The Americas 2009

This would be much easier if we kept this updated more often.. But alas, here goes...

ECUADOR...
We went there for 2 weeks.. I remember that. What else? Hmmm. Flew to Quito, but then headed off to the town of Otavalo the next day to go shopping at their Saturday market. It was an amazing market, with the streets around the centre all closed for market stalls and heaps of people coming down from surrounding villages to sell their local wares. We spent a few days there, enjoying the local food, and walking to a nearby waterfall and lake. From there we headed down South to Latacunga. Here we had the worst lasagne ever (think plastic cheese soup with a few floaty bits of pasta) at the place recommended in our guide book as having good lasagne. We stopped off here to go to Cotopaxi volcano, but unfortunately the weather was cloudy and grey the whole time we were there so we could never actually see the top of the volcano. For this reason we decided against a climb to the top, and opted for a 7 hr hike up to the glacier. It was hard work, walking up on soft volcanic material at high altitude. Was constantly out of breath. We also visited Quilotoa crater lake - a pretty emerald lake. After that we went down to Baños. This is a really touristy town, but with lots of Ecuadorian tourists (they like to go here for the w.e). We did a bike ride one day, riding from high in the Andes past waterfalls down towards the jungle. Our dodgey tour operator never even had bike helmets - more like horse riding helmets. Never made it to the jungle area though because it started raining just after lunch. From Baños we also we paragliding, with fantastic views of surrounding snowy peaks, and canyoning. This involves rappelling and jumping/sliding down waterfalls though a canyon. That was amazzing fun!!!! After that we headed back to Quito, got ripped off at the TeleferiQo (a cable car that goes high high above the city) and went back to Lima.

PERU...
And two became three... A friend came over from home to travel with us for a month in Peru. The three of us headed down to Ica and went sandboarding in the small town of Huacachina. On the way Corey was REALLLLLYYYY sick on the bus, throwing up every half an hour due to some food poisoning. My backpack was also stolen on this bus trip which was realllly annoying. They emptied almost everything out, but stole my journal with all my travel writing!!! The only thing I couldn´t replace...Anyway, back to sandboarding. The boards were so crap it was hard to control them at all, but it was still heaps of fun to go down the sand dunes on your stomach. After that, it was off to Nazca to see the famous Nazca lines. The small plane made the others very sick (I never went so I didn´t get sick). From Nazca got an overnight bus to Cuzco. 14 hrs of bus fun!! NOT! Spent a few days acclimatizing to the altitude there before going on our 6 day trek to Machu Picchu. Our company, Trebol expeditions, was the worst company ever!!! (We renamed them Trouble). They changed the itinerary, lied to us, booked the wrong permits, and stuffed up the camp-sites and almost never got us train tickets back. Luckily we had an awesome guide who managed to fix everything!! Otherwise the trek was amazing. It was a lot of walking (since it was meant to be 7 days and it was compressed into 6). On the second day we went over the Salkantay pass at 5200m. The view was amazing, but it was damn hard work. The trek joined the traditional Inca trail, where we lost our horses (not permitted on the trail) and had to carry our packs. This was particularly hard going up all the massive Inca stairs. The trek ended at Machu Picchu, which was just amazing too. The original stonework is phenomenal. All lined up so perfectly, with the massive rocks being carted from the surrounding mountains. Even with all the bus loads of tourists, it was really amazing to see this site, and learn the Inca history from our guide. After the trek we headed to Manu National Park for a 4 day jungle tour. Saw heaps of cool insects, 2 kinds of monkeys, a baby cayman and lots and lots of birds. Also went rafting through the jungle and on a zip line tour through the canopy. Headed back to Cuzco (8 hrs) and got on an overnight bus to Arequipa (lots more hours). The best part of Arequipa was the Santa Catalina convent, a mini nun city within the city, with beautiful architecture and archways galore. We also went on a 2 day trek in the Colca canyon. Had to get up at 2:30am to do this trip, which was a killer. It was nice there, but not as good as the grand canyon. The first day was mostly down. We stayed the night in rather basic mud hut bungalow type things in the oasis at the bottom of the canyon. The second day was up. I was feeling a bit sick on the second day, which made the uphill walk of 1100m really bloody hard. And this takes me to pretty much now!!! Today we went from Arequipa to Puno, located on lake Titicaca. Tomorrow we head over to Bolivia! WOOO. Finished.

Vanessa

Wow, long time no post. Sorry we are not slack, just busy and don´t have lots of time to play on the internet. And we have the attitude that there´s better things to be doing than writing posts! heh. We love you all dont worry, so keep checking! I´ll be more diligent from now on. I started this post about 3 weeks ago, but never finished and posted it so it might be detailed about Vegas and then light on details thereafter. Sorry.

I'll begin by continuing from Ness's last post. On my birthday, we made waffles for breakfast and she took me out to a suave lunch at a huge hotel/restaurant in Yosemite. We spent the afternoon at the Mariposa Grove where Giant Sequoia trees exist, surviving the last ice age glaciers. They were huge, and up to 2600 years old! I've seen 1000-year old churches but it's mind boggling to think these trees pre-dated Christ and existed when the Greeks invented the Olympics.

