Appetite for Adventure: My South American Odyssey: 2009

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Traipsing Across Peru!

Let me tell you about my Peruvian adventures with Dad and Uncle Ralph!

I got to the house of some missionary friends Saturday night. I had a wonderful meal cooked by Mrs. Ruth! I had a relaxed evening, and got up Sunday to pick up Dad and Uncle Ralph. They arrived all smiles, ready to adventure with me! We went to church and spent the afternoon relaxing and visiting with our missionary friends. We went out on the town and did some exploring. The evening was relaxed, as the two new arrivals were still recovering from their long flights.

Monday we decided to discover what Arequipa

had in store! We headed out at a reasonable time and meandered around the Plaza de Armas. We found a city tour group, and settled down for a nice lunch. The city tour was pretty sweet, and we got to see a lot of sites and sounds!

The plan was to leave that night on a bus to get to Cusco.

As of when we purchased the tickets, everything was fine. However, when we got to the bus station we learned there was a huge strike on the road and the company knew about it previously, yet still sold us the tickets. Peruvian deception fast at work! We demanded refunds, however, and got them! Our alternative was a much more expensive purchasing of airline tickets..sheesh! We purchased the tickets and headed the bed. We were leaving at 6 a.m. the next day for Cuzco.

We got to the airport and boarded the plane. After a quick flight we made it to cuzco. We were planning to Couch Surf with a guy, and after finding where he worked and leaving our stuff, we headed to the Plaza to see about some tours! We found some city tours as well as our 2 day trek to Machu Picchu.

The CS guy didn't work out (a first of all my CSing...I was sad Dad and Ralph couldn't experience CS!), but our other accommodations were splendid. We toured the city that day, and got ready to head to Aguas Calientes the next day bright and early!

Our tour consisted of a 7 hr bus ride and 1 hr rail ride, with the end result arriving at Aguas Calientes, the jump off site for Machu Picchu. Our small group consisted of 3 Belgians, one Chilean, and us 3 Americans. We enjoyed some good company on the day long ride. We arrived to Aguas Calientes and got our tour information. A group of us decided to leave at 3:45 the next day.

Early enough to walk the Inca trail to the base camp and then get tickets to Wayna Picchu. I happened to be #1 (of 450 total daily) to get to see Wayna Picchu! My buddy Mateo and I explored the site together. The pictures (so very famous, almost cliché, tell the tale).

Poor dad was sick all day, however :( We headed back to Cuzco by a faster means of train transportation, and dad was still sick. Uncle Ralph and I went to dinner with my British friends from Uyuni (who I also saw in Aguas Calientes! -- small world!) and that was nice.

The next day, Friday, we headed to Lima. We flew out early, met up with a missionary friend,

and sought to see the capital! We did another city tour, enjoyed lunch with David and his family, and before we knew it we were returning to the airport, ready to head back home to the US!

The flight back home was over night--one in which I slept through. I arrived back in the states, home from a wonderful adventure! My time in South America had come to an end. I enjoyed many adventures and have many stories to share. I look forward to the next time I can go overseas and experience more culture and adventure!! Thanks for reading (and sorry for the looonnng delay on this past post) ~~Benjamín

Thursday, November 26, 2009

La Paz and Lake Titicaca!

After picking up Dr. Kriley from the airport we returned to the hostel. We had pancake breakfast and hit the town! We passed through markets, Catedral de San Francisco, and had lunch at a nice restaurant. We basically got the lay of the city for the next day, Monday, to go shopping! Apparently there was a futbol match that afternoon, and it was going to be in La Paz! Around 3 DK and I headed to the stadium, only to find it empty.

They're playing here, right? I asked numerous locals, all with the same response of yeah of course! The paper, however, said it was in another city. Thank you Paceños for lying to me...We returned to the hostel and relaxed, and then went to a wonderful Asian restaurant with GREAT food! We returned stuffed and happy, and slept quite soundly.

