There has been snow LRC* this winter here in Vancouver which was kinda cool at first. But then more and more of it kept coming unrelentlessley and just started to become an inconvenience for everyone. I have spent countless hours digging mine and other people's cars out of the snow, and then the next day I have to do it again because it snowed even more. But for now it is starting to rain alot which is awesome for once because it will help get rid of it faster. Alot of stuff has happened in my life which I will serenade you with in a second but im going to divide it into 3 major things that has happened. Christmas, boxing day, and new years. There are alot of funny things that have happened in between but I don't want to bore anyone to death with my boring life so ill keep it short but sweet.
- making a home-made sled out of a giant sign on the side of a road that actually worked insanely good.
- tieing a rope to the back of my car and taking turns pulling eachother in a wheel-chair on the road (we had saftey pads by the way)
- wearing a fancy tuxedo to a hole in the wall vegetarian restaurant.
- and finally, Trevor getting super intense into a board game and accidently throwing a question wheel like a frisbee directly into Lennea's face and splitting her lip.
Christmas
Christmas this year we spent over at my aunt and uncles house with my three little cousins like we do every year. It was pretty sweet and we exchanged gifts. I got some pretty cool stuff but more importantly I was excited to give people the cool presents I got them from south america which they really liked (I hope). I got two of my little cousins soccer jerseys from Ecuador and Peru which they really liked because they are into soccer. Then some peruvian bags and sweaters and I got my uncle this really cool Knife I bought in a merket in Ecuador. The coolest part of the christmas was that my little cousins got the game rock band. So the whole afternoon all we did was play that game. I was slaying on the guitar and by the end my fingers were acutally pretty sore from all the wicked solos I was doing haha. After then we headed to my grandads to exchange more gifts with my mom and little brothers who came down from Squamish. My mom got me a pretty wicked snowboard jacket that was insanely expensive but shes awesome like that. After all was said and done I went to a movie with my friend Melissa where we saw the most depressing movie I have ever seen called 7 pounds with Will Smith. Good movie just depressing as hell.
Boxing Day
It was boxing day with heavy snowfall, my friend Alex and myself went downtown to head to a skateboard shop that was having a huuuge boxing day sale with some wicked deals. I bought another longboard deck and bearings so I can ride around in the wet and not worry about ruining my stuff, and save my nicer stuff for the sunny days to come. Alex bought a whole new setup for super cheap. We got some food and meant to head our separate ways as I headed for the skytrain only to see hundreds of people waiting for it and then I heard an announcement come on the PA that said they were having serious technical problems and didn't have an estimated time for when they would start running again. Luckily for me Alex hadn't made it too far away and got stalled because a bus woul'dt stop to pick him up because it had too many passengers. I called him to tell him what happened and went to meet up with him so we could head back to his place and wait until I could get home. On my way to meet Alex a few blocks away, I crossed the street when a guy in his 30's made a comment that my board was cool and I told him thanks and that I had just got a pretty good deal on it. I didn't think anything of it just then but when he started making small talk and dragging the conversation on about nonsense, I noticed he had a slight flamboyantness(probably not a word) to him. I could tell that this dude was gay and was totally hitting on me. He asked me stuff like what I was up to tonight and said if im not busy that him and some friends were heading to celebrities (which is a gay club in Vancouver) and that I should join him. He then went on to make comments about how hes Bi and just likes having fun and stuff. He asked what I do for work and I told him construction and acting and he told me that I was definelty attractive enough for acting and stuff. He made me type his phone number into my phone and told me to call him if I was gonna come and if I wasn't that we could hang out another time. I didn't know wether to be creeped out or flattered. I think it was a little bit of both. After me and Alex headed back to his place we just hung out the whole day and when it was finally time for me to try the skytrains again I thought for sure they would be running by midnight. So I took bus from Alex's all the way into downtown and waited at the skytrain stop in the cold snow for about 45 minutes and no train. Apparently they were running but stopped again due to a completely unrelated matter. So i had to head back to Alex's to spend the night. Fuckin transit.
New Years
For new years eve a couple friends and I went to some fancy jazz club where we had this pretty nice vip section all to ourselves. The event costed about $25 which included live music and champagne, (stupid cuz I dont even drink) and some sweet dancing which was mostly just ourselves. The whole night was alright nothing spectactular. My friend David got super drunk which was pretty entertaining. We headed back to Alex's where I rested my head. But the next morning, oh yeah thats what it was all about. The polar bear swim! I was up bright and early looking forward to a hardy breakfast to get us in shape for a morning dip in the pacific ocean with snowfilled beaches. As we headed down our friend David backed out at the last minute, which I kinda suspected would happen. But Alex and myself do this every year, it is tradition for us. We headed to the beach of English bay where we saw maybe like a 1000 something people about to do this. As it got close to the time to jump in it didn't seem like many were in bathing suits and ready to go in, maybe like 50 people. When it got to be about 5 minutes to, we saw hundreds of people coming to line up to run in. Me and Alex were at the very front because we didn't know we were standing in the runup area, hence why we didnt see everyone yet. Camera crews filled the front line staring at us in the opposite direction as we got ready to run in. Apparently some friends of mine saw me on the news when it aired because there was a ctv or whoever pointed right in my face before we were about to rush in. The best part was everyone was soo rowdy and ready to go that when the guy trying to organize it began to count down from 20, everyone already started to rush in when he got to about 10 seconds. Myself and Alex being some of the first. Sure it was cold and I felt like I couldn't breath, but the hardest part is trying to get back out. Being some of the first people in your face with hundreds of people stampeding in your direction to get in and as you try and get out and will stampede over you. After I got out It didn't seem that cold at all and was actually quite nice. I remember it being a million times colder the previous year.
All in all stuff was pretty fun these past few weeks and I look forward to 2009. Something big will happen for me I can feel it. You'll see. Other than all that I have been trying to setup a dodgeball team to enter into an official dodgeball league for about february. The only difficult part is the team must consist of 6 players, 2 of which need to be girls. We have enough guys but we just can't find any girls who are down to play dodgeball. So if you read this and are/know a girl who wants to join our team let me know. Other than that thanks for reading ill try and post up mosr blogs as soon as im not too lazy.
*LRC-left,right,center
- Justen Ortiz
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Picking up where I left off
It's been little while since I got back from my trip and I started working at the same jobs that I was at before I left. Doing construction for my friends dad, and back on set from time to time doing background work. Doing The construction isn't as bad as I expected it to be when I was picturing it in my head from south america, being winter and all. I guess because the work that I was doing in the jungle was insanely tough and exhausting. Lugging around giant logs and hacking through bush all day with machetes will make any job look easy I suppose. But I have no complaints about picking up where I left off. I was ready to leave South America. I saw and did everything that I wanted to and was ready to come home. I was kinda excited to come back for winter because it was pretty much summer where I was and I was sick of the heat. Plus I stocked up on sweet winter clothes down in South America to prepare myself. Its also pretty awesome that christmas is coming up soon because I finished ALL of my christmas shopping while I was down in South America, so that means I dont really have much left to do or worry about before christmas.
It was pretty cool to see all of my friends again once I got back because its been so long since I last saw any of them except for Dylan that came down to Peru for about a week. The first week or so that I got back, I spent going out to dinner mostly with different groups of friends. A group of us went out to dinner to my favorite restaurant called the foundation where they have the BEST nachos ever. The purpose for this dinner was to set up a secret santa type activity for christmas, where we all draw names from a hat and we have to get that person a gift without them knowing who is getting them their gift, and the same for you. I think that the person I got is really gonna like the gift that I got them and I am actually super stoked to give it to them. After a little bit of confusion we got it all sorted out and then left to head back to the house my my friends Dan and Lennea. Dan just bought this boardgame and invited us all to come back and play it. I was a little skeptical at first but after we set up the teams of myself, alex and Tyler, versus Dan, Lennea and Clayton we played a round of it and I realized how intense this game actually is. The game involves a wheel that you click and it gives you a word, you then start to describe what the word is without using actions or saying the word, and once one of your teamates says the word you click the wheel and pass it on. Whoever is left with the wheel by the time the timer runs out loses, and the other team is rewarded a point. The game pace is fast and nerves are high, and by the time the timer is almost up everybody is super intense and competitive. I must admit that my team got defeated more times than Dans but it was good fun and I cant wait to play again. I also just bought a longboard and am pretty stoked on it. I dished out about $250 for it but it's a really good quality one. I normally go up with Dylan to get food or something and just get him to drop me off so I can ride it all the way home. Where I live everything is uphiil like stores and restaurants and stuff, so he drops me off about a 1o minute drive away and the ride back is all downhill. I just put my ipod on and cruise all the way home and you can get going pretty fast on that thing. The cool part too is when there are no cars on the road I can just take up the entire street and carve that thing as hard as I want. It pretty much feels like snowboarding on fresh powder if any of you know what that feels like.
