Fin de Semana Larga!

Hola,

I bleed for science

Well, since Taylor left I have settled into my new place (although the commute is KILLER - at least 1 to 1.5 hours each way) and attempted to begin a regular lab schedule. The only problem is my supplies still haven't arrived and the project has been slow to get rolling. I did all my test runs this week on myself! That's right...someone in the lab who has drawn blood "once or twice before" stuck me, and I was "Patient 0." It was actually sort of fun to test my protocol on myself, and I think we worked out all the kinks and are ready for real patient sample next week!

Pisco and wine!

In the meantime, we had a long weekend for yet another Peruvian holiday. Of course I wanted to take advantage, and I planned a trip for myself and about 13 other Gringos that just arrived in Lima on various scholarships. We ended up going to Ica (I had already been there - wine tasting and sand dunes!) and to a small town called Lunahuana to go white water rafting.

We left at 6:30am on Saturday morning, but for some reason decided that since it was so early, the best idea would be to stay out all night the night before the bus, and go straight to the bus from the clubs....clearly this logic might leave something to be desired (like sleep!) but I embraced the plan and around midnight we headed out to a bar in Barranco.

Tacama vineyard

We stayed until after 4am, and the guys got odd looking hamburgers from a cart in the street on the way home. I had a bite, and they tasted delicious...but I still can't bring myself to eat red meat from a stand at 4am. We grabbed our backpacks, got to the bus station, and all promptly passed out for the 4 hour drive to Ica.

Some of The Gringo Crew

When we arrived, it turns out one of the guys packs didn't make it onto the bus, so we waited around for a Peruvian "15 minutes"....15 minutes coming from a Peruvian means anything from 20 minutes to about 2 hours. Then its "un ratito," which means "just a sec" or "maybe some time tomorrow if you're lucky." So we waited for about an hour and his bag did miraculously arrive. We dumped our stuff at our hotel and headed out for a wine tour.

The boys dancing on stage

Since I had already been to Ica (during the Peruvian Independence Week), we negotiated a great tour of 3 wineries and transportation for all 10 of us for only 20 Peruvian Soles per person (about $7 for a whole afternoon of wine touring!). We had lunch at the first bodega, and then hit two more. It was a relaxing and fun afternoon, and by around 6pm we were all pretty tired. We agreed to a long nap back at the hotel and all crashed for a couple of hours before dinner.

Pisco...

After the nap and a late dinner in Ica, we headed out to clubs near the oasis and the dunes...Well, I guess I should say "THE club," because there is only one decent bar in the whole tiny place. We danced and had a few drinks, and around 3:00am a few in the group headed home. Since I didn't climb the dunes last time I was here, I thought it would be a great idea to hike up the dune in the dark and watch the sun rise from the peak. 3 other gringos (Dan, Josh and Mary) were actually foolish enough to come with me ;)

Climbing the dune

Knowing we might get thirsty on our long hike up the dune, we purchased a bottle of pisco at the bar and began our little quest. We sadly underestimated the grade of the dune and spent the next HOUR on our hands and knees crawling up the dune! Armed with our bottle of fortification, we crawled on, and made it to the top...but we also underestimated the number of hours it would be before sunrise and we arrived about 2 hours too soon. Dan entertained us with borderline terrible jokes, and we sat at the peak as the sky gradually lightened.

We watched the sun rise over the misty valley and the oasis come into view. It was a beautiful morning, but we were all tired and quite sandy, so we began or trek down the dune. We discovered that if your ran down the dune while taking huge strides, you could bound down like a moon walker! However, we also quickly discovered that one false step meant that you would end up tumbling head-over-heels in the seemingly soft sand.

I volunteered to gingerly walk down the sand mountain after carefully storing everyone's camera in my ziploc bag and watched my friends careen down the steep slope (some more gracefully than others). We all made it down the hill with our limbs intact, and grabbed a cab back to Ica. Since it was only about 7am, we had a difficult time finding an open establishment for breakfast. But our taxi driver was sympathetic enough and drove us around in circles until we found a restaurant. We had tamales and juice and walked back to our hotel and went to sleep at about 9am.

