Okay so we are back in Huanchaco! What can we say we are beach babes and couldn't get enough of the sun, sand and ocean. Huanchaco is our last destination of our trip, other than the Lima airport... which we willsadly and happily be at on Thursday morning at 5am! Not to worry we have a ten hour bus ride before that! So since this will be our last blog we are going to do a count down of our ten favorite moments on this trip not in any particualr order.
1. Iguazu Falls was absolutrly amazing. We felt like we were in Heaven! We also meet some pretty funny tourists! "Is this the way to the Falls"... we will explain this one if you ask in person :)
2. Machu Picchu is beautiful and Whynapicchu is a butt kicker with stinky stinging nettle! It should be on everyone's travel bucket list... we stood there in awe for a long time!
3. The Salar de Uyuni was dry and white... but we loved it! We also realized on that trip that we are probably some of the most fun people we know!
4. La Isla in Cochabamba has delicious choripans and street food! Thank you Gama for taking us there!
5. Countless attempts by the male South American population to pick up on us... Thank you Men of South America for the pick-up lines, whistles, attempted english and confidence booster... We will miss you!
6. Live music everywhere we went, From the parades in Puno to the little club that Gamma and Vinny played Green Day! We loved the shows!
7. STREET FOOD! We seriously have been offered all of hearts desires on the street... From Honey cakes to meat on a stick! Thank you street venders for filling our stomachs, our hearts and increasing our mad dashes ro bathrooms!
8. Bus rides... We are very proud to say that we travelled through three countries solely by bus! We couldn't have done it with out the vendors that kept us entertained, the babies that we helped feed and change, the Choletas mocking us for not being married and the creepy old men staring at us in our sleep! Half the fun was in the ride!
9. The street kids and dogs... We have loved the street kids! They filled our nights with laughter and hope :) We even left them with some little gifts in Cusco! We also want to take them home with us... and the dogs....
10. Being together for this adventure has been the best part of this trip! We have entertained eachother through long bus rides, tried to interrupt eachothers reading so we could talk, we have given other travellers advice on how to get along... Being together for this life changing adventure has not only made us better freinds, but better people!
We would kie to thank you all for taking the time to read about our trip... Your Friendships mean the world to us! Thanks for sharing the journey along the way. We are sad to leave, but happy to come home to all of you! Thanks again!
ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!... not just in South America, it is everywhere!
P.S. Stayed tuned in for next summer... we aren't stoping with this trip... South East Asia here we come!
P.P.S.We would like to give a big shout out to Megan "Sides" Pike, Thank you for the amazing guest blogging!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
That's all Folks
Okay so we are back in Huanchaco! What can we say we are beach babes and couldn't get enough of the sun, sand and ocean. Huanchaco is our last destination of our trip, other than the Lima airport... which we willsadly and happily be at on Thursday morning at 5am! Not to worry we have a ten hour bus ride before that! So since this will be our last blog we are going to do a count down of our ten favorite moments on this trip not in any particualr order.
1. Iguazu Falls was absolutrly amazing. We felt like we were in Heaven! We also meet some pretty funny tourists! "Is this the way to the Falls"... we will explain this one if you ask in person :)
2. Machu Picchu is beautiful and Whynapicchu is a butt kicker with stinky stinging nettle! It should be on everyone's travel bucket list... we stood there in awe for a long time!
3. The Salar de Uyuni was dry and white... but we loved it! We also realized on that trip that we are probably some of the most fun people we know!
4. La Isla in Cochabamba has delicious choripans and street food! Thank you Gama for taking us there!
5. Countless attempts by the male South American population to pick up on us... Thank you Men of South America for the pick-up lines, whistles, attempted english and confidence booster... We will miss you!
6. Live music everywhere we went, From the parades in Puno to the little club that Gamma and Vinny played Green Day! We loved the shows!
7. STREET FOOD! We seriously have been offered all of hearts desires on the street... From Honey cakes to meat on a stick! Thank you street venders for filling our stomachs, our hearts and increasing our mad dashes ro bathrooms!
