Day 1: The Friendliest People on the Planet

So, here´s the start of my day to day trip report. Some of these were written in Internet cafés with the intent of publishing them when I had gotten back, while the others were written once I got back home.

As I said earlier, my first day consisted of flying to Bogotá, Colombia, and spending 8 hours in the city. So, my flight was uneventful, or rather, well, there were events, so I take that back. I will delineate them later. I got out of El Dorado International Airport, caught a cab, and spent a few hours in the old city.

Anyway, back to the airport, back to John F. Kennedy International Airport. I must say that I haven´t met any citizen of any country who is as friendly as the Colombians. It was a totally different experience. At first, judging from the gathering crowd in JFK, I felt like I was in the middle of a real telenovela set. The machismo oozing from the males, and the scalding hot women. My goodness, just the flight attendants alone, with their blood red ponchos and smart bowler hats, they were definitely arousing.

Here's a shot of my ride for the day, or rather, my first ride for the day.



A number of Colombians approached me and talked to me in flight, while waiting to board, and in other places, offering me a seat when they see my huge backpack, and assisting me in filling up a customs declaration form. I´ve gotten to know the life stories of two gentlemen in the flight, one while waiting to board, and another while in flight, none other than my seatmate.

I also happened to have flown with the Vice-President of the Colombian Republic as well, the Colombian passengers were more than eager to point it out to me.

So, at 1:00 PM, we landed in El Dorado International Airport, and I queued for one hour to get my passport stamped. I then caught a cab and headed to Plaza de Bolivár, the huge plaza with tons of pigeons. I took some shots, and proceeded to walk along the streets of La Candelaria, the old town. Of course, after a few hours, I flagged a taxi again, and headed back to the airport.

Here is a street performer in Bogota.



This on the other hand is a detail of some of the majestic government buildings in the Plaza.



Pigeons outnumber humans here.



And here is a shot of a typical street in Bogota's old town, La Candelaria.



A number of thoughts have crossed my mind today. One, it felt like I was on the wrong continent. Well of course, the passengers of my flight were all holding maroon passports, issued by the Colombian republic. The flight attendant who took my boarding pass saw my passport and uttered "Filipinas..." to which I responded "Yeah, I suppose you don´t see that often in this flight."

The guidebooks say that Colombia is a dangerous country, and yet there was only one time in which I felt unsafe. It was when I was walking on the street in front of Museo del Oro (which happened to be closed, unfortunately). A non-descript man approached me in the middle of the street, in his hands was a white hankerchief, and even though I didn´t look closely, in my peripheral vision, I saw little weird-looking green pills. I am pretty sure those are substances of questionable legality. Of course I declined firmly and walked on.

Otherwise, I love the Colombian people. The taxi driver, using easy-to-understand Spanish, explained the Colombian currency, which has too many zeros to process (The last time I checked, 1 US dollar was equal to 1871 Colombian pesos.). I exchanged 100 USD in the airport, and I got some 165,000 COP.

The sights, the smells, even the way the cars drive on the road, it didn´t seem foreign to me at all. If not for the language barrier, I feel like I would be right at home.

Too bad I only had 8 hours to spend. I will definitely come back. Watch out for my next travel report, when I actually find myself in Peru.

On the Road: May 10

It is a good thing that Blogger now allows scheduled posts. So I can actually write this post way ahead, even though I don't have a computer with me. So, I will just schedule the time it will be published, and voila!

So what better way to use this feature than when I am on the road?

Ok, I will sort of give you a preview of what I will be doing every day of my trip. Makes your mouth water, don't you think? Yeah yeah, I am evil.

Ok, so for today, Saturday, May 10, I begin my day by heading to New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport, entering Terminal 4, and boarding an Avianca Airlines flight to Bogota. I will head to the Colombian capital, get out of the airport, and do some sight-seeing in the city, since I have a 9-hour lay-over. I will visit the Gold Museum, and then I will head back to the airport to board my flight to Lima. I am scheduled to arrive at Lima a few minutes before 1:00 AM.



(Jagged Rocks, from my Watkins Glen Series)

Crazy Weather

So, it is the end of April, and yet the weather is acting crazy here in Buffalo. Believe it or not, it is cold again, hovering a little bit above freezing. That sucks. In fact, for a few minutes, it even was snowing around noon. Crazy.

