of over 5000 metres and started to feel the sting of the dreaded "saroche", altitude sickness. In our case it was more of a temporary malaise with a headache, burning eyes and a bout of tiredness.
It was well worth it though for the beauty of the surrounding mountains and valleys. San Pedro sits at the edge of the driest desert in the world with 335 days that are cloudless. The days are hot and the nights cold. When we crossed the border into Chile, San Pedro did not appear to be much but we soon discovered that it's a funky little town with lots of hotels, restaurants and tour operators. Chile is very expensive. Everything mostly is counted in the thousands. For instance our breakfast this morning cost 7,200 pesos. It's frightening when they hand you the bill.
One canadian dollar is worth 461 pesos. We can't afford to linger too long in Chile.
Yesterday we took the Laguna Altiplanica tour. It was incredible. We went to a quebrada which is a kind of small canyon. The farmers only have access to its water twice a month on a sort of rotation. We then visited the Salar of Atacama which is the third biggest in South America.
It is dotted with small lagoons where 3 different types of flamingos feed and breed. It was beautiful to see them take flight against the clear blue sky. The salar or salt flat is surrounded by snow capped mountains and volcanoes. It's quite a sight and hopefully some of our pictures will capture that. We then climbed to an altitude of over 4000 metres and visited two altiplano lagoons of crystal blue waters again surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. We finished the day with lunch at a typico artesanial restaurant. Chileans eat supper very late, around 8:00 p.m. and lunch is usually around 2 or 3. Stan is sometimes not very happy about that. Our health is good. Stan has had a touch of the tourista but nothing major. We are leaving today for the Pacific Coast and Iquique. We should be in Bolivia by the end of the week. Having a blast.
South America is a fantastic continent and the scenery so far can literally take your breadth away.

Hasta luego a todo,

Josiane
Hola:
Another group email but time is of the essence when you are working at some of those computers. We have had a wonderful time in Argentina. Since Buenos Aires we have been to Iguazu Falls definitely worth it. It was a magical experience and for those who are interested rent the movie The Mission part of it is set at Iguazu and we saw the spot where Robert de Niro climbs the falls, movie magic time. Saw koates there, a sort of tropical racoon, saw monkeys, a crocodile and hundreds if not thousands of different species of butterflies which literally land right on you there are so many of them. Took a launcha ride under some of the falls and got completely soaked but it was a hot day so we didn't mind. The park itself is very big and very well maintained. We got close to Brazil and took a picture. The falls are nicest on the Argentinian side. Iguazu itself was not much of a town but it is situated in a picturesque location, it feels like you are smack in the jungle. We bought the cheapest beer ever there. One litre for under, yes under, one dollar canadian. Prices were pretty phenomenal in Argentina. A meal for two with beer can cost as little as 7 dollars. We got a whole outfit for Stan for about 8 bucks.
We have been in Salta 6 days and will be leaving tomorrow for San Pedro de Atacama, in Chile.
It took us 27 hours and 3 buses to get here from Iguazu. We were in the super cama, not to be confused with the "Sutra Kama" which, believe me it wasn't. We were forced to watch endless videos of really bad disco groups from the 70s and the 80s. I felt like Alex in A Clockwork Orange.
It was midnight and the videos were still going strong. Mercifully when it got to techno hits even the machine couldn't do it and gave up. Peace at last but only for a while because the machine appeared to be more amenable to Michael Jackson hits so now it's Thriller at 2 in the morning!
Lots of fun.
In any case Salta is a beautiful colonial city with people going about their business day and night it seems. It is incredibly animated and loud, the louder the better. The architecture is wonderful and the Cathedral, an incredible light pink color is quite astonishing. The inside is replete with gold. There are miniature silver offerings to The Virgin for granting wishes and these are in the shape of that which you asked for usually involving health. So you find breasts, backs, kidneys, legs, stomachs, heads etc... They are in big cases under glass. It's quite peculiar.
We took a one day tour to the Humahuaca Quebrada, a quebrada is a sort of canyon. It has been named a patrimonio of humanitad by the United Nations and the screnery is spectacular.
The mountains are all striated with different colors caused by mineral deposits, we're talking reds, pinks, greens, yellow, cream...they refer to it as the painter's palette. It looks completely unreal.
We also saw giant cactuses, some of which were over 500 years old. We visited a beautiful little town where there was an indigenous market and a really fantastic museum filled with artifacts such as mommies, pottery etc... Quite rare and really indicative of the region and the various periods. We went with a young Argentinian couple Lorraina and Emiliano. Emiliano suffered
from "saroche" altitude sickness for at 3000 metres Humahuaca is really high. Stan and I were not adversely affected so it bodes well for La Paz which is 4000 metres. We are impatient to live for San Pedro de Atacama tomorrow. Argentina's been great but we have a lot of ground to cover still. Hope everybody is well.