Monday was our market/shopping day. And shop we did! I had met a woman named Carme with Sam who hand made all her goods. So I took DK to her and we bought more stuff. She was just so sweet, I couldn't pass her up! We also got tickets for the bus to Cocacabana, and then to Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca! We had

another relaxed evening, and got ready for the island. We left early the next morning and caught the bus. We arrived around noon, had lunch and waited for the boat, and arrived on the island around 3. We found a cheap hostel and traversed the unknown terrain! We got to the top of the island and enjoyed a stellar sunset.

Something happened between that night and the morning, because when I awoke I was quite sick. The verdict: dehydration. Yes, I forgot to drink water :/ spent the next half day, Wednesday, recovering and drinking lots of water. That afternoon I recovered, and DK and I explored some old Inca ruins. We watched another movie and went to sleep.

Thursday we left the island and returned to La Paz by 3 in the afternoon.

We spent more relax time, and had a nice dinner (Thanksgiving) in the hostel. Even though we always "relaxed," it seemed when we arrived to another place we again relaxed; I guess that was just DK's style :) Friday I got up with DK and took him to the airport. I then got dropped off at the bus station and bought a ticket for Puno. I would stay there a day, and meet up with my dad and Uncle Ralph in Arequipa, Peru!! Thanks for reading, and keep up the commenting :) ~Benjamin

Monday, November 23, 2009

Branks in BoBo!

Well friends, the odyssey continues in South America, this time with a lot of good times in Bolivia! (With my Brit friends; me being the yank, we together make up Branks :p) We arrived to Uyuni, back to civilization, on Monday morning. We got all our stuff, tipped the worthless Jorge, and headed out together to discover a new city! We were so excited to connect back to the world, but poor Uyuni had NO electricity! We had to use the ATM powered

by a generator...good ole Bolivia! We spent the afternoon enjoying ourselves with lunch (I had a llama steak) and the Train Cementary.

We got ready for the 7 hour, 65 mile journey to Potosi that evening. The trip that left at 7 was long, and long. For

traveling less than 70 miles, that comes out to an average of 10 miles an hour on a rugged, unpaved road. TIB!! This. Is. Bolivia! We got to Potosí early in the morning, and took a taxi to the hostel. The sleep was long and

wonderful. We spent the next day updating our lives (finally, wifi and internet!). Sam and I decided to take the mine tour that afternoon. A fun adventure into an active mind in the highest elevated city in the world! (altitude of 13,500 feet!). The tour was SOOO physically exhausting; climbing out of the mine I was the most physicalllytired I have ever b een in my life! We emerged from the caves, blew up some dynamite, and headed back home!

Sam and I enjoyed some Bolivian hamburgers, relaxed in the evening, and headed to bed. Wednesday we went to the Royal Mint (Potosi was the richest city in the world in the 16th century) and enjoyed some more sites before heading to Sucre. We took a taxi for this, and the price was $4 for a 2 hour trip. Amazingly cheap!

We got to Sucre, purchased our bus tickets for Cochabamba, and enjoyed the day in Sucre. We spent some time in the plaza, in an internet cafe, and headed to the station for the 12 hour journey. Sleep was plentiful, and we arrived to Cochabamba at 6 a.m. Nothing was open, so we waited for breakfast. We explored markets and saw sites, and left the same day for La Paz. We were quite dirty, so we showered in the bus station for $1. We

arrived to La Paz Friday and checked into the hostel. We spent the day in more markets--and we reunited with K. Bo and T Grif from our Uyuni tour! We had lunch, spend the afternoon together, and said bye that evening.

Saturday was Sam and mine's adventure on "The Most Dangerous Road in The World," a bike ride from 15,000 feet to 4,000 feet in about 20 miles. Aka, a really steep trip down a crazy road! We left at 8 a.m. and spent the whole day on the trail. What an amazing experience. From rain and cold to sun and hot,

the temperature was as varied as the trail! We got back that evening and finished up Christmas shopping for Sam. I think we found some fun stuff, and of course got great deals on the gear!

