Rio.
This is it, the last evening. After dropping Heather at the bus station, I spent the day with Andrea, visiting some Atlantic rainforest, eating a buffet a vontade, and visiting downtown. It was obviously very great to see her again, and she looked just as marvellous as the last time I saw her.
Tomorrow I take the train from Rio - breeding hot here - to Sao Paulo. I catch my plane at 23.30.

I can finally upload some more pics, made with Thais camera.

A pic of the audience at my talk in Rio


Heather, Anna and Thais


With Thais and Heather

Today we went for a walk in Rio with Thais and her friend Anna, then attended a raw food workshop, organised by a Brazilian doctor - who, icidentally, told me he had taken Ayahuasca like 2000 times and that it had changed his life - and then went for a swim on Copacabana beach. At night it was time for a third talk for some 15 activists, at Thais appartment.
This is Heathers last day - she leaves one day before me - so tomorrow morning we say goodbye, I dont know for how long...

The Ayahuasca session took place yesterday night, between 20 and midnight. It was 2.30 by the time I got home and was done talking with Adriano, and my brain was so excited about the experience that I could not find sleep until 5 am, only to have to wake up again an hour later, to catch the bus to Rio, after saying a heartfelt goodbye to Adriano.
The trip to Rio was long but pleasant, in the company of Lara, the girl sitting next to me, a psychology Ph.D. with whom I had an interesting chat. In Rio I was picked up by Thais, who is so kind to offer me and Heather a room in her appartment. She is one more person - like many on this trip - with whom I felt right away at ease, and with whom it feels I have known her for a long time.
We just had a great dinner in Vegetariano Social Club, a great vegan restaurant. I finished it with - at last! - a chocolate cake with chocolate icecream. Life is beautiful...

This entry may scare some people, and may raise a few eyebrows, but I can assure my dear readers that everything is fine and that I feel wonderful, and I still have trouble believing what I experienced. I have finally found one of the things I came here to find.

On November 27, 2005, in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, I participated in a ritual of the religion of Santo Daime - see www.santodaime.org. This is a synchretistic religion, incorporating elements from mainly christianity and sjamanism. The most important element of the ritual is the ceremonial usage of the Ayahuasca drink, or holy tea, a brew from the plant Banisteriopsis Caapi - see e.g http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayahuasca or www.ayahuasca.com. Some people might call it a drug, but Ayahuasca is supposed to be a holy plant, and is actually used to cure people from addictions and other bad things.

I was accompanied by my friend Adriano, from Ribeirao, who is used to do the ceremony once or twice a month, since several years. I had never taken any mind-enhancing substances, and I must say I that next to being very excited, I was also a bit apprehensive. The plant was supposed to have stronger effects than LSD. However, it was the alleged healing and spiritual properties of the plant that attracted me. Ayahuasca is also called the Teacher Plant and is said to be able to give you insights and wisdom, and access to higher realms. Having heard this, and having read that users experience astral travel, telepathic powers, visions etc., my expectations were very high, so high in fact that I felt I could only be disappointed.

I was wrong. The Ayahuasca session exceeded my expectations a hundredfold. It was a life-changing experience, and I feel that I can safely say that there was a life before, and after Ayahuasca. My whole life I have been feeling that there is more than what we see, that there is a purpose to all This. I was, however, never sure if this was wishful thinking, or based on fact, and my rational mind was asking for a sign, some proof. The Ayahuasca experience has given me exactly what I asked and what I needed. I am convinced that the plant is something extraordinary. Its use, however, I know is not to be taken lightly. I consider its usage a means to get a glimpse of whatever is possible, a stimulation to get there by other means, such as meditation.

I will not write here how the session went and what I saw - that does not belong here. I am writing a more extensive report, for my own reference and for whoever is interested.

Riberao Preto.
I had a few nice days in Belo Horizonte with Mariana. It was really great to see her again, and she is in my list of top 10 favorite people in the world (together with 30 others :-)
I left BH on the morning of the 25th, taking the bus to Riberao Preto. At Figueira (and before, at my talk in Sao Paulo) I got acquainted with a guy called Adriano, who runs the local division of the Brazilian Vegetarian Society in Riberao Preto. He had asked me to come to his city (pop. 800.000) to give a talk.

I have had the good fortune to meet a lot of wonderful women in my life, but wonderful guys are somewhat more rare. Adriano qualifies, and I am much impressed by him. At 30, he runs his own internet business, coaching 10 people, coordinates the vegetarian society, and has a wife and a kid. He is a wonderful guy and if he weren´t happily married, I´d match him with one of my female single friends :-)
His dog, Chouchou, may very well be the sweetest dog I have ever met. Perhaps her stays at Figueira have something to do with that.

It was great yesterday to give the talk - to some 20 activists. It is wonderful to have this opportunity, and it also gives me a good feeling to see how people are impressed by the vegetarian work we do in Belgium. The president of the Brazilian Vegetarian Society vaguely suggested me to stay here one or two years, to help launch their magazine. It is an interesting idea, and certainly a challenge, but for now I´ll see what Belgium has in store for me when I return.

Tomorrow I will be travelling to Rio, where I will give a final talk. These were all unexpected and organised at the last moment. It´s great to be able to travel around the world and always meet up with vegetarian activists (I don´t like the word, but for want of a better one...) connect with them, get to show the city by them and stay at their place and eat their vegan food (a great vegan cannelloni yesterday, courtesy of Christiana, Adriano´s wife)...
In Rio I will also see Heather again, who has finished a two week homestay. This time it was with a single guy, who appeared to be very rich (a surgeon). She seems to have had a nice time but I will hear more about it tomorrow.

Portuguese is such a beautiful language. I keep wondering why I didn´t make use of the opportunity to learn it while I was living with uma Brasileira.

I don´t know if I will be on email much in the coming few days, and if am not, this would be the last entry while outside of Belgium. I am back on the night of 3 december - plane is arriving around 19.00. If you have been nice to me I may have a gift for you :-)

Abraçao!

It´s been a while, but I am back, a little earlier than planned. I stayed in Figueira, a spiritual center in the South of Brazil, for eight days. I originally planned two weeks, but I thought it would be stupid not to visit Mariana, here in Belo Horizonte, so I cut my stay a bit short. Moreover, I am also visiting another friend in another city, Riberao Preto, and give a talk for his local vegetarian group, tomorrow.

It is hard to give an idea of what Figueira is like, but it is surely a wonderful and special place, and I am almost hesitant to say anything about it. I will limit myself to a short description. Whoever wants to know more can ask me.
Figueira is a community of some 70 people, plus a few hundred short or long time visitors. The founder is Trigueirinho, a simple enough living and looking guy, who is without a doubt genuine, and very serious about what he is doing. He is the author of more than 70 spiritual books, and has a very interesting personal history, which I will not divulge here
The aim of a stay, or life, at Figueira is to work on one´s spiritual progress, in an environment of voluntary simplicity, serenity, far from the world and close to wonderful nature. Indeed, the scenery here is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen, mainly because of the incredibly beautiful sunlight, and wonderful skies.
People work the whole day (and the day starts at 5.45 and ends around 9.30), but the manual work they do is considered to be at the same time internal, spiritual work, wether it is cleaning dishes or working the land. Everything is done with great devotion, concentration and inner silence, and with a lot of order, almost bordering on the neurotic, to say it a bit disrespectfully.
I mainly worked together with a Dutch 55 year old guy, Paul, who has been living in Figueira, without leaving it, for 13 years - a wonderful person. I worked in the wood, cleaned toilets, took care of trash and compost, watered plants, loaded and unloaded firewood on trucks, dug holes, washed dishes, helped bake 250 breads from 4 am in the morning...
Apart from the work, there is opportunity for rest, relaxation, meditation and study. Three times in the week there is a so called ´sharing´ with Trigueirinho, during which he answers questions from the audience. There is also singing, other lectures (most of the time at 6 am). One of the best memories was the Figeira choir, which sings heavenly music once a month.

I guess what brought me to this community was to find an answer to the question wether other ways of living are possible. Ways of living that are more loving, more useful, more caring... Perhaps the important thing is not so much to find a better world, but to find people who believe in working towards that aim. In Figueira I certainly found that.
However, certainly at this stage in my life, there is no way i could live there. I would still miss too many things. The main thing, I guess, would be personal relationships, either friendships or romantic ones. These are not encouraged in the centre. Also, I would need to do mentally challenging work, rather than just manual labour, which, I found out, I don´t like much.