So after a few weeks of working construction, I get called in to work on a saturday on set. I wasn't sure if I wanted to because I already made plans to go downtown and then out to the club for my friends birthday, and you never know for sure what time you will be done on set. It could be 3 hours or it could be 15 hours. I finally said yes because I need to the money to pay off a bunch of bills that I have. When I showed up to set I met a couple of friends that I haven't seen in awhile and they asked me about my trip, and I told them some cool and funny stories. Then This really weird asian guy that kinda looks like that asian guy from the show heroes comes up to me and starts chatting with me for a bit. The conversation started off pretty normal but then this guy started explaining to me all these weird useless facts about fairys, ghosts, and aliens and how they are all connected in a weird new age movement which involves controlling the world. This guy was literally lecturing me about this stuff for hours, and im not even joking. The only responses I gave were, "Oh really," "cool," and a little bit of, "weird." This was the kind of guy that even though the other end of the conversation was giving dead end responses, could go on and talk about different things endlessly. So I was a little relieved when we got called to work on set. It was actually a really cool set which was supposed to be an arcade full of kids playing games while a giant dog is supposed to be talking to a pigeon. The movie was cats and dogs 2, so the cast were mostly animals. The coolest part was that the arcade they had was full of games that we were allowed to play, and had infinite credits. Some of the games were x-men, house of the dead, area 51, some racing games, and some other shooter games. I was placed on area 51 to play with this other kid. While we waited to shoot the scene me and the other kid were playing this game and I got super into the game and turned my gun sideways like a gangster, and started shooting these aliens and said, "Fuck yo' shit nigga!" Completley oblivious to the fact that my partner playing the game was black. He never said anything after and neither did I. I don't even know if he heard or cared, but I just went back to playing my game normally, only a little embarrassed and awkward. Regardless, it was pretty funny and i'm just gonna mention that I am not a racist, haha. So after we finish I head back upstairs to where our holding is and sit down to start reading my book. Only to see that weird asian guy out the corner of my, headed straight in my direction. There was nothin I could do and was sucked into his vortex of crazyness. He started telling me about these haunted houses and how people with ouiji boards (not sure on the spelling) open up these doors for evil spirits to enter their house and haunt them and stuff. This went on for a little while until it got pretty entertaining and he began to explain to me that Criss Angel's illusions are actually real and that he channels these dark spirits that help guide him through these illusions like levitating across two buildings. It was pretty hard for me not to laugh. After a few more hours I was finally rescued by my friend Natasha who pulled me away. Me, Natasha, the black kid I was playing area 51 with, and some other asian guy started playing cards to help get that weird asain guy away from us. I taught everyone a game that I learned while I was in the jungle called Yaniv. And after kicking everyones ass a bunch of times it was finally time to leave. All in all it was actually a fun day on set, full of entertainment. Later that night my friend Alex and myself proceeded to get our dance on at the club. I forgot how many goofballs there are here with their affliction shirts, streaked hair and torn jeans.
The few weeks that I have been back have been fairly normal and feel just like they were before I left. But it feels good to be back and I think it was time for me to return. I can't wait for christmas and i'm really excited to give everyone the cool gifts that I got for them while I was down in South America. Well I don't know what else to write so, until next time thanks for reading about my life.
- Justen Ortiz
It was pretty cool to see all of my friends again once I got back because its been so long since I last saw any of them except for Dylan that came down to Peru for about a week. The first week or so that I got back, I spent going out to dinner mostly with different groups of friends. A group of us went out to dinner to my favorite restaurant called the foundation where they have the BEST nachos ever. The purpose for this dinner was to set up a secret santa type activity for christmas, where we all draw names from a hat and we have to get that person a gift without them knowing who is getting them their gift, and the same for you. I think that the person I got is really gonna like the gift that I got them and I am actually super stoked to give it to them. After a little bit of confusion we got it all sorted out and then left to head back to the house my my friends Dan and Lennea. Dan just bought this boardgame and invited us all to come back and play it. I was a little skeptical at first but after we set up the teams of myself, alex and Tyler, versus Dan, Lennea and Clayton we played a round of it and I realized how intense this game actually is. The game involves a wheel that you click and it gives you a word, you then start to describe what the word is without using actions or saying the word, and once one of your teamates says the word you click the wheel and pass it on. Whoever is left with the wheel by the time the timer runs out loses, and the other team is rewarded a point. The game pace is fast and nerves are high, and by the time the timer is almost up everybody is super intense and competitive. I must admit that my team got defeated more times than Dans but it was good fun and I cant wait to play again. I also just bought a longboard and am pretty stoked on it. I dished out about $250 for it but it's a really good quality one. I normally go up with Dylan to get food or something and just get him to drop me off so I can ride it all the way home. Where I live everything is uphiil like stores and restaurants and stuff, so he drops me off about a 1o minute drive away and the ride back is all downhill. I just put my ipod on and cruise all the way home and you can get going pretty fast on that thing. The cool part too is when there are no cars on the road I can just take up the entire street and carve that thing as hard as I want. It pretty much feels like snowboarding on fresh powder if any of you know what that feels like.
So after a few weeks of working construction, I get called in to work on a saturday on set. I wasn't sure if I wanted to because I already made plans to go downtown and then out to the club for my friends birthday, and you never know for sure what time you will be done on set. It could be 3 hours or it could be 15 hours. I finally said yes because I need to the money to pay off a bunch of bills that I have. When I showed up to set I met a couple of friends that I haven't seen in awhile and they asked me about my trip, and I told them some cool and funny stories. Then This really weird asian guy that kinda looks like that asian guy from the show heroes comes up to me and starts chatting with me for a bit. The conversation started off pretty normal but then this guy started explaining to me all these weird useless facts about fairys, ghosts, and aliens and how they are all connected in a weird new age movement which involves controlling the world. This guy was literally lecturing me about this stuff for hours, and im not even joking. The only responses I gave were, "Oh really," "cool," and a little bit of, "weird." This was the kind of guy that even though the other end of the conversation was giving dead end responses, could go on and talk about different things endlessly. So I was a little relieved when we got called to work on set. It was actually a really cool set which was supposed to be an arcade full of kids playing games while a giant dog is supposed to be talking to a pigeon. The movie was cats and dogs 2, so the cast were mostly animals. The coolest part was that the arcade they had was full of games that we were allowed to play, and had infinite credits. Some of the games were x-men, house of the dead, area 51, some racing games, and some other shooter games. I was placed on area 51 to play with this other kid. While we waited to shoot the scene me and the other kid were playing this game and I got super into the game and turned my gun sideways like a gangster, and started shooting these aliens and said, "Fuck yo' shit nigga!" Completley oblivious to the fact that my partner playing the game was black. He never said anything after and neither did I. I don't even know if he heard or cared, but I just went back to playing my game normally, only a little embarrassed and awkward. Regardless, it was pretty funny and i'm just gonna mention that I am not a racist, haha. So after we finish I head back upstairs to where our holding is and sit down to start reading my book. Only to see that weird asian guy out the corner of my, headed straight in my direction. There was nothin I could do and was sucked into his vortex of crazyness. He started telling me about these haunted houses and how people with ouiji boards (not sure on the spelling) open up these doors for evil spirits to enter their house and haunt them and stuff. This went on for a little while until it got pretty entertaining and he began to explain to me that Criss Angel's illusions are actually real and that he channels these dark spirits that help guide him through these illusions like levitating across two buildings. It was pretty hard for me not to laugh. After a few more hours I was finally rescued by my friend Natasha who pulled me away. Me, Natasha, the black kid I was playing area 51 with, and some other asian guy started playing cards to help get that weird asain guy away from us. I taught everyone a game that I learned while I was in the jungle called Yaniv. And after kicking everyones ass a bunch of times it was finally time to leave. All in all it was actually a fun day on set, full of entertainment. Later that night my friend Alex and myself proceeded to get our dance on at the club. I forgot how many goofballs there are here with their affliction shirts, streaked hair and torn jeans.
The few weeks that I have been back have been fairly normal and feel just like they were before I left. But it feels good to be back and I think it was time for me to return. I can't wait for christmas and i'm really excited to give everyone the cool gifts that I got for them while I was down in South America. Well I don't know what else to write so, until next time thanks for reading about my life.
