And the new 7th Wonder is...

Check this out... This is THE Internet survey for the world´s newest 7th wonder. I only stumble upon this because the site is plastered all over Cuzco as they are pretty damn proud that Machu Picchu was voted in to the top spot!

Check it http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php


Amended...

After accessing the site I could not believe Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro made it in! I mean, for God sake this statue was only built in the last 50 years!!! To me, this was truly an Internet popular contest, and the votes only came from the amount of publicity it generated in their respective countries. I never even heard of this stupid contest before arriving in Cuzco! Otherwise I would have nominated the Auckland Harbour Bridge. :b

Anyway, Wikipedia (as usual) has more to add to this. Click below to read more...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Seven_Wonders_of_the_World

Police van in Aguas Caliente

How fuckin cool is this combi? It´s been converted, and sits on the rails in Aguas Caliente, the town of Machu Picchu. And this baby truely works! I saw it move and it´s flash lights going off whilst in town.

Machu Picchu

Here is a short video clip (15 seconds) I took of Machu Picchu.

POO Machu Picchu!

I poo on Machu Picchu!

I POO ON THE RUINS! :b

In terms of my rip of or fair call comments. I feel it the 40USD entrance fee is fair enough. But to get there you must take the train, and that is where I feel we foreigners are being ripped. The actual train journey from Cuzco to Machu Picchu would have cost over 120USD! A local would only pay 5USD for that same journey.

So I tried to lower the cost by catching 2 local buses to the nearest town to Machu Picchu, a town call Ollantaytambo. This town is only 40 km away from Machu Picchu, but I still had to pay 77USD for the return ticket. It hurts when you are trying to live on a shoe-string budget like me. :(

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

What a long and wonderful day it has been. I couldn´t sleep last night as I was so excited abuot visiting Machu Picchu. Plus the people in this hostel were so bloody noisy.

Anyway, I got up at 4am, and set off for Machu Picchu which was 8 kms away. I walked and walked, up the steep steps from the town below (Aguas Caliente). I finally arrive at the top, sweating like a pig as dawn approache. However the gates only open at 6am, but an atmosphere of excitment ripple through the people gathered outside. And when the gates were finally opened, everyone rush through. Only to miss the sun rise as the entire site was shrouded by mist and fog.

The well preserved stone house.

It was almost like a mirage when the ancient ruins revealed itself. I could not believe how well preserved the site was! I did learn later that 30% of the site was restored. I was simply blown away by how well Machu Picchu fits perfectly into it´s surrounding. The dull grey colours of the blocks, the steep steps which zig zags up and down, those symetrical terraces... There was a perfect harmony in it. I was told that the rocks were all queried from the same mountain. This was smart as it would have been a bitch to carry these blocks up to it´s lofty height of 2,430 metres! After entering the site and exploring a bit I quickly ran to the entrance of it´s sister mountain, Hauayna Picchu. And out there I bump into Laird, a friend from Sucre, Bolivia. Together we climb up the steep stone steps to 2,720 metres for an awesome view over Machu Picchu and it´s surrounding valley.

Climbing the steep steps.

This was the moment I caught myself saying: IT WAS WORTH IT! And yes I was thinking "Machu RIP-chu" yesterday, after paying a hefty 77USD on a return train ticket and 40USD on entrance. I really was mad at the feeling of being ripped. Also, I had been rather bias towards my number 1 wonder: Angkor Wat in Cambodia. But comparing the both is like comparing apples and oranges. Machu Picchu hasn´t got the intricate carvings or huge statues, it isn´t set around a jungle, instead the ruins of Machu Picchu has archive harmony in this environment and it is set in a magical setting of tall slender mountains and deep narrow valleys. What the Incas have achieve here will go down in time as one of the greatest wonder the world has seen.

Click on wikipedia to find out the history and more about this amazing site.

Rip off or fair call?

Just found out that to take a train from Cuzco to Aguas Caliente, the town by Machu Piccu cost approx 80usd return. Where as a local would catch that same train and pay 10usd return. Rip off or a fair call?