We were rudely awakened by our alarms at 11 am, got dressed, and checked out of the hotel. The other 6 gringos had gone sandboarding, so we wandered the super small town of Ica in search of a massage. We found none, save for the world's creepiest Turkish bath house, which would "only massage women today. Men tomorrow." We never found a legitimate massage place, so we had some lunch, grabbed some ice cream, and sat in the plaza like all the other Peruvians. The mean security guard blew his whistle at us when we tried to sit in the grass (apparently that's not allowed in a park?) so we crashed on a bench and waited for our friends.

Who doesn't like Crack?

They eventually finished, but 4 of them decided they wanted to go to Paracas (to see the penguins), but I had my heart set on river rafting, so 6 of us hopped a bus to a town called Canete. It was an easy ride, and we arrived, grabbed a cab, and all 6 of us jammed in with our bags for the 40 minute drive to the town called Lunahuana. I had picked the town because it was supposed to be surrounded by vineyards with a river running through it for white water rafting...and it was only 2.5 hours from Lima! We arrived in the dark and couldn't see the river, and also had some trouble finding the hostel.

Our prison cell

After calling and stopping every person on the street, we found the place - but we were told we had "no reservations." Just so you know what I went through to secure reservations, I'll tell you that I called over 27 hotels in this small town, and FINALLY found this place which claimed they had space for 10 people!! But when we arrived he gave us the run around about having to "call and confirm the day before" and blah, blah, blah....and that they had no rooms for us. Knowing that every other hotel was dull (because I had called them all!!) I demanded that he figure it out. He thought for a while, wandered around in circles, and then brought me over to what I can only imagine was a storage closet. In the closet there were mattresses piled - he said he would try to make up 2 rooms for us in this "unfinished area," (read: construction site and storage closet). I knew it was better than the alternative of sleeping in the street, so I agreed. He tried to charge us triple the original price (for us to sleep in closets!!) but I talked him back down to the original price of 15 soles per person (about $5.50) and we left to get dinner and let him prepare the rooms.

Our prison cell bathroom

We had a tasty pizza dinner and laughed about the hostel. Luckily everyone thought it was hilarious, and we were all glad that we were only 6 people, not the original and impossible 10 people, because it never would have worked! We ate and had a beer, and even though we were all exhausted from our extreme lack of sleep, we decided to hop a cab into town to see the plaza. We got to the plaza, tried in vain to find an ATM, and attempted to get a drink. We ordered, waited for about 30 minutes, and then gave up when the waitress told us "one minute" for the 5th time.

We headed back to our dungeons/prison cells hoping to find 6 beds. We found 5 "bed like" items, shockingly had hot running water, and decided to ignore how odd the whole situation was and try to get sleep. My bed was rock solid, but I got a few hours....

The Rafting Crew

We woke up on Monday and were finally able to see our surroundings! We were in a valley between rocky hills, and it honestly looked a lot like Southern California. Barren and brown, but here, there was a river running through the valley! We checked out of the hostel as fast as possible, and started aimlessly wandering down the one road in town hoping to find breakfast or a cab that would take us somewhere. We were amazingly picked up by a combi (mini bus) and taken almost directly to the rafting place. We accidentally over shot the location, but after a few calls and a bit more wandering (a very common theme here in South America...I end up wandering a lot) we found it. And they even had a restaurant! We ordered lots of lomo saltados (beef sauteed with peppers, tomatoes, onions and french fries over rice) and waited for 4 more friends who were supposed to arrive from Lima to go rafting with us.

They arrived miraculously on time and we all ate breakfast, put on tons of sunscreen and bug spray (tiny mosquitoes everywhere!!!) and then suited up for rafting. We all piled into the back of a truck wearing all our gear, and were taken up river. After carrying the boats down to the water we were given a quick lesson and jumped in! The water was low since we were in the middle of the dry season, but we still had a lot of fun. We were divided into 2 boats, so we tried to race each other. Every time one raft would take the lead they would inevitably get stuck on a giant rock and the other team would pass....only to get stuck on the next rock! But it was fun, and in the middle of the trip the guides had us get out, swim around, and jump off rocks and float down the river. The water was surprisingly warm, and it was fun to float in the water!

