Mexico

With Colombia behind me, I headed to Cancun, Mexico to meet up with Amanda (she was in Chicago visiting family while I was in Bogota visiting friends). We stayed at a typical holiday resort - this one called the Royal Mayan. It was the usual mix of beach, swimming pools, and hotel suites.





Actually, the week was surprisingly fun and really busy. We took advantage of all the activities and amenities. We were body surfing at the beach, swimming in the pool, played beach volleyball, tennis,



and took some sailing lessons with their fun little boats. In fact, on Friday we joined the weekly "regatta" and came in first place! That was pretty fun.



For something with a little more substance we headed out for a day trip to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. The place was amazing! Not only a huge site, but the artifacts were really great. The main event of Chichen Itza is the central pyramid, built as a testimony to the Mayan's prowess of astronomy. For example, the pyramid has four sides, each with 91 steps (so 4 x 91), and then there is the top level where they all meet (+ 1), so that's 4 x 91 + 1 = 365, and there were other astrological significant elements built into the pyramid.



This was also one of the sites where the Mayans would do human sacrifices. See that reclining stone figure at the bottom of this next picture? You may need to click on the image to bring it up a little larger. Anyway, that's the exact spot where the high priest would hastily cut into his victim's chest and pull out the heart while it's still beating and place it on the altar.



And it wasn't just human sacrifice by having your heart cut out while you were still conscience to see it happen, but they also bound virgins by the wrists and ankles and cast them into a deep natural well while adorned with lots of heavy stone jewelery. Those who were sacrificed were held in the highest esteem. To give your life in a bid to appease the gods was considered the pinnacle of altruism.

We finished the week in Cancun with our days filled with sun and fun. Then all too quickly it came to an end and here I am at the airport in Mexico City waiting between flights wishing I'd taken the time an even LONGER adventure. Well, maybe next time.

Bolivia and Colombia

Upon finishing with lake Titicaca we headed into Bolivia



Bolivia is an impoverished country, but still has much to offer and was well worth the visit. The main reason we wanted to go there was to experience some part of the Amazon jungle, and for some reason this was proving difficult (was fate trying to send us a message?). For example, we originally thought of going to Iquitos in Peru, but all the cheap flight seats were taken, so then we thought we'd go to the Cuzco area of Peru, but mud slides had closed those roads. Then we thought we'd go into Bolivia and from La Paz head into Rurrenabaque, but protesters had created a roadblock. And so it was that on our fourth attempt we finally managed to get on a river boat cruise up one of the tributaries to the mighty Amazon river, near the town of Trinidad. Here's the boat that was our home for four days.

It's a little old, but sure was fun... In fact, the top two levels were actually a river boat transported from Holland and fitted to a Bolivian made hull and lower floor. Hey – why not? The Amazon scenery was really nice. I couldn't believe we were actually in the Amazon jungle!



We even got to visit a local farm by horseback...

It was here that I learned rural land in Bolivia is incredibly cheap. I was told that for as little as $60 USD you can buy a hectare of land (that's 10,000 square meters, or almost 2.5 acres). No – I'm not missing a zero there – I don't mean $6,000 or even $600. I mean $60 – s i x t y. A guy can spend that much on a nice dinner back home – or own a hectare of land out here! No – I don't have any announcements to make about any land purchases, but it does make a guy think...

It was also my birthday out there on our Amazon jungle visit, and I was happy to spend it with six very nice Bolivian nationals who shared our boat with us, as well as the very kind staff members.

Although we didn't see quantity or variety of animals I had hoped to see in the jungle, we did come across some wild life...



... including a delicious fish that Amanda caught us for dinner one night. Tasty as it was, we all went to bed a little hungry after splitting this eight ways (plus a share for the crew)



And if it's catching things that I'm discussing right now, how about our ship's captain. He caught these two guys No - neither became dinner - they were both "catch and release".

But if I am discussing food, how about our typical breakfast spread. All the tropical fruits a guy could desire.



This region of the world is also home to another food. Well, maybe food is the wrong word, but there's a leaf we often used to make tea. Others use it to make cocaine.



After our time in the jungle we returned to Bolivia's capital, La Paz, and its traces of colonial influence.



