buenos aires en Buenos Aires and no - I WASN´T ON THAT TRAIN !

 fotos buenos aires

I have been there for 6 days, and at the beginning I thought it would be too long,

( nice "european" port city)

but on second day I realized how wrong was the statement...I discovered San Telmo district...with all its all-about-tango places, spontaneous tango dancing on a street, a lot of music ( not tango only) and the best empanadas !

than there was also calle Caminito - painted with the leftovers from the shipyard ( btw the most beautiful leftovers ever I think)

and one day kayaking trip on the Delta, where my camera died...
but it was nice

 jungle trail bis 

and more tango !

I also had my very sexy argentinian teacher, who was not born in the 80's,  but definitely had sth in common with this number :)

Buenos was muy bueno, but I will be home...soon...very soon  ;)

Argentina with no mobile

Iam in Argentina where I rushed in order to  spent very short, but intense time with my spanish girlfriends Carmen y Ester - it was great !

now I am heading from the north of Argentina to Buenos Aires, but with no rush - enjoying what I get on a way ( e.g. after finishing interneting in this cyber cafe I will rent a bike and have a wine trip nearby as I am in Cafayate - argentininan wine region....jejej :) )

I don´t have any mobile here, and internet access is suprisingly similar to the bolivian one ( e.g. yesterday there was no internet due to the storm - not that big in my opinion )

It is a real summer over here ! 25-30C and warm nights...mmmm.....:)

big kiss
Maya 
 

Cochabamba - without any intentions to be here

last week was not the very luckiest one...it started with a sad good-bye to my hard drive, than followed with a very  promising Sorata excursion ( green mix of tropics and mountains) which ended up with a severe mosquito bites, necesity to apply strong antialergic pills, lots of suffering and putting myself in a difficult trial of the "strong will" - how not to scratch  when it f**** hurts so much ? 
I have never ever had bites like that - OFFrepellent helps...just a little bit !! ... so , despite all beauty of Sorata, we were gone after two ichy nights...and the first night after arival everybody had to drug himself strongly in order to fall asleep...that was a long long night...and than I decided to split with my Chilean companions with whom I spent last two weeks and find my way down to Argentina ( as I was supposed to be there a week ago) so...I bought a ticket for the night bus from La Paz ( my 5th time in this city) to Potosi  ( to see some mines ) , I arrive at the bus station, and... f**** déjà vu !
"No buses will leave today - strikes and road barricades"
" ! when will they leave ? "
" Can't tell, tomorrow, in two -three days, it used to be a week last time"
With all the love I have to Bolivia I do really hate their way to do politics !
quick decision - and I took the last minute bus to Cochabamba ( a place a don't like at all ) to take  another Bus to Sucre, and another one to Potosi ( all together - instead of 10h sth around 22h plus time in between the buses  - which in the present case is 6h between Cocha and Sucre)  anyways... I am trying to stay positive  - using this time to update my internet accounts and I hope to get to Potosi at some point this week from there to Tarija , and than all the way down to Argentina...

Puno-Copacabana-Tiwanaku and finally La paz...again

PUNO - COPACABANA PICS

After Machu Picchu I did a traditional Titi Kaka route  through Puno, Copacabana, Isla del Sol a La Paz.
Puno ( still Peru) is known for the floating islands, which were very beautiful but too touristy...there are 44 artificial islands made of floating reeds, where  300 families live, suffering from rheumatism, lack of higene and lack of life choices. We spoke with one guy who at the beginning welcomed us with a warm smile in his colorful uniform and started a chat " how proud I am to be Uros living in this beautiful island", but when profoundly interviewed by a curious guy from Madrid and me he admitted that this life is not a life at all , he doesn´t want it to his children and he would love to settle down on a firm land, but he can not afford it.....as sad as that is the reality of one of the main attractions of Peru.

I didn´t spend much time in Puno, I went to Copacabana where I was lucky to be exactly  when there was some kinf of Mother Virgin Celebration and city was filled with dancing cholitas, people dressed as dragons, music bands and beer ....

 I was very tired...but I couldn´t miss it ! there is a video when I (with all my gringoness ) am dancing together with 50 or so traditionaly dressed cholitas. One of them became my official master and was showing me steps, speaking sth in quechua which I couldn´t understand and finally afterwards gave me a sip of the "artist´s beer" .... it was fun !

I also visited   Isla del Sol, and I am actually thinking of comming back , as it is a paradise ! I went there alone, which was a little bit sad - no people with whom to share its beauty - but I took my music with me and it was an awesome idea! for the first time, since I don´t know when, I was listening to my jazzy - funky instead of cumbia, reggaeton, salsa or other south american stuff...really nice feeling...

All of the above sounds very good....axcept of the fact that in beautiful Copacabana I lost most of my digital personality ...my photo memorries from my trip...as my hard drive was stolen ! because of the f**** quality of internet connection in Bolivia I didn´t upload much ...basically just the stuff that is on a blog...so I found lack of my hardrive in mu bag as a total disaster, and was really sad about it, but than I remembered some buddist statements and words of the shaman from La Paz , who after loosing one of the feathers he was supposed to use in his mountain cerremony didn´t start to complain or worry, but  said calmly " If I lost it it means it was ment to be "...remembering this attitude I felt really much better and started taking new pics.
There are fortunately some people who have coppy of some of my pics I asked them to send me what they have and with their help I hope to be able to prepare you a slide show when I come back....keep your fingers crossed.
Right now I am in La Paz...again :)
I visited Tiwanaku which I wanted to visit for a long time - great dissapointment, and Valle de la Luna - which was much better than I thought it would be.