Hasta luego,
Josiane
Hola:
This is our very last day in Buenos Aires. It's still very hot and humid but we are getting used to it. We have had a wonderful time here but now the real travels and adventures begin.
A few things we have learned about Buenos Aires.
The architecture is simply splendid - Many fine examples of beautifully restored buildings.
There are many dogs in B.A. and owners are not required to pick up the shit so lots of shit on the street.
Most of the dogs are male and not fixed which is not a pretty sight on a basset hound, especially an old one. It all has to do with the machismo thing since they can't bear to part with their own they would never think of doing that to their dogs.
People are very trendy and smartly dress but not in an American style (rapper like) - they have a style all their own - no baseball caps and no baggy pants.
People eat very late here just like in Spain. Supper usually starts around 8:30 and people are still eating around 10:00.
B.A. is a very lively, youthful city. It's a pleasant change indeed from dull Summerland where old
prevails.
There are many police on various street corners - just standing, watching, waiting. It seems the
population of B.A. cannot be allowed to go wild and must be watched at all times.
Smoking because of a new law which took effect last October is prohibited in all buildings, restaurants etc... so everybody smokes outside and they never provide ashtrays so there are plenty of buts on the street.
Cartoneros , 6000 of them, descend on B.A. and work all night looking through garbage and sorting the recyclables which they then cart away and sell. They don't make much being at the bottom of the food chain but it's a useful service and they are trying to bring them together in cooperatives. The old tango music is very popular with young people. Many play of the old instruments. There are many antique shops in San Telmo alone, possibly in the 100 range.
I'm not kidding and the stuff is unbelievable. The rich must have sold a lot of their stuff during the era of the banging of casseroles. B.A. is a strange mixture of the laissez-faire and the formal.
You have to pick where you will seat in a cinema even if it's dark and you can't tell where you are going. Meals cost on average about 10 dollars for 2, sometimes a little more depending on how much ber you drink. It is a pretty good bargain. We have really enjoyed our time here. There is much more to say but you're probably getting bored reading all this. It's nice to hear from people we know so don't hesitate to drop us a line or two. Don't know how easy it will be to access computer time from now on particularly when we entered the uncharted territory of Bolivia. We might skip Chili altogether now that we are set on doing the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia.
For those interested you can look it up on the web. There are many pictures of the Salar
It's going to be a pretty demanding trip weather wise and altitude wise but It's the trip of a lifetime.

Josiane


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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Hola Everybody:
Once again hope this finds you well. I promise that this will be the last instalment since our trip is coming to an end. Stan is homesick and I must admit that I'm feeling a little homesick myself. Eating in restaurants and staying in hotels sounds good theoretically and it is good, for a while, but my stomach is now starting to rebel and the anonymity of hotel rooms is starting to grate a little. Nevertheless we have had a very good time since leaving San Ignacio. We arrived in Guerrero Negro and visited the town. G.N. is mostly famous for its whale trips and salt. In the interim we discovered that Mexico is the largest exporter of salt in the world. Something for you to ruminate on. Since we had already gone whale viewing and that watching salt dry, literally, (they have tours!) was not in the equation we only stayed one night. We did have a fabulous seafood meal of jumbo shrimps (scampis) and fish at a very reasonable price. We have been eating a lot of seafood and very little meat.
The next day we left for what we thought would be Rosarito but it didn't really capture our fancy so we pushed on for Ensenada. We arrived quite late and it was dark and we didn't have a place to stay. Stan was hungry and grumpy so we parked and went for a bite to eat. We soon discovered that Ensenada has a booming trade in....VIAGRA! Yes Viagra, there is a pharmacy on just about every corner and I suspect a lot of now "horny" white, elderly male gringos walking around although we didn't see any. I suppose they were out there lurking somewhere, the trade must be lucrative since it's so heavily advertised. The tag line in Spanish is "Esta noche puede ser tu noche" which means "Tonight can be your night"....
O.K. besides being the viagra capital of Baja Norte Ensenada is also a fairly big port where a lot of cruise ships come calling. There was one when we arrived and another one showed up a few days later. Ensenada is also a fantastic place to sample seafood. They have the best seafood market I have ever seen in all of Mexico. The choices are quite staggering and the prices very reasonable. They also have a lot of simple restaurants which serve all matters of seafood. We had raw oyster for about 5 dollars the half dozen. They were very yummy, I don't want to say "runny". I really enjoy raw oysters so that doesn't turn me off at all.
We also went to a fancier restaurant where I had coconut jumbo shrimps and Stan had lobster, the Pacific kind, without the claws, which is called langouste. We shared so we could both enjoy the dishes. It's the most we've ever paid for a meal in Mexico but it was definitely worth it.
In our never-ending quest for the perfect whale encounter we booked a trip for the following day but this time on a much bigger boat. While our whale encounter wasn't quite as perfect as we might have liked, our dolphin encounter was totally magical. We started spotting pods of dolphins shortly after departure and thereafter we were in dolphin heaven. There must have been hundreds of them in huge schools. They were everywhere, having lots of fun swimming ahead of the boat and beside it. They were so close we could clearly see them right into the water. At one point about 20 or 30 of them all jumped out of the water in unison, it was truly an unforgettable sight and it really warmed my dolphin heart. We did see three whales but we never got that close. Still whales are always an incredible sight and we followed them for a while. The weather was perfect, no wind and no clouds. A glorious day all in all.
Today we drove to San Felipe which is on the Sea of Cortez. It's a cute, little town but like everywhere else it's rather empty of tourists. The whole place seems kind of of sad. There are stores, restaurants, hotels all basically sitting empty. It does get rather depressing. Americans have been scared away because of the narco wars. They think Mexico is one big "shoot em up", Of course the economic crisis has not helped matters either. We've had a wonderful trip. We know that a little bit of winter will still be waiting for us but we also know that we've been incredibly lucky to miss what is turning out to be a very, very cold winter so not reasons to complain. Hope you've enjoyed reading about our escapades and like I promised this is the end, at least for this trip. Hasta luego,

