Allie's last post
Wed Sep 9, 02:58 PM
The Orphanage in Ambato, Ecuador. The final episode.
I stayed at an orphanage in Ambato for two weeks. There is separate lodging for the girls and boys and I stayed with the girls. There are 8 girls in all ranging from ages 6 to 19. There was one little boy who was too young for the boys lodging and had two sisters at the girls house.I arrived at the orphanage late at night and was ambushed by nine smiling faces. Immediately, before even learning my name or that I don’t speak spanish very well, I had about 4 girls hanging off of me. It was a very overwhelming experience, but a very warm welcome. All the kids were in my room looking at my things, trying on my hat or asking if they could have my bracelets. It was not long before they discovered my painted toe nails and I sat and painted 8 girls finger nails. I finally made it to bed and did not fall asleep quickly. Before I knew it the girls were back in my room trying to find which clothes they would wear for the day. I was quickly doubting my survival.
After day one the days went by quickly. I went to church with Guillermo, a pastor that set up my stay at the orphange and that works with my church in Whitefish. The chruch service was long, over 2 hours. And obviously in spanish which made for a long morning. It was very interesting to see a different church service though. It was very loud the whole time, lots of singing, dancing, and praying.
My first day at the orphanage every meal was a surprise. Breakfast consisted of a hard boiled egg, bread, and some protein chocolate drink. Lunch took almost all morning to prepare and was by far the biggest meal of the day. It was a soup with chicken, potatoes, and various vegetables, followed by a full plate of rice(which is far from my favorite food), potatoes, and chicken. Dinner was more rice and chicken. This continued for the next two weeks. Sometimes breakfast would be different and we’d eat rice, or empanadas. I was very greatful to have a place to stay and food on the table though.
The first week I was there we did lots of things outside. Every Sunday the girls go to the park, which is far superiour to any park in Whitefish or Bozeman. There were playgrounds all over the place, lots of basketball/soccer courts, a skate park, and a place for a stage. This was the day I fell in love with the girls and Ecuador. During our trek to the park two girls were walking on either side of me and we were teaching each other words in english and spanish. When we got to the park it was amazing to be around all 9 of the kids, each at the orphanage for a different reason. But, despite being separated from family, every single girl, and little Edwin, had a huge smile on their face and was running from playground to playground. The pure joy that an afternoon playing at the park was clearly displayed on their faces.
On the way home from the park the girls discovered I play soccer and wanted to play. We stopped at a smaller park near the orphanage on the way home, but I didn’t see how we were going to play because we had no ball. Apparently that didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t long before we were in the midst of an intense game of soccer with a coke bottle. I never would have considered doing that in the U.S. before I was here, but it was one of my most memorable experiences at the orphanage. Many other nights were spent at the soccer courts. One of the nights I skinned my knee pretty badly and all the little girls were very worried. You would have thought I broke a bone. I was well taken care of and got all bandaged up when we got home.
Monday thru Friday we would walk 30-45 minutes to Vacation Bible School. The girls seemed to enjoy it as it was another place to play and be with other kids. One of the days the oldest girl at the orphanage and I were left in charge. That was interesting. We played soccerr after VBS and then headed back home where the girls discovered my carmera. I can always tell which picutres were taken when I was in charge because the girls are climbing on the counter or fridge, or fighting. I have over 300 pictures from the orphanage and went through 8 batteries. I did not however change my batteries at all during the first 5 weeks of the trip and only had 400 pictures. All of my pictures turned out great and are associated with a, usually fond, memory of the girls.
One of the nights we got home from playing soccer we discovered the puppies that live above the orphanage had gotten into the apartment. Each room that was entered upon our arrival had a new pile of dog poop. It turns out one of the girls had fed the dogs too much and the puppies stomachs did not react well. There were about 5 or 6 piles of poop. I found this hilarious and kind of just took a step back and watched the craziness unfold. The girls were running around screaming and trying to find all the surprises the puppies left. Pretty soon kids were stepping in it and screaming even more. They all kind of thought I was crazy as I was the only one that was laughing.
While I enjoyed myself greatly, my patience was tested at times. I ran an errand for on of the care takers and when I came back one of the girls was sitting on my bed wearing my reading glasses “hola Alleeeeson!” I almost screamed. There was nail polish all over my glasses case. This was a time when I was thankful I don’t know spanish very well so I couldn’t say anything I would regret. I also had to keep in mind that this was a 9 year old girl, and I was 22. Later that day I opened my glasses case to use my glasses only to find the lenses covered in nail polish. I learned how to control my breathing very well during times like these. One of the care takers was in the room with me at the time and saved my glasses for me. She had lense cleaner and they came out clean as ever.