8. Bus rides... We are very proud to say that we travelled through three countries solely by bus! We couldn't have done it with out the vendors that kept us entertained, the babies that we helped feed and change, the Choletas mocking us for not being married and the creepy old men staring at us in our sleep! Half the fun was in the ride!
9. The street kids and dogs... We have loved the street kids! They filled our nights with laughter and hope :) We even left them with some little gifts in Cusco! We also want to take them home with us... and the dogs....
10. Being together for this adventure has been the best part of this trip! We have entertained eachother through long bus rides, tried to interrupt eachothers reading so we could talk, we have given other travellers advice on how to get along... Being together for this life changing adventure has not only made us better freinds, but better people!
We would like to thank you all for taking the time to read about our trip... Your Friendships mean the world to us! Thanks for sharing the journey along the way. We are sad to leave, but happy to come home to all of you! Thanks again!
ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!... not just in South America, it is everywhere!
P.S. Stayed tuned in for next summer... we aren't stoping with this trip... South East Asia here we come!
P.P.S.We would like to give a big shout out to Megan "Sides" Pike, Thank you for the amazing guest blogging!
1. Iguazu Falls was absolutrly amazing. We felt like we were in Heaven! We also meet some pretty funny tourists! "Is this the way to the Falls"... we will explain this one if you ask in person :)
2. Machu Picchu is beautiful and Whynapicchu is a butt kicker with stinky stinging nettle! It should be on everyone's travel bucket list... we stood there in awe for a long time!
3. The Salar de Uyuni was dry and white... but we loved it! We also realized on that trip that we are probably some of the most fun people we know!
4. La Isla in Cochabamba has delicious choripans and street food! Thank you Gama for taking us there!
5. Countless attempts by the male South American population to pick up on us... Thank you Men of South America for the pick-up lines, whistles, attempted english and confidence booster... We will miss you!
6. Live music everywhere we went, From the parades in Puno to the little club that Gamma and Vinny played Green Day! We loved the shows!
7. STREET FOOD! We seriously have been offered all of hearts desires on the street... From Honey cakes to meat on a stick! Thank you street venders for filling our stomachs, our hearts and increasing our mad dashes ro bathrooms!
8. Bus rides... We are very proud to say that we travelled through three countries solely by bus! We couldn't have done it with out the vendors that kept us entertained, the babies that we helped feed and change, the Choletas mocking us for not being married and the creepy old men staring at us in our sleep! Half the fun was in the ride!
9. The street kids and dogs... We have loved the street kids! They filled our nights with laughter and hope :) We even left them with some little gifts in Cusco! We also want to take them home with us... and the dogs....
10. Being together for this adventure has been the best part of this trip! We have entertained eachother through long bus rides, tried to interrupt eachothers reading so we could talk, we have given other travellers advice on how to get along... Being together for this life changing adventure has not only made us better freinds, but better people!
We would like to thank you all for taking the time to read about our trip... Your Friendships mean the world to us! Thanks for sharing the journey along the way. We are sad to leave, but happy to come home to all of you! Thanks again!
ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!... not just in South America, it is everywhere!
P.S. Stayed tuned in for next summer... we aren't stoping with this trip... South East Asia here we come!
P.P.S.We would like to give a big shout out to Megan "Sides" Pike, Thank you for the amazing guest blogging!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Cusco, Etc. ... a Guest Blog by Megan Sides Pike
Hi friends and family! Aly and Jo have given me a chance guest blog here, I hope I can do it justice!
About two weeks ago I was lucky enough to meet up with my friends here in Peru and join them for a little piece of their adventure of a lifetime. After telling them the wrong neighboorhood where I was staying (oops!) I got the best wake-up call ever from two (very tan) friends knocking on my hotel door in Cusco. (Who knew there were such good beaches in Peru?) We spent the next couple of days hanging out in Cusco, the biggest mountain city I´ve ever seen. I was prepared for the ancient architecture, the street vendors and the cobbled streets, but I wasn´t prepared for the spectacular scenery, the vast-ness of it all and the amazingly cute children (more on this later).