Sunday I said bye to Sam after 2 weeks...what a great travel mate! However, my GCC professor friend DK was coming to visit that same day! I woke up and headed to the airport, ready for a new, but different adventure with my US friend! Thanks for reading and commenting!! ~~Benjamín

Friday, November 20, 2009

The Journey Continues! Salta, San Pedro de Atacama, Salar de Uyuni

Well here I am nestled nicely in La Paz, Bolivia, at a good hostel with good computers (and some free time to write!). A lot has happened in the last 10 days, ever since I set off on my post semester South American journey! So without further adeu, lets get rolling:

I said good bye to my roommate and good friend Luis from Buenos Aires on Sunday with a ticket to Salta, Argentina (Which is in the north of Argentina; check out the travel map for places I've been and where I'm

going!). I arrived the next day and was Couch Surfing with a friend named Gonzalo. We spent that evening in the plaza enjoying the colonial architecture. We got some bread, avocado, and tomato (and a few cold ones) and decided to make some dinner. We had spaghetti with bread w/ the avocado and tomato. I headed to bed that evening pretty tired, but ready for the next day! We climbed to the top of Cerro Cristobol, the famous site in Salta. The view was impressive! We meandered along the rest of the afternoon, and after a good conversation with my dad and Laura, I hit the sack--ready to leave for San Pedro de Atacama, Chile!

The bus ride on Wednesday morning through the Andes mountains was quite

impressive! We started out at about 7000 feet and rose up to 13000 feet, all passing through the beautiful mountains! At the Chilean immigration I saw a friendly looking fellow and introduced myself. Sam, a Brit from London, just so happened to be going on the SAME route I was, and after a little coordinating we decided to travel together! We found a hostel, booked a tour for the next day, and enjoyed some time getting to know eachother. We spend the next day on the valle de la luna tour, one that consisted of seeing a lot of beautiful places!

We returned that evening, had some empanadas, and headed to bed, ready for our full day tour starting at 8 a.m. The next day's tour included the Laguna Chaxa, the place where 3 of 6 of the new world flamingos live, along with other places to see! We had a good time on that tour as well, and got back that evening. We had booked a Saturday trip to Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, which commenced at 8 a.m., so we again went to bed early (minus a 1 a.m. phone call to my wonderful Laura ^^)

Saturday came early, and Sam and I got excited to see all there was! We met a pair of British ladies, Tara and Katherine, and decided to go together,

us 4, on the tour (there were two groups of 4, so it worked out well!). The next three days were WONDERFUL! Unfortunately the guide was not very good--rather unfriendly and mostly unhelpful--but our group was a lot of fun! We shared a load of laughs and good times, as well as a lot of great photos! The Salar de Uyuni is the largest and highest salar in the world, and some of the pictures show the

true beauty!

We arrived to Uyuni, Bolivia on Monday morning, tired but excited to see Bolivia! I'll try to update my continued Bolivian adventures here in a little while. Enjoy all the photos and I look forward to hearing from you! (comments or emails; e-mail me @ benthelefty@gmail.com) ~~Benjamin

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Where in the World Am I?

Hello friends. I apologize for the lack of posting. But due to my current travel situation, I can´t really find time to lay down a solid post! So, I´ll let you instead feast your eyes on some photos! They´re on facebook, so hopefully you have that...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020859&id=1504230012&saved#/album.php?aid=2020859&id=1504230012

And to let you know whats going on now with my current travel itenerary, here you go:

November 17 - Potosi, Bolivia
18 - Sucre, Bolivia
19 - Cochabamba, Bolivia
20 - La Paz, Bolivia
21 - Coroico, Bolivia
22 - La Paz (Dr. Kriley, a professor friend from GCC, is coming to visit for a week until the 27th)
23 - La Paz
24 - Lake Titicaca
25 - Lake Titicaca
26 - Lake Titicaca/back to La Paz
27 - Puno, Peru (Dr. Kriley leaves in a.m.)
28 - Puno, Peru/ Arequipa, Peru
29 - Arequipa, Peru (Dad and Uncle Ralph visit for a week!)
30 - Arequipa, Peru
December 1 - Cuzco, Peru
2 - Machu Picchu, Peru
3 - Lima, Peru
4 - Lima, Peru
5 - Head home to the US, Midnight @ Lima airport!