After my raft won, we went back to the rafting office. They had a campground with a pavilion, hammocks, a huge lawn, and a rock climbing wall, and in our indecisiveness we ended up just lounging around soaking up the sun for the entire afternoon instead of going to visit wineries or anything. It was super relaxing, and we bought snacks and a couple beers from the teeny shop down the road and laid in the lawn for hours.

When we were all sufficiently eaten alive by the mosquitoes, tired of chips and crackers, and ready to return back to gloomy Lima, we hopped back into a combi and returned to the bus station. It was a mad house (the last evening of a holiday weekend, everyone was headed back to Lima) and we were split up, but we all safely got on buses headed back to Lima. We got back into dark, dreary Lima and I grabbed a quick bite to eat with two of the guys who live near my neighborhood.

Overall, it was a fun trip, and I want to go back to Lunahuana and lounge in the sun and explore the vineyards some day!

My pictures from the weekend: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/6717

Until the next mini-adventure,
~Kristyn

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!

Hey everyone!

After a bit of drama (4 hour flight delay), Taylor finally made it to Lima! He got in at 4am on Monday morning (Aug 2). We had a short day in Lima: he helped me move my suitcases out of Gringo House 1 and into my new place, then after a quick lunch we went right back to the airport and flew to the Amazon.

We traveled to Iquitos so Taylor can collect blood samples from patients infected with malaria for his research. I am his official translator (and tour booker, restaurant picker, and price negotiator :), and since work days are pretty short, we had a very relaxing time. There is so much good food….I really can't stress enough how amazing all the Peruvian cuisine has been, and the jungle has even MORE! 

There are so many fruits I have never heard of or seen, I could spend 2 weeks just wandering the markets tasting them! But on top of that there was alligator, turtle (I abstained), so many palm heart salads, fresh fish, and loads of plantains!

After arriving Monday, we spent Tuesday with our boss from UCSD touring different lab sites around the area (he was here to show some US government big wigs around, so we tagged along). We went to different labs, hospitals and the US Naval Base. Seeing the hospitals was a bit of a shock for me: there were no window or doors, no blankets on the beds, nobody wore gloves or ever washed their hands....it was amazing. But the Doctors were all so enthusiastic to help and collaborate with us Gringos, it was fantastic. They literally opened up the whole hospital for us to wander around and were so excited that more people were taking an interest in what they know is a less-than-stellar healthcare environment.

Since the boss' visit, we have just been going to lab or strolling the city during the day, and eating and drinking too much in the evenings. Our first weekend, we went to the giant market in town on Saturday then hung out with all the other gringos (there are 3 other girls from UCSD here, what a coincidence!). We went to see some live music at this huge outdoor venue. The band must have had about 30 members playing drums, horns, guitars and everything else you can imagine, and it was even complete with very scantily clad dancers. I'm talking almost NO clothing - we were surprised since most of Peru is pretty Catholic, but the Jungle is a whole other world :)

On Sunday, we got up early and had our first real Amazonian adventure. We got into a water taxi at the docks, and after a few minutes of negotiations on price (which Taylor hated), we motored 20 minutes downriver. Our driver bailed out the boat the whole time - haha! We were headed to a Butterfly Farm and Animal Orphanage. It was great! They had over 40 different species of butterflies, and around the area were tons of tame-ish monkeys. We also saw (and I got to pet!) an ocelot, a jaguar (no petting allowed, but I did make sure to ask), and a bunch of other animals they had rescued.

We spent one more week in lab. Taylor got up every morning, went to lab to wait for the patient to arrive, took part of the blood sample that had been collected, and isolated all the malaria parasites out of the blood. The whole process takes about 3-4 hours, but the longst part was always finding the patients. The Peruvian members of the lab team had to drive out to the villages outside of Iquitos and physically locate the patients...which I imagine is difficult in a village of huts without addresses on road without names. But eventually they would find the patient and bring them to the lab and afterward for the clinic to get medicines.

We went to two really cool restaurants in Iquitos during our last week there. The first was a yummy seafood place that overlooked the Amazon river. We had delicious meals full of fish, alligator, and even a mixed rice dish like paella, with all sorts of seafood in it. The other place we tried was a place called Al Frio y Al Fuego (To the cold and to the fire). It was actually a floating restaurant with a floating pool! We went one afternoon to swim and get drinks, and ended up having quite a few rounds of fruity concoctions and hanging out beside the pool, but never going in because it was overcast.