Some of the most wonderful things about this community:
One, it is entirely free. You can stay there (if your candidature is approved) for free (of course you have to work), and all the work done there (e.g. developing natural medicines and helping people) is done without cost. The place is huge, with a lot of buildings, beautifully designed, all with donations!
Two, the community is entirely vegan and organic, and their attitude towards animals is the most beautiful I have ever seen. The community is not about animal rights or whatever, but animals are considered to be like humans, and the task of humans is to help them. It is hard to express how this feels over there, but it is wonderful. It even looks like the birds are less afraid of people there.

These words don´t do much to convey the atmosphere, aims and organisation of the place, but like I said, I gladly tell about it to whoever would like to hear more.

So apparently I am still online. I am spending the last night in Sao Paulo sill at Tizzy's appartment (or rather her mom's), even though they left town for a few days. How nice of them to just trust me with the keys...
I just got back from a Verdurada, or straight edge concert. Horrible music, but interesting to witness: hundreds of young people going crazy on sounds from hell. But most of them are committed to change, and the food is vegan. One guy told me that the Belgian hardcore music is actually the greatest influence for the Brazilian hard core scene, and a lot of the CDs they sold were from Belgian bands.
With a bleeding heart I said goodbye to Vanessa tonight. She is the girl who, when god distributed Cuteness, was first in line. Life seems to be a continuous farewell these days...

The last blog in a couple of weeks. Spend last night at the apparment of Tizzy, a girl of Italian origin, temporarily living in SP, whom I met on Orkut. Yesterday night I went with Heather, Vanessa and Lucas to a restaurant that does a special vegan pizza evening every Saturday. All you can eat for 13 Reais or 7 dollars. Great pizza with great homemade fake cheese, from tofu and soaked nuts. This place too is more vegan friendly than Belgium.
Tonight I'll try to find another place to stay, for the last night in Sao Paulo, and tomorrow I take the five hour bus to Figueira. Heather will do another homestay, and we will meet for two more days in Rio afterwards, before flying home.

Bought a Teach Yourself Portuguese book, cause I love this language, and especially the intonation the Brazilians speak with (you also hear it in their English). It messes up my Spanish knowledge though.

I left Peru a few days ago and am now in Sao Paulo, the third biggest city in the world. Everything feels great and I dont know why I love this country and its people so much. I feel more at home here than in Peru.
I am staying at the place of George Guimaraes, a 31 year old doctor who does wonderful things here for vegetatianism. He has his own nutritional practice for veggies and would be veggies, his own vegan restaurant, and coordinates the Sao Paulo chapter of the Brazilian Veg Society. It is great to have this network of veg friends all over the world that you can hook up with in any country. Yesterday I gave a presentation about V-day in the restaurant for some 15 activists. This afternoon and evening I am meeting up with old friends from the congress last year (Lucas and Vanessa).
Sao Paulo is supposed to be a very unsafe city, but I feel pretty ok here, though it was a little bit scary to arrive here in the middle of the night and have to find my way to Georges appartment.

I will move to a commune for two weeks on monday, and after that have a few days left in Rio. During the two weeks I will not be able to blog anything and will be in solitary confinement.

Have to go, time is up.

Much love
Tobias

So whats the verdict? How were my two months in Peru?
Well...

I have spent two weeks in some of the most beautiful mountains in the world, rafted one of the best rivers on the planet, mountainbiked in the Cordillera Blanca, spend many hours in the wonderful Cafe Andino, looking at those same mountains from the balcony, had great and cheap food everywhere, played with the kids at Samana Wasi, read great books, had interesting conversation, had a great travel companion, researched my past lives, been in touch with my friends and family at home, had some great couple of nights out, tried salsa, was received by wonderful families in their homes, visited Inca ruins, met David, David, Kobi, Paulo, Bob, Tiffany, Johanna, Marta and so many more people...

So yes, I can only say it was Great. I still havent found what I am looking for, but I am sure I made some good progress here and there. So am very grateful.

Up to Brazil...

Saying goodbye was rarely so difficult. As I waved to Johanna from my seat in the bus, on Nov 4, I cried for the first time on this trip. It is hard to leave wonderful people for God knows how much time. At least I spend a wonderful last night with her. After an afternoon nap (Heather and I arrived in Arequipa at 6am on the nightbus) we first went carting. Heather didnt join us, as she was too tired. Carting, for who doesnt have any idea, is driving a small gasonline-driven one person car on a track, at - I am guessing - maximum 50 km/h or so. Great fun, and the first time I did it. I drove 20 or so laps and felt my skills improving with every round.
After some table soccer and then checking out the Plaza the Armas at night, we got into a bar, and then another one. The cocktails were bit more expensive here than in Urubamba, but still more than half as cheap as in Belgium. We had a wonderful conversation about faith, fate, love, missions and whatnot. One thing I remember - and wrote on a beer card - was her answer to my question if she wasnt afraid that having children would make her have less time to fulfill her mission in life. It was a Paulo Coelho quote, from the Alchemist: Love will never get in the way of fulfilling your "leyenda personal", or else it is not love. The bar closed at 2am, and as we got back on the street we felt like dancing, so we payed 10 soles entrance to what Joanna said was the best disco in Arequipa. It was a nice place, and I felt I was already in Brazil. On the music of a live 10 man band, I did another attempt at salsa, guided by Johanna who howed me a couple of move.
I felt that, my bus to Lima leaving at 7am, it wasnt worth going to leep anymore, and to the rhythm of South America my gringo feet (I dont know what is worse to dance: sandals or hiking boots) danced the night away. As this closed too at 4am, we had another cocktail int he first bar, and chatted about how Joanna wanted to leave Peru. In Arequipa she found it difficult to find a non machist boyfrind, as most didn{t want her to work out of the house (Joanna teaches computer programming at the university of Arequipa).
At 5.30 it was time to go home and pack the rest of my stuff. The night less than great, however, when I realised I had left my camera in the taxi. I heard that Joanna has called all the taxi companies and hasnt given up yet, but I have not much hope. In any case I have decided no to let this loss of a material object affect my for even one minute. In the bus terminal we hugged goodbye, and Joanna kept waving till the bus set off, even though I dont think she could see me, because of the reflection on the window. Te amo mucho, Johanna.

After an almost sleepless night on the bus from Cusco to Arequipa and the sleepless night in Arequipa, I had another very brief, 3 hour night in Lima. The 14 hour bus ride - this time by day - wasnt as bad as expected, but I arrived at Paulos place in Lima only at 23h, ate dinner by 01.30 and then got to bed, only to get up at 4.30 am, to get the taxi and then four hour bussing to Marca Wasi, together with Paulo and David.
It was fitting to end my Peru adventure with a trek with the guys I had begun it. No more girls, just a male thing, with the necessary farting humor in the tent, and with the things that the guys talk about: (censored). After the busride, we had to climb for two hours to reach the Marca Wasi plateau, a strange place, full of weird shaped rocks. You see faces everywhere, faces of which many people say they were carved by humans, others say they are just eroded by the elements. The place is famous for strange happenings, ufo sightings and whatnot. Needless to say I didnt see anything, but it was a great time, and we met absolutely no one during the two days we were there. Tourist free fun!
Today we got back to Paulos house at 6, had another great dinner served by his wonderful, very generous family, and now I am typing this, on my last night in Peru. I feel kind of tired to still go out, and so does David, who goes back to England on Thursday.

In the meantime I am wearing a new pair of glasses. Actually I only saw half of Machu Picchu - literally - cause the frame suddenly broke, in a badly timed timed case of metal fatigue, when I was vititing the ruins. So we got a new frame in Arequipa. Heather told me round frames, like I was wearing, went out of style like 10 years ago. Heather is American though and we Europeans dont think much of yankees where style is concerned, but since I myself am not known either for my taste in fashion, I decided to trust her and Johannas opinion and bought a square frame, for the ridiculously low price of 10 euros, cutting of my old lenses included.

One other fine example of Peruvian bureaucracy: in the bus terminal after paying half a sol for using the bathroom, I got... a receit. I shit you not.

Left Samana Wasi this morning and now we are in Cusco, waiting to catch the night train to Arequipa (I am so NOT looking forward to that) to see Johanna again (I am so looking forward to that), and then the next day catch another bus (16 hours) to Lima, to do a final trek with David, and thus end this Peruvian trip the way it began.

