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In the fall of last year I took a trip to South America. I’m only now getting to posting my pictures from the trip so if you see me in Chicago do not be confused. If you’ve missed any of my previous entries just click “South America” in the tags area. – jeff

(Click here for a larger view of this panorama)

I visited Saqsaywaman* today which is one of the more spectacular ruins in Peru and conveniently one of the closest. Most tourists join a tour or cab it to the nearby sights, but I opted to walk because:

A. it is good training for the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

B. getting lost by foot is more difficult than by car

C. I ate a lot of turkey & potatoes at Thanksgiving last night

D. and I can spend as much time there as I want.

The toughest part of the hike was just getting out of Cusco via the impossibly steep stairs that make up Rebalaso avenue. Vendors along the way were selling cocoa tea leaves. The idea being that the same plant that’s used for cocaine is good to treat altitude sickness as well. Perfectly legal in Peru I nonetheless refused thanks to the fear instilled in my after watching a couple episodes of Locked Up Abroad.

Highlights from the ruins:

1. The most striking aspect of Saqsaywaman are the multi-leveled fortifications. There are 3 tiers and according to the tour group I eavesdropped on there are 22 walls. Apparently from above it all looks like a puma so vendors sell small figurines and Puma t-shirts. The stones that make up the ruins are enormous and the Lonely Planet says there’s one that weighs over 300 tons. Which begs the question: Did they weigh the stone or just guess? I bet lasers were involved.

2. The parade grounds lay between the fortifications and the Radadero (a large hill with tiers of stone walls). Okay its just a big empty field, but I bet there were blood sacrifices there.

3. Adjacent to all the ruins is a large hill with a large statue of Jesus on the cross. One of these days I’ll have to go to Brazil and check out their’s too.

*Phonetically Saqsaywaman sounds like “Sexy Woman.” Yup.

Thank you Katy S. for use of the picture of me.

If you typed “jeff kao” in a search engine to get to jeffkao.net looking for treasure trove of goofy pictures of me then you probably been pretty disappointed. What can I say? I like to take photos, so I’m seldom on the receiving end of a camera lens. Well you all are in luck with today’s post.

When I was packing for my trip I carefully thought about each and every item before it was packed. Then I looked at that pile and I cut in half. Then I cut in half yet again. One of the first things to go was my razor and my more than 3 ounce can of shaving gel. So what happens when I don’t shave for 30 days? Hilarity.

In the fall of last year I took a trip to South America. I’m only now getting to posting my pictures from the trip so if you see me in Chicago do not be confused. If you’ve missed any of my previous entries just click “South America” in the tags area. – jeff

The average temperature so far in Cusco has been about 70-75 degrees during the day and around 40 at night. As nice as the highs are, the lows to me are a still a bit too much to sleep through without heat, something the hostel didn’t have. So I packed up my bag and walked up the steep stone steps to the Del Prado Inn. No more hostels for me. The Del Prado is a bona fide hotel with hot water, and heat!

Cusco is a pretty small city with a population of about 300,000 compared to Lima’s 8.2 million. There are a lot more tourists here since Cusco is the gateway to Macchu Pichu and the Sacred Valley. Similar to Brugge, Belgium it has an old timey feel. Unlike Brugge Cusco has structures that actually date back to incan & pre-incan times and the locals still dress in traditional clothing.

In the fall of last year I took a trip to South America. I’m only now getting to posting my pictures from the trip so if you see me in Chicago do not be confused. If you’ve missed any of my previous entries just click “South America” in the tags area. – jeff

Of all the concerns I had for my trip (pickpockets, muggings, malaria, scorpions, Maoists, etc) the one I worried about the most was altitude sickness. Cusco is about 11,000 feet above sea level and while it isn’t Everest’s 30k it is still significant. One of my favorite books is Into Thin Air which spends quite a bit of time talking about the death zone and the dangers of being at elevation. So I’m very much aware of the possibility of my head exploding.

Today I walked around the city (slowly) and took some pictures. I checked into my hostal which is just okay. I may research nicer digs later.

Later the next night…

Holy shit! My head feels like it is enormous. I thought maybe I could ride out the altitude change without drugs, but I am popping pills like a fiend now. I walked around for awhile after grabbing dinner and found the door to the hostal locked. I knocked waiting for the owner. No answer. I then pounded on the door. Still no answer. I called the hostal from a pay phone. Nothing. Taking a cue from About A Boy I then knocked on the door to the tune of U2’s Zoo Station until finally the door opened. I asked if there was a curfew and all I got were apologies. Then as I got to my room’s door I realized that the lock didn’t actually work and that if you lifted the door you could bypass the deadbolt completely. Nice. I’ll definitely be finding a new place in the morning. Now where are those pills?

