Traveling

Archive for april, 2015

La Paz, Day 168: Party and happiness

So hitchhiking to La Paz was actually no problem, even though I went quite late in the morning. I got picked up by a little family of three and got a ride all the way to La Paz. Driving into La Paz, impressions of poverty, muddy and bumpy roads and ugliness occupied my thoughts, but as I got dropped off and worked my way into the center with 3 different buses, my impressions improved a little. La Paz is huge though – imagine hills as big as the mountains they actually are; made of red brick houses, spreading into infinity. A sunshiny center in the middle of the valley with only, what seems to be, a few skyscrapers compared to the volume of the city. When I arrived to the area where I had to find Café MagicK where Stephan lives and works, I got a different vibe from the now more fashionable neighbourhood with more trees, actual concrete roads and little signposts for different bars and café’s. I found café MagicK and walked into a little front garden, followed by a nice little two-story house with a cute café. Nicely decorated as well, with a lounge on the first floor. Nothing less to be expected from experienced deco/festival/burner people though. Cool staff and guests greeted me, and Stephan soon came and took me upstairs to a room I would share with a German guy who works here. Tonight there has been a busy party with a private birthday upstairs and an Indian music concert downstairs. I decorated upstairs with what I could find of candles and balloons in the nearby supermarket and got a sweet veggieburger free from the kitchen – so nice of them! I tried to ask if I could help the rest of the night, but they seemed to be well staffed for the job. There’s a lot of good stuff to say about this place, but my favorites so far are definitely: their soya-milk cappuchinos and chai’s; their bowler hat lamps; their windows; their staff and the fact that they just have vegan options on a lot of stuff. Yeeeees, finallyyyyyy. And good WiFi. Wohooo!

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Made it for the Indian Music concert at MagicK!

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Copacabana, Day 166: Welcome to Bolivia

