jenny's sparkle tog: lots of things to write about...maybe i wont wait so long to sparkle tog next time

Well i made it to south america and am in peru now. I didn´t realize it had been so long since i wrote until i started looking at pictures. so last i wrote i was in thailand on my way to the northern part of laos and it was just as amazing as i remembered from the first time i was there. I started in vientienne then on to vang vieng where i did a bit more rock climbing.

thats the rock where i did a spot of climbing (not to the top)

closer picture of the rock

outside vang vieng

after vang vieng i went to phonsavan where they have these mysterious plain of jars. just a lot of big rock jars laying around. they aren´t sure what they are for but probably having something to do with buriels. then i went on to luang prabang where i stayed a few day and relaxed for a few days. took a bike ride and drank some good wine. i met a couple of french guys who found this little store with some really good french wine and it was good. give it to the french for knowing good wine.

phonsavan plain of jars

you wouldn´t believe how many pictures of jars i have!

after luang prabang i went to nong kiaw and it was beautiful. the river cut through these limestone mountains just like vang vieng and it was amazing. well see for yourself.

nong kiaw

went fishing one day on the river with one of the french guys i met in luang prabang and the brother in law of the owner of our guesthouse

fishing trip

the guest house i stayed is right next to the bridge

wierd fish we caught

another wierd fish we caught (didn´t eat it)

nong kiaw from the bridge

i ended up also going rock climbing in nong kiaw. at breakfast one morning i met a couple of guys going and they invited me along. one of the guys was from railay beach in thailand (where i learned to climb) and he was a professional climber for a long time in california somewhere. it was really fun and a little scary since we climbed up to this cave along the river. it was about an hour boat ride to the first climb then after we headed farther down river to see some pictographs in and around this cave. i didnt climb up to this one because it was a bit over my expertise level of climbing so i waited by the river.

rock where we climbed up to the cave.

hand prints on a rock face above the river

you can kind of see the red hand prints on the rock face

After nong kiaw i went to luang nam tha which is north again. and ended up meeting some people going on a village trek so i decided to tag along. it was good fun. muddy rainy slippery trail but fun. oh yeah also in the hotel i stayed at in luang nam tha there were turtles in the bathroom. the first night i got there i went to take a shower and near the bucket and stool there was what looked like a fake turtle that they have in gardens but i was so tired from the long day of travel that i didn´t really pay attention. then as i was washing my hair i looked at the fake turtle and it blinked. so not knowing if it was the kind of turtle that bites, which probably all turtles bite, i gave it its space. but it was a little unnerving having a strange turtle watching you shower and go potty. the next morning there were three! i dont know if i just didn´t see the other two the night before or what but its not very relaxing having to avoid turtles in the bathroom early in the morning. but we worked it out in the end and gave each other space to just be ourselves.

turtle

lunch on the trek

village we stayed in on the trek

kids in the village

then i made my way back in to thailand and to chang rai. ended up going with some people to the white temple which was a crazy looking temple with wierd murals inside. you´ll have to go see the inside for yourself because your not allowed to take pictures inside.

white temple

hands at the white temple

then i took a boat to the west to fang then a bus south to mae taeng to spend the night then a bus the next morning to pai. it was the long way but i wanted to take a boat and it seemed a good of time as any so thats how i did it. i spent about a week in pai because i met some good people and started learning yoga which was a good break from travel.

boat ride stop

after pai i headed for bangkok to catch my flight to lima. now that was an exhausting trip. 40 some odd hours! i went from bangkok to delhi (5hrs)... to brussels (9hrs)...to toronto(8hrs)...to lima (7hrs). thats not including layovers. surprise surpise i caught a cold and was a bit sick when i got to lima. but luckily annmarie came and met me in lima and it made being sick a bit more fun. so we stayed in lima a few days then headed north to casma via chimbote.

lima, miraflores

annie with a pot on her head... just so everyone knows if you come and meet me somewhere you too can make it on to the sparkle tog holding things up.

There are these great ruins just outside of casma that we went to. the sites were sechin and chanquillo. i just put pictures of chanquillo up for no other reason then i forgot to add sechin and it takes really long to add photos so im not going to.

chanquillo

annie in chanquillo

i didn´t realize that the west of peru is a desert but it sure is. the green part is the river casma

i almost forgot but in the collectivo taxi from chimbote to casma we met a futbol player and he invited us to his game in a town near casma. so annie and i found a neither collectivo taxi (which are just taxis with as many people in them as they can fit) and went to yuatan. it was a cute little town with a futbol stadium on the hill. we didn´t take any pictures because we were the only gringas in town and getting stared at alot so as it to act and feel like less of outsiders we played it cool and just watched the game. After casma annie went back to lima and i went on to huaraz. once i got there i was stuck there for three days because they were have some sort of strikes. if i understood spanish i could tell you why but i dont so here is a picture of the strikers.

downtown huaraz

after the strike was over i went to caraz to do a trek on the santa cruz trail. not having ever hiked in peru i didn´t want to do it on my own so i hired a guy and his horse to guide and carry my stuff. it was a new experience because i had to buy all the food at the market for me and him and then get my self to the trail head where i met him. the trail was super easy to follow and there were tons of people around so it would have been super easy to do it on my own but what are you gonna do.

Alpamayo (mountain on the trek)

nevado taulliraju (i think)

same as above

at the punta union pass (4760 meters) looking back at the valley we crossed

burros on the pass

other side of the pass

after the trek i went back to caraz and caught a bus back to chimbote via the canon del pato which... whoa... is the best way to describe it. it was a sketchy road on a big bus. i tried to take some picture from the bus because its hard to describe just how hair raising this bus ride was but none really did it justice. probably because i had to literally not look a couple of times. there were sections that were maybe 1000 feet up and not paved and the fill slope failing in places. i was on the side of the bus with the best view of the river and canon below and it was exciting. the best parts were where the bus had to back up because it was a one way road with few turnouts and tunnels through bedrock that barely fit the bus. awesome! but not going to do it again anytime soon.

part of the canon from the bus. the road is on the right somewhere i think a tunnel through the rock.

imagine this 1000 feet up and thats what the road was like higher up in the canyon

then i went on to trujillo which is where i am now. today i took a local bus out to chan chan, which was built around AD 1300 and is the largest pre-columbian city in the americas. it was pretty good... big adobe city. i took a different local bus back and didn´t really know where to get off but luckily i recognized a street name and got off. i had to walk about 20 minutes to find where i was exactly but all worked out. now im sitting in an internet cafe trying to remember the last 2 months of my trip.