Posts (page 2)
So here begins our 6 week adventure in Europe – something I’ve always wanted to do in some shape or form but was never able to make it happen until now. We start with Barcelona…
Upon arrival we walked around the Barri Gotic, the old Roman city – a great place to get lost and explore the narrow winding coble stone streets. Famished, Alan found a traditional Catalan lunch spot for us – Elizabeth’s in Upper Raval – where we wolfed down tasty paella, fried sardines, and a tender hunk of pork knuckle (a first for us)… oh, I probably shouldn’t mention the big jug of cheap wine which we happily drank!
Day 2 was primarily devoted to walking… everywhere! (it felt like 10 miles at least) The most memorable part was Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) which is the massive Roman Catholic church designed by Gaudi. Construction began in 1882 and continues today – it’s completion is scheduled for 2026 but will likely be delayed given controversy over construction/design. The cathedral is an impressive example of Gaudi’s nature-inspired Modernisme/Art Nouveau style meshed with the more modern adaptations of his successors.
Saturday we strolled to Mercat de la Boqueria which is a huge dizzing market where you can find anything from homemade candy, organic fruits/veggies, and tapas bars; to goat & cow heads, and whole uncooked pigs & octopus.
After the market, we had what’s probably our favorite meal of the trip so far at Quimet y Quimet – a standing-only tapas bar about a mile outside of Barri Gotic… We had all these amazing little creations that the tapas bartender made right in front of us – duck pate with mushrooms on toast with sweet balsamic reduction & olive oil, anchovies with artichoke hearts & pesto, cheese with candied chestnuts, salt cod with tomato spread on toast… and more. Mmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about that meal. The home-brewed beer was the perfect accompaniment. (for anyone heading to Barcelona, this place is a MUST!)
Later that night we met up with Scotty and Gretchen and grabbed dinner at 7 Portes – an old famous restaurant featuring the best paella I’ve ever had in my life! I can’t really remember what else we ate because the memory of the paella basically dwarfs it all.
The last day the four of us feasted on more Gaudi with a trip to Park Güell, Casa Milà, and Casa Batlló… I’ve never seen architecture like this – the two house are truly works of art in the form of houses. I don’t know what Gaudi was smoking but it must’ve been real special ;-)
Our last little treat in Barcelona was at Cacao Sampaka – a chocolate store that could pass for an art gallery with sophisticated displays of chocolate creations and an inviting little cacao bar in the back where Alan and I sampled a very different hot chocolate than we’re used to in the States – so thick and pudding-like, you can almost eat it with a spoon. Mmm, the Azteca (80 % cacao y especias) was our favorite -- It was to die for!!
So I'm officially back home but due to the lack of Internet cafe's in Huacachina I wasn't able to post on the last leg of our trip... until now that is...
The night before we left Puno, we checked out this bar called Kamizaraky... I'm only mentioning it because it was my favorite bar of the entire trip. A total dive, Kamizaraky is a place to just chill, have a beer, hang with good company, and listen to a pretty great selection of music. T'was sweet!
On Thursday morning we're supposed to be picked up at the hotel by a collective transport van for our 1 hour ride to Juliaca Airport. The van never shows up so our hotel staff arranges a relatively cheap private taxi ride (45 soles/ $15)... all goes well until we reach Juliaca and realize that our driver does not know where the airport is and has to stop and ask about 7 or 8 people for directions. Did I mention that Juliaca is pretty sketch? Two thoughts flash across my mind -- either we miss our flight or we get carjacked. Good times!
We finally make it to the airport only to learn that our reservation was canceled. Great, thanks for telling us! Glad I gave you my email address and hotel telephone number when I made the reservation. We're like, "okay, is there room on this flight? We'll just buy the tickets now".... "sure but it's $200+ and we'll only take cash, no credit cards." All would have been well but there's no ATM in the airport and we weren't traveling with that much $$ on us. I thought I was going to lose it... there was no way in hell I was staying in Juliaca.
Thankfully a different airline had a flight just a bit later and they were kind enough to take VISA... phew! It just meant that now we'd have to take the local bus from Lima to Ica (at 8pm to 12:30am) since we missed all the nicer tourist buses which only go earlier in the day since arriving in Ica late at night is not very safe. It actually wasn't too bad... it was late and our cab driver looked like a dealer with gold teeth, but we arrived safely at lodging in Huacachina by 1am.
