under construction... stay tuned for it to be finished and pictures in the picture gallery
LA to Toronto Road Trip August 2017 Of all the places I’ve backpacked and camped in Southern California, I'll miss Joshua Tree the most. It has become a sacred place that I can go to be alone, think, and challenge myself physically. I've lost count how many times I retreated to the Jtree desert, but I went one last time (for now) as the first stop on my trip to Toronto. One week in LA packing and recuperating from a 3-week Costa Rica field course (which was awesome see my Costa Rica post to come soon), I headed out to Joshua tree on Sunday 8/6. I camped at Hidden Valley instead of venturing into the back country at 2 am and scrambled all day in my favorite section of the wonderland of rocks. I drove out across the desert under the sunset and wondered where my "desert" in Toronto would be. After Joshua Tree I drove north to Bryce Canyon in Utah. I made it an hour until Bryce Canyon when I was like nahhh. Too many deer and way too tired at 2 am, so I pulled off at a random dirt parking lot. I tried to sleep in my car but quickly realized that wasn’t happening, so I laid out a tarp on the rocky ground and passed out. I woke up to a bunch of cars rushing by at 10 am and realized I was kind of passed out in a ditch on the side of a sort of busy road. Woops. I drove the rest of the way up to Bryce Canyon, and drove around for a while. The hoodoos were super impressive but it was a weird park that seemed to be designed for tourists, of which there were hordes (on a Tuesday morning!). Next, I was on to Zion, which I'm convinced (just like the Mormons were) is a doorway to heaven. The gigantic sloping walls of red rock with zigzags and stripes across them, and bright green bushes and vines was just humbling. Again, though, there were hordes of tourists so I pretty much just drove through the whole park. In the middle, there is this super long tunnel- so much fun but so scary! After Zion, I kind of aimlessly drove around southern Utah/ Arizona. At one point, I came to an intersection that said Grand Canyon =>. I wasn’t planning on hitting the GC because I thought it was further out of the way but I accidentally drove only an hour or so within it. So, I spontaneously decided to go. It was pretty sweet, mainly because I got to see some buffalo! It was also a really nice drive and an impressive view, but again the hordes! I drove back out to a nice national forest roadside camp site I found and spent the night. The next day I ventured north to capitol reef NP, and canyonlands NP. It was a stunning drive across desert and canyons. At one point, I missed a turn where I planned to go north, but went all the way down a valley and into deep south east Utah. I found a campsite??????..\ The next day I drove north to Moab and drove through Arches NP and Canyonlands NP. Both were cool but Arches was sooo horded. Canyonlands, well had a lot of canyons, big canyons. I drove east into Colorado and found a couple camping spots but for some reason kept driving into the mountains. I drove up to a little ski resort town by accident, and drove around dirt roads for a bit. I finally found a great spot secluded out in the hills and camped. I hiked around and up to a big cliff in the day and stayed there again the next night. Next I drove up to Black Canyon of the Gunisson NP. It is this super deep and steep canyon that the ?? River flows through. The next day I drove up to Boulder to hang out with Marjorie. I stayed with her and her awesome dog that night, got breakfast in the morning and headed out to Rocky Mountain National Park. Even though it was mostly cloudy, the mountains were incredible. I pretty much drove through it all and got out for a short hike. The hoards weren't terrible but they were there. I drove out and up through Colorado into Wyoming, jumping back and forth between sides of the continent. I came across a national wildlife refuge and drove around and saw some cool wildlife... I drove into Wyoming in the evening and drove for long time even once it got dark because I couldn’t find a decent spot to camp. This is mainly because I made a bad decision to be safe because there was a huge lightning storm the way I had planned to go, and it scared me. So, I went where the nice skies were, which also was outside the national forest so no nice camping spots off the road. So, I ended up sleeping in a big turnout in my car because it was raining. Not the most comfortable night’s sleep. I woke up early and drove through Wyoming. I drove past a wildlife research station that had buffalo and elk right up next to the road. I drove through Wyoming and into South Dakota to the Bad Lands. **sentene about the badlands. I drove around for a while until I found a good turn out to park in, and packed up my backpack, but then it started to pour. Instead of getting soaked, I waited the quick storm out in my car and then hiked out a bit into the hills and camped. When I hiked out to my car the next morning, I was met by a Native American guy, his daughter and another woman. They were on some kind of culture tour and invited me to participate in a ceremony. I was like sure, why not? Until the guy told me to take off my shirt and dance around while they wipped me... i was like errrrr hahha...?. But the guy actually sang and played some nice music and said some Native American prayers. It was random to say the least. From the Badlands, I drove east for a really long time. At one point I had to choose: Chicago, Michigan, or Minnesota/ Canada to get to Toronto. I chose Michigan because it seemed like it had the most nature and good secluded roads. I got somewhere into Wisconsin and camped in an empty national forest campsite but the ground was soaked and it poured all night so I woke up drenched and shivering. But it was okay because no one else was there so I could act like a wet and cold idiot all by myself. From Wisconsin, I drove a long day north and into the upper peninsula of Michigan. I drove around for a long time and the only good camp sites I could find had no camping signs near them. So, by 2 am, delirious and over it (and remembering all my tent stuff was soaked still), I slept in my car. It was pretty uncomfortable…. **need to finish.
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go to lmucostarica2017.com for the course blog
in construction... stay tuned for pictures in the picture gallery