SOoo yesterday I started out early at 7:00 am from Cuzco in Peru to try to hitchhike all the way to Copacabana in Bolivia, which is 531 km and 7,5 hours in car according to Google Maps. I did ALMOST make it – a sad hour late for the border though, as the immigration had closed. The day started out with a free taxi ride from a guy my exact age as well, but who ended up putting his hand on my thigh one time too many, which made me give him such an instinctive look of disgust – he pulled over and let me out before my destination. So, I took the bus to the Regional Hospital in Cuzco where busses would depart for Urcos – the first destination after Cuzco where I could hitchhike, according to Hitchwiki. So, a sleazy taxi ride and two bus rides later I was at Urcos (a town outside Cuzco), where I quickly got a ride with a nice local guy – an engineer on his way to work near Ayaviri – the next, big stop on my way to Puno (a port town at the Titicaca lake which is between Peru and Bolivia). He dropped me off at the exit out of town, where some kind of security guards were checking every car going into toen more or less superficially. I started hitchhiking, when one of the security men came over to me to talk. He, like all the other 8 of his colleagues, was wearing a bulletproof west, boots, a cap – all in black. Hot in the sun, I thought. He smiled (a lot, almost laughing) at me and asked what I was doing, while I heard some distant yelled comment about him talking to the ‘gringa’ and then someone laughed. I smiled in return, thinking this would not be the first time someone had a laugh on my account on this trip of mine. While I explained to the guy what I was doing, whom was actually nice enough although a bit cocky – his colleagues were peaking curiously out from behind their temporary workstation set up on the road, some trying to contain themselves – others laughing obviously. After a little while the guy left, but came back: saying “why don’t you come over to us, we can help you get a ride. No one will stop here.” I looked at the spot I was standing in: loads of space for a car to pull over – compared to the space where they were working with bad visibility of the cars passing and not much space to pull over. I argumented that the cars would probably not stop there (thinking: especially not if the drivers think they are being checked by a swarm of security) – but the guy was very persistent and I gave up and went with him. His collegues finally got their curiousity satisfied when I put my stuff down and said hi to them. Soon I was swarmed by security myself, being asked all sorts of questions, ranging from, if the Loch Ness was in Denmark and if the Loch Ness monster existed; to – if the women in Scandinavia were really the most beautiful ones. I thought, “oh man, it’s gonna be hard to find a ride swarmed by security like this”. They asked me more questions than helping me find a ride – and the drivers of the cars they did stop looked rather nervous – I would too if a group of almost military-looking guys stopped my car. And so 1 hour went by, then another, and finally a truck came by that they had to check, going into town, and meanwhile I stopped a pick-up myself with two guys who said they were going to Puno. I quickly grabbed my stuff before any of the security guys came back, yelled thanks to them and got into the car. I found out my ride was only going to Juliaca, which is a really ugly and a bit dangerous town on the way to Puno I heard, so I was not too thrilled, although it was a good part of the way I wanted to go. The two guys were nice and stopped in Ayaviri to have lunch. They asked me out to lunch, but when I said I didn’t have money for that (and besides had brought my own food and didn’t eat meat) they gave me some coins to buy lunch for! So nice. Afterwards, we drove through the most beautiful landscapes with grassy steppes and hills, snowy mountains and small creeks. When we arrived to Juliaca, they took me to some corner, paid for a motortaxi, which would take me to a terminal in Juliaca, and even gave me money for the collective which would go to Puno. They didn’t want me to hitchhike out of there apparently. Wow, so many nice people exist in the world 🙂
After I had found a collectivo (a van ((or a can)) they stuff with people) to Puno, we arrived to Puno’s bus terminal an hour later, which was situated on the mountainside with a great view over the immense Titicaca lake. A storm was rising and lightning was striking into the lake in front of me – an impressive view. I tried to find a bus to Copacabana, but was told that only collectivo’s went to Yunguni, which was the last Peruvian town at the border, and from there I had to take a bus to Copacabana. It was getting dark and no one would tell me where the exit was out of town so I didn’t think my chances of hitchhiking would be great. With the money I was given earlier almost spent on getting to Puno, I asked how much the collective for Yunguni was. I was told it was 8 soles and it was the very last one to depart tonight. It would take two hours to get there. I was surprised and a little sceptical, as the one hour ride to Puno had cost me only 3 soles. They told me that to Puno it was 3,5 soles and that it didn’t take one hour. I laughed and told them that I had just taken it though, and that it was 3 soles and one hour. They denied it and told me otherwise – as I had not just taken the ride myself. They would not go down in price and when I didn’t understand all they were saying, they just laughed at me and wouldn’t explain. The guy I was talking to kept wawing me away, saying something about a ‘dueño’, which I didn’t get. I finally guessed that I was speaking to the wrong guy and that ‘dueño’ must mean driver (I later found out it means boss). I then finally found the driver, but he didn’t want to talk to me. I sat staring into to open space, distressed about what to do now, while the guys I had been talking to kept yelling “Yunguni, Yunguni” to find people to fill up the collectivo. 15 minutes went by and as it got darker, I put on more clothes, thinking I couldn’t sleep there – it would be too cold. Finally I went to the guys, asking if I could come with them for 6,20 soles (I would just have to cut into my food and accommodation budget for the next day) – and then this guy, who had first told me to speak to ‘el dueño’ said I could come with him. He beckoned me over to another van and showed me a little edge behind the front passengerseat where he had put a little pillow. “You can sit here, for 5 soles” he said, telling me to embark as the very last one. I thought, “oh, so the other collectivo was not the last one to depart today afterall, huh!”, but said nothing. I agreed to sit on the edge, back to back with the front passengers, by the door, for 2 hours. It was a very freezing ride, especially by the door, but I got to Yunguni two hours later – grateful even though my ass hurt badly after sitting on an edge, clammed between the door and a big, Peruvian mamita with all the traditional skirts (they must wear 7 or more, since they bulge out like that, or they just eat too much gluten, which is not unlikely either). The ride was quite beautiful though – driving beside the Titicaca Lake and the thunderstorm over it the whole way. When I arrived to Yunguni at 20:00 pm I learned that I was just one hour late for the immigration center to be open, and had to spend the night at a hostel. I bargained the price down to 10 soles, which was then bye-bye to my budget for the next day (today), but whatever. I soon learned I had to exceed my daily budget of 10 soles each day, the next few days.

