Goodbye Peru, Hello Hong Kong!

So I guess it is finally time to switch over the blog from Peru and on to Hong Kong!! Peru was an amazing experience and I hope to travel back to South America again sometime soon. The people were just amazing, there was so much to, so much to see. I am glad I was able to share it with all of you!!
Now! On to the next trip!! I will be in Hong Kong from August 17th to December 22nd! I will be taking classes at CityU in Kowloon, Hong Kong and living in the same part of town. Then for the last five weeks, I will be either doing a independent traveling project or internship! I am excited to compare the many differences between Peru and Asia! As part of my program, I will be traveling to Xi'an, Shanghai and Beijing for the first two weeks!
I will keep you all updates on my travels and keep pictures going up!!!

La Selva!

We left at 5 AM Monday morning for the 8 hour bus ride to Manu Conservation. I slept most of the way but it was insanely bumpy because it was all dirt road.... We arrived at 5ish and started to walk to the lodge. It was like 15 minutes then we had to ride on a zipline across the river to the lodge! It was crazy but so much fun. We met the other volunteers and looked around the lodge. It was cute but very minimal. There was a main lodge area with a hammock, tables for meals and chairs, attached there was a small kitchen and drink area. Then there was a path to the bungalow where we slept which was just basically a platform with a roof and beds in rows with individual mosquitoes nets. There were 4 bathrooms fully equipped with showers, toilets and toilet paper (we were excited to see that...)

Swing across the river to get to the lodge
Our lodge!
A bed (not mine because mine wasnt nicely made..)

The lodge had a pet money named Palo. He was a Red Howler Monkey who had been captured, then given to the ower of the lodge. He was so cute but always getting in trouble!! He was alwasy trying to steal stuff and get into the kitchen.

After our crazy ride, we were so tired and ended up eating dinner and passing out. At first, I wasn't sure what I thought of the whole sleeping on the open plank in the middle of the jungle. However, under the mosquitoe net it was quite comfortable! Plus, the sounds of the jungle just lulled you to sleep!
The next day we got up to start our real work! We headed out for a 4 hour hike called The Monkey Trail -- looking to monitor the monkeys in the area (their kind, how many, what size, etc) To see if the environment was increasing or decreasing in wildlife. The hike was rough -- we are talking real jungle here -- none of that nice tourist paths with no mud and stuff. I actually ended up ripping my pants climbing over a tree stump halfway through and so everyone had to deal with my lovely underwear show the rest of the hike... i was embarrassed for like 2 seconds, then quickly got over it as i navigated full uphill path..

On the Monkey trail!

We swung on a vine like Tarzan, saw a cool butterfly and saw a few birds. We heard a bunch of monkeys. However, we couldn't find them. And then we saw a squirrel monkey which all of us just looked at and mistakened it for an actual squirrel. Slightly hilarious when our guide ran off after it and we just stood there like idiots..
We arrived back at camp covered in mud, just in time for lunch. Because of the lack of refrigeration, they eat full vegetarian in the jungle. So there was lots of lentils, veggies, eggplant, and RICE. It wasn't that bad! However, I don' think I could ever be a vegetarian for life.
Then after lunch, there was free time or to help around the lodge. That day, we went and showered in the river! It was so cold, so it was verryyy quick dip! Afterward, we headed into town to see what was around. It was so small! A few huts with a dirt road, the kids in the town was so cute and yelled to you "Hola!" from their houses. They looked so excited to see foreigners. We bought an overpriced coke and headed back because it gets dark so early! The lodge had no electricity so you were at the mercy of flashlights and candles from like 545 on! We ate dinner, played cards and again fell asleep early!

Walking into the tiny town

The town

DAY 2: We woke up at 330 AM to get in a cab at 430 for a boat trip down the Urubamba River. It was a crazy cab ride again on a dirt road for 2 hours. The cabby probably knew the roads really well but i was terrified. Hotel California, the song, started playing and I was just thinking if any animal runs out in front of us, we are done.
Finally, we arrived and boarded the boat. Our first stop was to see parrots on a cliff. At sunrise, they all descended onto a cliff from the trees to eat dirt. We were kind of far away but with binoculars you could see so many birds with so many different colors! Then we went on a hike to see a really big tree worshiped by the natives because they believed it could bring their dead to heaven. The last stop was a place to see birds - we saw different kinds and every different color I wish i could remember their names!
What made the trip was the paddle boats - but they weren't really paddle boats at all. They were more like floating wood with a stick to steer. It was raining and just hilarious to watch people steer. Being a girl, we were allowed to steer because its Peru.. At the other side, we went on a hike and saw monkeys!! so cool!! Then we returned to where the boats docked and waited for our cabs. I actually ended up falling asleep in a restaurant until the cabs came. We got to camp and it was pouring so we napped til dinner.

