Cusco/Ollantaytambo

I will try to finish up these Bolivia/Peru postings before the end of the year.  This last semester has just flown by.

A map of the Sacred Valley/Cusco area.  It's hard to tell, but there is no road access to Macchu Picchu (red circle), which is why you have to either hike in or take the train.

Following our ordeal in getting to Cusco, we had a great trip.  We stayed at the Unumizu hotel.  It's not exactly in the historical district, to get to the main plaza you really need to take a taxi or walk about 20-30 minutes.  However, we enjoyed the area.  It was quiet in the evening, there was a really good fire-cooked pizza place just up the street and there was a bank and a supermarket within a block of the hotel.  The rooms were quite nice with modern bathroom fixtures, flat-screen TVs and comfortable beds.  Did I mention that the place costs about 1/2 of what you would pay for a room right in the historical district.  For only a 2 night trip it worked out great.
The morning after our arrival we headed over to Calle Pavitos.  On the corner of that street collective vans depart regularly towards Ollantaytambo.  The drive out there is beautiful with great views of the Cusco countryside and the Andean range in the distance.

 I got to sit next to the the minivan's "emergency window".

Notice the ancient Incan terracing going up the side of the mountain.

Town of Urubamba in the background

Ollantaytambo is a town and also the restored ruins that were once an Incan fortress.  We didn't have time to tour the entire Sacred Valley so we wanted to only visit Ollantaytambo. However, we found out that you HAVE to buy the entire Sacred Valley pass, you can't just pay an entrance fee for an individual site.  It was around $60 per person, which is more than admission to Six Flags or Seaworld.  Being cheap, we decided to hike up to the unrestored ruins on the opposite side of the valley.  There are ruins all over the place on the mountains. 

The good stuff

Entrance to the restored site.  This was as close as we got.

Our destination, the unrestored ruins on the mountains behind Ollantaytambo.

It was a pretty steep hike up and the high altitude didn't make it any easier.

 

They call these guys the "mules" because their job is to haul all the camping and cooking gear for the fancy gringo backpackers going on the trail.  They basically do all the work like setting up camp and cooking the food.  The tourists just have to walk.  Ollantaytambo is one of the last places to buy any forgotten provisions.  In addition to selling food and drinks, the shops carry flashlights, bug spray, Leatherman tools, "oxygen in a can", and other camping supplies - and coca leaves of course.

La Paz to Cusco

The idea of traveling across South America by land can sound really adventurous and romantic when you're sitting at home bored.  However, in practice, it can be quite uncomfortable.  I now understand why so many people that do it use backpacks - even if they aren't going to be hiking.
I had done my research and found out about a bus line that travels direct from La Paz to Cusco.  What I didn't plan for was it being sold out.  I dropped the ball by not purchasing the tickets a few days in advance.  On Sunday morning we showed up at La Paz's main bus terminal only to find the bus full of tourists with backpacks.
Fortunately, we had one of the embassy drivers dropping us off, he offered to take us over the the Cementerio district in El Alto. From there, vans depart towards the border as soon as they fill up. Not quite as fancy as a double-decker bus, but it worked.

 

 The air freshener almost brought a tear to my eye.

This particular van would take us to Desaguadero which is located on the border between Bolivia and Peru at the South end of Lake Titicaca.  Interestingly, there was a Brazilian family with surfboards that was traveling all the way to Trujillo, Peru.  According to the father, the surfing is better on the Pacific and Trujillo is one of the best spots is South America.

It's about a 2.5 hour drive from La Paz to Desaguadero.

Desaguadero, like many border towns, is a bit chaotic.  The van dropped us off about 1/4 of a mile from the bridge.  It seemed like kind of a hassle to load all of our stuff up and climb up onto one of the many bike "taxis", so we just walked - once again, another situation where a backpack would have been nice.  We then had to wait in line at the Bolivian immigration office to get an exit stamp.  After crossing the bridge, we waited in an even longer line on the Peruvian side to get an entry stamp.  Fortunately, Peru doesn't charge Americans or Mexicans for a visa.