Our first introduction to an ancient Inkan ruin was just outside the city at ¨Sachsayhuman¨ We figured it worked for us both because it was close and because it is actually pronounced ¨Sexy Woman.¨ Yep, that´s us. Also, it´s close to the giant white Jesus on the hill. One stop shop. At Sexy Woman, we realized the full effects of altitude... ow. We also learned that Muña is a better plant for curing it than Coca. We met our new dog friend Bow Wow and learned that he doesn´t really like protein bars or dark enclosed caves (the street dogs here are seriously the cutest anywhere). And Aly was the first one to suck up the courage to slide down an ancient Inkan playset (pictures to come).
Our other favorite things about the city of Cusco include - The restaurant Chez Maggie where you can get Mexican Food and hear live music, The Artisan Market (which is cheaper than the big market and slightly out of town), and Sarah and Jefferson (more on them later). A good amount of our time is spent trying to sneak picures of cute kids and furry street dogs. (We each have our favorite kind of street dog, the variety here is remarkable.)
All the children here are cute, but we definitely have two favorite street kids. Jefferson (Me llamo Hhhhhefferson!) is five years old and tries to sell us ¨cheeeeeklay!¨ every night and yells "Aye! Tu es Loca!¨ everytime he sees Aly. Sara is also really cute and in the fifth grade. She will sell you a Cusco beanie for 5 soles as long as none of the other street vendors are watching (it´s like a half-price discount)! Jefferson and his friend Theresa are now the proud owners of a backpack and canvas shopping bag filled with some of the clothes and shoes we thought they might like that we don´t need anymore. The bags were a hit and the clothes got some pretty funny looks.
And finally, the tenth best thing about Cusco: the massages! They are only about ten US dollars and they range from great to awesome! Aly and I are currently planning where to get our fourth massage of the week (Jo is planning which cappucino shop to spend her hour in).
If Cusco is beautiful, then the rest of the Sacred Valley must be paradise. Jo and Aly, who are now extremely wise in the ways of public transit, introduced me to my first collectivo on the way out of town. It is my new favoirte way to travel. You get to meet new friends, practice your Spanish, hang on for dear life around corners and play peak-a-boo with adorable children all the while getting travel and life advice from abuelos and abuelitas. All this for about one US dollar. In the Sacred Valley we found ancient ruins, a ¨magic hostal¨, taxi drivers who charge way too much money, a spectacular landscape that cannot be described, donkey/bull/llama/alpaca/sheep crossings and people all along the way who are willing to help you find your way and have fun.
Every town we went to I heard at least one tourist complaining that they just couldn´t look at anymore ruins. But that was definitely not us! We consdiered our Boleto Touristico our little paper of empowerment and put it to good use, using it to get into all but three historic sites before it expired!
Here are some hilights of our history-nerd adventures: Dangling our feet in "ancient river water" that fed the Incan baths, Having a picnic in the grassy pastures above an ancient palace while listening to cows and pigs being hearded, Wondering how many different ways you can make a nativity scene out of nesting dolls at the Museum of Popular Art, Reading guide books out loud to each other to figure out exactly what we´re looking at, Trying to ask the docent in Spanish if that Mummy´s hair is real, and Posing as the different paintings hanging on the wall in the Museum of Contemporary Art.
But the hilight of our ancient ruins adventure culmintated in waking up at 4:30 in the morning to get on a bus for Machu Pichu! We were so excited we couldn´t stand it (but a little cup of coffee would have been nice). Walking into the park entrance was one of the most breathtaking moments of our lives (and not just because we were wheezing from the stairs). There was a thick blanket of morning fog which added a veil of mystery to the view, but made our planned photo shoot a little iffy. So, we camped out at our ¨spot¨ played with the llamas and prepared ourselves to look gorgeous. Finally, the fog lifted and we got some awesome pictures. After the ¨pictures that will last a lifetime¨(-A. Leavitt), we used our friendliness and good looks to join an English tour group for free! We learned a lot and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Finally, it was our ¨time slot¨to enter the trailhead for Huyanapichu, the hill that you see on postcards. Only 500 people are allowed to climb to the top everyday and the path is stone steps all the way up. The view from the top is impressive, to say the least! Again, photo shoot extraordinaire. Our Machu PIchu experience is one we will never forget!