I think for tourist to pay more then the locals is fair, but to pay 8x more is a bit too much. Especially for someone like me, trying to stick to a budget, 80usd would be at least 3 day´s worth.

So, I am researching into a cheaper way in to see the biggest draw card of Peru.

Cuzco

I´ve been in Cuzco since Friday. This city was at the center of the Inca Empire, but like all Inca cities it was sack and destroyed by the marauding Spaniards. Those bastards! They remind me of the Crusaders (not the Cantabs but the Arab invaders of the middle ages) as upon completing their conquest the Spaniards built massive cathedrals upon the ruins of the Inca buildings, thus erasing any remnants of the Inca´s history. The theory goes that they wanted to both subdue and convert the population to Christianity. But since the population can´t read nor understand Spanish, the easiest method was to paint incredibly large murals and paintings to educate through pictures. I felt a little depress reading about the Inca history and the destruction wrought by the conquests.

 

So... today I saw more destruction by the Spaniards. I visited the so call Sacred Valley, to see the Inca ruins at several villages surrounding Cuzco. The most impressive being Ollantaytambo, as it´s mountains are dominated by Inca fortresses. The fortress were built using huge stones, some measuring 3 metres long and 2 metres high. I wonder how many did it take to transport these large blocks up the hill? The other amazing scenery are the terrace farming method during Inca time, the view reminded me of both Sapa in Vietnam and Long Sheng in China. It is amazing to see how the steep hillside has been transform into cultivatable land by humans.

Gregory´s Highlights of South America in 91/92

Here is an email from Greg, a Swiss traveller I met in Vietnam in 2003. But as he said, the travels he did in 91/92 may not be possible now. Such as hiking the Inka trail to Machupicchu without a guide!

_________________________________________________________

 

I would like to give you some hints even though I was travelling in this
area back in 91/92 of the last century (can't believe that 15 years have
already been gone since).

Colombia:

-Old city of Cartagena with well preserved houses of the Spanish times
-Tairona Nationalpark (NP) - beautiful beaches
-Pereira and the Ucumari NP
-San Agustin (horseriding)
-Popayan (white houses like in the Andalusian region in Spain)
-Tierradentro (astonishing landscape with relicts of ancient culture)
-Medellin (most beautiful girls ever seen in one spot)
-South of Colombia (between Pasto and the border of Ecuador - amazing
landscape)

Ecuador:

-Banos (Hot Springs, horseriding, backpackers chill out place)
-Penas (not a place, but the locals call a concert of Andenian musicians
like this - a must)
-Climibing volcanoes (Cotopaxi for example)
-Trip to the coast by coach train from Ibarra-San Lorenzo
-Boat trip from San Lorenzo-Esmeralda
-Train ride on the rooftop from Alausi-Cuenca
-Market of Otavalo (might be a tourist thing in these days)
-Try the San Pedro if you have the opportunity (made from the juice of a
Cactus - ask the Rastas what it is before you go for it)

Peru:

-Both trip on the Titicaca-sea to one of the small Island where the only
people living there are Indios (beware of the Sun)
-Cusco and the Inka Trail to Machupicchu (at that time it was possible to do
it without guide, it was a superb experience especially arriving at the
sleeping place at Machupicchu short before sundown
-Huaraz (Switzerland of Peru with the highest mountains in the area -
climbing)
-Pisco (Islas Galletas)
-Arequipa and trip to the Colca Canion (deepest canion of the world)
-Train ride Arequipa-Juliaca-Cuzco
-Cajamarca (take a bath in the springs)

Bolivia:

-Rurenabaque (we did a 4 day jungle trip - fanstastic experience)
-Road from La Paz to Careico (tropical Yungas) (it is the most dangerous
"street" in Latin America - make sure that the driver is not drunken)
-La Paz: Valle de Luna
-Potosi: Visit a mine - incredible how hard the indios have to work to gain
their life
-Salar de Uyuni, Laguna Colorada and Geysirs (take the sunglasses with you,
this salty sea is endless)
-The "Islands" on the Salar de Uyuni with special and big Cactus

This were the four countries that I visited thoroughly in South America.
I had spent 6 month in Mexico and  Central America before flying from Panama
City to Cartagena.
Another spot that is a must if you will be visiting Argentina and Brasil is:
Foz de Iguazu (Impressive and massive waterfall)

Enjoy you trip and send some pictures if you visit one of this places.
I'm really keen on seeing how this places look like today.