Today I got up early, went to fill up my water bottle with the delicious quinoa/apple/cinnamon/sugar drink they drink a lot of hot in Peru in the mornings; bought some bread; a bag of peanuts and two apples for the road, and went to get my stuff to start for the border. It was closer than I thought – I could have walked there instead of taking a motortaxi. I went to the immigration before the border, got a stamp easy peacy by a friendly lady, and walked through the big stone arch to the Bolivian side. When walking down the road, a guy from the Bolivian immigration office whistled for me as I went too far. I went there, smiling and said goodday – a bit embarrassed that I had forgotten that I of course had to go to immigration on each side. A Mister Serious Guy took my passport and said, giving it back to me with a commanding stance, that I had to apply for a visa beforehand. I said no, that I had checked it, and I could just go to the border and get my stamp. He asked me whom I had paid, and I said no one! He said, well you need to pay then. I told him, no – as a Danish citizen I did not have to pay but could just go to the border to get my stamp. He asked, clearly frustrated and very close to my face, “well! Who get’s paid then? Someone needs to get the money!” I stated that I simply didn’t know, just that this was the agreement between his and my country. He looked at me like I was stupid, but then his colleague, who was clearly the Stamp Guy, mumbled to him that it was not obligatory to make the visa beforehand. Mister Serious Guy then waved me away angrily, saying, “fine! Go then!”. I said, well, I need a stamp. He said I didn’t want one, I said: “Yes, of course I want one, or else I have no proof that I entered Bolivia and will have trouble when I leave!”. He denied me one, but I persisted and then he aggressively grabbed an immigration form, gave it to me, saying: “Ok, for the VERY last time..!” almost as a threat. I filled it out, asking one of his other 7 or so colleagues what one of the questions meant, but he just mumbled something nervously and looked away. I didn’t fill it out. After I had done the form, I went to Stamp Guy, who had previously mumbled that the pre-applied visa was not obligatory to Mister Serious Guy, and he easily and sufficiently stamped my passport. I got 30 days. I smiled to him, said “Buenas dias!” loudly as I turned to get my stuff, received no answer from the 8 or so men, and went out of there as quickly as possible, mumbling “idiots” to myself on my way. I heard some of them laugh in a harsh way as I went, while I was, thinking “They need some women in there, if anyone dares to work in such a macho atmosphere!”.

I went down the road until I was out of sight of the immigration and then found a place for my stuff. I started hitchhiking. It was only 8 km to Copacabana and I considered walking. Just then, a car came by and picked me up. The guy was very nice, but I did the mistake of asking if the car was ‘libre’ instead of ‘gratis’, which made the difference of ‘free’ in a spaceous term, and ‘free’ in the term of payment. He was very nice to me and I ended up paying him 1 peso. He smiled and seemed happy enough. I had already exceeded my budget and would much more later that day: After finding a place to put my stuff and with a bed (at the rainbow hostel) I plugged in my computer, fiercely with tape and took a semi-hot shower. As my facebook status stated: “Welcome to Bolivia

Her kan vi tilbyde: tvære immigrationsarbejdere som vist ikk har fået noget i lidt for lang tid og åbenlyst kun har mandlige kollegaer og som synes det sjoveste er at være røvhuller overfor turister; det koldeste af det røviskolde vejr: søde lokale som gir lifts og gode råd; masser af brød men ingen frugt og grønt; samt de varmeste bade og bedste elektronikinstallationer! (Not)

All I needed though was a semi-warm shower and I’m clean (wow!) and smiling! 😀

After 1 1/2 days of traveling it is now time to see Isla Del Sol and HH further to La Paz tomorrow.

Peace!

After all this I tried to find a way to get to Isla del Sol. I found a guy whom I bargained down to 20 pesos – return ticket the same day, which was a good price as the other prices people on the same boat had paid were more like 30 or more per person, or 20 pesos one way. Bolivian pesos/Bolivianos are equal to the Danish Crown. Soo nice and easy for me, although it makes you realize how cheap or expensive some things are.