At 4,000 meters (well over 13,000 feet) La Paz is the world's highest capital city. Here's a more typical view of La Paz with the Andes in the background.



At one point we were walking through down town and we heard some loud bangs and pops, and then we saw a crowd of people running through the streets towards us. Slowly advancing behind the crowd was a line of riot cops - helmets, shields, batons, etc, and they were randomly firing tear gas cannisters to disperse the crowd - which explains why the crowd was running. This was a new experience for me, and even as I saw the gas coming out of the cannisters I thought "that couldn't really be tear gas - could it?" So I thought we'd hang around a few seconds to see if it was real tear gas or not, and yup - it was real: stinging eyes, a terrible smell, and a strange taste in the back of my throat. We then joined the running crowd to avoid an even stronger dose of the tear gas. We're told this isn't an uncommon experience in La Paz. This is how the police disperse crowds before protests become unruly.

In Bolivia it's common for traditional women to wear bowler hats. No matter how many times I saw this, I just couldn't stop staring. I just think it looked so odd.



Apparently the reason for this is that about 100 years ago an importer had brought a ton of bowler hats into the region but was unable to sell them. He gave a few to the wives of local aristocrats hoping that other women would copy the fashion and buy up his stock. He was so successful that he had to import more hats, and the trend continues to this day.

Across the street from our hotel in La Paz was the witches market where you can pick up all the essentials for your potions, and brews. Necessities like shrunken heads, cocaine leaves, crystals, aphrodisiacs, and yes, llama fetuses can all be found here.



I also joined a group for a day trip out for a mountain bike ride down what is supposedly the world's most dangerous road - at least that's what the brochure said. It's a dirt road starting at 4,700 meters - that's really high - the air is thin up there, so it's a good thing that it's a day of downhill riding. The road runs through the mountains along some perilous cliffs. In fact, many corners had one (or more) makeshift graves marking where some unfortunate soul went over the edge, to their certain death.

There's now a new (paved) road that's much safer and everyone now drives on that road, which leaves this old dirt road available for us mountain bikers. It lacked the technical challenge I enjoy with single track riding, but it was still fast and fun.



Although there are signs of improvement, Bolivia remains a very impoverished country raked by political problems. For example, I learned that only once in its history has a Bolivian president ever given over power to an opponent after losing in elections. There was also a time when Bolivia had three simultaneous presidents, and more recently there was a president whose term lasted just six hours before he was overthrown. With this sort of instability, it's no wonder that the country isn't exactly marching ahead, and that causes protests, which riot police disperse.

Amid more disruptions by protesters we managed to catch our flight as scheduled and returned to Lima, Peru for a few days.



We stayed with Duncan again, and he took us out to a great restaurant that serves beef heart on skewers. Actually, it was delicious.



We also managed to visit another friend in Lima: Pat, a university friend who happened to be starting a vacation in Lima so we arranged to meet up with him for a day.



Together we went to a museum where we saw this interperative painting of The Last Supper where Jesus and his disciples are sharing a meal of guinea pig and tropical fruits.



After a few days in Lima Amanda and I went our separate ways, so to speak. She headed to Chicago for a week to see a relative, while I headed to Bogota, Colombia where a friend of mine lives.




Fabian and his wife Elsa lived in Edmonton for five years, and being an avid cyclist he rode with a club that I also rode with. And so here we are enjoying his road bike collection at his new house in Bogota...



And it seems Fabian isn't the only one in Bogota with a love for cycling. How about this tough guy and his Harley.



Fabian, Elsa and family were such great hosts. They put me up, fed me, showed me around Bogota, and made sure I didn't get kidnapped.



We went to the city's main square, Plaza de Bolivar...



And to the gold museum.



Although I wasn't allowed to photograph it, there was a brick of gold weighing some 37 kg.

And then there was the art museum, which largely featured the work of Colombian painter Fernando Botero whose work was fantastic.



Colombia (well, Bogota anyway) was far more progressive than I expected. It was clean, modern, and a thriving metropolis. It far exceeded by expectations. Colombia is quite rich in resources, including mining and gem stones - especially emeralds. Some locals mine independently and bring their emeralds to the city to sell. They all sort of congregate along this one street and you can literally see tons of people buying and selling emeralds out in the open.