Josiane



Hola Everybody:
Yesterday I felt that my email was a little rushed and didn't quite capture the full flavour of this pretty little town so I thought I would add a little more details. I was writing the email in the kitchen of the owners of the yurts while they were preparing supper so it felt a bit intrusive.
The town itself only has 3 restaurants to speak of. Two are near the plaza and one is outside the main drag and called Tota. That's also where we stayed in a charming cabin for the first two nights. Right now I'm connected outside and still wearing capris and sandals so although it gets windy it's still hot enough to sit outside and bask in the sun. The wind might not be good on the ocean but it's a welcome respite from the heat. The sun is still very hot because San Ignacio is actually an oasis in the middle of the desert. The Jesuits planted the date palms and right now there are about 10,000 or so date palms and other assorted varieties of palms although no coconut palms, for some strange reason they don't seem to grow here. It doesn't rain coconuts but it certainly rains dates. Due to a shortage of manpower most of the dates end up on the ground although some do get picked and sold locally. San Ignacio is located near what is apparently the longest river in all of Baja. The yurts themselves were chosen because they would not disturb the natural harmony of the date palm grove, yes it's a grove, not a forest as I so erroneously mentioned previously. For those of you who don't know what a yurt is it's a circular building used primarily by inhabitants of Mongolia. They could easily assemble and disassemble them while on their nomadic tending of the herds. Of course, as I said before, these yurts are much more luxurious and come with full amenities. Wait till you see the pictures! We were only going to stay one night but it was so cool that we opted for two instead. It's very peaceful right now with the wind rustling gently in the palm fronds. The breakfast is included and was fantastic. We got real homemade bread with flour from the U.S. It's hard to get good flour for bread making in Mexico, not sure why.
Yesterday we went kayaking along the river. The river is quite wide and mostly tranquil. The banks are, once again, all lined with date palms. Everything was fine until it was time to get out of the kayak. Maybe I'm a total klutz or just incredibly unlucky when it comes to any type of water activity. I was sitting in the front and Stan pulled up to this ramp which was quite slippery. I put one foot on the ramp but Stan couldn't hold the kayak steady so I was spread out doing the split between the ramp and the kayak, not a pretty picture. Of course something had to give and that something was me so I ended up in the water. Luckily I could swim to where there were steps but I was thoroughly soaked and I banged my leg getting a pretty big bruise. It wasn't earth shattering but I still didn't like it. Maybe it's because I'm a taurus and although I love the water I still prefer la "terra ferma".
Regarding San Ignacio normally it would be packed with tourists because of the whales but Mexico has been hit really hard by the economic crisis and it's not just a pinch, it's more like a major squeeze. For towns which are really dependent on tourist dollars the economic prospects are pretty bleak right now. It's not just here either but it's everywhere we have been so far. Even Cabo business is down by 40%. Normally we wouldn't even be able to stay in these yurts
without reservations. In the past reservations had to be made at least one year in advance but not so this year. Their pain is our gain but it's a small comfort.
At Tota's we were the only residents. It was a bit sad to see him put on his apron to serve us in his restaurant where we were the only customers. I don't know why I found that gesture so poignant or maybe he really didn't want to soil his clothes but somehow I don't think so. At least we sent a little business his way.
Tomorrow we leave for Guerrero Negro and we will be crossing one of the driest deserts in the world, the Vizcaino desert. Apparently there are cactuses there which look like inverted carrots, very tall with a little "head" of leaves just like in a Dr. Seuss drawing. They are called boolums.
The sun is really hot on my arm as I'm typing this and I feel really bad for all of you stuck wih this endless winter. Canada would be so great with a little less snow. Hope this captures the feel of the place a little better. It's "muy tranquilo" as they say here. Nice to hear from everybody.
Hasta luego,