The day before yesterday we left for Aguas Calientes, the city near Machu Picchu. We spend the day and a (very bad) night there, and got up at four in the morning to hike (instead of bus) the last one and a half hour climb to Machu Picchu. The intention was to get there before the masses of tourists arrive. We arrived before it opened, but then had to wait an hour and a half for the mist to clear up - time that Heather spent nearly sleeping, exhausted from the hike and getting up early.

¨Mir kommen die traenen¨I heard a German middle aged guy reply to the question of his guide what seeing Machu Picchu invoked in him. I don´t think I am shy of shedding a tear now and then, but in this case Machu Picchu obviously left me less moved than the German. It was beautiful, splendid, without a doubt, but it is hard for this extremely hyped place to meet expectations. I mean, a visit to Machu Picchu is announced as a life-changing experience etc etc. Very beautiful, but let´s keep it at that.

As we rushed to the train back from Aguas Calientes to Ollantantambo (52 dollars, a case of pure tourist exploitation), I was - for no apparent reason and as the only one - stopped by the railguard, who took a critical look at my ticket. He pointed out to us that it showed the date of yesterday. We were dragged to the office desk and tried to explain that it was a mistake of the guy who sold us the ticket (which it wasn´t - we simply didn´t tell him we wanted to get back only the next day). After a lot of discussing (Heather was suggesting she would fake crying, but I told her not to as I would have to laugh then), they offered that we pay 7 dollars each to change the ticket and jump on the next and last train, which was about to leave. We had miscalculated the money we needed for this Machu Picchu adventure, and couldn´t find 15 dollars even among the two of us. We were five soles (one and a half euro) short and the railguard, a fine specimen of Peruvian beaurocracy, kept shaking his head. Then Heather found a five soles piece in the back of her wallet and we rushed to the train that was about to depart. If we wouldn´t have found the coin, we´d be, like, fucked, to quote Heather, cause in that whole town there was no ATM and we wouldn´t know how to find money anywhere (to sleep another night in the hotel too).
Once on the train, we realised we didn´t have money any more for the bus we had to take after the train. I was standing up and preparing to ask the whole train car for some money, but an American woman noticed our agitation and spontaneously said ´excuse me, do you need some money?´. I said yes! we need two soles! And that was the end of it. We kept fantasising a bit about how we would´ve gotten more money (sing, steal, sell our bodies, rent out our bathing suits for people who forgot them and wanted to bathe in the thermals...).

Oh yeah, I had a really good pancake with chocolate and banana in the Hare Krishna restaurant in Aguas Calientes. Which, by the way, is an ok city to eat. We ordered a pizza without cheese, and after a ´sin queso??? es horrible no??¨got a very delicious pizza, of which we asked one more (que?? un otro?).

So now we are in Cusco and just said goodbye to Marta, who is staying here for quite a few more weeks.

Exactly one month today and I´ll be back in Belgium.

abrazo a todos

Martha, Heather and me in veg restaurant La Encuentra, in Cusco. Highly recommended for breakfast and for the mashed potatoes and soymeat I had here (yes, on seperate occasions, even though I could be convinced to combine them ;-)


Last day in Samana Wasi. This morning I had a ´regression´session with Anton. The intention is to regress into your past - this life or others - and find out about certain things that would prevent you from living your life to the fullest, so to speak. What I went through was like hypnosis, but conscious. It was interesting, though I am not convinced of anything. I can see some people raise their eyebrows and Johan is probably puking, so I won´t say more. If you want to know who I turned out to be in a previous life, you can ask me.

Halloween tonight, but I don´t know if we´ll make it to the party in town as Martha is staying in Cusco and Heather says she just literally cannot dance, in spite of all my attempts to convince
her of the contrary. In any case, you all have a good one!

love
Tobias

Friday we decided we had to check out the nightlife in Urubamba, so we headed toward the town at about 21h. We, that is to say me, Heather, and Martha - the Italian girl who is also working here - found a bar on the central square, which initially was full of gringos, but after a few hours was all for the locals (except us, of course). After three rather heavy cocktails (1 to 2 euros each) I was ready for action, and when they played Jailhouse Rock, me and Martha hit the dance floor, mingling among some 15 Peruanos and Peruanas. The exciting mix of western classics and latino music did not allow us to stop, and we saw Heather - who apparently hasn´t danced in 14 years - leaning further and further on the table, till - as we hoped - she was fast asleep. A couple of hours later she made it clear that she´d like to go, so we walked the 20 minutes home under a wonderfully starry sky. I sat down on the dirtroad for a few minutes to admire it, the rim of the mountains just below it, and saw six shooting stars in that time. I wasn´t entirely sobre - to say the least - so that made the spectacle even more special. No matter what the AA, Marcel or whoever says, alcohol is a good friend of mine. When consumed in moderation, of course ;-)

Yesterday, Saturday, we left early for Cusco, hung out there, had some good food, shopped, and at night, after a tired Heather had left for our guest house, I had a nice long talk with Martha in some restaurant in the so called Gringo Alley. Amazing how much effort people are making to get you to eat in their restaurant. My way to get rid of them is saying that we only eat elephant meat (somos elefantarianos).

Today we left from Cusco to Pisac, where there is a famous and big market, generously visited by tourists. I bought gifts for a few loved ones, as well as for myself. There is no way I´m gonna be able to fit all of this into my backpack. Veremos.

Tomorrow is our last day in Samana Wasi.

Stay beautiful

The end of my Peruvian adventure is approaching fast. Even while there´s still ten days left, if seems as I´m rounding off here... I am staying a few more days at Samana Wasi. Before leaving to Lima, we will visit what is the climax of most tourists´stay in Peru: Machu Picchu. We will also do the market at Pisac, spend one more day in Cusco, and after that head to Lima via Arequipa. Arequipa is a bit of a detour, but it will give us a chance to see Johanna again and spend one more night at her place. I plan to arrive a few days early in Lima, in the hope of still being able to visit Marcahuasi with David and Paulo. Marcahuasi is the name of a plateau at 4000 m above sea level, some 100 km away from Lima. It has very strange rock formations, of which it is not clear whether they are man-made or natural. They are mostly in the shape of animals. If you want to know more, check out http://www.labyrinthina.com/schneider.htm.

I spend my days as usual here, although our painting job is done. I finished Many Lives, Many Masters, about reincarnation. Very interesting. Also read a book about the secret life of Jesus, which is about the theories alleging and documents proving that Jesus spend the time between his 12th and 30th years in the east (Ladakh and Tibet). Fascinating. Other than that, Heather and me have been brainstorming and philosophising about our future communes (not the same one, cause we have different ideas).

Oh, and just to end this whole trip nicely, I will probably meet Andrea - the girl that drove me crazy on the vegetarian conference in Brazil last year - on the very last day of my trip. She lives in the US now but will be visiting Rio from the 30th on. I will meet her on the 1st of Dec in Rio, and then leave to Sao Paulo on the 2nd, where I have to catch my plane in the night. If they change the flight, it will be fate... ,-)

I am still enjoying it very much here, but thoughts about home and my friends are starting to cross my mind more frequently...

Ten days at Samana Wasi now. It remains a wonderful place. I spend the days painting (lamps and walls), reading, resting, teaching some English... I also gave one judo class, which was great fun. We did it in the meditation room though, which is shaped like a pyramid, and which apparently couldn´t stand too much of our stumping and running around, so we had to be very careful. Next time, outside will be better.
We love the kids and I guess they love us too. It is one big and apparently happy family, the father of whom is now 78, and started to adopt the first kid when he was about 60, after hearing what his task in life was from an old Qechua Indian, somewhere high up in the mountains, where he was brought blindfolded. Yes, it is all a little bit strange, but very exciting. The guy, Anton, wrote about these experiences in three books. He also wrote about mysteries and UFO´s. Told me that not too far from here they found an old big rock in the shape of a ufo... He´s full of these weird tales... I love it...
We have all the meals together, and yesterday it was the end of the second trimester for the kids, and reports were handed out. Funny to hear an 78 year old guy go over the boys´and girls´marks, chiding or congratulating them. They day before he was giving a whole explanation about a coming referendum in Peru, on regionalisation. Cute to see how (most of) the kids were listening attentively.

Anton really has a specific mission with this orphanage. He wants to educate the kids with specific values and with a lot of love, trying to make a new kind of human. I must say the kids are really nice. They look smart and are very social, helpful and kind. Whether they have any paranormal gifts, as is written in one of the books, I don´t know :-)

Wanted to upload some more pics but my camera´s batteries just gave up.