And if you look hard enough you can also see locals selling something else - fruit! Lots of it!



And then with just ONE WEEK remaining in our journey I headed to Cancun, Mexico to meet up with Amanda. This will be less of a cultural experience, and more of a relaxing week at a resort (I know - I totally feel like I'm selling out by doing this, but I guess we all have to accept our fates).

Peru!



It wasn't long after saying good-bye to our friends Stuart and Anita in Ecuador, that we said hello to Duncan in Lima, Peru.



One thing we did was visit a museum that had in its collection a few shrunken heads used as trophies after battles.



We also went to Lima's upscale neighborhood Miraflores where it was nice to see some older people out of the house and dancing in the park.



After our brief visit to Lima, we were off Nazca, famous for the aptly named “Nazca lines”. We spent about half an hour in a small plane flying over the lines. You may need to click the images to bring them up a little larger than just miniatures in the blog - the lines are pale and rather thin. Anyway, here's the Hummingbird...



and the Monkey...




And then we traveled further south in Peru – yes by bus! We went to Cuzco which is in the Sacred Valley and not too far from one of the continent's best known sites: Machu Picchu! I was very excited to see this ancient city that used to be home to some 800 Inca, but was abandoned circa 1550 as part of the Inca reaction to the Spanish conquistadors. Their idea was to relocate everyone from various cities to a more remote area and make a final stand against the Spanish, but really it was no contest. It took only a handful of conquistadors with their vastly superior technology to basically wipe out the Inca civilization. Oh – and the smallpox they carried too. In fact, that did vastly more damage than any battles fought.



For those wishing for a little exercize, you can follow the signs to the nearby summit of Waynapicchu




which is a fairly steep mountain peak....


The reward for doing so is the fantastic view overlooking the entire Machu Picchu site



This ancient city was discovered in 1911 by explorer Hiram Bingham. Despite its size the entire city was hidden from view due to 400 years of abandonment and the constant advance of the jungle. Obviously the site has now been cleared so we can get great views and see the city as it might have looked while inhabited by the Inca.



Oh – did I mention the altitude? Machu Picchu was built near the top of a mountain, and sits at 2430 meters above sea level (7970 feet). The air is noticeably thin up there and makes for hard work trekking all about. We often saw clouds below the city.



So why would a civilization build their city so high? They learned the hard way that low lying areas are under constant threat of mud slides from the steep mountains surrounding the area. Luckily they didn't need to haul fresh water up to the city – they specifically chose sites like this because even up here, some had underground fresh water springs. 350 liters per minute, apparently.

After all that hard work of hiking and climbing a guy needs to relax with a few drinks.



Afterwards, we continued south through the stunning backdrop of the Peruvian andes





and settled in the town of Puno, which lies on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the world's highest “navigable” lake (whatever that means). Anyway, the lake is very high, at almost 4,000 meters, and it is also quite large, measuring over 160 km long.

There remains a small population who live out on these man-made floating islands built of reeds.



Apparently, these people were under constant attack by their aggressive neighbors, and their solution was to abandon the land they traditionally inhabited and build floating islands where they would be safe from invasion. They even built floating farms for their livestock.

The remaining population now depends mostly on tourism from visitors who are interested in this curious bit of Peruvian history. They had the usual kitch for sale but seemed happy.



Unknown to most tourists, it is in the lakeside town of Puno that lies another famous site: Machu Pizza! Mmmm – it sure tastes good to have some familiar food once in a while.



We ventured a little further than most people by catching a three hour boat ride further into lake Titicaca, to Isla Amantani.



It is a simple life led by the inhabitants of the island where even electricity is not to be taken for granted. Everyone has a role to play, and there's plenty of hard work to go around.



It was also here on Lake Titicaca that we saw this fantastic sunset



The next day we continued on to another island. We found it a little odd to see lots of older men knitting in their spare time



We enjoyed a fantastic lunch of some typicall Peruvian food



And then it was time to leave the lake and return to Puno. Fortunately we didn't have to take this boat back. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have made it all the way back.



We departed Peru and headed for Bolivia... and you'll have to wait for me to publish that blog update where you'll hear how we found ourselves on the wrong side of the Bolivian riot police and got to sample some free tear gas. Stay tuned!