Routeburn, Kepler, Milford

Not a bad view!

First things first...
Pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/Queenstown# (A few new shots in Queenstown)
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/RouteburnTrek# (Pics from our first walk)
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/TeAnauKeplerWalkAndMilfordSoundNewZealand# (Pics of our second walk as well as in Milford Sound)

Vids:
http://www.youtube.com/llamallama781 (finally a couple new additions)

I am going to try to keep this one short because if I start recounting too many details this post could be a full-blown novel. Things have been going well - we've been up to some cool stuff, as well as laying low in Queenstown in Henrik's awesome apartment. Highlights of the past few weeks have included hiking the Routeburn track, hiking the Kepler track, going hang gliding in Queenstown, and kayaking and diving in Milford Sound.

Before I start telling you about those fun adventures, first a brief amusing dialogue I had while I was trying to buy some new gloves.

Me: "Excuse me, what does MS mean on the size tag?"
Employee: "Means small"
Me: "It means small? Then what's the M for?"
Employee: "No it's means small"
Me: "What? It's the average size of all smalls or something?"
The employee started laughing at me, and said:
Employee: "No no no. A little boy grows up into a...?"
Me: "Man?"
Employee: "Yes, now plural..."

Clearly I am not used to the kiwi accent yet. All the 'eh' sounds like in men, ten, lend, etc are all pronounced as "ee".

I'm going to be brief with the Routeburn and Kepler descriptions - for a better walkthrough, I recommend going to my picasa album and check out the pictures and captions!

Routeburn Track

Our first 'Great Walk' was the Routeburn. It was an awesome track, and with better gear and prep than Ian and my Torres Del Paine trip, Leon and I were able to have a great time despite the huge amounts of rain.

We chose the Routeburn because it is one of the shorter walks at about 35km over 3 days. This was Leon's first major expedition since his knee surgery, so we wanted to take it easy to make sure it would hold up alright before we did the Kepler track.

Leon takes the lead as we start the Routeburn Track

The Routeburn track was unique in its contrasting habitats. We started in a thick, humid, foggy forest completely drenched in moss. The limbs of trees stuck out at bizzare angles, looking like hands with badly broken fingers. Of course it immediately reminded Leon and I of the Lord of the Rings - it's no wonder why they chose to film it in this country!

Day two we awoke to powerful rain on our tent, and as tempted as we were to try to wait it out, we knew that could take hours, so we got up and had breakfast in the comfort of a shelter next to the campsite (the campsites here are beautiful and well organized). We got out into the alpine zone which was beautiful with the rain because across the valley was an enormous stone mountain face with waterfalls pouring all over it.

At the highest point there was a shelter, and just as we got there the rain cleared up. We stopped for lunch and were lucky to see a helicopter bring in a few propane tanks to resupply the shelter which was quite cool. I took advantage of our brief break to take off my shoes as they had been thoroughly soaked due to the path being completely flooded. The rain returned on our descent, though, and the sharp sedimentary rocks took their toll on me when I slipped and landed with the full weight of my backpack and I on my hand. A quick rain water rinse and a couple bandaids later, however, and I was as good as knew. At the end of day two we descended back into the tree line and set up camp in one of the most gorgeous campsites I have ever seen.

Leon sets up the clothesline to dry out gear

Day three took us back through some similar forests as day one, and by two o'clock that afternoon we were headed back to Queenstown!

After a brief intermission there lasting a few nights, we were off to Te Anau.

Te Anau and the Kepler Track

Te Anau is a tiny little town southwest of Queenstown, in Fiordland. Leon and I got there at 7:15pm, and had 45 minutes before we had to be at the lake for our tour of the Glowworm Caves. In that 45 minutes we had to check in at our hotel, rent gear, and buy food for the trek - it was extremely hectic and involved sprinting around with shopping carts and looking like fools. We made it though, enjoyed the glow worms, and had just enough time to make half a dozen sandwiches and get a little sleep before catching the bus to our launching point.

For the Kepler Track we had huts booked for our two nights, because the campsites were sold out. It's amazing what a different feel the trek had doing it this way. There are positives and negatives to doing it this way, and while I'd say in general I prefer camping, huts are a good alternative - especially if the weather looks dubious. Since Leon's knee had no problems on the Routeburn, we were confident the 60km Kepler wouldn't be much worse.

Leon turns on his headlamp as we enter the caves

We had a nice long first day getting up and out of the tree line. After dropping our stuff off at the Luxmore hut we went to explore a nearby cave system. When we got there, though, we hit what we thought was a dead end pretty quickly, so we turned around. I heard from the hut warden that the forecast was bad for the next day, so I decided to do a quick hike to Luxmore peak to take in the view while it was still there. Afterwards, Leon and I devoured some Back-country Cuisine (dehydrated meals, not bad!) and relaxed for a bit.

I enjoy the view on day 1, because I knew the next day it wouldn't be so nice

As I was heading outside in the evening to hang out, a girl asked me if I was heading to the caves. I told her no, but that I wanted to go again - so Karna and I went back and explored much further into the caves. I had never been caving before, but it was a really cool experience. The pitch black combined with the rush of running water (the 2km of caves were carved by water through limestone) and cool damp air, along with having to squeeze through tight rocky openings made it an exhilerating physical adventure. After an hour and a half we still hadn't reached the end of the system, but decided it would be best if we turned around, as it was already 11PM and we had a long day ahead of us.