Our last couple of vacay days were spent basking poolside, enjoying Pisco Sours, sandboarding, riding a doon buggy, and playing with Capuchino the pet monkey. Can't think of a better way to end the trip!
Back to work tomorrow...
Oh, and thanks for reading :)
Sorry, I had to make a crack because every time I say Titicaca it makes me giggle a little inside. I´m so mature ;-)
K, have to backtrack a bit... yesterday Ash and Io spent our last day in Cusco attempting to mountain bike. The owner of the tour company promised it was suitable for beginners (the last time I was on a mountain bike was in Colorado ´99 and Ash hasn´t done it since high school).
So the dude lied!!! I mean not only was the trail not suitable for beginners, but I think it was more geared towards seasoned mountain bikers. We´re talking steep narrow drops with huge rocks and boulders to maneuver around. Not to mention the steep inclines (a la Dolores St. in SF) at 12,500 feet altitude... my legs weren´t tired by I felt like someone was putting my lungs through a coffee grinder. Needless to say Ash and I spent much of the tour off our bikes... it´s good thing there was nobody else on our tour so it was only our poor guide that suffered our painfully slow pace. Oh well, at least we tried, right?
We rewarded our accomplishments with an overnight bus to Puno at Lake Titicaca. And despite our exhaustion this morning, we set out at 6:45am for our tour of the lake, the Floating Islands, and Isla Tequile. So there were definitely some cool things to note... Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at over 12,500 feet which makes the air super crisp and clean and the waters a perfect shade of blue. The Floating Islands were originally inhabited in 1000 BC by pre-Inca native Ayamara tribes. These islands are made up of reed which grows in they literally float and are anchored in place (unless the inhabitants decide to move the island which happens occasionally). They replace the reeds on top as the old ones rot away from the bottom. The islands last about 12 years so the families need to plan in advance and create a new island which takes about 5 months.
We also stopped at Isla Tequile (not a floater) for a bit of a hike in which we climbed to over 13,000 feet. My lungs really love the Andes ;-)
So up until this point of the trip we pretty much avoided tours... but for Machu Picchu we made an exception and I have to say it was well worth it. We used SAS travel who took care of everything for us... hotel pick up in cusco, train to Aguas Caliente, lunch, dinner, hostel, tour of Machu Picchu, and train back to Cusco. They were great!
The first day in Aguas we just took it easy and checked out the hot springs... which looked a bit gross but alas, we paid our 10 soles and didn't want to be premadonnas. It really wasn't that bad... after all the water is supposed to have some curitive properties, albeit a bit mucky :) At least we were able to relax before a 5am wake up call and our trip to Machu Picchu.
Ashley and I wanted to hike up that morning but it was pouring rain... and when I say pouring, I mean thick coulds and sheets of rain coming down in blinding force. So we took the bus up hoping that the rain would ease up. Our guide said it usually only rains for 3 or 4 hours but that did little to bolster our spirits... our tour was pretty miserable. It was me, Ashley, Ana and Trevor from Ireland (backpacking around the world for 1 year), and 4 Aussies. The Aussies had just finished the Inka trail, a grueling 4 day hike, and were understandably even more disappointed about the dreadful conditions in which we had to experience the wonders of Machu Picchu. We couldn't even see 15 feet in front of us, much less the panoramic vista of the Inca ruins. Ash and I decided to take a bus back down to Aguas and try again when it cleared.
The rain finally stopped and we were able to hike up a portion of the Inka trail from Aguas to Machu Picchu a bit later in the day. And by hike, I mean climb the hundreds of steep steps from the valley up to the top of the mountain... but it was absolutely worth it! The sun was out and the weather was absolutely amazing! Machu Picchu was truly a wonder... It's really hard to put into words. I haven't seen anything this impressive since Petra in Jordon. I can't wait to share the pictures (just wait till you see the before/after pics of the morning visit v. the afternoon). I also got to do a pretty cool hike up a little mountain while I was there and earned a pretty sick view.