Take care

Best regards

Gregory and Andrea

Peru!

I arrive in Peru today from Copacabana in Bolivia, passing through the border of Yunguyu. I am now in the town of Puno, on the other side of Lake Titicaca.

Arriving in Peru I cannot believe the contrast compare to Bolivia. The streets here are clean, the stores tidy and well stocked, there are mobile and appliance sellers everywhere, there are actual pedestrian malls with white marble floor to walk on here, the people are better dressed, the customer service of people in the tourist industry are way more professional (and they actually smile!), the bank staff process my travellers cheque more efficiently, and everything just seem well... so much more better then poor old Bolivia. You sure can pick the poorer neighbour here!

The only catch is everything comes at a price! Last night I had my own room for 3.20usd, tonight I am sharing a room with an Irish girl and we are paying 10usd for a room which does not include bathroom! Dinner last night also cost me 3.20usd, tonight it cost me 8usd!

But hell, I hear this country is second to Bolivia in terms of cheapness, so I will be sure to report back on the true cost of stuff after a week here.

Lake Titicaca

Karl the hippie!

Allright all! I´ve just spent the last few days on a lake situated at 3,820 metres high (This is Bolivia and EVERYTHING is up high!). The lake is call Lake Titicaca. It is a beautiful freshwater lake which is more than 230 km long, 97 km wide and covers over 9000 sq km. It also sits attractively in front of the Cordillera Real mountain range in Bolivia. The Cordillera Real range includes three 6000 metres peaks all covered in snow.

So me and Karl (this American from San Diego) have been doing a whole lot of trekking. We must have walked over 40 kms in two days. Up and down the mountain we went. And on Sunday night we spent the night on the island call Isle del Sol, also known as Island of the Sun. This is the most sacred place of the Inca people. It is here that they believe their first emperor rose from te rock called Titicaca. But to us it was all about the scenery, whilst the history and ruins are just bonus. Coz I am off to Machu Piccu soon! :)

Strange Ritual on Copacabana

This is the blessing of the car ceremony in the village of Copacabana, on the Bolivian side of Lake Titikaka. This is the village Priest, and on the car bonnet you see minitual animals and cars place, similar to Chinese belief, as the locals hope to get this in the new year. The only difference is they do not burn it as an offering to their Gods. In this case, this is a mix between the Inka´s God and Christianity. After the "blessing" the people spray Bolivian booze all over the car before drinking the rest! So all in all it is a good little tradition for all participants! :)

Pique a lo Macho

My favorite meal in Bolivia. The Pique a lo Macho is basically chopped up sausage (even better when it is spicy), chopped up beef steak, onions, tomatos and capsicum serve up on a plate of fries.

Muy Rico! (Very delicious!)
amended thanks to my Spanish teacher Nick T... :b

Coca Museum

Taken at the Coca Museum in La Paz. In order for the effects to work, you are meant to stuff a shit load of these - coca leaf, into one corner of your mouth, and suck on it. You are also meant to suck on this activator (on my left hand), which then infuse with the leaf and gets the chemical working. Though after trying this for over an hour in the museum I didn't feel much sensation. And believe me, I chew on HEAPS of leaves! Other backpackers claim that their mouth went numb a little and that some felt a little high, but the only sensation I felt was a dryness in my throat and that I wanted to throw up!

What are the effects the locals feel you wonder? It acts as a bit of a hunger supression (which is why this is so popular with the mine workers as they don't take lunch), it helps with altitude sickness and it gives you more energy to work, or makes you think you got more energy to work. I am not sure how adictive this is but a lot of Bolivians chew on Coca leaves, especially those in the countryside.

