They are the reason

It’s because of them

I am who I am today

It’s because of them-

I can see the horizon where the sky meets the sea

I can smell the sweet earth when it rains

I can feel the breeze that makes me calm

It’s because of them-

I can get lost in green happiness

I can sense the softness of love,

I can taste the sweetness of life.

They are my inspiration, my strength

I am here with an ocean of memory in my heart-

It’s not a fairy tale;

It’s a story of very ordinary people-

Just like you and me

But their extra ordinary effort

Made me- taste, enjoy and live life

Fully n passionately.

It’s because of them who I am today.

Nothing came easy-

It was a life with love, struggle and devotion

It was their life-

It was a way to build dreams and happiness for family

It’s my loving parents, my dearest mom n dad

Their loving touch and daring courage made it all possible.

It’s because of them my days are bright and sunny

They gave all their affection and care

They lifted me in joy n sorrow

Gave their light to enlighten my life

They showed me to live and breath

They taught me how to be patient,

How to win and how to make others win

How to accept defeat and still play with spirit

How to feel pain and heal wound.

They helped me to believe in myself,

To overcome any fear of failure,

To give and to forgive, to love and to respect

To smile and to cry, to make others happy.

I won’t exist without them,

I am invisible without their love.

My tender memories are scattered in length of time

My childhood comes back to me every now n then

It’s our family, our darling sweet family

We did not have much to spend

But we had a lot to share

We did not have a lot to show off

But we had enough to cheer.

We were not rich in money, but rich in heart

We had nothing but we had everything

We were content, we were happy.

I love my parents for who they are and for what they gave me

They are the reason why I am here to know what life is.

Two years.......no posts......new life

Still remember the last few days of Ecuador, now it feels like a dream. Wow, time flies.....

Where to start after two years of rusted memories and more travel. Well, I will try to dig in the memories.

Did I tell you that I was in the hospital one day after I came back to the US from Ecuador? It was another long episode and really, I don't feel like pulling you in my misery. I have a medical condition called Rheumatoid Arthiritis and it got pretty severe when I first got diagnosed but after several months of struggle and pain which was almost unbearable, I finally adjusted to my medication and ever since I started doing alright along with a long list of pretty intimidating medication/ injection etc. I had situations where I could not walk very well without limping but then it got better and I pushed myself hard to get back to normal. This all started in 2007 August triggered after a lot of dancing in a friend's wedding. I still have to live with this but I have accepted this as part of the life and I think I manage it pretty well, what do you think? After almost 2-3 months of short term disablity, coming out with new energy for life with a different perspective, 5 months later quitting a stable job and then leaving the country for travelling through Western Europe, Australia, NewZealand and South America......that needed some gutts, right? That was one decision in my life I would never regret and probably the best decision I have ever made!

I started to tell you what I was doing in the hospital and then drifted to the origin of the problem, but getting to the point now, I was doing all these traveling between 2008 September to 2009 July and the medicines and injections were always my travel companions. I could not be fit and active without those and therefore, took them as my daily essential wherever I went in the globe. But in the last month of my South America trip, I ran out of some medicines which was a mistake by my pharmacist but I did not care much and supplimented my pain with painkillers in the last month before coming back to the US. I was doing actually fine. But the day I got here, I came and stayed at a friend's place who left their keys with neighbor for me as they were out of town. I do have my own place but I rented it out while I was traveling ......... Anyway, I was bored being in an empty house in South Jersey where nothing much was happening, especially, after coming back to the US after such a wonderful travel experience all over the world. I went to meet my friends in North Jersey and had dinner with them and then drove back home by 1 pm that night. My knee started bothering me a bit. I get joints pain and it is not unusual, so I just took some painkiller and my other medication and tried to sleep while watching a movie on the couch. I slept for 1-1.5 hours and then suddenly woke up with deep sharp pain in my left knee and I could not move that leg much. I felt almost paralyzed on the left leg and had no strength to walk or even trying to put pressure on the feet to stand. I suddenly felt helpless and after trying to reduce my pain with more painkillers, I decided to call 911. My voice started fading  away while I was on the phone with 911 folks on the other side as I was in such intolerable pain. I somehow threw myself on the floor which was carpetted and then using my hip and waist I tried to move inch by inch towards the door to open it for the paramedics who were already at the door. The door was about 20 feet away, so I decided to take a shortcut to the other door through the garage. This door was not more than 8-9 feet away from where I was sitting on the carpet. It took me 40+ minutes to get to the door as I could barely feel anything on my left leg, it was almost numb from my thigh to foot. I could not stand on my knees or my feet but somehow managed to hold on to the door and twist and turn the door lock to open it. I did it! It felt terrible, I can't explain that pain in my words, even my enemies should not go through such pain! I hope I have no enemies!:) Anyway, jokes apart, The police was on the phone with me for the entire time that it took me for reaching the door. They insisted on me allowing them to break the door as they could not take my screaming out of pain on the phone. But I was determined, I said I couldn't do that. It was my friend's house, not mine and they were in the process of trying to sell the house. I could not possibly do it to them at that time. Although, in my mind I was thinking, had it been my own place, I would be so willing to accept that offer from those guys to break my door and get me out ASAP! I was not lost in pain and I do have a great tolerance, I realized that for the first time. Now it was only the door of the house to the garage, how do I open the garage door after that door! I had to turn a switch to do that and there was no way I could reach that switch, it is high and I could not stand! I started throwing shoes targetting the switch to turn on and after several tries, I was finally successful! The Garage door started opening:) I almost exhausted my energy by then, I fell on the floor inside the house. Paramedics guys came in and asked me what was the problem and I had no strength to put my words together to tell them what happened so I just told them to grab my little bag which had my id, medical insurance card, cell phone, medicine and keys of the house and take me to the nearest hospital. They had very hard time to carry me to the stretcher and tie me in the stretcher. Everything started hurting at that point, my bones, joints, muscles, tendons, you name it.....! They took me to the emergency room of Capital Health Hospital in Mercer County. Once the paramedics guys left, no one bothered to come close to me as I was not bleeding or had no heart/ respiratory issues and not dying right away! These are probably things you have to have to get attention in the emergency unit but believe it or not, I was in extreme pain that I can no way explain in words, I was totally bleeding inside my heart but no one could see it! I cannot make up things, I am not good at such acts but I was naturally crying and screaming to the death as i really never felt so much pain in my entire life before that incident! I realized that my other feet, leg and hands were also getting almost paralyzed and numb at that point. I could not move my hands to even lift and hold the phone to make a call to any of my friends and/or family. After 1.5 hours of suffering from pain and screaming, when my voice was almost gone, my throat was crispy and dry and I did not have any strength left to stay put, I felt like dying and would have been happier if someone would have taken out my breath at that point. I could not feel anything. An intern doctor came to me and asked me what she could do and I tried to tell her to call my friends whose house I was staying at. She held the phone on my ear and I spoke to my friends. They were shocked and wordless to know what was happening. They were in a wedding in Virginia and I told them not to worry as I already got to the hospital and hopefully would be taken care of by the doctors here. They could not really help being there! A doctor finally got the intern's attention and came to see me. By this time my knee was swelled up looking like a huge bump. My every joint of the lower body was also swelled up and numb. The doctor detected the problem as a septic knee which had a lot of fluids in it. So, they hammered the knee and made a hole to get some fluid out. It hurt like hell and they did not make me unconscious to do that. It just amplified my pain 10 times more. After an hour, they decided to take me for a knee surgery and asked me to sign on a certificate (probably some kind of a waiver to accept death!) where I had to give them permission to do what they decided to do and they would not be responsible for the consequences. I was not in a position to think straight at that moment and could barely write or even sign, was totally devastated with the pain, so I said do whatever, just please make me senseless so that I cannot feel the pain so badly! The hammering of the knee and making two holes on the knee and getting fluid out was so awefully painful, I just could not take any more. Next thing I remember is I am a bundle of bandades and gauge and I could not even move an inch from right to left or top to bottom within the bed without the help of at least two nurses. These modern automatic hospital bed has easy switches for adjusting the bed but it did not do the charm for me as I could not do those myself due to the numbness of my fingers and hands. I was numb all over,my every joints, muscles and tendons.