We left Yosemite the day after and drove back to LA and spend the night in Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. The following day we drove out to Las Vegas and on the way spent some time driving an alternate way along Route 66. We got our kicks and took some nice photos as the sun set. It's a historical route now but most cars take the interstate highway. It's a lot like the movie Cars, where they go on the quiet old highway and look down at the interstate with the cars all zipping by at high speed going where they're going. Route 66 is very quiet and has a nice quiet feel to it that makes you want to take it slow. It's all desert out there so there's really not much around and it was very warm at night.

We joined back on the interstate and drove in the dark toward Las Vegas. We saw a huge glow on the horizon and thought it was the next town. We passed through the town and noticed the glow was still there. It got brighter and brighter and we were so pumped. We saw these lights in the distant with flashing signs and thought it might possibly be Vegas, but it was so small. As we got close we realised it was just the state line, and this 'town' was a Nevada Welcome Town! It mimicked Vegas! We got to Vegas an hour or so later and found our way to The Stratosphere, the casino we were to stay at for a few nights.

Vegas is a strange place. We both liked and disliked it. The place is constantly trying to milk you out of your money, plus the traffic is horrendous. The Strip, as it´s called, is actually really long and it takes an hour or so to walk from one side to the other. In movies it looks like all the casinos are jam packed together, but they aren´t. But at least each casino has buttloads of free parking (multilevel) so we just drove to the other end and walked around. But having said that, Vegas is awesome as well. We paid the same for a way suave, ultra modern, brand new room with LCD screen built into the bathroom mirror at the MGM Grand during the week than what we did at a crappy nothing al-cheapo motel on a Saturday night in Monterey, CA. So accom is cheap, and plentiful. Gambling can be fun, but also painful. We played slot machines for a bit and came out almost even, but I hate them because I have more fun playing shoot-em-up computer games, for free. But we played roulette on a table where we had to have at least $10 on the table per game (spin) and that was awesome. Plus ladies come around and give you free drinks (whatever you want - we were downing Mojitos) when you´re playing. And I love the Vegas setting out in the desert. The environment there is really fascinating and I kept wondering where on the horizon Area 51 (top secret US aircraft research facility (not where aliens are kept!)) is as it´s really close!

Anyway. That was ages ago and there is so much else to talk about!

After Vegas we drove out to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. We tried to get there for sunset but arrived a bit later. So we got up at about 5am for sunrise, and it´s a truly magical place. The vertigo you get when looking down is awesome, the cliffs are totally vertical, and the colours of the rocks and sand is beautiful. I really loved being there. We went for a short hike down then back up (not all the way) the next day.

Then we headed back to LA for a night to then fly down (here) to Lima, Peru! We were really looking forward to this as our budget had pretty much blown out in the USA. Also we were sick of burgers and soft drink. Lima is a huge city of 7 million people, a lot of which are poor. It´s brash, dirty and loud. After staying here for a few days we didn´t overly like it. Everywhere you go, everything you do, you are breathing in diesel fumes, dust, smoke. You can taste the dust in your mouth even. You´re walking around occasional mounds of dirt on the footpaths and holding your breath as the constant busses go past blowing black smoke. However we were (and are now also) staying in Miraflores, a coastal, wealthy and touristy suburb, a bit like St Kilda I suppose. Here everything is clean, well kept and safe (other parts of the city are not, mostly at night). So it´s nice here, but when we go anywhere else it´s not so nice. Anyway after being here a few days we headed up to the Cordillera Blanca - the mountain range of the Andes up in northern Peru and stayed in a town called Huaraz. It attracts a lot of hikers as the moutains around there are awesome hiking spots, but we only had 2 full days and we had to get used to the altitude (3,050m) so we couldn´t do any hiking. We had altitude sickness when we got there - that is a wierd experience! Actually altitude overall is wierd, climbing an otherwise normal slope is impossibly hard. You´re constantly puffing and trying to get your breath back. I thought it was a silly sounding concept but it´s a harsh reality when you´re hiking at altitude!

We came back to Lima then flew up to Ecuador for 2 weeks. We will add a seperate post for that, then hopefully be up to date again! I will try to upload South America photos soon. The internet connections around here are always really slow so it´s a bit annoying to do! I have used computers here (including this) which are so old, the mice still have balls.