Day 0 December 20, 2015 I’m finally on my way to South America! I stop in Panama before I get to Guayaquil, and then it’s on to Cuenca by bus. I get to the field station outside of Cuenca on Tuesday. Day 1 December 21, 2015 Got to Cuenca safely after 22 hours of travel! A pretty loose schedule of my next 2ish months: I’m going to do a field assistantship with Anusha, a Stony Brook PhD ecology candidate, with her research on hummingbird physiology. So I’ll be in Cuenca area until January 10th or so. Then it’s on to the Cordillera Blanca in Peru (Alpamayo circuit). Ill trek for a few weeks and eventually get down to Lima by the end of February. If I have time I’ll go to Cusco and maybe do Machu Pichu or another less touristy hike. Then I’ll fly home to New York in early March! I’ll trry to keep this site updated with pictures every few days but sorry in advance if I’m slacking. Day 2 December 22, 2015 Made it to the field station, and met Anusha, Julisa, Doña Rosa, and 2 baby 2 lambs! (One lamb was born a few days ago). Also there’s a flock of alpaca, sheep, geese, chickens, 5 dogs (one pregnant), and a guinea pig coup (yes, for livestock). I did my first behavior point-sect and saw a few hummingbirds and awesome turquoise colored jay (I forget the species name). [post edit: ____] We’ll mist net later and hopefully catch some hummingbirds so we can run respirometer tests to measure their energy expenditure during the day and whether they go into torpor at night. Thursday we will be going to Cuenca for the Christmas parade and festivities, and then I may go to Quito for New Years (or go camping). December 29/30 Christmas eve and Christmas were great! We went into Cuenca and saw the end of the parade, met up with Jenny (the PhD student I was originally supposed to work with), went to Anusha’s collaborator’s family’s home for dinner (awesome people) and them went out dancing (yeah I actually danced, can you believe it?) and drinking that night. On Christmas day we went to lunch at the family of Vero, Anusha’s friend who studies herpetology at the university (she already has discovered a new species of glass frog and helped with 5 or so other similar discoveries). They were awesome and 5 generations were present! The great-great grandmother swore she knew me from San Francisco (she was a bit crazy but so nice and cute). The next day we were back in La Paz and netting and running physiology experiments again. Cuca had 7 tiny puppies!! And another sheep gave birth. Julisa had to leave for home early a couple of days ago, so now it is just Anusha and I until her boyfriend gets here tonight and we meet up with Anita (another field assistant) at her family’s home for dinner. We are now in Quito for New Years after a long night bus filled with crying babies. I plan to explore/wander the city and find a rock climbing gym over the next few days, and of course party!! We return to La Paz on the morning of the 2nd with Anita and we’ll be back to finishing up the experiments. Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Happy New Year! Dec 30 evening- 31 Last night we met up with Anita for some beers before we went to her Aunt’s family’s home (suuuper nice) for empanadas, bread and coffee. Anita’s family was awesome and really interesting. They told us all about a bunch of super random New Year’s traditions like making effigies, burning them, and then running around with your fully packed traveling bags, jumping over the smaller ones (some even have fire crackers in them!). In the day, people show off their gigantic paper maché characters on Ave Amazonia and at midnight they set them ablaze to bring in the new years and their resolutions. Anita’s family had a Pluto (picture). Another funny one is the type of underwear you wear today for the type of wish you make for the next year: red= love, yellow= money. Dec 31 Today I explored Quito much more and quite randomly. My main goal for the day was to find this rock climbing gym across the city and since I hate cabs I walked and on the way explored a few nice parks and some fairly sketchy but super interesting neighborhoods. I enjoyed these so much more than the bustling historical center and gringo world which are obviously super touristy. My other goal was to find an authentic place to eat lunch. I was getting close to the gym and losing hope (because I skipped the main food area) until I turned a corner and practically walked straight into this little mom and pop shop serving arroz y pollo and this awesome juice (that I have no idea what it was, but it was goood). I continued on and found the gym (it was outdoors) but of course it was closed and didn’t look like it had been open in months. But the walls looked awesome so I was pretty disappointed. So, I continued on to some hills to the east of quito and started walking up into the barrios (super poor neighborhoods in the hills). At one point I stopped and watched a soccer game for 15 or so minutes and then continued on up the hill, which quickly got much steeper and sketchier. I pretty much walked straight up on a narrow trail until I got to the top where I found some roads and walked along the ridge for a while. Then I walked all the way down the valley only to realize that the other side across the river was super steep and not hike-able (for me that’s saying something because I usually will just beeline it up). So I just walked back up and around the gorge intending to end up at a big park. I got to the park and literally as I walked up to the gate the security guard closed it and said they were closed. So I started my walk back to the Airbnb where I was staying, which was a walk through pretty much constant street parties of cross-dressed guys stopping cars and getting them to give them money by dancing, kissing the car, and even leaning in the window and kissing the driver! (it was bizarre but hilarious). I finally got back at literally the same exact time as Anusha and her boyfriend, Pratik, and I’m now resting up before we go to an Indian restaurant (they’re both Indian so I’m excited because they’ll be able to recommend the best stuff. Later tonight I plan on going out to some bars for new years with Anusha, her boyfriend, and Anita and watch people burn shit in the streets! Happy new years to everyone! ** Write post edit about new years night??