Day two was a lot of fun. Leon and I made it up Luxmore peak in the 90kph winds, and then on through a long alpine path along ridges between peaks. At the end of the alpine region we got to the switch-backs that the hut warden had told us about. I thought she had said there were 19 of them, Leon thought she said 91. Unfortunately, he was right, and by the time we finally arrived at the bottom at our next hut, our knees were ready for a break. We checked out a nearby waterfall, devoured more Back-country Cuisine, and went to sleep.

Click on this one for full effect

Day three was our longest day, but also the easiest, as there wasn't an elevation change. Not much to remark on - before we knew it we were back in Te Anau kicking our feet up, prepping for Milford Sound.

Milford Sound

New Zealand tourism clearly puts a big effort into publisizing Milford Sound as 'one of the most beautiful places in the world' and they're right! It's an amazing place - tall peaks 2km tall shooting vertically down and plunging right into the water, surrounded by waterfalls.

We dropped our stuff off at the Milford Lodge (the only place to stay in Milford), and went out for our kayak expedition which was great. Unfortunately, in our zeal to 'defeat' one of the waterfalls by charging as far as we could into it, we capsized (big surprise) in the 48' water. No big deal though, because the guide had spare fleeces into which we changed when we took a break at a rocky beach, and warmed up with a cup of hot cider.

Unfortunately the style and size of the spare fleece weren't exactly mine

The next day we went diving with a very small group (one British girl and two guides) which was awesome. The aquatic environment is totally unique there. It's one of the rainiest places in the world at 8 meters per year! That combined with snowmelt provides a layer 1-4 meters deep of cold fresh water on top of the denser salt water. The fresh water, which is stained with the tannin of the plants it flowed through to get there, absorbs light and leaves the salt water in the dark. This allows for life that normal can only be seen at 50+ meters of depth, at 10-20 meters. That doesn't mean it's not a deep place though - the average depth was over 200 meters! We did two dives which were cold (brutal to jump into the cold fresh water, but once you descend into the salt it was much warmer), but we saw cool things like lots of black coral, bizzare sea-stars, and a big octopus which interacted with us quite a bit before we left it alone.

Besides their extremely lame, extremely un-funny joke of telling us to jump into a 'thermal pool' which was actually just freezing cold water, our Egytpian guide and Kiwi driver were a lot of fun and had a wealth of knowledge to give us about the area.

We made it back to Henrik's apartment just in time to catch the Obama inauguration that night (we stayed up all night to see it) which was fun.

Obama emerges from the darkness

Ok! I think that about covers it. Except for hang gliding (which was totally awesome), the three of us have just been hanging out in Queenstown. I saw my second movie of the trip (in theatres) yesterday - 'Seven Pounds' with will Smith - which I liked. I'd say 8.2/10.

Tomorrow we are going to do some sort of activity on the Shotover river here in Queenstown, and then get a rental car to do a quick tour of the Southern island. Our brief itinerary is:
Day 1 (tomorrow, after the river excursion): Drive to Fox Glacier
Day 2:Do quick tour on Fox Glacier, then drive to Kaikoura
Day 3:Wake up early to do a dolphin tour + swim, then drive down to Christchurch and spend the day there
Day 4:Morning in Christchurch, drive to Mt.Cook Village, do a short day hike there
Day 5:Do another day hike maybe? Then back to Queenstown.

By the 1st of February we'll be off to Auckland. We're taking things one step at a time and haven't planned much past that.

I hope everyone has been well! Comments, questions, criticisms, you know what to do.

-Noah

Is there an 'Old Zealand'?

Yes, I was screaming at the top of my lungs at this moment

Pics 'n Vids:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/Sydney# (bunch of new pictures)

http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/Queenstown# (17 new pics from NZ)

http://www.youtube.com/llamallama781 (2 vids, one from way back, and one recent one of me trying to play the didgeridoo)

Sydney revisited, and the start to my kiwi adventure!

Leon and I kicked off our return to Sydney successfully by attending a couchsurfing picnic on Balmoral beach. For those who aren't familiar with couchsurfing, it's an online community (almost a million strong worldwide) of worldly, friendly people. As a member, while traveling, you can find local members that have a couch free that you can crash on for a night or two, free of charge. In return, when you are home and want to be nice or meet some new people, you can list your own couch as empty, and people can message you to request your couch. That's only the beginning of couchsurfing though. Members understand that hotels and hostels don't give you a local's perspective of the city, so hosts frequently invite surfers out to hang out with them and their friends, or see the city.

Couchsurfing picnic on Balmoral Beach

The first thing that concerns everyone when they hear about couchsurfing is safety, and that's understandable. Besides a rather thorough verification process to confirm your identity and a vouching process by other members, there are also couchsurfing events (hosted by any member) where surfers can meet other surfers and hosts to get to know them better before one requests a couch to crash on. At the picnic we met a number of travelers and locals that we wound up spending a lot of time with for the rest of our stay in Sydney. A number of them had completed three-month+ trips all around the world exclusively using couchsurfing as accommodation.

Waiting in line for the botanical gardens

Before we knew it new year's eve had arrived! We met up with Paula, a friend from the CS picnic, and two of her friends to go wait in line to get into the botanical gardens next to the opera house. Without a doubt, this was the longest line I have ever waited in – it took 5 hours to get into the gardens, where we had the pleasure of...waiting for another 9 hours (for the fireworks)! It was a fun afternoon though – twenty thousand people all happy and socializing the time away until the new year. All together there were 1.5 million people around the harbor – Sydney is very proud of its fireworks, and I must admit it was a very impressive show.