I´ll try to get an update here soon because I´m now at a nice hostel with a good connection! Thanks for reading, commenting, and praying for me :) --Benjamin

Friday, November 6, 2009

Ushuaia - The End of the World

This past Friday, October 30th, I set off on a journey to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world! One of my friends from the University, Laura Van Mareem, had told me her interest earlier, and she decided to come with! So we left at 4:30 to get to the airport and fly south! (1200 miles from Antarctica) Thanks to a silly error on my end I didn't get to leave until the 8 o'clock flight, so Laura went ahead of me and I met up with her later!

Flying into Ushuaia was a truly breathtaking experience! So many mountains around the city--we were covered in them! They say that there isn't a horizon in Ushuaia because Mountains are everywhere you look! I met up with Laura at a café and we planned our weekend excursions and trips! Due to the foul weather (windy to rainy to, snowy!? Didn't know it snowed in Argentina, only GCC) we went to see the Museum of the end of the World

(Mueso del fin del Mundo which sounds better :p). We continued on around some other little cute museums and places. I walked with Laura back to her Hostel and we decided to meet the next day early to see the national park, Tierra Del Fuego (The firelands!). I arrived at my CS host's house, Sandra, and we chatted for a little while. I went out and bought food for the next day, and learned that a Spanish girl was staying with another CS friend across the street, and she wanted to go to Tierra del Fuego too! So I stopped over and met her, and she was cooking dinner--a nice Spanish treat of tortilla española. Turns out Marta (the host) was going to take her to the park tomorrow; since CS is a pretty "come along!" system, I found space for myself and Laura to go!

We headed out the next day around 9:30 to pick up Laura and get to the park! We saved about $10 in bus fare because Marta had a car. Furthermore, when we got to the entrance, we got in for free! They said we were Argentines (Laura and I are residents, so it was true :p) and didn't have to pay. Yay! We spent the next 10 hours hiking and trekking all over one of the most beautiful parks I've ever been to (and I've been to a lot). The pictures tell the tale...

I was fairly tired after 12+ miles of hiking, so decided to go to bed. I woke up the next day and Laura and I met at the dock for a tour! We saw some fun little sites, mostly famous touristy sites, but nonetheless a lot of fun! After we got back we headed to see Glaciar Martial, which was interesting. The trail was closed or something, so we didn't make it. We then returned and went to the Museum of the old jail. Glad I wasn't a prisoner back then! Well, that I'm not a prisoner now, either. It was quite interesting (and very big!). I said bye to Laura (she was heading back home that night), and went back to Sandra's. I took a nap (10:30-12 a.m.) and woke up refreshed. Some of my GCC friends were on Skype so we chatted (the 2 hour time difference favors them) as well as I talked to my beautiful girlfriend Laura.

Monday I had no plans. I was pretty tired from all the trekking and seeing, and had pretty well explored Ushuaia.

So I decided to take it easy! I relaxed quite a bit, and even studied for my economics final that wasn't until Thursday! Such a good student I am..). There was a big fútbol match on later, so some people came over and

we enjoyed the game. I headed to the airport around 9 to get home! Thanks to an unexplained delay I arrived at around 2, finally making it home at 3!

This trip to Ushuaia was my last "during the semester" trip. Thanks to some finals I was able to take earlier (i.e. Thursday and today) I am DONE with the scholastic endeavors! However, I start traveling again Sunday night! The cities and sights on the agenda are: Salta, Argentina (in the north), San Pedro de Atacama, Chile (driest desert in the world!), Uyuni, Bolivia (largest salt flat in the world), Potosí, Bolivia (one of the largest copper mines in the world), La Paz, Bolivia (My friend from GCC Dr. Kriley is going to visit here! Also, highest capital in the world (elevation) with trips to Lago Titicaca (highest navigable lake in the world)), and Cusco, Arequipa, and Lima, Peru with my wonderful dad and Uncle Ralph! I should be able to post every once in a while, but don't expect too much :p

As always, thanks for reading and posting! Chau ~~ Benjamín

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Two Great Weeks With The Girl Of My Dreams (And how It Wasn't Long Enough...)