The really big tree!

the crazy paddle boats!
The boat we took!

After we played cars, it was just fun to hang out and laugh, carry on without any external help like electricity or TVs or even the radio.
DAY 3:
We got up, ate bfast and headed out for a day of reforestation work! We were planting new trees in areas where they were cut down and bamboo grew up instead. We were suppose to machete down the bamboo for room to grow the plants. again with the hardwork! I was covered in dirt (my shirt had to be thrown out on the spot and the laundry ladies back in Cusco complained about how much dirt was on my pants...)
The macheting was fun! We were able to plant over 35 plants and kicked some major bamboo butt!!
DAY 4:
It was our last day and we were getting the lodge ready to host eight tourist and nine new volunteers. So there was crazy movement of beds, materials and bamboo to put up walls around the lodge area. A few of the girls and I got up early and did the Cock of the Rock Trail (the national bird of Peru). It was an easy hike that had a hut at the end that we waited in to see the bird, no luck...

But I did add a picture of what we should have seen!!
After we helped at the lodge until lunch when our bus driver showed up! So we started the crazy bus ride back to Cusco. We finally arrived and the first thing we did was hit a Pollo A La Braza (chicken place). Then i headed home to finally take a much needed shower, BUT THERE WAS NO WATER...so i had wait until the next morning. so painful...

More photos!

Another view of the Salkantay hike trail

Beautiful Salkantay Mountain

Plaza de Arms at night

Beautiful Plaza

Pictures that just needed to be shown!

Ok, so I still have a couple of blog posts from my week of volunteering in the Manu Conservation. However, before I do that, I want to just put up a much of photos from the other parts of the trip!


The walk from work

The outside of Belenpampa

On the wall outside

Pharmacy and Admission lines

Storage areas with doctors offices

Belenpampa Clinic in Cusco

Hallways in the Clinic with people waiting

The other main hallway

The doctor in his office

Machu Picchu!!!

At 330 AM ( after multiple shouts from Aubrey) I got my butt outta bed to hike up the inca stairs to Machu Picchu. It was so dark because there was an unexpected blackout of the electricity in Aguas Calientes. So we walked through the town and literally there was no light expect for the 2-3 flashlights we had with us. The sky was amazing, we started counting the number of shooting stars we could see as we walked, the moon was almost full as well. This seemed to be the trip of beautiful skies! When we got to the stairs, I realized that this wouldnt be some stroll up to the top to Machu Picchu, o no, those stairs were NO JOKE. I am actually happy I couldnt see anything except for the stairs my flashlights were on because the amount of steps were absurd and I really don't think I would have done them knowing how many there actually were....It took 50 minutes to get to the top and we are talking stairs for the whole time. Halfway up, I realized why it was so smart to take the bus up because you aren't covered in sweat and exgusted in pictures.. but it was such an amazing feeling when you made it to the top! The first person in our group to the top was 13th in line for the opening gate, and we all followed in behind. I sweat through my shirt by the time i got to the top and was starved. So as we waited for the doors to open, I started to tear through my package of oreos (things were expensive in Aguas Calientes! So i just ended up buying oreos and salines to get me through the day) When the doors opened at 7 AM, we raced in like everyone else however because the bus had arrived at the top the line started to increase down the road with every bus load of people. As we walked in, I was in awe about how beautiful it actually was. The pictures and postcards and reproductions can only do so much, the place is just amazing. We walked through the ruins to get our ticket stamped to hike Wayupicchu, which only 400 people a day can hike. Then we started to look around with our guide, it was just so amazing. I feel like that is the only word the truely describes this place. We walked through many of the houses, the religious area, and other names which i cant remember. It was all so well constructed and mostly in good shape, plus basically built on a cliff which was amazing. Our guide told us the latest information makes it seem like Incan people only lived in Machu Picchu for 80 years however, they built it for 100-120 years before that. It seemed just so strange walking around because it did feel like it had just been abandoned with no other people changing a thing since they left. Our tour guide finished and we walked around on our own trying to snap pictures before the bus loads of people arrived and it got really crowded! By 10, it was time to hike Wayupicchu, the adjacent mountain for our view of Machu Picchu. Again, it was another long, hard hike to the top. At one point, we had to go through caves and up a ladder. The top of the mountain was just a bunch of boulders, and I really have no idea how someone doesnt just fall off everyday. I was pretty nervous with the amount of people and chaos for pictures going on at the top of that mountain. So i moved off the top pretty fast after snapping a few photos, but i was so glad i got to see the top! Then we all decided that we were pretty tired and hungry, the oreo sugar high was started to die, so we hiked back down, saw some more of Machu Picchu and the multiple llamas that grazed there, then we left. We grabbed Mexican food at a resturant down the mountain after almost falling asleep in the bus down from Machu Picchu. After we just wandered around until it was time to get on the bus and then four hours later got home. The wonderful kitchen staff had saved us dinner and then I passed out happy!