Health flash: I am under attack by fleas. I think we picked them up at a cheap hotel in Cusco, and brought them to Samana Wasi. They were feasting on Heather first, but then, for reasons not communicated, moved to me. There must be about a hundred bites on my body. On Heather´s advice I bought a fresh Aloe plant at the market and rub myself with its juice at night, but I am not sure if it does anything other than making me all slimy :-)

some of the ninos taking karate class
heather sunbathing












the guest house, all for us, in the background. flowers like this and others are everywhere. peaceful huh?

I´ve been in Samana Wasi for a couple of days now. My impressions are mixed. I love the place. The kids are great and the place is absolutely wonderful. However, it seems that if there is ONE place in Peru that does NOT need any help, it is this one. The kids have a wonderful live. They are able to play in a wonderful domain, have meditation and karate lessons, get two warm meals a day, have each other as friends, etc... There are like five or six gardeners constantly pruning the flowers and mowing the glass, there´s nannies and a cook... I don´t feel needed, so I am not staying because I still have an urge to help (although I guess teaching English is useful). I stay for now because I feel good here, but we´ll see what happens next. There is still time to go to Bolivia if I want to, although that would entail a lot of bussing.
The food is pretty good, but there isn´t enough of it and I usually leave the table hungry.

By the way, a poem I came across, by Dorothy Parker, that encaptures very well the traveller´s sentiment, at times:

Why is it, when I am in Rome,
I'd give an eye to be at home,
But when on native earth I be,
My soul is sick for Italy?

And why with you, my love, my lord,
Am I spectacularly bored,
Yet do you up and leave me- then
I scream to have you back again?

Yesterday Heather and I arrived at Samana Wasi, the orphanage/guest house we will normally stay at for two weeks. The place is wonderful: the different buildings are all set within a wonderful garden full of ponds, colorful flowers, wooden sculptures and upbeat quotes on signs. We have the guesthouse for ourselves right now. Don´t have time to blog much now, cause we are leaving on a one night camping trip with the 19 kids. Yesterday I already gave an English lesson to five children, aged 9 - 13. It was fun. They´re very sweet and polite. More news and pictures sometime later.

ciudate su sonrisa!
tobias

Just got the CD with pics and movie of my rafting trip. Seeing them, I just want to do it again. It beats sex, it beats sleeping, it beats vegan waffles.
This pictures do not give you the best idea, but the video is better.

I am in the front right of the boat
Same here
Holding on tight, on the right in the picture, at the end of the rapid called Purgatory, just before saving hands got me back on the boat.

Back in Cusco after 3 day rafting trip.

I don´t want to sound overly dramatic, but I am glad I survived this rafting trip. I sure got the scare of my life.
For those who don´t have a good idea of what rafting is: it is descending a river on an inflatable raft. You are in a raft with 5 to 6 people, plus a guide. You are wearing a wetsuit, lifejacket, raincoat and a helmet. Everyone uses his own paddle, and follows the instructions shouted by the guide, e.g. All Forward, Right Backward, Down! Jump to the Right! etc. Executing his commands promptly is especially important when you are in a rapid, a place in the river where the current is faster. Rapids are classified according to difficulty, from class I to class V. The Apurimac river is a class V river, and is considered one of the ten best rafting rivers in the world. It contains all classes of rapids, which are given delightful names like After You, Indiana Jones, Little Zambesi, Shoot, Don´t Worry Be Happy, and Last Laugh.
The hardest rapid, a class V one, was called Purgatory. At this point the river went through a small canyon, making the current very fast. I was all the time in the front of the boat, which is the position where you have to paddle hardest, and where you have more chance of falling out. So that´s what happened. Purgatory threw me out of the boat, and I don´t know how scary it *looked* but I sure thought these were my final minutes. One of the first commands to remember is when you go overboard, you have to try to keep hold of the boad, by grabbing the lifeline that is tied alongside it. So when all of a sudden the water was all around, I somehow managed to grab the line, after I was under water for a few seconds. I was then dragged alongside the boat, wondering if there were sucking holes around, and how wide the space was between the rocks and the boat - where I was. Like I wrote here before, I always think that I won´t die very soon because I have some stuff to do still, but right then I was thinking: apparently that´s not true and this is how it ends. Well, in hindsight I like having had the experience - it´s a new one. I felt some of the fearlessness people say they experience after having survived something very frightening. I am getting a cd a video montage and pictures, and this rapid should be on it, so if anyone wants to see me almost drowning (I am sure it will look less scary then it felt) you can come see it in December.

All in all, rafting is absolutely wonderful and I would recommend it to everyone not scared of a little speed and a little water. I had a great time, in spite of several things. First of all, the second day I felt kind of sick and wasn´t able to warm myself. The weather was horrible the first night and the second day. Our tent leaked, and in the morning we had to get in our wet wetsuits. The only thing I could think of was my cozy attic room in Gent. Furthermore, the people in the group were not that great. Now let me tell you a bit about Israeli...

It is hard to understand the number of Israeli travelling in this country. There´s only 6 million people in Israel, and you would think half are here. In my group of 30 people, 23 were Israeli. In the other group, departing the same time, there was 1 non-Israeli out of 30 people.
I don´t think there´s anything much wrong with the people in themselves, but there is most of the time a clear split between them and the rest of us. Initially I was in a boat with an Australian girl, two English girls and two Americans, but then they switched me to a full Israeli boat. One of the annoying things is that often they will stick very much to their Hebrew, certainly if there is only one poor other guy. So that´s what happened. They invented a codename to talk about me (Kalimero) and didn´t think I noticed. So I didn´t find them very sympathetic, but well, there was the rafting itself to enjoy, and after the water I could mingle with the other people.
The night before I left I had gone to a bar where they offered free salsa lessons, and I think I was the only non-Israeli there. Felt like an outcast, especially since they are like a family after one hour or so - something to envy them for I think. That in itself makes them very loud though, and they will often sing and whatnot till late into the night. Apparently there are hotels which have a ´no israeli´ sign. Anywway, didn´t do much salsa but drank two Machu Picchu Cocktails, which set badly in my stomach.

Other than that, the people of the organizing company were great guys. There was good vegetarian food (hard to resist the morning pancakes again, but I did), sunshine on the second day, great rapids, beautiful scenery...

Heather is arriving at six in the morning. Guess we explore Cusco for one or two more days and then head for the orphanage.

Happy birthday to Helga, first of all!


Cusco is wonderful but tomorrow I am leaving it already, for now, cause I´m going on a three day rafting trip on the Apurimac, one of the top ten rafting rivers in the world. I´ll be back on Tuesday evening. I´m going with perurafting.com. From their site (in bad English):

"Rafting and kayaking the rivers of Peru will be an unforgettable experience that you will really enjoy. The waters that flows down from the Andes form the mighty rivers of Peru and Chile, an authentic and irresistible challenge for lovers of rafting and kayaking , is an experience that will put you on the edge of risk and danger.
Among this Rafting Peruvian rivers is the Apurimac river, a classic class IV & V , run that drops through house sized granite boulders with canyon walls soaring thousands of feet above. It is rated among the 10 best rafting trips in the world and the number one Rafting trip in Peru.
This Peruvian river for rafting is born on the summits of the glaciar Misti only 100 km from the Pacific Ocean and cuts across the Andes of the South American Continent flowing directly into the Amazon river making it the longest river in the world.
You will feel the vertiginous fury of the waters , the raft quivers, jumps , sifts and you have to row with perseverance and passion, while your heart accelerates its beats and you grit your teeth."

Just arrived in Cusco after an 8 hour bus ride. Again it was a pretty irritating one. Like I said, not my preferred company, so it stopped every five meters to pick people up. Most horribly, at some point some woman entered with a big bag on her back. She put it down on the platform right in front of my seat, opened it, and the next moment she was hacking on its contents with a large butcher´s knife. Apparently there was some dead animal in there - fortunately hidden from my sight - which she was chopping up and selling to the passengers. I put my fleece in front of my eyes because the scene was too horrible (as were the smells and the chomping sounds), and the one time I looked, she reached over my seat with her hand to give some grisly, bony meat - or meaty bone - to the person behind me. I was briefly reminded of the Aztec sacrifices where the priest takes the heart of the victim and holds it in the air... Quite disturbing.

