So after riding buses for 26 hours straight, I am finally in the place I need to be...almost. Uggg. I missed the last taxi to the small village (Tingo) outside the big village that I am currently at (Chachapoyas), which is where I need to go to visit the ruins of Kuelap. I have already finished both the books I brought with me and so I am now wasting time on the internet to keep myself occupied. So I am just going to make a blog of randomness.
Randomness:

1. Yay for anime. Why this sudden love for Japan´s legacy to the rest of the world?? Because you can understand what´s going on, no matter what language it is in. For example, most conversations in anime cartoons go like this:

Charater 1: Oh my god!! Your hair looks so good spikey and purple!!
Character 2: I know!! And it looks even better when all those moving lines go through it!!
:::MOVING DIAGONAL LINES!!!!! ACTION AND EXCITEMENT!! WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN THE LINES STOP???::::
Character 1: Man those were some awesome ninja moves that you just did.
Character 2: I know. I never noticed you were part turtle.
Character 1: That is because you are stupid, despite being Japanese and having super sweet nija moves.
Character 2: Oh no!! Here comes the evil witch on her hover craft that is really just a circle (we don´t know how she does that)!!!
:::MORE ACTION AND MOVING DIAGONAL LINES!!!:::

And now you understand why anime is awesome (especially when you are bored and waiting for buses in Peru)

2. Yay for the Washington Post running an article about artist Mark Jenkins. The article is also posted, with pics, on wooster (but it takes some scrolling). DC ain´t got much in the way of an art scene, but it´s got Borf and Jenkins, and they are both pretty bad ass.


3. Yay for me getting to volunteer at Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm and Animal Orphanage! Apparently they just got a new baby tarpir which according to Gudrun, one of the directors of the farm, looks like a walking watermelon. Personally, I think tapir looks more like a watermelon crossed with Alph, but thats my opinion. Regardless, they are pretty damn cute and I get to play with one!

Other things I have found amusing/interesting in my wanderings of the net:

Succinct op-eds. by one of Clinton´s former senior advisor.

Ghost bikes.

Happy Trails

Highlights of the Inca Trail

1. After an 8 hour day of hiking away from everything and up a giant mountain figuring out that my fuel canister had no fuel in it, rendering half my food supply inedible (this is the first day)

2. Being taken in by a very kind, although very drunk, Andean man. I was given access to a fire pit and a place to sleep. Fortunatly, my designated sleep spot was indoors. Indoors on the ground with a horde of 10 very excited guinea pigs. One of which sounded more like a elephant with a nasal infection than a guinea pig.

3. Seeing birds that looked like they belonged in the ocean in a marsh on the top of a 4,400m mountain.

4. Sleeping in the middle of some ruins in a feeble attempt to shelter myself from the wind. Later getting up at 3:30 am to keep hiking because I was too cold to sleep and figured at least I´d be warmer that way.

5. Not getting bit by rabid dogs

6. Snickers, granola, and soy milk for at least 3 meals

7. Loosing feeling on my right hip from my backpacking rubbing against me

8. Sections of the trail being almost perfectly intact

9. The Andes (not the mint)

The Incredibl(y Retarded) Journey

As children, my sister and I were huge fans of the Disney Channel. Among the fantastic selection of movies that the Disney Channel aired (on loop) were some high quality adventure movies. Of course there was Goonies. But there were two others:
Homeward Bound: the Incredible Journey (my sisters favorite)
and
The Journey of Natty Gann (my favorite)

I feel like these preferences in movies are actually quite telling about both of our personalities. Maria chose the movie with the cute, furry, domestic animals that accidentally get lost by their owners and make a 9 kabillion mile journey home via the wilderness. They battle bears. They persevere despite their domestication.

I chose the movie about the abandoned child that decides to run away from her evil foster family (in my case D.C.) to find her father somewhere in Alaska (read: father=destiny, Alaska=Peru). Natty has a knife; Natty hops trains and befriends a wolf that attacks evil men; Natty is hard fucking core.

