Brazil, Bolivia, and cold

We decided to go to Brazil. We left Puerto in the morning on the Brazil-Peru Interocean highway which they have thousands of people and hundreds of heavy machinery working on. By the road most of the Jungle was cut down, with plenty of huge logs leaving. People need wood.

We got to the border of the three countries. We decided to go to Brazileia, but could not get a taxi or bus out until the evening. We went to the three adjoining towns, which, though they are right next to each other, the towns are very different.

In Brazil it was more or less modern with lots of tall Joao (Alison's note: an Brazilian exchange student who stayed with my family) looking people who spoke Portuguese. Peru was like Peru, and Bolivia was very poor with Peruvian looking people (short dark Indians).

From Brazileia we walked over the river through the border post to Cobija Bolivia where we stayed the night. The borders are extremely loose. The next morning we went back to the border to get visas. Guess what hit me? The fifty three requirements for Americans only. These include a thirty dollar visa, a hundred dollar border fee, written letter of invitation and recommendation, proof of a return plane flight, and what hit me hard, a certificate of having taken my yellow fever vaccination which I could have but did not do in Ecuador.

Instead of three days in the unexplored Bolivian rainforest on the worst roads we had to backtrack. We arrived on an overpacked sixteen hour night bus this morning where we gave up a seat for a woman and toddler to spend the night in the overpacked aisle.


We arrived in Juliaca near Lake Titicaca and arrived right before church. The building was nice, but the people were few. I understood most of what was said, though during a lesson, and the teacher said these gringos are here, though they can not understand anything because of faith.

There are five thousand members in this small city, of which six hundred are active. We took a nap. It is very cold right now. The windows on the bus became covered with ice. We jumped out of the Amazon suana into the winter air. Brrrr. We plan on seeing the lake, Chile, Colca Canyon and David. Our trip is coming to a close. The ward invited us to an activity which is why we are still in this crazy little city with a hotel that charges for showers for locals who come in.

Shawn

Puerto Maldondo

Wow, we are so close to Brazil and Bolivia, only four hours. We probably won´t go because it will cost fifty dollars a person to make the three hundred mile round trip.

Anyways. Today was great here in Puerto Maldondo in the Amazon rainforest. We hired a boat and guide for the day. We saw large trees, a parrot clay lick, macaws, the largest freshwater fish in the world, The rare giant river otter( a family of about ten playing), monkeys, and lots of forest. We started at four and finished at five. A full day.

Who knows what we will do next because I don´t, since I´m trying to be more money careful. Time flies.

Shawn and Mike

Sacred Valley

Today I did something very special I never thought I would do. Well, we were walking down the road the the Inca ruins of Tipon which have awesome irrigation systems, when I saw a sign that said 'zoologico.' It was a family´s private collection of fifteen animals. I walked in and a rare vicuna walked up. I petted its long neck, and felt its soft belly. I then looked up and it spat in my face. Its smelled horrible. Then it kicked me. I then held a monkey which was running around. The owner then took me to see his cougers. One came up top the fence. He said it was like a large house cat since he raised it from a cub. I petted its back and rubbed its ears. Wow. I love the interaction of small zoos.

We got out of Cuzco spending over a hundred dollars for an hour train ride. We then saw the huge ruins called Ollataytambo. There were eight ton pink stones and a carving of the white bearded god on the mountain which our guide said is all over the Americas.

We then took a taxi to the agricultural pits salled Moray. We saw oxen and donkeys plowing wheat fields with glacier covered mountains in the backgound.

We then went to Chichero, a converted Inca to Spanish city. Sixty percent of this country is one hundred percent indian, and it shows. There we bought some awesome hats that were expensive, but took an obviously extensive amount of work to make. They are rainbow colored with lots of beadwork. We then found a three dollar hostel which was nice. Dad is fascinated with how everyone here uses adobe brick to make their houses.

Today we got up went back to the Chichero ruins, then went to Cuzco. From Cuzco we went to Tipon. We left Tipon and went to the Huari culture ruins of Pikillacta. I lost our ruin tickets making it so we couldn´t go to Pisac. We then went back to Cuzco, walked around, and are planning on taking an overnight bus to Puerto Maldondo in the Amazon.

Should we go see David on the Amazon river in Iquitos? It costs four hundred and twenty round trip to get there. Puerto Maldondo in the South cost fifty dollars round trip by bus. Everything is going well. We couldn´t buy anything today because Machu Picchu was very expensive.

Shawn

Machu Picchu

This morning we arrived in Santa Maria at three after a seven hour bus ride. From there we took to convis to a hydroelectric plant where we started our walk to Machu Picchu on the railroad tracks. One of the convi rides was on a dirt road on the edge of a thousand foot cliff. i met some nice Germans, Brasilians, and Argentinians. There were many backpackers who took the same route.

After a three hour walk we took another hour and a half walk hauling our junk to Machu Picchu. There were people from all over the world. It was very expensive to get in. The views and architecture were amazing. It is not that big so we saw the whole thing in littler time. we were able to see the mortarless masonry and a footpath carved into the middle of a sheer two thousand foot cliff. We were tired and chilled there most of the day. Right before we left we saw condors which a guide next to us said are so rare he has only seen them once.

We then took a short fourteen dollar bus ride. I wanted to ride the train making it so we missed our window of opportunity to get back by bus. We went to the train station. It was horrible .It costs three bucks for Peruvians to go by train while it costs us thirty to one hundred and forty dollars. You can only get out of here by walking and train. Since there is only one train company they aren´t helpful, rude, slow, and don´t care about their customers. It costs over a hundred dollars to get out by train which is about a thirty minute ride.

