Tuesday 21 August 2012

THE Andes

First off, the white liquid they sell in the supermarket has nothing to do with real milk straight from a cow´s tit !!! its a rip off to our humanity what we are being fed in big cities. I survived the two months of solitude in the mountains, there´s been some rough lonely patches but not that many and the work experience plus the pure life was well worth the cold and remoteness. Llullu Llama is a 20 person lodge in Isinlivii in a gorgeous spot in the andes. the village is one street and has 200 ppl which you probably will never see walking around, two stores that sell rice, bit of fruit, grains and lots of ice cream. no restos no bars, no life but the hostel. we had to cross the valley infront of us everyday to buy fresh milk. So I run the place along side the lady that cooks and cleans (glady´s) that has a crazy fun family of 5 kids and a boyfriend. Loved the work and the intensity of it, working in the kitchen has been a revelation, i think i will have to put some good time in a kitchen somewhere when i finish this trip if i ever do. life up there (alttitude of 2800 mtrs) has been the cleanest most nature oriented time i have lived, no noise, just cows and horses, hundreds of trails around you to get lost in for 5-6 hrs without seeing a soul, home made : yogurt, bread, jam, and granola. you walk to any village around to see animals being auctioned or buy some freshly made honey. people are more shy in the mountain areas though so it has been a challenge breaking into their circles and making some good relationships.stars at night were obviously mesmerizing. met a million guests from all over the world and heard their stories and got some good travel tips. so glads has 5 kids between age of 14 months and 15 years, it was really fun to see how kids create games and fun activities with literaly nothing under their disposal. the quilotoa loop, which ends at the laguna quilotoa is a 2 day hike of about 5 hours each day of rough hiking, almost daily people were getting lost but end up finding the way in most cases. I did loooooots of reading but still have failed to finish "war and peace" i think tolstoy redefined the word epic there. one of the most eye opening experiences was actually looking at animals and recognizing their different features, i think i had forgotten how a real chicken looks like, we had a bunch of chickens, a pig, a horse and lots of guinea pigs around. Guinea pig is a delicacy here, usually roasted, havent tried it yet but will soon. I learnt some great recipes from Glady´s and look forward to passing them the Mr. Abou Zeid senior test !! By the way the Spaniards have a different deck of cards to the rest of the world, the suites are sticks and horses and some weird stuff, played with some guests from Madrid and was quite surprised, plus the usually play without 8 and 9. I do not believe i am good with maps and trails, i think i got lost every single time i did a trek. So i left yesterday and the mode of leaving was best ride in past 5 months in south america, the milk truck in the back with the big milk containers, the pass by every farm and take their fresh milk to sell in the next town, views on surrounding highlands, volcanoes and valleys were well worth the freezing wind slapping my face. Now i am in guayaquil, ecuador´s biggest city, spending next 4 days here with a friend, then friday hop on a 24 hours bus ride to Lima to meet the girlfriend and some friends from montreal for a fun couple of weeks in peru. its definetly time for some beach :)