We finally made it to San Fran! We stayed there 5 nights. It is a great city, really nice people, pretty houses, lots of sights, but it was wayyyyy too cold (about 16-18 most days, cloudy/foggy and really windy.. I know it is colder at home, but it is summer here!!!). We spent a while walking around town, doing some shopping and checking out different areas of the city. Walked through Chinatown, which is so huge compared to Chinatown at home and had Vietnamese for dinner one night. Also went to the gay center (Castro) and hippie area Haight and Ashbury. We hired bikes one arvo and rode over the golden gate bridge. It was pretty hard work pushing against the wind. We also really wanted to go to alcatraz, but found out tickets sell out a week in advance!!! We were soo sick of everything always getting booked out in summer. The receptionist at our hostel told us if we go really early (7am) and beg for a ticket, we should be able to go. We got there at 7:10 and there were 50 people in line before us. Luckily for us they sell about 100 tickets each morning so we got the 9am ferry. Alcatraz is really close to SF (just over a mile). We did a tour of the cell block which was really interesting. Good thing we go up early and got the first ferry too cos it was so busy with tourists when we left.

From SF, we went to Berkeley for one night (hostels were all booked for sat night in SF). Was not that exciting because the uni is on summer break. Was made even worse cos I got bitten all over by bed bugs. ARHHH! I hate bed bugs!! Now i am all itchy.

And now we are in Yosemite. It is beautiful here, lots of massive granite formations. Yesterday we went to the valley and went swimming in the Merced river. It's too hot to do any day long hikes, so we did some shorter walks. Got some great views (photos to come!!) I tested out my new hiking shoes (bought them in SF) and they are great.

And today is Corey's Birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYY!!!!!!!

Vanessa

Ah, trying to use this seemingly 10-year-old computer -- the mouse has a ball in it! Anyway, it crashes when I try to rotate photos, so bear with me. We just uploaded about 60 photos to Flickr, so check 'em out! We have been cruising up the national highway 1, up the coast from Santa Barbara (last time Ness blogged) and spent last night in San Luis Obispo. Lodging has been a bit tough because it's mid-summer and most places are booked out (hostels that is). And the motels are a fair bit more expensive and don't have kitchen or washing facilities like hostels do. And there's no socialising! We passed through a small town called Santa Ynez which is in the Californian wine country, it's beautiful. We went to a small farmers market at a vineyard too, and a couple of the photos (of the flowers and vineyard) are from there.

Today we choofed early from San Luis Obispo (after a pathetic 'continental' breakfast of soggy plastic-packaged danishes and crap coffee with coffee 'creamer' powder (no milk) -- this is what you get at cheap motels), along highway 1. It hugged the rugged and beautiful coastline all the way to Monterey, where we are now. We stopped by Hearst Castle, a mansion built by William Hearst 80 years ago (Wikipedia it) which is stunning. Did a tour of that and then hit the road again. The coast here is breathtaking, with high cliffs and sandy beaches with elephant seals (see photos of, on Flickr). The road is etched into the cliff and has one-after-the-other hairpins, with 'vista's (lookouts) sprinkled here and there. The road was very busy with traffic, being Saturday, so it was slow going and a difficult drive. The air here is warm during the day but cold at night, and the sun is quite strong during the day. It's a real nice place to be, in stark contrast to the winter back in Melbourne!

Tomorrow we are heading to Santa Cruz, spending the night there then heading to San Francisco on Monday. Our plan has changed a little -- previously we were going to head to Vegas on around the 26th to be there for my 30th birthday. But we have been so impressed by the coast and towns along here that we decided to spend more time here (on the way to San Fran), and this has left us a bit time-strapped. We have the hire car until the 30th so we will spend some time at Yosemite National Park after San Fran, then scoot back to LA to return the car. Then we'll take a bus out to Vegas for 5 days, return to LA then fly out to South America on the 5th August.

Observations from the USA are that firstly, this place is really nice, there is some amazing varied scenery in California and I am really enjoying being here. Secondly, the burgers are generally really nice, though fattening -- the burgers at Maccas are way better than in Australia! Americans are nice, not all fat like some people say (though this is California).

See photos here on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/funkz/

Till next time,

Corey

Ok, so a lot has happened since we last posted, but I don't have much time to write about it now (I am in an Apple store in Santa Barbara taking advantage of the free net and keyboard). Here is a quick summary of the highlights.

We flew to America! Flight was long, food was average, but nothing unexpected.
We stayed in Hollywood for 4 nights. Did the walk of fame, and saw the Kodak theatre and Gruman's Chinese Theatre.
Also checked out downtown LA (pretty average downtown area really).
Went shopping on Rodeo Drive and checked out Beverly Hills.
Yesterday went to six flags magic mountain. Six flags is an awesome amusement park with heaaps of roller coasters. It was sooooo hot out there too, but had a great day. Corey got a bit sick after eating too much for lunch and going on crazy upside down twisty loopy roller coasters - but made a recovery later in the day.
Today we rented a car for 2 weeks. Left LA and started driving along the coast to San Francisco. We didn't leave til around 1 and the traffic in LA was terrible, so didn't get that far. Since Corey left his drivers license at home, I am doing all the driving. Very scary driving on the right hand side. Have to pay heaps of attention. I find the drivers here are pretty nice though and let you in.

So now we are walking around Santa Barbara. It is so pretty here. The weather is awesome, nice beach and so clean with spanish style white buildings with red brick roofs. Will add photos soon!!

xx Vanessa