My spanish got better with time and by the end of the trip I could at least get my point across even if the grammar was terrible. It was frustrating at times and I would find myself wondering how I could explain my trip to my parents because I didn’t know how to say it in spanish. Then I would realize I could talk to them in english so it wouldn’t be a problem. In the airport in Salth Lake ordered a tea at Starbucks and when the cashier confirmed my order I said “si, bien”. It was kind of embarressing, but I basically hadn’t spoken english for two weeks. That doesn’t seem like a long time, but it’s amazing how you can adjust to things very quickly. If I talked to my parents on the phone I talked quickly and a lot as I felt I was deprived of speaking.
Overall, I did more help than I realized. I basically sum up the experience as I got to be a kid for 2 weeks.I was an extra pair of eyes watching the girls when the care takers needed to get paperwork or other things accomplished. I learned a lot. Whether I was helping the girls do laundry (by hand, and really they were helping me because I had no idea what I was doing), or peeling potatoes for lunch, I was surrounded by 9 amazing kids. I don’t know the circumstances as to why each of them was at the orphanage, but I was touched and learned a lot from each and every one of them. After talking the Guillermo, I found that many of the girls were at the orphange due to violent homes, or their parents being sick or using drugs. It was difficult for me to comprehend why these 9 fabulous kids did not have parents that would take care of them. But I tried my best to not judge as I don’t know all the circumstances into which these girls and Edwin were brought into the world. All of them had infectious laughs and I am going to miss them terribly. I actually already do. I am very thankful for my time there and also for the warm welcome and hospitality I received. I was well treated and accepted. I hope you all enjoyed reading my books about my trip and also enjoyed your summers! If you have any questions about anything feel free to email me alfernoodle87@yahoo.com. Adios!
Allie's Trip Volume III
Fri Aug 21, 03:58 PM
As I mentioned in my ‘second book’ as Chris refers to it, it was very nice to get to Quito.
Our first order of business was to find a place to eat. We found a restaurant called the Magic Bean that had lots of food that Andy, Sarah and I had all been craving. We all got huevos rancheros for breakfast and then spent the rest of the morning wandering around. We went to a museum that had artifacts from many indiginous tribes in Ecuador. We also found a Middle Eastern restaurant where Andy and I introduced Sarah to schwarmas. Needless to say we ate there twice before Andy left. We hung out with a bunch of kids we met at our hostel. It was fun to hear about other people’s trips and plans. One of the guys we met lived in a town in Saudi Arabia where we had good family friends. They most likely went to school together.
I wanted to take advantage of being in a city and made Andy and Sarah go see Harry Potter with me. We ate dinner at an Indian restaurant and sent Andy off with a full stomach.
The next day we got a hold of a group of people from our church in Whitefish. They were doing work with a local church and helping with construction and medical problems. It was nice to see familiar faces. Everyone seemed to have a good experience, but they were all really tired and ready to go I think.
Sarah and I decided to spend her last week in Baños. It is about 3 hours south of Quito and basically a small town that seemed to meet a weary traveler’s every need. We had hot showers, good food, and we even splurged at the end of the week and got massages. Sarah and I had a good week, it was nice to stay somewhere for an extended period of time. One of the restaurants showed a movie every afternood so Sarah and I spent some of our afternoons and evenings there. We also rented a go kart and drove around for an hour or so. We managed to make it back in one piece, but I’m pretty sure we went through a fairly long and dark tunnel illegally. One of the days we tried horseback riding. It was not your typical Montana trail ride. We rode through alley ways and crowded streets, and up a very steep cobble stone hill that I was really nervous to go down. Sarah’s horse and my horse didn’t really get along which made for an interesting afternoon. After some doubt of survival, we also made it back to the hostel that day. It rained a few of the days we were there but we still wandered around. Baños is a small town surrounded by mountains and is at the base of a volcano. We met up with some of the boys we met in Quito and spent a few days with them before they all went their separate ways. Baños also had hot springs, which we went to one of the rainy days. We didn’t last long as it was very crowded and the water murky. Baños was just what we needed after being constantly on the move for a month. Sarah and I didn’t have time to say goodbye as we walked up to the bus station her bus to Quito was pulling out. She ran and barely made it, but I’m pretty sure she made it home safe and sound.