- Justen Ortiz
Friday, November 21, 2008
Peruvian go-karts, Giant jenga, and Ice mummies
So after hanging out in Chile for a little while and draining my money on the rediculously overpriced things I needed to leave. I headed back for Peru to visit some of the cool cities that I never got a chance to before. After heading to a little town on the boarder of Chile and Peru but still in Chile, I boarded a train to head across the border into Peru. I was chatting with some Chilean women on the train and she told me that in the town where I was headed just across the border there was a bunch of protesting and a civil war going on, so I was a little sketched about arriving. After I did arrive at the bus station I booked an overnight bus to the city of Arequipa in Peru. The only problem was it was about 7 in the morning and my bus wasn´t until 8pm. After leaving my bags with the bus company, and having a disgusting shower in the bathroom at the bus station I headed into town. I didn´t see much of anything going on except a bunch of old people hanging out in the town square feeding some pigeons. After being completely bored out of my mind i had a nap in a park and read some of my book and sat around doing a whole lot of nothing. After finally getting on my bus I made it to Arequipa the next morning.
I thought it would be a good idea to walk to my hostel instead of taking a cab and after about 45 minutes of walking i gave up on that idea and took a cab for a measly 3 soles which is about $1. I heard that my friend Drew from LA who I met in Ecuador a few months earlier was in town also and after trying to arrange a meet up, but failing a few times I basically just hung out around the city and explored some cool markets and made some wicked ham sandwiches in my hostel. The next day I finally met up with Drew at this really cool hostel he was at along with some other really cool dudes from England, Ireland, and the states. I was planning on hanging out in Arequipa for a little while and then heading to this town called Huacachina just outside of Ica where you can sandboard and stuff, but Drew told me that he was heading for Ica the next day and I decided it would be way more fun to just travel with him and go sandboarding and stuff rather than going by myself. After catching up for a bit and exchanging hilarious stories of things that have happened to us since Ecuador we all headed to the best go-karts I have ever been to in my life. There was this really cool indoor go-kart track just around the corner with these super fast go-karts that had completely bald tires on a super slippery floor, so you can have some super wicked drifting around corners and get the karts completely sideways and have the wickedest drifts ever. It was like fast and the furious peruvian drift. Oh and the other thing about these go-karts were that there were no rules, you could basically crash as hard as you want into anyone or ANYTHING haha, and the guys running it would just smile and fix your kart if it was backwards or anything. So basically if someone took a drift too hard around a corner and got sideways and stuck,theperson behind him could t-bone that sucker at full speed haha, and we didn´t even wear helmets. The best part is they were only about 75 cents a go. So after spending hours having the best go-kart experience of my life we headed back to the hostel and play a game of giant jenga with huuuge blocks as the pieces. Wearing a hard-hat is neccesary sometimes. After completely owning everybody we all headed to the club which was actually pretty fun. I´m not a huge clubber but Ispent the entire night on the dance floor not getting back home till about 4am. The next day Drew and I headed to this museum of an ice mummy that was super cool, (literally). Basically it is this super preserved child that was sacrificed on the top of one of the highest summits in the area. After watching a video documentary about her you walk around, see all the cool items, and then you get to see her which is really creepy. We didn´t leave the museum without playing a super childish game called the penis game which involves one person saying the word penis quietly, and increasing the volume with each turn. After winning the game we headed back to the hostel to cook up an insanely awesome barbeque before heading on our bus to Ica. Oh yeah did I mention that I saw a guy taking a dump in the middle of the road in broad daylight.
After a grueling 12 hour overnight bus to Ica, and having the bus driver forget to let us off about 30km out of the way. We finally made it to Ica and headed to the village of Huacachina. Huacachina is this tiny little town surrounded by an oasis, surrounded by giant sand dunes in the middle of the desert. we hung out around the pool in our hostel most of the day and got lunch with one of the barkeapers in the town. We had the Peruvian national dish which is called ceviche, Which is basically raw fish, cut up and served with onions, lettuce, lime sauce and hot sauce, and is DELICIOUS. We headed back to Huacachina to start a dune buggy/sandboarding trip in the nearby sand dunes. When we started our driver was pretty wild pulling some crazy maneuvers over these sand dunes and stopping in some sweet spots to sandboard. Being the only one with snowboard experience I headed down on my feet a few times carving through the soft sand down to the bottom before hopping back on our buggy for the next wicked spot. After seeing my friends going down head first and getting some INSANE speed I decided to try it and wow, I have never gone that fast in my life without some sort of machine. Our driver took us to this crazy spot over looking these sanddunes as far as the eye can see to watch the sunset. When we were heading back our driver started pulling out the crazy that he was hiding before. Getting some sweet air over these dunes and pulling some rad fish tails in the sand before returning back. Some of the most fun ive had in a while.
After leaving Ica Drew and myself headed for this national park called Paracas and wanted to explore. After checking into the nicest hostel I´ve been to on my trip, we had the idea to explore it on our own. But luckily our taxi drive offered to act as a guide instead and drove us around the entire day in the park showing us cool spots to swim and stuff. After realizing this park is in the middle of the desert and we would have totally gotten annihilated on our own we were thankful this taxi driver was super cool. He even took us fishing on this cliff. All we had was a fishing line and a hook with some bait and after 20 something minutes of catching nothing we started reelin in some mad fish. BAM, fish after fish every like 30 seconds, it was insane. After exploring some more, seeing beuatiful scenery like red sand beaches and stuff we headed back to our super beachfront hostel which was only about $5 a night and partied with some cool people from France and Spain.
Drew and I left Paracas to head back to the capital city of Lima because we both have flights pretty soon to return home. After checking into our hostel we were randomly greeted by some friends we met in Arequipa like I mentioned before. We all headed to the club that night which was super lame. First of all we were supposed to get into for free but ended up having to pay about $7 to get in which is super expensive for Peruvian standards. The music was cool at the beginning and there were guns that shot out conffetti, but after a few hours all it was, was shitty salsa music. This club was soooo packed you couldnt even move and we didn´t end up getting back till about 5 am in the morning. Drew left to head back to LA, and the rest of my time I have here is going to be spent hangin out doing a whole lot of nothing because I am broker than a joker except making the best fruit salads ever. you can get about 4 mangos, 5 bananas, 3 apples, a box of strawberrys for about $1 here.
I am actually kind of excited to be heading home to see everyone again after soo long. Its definetly going to be super weird leaving this continent after getting so comfortable with it. I am definetly going to miss the cheapness of it the most. I love the fact that you can get a whole meal with some good hardy food, like a giant soup for a starter, followed by a huge plate of rice, veggies, and some chicken, and finished off with some desert, all for $1. I am bummed that I am going to have to pay tons of money for something totally not filling, when I get back home. I am stoked to get back for winter cuz I have definetly had my fix of sunshine here after spending the last 3 weeks around desert cities. I stocked up on alapaca wear for the cold winters of Vancouver. Also it is going to be Christmas soon and I am super stoked for that because I have finished ALL my christmas shopping down here, so I have nothing to worry about. I am stoked to give all my presents to people, because they will like all the cool things I got them from south america, as opposed to boring normal things from Canada. Well that is all that is new in my life, maybe something crazy and exciting will happen to me that I can write about before I head home. guess I will see everyone soon.
Thanks!
I love you all!
- Justen Ortiz
I thought it would be a good idea to walk to my hostel instead of taking a cab and after about 45 minutes of walking i gave up on that idea and took a cab for a measly 3 soles which is about $1. I heard that my friend Drew from LA who I met in Ecuador a few months earlier was in town also and after trying to arrange a meet up, but failing a few times I basically just hung out around the city and explored some cool markets and made some wicked ham sandwiches in my hostel. The next day I finally met up with Drew at this really cool hostel he was at along with some other really cool dudes from England, Ireland, and the states. I was planning on hanging out in Arequipa for a little while and then heading to this town called Huacachina just outside of Ica where you can sandboard and stuff, but Drew told me that he was heading for Ica the next day and I decided it would be way more fun to just travel with him and go sandboarding and stuff rather than going by myself. After catching up for a bit and exchanging hilarious stories of things that have happened to us since Ecuador we all headed to the best go-karts I have ever been to in my life. There was this really cool indoor go-kart track just around the corner with these super fast go-karts that had completely bald tires on a super slippery floor, so you can have some super wicked drifting around corners and get the karts completely sideways and have the wickedest drifts ever. It was like fast and the furious peruvian drift. Oh and the other thing about these go-karts were that there were no rules, you could basically crash as hard as you want into anyone or ANYTHING haha, and the guys running it would just smile and fix your kart if it was backwards or anything. So basically if someone took a drift too hard around a corner and got sideways and stuck,theperson behind him could t-bone that sucker at full speed haha, and we didn´t even wear helmets. The best part is they were only about 75 cents a go. So after spending hours having the best go-kart experience of my life we headed back to the hostel and play a game of giant jenga with huuuge blocks as the pieces. Wearing a hard-hat is neccesary sometimes. After completely owning everybody we all headed to the club which was actually pretty fun. I´m not a huge clubber but Ispent the entire night on the dance floor not getting back home till about 4am. The next day Drew and I headed to this museum of an ice mummy that was super cool, (literally). Basically it is this super preserved child that was sacrificed on the top of one of the highest summits in the area. After watching a video documentary about her you walk around, see all the cool items, and then you get to see her which is really creepy. We didn´t leave the museum without playing a super childish game called the penis game which involves one person saying the word penis quietly, and increasing the volume with each turn. After winning the game we headed back to the hostel to cook up an insanely awesome barbeque before heading on our bus to Ica. Oh yeah did I mention that I saw a guy taking a dump in the middle of the road in broad daylight.