** Jan 1st- 4th My New Years day was a slow one, I just relaxed in a nice park above Quito and walked around some more (exhausted from the night before). We left Quito Friday night, got back to La Paz on Saturday afternoon, and got right back to work changing net locations and netting. We caught some birds but no male hummingbirds, so we got a good night’s sleep because no torpor! The morning of the 3rd we netted and caught 10 or so birds, including 2 male hummingbirds, and then at night again birds but no male hummingbirds. Weirdly enough this morning we caught 2 male hummingbirds of the same species as yesterday and ran experiments on them (one went into semi-torpor (bad!) so we revived it and released it early). It’s been an exhausting few days but despite having to power nap at any available time (even for 5 minutes), I’ve been enjoying being busy because I’ve got the hang of most of the experiments and tasks, so now I can enjoy learning more and getting more experience without having to really worry about messing up. With less than a week left in La Paz, it feels like I’ve been here for at least a month, rather than 2 weeks. It’s weird to me that I already call this place a home, but it’s even more strange that I won’t be here this time next week! Though it will be odd transitioning from research to vacation, I’m super excited for my first short trip, to Cajas National Park which is about an hour outside of Cuenca. After a few days camping and hiking there, I’ll head back to Cuenca for a night or 2 and then get on my way to Peru. Last Day in El Gullan Today we left El Gullan. It was weird leaving even after 2 and a half weeks (Anusha was there for 7 months!) and I'm disappointed that I didn't have more time there to do field work because that means no more hummingbird handling, but I'm stoked for the next part of my trip! I'm going to chill in Cuenca today and tomorrow and pick up a few things like fuel and rain boots before I head to Cajas National Park on Monday. I just found out there is supposed to be really good climbing a bouldering there so I’m pretty excited about that; at El Gullan there was only powdery limestone so I had to climb pine trees. But it’s also moat likely going to be super rainy so finally I'll get to use all my rain gear (it only rained in El Gullan yesterday and the day before). I'll probably come back to Cuenca after a few days and then head to Loja (back in the direction of La Paz/ El Gullan but much further south. I’ll spend a few days in Podocarpus National Park (super close to Loja) before starting my adventure down to Peru. Apparently (according to lots of backpacker blogs) it's going to be fairly sketchy and long with a bunch of busses and a possibly very confusing border crossing, but I'm looking forward to pretty much just winging it and seeing how it goes! Jan 9 I had a pretty chill day in Cuenca yesterday. In the morning, Anita, Anusha, Pratik and I had breakfast and said our goodbyes. After I ran some errands I came back to the hostel and ran into Jenny's (the soon to be PhD I was originally supposed to work with) field assistants who were staying in the room next door. We chilled and drank some beers and then ended up talking to this super interesting dude who is living downstairs about all kinds of crazy stuff (he was a psychologist and just had such an interesting perspective on personality disorders and behavior and I actually learned so much). Also Alisa and Allen (the field assistants) were planning on going to Cajas too to see the sword-billed hummingbird (one of all of our goals for Ecuador) so we are going to go this morning together. Anita and I finally finished our not-so-secret Santa gifts yesterday morning. Her gift to me was awesome! It is a painting of a woodpecker on a block of pine wood. What makes it even cooler is that I saw that exact bird the first day I was at El Gullan and it was the first bird I (with the help of Julisa) identified (and Anita had no idea!) My gift to her was a carved and painted hummingbird which kept breaking (first the bill, then both the wings) but luckily I found superglue this morning and fixed it. Julisa painted and framed a fern branch with some writing about "fucking ferns" (It was a joke because ferns persistently got stuck in nets when moving/ taking them down and it was extremely frustrating to take them out. Anusha made a little holder for things out of sticks, pine needles and lichen. These are the pictures (I'll add pictures of Julisa's and Anusha's when I get them): Cajas Trek Jan 10 – Jan 13 Jan 10- Day 1 I made it to Cajas today, after a cheap 2-dollar bus ride. I stopped at a lower station to get situated with the trails and plan my trek. Unfortunately I couldn't find a map to take but I just took some pictures of the big one in the interpretation center. After I spent a while planning where I would go, I tried to start out, but was quickly stopped by a ranger before I even got to the trail because only 100 people were allowed at that lake per day. I said okay, whatever, there are like 250 something more lakes! So I started my journey up the road a couple miles to get to the trail that I wanted to take the first one to. I made it up to Tres Cruses and soon after I found the trailhead. I hiked down from about 4000 m to 3800 m along a few amazing lakes and absolutely stunning mountains (a constant theme of Cajas). At about 5 I looked up and saw this awesome rock face about 15 m high with some diagonal cracks and knew I had to climb it. All the cracks had a bunch of mosses and plants growing in them but I cleaned some off and figured out the base pretty quick after. It was getting a bit dark so I found spot at the bottom of the rock to make camp, made some freeze-dried chili mac with beef (thanks mom) and passed out by 7. It wasn’t a very cold night once I was snug in my warm sleeping bag (again, thanks mom!) At 2 am or so I woke up and looked outside, and the stars were stunning. I could see the whole milky way super clearly and if I wasn't super tired and cold I would have stayed out to find some constellations and galaxies, maybe even catch a few shooting stars from the tail end of the Quadratid meteor shower. But I didn't, so I'll try tonight. Some pictures from the day: Jan 11- Day 2 I woke up around 8 this morning to a loud sneeze (I don't think it was mine, but it totally could have been in my dream which I was clarifying to someone what the shannon diversity index was used for (lol gotta love those bio dreams)). I got out of my tent and was putting on my shoes when a hummingbird (Ecuadorian hillstar) (which I had saw on a poster a few days earlier and thought looked sick), darted by and perched my tent. I tried to get a picture but he was to quick. I climbed the rock until about 12, slowly progressing up to this large slopey triangle indent. When I finally reached it, I decided not to go further with no ropes and not even a crashpad because when my leg started shaking after I got my foot into this sketchy crack that if I had stood up on I probably would have sent it. I was pretty pissed but satisfied because reaching the triangle was my original realistic goal. I packed up and started a hike to meet up with another trail that will take me through the middle part of the park. At the bottom of the valley, I said hi to a herd of 10 (wild?