I am currently in Ambato staying at an orphanage. I will write about that later as it deserves more than a few words. It has been quite an experience. I am loving it, but am heading home in two days. I am now ready to be home…being surrounded by 9 girls day and night for two weeks is exhausting to say the least…especially when they are all yelling in spanish.
Allie's sequel
Tue Aug 4, 02:58 PM
Here is Allie’s second book:
So once we survived getting off the boat at the border of Peru, Colombia, and Brazil, we hoppped on moto taxis with all our luggage and sped through the town of Tabatinga to Laticia to spend the morning. I dont think I mentioned the moto taxis before, but there were quite the experience. Being on the back of motorcycle for me is bad enough, but to be on the back of a motorcycle with my small backpack in front of me and my 30 lb backpack on my back it was a little nerve racking. At least when we got into Colombia they made us wear helmets.
After spending the night we took a 12 hour speed boat (which was also not so glamorous, but relatively quick to the 6 days we had just endured on a boat) to Iquitos, Peru. We were traveling with two Germans at this point and basically just wanted to get to the airport and fly out. Andy, Sarah and I were planning on getting to Cuzco, Peru asap. The Germans we were with were still unsure of their plans but ended up flying as far north in Peru as possible to get to Ecuador.
We could only get a flight to Lima so got on the soonest flight. We got to Lima at night and spent the night in the airport before flying to Cuzco the next morning. We elected to not spend anytime in Lima due to what we had heard from other travelers. Lima is supposedly a huge city with not a whole lot to do and slums everywhere. We also heard of few stories of muggings and getting drugged at bars. Which after more traveling we noticed that no matter where you go someone is going to have those stories.
So once we hit Lima in the airport, embaressingly enough we headed straight for McDonalds. The food on the boat was as I mentioned quite bland and really not what we were used to. All three of us just wanted to order a meal when we knew exactly what we were getting. Just for the record, none of us make a habit of eating at McDonalds when we are home.
The flight to Cuzco was only about 45 minutes. We got there early in the morning. I went straight to bed after finding a hostel and slept almost the whole day as I was still recovering from my bad stomach. Andy and Sarah explored the city and had nothing but positive things to say and even found an awesome coffee shop that had Italian Espresso.
We got to Cuzco on a Saturday and signed up for a trip to Machu Picchu on Monday. We were all pretty tired and slept for 12 hours Saturday night and Sunday we did some more wandering around Cuzco. Cuzco is a cool little city. The area we were in was definitely dominated by tourists. American culture has such a pull on what is available in each town weve been in so far. Every other restauraunt advertised hamburgers and pizza.
The market place was interesting. In the areas where peole sold meat there were pig head, or just whole pigs. Most of the animals they were selling you could tell what they were because their whole body was still there, but not alive. The worst part was the smells that went along with the animals. But, all an experience. The fresh fruit is amazing and we took advantage of having it available. The rest of the market was full of vendors trying to sell us hats, sweaters, pants, etc. They were somewhat successful.
The tourist part of Cuzco is all cobblestone streets and store after store created for the traveler{s convenience. Many of the buildings have a lot of colonial influence so it looks like a town I would imagine in Europe.
We got very lucky with our hostel as it had hot water. Some have argued that hot water is over rated, but not in Cuzco. It is the coldest place we have been on our journey so all three of us agreed we were willing to spend a few more bucks a night to have it.
After a few days wandering around Cuzco, we made our way to Machu Picchu. Due to availability, time, and below normal levels of health, we opted to take the train to Machu Picchu instead of getting on the Inca trail. We took a bus and then a train to a town called Agua Calientes which is the base town for Machu Picchu and created solely for the purpose of accomodating Machu Picchu{s visitors. The price of any item that we could have gotten in Cuzco doubled or tripled here. We did find a few cheap meals, but overall Aguas Calientes sucks the money out of you. Andy, Sarah, and I did think that it needed a coffee shop which we were willing to open and put right at the front of the line where people wait for the buses up to Machu Picchu which start departure at about 5 am.