Tonight I am staying in Hotel Los Ninos (ninoshotel.com), which is way above my budget, but the profits go to a project with street children, so I figure it´s ok for one night. I´ll look for another place tonight or tomorrow. Now it´s chowtime.

stay beautiful

T

Foodieblog...
As I have to get up early tomorrow, I should be in bed by now. Besides, I sleep less well at this altitude, I noticed. But I can´t hit the sack yet, cause I over-ate, and I need to blog as I want to saveguard this culinary experience for posterity and my own memories.
Often when I eat, my stomach and my tongue start as allies, but end up disagreeing. My tongue wants me to keep eating as long as the food tastes good, but after a while my stomach may be protesting.
Tonight I started off with a big salad consisting of raw spinach, cucumber, lettuce, tomato, avocado, some strange but tasty vegetable called kaiwa, and other stuff. I let it follow by a kind of curry made with soy meat, koriander, garlic, vegetables, quinoa, sweet potato and yam, accompanied by a glass of red wine. There were a couple of vegan desserts on the menu, and as they were as usual pretty cheap, I took two. First came slices of orange that were to be dipped in chocolate sauce. The sauce, made with pure chocolate and mint, was the best I ever tasted. It was kind of messy to eat, and I positively ruined a napkin (all the more because I also used it to clean up spilled wine). Second was a dish consisting of apples baked in cognac, with raisins, nuts and blackberry sauce. Together with this I drank a huajspata, a warm drink with red wine, pisco (a local alcoholic specialty), orange juice and cinnamon.
Apart from the size of my stomach, my sweet tooth, and my spoiled tastebuds, I have only two excuses for this irresponsible case of gluttony: 1. it was raining very heavily and I couldn´t leave the restaurant, so I had to keep on eating. 2. twice, a beggar knocked on the restaurant door, and the wonderful waitress gave them free food. Without people patronizing this restaurant, this generous behaviour wouldn´t be possible :-)
The restaurant - called El Sol Interior or The Inner Sun, is kind of spiritually/religiously inspired. On their menu one can read: ´lo que buscas esta en tu corazon´, or ´what you are looking for is in your heart´. Good that it´s not in our stomach, cause there I certainly wouldn´t know how to find it there, at this point...

Oh, something I read in this Coelho book I mentioned. I have thought of this myself, but this guy put it nicely: something like ´...the sweetness of wine, which makes it easier for us to say and hear difficult things...´. Indeed, that is one of alcohol´s functions. Nothing wrong with alcohol, when consumed in moderation. On the contrary, it may help us to be true.

Did a guided tour today of Titicaca, visiting the Uros and Taquina islands. Actually I dislike guided tours. They make me feel like a tourist - which in a sense of course I am. Anyway, Titicaca is nice, but it´s, well... a lake. A lake trying to be a sea. You don´t really notice that it´s a lake at 4.000 m above sea level, so it is just a lake. The Taquina island is just an island, while the Uros islands are man-made islands, made from reed. However, this is now mainly a tourist attraction. So sum total: not really worth my time I guess, and certainly not worth five hours on a boat. Of course, I had some things you just have to see in order to know you wouldn´t have missed anything if you hadn´t :-) I´ll wash this down with a nice glass of wine and a good meal in a minute... Puno has cosy restaurants - obviously, the vegetarian ones do no fall under that category, unfortunately. But at least I had a great meal yesterday. Mashed potatoes, for the first time! Didn´t realize how I had been missing them till I tried them again.

Finished Paulo Coelho´s ´A las orillas del rio Piedra me siento y llore´, which I can recommend. It´s about love :-)

The bus company I am normally using doesn´t do busses to Cusco for a month, so I am scheduled for another bus. Touching wood. It´s another eight hour ride. If they´re gonna stop every five paces I´m going to screaaaaaam.

Daddy, happy birthday!

Hungry. Catch you later, amigos...

This morning I left Arequipa, and I just arrived in Puno, the Peruvian gateway to the Titicaca lake, at 3.800m above sea level. Heather will remain a couple more days with Johanna and we will meet up later again in Cusco.
I had a great time in Arequipa, mainly because of Johanna´s kindness. It is so great when people you randomly meet online, turn out to be wonderful persons in real life. I knew Johanna was a very kind person, but in real life she was even better than expected, and it is hard to express my fondness and gratitude towards her for what she did for me and heather. I hope to get better at expressing those things, some time...
Tomorrow I´m going for a tour on the lake and visit some of the Titicaca islands, and the next morning it´s finally off to Cusco.

Yesterday was world animal´s day I believe, because it is also the day of St Francis. I visited a church of St Francis here, and came across the Spanish version of the so called Prayer of St Francis. (a wonderful prayer/poem, google it up if you´re interested). In the Spanish version, there is one wonderful sentence not figuring in the English or Dutch one. It is:
´olvidandose se encuentra´ en betekent zoveel als ´forgetting one´s self one finds one´s self´. Prachtig he ;-)

going to search for some food...

all the best a todos!

Couple of more pictures. Here´s a view on Arequipa, with the Misti Volcano in the background.



















Heather and Johanna.

I´ve been with Heather in Arequipa for three days now, staying with Johanna, my internet-friend (or previously only internet friend, at least). Our last stop, Ica, was kind of a miss. I just wanted to briefly stop there for a particular museum, but it never opened that day. Also, I was a bit sick in the stomach. So at the Plaza de Armas - or town square - I lied down on a bench, till a security guard said I couldn´t do that. He left and I lied down again. He saw me, told me I had to get up, and I said I was feeling sick. He said if you are sick you have to go to the hospital. I stayed down, so he said ok then I´ll call an ambulance. I said yeah, as if... but ten minutes later the ambulance was there. Anyway, we left before we got into trouble...
At five pm we got back on the bus, and a horrible ride it was this time. The driver put on a DVD of five Jackie Chan movies, and if I hadn´t asked him to stop it as no one was looking, it would´ve played all night – as did the music. The bus stopped every two hours and then people got up, crying loudly to sell whatever they were selling, before disappearing again. Of course all the time the lights went on. So when I leave tomorrow for Puno, I´m taking a more expensive bus.

Anyway, now I am still in Arequipa, which is a very nice city, its horizon dominated by the 5800 high El Misti volcano, and some other snow capped mountains. Our host, Johanna is a wonderfully sweet girl. Staying with a family is a different and interesting experience. Her father runs a business that publishes school books, and I´m going to take some to the orphanage I´m going to in Cusco. We had some days of rest here and hung around the city, visiting the Santa Catalina convent, rowing a boat, seeing some churches... Yesterday Heather and I cooked for the family and they seemed to like it a lot. The mother, a very sweet woman, spoils us with good food (the first time it was hard to get around a soup with beef stock, and I had a few spoonfuls before I put it aside, and yesterday we had to refuse a gelatine-dessert).

So tomorrow I leave for Puno, the main city near the Peruvian side of the Titicaca lake. The day after or two days after I will leave for Cusco.

Ica.
Heather and me - and also Kobi, who just left us right now - are travelling south. Two days ago we jumped on the bus towards Lima. A very comfortable luxury bus, for the price of about 3 euros for 7 hours travel. I didn´´t sleep the whole time, and next to me Heather was very motion-sick all the way. We left the clear sky of Huaraz at 10pm and arrived in smog covered Lima at 5am. As we were gazing at the very bright stars and what i believe was the planet Venus through the bus-window, I felt a rush of excessive happiness...
We didnt spend the night in Lima but rushed right on to Pisco, where that same day, without having slept, we did a guided tour of a nature reserve. I felt too much like a tourist to enjoy it much, and there wasn´t that much to see anyway. This morning, after a wonderful night´s rest, we drove one hour to Ica, and now I am waiting in a cybercafe for the museum next door to open. Tonight at 17 we start the 14 hour journey to Arequipa.

Resting at the San Antonio Pass.


My posture is not entirely secure, as there was like a precipice gaping in my back...


I am reading The Time Traveller´s Wife. Recommended!

Heather and I are reunited since yesterday. She spent two weeks with a family, some 6 hours from Huaraz, in apparently even more primitive circumstances than me... She is now apparently inhabited by a parasite and has giardiasis. We went to get the medication, even though she is not in favour of western medicine and is afraid of the side effects of the pills. Heather asked me to teach her some words in Spanish for ´sod off´as she is constantly being hit on and even felt up by Peruvian guys.

Here is a picture of us having breakfast at the cafe Andino. Did I already tell about the cafe Andino? It is the most wonderful place in the world (cafeandino.com)

Tonight we are getting on the bus South. Plan is to visit Pisco, the so called Galapagos of Peru, and Ica, a little town where I´d like to visit a mysterious museum showing the Ica stones, supposedly thousands of years old, but depicting impossible scenes like people with dinosaurs, blood transfusions, telescopes... After that, we´ll head to Arequipa where we´ll meet Johanna, a girl I met on messenger and practised Spanish with online.

