Perú/Bolivia - Introducción

So...
Hello.
Welcome to my first ever blog thingy.
I had promised to post images and experiences from my trip just south of the equator, et voilà.
Enjoy.

~~~

My mom and I had decided a little while back to travel somewhere we both hadn't been instead of me flying over to Belgium to visit her and vice versa with her coming to NYC.
So our original plan was to hit up Cuba, get a rental, and trek around the one country, us free [half-]Americans can't travel to. I'll let the irony speak for itself.
I was to take a bus to Montreal, and hop on a flight via Kingston or Mexico City on to Havana.
Though in the end, the Great Satan proved too powerful, and it would have been somewhat of a mess to get there... not to mention the prospect of getting slapped with a hefty fine (+/- 120,000 Cuban Pesos).

Although, nevermind all that... we then both decided -relatively quickly- that we really wanted to experience all that is Machu Picchu (which, while we were there was in the running in becoming one of the new 7 wonders of the world, but more on that later. Much later.).

So, it was settled: a 24-day trip through Perú and Bolivia (June 8 - July 1, 2007).



My mom flew out of Amsterdam with KLM (and a modern airbus jet, with her own personal TV, games & movies on demand, free alcohol, and generally comfortable seats), and I flew out of Newark, NJ with Continental... well, you get my point.
I have never had to get from my apartment in Brooklyn to Newark airport, and I'll tell you I'll never do it again. What a mission. Here's the rundown: leaving at 11:30am, took G-train to C-train to Chambers Street (WorldTradeCenter), walk walk walk to PATH train to some train station in New Jersey, then took NJTransit to "airport," where I still had to take AirTrain to the real airport... I got to check-in @ 1:44pm, with 6min to spare.
Something still tells me it shouldn't take over 2 hours to get to Newark Airport. It was the only direct flight from "New York City" to Lima, but at that rate I might as well have left from JFK and spent those 2 hours sitting in Quito or San Juan waiting for my connecting flight...

The flight was only just over 7hours, (3631 miles, as stated on my boarding pass) but the interesting thing to me was that there is just a one hour time different between the NYC and Perú (and none with Bolivia), which means.... no jet lag!

I met up with the crew at Hotel Esperanza in the Miraflores district of Perú's capital, Lima...

Lima, Peru

This is only image I took in Lima... as I arrived around midnight, and we were to leave at 6:30 the next morning... I quickly went down the street, had some landfood and my first [of many delicious] cervezas... this one being a Cristal.

We would be back in Lima the day we left to fly back home, so more on Lima later, much much later.

~~~

"So Tim, how was your vacation...?"

Exhibit A:

va·ca·tion [vey-key-shuh n] –noun
a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest,
recreation; recess or holiday.

I keep stating it wasn't a vacation, first of all I am generally umemployed, I already finished my studies, and this trip was far from anything called 'rest'... although I can admit it was a recess from the pleasures that are American life and the relaxing qualities that NewYorkCity brings my soul.
Ah, sarcasm... the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence.

Exhibit B:

there is no exhibit B.

Good... now that that's out of the way... less bla bla from me, more click click.



View Larger Map

red line (bus): our itinerary, moving from top left counter-clockwise.
blue line (train): train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu) and back.
green line (airplane): flight from Cusco to Lima.
white line: "The Gringo Trail" -basically the tourist tour.


Our itinerary (just for gits and shiggles):

01: Brooklyn -> Newark -> Lima
02: Lima -> Pisco (& Paracas Nature Reserve)
03: Pisco (& Ballestas Islands) -> Ica -> Nasca
04: Nasca (night bus to Arequipa)
05: Arequipa
06: Arequipa ->Colca Canyon (Chivay)
07: Colca -> Puno (Lake Titicaca!)
08: Puno (& Uros Islands)
09: Puno -> Bolivia -> Copacabana -> La Paz
10: La Paz
11: La Paz -> Uyuni
12: Uyuni Salt flats
13: Uyuni ->Potosí
14: Potosí
15: Potosí -> La Paz
16: La Paz -> Perú -> Puno -> Cusco
17: Cusco (Inti Raymi festival - festival of the sun god)
18: Cusco
19: Cusco
20: Cusco ->Aguas Calientes
21: Machu Picchu
22: Cusco
23: Cusco to Lima
24: Lima -> Newark -> Brooklyn


So much for an introducción... let el aventura begin.