My physical therapist was a very motivating person and he said it was a miracle how I started being able to move again, and then walk and then take steps in the stairs from a total lying condition! I also think that I was recoving pretty fast although I had to be in the hospital for about 12 days and then I was moved to my friend's house in South Jersey. My friends tried their best to take good care of me. I had 3-5 nurses coming over the week for different purposes. I started using as it took me a while to get back to decent walking condition. 2.5 months, that stick was my companion although climbing stairs was tough even after 3-4 months. I will be indebted to them for life-time. These friends are more than family to me to some extend. They are my dear Bula Bhai and Bula Apa.

2009- Sep - Orange County, CA was my next trip after South America in Sep 2009. It was a short weekend trip to meet a friend who was going through some life troubles and my time was devoted to make my friend smile. We talked about serious things in life and then stayed in all practical curriculum of life. No clubbing, no driving around, it was a very different trip but was still pleasant. I was almost a mentor in that trip like Dr. Phil or Opera:)

A friend from my old workplace messaged me through facebook if I was interested in a role and would go for an interview. I was just about to getting my resume updated, so I definitely was interested. I went for it and got the job, started working again for the same company in a different job by end of Oct 2009.

2009- Oct - Roadtrip to North Carolina and South Carolina for golfing.  I went with friends for a golf trip for 6 days and we were golfing in North and South Carolina for 4 days, rest of the time we drove. We rented a Nissan Altima and I drove it for several hours in the trip, I loved driving that car so after coming back from the trip when it was time to shop for a car I went for the same type of car and added some upgrades to it. I left my friend's house in South Jersey after a week of long commute from there to NYC for work. I got rid of my tenant, and moved back to a routine life which was really tough after almost 14 months. I moved back to my apartment in North Jersey and started commuting to my work everyday which is in downtown near ground zero, different location and building from my old office but same company. I could not complain about the commute as it was closer than the old office!

2009- Dec - My next trip was to Florida in Dec 2009 at my uncle's house, it was a short weekend trip and was good fun as my uncle and aunt are great people and we had a blast together. It was my Birthday weekend and they made my day! This uncle of mine is actually younger than me so we are more like friends! His wife is a sweetheart:)

2009 - Dec- 2010- Jan-My niece, Tishu from Toronto came over during Christmas and New year so I showed her around NJ/ NY/ Washington DC/ Maryland/ Virgina. It was a great time while she was here. I drove her around a lot and we did  ahuge amount of walking around in the city in the terrible cold weather but it was still good fun!

I just realized that I was supposed to give you a short summary of the last two years but I have started long stories. From this line onwards, I will try to really give short summaries............

2010- Feb- I went to Chicago to visit a friend who I went to school with but unfortunately he died in May-2010 leaving us in pure mystery and suspense. I miss him a lot!

2010- Mar - I went to Savannah, GA to visit that small town and I loved it totally. Food was great, the artistic nature of the twon just attracted me so much! People were friendly, it was a sudden decision to book the htel and take a flight there and spend the weekend and explore a new town/ place...... it worked out very well.....

2010-Feb end - I met my husband as we started dating on 27-Feb and by July we were quite comfortable with each other.

2010 - April - I tried Skiing for the first time and realised that it puts immense pressure on the knees and I do not have such strong knees any more, especially, after my surgery. So, I tried and gave up, concluded that it is not a sport made for me!

2010- May- Jun- I went for a trip to Eastern Europe starting from Berlin to Vienna, then Prague, Budapest, Hungary, a small town in Slovakia then Krakov, Warsaw in Poland. I ran 5k in every city I visited in this trip, it was fun and I tried to help some charity organizations through the fund raising. The history was fascinating for each of these cities and the museums, sculptures, architecture were truly unique.

My first experience with the refuge camp in Germany and Poland was shocking and wordless, nothing justified those act of evil and cruelty by Nazis. I hate them from the core of my heart as always and cannot understand how anyone can be so cruel, evil and inhuman!!!

Vienna was a beautiful city with many art and cultural component in it. We went for a dinner with live Opera and it was the 9th symphony of Beethoven that they played in the Royal Emperor's house, it was simply awesome and a life-time experience.

The museums in Germany are very rich, I had a great time in Berlin. The beergardens there are awesome. We did all the sightseeing - Berlin wall, Hitler's bunker, Nazis buildings, Checkpoint Charley, the zoo and the big park (can't recall the name but in my pics somewhere) etc.

Prague was another beautiful city and the high elevation view from the hills there was awesome. We did a city tour by cycling for few hours and it was great. We went for some traditional food and music there. We watched the big church in the main square, it was pretty cool. The artichecture and the sculptures all over Prague were pretty and their handicrafts were outstanding although quite expensive!

Budapest was one of my favorite cities I have visited so far. Buda and Pest both have their characters and the Parliament House was really one of a kind. I enjoyed the river cruise with dinner and view of both Buda and Pest on both sides of the river, it was a wonderful experience!

Banska Bystrica, in Slovakia was a cute little town and we only had half a day spent there. Some small local art show and museum were very pleasant and hidden treasures in that tiny town. The icecream I had there was awesome and they make some pretty wooden handicraft that was quite unique.

Krakow was the center of art, culture in Poland. The art work by local artists were awesome. Warsaw was quiet and it was not a lively city by any means. The Nazis attack really affected the city pretty badly and the devastation of 2nd World War still remains in this city. Enthusiam was missing in this city. I did not get to go and run in a park area in Warsaw. So I decided to do my 5k run in the parking lot of the hotel. It was a different experience. I missed my entire tour team as they left early for the city tour, so I did see the city in my own way using few tour buses and lots of walk. It was a different kinda fun to tour on your own, I have done it in quite a few other cities in my other trips. I walked around in the main downtown area where lots of activities were happening.

I flew back from Warsaw to New Jersey by 2nd week of June and had someone waiting for me in the airport, that was a great feeling for the first time:)

2010- Jul - The guy waiting for me in the airport was Sunny, my boyfriend and lover then and husband now, same guy I met on 27-Feb. He and I went to Toronto for a short trip to see my niece and it was great. He met my first family member outside me! Tishu, my niece loved Sunny and she inspired me to be with this guy even more:) I did that!
 
2010- Sep - Sunny and I went to Vermont for the labor day weekend and it was one of the best roadtrips ever. We did cover most of North and West Vermont and little bit of Central Vermont as well. Burlington was a beautiful cute little town, food was awesome and I did lots of cool shopping, very artistic stuff in the little shops there! In the west, Burke Mountain was great, we did horse back riding in the mountain area, we both loved it! Shebourne Museum was one of the most interesting museums I have ever visited, an hour drive from Burlington. A ship, a light house, quite a few famous buildings were brought from their actual locations and placed them in the museum. They were presented and preserved very well. I just loved Vermont, have to go back there during the fall foliage time! My old Canon G9 stopped working on the last day of my trip so I need to fix it soon for my upcoming next trip to.........Egypt:)
 
2010-Oct - Egypt - I was in Egypt for 7 days and two of my co-workers joined me in that trip. We did the full historical tour starting from Cairo to Aswan, Philea, Kom Ombo, Edfu, Karnak, Luxor, Hatchepsout, Saqqara, Memphis, Giza, Citadel and spent 3 night on a Nile cruise where we had awesome local food cooked for us fresh everyday. It is a heaven for both non-veg and vegetarian people as the local food has so much variety, wow! Every temple we saw was somewhat unique and takes you back to  4700 years. The valley of the Kings and Queens were awesome, the murals are so well preserved that it felt like someone made them yesterday! The revolving restaurant on top of Hyatt in Cairo for food, view of Cairo, drinks, decor and service was the best and good value for price. Mohammed Ali Mosque was one of the most beautiful mosques that I have seem so far! the interior design and the glasses, tiles and rocks used in the built is simply beautiful. Cairo Museum was one of the richest museum I have ever visited! Everyone has little interest in ancient history must visit this awesome place, still can't belive what we saw there! Our stay in Cairo was great the hotels were very beautiful and a resort kind, so we had an awesome time through out. Gate 1 Travel was the company we used for this trip and everything was very well managed and well run and above expectation. O, the dervish dancer in the Nile cruise was an out of the world talent, this 17-18 year old 6'6'' tall boy/young man had the energy of the world and he had the most amazing and captivating technic to keep us focused on him for more than 45 minutes to an hour. If you have not seen this type of dance, it is highly recommanded. Any Middle Eastern country would have it! The belly dancer in the same cruise was probably the worst dancer ever, I saw thousand times better belly dancing in a Lebanese place in Sydney and then again in a Turkish place in San Francisco and in a Lebanese place in Melbourne. Not sure, where they got her from!!!
 