Swarms of people looking forward to a new year

2009!

We had a few days before we were off to New Zealand, so we did two things that were left on the list: Renting & sailing a hobiecat, and walking the 10k 'Manly beach scenic walk'.

It had been too long since I last went out on a hobiecat

Sailing the hobiecat was tons of fun. I have sailed them a bunch and it was certainly the choppiest water and strongest winds I have endured. I also showed Leon how to sail and he is now obsessed with it – we are hoping to do it again many times in NZ.

Looking back and out during the Manly Beach Scenic Walk

The Manly beach scenic walk was also a great way to spend a day. Along the way we stopped for a quick swim in one of Sydney's salt-water pools which was one of my things-to-do while in Sydney. It left me with a great impression of Sydney – downtown and the surrounding suburbs all seemed so beautiful. I wish I had had more time to visit the Blue Mountains and other countryside, but I guess that's something to leave for next time!

Off to the land of the kiwi

We were up early to catch out flight but we just barely made it in time (we underestimated the amount of air traffic that goes out of sydney after new year's). I wanted to stay awake for the flight to see the New Zealand coast approaching, but I was asleep about 15 seconds after takeoff. I think I'm getting better at sleeping on planes now that I'm getting lots of practice – but my neck is paying the price (a chronic neck pain finally came back that I had over the summer). It was very cool waking up and opening the window to see huge jagged white-tipped peaks on the horizon, though (see my photo album for more).

I was greeted at customs with a mandatory shoe cleaning! Leon's boots passed inspection but mine were housing some dirt in the nooks of my treads, so they insisted on cleaning them. On our way out, I was happy to discover an icebreaker store right in the airport so I could replace some of the clothing I have lost (the list is rather long). I picked up a new T shirt, long sleeve shirt, and sweater which are all awesome (you can judge for yourself in the pictures).

Queenstown is great. We were warned that it is touristy – and it is – but that's ok as long as I'm not living there. It's a ski town in the winter, but still gets lots of tourism during the summer because it's fairly cool there, and there are many adventure/adrenaline oriented things to do. It's not big – 15,000 people in the low season, 60,000 in the high – but is surrounded by a beautiful glacial lake and a mountain chain appropriately named 'The Remarkables'.

We've only been here a couple days but have managed to have a great time. The first evening, after exploring the area on our own, we met up with Henrik – a 26 year old poker player/traveler that ditches Sweden during their long winters and travels to warmer, brighter destinations. He's been here a couple months now and told us many valuable tips about where to go and what to see. The three of us grabbed dinner, and have since spent a lot of time hanging out with him (any excuse to go to his awesome apartment overlooking Queenstown and the lake).

I'm the black thing plummeting towards the ground...

If Queenstown is most famous for one summer activity, it's for the bungy jumping (where it all started). I had been skydiving once and loved it, but had been sketched out about bungy jumping. Well, I was bored and in need of a rush, so I went ahead and booked the biggest jump they have here and it was completely mind-blowing. It was a 134 meter fall, and the first few seconds of it (before the cord tenses) felt like they lasted milliseconds and hours at the same time. As long as the company is reputable, I highly recommend it for anyone seeking a rush!

Today we met up with Henrik in the morning and hiked the Ben Lomond trail behind Queenstown. We had been told to allow 7-8 hours for it so we were a bit intimidated, especially when we saw the peak. However, it turned out to be a demanding but short hike. With a couple water breaks and a lunch break at the top, we were back to the gondola that returned to Queenstown after three and a half hours. The hike was a great way to warm up for Leon and my first trek ('Routeburn' trek, one of NZ's 'Great Walks') that we start on the eighth.

Panorama looking down to Queenstown from the summit of Ben Lomond

Leon, me, and Henrik, at the peak

We have a lot of things planned in the near future besides the treks. Before we leave the area we plan on spending a couple days at Milford Sound. It's supposed to be amazing there and we are hoping to fit in some kayaking and diving. After that, we'll explore the rest of the south island by car (or campervan!) before heading north and doing the same.

I hope all has been well with you guys – drop me a message letting me know what's new and how your new year's went!

Super quick update – it's 2:30 AM and we are getting up at 6 to catch the bus to start our trek so I have to get to sleep – today we spent nearly all of the day getting our rental gear, buying some new gear, arranging transport, and packing for the trek. Things are going well – I'll be back on the afternoon of the 10^th (evening of the 9^th for most of you) – talk to you guys then!

Noah

A glimpse of Sydney and a week on (and around) the Great Barrier Reef

Always good to maintain a sense of humor, no matter where you are

Tons of great pics not posted in this blog! Check out the most recent additions:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/Sydney# (Sydney, 19 new pics)
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/CairnsAndTheGreatBarrierReef# (Cairns, the rainforest, and the reef!)
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/ (All my photo albums)
http://www.youtube.com/llamallama781 Tomorrow morning (Christmas night for most of you) I will upload a short funny video of me trying to play the didgeridoo! Check that link later for it...



It's nice to be back on land - although my sea legs are persistent so I am still feeling the room rock back and forth a bit. It's been a busy 9 days since I last updated so let me fill you guys in...

First a note (inserted after the rest of this was written) - this post is a bit scattered, and there are a lot of events and topics I could have described in more detail - but it's long enough as it is! If you have any more questions about some of the activities, or my opinions on them, let me know via email or comment at the end of the post and I'd be happy to describe more.