The museum had a lot of interesting facts. In fact you should read it online at http://www.cocamuseum.com/main.htm

Zebra Crossing

Hilarious costume in La Paz to patrol the streets and make it safe for pedestrian to cross. They are a God send as traffic in La Paz is MAD. At the same time those mini vans (kinda like a mini bus) you see behind this guy stops anywhere and everywhere, thus making it even more hazardous for pedestrian and other traffic alike. Amazingly, I have yet to witness an accident!

Dirty face after downhill ride!

On Tuesday Carolyn, Andy and I rode down what is known as "The World's Deadliest Road". We did it with B-Side Adventures, a great company whom gave us a fantastic experience.

That's Carolyn, Andy and me at the lunch break spot.

I was a bit nervous the morning of the ride as I only got 4 hours sleep the night before. I was up all night needing the toilet coz I got a dose of diarrhea. All thanks to the llama steak I ate at the "100% Natural Restaurant" the night before. BEWARE!!!

Anyway, the ride on the day was awesome!!! This is a shot of us afterwards. That is me and my face covered in dust. I ate loads of dust as after opting to ride with the "fast" group I was left behind by the others and choke! haha The gravel bit of the ride was scary at parts, as the drop over the side of the cliff was MASSIVE! There were crosses all the way down this road, not surprisingly as the road saw an 100 death annually. Thank God the authorities have since built a "new" road up another mountain for traffic.

The World's Most Dangerous Road

This is it! Officially term the "World's Most Dangerous Road" aka "Death Road".

The following picture was taken at the "official" start of the death road where we were given more instructions on how to handle the scary gravel road.

The road starts higher then Mt Cook, at 4,700 metres and descends to 1,100 metres. Which equates to a MASSIVE 3,600 meters descends! The total length of the bike ride is 65 km long and it took us about 4 hours to get to the bottom. The bike ride was insane and thrilling.

This photo, taken above 4,000 metres to show the trail snaking it's way down the side of the mountain.

This is another view from the top of the mountain ranges unfolding into each other. It is beautiful out here I tell you!

For more wicked and insane pictures of the death road search Google!

Christ statue in Cochabamba

Biggest badest Christ statue in Cochabamba. This is bigger then the more famous one in Rio. But getting up there I was warn numerous times by locals about robbery. I was sweeeeeet.

Earthquake in Peru

Massive 7.9 quake hit Peru this morning, with many killed. Very sad news.

But I am fine, still in La Paz in Bolivia and will get to witness the damage next week when I head on into Peru.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10458249

Out of there!

I left my job as the bird and snake keeper 3 days early. I did so as I needed to extend my Bolivian visa. It was actually a bit of a relief to have left the aviary as to be honest, I was sick of the birds. Especially the when the macaws crow in unison. That is when you hear Carolyn and or me start swearing at them to shut the f**k up!!! It's hilarious as our friends at the puma site a few meters down could hear us but I tell you what, people that we speak to do feel sorry for us. As the decibel of the crows are LOUD! Especially when you are dealing with 11 macaws.

BUT, we do have our favorite. Both Carolyn and I love Pedro, a blue macaw whom would stick out his tongue at us to let us stroke, and I think he particularly likes Carolyn as he would even lower his head for Carolyn to pet! Unfortunately he is also very possessive, being the only macaw living in a cage alone. He would protect his feeding tray whenever we come to collect it, or would climb onto the door when we attempt to enter to clean his cage. I had to smack him lightly one time with a stick to make him move!

And one thing I must say about the macaws are they are quite intelligent creatures. For example when the monkeys arrive (usually around feeding time) they would yell "al fuera!" which means "go away!", probably coz their previous keepers use to yell it out all the time. A few of them, particularly Watson and Rosa would steal the locks from us when we leave it hanging on their cage. We take 4 of the macaws out for "walks" daily, we would place them on a custom made tree branches to let them walk about. And when they are done they would actually climb down the tree branch and walk their way back to their cages!