2010-Nov - Adina, my friend from childhood was in town with a friend of hers and Sunny, Adina, her friend and I went for a short road trip to Boston. The trip was fun and I had a great catch up with my old friend after some time. WE had some good seafood and clam chowder in Boston and the market place was very lively ad fun. Every meal we had was great and we were lucky to get a decent hotel even if it was after a long wait to find one in the area we were interested in!
 
2010-Nov-Thanksgiving weekend - Sunny and I went to Dublin, Ireland to visit my travel friend Steph whom I met in South America trip. While I was traveling , Steph was in a sabbatical and spent her last 3 months of sabbatical in NYC, so Sunny had a chance to meet her quite a few time during her stay in NYC from April-Jun2010.  She became good friend of both of us and we did spend some really good time while in NYC. Steph moved back to her own house after a year and half and we decided to visit her before she disappears to visit some other place in the world! Steph and I also share the same birthday and we almost used to finish each others sentences towards the end of our Chile to Lapaaz trip in South America 2009. Those days make me so nostalgic!!! Anyway, our visit to Dublin was very pleasant and we stayed at Steph's place. We did some city seeing by ourselves and her location was very convenient for Dublin city tour. Her only family is her sister and her family and we all went out for dinner together, it was one of the best crab salad I ever had! Food was great in that place where we went, can't recall the name, Steph's suggestion it was! The first snow of the season was on Thanksgiving day in Dublin and Dublin people was not at all happy about that as they are not used to such weather, they get snow once in a few years!My friend Steph who climbed the Mount Kilimanzaro and Machu Pichu, was walking like an old person stepping very carefully on the slush after the snow. I could not stop laughing at her and teasing her on that:) Steph made us some awesome pattice with salmon and she made everything in front of me from the scratch, it was awesome! I tried the guinness there with Ribena (not sure if that's the right spelling!, blackcurrant juice famous in the UK), it was very good:) We saw some traditional Irish music and dance with dinner, that was nice. Trinity college was great to visit there. Temple and nearby area was great to visit, we had a great time even if it was for a few days only. We could not go to Dublin mountain due to the snow, we will do that another time. What I hear is, my friend Steph is renovating her place, so we may make another long plan to visit her again in the coming years:) She is a sweet heart and one of my best travel friends!
 
2010-Dec- I went to Dhaka, Bangladesh after almost 2.5 years and found it very charming this time as I had my entire family there. My sis from Sydney also went around the same time,  I spent almost 4 weeks there and Sunny came to meet my family for 3 days and my family loved him! We got engaged end of Dec after being back from Bangladesh. I went out of Dhaka with my family to the coastal are of Bangladesh and had an amazing time there. The coral island named Chhera Dweep was simply awesome, I had my favorite coconut juice as many as i wanted. I am addicted to them inly when I can find them. My almost four weeks stay made me consume at least 70-80 coconuts in that time period:) Yes, you can say I am obsessed but I don't mind at all! I wish I could get them in the US as tasty and fresh .......
 
2011-Jan - We had a sudden short trip to Toronto, Canada to see my darling niece as she was the only one who could not be there in Bangladesh in our big family gathering. We missed her a lot so, Sunny and I decided to visit her during the long weekend in Jan for Martin Luther King's Birthday. My dear friend Deepa has been pressing me to visit her since she moved their in Oct, therefore, we decide to kill two birds at the same time. We stayed at Deepa's and visited Tishu, my niece. I also visited my aunt's place and gave her almost a heart attack as I never told her about Sunny and took him to her place in very short notice. We already decided our wedding date by then so mamamami, my uncle-aunt and their family was excited to meet him. We had some awesome food at their place and Sunny died for the tea my uncle made for him. He still keeps telling me about that tea and I simply tell him to drive to Toronto for another cup similar:) He tends to indicate why I can't make that, I said I won't even attempt to! it is the special from my uncle and he should only get it from him:). I offered him the microwave tea that he hates and he never asked for it again!!!
 
2011-April- We got married on 21-Apr in a very small and simple occation first in the court and then in a mosque. We did not have any big party it was mainly our close friends who could be okay with all our informality:) We invited people through texting and phone calls and the dinner was arranged at the last moment in a weekday, so it was not the best party of course! But my friends said they were happy with the party and the arrangement and a short list of people made it cosy and sweet. We could talk to everyone properly and everyone had a nice fun time. My only family in the wedding was my niece from Toronto, she came the evening prior to the wedding and left next day early morning when we left for our honeymoon to Hawaii. The Honeymoon was wonderful and we had a 8-day cruise starting from Honolulu back to Honolulu with 2 days each in Maui, Big island (Kona, Hilo) and Kauai. We stayed 3 extra nights in Waikiki-Honolulu and visited all over Oahu Island which was awesome. When I get time, I'll share more detail on my Hawaii trip, I simply loved it, Kauai was my personal favorite among the four main Hawaiian Islands that I visited in that trip!
 
My intention of writing this post was to fill you in with the two years time that I did not do any blogging and I am almost there to catch up with the current time.
 
2011 - Jul- We just went for a roadtrip to New England in the 1st week of July and we had an awesome time traveling through NJ-NY-CT-MA-RI-NH-VT-ME. Our trip highlights were White Mountain area in NH, Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in ME. We also visited Plymouth, Portland, Sebago Lake,Casco bay, Bailey's Island, Orr's island and drove through Freeport, Brunswick, Harpswell, Belfast, Ellsworth, and stopped at Augusta for gas and Pleasant Valley for some food. Nilie, my Uni friend who also lives in NJ and Radhika, my co-worker, neighbor and friend also joined us in this trip. We all had great fun pulling each others legs and teasing each other, sharing loads of stories, having laughter and jokes throughout the journey. Nilie and I shared some of the driving in this trip although Sunny was the driving Guru. We drove up to the Mt Washington.  Radhika loved her Maine Lobster at Cook's Restaurant, the fried clam was my personal favorite and Sunny loved the clam chowder soup there. Poor Nilie had to stick to vegetarian as usual but Radhika gave a thorough demo of how to eat lobster to Nilie, not sure how Nilie felt, probably gross and miserbale but we have good spirits to keep it fun and exciting! In the same evening we picked up some good Aloo paratha and kabab and Daal Makhani which tasted great, so Nilie did not feel neglected. We drove around within Portland and realized that it is quite a sad place to be! And, I have decided to buy my new DSLR during this trip. We drove to Bar Harbor from Portland and it was aabout 5 hours drive. It was a great small town and our hotel was very close to Acadia National Park. We drove through Park loop and stopped at the Sand beach, Thunderhole, Otter point, Jordan Pond House and then climbed up (by our Cadillac) to Cadillac Mt. The color of the water in Atlantic never looked so beautiful before we went to sand Beach. The fog covering the mountains and the sea greenish blue water with nice sand beach just made it a wonderful place to visit in this trip. We realized that we should have spent more time in Bar Harbor than in other places, hopefully in our next Maine trip, we will not do the same mistake. We did decent amount of walking in the thunderhole area and also in Otter point. The desserts in Jordan Pond House were the best in the trip - popover icecream, lemon tart and the choc cake everything was delicious. The pizza at peppers and the root beer were also very good. The Bubble Mountains from Jordan Pond House was quite a view and we were debating over silly things and got some evidence on the pics taken from there. Somehow we skipped the idea of hiking, I think time was less, but then we were kinda lazy too, were looking for excuses to avoid the hard work rather:)  Sunny and Nilie climbed up some cool rocks in the Thunderhole area and then later in Otter Point and on top of Cadillac Mountain. Radhika and I took lots of cool pictures throughout the trip. We drove back to Jersey by 9 pm on 5-Jul and the traffic was bad from CT onwards but Sunny did a great job in the driving as usual so we did not feel much frustrated in the return journey. We may do a fall trip through New England and that time we won't drive through the coastlines rather we will drive through the mountains and the forests.

