harnessing his inner che

Photos

2005-12-19T12:49:00.000-08:00

12/19/2005

hey here are some pictures some guys left on the computer.

Someone steals my (Jacob's) camera, I steal someone else's pictures!

joseph

Aguas Calientes (Machupicchu)

2005-12-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

12/18/2005

hi
the strike ended wednesday afternoon, so i didn´t have to hike the rail
afterall. but of course, my tour company (inca wasi) is not the one that
told me! i found out through another travel company that was touting tours
on the street. so i went back to inca wasi at around 8 pm wed. night and
asked that they book me on the train. i know everyone in that office i have
been there so often. let´s see, there is walter (who i like the least, and
yes... i have a nick name for him: senor diablo 2), and yanet who is
semi-helpful. kiki is the one with the best english-who is often made
middle man between me and walter, pedro and julio are the gophers who speak
less english than i speak spanish. there are like 3 other people, but they
are like extras on a movie set, and they get minor mention in the credits.
there is more to the story... but i am getting off track: i caught the
train and made it out here. it is beautiful. the andes are something to
behold. once again i find myself regretting not going on the hike. but
avoiding pain is a strong motivator.
machu picchu is amazing. i have been to ruins in mexico and laos, cambodia;
what is so special about machu picchu is its position in the mountains. to
stand there among those temples and view the vastness of the andes around
you is something to experience. the structure is not completely
unbelievable by itself, but when considering the that the incans transported
those rocks into those mountains, it blows me away.
joseph

Cusco, Peru

2005-12-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

12/15/2005

hi everyone,
this email is gonna be long i think... so if you don´t have time to read
it... just delete it... there isn´t anything too important in here anyway.
just some ramblings and observations. but i am doing well, been pretty busy
today, and i really like cusco a lot. it is an old incan city with a
spanish colonial city built on top of it. there are numerous cathedrals and
old spanish colonial architecture - all built on top of the incan city.
jacob, you asked about rent-a-friend? well, it is in full force here in
peru. (and for those of you that don´t know what rent-a-friend is: when you
travel, it is oftentimes more entertaining to travel with someone local -
you can get a better perspective of the country and its culture. of course,
you could always hire a tour guide, but that is less personal and less
interesting... and its not renting a friend, it is renting a tour guide.
hehehe. so in traveling, i have been lucky to find situations where we meet
someone, and they don´t have a set schedule, (some people don´t have
regular jobs due to economic circumstances of their country) so we invite
them along, or have them show us around, and buy them lunch, give them a
small monetary gift at the end of the day, and there you have it:
rent-a-friend. it has worked really well in laos and then in cuba. but
cambodia was a bust because they tried to cheat us.) hehehe.
well... paul and edgar met this guy, alex (real name, rosell or something
like that), on monday that was selling sunglasses. (fake namebrands) and
then on tuesday, edgar and paul met him again while i was at the internet
cafe, and when i got over there, edgar had negotiated for him to show us
around. he took us to the market, we bought him (and ourselves) freshly
made fruit juice. but i think that when we paid him, edgar should have paid
more because he mostly spoke spanish. well, since edgar and paul were
leaving the next day, i asked him to show me around. so we went around some
yesterday and some today... and today he bought me lunch (which is the true
sign of rent-a-friend, when they reciprocate). i think we will meet up with
him again when paul, edgar and i get back from machu picchu... if we get
back.. hehehe...
see, currently there is a strike going on, which effects the train service,
which ultimately effects me. since i opted out of the incan trail, this was
my option for getting up to machu picchu. and i am not sure what the strike
is about exactly... but i know that there are some charges of curruption,
and that last week the porters that take tourists on the incan trail were
striking and blocking the train because they wanted some sort of health care
to cover the injuries sustained while on the trek. (they do the treks many
times a month, and many have sustained back injuries, etc., with no way to
get treatment. some are in their 50s and 60s, and one tourist told me that
they had a porter that was 16, even though legally they can´t work the trail
until they are 18.)
well, i have been back and forth with the tour company about how i am to
get up to machu picchu. they suggested that i go by train on saturday
(leaving at 6 am, and returning on the 4 pm train). it is a 4 hour train
ride, so this would leave very little time up at machu picchu. but the
other issue is that the train may not be in service on saturday, which would
strand paul and edgar up there in the mountains. for sure the train is not
in service today or tomorrow. so i was kinda stressing out about it. i
mean, i didn´t come on this trip to hike the incan trail, but i did want to
see machu picchu. so time is running out, and our tickets for lima are
tuesday morning.
so this is what i have decided: i will hike up the length of the train
track up to machu picchu. i will start at the begin point of the incan
trail and finish at agua calientes, the stopping point for the train. the
incan trail is 45 km, while my hike will be 30 km. i don´t know what that
is in miles, but i know its not that short, and i won´t have a guide... it
will just be me (and maybe some other crazy tourists that are worried they
may have come all this way just to miss out on seeing machu picchu...)
hehehe. but it obviously is not as difficult as the incan trail cause i
will do it in one day and there aren´t the huge mountain peaks to cross.
anyway.... i am leaving on a bus at 6:30 am and riding with a tour group
that will hike the incan trail. but we will split ways; i will go on the
train tracks and they will go on the trail. exciting huh? hehehe. so i get
to pack for a trek afterall. the funny thing is that i bought the same
cheese and bread that edgar and paul bought. but i HAVE to pack food and
water, cause i don´t have a porter to do all that for me. either way, it
wil be exciting... and i am sure paul will be proud of me. hehehe.
well, hope yall are having a good christmas season. i will email when i
can. maybe in couple of days after i get back from machu picchu? i don´t
know if there is internet up there.
joseph