Picchu family !!

gonna start with that :) my favourite view taken from Huayna Picchu ( new mountain) with Machu Picchu ( old mountain) beneath - in other words Picchu family pic !

It is awesome ! no matter how many pics and films with machu picchu in the background you´ve seen - belive me - it is better!!! These days I´ll be in la paz with faster internet and will try to upload some pics...this is only a teaser ( btw my favourite word on this blog - that is all just a teaser !;) )

ok...so before getting to machu picchu I made this f***** expensive 4 days jungle tour, where I went crazy and booked all additional activities ....which included :

rafting  (Peru-country of the first time again :) ) 

ziplining  (Peru-country of the first time again :) )

and standard : some long hikes and  biking - in other words : totally touristic stuff for people who like extreme sports, I am not the biggest fun of organized tourism, but this excursion was very nice indeed, and it would have cost me a lot of time and effort to prepare it on my own...f*** I am getting old and lazy ! Is the next step buying organized trips from Triada ? No puede ser !!!!!!!!

anyways , after 4 days of suprisingly good weather, it was raining only the first day , we reached the machu picchu !

which u probably recognize as such :

this time Huayna Picchu in the background

I have lots of pics to share - be patient...

from South America

with love

Maya

  

a small update

just a small update as I don´t have much time ( tomorrow I am going to do the jungle trail that would lead me up to machu picchu)  I've been in Cusco for two days now and I am convinced I could have stayed here for at least two weeks, so much stuff to do! negative side of the "stuff" is - it is really expensive  (2h train ride to machu picchu -70USD !! entrance fee- 50USD! ) Even if I am here in a low season, tourists are everywhere, and 80% of locals try to sell you sth - as this is +- percentage of cusceños working in tourism...and it is very disturbing..

As I said...Cusco is awefuly tourist-oriented, which isn´t a huge suprise as  apart from machu picchu this city has 10 other inca y preinca sights nearby !

Today I've seen two of them : the aqueduct and the fortress  - I am not giving you any pics again, as the internet I am using is a shit and it would take me...too much.

This update is also to mention that communication with me within these 4 days will be complicated as I will be in a jungle doing my expensive gringo tour...explanation good enough I think....

warm hugs from the cold-cold Cusco  ( city with 300000 habitants which lies 900m higher than the highest polish pick! )

trujillo mix

PICS FROM TRUJILLO !

Trujillo is a perfect place to surf  and to see some preinca heritage

 some sports + some culture = perfect for me !

I was really impressed with the architecture of chimu and moche culture based on MUD structures which are resistant enough to survive over ten centuries !

                                               Chan Chan

 What is most astonishing is that you can clearly see the paintings ( a paint made of minerals dissolved in the water ) on the walls made of mud that are dated to be executed in 7th century ! All paint producers should take them as a good example - MOCHE RULES !

                                huaca de la luna

As I started my surf story in Lima I couldn't have missed surfing (or honestly saying: trying to surf) in one of the surfers paradises! In a month Trujillo will host world's cup in surfing - unfortunatelly I'll miss that  ( let others win sometimes) but what I experienced  is mine :)

I am really making progresses ! the sad part is that tomorrow I am leaving peruvian beaches and  have no idea when and where will I be able to stand on a board again :(

anyway - greets and lots of sun heat from the pacific coast!

M.

the place of my "first times" - PERU !

NEW - photos on picasa as you all required ! ENJOY !
 https://picasaweb.google.com/117675611482987929970/IcaPeru#



I left Bolivia to go on the peruan  wedding...and see a bit of a country :)

So ...Peru - basically  this is the place  of my " first times" , where  I first :

 did surfing

and sandboarding

met my first pinguins in the wild !

and finally met my  very good friend Luis - for the first time after 5 years !

but no time to write about it now as I am going north in an hour and have to pach myself :)

greets from Peru !

happy new year 2012!

NEWS : pics from Cochabamba 

uffa...2012 ? we are not getting any younger are we ?

This year new years eve was rather different than what I am used to...31st started wirh some trekking in mountains near cochabamba and than a water volleyball in thermal waters. There were two reasons for me to go to the mountains : first of all I love mountains and ma totally addicted to trekking, secondly I had a mission to collect some herbs for the new year´s eve ritual...:)

Mountains near Cochabamba ( the city from the movie we saw together with Zuz and Kuba- u know which one ? :)) are nothing like Tupiza´s one...first of all...they are GREEN !

 

Afterwards I participated alternative traditional new year´s eve in a cultural centre, which consisted of burning herbs and different ( not living) objects which symbolize feeding Pacha Mama ( Mother Earth), and than pouring some alcohol - traditionl  chicha into the fire- which symbolized giving Pacha Mama sth to drink ;) 

After Pacha Mama it was our turn to eat and drink ;) 

than some music and regular party with bolivian music...that´s +- how I said hallo to Pacha Mama y 2012 :) 

Hope you had a great time and that this year will be even better than the last one ! 

Love & Peace

Maya