Hello hello all from St Paul, MN -
Yes, that's right...I have returned state-side. I can't say honestly that I am overjoyed to be home, but not because I don't love MN. It was truly incredibly hard to leave Peru, especially Cusco, and to say good-bye to all of the people who have come to hold a large place in my heart. As I transition back into my US life, I will be trying to find a way to weave them into my life here, as they have made quite an impact on me. For right now, let me at least put up some pictures of my last few weeks in Peru to finish up the story of my 'Year of Rest'...
This year has been an incredible one for me, filled with personal growth and exploration. I feel so lucky to have been able to take this year of rest from my medical career, and I could NOT have even thought about going away without the constant support from my wonderful family and friends. To you all, I say a heart-felt thank you. From the mountains of Peru to the corners of Patagonia I carried your support and love with me. I could not have gone on this journey without each of you. May you all continue your own explorations, as I will mine.
As my wonderful friends Lib and Benj say -
Always Go Farther!
Lv,
Laurita
Friday, June 20, 2008
Pictures - Huacachina and the beginning of Padres in Peru
Huacachina...an oasis 4 hours south of Lima
Quite a site - feel like you are in the African desert!
Seppe enjoying the sandy hill:)
Beginning of the Lares Trek with mom and dad...trekking poles are working well at 13,000 ft!
Cute Andean family passes us en route to their village.More Lares trek
View of campsite #1...4300 meters above sea level (about 14,000 feet).
Adorable Andean boy watching us curiously...
The great gang! (L to R) mom, Gerson (the guide), dad, Shifi, and Ziv (a great couple from Isreal).
mom and dad ALMOST over our pass...
AT the pass...resting:)More Lares trek #2
Andean woman and her weaving...she is the wife of one of our horse-drivers.
Her shy little son...
The dynamic 4-some, trekking along in the heat. (L to R) dad, Shifi, mom, and Ziv
me at Machu Picchu
Machu PicchuMachu Picchu, Cusco, and then to Arequipa, Peru
Great view of Machu Picchu from the top of Wayna Picchu...
On top of Wayna Picchu with Gerson (our guide and a good friend of mine!)
Machu Picchu...pretty amazing site.
Back in Cusco, out to dinner one night at a friend's restaurant...nice hats!
Off to Arequipa - and the famous convent which housed weathy daughters in the 14th and 15th centuries. This is where they kept the girls IN SILENCE for 4 years when they first arrived at the convent. What a life.Arequipa...
mom and dad relaxing in a park in Arequipa
view from our hotel of the city center of Arequipa.Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Finally...pics!
Fitz Roy range...El Chalten, Arg
Admiring the view...on my 2-day trek with Angie and Aaron.
the gang...beautiful day we had!
and the next morning sunrise...pretty incredible
day hike in El Bolson, Arg. above the clouds!Hello hello, all!
Ok, FINALLY I have found a great computer connection (thanks Aviva and Chris!) to upload some pics of the travels over the past month or so. Just a quick update of me now...I am in Cusco again, after doing some amazing traveling in Bolivia. Salt flats in southern B were out of this world, then met up with Seppe in La Paz. From there, to Coroico, met up with some friends working at an animal refuge, then off to Rurrenabaque (further into the jungle toward Brazil). We found a great hostel, relaxed for a day or so, then headed out on our own jungle adventure. QUITE an adventure...found a guy to take us on his little boat to a community 8 hours from town, but when we got there we found the people to be a bit inhospitable, but we had a bit of trouble finding a boat to bring us BACK to town. Luckily, we met an amazing couple, who cooked up fresh fish from the river. We helped them harvest their rice for the day, and fix their motor, at which time the four of us departed back up the river in the newly-fixed boat. We camped under our mosquito net on a beach overnight, then eventually got back to town., about 100 shades darker and full of stories. From there, we booked it back to Cusco, where we have been for the past few days.
I am very excited, as my parents are coming down to Cusco on monday for a few weeks of traveling. It should be grand! So here are some pics from the travels...
more - El Bolson, Argentina
very cool carved statues...
at a beautiful mirador after a bit of a hike uppppp
on trail in the cajon del azul with juan. beautiful trees, perfect timing with the color changes, great hike.
good friend juan looking out at the colors...could hardly believe them!
me...we stayed at the refugio across the lake, where the smoke is coming from. preciosa.
even more pics - salt flat tour in southern Bolivia
our bus driver holding together the windshield, as it shattered around him. eventually, he stopped the bus and fixed the window with leather and apoxy. what!?! but it worked...ahhh bolivia.
the world's largest salt flats.
some incredible rock formations in the middle of the desert
and hot springs...are we CRAZY! it was FREEZING outside!
and pics - Bolivia with Seppe
a view from our hostel room in Coroico, Bolivia. finally got to the jungle!