Cusco, Peru

2005-12-14T08:35:00.000-08:00

12/14/2005

hello everyone,

paul and edgar left this morning for the incan trail hike. i will see them
up there later in the week. i definitely have mixed feelings about not
going. but in reality, it was never my thing to begin with. so i am here
in cusco after passing on multiple opportuinties to change my mind about
going on that trek.
but i will now tke the opportunity to make fun of paul and edgar a little
bit (or a lot)... cause of course, i am feeling lesser than them since i
didn´t go, and so to make myself feel better, i will write the following:
yesterday paul and edgar were all over town preparing for this trip. i just
kinda followed along cause i had no other plans. so it was one of my most
uneventful days so far. well, they went crazy with the preparations. i
mean, it is good to be prepared, but one must realize - everything they buy
for the trek, they have to carry on the trek. and they are climbing some
6000 feet in one day, and then back down the next!
well, they didn´t trust that the tour company would supply them with enough
food, so they bought enough for 4 days (without the tour company´s food at
all). they bought this huge block of queso, (the stinky cheese that i love)
and a pack of red bull (which, with all the caffeine, is not gonna help with
hydration). they also bought this large bag of sweet bread... that is
garaunteed to get squished... but unfortunately squishing it won´t make it
any lighter. they bought some large pack of roots and leaves which are some
supposed herbal remedy for the altitude. but anyway, that gives you the
basic idea.
paul and edgar kinda reminded me of myself when i was 12 years old and
attended my first summer scout camp at camp avondale. i packed so much
stuff, you woulda thought i was going for a month. i remember with
subsequent camping trips i packed less and less... until today, when i go
camping, i just make sure i got a toothbrush and some soap. (soap can work
for bathing, shampooing, and brushing one´s teeth. and if you take
palmolive, you can also use it for washing dishes) so last night they were
up for 2 hours packing their goods. and you shoulda seen how big and heavy
their packs got. edgar was the funniest, cause he even packed his psp,
i-pod, and his combo TV-VCR. paul, whose pack wasn´t that much lighter,
kept telling him to unload things, so he did. he unloaded some cologne, a
few magizines, his extra jacket, a bottle of some local beverage known for
high alcohol content, and his big bottle of shampoo and body wash. i mean,
where are they going? hehehe.
i really wish i was going on the trek just so i could show them how light
you can pack and still get by for the 4 days. i mean, do you really need to
bring along 2 litres of water when the tour company has told you they will
provide it, and also that its available for purchase along the trail?
hehhehe...
ok, i am really just having fun. it is good to be prepared, as every eagle
scout knows... which is why i didn´t go on the hike. it has been
interesting to watch edgar and paul (especially paul) because so much of
their energy and focus has been on this trek. they took this peru trip in
order to make this trek up the incan trail. so i is hard for me to describe
the significance of it for the both of them. but i can appreciate their
preparations more than what i´ve let on here. it almost seems to be
somewhat of a spiritual experience for paul, and he really sees it as
pitting himself against himself... as a way to test his limits and
abilities. so it was difficult for them to understand my reluctance towards
the trip, and, for the past couple of days, my indifference to it.
i am sure they will be fine. i have talked with several other people here
in peru that have done the trek, and some of them are not that physically
fit. paul and edgar can get up mt. si in no time, so i think they will do
well with this. (only those heavy packs may slow them down).
joseph