Pacing

It was a bit of culture shock arriving in Sydney - everything was beautiful, clean, modern, and in English! I wasn't sure how I would react to returning to the 1st world after experiencing Peru. Part of me thought I would somehow be changed by South America - as if my time there might absorb me and make me reevaluate my perspective on the world, and in some ways it did, but it was different than that. It was enjoyable and interesting being in those new environments - but none struck me as a place I would want to stay very long. My perspective on the world certainly did change, but not in a way that changed my personality. In that way, while I loved different parts of South America for many different reasons, I was happy to return to the developed world.

I find myself repeating the phrase 'it was a great change of pace' and it makes me think about the concept of pace and what it means in terms of this trip, as well as life in general. It has been something I've been giving a lot of thought to and I think it's so important for everyone to change the pace of their life in one way or another fairly frequently. It's also something I think most people either ignore purposefully to stay in their comfort zone, are oblivious to, or are stuck in, unable to change it. I won't go on to bore you about that now, though, I have enough to talk about already!

Sydney

I only had about 48 hours in Sydney, but I knew I would be returning shortly, so I didn't feel rushed. I had been recommended to do the bridge climb in the harbor, so I signed up for that first thing. On my way to the bridge, I wandered around a bit before to see the aquarium and 'wilderness world' which were both fun, then I made my way to the company that led the climbs. I must say - the bridge climb was fun, and the views are outstanding - but the whole experience had a bad taste to it because of how much they dress it up and overcharge customers. The jumpsuit, fancy walkie-talkies, and harness were all 100% unnecessary. The climb was never dangerous or risky - it felt like the harness was more to keep us from jumping off than to keep us from falling. But because of all the gear they give you, it feels like your A$150 is going towards something. I wasn't fooled.

I return to the modern world!

The next day I had time to check out the Powerhouse museum (star wars exhibit!!! see my photo gallery for embarrassing pics of me & darth vader) which randomly turned out to be an extremely inspiring visit. The exhibit was called something like 'Star wars: science fiction and reality' and it focused on the movies and the paralleling research going on now. They had halls devoted to things like vestibular substitution, artificial retinas, bionic arms and wireless muscle stimulators, neural interfaces, cochlear implants, and all sorts of other neuro research going on that I had learned so much about during the end of Penn and my summer internship at NeuroSky. It definitely re-sparked my interest in the field, and I hope to get involved with that field of study as well as medicine to try to figure out what I want to do when I return to the States.

After that I spent the afternoon during the Coogee to Bondi beach walk - a walk that takes you along the coast to see a number of Sydney's beaches. I had heard so much about the beaches in Sydney - everyone has a favorite - so I was excited to see them finally. They were each certainly beautiful, but in comparison to California's beaches they were pretty small. Nonetheless, they are great places to spend an afternoon, and I will definitely be relaxing on them in the days leading up to New Year's.

Bondi beach in the background

That evening I went for a jog in the botanical gardens next to the opera house, and the next day I was off to Cairns!

Cairns

The first thing I noticed in Cairns was of course the heat & humidity. Thinking of Australia way down in the bottom right of the world map I hadn't realized just how tropical Cairns is.

I met up with Leon and we got some food and drinks and I heard all about his 17 dives which got me pumped to do some of my own. The next day we went to an aboriginal museum/themepark type place which was quite bizzare - a weird mixture of celebrating aboriginal lifestyle in a silly way and depressing stories reminiscent of the unfair treatment of Native Americans.

Later that day we took a rainforest tour which was terrific thanks to an eccentric slightly crazy guide named Bart. We met a bunch of other backpackers on the tour, enjoyed swimming in some waterfalls, and went to the local backpacker dinner joint for the rest of the evening. The next day I did three dives on a day trip to the outer reef which were fantastic (right along the continental shelf, so there were great reef walls) and got me ready for the 3 night live-aboard dive trip that departed the next day - Leon stayed behind because he had already gotten his fill of diving (and spent enough on it).

Leon and I in front of a 500 year old fig tree - the most awesome tree I have ever seen

Live-aboard Dive Trip

I was lucky to get the last spot on the boat at a huge discount (I bought it two days before it departed so they were desparate to sell the spot). The company I went with is known as one of the best in Cairns and I knew I would have a great time - but I was curious as to how the other divers in the group would be.

Good food, great company!

The group consisted of about 20 people - roughly a third were from the States, the rest were from a mix of Asia and Europe (no Australians). It was a really fun and friendly group of people coming from many different backgrounds. I pretty quickly became friends with two guys my age who just started grad school at Stanford, as well as a solo diver Annarieke from Holland (with whom I wound up buddying for most of the dives).

We took a small plane from Cairns to Lizard Island (where our boat was waiting) in the morning, and before we knew it we were at our first dive site ready to go. Most of the three following days you could bet I was doing one of three things - diving, eating, or sleeping.

Our perspective of the reef would soon change dramatically!

One of the dive maps during a dive brief

The diving was amazing. Especially after enduring the cold water in California getting my dry suit certification, this water felt like bath water. I wore a thin wetsuit, but mostly just for jellyfish protection rather than warmth. The wildlife was abundant and beautiful, and for the most part, peaceful. The one exception were the dreaded titan triggerfish. The females, when nesting, are extremely aggressive, and attacked a number of us (thankfully I was spared). Those teeth are nasty, and they bite hard enough to puncture the wetsuit. We learned to look out for them though, and avoid them. One of the guides - Alex - attracted one's attention and was able to fight it off with his fins - it was an amazing (and hilarious) sight seeing him fend it off.

