Moving

Seth on our bike ride with Chorillos and Baranco in the background before his shoes were stolen at the beach while we were sitting right next to them and he had to bike home barefoot!!


I'm moving tomorrow. I'm not moving particularly far away - the next suburb over - and I'm still in a foreign country - Peru - and as anxious I am to get my own place and not have a Peruvian roommate anymore, there is something sad about leaving. Maybe it was that when I came here not knowing any Spanish I had my roommate and neighbors who I could talk to. Maybe it was that it was the first time in over four weeks I could unpack my suitcase and hang things in a closet. Maybe it was that I could cook meals and not go out to eat for every meal (even though we go out a lot still).
What makes a place home? Is it the bed? Is it the people you live with or your neighbors? Is it going to the coffee shop nearby and getting to know the baristas? Is it being able to pronounce your street properly so that the taxistas know where to take you at 3am? Is it the fact you have your own bathroom with TP? Is it a pet or a plant? What makes your home the place you call home?
I love traveling and moving is a natural part of that experience. I find that I always call Minnesota home and only after living somewhere for at least a month or more can I call my new temporary residency "home." Once you live somewhere long enough to call it your "home" leaving that place means leaving memories (good and bad) and can be a bit emotional.
In my short life I have had many many roommates: from week long roommates at soccer camp to Boston and Macalester College roommates. I have lived with over 20 different people since high school (Kelly, Lizz, Sarah, Emmy, Mel, Laura, Sara, Bret, Sophie, Sam, Rosa, Anna, Camilo, Joey, Shannon, Eric, Mom and Dad (and Wynston), Val, Cara, Jackie, Val, Miranda, and Johnny) and after living on a couch in London to having nice apartment in Miraflores, I have called many different places home.
I am excited to move to San Isidro with a panoramic ocean view with beautiful sunsets every night. It is next to a delicious rotisserie chicken restaurant and next to a park that is part of the Malecon (the parks on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean). It is a large three bedroom and I will be hosting a large Thanksgiving Day dinner for over 40 of our American and Peruvian friends (some who have never had a proper Thanksgiving Day feast). I am very excited to explore a new area that's quiet and more residential but also a little sad and anxious that I somehow acquired a ton more stuff in three months and am NOT going to be able to pack it in two suitcases.

My new apartment building is basically the first tall building (in the middle of the photo) - the first tall one after the group of buildings on the right.

No pumas nor jaguars nor anacondas but look what we found in the rainforest!

Our Refugio Amazonas lodge 5 hours upstream from Puerto Maldonado
Puerto Maldonado, Peru
After we hiked to Machu Picchu, we took the train from Aguas Calientes to a nice bed and breakfast in Huaran (we highly recommended the Green House). We relaxed for a few nights and then had to wake up early (again) to take a taxi from the Sacred Valley to the Cusco airport where we boarded a plane and hopped over the Andes to Puerto Maldonado (near the Bolivia border). Flying in was amazing as it was almost all "downhill" and the untouched rainforest looked like an endless plate of broccoli with a big red piece of licorice (the Tambopata river) squiggling through it.
The airport's runway was roughWe were picked up by our tour company and taken by bus to the office to drop off our luggage that we didn't need to take to the selva (rainforest). Seth and I had re-packed our stuff in the airport into one small black bag and it was amusing to see the office packed with people and their HUGE suitcases trying to shuffle things around.

Our favorite animal of the trip - the saddle-back Tamarin (pocket monkey) - that jumps sideways from tree to tree.


QUICK NOTE TO ANYONE GOING TO THE SELVA: 1) go in the dry season; 2) if you can't do #1, make sure to pack lots of bug spray and ONE main outfit to wear over and over that you don't mind getting mud, more mud, bug spray, sweat, purple rainforest dyes, and more mud on with another outfit to lounge around the lodge in at night. You only need flip flops as you have to wear rubber boots to go hiking on any of the trails. Don't bring electronics since they only have electricity from 5-9pm, but don't forget your camera charger (like I did).

Since it had down poured the past two days, the road to the port was flooded which meant we had to go to a port farther down river. That doesn't sound so bad except that the river was SUPER high and it added a few hours to our boat ride up river to the Refugio Amazonas lodge. We saw lots of wildlife on the boat (see photos below - P.S. thanks Mom and Dad for the early Christmas/Birthday gift). We navigated up a very fast current in our narrow wooden boat around lots of logs and we arrived in time for a delicious dinner.

The highlights of the animals we saw are shown below. My personal highlights were seeing monkeys, going to a local farm and learning about (and tasting) all of the different rainforest fruits and learning how cheap they are in the local markets (the farmers are definitely not making money on the prices we pay in Lima or you pay in the USA), and seeing a big bicolor-spine porcupine at night chewing on the plywood in the laundry room (glad he wasn't in my room)!

Our guide saw Capybaras (the world's largest rodent) and weirdest thing we saw. The porcupine is the third largest rodent behind the capybara and beaver.
Red Howler monkeys at the Tambopata rainforest control checkpoint. I loved listening to them call out to the forest and mark their territory - very unique grumbling sound.
Macaws at a clay lick on the Tambopata river.

A Hoatzin in need of a haircut.