My planning for next trip has already started, so not so far until I write about my trips again........until then.......get some rest.........
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Quito - where the earth dividing line, EQUATOR is!

I was fascinated by the beauty of this beautiful country once again throughout my bus journey from Banos to Quito, the mountains seemed to be travelling with us all this time. I experienced a beautiful sunset from inception to the end and it was an amazing experience. I took loads of pictures, not very good one as I wanted to see and feel it more through my naked eye than through the lenses of the camera. But I am not very good with words and expressions, so I do not even know how to describe the beauty I saw, the feeling I felt and the pleasure I got! When I got down from the bus, I had to look for a taxi and found one immediately although the ride from there to the hotel seemed very long, may be I was kind of tired after the bus ride. I did not close my eyes for a moment other than my regular blinking throughout the journey; it was too beautiful to miss even a bit of it! The hotel address was a bit confusing and it took me few minutes to figure out the right hotel. Anyway, the reception representative told me that the room I would be given is just for that night and next morning I have to be moved to a different room. I was okay with that. The hotel had nice breakfast and nice internet service with a beautiful garden at the back. I was hungry and was not sure if I should walk several blocks to get some food or just stay close and eat locally. There was a place next door and it seemed like another hotel but had a nice big restaurant in it. They were open and I was hungry, so it clicked well. I had a nice chicken soup and then a dessert, flan. The soup was pretty good and the amount was a lot almost two people could eat. The soup was yummy and it was made out of the stock of an entire chicken, the large piece of chicken was also part of the meal and I had to take it out of the soup as it was so much for me! I tried this type of soup in Santiago, Chile. It reminded me of a chicken soup I had there in the other side of the river where the restaurants were not at all crowded but the food was great.


Something very interesting happened in the hotel I went to eat. I asked at the desk if they had any tour guides or brochure for Quito city tour. They showed me some and I took them and was going through those while eating my meal. Then I asked a few questions about the tour, the manager or the front desk guy came and asked me if I would be interested for a tour all day tomorrow by his own car, it would be less expensive than the regular tour. I thought for a moment and realized that was not a bad idea!

So, next morning he picked me up from my hotel and in the car was also his wife. That was very sweet of him to bring his wife along as I was feeling a bit awkward just going for touring with a stranger! He introduced me to his wife and she seemed nice, she did not speak much as she could only speak Spanish and I could only speak English! But we had a nice communication three ways and he interpreted her words to me and mine to her. It worked quite well. We drove all the way from the hotel to the Mitad del Mundo (Spanish: Middle of the World). It is a tract of land owned by the prefecture of the province of Pichincha, Ecuador. It is located in the San Antonio parish of the canton of Quito, north of the center of Quito.

The grounds contain the Museo Etnográfico Mitad del Mundo, a museum about the indigenous ethnography of Ecuador. The 30-meter-tall monument, built between 1979 and 1982, was constructed to mark the point where the equator passes through the country in the geodetic datum in use in Ecuador at that time. A line down the center of the east-facing staircase, and across the plaza, was meant to mark the equator, and countless tourists over the years have had their pictures taken straddling this line. In the modern datum of the World Geodetic System (WGS84), which is used in GPS systems and computer mapping products like Google Earth, the equator is placed about 240 meters north of the marked line. This discrepancy is partially due to increased accuracy but primarily due to a different choice of mapping datum. Similarly, the line marking the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich in England is roughly 100 meters from the exact zero of longitude as indicated by GPS receivers.

The pyramidal monument, with each side facing a cardinal direction, is topped by a 4.5 meter diameter, 5-ton globe. Inside the monument is a small museum that displays elements of indigenous Ecuadorian culture, such as clothing, descriptions of the various ethnic groups, and examples of their activities. Mitad del Mundo contains other attractions such as a Planetarium, an amazing miniature model of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and restaurants. On weekends, Mitad del Mundo's Central Plaza is host to varied musical and cultural presentations for tourists.

A small town surrounding the monument at the Museo Etnográfico functions as the tourist center, replicating a colonial Spanish town and called "Ciudad Mitad del Mundo" (Middle of the World City).

This was one of the reasons for me to come to Quito, I took lots of picture and me standing on the equator line, it was fun.

Our next destination was supposed to a volcano but I realized that Anthony, right? If I remember the name of the guy correctly, and his wife stayed outside the attraction area waiting for me and I was there for about 3-4 hours. I also watched the show inside the planetarium. I felt bad for them even if they did not seem to be upset. The good thing was that Anthony brought his wife, I think she was Sandra, if I recall correctly. They had some nice time together and also he felt good that he is with his wife on his day off and also making a bit of side income. May be, I do not need to feel that bad! Anyway, now we decided that the Volcano idea can be dropped as it would take long to drive there and besides, I am more interested to see the old town and all the beautiful establishments, squares, monuments and churches than the Volcano. I did not want to miss seeing the main part of the city which is a big attraction for outsiders. I have seen Volcanoes in North Island in New Zealand and also near Puerto Varaas, Chile. It was another 40 minutes drive as this place is out of Quito and a secluded area by itself.

The very first thing we went to visit was a beautiful architecture Gothic church and we went inside it was gorgeous, I took lots of pictures, it is so huge and so nice and peaceful inside! Then we drove through the city and reached to a place where all the main squares are and several official buildings and monuments and another very pretty church. We also went inside a convent that was very well kept and I had a quick tour inside that. Again the couple waited outside during the time I was inside. Anthony warned me that I should be careful about the camera as there can be pickpocketers and thieves around and they always target the tourists as they have dollars (even if US$ is the official currency for Ecuador, Da!), traveler’s checks, foreign passports, expensive camera and other gadgets. I took his advice well and started carrying my little backpack bag in the front like a baby! We stopped at quite a few stops on the way to the parking garage where he kept his car. So, I was talking to Sandra in my mui mui pokito Spanish and she was doing the same with her little sweet English. It was a 20 minutes walk and we enjoyed each other's company quite a bit. I took quite a few picture of this couple and promised them that I would email those. I am so bad, I should have done that although I am pretty sure that I still have their contact and therefore, I can do that, now, it is better than never!

After coming back to the hotel I gave Anthony the amount he asked for and I added lots of tips in that as I thought that it was the best way for me to visit Quito as I was on my own. I felt very good! I still had few hours to look around the close-by areas near my hotel and I found some good food place around. I found some amazing stores that had unique gift items and some very unique pieces made locally. In fact most of them were made out of some breakable material and I was only carrying my backpack. Therefore, I decided to not buy much except for my magnets and small souvenirs. I have to either come back here or have my friend, Mayra who is from Quito and now lives in NJ, bring some items from these stores when she visits here. In fact, it is time to leave Quito and I am flying back very early morning for my flight, already arranged a taxi and off to the airport. This is the last day of my almost 3-month long travel to South America. My mind and eyes are full of memories and images from all over South America. I started in Brazil, and then traveled through Uruguay, Paraguay (just a little bit), Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. I only saw a portion of the beauty these beautiful countries have and hope to come back some other time when I CAN but the experience I have gained will last until the last day of my life. I was lucky to be with a group and not travelling by myself, but I was also lucky that my language barrier was not a obstacle for my travelling as the tour managers in the four back to back trips I did were all great people, nice personality and extremely helpful and great resource for any and all type of information. I would suggest my travel lover friends to use GAP adventures if they feel like traveling but do not want to go through the hassel of putting the plan in detail but have an overall idea. Also, the mix in the group is very interesting, there were 65 years old in the team and also 18 years old, but it blended fine as one common goal of everyone who comes here is to see, to know, to experience new places, new culture and people from all different backgrounds. The world in your mind opens up so much while traveling that it amazes you every time you experience something new. I loved it all even if at times I felt a little discomfort, felt a bit homesick and missed family and friends but most times I just kept myself awake NOT to miss a bit of it!