2005-12-13T13:46:00.000-08:00

Should help give some perspective to his trip.

Cusco, Peru

2005-12-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

12/13/2005

hello everyone
how are yall doing... things are well here, cusco is a beautiful city. and
its official: i will not be hiking the incan trail. it has been a bit of a
hassle, getting the tour company to change my booking. but i went into the
office yesterday and made it happen i am sad to admit.
the problem is that they wanted me to pay extra for changing my booking
(from the hike to the train) they said if i had come in 4 days before the
hike i woulda been able to do it no problem, but at such a late notice, i
would have to pay for the train and hostel stay. well, i told them that i
had tried to change it in puno 4 days in advance. i sent our guide phillipa
to the office to change it for me but she was told i couldnt do it, and i
would have to talk to them in cusco.
so after i explained all of that, and how it was not my fault, they kept
going around in circles and even called miriam, the woman in lima that
originally booked our trek up to machu picchu.
it was a bad set up because they had this one guy that spoke english talking
to me, but he wasnt the one making the decisions. he would have to turn
around and talk to his bosses and they would tell him what to say. i really
felt bad for the guy cause it wasnt his fault. but i had to get ugly
american on them. they agreed to pay for half of my train and i told them
that wasnt good enough either. that is when i had to get real ugly. i
looked straight at the "bosses" and told them that they were cheating me. i
had tried to make the change in advance but was rebuffed. and now they are
telling me its too late? so i told them i would write to the lonely planet
(the guide book) about them and also contact the policia turistica and
inform them. i had quite the speech there. and in the end, they agreed with
me that they should pay for the whole thing.
i asked paul later how bad i got on the ugly american scale (of 1 to 5)...
and he said that it was between a 3 and a 4. that i never got to 5 cause i
would say to them, "i realize it is not your fault, that it is policy, but i
dont feel as though i am being treated fairly." unfortunately, its the
squeaky wheel that gets the oil. and it all comes back to the fact that i
was raised in america where we are used to getting our way and when we dont,
we have an uncanny ability to say the right things or make the perfect
threat that will get us what we want.
and the whole time i was going back and forth with the tour company (inca
wasi), edgar and paul were alternating between shaking their heads and
hiding their faces in embarrassment. i kept telling them to leave and wait
for me outside so they wouldnt have to witness the carnage of my entitled
sense of self, but they chose to watch and wait. i said to paul, "what am i
to do? i was raised white in american and we always get our way!"
well, i did get my way. and i have mixed feelings about that, but i am glad
that dont have to pay more money to change my trip up to the famed machu
picchu. so i guess i will except the benefits of my priviledged birth and
move forward. comments john m? hehehe.
having a good time.
more later,
joseph