After a grueling 12 hour overnight bus to Ica, and having the bus driver forget to let us off about 30km out of the way. We finally made it to Ica and headed to the village of Huacachina. Huacachina is this tiny little town surrounded by an oasis, surrounded by giant sand dunes in the middle of the desert. we hung out around the pool in our hostel most of the day and got lunch with one of the barkeapers in the town. We had the Peruvian national dish which is called ceviche, Which is basically raw fish, cut up and served with onions, lettuce, lime sauce and hot sauce, and is DELICIOUS. We headed back to Huacachina to start a dune buggy/sandboarding trip in the nearby sand dunes. When we started our driver was pretty wild pulling some crazy maneuvers over these sand dunes and stopping in some sweet spots to sandboard. Being the only one with snowboard experience I headed down on my feet a few times carving through the soft sand down to the bottom before hopping back on our buggy for the next wicked spot. After seeing my friends going down head first and getting some INSANE speed I decided to try it and wow, I have never gone that fast in my life without some sort of machine. Our driver took us to this crazy spot over looking these sanddunes as far as the eye can see to watch the sunset. When we were heading back our driver started pulling out the crazy that he was hiding before. Getting some sweet air over these dunes and pulling some rad fish tails in the sand before returning back. Some of the most fun ive had in a while.
After leaving Ica Drew and myself headed for this national park called Paracas and wanted to explore. After checking into the nicest hostel I´ve been to on my trip, we had the idea to explore it on our own. But luckily our taxi drive offered to act as a guide instead and drove us around the entire day in the park showing us cool spots to swim and stuff. After realizing this park is in the middle of the desert and we would have totally gotten annihilated on our own we were thankful this taxi driver was super cool. He even took us fishing on this cliff. All we had was a fishing line and a hook with some bait and after 20 something minutes of catching nothing we started reelin in some mad fish. BAM, fish after fish every like 30 seconds, it was insane. After exploring some more, seeing beuatiful scenery like red sand beaches and stuff we headed back to our super beachfront hostel which was only about $5 a night and partied with some cool people from France and Spain.
Drew and I left Paracas to head back to the capital city of Lima because we both have flights pretty soon to return home. After checking into our hostel we were randomly greeted by some friends we met in Arequipa like I mentioned before. We all headed to the club that night which was super lame. First of all we were supposed to get into for free but ended up having to pay about $7 to get in which is super expensive for Peruvian standards. The music was cool at the beginning and there were guns that shot out conffetti, but after a few hours all it was, was shitty salsa music. This club was soooo packed you couldnt even move and we didn´t end up getting back till about 5 am in the morning. Drew left to head back to LA, and the rest of my time I have here is going to be spent hangin out doing a whole lot of nothing because I am broker than a joker except making the best fruit salads ever. you can get about 4 mangos, 5 bananas, 3 apples, a box of strawberrys for about $1 here.
I am actually kind of excited to be heading home to see everyone again after soo long. Its definetly going to be super weird leaving this continent after getting so comfortable with it. I am definetly going to miss the cheapness of it the most. I love the fact that you can get a whole meal with some good hardy food, like a giant soup for a starter, followed by a huge plate of rice, veggies, and some chicken, and finished off with some desert, all for $1. I am bummed that I am going to have to pay tons of money for something totally not filling, when I get back home. I am stoked to get back for winter cuz I have definetly had my fix of sunshine here after spending the last 3 weeks around desert cities. I stocked up on alapaca wear for the cold winters of Vancouver. Also it is going to be Christmas soon and I am super stoked for that because I have finished ALL my christmas shopping down here, so I have nothing to worry about. I am stoked to give all my presents to people, because they will like all the cool things I got them from south america, as opposed to boring normal things from Canada. Well that is all that is new in my life, maybe something crazy and exciting will happen to me that I can write about before I head home. guess I will see everyone soon.
Thanks!
I love you all!
- Justen Ortiz
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Driving across Mars
From La Paz Bolivia i made my way down to a little down in the desert called Oruro where after doing my research found out that i could take a train from the town of Oruro to another town by the name of Uyuni to where i was trying to get to. After hearing horror stories of people doing the same route but via bus which is about 12 hours and on a dirt road (barely even) which is insanely bumpy the entire time, i figured it would be a better idea if i took the train which is cheaper, faster, and more convenient. I arrived in Oruro a day earlier to buy a ticket in advance cuz i heard they sell out fast. after buying my ticket i checked into my hostel which was probably the worst i have ever been in during my life. It was about the size of a large bathroom with no windows and an old rusty bed. When i was in the prison in La Paz the jail cells were alot nicer than this. I didnt want to hang out there long so i decided the wonder the streets of Oruro, where i found a cool black market thingy selling everything from clothes, electronics, food, and shoes. After relentlessly trying to convince some of the vendors that they should trade me my old shoes for some nice new ones i headed to my jail cell to sleep.
After arriving in Uyuni from the super nice train, i booked a 3 day jeep trip across the desert for the next morning. So the next morning i got up fairly early to have a shower and organize all my stuff because i was going to get dropped off at the end of the tour and hop over to Chile from the tour. As i went to have my shower i closed my door and walked to the shower only to realize i forgot something in my room. As i go to get it i realized that the door locked with the key still inside of my room, leaving me outside wearing only a towel, no shirt no shoes nothing only a towel. It being about 7:ooam the owner of the hostel was still sleeping and i had to wait around for about an hour in my towel until finally he came and opened my door. After a bad start i headed 0ff the where we were going to start our jeep journy. I soon met the other members of the group which were a few people from New Zealand and a guy from Germany and one from Isreal. We set off with our driver/guide/cook, whose name we couldnt pronounced, so we ended up just calling him Pablo. We soon realized that our new friend Pablo didnt speak any english, and me being the only one in our group that could speak spanish, i got to act as a sort of second guide/ translator which was actually really fun.
The first day of the tour we first stopped in an old train cemetery located just outside of town where we stopped to take some photos and mill around. Then we set out for the salar de uyuni or salt flats, which Bolivia is most known for. The salt flats were actually really stunning and alot of fun. For miles as far as the eye can see is just white salt for the ground, it is the biggest salt flat in the world. After taking alot of cool photos in the salar we headed through the desert into a little area called isla de los pescados where there were giant cacti and really cool terrain where we trekked around for a bit before heading to our hostel for the night which is a building almost entirely made of salt, where we had a nice sleep and awesome food from our man Pablo.
The second day we headed through the desert more, where the landscape started to change dramatically and in my opinion and mind is what i think Mars would look like. I was just stunning landscapes of redish dirt and volcanos, with lagoons the colour of greens and reds, with mountains that were greenish blues and whites. It was really cool. After driving through the Mars terrain for a few hours we arrived to this really cool rock tree thingy where we got out to take some photos. Photos for me just werent enough and although it was well posted saying please dont climb, I just had to climb it. After a very tricky climb, my rockclimbing skills prevailed as i reached the summit which was an amazing 15 feet from the ground. I know, i am amazing. Ok, and then we stopped at a couple cool lagoon with a ton of flamingos just loungin around where i got to practice m awesome photography skills. After a really cool day of exploring Mars we arrived at the place where we slept but this time it wasnt made of salt it was only concrete, how boring. After meeting a couple really cool Israeli people (one whose name is DOOR which i thought was hilarious) i hung out playing cards with them for most of the night, and after a few hours i finally learned how to count to 10 in hebrew. For the next morning we had to get up at about 4 am to catch these really cool geysers in the morning, and after Pablo relentlessly explaing to us that we NEED to get up and its super important blah blah blah we headed to bed.