For the end of our rain forest trip we decided to go to a lodge up the Amazon for 4 days and 3 nights. After a long debate, we finally settled on a lodge and packed up a bag of long pants and long shirts and bug repellent and waved goodbye to Iquitos for a few days. We got to the docks with our guide (actually the Peruvian wife of the owner of the lodge - she was awesome and spoke flawless English) and boarded a speedboat for our 3 hour ride downriver. As soon as we got on the water we saw PINK DOLPHINS!!!

They were so cool! They are Amazonian River Dolphins, and they are PINK. The babies are grey, but the adults are this amazing rosy color. They were swimming around the area where all the fisherman had their nets out to trap fish coming from a small tributary into the main Amazon. I attempted to snap pictures, but they were FAST and completely not curious about humans or boats like ocean dolphins, so every time we saw them for the whole weekend they completely ignored our presence or swam away.

On the way, we stopped at a rum distillery. It was cool to see where they grew the sugar cane, and we got to taste all the different kinds they made. There was plain aguardiente (rum), aguardiente with molasses, with ginger, or with an infusion of 7 medicinal roots (called siete raices, or 7 roots).  They were all really good, and we bought ginger and 7 roots.

We arrived at the lodge in time for lunch, and had a delicious buffet of typical Peruvian foods (chicken, rice, plantains bread [always 3 carbs!],  salad, dessert, and super-delicious juices) and then a nap in the hammock. We meandered around the property and played with the toucan and the two macaws, and watched their falcons and caimans (like alligators). It was a cool, relaxing place, and they had rescued all the animals they had hanging around.

In the late afternoon we got back onto a motorboat and headed out to do a hike. It was cool on the water, but as soon as we stepped onto land I realized how hot and humid it still was. We did a long loop through the forest on a search for monkeys, but never found any. We DID find some leaf-cutter ants, huge trees, and a LOT of mosquitoes. By the end, we were all soaked through with sweat and ready to return home....but the guide got a little turned around and it took us an extra half hour to find the trail out!

We were happy to find the boat and go back to our room, however, the lodge has no electricity or hot water (ever), but the cold shower was almost nice!! we hung around in the hammocks and even got a nice rain storm! We had a great dinner and then were told it was time for the "night hike"....I dreaded the thought of putting the giant rubber boots back on and getting all sweaty (well..more sweaty, it still wasn't cool), so we politely declined!

The next morning we got up EARLY and headed out before breakfast. Our guide packed a picnic and we explored some of the smaller waterways on a continued search for monkeys. We saw sloths and lots of birds and dolphins, but no monkeys! We had a picnic breakfast in the boat, and then took a short hike to a giant three: the ceiba tree is a GIGANTIC tree with huge buttress roots that lives in forests that are seasonally flooded. We had fun trying to climb up the HUGE vines that hung from the tree, and played Tarzan :) It wasn't quite as hot, but the mosquitoes were pretty bad, so we were excited to head back to the moving boat (and eventually the mosquito netting at the lodge).

Before returning we made a quick stop at a small local village that sold handicrafts. I could not have cared less about the necklaces...but they had A BABY SLOTH! I was mesmerized. I asked if I could hold it, and I snuggled that thing until a mean little Peruvian Grandma pried it out my hands when we had to leave. It was so cute, and I wanted to buy it instead of the bracelets or baskets they were selling, but they didn't look like they wanted to part with it either.

Since it is "dry season" the water in a lot of places was pretty low. Our boat got stuck a few times and the guide actually has to get out and push the boat free! But we got home, relaxed, had lunch, and said goodbye to the father and daughter we had been met and toured with upon our arrival. We took naps and went out in the afternoon to find more dolphins. We saw the pink dolphins and another species of small grey ones! I tried forever, but I could NOT catch them on film!