At this point, we really didn't take anymore pictures.  After going through immigration, we got into a shared taxi that would take us to Puno, Peru.  There was a French couple in the taxi and it was rather cramped (I was basically smashing Ale against the door the whole time).  That drive lasted another 2.5 hours or so.  Our original plan was to store our luggage at the bus station in Puno and then try to go tour part of the lake or something and take a night bus to Cusco.  However, we found out that the last bus for Cusco left around 9pm which would arrive in Cusco around 4am.  I had no idea of what to do in Cusco at 4am. We were also already feeling pretty worn out.  The idea of sleeping on the bus and then touring Cusco the following day did not sound very appealing.  We decided to catch a bus to Cusco right then.

Coincidentally, I ran into to one of my former mission companions at the bus station.  This turned out to be a blessing as we almost got taken advantage of by a hustler selling bus tickets for buses that weren't even at the bus station.

The bus we ended up taking was a relatively comfortable double-decker.  However, about an hour into the trip a lady informed Ale that the bathroom was out of order.  We still had 6 hours to go and the bus made no stops. After more than an hour Ale was almost in tears.  At that point I decided to go investigate for myself.  It turns out the bathroom was not out of order, the door was just really hard to open.

Since our original plan was to spend the night on the bus, we didn't have a hotel set up for Cusco that night. Since we would be arriving late, I wanted to have something reserved so we wouldn't be running around Cusco with our suitcases at midnight looking for a hotel.  I decided to call the hotel where we had reservations for the following nights to see if they had vacancy for us to check in a night early.  The lady at the hotel informed me that she couldn't find any reservations in my name.  Moreover, she said they were booked for the whole week.  Needless to say this was very frustrating.

 There really wasn't much I could do from the bus with my cell phone going in and out of service areas.  I called my brother, Daniel, in Texas and asked him to see if he could look online and call some hotels to try to reserve something for that night.  About a half hour later I called him back.  He informed me that he had found a place and made reservations and that he would text me the information.  It turns out he made reservations at the SAME EXACT HOTEL which had lost my previous reservation!  I called the hotel again and they were able to sort it out.  It turned out to be a great hotel in the end.

With the bathroom and hotel situations resolved, we finally sat back to try to relax and enjoy the rest of the trip.  I had set my Kindle tablet on the floor under my seat.  A few minutes later when I reached down to retrieve it, it was gone.  I got on my hands and knees to started looking everywhere for it.  I emptied Ale's purse, my backpack, we started going around the bus asking the other passengers if they had found it. It was nowhere to be found.  After a while we gave up the search.  As much as I just wanted to put it out of my mind and try to enjoy the trip, it drove me crazy suspecting that someone in that very bus had taken my Kindle.

A few minutes later, the bus suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere.  A police officer boarded and began shining his flashlight down the rows.  Apparently, he was searching for contraband.  After he left our area, I decided to go out and ask him if I could borrow his flashlight to get a better look under the seats.  I got off the bus and walked over towards a group of officers.  Before I could even finish asking them for a flashlight, Ale yelled to me that she had found the Kindle. It "magically" appeared right under my seat, a place we had searched probably 50 times.  While I'll never know for sure, I suspect that the thief, seeing me go out to talk to the police, got scared and returned the Kindle.  

Thankfully, the rest of the trip passed by without incident.  However, I did commit a major tourist error on the taxi from the bus station to the hotel.  In Bolivia, I had never really negotiated with taxi drivers prior to getting in.  They had always charged me fair prices and I never had any problems.  As a result, I failed to agree on a price with the taxi driver at the bus station in Cusco before getting in the taxi.  On top of that, I had no idea where the hotel was in relation to the bus station.  I was completely at the driver's mercy.  A few minutes into the ride, the driver advised me that it would cost $10 US.  I thought that sounded rather pricey, but I figured it was late at night and the hotel must be on the other side of town.  Less than a minute later we arrived at the hotel.  It was less than 2 miles from the bus station. Oh well, I was just glad to have finally arrived.  Although, out of curiosity, I asked the front desk attendant at the hotel what a taxi ride from the bus station would usually cost.  He said 4 soles (less than $2). 

Reunited in Bolivia

Ale is amazing at editing pictures.  Unfortunately, she has been pretty busy lately so she gave me permission to just go ahead and put up pictures of our trip in their "raw" format.

Ale departed on a Thursday and took flights from San Antonio to Dallas to Miami and finally to La Paz.  She arrived early in the morning Friday around 6am. Ale had no problems getting into Bolivia, Mexicans don't have to pay for a visa like Americans.  Amazingly, she didn't feel any effects of the high altitude of La Paz.  She also found the cool temperatures to be quite refreshing compared to the Texas summer where she was coming from.