- no brands) horses, which from the top of the hill I thought were cows because of their patterns). They were all super pretty and pretty nice- I got within 5 feet of 2 and only when I stepped on a stick accidentally did they get a bit defensive. I also stumbled upon a bull which was clearly more pissed off as he kept watching me and grunting. After deciding to cut my original plan off and go around the other side of a lake, I found myself on a super sketchy path that was at points inches from the water. The path went all the way around to the waterfall I was aiming for (that’s where I would meet up with the next route). I climbed straight up the long waterfall/stream, because why not, and once at the top I found the trail and walked around yet another lake. At the other side, before climbing up another waterfall/ stream thing, I napped for a bit because the sun came out and was super nice. Once I made it up the second stream, you guessed it, another lake! On the north side of the lake there were a ton of great looking boulders/ faces and I couldn’t resist checking them out (the trail went to the south of the lake). I found a bunch of really cool looking routes on a few different rocks and climbed one tonight before I made camp and food (this time freeze-dried rice and chicken and ice cream-thanks again mom!). I’m super tired so I’m going to pass out early again and hopefully wake up by 4 or 5 to see some stars and the sunrise (well see if that actually happens). Whatever time I get up I'll definitely climb for a few hours and then make my way down the trail as far as I can before nightfall. Some pictures: Jan 12- day 3 So instead of waking up at 4 or 5 to stargaze, I accidentally woke up at 10 because it was so warm and nice in my tent (though I did get up at 430 and looked outside but all I could see was fog). Of course sleeping 15 hours left me groggy and sluggish, so I started climbing at around 11. I first found a pretty easy but fun rock and climbed 2 different routes on it. Then I went back to the rock that originally caught my attention and climbed it again. Right across from that rock was this other challenging slab with a bunch of tiny 1 or 2 finger holes and 2 huge ones at the bottom. I spent the rest if the morning until 1 on the rock trying to figure it out and slowly getting up there until I was too tired to hold onto one super important move. One more try, and my shoulder half popped out so I called it quits. I packed up and started what I thought would be a mostly downhill hike, but boy was I wrong. My first lesson learned in map reading for mountaineering... Don’t just say "eh, doesn’t look to steep" without looking at it twice. I made it up eventually though and the view from the other side of the ridge was well worth the struggle. I hiked around on the side of a mountain looking down on a few shimmering lakes way below and when I made it around, I decided to ditch my backpack and climb to the top of a peak about 200 m up from where I was. Right when I found a good spot to hide my bag from the rain (and the nonexistent other hikers), it started hailing! They weren't too big but they were coming down hard and cold. I tried to wait it out under the rock with my bag for 20 minutes thinking it might just end up drizzling and I could go hike to the peak, but I was wrong so I threw on my poncho for the first time and started down the mountain towards some other lakes which I would cut around to meet another trail down the hill. The storm kept pelting me which I could deal with but then the lightning started and I was still pretty high up, wet, and out in the open (and I realized I wasn't too sure what to do in that situation). So I got a bit sketched out, especially when I saw 2 bolts strike nearby peaks. I just kept walking down because there wasn’t much else to do, and then I was stumbled upon this sick cave which I decided to make dinner in and since my mess kit was in the bottom of my pack, to make camp for the night. So I didn't get as much distance in today as I hoped, but I won't climb in the morning and I'll get up around 6 and start hiking early to make up the distance. Hopefully by 3 or 4 I'll make it down to a more forestry area (up here it’s all boggy) to try to see the sword billed hummingbird and catch a bus back to Cuenca, but if not I'll camp in that lower area and get back to Cuenca early Thursday. Some pictures:(my phone ran out of memory so I was using my other camera for most of the day, so I can't upload those until i get to a computer, which wont be for a couple months haha. Jan 13- day 4 Today was a long day. After a cold night of waking up pretty frequently (I think because I went to sleep so early) I woke up at 630, packed up and left the cave (which I realized would have been sick to climb if I were much, much better) by 730. I then walked for 10 hours straight (okay, I took a half hour break to refill water but that’s not included in the 10 hours). I walked so much I don't even really remember specifics besides that all the views were obviously awesome! At one point I read the map wrong again (more like I just didn’t read it) and had to climb a fairly large incline but I got up it easily (I had just taken my break). After the pass, I hiked down through the forested valley to get out of the park. I stopped very frequently to spot some birds, but never saw the swordbill. It started pouring about half way down so I eventually got pretty drenched (mainly my legs). The really 'interesting' part came when I got all the way down the hill. I could see the lake that was supposed to be the edge of the park, but a barbed wire fence impeded my progress. I walked around a bit but a river stopped me as the crossings all of them were way to deep. So I hopped the fence, which I thought was the edge of private property, and continued on the trail. Of course I didn't have that portion of the map (lesson 2 in map reading... Have the damn map!). For some reason I was trying to avoid some buildings to my right (where the trail led) so I walked across the marsh which was pretty much completely flooded up to my knees to get to this path that I could see from across the marsh that I convinced myself was the right trail. Once I got to that path, it dawned on me that the original trail went straight through the buildings! I was there anyway so I walked all the way around the lake through more forest and eventually got to those buildings, sharply turned around on a dirt road and walked out to a parking and reception area. Then I decided to walk straight by that reception hut (where I could have gotten them to call me a taxi) and walked 2ish miles on this super annoying cobble stone road up to the main road. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to hop on a bus or hail a passing cab, yeah right! Only one bus passed (the driver of which I later gave a mean glare as I sped passed it). After 20 minutes of walking down the long road to Cuenca (which I estimated might have taken another 5-6 hours), I hitch-hiked for the first time and it was a total success! Also it was quite fun riding in the back of a pickup, though the driver almost killed us several times trying to pass slow moving cars/ trucks. I survived though and finally made it back to the hostel, which was full! But I got a room at the one across the street, and then went to the Columbian place down the block for some food finally and then a pizza place because I was still hungry (I ate some granola and freeze-dried ice cream the whole day). Jan 15 I got a late start today leaving Cuenca for Loja. I was planning on leaving early so I could get to Loja by afternoon and get to Podocarpus by the time they closed (I feel like it might be difficult to get into the park after dark). But I was kind of slacking this morning, taking a while to pack up and get food at the grocery store, and then I waited like a half hour for an egg sandwich which confirmed that I would miss my bus. But I checked out finally and got to the bus station and got on another bus after waiting for an hour or so (they go every half hour except for 1130-1). The bus ride was fine but I couldn't sleep because of the movies, which I tried to follow along in Spanish (at least this time they were real movies that were just dubbed over, not weird Spanish soap opera type movies which they've shown in the past). I got to Loja and I just did not feel like staying the night there in another city, so I hopped on a bus to Vilcabamba, a town which is supposedly known for its super long lived old people and hippie atmosphere (I haven't seen too many old people yet, but it does seem pretty chill.) I went to this random restaurant/ bar called Pura Vida run by a bunch of foreigners (Germans, Swedish, American, plus a few Ecuadorians). I ordered the pulled pork sandwich (which I’m pretty sure was microwaved chicken and definitely not pulled), but I didn't care, it was good (plus it came with pickles!). After dinner I chilled at the bar and talked to the Germans for a couple hours. They are super interesting and Lunz even invited me to come work at their homestead like place for the week. Since I really have no set schedule I think I will take him up on that offer, why not! I hope to get a sense of how expat living in the mountains outside a small chill Ecuadorian town is. Who knows, maybe if I like it I'll end up doing something similar way down the road. So I'll probably push off Peru got a week or do more in Ecuador, but I'll get down to the Huaraz soon enough! Jan 17 I woke up super late today, woops. But I came back to Pura Vida to meet Louisa and we are going to go up into the mountains this evening. Ill probably stay the whole week, and I'm not sure what I’ll be doing but I'll find out soon enough! Sacred Suenos Week 1 So I’ve been at Sacred Suenos for 1 week now and it has been pretty cool! Ive done a bunch of earth bagging (moving dirt, pouring into long bags, and pounding down), rock moving, contour ditch digging, and fern pulling, tree cutting. The people here are really chill and very welcoming. Though I’ve been doing lots of physical work, this is the nicest and most relaxing break I’ve had in years! I wake up to the view of the valley and mountains every morning, and watch a stunning sunset almost every night. If you want to know more about Sacred Suenos look it up online, I haven't but I hear the website is great. I might be down during the week but if not I'll update next Sunday! Also happy birthday will! (My brother) Jan 31 I came down from the mountain last night and plan to move on with my travels today! I think since I never saw actual Podocarpus I will go into the park today at the Zamora entrance today and camp for a day or 2. After that Ill finally get on my way to Peru! Feb 1-7 So I’ve had an interesting week. In short, I got lost in the jungle, stumbled upon a few campsites with food and a machete which were super helpful, and then finally got out and back to Zamora after 7 days of bushwhacking through a cloud forest. The longer version: I got to Zamora kind of late (it was already dark) so I looked up how to get to Podocarpus from the bus station and took off walking. I reached the park after a couple hours, but fell asleep at a river bed because I didn’t want to talk to the guards and people there and explain that I was trying to go out and camp in a place where people don’t generally camp (luckily it didn’t rain). I awoke to a Dutch guy taking pictures around my river digs. We met and went on a short nature hike (he was a botanist!). We parted ways and I took off down a path. After thinking about it on the bus to Zamora, I decided to try to walk back to Sacred Suenos through the mountains. I figured if I could make it through the jungle and to this more alpine boggy area that I would be able to make it. I thought it would take about a week (oh by the way I had absolutely no map haha). I walked for a few hours on one of the worst paths I’ve ever hiked. Literally every 20 meters there was another downed tree I had to climb under, over, around or through, its branches entangled with vines and bamboo stalks. I often felt like a fly in a spider web when I just got stuck in a particularly hairy mess (oh and every few steps I got a spider and spider web in my face). Eventually I found a nice (I thought at the time) river with a dry rocky island in the middle. I decided to make camp early because I was exhausted from the night before. For some reason I thought it would be fine to construct a makeshift canopy with my rainfly on a rock and crawl under it (I was pretty much praying that it didn’t rain). Well that failed miserably once it started pouring and I managed to put up my tent on some super uncomfortable rocks and dug in for the worst night in the field on this whole trip! Not much that I could do the next day but walk some more, so I walked some more. I passed a cabin (which I walked by because I thought it was sketchy and like someone was living there. But when I eventually stumbled upon a tent camp which I found some cans of beef stew and some powdered soup stuff. Stoked on my find, I made a big dinner, had a super dry night (even though it poured) and then continued walk the next day. I walked all day and into the night looking for a suitable flat spot for my tent. Didn’t find one until my legs decided for me- to just pitch it on the trail. It worked and I was fairly dry, but another not so great night. Another hour up the "trail" I found another tent camp! This one with a spectacular view (when the clouds didn’t block it) and even better, lots of food! I picked up a few cans of beef stew, some pasta, and chicken soup mix. Best of all though was the machete!! It made the rest of the hiking much easier (less getting stuck in the vines and trees and more fighting them). I think it was day 3 of hiking and it was still very early so I kept walking up the mountain, still somewhat on track to getting up to a ridge that would take me to the