Being the super morning person i am i was the first up and dressed and had the role of waking everyone up. After hanging around for a bit with everything it soon became 430 and no sign of Pablo. Me and my friend Lincoln headed for Pablos room where we could hear probably the loudest snoring i have ever heard in my life. We gently knocked on his window, "Pablo", no answer so i knocked a little louder, " amigo!" Still no answer. So i knocked really loud, " Illadion!!" (which was actually his REAL name) and still no answer. It was like a bear in hibernation, this guy just couldnt wake up. So finally we banged super loud on his door and we could here him stumble up and mumble something and ask what time it is. after 5 minutes he came out smiling and we were off. We started at these really cool geysers for a bit and then arrived at thes really nice hot springs where we hung out for abit because it was insanly cold in the morning in the desert. after that we cheked out some more lagoons nothing too exciting and then we got transfered to a buss where we headed for the Chilean border.
After arriving in a little desert town in Chile by the name of San Pedro de Atacama we soon realized that everything is insanly expensive in Chile, this was definetly not cool. We basically hung out a little for the first day, got some food that was really overpriced, and slept in our hostel which was super overpriced. My friend Nick from Germany said he had a friend that lived here and she said me and Nick could spend the night at her place which would be awesome and save us some money. So after we called her she said that she was gonna be back tommorow morning and we can call her then and it was no problem that we slept there, and maybe she could show us around. The next morning came and we got some breakfast, then called her but no answer. We thought maybe it was busy or she was in the shower so we figured we would call her back later. Couple hours later still no answer. Couple more hours still no answer. So we came to the conclusion that this girl was gonna be a no show and figured we should just go on with our day. Me Nick and our friends from new zealand rented some mountain bikes and headed out for a nearby oasis into the desert, where we could have a nice swim. After heading out into the desert with the blazing hot sun on us we rode for about 45 minutes only to realize we were heading in the complete opposite direction. Coming to the conclusion that once we found thsi oasis, it was going to be well worth the effort. So a bunch of kilometers later we finally arrived, exhausted to this oasis, which turned out more like a well developed pool, rather than an oasis. It was still nice but just not what we pictured. After heading back me and Nick tried "Ms. says we can sleep there than ignore our calls" once more and what a surprise, still no answer. Nick and I really did not want to pay for another night at our hostel especially because i am starting to run really low on my cash. So we decided that we would just stash our bags there and take our sleeping bags and just camp in a random alley or behind a building or anywhere. We found a good spot behind a hostel and set our sleeping bags up ( with no tent might i add) and just slept there for the night which surpisingly wasnt that bad at all.
Tonight i have a night bus up to a little beach town right buy the peruvian border, because i am gonna get the heck out of Chile because it is waay too expensive and i really need to preserve my money. So thank you all for reading about my stories and i will update as soon as possible thanks!
- Justen Ortiz
After arriving in Uyuni from the super nice train, i booked a 3 day jeep trip across the desert for the next morning. So the next morning i got up fairly early to have a shower and organize all my stuff because i was going to get dropped off at the end of the tour and hop over to Chile from the tour. As i went to have my shower i closed my door and walked to the shower only to realize i forgot something in my room. As i go to get it i realized that the door locked with the key still inside of my room, leaving me outside wearing only a towel, no shirt no shoes nothing only a towel. It being about 7:ooam the owner of the hostel was still sleeping and i had to wait around for about an hour in my towel until finally he came and opened my door. After a bad start i headed 0ff the where we were going to start our jeep journy. I soon met the other members of the group which were a few people from New Zealand and a guy from Germany and one from Isreal. We set off with our driver/guide/cook, whose name we couldnt pronounced, so we ended up just calling him Pablo. We soon realized that our new friend Pablo didnt speak any english, and me being the only one in our group that could speak spanish, i got to act as a sort of second guide/ translator which was actually really fun.
The first day of the tour we first stopped in an old train cemetery located just outside of town where we stopped to take some photos and mill around. Then we set out for the salar de uyuni or salt flats, which Bolivia is most known for. The salt flats were actually really stunning and alot of fun. For miles as far as the eye can see is just white salt for the ground, it is the biggest salt flat in the world. After taking alot of cool photos in the salar we headed through the desert into a little area called isla de los pescados where there were giant cacti and really cool terrain where we trekked around for a bit before heading to our hostel for the night which is a building almost entirely made of salt, where we had a nice sleep and awesome food from our man Pablo.
The second day we headed through the desert more, where the landscape started to change dramatically and in my opinion and mind is what i think Mars would look like. I was just stunning landscapes of redish dirt and volcanos, with lagoons the colour of greens and reds, with mountains that were greenish blues and whites. It was really cool. After driving through the Mars terrain for a few hours we arrived to this really cool rock tree thingy where we got out to take some photos. Photos for me just werent enough and although it was well posted saying please dont climb, I just had to climb it. After a very tricky climb, my rockclimbing skills prevailed as i reached the summit which was an amazing 15 feet from the ground. I know, i am amazing. Ok, and then we stopped at a couple cool lagoon with a ton of flamingos just loungin around where i got to practice m awesome photography skills. After a really cool day of exploring Mars we arrived at the place where we slept but this time it wasnt made of salt it was only concrete, how boring. After meeting a couple really cool Israeli people (one whose name is DOOR which i thought was hilarious) i hung out playing cards with them for most of the night, and after a few hours i finally learned how to count to 10 in hebrew. For the next morning we had to get up at about 4 am to catch these really cool geysers in the morning, and after Pablo relentlessly explaing to us that we NEED to get up and its super important blah blah blah we headed to bed.
Being the super morning person i am i was the first up and dressed and had the role of waking everyone up. After hanging around for a bit with everything it soon became 430 and no sign of Pablo. Me and my friend Lincoln headed for Pablos room where we could hear probably the loudest snoring i have ever heard in my life. We gently knocked on his window, "Pablo", no answer so i knocked a little louder, " amigo!" Still no answer. So i knocked really loud, " Illadion!!" (which was actually his REAL name) and still no answer. It was like a bear in hibernation, this guy just couldnt wake up. So finally we banged super loud on his door and we could here him stumble up and mumble something and ask what time it is. after 5 minutes he came out smiling and we were off. We started at these really cool geysers for a bit and then arrived at thes really nice hot springs where we hung out for abit because it was insanly cold in the morning in the desert. after that we cheked out some more lagoons nothing too exciting and then we got transfered to a buss where we headed for the Chilean border.
After arriving in a little desert town in Chile by the name of San Pedro de Atacama we soon realized that everything is insanly expensive in Chile, this was definetly not cool. We basically hung out a little for the first day, got some food that was really overpriced, and slept in our hostel which was super overpriced. My friend Nick from Germany said he had a friend that lived here and she said me and Nick could spend the night at her place which would be awesome and save us some money. So after we called her she said that she was gonna be back tommorow morning and we can call her then and it was no problem that we slept there, and maybe she could show us around. The next morning came and we got some breakfast, then called her but no answer. We thought maybe it was busy or she was in the shower so we figured we would call her back later. Couple hours later still no answer. Couple more hours still no answer. So we came to the conclusion that this girl was gonna be a no show and figured we should just go on with our day. Me Nick and our friends from new zealand rented some mountain bikes and headed out for a nearby oasis into the desert, where we could have a nice swim. After heading out into the desert with the blazing hot sun on us we rode for about 45 minutes only to realize we were heading in the complete opposite direction. Coming to the conclusion that once we found thsi oasis, it was going to be well worth the effort. So a bunch of kilometers later we finally arrived, exhausted to this oasis, which turned out more like a well developed pool, rather than an oasis. It was still nice but just not what we pictured. After heading back me and Nick tried "Ms. says we can sleep there than ignore our calls" once more and what a surprise, still no answer. Nick and I really did not want to pay for another night at our hostel especially because i am starting to run really low on my cash. So we decided that we would just stash our bags there and take our sleeping bags and just camp in a random alley or behind a building or anywhere. We found a good spot behind a hostel and set our sleeping bags up ( with no tent might i add) and just slept there for the night which surpisingly wasnt that bad at all.
Tonight i have a night bus up to a little beach town right buy the peruvian border, because i am gonna get the heck out of Chile because it is waay too expensive and i really need to preserve my money. So thank you all for reading about my stories and i will update as soon as possible thanks!