Seppe playing futbol with the local kiddos in Rurrenabaque.
me looking out over the water during our 8-hour boat trip into the jungle.
Seppe...see how little the boat was that took us? yeah, didn't go too fast, either.
definitely got some SUN those days!
last one - more Bolivia jungle pics
beautiful sunset as we arrived in the small community, cachichira
Seppe and our friend Joseph, who cooked us fish and eventually brought us back to Rurrenabaque. in return, we helped he and his wife harvest their rice and fix his motorboat. i now have many new skills.
and a lot of knowledge about machetes! yes, that is me.
and thats seppe with the turtle that was caught by joseph's net. we picked it up before heading back upriver to rurrenabaque, but they were going to eat it when they returned home. i was in charge of keeping it from flipping over and escaping...kind of hard when it is so strong with such big teeth!
this is the spot we stopped at to camp en route back to rurre. our mosquito net is the first one you see...theirs is the second. all you needed was 4 sticks to put it up. quite a handy contraption!
Monday, May 12, 2008
From Argentina to Bolivia
Hello, everyone!
Another update from yours truly, though again, the computer is too slow to handle pictures. I promise I will upload as soon as the connection is faster! Regardless, I wanted to post an update...I have done a lot in the past week and a half!
I ended up staying in El Bolson at the wonderful hostel, El Pueblito, with my amazing friends, Marcelo, Anito, Julian, and Juan (all of whom help to run the hostel) until last Sunday (May 4th). I had a really hard time leaving! We had a traditional Argentine asado (bbq) on sat night, which was great fun. So many great memories from there.
I left the following afternoon and took a bus up to Mendoza (19 hrs). Once there, I found a nice hostel and relaxed for the day. The following day (tuesday), I went with 2 girls I had met to do a wine tour through the vinyards of Mendoza...on bikes! Yup, we went wine tasting while biking between vinyars. Brilliant idea, let me tell you. I definitely now have a soft spot for Malbek vino (a specialty from Mendoza). That very night, I again got on a bus to Salta, Arg. Another 18 hours later (and many hours of drinking mate and vino in the front of the bus with the drivers...), I arrived in Salta. I only stayed there an afternoon, however, and then got on ANOTHER bus (I'm sure you are sensing te theme of my recent travels) to get to the Arg-Bolivian border. I arrived there at 8am, crossed easily (yup, still legal down here), and got on yet another bus to get to Uyuni. This bus ride was a bit eventful, as the front windshield was cracked and proceeded to fall to pieces because the road was so bumpy. Luckily, the driver had apoxy and leather (what??!!) and was able to mend it together to get us to Uyuni...amazing.
That was Th night, and Fri am I left on a 3-day tour of the salt flats (biggest in the world), as well as some of the amazing land forms in the area. Although I am not cut out for 3 days of bumpy jeep travel, it was an incredible tour, filled with salt flats, active geysers, beautiful mountains, a red lake, flamingos, and crazy desert scenery. Quite remarkable.
Immediately upon returning from the tour, I hopped on yet ANOTHER overnight bus to get here, La Paz. Whew! And now, hopefully, my constant bus rides will lessen a bit...I have relaXxed this morning, and now am waiting for Seppe's bus from Cusco to arrive. From here, I think we will head toward the jungle, in search of some warmer weather:)
Things are continuing to be exciting and full of adventure on my travels. As much as I can, I reflect on what I am doing and learning, but at times it is challenging in the moment to do so...I am sure my time for reflection will more acutely come onece I return to the states - for now, I continue to be happily traveling and exploring.
I hope this finds all of you well!
Abrazos de Bolivia,
laurita
Another update from yours truly, though again, the computer is too slow to handle pictures. I promise I will upload as soon as the connection is faster! Regardless, I wanted to post an update...I have done a lot in the past week and a half!
I ended up staying in El Bolson at the wonderful hostel, El Pueblito, with my amazing friends, Marcelo, Anito, Julian, and Juan (all of whom help to run the hostel) until last Sunday (May 4th). I had a really hard time leaving! We had a traditional Argentine asado (bbq) on sat night, which was great fun. So many great memories from there.
