|  | | Globetrotting Dentist---a unique blog for dental information mixed with travel and humor | | travel the world (or my creative imagination) and find unique dental information |
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Iguacu Falls consists of 275 separate waterfalls, each averaging over 200 feet in height. If you've been impressed by Niagara Falls or Victoria Falls, wait til you get to Iguacu. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's wife Eleanor first saw Iguacu, she was heard to mutter to herself, "Poor Niagara."
The falls lie at the border between Brazil and Argentina. This is a minimum 2-day trip, since you MUST see the falls both from the Brazilian side and the Argentine side.
On the Brazilian side, we went to a local restaurant with a huge selection of appetizers and salads, and a rodizio (traditional Brazilian grill) in the back. The waiters would bring around different grilled meats on skewers; some were familiar like rump roast (picanha), top sirloin, and the like. Some were a little more exotic, like chicken hearts and (one of my all-time exotic food favorites), "cajones de pavo (the waiter and I were communicating in Spanish, since I knew no Portuguese at that time);" turkey testicles. Remember; travel is an adventure. If the locals are eating it and thriving, it's probably OK for you to eat it, and sometimes you'll come back with a great story. |
Panama
There's a surprisingly large amount of things to do in Panama, and the highlights are spread out over a wide area. We only had a week, so we concentrated on daytrips from Panama City and a two-night stay at a lovely and luxurious eco-lodge close to the Canal.
A personal highlight was a visit, via motorized dugout canoe, to an Embera Indian village. Our guide was a woman from the States who had fallen in love with and married an Embera. We were fed and feted, got a tour of the area from the tribal medicine man ("This plant is like Viagra. If you use it, make sure your wife uses it at the same time or there could be trouble."), and a chance to watch tribal dances and buy the much-prized Embera woven bowls.
We also attended Carnival, but didn't take any pictures because of the confetti-throwing, watergun-shooting kids (we shot water back at them, of course. My wife and I never claimed to be overly mature).
My last day was spent at a lumber yard buying quira wood, a beautifully grained that seems to be otherwise unavailable in the U.S.). A really neat trip. |
Peru trip #2
I love Peru. It's a big country, about the size of France, so you have to take flights within Peru if you expect to see some of the most interesting sites.
We had been to Macchu Picchu two years ago, and had stayed in the home of people who lived on an island in Lake Titicaca. This time, we went back to Cuzco to start; it's a great place to get your bearings, get used to the high altitude, and do some shopping. Alpaca garments are wonderfully light and warm, and they're comfortable over a wider temperature range than, for example, wool.
After a few days in Cuzco, we took a day trip by public bus to a very authentic local market. I got to try chicha, the local corn beer homebrew, plus chicha morado, a purple-colored sweet blue-corn beverage also frequently brewed at home. Each of these set me back about 17 cents!
The trip to Colca Canyon was amazing. A combination of the world's deepest canyon (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon) and the world's largest birds circling overhead. Andean condors can reach a 12 foot wing span...truly an incredible site.
As we went through a mountain pass at over 16,000 feet, ringed by 20-21,000 foot tall mountains, I realized that this would probably be the highest up I'd ever travel.
We saw the mountain where Juanita, the "Ice Maiden" of National Geographic fame, was found. She was sacrificed as a 12 or 13-year-old virgin (a great honor din the eyes of her people) by the Aztecs at the top of the sacred mountain, and was buried under snow and ice for over 500 years until a neighboring volcano erupted and melted the icecap enough that she was discovered. Juanita is not a true mummy, since her body wasn't embalmed, but it was perfectly preserved by the cold and ice. We saw her on display at a museum in Arequipa, the "white city," so-called because many of the buildings are made of the local white sillar stone. Not really much to see, since she was encased in three layers of protective glass. Still, a fascinating story, and Arequipa is a great place to visit. Probably the best place in all of Peru to buy baby alpaca garments.
BTW, baby alpaca is not alpaca from babies. It's from the first shearing in an alpaca's life, and is extremely fine and luxurious.
Why didn't we go back to Macchu Picchu for a second visit? After you've seen this amazing site once, you realize that its memory is best kept in your heart and mind forever. |
Peru trip #1
This was a memorable trip. We flew into Lima (an essentially unlovely city shrouded in gray dull clouds for much of the year) and immediately onto Cuzco.
There are Inca ruins within Cuzco and all around the surrounding areas. As the Spanish were wont to do, they either used the stones from Inca sacred sites for other purposes, or they built a church to surround and overwhelm the Inca sites.
When you look at the amazing stone joinery done by the Incas, you have to think about it for a moment. This was done totally without mortar, and huge stones were joined together with amazing perfection.
Macchu Picchu was stunning. It feels high up at 11,000 feet because you have to ascend from the valley to get there, but it is ringed with mountains in the 20,000+ foot range. A most memorable experience. We ran into a lot of backpackers there, because many camp out along the Inca Trail to ascend to the archeological site, but there were also plenty of loafers like us. We took the train from Ollyantaytambo (in phonetic English, "O yan tai tam bo," or O yan ta" for short) to Aguascalientes, and from there a bus traversed the winding roads and switchbacks to Macchu Picchu.
A most amazing part of our trip was an overnight stay at the home of a family on Isla Amantani on Lake Titicaca. This lake is the highest navigable body of water in the world, at about 13,000 feet altitude. Near Punu, the Peruvian jumping-off spot for the lake, you can see floating islands built entirely of reeds from the lake shallows. When a young man is ready to take a mate, he must build his own island of reeds. With the help of other family members and friends, he also builds a reed boat. When he and his chosen woman inhabit the new floating island, they are considered "married." There are no ceremonies for marriage; you just start living together.
When we stayed at Amantani, we brought a guide with us. This was a very good thing, because I know some Spanish but not enough to have a conversation. The mother of the house spoke only Quechua (I know only one word of Quecha, which is "cachi;" or salt); the father and daughters, Quechua and Spanish.
It was great to have an interpretor, although I did my best to get by with Spanish.
There was no heat in the house except for the kitchen fire, and no chairs in the kitchen except for the three guests. Everyone else ate while squatting on the floor, leaning against the wall.
We brought a thank-you present of AA batteries as suggested in our guidebook, since these are luxuries for the islanders, yet essential for them.
In the evening, a group of us climbed PachaMama (the "earth mother"), one of the two small peaks on the island. We could see Bolivia across the lake in the distance, and we became so mesmerized that we didn't realize how rapidly night was falling. Fortunately, we had all brought flashlights (the Brits, Aussies, and Kiwis had brought "torches:" their word for flashlights. George Bernard Shaw once said something like, "England and the US are two countries separated by a common language." I love that quote.) It's amazing that we got back to our assorted houses, since it was virtually pitch black outside.
We slept under about 96 pounds of blankets, in our clothing, since it was Peruvian winter and the nighttime temperature dipped below freezing. We both had to hit the outhouse at about 5 AM. That was an adventure, since the "toilet" was a one piece carving out of stone and could freeze your tush off. Or your tush might freeze solid to the stone thrown, and, since they didn't have the "jaws of life" to remove you; you'd spent the rest of your life frozen there. Or, at least until spring. |
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