Josiane



Hola Everybody:
Hope you're all doing reasonably well considering the fact that it's stil bitterly cold in Canada and that includes the Okanagan. We have been on the road for about a week already. Our quest for the perfect whale encounter took us first to the small town of Lopez Mateo. There is a lagoon there reputed to have whales but this year there were few. A tour had just come back and only saw two whales. Since it was going to cost 150.00 U.S for the boat we decided to press on. Initially we thought we could have stayed in Lopez but the town was nothing to write home about so the lack of details should tell you something.
We drove on to the town of Loreto. Loreto is the oldest settlement in the Baja, that is oldest, aside from the indigenous population which lived there prior to our arrival. The Jesuits settled the area and established many missions. They are responsible for most of the original roads in the area. The town of Loreto is very pretty with an old section, cobblestone streets and some colonial buildings still standing. Of course it's nothing compared to some of the colonial cities we have seen in the past. Still since Baja doesn't have a lot of colonial centres it's really not bad. We stayed in a hotel just opposite old Church and down from the artesania mercado. It was amazing how much artesania they did have from the mainland. We bought a talavera sink for the bathroom and it's really pretty.
One of the trips we took brought us to the oldest and prettiest mission in all of Baja, the Mission of Saint Xavier. The road was challenging but breathtaking. Truly some of the most beautiful scenery out of all the different places we have seen in the world. The road snaked up a canyon with mountains of varying shapes, sizes and textures. There were black, red, grey, white, some "spired, some flat, some with bubble like shapes on top, mountains which Tolkien would have loved. The bottom floor was punctuated by a river bed filled with palms and typical arroyo vegetation of green scrub and cactus. It was quite awe inspiring and magical all set against a vibrant blue sky. I hope our pictures have captured some of that beauty. We also took a boat trip to an island in the hope of seeing some whales but it was windy and raining that day, yes first real rain of our trip, so we had to settle for a gorgeous and desolate white sand beach and, of course, another colony of sea lions not as friendly as the ones in Espiritu Santo.
We moved on from Loreto to the town of Mulege which comes after the Bay of Conception famous for its azure waters and its beautiful white sand beaches. Our second day in Mulege we were finally able to go swimming bu the water was cold. That, in a nutshell, is a bit of a problem in terms of staying here much longer. The further north we go, the colder it gets. Southern Baja is the warmest part of Baja but we've already spent 5 weeks there and it's trickier when you're not cooking for yourself and just staying in a hotel. The people who stay in Baja for long lengths of time are mostly RVers. They park somewhere, drink mucho beer and make nice with their neighbours. This is by way of an explanation to let you know why we're coming back a bit earlier, mid-February instead of end of February.
From Mulege we drove on San Ignacio. Again San Ignacio is a sleepy little town with a beautiful mission and a really pretty plaza. You get to the town from the highway by driving down this road fringed with date palms on
both sides. Our quest for the perfect whale encounter was destined to end here. The day after we arrived we drove 57 kms. on this mostly washboard road, it was the roughest yet and as an aside a little cheer for Subaru. Thousands of kms. and only one quart of oil. Pretty unbelievable, we're quite happy with that.
So we get to San Ignacio's Lagoon and the wind is blowing something fierce and it's cold. I was wearing most of my "heavy" clothes. We were able to tag on with this group and off we went. The wind was still howling but we started spotting our first whales, bigger than the launcha we were in. We wanted the babies to come close by so we could touch them but it was way too choppy. We had to satisfy ourselves with following mothers and babies as they were frolicking in the waves. It was still a memorable experience but we want to do it again just not this time. Coming back was extremely hard. The wind had picked up even more, the waves were higher and we were getting soaked. The shore seemed miles away. It took a long time to get back, it felt like forever but we managed to get back safe and sound. We stayed for a while and had an excellent meal of scallops and the usual assortment of rice and vegetables always accompanied by the ever ubiquitous tortillas.
The day before we had walked all the way to San Ignacio Bed and Breakfast where the yurts are. You should see these yurts, they are super deluxe. Ours even has a bathroom. All of them have windows and skylights. They are beautifully decorated. These yurts are all set in a forest of date palms. It's the prettiest place and we just had to splurge and stay one night. It's more than we usually pay for but how often do you get to sleep in a yurt! Breakfast is included and there will be homemade bread, I can't wait This is probably the last email I will write. It's sometimes harder to get internet connection or the computers don't work very well. The keys on my computer are sticking as well and it's driving me loco. Hope you enjoyed reading about our travels.
I will write to everybody individually if I can.