Cusco, Peru

2005-12-13T13:07:00.000-08:00

12/12/2005

hello everyone,
i am in cusco right now... i started this email in puno, but didn´t finish
it... i had typed this long email but then accidentally closed the window...
so i lost it.
anyway, i am doing well. the bus ride from puno was long, but it will be
nice to just chill for a few days. in puno we went out to lake titicaca,
the highest navigable lake in the world. i think its around 9,000 feet or
more... the meter to feet conversion gets me confused.
we took a tour out there and spent the night with a family on one of the
islands. they made us food, and we had a fiesta that evening where we all
dressed in traditional peruvian clothes and danced to live traditional
music. it was a little touristy for me, (like peru in a zoo) but we had a
good time and our host family was nice.
the bad thing about going with a tour group is that you will surely
encounter some strange folk. for example, at the fiesta, this one
australian girl decided to demonstrate her enthusiasm for the music by
clapping her hand to her mouth and hooting and hollering (like she was
playing cowboys and indians). i was pretty embarrassed, seeing that at that
moment she represented white people as a whole. i hope the locals weren´t
aware of the meaning behind her cultural insensitivity. but i felt
extremely thankful that she wasn´t american. i mean we get into enough
trouble as it is. hehehe.
the boat ride over was crazy too: it was five hours on rough waters. the
boat was rocking so bad that four people vomited in the cabin. (and i
wasn´t one of them!) the problem was that after one person threw up, it
kinda started a chain reaction. the smell was incredible. but i was in the
seats outside the cabin, and i just kept focusing on the horizon so i
wouldn´t get sick. and also i refused to give my seat up to anyone. they
were clawing to get out of that cabin once the smell got so bad. hehehe.
the ride back from the island was a lot smoother, so nobody got sick.
cusco is nice so far, we took an all night bus and got here 4 am this
moring. i really like the city - its beautiful. but drivers here are crazy
as everywhere in peru. we just saw a little taxi try to cut off a bbig tour
bus and get smacked. and i was almost hit by a car in lima, and then in
pisco i got side-swiped. i was crossing the street and a taxi ran over the
edge of my left big toe, and hit my arms and my hands. it didn´t knock me
down, just scared me kinda bad! well, i am learning to be more careful:
just cause you are a pedestrian, doesn´t mean you won´t get hit here!

well, i will get this machu picchu thing all settled here today or tomorrow,
and i will email again then.
hope everyone is well and having a good holiday season thus far! it is fun
to hear all the christmas songs in spanish playing around peru. they love
salsa here. that is mostly what plays on the radios here.
joseph

Arequipa, Peru

2005-12-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

12/9/2005

hey everyone
this is gonna be short cause i have to be back at the tour office down the
street to catch the bus to puno in 30 minutes.
just got back from the colca canyon, a 6 hour drive outside of arequipa,
further up into the highlands... and i don´t think i will be doing the 4 day
incan trial up to machu picchu after all. i hiked down that canyon and it
about tore me apart. its one of the deepest canyons in the world, and they
got these little narrow mule trails down into them, and that is what we
hiked down to get to these bungalows at the bottom. the trail started at
about 10,000 feet and ended around 6000 something, and the altitude was
killing me. by the time i was at the bottom my legs felt like jelly, i
could barely breath and my sinuses were about to explode. i am a wimp - and
this was only emphasized when i was passed by an elderly woman with a huge
pack of stuff on her back. we have only been at higher altitudes since
wednesday i think, and i don´t think i gave myself adequate time to adjust.
and also i am a wimp.
but it was beautiful. we had this guide for the three of us, and he was
hilarious. at first i didn´t like him too much cause he kinda stretched the
truth when describing the trek to us, but i got over it when i was in so
much pain that i didn´t have the energy to carry the grudge anymore. paul
and edgar managed pretty well, but they are in much better shape than me.
paul does mt si all the time. they are complaining of pain today, but they
hiked back up the canyon while i took the mule. and that was pretty scary
too; it was walking way too close the edge of these cliffs, and i just never
knew what it was thinking: "man this guy has been eating way too much guinea
pig!" and then get tired of carrying me and toss me over the side. in fact,
right after we got to the top -the mule slipped a bit while trying to cross
this ditch, and it threw me off into the rocks. i think he thought his job
was done - so i decided to walk the rest of the way after that.
so i need to think about this whole thing - time is running out and i just
don´t think i will be in any shape to go on that hike by then (the 14th).
it was never my plan anyway, but i got caught up in the excitement or
something.
well, there is much more to say but i gotta head out back across the street.
hope yall are well. thanks for the emails; i will have some answers to
questions next time i email... maybe in 2 days?.
joseph