My next trip is in planning stage, I am thinking Eastern Europe and Central Europe, countries or rather cities in mind are Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Bled, Krakow, Warsaw..............

Banos - A small town surrounded with greens and mountains on one side

People come here to get spa, massage, manicure, pedicure and all types of pampering, you name it, it is there. I was dying to have a nice relaxing massage and when I came here I felt that thee weather the atmosphare and the look all of them are in favor of my massage desire. We went for a nice dinner whre the food was local and tasty, goo choice by Manuel again. Next day morning I have few hours as i am leaving 2 days earlier for Quito then the rest of the team. In fact, Banos would be my last day with everyone in the travel group. So, next day morning, without wasting much time, Nicole and I went for a massage and we both loved it. Mine was a massage lady and she was quite good but Nicole's was a man, she asked for a female but they did not have any other female available for the service. She initially did not like the idea but loved the massage, may be, you can ask her about the experience:) I was relaxed and fresh. Now it is time for me to explore little bit of Banos and then time to say goodbye to evereyone. I found Banos to be a very small town with a nice park type set up in the middle of the square and lots of trees, long and high ones. The mountains are at the back of our hotel and it really looks very pretty. Anyway, time to leave all. I decidec to skip the last part of the trip of 4 nights of camping in the Amazon forests in a lodge. This could be a different experience but I was restricted to get yellow fever vaccination due to my medication and that puts a binding in me going there inside the Amazon. I would hopefully do that some other time in my life if I can. I did not take a chance on medical ground as you never know what can cause what!!!!!!!!!!
My team was quite small in this trip so, it was Nicole, Rachel, John and the Canadian guy, oh, i can't recaall his name at this very moment, but I know it, oh!!! and ofcourse our very nice and very efficient and cute tour manager, Manuel. They all came to drop me off at the bus station where I was taking a 5 hours bus ride to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Adios Amigas to my travel group........

Cuenca - The most beautiful city in Ecuador

After two bus rides and a taxi ride, we reached Cuenca around 8 pm in the evening. The city looked quieter than we expected even if it was a Saturday night. We went to a near by mall where we ate at Burger King, this is probably the first time in my entire trip I had fast food and that also from an American chain. It tasted good after a long time. I had some ice cream afterwards but it was not that great. Going back to the hotel, Rachel and I planned to go out for dancing with few other guys. We had a little adventure in getting a parking, one of the hotel caretakers was driving us that night and the large lines for the clubs were interesting to see. The music was mostly Ragae and it was very crowded. My dance partner was a pretty good dancer and we danced for sevelar hours and got home late, almost at 4 in the morning. We were exhausted and just went to sleep immediately. Next day morning we saw Cuenca in daylight and it is truly a beaautiful city, it is supposed to the most beautiful cities in Ecuador. The buildings were colorful. Nicole, my on and off roommate for this part of the tour was with me and we walked through lots of attractions like statues, nice churches, old buildings, colorful monuments, stores and houses. There was a bazaar area which was a bargain place for anything and everything. I found a very nice tender coconut to drink and even the inside stuff was so good! Nicole was surprised at my obsession with tender coconut water. I was carrying it and walking with it until I properly finished my drinks. Then I told the seller to break it so that I can eat the soft layers inside, oh, I gotta tell you, it was so delicious and I felt like taaking some with me while coming back to the USA. The place we went for dinner today was alright, nothing outstanding, but it did fine for the appetite. We watched a movie that night, I cannot remember the name now, but you all know that movie, it is an animaation movie and was the 2nd part of something similar before. It was not a good mivie at all but was something fun to remember about as we saw it in Cuenca. We did a lot of walking throughout the old and the new portion of the city. During the weekend the city is kinda dead other than the Saturday nights and Friday nights in some areas. We did not see much traffic sometimes no traffic, during Sunday while we were walking through the streets of Cuenca. I found some cool copies of Gayasamin's paintings in mud.

We are going to Banos tomorrow. Until then.......goodbye 

Crossing border of Peru and going to Ecuador

This was a memorable experience for me as I almost got stuck in Peru for not having an entry stamp in my passport. Not sure how that was possible. I was standing on a long line in Puno, the first entry point of Peru and after all the waiting, they took my form and passport but returned the passport without a stamp. My mistake was not to check if they put the stamp or not, I almost took it for granted that they would, that is what they took my passport for. But the reality was, they never stamped the passport. That means I have been in Peru for the last 24 days and visiting all the places but my status is ILLEGAL!!!! US citizens do not need any VISA for entering Peru but need a stamp in the passport. Many many thanks to the team leader, Manuel for getting me out of the immigration office after 3 hours of continuous persuasion with the officer in charge. Finally, they gave me an entry as well as an exit stamp for the same day which makes my Machu Pichu Stamp invalid as it is dated before my entry date of Peru according to my passport. But nothing else could be done, technically they could put me in the jail for getting into the country illegally!!!!!!!!!

The story does not end here. I was the only US citizen in the travel team so I always had to fill out extra forms and stuff in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia where everyone else(mostly from UK and Australia and Canada) were done with their immigration in a minute. It is unfortunate but may be, it is because the way US Immigration treats the people from most of these South American countries! My earlier team leader, Ale said that she studied in California for a year with an exchange program and still was denied for a visitor visa for the US in the later years and she would love to visit NYC if she could come to the US. She seemed very upset for being rejected by the US immigration for her visa even if she paid $140 non-refundable. Same story with few others from Bolivia and Peru, Manuel said the same. He stood for hours to get an interview with US Consulate in Lima, his $140 was taken but after the 2 hour long interview, they rejected him for the visa and suggested to rather visit Europe!!! So, Manuel, Ale and many other young stars who have love for places like NYC without even being there are not able to come and visit due to the strict immigration process to visit the US, sometimes not making any sense, why?????

BTW, when my things were sorted out fine in the border of Peru, I was all set for entering Ecuador but Nicole, an Australian girl who was traveling with us realized that they did not put a stamp on her passport in the Peru border while exiting! So, while entering to Ecuador, the immigration officer would not put the entry stamp on her passport without the exit stamp of Peru. We basically took lot of things for granted just the way the US, UK, Australia and most other West European countries work, but this was South America! We should have kept our expectation low and made our efforts better to avoid such situations. This was one of the best learnings during this trip. If I was traveling on my own , I would have been more careful to make sure I watch, observe and notice everything but I guess I depended on our team leader more than I should have. It really was not his responsibility by anyone's standard. Good learning!