Having been in Peru already for several weeks when I got here meant that Aly and Jo got to go on a ¨best-of¨ tour to show me some of the sights that they had already been to. How incredibly nice of you two! The best of the ¨best of tour¨in my opinion, was Lake Titicaca, the world´s highest navigable lake. A close second - the eight hour bus ride to get there! Anyone who´s ever been in a car with me for more than an hour should be incredibly impressed that you guys were willing to take on that challenge. Anyway, Lake TIticaca and the floating islands are abslolutely worth it. Also, if you´re looking for a place to eat in Puno, may we reccommend the Sweet Cafe? They serve panqueques all day and will let you sit there and watch an entire movie on their big ol TV!
Now we are back in Cusco, our plans to go to planetarium have been replaced by plans to stay dry and out of the rain for the night! Our shopping is almost done, and Aly has found her true calling as a professional haggler. If it weren´t for her I would be paying twice as much for everything I buy. We are savoring every moment of the near-end of this trip and Aly and Jo talk everyday about how they can´t wait to hug their moms again! (And how they can almost taste the Chipotle burritos... but don´t worry moms - you still take first place in the conversations!)
Everything these past few days has been amazing. The sights and sounds, the people and the places, the markets and ruins! But, by far, my very favorite part was getting to do it all with two of the kindest, funniest, and most adventerous girls I know! Thanks for everything!
About two weeks ago I was lucky enough to meet up with my friends here in Peru and join them for a little piece of their adventure of a lifetime. After telling them the wrong neighboorhood where I was staying (oops!) I got the best wake-up call ever from two (very tan) friends knocking on my hotel door in Cusco. (Who knew there were such good beaches in Peru?) We spent the next couple of days hanging out in Cusco, the biggest mountain city I´ve ever seen. I was prepared for the ancient architecture, the street vendors and the cobbled streets, but I wasn´t prepared for the spectacular scenery, the vast-ness of it all and the amazingly cute children (more on this later).
Our first introduction to an ancient Inkan ruin was just outside the city at ¨Sachsayhuman¨ We figured it worked for us both because it was close and because it is actually pronounced ¨Sexy Woman.¨ Yep, that´s us. Also, it´s close to the giant white Jesus on the hill. One stop shop. At Sexy Woman, we realized the full effects of altitude... ow. We also learned that Muña is a better plant for curing it than Coca. We met our new dog friend Bow Wow and learned that he doesn´t really like protein bars or dark enclosed caves (the street dogs here are seriously the cutest anywhere). And Aly was the first one to suck up the courage to slide down an ancient Inkan playset (pictures to come).
Our other favorite things about the city of Cusco include - The restaurant Chez Maggie where you can get Mexican Food and hear live music, The Artisan Market (which is cheaper than the big market and slightly out of town), and Sarah and Jefferson (more on them later). A good amount of our time is spent trying to sneak picures of cute kids and furry street dogs. (We each have our favorite kind of street dog, the variety here is remarkable.)
All the children here are cute, but we definitely have two favorite street kids. Jefferson (Me llamo Hhhhhefferson!) is five years old and tries to sell us ¨cheeeeeklay!¨ every night and yells "Aye! Tu es Loca!¨ everytime he sees Aly. Sara is also really cute and in the fifth grade. She will sell you a Cusco beanie for 5 soles as long as none of the other street vendors are watching (it´s like a half-price discount)! Jefferson and his friend Theresa are now the proud owners of a backpack and canvas shopping bag filled with some of the clothes and shoes we thought they might like that we don´t need anymore. The bags were a hit and the clothes got some pretty funny looks.
And finally, the tenth best thing about Cusco: the massages! They are only about ten US dollars and they range from great to awesome! Aly and I are currently planning where to get our fourth massage of the week (Jo is planning which cappucino shop to spend her hour in).