Machu Picchu itself is an experience I will never forget. Pictures or descriptions do not do it justice. I have learned a few things about it in school, but never enough to really understand what it is. We got there before sunrise and even with people everywhere, the sight is still amazing. After wandering and taking about 100 of the same picture, we met at the gate to take a tour. I was glad we did the tour because there was a lot of information that I did not know and I learned a lot about the Incans. They are an intriguing people. Their engineering of Machu Picchu was amazing considering that they did not have all the modern conveniences we do today. Also, the trek up the mountain and getting supplies up there must have been a ton of work. I cannot even begin to imagine the work taht went into building a city such as Machu PIcchu.
At the end of the tour we sat and ate lunch, which we got in trouble for because you are not supposed to bring food or plastic into the area. There were so many people there, but it was sad to see that some people had such little respect for the ruins. There were plenty of places where people just dropped their trash or their kids were climbing all over the ruins. It seems to be these people that are going to cause the closure of Machu Picchu, which they are considering.
After our tour we made our way up a path to the drawbridge they INcans constructed. You are not allowed to cross it or go past a certain point. A man that got to the bridge when we did not only passed the point you were not allowed to go beyond, but also crossed the drawbridge. Sarah and I were cringing the entire time because witnessing the death of some dumb tourist was definitely not on our itenerary. Even Andy who is definitely a dare devil, thought the man to be stupid. Luckily we did not witness his death and he made it back across safe and sound. This man definitely lived up to the term ‘dumb american’. The path beyond the bridge looked a bit narrow for any of our liking and we were all in awe that the Incans were able to make the trek along such a narrow path hauling all sorts of stuff and steering llamas.
It was a long day, but well worth it. I would love to go back someday and maybe do the Inca trail or something similar to it as I have heard really good things about alternate trails.
Our next task was getting back to Cuzco. We were supposed to meet a man at his restauraunt to get our return tickets but apparently our tickets were still in Cuzco. It was not until about fifteen minutes before our train was leaving the next morning did we finally get our tickets.
After making it back to Cuzco, Andy got sick that night. After two days he seemed back to normal and we were all ready to leave Cuzco but still had a few more days. Our last afternoon Andy and I opted to go to ruins near Cuzco. We had to climb quite a number of stairs to get there and I had to bust out my inhaler about half way through them. The ruins were amazing. The time it must have taken to even carve and shape one rock is unfathomable. Cuzco was originally built in the shape of a puma. The ruins we went to were meant to be the teeth. Only 20 percent of the ruins remain, but it was a quite impressive 20 percent. There was quite a brutal battle that the Spanards ended up winning. They then tore down as much of the ruins as they could and used the rock to build their own buildings in Cuzco. One side of the ruins was a strange polished rock that Andy and I could not quite figure out what is was used for. We guessed it was probably the world’s first waterslide.
Our time in Cuzco and Machu Picchu was really fun, but it was time to go. We had four days to get Andy from Lima to Quito. We flew back to Lima on 26 July. Andy left Sarah and I at the airport so he could go buy us bus tickets. He got in a taxi and not two seconds after, a policeman with a gun got in and yelled at the taxi driver to step on it and to follow the car ahead of them. So Andy was in a high speed chase through the airport parking lot. It turns out that the taxi that was being pursued was not a liscensed taxi and was robbing people.
So, Andy returned safe and sound to the airport and we played cards and passed time in the Lima airport once more until our bus departed that night. The next three days and nights are a blur as they were spent on buses to Quito.
20 minutes into our first bus ride from Lima, we were stopped at a road block and a police officer got on the bus. Andy was one of the passengers furthest back on the bus, but the police headed straight for him and asked for his passport. Then he went to the front of the bus and took another white mans passport. After about 15 minutes, Andy did get his passport back, but I think all of us were a little on edge the rest of the journey. We had also heard several stories about cops stopping buses at night and looking for Americans to get their money so that made me even more nervous while we were bussing through Peru, but we made it through successfully.
We made it across the Peru, Ecuador border and in about two hours of driving in Ecuador we were stopped by police about 3 or 4 times. They looked at all our passports and nothing really happened, but it was a little nerve racking after a few of the stories we had heard. We spent a few hours in Cuenca, Ecuador while awaiting the departure of our bus to Quito. It seemed a bit like Cuzco with the architecture and the cobblestone streets. Apparently Cuenca is where the Panama Hats originated. We wandered around looking for something to eat and kind of wished we could spend more time there.