I still had to go in for my last day of work, so Ale stayed at my house and took a nap all morning.  I arranged to have a car pick her up and take her to the embassy in the afternoon so I should show her around.

The employees of the consular section had organized a small get together for my going away and another person's birthday. You'll notice the lack of men.  There were only 3 other men apart from myself that worked in the consular section.

That night we went to the American-style shopping mall in the Zona Sur to see the Batman movie.  I think we ended up eating at Burger King (I know, it's lame - but we were tired and it's just easier).

The following day we went up the large San Francisco cathedral in downtown La Paz. However, before that we stopped at Wist'upiku, which is a pretty successful Bolivian chain of restaurants featuring empanadas and a traditional hot drink called Api - it's similar to the Peruvian chicha morada in that it is made from blue corn.

 

We then headed over to the Witches Market on Sagarnaga Street to check out to many products featuring coca leaves and the llama fetuses.

Unfortunately, we really didn't have a whole lot of time in La Paz.  In between these little excursions, I was trying to get everything packed up and the house cleaned.  We left La Paz early on Sunday.  The trip to Peru was quite an adventure which I'll put in a separate post.

Citizen Ale

On Tuesday, September 25, 2012, Ale participated in a naturalization ceremony. The previous week she had her naturalization interview where she was also administered the citizenship test.  She had to answer 6 questions orally including:
How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
What was the purpose of the Declaration of Independence?
What is the rule of law?

If you're interested, go here to take a practice test.  

The officer then gave Ale the option to participate in a ceremony in Austin on the 25th or to wait until the end of October for a ceremony to take place in San Antonio.  Ale opted to participate in the ceremony on the 25th as she would be able to make the voter registration deadline to be able to vote in November.

So, on Tuesday we drove up to Austin.  My Mom drove down from Flower Mound and met us there. I had heard that in previous years the ceremonies in Austin would take place at the State Capitol or at the Texas State Museum.  We were a little disappointed when this ceremony ended up taking place at a school gym.  But I suppose the venue isn't really what matters.

Ale waiting in line to turn in her permanent resident card

There were around 970 people taking the oath that day.  Apparently, The key is to arrive late because the last people to get there got to sit in padded chairs with back support.  They also didn't have to wait in line to check in.

We have a Mickey for every occasion - graduation, birthday, naturalization, you name it...

In addition to my disappointment with the venue, I can't say I was terribly excited about the color guard.  I appreciate the Sons of the Revolution's willingness to help out, but I just think getting one of the local military reserve units to do the color guard would have been way cooler.

However it was nice of them to pose for pictures

The Judge from the Federal District Court administering the oath.  That's a court reporter sitting at the table, since it technically is court.

Despite the venue and the color guard, it was a nice ceremony.  The director of USCIS for the region gave a good speech on what it means to be American and the Texas Land Commissioner spoke about the importance of immigrants in U.S. history.  A local high school a capella group sang patriotic songs - they were quite good.

In case you're wondering, this is what naturalized citizens swear to in the ceremony:

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

It's been a long journey.  Ale has been through many obstacles and hurdles and she was happy for this day to finally arrive.  We appreciate all the help and support from our family and friends that made this special day possible.  

P.S. Ale was also happy about this day for another reason.  Since a judge administers the oath, you can also request a name change.  Her legal name is now Alejandra Rios Hyer.  That's a 40% reduction in names!

Technology Nostalgia

By Dave:


So there is a lot of hype about the iphone 5 right now.  People all across the country are placing preorders and posting on Facebook to show off about it.  I confess that I only recently bought a smartphone for the first time about 2 weeks ago.  Probably because of the impending Iphone 5 release, prices were dropping for other models.  So I went and got an Iphone 4 for only $49 with contract extension.  After I bought it I started thinking about technology and reflecting on my youth.

I grew up in a house that had major issues with technology.  My parents refused to buy a new TV for essentially my entire childhood.  We had the same TV from the 80s up until about 2000 or 2001 when they finally relented and purchased a mid-grade Sharp (at least it was new).  That was the ONLY TV in the entire house.  We had to get a special analog box in order to get cable connected to the TV.  I can't imagine what the cable guy must of thought of us when he came to set it up.  It may not seem like a big deal, but you have to see it in context; we lived in a posh bay area suburb in California and had a pool in our backyard for crying out loud!