Mancora - A beach town in the north of Peru

We got to Mancora early morning, around 6 am. It was still dark and the hotel was not ready but the resort we stayed was amazingly beautiful. It was probably one of the most beautiful hotels/ lodges in my entire journey. The sea was right in front of it. I saw the lights of dawn coming up and the sunrise, it was pretty although nothing could beat the sunrise I saw in Paraty, Brazil! It was very quite as everyone was sleeping. Nicole and I got our room but I did not feel sleepy at all. I went for a walk on the beach and it was very pleasant. I saw the scorpios running around and coming out of their home and then going back in. I tried to follow them but they are too fast or I am too slow! I saw some birds flying around the seashore. Few men were doing their morning exercise. I came back to the hotel and rested for some time. We met at noon for lunch and get some info about the town. The beach started getting crowded and by the afternoon it was very crowded, almost like Bondi beach in Sydney or Point Pleasant in NJ! But this looked even more crowded as it is a small beach compared to those. Lots of surfers were surfing there. The weather was very hot and quite humid as well. Nicole and I went to the town center and had some lunch, it was not good, probably wrong chice, anyway it was okay for once. We then had icecream and also checked out all the shops there. I bought a yellow dress with halter neck, it was Nicole's choice, I was reluctant with the color but liked the style. But then at first Steve and Tanya (a married couple from England who were having their 15 months long honeymoon around the world) and later Tavern and Elle (they were my travel mates and happened to like each other) passed me while I was trying the dresson and they all voted for the yellow dress and i kind of liked it as well. So, I bought that. We stopped by at a jewellry store and there was a lady who could do braids. I asked how much for my hair if I wanted to do them allover my head. She said it would be only 40 Soles (equivalent to 12 USD) and I was very excited to get my hair braided for the first time like that. We went back to the hotel and then came back around 3ish and it took her almost 3 hours to do all the braids and she did it very nicely. I was so happy and so excited to see those braids. Everyone said it suited me well. I got a lot of tan, so I looked very South American , I suppose! I put on my new yellow dress and Nicole was wearing a new dress in green that she bought on the same day. So, we both got very dressed up to go for dinner with all the others in the team. I probably did not mention about Nicole, she is from Queensland, Australia but lives in London now. She got her hair braided from London before coming to this trip, her hair is blonde and short but she got extentions with highlights, those looked so good on her! I loved her braids. I wanted to do mine anyway but her braids definitely inspired me even more. She has been a good company since Lima. Next day, I went back to the stores again and bought two more dresses, one is red and one is purple, they are both beautiful, I was missing my cloth shopping so I had to do this:) I ran out of money twice so I had to withdraw money from the ATM and them get changed into smaller notes from the bank. I also discovered a place where they were selling strawberry juice, so I had one inside the restaurant and took away another one. They were so yummy. I am not a big strawberry fan but I had strawberry juice several times in different places in South America and they were excellent, I became a big fan by now. Rachel, an English girl who is also my team member since I started my trip from Brazil loves strawberry juice, so I was planning to bring her back to this place. Yes, later in the day I came back to the shops with Rachel and also had my third strawberry juice for the day! We

went for dinner at a place quite nice but we went for dessert to the same place that we had dinner the night before and it was the lemon pie, OMG, it was still so yummy, one of the best I ever had. Rachel and Nicole had another one to share after their first one.

I would definitely miss this place as it was the perfect beach town and summer weather although it got a bit too hot during the second day but the nights were pleasant.

We will be going to cross the border of Peru and go to Ecuador tomorrow.

Trujilla, Huanchaco and Chan Chan - West of Peru

We took a bus and went to Huanchaco which is a fishing village in the west of Peru by the coast line. It is also very popular for surfing. Our hotel was right by the shoreline and sitting at the balcony you could see the waves coming and hitting the shore. Our team leader, Manuel took us to a nice restaurant for lunch and the food was really good. I walked around the place after lunch, then surfed in the net for some time. I was looking for an ATM to draw some money. It charged me 10 bucks for drawing money but did not even prompt me about it, just took my money! I bought some magnets as I collect them from all over the world wherever I go. But when I gave a note of 50 Soles to the shopkeeper in the store to pay for my magnet, she did not have any change, so she went to look for change from other stores and finally it took her almost 25 minutes to get some change. I realized that the sale was quite poor in most of the souvenir stores, probably it was not the peak season for tourists, I suppose.

We went to the neighboring towns in a guided tour next day and stopped at the city center of Huanchaco. There was a nice square in the middle as most of the south American cities. The buildings were nice and colorful and the designs and architecture was quite interesting. We then went to see some pre-colombian archeological sites.

The amazing archaeological city of Chan Chan is located just a few miles outside of the city of Trujillo. The valley in which it is found is known as the Moche Valley, and in terms of importance, Chan Chan figures among the most prominent historical sites in all of Peru. The Chan Chan ruins are spread over a fairly wide area. Chan Chan was very interesting among the other archeological sites in Peru. It was all made of mud, so they had to protect those from damage by rain and erosion by covering them properly. Part of it was remaining of the original built but most of it was restored afterwards copying the form of original built. Both Huanchaco and Chan Chan are within Trujilla. The meaning of Chan Chan is probably Soul Soul, as the locals think, but the word comes from Pre-Inca time, so it cannot be confirmed.

We had some nice dinner at one of the beach restaurants and went to the bus station for our night bus to the next destination, Mancora.

Lima - The capial of Peru

We came to Lima from Nazca and it was not that far , only three hours of bus ride. A lot of our team members were finishing their trip in Lima , so we had a big get together there. Leah, Katie, David and quite a few others went back to their home from Lima. Nicole , a new girl joined us from Lima so, now we are only six and the team leader. Tavern, a Canadian guy who has been traveling with us since Brazil left Lima to meet his girl that he met in the trip in Huanchaco a day earlier than we would go there as Elle, the girl in question was teaching there in a school! We had a bit of drama in the last evening in Lima between two girls and we all witnessed it, I won't mention any names but it went a bit dirty than you would think!

Lima is quite a big city. I was quite surprised to see the city center and it was huge! We went to a museum with Catacomb in it. Catacombs are ancient, human-made underground passageways or subterranean cemeteries composed thereof. Many are under cities and have served during historic times as a refuge for safety during wars or as a meeting place for cults. The first burial galleries to be referred to as catacombs lie beneath San Sebastiano fuori le mura, in Rome. The derivation of the word itself is disputed and it remains unclear if it ultimately derives from the cemetery itself or from the locality in which it is found. There is no doubt however that the San Sebastiano catacombs are the first to be referred to as such.

We went to another museum where they showed all the demonstration of different types of punishment and it was quite disturbing and strange to visit! We saw a number of churches from outside as well as from inside and they were all beautiful in their design, articraft and architecture and interiors. In all over South America the Catholic churches are a huge part of each of these countries and a lot of money had been spent for building these churches. Some of them even have large amount of gold-plated metal inside. There was this shopping mall right by the sea where we went for clubbing and then went there again next day. It was really beautiful but quite pricy. Leah bought some clothes from there and I helped her in choosing them.

After everyone left, next day Rachel, Jenny (an English girl who traveled with us some part of the journey and then left. She came to visit Rachel on the way to take a flight from Lima. She stayed with us in our room and three of us went out for dancing after coming back from dinner with the boys (David and John, David is a going to-be school teacher, John is an architect, both from UK). The food was great but the service was not. The first place where we went for dancing was a Karaoke place but was pretty dull, so we went to the MiraFlores area where we went the night before with rest of the group and then checked out few places. Most of the places were pretty dead because it was a Sunday but we got into one place which seemed alright. Rachel met a nice Israeli guy as his dance partner, a cute Peruvian guy was dancing with Jenny and i first danced with a Peruvian guy and then an Israeli guy (his hair was literally stinking!), so I showed an excuse of knee pain ad came back to the table we were sitting at. It was fun dancing although not as much fun as in Cusco or in Montevideo!

We left Lima the next day and took a bus to our next destination, Huanchaco, a fishing village in the north of Peru.

Nazca - where the famous Nazca lines are

We came to Nazca by a bus ride from Arequipa. The area where the hotel was located, looked pretty bad, almost outside the town after a large slum area. But the hotel seems alright. We were there only for a day and the whole idea is to fly through in a scenic flight to see the Nazca lines. It was a bit pricy but we all decided to do that as there was no other way of seeing the Nazca lines. The Nazca Lines are a series of geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches more than 80 kilometres (50 mi) between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. Although some local geoglyphs resemble Paracas motifs, these are largely believed to have been created by the Nazca culture between 200 BCE and 700 CE. There are hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks or orcas, llamas, and lizards. I got a picture of the monkey while flying but the plane was way too bumpy for taking pictures. We all felt sick due to the bumpiness but we all survived fine without throwing up. I have taken helicopter and scenic flight rides before and they are never pleasant as they are so small and bumpy but I did it again, probably I won't do it again anywhere else. But then, I think I said that before also. My sister says why do you pay for a ride that makes you feel sick. Her point is valid but then you could not see some amazing stuff otherwise!