We got back to the lodge, but Taylor wasn't feeling well....he actually threw up as soon as we got off the dock. I think he scared the Peruvians, and they scurried around trying to help me make him comfortable. He spiked a bit of a fever, but felt a lot better, so I medicated him, had the Peruvians busy themselves making him chicken soup, and tried to let him rest. He couldn't really stomach dinner, but he tried and then headed back to bed. Luckily, it was quite cool out for the jungle (remember, no AC no lights, no comfort...), and he eventually fell asleep for the night with the aid of some soothing music on my iPod and a lot of me fanning him :)

I did not take this picture, but aren't they weird??

He woke up in the morning feeling fine, and after a light breakfast I headed out alone with the guides to hike around the lodge and look for monkeys again. We found some right away! I saw Pigmy Marmosets, the world's smallest monkey. We hiked for another hour and a half and came across a whole troop of saddle back tamarins. They were cool, but pretty high up in the trees, so I didn't get a decent photo. I got back to the Lodge and Taylor was doing well and napping in the hammock. We had lunch, more naps, and then decided to attempt to venture out again but to do something easy. We wanted to go find giant lily pads, so we hopped in the motorboat with the guides and set out.

I did not take this picture either, but they are so cute!

I had heard thunder rumbling during my nap, but it sounded far away...but when we got out onto the wide open space of the Amazon I could see the ENORMOUS storm cloud headed the same way we were! After a few loud strikes of lightning and thunder, the clouds opened up and POURED on us. We were instantly soaked through. We tried to get to the lily pads, but ironically the water was too low to get to the lake where they were, so we turned around and abandoned the quest. 

It was a rough journey back across the Amazon river to our side of the shore, and we were tossed around pretty well. There were tiny white caps and everything and it rained on us the whole way! We made it home without trouble though, got into warm clothes and blankets, and just hung out in the hammocks until it passed.

After a warm dinner, we were finally convinced to do the night hike since it was our last night (although we opted for the abridged version). We just wandered around the front yard of the lodge, but we saw so many cool animals!! There were poison dart frogs, humongous tree frogs, and a GINORMOUS pink-toed tarantula!! All within sight of the lodge...it was fun! Not for the faint of heart or spider haters, but fun!

We fell asleep to the sound of bats swooshing around the thatched roof - apparently they grab fruit from the trees, land on the roof, and chow down. It sounded very odd from our room.

The next day (our last day!) we woke up and went piranha fishing after breakfast. We took a quick boat ride to a village that was surrounded by lakes. We hiked to one, climbed into a very unstable feeling dugout canoe (after bailing it out of course), and carefully paddled around the lake. We found the giant lily pads (called Victoria regia), and they were cool! The were definitely big, and the undersides were purple and spiky.

We found a shady fishing spot, got out our "poles", which were sticks with string and a hook, and baited the hooks with chicken fat. After about 3 seconds of the bait being in the water Taylor pulled in a piranha!! It was small, with a red back...and it made the weirdest grunting noise once it was out of the water. We threw it back, and each went on to catch 3 or 4 small piranhas! It was fun, but hot, and we kept getting out bait stolen. Eventually, we lost 3 out of 4 hooks and had to give up: the piranhas won this time!

We returned to the lodge for the last time and had a quick shower, lunch, and had to say goodbye. I tried to say goodbye to the toucan, but apparently he was cranky, and just ended up chasing me around biting my feet for 10 minutes before I gave up! We got back into the boat and made the 3 hour ride all the way back to Iquitos.

We got back, checked into our hotel, ran to lab to check email and grab our extra suitcase, when I discovered an email in broken English that said our flight for the following day had been changed from 8am to 1pm. Annoyed, I proposed we walk over to the airline's office and check on the flight. Boy am I still glad we did that! We found out the flight had been further "delayed" to 5pm, meaning we would be stuck in Iquitos all day.

Wanting to get back to Lima to show Taylor around, I asked if there were any earlier flights...of course there were not. Then I asked (at 7pm at night) if there were any more flights out TODAY. She said there was one for 7:30pm, but we didn't have time to get to the airport. I begged her to check on the flight (knowing that it HAD to be delayed, everything in South America is delayed!!) and luckily it was running 2 hours behind! We got places on the flight, went back to the hotel and grabbed our bags and had to pay for it even though we didn't stay there :(

But we made it to the airport (had to skip our last Amazonian dinner) and got onto a flight back to Lima. We arrived late at night, and went to my brand new place for the first time. I barely remembered the address, but we found everything and the impromptu emergency flight ended up being a good choice.