The top deck was an excellent place to relax or nap in-between dives (here I am reading up on nitrox diving)

Later that evening we were all talking about how Alex fended off the triggerfish, and someone put on the video of him during the sharkfeed dive. Unfortunately I wasn't there for this (it was the previous trip) - but it showed him wrestling with the trash can filled with tuna heads, trying to get it open while dozens of sharks zipped by him. What I saw next made my jaw drop - when the sharks started getting really close and were running into him, he started to punch them. Yes, he punched the sharks in the face to fend them off while he got the can open so the guests could see the feed. It seemed like one of those things that is amazing, awesome, ridiculous, and probably very very stupid.

Time for a dip!

The highlight of the trip was probably the night dives - it was a little scary jumping into black water, but I got used to it. A dozen or more big bass followed us, as they have learned divers make excellent hunting partners - whenever I would illuminate an unfortunate small fish out in the open with my flashlight, they would zoom straight for it and devour it. It became a fun game searching for their prey, even though I felt a bit evil doing it.

I managed to fit in 12 dives in those three days, which I am really happy about. Annarieke and I got quite a bit lost on our first dive without a guide, which was scary at the time, to say the least. When we eventually decided to surface - it was the worst feeling in the world not seeing the boat in front of me - just open ocean. The two seconds it took to spin around to check 360' for it felt like an eternity - with an inner monologue saying, as I was turning 'no boat, no boat, no boat, BOAT!!!!' and of course we hadn't gone far - a hundred meters maybe - and we made it back to with no problems. From then on we were very careful to orient ourselves properly before descending. It was also a good excercize in general for keeping my head on straight in a stressful situation.

I was very relieved that I was (mostly) able to keep from getting seasick so I could enjoy the trip in the first place. The food was great, the people were great, the diving was great; there was nothing to complain about, so noone did. I was also able to fit in a nitrox course as well (a special gas that contains less nitrogen and more oxygen, so you can stay for longer at depth without getting decrompression sickness), so I learned alot and had a great time.

My two most frequent dive buddies - Annarieke and Mark

Now I'm hanging out with Leon, looking forward to our return to Sydney and New Year's. For Christmas we were trying to find a salvation army to volunteer at, but noone answered their phones, so it looks like we'll spend Christmas at the backpacker's hangout tonight. Tomorrow we'll most likely be back at the internet cafe waiting for our flight - so if you're online, feel free to say hi!

Once again, this post has become quite long - sorry about that. I hope all of you are well and are enjoying the holidays! Merry Christmas and enjoy the snow for me!

Comments, questions, suggestions, all encouraged!

Noah

About 20,000 miles later...

Overlooking Machu Picchu

Pics 'n stuff:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/LATrip# (LA trip photos, not all up yet but most are there, 14 pics)
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/Lima# (Lima pictures, 23)
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n/Cusco# (Cusco, trekking+Machu Picchu pictures, 99)
http://picasaweb.google.com/rohrer.n (all my albums)

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/llamallama781 (No new additions)

Wow – sorry to everybody for not updating this thing in so long! Between hopping around destinations, embracing time to relax (which is surprisingly infrequent), and not being in the 'right mood' to update, it has been harder than I thought to keep this up to date. I was going to update it last weekend in BA, but a horrible nasty awful case of food poisoning made it hard for me to do anything but lie in bed watching movies and ted.org lectures. Now that I'm feeling better though, this 14 hour plane ride is the perfect excuse to catch you guys up a bit, so allow me to do just that.

LA Visit

Last I left off, I was about to head off to LA. Indeed I did, and I had an awesome time there. It had been too long since the last time I saw Kelly, so it was great to see her over Thanksgiving and we were able to fit in a lot of activities. To build up a hunger for Thanksgiving, Kelly and I went to a park near the Gorges that we were able to hike around for a while which was really nice. Hungry and excited for our first ever time cooking Thanksgiving, we headed back and got to work in the kitchen with her roommate Erika. I have to say, we did a damn good job. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, cranberry, green beans+almonds, and Argentinian wine – we were stuffed and had plenty of leftovers to last us a couple days (writing this is making me hungry).

Kelly and I work up a hunger before Thanksgiving by doing a short hike

Erika and Kelly have the honor of cutting the turkey

The next day, Kelly and I spent most of it getting fitted for our drysuit certification and starting to learn the basics in the instructor's pool (located right underneath the Hollywood sign). The instructor (very cool guy named Kareem who was half Egyptian, half Swiss) was great, and since it was just Kelly and me in the class we had lots of time and individual attention to understand the differences between drysuit diving and wetsuit diving (brief explanation: normally you dive with a wetsuit which traps a thin layer of water against your skin which is warmed via your body heat, but if you really want to be warm then a drysuit is best. Drysuits are baggier and have seals around your wrists, ankles, and neck that don't let water in. Thus, you have air between you and the drysuit, which keeps you way warmer (you don't get wet!). It is a bit trickier, though, because the air affects you buoyancy and if you don't learn how to control it it can be dangerous).