We got back on our last bus leg to make it to Quito. It was a night bus and started out poorly. Right off the bat it was really cold on the bus, and then the road was really turbulent. The bus driver was not really trying to miss potholes or any other obstacles along the road. At one point he had to stop the bus to make sure he hadn’t broken anything underneath because the bus wouldnt accelerate. But, after a long three days and nights, we finally made it to Quito and gave Andy two days to wander around Quito.
Quito was a breath of fresh air. Ecuador in general has been my favorite so far. Peru was difficult to travel in because there was so much poverty. Driving up the coast was shanti town after shanti town. Once we were in the mountains of Ecuador there were nicer houses and the towns we drove through seemed to have at least some sort of infrastructure compared to many areas we went through in Peru. Even in Cuzco, as soon as you left the cobble stone area and went up in the hills a bit there were people living in cardboard homes. I had to wonder how many people that actually live in Cuzco and its surrounding areas have ever been to Machu Picchu.
I am getting kicked off the computer, but I will wite more about Quito and Ecuador in a few days. Sarah leaves here soon and I’m off to Ambato, Ecuador to work at the orphanage. Andy did make it home safely much to his dismay. It was great having him a long and sad to see him leave. Hope everyone at home and other places it doing well! I wish I could say I miss home…but I’m not sure I want to come home. Adios for now!
Allie and Andy's Trip
Wed Jul 29, 08:37 AM
Since I have been negligent on my blog for a while, I have agreed to post details of my brother and sister traveling in South America. It appears she has written a short novel. I will add to the posts shortly. Enjoy!
Back in November my good friend Sarah and I were planning on doing a two or three week trip to South America. On a whim, we bought tickets to Manaus, Brazil with a return flight out of Quito, Ecuador 7 weeks after our arrival. We have spent since November looking up things to do between Maunaus and Quito and ways to get from point A to point B. Our initial plan was to spend sometime in Brazil, Peru and Ecuador.
Somewhere along the way my older brother Andy got invited but would not stay in South America as long as Sarah and I. Before Sarah and I knew it, it was 4 July, the day before we were supposed to leave for our long awaited journey. After nights and nights of planning we were finally going to leave. For those of you that know me, I thrive on schedules, so I was fairly confident I knew exactly when we would be where. Around 9:30 pm on 4 July Sarah calls me to inform me that the leg of our flight from Atlanta to Brazil was a day after we arrive in Atlanta from Montana. Long story short after a few more phone calls to Delta and a hotel reservaiton, Sarah and I were spending the night in Atlanta because Delta cancelled our flight back in March and failed to notify us. We left Kalispell in the am on 5 July and met Andy in the airport in Atlanta on 6 July. Finally late on the 6th we made it to Brazil.
We arrived in Manaus around midnight and I had booked a hostel for us to stay at. All we had to do was find a ride. I called the hostel only to find out they had given away our accomidaitons. Thankfully a local man had a hostel for us to stay at. The next day we changed all the plans we had made for Brazil and decided on a jungle tour along the Amazon. We spent the day in Manaus, a bustling city. It was a big rubber town a while back but now I´m not really sure what people do there…
The jungle trek was interesting. It took about 2 hours to get from Manaus to our ´jungle lodge´. I of course did not stray from my usual getting extremely sunburned the second day of vacation. The jungle lodges pleasantly surprised us. The unit we were in had a bunk bed and a double bed. We even got our own bathroom and air conditioning. When we got to the lodging, we ate a lunch of fried fish, rice and some other sort of vegetable. We could choose the tail of the fish or the head. After lunch we went out on the river in a motorized canoe and went fishing for peranas. Andy was the only one of us that caught one though. Two ladies from Colombia were with us as well and were able to translate a lot of what our guide Carlos was saying. Just as our spanish knowledge is limited, so was Carlos´english. Our night activity was to look for alligators. This was the point when Sarah and I were questioning our intelligence. Somehow going out at night on the river with no lights to actually be looking for alligators did not seem like the best idea, but you only live once right? One of Carlos´ assistants who seemed to be in his early 20s apparently spotted an alligator. He got out of the boat and caught the thing by hand. Andy, Sarah and I were in awe. There we were covered in bug spray in long sleeves and long pants, and this guide hops into the Amazon, barefoot and in shorts and catches an alligator with his bare hands. The one he caught was rather small and we all got to hold it. It was a pretty cool experience.