The boat ride was over an hour each way and we had 50 minutes at the big island. I chose not to pay for a tour and went up on the island by myself, after paying another entrance fee of 5 pesos, and found a grassy terrace to put out my crystals in the sun and meditate. I had apparently found the best place, ‘cus soon I was surrounded by tourists, posing beside me for the view. Oh well, they went away soon enough and then this lovely, lovely, big white dog came and jumped right into my lap after I had meditated (not the first time dogs come over after, or during, meditation) and it just wanted to be cuddled and played with. I could give it so many hugs and it wouldn’t mind – not that I had much of a choice when it was standing with its front paws in my lap, head right next to my face. I had to push him down when I felt like it was time to get back to my boat, but then he just threw himself down next to me, cuddling up against my legs and gently biting my hand in a playful manner. When I quickly packed my stuff and went – he went with me. Such a beautiful white dog: white and fluffy as the huge cumulus nimbus clouds over the sea-like lake.
When we arrived back to Copacabana I had fallen asleep on my backpack and was unbelievably tired. I thought, “screw it – I have already exceeded my budget so much, I might as well get a coffee”. So, I had a coffee with Baileys while I watched the sunset over the lake. Incredible.

Tomorrow I’m going to hitchhike to La Paz and visit a Danish burner (a Burning Man Festival participant, for those who do not know what a burner is, mom? ;)) who has settled down in the capital of Bolivia and founded a café called MagicK with his Bolivian wife. The distance to La Paz is much shorter than my trip yesterday and it should be no problem to go there in half a day hopefully. Let’s see! Hopefully I can also find work there too.

hitchiking from Cuzco, Peru, to the Titicaca lake, Bolivian side

hitchiking from Cuzco, Peru, to the Titicaca lake, Bolivian side

racing with the train

racing with the train

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Crossing the border between Peru and Bolivia

Temporarily fixed..

Temporarily fixed..

Happy after showering and made it to Bolivia!

Happy after showering and made it to Bolivia!

On the way to Isla del Sol

On the way to Isla del Sol

Cloouds <3

Cloouds ❤

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Cuzco, Day 159: Easter

The days up to- and through Easter have been so busy; I hardly have had time on the Internet. Cedar, his dad and I have been traveling around the Sacred Valley for a week, starting in Cuzco, then Aguas Calientes which is the little tourist-money-hole of a town next to Machu Picchu; next after that Ollanteytambo where we found the most magical vegetarian restaurant; next after that Pisac and then back to Cuzco. We have been up every morning between 4:00 am and 6:00-7:00 am for 8 days and now I’ve said goodbye to my travel companions and landed in another part of town in Cuzco where I will be couchsurfing for a week. The house is a big, new mansion-like place with walls around house and garden, in a neighbourhood with big, empty roads of concrete – that is also walled in with manned security by the gates. What a contrast to the cute little center of Cuzco far away with cobble stone narrow streets, old houses and wooden balconies carved in great detail, the San Pedro market where you can buy all sorts of stuff including that of the name really cheap, and traditional clothed ladies walking around with lamas on a leash and babies on their backs or baby goats – that’s all for tourism though: they dress up like that so they can charge money when tourists take a photo. Nonetheless, that’s how they used to dress. I’ll see if I can sneak a good picture.

Easter here is not the same as I’ve seen it in Andalusia in southern Spain; here people walk around in a parade with a black cross-dressing jesus on a cross: wearing a silver skirt and blood running down his dark skin. People are all dressed in black suits, lookind dead serious, except some musicians and kids dressed up in colourful ponchos, playing some kind of horribly off-key rhythms. Definitely not the same as the beautifully colourful and flowery parades you see in Spain where Virgin Mary is carried on a float with flowers all over – professional orchestras playing in line – people dressed in their finest Sunday clothes. I might just have seen a fraction of what Peru is capable of, in the little town I was in though.