I left the following afternoon and took a bus up to Mendoza (19 hrs). Once there, I found a nice hostel and relaxed for the day. The following day (tuesday), I went with 2 girls I had met to do a wine tour through the vinyards of Mendoza...on bikes! Yup, we went wine tasting while biking between vinyars. Brilliant idea, let me tell you. I definitely now have a soft spot for Malbek vino (a specialty from Mendoza). That very night, I again got on a bus to Salta, Arg. Another 18 hours later (and many hours of drinking mate and vino in the front of the bus with the drivers...), I arrived in Salta. I only stayed there an afternoon, however, and then got on ANOTHER bus (I'm sure you are sensing te theme of my recent travels) to get to the Arg-Bolivian border. I arrived there at 8am, crossed easily (yup, still legal down here), and got on yet another bus to get to Uyuni. This bus ride was a bit eventful, as the front windshield was cracked and proceeded to fall to pieces because the road was so bumpy. Luckily, the driver had apoxy and leather (what??!!) and was able to mend it together to get us to Uyuni...amazing.
That was Th night, and Fri am I left on a 3-day tour of the salt flats (biggest in the world), as well as some of the amazing land forms in the area. Although I am not cut out for 3 days of bumpy jeep travel, it was an incredible tour, filled with salt flats, active geysers, beautiful mountains, a red lake, flamingos, and crazy desert scenery. Quite remarkable.
Immediately upon returning from the tour, I hopped on yet ANOTHER overnight bus to get here, La Paz. Whew! And now, hopefully, my constant bus rides will lessen a bit...I have relaXxed this morning, and now am waiting for Seppe's bus from Cusco to arrive. From here, I think we will head toward the jungle, in search of some warmer weather:)
Things are continuing to be exciting and full of adventure on my travels. As much as I can, I reflect on what I am doing and learning, but at times it is challenging in the moment to do so...I am sure my time for reflection will more acutely come onece I return to the states - for now, I continue to be happily traveling and exploring.
I hope this finds all of you well!
Abrazos de Bolivia,
laurita
Friday, May 2, 2008
Todavia...
Hello hello!!
Well, time has come for another little update (tho the pics will, per normal, have to wait until i have a faster connection). I haven't updated since Torres del Paine, so I will write about the adventures until now and what (I think) I have ahead of me in the next few weeks.
Let's see...well first off, I wanted to tell a story about how lovely South Americans can be. Yours truly, thinking she was oh-so-advanced in the world of technology, had bought herself a memory card for my camera (thanks dad!) that can be converted directly to a USB. Amazing, I know. NASA quality. It has made my traveling quite easy, as I have been able to leave the camera cord behind and just plug the card directly into any computer. HOWEVER, the catch is when you then FORGET the card is in said computer while you are uploading pictures onto your blog, for example, and THEN don't realize what you have done until you not only have left the town where you were, but you have also left the country. The OTHER catch is when said memory card contains all of your pictures which you have neglected to put onto CD because you have gotten a bit too lazy with those sorts of things. Anyway, needless to say, the last time I was copying pics onto my blog I forgot about the memory card until I had taken the 5 hr bus trip from Puerto Natales, Chile to El Calafate, Arg. Lucky for me, South Americans are wonderful people, and I was able to call the internet cafe, where the nice man on the other end said he had found the card and set it aside, and that he would take the card down to the bus station and put it on the next bus heading to El Calafate. The following day, true to his word, there appeared my precious NASA memory card in El Calafate and the other nice man from the bus company refused to charge me anything. Didn't they realize how much I would have paid for that card?? Regardless, lesson learned...photos are now copied onto CDs and I have a new appreciation for nice South Americans:)
So, in El Calafate I rented a car with some friends and drove out to the Perito Moreno glaciar. Unbelievable. It is one of the only glaciars that is still growing, and it was quite active when I was there. From there, I went with the same friends to El Chalten to do some hiking in the Fitz Roy range. It was beautiful and cold. We camped for one night, but then the rains came again and we were tired of being wet:) From there, I split ways with my friends (each had their own travel plans), and I headed up to El Bolson...where I have stalled for the past week. It is an amazing town, relaxed, right in the mountains. Fall has just hit the trees here and the colors are breathtaking. I just returned yesterday from a 4 day trek with some friends, and it was incredible. Now I am resting (and waiting for my laundry to dry) before getting on another long bus ride up to Mendoza. I will sadly be leaving Patagonia, but it has cetainly captured much of my attention...