We headed back to Cusco later that evening and joined the rest of the backpackers in our hostel for a pretty amuzing toga party. It felt like some wierd flashback to my frat party going days back in BU... but I have to admit it was fun! Plus who can complain about seeing hotties in togas. We're been recovering since then and of couse, shopped a bit more. Tomorrow we have to be up pretty early for a mountain bike ride to some of the ruins in the country side. then tomorrow night we head out to Puno and Lake Titicaca. I can't believe we have less than a week left!!
The past few days have been pretty crazy. Lots of jumping around from Mancora to Lima, then off to Cusco, and now Aguas Caliente. Tomorrow we head to Machu Picchu... I can't wait!!!
Lima was just alright...
I mean it's probably a great city to live in or explore if you have the time to get used to it but frankly, I found some of the Limenos we encountered unbearibly pushy (and that says a lot coming from an Israeli). After our flight landed from Piura on Tuesday we got outside the airport to take a taxi to the bus station as we planned to head straight to Ica/Huacachina. The taxis line up as they do in other cities, but as we approached all the drivers got out of their cars and litterally accosted us, trying to get us to choose their taxi over the other guy's... I mean it's one thing to try to convince us verbally but these guys were trying to grab our luggage cart and our arms to push us in one direction or another. It's like they've never heard of the concept of 'personal space... I nearly lost it.
Finally, some dude that supposedly works for the airport pointed out which taxi we should take. When we're already on the road, the driver convinces us NOT to go to Ica, "It's totally gone, destroyed from the earthquake "Aug. 07" he says. Ash and I had to make a split second decision whether to believe him or stick to the plan. While in hindsight we should've done the latter, we chose to believe him... after all, it would suck to take a 4.5 hour bus ride to a dead town. After we told him to take us to the Flying Dog Hostel in Miraflores (which was recommended in our book) he tried feverishly to convince us to stay in a different hostel that his friend owns. He would not let up... even took us there first just so we could have a look. I was at my limit with this asshole at this point and demanded he take us to our hostel immediately and he oblidged. When we arrived we asked the friendly English speaking dude at the front desk if he knows what's the status with Ica/Huacachina... "totally fine. Pisac is destoyed but Huacachina is all good. you girls will have a great time!" Shit, we're so gullible. Oh well, that stop will just have to wait till the end of our trip.
Incredible Cusco and the Sacred Valley...
What a city!!! Cusco is one of the most beautiful cities I've seen... it's nestled about 10 thousand feet up in the majestic Andes. This city is old and has similar charm to the old fortressed towns in Tuscany, with its cobblestone streets and steep slopes. But this is no tiny fortress... it's a bustling urban center with a lively energy and a vibe that totally exudes it's Inca culture and background. So much history and som much shopping!!!
Yesterday we toured the Sacred Valley... specifically the Inca ruins and of course, the AWESOME markets! From Pisac to Urubamba, then Ollantaytambo and Chinchero. We learned all about Inca history and their architectural engineering... from how they designed their granite blocks to withhold stong earthquakes to how they used hydrolics to pump and distribute water throughout the towm. It's really quite impressive! I also did a lot of shopping yesterday but we don't have to go there ;)
Today we arrived in Aguas Caliente and tomorrow we set off for Machu Picchu. Will let you know how it goes!
These past 24 hours in Mancora have been the funnest by far... I totally realize now why its a better idea to stay in some places more than a few days to really get comfy. Yesterday afternoon Ashely was a bit under the weather so I set out on my own which is good to do sometime since you meet so many other solo travelers. I met Anna, an Aussie girl in her early 20´s traveling around the world in 7 months by herself (I wish I had the balls). We ran into Mark (the surfer dude from New Jersey who´s been living in Costa Rica, then traveling for the last 8 years) at Angela´s -- a pretty decent vegetarian cafe. We ended up spending the afternoon and evening chilling out on my balcony overlooking the beach... then headed out for a killer steak dinner. Me gusto!!!
We decided to stay another day and night in Macora and head to Ica tomorrow... this gave me the chance to surf which I now regret not taking very opportunity to do it earlier on the trip. Surfing was awesome and my surf instructor Maleo was amazingly patient and a great teacher -- I kept calling him ¨professor surfado¨ because I forgot his name and didn´t know the spanish word for teacher. My terrible spanish seemed to amuse him quite a bit but thankfully we managed to communicate somehow and I was able to catch about 6 waves. My lesson was during sunset which is really the best time to go -- only surfers out, beatiful warm water, calm wind, the firey setting sun. I really need to start surfing more... it´s pretty incredible!