Kelly models the drysuit at my request

Nothing like enjoying a tasty rice cake under the Hollywood sign

Saturday we were up bright and early (not a problem for me because of jetlag!) to head to the long beach port to catch the early ferry to Catalina island where we would do our certification dives. Kelly and I had been to Catalina a couple times before, and we always have an amazing time there. It is really like a different universe when compared to downtown LA – besides weather, it really could be mistaken for a small island in the Caribbean. It took most of the day, but we got in a short snorkel and both of our certification dives with no problem, and wound up staying overnight there so we didn't have to be rushed getting back. Before we knew it though, it was Sunday – my last day in LA, which flew by and on Monday morning I was on a plane back to Buenos Aires.

I wasn't sure how it would feel being back in the States after traveling in South America for a while, but it was no problem at all. It took a minute to get used to everyone speaking English, and it was strange ordering food in English for the first time in 6 weeks, but besides that I had no trouble adjusting. LA is a really interesting place, and I know it gets a bad rep due to the traffic and smog (rightfully so), but every time I have visited I've had a great time. I think the key is having friends there and not being stuck downtown – I think a lot of people that don't like the city have only experienced conferences there downtown, which I'm sure can be miserable.

Back to BA

I got back to Argentina with no problems, and spent a few days there relaxing, playing poker, and enjoying the company of the friends I had met there before I left the region. Ian left for Japan (won't see him until summer!) and Leon left for Australia (I'll be meeting up with him in Cairns in a few days), and the next day I left for Peru!

Peru

I was looking forward to Peru as it would be the first bit of travel I would really do independently. Sure enough it was difficult, engaging, and a lot of fun. It's interesting how one's concept of geography is so skewed depending on what one is familiar with – I, for instance, didn't realize just how far Lima was from BA – almost as far as Boston-LA in fact. However, I am getting used to (and actually enjoying) these long flights so I didn't mind.

Lima

The downtown plazas of Lima were quite nice

I had heard nasty things about Lima – the usual big city, dirty, dangerous, etc. - but I must say that my 40 hours there were a lot of fun. The coast is beautiful (big bluffs overlooking dozens of surfers), and there is a lot to see and do. I spent my first day sightseeing on my own. The highlight had to be the catacombs underneath the Cathedral of San Francisco – normally I get bored of churches, but these catacombs were really amazing and creepy. There were enormous piles and pits full of human bones – apparently it was a popular burial ground because people thought they would go to heaven faster if buried there, but also many victims of the Spanish Inquisition who were tortured to death were also buried there.

'Love Park' on the coast - reminds me a bit of a more tame version of Venice Beach in LA

I met some people back in the hostel who were a lot of fun so we had dinner together and checked out some of the Lima nightlife. I told them that I was doing an island tour and swimming with sea lions the next day and they all enthusiastically wanted to join me. Unfortunately, we had terrible instructions on how to get there – so the next day we all missed the bus (separately), but I managed to get a cab to the port on time on my own.

The tour was outrageously long (the boat barely went faster than 2 or 3 knots, supposedly to save gas), but the time gave me an opportunity to meet some more people on the tour and relax. I enthusiastically volunteered when the crew asked who wanted to get in the water with the sea lions, but I had no idea what I was in for! When the island came nearer, I couldn't really see any individual sea lions – but it was easy to hear and smell them! It sounded like hundreds of them but I still couldn't pick them out. Then, I realized that the entire island was covered in them. Literally - they were piled on top of and next to each other covering the entire island. It was a steep rocky island too, and they are very awkward on land, so it was funny seeing them try to move around but accidentally slip down the side slowly into the water. I had been warned the water was cold, and I have been in cold water before so I wasn't worried, but this was without a doubt the coldest water I have EVER been in. I jumped in with the wetsuit on (I wish I had a drysuit there!) and feeling the water seep into the suit so quickly was brutal – one of those moments where you can barely breathe at first. Moving around a bit made it bearable though, and we swam right up to the island and mingled with the sea lions before heading back to the boat.

That's a lot of sea lions!

That night I went to the 'Magical water show' that I had heard good things about from Leon and Ian and it did not disappoint! The park was swamped with families and couples wandering through the dozen or so amazing fountains. Some were interactive and some were enormous – without a doubt they were on par or maybe even more impressive than the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas. The best display was a group of fountains that danced to classical music while lasers were projected onto them.

Kids enjoy the interactive fountains. I must admit I was tempted to join in...

The next morning I said my goodbyes to the hostel staff that I had become friendly with (hostel employees have been some of the most interesting people I have met so far on the trip), and I was off to Cuzco!

Cuzco

Typical view into a courtyard area of Cuzco

Traveling from BA to Lima was not a big adjustment – both big industrial cities – but getting to Cuzco was a great change of pace. Even towards the end of the flight I could tell things were going to be different – enormous jagged peaks reminiscent of Yosemite covered in dark green jungle presented themselves and I remember smiling, happy to be out of the city.

I made my way to the hostel recommended by Ian and Leon and checked into my room. The hostel itself was really cool in a dark, creepy kind of way – it was one of those big houses that felt and sounded alive with every step you took and door you opened. First thing I wanted to do after checking in was get to the main square 'Plaza de Armas' and get lunch with some coca tea! Coca tea is very simple, just hot water with some coca leaves in it, and it is known to help with altitude sickness as well as digestion. Yes, cocaine is made from coca leaves, but only after being processed with many other chemicals and concentrated – coca leaves are perfectly safe, not addictive, and not as stimulating.

A nice hot cup of coca tea

Cuzco itself was bigger than I was anticipating – but not in a bad way. I never saw a building more than 2 stories tall (besides churches), and the streets were all cobblestone and free of any bad traffic. I would say Cuzco reminded me of one of those old European cobblestone cities, but dirtier and a lot (LOT) cheaper. The only frustrating bit were the beggars – but even they weren't pushy – a simple 'no gracias' was all it took to direct their attention elsewhere.