- Justen Ortiz
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Going to jail in Bolivia
Only visiting...haha i bet you were concerned for a second there, or at least i hope you were concerned for me. But that story comes later. Firstly, as I was leaving Cusco Peru I heard from alot of sources that there were a lot of protesting going on and that the roads from Cusco to Puno, where I was headed were blocked by protesters placing huge rocks and trees in the roads closing all traffic to and from the city of Puno. I heard alot of stories about these buses getting attacked by protesters who would throw stones and objects at the buses and smashing the windows and all kinds of crazy things. Being a daredevil risk taker i was i decided to go anyway. As i was leaving the bus terminal from Cusco i saw alot of buses arriving from puno that had tape over the windows that were smashed. The bus company told me that they were going to take a different route that would take 12 hours instead of the standard 5. Luckily i had a first class seat that fully reclined into a bed and I slept the entire bus ride to Puno and nothing at all happened to me. I dont know if i got lucky or the protests were over but it was probably the easiest bus ride ive ever taken. I woke up only 8 hours after we left and asked the pasenger next to me where we were and he rosponded with Puno. After arriving in Puno i set out to check out the cool different islands of the lake next to Puno called Lake titicaca. Lake titicaca is the highest navible lake in the entire world and is just massive. First i checked out these really cool floating islands of the uros people, which are basically made from these reeds found on the shores of the lake and constructed together about 100 yards long and host several families. These floating islands can also be maneauvered to other areas of the lake. After the floating islands me and the group I was with set out to another island by the name of amantani where we met up with a host family for which we stayed the night, and partied with the local indigenous people. The next morning we set out to check out another island by the name of taquile where we explored a bit had lunch and returned back to the shores of Puno for halloween. At first i thought my halloween was going to be really boring this year because i didnt even know if people in south america celebrated halloween. But as soon as night came the streets were soooo packed with people and little kids in costumes going trick or treating. But instead of saying trick or treat they say halloween! halloween!. My friend Tim and I saw these little kids going around to all the stores and all the tourists saying halloween halloween asking for candy, so we decided to join in on the fun and say or ask halloween halloween to all the little kids and store owners. Within an hour we had handfuls of candy and then started giving some of it out to other kids. All in all it was a pretty fun halloween.
Next comes Bolivia. When i arrived in La Paz Bolivia the first glimpse of the city is just astonishing because you come in from high up in the mountains and get a clear view over the entire city which is situated right in a valley in the Andes. After spending a day of exploring i found the black market and a place called the witches market which sells everything from aborted llama fetuses to dried frogs and different kinds of weird potions. the next day i went to a local wrestling event called cholitas wrestling which was like a bolivian version of WWE which was actually really fun with lots of crowd participation. The next day i booked a mountain biking tour on a place called the worlds most dangerous road. At first i thought this was just a lame marketing slogan but after starting it i realized that it actually is classified as the worlds most dangerous road and that they are not joking about it. You start off pretty high up in the alititude and start a 64 km journey all downhill on a road that is only one lane wide and all dirt and gravel roads with straight cliffs on the corners that were about 1500ft down. Sometimes we would reach speeds of about 65km an hour and some corners were insanely sharp and the dirt road didnt help either. Our guide told us that he has seen alot of people die and that he takes people to the hopsital on a weekly basis. Every 20 minutes we weould stop and he would tell us things like oh this is the corner where a girl fell off the cliff and it was too far for us to rescue her with a safety rope so she suffered a long painful death. Or things like this is where a guy bailed and need facial reconstruction. Even while your flying down this super steep and winding road you would see tombstones on a bunch of the corners. But everything was fine and we all made it to the bottom where we arrived at a really cool animal rescue center which had a bunch of monkey that you can play with and even a swimming pool. On our way back on the bus to La Paz we encountered a huge bus accident where the bus flipped over and almost went off a cliff. We stopped for a bit to see if everyone was alright and then gave a ride to some of the victims to the hospital in our bus.
As for my prison story. Me and some people at the hostel i am staying at got in contact with a prisoner from the San Pedro prison and set up an illegal tour of it with him. After arriving to the prison we realized that there were huge protests going on in the section we were supposed to be going into which was known as the gringo section, Where alot of tourists can come to visit. After sitting out front for awhile we were approached by a guy by the name of kennith which was a former inmate and told us we can get into the Bolivian side of the prison which was actually more authentic and a better experience where not alot of people get to see. So after giving the guards a bribe of about $30 we got into the prison and were met with a different prisoner guide by the name of Manuel and 2 body guards which were other prisoners also, one of which was a murderer and reminded of, and kinda looked like the bad guy in no country for old men except a Bolivian guy instead of a white guy. My first impression was a little shocked and intimidated because we were surrounded by all these crazy Bolivian prisoners who have killed people and stuff. Oh and also our guide Manuel was super hopped up on cocaine too, but a really nice and friendly guy. He started the tour by showing us different sections of the prison like the hospital which only had a few beds for the entire prison, and the doctors are other inmates. Manuel then explained to us that you have to pay for EVERYTHING in the prison including a room and bed and food. And if you cant then you sleep on the ground and die. For this reason everybody in the prison sets up there own little business which might include a restaurant, or dealing drugs. They even have a cocaine factory inside the prison which produces a majority of the drugs found in bolivia. All the guards except bribes or drugs from the prisoners for things in return like allowing there family and children to come stay with them inside the prison. Therefore there were a bunch of little kids wondering around this prison, I thought ahead to buy a bunch of lollypops and handed them out to the kids and every kid i gave one to had a huuuge smile on his face. Manuel then showed us other sections of the prison like the part they put prisoners to punish them and showed us a bunch of peoples cells. Some were pretty decent and some were really terrible, I guess is all depends on how much money you have and the type of business you do in there. One guys room was this little storage space under the stairs that looked even too small for a midget, and manuel explained to us that he has lived there for 21 years. Walking around this prison talking with some of the inmates and even sharing a laugh with some known murderers was a really strange experience for me and something i wont forget. Well i only have one more day in La Paz then i head down more south of Bolivia and then over to Chile. Thanks for reading
Justen Ortiz
Next comes Bolivia. When i arrived in La Paz Bolivia the first glimpse of the city is just astonishing because you come in from high up in the mountains and get a clear view over the entire city which is situated right in a valley in the Andes. After spending a day of exploring i found the black market and a place called the witches market which sells everything from aborted llama fetuses to dried frogs and different kinds of weird potions. the next day i went to a local wrestling event called cholitas wrestling which was like a bolivian version of WWE which was actually really fun with lots of crowd participation. The next day i booked a mountain biking tour on a place called the worlds most dangerous road. At first i thought this was just a lame marketing slogan but after starting it i realized that it actually is classified as the worlds most dangerous road and that they are not joking about it. You start off pretty high up in the alititude and start a 64 km journey all downhill on a road that is only one lane wide and all dirt and gravel roads with straight cliffs on the corners that were about 1500ft down. Sometimes we would reach speeds of about 65km an hour and some corners were insanely sharp and the dirt road didnt help either. Our guide told us that he has seen alot of people die and that he takes people to the hopsital on a weekly basis. Every 20 minutes we weould stop and he would tell us things like oh this is the corner where a girl fell off the cliff and it was too far for us to rescue her with a safety rope so she suffered a long painful death. Or things like this is where a guy bailed and need facial reconstruction. Even while your flying down this super steep and winding road you would see tombstones on a bunch of the corners. But everything was fine and we all made it to the bottom where we arrived at a really cool animal rescue center which had a bunch of monkey that you can play with and even a swimming pool. On our way back on the bus to La Paz we encountered a huge bus accident where the bus flipped over and almost went off a cliff. We stopped for a bit to see if everyone was alright and then gave a ride to some of the victims to the hospital in our bus.