If Cusco is beautiful, then the rest of the Sacred Valley must be paradise. Jo and Aly, who are now extremely wise in the ways of public transit, introduced me to my first collectivo on the way out of town. It is my new favoirte way to travel. You get to meet new friends, practice your Spanish, hang on for dear life around corners and play peak-a-boo with adorable children all the while getting travel and life advice from abuelos and abuelitas. All this for about one US dollar. In the Sacred Valley we found ancient ruins, a ¨magic hostal¨, taxi drivers who charge way too much money, a spectacular landscape that cannot be described, donkey/bull/llama/alpaca/sheep crossings and people all along the way who are willing to help you find your way and have fun.
Every town we went to I heard at least one tourist complaining that they just couldn´t look at anymore ruins. But that was definitely not us! We consdiered our Boleto Touristico our little paper of empowerment and put it to good use, using it to get into all but three historic sites before it expired!
Here are some hilights of our history-nerd adventures: Dangling our feet in "ancient river water" that fed the Incan baths, Having a picnic in the grassy pastures above an ancient palace while listening to cows and pigs being hearded, Wondering how many different ways you can make a nativity scene out of nesting dolls at the Museum of Popular Art, Reading guide books out loud to each other to figure out exactly what we´re looking at, Trying to ask the docent in Spanish if that Mummy´s hair is real, and Posing as the different paintings hanging on the wall in the Museum of Contemporary Art.
But the hilight of our ancient ruins adventure culmintated in waking up at 4:30 in the morning to get on a bus for Machu Pichu! We were so excited we couldn´t stand it (but a little cup of coffee would have been nice). Walking into the park entrance was one of the most breathtaking moments of our lives (and not just because we were wheezing from the stairs). There was a thick blanket of morning fog which added a veil of mystery to the view, but made our planned photo shoot a little iffy. So, we camped out at our ¨spot¨ played with the llamas and prepared ourselves to look gorgeous. Finally, the fog lifted and we got some awesome pictures. After the ¨pictures that will last a lifetime¨(-A. Leavitt), we used our friendliness and good looks to join an English tour group for free! We learned a lot and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Finally, it was our ¨time slot¨to enter the trailhead for Huyanapichu, the hill that you see on postcards. Only 500 people are allowed to climb to the top everyday and the path is stone steps all the way up. The view from the top is impressive, to say the least! Again, photo shoot extraordinaire. Our Machu PIchu experience is one we will never forget!
Having been in Peru already for several weeks when I got here meant that Aly and Jo got to go on a ¨best-of¨ tour to show me some of the sights that they had already been to. How incredibly nice of you two! The best of the ¨best of tour¨in my opinion, was Lake Titicaca, the world´s highest navigable lake. A close second - the eight hour bus ride to get there! Anyone who´s ever been in a car with me for more than an hour should be incredibly impressed that you guys were willing to take on that challenge. Anyway, Lake TIticaca and the floating islands are abslolutely worth it. Also, if you´re looking for a place to eat in Puno, may we reccommend the Sweet Cafe? They serve panqueques all day and will let you sit there and watch an entire movie on their big ol TV!
Now we are back in Cusco, our plans to go to planetarium have been replaced by plans to stay dry and out of the rain for the night! Our shopping is almost done, and Aly has found her true calling as a professional haggler. If it weren´t for her I would be paying twice as much for everything I buy. We are savoring every moment of the near-end of this trip and Aly and Jo talk everyday about how they can´t wait to hug their moms again! (And how they can almost taste the Chipotle burritos... but don´t worry moms - you still take first place in the conversations!)
Everything these past few days has been amazing. The sights and sounds, the people and the places, the markets and ruins! But, by far, my very favorite part was getting to do it all with two of the kindest, funniest, and most adventerous girls I know! Thanks for everything!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Sorry We´re Slackers!!
Okay, so we admit, it´s been like two weeks, maybe three....since the last time that we have written. We are sorry....but we have been having so much fun, and we hope this blog, filled with stories, rainbows, and love makes up for it.
