tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79316049714846668932011-09-28T16:40:19.711-07:00PeruPatAdventures Through Peru and the Andes MountainsPatrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-41044612514767812152011-03-10T14:08:00.000-08:002011-03-10T14:08:30.312-08:00Realities Only Touched Upon; My Cultural Hunger Subsists, Part 2: Our Bolivian ExodusDuring our initial arrival to La Paz, the "City in the Sky"(my name), I was not impressed by what I saw. Flat land (albeit 12,500 or so feet in elevation), Andean-esque architecture (natural brick buildings, stucco walls, Spanish tile roofs), busy streets, nothing special or attention-grasping. As I was promptly informed, this less-than-impressive sight formed the outskirts of the Bolivian Patrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-73558393120069640002011-03-10T14:05:00.000-08:002011-03-10T14:06:30.850-08:00Realities Only Touched Upon; My Cultural Hunger Subsists, Part 1: The Peruvian Altiplano of Puno and BeyondI exited the bus, strode rapidly through the bus station and made my way to the street. There, instead of the expected mode of transportation in the form of a taxi of any shape or size, I found a bike-trolley. The double front-seater with a small flat bed to our rear would be a sufficient yet slow transport to the main plaza of Puno.
Puno, which is located on the western shore of Lake TiticacaPatrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-84066464712583686812011-01-20T17:29:00.000-08:002011-01-21T15:00:44.810-08:00My Dream, Manifest: The Arid North Coast, the Chimu and the City of Chan ChanI walked up a slight slope, concrete trail...surrounded by forest, high mountains, blue skies. It was a trail on which I usually walk in Lake Tahoe, my hometown. I start to see block images pop up, like T.V. screens; just the image, displaying windows into another Universe. I choose the first window I see, and, once engaged in it, that visual depiction instantly becomes my reality. Now I'm Patrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-32407679214424620632010-12-01T22:38:00.000-08:002011-01-20T17:47:13.290-08:00The Blessed City of Cuzco: An Untraditionally Guided TourCuzco, Peru, a city like no other....really.
My arrival to Cuzco in November of 2005 was like being born again: complete and utter torture! It was 4:30 a.m. and my bus had been on the road for ten plus hours. The ascending climb from the southern Peruvian city of Arequipa was frigid and visually condensed, for all I could see were the people in the immediate area in the interior of the bus. As Patrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-38055219769886872612010-11-23T12:00:00.000-08:002010-11-23T12:42:08.453-08:00Meeting the ‘Sister,’ Choquequirao: Zigzagging the ‘Walls of Eternity.’ (Updated version)Catharsis.
In a flash, the initial heaves began. Each ensuing and myriad aftershock yielded similarly hellish results. After what seemed to be endless declarations of profound sickness, I finally reached a brief moment of peace. With an all fours’ crawl on warm earth, the cold sweat that formerly shot from my forehead like grease splashing from a hot skillet now settled as my temperature quicklyPatrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-38014441289521267272010-11-10T13:44:00.000-08:002010-11-10T22:33:52.885-08:00Inca Trail Tails: Choquequirao: Meeting the Sister, Part 1 (article in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, Nov. 6, 2010)Patrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-55418290060936507742010-08-04T09:59:00.000-07:002010-11-15T01:59:54.578-08:00The Old Mountain: Profundity and Comedy on the Road to the Disneyland of South AmericaEver since I was a young boy I had dreamed of planting my feet in the fertile soils of Machu Picchu. Enticing television programs showing this unheard of and uncommon union of natural and man-made beauty were my main mode of insight contributing to this learned (and innate) attraction. And, after reading and studying the histories of Latin America, and particularly those of Peru, Machu Picchu andPatrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-61503479640834648592010-07-06T14:00:00.000-07:002010-11-23T22:54:31.509-08:00Lost City Found: My Circular Journey to the Retreats of the Inca Empire and BackThe drawing to the left depicts the assassination of Tupac Amaru, the last official Inca. The Inca was captured in Vilcabamba, in the deep jungle of the Cuzco Region. Tupac Amaru, in addition to his predecessors Manco Inca, Titu Cusi, and Sayri Tupac, were responsible for leading the last years of holdout from the frequent Spanish offenses. A remarkable portion of the Spanish Conquest's history Patrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-22628556236116010372010-05-04T12:00:00.000-07:002010-11-23T22:51:00.320-08:00The Broken Arches: Beauty and Courage Prevail in the Wake of Natural Chaos, The Aftermath of the Peruvian Earthquakes and Tsunami of 2007It was evening time in the small city of Pisco, on the central Peruvian coast. As hot food arrived to the table of two young workers who had just finished their day, a terrible, being-shattering rumble erupted. Everybody under the roof of the street-side food stand paused and rode the terrorizing wave that ensued. The structures that usually remain stable were thrown into whichever direction theyPatrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-68504661038902823722010-04-19T18:32:00.000-07:002011-01-20T17:51:23.961-08:00On the Guano Trail, Paracas and Isla Ballestas: A revisit to Mid-19th Century PeruI hopped the bus at the early hour of 8 a.m. en route to my first south of Lima coastal destination: the beach town of Paracas.
The six-hour tour sped down the arid desert coast. Rolling dry hills with wind-blown sand and even drier vegetation was all one could see for miles into the distance. I had been here before, so I was accustomed to this surprisingly (to me) arid landscape that runs in Patrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-84718744820148353682010-02-23T15:24:00.000-08:002010-11-23T22:57:03.526-08:00Meeting the Sister, Choquequirao: Zig-zagging the Walls of Eternity
Choquequirao is a former Inca village, ceremonial area, and lookout located in the Salkantay Mountain Range to the southwest of the city of Cuzco, the former Inca capital. Today it is an impressive Inca ruin site rival in beauty to that of its "sister," Machu Picchu.
After a four-hour bus ride twirling through the subtle ascents and descents of the Abancay region (with only a few pee-breaks andPatrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7931604971484666893.post-54712334524309169332010-02-22T15:20:00.000-08:002010-11-23T22:55:27.893-08:00"We Thought You Were CIA!": Tracing the Footprints of the Shining Path in the Central Peruvian JungleThe Shining Path was a Maoist-inspired revolutionary group in Peru that, along with the National Peruvian Army, was responsible for the death of many hundreds of thousands of basically innocent civilians during the late 70's, all of the 1980's, and lasting approximately until the peace treaty was signed in 1992.
I ventured forth anxiously. Most likely, this oblivion, which I now see as a Patrick Rosebladehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07010780671917937478noreply@blogger.com0