Cusco and Machu Pichu

Doug and I hung out in Cusco for a few days and saw some cool Inca ruins in town and outside of town, and ate a bunch of Andean food. Then we took the Peru Rail tourist train to Aguas Calientes, which is a total tourist dive but also the portal town to Machu Pichu. the next morning we were going to get up at 4:30 so we could start hiking a one hour long trail to Machu Pichu to avoid the bus crowds. but we awoke to heavy rain so we took teh bus at 6 am. although our big overviews of Machu Pichu were partly obscured, and it rained much of the time, the ruins were still amazing. and we beat most of the folks by seeing the ruins from 6am to 10 am. we returned to our swanking hotel in Cusco that afternoon via the train and flew to Lima the next morning. Doug left for home yesterday and now i am in Huanchaco, outside of Trujillo, checking out the mild surf, beaches, and generally just chilling out.

Lake Titicaca

The bus ride to Puno, the port town to Lake Titicaca, went over a 14,300 foot pass. Doug hadn´t been over 10,000 before so it was a first for him. we arrived in Puno and took a mototaxi to our hotel. a mototaxi is a motorcycle with two covered seats attached to the back over two wheels. we walked around a bit, shopped for alpaca textiles, and then i got diarea and doug got altitude sickness. so we went to bed at like 7. and skipped dinner. our lunch that day was a great empanada with meat inside and deep friend whole potato and fresh juice for 2 dollars. rad.
next day we hit the lake. Lake Titicaca and Puno are at about 12,300 feet. yikes, Dougs been breathing hard. we took a boat out onto the lake to visit the floating islands made of reeds. the island is called Uros and the reeds are harvested right there in the shalllow bay next to Puno. the reeds are basically closed cell fibers so they float. the islands are about 10 feet thick of reeds and the water about 25 feet deep. they just keep adding more reeds on top. its is pretty spungy. they took us across to another island in their reed boats to a restaurant on reeds were we ate friend trout and potatoes. always potatoes in peru. hell, they were domesticated here.

Lima, Miraflores, and Nasca Lines

Well Doug Davenport arrived and we went to downtown Lima to visit the catacombs of the Monastery of San Francisco (lots of human bones in the catacombs as most folks in town were buried there under the monastery, wild hey?). we then jumped on a public bus to find an art museum and rode through some marginal barrios of Lima. the wealth contrast in Peru, but especially Lima, is strikeing. we had excellent coffee and cake at a random cafe somewhere in the middle of nowhere in a Lima barrio on our way to find the art museum. the museum was closed cause we burned most of the day just trying to get around town and find the place.
then we went home to Miraflores and Barranco and had dinner and drinks. the pics show the awesome colonial downtown Lima, some typical Lima barrios (we didnt go to the real slums), and also some of Mirafloes (the rich suburb). you can identify the Miraflores pics by the modern 70s style buidlings, and stores like Starbucks, Burger King and a McCafe (you guessed it - starbucks for Mcdonalds).
next we took a day bus to Nasca to see the Nasca lines, which were made in the desert soil about 3000 years ago for unknown reasons. can you say UFO??? creapy, but wild. they thingk the lines were made for religious reasons tied to the stars and agricultural seasons, rainfall, etc. the pics dont show it much justice so maybe google them real fast for a quick picture or two. then our last night we got drunk on the Peruvian beer, Crystal, and took an all night bus to Arequipa (not recommended - the night bus AND drinking before it....yikes,). i have no pics of arequipa, which as a beautiful Plaza de Aramas and we just stayed in town for two day and visited an old monastery.

Bouldering Last Week

Went bouldering last week with a fun international group - Californian, Brazilian, Israeli, German, and Australian. See pics.

Karma de los Condores

Karma de los Condores is a new, yet, classic nine pitch route in Quebrada Ishinca. it goes at 5.11plus and has been called the Astroman of Peru. i should have known that i cannot climb Astroman or Karma de los Condores, but we tried anyway.
we climbed the first pitch and half and bailed. my partner got scared, and as i think he climbs stronger than me, i also got scared from the safe location of the pedestal belay. so, we rapped and ate lots of food at base camp. its cool, i am pretty burned out on climbing anyway and this marks the end of my 4 month alpine road trip. i am now shifting to being a tourist and am leaving for Lima tonight. then i go home to the Bay, then Wisconsin, then Utah for October. November will be couch surfing in the Bay Area, then month long Amtrak ride to Denver, Chicago, Wisconsin for Christmas followed by Portland for New Years Eve. then, if i have any money left, back to the Bay to start the part of my life that contributes to society. likley in teaching.
-chris

Back to Ishinca

After hanging in town for about two weeks with a few days sport climbing at Hatun Machay and bouldering near town, i am off again to Quebrada Ishinca for three days to climb a nine pitch rock climb, Karma de los Condores. i am going with Kelly Carbone who i know from Oakland, CA, and Alex from Brazil. it is a hard but safe rock climb, famed as the Astroman of Peru. we will see.
i´ll be back in town Tuesday afternoon.
-cj

Chavin de Huantar

Spent a day at the ruins of Chavin de Huantar that are about 2 hours from Huaraz.
The ruins are Eguiptian aged, around 3,500 to 4,000 years old, some of the olderst in South America.

Chavin de Huantar