Following my last post on Sunday, we had a pretty chill evening in Quito -- actually that´s an understatement, Quito is totally dead on Sunday night and frankly, a bit on the boring side (especially if you´re just starting your vacay and looking for a fun time).
Have to share a bit about our dinner at Mama Clorinda´s -- an authentic ecuadorian retaurant which served great ceviche de camarones and an interesting leg of beef an corn soup... The corn was good but the leg of beef was just a pile of fat and cartelidge (yummmy!) hey, had try something new, right?
Luckily, we happpened to meet a 20-something Israeli living in Quito named Yoav who was nice enough to give us a bit of advice on traveling in Ecuador over a few cervezas. He travelled South America for 9 months or so before settling in Quito (jealous!).
We took Yoav´s advice and set out for Mindo on Monday afternoon... when our bus arrived in this little mountain village in the middle of a majestic cloud forest, we looked out for a tall blond chic named Claudia as Yoav instructed. He did not steer us wrong -- Claudia (a California native) took us back to her El Rocio hostel which was surrounded on all sides by lush jungle flora. It´s a cool 3 story log house with funky terraces adorned with hammocks.
Claudia is taking good care of us -- she hooked us up with a ride up the mountain for the waterfall hikes. This was the highlight of our trip by far... We hiked about five miles through the jungle and visited 5 different waterfalls -- they were pretty amazing. I won´t even tempt to describe them so you´ll just have to wait for pictures :)
We´ve hooked up with a bunch of travelers in Mindo as well which has definitely made things more interesting... last night we had dinner with 2 American chicks (from Seattle and Hawaii), today we hiked with two other backpackers - Sachar aka Chuck from Israel (who´s been traveling in South America for 3 years) and Robin from Calgerry, Canada.
Actually, heading out to dinner with them now. More soon!
Hola Amigos,
We arrived in Quito last night and headed staight to the Crossroads Hostel in the Mariscal District. We found that our temporary home was party central. Seriously, this place (the Mariscal) is popping until all hours of the night with American dance music blasting from every club, streets crowded with tourists and hipster locals, and restaurants and cafes with inviting patios serving food, coffee, and booze into the early morning. We grabbed some food and drink at La Boca de Lobo - a trendy little place with a fun atmosphere and hip, well-dressed crowd. Great food, slow service!
Today we checked out the big crafts market in the Park -- I did a lil' shopping of course. Then headed to the Basilica del Voto Naciaonal - a Gothic, huge cathedral similar to notre dame. It was pretty impressive! We walked around Old Town a bit... it's sunday so all the stores are closed and the big street market isn't open today, but it was so pleasant to just walk around among the locals enjoying their Sunday afternoon just lounging around the Piaza del Grande.
Still not sure what we're doing tomorrow but I'm sure we'll figure it out over a few cervezas tonight en la Mariscal!
So we finally got online again today. It’s not that there aren’t plenty of Internet café’s here in but it’s just more convenient to log on from the hotel which means committing ourselves to an hour in our room. Although today is Yom Kippur and there’s nothing else to do so we splurged and got the 24 hour Web package… oh yeah ;-)
I have to apologize for my last post… I didn’t have time to review it after I posted and it seems that a bug in this blog service ate up all the names of key locations that I mentioned (i.e. Mediterranean, Golan Heights, Jordanian Mountains, etc) so if you go back and reread the first post now, it’ll make a lot more sense as I’ve re-inserted all those words back into the text.
I also have to apologize that there are no pictures or video just yet… we need to edit them so we’ll let you know when we do finally post (into our flickr) but I’ll try to see if I can upload a few more directly into the blog.
So where did we leave off…
Day 7 – Jordon and PETRA!!! Today was the first day I traveled into an Arab country. When I lived here, Israelis were not allowed in Jordon but after the peace treaty in ’94 the Aqaba-Eilat border crossing was opened for tourism. My Mom and I have been dying to visit for so long and now we have our chance.