On this day we had the weirdest put together, most extensive Easter lunch in my entire life. The mother of Antonio – named Fortunata btw (meaning Lucky), my couchsurfing host, cooked together with me and the other couchsurfers for probably a full day all in all, to present an impressive lunch table for 12 or more guests. Francesco from Italy made Gnocchi out of potatoes and wheat flower, in a pesto of herbs, oil and spices, topped with chopped almonds. I made a huge salad of vegetables, pears from the garden and a mango. One of the Spanish girls made some rice with condensed milk and raisins, and hummus with cut up carrots, the other: potatoes with eggs and unions, fried. Besides that, there was a vegetable soup, a fish and shrimp soup, bread, cakes, meringue, some kind of flat pastry with colourful sugar nibs on top – which is very popular here in Peru, fried fish with onions, fish eggs, boiled apples and peaches made into a drink with the fruit still inside, a gelatine drink (which is also very popular in Ecuador and Peru, disgusting if you ask me), Humitas and Tamales (a corn paste with various spices or cheese, wrapped in corn leaves and baked or eaten fresh), boiled corn cobs, green and purple grapes and watermelon. Strange combo isn’t it? :b Interesting and very filling though. And loads of food for the day after, even two.

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The San Pedro Market in Cuzco

The San Pedro Market in Cuzco

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Funny hat I

Funny hat I

Funny hat II

Funny hat II

fake inca guy posing in front of artesania market

fake inca guy posing in front of artesania market

The most cool little hippievan!

The most cool little hippievan!

The most cool little hippievan!

The most cool little hippievan!

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cuzco

cuzco

The sweetest lady

The sweetest lady

Out temple of the moon companion

Out temple of the moon companion

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Temple of the moon

Temple of the moon

Temple of the moon

Temple of the moon

Temple of the moon

Temple of the moon

Temple of the moon

Temple of the moon

Temple of the moon

Temple of the moon

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Temple of the moon

Temple of the moon

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Biggest San Pedro cactus ever

Biggest San Pedro cactus ever

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Yo Yo

Yo Yo

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You and your mango

You and your mango

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Easter

Easter

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Biggest San Pedro cactus ever

Biggest San Pedro cactus ever

Mr Lama

Mr Lama

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Easter parade with a black cross-dressing Jesus

Easter parade with a black cross-dressing Jesus

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Train coffee... more like, milk with a teeny tiny bit of coffee!

Train coffee… more like, milk with a teeny tiny bit of coffee!

Train to Machu Picchu

Train to Machu Picchu

Aguas Calientes: the tourist trap

Aguas Calientes: the tourist trap

Pretty though

Pretty though

Camping next to Machu Picchu

Camping next to Machu Picchu

Early morning climb on empty stomach to reach Machu Picchu. We started around 4:30. it tooks us about 45 minutes

Early morning climb on empty stomach to reach Machu Picchu. We started around 4:30. it tooks us about 45 minutes

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Machu Picchu flower

Machu Picchu flower

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The Inca bridge

The Inca bridge

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Temple area

Temple area

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A chinchila! those and lamas jump/wander around the sacred site (no Cedar, it's not a kangaroo)

A chinchila! those and lamas jump/wander around the sacred site
(no Cedar, it’s not a kangaroo)

Machu Picchu, Peru, Cedar Machu Mountain entrance

Fierce river between Machu Picchu and Aguas Calientes

Fierce river between Machu Picchu and Aguas Calientes

My home for a week in Cuzco, couchsurfing

My home for a week in Cuzco, couchsurfing

My little alter

My little alter

View from my room

View from my room


Piura, Day 150: Ciao Ecuador, Hola Peru!