Arequipa - The White city of Peru

We took a flight to Arequipa from Cusco and it was quite pleasant, not that eventful. However, we were all little late for the boarding and all of our names were called as everyone else boarded already. Most of the people were nervous to fly within South America as we have been doing overland travel so far. this was my second flight in South America, so I felt alright as i was fine with the first one to La Paz. Arequipa is called white city as most of the main buildings in this city are made out of a particular type of lime stone and that is white.

We had our first meal in a burger place and the food was quite good for the price, the city was nice to walk and the main square has a Cathedral on one side of it. We did not spend much time there when we first got there. We had dinner in a Crepe place as Manuel suggested and yes, it was really good crepe , I had a fruit and creme crepe.

Our plan was to go to Coporaque where we would stay 2 nights as it was near Colca Canyon. We would come back to Arequipa for an additional day after we finish our trip to Colca Canyon and Colca Valley.

As planned after visiting Colca Canyon, we came back to Arequipa again. I took a walk around the city on my own and found a salon where they would charge only 30 soles (Equivalent to 10 USD!) for shampoo, conditioning, wash, blow dry and straightening of my hair. So, I got a chance to pamper myself that evening. Later on, we all went out for dinner together. My stomach was not that great so I only had a soup that night. Next morning, we had the entire day to us and our bus-ride was not until 9 pm at night. So, Leah(a Canadian girl from Van Couver, BC) and I went to visit the famous Santa Catarina Convent that Manuel (our tour guide) suggested me to visit. It was about 25 minutes walk to the convent from our hotel and the convent was quite interesting, it was painted in lots of different colors, the rooms of all the nuns were kept and preserved pretty well, even their belongings were displayed as part of the museum. It was the first convent that I visited in so much detail. Their way of their living, cooking, praying, dining -everything was well captured in the presentation or display. It was a mixed feeling to visit a place like that as they went through a lot of hardship in their life.

Leah and I both realized that the Crepe place called Crepisimo was right across the road from the convent where we had dinner the first night in Arequipa. Leah wanted to straighten her hair in the same salon I did the day before and in the mean time I went to use the internet during that time. We both wanted to come back to have a late lunch cum dinner at Crepisimo, so we did. When we were about to finish our food, the rest of the team just got in to the crepe place for food, we all loved the food there. Our next destination is Trujilla, it is a fishing village in the north of Peru.

Machu Pichu (means Old Mountain)- One of the reasons for my South America trip

When I planned my South America trip, this was my #1 highlight, in fact I thought that I must see that if not anything else. Anyway, I finally visited Machu Pichu and it was beyond my imagination. It was a very touristic place and that is not surprising to me at all, but I still loved it all. The pictures that I saw before were not anything different from the actual place. It was probably the only big Inca ruin that was mostly untouched and not discovered for a long time and not destroyed by the first Spaniards who came to Peru but did not know about this site.The vegetation at this place with the combination of the colors of the mountains around it makes it so pretty and picture-perfect that it is simply amazing! Rest of my team did the 4 day Inca- trail and reached Machu Pichu on the morning of the 4th day. I, on the other hand, had a very relaxed time in Cusco for 2 full days and stayed one night in Sacred Valley and took the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes on a very early morning. It was my first train ride on South America and was quite nice to see the mountains, river and fountains through out the one and half hour journey. From Aguas Calientes, we took a bus ride of twenty five minutes to Machu Pichu for meeting the group. Whe we met them at the entrance of Machu Pichu, they were all smiling, three days agao, all seemed quite tensed and nervous and I took a picture of all of them just before they were leaving for the trail. I was glad to see all of them smiling and being able to finish the trail with no major issues. I heard later that few were not feeling good at all, one fainted, all had a struggling second day as it was the toughtest day of the hike when they crossed the dead woman´s pass, it was the highest and the steepest part of the trek as well.

I have to say that it was an easy one for me while rest of the team did all the hard work in that Inca-trail. I wish I could do that but I really am not that fit physically and could not possibly handle the camping for 3 nights in that cold weather! Anyway, I am not big into trekking mountains, it was never really my thing either. I love nature, interesting archeological sites with ancient history and so, Machu Pichu was great and I pretty much spent most of the day there. The architechture was quite interesting, lots of geometrical shapes in the buildings, did not see any arch though! The stairs were placed in many different locations in a very strategic way, you could possibly walk up and down all over Machu Pichu Ruins using those stairs and end of the day my body was aching pretty bad. Still it was worth and just two of the pain killers took off all my pain and only thing I remember now is the great memory of the site.

BTW, the train ride for coming back was quite interesting and there was a live fashion show in our car, it was the most random thing I have ever seen in a train but even the funny show by this guy with mask on was quite interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment.

We got back to Cusco quite late that evening.

Ollantaytambo and SacredValley

I was the last one to wake up as we got back to the hotel at 4 am after dancing. I had to catch up with my sleep from the night before and the last night. Everyone was waiting for me, it seemed, we all took a busride to Ollantaytambo. This is the town where everyone transits for Sacred Valley or to go to Inca trail or any other trail near Cusco. So, this town is full of restaurants but nothing much to do. We took great pictures on the way to this town, we cross another town called Urubamba, which is quite a nice town and much bigger. We only passed this town did not really stop there. After visiting the Sacred Valley, I used internet for some time as there was nothing much to do. We went for dinner to this nice restaurant, the burrito/ fagita was great and the portions were big, the price was very reasonable. I did not plan to have dessert, but someone made a mistake and ordered two icecreams, so I decided to have one of those, I was a winner. The dessert tasted as good as the food. I was happy. Next morning, rest of the team was going for the Inca- trail, everyone seemed little nervous but they would all make it, I knew. Manuel(our team leader) and I left around 9 am and took a taxi back to Cusco, it seems, taxi does not cost much in Cusco and it is very convenient as well.

Manuel and I would come back to this small town in few days to bring the team back to Cusco after they are done with the Inca trail.

Cusco - City that was born from the Inca Ruins

Cusco , a city I have heard so much about. Some said it is very touristic and over-rated but others gave great feedback. I can see that it is a beautiful city and I am truly enjoying my stay here. We got here after a long long bus ride from Puno. The original bus-ride was supposed to be 7 hours long, but then it was 11 then 15 and then 20 hours long. There was a strike going on and due to that we could not take the regular route and besides, the public buses would not even run. So, we took a private bus to use different route to get to Cusco. We had several obstacles, some were human chains, some were with tree logs, some were actual mud walls and several of them were big rocks laid down on the roads by the locals. We had to get down from the bus, join the locals and walk with them to their main square. We had to even paint on our bus window that the strike should live long and that we supported the strike. Our bus had to be empty several times, we had the locals finally helping us digging the mud walls but it took us good 4-5 hours and then again another barricade. It was not a fun experience at all, people are fighting for their rights, that is understood but what did we, the travellers do?????? Anyway, we finally had to cross a wooden bridge with our luggage on foot and the bridge was almost half broken, it was 3 am in the morning and next day we saw the picture of that bridge on the newspaper. It was scary, cold and not pleasant at all. I could barely carry my luggage myself, my back was killing me. So, Loui helped me carrying mine, he was one of the team members, nice guy from England but his parents are originated from Egypt, he is a physiotherapist by profession, was traveling with his friend Anna. I owe him big time for that favor he did, probably I will buy him a drink later.

The getting there part was a huge experience for all of us, but then we are finally in Cusco and safe!

On our first day in Cusco, we had a great brunch at Jack´s near the main square as we all missed breakfast that morning. The food was great, thanks to Manuel our new team leader. He suggested us the place in the main square. To get there was a mission as there was some festival going on and it was very crowded everywhere. We also went for a nice dinner and went out dancing in a club which had very random music but good catchy ones to dance though. I had a blast in dancing and it was a great night out, we stayed until 4 am! Next day, we were leaving for Sacred Valley.