Lots of love, hasta luego,

Josiane


So many new options, so little time. Windows Live Messenger.
Hola everybody:
Hope you're all well and not feeling too down about those shitty Canadian winters. I want to take advantage of the fact that I'm still connected in my room to send what will probably be my second to last email of our trip.
We will be leaving for parts unknown, as planned, on Tuesday.
Today we had the most beautiful day. We were finally able to complete our trip to Espiritu Santo Island. The weather was perfect, sunny and clear with only a hint of wind. We left around 9:00 am in a very nice boat. There was only another person going along so we were really lucky to go at all. Usually they don't go unless there is a minimum of 5 or 6. The price was pretty good too better than their competitors.
The island itself is unbelievable. The rock formations are incredibly diverse. You can see pitted, volcanic type rocks or beautiful, smooth pastel cliffs. The water is marvellously clear and turquoise in colour which contrasts very nicely against the white sand. After about an hour and a half we circled Espiritu and actually came to another island, circled around that one as well and headed for and outcropping full of guano droppings which is home to a colony of about 400 sea lions. There are about 50 machos, those are the enormous males and believe me, they are huge.
We dropped anchor in a little bay which housed dozens of sea lions, many of them babies. We put on our wetsuits (I hate those but the water is cold) and jumped overboard. The marine life is extraordinary. Beautiful, colourful blue, yellow, green fishes of all sizes but the incredible thing was swimming with the baby sea lions. At first we were a little hesitant, they are not that small but the guy on the boat, a kid really, dove in and asked us if we wanted to touch them. Of course we said yes and is that possible? He assured us it was. He had borrowed the underwater camera from the other person on the trip. He didn't swim for as long because he didn't have a wetsuit. Anyways we followed Paco and soon there were dozens of curious sea lions around us. You put out your wrist and they come and gently nip on it. It doesn't hurt, they just squeeze a little with their jaw. It's a way of getting to know you. They would come right up to your mask at look at you. You could
touch their flippers and their bellies, but they don't like to be touched on the head. It was like being in a whirlpool of sea lions. What a great experience. It's so rare to be able to swim with creatures like that in the wild. We stayed in the water for quite some time. Paco took a lot of underwater pictures and we will be getting them emailed to me. After that experience we left for this beautiful beach, again white sand, turquoise water, bizarre rock formations, the possibility for pictures was truly endless. We had lunch there and relaxed.
It was perfect. We headed back just as the wind was picking up so the ride back in was quite bumpy.
Garth had invited us to La Ventana where they were having a burning bush party but we were too tired to make it. It can be tough driving that road at night and Stan is still nursing a cold.
This was definitely a big highlight. We look forward to seeing lots of whales when we hit the road next. Hasta luego yet again,

Josiane


Hola Everybody:

I hope the snow is melting just like the evil witch in Wizard of Oz but if not spring is just around the corner.
Weather in Baja is mostly predictable although it does get windy sometimes and if it blows from the north you do need a sweater to go out at night. Again I'm not complaining. We're still in sandals, capris and for Stan shorts so it's definitely better than Canada at this time of the year.
On Monday we went for a drive and ended up further than we had originally anticipated. We headed for Los Barriles which is another windsurfing, kite boarding hangout. The day was beautiful, clear and sunny with only a little bit of wind. Los Barriles is about 2 hours away from La Paz and there appears to be a fair bit of gringos there, afficionados of the two sports mentioned.
We stopped there for lunch and went to this cafe which appeared to be a throwback to those old fashioned diners which used to be so common in the U.S. at one time or another. Not surprisingly it was owned by Americans which would explain the nostalgic feel to the decor. The woman who owned it was baking fresh cinnamon buns and the smell was quite heavenly. I just had to have one so I took one to go after we had our lunch. I find it hard to resist that smell. It was as good as I thought it would be, maybe better.
We decided to continue on to San Jose and Cabo and go for a boat trip to Los Arcos.
The scenery was spectacular with the Sea of Cortez peeking around corners of the road and the stark desert silhouetted in sharp contrast. Baja is home to the tallest cardons in the world. Cardons are cactuses. They are quite a site indeed. Some can grow to a height of 50 feet. We've seen some at about 30 feet but we're still looking for that elusive 50 feet wonder.
San Jose was busy with traffic so we pressed on to Cabo impatient to make that boat. A boat wasn't hard to find. I bargained the guy a bit impressing him with my command of Spanish....haha It does help though. While on the malecon, the last time we were in Cabo with Kaiulani, she distinctly heard a guy said that prices are 50% less if you speak Spanish. It's only fair. There is a price for gringos and a price for Mexicans.
We hopped on the boat with our two strapping guides who insisted they had to stop for some refreshment of the alcoholic kind. "No hay problema".
The boat was glass bottomed so they took us near some reefs where we were able to observe many colourful fish. Stan was very happy. They threw some tortillas into the water and it was a regular feeding frenzy.
That whole area is quite magical. The rocks are volcanic in nature and full of holes and mysterious crevasses. There are lovely beaches punctuated by beautiful, white sand. We took some nice pictures but I can't download them onto Facebook just yet. We will have to wait till I get home. Because the guys like "our command of Spanish" they decided to take us to where we might be able to see some whales. There were a couple of other boats and they had seen some whales so we waited and were not disappointed. We saw our first 3 whales that afternoon rising out of the water with their tails held aloft. It was a majestic site. We will be going to Puerto San Carlos where apparently they can get so curious that they literally rush out to meet the boat.
Yesterday we spend most of the day at the beach and although we didn't swim we were able to walk the whole length of the beach without getting a heat stroke. There were only a few other people and we had a great spot sheltered by a sand dune.
Today we had a leisurely breakfast at our favourite restaurant. It's cheap and delicious so we keep going back.
We went to see Garth in La Ventana but he was away again. We have been going to the movies a fair bit since they have a Cinepolis in La Paz with about 14 or 15 screens. Today we went to see Vicki, Christina, Barcelona, the latest Woody Allen. Allow me a small critique here. W.A. has been mining the same terrain for far too many years. His mother lode has certainly run out. He has moved the action from New York, to London and now Barcelona but it's still the same old-tired "shtick". He pretends to savage all the bourgeois trappings while unable to portray anything else. I still enjoyed it mostly for Javier and Penelope but I could really sink my teeth into this one if I were writing something serious and the result might not be pretty.
We're staying in La Paz till the 20th and then the road odyssey will begin anew. Love to hear from all of you. Hope going back to work isn't too rough. Hasta luego,

Josiane

P.S. I know it appeared as though I didn't like Vicki, Christina, Barcelona but on the whole I have to say I rather enjoyed thanks in part to Penelope Cruz.


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Hola everybody:

The holidays are over for some of you and for some there never really was much of a holiday and that's just wrong but such is life and your turn will come. As for us the Christmas holidays were fairly uneventful in that it didn't feel like Christmas or New Year at all but merely an extension of what we were doing already which is basically relaxing and doing what we feel like doing. I know....it's really painful sometimes to not have much of a plan but one gets used to it fairly quickly.
We have moved to a really nice hotel in La Paz from la Ventana. Garth was a gracious host but it was time to move on. If you don't kite board or wind surf there really isn't that much to do in La Ventana. It's a very small community. There is another community next door but it's only slightly bigger and caters mostly to the same clientele.
Our hotel is very close to the centro. It is new and our room has a cupola ceiling which is pretty cool. I also have internet access which means I don't have to carry my laptop to a cafe in order to check on my emails. Stan gets pretty impatient when I do that and I don't really blame him. This is so much better.
La Paz would be a hard city to negotiate without a car. There is very little public transport as most people seem to drive. It is reputed to be the richest city in Mexico and it shows. There is a general level of affluence here which isn't found in the other Mexican cities we know. A surprising thing about the driving is that drivers are generally less aggressive here than on the mainland. Surprisingly they mostly obey the posted signs and aren't as crazy about speeding as the drivers on the mainland. Another interesting fact is that many cars on the roads don't have any license plates, neither in the front nor on the back. This is something new and it's very puzzling to us. Having a license plate appears to be completely optional. Weird!
On Christmas Day we were invited to a party that a neighbour of Garth's was throwing so we went back to La Ventana. It was wonderful to have turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. The deserts were really good as well. It's difficult finding food that we can truly enjoy unless you want to pay a bundle. We can't do that because we're traveling for a long time so we have to make some choices when it comes to the food we eat. Cooking was sometimes a drag but now we're eating every meal out and that can be a pain too. Oh the joys of traveling.
The party was cool with mostly Americans and Canadians. There was a couple there, in their fifties, who had already biked from Washington State. They were going to bike all the way to Tierra Del Fuego, wow that's quite the distance on a tandem bike. Some people really know how to live their dreams. Interestingly we also met a Polish couple from Cleveland, Ohio. Stan was able to speak Polish and that was a treat for him.
We had a great time with them.
The rest of the week went by fairly fast. We've been visiting some nearby beaches although I have to say that none of them compare to the ones that can be found on the mainland. The Sea of Cortez does resemble the Caribbean in its color but at this time of the year it's rather cold or at least colder than the Pacific on the mainland which is what we were used to. The beaches are also rather small. Tecolote is the biggest beach close to La Paz and although it's very pretty it's not a long beach and there are hardly any waves. Strangely enough the Sea of Cortez appears to have no tides at least none that are readily discernible to the naked eye. The shoreline always appears the same. When the wind blows there are waves but although there are whitecaps they are never very big. However because it's not quite as hot as on the mainland it's easier to enjoy leisurely walks on the beach without getting burned and the sand is a pretty white colour.
On Monday our friend Kaiulani picked us up at 8:00 and we were off to Cabo San Lucas. Stan was able to enjoy the scenery for a change without having to worry about his driving.
We drove through the town of Todo Santos which is very posh and quaint with lots of pricey boutiques and restaurants. Quite cute actually but small and the beaches nearby are all too dangerous for swimming. There have been quite a few drownings in that area. The beaches are mostly for surfers but right now the waves are not as gigantic. It's the riptide you have to worry about. It's incredibly strong. We didn't want to risk it.
Cabo San Lucas is apparently one of the hottest tourist destination in the world. Only 15 years ago or so it was a quiet, sleepy fishing village and now it's home to mega resorts. It's got beautiful hotels, a malecon, a big, relatively empty, mall, a marina filled with imposing yachts and it's got the ARCH. You've probably seen it in a few pictures of Cabo, it's the iconic signature of the town. We didn't take the boat to the arch because I had an appointment to swim with dolphins. Yes I finally got to realize one of my dreams.
It started at twelve. I was one of two without a wetsuit although the water was cold initially you forgot all about it fairly quickly. I thought our time interacting with the dolphins would be limited but it was almost for the whole hour. There were 5 groups of 10 and each group had its own dolphin. the pool is very big.
My dolphin's name was Richo and he was 28 years old. Dolphins can live up to 40 years in the wild and probably longer in captivity. He was very smart, eager and playful.
We were in the water almost right away and he was swimming right beside us. We were allowed to touch him everywhere except near where his blow hole was. The skin of the dolphin feels like silk. There are absolutely no asperities, he is completely smooth. We could touch him as much as we wanted and he didn't seem to mind one bit. He gave me a kiss on the face and the mouth (not yucky, same texture), he took me for a ride while I held on to his dorsal fin, we did a dance and then a hug. There was a girl taking pictures but they went for $25 U.S. a pop so I'll just have to keep the pictures in my head. I had already paid in american dollars to do the activity. Our dolphin also performed some acrobatic stunts, riding the pool on his back tail while balancing a ball and jumping to incredible heights. It was a truly magical experience.
I know they are exploiting them but they do seem happy although it's hard to tell since they always have that smile on their face. I want to believe ours was happy. He was incredibly willing and giving.
New Year's eve was not that exciting. We went to a restaurant, walked on the malecon and then watched it on T.V. while drinking some beer, no champagne to be had. Today was the first real cloudy day but tomorrow is going to be beautiful so we will probably go exploring another beach.
We want to stay here as long as we can because the weather is too miserable back home and the thought of driving north is not that inspiring. Bundle up wherever you are and try and keep warm. I've posted some pictures of our trip on Facebook if you have a facebook account.