Huaraz, after the trek.

Yesterday afternoon I got back from the Huaywuash trip. Unexpectedly, this eight day trek that is described as ´difficult and demanding´in the travel guide, turned out to be a lot easier than the four day Santa Cruz trail, described as ´easy/moderate´. What a difference a backpack makes! We gave our heavy mochillas, as they are called in Spanish, to the convoy of donkeys, and walked easily with a lighte daypack. Also, we were by now much better acclimatized to altitude. That is not to say the hike wasn´t strenuous at times. Take the San Antonio pass, for example. At 5.200 meters it is the highest point of the entire trek, and you get there after a gruelling and seemingly endless two hour climb. But what a vista once you get to the top! The kind of scenery that makes you say ´Well done, God or whoever made this! This is what this Planet is all about!´ I´m afraid my pictures here can´t quite capture the feeling of grandness or smallness you experience when looking at these white giants.

Our original company of four people was first joined by two other Israelis, and then together we hooked up with a group that was put together by a trekking agency, Andean Kingdom. We ended up being 22 people, among which were only two girls (both vegetarian). Fifteen of these 22 were Israeli – they called me Tuvia, which apparently is the Hebrew version of my name. There were also 15 donkeys, a guide, three arrieros and a cook. Our little group was only partly connected to them, as we cooked our own food and slept in our own tents, but we benefited from the safety of a larger group.

Our day schedule looked more or less as follows:
- 7 am: rise and shine
- 8 am: leave the campsite to start the trek
- 16 pm: arrive at the next campsite
- 17 pm: cook and eat
- 19 pm: retreat to our tent, some to sleep, in my case to read a couple of hours.

One of the memorable events was our enjoying a thermal spring. The water was 47 degrees Celsius, and I was the first one to dare to get in. Scorchingly hot, but a nice experience, being very cold, wearing fleece and windstopper jacket at one moment, losing it and entering a very hot bath the next...

On the second to last day we visited one more so called mirador: a top with a particularly good view. The guide hadn´t warned us that in the end we would have to go through some very steep and dangerous rockclimbing. I was glad to come away unscathed, although there was one moment when I got a slight vertigo-attack, seeming unable to move up- or downward. Fortunately, right under me was Jane, who pointed out where I could put my feet and fifteen minutes later I made it safely to the top. Apparently one guy freaked out and had to be saved by our guide Armando.

One night while I was reading, I felt as if someone was moving my tent. I thought I was imagining it, but the following day Kobi asked me if I had felt the earthquake...

Apart from the majestic scenery, the physical challenge, the air, the feeling of being closer to Something, the friendship... I must say one of the main merits of doing something like this is also to realize the value of what you have at home. How wonderful things like a real mattress, a real toilet, real good food, your own private room etc... seem at the moment these things are not available. And obviously, once you are no longer sleeping in nature, you start missing the tent, the stove, the mountains... Life, as Milan Kundera wrote, is Elsewhere. At least for me it is often like that, but I suspect for you too... It must be one of our biggest and most difficult assignments in this existence to really live in the Here and Now, not missing anything, just Being.

I go on a bit about what I missed, but don´t go thinking that I didn´t have a wonderful time. This is just a good opportunity for philosophy and pondering. You know I´m good at those ;-)
Apart from these things, I also missed like minded people. I am absolutely not used to the company of non-veggies, and this was the first time in years... At home I have the luxury of having a circle of friends and family that CARES about stuff. Here, the guys were good people, but, if you understand what I mean, as far as I could tell most of them didn´t care or feel or do much ´above and beyond the call of duty´. Perhaps an elitist thing to say, but that´s the way it is. I am used to people who will pet a dog when they see one and not throw stones at them to chase them away for fear of rabies (even though that may be a more sensible thing to do). I´m used to people who won´t even THINK of barbecueing a sheep on the last day of the trek (fortunatley in the end it didnt´t happen). I am used to people who WILL give a little something to begging children. So being with these although quite nice people wasn´t always that easy, but at least it made me realize the value of the wonderful group of friends and family around me, and I am very very thankful for that.

Now about the last thing I have been missing. Good food. I can really eat pasta with tomato sauce for days on end, but unfortunately our quick cooking pasta was hardly edible. So it was wonderful to get back to Huaraz yesterday and eat in a vegetarian restaurant and order two main plates... I still miss vegan baked things though. If there´s anyone picking me up at the airport, please bring vegan pancakes. Or some (10) waffles ;-)





Daddy told me not to touch the dogs over here, but what can I do? They are love on legs, and still my favorite animals in the world, even if they are mangy and not very clean...

Reading The Time Traveller´s Wife, and in it came across a nice poem by Derek Walcott. It´s about finding yourself...

Love After Love
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

And say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was yourself.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved

you all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Aaargh, Huaraz...
Got up at 4am but half an hour later, at the trek agency, I heard the trek was canceled for today. They hadn´t been able to warn us because they didn´t know what hotel we were in. Apparently one of their groups had just turned back from another trek, and their minibus had been bombarded with stones by the strikers, making them very afraid. This is the second day of the strike and the agency doesn´t want to take the risk.

So I´m stuck here one more day, but there are worse places to be stuck in. Because this is kind of like paradise... At the risk of deterring the non-foodies from continuing to read this blog... food has everything to do with that. I guess I should call this blog tobiaseatinginperu. Anyway, so yesterday i went to the vegetarian restaurant again, had big soup, big plate with lentils, rice and seitan, and then went to eat at another restaurant with other friends. I had already been in that one, and that time I had ordered a BIG pasta (which was not really an option on the menu and which the guy made bigger especially for me) and had ordered another one after that. So when I came in this time, the guy recognized me and asked me ´do you want a big one again´and I say ´no thanks, normal, I´ve just eaten' :-) Damn, I´m such a glutton.
Soon I´ll go to Cafe Andino again and have another one of their heavenly breakfasts. Need to eat a lot on my last day before the trek - which I have been saying for three days now...

Perhaps some people may find it strange that I´m online so much, but when you travel for three months, you take your time and this blog serves as my personal diary. Also it´s obviously nice to be in touch with the homebase. I can do anything here: skype, webcamming, msn (add me at go_veggie@hotmail.com if you like).

Still in Huaraz.
Ok, the strike is ´fuerte´, as they say, and we can´t leave Huaraz today. So we will go tomorrow and hope we can get out then. Getting up at 4am. We have decided to join an organized group (without eating their food or using their tents) to be safer. Several people have been killed by bandits on this trail, and we figure that if we´re a group of ten, they won´t stop us so easily.
We´ve been shopping at the market yesterday and today for food. Here´s a (very dark) picture of what I´m taking, for a week. Apart from this, there´s also rice and pasta.

Something more about food, which remains a very important subject...

Yesterday I had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant. Big soup, meal, drink and salad for about 1 €. Some of the veg restaurants here serve meat too. I had picked the dish of the day, and hadn´t asked what it contained. I took a few bites from the meat substitute that was on the plate and it tasted and felt suspiciously like chicken. As the waitress passed by I asked ´no carne, right?´ She said ´si, carne´. At that moment I spit out what was in my mouth, but then she added ´Carne vegetal´. Phew.

I had dinner at the wonderful Cafe Andino again. Don´t know if I already talked about it, but it´s a wonderful interior, a library, a balcony with a view on the Andes... They only thing they have to eat, apart from pies, is big breakfasts, but they are available all day. So at 8pm I had a veggie breakfast, consisting of thea, fresh orange juice, a big bowl of fruit with muesli, three sauces, two slices of toast with bread, and a big dish of potatoes with vegetables and three big slabs of tofu - first time I saw tofu here. Wonderful. At 3 euro it was quite expensive for Peruvian standards.

On the street you can get big pieces of watermelon or pineapple for 0,15 euro. At lunch today we had a liter of juice for 0,60 euro. It was a filling meal in itself.

To give you an idea of how Huaraz is situated, here´s a picture. You can hardly see it, but it´s in the centre of the photo.

Hmm, looks like we may not be able to leave tomorrow yet. There may be a general strike. In that case the trek is postponed a day, and we might go iceclimbing instead. Veremos...

A postmodern picture: me blogging in a cybercafe. As you can see I found out that my electric razor plug actually fits the power outlet here. I left my sideburns (sloppy job, I know) because this is the place to experiment and because I want to introduce the Peruvians to the Fine Art of Elvis Imitation :-)

Huaraz, rest day and preparation for the trek.