alpine boggy area. I walked that day until I could not find a path that I could fit through. After trying a few different vague paths and coming to terms with the facts that I had no map whatsoever (my google maps decided to not even tell me where I was on the map like it normally does), that my phone had died, and that I had lost my watch on day 1 so I had no real sense of time, I accepted my failure and turned around. I had a good night at the 2nd tent camp, then another at the 1st. Then I stayed the last night at the cabin (which was not at all occupied haha). I made a nice fire and dried out all my wet stuff and cooked a whole bunch of food. Then I walked out today and found a hotel (It has its own bathroom!!) I pigged out all night on ice cream and bread and sweets and just relaxed. I’ll probably do the same tomorrow and then finnnaalllly head to Peru. Some pictures: Feb 9-10: Zamora Ecuador to Mancora Peru I made it to Peru finally! Well the border crossing was as expected- extremely confusing! I got a bus to Loja in the morning, chilled the whole day till 10 pm for a bus to Huaquillas, a border town on the Ecuador side. When we got to Huquillas, it was 330 am and there was only I and another man on the bus still. The bus driver just stopped on some random street and said he wouldn’t go any further. I was expecting there to be some sort of bus station, but nope, so I walked towards the border, couldn’t find an immigration booth, crossed over a bridge, and asked a Peruvian police man what to do. He told me I had to go to the actual border crossing, a bit away by taxi. So I went back to Ecuador, got a taxi, and went to the crossing. I was assuming that I needed to first go to the Ecuador booth to get my exit stamp, then the Peruvian one to get my entry stamp. So I told the guy to stop at the Ecuadorian one, where the guy told me, nope, that one is just for entry into Ecuador. So I went to the Peruvian one and got my passport stamped (the Ecuadorian guy was a jerk because I woke him up from a nap haha). Yay finally I was officially in Peru! Now how do I get anywhere? I got a taxi and got him to take me to Tumbes, the nearest town, where I thought there would be a proper bus station (because he told me there was one). Nope! Just a street with a bunch of 10 seater vans with a bunch of guys screaming "Mancora!" Or "Pirua!". The taxi driver dropped me at the Mancora van and I got my bag and myself loaded onto the cramped van with 6 other people in it already. By the looks of their faces I could tell something was up. They had been waiting for at least an hour for the driver to leave because he wanted it to be a full van. After 20 or so minutes, four of the people ran out urgently and down the street trying to catch another van that had just left for Mancora. I tried to follow but my bag was on top of the van. So the three of us left waited longer. Until finally the van was full of 9 people plus the driver and a crap ton of fruits that some guys were transporting. We were on our way about an hour (out of the 2ish hour drive down the coast) when all if a sudden the whole van started shaking along with a terrible bumping/scraping noise. Flat tire! Actually not a flat tire, a stripped tire. Somehow (I couldn't even think of what would have done that on such a flat, paved road) the outside of the tire just peeled away. After another half hour of the driver rushing to replace the tire, and then trying to fit the warped one back on the car (eventually he just shoved it into the barely existent trunk), we were on our way to Mancora again! I made it to Mancora! When I got here I just wandered around until I got a hostel and then passed out till 4! Then I got some food at some beach restaurant and chatted with some random dudes. Then I went for a walk on the beach and ran into some super random people. I hung out with Mark and Tabita for the night and planning to wander with them tomorrow. Feb 12 I've just been chilling in Mancora for the last couple days, walking and relaxing on the beach, eating food, and walking around town. But I’m pretty bored of this little town so I booked a ticket to Trujillo today and I leave tonight. Ill check out this little beach town called Huancacho for maybe a night and then get up to the mountains in Huaraz. Feb 13 and 14 Well I feel like an idiot!!I missed my bus because I couldn’t find it! It was definitely not in the place where the lady told me it would be. I was very confused, but I’m just going to spend another night in Mancora and leave in the morning. Also another stupid mistake was getting super sunburnt at the beach yesterday. It makes carrying a backpack quite uncomfortable haha. Woops! This morning I woke up early after a terrible night's sleep (I stayed at this super terrible hostel - I knew it before I got it but said whatever) and decided to get a bus straight (i have to connect in a town near it) to Huaraz. It was expensive-90soles- (especially after trashing 40 soles last night) but after Mancora I am pretty over the beach and just want to get back to the mountains! The bus is at 5 though so I’ve been chilling in the only shady spot on the beach for a few hours trying to decide the rest of my trip. But then the shade got tiny so I went to get lunch and wifi. Feb 15 Ahhh Peruvian busses are the worst! So I got on my correct bus (at an incorrect location) last night just as it was leaving at 5, although it was a 530 bus. It was soooo hot, especially because I had the front top seat (right in front of the windshield with the sun blaring through) I dealt with it (and ate lots of snacks for the 15 hour bus. In the morning we passed through Casma (the city I was supposed to get off at) without even stopping! So I didn’t realize it was actually Casma until my phones google maps started working and I realized the bus passed it. Not feeling like hitchhiking in the barren desert, I stayed on until the next town, then waited around for a car back to Casma to get full. Since it was only 5 soles, I scrunched up in the trunk (it was a station wagon) with another dude and my bag, and then half way through the trip the other people got out, so I got a real seat for the same price. Anyway, I finally got back to Casma an hour ago, and figured out how to get a real bus (not one of the many 30 soles cars that I Would have to wait around forever in a hot car for) for 20 soles. So i have to wait around for 2 hours, but at least I could leave and find a half shady park to chill in. So far Peru is my least favorite country for transportation! I had expected it would be poor, but not this random! At most 'bus stations' (more like sides of street) there are just guys shouting and running around. There’s never any labeled on the buses or where they are parked, and never any ticket checks when you get on. And then there’s