Many of you know I am not big on planning ahead for non-essential things, and Cuzco was no exception, but thankfully things worked out fine anyways because I needed a couple days to adjust to the altitude before setting off on any adventures. I did feel the affects of the altitude, especially when climbing stairs or jogging, but I don't think I had any sort of altitude sickness. Sunday was spent sightseeing in the city, and that night I got some food at a restaurant where a local band was playing some traditional music. When the guy who played a little mandolin-like guitar came around to sell CD's I asked him if he could give me a lesson the next morning. Sure enough he was free, and it was great getting to know him a bit, and the lesson was one of the highlights of my Peru trip. I took videos of us playing a few songs and will try to get them online soon. Monday I was determined to get out a bit so I booked a horseback tour that afternoon, and a 4 day/3night trek to Machu Picchu that departed the next day.

The horseback riding tour was ridiculous and hilarious, even though at the start I was a bit overwhelmed. I had just booked it and the guide said 'ok hurry the truck is waiting!' so I went outside and saw a truck jam-packed with a lot of 15-16 year old Peruvian kids. I thought I was going to be with just a few other tourists – but I was wrong. A highschool class from another region of Peru had won some sort of lottery to visit Cuzco, and they would be my company. We stopped at a 'tourist' restaurant on the way to the ranch that clearly only catered to those on a budget – it was 5 soles (US$1.50 ) for a full lunch – and was fun to practice my spanish with the kids. I mostly spoke with the guide and his friend because they had more to say (we spoke about spirituality and alternative medicine for a while). The girls of the class mostly just giggled and took pictures of me when I tried to talk to them so I didn't learn much from them... The tour itself was interesting and relaxing, which I cherished because I knew I was gonna be hurting soon from the trek.

Enjoying lunch with the kids

The next morning I was supposed to be picked up between 7-7:30 so I was up at quarter to seven with everything ready to go, but then it became 7:30 and I hadn't heard anything. 7:45...8...8:15 I called the agency but they just hung up on me promptly...8:30...I started to get in a legitimately really awful mood and the hostel staff could tell. It usually takes a lot to piss me off but if I wasn't able to leave that day then I would have to forfeit the opportunity to hike to Machu Picchu because there weren't any shorter treks, and I had to be back on Friday night. But then, at 9, the van finally showed up! It made its way (very very dangerously and terrifyingly) up and around windy foggy mountain roads to our launch point via mountain bikes. The group turned out to be comprised only of a girl studying abroad from USC, and a late 20's Irish guy (James) on vacation, two guides, and me. In talking with James, I found out he had hired his guide separately to do what was supposed to be the 4 day hike in 3 days. This idea appealed to me very much, because I wanted another day to do something more around Cuzco, so I decided to join him and his guide (which ended up being a great decision).

Not gonna deny it. This was a terrifying drive.

We spent that afternoon and evening mountain biking from an altitude of 4.2k down to 1k – that is a big drop!!! It was a ton of fun despite shoddy equipment (at one point my pedal leg – not just the foot pedal, the whole leg – completely fell off the bike) – and by evening my butt, back and arms had taken quite a beating. As tiring as the biking was, though, it didn't even compare to how tired I got playing soccer with James, our guide, and a bunch of little kids that night before dinner. While I was trying to pull some fancy moves defending against some little kid on a breakaway I could feel myself pull some groin muscle and I said to myself 'ohhhh sh*t tomorrow is going to really hurt now' (thankfully I felt better in the morning though.) We had a great home-cooked meal of Lomo Saltado (I would have preferred to do a camping trip, but there were none available in my time-frame, so this one was split between one night in a home and one night in a hostel), and we fell asleep by 10 for our 4:30 A.M. wake-up (that early because we were squeezing 2 days of hiking into one – 40k worth of hiking!).

Biking through the clouds near Cuzco

Originally Angela (the USC girl) also expressed interest in joining our faster trip, but after we waited 15 minutes for her to get ready, and after I realized how much makeup she put on that morning, I realized she might not be able to keep up with us. Sure enough, half an hour in, James, our guide, and I had hiked far ahead of her and her guide, so we decided to continue on our own. The hike was beautiful and brutal. What I especially liked about it was that the trails we hiked on weren't trails designed for hiking. Instead, they were trails used to connect small villages that we would hike through on our way to Aguas Calientes (the town below Machu Picchu). The villages clearly were not frequented by tourists, so it was a nice way to get off the beaten path. A couple of them did have stands to sell water and food which were a great treat during our 14 hour hike.

The red stuff was natural repellent from a pepper plant the guide pointed out to us

The friendly monkey 'Martin' at one of the villages

I had heard terrible things about the bugs in the jungle there, and it's all true. Thankfully with toxic bug spray and a brisk hiking pace, they didn't bug me much (pun not intended), but we saw lots of nasty critters. At one point I saw a huge wasp-like fly buzzing around on the ground and I stopped to ask our guide about it. He said 'Ah yes, this has very dangerous poison. What do you call what you use when you get bit by poisonous spider?' I replied 'An antidote?' He said 'Haha yes, there is no for this'. My eyes widened a bit, then decided to keep on moving.