I decided to start the Huayhuash circuit tomorrow and will be back the next Monday. If you´d like to know more about the trek, see http://www.i-needtoknow.com/huayhuash/index.html. It sounds quite scary from this page, but we´ve met enough people who´ve done it and I´m sure we´ll be fine.

Yesterday night I attended a church service, to get soaked into some more culture. Weird spectacle. The seats were plastic garden chairs, and in front were drums, big microphones, keyboards... There was a veeeeeery long talk by someone - guess it was not a priest - which I understood only for 30 percent. Then this same guy started to talk for fifteen minutes in a weird language, I can only guess Hebrew. As if he was excorcizing devils or something. All of a sudden, he started to cry, I don´t know for what reason. It kept on and on and I left before the service was finished.

Health flash: apart from the pain that I had in my neck and higher back, I have no problems. Crap is looking OK. Just some blood when I blow my nose - dunno what that means - and a slight cold. I guess I´m pretty safe, not eating animal products.

Yesterday on the road up the mountains, they were playing Let it Be in the car. It struck me for the first time what a wonderfully wise song this is, and that to let it be might just be the biggest thing one can ever learn in life.

Thought of this: ´Wherever we are, we are on our way home´
Would this get me in the Oxford Quotations Dictionary? :-)

See you all later!

Tobias

Around Huaraz
Another fun but exhausting day. We drove up the mountains of the Cordillera Negra with a little bus. On the roof were rented mountain bikes, with which we descended back to Huaraz. Most of the time we cycled downhill on dirtroads, but now and then we descended on very small and rocky tracks, where the descent was a lot more technical. Modesty forbids me to say I was the only one to dare to descend a very technical part with a lot of rocks and steps. Our guide, a very cool American dude, was apparently impressed, telling me ¨this is really your sport man!´.
All in all, it was a great experience. While going downhill on the easy parts we could appreciate the snow capped mountains of the Cordillera Blanca ahead of us. Kind of dead tired now.

I´m in a dilemma: shall I do the next trek with the guys or not? It´s the Cordillera Huyawash circuit, an 8 eight day long and very challenging trek. For one thing I feel I haven´t really rested enough, taken a real holiday, as everything was kind of physically intense so far, and 8 days is very long. On the other hand, now that I´m here... and this is one of the classic treks in the world (rated the third most beautiful, and the best in South America, I heard someone say). We´d leave on Monday but I need to make a decision soon because we have to get the burros and the arriero. Veremos...

Huaraz.
Today is a rest day in Huaraz. We´ve planned a mountain bike trip for tomorrow, ate, and hung out at Cafe Andino, a wonderful place which has a balcony with a view on the Cordillera Blanca, the mountain range that is visible from Huaraz.


Kobi is eating chicken, conveniently hidden by the condiments, while I´m having a pizza vegetariana con verduras (grande) on a lovely little square in Huaraz. Also wondeful are the fresh jugos (juices). Very big and very cheap.

My trekking companions, English David, Israeli David, Kobi and Tiffany (minus Bob, who took the picture).

Report Santa Cruz trek, part 2

Day two was a very long day, particularly because we made an underestimated side trip. To get an idea of the scenery in general, I let the pictures do the talking. In general, the days got successively easier, as we got used to the weight on our backs, I guess. Still, it kept hurting like hell in my lower neck and higher back. My physical condition was quite adequate – indeed David told me he didn´t know there were mountain goats in Belgium – but the pain from the backpack was torture. I am not sure yet if i will accompany the others on a next trek, but if I do, my stuff will be carried by a donkey (erroneously called monkey by one of the Walloon girls). I´ve been observing the donkies and must say they seem frequently overloaded, but if I go I will hire my own and will make sure no one else´s stuff is put on it, so that it has to carry a light freight. These animals are so wonderfully obedient, and I never witnessed their proverbial stubborness. When their arriero (the donkey driver) loads their cargo on them in the morning – not always very gently – they stand still, waiting patiently till the job is done.

On day three we reached our highest point, the Punta Union pass at 4750 meters, after a gruelling climb of three hours. After that it was downhill all the way. While mother nature called me and i was taking a crap in the wild, dozens of mosquitos made use of my defenseless position and invaded my pants. The same bastards were abundantly present at the campsite. I rubbed myself with some anti-mosquito poison – they were small enough to get in my tent – and was able to sleep after all.

For obvious environmental reasons, you are recommended to use toilets when they are available – which is at the campsites. They are indicated with the sign ´servicios hygienicos´, but that is wonderfully ironic, since these things are the most unhygienic things I´ve ever witnessed. I will not start to describe them here, though I should mention that next to the toilets on the third day´s campsite was the half decayed cadaver of a donkey, stinking like hell. Needless to say I dumped (as David calls it) somewhere else.
I never knew what a wonderful invention toilets are, and missed them a lot while trekking. Here, back in Huaraz, I can again safely use them. It is forbidden, however, to throw your toilet paper in them, as the Peruvian sewer system is not equipped to handle paper. So your dirty paper goes in the trashcan. Yuck.

Enough about toilets I guess. On the fourth and final day, we passed some small indigenous Qechua communities. Children kept appearing, asking for uno caramelo or dinero para estudiar. Even after the tenth time it is hard to refuse these children some nuts, some spare change, or the remainders of our food. Are they cuter than Belgian children, or am I all of a sudden softening up to them? Check the picture of the previous day and see if you could ignore them.

At our point of arrival we met a British company, apparently guys from the army. One of them had bought a guinea pig – a local specialty – and showed it to me, saying he was going to eat it. I was kind of depressed for some time, missing veggie friends around me (which I had not had a problem with till that point).

The busride back to Huaraz took us five hours. The first part was a dangerous climb and then descent along sharp bents – one of them called the Devil´s bent, where 30 people were killed last April. It would have scared the F out of me some time ago, but by now I know the Universe has other things in store for me than plunging me down into an abyss to a certain death. Above the window in the bus was a sticker saying ´Mi camino es seguro por que voy con Jesus´. Our American companions, though Christians, were not so sure and were visibly not at ease.

Back in Huaraz, we had a shower, of course, and then went out to eat. David found a 100 soles bill (about 25 euros) on the floor of the restaurant and that provided for two thirds of our dinner for six. Someone else had picked the restaurant and for the first time I ate in a non veg restaurant. My fear for lack of options was ungrounded however, and I am starting to believe that Peru is actually a better country for vegetarians and vegans than Belgium. The wonderful thing is you can order everything on the menu and still pay a tiny part of what you´d pay in Belgium. Wonderful!

Report Santa Cruz trek, part 1

This is my report of the Santa Cruz trek which I did 12 – 15 of Sept.

The four day Santa Cruz trek is described as ´easy/moderate´ in travel guides, but I feel this has been one of the biggest physical challenges in my life. That´s not due to poor physical condition, but to the fact that we were carrying our own backpacks, which made the whole thing a lot more difficult.
For those who have no idea about what a trek is: it´s basically a long walk in the mountains (at least in this case), getting up at 6 am, hiking the whole day, putting up your tent around 16 or 17h, eating and going to bed early. The highest point at the Santa Cruz trek, Punta Union, is a pass of 4750 meters, my own personal altitude record I guess.
The company we started out with was David, from England, Kobi and David from Israel, and a pack of five Belgians. We lost the Belgians at the end of day one and were then joined by Tiffany and Bob, two Americans that accompanied us for the rest of the trip, making a total of 6.
All days were hard, but day one especially so. You wonder why you are actually doing this and you want to go back to mommy. Everything hurts and you wonder how you are going to keep this up for four days. Obviously, especially the uphill parts are grueling. I was never so glad to arrive somewhere as that day, at the first campsite. And I guess pasta never tasted so good. Here´s the recipe of the dish I ate for three consecutive nights:
- scoop a pot of water out of the river
- as even at this high altitude, the water is contiminated by animal faeces and other dirty stuff, purify the water with three drops of iodine per liter. Let it rest for 20 minutes
- heat the water on your camping stove (in my case provided by David)
- add 250 grams of pasta when cooking (portion for one person)
- add soy meat (fine mince) three minutes before pasta is ready
- take off the fire, pour off, add tomato sauce from little bag bought in supermarket, add salt. Serve hot and ignore the inevitable dirt and cracking things that got in your food by accident

Obviously, if you eat this three days in a row, it won´t taste as good as the first time, but still, it´s the best moment of the day.