That's why some people are getting sick, since the bodies couldn't understand the change in the weather. The week before, it was all sunny and warm, but now, it is cold, and I am back to wearing my jacket again.

Anyway, that I believe, is the Buffalonian weather.

In other aspects of my life, I am currently preparing for my upcoming trip. I already printed my travel insurance policy, saved the emergency numbers, stored the airline hotlines, among others. I will be calling them soon later this week reconfirming my flight reservations. Good thing I am not a victim of the bankruptcy wave that affected a lot of airlines this past month.

So hopefully, the weather will be good on the day I depart. I am so excited to go to this vacation, since as I said earlier, this vacation took two years in planning. The political climate in Latin America already warmed, so Venezuela won't be declaring war against Colombia any time soon, and so my flights via Bogota won't be hurt. My hotels have all reconfirmed my reservations, and so I am good to go. I also contacted my friend in New York City, and so I will have overnight accommodations in the city since my flight for Bogota leaves early in the morning, prompting me to reserve a flight to New York City from Buffalo leaving the afternoon before.

So there, I am excited, and I am ready to leave. I will publish a trip report, of course, so just hang in there. I have my camera ready. With a two gigabyte memory chip.

On closing, stay tuned for this new series of pictures, taken in Watkins Glen, NY. I went here with a bunch of friends, and together with my camera, captured the beauty of this state park in the middle of New York State. Admire the wonderful rock formations that will follow.



(Opening View, from my Watkins Glen Series)

Counting Down the Days

It is the final week of March. 5 weeks left from the semester. That is a good thing. That means that I can finally head down to South America.

It is sort of scary that the semester is only five weeks to go. I have 2 exams, 1 paper, and a couple more of homeworks to do for my classes. Add to that the draft that I am supposed to produce before the end of this semester.

So anyway, I am already working on my paper, and my draft is moving along. So that I can go for my vacation in Peru.

So, in less than two months time, I will be riding in one of these.



I am booked to fly JetBlue from Buffalo to New York City. Then I will meet with my sister to have dinner with her, since we haven't done that in quite a while. Then, I will spend the night with a friend, because my next flight leaves early in the morning the day after. I will then ride one of these.



Yeah, so I am flying to Bogota with Avianca Airlines. Good thing that the Andean crisis between Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia was resolved, so I don't have to worry about the threat of war in that area. I will connect in Bogota and then proceed to ride in one of these.



This plane will then take me to Lima. Finally, I have reached my destination country, but not my destination city yet. So I will then take one last plane ride, using one of these planes.



This will then take me from Lima to Cuzco, and there I will start my adventure for this summer. Well, technically, I've already started it in Bogota, but that would be minor compared to the ones that are supposed to happen in El Valle Sagrado, also known as the Sacred Valley.

So that's the reason for my counting the days, there is a large incentive at the end. That's the reason why I put my vacations at the end of semesters, so that I have something to look forward to. Oh yes, many thanks to Airliners.net for providing these photos. They amaze me all the time.

Of course, I will be bringing my loyal camera with me, and you guys can expect to see plenty of photos in the coming months detailing my travels to different parts of the world.



(St. Patrick's Door, from my New York City Series)

An Exposé

So, I went through my archives yesterday. And I found out that last year, when I was heading down to Quito, I already told my fans where I was heading as early as January.

And this year, I am again heading down somewhere, but my fans don't know it yet. And it is already March. So I might as well say where I am heading. Besides, my mother has already correctly guessed where I am heading to.

So yes, I am heading down to Peru in May, with a stop-over in Colombia. This will be on May 9-20, 2008.

I am heading down to Cuzco and The Sacred Valley.

So the plan goes like this (sit down and grab some chips if you want to):

1. May 9: I have an afternoon flight from Buffalo to New York City. I will then have dinner with my sister in the Ethiopian restaurant that I was talking about earlier. Then I head to my friend's place, who happens to conveniently live very near to John F. Kennedy International Airport. I will spend the night there.


2. May 10: I have a morning flight from New York City to Bogota, Colombia. I am connecting in Bogota to proceed to Lima, Peru. But, since the lay-over is 8 hours long (I arrive in Bogota at around 1:00 PM and my next flight doesn't depart until 9:55 PM), I might as well go out of the airport and do some sight-seeing of Bogota old town, and visit the Museo del Oro, Plaza de Bolivar, and other sites surrounding it. I will then proceed back to the airport before my next flight, which is at night. I will then arrive in Lima shortly after midnight.