Arequipa, Peru

2005-12-13T12:58:00.000-08:00

12/7/2005

hey everyone,
at higher altitudes now. i won´t email for a few days after this cause we
are going on this trek and then to sleep on an island on lake titicaca (an
artificial island made of reeds, aint that a trip?)
yesterday we took an all night bus to arequipa. the bus was plush... nicer
than some hotels i have stayed in, but the driver was crazy. we were
speeding through these mountain roads, and i thought we would die. he was
tail gating, passing in no pass zones, going off the road - way too close to
the rail - on sharp turns, and changing gears - speeding up - going down
hill. paul and i were on the top floor of the bus in the front seats, so we
could see everything, and we were screaming like little girls. roller
coaster rides aren´t that scary. and the whole time, he was blasting disco
tunes (bee gees, abba, that i will survive song) but we made it
today we went around the city here some. it is the second largest city in
peru with 800,000 people. and i finally had my date with the guinea pig.
and ouane, i swear i am not lying, but it really really tastes JUST like
chicken. if you put it in a taste test with chicken (like they used to do
with pepsi and coke back in the 80s) you would not be able to tell which was
which... and if asked which one tasted better, you might just pick the
rodent. hehehe
well, all decisions have consequences, and my guinea pig decision had its as
well. paul got pretty grossed out by the whole thing, and he ended up
getting mad at me, cause i kept talking about it i guess. i can´t say he
was yelling at me, but he was talking pretty loud. something about how i
was wasting food (i refused to eat the head, and i was too full to eat the
potatoes and onions) and about how unhealthy i was eating, gorging myself on
all this food everyday, speding all this money. and about how the peruvians
only eat unhealthy cause they are poor. some other stuff i can´t remember.
oh yeah, and how it was wrong cause i was having to eat medicine before and
after i eat so i wouldn´t get sick (chandra taught me to take a pepto before
i eat anything; it actually works really well).
well, here is my part (i am not perfect) i said back at him, "who are you to
talk? Mr. gastrointestinal distress." and then i said something about how
all he eats is tomato soup and salad at expensive restaurants or something.
i told him i would eat cheap but they don´t have his tomato soup and salad
at the little dives. so jacob f, chandra, you have some company for your
"isn´t-joseph-annoying-when-he-travels-cause-all-he-wants-to-do-is-eat?"
club. i should come with a warning label. but i can´t describe to you the
pure joy i feel when i eat something that i have never tated before and it
is so different yet so good. and then i wonder, how have i lived without
having ever eaten this before.?
well, luckily he bounces back pretty quick. i think it is all related to
the gi problems he continues to experience. he swears its the bottled
water, but then he eats all this fruit, and even watermelon which the guide
book says to stay away from cause it can be a bacteria hotel...
well, i continue to have a good time! more later... joseph