So...we left off when we were about to start our week of volunteering at a school in Cusco. It was great. The kids were so CUTE! We want to take them all home with us!! We spent our week changing lyrics to popular Latin American pop songs about French Guinea (our assigned topic of the week)..dancing and really just playing around with them. The kids were hilarious, some used our hands for bandaids, kleenexes, and poked us to make sure that yes, we really really are this white! We did some art projects, taught the kids about the solar system and how to say ¨booger¨...all very important things..... We had a great time, and spent a week in beautiful Cusco.
After our week.... we headed to the beach!! We spent 30 hours on a bus to get there, but it was worth it!! Huanchaco is the name.....really an oasis for chilling. Upon arrival, we made a new friend, a traveler... or gypsy, from Argentina. He started talking to us at the bus station, and decided he wanted to hang out with us for a few days...all good. We started our trip afraid of gypsies a little bit, since they sometimes harrass us, hit on us, and try to sell us friendship bracelets.. (don´t get us wrong, we love friendship bracelets!!). It really is only fitting that we now have a new gypsy friend and free friendship bracelets to prove it!! Days were spent realxing on the beach...we even found a place to rent an umbrella as to avoid being turned into a Pollo Broaster! People also use reed boats to fish and we def. had a lot of fun mingling with the locals (there are not too many tourists at this tiny beach, which we loved!!).
We are now back in Cusco with Megan Sides Pike.!!!!! We were so excited that she decided to come down and meet us here. We first spent a few days going to the Sacred Valley to visit the ruins and small towns around Cusco. WE would also like to send a shout out to the colectivo rides we have been taking around the valley (really just buses...but we meet the most awesome people on there....cute babies, sleeping old ladies, and funny old muchachos!!). The Sacred Valley is beautiful!! Mountains for days...green hillsides, and picturesque little pueblitos. We must say though that nothing can compare to Machu Picchu!!
That´s right folks, we made it....!! We started our journey at 5:30 in the morning....we wanted to get an early bus to see the sun rise, but turns out everyone else wanted to as well...so we ended up making it to Machu Picchu about an hour later. It is awesome!! Definitely should be on everyone´s bucket list of things to do!! When we get home we will post tons of pictures (we felt compelled to have a series of very long photo shoots). We also managed to find a tour group that let us join for free!! Since we are the cheapest travelers in South America, we decided to go to Machu Picchu on our own...to find public transportation the entire way there...and then somehow we lucked out in finding a free tour. Our guide was awesome, and we learnt so much!!....Including that everyone else on the tour paid a ton of money!! In addition to learning all of these things, we also learnt that some people still think that Incas live around Machu Picchu....we may be Simpletons (Gama....) but we did however, know this not to be true. Needless to say the tour was great.
After touring the ruins we decided to climb up Waynapicchu, the mountain that sits behind the ruins that is featured in all the postcards. THE BIG ONE. OUr trek was eventful and certainly an adventure. It mostly involves climbing stairs (Incan stairs) for the entire time. The stairs also have water making them very slippery (some guy almost took us out when he tripped on the way down!). THe view of the valley and Machu Picchu is amazing, definitely worth the climb (yes Braidy, you bet we sang it on the way up!).
Now we are back in Cusco for a few days....going to rest up from the adventures of the past few weeks for a couple of days.... Until next time, adventure is out there!
So...we left off when we were about to start our week of volunteering at a school in Cusco. It was great. The kids were so CUTE! We want to take them all home with us!! We spent our week changing lyrics to popular Latin American pop songs about French Guinea (our assigned topic of the week)..dancing and really just playing around with them. The kids were hilarious, some used our hands for bandaids, kleenexes, and poked us to make sure that yes, we really really are this white! We did some art projects, taught the kids about the solar system and how to say ¨booger¨...all very important things..... We had a great time, and spent a week in beautiful Cusco.