At Machu Picchu

At the top of Wayupicchu, this was no joke!

Sunrise on the Ruins!

Day 3 and 4!

DAY 3:
We walked through the rain forest area for the day, it was so beautiful, there were so many waterfalls! We walked for five hours in the morning next to a river. Then we had lunch in a small town and walked down to the river. It was so funny, as we were wading, there was a pig bathing himself in mud about 100 feet away, i wish i had gotten a picture! Then we bused to our campsite for the night. From there, we headed to the hotsprings which was great because we hadn't showered for 3 days. When walking seven hours a day makes you smell...so I just soaked my body for two hours. Most of us had a dirty sock "tan line" and I couldn't tell where my arm tan began and the dirt ended. At our campsite, there was a residential MONKEY named Pancho!! He was about the size of the squirrel with a super long tail. He was adorable and ate everything people fed him and just hopped about on power lines! At this campside, we stayed with a bunch of other groups on the same trek which was fun because then we got to know more people on the trail. There were some crazy German and Brazillians that felt the need to make a huge racket all night so I ended up falled asleep with my Ipod blaring in the tent.
DAY 4:
There were rumors of strikes on the railroad to the town of Aguas Calientes from the town of Hydroelectrica (named after the powerplant that powers all of Cusco) and that was the way we were going to get our stuff to Aguas Calientes
So we got up and had to go wait to see if the train took off from Cusco -- we headed to the tiny train station in the town we camped at. It seemed like this was a usual thing there were multiple taxi drivers and tour guides there waiting to find out if the train took off from Cusco and didn't get stopped. Finally after 40 minutes, the women in charge of the tickts still didn't know if the train was running, so she just started selling tickets. Our cooks got tickets who were going to load all of our stuff onto the train while we walked. We had lunch at Hydroelectrica, found out the stikes were just a rumor (thank god.) and started on the last 10K of our hiking trip! On the way we got a view of Machu Picchu from the back which was so cool! This was the last 10 K for me because it was on the traintracks and horribly boring plus you could look up because you would trip on the rocks or the tracks. I was so HAPPY that I didn't have to carry my backpack, as much i love that thing, I don't think i would have made it.
Finally, we made it to Aguas Calientes got our stuff and picked up our stuff and Aubrey off the train, then showered back at the hostals. We set our alarms for 330 to climb up to Machu Picchu!!

Our lunch town of Day 4
Beautful waterfall in Rainforest on Day 3

Going to the last couple of milesBack of Machu Picchu!
6 AM at Machu Picchu!