As for my snakes, the anaconda has been shedding it's skin for the past 5 days, and I have collected a piece of it for memory. But they are so lovely, I could almost say cute as I really like watching them. For example when I took Maria Lapaz, the boar constructor out for her "walk" the other day, she would slide along until she smells another animal. Such as a big bear call Baloo. It would freeze, stick it's head up in the classic cobra pose, reading to strike. And on Friday I had to teach Gareth, my replacement from the UK, on how to handle the snake, Maria Lapaz would not let him pick her up, due to the presence of Baloo, she coil herself so tightly that we couldn't move her. I tell you it took a lot of coxing and squeezing from my part to make her move so that I could pick her up!

As for the rest of the sanctuary, I must say I did enjoy the company. It's just a pity that most of the people I got on with came later. There were of course Carolyn my aviary partner and her bf Andrew (who is a mirror image of Dave from The Office) from UK, Doctor Phil (whom had a puma originally but twisted his ankle and was made to work at the quarantine instead) from the UK, Lucas from Aussie who works at the monkey Mirador, Sam the nutter Aussie and Fransesa from Chile who works with spider monkeys, Maran the German who works with Gato the puma, Allie from UK who works with the small animals, Daniele who works with Quirky the disabled puma and finally Ximena the local Bolvian whom worked closely with Carolyn and me at the aviary.

Overall working at Inti Wasi has been an interesting experience and one which I will not forget. My advice for potential volunteers are this aren't a democracy so you may not get to work with the animal of your choice, and do check out the rest of the community to see if you would get on with them, watch out for the alpha males (in our case... ISRAELIS!!!!!!!) and ALWAYS wear long sleeves to protect yourself from the savage sand flies!

Happy birthday putriku!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING PUTRIKU! :)

I love you and miss you heaps! xxx

Me and Maria!

Had to walk my snake today and thought I should get a picture of it. Here is my beautiful boar constructor, it´s name is Marie and it is about 2 meters long. It is one gentle creature and is my favorite animal under my care.

We had to force feed it on Monday as it hasn´t eaten in 2 weeks. But then I found out from a book that boar constructors can go without food for up to a month!

My anaconda however ate like a pig, we fed it 10 pieces of chicken. It is now shedding it´s beautiful skin.

Francisca´s sand flies bite!

Mosquitoes are not the problem out here at the sanctuary. Sand flies are!!!! Check out my Chilean friend Francisca´s back and hands. I took this at lunch time.

Anyone with uncovered body parts are eaten alive by the sand flies. We are not allow to use DEET repellents because of the animals. So the best protection are long sleeve shirts, long pants and socks!

Weekly cost

Figure instead of doing a daily cost it is easier to view my travel budget on a weekly basis! It will be easier for me to input anyway! So here goes:


Week ending Sunday 22nd July = 1667.80 Bolivianos = 208.48 USD / 7
= $29.78 USD / day :(


Week ending Sunday 29th July = 700.50 Bolivianos = 87.57 USD / 7
= 12.51 USD / day :)

Spider monkey!

This is a spider monkey. It is about the size of a young child, has very lanky arms, legs and tail and has a thick black hairy coat. Of all the monkeys in this animal sanctuary I like them the best. They are extremely friendly, comes up to you, coos like a baby and cradles up in your arm.

They are so love-able it is impossible to resist! This one is a mum, and she is usually seen with her little kid, whom comes up to her and suck on her nipple whilst she is lying in my arms. I see her almost daily and she always sits with me. These two self portraits are taken this afternoon at the aviary. Isn't the monkey cute??? :)

Update: The mum is Michaela by the way, and her daughter is Micky, they turn up at the aviary almost daily and I LOVE THEM TO BITS!!!!

Birthday celebration!