The Israeli tour organizers drove us to the border where we had to go through customs and then walk the approx. 100 meters across ‘no man’s land’ into Jordon where we met up with our Arab tour guide – Ali. He was friendly, super talkative, and full of information. As you may know, all religious Muslims are now observing Ramadan so our guide was fasting until the evening hours, and while he was a non-stop chatterbox in the morning, he was very low energy in the afternoon hours… more power to him – don’t know how he can go all day in that heat without water.
When we finally arrived in Petra, I was surprised to see several Indiana Jones gift shops and cafes but as Ali explained, this was one of the filming locations for ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ – so we traveled all the way from to Jordon for a taste of Hollywood ;-)
Petra is gorgeous… no words can describe so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
The tour was pricey but SO worth it. Petra is probably the most incredible place I’ve seen (it’s up there with the volcano in Hawaii and the view from the top of Mt. Quandry in Colorado).
As for the fauna… there were plenty of horses, donkeys and camels… oh my.
Day 8 – After one last dip in the Red Sea, we headed up along the Dead Sea and into Masada. This is the fortress built on a Judean Mountain-top plateau which was built in the time of Herod (1st century BC) and was captured by the Romans. The Jewish Rebels took it back and used it as the final line of defense against the siege by Romans. When defeat became imminent, the 1000 Jewish defenders staged a mass suicide in order to die in the name of god rather than be taken into slavery by the Romans. There’s something very tragic about this place…
Headed to Jerusalem through the West Bank and – it’s beautiful but I was slightly nervous.
In Jerusalem, we had the best shwarma ever for dinner… made a mess as usual ;-)
Day 9 – We had to fit a lot of sightseeing into a small window today as it was Friday and Jerusalem shuts down at 2pm on Fridays. We checked out the Old City – The Kotel (Western Wall) and Temple Mount (from a far as Jews are not allowed in), The Armenian Quarter, The Jewish Quarter, The Arab Souk (we did a little shopping :), and the majestic Migdal David (Tower of David).
After touring the Old City we concluded our day trip with a gut-wrenching visit to Yad Vashem (‘a memorial and a name’) to pay our respects to the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. As we finished up our tour, we got a panicky call from my Safta saying ‘there was an attack in Jerusalem and that we are to head home immediately…’ oy! We never did find out what happened there but security was cracked up another notch (if that’s even a possibility).
Day 10 – Happy Birthday Saba!!! This is the day of my grandfather's 80th birthday celebration and the reason of our visit to Israel. We joined 30 of my grandparents’ closest friends and family at Haiim’s Restaurant for traditional Romanian home cooking.
Day 11 – last day at the beach L… My mom, Alan and I caught one last opportunity for beach time before the big meal at my grandparents’ which was our last chance to eat before the Yom Kippur fast.
After gorging myself on a combination of hummus, Turkish salad, burekahs (filo stuffed w/ cheese, meat or potato), chopped liver, eggplant salad, chicken soup, Israeli schnitzel, ktzizot (fried meat patties), chips (Romanian fries), Sarmaleh (stuffed cabbage), homemade chocolate ice cream, and chocolate tort, I thought I was going to explode… instead, I committed myself to the 26 hour Yom Kippur fast and headed out to Synagogue for Kol Nidre – even Alan came along if you can believe it.
After about ten minutes, I went out for a much needed long walk with Alan and my mom to check out the streets of Ramat Gan on Yom Kippur… which is like nothing you’ve ever experienced. A major shopping street, usually bustling with cars, buses and people taking care of their daily errands, is now bustling with kids on tricycles and bikes, while the adults walk around catching up with their neighbors.
On Yom Kippur, all of Israel shuts down… not a car in the street, no broadcasts on TV, no Café open… nothing! Even 144 (like our 411) is closed for the holiday… it’s pretty cool… for a little while.
Day 12 – BORDEOM – nothing is open!!!
Slept late, broke our fast around 11am (hey, we made it about 18 hrs.) Now I’m just futzing around online while Alan is catching some z’s. Today’s plan is to get packed up for our departure early tomorrow – we’ll be spending the day and night in Paris where we plan to celebrate our 4th anniversary in what many consider the most Romantic city in the world -- escargots, here we come!!!