Well friends, true to my word, I've returned after a 2 week sojourn (actually, extended travels with the one and truly only Laura North, my wonderful girlfriend). To detail our travels and experiences would take a lot more space than you guys want to read, so I'll try to put up the highlights! (Although every moment w/ Laura was a highlight..)

Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo, Uruguay - Laura and I headed out on Thursday afternoon to Uruguay via Colonia Express (a ferry that went between BsAs and Colonia). It was a quick hour trip there, and upon arriving we were ready to see if all the excitement surrounding this city was merited. Yeah, it definitely was! The historical district is truly stunning; it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage City in 1995 and is the only one in Uruguay. You can see the picture to get an idea, but only a trip can capture the beauty...

We arrived to Montevideo Saturday afternoon. We spent the day in the city, having a nice picnic, and getting to our Couch Surfing host's house. It happened to be about an hour away, but well worth it (the sunrise the next day was beautiful). We went to Mercado del Puerto on Sunday (a parilla, or steakhouse) and enjoyed some lovely food! We spent half of Monday there before heading back to Colonia for our boat that took us back to Buenos Aires..

Big Times (and a Birthday) in Buenos Aires! - Tuesday and Wednesday Laura and I spent in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires. We enjoyed a lot of good food and exciting places to see. My birthday (Wednesday) was a wonderful day full of great food (Siga la Vaca -- all you can eat steakhouse) and a skype-with-my-parents Birthday party!! Thursday we headed to the third country on tour, Santiago de Chile..

Santiago, Chile and Mendoza, Argentina - We took the 19 hour bus trip from Buenos Aires to Santiago

Chile (sounds daunting, but TRUST me, it's really fun--I prefer it to flying) in the afternoon. Laura was a little worried about the length of the trip, but she now affirms she too loves the terrestrial travel! We got to Santiago on a bleak looking Friday, but we didn't mind! After some showers the day turned out really nice! We had a nice evening in Bellavista, or the bohemian district of the city. We stayed with Cristian, my good CS friend, that evening. Saturday we got up, had breakfast and visited a huge Catholic church with Cristian and Andre (a CS guy living w/ Cristian) and hit up the city!

We visited a lot of cool sites, including Santa Lucia, the local artisan market, and Cerro San Cristóbal + some great sea food at Donde Augustin's! We took the 10:30 bus to Mendoza, Argentina, which arrived at 5:30. When we got to our CS host's house we realized she didn't leave us an apartment number, so we had to find a phone and call. Thankfully she had just returned from a club and was awake and happy to greet us :) We rested and were greeted by 80 degree sunshine!! After lots of exploring and fun (and a poor Belgian guy who got robbed :/) we headed back to the apartment! Monday was a relaxed day with nice restaurants (good food was a staple on this trip!) and Parque San Martín. Some photos help :p

Bye Bye Buenos Aires - We returned to Buenos Aires at 9 a.m. Tuesday (after taking the Mendoza bus, a 14 hour trip) just in time for us to return home and me leave to take my oral exam in Iberoamerican Literature. Needless to say, I passed with flying colors (there you go mom :p) because I read on the bus! We then spent t

he whole afternoon in 75 degree sunshine exploring more sites! (In a city of 12 million you can't seem them all, but can certainly try :p). We made it to Cafe Tortoni, the first and most famous cafe in BA! Laura decided to shop while I went to class (I'm a dedicated student ya know!) and afterwards we met up and headed to dinner at Petutti. Wednesday was, sadly our last :( We got up and explored around some more sites and sounds, and at 5 left to take Laura to the airport. Farewells were said and tears were shed (I cried, Laura was strong) and back home Laura went!

Laura is home safe in PA now, and I am preparing for another journey tomorrow morning (to the tune of 4 a.m.). I am going to spend 4 days in Ushuaia, the "Southernmost City in the World" Friday-Tuesday. Expect another post coming up next week! It's hard to believe I have only 2 weeks left before I leave Buenos Aires and, oh yeah, travel some more! As always, thanks for reading, and ESPECIALLY for commenting :p ~~ Benjamín

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Time Flies (When You're Having the time of your life!)