After our week.... we headed to the beach!! We spent 30 hours on a bus to get there, but it was worth it!! Huanchaco is the name.....really an oasis for chilling. Upon arrival, we made a new friend, a traveler... or gypsy, from Argentina. He started talking to us at the bus station, and decided he wanted to hang out with us for a few days...all good. We started our trip afraid of gypsies a little bit, since they sometimes harrass us, hit on us, and try to sell us friendship bracelets.. (don´t get us wrong, we love friendship bracelets!!). It really is only fitting that we now have a new gypsy friend and free friendship bracelets to prove it!! Days were spent realxing on the beach...we even found a place to rent an umbrella as to avoid being turned into a Pollo Broaster! People also use reed boats to fish and we def. had a lot of fun mingling with the locals (there are not too many tourists at this tiny beach, which we loved!!).
We are now back in Cusco with Megan Sides Pike.!!!!! We were so excited that she decided to come down and meet us here. We first spent a few days going to the Sacred Valley to visit the ruins and small towns around Cusco. WE would also like to send a shout out to the colectivo rides we have been taking around the valley (really just buses...but we meet the most awesome people on there....cute babies, sleeping old ladies, and funny old muchachos!!). The Sacred Valley is beautiful!! Mountains for days...green hillsides, and picturesque little pueblitos. We must say though that nothing can compare to Machu Picchu!!
That´s right folks, we made it....!! We started our journey at 5:30 in the morning....we wanted to get an early bus to see the sun rise, but turns out everyone else wanted to as well...so we ended up making it to Machu Picchu about an hour later. It is awesome!! Definitely should be on everyone´s bucket list of things to do!! When we get home we will post tons of pictures (we felt compelled to have a series of very long photo shoots). We also managed to find a tour group that let us join for free!! Since we are the cheapest travelers in South America, we decided to go to Machu Picchu on our own...to find public transportation the entire way there...and then somehow we lucked out in finding a free tour. Our guide was awesome, and we learnt so much!!....Including that everyone else on the tour paid a ton of money!! In addition to learning all of these things, we also learnt that some people still think that Incas live around Machu Picchu....we may be Simpletons (Gama....) but we did however, know this not to be true. Needless to say the tour was great.
After touring the ruins we decided to climb up Waynapicchu, the mountain that sits behind the ruins that is featured in all the postcards. THE BIG ONE. OUr trek was eventful and certainly an adventure. It mostly involves climbing stairs (Incan stairs) for the entire time. The stairs also have water making them very slippery (some guy almost took us out when he tripped on the way down!). THe view of the valley and Machu Picchu is amazing, definitely worth the climb (yes Braidy, you bet we sang it on the way up!).
Now we are back in Cusco for a few days....going to rest up from the adventures of the past few weeks for a couple of days.... Until next time, adventure is out there!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Bye Bye Bolivia we will miss you... Hello Peru!
Okay so where we last left off we were going back back to Cocha Cocha Bamba... and we did :) It was really fun to see our Cochabamba friends and enjoy being in a city that we feel like we have already mastered... How many times to you go to Bolivia with a list of restaurants you want to hit up? Surprise we did! Needless to say we had so much fun in Cochabamba. We even visited thanks to Gama this street food Mecca called "La Isla" had more Choripans than one should ever have in a lifetime... okay we don´t actually believe that because they are delicious! Seriously thank you Gama for bringing us to food Heaven! In Cocha we also were lucky enough to see a traveling circus with a tree gymnast dressed in a spandex Zebra full body suit. It was simply amazing!