Nazca, Peru

2005-12-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

12/6/2005

hey everyone!
thanks for the emails. i am doing well even though i got jacob´s camera
stolen this moring. (i am sorry jacob!!!) we went to see the nazca lines,
(they are these lines made out in the desert by the nazca peoples years and
years ago) recently, they have theorized that the lines were meant to
intice the gods to send rain. some thousands of years ago, this area was
hit with a big drought... which from how the weather feels today, is still
going on... and the lines were made about the time of the drought, and
seemed to increase in size and number as it persisited. other theories
(aliens) also exist - and what is interesting, is they can only be viewed
from the sky. on the ground they so large, one cannot see them.
so after the jumpy plane ride, i was just sitting and resting, cause i got
kinda sick-feeling - and this swarm of kids selling postcards came outa
nowhere, and i think maybe they got it. i kinda fell half asleep for a
second after telling them i didnt want any, and my pack was next to me.
well, after that... i noticed, no camera. i shoulda just left it at the
hotel, cause i didn´t even use it once, didn´t even take it out!
hehehehe...
i am sorry, jacob - but you wanted a new camera anyway. but no pictures...
so no slide show this time. hehehe. (there is a collective sigh of relief
coming across the net as yall read this i am sure)
still got the video camera though... i will email and let you know when i
lose that!
well, we were in a nice hostel last night, only instead of cars, we had
roosters on the roof of the house next to us. but i slept right through
it... didn´t wake up at all. hehehe. i can´t say the same for paul (and he
had his own room!) hehehe
paul is struggling with the trip. the stomach virus or whatever he caught
is slowing him down, he can´t eat anything, plus he gets grossed out by
different food, and so he is kinda grumpy. we went to a restaurant this
afternoon, and sat down... well, the waitress asked, ¨¿do you want the
menu?¨ and edgar, our "translator" answered yes. so she brought us out
three bowls of soup with green stuff and meaty bones in it. well, in peru,
when u ask for the menu, it means you are asking for the daily special or
whatever the big thing they are making that day. i read that in the guide
book, but i figured edgar knew what he was doing. (he is from el salvador,
and it aint always the same) well, she sits the three bowls down in front
of us and paul says, "what is this?!? I haven´t even ordered yet!" we
tried to explain, but he got mad and left the restaurant to sit at the park
across the street. so we edgar and i ate our soup and his too. and guess
what, it was good. hehehe.
well, paul is gonna sleep and edgar and i will head out to see this old
cemetary. should be good. tonight we take a night bus to ariquipa (10
hours)- so i don´t know when i will be online again. it is canyon country
out there, and high altitude. they give you coca leaves to chew to help
adjust you to the altitude. but i was wondering, is chewing the coca leaves
the same as smoking crack? i guess the give you opiates when you are in the
hospital. is there a difference here? hehehe
joseph