Hello faithful blog friends (the ones that post and those that are more, "incognito"). Its hard to believe that 2 weeks have flown by since I posted last..i always think I'm on top of the posts when I get behind so quickly!! And hard to believe I'll be in Buenos Aires for only 5 weekends more...such a short time left, but don't worry--I'll enjoy every day! This little post here is going to talk about my last weekend of October 9-12 which included the Argentina Peru WC2010 Qualifier Match and a trip to Rosario, Argentina!

So to start out my weekend the first event of any consequence was the Argentina vs. Peru World Cup 2010 Qualifier Match. Because it was held in Buenos Aires (and because I LOVE futbol--this was my 11th futbol match attended since being in South America) I HAD to go see it!

And of course Leonel Messi being the best player in the world (he's Argentine :p) forced me to attend! I found a great priced ticked on the Argentine version of ebay. The price was about $70, a good amount for a futbol match (more than all the others combined, but at $5 a game its hard for an activity like that to get expensive...).

BUT, the quality of the ticket in a US stadium would be $1000 or more. No joke. As you can see from the photo, I was at midfield on the 12th row--not too shabby! And, Argentina won 2-1 after a goal in the 92th minute (stoppage time, last 30 seconds before the game ended!). Needless to say the crazy storm that ensued after made it an interesting second half..

Sunday I had planned a trip to Rosario, Argentina's second largest city (I know I said it was Córdoba; apparently there is a competition for which one is vying for 2nd largest at 1 million; no one is close to Buenos Aires at 12 million!). I woke up around 8 and headed to the bus station for the 4 hour ride. I arrived to warm 75 degree sunshine in Rosario. So far so good! I touched base with my CS host Ele, and got to her house.

We hung out a while before going to the Monument to the Flag, and explored the area. We decided that we wanted to have an asado, so a small group of 5 of us went to this sweet little "grill" spot to eat and enjoy fine drinks. We stayed there until about 2 before heading home. Boy did I sleep well...

Monday I got up a little later and headed out on my own! Ele had to study for an exam, and I didn't mind. I saw all there was to see in Rosario: Monument to the flag, the Basilica to the Virgin of Rosario (there are so many virgins in Catholicism...I wonder if Muslims try to compete with all their virgins too? Probably not...)

After many hours of exploring I returned back tired! I took a little nap, and around 10 some friends came over. We made empanadas and had some good conversation, before at midnight I headed back to the bus station to come home. Monday was a holiday, as the day that America was established, or rather, discovered by Columbus. I neglected to remember that, so ALL the tickets for the buses were sold out except one at the 1:10 a.m. bus back to BA. I got in at 5:30 and made it home. I took a 1 hour nap before heading back out for an 8 o'clock appointment with immigrations. Needless to say they were missing information for my residency, so I have to wait another week to actually be a resident. Then of course I leave 2 weeks after that, so go figure....

Some rather EXCITING news coming up--my wonderful girlfriend Laura North arrives today (in about 8 hours :o). SO, I can guarantee you I won't be posting for the 2 weeks. But hey, I'll get a free chance after she leaves to keep you guys updated! Some trips Laura and I are going on:

4 days in Uruguay; 2 in Colonia de Sacramento (1 of the most beautiful cities in the world!) and 2 in Montevideo.

4 days in Mendoza and Córdoba (Mendoza=wine capital of S. America; Córdoba=really cool :p)

6 days in Buenos Aires (Botanical Garden, Zoo, Plazas, Restaurants, birthday party--I turn 21 on the 21st!!)

So hopefully you still enjoy my blog and will read later. It should be worth it!! For those faithful readers and posters, thanks a lot, and i hope to hear from you more~~Benjamín

Friday, October 2, 2009

Favorites From My Journeys (Thus far)

I know it's been a while since I've posted--sorry about that! Below is a series of favorite photos from each of the South American countries I have been visiting--Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Some Buenos Aires and Argentina photos will be coming later--this just focuses on the trips outside the country!

To avoid any confusion, if you want to see highlights from ALL the trips, then scroll down and start in Brazil (then Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay). I did them in alphabetical order (with the dates at the top) to make it easy to understand!

As always, thanks for reading and commenting ~~ Benjamín