So it was a low key celebration for my big 3 0. The day started like any other, waking up at 7.15am and getting to work at 8am. We clean and fed our birds, Carolyn my English partner in crime at the aviary made me a nice little sign. Meanwhile, my other partner, a Bolivian name Xemana also wrote it on the blackboard out at the cafe, so most of the volunteers came and wish me a happy birthday after work. I then told her a whole bunch of people about having my birthday dinner a local restaurant call Jasmin. About 20 of us went there for pizza and local dishes. Someone had to start singing and before long the whole restaurant join in. :) There were no candles to blow though, only a zippo lighter on top of a Hawaiian pizza for me. It was a good night, it was a great day and I am glad to have celebrated it at the animal sanctuary!

Happy Birthday!

It´s my birthday today, in NZ but tomorrow in Bolivian timezone!!!

But being at the animal sanctuary it will just be another 8 to 5.30 day. As we are sign up to work without a break for 14 days. Fun fun fun!

Today I got to touch my yellow and blue macaw´s tongue, and took my anaconda and boar constructor out for a walk. I am a bit worried about their health though as they haven´t eaten in two weeks. Other then that I am making sign post for the town´s big festival this weekend. They are celebrating the "Fish Festival" here and there will be a hoard of tourist coming to the park. It should be interesting!

Inti Wara Yassi - First Impression

So, after lots of talk about this animal sanctuary to friends and family, I am finally here. Working at the Inti Wara Yassi Wildlife Sanctuary.

I arrive here on Sunday, after a 15 hours bus ride from Sucre (via Cochabamba). However I have been feeling ill. And that night had a hard time trying to keep warm, I was shivering even after wearing a thermal, sweater, beanie, socks and sleeping in a down sleeping bag! In the end dropping the panadol helped. But the next day I had diarrhea.

So not a great start.

But that is not all. I was told at the sanctuary that I cannot work with monkeys, instead I got the aviary as they were desperate for volunteers. Of course my first reaction was, I came here FOR the MOOONKEEEEEYS! However I thought to myself, why not, since my reason for coming was to help. So I signed up for 2 weeks.

Starting at 8am on Monday I was shown along with another new girl the stuff to do out at the aviary. There was feeding, cleaning, sweeping the grounds, walking the birds, gathering new tree branches and toys for the birds and explanation to the tourist about it all. I was also shown the snake cage, where I was to handle 2 snakes, an anaconda and a boar constructor. I thought "Now we´re bloody talking!" I had to walk the snake and clean their cages. But the bonus for me is that throughout the day the monkeys comes to visit. The ones which visit are the Spider monkeys and the Capuchin monkeys. I love the spider monkeys the most as they are so friendly! They would sit on my shoulders or cuddle in my lap and make soft chirping sounds. Sometimes they would wrap their long tail around my arm and "walk" me where-ever! And on more then one occasion the mum would sit on my lap whilst milking the baby.

However we are not allowed camera into the compound for the first week. Or I would have got lots of cool photo to post. That will have to wait till next week!

So the first impression has been ok, not as great as I would have liked i.e solely working with monkeys, but at least I got to play with them whilst doing the "bird" thing!

The community at Inti Wassi are huge though, there are around 55 foreigners volunteering currently. The minimum time of volunteering is 15 days and some stay for as long as 6 months! There is a real hippie commune feel to this place as everyone gets put in the guesthouse owned by the sanctuary and everyone eat at the same place. For me I am still feeling my way around the place and the people.

Currently I find there are too many young people around, or that I am feeling my age. LOL! For example, a girl was telling me how she scratch at her scar as she wanted the scar to remain coz she think it is cool. Her mate did the same thing, can you believe it! To me that is just naff! And I told her so, that she will most probably regret it when she turns... 25! LOL!

But speaking about scars, everybody here are walking wounded. One has stitches in her head after being bitten by a monkey, another´s finger was chomped by her monkey, another was maul by her puma, another twisted his ankle after landing wrong whilst running with his puma, and finally everyone else are covered with sand fly bites. It´s hilarious to see! As for me, I haven´t gotten anything yet as my birds and snakes are better behaved, and I wear long sleeve 2nd hand clothing to avoid the sand flies. :)