My tent was rented. 2,5 dollars a day. Couldn´t complain about it. At home, I feared I was turning into a snob, buying outdoor stuff from expensive brands like North Face and Patagonia, but God I was glad I had it during the trip. The Minusfive sleeping bag was just warm enough. The Thermarest matress made sure I wasn´t too uncomfortable on the hard ground. Still, nights weren´t as comfortable and restful as i had wished.
At night and in the morning, I´ve made good use of my fleece and windproof Paclite raincoat. Didn´t have need for an unvegan down jacket so far (usually recommended).

Huaraz. Since yesterday night, I´m back from the four day Santa Cruz trek. Here are some pictures to start.

Huaraz.
Had a wonderful day hiking to Churup lake at 4500m. It was not the piece of cake David and I expected it to be, with some quite steep rock climbing along a waterfall in the end. We experienced slight symptoms of altitude sickness - which was to be expected when you climb 1500 meters in a day. But I´m sleeping in Huaraz tonight at 3000 again, so no problem.
At one point on the trek, I discovered a lost my brand new camera. I run back like a crazyman and was able to find it. An hour later, exactly the same thing happened to David. Disorientation is one of the altitude sickness symptoms :-)
On the way back we met a pack of 4 Walloons, who are going to start the four day Santa Cruz trip with us together. From the trailhead we got a ride on an open truck, together with them. It was one of the most wonderful and fun rides ever.
The views were magnificent, but I´ll upload pics later to show that.
Getting up at 5.30 tomorrow, so I´ll leave it at this.

Decided not to start trekking tomorrow yet, but to do a half day hike instead, to get more used to the altitude. On Monday then I will start the three or four day trek and won´t be able to update this blog for a while. I guess I´ve bought enough food for the trek now. Pasta, tomato sauce, soy meat, nuts, dried fruits, muesli... I´ve decided not to be a sissy and to carry my own backack. I think it weighs about 11 kg.

I have to say i´m really pleasantly suprised with the food here. There´s fake meat in the supermarkets! I counted at least four vegetarian restaurants in the small city I´m in now, and I´ve eaten some pretty good meals, for one or two dollars. Life is pretty cheap here. There´s some strange health consciouness going around here... There´s some sort of bars where you can get healthy drinks, and there´s lots of street stalls and carts advertising drinks that are protective against this and that disease...
Speaking of street sellers, it´s really sad to see sometimes how people are trying to eke out a living. They are selling everything on the streets, from toilet paper, disgusting candy, to Harry Potter and Codigo Da Vinci.

adios
T

Time for a pic. Isnt technology wonderful?

Tomorrow its time for a first small hike. More news later...

'Only the mountains can heal our souls'... My father wrote it on a photograph of some Himalaya scenery that was hanging in our living room. I have arrived in Huarazm, a village at 3000 meter, surrounded by mountains. And indeed, seeing mountains is always awe-inspiring but also soothing.
We got here after a 7 hour trip from Lima - very nice and comfortable bus, not expensive. I´m feeling a slight headache, probably because of the altitude, and Heather is lying on her bed, a bit dizzy. I right away felt great in this place. The plan is to find someone or some people to trek with - I guess i have found someone already, David, from England, who was on our bus. He plans to do the same treks as I. We have to get used to the altitude first of course, and would start on Sunday. The first hike would be four days. Dont know yet if I will carry my big backpack myself, or wether I´ll support the local economy and hire a burro with an arriero, or a donkey and driver.
Yesterday was a nice day in Lima. The cab dropped us off at the wrong museum. Entrance was a suprisingly high 8 dollars. Heather had to pay only half that, thanks to a long expired student card. I tried to convince the guy that I was a student of the erotic arts (there was an erotic art section in the museum) but he didn´t buy it.
That night we had dinner with volunteers from a local animal rights/vegetarian organisation. Very nice people. They paid for our food, a vegetarian version of ceviche, the national seafood dish. The best thing was that this was only the first dish and that it was unexpectedly followed by the main course. The kind of surprise me and my stomach love!
I´ll try to upload some pics to this blog tomorrow perhaps.

hasta pronto, amigos!

Lima, 9am. Hardly slept last night, because of the time difference. Waited up for Heather and we talked till it was the Belgian time to get out of bed, so I guess my sleeping rhythm is kind of screwed up. Anyway, it was of course great to see her again. It's been two years since I last saw her (in California). She's 26 now and hasn't changed a bit (which in her case is A Good Thing). She still sleeping now so I'm blogging :-) Looks like we'll already split up tomorrow, as she has to meet someone in the south, while I want to go North first. We'll see about that later today. Hasta pronto.

It seems like I will survive today as a vegan. Right next to my hotel is vegetarian restaurant. Not exactly a cosy place. The interior kind of looks like a chemist's and the place advertises itself as a "natural centre". I had a strange plate consisting of: a mountain of lettuce and carrots (which I ate, in spite of guides recommending not to eat raw veggies - damn vaccinations better do their job), a slab of rather dry seitan (but still: seitan!), a lot of cooked potatoes and, finally, corn on the cob, which, unfortunately, seemed to be of the cattle-feed rather than the sweet variety. 2,5 euros for a very big plate, not bad.
The hotel owner is... Dutch :-)

¡Lima!
To say that the flight can only be described as uneventful would be untrue: I can also call it LONG and BORING :-) No hijackings, no crashes, no weirdos, nobody even as much as puking on the plane. Only a kind of annoying Japanese guy who kept wanting to gaze through MY window. I travelled about 28 hours in total. Minced soymeat in my vegan dish¡
Heather is arriving around eleven tonight so i am kind of just killing time. Nobody thinks highly of Lima, and we'll get out of here asap, probably after a lunch with people from the local vegetarian society.

abrazo para todos

Leaving in a couple of hours. Slept remarkably well. Only thing that remains to be seen is wether I can stuff all my stuff in my backpack...

I'll try to be mindful of this quote that my roomie wrote on a byebye card:

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not"

It's by RW Emerson. Wonder if this guy ever said anything trite or stupid :-)

hasta la vista!

My itinerary

This is what I know so far about my travel itinerary

Sept 7: arrival in Lima
Nov 8: Lima - Sao Paulo (Brazil)
Dec 3: Sao Paulo - home sweet home

First month in Peru should be seeing the country. I'd like to spend some ten days to two weeks trekking, would like to explore some archeological sites, but there's also jungle, rafting, cities like Cusco, Arequipa. There's just too much to do in this country. I'd also love to see a bit of Bolivia, but we'll see where we get.
The plan is then to volunteer at an orphanage in the Sacred Valley for maximum one month. You can check it out at www.samanawasi.com. I already feel like I won't have enough time for all of this. Let's take it day by day.

Three and a half more days to go. I need to get out of this country before I spend my entire budget buying stuff. Bought a gore-tex paclite jacket (it weighs absolutely nothing!) and a fleece that i maaaaaybe didn't really need. But ok.
My travel companion is Heather, a wonderful American girl I worked and travelled with in the US. She's fearing her airline company might file for bancrupcy, in the wake of hurricane Katrina's evildoings (Oh Katrina, cruel woman, what are you doing to those people?). Heather will do the whole trip with me, including Brazil, but she won't do treks with me because of bad knees. She is also more interested in homestays in rural areas - something I guess I won't participate in.

This weekend we had a belated homewarming party at our place. Just like you realize how much you enjoy your health when you've lost it, I suddenly realized all the more how I like my circle of friends, right when I'm about to say byebye to them for a couple of months. Why is it so difficult to really "live every day as if it were your last"?
Damn, I'm already getting sentimental and I haven't even left yet.

I'm slowly assembling the contents of my backpack. On a great website I use to help me prepare (http://www.i-needtoknow.com), I downloaded an excelsheet of a couple's backpack content. It's a list of the items, their weight and their price in dollars. The total content of the couple's belongings is 6.500$. Perhaps I'd better take some insurance? Too late, I guess.

I'm thinking of doing the Alpamayo trek, which takes me right to the base camp at Alpamayo, by some considered to be the world's most beautiful mountain. The trek is 7 days and is considered "difficult". Check it out at http://www.i-needtoknow.com/alpamayo/index.html

Still in Belgium, but the date of departure is approaching fast. Went to the doctor to get a tetanus shot today. God I hate needles - although it wasn't so bad as I expected. Bought some more expensive stuff yesterday: sleeping bag and sleeping mat. Hope I'll be able to use them there.