the cars and vans which are fast when you finally get going, but they usually take at least an hour or 2 of waiting to finally get full to leave. Plus they’re always very cramped, even if you don’t have to squeeze into the trunk! Well now that I’ve got a bus to Huaraz and getting one down to Lima should be easy, i hope that I am over the worst of my Peruvian transportation adventures (more like debacles). Woohoo! No more confusing situations! I got to Huaraz finally! I feel so much better now that I’m secure. I got a nice room in a hotel/hostel and now I’m getting dinner before I go have the first actual night's sleep in a few days. Feb 16 I’ve just been hanging in Huaraz the last 2 days getting some supplies together and relaxing. I finally found a good map (not the best) with topography and some trails so hopefully I'll be able to stay on course easily. Though that’s only for the north, so I’m still without a real map (I have a simple tourist one for near Huaraz) for the next few days while I explore the mountains near Huaraz. I'll be back in a few days but till then (Friday or Saturday) im completely out of reach! ***write a post edit or find a post about the week long hike in huaraz mountains… Santa Cruz/ ALpamayo Trek Day 1 My only real goal for today was to get to the trail head from Huaraz. I left kind of late, but got to Caraz at about 1. There, I wandered around trying to find a cheap ride to Huancallan where I was planning on starting my trek. I finally found the taxi/ mini bus place, but the taxi drivers insisted there were no minibusses (super cheap) and that I had to take a 130 soles taxi (30 bucks). So I decided to go with the cheaper option (40 soles) and go to Cashapampa, where the Santa Cruz trail starts. I figured I would just do my original trek in reverse. I got to Cashapampa and the trail head and since there was beer stand right there I had a couple beers and chatted with a few old indigenous ladies. They were trying to get me to marry one of their granddaughters, and when it got too awkward I started on my hike. I got a few hours up the trail and made camp. I was going to camp on this big flat rock, but some guys with donkeys passed and told me there was better spots 10 minutes up. Day 2. Today I hiked up the valley to these 2 lakes at about halfway through the whole valley. One of the lakes was more like a tiny pond with at least a hundred cows, horses, and donkeys surrounding it. The next lake was a lake, but not all that great looking, I found a hut (I later realized it was an abandoned partially constructed bathroom) on the beach and camped there for the night. Day 3. Today I hiked up to a really peaceful and sacred feeling lake. It was that beautiful turquoise color, and there were big cairns everywhere. I had some fun climbing across the outlet river on these vertical poles sticking out of the water, meditated a bit, and piled up a few cairns. Then I hiked across a short cut and made camp way up the valley. Day 4 Today I got up late (woops) and hiked up my first pass, Punta Union (4750 m) it was tough but not too bad until the rain started half way up. Once I got up it, it was even worse on the other side but I got down, the rain stopped for a couple minutes, and I made camp at the base of the next pass. It was a pretty mediocre night, but at least it wasn’t bad! Day 5 Hiked up my second pass today. After wandering back and forth up the bottom for 2 hours, I finally found the actual path. Then once the steep part started, the pass got significantly harder, mainly because of the super hard hail storm which also began. By the time I got to the top there was about an inch of hail in some spots! I hid behind a rock for 20 minutes (no caves) and got a bit of shelter since the hail and rain was coming sideways! Once the hail slowed down a bit I started down and made it to this cliff/hill/flat spot overlooking a big lake and made camp. Day 6 This morning was great! It was sunny and a but breezy for about an hour so I got all my wet gear and clothes dried up. I walked down and then to the base of my third pass, which I climbed and proceeded down the other side. Of course it had to start hailing and pouring, so I got pretty soaked as I slowly realized I was not going the right way at all. I was to wet and angry to take out my map and phone to figure out where the hell I was, so I just kept walking till I climbed up a waterfall and luckily found a decent flat spot at the top. I quickly made camp and once I was settled I figured out where I was. Turns out I went east at the top of the pass, but I was supposed to walk along the ridge a half a km and then continue north on the other side of the mountains. Day 7 So from where I was (off my map) I had to climb northwest back up the mountains and then along the ridge even further and finally down into the valley and back on the path. I eventually made it back on track but it was an unpleasant detour. Also at this point, I was realizing that I didn’t have enough food for the full 14 days I was planning on, and that I wasn’t taking any rest days, so I revised my schedule and plan to be out in 10 total days (I came pretty close at 11 days). Once I was back on track, I quickly lost the dang trail again (partially on purpose). I hiked halfway down the valley and then continued kind of straight to be sure I would hit this little town and road. I thought there might be a little market to buy cookies, some rice, and have a couple beers after a very stressful couple of days. I found the town and walked up the road (which eventually turned into the trail) but only saw people staring at me and saying "hola gringo! Tiened bon bons!?" I wanted to tell them, "no, but if I did I would be eating them myself, not giving them to you!" Haha (only kind of kidding-I was craving sweets). At this point (after the town) I was walking up a different valley which at the top flattened out at the base of some towering mountains. This flat area (like most in these mountains) was waterlogged and boggy, with a river and a bunch of streams going through it. My map showed the trail going half way up and then straight through the bog. I was confused at this, so I hugged the river looking for a bridge where the map showed it. It wasn’t there... In the process of walking up the river, I guarantee I made some interesting indigenous children (who were watching me walk) laugh hysterically when I stepped on a spot of grass (which is usually very hard and stable) and it felt like a water bed. I quickly realized I was screwed but it was too late. I fell through with both my legs up to my thighs in this nasty smelly red mud water stuff. It was pretty scary because if I didn’t turn around and grab onto some somewhat solid ground as I was falling, I have no idea how far I would have fell, maybe all the way