As for my prison story. Me and some people at the hostel i am staying at got in contact with a prisoner from the San Pedro prison and set up an illegal tour of it with him. After arriving to the prison we realized that there were huge protests going on in the section we were supposed to be going into which was known as the gringo section, Where alot of tourists can come to visit. After sitting out front for awhile we were approached by a guy by the name of kennith which was a former inmate and told us we can get into the Bolivian side of the prison which was actually more authentic and a better experience where not alot of people get to see. So after giving the guards a bribe of about $30 we got into the prison and were met with a different prisoner guide by the name of Manuel and 2 body guards which were other prisoners also, one of which was a murderer and reminded of, and kinda looked like the bad guy in no country for old men except a Bolivian guy instead of a white guy. My first impression was a little shocked and intimidated because we were surrounded by all these crazy Bolivian prisoners who have killed people and stuff. Oh and also our guide Manuel was super hopped up on cocaine too, but a really nice and friendly guy. He started the tour by showing us different sections of the prison like the hospital which only had a few beds for the entire prison, and the doctors are other inmates. Manuel then explained to us that you have to pay for EVERYTHING in the prison including a room and bed and food. And if you cant then you sleep on the ground and die. For this reason everybody in the prison sets up there own little business which might include a restaurant, or dealing drugs. They even have a cocaine factory inside the prison which produces a majority of the drugs found in bolivia. All the guards except bribes or drugs from the prisoners for things in return like allowing there family and children to come stay with them inside the prison. Therefore there were a bunch of little kids wondering around this prison, I thought ahead to buy a bunch of lollypops and handed them out to the kids and every kid i gave one to had a huuuge smile on his face. Manuel then showed us other sections of the prison like the part they put prisoners to punish them and showed us a bunch of peoples cells. Some were pretty decent and some were really terrible, I guess is all depends on how much money you have and the type of business you do in there. One guys room was this little storage space under the stairs that looked even too small for a midget, and manuel explained to us that he has lived there for 21 years. Walking around this prison talking with some of the inmates and even sharing a laugh with some known murderers was a really strange experience for me and something i wont forget. Well i only have one more day in La Paz then i head down more south of Bolivia and then over to Chile. Thanks for reading
Justen Ortiz
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Andean Twilight
So i have made my way down to peru where i have met up with my friend dylan. He was only here for about 10 days to do this trek with me through the andes to machu picchu. Well when we first arrived into Lima peru i was a little shocked to see how developed this city is. Even though it is the capital city of the country. As we made our way to our hostel we were meeted with a mcdonalds, starbucks, and pizza hut on almost every corner, along with fancy highrise buildings and other modern things. the only thing that seemed to keep it different from any other major city is the amount of peruvian kids begging for money or wanting you to buy their packs of gum and they wont take no for an answer. The next day we headed to a big mall just a short walk down from our hostel which was situated into the side of a cliff overlooking to sea shore. Everything in this mall was super lush and extremely expensive for south american standards, but they had this really cool state of the art arcade in which we spent most of the day playing video games.
After hanging out in Lima for a bit we made our way over to a city by the name of Cusco which was alot less modernized and a waay cooler city in my opinion. It yousta be the capital of the Inca empire and alot of the buildings still have the original Inca foundations. After hanging out around the city for a bit getting to know it we soon booked a tour to do river rafting the next day. It was actually really fun and exciting and we got to do some cool stuff like paddle into a huge drop coming the opposite way and have this mini watefall just pummle us with water and we even got to flip the boat, on purpose that is. The next day was when we head out for our 5 day trek through the Andes ending in machu picchu.
The first day of the trek was fairly tough as we walked for about 7 hours of the day and mostly uphill. I was fine but on the other hand dylan was hurtin bad and almost couldn't do it. There was one part for me that was really bizzar and strange because as i was walking for a few hours on a flat section i began to fall asleep while i was walking. I don't know why but i just couldnt keep my eyes open and apparently i was walking in zig zags, swaying back and forth on a narrow path on the side of a cliff, in which if i fell i would have died. After about 40 minutes of zombie walking dylan said something to me like check out this horse poo and i suddenly snapped back into reality and was pretty shooken up. The whole experience was a really strange feeling, falling asleep while walking, especially on a cliff. We made it to our campsite before dark where it was situated next to a glacier and fairly high up with the altitude, so therefore was extremely cold.
The next day we set out for another 7 or 8 hours of walking, where we had to all make our way up to this pass next to this glacier which was about 4600m above sea level. Dylan had to use a horse to make it up to this pass or otherwise he didn't think he would be able to make it. Me being the super human that i am i made it to this pass about 45 minutes before everyone else did and even the same time dylans horse made it. After at the pass you can tell the oxygen was significantly less than at sea level and any bit of exertion meant difficulty breathing..Because i was early i had to way for everyone for about 45 minutes in the freezing cold temperatures with high winds, but being the super genius scientist i am i sought shelter under a huuge boulder from the winds while i waited for everyone else. After the pass we continued for about 4 more hours till we made it to our second campsite.
For the third day it was fairly easy because it was mostly walking downhill, but still a full day of walking. It was really cool because we made our way down through the andes and started to make our way through the edge of the jungle and you can see the gradual change as we descended. Me and dylan stopped by a nearby river for a quick swim only to find out that the river was ice cold, It was still really refreshing after being all sweaty from walking. When we made it to our third camp we met up with a ton of other groups doing the trek and had a small party. There were also these natural hot springs nearby that we all made our way to and relaxed. At the campsite they had this really cool monkey named Pancho that would hang out and play with everyone and jump up on your shoulder and on your head and stuff.
As for the fourth day we started off with a car ride to this hydro electrical place where we had lunch and continued walking along these train tracks for about 3 or 4 hours until we made our way to the town of machu picchu called aguas calientes. After wandering the town looking for something to do we quickly headed to bed so that we could start our day early and get the first bus of the day up to machu picchu.
When we arrived to machu picchu i was overwhelmed with the pure beauty of it. It is located high up in the Andes, built right onto the cliffs of a mountain. After walking around exploring and wondering to myself how these Incas built such a huuge city out of stones on the top of a mountain, I made my way to this lookout point where i sat down and listened to music just gazing at machu picchu. Before i knew it almost an hour has passed since i sat down. Me and dylan made our way to this mountain just behind machu picchu called waynapicchu where we began to climb a gruelling 45 minute climb with some parts that are extremely vertical. After we made it to the top we had views over the whole complex of machu picchu as well as a view almost into infinity through the Andes mountain rage. After we made our way back down we headed to some more hot springs where we relaxed and then cought our train back to Cusco.
The whole journey was simply amazing and is something I will never forget in my life, as for Dylan, he has heading back home to Canada because he has to start work. As for me I continue my adventures heading down south for Bolivia. Thanks for reading!
Justen Ortiz
After hanging out in Lima for a bit we made our way over to a city by the name of Cusco which was alot less modernized and a waay cooler city in my opinion. It yousta be the capital of the Inca empire and alot of the buildings still have the original Inca foundations. After hanging out around the city for a bit getting to know it we soon booked a tour to do river rafting the next day. It was actually really fun and exciting and we got to do some cool stuff like paddle into a huge drop coming the opposite way and have this mini watefall just pummle us with water and we even got to flip the boat, on purpose that is. The next day was when we head out for our 5 day trek through the Andes ending in machu picchu.
The first day of the trek was fairly tough as we walked for about 7 hours of the day and mostly uphill. I was fine but on the other hand dylan was hurtin bad and almost couldn't do it. There was one part for me that was really bizzar and strange because as i was walking for a few hours on a flat section i began to fall asleep while i was walking. I don't know why but i just couldnt keep my eyes open and apparently i was walking in zig zags, swaying back and forth on a narrow path on the side of a cliff, in which if i fell i would have died. After about 40 minutes of zombie walking dylan said something to me like check out this horse poo and i suddenly snapped back into reality and was pretty shooken up. The whole experience was a really strange feeling, falling asleep while walking, especially on a cliff. We made it to our campsite before dark where it was situated next to a glacier and fairly high up with the altitude, so therefore was extremely cold.
The next day we set out for another 7 or 8 hours of walking, where we had to all make our way up to this pass next to this glacier which was about 4600m above sea level. Dylan had to use a horse to make it up to this pass or otherwise he didn't think he would be able to make it. Me being the super human that i am i made it to this pass about 45 minutes before everyone else did and even the same time dylans horse made it. After at the pass you can tell the oxygen was significantly less than at sea level and any bit of exertion meant difficulty breathing..Because i was early i had to way for everyone for about 45 minutes in the freezing cold temperatures with high winds, but being the super genius scientist i am i sought shelter under a huuge boulder from the winds while i waited for everyone else. After the pass we continued for about 4 more hours till we made it to our second campsite.
For the third day it was fairly easy because it was mostly walking downhill, but still a full day of walking. It was really cool because we made our way down through the andes and started to make our way through the edge of the jungle and you can see the gradual change as we descended. Me and dylan stopped by a nearby river for a quick swim only to find out that the river was ice cold, It was still really refreshing after being all sweaty from walking. When we made it to our third camp we met up with a ton of other groups doing the trek and had a small party. There were also these natural hot springs nearby that we all made our way to and relaxed. At the campsite they had this really cool monkey named Pancho that would hang out and play with everyone and jump up on your shoulder and on your head and stuff.