Giant chicken tarantula. Luis fed him grasshoppers that he caught.
Long-nosed bats that camouflaged very well into a dead tree on the side of the Oxbow lake.
White-lined fruit bat on a tree on our first hike. One night when Seth and I were playing cards, we saw a bunch of big brown bats flying into the lodge eating all the insects! They are really swift: quick and quiet.

Wild turkey in the tree. One of the many common animals that I didn't know lived in the rainforest. We also saw a red brocket deer, red squirrel, mosquitoes (lots of them), giant grasshoppers, fireflies, and others.

Super cute squirrel monkey that was spotted by our awesome guide, Luis.
Seth behind the blind at the clay lick nearly falling asleep waiting for the macaws and parrots to come down from the trees to lick the clay. We hiked over an hour on a trail that was flooded and had water nearly to our knees but it was worth it.

It rained, a lot. Can, can, can you do the... toucan!
Strangler fig tree in the Tambopata Reserve.
Hiking in the mud. Do I look like a wilderness explorer or what!?

Seth and I on the boat on our way to kayak down the Tambopata river. The current was so strong that we hardly had to paddle and we basically floated sideways (next to logs) as the rainforest passed us by. Too bad there wasn't much wildlife as the river was over 13 meters (usually around 3-5 meters in the dry season) and we couldn't see the shore.

Our bedroom with a nice hammock next to the wall that is missing/open that overlooks the rainforest. We had bednets to keep out the mosquitoes and giant grasshoppers and spiders.

Seth and our local (and short) guide, Luis, and I. He was awesome and very knowledgeable!

Better get back to work on my Fogarty projects (the PREVENCION papers, Center for Excellence projects, Heart attack perceptions retrospective analysis, and writing a few protocols for projects to start after the new year). Chau!

Machu Picchu

My boyfriend Seth left today to go home to the freezing cold state of Minnesota. We enjoyed two great weeks exploring Peru and its diverse landscape. Here are some photos from Cusco and our 4-day hike to Machu Picchu along the Camino Inca (Inca Trail).


Seth eating a fancy dinner of guinea pig (cuy) at MAP cafe in the Museo de Precolombino in Cusco the night before we started the hike. Not too bad except when you consider that you used to have guinea pig as a pet when you were a kid... poor Spike.

Saqsaywaman is an old temple overlooking Cusco and is one of the highlights of our trip (besides Machu Picchu). The rocks were rolled on logs from a quarry 8 km away. Look how big they are! They are carved to fit perfectly together and have withstood many earthquakes and are a fantastic Incan site that everyone who comes to Peru should try to visit.

Our group at the top of the third pass on the Camino Inca (Inca Trai). My friend Emily Howland, fellow Macalester soccer player and her friends, Devon and Anj who are traveling around the world, went with us and we met other awesome people in our group.

Steep steps with lots of people taking breaks. Our day packs had everything from bug spray and SPF to sunglasses and rain gear - and we used all of it everyday! Seth and I hired a porter which was a life saves as Seth wasn't feeling great for the first few days. It's part of the initiation into Peru but nonetheless it is not fun to be sick while hiking.

Our favorite ruins - Winywayna - with a nice hike down to a hidden waterfall (thanks Lizz for the tip) behind the terraces.

Can you see Seth?

The clouds in the valley next to Machu Picchu.
We woke up early every morning to hike but the last day was the worst as we had to get up at 3:45am to stand in line at the check-point until they opened at 5:30am and rush to Machu Picchu for sunrise. It was chilly and dark and it rained for the last hour of our hike before the Intipuku (Sun Gate, where you can see Machu Picchu for the first time). The valley was covered in clouds and we couldn't see anything when we got there. So we waited... and waited and finally walked down 45 minutes to the terraces above Machu Picchu but still, nothing. More waiting... ate our AM snack but still nothing but clouds. Then we climbed down to the entrance to check our bags and explore the ruins when all of a sudden the clouds lifted and you could see everything (except Winapicchu) but it was great!



An alpaca on Machu Picchu (or is it a llama- i can't tell the difference) but they are very cute.
Overall I would highly recommended this trip except November is the beginning of the rainy season and it rained everyday! Friends who have done this hike warned us and I will warn any adventurous readers who want to hike it - two of the four days are climbing up (and sometimes down) very steep stairs at altitude (12,000 ft or more). It's not easy (except our guide had an 80 year old on one trip so it can be done).
After a two-hour tour from our guide Jime (pronounced Jimmy in English) we relaxed on the terraces enjoying the beautiful views until our tummies were rumbling and it was time for lunch. It was weird to get on a bus after hiking. It was a bit confusing to be hiking and seeing lots of amazing ruins and going over mountain passes of over 13000 ft and camping outside when it was 40 degrees F and then seeing tourists with purses and make-up who were speaking dozens of languages on our last day when we hadn't showered. Oh well. The dirt road to Aguas Calientes, a horrible tourist town full of people who are only in Peru to go to Machu Picchu, had lots of switchbacks (with all the money that Machu Picchu makes you would think the road would be paved). We ate lunch at a restaurant that our guides get a commission for taking us to but the food was ok. Emily enjoyed a real coffee (none of that instant stuff they had on the trail) and we said goodbye as Seth and I boarded the train to Ollyatatambo for a few days in the Sacred Valley before heading to the Amazon (next post).
What a great trip!