3. May 11: I will be holing up in Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport for the night, because there is no point in getting a hotel, since my next flight departs at 5:25 AM. I will be taking a flight from Lima to Cuzco, arriving in the high Andean city at 6:40 AM. I will then proceed to my hotel, then go to the train station to get my tickets, of which I have a prior reservation. I will then do some sight-seeing of my own in the remaining hours of the morning, and in the afternoon, I am joining a tour group to visit the Inca sites around the city, such as Saqsaywaman, Q'enqo, Pucapucara, and Tambomachay. After that, I will proceed to my hotel and retire.


4. May 12: This is the day that I will just stay in Cuzco and explore the city on my own. I will visit museums and ancient palaces, churches, and monasteries, in the city. I'll try to find bars that serve chicha. Chicha is saliva-fermented corn beer. Traditionally, old ladies gather together, they chew the corn, then they spit it to a giant vat. This will then ferment, and the resulting liquid is chicha. I will bring anti-diarrheal medicine for this.


5. May 13: I will then depart Cuzco by riding a shared taxi. I will head to Chinchero, where there are Inca terraces and an amazing colonial church. I will not spend the night here, instead, before nightfall, I will head to Urubamba, where I have a reservation in a mountain lodge.


6. May 14: While in Urubamba, I will then take a hike to Salinas de Maras, which is a mountain salt terrace. This is one of the highlights of my trip. I guess I am just fascinated by the scenery of this place, judging from the pictures. I will definitely take plenty of shots here. Nearby, I will also visit Moray, which is an ancient Inca site, believed to be a scientific experiment. Each layer of the circle has its own micro-climate. This is an interesting place. At the end of the day, I return to my mountain lodge in Urubamba.


7. May 15: I depart my mountain lodge in Urubamba and head to the town of Ollantaytambo, which is famous for its Inca fortress. I will spend a night here, and I will also tour the fortress, and its amazing church.


8. May 16: Finally, I will board one of the highest railway systems in the world (the highest is the Tibetan railway) and head to Aguascalientes. This is the nearest town to Machu Picchu. I arrive there around 8:30 AM. I will then check in my hotel, and drop my stuff. Then, I will board the bus that would take me to the most famous ancient ruins of the world, Machu Picchu. Here is a classic photo. I will spend the rest of the day exploring the ruins, until I go back to Aguascalientes to retire for the night. I might visit the hot springs of which the town is named for.


9. May 17: I will board the first bus heading to Machu Picchu again. The reason for this is because I don't want to miss the sunrise. I want to see the sun rising from the midst of the Andes and shining over the ruins. Then, I will proceed and climb Huayna Picchu. This is the mountain that dominates the ruins. You can see it in the background of the picture above. After I do that, I return to Aguascalientes after lunch, and head back to Ollantaytambo, again, via train. I will spend the night in Ollantaytambo.


10. May 18: After checking out of my hotel in Ollantaytambo, I will ride a shared taxi and will head to Pisac, which is famous for its Sunday markets. And yes, May 18 is a Sunday. This is when I will buy souvenirs for the folks back home. And before nightfall, I will return to Cuzco and spend a night in Cuzco again.


11. May 19: I have a flight to Lima that departs this morning. I will then store my luggage in Lima's airport for a while, and take the taxi to Lima's old town. I will try to visit some sights if I can, and if I am not yet tired, and then I will go back to the airport to catch my flight back home. I have a flight to Bogota that leaves that afternoon. And from Bogota, I have a flight back to New York City.


12. May 20: I find myself waking up in the plane, and at the same time arriving in New York City. I will then catch a flight back to Buffalo and that's the end of my trip.

So there, that's my itinerary for this May. I have a total of 8 flights, 2 train rides, and reservations in 4 different hotels. It is a very complicated itinerary, that's why I decided not to go here last year and go to Quito instead, given the fact that it would be my first time to travel alone. I am very excited, and come to think of it, it is only about two months away.

So, that's the reason why I am watching the state of affairs there in South America, given the fact that there are recent developments between Colombia and its neighbors. Hopefully, this won't impede my vacation plans.



(The semi-circular staircase, from my New York City Series)