Now, knowing this integral piece of background information about my movie tastes will explain my following agenda.
I have decided to do this portion of Inca Trail without a partner and with no tent (ok, so I wanted the tent, but it was mildly expensive and really fucking heavy). Obviously, I, like Natty Gann, am hard fucking core. However, unfortunately, unlike Natty I do not have a wolf friend to eat evil men. Also, while I have a knife, it is not large and scary and good for stabbing rabbits with, like Natty¨s. Hmmmm.

Which brings me to the real reason for this blog....if there is not another blog entry within 10 days, can someone call the authorities? My trail runs from Huari to La Union in Northern Peru..... thanks!!!

Insane in the Membrane

So here´s The Deal yaaa´ll:

Past:
I just finished up a 3 day trek into the Cordillera Blanca mountain range in an attempt to summit a peak called Pisco. Well, Pisco kicked my little white ass. Or perhaps it was the three ginormous foreign men that I was trekking with. Or maybe it was the lack of oxygen. Anyway, between the three my ass was grass. On the last day of our trek, after waking up at 12 am and climbing until 4:30 am, I finally had to give up, turn around, and hike back 4 hours. This made me sad. But what made me happy was that I made it up 5,250 meters of the 5,752 meters that comprise Pisco. Other things that made me feel ok about not reaching the top?? 1. Everest base camp lies somewhere around 5,500 meters (this varies about 200 meters in either direction, depending on what internet source you check) so essentially I was only 300 meters away from making that, which I think is pretty incredible 2. I blew all the boys away when it came to ice climbing 3. I have over 4 months to remedy a failed summit attempt; bring it.
Present:
I am chilling in Huaraz and contemplating trying to create some sort of project based on what I see during my travels with "art as survival" as a possible theme (fuck! I am such a nerd!)

Future: I plan on heading out in a few days to follow a stretch of the Inca Trail, or Inka Naani in Quechuan. Apparently, the trail North of Huaraz is in fairly good condition and the countryside is amazing. Unfortunately, at this point in time I have no partner and no tent. So, I might be doing this alone(which I wouldn´t mind)and sleeping wrapped in a tarp(which, at altitude, I would mind a lot). Hmm. Well adventures i wanted.....

Huaraz

Me Ice climbing

Me on the way down from Pisco

Sunrise in the Mountains



Lima

So I was talking to some lady yesterday and she asked me where I came from. I said "Los Estados Unidos" and she got all excited and started bobbing her head enthusiastically and repeating, "Oosa! Ooosa!" After being rewarded by looks of general confusion on my part, she explained that instead of saying " U.S.A." that Peruvians run the letters together producing the mysterious "Ooosa." The phonetic associations I make with Oosa are as follows:

1. an Uzi (the gun)
2. oozie, as in an adjective for something that oozes

It somehow pleases me greatly to be a representation of a word that conjures both of these associations simultaneously. Perhaps because I start picturing myself with my deranged pigtails as a sort of swamp thing toting around an Uzi, and it makes me laugh.

Anyway, I am leaving Lima tomorrow for Huaraz, a town at the base of the Cordillera Blanca mnt range.

My plan is to be a yeti and gallop around at altitude in the mountains for a week before setting off for the jungle. We will see how that works out.

Poo Poo Peru!!

Well, hot damn here I am... in Peru. And what am I doing? Am I hiking Machu Picchu?? Am I sand boarding the dunes of the southern coast? Am I perfecting my Spanish while hanging off an ice cliff of the Cordillera Blanca?? NO!!! I am pissing off EVERYONE in my hostel by making mad mad love to the free internet here. Uh huh. mad love. I am really taking entirely too long. But it has not been in vain, because I have finally created the much anticipated blog!! yay!! So please come visit often...I promise to have tales of adventure, stupidity, and general Teresaness soon....