in! Well I got the hell out of that area quickly and carefully, my legs covered in mud, and continued up on what were probably cow paths. Finally I found a bridge at the top of the river and walked all the way around the bog and met up with the actual path. Well It wasn’t the actual path because I followed it up the hill and found this little hut with some decent camp spots around it. The hut door was covered with branches and stuff but I moved it because I was really curious, and found a bunch of random stuff, but mainly fungusy potatoes. I have no idea what was the deal, but I just camped outside surrounded by cowpies. Day 8 The morning was decent. It was nice and sunny when I woke up, so I decided to wash my all my socks. Terrible decision! Though I would have fairly clean socks for the rest of the week, they would also be slightly wet and therefore stinky. Pretty much 10 minutes after I hung my clean stuff out, the sun went away and the wind stopped. So I packed up and started out a day that was pretty much totally up hill. The thing was I couldn’t find the trail again! I realized that this wasn’t the actual trail, so I had to hike down a few minutes and then back up on the other side of a small ridge. I made it up and over another pass and down to the northern most point on my hike, which is where I met that guy Jesus and his son with a hurt finger. It was a decent night but it was cool. Of course I was too tired to get water before I went to sleep, so at 2 am I woke up parched and decided to run a half of a km to the river to get water. It was miserable but worth the water! Day 9 Today was the best day of the whole trek! There wasn’t too much sun into the morning but my stuff was fairly dry anyway. I climbed 2 passes over about 10/11 miles today. It was super tough, especially since I hiked a lot the day before. I met an indigenous lady and her baby on the trail and walked with her for a bit. Everything went fairly slowly, but very steadily up the hills. There was barely any rain on either pass which was nice. Until the end of the day when it got dark and wet, so I found a sort of flat spot and camped. The night was pretty miserable though since it poured and my sleeping bag and other stuff got soaked. Day 10 today I got up early and hiked down a valley to get to another pass. I got lost and accidentally extended the hike an hour and a half and about 200 meters since I was heading down hill when I missed the turn. I got over the pass and made camp because I couldn't get to the last pass of my trip before it got dark. Day 11 Today I got up early and hiked all the way out! I hiked my last and highest pass, I saw a couple of cool lakes, and walked down a long way to Huancallan. Once I got there, I realized I was kinda screwed because I had no idea how to get transportation back to Caraz. I wandered around in thick fog and rain for a while until I found a minimarket and asked the owner to call a taxi. It was expensive, but I was glad to be back in a city with lots of food and a real, dry bed! The end! (Ill try to add pictures later today!) Back in civilization I've been relaxing in Caraz for a couple days after coming out of the mountains. Ill write up my experiences over the last 2 weeks in the next few days but in short, it was an amazing! It was very challenging at many points and so beautiful and fun at most other times. The challenging parts: I hiked about 70 miles (that’s a guess) including about 10 very steep passes. I got majorly lost once, and got minority lost another time. Both were very frustrating and cost me time and energy. A few nights I woke up with a soaked sleeping bag because of hard rain seeping through my tent I guess. Those nights and mornings were terrible. I had just enough food for the whole time, but I only had snacks for half way through, so I got pretty hungry. And even when I ate at night I half cooked the lentils because I wanted to eat, so dinner was repetitive and not so tasty. A lot of times there was rain and clouds and fog when I got to places that should have had particularly beautiful views, but I couldn’t see anything! Besides blocking views, the hail and rain storms I got caught in (often at the top of passes) were brutal and so uncomfortable. That’s a lot of bad sounding stuff, but it wasn’t all so bad, but all challenging. The awesome stuff: I found that while almost every pass was very difficult and strenuous, when I got to the top the feeling was so relieving and rewarding that the hike was well worth it! The few clear views that I had of mountains or lakes, and even of lakes when it was super foggy, were incredible. Its hard to describe the peace I felt at these moments and places. Essentially I could have stayed there forever if I didn’t have to keep moving (and if rain wasn’t coming). It was really interesting to observe the few indigenous mountain communities and meet some of the people. Once a man and his son came up to me as I was setting up camp (on his land) and asked for a bandaid for the baby's finger. They then just watched me set up my tent and chatted. One of my favorite aspects if the trip was the solitude. I was completely alone and reliant on myself. This made for incredible peace, lots of time to think and reflect, and a renewed sense of individualism. Just the physical aspect of walking however many miles up and down, I enjoyed the work out and after all the hiking I’ve been doing for the last 3 months I feel like I’m in the best physical shape since high school! I will upload the rest of my pictures (a lot) which are on my camera when I get to a computer. Lima I got to lima last night after an 8-hour bus ride from Huaraz. When I left the station, I saw hostels everywhere, so I thought it would be fairly easy to find a cheap one. Boy was I wrong! I walked around asking prices for an hour, and realized that they were all hook up hostels which charged by the hour.. Weird that there were soooo many of them but not one normal hostel! I finally found one which was 50 soles (damn expensive!) and settled for it. Then I went out for a walk and had an interesting experience- I got mugged! I’m totally fine though and have everything, I fought the 2 guys off (they ran away after I punched one). It was especially weird because there was plenty of people in the area and it was fairly well lit. I will admit I was kind of spacing out and clearly wandering through- not smart. Today I came down to Miraflores, a super gringoy area. But it’s much nicer than where I was last night despite the touristyness everywhere. I’ll spend today and tomorrow exploring here and then head to the airport tomorrow night to fly to New York! Back to the US I get back to New York today! I’ll be in NY till the 5th of April and then it’s back to LA! |
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