The best part of that day, without question, was our stop in Santa Teresa at the hot springs. It was about 11 AM, so we had been hiking for a long time, and it was the perfect way to relax for a bit before continuing on our long day. For a short time after the springs we shared a cab with some locals (not much of a point to hiking along a road for a few k), and then finished the trek along the seemingly never-ending train tracks to Aguas Calientes.

The wonderful halfway-point of hot springs on the way to Machu Picchu

Aguas Calientes was actually a pretty cool place – of course it solely exists to house people on their way to Machu Picchu – but it had a nice feel, kind of like Whistler Village below the ski resort (but obviously not as big or fancy). We had dinner at a restaurant in the town and were asleep by 9, exhausted by such a long day of hiking, ready to wake up at 4:30 again to make our way up to Machu Picchu.

Near Aguas Calientes - one of many conspicuous bridges we had to cross

The Inca stairs up the mountain were totally brutal, especially at such an early hour after such a long day of hiking. It was about a half kilometer rise in elevation, and it took a little over an hour. The incentive to keep a good pace was the sun – I really wanted to get up to Machu Picchu to see the sunrise over the mountains – and thankfully I barely made it on time.

Is it just me, or is this llama actually smiling for the picture?

I was anticipating Machu Picchu to be heavily micromanaged and swamped with tourists that were shuttled around from point A to B to back outside, but for the first few hours there were hardly more than 100 people there. It was a great feeling being there so early because it was practically deserted and felt much more inspiring without the buzz of the hordes. We had a scheduled tour at 8 which lasted until 10, when we started to climb Wayna Picchu (the tall mountain overlooking Machu Picchu in most of the pictures). Our tour guide annoyingly joked relentlessly that it only took 15 minutes to get up Wayna Picchu 'at Inca speed', but an hour 'at tourist speed'. Well James and I were happy to make it up at half Inca speed, because we had to be back at Aguas Calientes at 2 to get our train tickets for that night. Overlooking Machu Picchu was very cool – but we were more happy to reach the top of Wayna just because it meant the end of climbing steep steps! I had a victory snickers bar at the top, relaxed for a bit in the beautiful weather (which we were very lucky to have), then began our descent back to Aguas Calientes, and from there, took the train back to Cusco.

I should say a bit about Machu Picchu before I go on. Everyone has seen the pictures, but I was amazed at just how big the place really was. It was interesting to learn the history about how it was discovered, but even more interesting to hear about how much mystery still surrounds it. Hiram Bingham was directed to it by two farmer families it in the early 20th century on his search for the lost Inca treasure, but was disappointed to only find some ruins. He came back, sponsored by Yale University to explore it more (apparently many artifacts were taken back to Yale), but not only was there no treasure to be found, there was nothing besides empty ruins. Not even bodies or anything – it had been abandoned, and no one knows why. There have been other ruins discovered elsewhere around Cusco, but none have quite the amazing setting as Machu Picchu, on the top of a mountain surrounded by beautiful vistas. If I had more time, I would have loved to take the trek to the most recently discovered ruins that were only found 20 years ago. They are still being uncovered, so there are no roads going there – it requires an 8 day trek to get there.

Sweet victory atop Wayna Picchu overlooking Machu Picchu

That night I went out with James and his 4 Irish friends that met us at Macchu Picchu (they had just finished hiking the Inca Trail) at Paddy's bar, 'The highest Irish-owned pub in the world'. It was a lot of fun meeting them, and lets just say they lived up to some Irish stereotypes. I didn't have a hostel reservation for that night because I had originally planned on returning the next day, but they were nice enough to give me their extra bed at their hostel, which was really cool of them. I was hoping to catch up on sleep a bit, but of course that didn't happen, as I had to be up early the next day for a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

I'll be brief about that tour. While it was nice to see a bunch of ruins, by far the most interesting part of it was meeting and talking with a couple on the tour. I forget how the subject even came up, but the guy and I started talking about our different perspectives on meditation, consciousness, and life after death. It turned out his father is a retired Buddhist Monk (who now 'only' meditates for eight hours every day), and he grew up in North India along the Himalayas. We had a great constructive conversation providing our differing perspectives on those topics, and I think we both learned a lot. When I asked him what he did in NYC, I almost laughed when he said he was an investment banker, but then I realized he wasn't joking! I asked him how that came about, and he said he was fascinated by the concept of capitalism and it always drew him in. I thought that was interesting, and it provided a bit of a different light in which to view our conversation. He recommended I get some books describing a dialog between the Dali Lama and a group of neuroscientists which sounded fascinating. I will look up when I get to Australia.

I was looking forward to getting back to BA in time to enjoy a barbeque some poker friends were having – and I was able to enjoy about an hour of it – but then, like I said at the beginning, the food poisoning kicked in, and I was out of commission for the next 36 hours. I did have long enough to meet a few more players I hadn't met before, which was cool (one of them had previously played the card game 'Magic the Gathering' at a competitive level and was ranked 1st in the world!). I said my farewells this morning which was sad, but not too sad because I will see a lot of them this summer in Europe, as most of them are traveling as well, and with facebook nowadays, it is impossible to lose touch with travel buddies.

I'm looking forward to getting to Sydney, and especially Cairns to meet up with Leon and do some serious diving. Apparently Google has a new feature that you can use to 'dive in' from satellite view right into the great barrier reef that I am pumped to check out when I land. Right now though, We are passing near the south pole, and I can't do much except watch the in-flight TV (Bear Grylls in Man vs Wild – the Australia episode!), and maybe sleep a bit before I land.


Comments questions and suggestions encouraged!

Noah