Hasta luego, Feliz Ano Nuevo,

Josiane



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Hola everybody:
Hope you're all well and if you're a teacher you're either gone somewhere warm or shoveling snow. It seems there is a lot of snow this year even in the Okanagan.
We left Melaque on Sunday of last week without any incident of note. The weather was beautiful and hot, nothing unusual about that. We took a "libre" to the town of Guyabitos which is another seaside resort on the Pacific coast. The beach was very long, you could see for kilometres and there were very little waves because it's quite shallow in that part of the coast. Guayabitos is frequented mostly by Mexican vacationers and the beach was quite busy something which we were not used to in Melaque where much of the beach was relatively empty. We found a nice hotel and I bargained the guy down for over 10 dollars which isn't much but hey every little bit helps. What was eerie about Guayabitos was the almost total absence of gringos. We had heard that it was quite popular with Canadians and Americans alike but many of the hotels appeared empty and competition was quite fierce to land the few gringo dollars floating around. Mexico has been hit hard by the economic downturn and many Canadians and Americans are staying home or flying in for shorter stays. Melaque was the same although there were more Canadians there than in Barra de Navidad where Americans usually stay. All the " restauranteurs" were complaining and businesses were going to have to close or lay off personnel.
The next day we left for Mazatlan hopeful that we could secure a spot on the ferry leaving for La Paz on Wednesday. The road from Guyabitos to Tepic was absolutely harrowing. Think of a slalom run and imagine that road. It was twists and turns, no shoulder, cars crossing over the middle line, cars wanting to pass etc... all in all quite a white knuckle ride which I didn't enjoy very much. This went on for almost 80 kilometres and felt more like two hundred. I forgot to add that we were climbing as well. Mexico is quite mountainous and the roads follows the sinuous contours of the land. In Canada we would just blast the shit out of the mountainside to make straighter roads but they have a different way of doing things here. In any case thanks to Stan's expert driving we made it safely to our destination. We rented a room at the Siesta again in the old section and it felt a bit like deja vu since we had been there almost 2 months earlier. Our room was right beside the old corner room we had had that first time, not quite as big, but the view was just as spectacular.
On a slightly different note and something I forgot to mention can you guess which fruit is grown the most in Mexico? No it's not bananas, not pineapples, not oranges, not papayas....the answer is mangoes. I have never seen so many mango orchards, they stretch as far as the eye can see and the trees can grow to some pretty prodigious heights. We're still trying to figure out how they pick them and nobody is able to provide a satisfactory answer. I wish I could post my photos so you could see how big they are. I forgot my cable at home so I may have to go somewhere and download them onto a disk in order to post them.
We were able to book the ferry for Wednesday. It was a night crossing so we took a cabin. The ferry was scheduled to leave at 5:00 but was two hours late departing. All the big trucks had to go in backwards. Unlike our ferries you exit the same way you loaded. We didn't suffer from motion sickness. We barely felt anything, that road trip was much worse. We arrived at the port of Pichilinga and were greeting my a lot of military and extra security. Stan had to go with the car and I went another way where I had to give my index finger for verification and answer a whole bunch of questions from an overzealous official. I didn't have my passport with me so I had to give him my driver's license instead.
Stan, on the other hand, was asked for no identification at all but the car and the luggage were thoroughly searched for drugs. The big drug cartel from Tijuana controls this area and many parts of Mexico are being ripped apart because of the ongoing battle for turf between the cartels. There is also heavy military and police corruption. Twelve heads were just discovered 2 days ago in the state of Guerrero. The fighting is spreading to many different states. We are not going to linger in Tijuana on our way back that's for sure.
The Baja is beautiful and very dry with huge forests of cactus. The Sea of Cortez almost looks like the Caribbean. It is a beautiful green color in some areas alternating with blue. Garth has a very nice place in La Ventana which is a paradise for windsurfers and kite boarders because the wind roars in starting around 11:00 to 4:00. The beach below his property has very coarse sand so it's not the greatest swimming beach but the water is incredibly clear and there is a small coral reef not far away. We will be staying here till the beginning of January and then we will be looking for our own place to rent.
This computer is outside and I have a beautiful view of the ocean as I'm typing with palm trees swaying in the still gentle breeze. The best time to swim is at 8:00 in the morning when the water is calm. It's quite a sight though seeing all the kite boarders out there, they seem to go incredibly fast. I'm not much for extreme sports and neither is Stan so we will have to content ourselves with looking. Christmas will be spent at the neighbour's geodesic dome. I will be cooking a turkey in a gas over for the first time. On the 26th, I think we will go exploring Todo Santos and figuring out where we will be staying in the New Year. We want to wish you all a Feliz Navidad and a Prospero Ano. A few individual messages can be found at the bottom.

Josiane and Stan Feliz Navidad a todo