Dad is upset because I bought a fancy alpaca meat dinner and a Andean music cd. We have never spent so much mony in so little time. We our in a terribly expensive tourist trap. we probably are going to walk out during the night or tomorrow, wasting a whole day, and making it so we can´t go to church. Machu Picchu is nice, but everything that goes with it is terrible.
Shawn

Cuzco

We took an overnight bus from Huarez to Lima. It is a very large city of eight million with no bus terminal. A taxi took us to a bus station where we bought tickets.

We then went to two museums that had stone carvings, lots of gold ornaments, Metal weapons and armor, and thousands of pots mostly from pre Inca civilizations. We left Lima at four and arrived at four today in Cuzco. There was a fat kid behined me who kept and eating and throwing up the throughout the twenty four hour trip. He never learned what went down comes back up.

The mountains in the South are very large, brown, dry with Cactus, and have glaciers on the peaks. I finally saw some Alpaca heards.

We are pinching our pennys so instead of taking the two hour train we are taking another eleven hour night bus trip to Machu Pichu (It goes close, not actually there and they say the walk throught the forest is dangerous. The taxi driver said if anyone tries to stop us we should hit them with a large stick), the fourth night bus in a row, and the fifth of the trip.

We´ve stayed in a hostel twice. We´re hauling all over the place. Whatever. We´re going cheap and seeing a lot of things in little time. Happy birthday Neil. About staying longer, is it all that fun to travel alone and have no one to share your experiences with? We could go on some wonderfull adventurous backpacking trips which I´m hungry for since dad hates hiking. Another night in a bus, oh joy.

Shawn

Trujillo

We got up early and went to Chan Chan, a very large city of adobe of the Chimu culture. Most of what was there has been reduced to dirt or cleared by farming, but you are still able to get an idea for how grand the city once was.

We then went to a beach town. There were the best waves I've ever seen for surfing. I rented a board and had trouble getting out there due to my ocean paranoia and there being no surfers, though the water was warm and there were plenty of white tourists. I did catch a few waves which was fun.

I also rented a small reed fishing boat that has been used for thousands of years. It looked big and the fisherman manged them well, but when I got out there it was a different story. I left the beach and went over the waves well trying to figure out how to paddle the thing with my bamboo stick, during which a current pulled me far from where I started to some very large waves. When my boat barely made it over a very large wave, I lost all faith in it. I turned around and a wave crashed into me where I barely stayed up. A larger one came and pushed it like a surf board for a good little distance where the tip caught rolling the boat a bunch of times. I quickly swam back to the boat rolling with it to shore. It was a little damaged and its owner told me how I was the boat should only go into water like that with experienced fishermen, which I believe.

We then went to The Moche culture pyramid of the sun, which was the largest structure in the Americas of its time, also made out of adobe. We then took the bus to Chimbote and are taking the overnight bus to Huarez (Cordillera Blanca). The Coast is all one very large desert with sand and dunes.

Shawn

Dad's and Shawn's travels

After my family's time in Ecuador ended, my mom headed home with the four youngest kids (the girls and Sam) and Shawn and Dad set off on on month-long adventure through South America. Here is Shawn's account of their travels

Reeds in Salinas

Holo todos--

We finished our time at the orphanage on Sunday, amidst tears. The hardest part for me was to see Sam say one last goodbye to Andres, and then leave the room crying. I am sure it was not good for the kids there, either, to see us sad. They are such sweet kids, and I am sure it is really hard for them to see volunteers come and go. We have heard a lot of adoption talk in the past few weeks now that adoptions from the US are open again--hopefully someone will come and take them ¨home¨. I wish we were the ones taking Andres home, but we are too old. You can only be 45 years older than the child you want to adopt. I am sure there is some family who will eventually get Andres, or Carlos, or Ana, or any one of the others, and be so, so happy.

There was a new girl at the orphanage this week. Her mother left her at a church on Sunday. and the only thing the nuns knew was that her mother was very sick. We called her Juliana for a few days, until we found out her name is Nataly. I think she is about a year old. She was scared the first few days, but seems to be doing better.

We also said goodbye to the special kids. I just tucked them in and gave them a kiss. I didn´t go to the older special kids sala. I hear Martin there rips up the pictures of the old volunteers to help him deal with the fact they are gone. I know if was hard for Rachel to say goodbye. My favorite, Eddy, couldn´t do that, because he is too handicapped. He gave me one of his awesome Eddy smiles as I tucked him in.

It has been a great experience for us, to actually get to go to Latin America and do something so worthwhile. It has also been an opportunity, to get to know these kids.

We traveled yesterday from Cuenca to Guayaquil by bus, to save money. The scenery was beautiful on those windy, high Andean mountain roads, and I got a great view with my head outside the bus window hurling. I feel bad--the bus definitely needs washed.

From Guayaquil we took another bus to Salinas, on the coast. It is one of the ¨resort¨towns in Ecuador. It reminds me of Mazatlan in Mexico. We are just staying here today, then back to Guayaquil tomorrow, to hopefully see a few things there before we go home Friday. The bus trip here was not so bad, because the country is flat, and the roads not windy. We did have a really obnoxious Chinese war movie in the bus that we tried hard to ignore. They must like violent army movies here in Ecuador--on the first bus ride they played Cheyenne¨¨ with Bruce Willis in it. It was easy to avoid the words, since they were in Spanish, but it was hard to ignore all the screaming and gunfire, especially from the second movie--those Chinese filmmakers like big guns and lots of gore.

Our hotel here is nicer than some, so this can be a ¨vacation¨and does have an awesome view of the ocean, like Mazatlan. We have been out of the beach enjoying the sand and the water and the zillions of salespeople strolling by. We bought a ¨whalewatching¨tour this afternoon for a good price, so I better go, to take Dramamine and get ready for the tour.

Hasta luego,

Shelly