Bye Vilca and Bye Ecuador! In memory of Ecuador, I post this one to all out you who are interested in how it sounds like to be in Ecuador most of the time, in buses, at restaurants, on the street, in taxis.. Basically all you hear is Reggaeton, Cumbia and Salsa and these are favorites among the ecuadorians these days apparently. Kind of like mainstream poptracks for them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyPcZ9Pe6DU After some sweet days in Vilcabamba again we headed for Peru. I was a bit nervous for what they would say and how long they’d hold me back at the border, because of my almost two month expired visa – but as it turned out, they didn’t even give me a COMMENT or nothing – I went to two offices with everyone else and no one asked a thing or held me back. We went through fast and smoothly and I was smiling like a shining sun afterwards. I couldn’t believe I had worried for almost two months, and then they didn’t even say anything! Incredible. Goood start! We have now arrived to Piura and it’s been a crazy hot day with the biggest, most beautiful and gigantic clouds. Tomorrow we will start out as early as this morning; before the sun rises. We have a flight at 7:30 in the morning to Cuzco – The Sacred Valley. I’m Psyched! Beautiful day for celebrating my mom’s birthday, both of us on Spanish speaking land, even on the other side of the planet 🙂

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made it to Peru without A N Y trouble! Amazing.


Cuenca, Day 144: Crazy rides and karma

So Tyler, a Canadian guy from Montreal with whom I’m hitchhiking with, and me started out from Wisdom Forest yesterday to start down towards Vilcabamba. We started out later than expected, getting on the road at ten am, but we had the most awesome breakfast with cake, icing, fruit salat and icecream before and ended up leaving with good people so we didn’t have to say goodbye to all the awesome lovelies at once. You see, Iolani, our just-turned-20 topchef cook, was leaving too and had made all this deliciousness for us. Not surprising though – I’d come to learn during my stay how impressive that girl is. I hope she realizes that someday too 🙂
After saying goodbye to Julie, Eliza and Iolani at the busstation in town, Tyler and me left for finding a good corner to hitchhike to Puyo – our first stop near town on the way south. I told Tyler that we should wish for a ride, to the universe or mother earth. He smiled at bit funny me, but I think he did wish, for 5-10 minutes after, we got a ride with the greatest, most chatty guy all the way to Puyo. I learned on the way that Puyo means cloud (as Puyo is surrounded by cloud forest) in Quechua, one of the main native languages in Ecuador, and I silently smiled and confirmed that I was indeed going to name one of my kids that one day – I had already written it down before I knew the meaning.

We went to Puyo and got a ride with a guy in a truck to Macas – a three-hour ride more or less. He was being a bit creepy though and stared a lot at me when Tyler was asleep, obviously trying his luck while he had a chance, so I was glad to get out of there when we arrived to Macas. When we did arrive, Tyler started revealing that he was actually not feeling so well, so we went to get something real to eat, another than the big tubberware of peanutbutter we had made. After that we found a good road and stood there for ten-fiveteen minutes or so before we got a ride all the way to Cuenca with two older guys in a rented car. One of them had apparently just arrived from an indigenous tribe in the jungle only reachable by airplane and he had to go back to the ministry in Cuenca to report some data. We later found out that they had a deadline and the guy driving was driving pretty fast. Which was fine, until he after sunset decided to take a shortcut – a road in construction with tons of millions of holes and puddles and gravel and rocks. I have never had a bumpier ride and the mountaneous curves did NOT help. Tyler and me both felt sick after a while, personally I was nauceous for the entire 5-6 hour ride. Tyler had to vomit on the way, poor guy. But I think it made him feel much better.

It was cold in the mountains, but still the driver was in t-shirt and turned up the aircon. Everyone else but him was wearing scarfs and blankets and I wondered, annoyed, if he was on coke or something, since he was driving like a madman too. I asked him to turn it off or down, and he did – for maybe half an hour. The other guy just gave me a smiling upgiving look and laughed.