Back in the middle of November last year I spent about 30 days traveling in Peru & Venezuela. During that time I took over a thousand pictures and took some notes about my experiences. Here they are for your enjoyment. – jeff



The next couple days were spent relaxing on the nearby beaches and our nights at the seawall in Choroni. One morning we walked on a trail that led up to an overlook above the town. We passed an area spotted with crab holes. As we came upon them the little blue crabs would scuttle back in their homes just out of reach of my camera’s lens except for a few times. Amy was especially good at stalking them.

On our way home we decided to pay a little extra for a private car instead of subjecting ourselves to the party bus from hell.

Day 9 – Caracas, Venezuela
Our original plan today was to buy tickets to a baseball game, but we were stymied by an impressive amount of bureaucracy and lots of waiting in lines. It was probably a good thing we weren’t successful since it rained for the rest of the day.

Day 10 – Caracas, Venezuela
Today Simon & I ventured out to the Parque Del Este, a large park in the Altamira neighborhood within walking distance of the apartment. The sun was out and there were tons of people out enjoying the day. Basketball, soccer, gymnastics, and even some kids breakdancing. Simon broke out the ping pong bats, ball, & net and we got setup on one of the concrete tables. In the middle of a six game beating (Damn you, Simon!) we took shelter as it began to rain, yet again.

Afterwards we headed back & grabbed some Venezuelan street burgers. The burgers start off with a highly seasoned patty of beef (like carne-asada). A slice of chedder cheese and another unknown to me cheese. Lettuce, fried onions, and these tiny fried chips. Ketchup on both sides of the bun, mustard, mayo and one or two unnamed sauces. Oh and a fried egg with a slice of ham.

It always bugs me when catalogs advertise shorts & swimsuits in March. I get that in places like L.A. it really is spring, but sending those images to Chicagoans like me is just mean. Luckily for me I can relive sitting on a warm sandy beach while writing this post about my trip last fall. Enjoy.

Today we woke up and made the trip to playa de chao which is only reachable by boats. The boats are these small fiberglass jobs that skip along the ocean powered by a big outboard motor.

Back in the middle of November last year I spent about 30 days traveling in Peru & Venezuela. During that time I took over a thousand pictures and took some notes about my experiences. Here they are for your enjoyment. – jeff

Saturday after taking our time waking up and packing we spent the rest of the day on an arduous journey to Choroni. The day before Amy & Simon had warned me of 3 major annoyances:
1. The touts would be constantly bothering us.
2. How cold the first bus would be
3. A second bus ride so epically awful that the only way to recover is to spend a couple days lounging on a sun drenched beach.

Indeed the touts (nice word Simon) at every opportunity harrassed us, but to no less degree than the ones in Beijing. Mostly they wanted us to board their particular buses, but there were also some selling snacks.

Before getting the first bus in Caracas I was sweltering in the heat wearing rolled up pants & a t-shirt. By the time we arrived in Maracay I was bundled up in a long sleeve shirt, parka, and a wool cap.

No lie, the second bus from Maracay to Choroni was the most exhausting ride I’d ever been on. We packed into a school bus with every slot totally filled. My legs were long enough that I couldn’t sit with my knees together touching. I was totally wedged in, which ended up being a good thing after all. The first half of the trip was up a mountain winding through the switchback roads that while on the hairpin turns can only fit a single car at a time. This mean the driver had to pull a rope in order to blare the horn warning oncoming traffic all while negotiating the turns, one handed.

Unbelievably, the second half of the ride down the mountain was worse. We were going downhill so we were going much faster, the turns seemed sharper, a steady rain had fallen, and a heavy fog reduced visibility to mere feet. Adding to our discomfort was the heavy based Latin pop music blaring from the enormous sound system.

When we finally arrived in the town of Choroni I was so taxed both physically & mentally. It was such a huge relief to check into our rooms and to walk around the small town. We briefly walked over to the nearest beach which was incredibly beautiful with swaying palm trees. Even better was the seawall where all the tourists & locals hung out in the evenings.
Look at how happy we are to be in Choroni!


Next time: Speedboats! Wild Packs of Dogs! & Floods!

Back in the middle of November last year I spent about 30 days traveling in Peru & Venezuela. During that time I took over a thousand pictures and took some notes about my experiences. Here they are for your enjoyment. – jeff

Awesome panoramic by flickr user ervega

It seemed like just as soon as I arrived in Peru I was leaving for Venezuela to see Simon & Amy. The days that I was traveling from city to city were when I really wished I had a traveling buddy. Even with my pack being relatively small it still would’ve been nice to have someone trustworthy to look after my stuff while I went to the restroom. Or maybe learn just a couple more Spanish phrases that were different then the ones I depended on.

