A Bromantic Weekend in Quito and my injections at Peru's ESFAP (Air Force Academy)

Sorry this will be a bit long, but of course I've been lazy about updating. Last weekend, I traveled to Quito, Ecuador, to visit a BC friend Mike Saldarriaga.

It was a nice breather from life in Lima, though I couldn't breathe since it is the second highest capital in the world following La Paz, Bolivia. And a good time being around some BC kids, since I am so disconnected from that here.

The first night, we got a great dinner with Mike's parents, all 4 of us ordered lengua de res (cow tongue), which was absolutely delicious. While we were ordering the power went out in the restaurant, but things carried on business as usual, and this began a trend throughout the weekend of having to avoid going to some part of the city where the power was out, as Quito's hydroelectric plant currently has a shortage of water. Being in Latin America for some time though, you learn to not let these kinds of things really bother you at all.

The second night we went and spent the night in a cabaña in this town outside of Quito called Papallacta. The town is known for its hot springs, and this cabaña was particularly nice. The next day we got back to Quito a bit late, and went out to a salsateca. Finally, on Sunday, we went and walked around a park where Quito's artists display their paintings outside, and then to another park up on the hillside above the colonial center of Quito. Quito is nestled in a beautiful narrow valley, and there are innumerable spots in the city which offer spectacular views. We closed the night at a romantic cafe called Cafe Mosaico, up on the same hillside.

Hehe, I know that all sounds rather bromantic, but to clarify, other BC students went with us to Papallacta, and we had a good night of debauchery at our private hot spring, I'm sure disturbing the other guests at the high class Termas de Papallacta. Then, the next night, after Mike and I explored colonial Quito by night and enjoyed some eardrum destroying Latin rock in a bar on Calle de las Rondas, we went to Mariscal Sucre or "Gringolandia" and met some other BC students at a salsateca. Although as far as the last day/night with the beautiful views of Quito, there is no other description but bromantic.

I'm glad I went, though as small a country as it is, I obviously barely saw anything in 5 days, and it is definitely on my return list. Quito was a very awesome city, with beautiful colonial architecture and murals everywhere, and with lots of history, as it like Lima is a UNESCO world heritage site. and , the people I met were so much more formal. In Lima, there is that wonderful feeling that that everyone you interact with, you have known for years, but in Quito, it was complemented with respect and courtesy, something I find lacking in Lima.

Anyway I got back to Lima's airport and was joyfully greeted by taxis trying to charge me double what is acceptable. After I got it down to a normal price, and we were driving away, he says to me, "Oh, ya conoces Peru, eh?" (Haha, you already know Peru). I get it, he has every right to squeeze every penny out of unsuspecting gringos. There are too many reasons that this is totally acceptable. If he is good at it, I fully support him. But I wish he would have some pride in it and not take on the inferior attitude that people in his country have to take advantage of others. It's a hard reality, but it's a simple fact that that is what he has to do to survive. Unfortunately, it goes both ways, and it is a daily struggle to avoid passing judgment on the character of Peruvians that have come from a much different background than I could ever imagine.

In other things, life is going well enough. I had a great Halloween, dressing up as a woman along with 10 other guys from my house doing the same. We were the life of the party, and the most disturbing one, Mateo from Florida who has just gone home, won best costume.

After lots of preparation (much of which us interns were not involved in), my organization began yesterday a course for Peru's forces of order regarding control of illegal arms trafficking. It went very well, and I get to go back next Monday and Tuesday as well. As has become the norm for my time here, though, my physical condition got in the way of my experience. I have been going on Saturdays to Huachipa to volunteer; still in Lima, but more like the campo, and this time I got 4 mosquito bites. But apparently my body didn't like that, and they turned into 4 painful black bruises. So while at the course being held at Peru's air force academy, I went to the clinic there, and they were pleased to stick me with an injection with a couple of vials of steriod and anti-allergy medicine. So, for the bulk of the course in the afternoon, I sat there falling asleep all drugged up...gotta love Peru!

Antisana, volcano near Papallacta

Beautiful greens and steep hillsides of the Ecuadorian Andes

Mike in the back of a pickup down from Papallacta

Waiting to hop on a bus

Quito from neighborhood below Parque Itchimbia. Good way to protect your property I guess, this is something I saw a lot of in El Salvador, but don't see at all in Lima.

Colonial Quito and south, and Cerro El Panecillo, a perfect hill in the middle of the long city, with Quito's virgin at the top.

Mike at Cafe Mosaico

Colonial Quito

More colonial Quito

Extraño la naturaleza, me encantó Huaraz.

So, I've got a lot to update on since I've been lazy with the blog, but I'll try to keep it short. Two weekends ago, as I mentioned, a large group headed up to the beautiful mountain town of Huaraz. After a scary overnight bus ride which swayed and rocked more than a small boat in the ocean, we arrived at 6 am, and the cool, clean air was such a relief coming from the pollution of Lima.

After a good breakfast, we walked up the main street, Calle Luzuriaga, which was a really interesting sight. Here all aspects of Peruvian society are smack dab in one place, as opposed to Lima where classes and cultures are well separated. Among all the modern corporate symbols and technology, the streets were filled with indigenous Quechua on the roadside selling crops, herbs, chickens, coca plant, and pig.

The main street

Quality selection

This woman yelled at me, saying the picture was not free.

We then hired a tour guide to take us to Nevado (snow-capped mountain) Pastoruri, which has an altitude of about 5200 meters. We stopped along the way on the drive and had some mate de coca (coca leaf tea), which really did help to relieve the moderate altitude sickness I felt coming on.

Highway out of Huaraz

Entrance to Parque Nacional Huascarán

Silly rest stop at this little pool where carbonated water comes out of the ground.

The face of Jesus on the distant mountain, the tour guide said.

Puya Raimondii plant, an interesting Andean high altitude species that blooms every 40 years and then dies.

Upon reaching the final parking lot around 4900m, there was the option to walk or ride a horse for 5 soles, up to the base of the mountain. I was very grateful for the horse, as well as the men who ran alongside us...

The group at the base of Pastoruri. We didn't go to the top, but only as high as we had to to get to the glacier (which has apparently receded in recent years and will disappear soon).

The following day, a group of 10 rented bikes and paid the company to drive us up 30 km west of Huaraz, into the Cordillera Negra this time.

Huaraz in the valley, and the Cordillera Blanca on the opposite side.

Later, when we would bike down past these villages, every young child seemed to know how to say "Hello," even in this further isolated highway.

Upon reaching the point where the van dropped us off, the afternoon rains had begun. At an altitude of 4000m, it was cold and miserable. But we were still smiling, as the adventure was just beginning. As we made it a few kilometers into the ride, we figured finding a way down on a trail instead of the winding narrow highway would be safer. So we took a cutoff road that an indigenous man said would get us back to the main road eventually. Soon we entered an extremely isolated village, where I somehow saw a car, but I don't know how it got there. Everyone there was having a cheerful, drunken Sunday, and I'm sure it was quite the sight to see our crew riding through.

We had a nice conversation with a couple of farmers who certainly had not seen many gringos pass through their land.

As we left the village, the trail turned horribly steep and rocky, and the rain picked up. We had to walk a lot of it, as it was seriously professional terrain. I took a complete forward tumble once, and then broke my back brakes when we entered mud so thick and sticky it clogged up our bikes, let's just say we barely made it back to the highway with enough time to get down before dark.