Pick Axeing my way through Pisco, Peru

Buenos Noches!!
It has been a full week since I have last blogged but that was because i was too busy digging trenches and clearing rubble! Kevin and I spent 7 days in Pisco, Peru volunteering at Pisco Sin Fronteras (Pisco without borders). In 2007, Pisco was hit with a 7.9 magnitude earthquake that pretty much rocked their world. Locals Piscoans have NOTHING... and when I say nothing, they actually have less than that. Their life is about everyday survival and there is just enough of everything for them to get buy, never extra. I learned so much in those short 7 days...

First off, I learned how to dig a 80 cm. deep by 35 cm wide trench and to pix axe my way through concrete foundations. Pisco Sin Fronteras is an NPO that provides reconstruction to locals who need help rebuilding. However, it is a catch 22 because we can only afford to help those who have the money to pay for materials. The way it works is we go in and do work on their property and they have to pay the government for materials. These materials are not granted without the proper evidence that work is being done. I found this a little unfair because right down the street from these people are families of 7 living in either tents or bamboo made houses with blue tarps. Water and electricity are also not a promise everyday, many dinners are candle-lit. However, PSF does have a Miracle Fund Project where they try and raise donations in order to fund an entire new house for locals living in sticks and tents. Kevin and I are going to try and get some donations together for PSF because as we walked around Pisco, as the only gringos (South American term for white person) people knew who we were and what we do. They had nothing but gratitude and thanks for us. It truly was an amazing experience.

On a brighter note, we left Pisco on Sunday for Cusco. As we headed an hour South to Ica, to catch a long bus ride, we thought this should be an easy trip! So follow me when I say we left Pisco at 4;30 pm to start out journey. We took a bus, Royale Class of course for $35. The guy said ¨solamente diez y ocho horas¨- meaning only an 18 hour ride, so of course we were excited about this. We got on the bus, laid our seats back which turn into beds-these royal class buses are like first class airplane seats. PRETTY AWESOME! Anyways, to start off, we left an hour late, but we rode over night, slept for 12 hours and arrived in Arequipa, Peru at 9 am for our transfer. We had an hour before the next bus to Cusco but this turned into 2 hours. So at 11 am we boarded for Cusco, little to our knowledge we went through 2 other cities through winding hills at really scary heights. At about 4:00 pm we found ourselves in Puno, Peru which is 8 hours from Cusco. We were pretty confused so I walked around the bus looking for someone to ask.. of course no one was there when I needed him. They take us to the bus terminal and tell us this bus is out of service now and we would need to take a different bus. They put us on an Economy class bus and sent us off on a 7 hour bus ride with no bathroom and no heat! SWEET.

So now we are at 6;15 pm on MONDAY...22 hours so far...
1 hour later we pull over in Juliaca, Peru and they make us get out in the rain and change buses so that they can fill the bus. So we squished in with local indigenous people (really awesome actually) and we finally made our way to Cusco. We arrived in Cusco at 2am on Tuesday
So... I ask you to please do the math and ask me how much I enjoyed this 30 plus hour ride!

But alas, we are in Cusco and we went on a glorious horse back ride through the Andes today!

We are off to Aguas Calientes tomorrow morning which is the city of Macchu Picchu.

Until after my climb..

¨Lima Esta Linda¨

Hola!!
I have been in Lima, Peru... to be exact, Miraflores, which is a small town outside of the city limits for about 48 hours now. I have done so much i do not even know where to start so I will give you a brief run down!

Our flight was fairly easy..we left NYC at 6;20 am and arrived in Panama City and then to Lima around 3:30 pm. I want to say that if you find yourself in a Central American airport please note that a "LAST CALL" to board is actually a 30 minute warning. Unfortunately i was starving in Panama City and our flight was in Last Call so i thought i had to board and we rushed to the gate..meanwhile as we board, i find that we are the second people on the plane. We proceed to sit there for 45 minutes before we even take off...sweet. Good thing Copa Airlines serves Ravioli con queso.
And good thing Kevin is the American who goes to the bathroom, returns to his seat at the FRONT of the airplane dragging toilet paper on his shoe! Yes, i captured it on my camera of course!