Fact: I have no concept of the size of large land masses. I thought the flight from Lima to Caracas would be one or two hours instead of four. I’m glad I didn’t try & take a train.

Landing in Caracas is like landing in any of the other developing cities I’ve landed in like Beijing, Shanghai, Lima, Mexico City, etc. Namely, that on exiting the secure area one get’s bombarded by taxi drivers looking for fares. Normally, I’d just walk a little farther out of the terminal, haggle a fair fare, and hop in, but not this time.

I should explain that of all the places I’ve visited Caracas was the one I feared/respected the most. Partly this was due to the subtle language differences that different literature had when describing Caracas compared to Lima. See for Lima crime was called out as something that may happen while for Caracas crime was something that would happen.

Mostly what had me spooked was Amy & Simon’s insistence that we hire from a specific taxi company. Like most large urban airports Simón Bolívar is on the outskirts of town and it is not uncommon for crooked cabbies to use this to their advantage to get an extra “tip” from unsuspecting tourists.

Soon enough I was at my friend’s very cool apartment in the Altamira neighborhood of Caracas drinking tea. Dinner that night was the best of the trip so far. We ate at a country/western-style steakhouse within walking distance. First we had some arepias which are these tasy corn meal cakes and then we split a huge platter of various meats & sausages served over a bed of french fries and topped with slices of avocado.

After dinner Simon & Amy took me to a nearby shopping mall for some ice cream and people watching. They pointed out that Venezuelan men have a propensity to wearing comically large fanny packs.

Next time: A journey so harrowing it takes days at the beach to recover

Back in the middle of November last year I spent about 30 days traveling in Peru & Venezuela. During that time I took over a thousand pictures and took some notes about my experiences. Here they are for your enjoyment. – jeff

The Museo de Inquisicion covers the history of the Spanish Inquisition in Peru and one would think that a museum like that would be somber, serious, & generally grim. You would be wrong.

My English & Portuguese speaking tour guide explained that while in other parts of the world the Spanish were torturing & murdering people for refusing to convert to Catholicism, it really wasn’t that bad in Peru. We walked around taking a look at the wax figures being drawn & quartered, set on fire, & what looked like waterboarded and laughed at my description of the Monty Python skits.

The best museum I went to was also the only place where I couldn’t take pictures. The Monasterio de San Francisco is housed in what used to be a Franciscan monastery & church that was built in the 17th century. My 2 favorite parts were:

1. The catacombs contain the remains of tens of thousands of people and to illustrate this fact the archaeologists who discovered the remains put them on display. This meant bins filled with bones and a giant well with spirals of skulls laid out in it. Aren’t you sad I couldn’t take pictures?

2. One of the rooms had paintings of all the apostles and how they were killed by all the various infidels. The tour guide pointed out one of the infidel’s slanty eyes saying with a smile towards me “They’re like you, but that’s okay. We like you.” Good to know I’m not being held responsible for stuff from a couple centuries ago.

I finished off the day eating at El Estudio Football off the Plaza de Armas. I sat at a table next to a statue of David Beckham who did an absolute shit job of making sure the waiter didn’t take my coke.

Just like in London, in Lima they do a goofy changing of the guard thing with music, funny hats, & the rest of it. Standing just behind are real guards with the automatic rifles.

Next time: Venezuela, Kidnappings, & an impressive amount of Meat!

Also feel free to let me know if you have any questions about my trip that you want answered or if there’s something I’m not talking about. Leave a comment or email me at jeffunderscorekao at gmail.com

Starting in the middle of November last year I spent about 30 days traveling in Peru & Venezuela. During that time I took over a thousand pictures and took some notes about my experiences. Here they are for your enjoyment. – jeff

11/13/08
Last night when I went to bed I was surprisingly sore. I guess I didn’t realize how much walking I had done especially with my pack on. Normally, when I’m home I barely walk anywhere. Most people don’t understand that biking can be the laziest way to get someplace. Waking up though I felt pretty terrific. Bringing earplugs was the best idea ever. Took a cab to downtown Lima to do some sightseeing. Traffic is crazy here on par with Beijing. Getting around is significantly easier though. It took about an hour to go a scant 10 miles which is pretty bad even compared to LA. I also saw my first and certainly not my last fender bender.

Above is a picture of General San Martin who was a liberator of Peru. Below you can see a close up of a statue of Madre Patria. On top of her head sits a small statue of a llama which was put there by mistake instead of a small flame which is spelled llama in Spanish. Nice to know I’m not the only one who is having language problems.

Next time: Catacombs, skulls, torture, & David Beckham!