As for the fourth day we started off with a car ride to this hydro electrical place where we had lunch and continued walking along these train tracks for about 3 or 4 hours until we made our way to the town of machu picchu called aguas calientes. After wandering the town looking for something to do we quickly headed to bed so that we could start our day early and get the first bus of the day up to machu picchu.
When we arrived to machu picchu i was overwhelmed with the pure beauty of it. It is located high up in the Andes, built right onto the cliffs of a mountain. After walking around exploring and wondering to myself how these Incas built such a huuge city out of stones on the top of a mountain, I made my way to this lookout point where i sat down and listened to music just gazing at machu picchu. Before i knew it almost an hour has passed since i sat down. Me and dylan made our way to this mountain just behind machu picchu called waynapicchu where we began to climb a gruelling 45 minute climb with some parts that are extremely vertical. After we made it to the top we had views over the whole complex of machu picchu as well as a view almost into infinity through the Andes mountain rage. After we made our way back down we headed to some more hot springs where we relaxed and then cought our train back to Cusco.
The whole journey was simply amazing and is something I will never forget in my life, as for Dylan, he has heading back home to Canada because he has to start work. As for me I continue my adventures heading down south for Bolivia. Thanks for reading!
Justen Ortiz
Saturday, October 18, 2008
to the top of the world
As I spent my last few days in the jungle my friend Ben and I went out for a trip into the jungle with Jose..This time he was sure of the way. As we set out we began walking for hours through thick jungle until finally we got to our spot to set up camp. It was this pure black sand beach on the side of a huge river.. We began imediatly to go to work and set up our shelter by gathering sticks and leaves and about 15 minutes later our shelter for the night was ready it was basic but functional to keep the rain out. we spent the rest of the day by fishing in the river and jose went out to hunt with his blowgun but never cought anything. The only food we had to eat were a couple berries, some plants, and water from vines and trees we could drink from. After relaxing and hanging out by the river we then made a fire and fell asleep. The next morning we packed up and headed back for the village, it was a really cool experience to get away from absolutley everything and just be in the middle of nowhere with only the clothes on your back, not even having a recolation of time no watches or anything...it was a truely peaceful experience.. The next day was my last night in Arutam and it was a pretty emotional one. All the villagers said they wanted to throw me a huge party for the occasion. after work and later that night almost absolutley everyone in the village came down to the volunteer house with music and everyone engaged in traditional Shuar dancing. They even made me presents. All of this was extremely flattering to me because there have been other volunteer that have been here maybe 3 or 4 weeks before me and have stayed the same amount of time i have 8 weeks total...and for them they didnt even get anything except for a handshake and them saying thanks adios and some not even coming to say goodbye for them. It made me feel really good about myself because some of the other volunteers came up to me and told me how much of an impact they thought that I made on these people. It was a pretty fun night with the volunteer house jam packed with everyone in the village and everyone dancing and music blasting. It was hard for me to say goodbye.
After I finished my time in the Amazon i headed out for this town called Latacunga and after looking around i found a guide to take me up to climb one of the worlds highest active volcanos called Cotopaxi at a staggering 5897 meters or 19347 feet high. The mountain is a pure glacier covered in snow and ice. Along with me and the guide was a french guy who did not speak any english and pretty bad spanish, and our guide only spoke spanish .. which was fine for me. This french guy went on to tell me that he has climbed a bunch of mountains and blah blah blah, whatever. After getting all of our equipment and gear such as boots, crampons, gators, ice axes, harnasses, and ropes, we set out for the mountain. we made our way up to the basecamp which was about 4800 something meters where we ate and spent the night to acclimatize. I felt pretty good with the altitude even though its almost about half the amount of oxygen as opposed to sea level. Except for in the middle of the night when i woke up and was having trouble breathing and it felt like i was suffocating, it soon passed and i was fine.. we set out at about midnight to make the ascent to the summit through the night, because its alot safer cuz the ice and snow is harder and easier for our spikes on our boots to grip into the ice and stablize ouselves. After about 4 hours into the climb this french guy started stopping for breaks more and more, i felt perfectly fine and kept wanting to continue, but this french guy would stop for 5 minutes and get up and take literally 2 more steps and collapse again. me and the guide kept yelling for him to get up but he wouldnt. he would just keep collapsing. The guide explained to us before we set out for the summit that if one of us felt sick or tired and had to return, that we ALL had to return. The guide kept asking him if he was ok and he wouldnt even reply... we were fairly close to the summit and the guide said to the french guy, "make your decision now do we return or can you continue, decide," and the french guy replied with, "I dont know." At this point i was about ready to smash this guy with my ice axe because i felt fine and the conditions wer absolutley perfect to reach the summit. This guy then said he was fine and was gonna do it. One of the scariest parts was when we had to make our way horizontal along the ice by putting our spikes into the ice sideways and walking along this ice which was about a 75 degree slope, with a deep ice crevass about a 100 feet down the slope from us. Our guide was in front then the french guy in the middle and me leading the rear. so then this french guy keeps stopping to rest and me and the guide are yelling at him, "Dont stop, dont stop," so he keeps going but with wobbly feet and stumbling. The scariest part was that i was tied to this guy with a harnass and rope, so ultimatly if he fell, i fall too and it would be death no question. But we made it and 7 hours later we reached to summit of the mountain which was one of the hardest and most rewarding things i have ever done both physically and mentally.
As for the weekend I am here in a small down called Otavalo which is home of one of the biggest markets in all of Ecuador, every saturday all these idigenous people come to this town and sell almost everything here including animals. As for tonight there is a big cockfight held in this town in a small arena. Which I am pretty excited about attending. My time here in Ecuador is almost done and soon i head down to Peru. Thank you for following this journal. Goodbye!
-Justen Jiru Ortiz
After I finished my time in the Amazon i headed out for this town called Latacunga and after looking around i found a guide to take me up to climb one of the worlds highest active volcanos called Cotopaxi at a staggering 5897 meters or 19347 feet high. The mountain is a pure glacier covered in snow and ice. Along with me and the guide was a french guy who did not speak any english and pretty bad spanish, and our guide only spoke spanish .. which was fine for me. This french guy went on to tell me that he has climbed a bunch of mountains and blah blah blah, whatever. After getting all of our equipment and gear such as boots, crampons, gators, ice axes, harnasses, and ropes, we set out for the mountain. we made our way up to the basecamp which was about 4800 something meters where we ate and spent the night to acclimatize. I felt pretty good with the altitude even though its almost about half the amount of oxygen as opposed to sea level. Except for in the middle of the night when i woke up and was having trouble breathing and it felt like i was suffocating, it soon passed and i was fine.. we set out at about midnight to make the ascent to the summit through the night, because its alot safer cuz the ice and snow is harder and easier for our spikes on our boots to grip into the ice and stablize ouselves. After about 4 hours into the climb this french guy started stopping for breaks more and more, i felt perfectly fine and kept wanting to continue, but this french guy would stop for 5 minutes and get up and take literally 2 more steps and collapse again. me and the guide kept yelling for him to get up but he wouldnt. he would just keep collapsing. The guide explained to us before we set out for the summit that if one of us felt sick or tired and had to return, that we ALL had to return. The guide kept asking him if he was ok and he wouldnt even reply... we were fairly close to the summit and the guide said to the french guy, "make your decision now do we return or can you continue, decide," and the french guy replied with, "I dont know." At this point i was about ready to smash this guy with my ice axe because i felt fine and the conditions wer absolutley perfect to reach the summit. This guy then said he was fine and was gonna do it. One of the scariest parts was when we had to make our way horizontal along the ice by putting our spikes into the ice sideways and walking along this ice which was about a 75 degree slope, with a deep ice crevass about a 100 feet down the slope from us. Our guide was in front then the french guy in the middle and me leading the rear. so then this french guy keeps stopping to rest and me and the guide are yelling at him, "Dont stop, dont stop," so he keeps going but with wobbly feet and stumbling. The scariest part was that i was tied to this guy with a harnass and rope, so ultimatly if he fell, i fall too and it would be death no question. But we made it and 7 hours later we reached to summit of the mountain which was one of the hardest and most rewarding things i have ever done both physically and mentally.
As for the weekend I am here in a small down called Otavalo which is home of one of the biggest markets in all of Ecuador, every saturday all these idigenous people come to this town and sell almost everything here including animals. As for tonight there is a big cockfight held in this town in a small arena. Which I am pretty excited about attending. My time here in Ecuador is almost done and soon i head down to Peru. Thank you for following this journal. Goodbye!
-Justen Jiru Ortiz
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