On our first day we managed to walk for miles down the coast and through the city to find multiple casinos, hundreds of banks, and an american bar! We were searching for some restaurants from our Lonely PLanet guide book and got fed up that we could not find them so we stumbled into an American bar and ordered our very first Peruivan Beer, Cusquena which is absolutely delicious and uber cheap! It is great how far our money goes here, i have been eating like a king and testing all the local dishes such as Tallarin Saltado con Polllo which is grilled noodles with chicken and vegetables, and the Aji De Gallina which is a mixture of fish, cream sauce, potatoes and rice. Of course a dish like this only costs about $4.00 at the most!! Good times for the American dollar down here.

On Friday we went to the Plaza Del Armas where we watched the daily ritual of the changing of the guard. They shut down the entire plaza, and had about 30 guards with machine guns, helmets and shields ready to fire! It was pretty intimdating until i saw guard texting on his phone during the procession! haha.. oh technology.

After this, we thought lets not be such tourists and we crossed a bridge in hopes to find some local fare.. too bad for us because 5 minutes later a security guard came running up to us and said "ingles? cameras? no.. bad here.. peeek pawketers" aka. pick pocketers..coincidentally, i had just mentioned to kevin that i was shocked there were no tourists around!! Well you bet we pulled a quick u-turn and headed right back over the bridge to the safe side.
Not safe for long because we went to the Peruvian China town and proceeded to be the only tourists once again! I m not too sure where people hang out but surely they do not go wandering into local meat markets and China town... so we booked it outta there and headed back to Miraflores.

This is where i tell you that Kevin and i were very cultural and we went to a Peruvian theater to see some tango dancing, singing, and some instrumental music. We got to the show early enough to buy tickets and find a seat, yet the talent walked in a mere 10 minutes before the show started. Then during the show the audience was so disrespectful, phones kept ringing, people came 20 minutes late, 1 hour late, even after intermission!! At one point this lady stood up in the middle of the auditorium and started taking pictures...it truly was an experience.
One thing about Peruvian Theater you should know in case you decide to catch a show, is that apparently they can call their own encores! This Rosemarie lady, a singer, called her own encore because the tango duo before here got an original encore from the audience and I guess she was jealous. Oh Peru!

Although I cannot tell all, there is just too much, i do not want to forget to tell everyone that i took a surfing lesson today!! It was freaking awesome... my instructor, Roberto, who speaks NO english took me out into the waters where he promised me there were no sharks, and just let me have it with the waves! I dont want to toot my own horn or anything but i was pretty good... granted i am disregarding the fact that on my second ride in i yelled "WATCHHH OUTTT" in English of course and this little boy bops his head up and looks at me with a face i will never forget.... I obviously wasn't stopping and i was so proud to be riding this wave that he had to ABORT his board and i surfed right over it!!! It was hilarious... i turned around once i fell and said i was soo sorry and in broken english he gave me a dirty look and said "not a problem".

That is all I can really write for today... my arms hurt terribly and I am sunburnt. More to come... we venture to Pisco tomorrow to work 6 hours a day rebuilding homes and living among the locals. However, I have heard is it bit dangerous for tourists at night so I do not expect many crazy stories.

Until then,

2 Weeks Out

Hey Family and Friends,
Since Kevin and I embark on our journey South two weeks from today, I thought it would be a good time to start this blog. From here on out, I will attempt to post as often as South America and its' internet allows me to. On that note, please do not expect many personal emails from me :)

As we prepare for this trip, here is a rough itinerary for you so that you can follow us!
October 15th- Leave NYC, arrive Lima, Peru
From Lima, we venture South to Pisco, Peru in order to volunteer with Pisco Sin Fronteras. We will be rebuilding communities that were destroyed during a 2007 earthquake. After about a week here, we will venture West to Cuzco and Macchu Picchu. From here, if we can still walk after the hike, we will head to Lake Titicaca and Copacabana (where a Villa will take place of a hostel)!
From Copacabana, we shall venture South to La Paz, Bolivia and then we will frolic in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. Once we hit Santiago, hopefully we can eat some great seafood before we head to the "Paris" of South America....Buenos Aires!! We will fly out of Buenos Aires on November 27th, arriving back in NYC.

If anyone has contacts throughout this route, recommendations of what to do or see, let me know!

On that note....2 weeks and counting...adios mis amigos.