I did lot of walking around after coming back to Cusco from Sacred Valley. I did some major damages as I bought some nice and fine silver jewellery for my family and for myself. I spent a lot of money that I totally did not plan for, but then I felt good to do some shopping after all I cannot deny the fact that I love shopping! I almost forgot to have food for lunch. Manuel suggested a good place for dinner, so I went to that place, called Trotamundos (means Globe Trotter, cool, isn´t it!), it was very good food, I had a beef skewer, it was a bit pricy but great though. I took a taxi to the main square and got back the same way. I have been enjoying people watching in Cusco, having all time for myself really was a good idea. You know, the team thing after some time gets you pretty bad and you want to get some space for yourself. So I was really enjoying my own time and space in Cusco. It is an easy city to spend time with yourself.

The following day I took a horse back riding tour which included some snack and a tour to four different archeological sites and it also included some hiking, walking and scrolling through few interesting caves. I met a bunch of American tourists and a guy from London. It was a nice group, we had lots of good conversation and the horses were amazing. My horse was a smart one, his name was Wizmer and he would not follow others, he would like to go first. Well, he was a great horse to ride on and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him. Sometimes I think, if I had a pet, I could get a horse, may be. I have enjoyed my first horse riding in this trip in Bariloche, Argentina and I loved my horse then, his name was Ishpita (not sure if I mention it in my post for Bariloche!!!).

I went for dinner to the main square but it was so crowded that I could not get through with my taxi, so walked down for some distance but I could barely pass the crowd. So, I was almost determined to be back to the hotel. Then I saw this really nice looking restaurant and the crowd inside looked quite upscale. I was a bit hesitant first, but then I went in and took a table. The food and the service was simply amazing, probably the best meal and the best service I have got so far in the entire South America during my 2.5 month trip. It was a bit pricy but definitely very classy, the name of the place is Tupananchis. I would suggest it to friends for fine dining in Cusco. I had no money left with me after the pricy dinner, so I walked back to the hotel, it was almost 11 pm but the streets were not empty and I felt quite safe walking back on my own.

June 24th was a big day for the Inca people as it was their festival of the Sun called Inti Rymi. I was not sure when the ceremony was supposed to start in the main square, but I happened to walk there at the very time when it was being started. I captured some great shots of the ceremony and I was so happy to see it all without any kind of planning. The colorful custumes, the dances, the offerings and the entire crowd - oh, it was quite a grand experience! I managed to get a great spot for viewing the ceremony and to take all the pictures that I captured. There was this security guard of one store, he put a stool for me at the door of the store and allowed me to stand on that so that I could see everything, over the people and take pictures as much as I wanted. The place must have had a million people, at least that is how it seemed to me!

Today is my 4th day in Cusco and I was thinking of doing some pampering again after Sucre, Bolivia. I was thinking of a massage or a body treatment, but somehow it did not happen. Almost everything was closed for the Cusco day. I would still like to do a massage and straighten my hair on the last day in Cusco. Manuel and I had to go back to Ollantaytambo and stay overnight to catch the train to Aguas Caliantes for going to Machu Pichu for visiting and to meet the rest of the team after their Inca-trail.

Puno, Peru

We reached Puno on an afternoon after a long busride, however, I was feeling very sick, I felt this way throughout the journey. We stopped in Copacabana and it was nice ther but I never felt good in this ride. I felt like throwing up and could not eat anything much at all, I could feel that I was going to be very sick soon. Yes, I was right, I survived the bus-ride to Puno somehow. But as soon as I got here, I completely collapsed. My stomach was not treating me well at all, I felt like throwing up several times but could not, so it was a really ugly feeling. I did not feel good at all that day in Puno. It was a massive food poisoning. Most likely, it was due to the last meal that I had in La Paz, unfortunately it was an Indian meal. I did not feel good while having that meal but rest of the people were so enthusiastic about it that I kept myself shut. That was the killer, oh, can you imagine, after almost 2 months I had an Indian meal in this South America trip for the first time and it did not suit me at all!

Anyway, evereyone else went for a walk in the town and they were planning for a group dinner in Puno but I just stayed in the hotel. I was making my way from bathroom to bedroom several times. O,I felt numb, weak and terrible! I just felt like taking the next flight back home. You feel bad when you are sick espesially, in an unknown country where nothing seems to be yours! You feel like a stranger, don´t you! I felt like calling my mom but controlled myself somehow. Instead, I called my GAP leader and explained him my sickness, the idea was that, if I did not get any better by next morning, I will not leave with the group next day for the home stay in Taquila island and would rather stay back in the hotel and get some rest. He agreed and next morning, I did not feel any better, in fact it was lot worse, so I had a doctor coming and seeing me in my hotel room, he gave me two injections, gave a whole bunch of medicines for the infection in my stomach, pain etc. I paid US$30 for the doctor´s visit , borrowed that money from Kate before they left for the day. Now I am left with only 30 soles. Guess what, I had to go to the pharmacy to get the medicine, before that I had to get money from the ATM. How was I going to do all that, I could barely stand at that point, I felt so helpless! On top of that, my room was on the fifth floor from where I could see lake Titicaca but that also means I had to take the stairs down 5 floors and then walk 10-15 minutes to the ATM and then go to the pharmacy and another 10-15 minutes walk back to the hotel and take the stairs to the fifth floor to my room again! My head was almost spinning just with the thought of this little but tough journey and was not sure how I would manage to do all this just by myself. I do not speak Spanish either, otherwise, I could possibly get help from the hotel guys! They could be helpful! Anyway, I did exactly what I just mentioned here. I was walking like a sick pale person who could fall down any moment but I did it all and got back to the hotel safe! I got money, medicine, then I needed some food. that doctor adviced me not to take any solid for a day, so I ordered a soup and the front desk people were nice. They got me a nice chicken soup and it was tasty. Although I felt better after the little food, medicine and the injection, food was not staying much inside me and I was still very weak.

Manuel, our team leader insisted on me doing some local trips while they were away but I was not quite up for it. That evening, a female travel agent, Guadalupa came to see me if I was doing okay and by that time I was actually feeling quite good. She suggested that I could be picked up next morning by her people at 9 am and could visit few of the floating islands with some other people and she could then arrange for me to meet my team leader as my team would be visiting the islands around the same time. I was hesitant initially but then I thought, I did want to do this and really did not feel like being on the bed feeling sick. So I went to the floating islands and those were amazing. It was so surprising how people live in these islands. They gave us a demonstration of how they make these islands and what they do to stabilize them and also how they live their lives here. I was thoroughly impressed and I was feeling lot better to be able to do this trip. I met my team in one of the floating islands. We helped the Uros people pushing a new boat to the lake and then we took a ride on that boat, it was fun, they even sang and danced for us, I bought some nice tapestry from them, it was expensive but beautiful and I can use it for the home decoration later. The money I spent would help the community directly so I felt quite good. I took pictures with the girl from whom I bought the tapestry, she was so happy, I felt really good to see her big smile. We had a picnic in the boat although I was afraid to eat and so I did not, still stayed on liquid only for another day.

We came back to Puno in the afternoon and there was a massive parade going on and all the kids were nicely dressed up and they were dancing throughout the parade. It was a charming experience to see them all dancing and happy, we got stuck in the middle but managed to get some place to stand and watch the parade. I think we are in a festival season.

I forgot to mention in the post for La Paz, we saw another parade in La Paz the day we got there and it was initially a small one but then, it turned out to be a huge parade. The colors of the custumes, the dancing, the makeups and the band groups along with them with diferent musical instruments were amazing and it was a big show, I took pictures from the hotel glass windows, it was superb.

We left Puno next day and came to Cusco, the archeological capital of South America. I am so glad to be staying extra days in Cusco while the team is doing the Inca-trail or 4 days! Coming up in my next post, all about Cusco.....