Day two of the jungle trek consisted of a morning on the river visiting different local people. It seemed as if Carlos was just dropping by to say hello to friends, not really giving a tour. We all felt a little weird about visiting people´s homes, and snapping photos of their lives. We were visiting these people for a few minutes as a part of a tour while they are living their lives along the Amazon. However, all the people we visited seemed happy to share with us some of the local foods that they grow and the animals they keep. We then went on a jungle trek and were going to attempt a night in the jungle. Our trek was, just as everywhere else, hot and humid. I cannot empahsize either word enough. We saw some monkeys, and Carlos had ´una sorpresa´ for us. We had been walking for 20 minutes or so and there was a vine swing. This was Carlos´ surprise. Andy enjoyed it, Sarah and I skipped out as it was not exactly made for short people. We got back to camp after about and hour or so of sweating in the thick jungle and then went out onto the river and swam. I told myself I wasn´t getting in the water, but I found myself swimming along hoping a perana would not soon be nibbling on my toes. We all survived swimming in the Amazon (which it turns out it was only a tributary of the Amazon). That night we were all getting in bed which were hammocks hanging in the jungle from wooden poles. Andy, Sarah, and I were the first in bed to escape the mosquitoes that were swarming. A bit after Carlos was getting in his hammock and we heard a snap. Then slowly, Andy, Sarah, and I all fell to the ground. Carlos and the helpers tried to fix the poles and make the structure stable once more, but Andy and Sarah tried to get in their hammocks again and they fell to the ground once more. So after a failed attempt at sleeping in hammocks we all agreed to go back to the lodges. We all had a good laugh.
The third and final day of the tour arrived. We had to leave by noon so we would not miss the boat from Manaus to the border of Peru and Brazil that we had bought before we went on the jungle trek. In the morning we went looking for a sloth with no such luck. We spent what seemed like an eternity floating through the jungle fighting off bugs. I have never seen so many bugs in my life or such big spiders. It was a relief to make it back to the lodges. Not long after we packed our things and hopped back in a boat to get to Manaus. During this time we found out that our boat did not leave at 5pm like the man that sold us the tickets had said…the boat in fact left at 1pm. All three of us were pretty mad and tried to think of alternate ways to get where we wanted.
After making it back to Manuas we were not on land ten seconds when we were put on a little speed boat. We were going to catch up with our other boat. Thankfully it only took about twenty minutes to catch up because the boat left late. It all went so quickly, but I saw my bag getting passed from the speed boat to the big boat and then I was getting directed to the front of the speed boat. We were to jump from the speed boat to the big boat while both were moving. We all made it and felt a bit like pirates.
There is not much but also quite a bit to tell about the big boat. It was a 6 day boat trip up the Amazon. The bottom level of the boat was full of cargo, the second level was cram packed with about 150 hammocks and people and the top deck had a small bar and open space. We were 3 of 10 white people on the boat. Luckily we found a frenchmen that knew portugese and could translate for us. We all decided that we did not choose an area of Brazil that many tourists visit because so many of the kids and even older people would stare at us. It´s probably a good thing that there was a language barrier most of the boat trip because while we were laughing and making jokes, our jokes were mosly complaints. The sleeping was nearly impossible, as one person could not move without hitting the person next to them who in turn would hit the person next to them. And as I mentioned about the jungle, it was still very hot and very very humid. The food was limited. I survived (somewhat) on noodles and everyonce in a while had meat. Breakfast was at about 545 or 6 and was just crackers and ´coffee´ which basically reminded me of when I was 12 and testing out coffee and poured about ten packets of sugar into each cup. The Brazilians do enjoy their sweet coffee. Lunch and dinner there was always rice, noodles, and then a meat of some sort. Sometimes it was chicken, sometimes it was a mystery. I will spare details on the bathrooms mostly because no one should ever have to experence anything like them. I think I showered twice in the 6 days becuase I never really felt much cleaner afterwards.
When it looked like we were going to survive the boat trip, I got really sick the last five hours on the boat. As with the bathrooms I will spare the details, but it took me about a week to get to feeling back to normal. When we got off the boat we were in a town called Tabatinga which is on the Brazilian border near Colombia and Peru. We kind of bounced back and forth between Colombia abd Brazil for the day and left the next morning via speed boat for Peru.
I will write about our Peru adventures another day. We are still in Cuzco and are leaving to go back to Lima Sunday. Feel free to leave comments or questions. Chao!