Salkantay Trek : 5 Day Trip in the Andies Mountains to Machu Picchu

The View from the Start

So i wrote every night about the day before, so i am just going to retype my journal entries and add pictures!
DAY 1: Today was our first day of our hike. Holy Crap, that was tough..We walked 3 and a half hours before lunch which wasn't so bad -- but because of the attitude you just get winded on the littlest uphill! There were beautiful views of two mountains that were snow covered. We stopped for lunch in a valley and got soup, mashed potatoes, great veggies and tea! It was great treking food. After lunch, we got the lovely hard part of the trek. We went basically between two mountains and UP.
It took us (Rachel, Becky and me) about 50 minutes to do this pass, which is pretty good considering that it usually takes people an hour and a half. But it was rough -- we went over a stream, up zig-zags called 7 cobras of death (it was exactly that) and then up some more. When we finally camp, we were so relieved. The tents were cute and cosy so we were see apparently this is the closest night! But 5 PM, I was already wearing 3 pants, 4 shirts and the sun hasn't gone down the whole way.
The night was SO COLD. -7 Degrees Celius to exact. In the middle of the night, I woke up to horses running and crazy flashlights. But it was all worth seeing the moon and stars completely clear of any light with the mountains as the background. I wish i could have taken a picture, but it was soo dark!
DAY 2: We woke up to coca tea from the cooks -- and I didn't wanna move it was so cold. But we had to pack up our tent by breakfast. Breakfast was amazing pancakes with carmel sauce! After we started up to the highest point of our hike. It tookabout 25 minutes to hit the summit and it was difficult! I was so happy to see the sign signaling we made it!! As we waited for the rest of the group at the top, Becky, Rachel and I took an absurd amount of photos with the sign. When the rest of the people arrived, our guide did a ritual with rocks like everyone else that had been to the top -- there were little statues of rocks EVERYWHERE. Then, we started the downhill...it was interesting..3 hours of downhill..with loose rocks..Becky started calling it "Mogels - You gotta pick a path and use your knees to cushion the blow" But the coolest part was we moved from Mountains to Rainforest. It was just a huge change in climate temperature and it was so beautiful -- there were so many green trees and beautiful flowers. We stopped for lunch and amazing chicken with andean grain. Our guide then let us take a 40 minutes nap in the sun and then we continues two hours to a village to sleep for the night. We set up camp and instead going to dinner all I wanted to do was sleep! Dinner was Peruvian time and was super late like 2 hours late. It gets annoying when it comes to meals. The food on the trek was actually great at lunch and dinner we always got soup to start and then meat with potatoes. The second night was significantly warmer than the first night!

The path to the mountain!

7 Deadly Cobras at the top!

Salkantay Mountain!

At the top!!!
Posing with the rock statues at the top!

The View of the Rainforest!
A village off the trail

Last Week at Benepampa

The last week at Benepampa before our trek to Machu Picchu, I got rotated to observe a doctor. There are only about 8 doctors at Benepampa, so they are incredibily busy and stressed.
The first day, they sent me to go sit outside his office but apparently he was doing rounds so a nurse came and got me. I chased her down hallways, and finally found the doctor that i was suppose to be observing doing rounds in the Obstetrics Unit. He told me later that the doctors rotate who has to check the unit everyday. It was a interesting unit because there were three rooms with 8 beds each, another separte birthing area, no men were allowed in, the babies were expected to sleep with the mothers in the same bed. The doctor just did the overall check to make sure everything was normal from the skull to joint movement to blood circulation in their feet. After he had checked all the babies, we headed back to his office where he took patients all day. The first day there wasnt that many people because the festivals were starting up in Cusco for Inti Raymi. But we had a few patients, one boy with a broken nose and another man with Salmonella. The last two days were interesting as well. The doctor basically just got whatever patients the nurses decided to give him, in no particular order, so it was just slight chaos. When we would open the door to call another patients name, the door would be rushed with people talking fast and trying to cut in line to see the doctor sooner. One morning when i was waiting for the doctor to show up from a meeting, one women waiting with me was saying that it usually takes 3-4 hours, on a good day if you get there early, to be seen. and that if you needed tests done as well, it could take the whole day. The benches outside the offices were always lined with people and on Friday there were people lined up outside.
My favorite part of this week was definitely seeing so many different people and cases come into his office. The doctor was so considerate and included me when he did Obstetrics rounds and explained the cases that came into his office before he took another one from outside.
I took a lot of pictures of the clinic, so I will try and get them up tonight!

More Inti Raymi Pictures (Day Of)

The Inca King

Close Up on the Inca King

One of the women's costumes parading into the square

The Inca Queen (Sweet job if you can get it, you dont have to talk but just get carried around)

Some of the musicians outfits

Where the whole show started, the Inca was coming in

The start of the day of the festivities

The huge group of people climbing up to last location, Saqsaywaman