At some point we were waiting behind a truck on this, anytime else abandoned, dark road – when our driver decided he couldn’t fucking wait and started pulling into the track beside us – which was half a meter to a meter lower with a slope of gravel in between. The loose gravel soon buried the back wheel and we were stuck, tilting so much to the side I was afraid we were going to tilt over! My heart was in my throat and I asked if I could get out. Not waiting for an answer I opened the door, which slammed open by gravity and my iPod, headphones and waterbottle fell out into the rain. I jumped out, quickly gathered my stuff and backed away from then threatening, tilting car. Two cars slowly passed us going in the other direction, until our driver started using all four wheels to get the car out of there – luckily we were driving a pick-up. I was NOT getting in until that car was standing straight and plane, but luckily it did soon enough. The other guy came over asking me something and I exclaimed how crazy I thought this was. He laughed at my comment, agreeing. They both seemed pretty chill about it. Ecuadorian people do mostly – when something happens they only get annoyed at the most, unless it’s getting life threatening. I got into the car and felt aggressively angry and pissed of of this whole ride but calmed down as wel drove into Cuenca, onto better roads, and felt graditude instead for making our wishes come true. They were actually really nice people and talked with us a lot, asking us questions about our countries and life and so on.

When in Cuenca, Tyler knew a cheap place we could stay at and we were glad to be able to sleep properly finally, without banging our knees and head into the side of the car every time we hit a bump. Tyler felt sick the next day and weak and have said he’s possibly not able to go further today. It reminds me of when Andrea, Cedar and me were delayed in Baños because of my parasite attack and I smile of the karmic irony of now being on the other side of the situation. Of course I’ll stay and take care of him until he’s better. I haven’t been in Cuenca anyway. The only thing I’m wrinkling my nose about is that it exceeds my budget paying for a hostel, and it’s shit cold here, but whatever. Everything is going to be just fine 🙂

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Pics upload :)

Since it’s been so hard to upload pics, now that I finally have a decent connection, here you go! IMG_0124 IMG_0123 IMG_0120 IMG_0118 IMG_0117 IMG_0093 IMG_0094 IMG_0104 IMG_0106 IMG_0113 IMG_0092 IMG_0090 IMG_0089 IMG_0086 IMG_0082 IMG_0162lille IMG_0129lille IMG_0075 (1) IMG_0077 IMG_0078 (1) IMG_0178 IMG_0173 IMG_0172 IMG_0169 IMG_0167 IMG_0182 IMG_0183 IMG_0090 IMG_0074 IMG_0072 _MG_0062 (4)Just


Tena, Day 142: Temazscal night

My last night in Tena at WF Bhaga had promised me a Temazscal night (the sweat lodge ritual) and even though people seemed to have had a bad experience at the last Temazscal and some were hesitant, AND Bhaga was so sick – he almost didn’t come, we still had an amazing night with Bhaga and around 20 other participants. It was my third Temazscal here and it was by far the best in the sense of community and unity. Bhaga and all of us encouraged each other to sing, louder and louder, in the Spanish and English medicin songs and Hare Krishna mantras. Buddhi, an indigenous Sachila, was also there and used a fan of some kind of Ecuadorian stinging nettle on our bodies before the ritual and also blew hot steam at us with another fan during the rounds inside the temazscal. The power of 20 people singing or Ohm’ing at the same time is incredible, especially when all participated without hesitation and self-judgement – and it serves the exact purpose of making you forget a little how hot you are. Between rounds I went out into the pool, but just the 5 steps from the opening of the Temazscal, pass the fire and into the pool was so hard due to first being blinded by the fire after the complete darkness inside the structure, and then having to use your legs after crouching down; sweating out toxins – I almost stumbled many times and actually did fall into the pool once. When I came back up, slightly embarrassed and surprised by my lack of leg-control, Buddhi was laughing his ass of at me in the other side of the pool. Hehe. It was kind of funny how everyone stumbled around in the darkness around the fire like we were all drunk. After the third and last round, me and a guy called James went to dry off with our towels and saw this incredibly bright star, which seemed to be moving – actually it looked like two suns circling around each other. Also, the sky kept flashing from time to time, like thunder too far away to be heard was sweeping high over the mountains. We wondered if we missed some kind of astronomical event, and James was convinced UFO’s were watching us.
Oh and I forgot to mention that Orion’s Belt AGAIN was right above our heads, as with my previous and strong Temazscal on the beach of Mompiche. It was pointing at the Temazscal too, as last time. Interesting, no?