Hauacachina, Peru

2005-12-13T12:37:00.000-08:00

12/5/2005

hey everyone,
how are yall doing? thanks for the emails.
we are leaving for nasca today. but those guys are still sleeping... so i
thought i would check the internet.
peruvian food still tends to outdo what we got in america... and the weather
is warm. i got my first nose burn yesterday when we took a boat out to this
remote island to see the sea lion colony, the dolphins, the penguins and all
these other native peruvian birds. the peruvians harvest the bird feces for
a natural fertilizer. apparently it was one of the biggest money makers
here (back in the day)
yesterday i spent in a dune buggy, and then on a sandboard. it essentially
works like a snowboard, but on these huge sand dunes instead. only i laid
down on mine. it was kinda scary... especially when it almost ripped my
pants off - but i was hoping i would break something so i wouldn´t be able
to climb up the incan trail. (and leslie, thanks for putting the 6000 ft in
perspective for me! -i think- HEHEHE) ended the day at a salsa club. and
these places are all ages. i couldn´t shake this one girl. she was nice
and all, and could dance ok, but i am sure she musta been 17. and what do u
say to someone that doesn´t speak english? ¨¿tienes inca cola dieta?¨
some of you may remember how i was thinking that paul and edgar had already
planned the trip and there was the whole thing of me trying to get paul to
call me before the trip. (and then, he finally called me on my cell after
he saw me drive by in the agency van a week ago hehehe) well. nothing
could be further from the truth. paul and edgar didn´t do ANY planning. in
fact, they didn´t even know that you had to take a guide up the incan trail.
so they packed as if they were going by themselves. and here i am (and i
never thought i was much of a planner) having watched 5 videos about peru,
got a book outa the library, and bought a guide book. it is pretty funny.
so we spent a lot of our first day in lima figuring out our basic route.
paul struggles a bit with the dirt and the small bathrooms, (which i
secretly find entertaining - well, not always too secret) but he seems to be
enjoying himself. edgar is laid back and loves to eat everything just like
me - i finally found my traveling equal. he is in the national gaurd and so
i guess if he can put up with that, he can put up with anything. hehehe.
but we all get along real well. our last night in pisco, we were in this
cheap cheap hotel (arranged through my skills in bargaining - so i thought)
and the noise on the street was so bad that NONE of us could sleep. even
me, and i can sleep through anything. in fact, i thrive on noisiness when
its time for bed. but there were cars! and more cars! and they honk and
every intersection! - just in case some other car is driving around at 2 in
the morning! the horns sound like the pacman video game too! we were
laughing about it all till 3 in the morning. and then we heard this
fighting going on, and i looked out the window and what did i see? these
kids in a gang-like fight. first one group chased the smaller group up the
street, then the smaller group came back, screaming and shouting, and i was
confused cause the bigger group started to run. but sho´nuff, the kid out
in front of the smaller group had a gun in his hand! we could see it
shining in the street light.
we shoulda put our heads back in the window. but we got this strange urge
to stick them out further so we could see better. i can´t explain it, but
thats how it was. but anyway, the final conclusion was - our cheap hotel
cost had nothing to do with my skills at the deal, and everything to do with
everything else. oh, and the bed sagged really really bad. i was hurting.
more later. let me know if my emails are too long. u would think i have
nothing better to do... (which is true cause those guys are sleeping like
crazy! hehehe)
joseph

Pisco, Peru

2005-12-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

12/3/2005

hello everyone!
if you look at the map, you can follow our descent along the coast of peru,
now we are at pisco. we are gonna go check out some island tomorrow, and
then head on further south to ica. we will not actually start climbing the
inca trail until dec 14. we will have a few days in the canyon country and
lake titicaca to aclimate to the altitude. the off to cusco where somewhere
around there we will begin the hike. on the second day we supposedly will
make a 6000 foot elevation gain to 12 to 13,000 feet. can i do that?
somebody who knows what that really means, can they let me know if that is
possible for someone like me? but they guys selling the tour said even
people on crutches do it... but we all know that they are just trying to
sell the tour, may i rest in peace.
i am always amazed by how good food tastes in other parts of the world and
how bad it tastes in america. and peru can make some good food. i just ate
this soup (sopa criolla) with a creme based broth with egg and toast
floating in it.
and jacob, they got diet of your inca soda. it tastes like creme soda a
little bit.
last night (peer pressure set in again) we (me, paul and edgar) went to a
club with a combination of house and techno music. it is where all the rich
light-skinned folk hang out. but yall shoulda seen paul. he got up on the
dance floor (AN EMPTY DANCE FLOOR) and proceeded to do a floor show. he was
b-boy king, (handstands and everything) and at least 3 girls asked if they
could go back to america with him.
i got out there a little bit too (again peer pressure) and did some moves i
haven´t tried out since my teenager days at the stake dance. but i couldn´t
come close to paul. (and he is generally so reserved) hehehe
peru is beautiful. i am just surprized that fujimori is being detained in
chille and is still up for election next year in 2006... what is up with
that? salsa is popular here. it is nice to hear the music and feel like i
am back home, at china harbor.
thanks for the emails everyone
joseph

Lima, Peru

2005-12-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

12/2/2005

hello everyone!
i am in peru now... lima... and i am having fun
it is a good good country for good good food - and that is what is most
important to me (if you know me)
and they talked me into the 4 day hike up to machhu pichu... so pray for
me... cause i may die.
i cannot believe it, but peer pressure is true and alive, and even affects
people like me.
i don´t know if i can make it. but they promised they will carry me down if
i cannot go on.
and this time, i am not joking hope yall are having a good december.
if you don´t hear from me again, you will know why.

joseph