Since Taylor only had one full day in Lima, I wanted to show him the cool places, so we woke up late, dropped off our smelly jungle laundry and headed straight to the trendiest ceviche place I knew. We went to La Mar (http://lamarcebicheria.com/web/intro.php - they actually opened one in San Francisco!) because it was the place my lab took my my very first day in Lima. They have excellent ceviche: ceviche is a mixture of raw fish, lime juice and onions and spices. The fish is actually"cooked" in the lime juice, and although I am not the world's biggest sushi fan, I LOVE CEVICHE! Its sooooo tasty!

We had pisco sours (made of pisco, a grape brandy, lime juice, sugar, and egg white), plantain chips, ceviche and causas (little patties made of mashed potatoes topped with awesome things like crab, shrimp, etc). The meal was great, and since we had skipped dinner the night before, I was tipsy enough after one drink to totally knock over my water in the middle of the nice restaurant, haha!

After lunch we headed to El Parque del Amor (the Park of Love) which overlooks the ocean. Its a cool waterfront walkway that leads to a huge mall that is built into a cliff above the Pacific ocean. I had actually never even been there, and it was cool to explore for the first time with Taylor! We watched the paragliders, meandered around the park, and strolled through the mall. Afterward, we had pastries an coffee in Miraflores, and Taylor got to experience his first public transit ride back to my house :)

We relaxed, and in the evening headed out to a cool neighborhood called Barranco for drinks and a light dinner. We had yummy drinks at a bar that is in a huge mansion, and each room has a bar with a different theme. Post-trendy-bar, we hopped over to a restaurant for anticuchos (grilled cow heart - weird sounding, I know, but it really is good) and picarones (sweet potato donuts covered in honey). Taylor loved the donuts, but passed on the anticuchos.

We went home and got a good night's sleep to prepare for Taylor's last day :(

For Taylor's final day in Lima we decided to go explore downtown. We headed straight to the main Plaza de Armas. We had lunch at a tiny local restaurant whose claim to fame was feeding every Peruvian president in recent history and then headed to a church after a recommendation from our cab driver. He told us it would be cool, and that there were catacombs underneath the church to tour. We went, and it was pretty neat! The catacombs were creepy, but we weren't allowed to take any photos.

After lunch and exploring the main plaza for a while, we headed back to my place. We had to pick up Taylor's laundry and get him packed for his midnight flight back to California. Only problem was, when we went to pick up the laundry at 7pm, it wasn't "ready." After waiting a bit, I went back and asked again. This time, the woman fessed up and said the laundry wasn't even there, and that it wouldn't be delivered until 9pm!!! 9pm is the time Taylor should be arriving AT the airport, so after a lot of arguing in Spanish, I found out where the laundry was and decided that we should pick it up....

That was an adventure. Traffic was gridlocked, and it took us FOREVER to get to the laundry place. Once we got there the place looked CLOSED! I was so mad, and started banging on the door. Finally someone came out but claimed they didn't have our laundry, that it was back at the other place...but after a few phone calls and even more arguing (I refused to pay because we spent the value of the laundry on cabs!) we got the clothes and got into another cab. We made it home in time to shove all Taylor's clothes into his bag (we missed a bunch, haha) and get a cab to the airport.

That stressful laundry event aside, everything had been so relaxing and fun, and I was really sad to have to say goodbye again! I had cried like a baby in the Dublin airport the last time I had to say goodbye, and I wasn't looking forward to this time either. But I tried to suck it up, and ended up only shedding a few accidental tears and composing myself enough to get a safe, official cab home.

Overall it was a great 2.5 weeks, and it was so cool to see the jungle and to show someone around Lima! It was great to have Taylor here, and I keep bugging him to try to get him to come back for Thanksgiving or something, otherwise I'm afraid we don't get to see each other until the holidays.

But I'm already on to more adventures and other travels, so I'll try to keep myself busy and maybe it will be New Year's before I even know it!


Pictures from the Jungle: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/6159

Hasta pronto,
~Kristyn