That is the update until now! My plan is to head north a bit quicker than I have been in the south...Mendoza, Cordoba, Salta in Argentina, then up into Bolivia within the next week and a half or so to see the salt flats in Southern Bolivia, and then more traveling in Bolivia until my parents arrive in Cusco June 2th. I'm excited to get back to Peru, though happy that I still have some exploring to do down here. All in all, I am doing great, trying to continue to enjoy every last minute. Traveling has been such a gift, and for that I am thankful...
I will write more soon...abrazos de El Bolson!
Laurita
Well, time has come for another little update (tho the pics will, per normal, have to wait until i have a faster connection). I haven't updated since Torres del Paine, so I will write about the adventures until now and what (I think) I have ahead of me in the next few weeks.
Let's see...well first off, I wanted to tell a story about how lovely South Americans can be. Yours truly, thinking she was oh-so-advanced in the world of technology, had bought herself a memory card for my camera (thanks dad!) that can be converted directly to a USB. Amazing, I know. NASA quality. It has made my traveling quite easy, as I have been able to leave the camera cord behind and just plug the card directly into any computer. HOWEVER, the catch is when you then FORGET the card is in said computer while you are uploading pictures onto your blog, for example, and THEN don't realize what you have done until you not only have left the town where you were, but you have also left the country. The OTHER catch is when said memory card contains all of your pictures which you have neglected to put onto CD because you have gotten a bit too lazy with those sorts of things. Anyway, needless to say, the last time I was copying pics onto my blog I forgot about the memory card until I had taken the 5 hr bus trip from Puerto Natales, Chile to El Calafate, Arg. Lucky for me, South Americans are wonderful people, and I was able to call the internet cafe, where the nice man on the other end said he had found the card and set it aside, and that he would take the card down to the bus station and put it on the next bus heading to El Calafate. The following day, true to his word, there appeared my precious NASA memory card in El Calafate and the other nice man from the bus company refused to charge me anything. Didn't they realize how much I would have paid for that card?? Regardless, lesson learned...photos are now copied onto CDs and I have a new appreciation for nice South Americans:)
So, in El Calafate I rented a car with some friends and drove out to the Perito Moreno glaciar. Unbelievable. It is one of the only glaciars that is still growing, and it was quite active when I was there. From there, I went with the same friends to El Chalten to do some hiking in the Fitz Roy range. It was beautiful and cold. We camped for one night, but then the rains came again and we were tired of being wet:) From there, I split ways with my friends (each had their own travel plans), and I headed up to El Bolson...where I have stalled for the past week. It is an amazing town, relaxed, right in the mountains. Fall has just hit the trees here and the colors are breathtaking. I just returned yesterday from a 4 day trek with some friends, and it was incredible. Now I am resting (and waiting for my laundry to dry) before getting on another long bus ride up to Mendoza. I will sadly be leaving Patagonia, but it has cetainly captured much of my attention...
That is the update until now! My plan is to head north a bit quicker than I have been in the south...Mendoza, Cordoba, Salta in Argentina, then up into Bolivia within the next week and a half or so to see the salt flats in Southern Bolivia, and then more traveling in Bolivia until my parents arrive in Cusco June 2th. I'm excited to get back to Peru, though happy that I still have some exploring to do down here. All in all, I am doing great, trying to continue to enjoy every last minute. Traveling has been such a gift, and for that I am thankful...
I will write more soon...abrazos de El Bolson!
Laurita
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Torres del Paine
Some of the peaks around the backside of the circuit...before we had to turn around because there was too much snow to cross the path. That, and the avalanches that kept falling...
Futbol!!! In the driving snow, with the Chileans at the refugio where we were waiting out the worst of the snow. Hilarious!
Happy Laura! Bundled for the snow-camping...
Refugio Dickson...saved us from having the be outside through the entire storm.
The crew outside Dickson - L to R - Melissa and Daniel (USA), me, Florian (Germany), Angie (Canada), and Aaron (Australia).Hello everyone!
I am in Puerto Natales, Chile, just outside of the Torres del Paine national park, just having returned from an 8-day trek through the park. Quite an experience, one that is better described through photos...so, here you go!
Besos from Patagonia,
lwell
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