It wasn't a case of my parents simply being anti-technology though.  Our family always seemed to stay up to speed in computers.  I recall vivid memories of our old Tandy with games like King's Quest and blue-screened word processors and a dot matrix printer.  I remember what a big deal it was to upgrade from a 28k modem to a 56k modem.  We even had a second phone line installed just for the computer.  We were one of the first families in the neighborhood to get DSL when it came out.  I remember becoming (briefly) popular among my peers as I was one of the only kids in my class that had this wonderful combination: DSL, Napster, and a CD-burner.  Needless to say there was a big disconnect between our computer in the den and the TV in our living room.  And I struggled to understand it.

One year, for Christmas, I got a nice 16-channel Mackie soundboard.  I got involved in sound production at my school and church.  In middle school, my friends and I learned basic HTML and created some pretty decent geocities websites. I certainly considered myself a techie - I kept up on the latest and greatest in music production, computers, and yes, even cellphones. But throughout it all, there was that old TV.

I think this whole smartphone experience has helped me come to better understand my parent's reluctance or more appropriately, apathy,  towards purchasing a new TV.   My dad would readily buy a nice computer because he could see the value in it.  He started practicing law in an era of dictation and typewriters.  He was able to experience firsthand how powerful tools like WordPerfect and PCs changed the way businesses and professionals did their work.  He can readily recall how he and his colleagues would use AOL email to send important documents and contracts to each other for review, as the idea of corporate domains and servers had yet to become widespread.  My dad didn't use a TV at his job - so he simply saw no value in having a nice one.

I guess I felt the same way about smartphones.  Sure, they were exciting and could do all sorts of neat things - but I could never really see that they would be particularly valuable to me.  I could never justify the large (relative to other cellphones) upfront cost in addition to expensive monthly data plans.  Prices have dropped as new models have flooded the market and new shared data plans have made the monthly payments more affordable.  But another reason for caving in and buying a smartphone may be rooted in my summer in Bolivia.  I recall riding in one of the collective buses one day and looking around to see many people texting and browsing the web.  There, in the poorest country in South America (by some measures), on a public bus - everybody had a nicer phone than me!  So the question is, was my purchase of a smartphone a result of a carefully analyzed, rational economic decision or was it just good old insecurity?

p.s. My parents still have that Sharp they bought in 2000.  I would estimate that around 2020 they'll upgrade.

Cumpleanos de Belita #2

La semana pasada tube la oportunidad de tomar unos dias libres para ir a Dallas a celebrar el cumple de Belita. El primero de dos dias que pase alla no la pasamos haciendo tamales de pollo. Despues de que Ana nos conto que hicieron tamales ella y mi mama a todas se nos antojo. Entonces fuimos a Fiesta a comprar todo, como los viejos tiempos. Gaby nos compro tapias a todas, excepto por Sandy por que no le gusta, las cuales estaban vivas. Las mataron justo ahi. Al dia siguiente comensamos el dia llendo a el aquario de Dallas para ninos. Tomamos el tren, y luego caminamos como lo que se sintio como un buen por la alta temperatura. Al  llegar a la casa arreglamos todo para la fiesta.
Como belita casi no me ve, se olvida facilmente de mi nombre. Cuando llegue ella estaba emocionada de jugar con migo. Pero cuando me llamaba para que fuera con ella, solo me veia y decia "hey...hey". OHHH ahora entiedo por que shoun y Gaby : p

Belita se le a dado por querer poner panales a todo mundo. Hace todo el proceso, te dice que te acuestes y te limpia con las tuallitas, y luego te pone el panal.  Cuando encontro los "panales" de Rosy vio que era de su talla y se los probo. Claro despues se los puso al resto de los adultos.

En camino a el aquario.

 Claro que los sobrinos no podian faltar.

 Era como estar en Disneyland.

 A Belita le encantaron sus regalos. No dejaba de medirselos y ensenarselos el resto de la noche a todos. Literalmente hiba con su bolsa y sacaba cada una de ropa y los mostraba a cada uno de nosotros.

Se paro de el sillon para medise la ropa.