After a few days of fun we set off for Copacabana and then to the Peruvian border. now we like to think all of our bus rides have been fun and filled with charm and delicious stories to tell later but this one was more of a horror ride to begin with. It was a late night in Cochabamba Bolivia. Two young girls set off on a mission to make it to Peru. As they boarded their bus with sadness in their hearts from leaving their friends but a glimmer of hope for new adventure in their eyes they realized the bus was fisrt class and a new journey was in their midst. They also got to sit next to the Bolivian Elvis which was enough to get them through the night! Shortly after the bus started on their journey it stopped... for food. The two girls where completely parched and agua was their innermost desire. Aly decided that getting off the bus to retrieve some of this sweet thirst quencher was a good idea, especially after seeing the street smart Elvis get off... Little did she know this stop may be her last. As she searched far and wide for cheap water and a little lady to sell it to her. Just as she had found a good deal she heard a bus engine start to rumble and saw from the corner of her eye her bus begin to take off. Meanwhile Jo and Elvis´wife were calling for Aly and Elvis to get back on the bus and asking the bus driver to stop. The bus driver didn´t! Luckily Aly abandoned hopes for water and started sprinting for the bus. The next thing Jo can remember is Aly in the bus headlñights and then a horrid scream of "Wait I´m on this Bus!!!" Luckily Jo didn´t die of heart attack from screaming at the bus driver and Aly just barely made it on by jumping into the bus. Once everyone was happy, safe and securely on the bus the two bus soldiers (that´s us) looked out the window to see Elvis still in line for his coveted pollo broaster. The bus driver stopped the bus and waited for Elvis to load. Obviously he has more street cred than us! Lesson learned never get off the bus!
We are now in Puno at a great hostel called Bothy. On the way to our hostel we had the greatest, taxi/ motorcycle with an attached carriage to it, ride ever! The mortorcycle converted into little carriage was very slow and about half way through ran out of gas. However the driver, clearly a motorcycle baller, managed to get it started by turning over the engine for five minutes. We could not help but crack up in the back seat because we kid you not it was the longest we have ever heard anyone turn an engine for... we thought there was no hope of getting it restarted. However he did and we made it safely to Bothy. After getting out of the motorcar we said goodbye to our new hero and he put the bad boy in neutral and let it roll down the hill, taxis honking all the while!
So we are now at Bothy, unfortunately every other traveller is trekking to Cuzco so we are stuck with the two male workers of our hostel constantly flirting with us. We also some how got roped into buying trout for a little fiesta we had today with a family and the boys. Which was actually really fun because we got to go shopping in the market and see women pull fish eggs right out of the fishes baby maker! Oh yeah go Puno Ladies you truely are the women!
So now we are just chilling in our hostel catching up on life and getting ready to head for Cuzco, where we will be teaching children english. We are really excited and know we will have great stories to tell! Until Next Time Adventure is out There!
After a few days of fun we set off for Copacabana and then to the Peruvian border. now we like to think all of our bus rides have been fun and filled with charm and delicious stories to tell later but this one was more of a horror ride to begin with. It was a late night in Cochabamba Bolivia. Two young girls set off on a mission to make it to Peru. As they boarded their bus with sadness in their hearts from leaving their friends but a glimmer of hope for new adventure in their eyes they realized the bus was fisrt class and a new journey was in their midst. They also got to sit next to the Bolivian Elvis which was enough to get them through the night! Shortly after the bus started on their journey it stopped... for food. The two girls where completely parched and agua was their innermost desire. Aly decided that getting off the bus to retrieve some of this sweet thirst quencher was a good idea, especially after seeing the street smart Elvis get off... Little did she know this stop may be her last. As she searched far and wide for cheap water and a little lady to sell it to her. Just as she had found a good deal she heard a bus engine start to rumble and saw from the corner of her eye her bus begin to take off. Meanwhile Jo and Elvis´wife were calling for Aly and Elvis to get back on the bus and asking the bus driver to stop. The bus driver didn´t! Luckily Aly abandoned hopes for water and started sprinting for the bus. The next thing Jo can remember is Aly in the bus headlñights and then a horrid scream of "Wait I´m on this Bus!!!" Luckily Jo didn´t die of heart attack from screaming at the bus driver and Aly just barely made it on by jumping into the bus. Once everyone was happy, safe and securely on the bus the two bus soldiers (that´s us) looked out the window to see Elvis still in line for his coveted pollo broaster. The bus driver stopped the bus and waited for Elvis to load. Obviously he has more street cred than us! Lesson learned never get off the bus!
We are now in Puno at a great hostel called Bothy. On the way to our hostel we had the greatest, taxi/ motorcycle with an attached carriage to it, ride ever! The mortorcycle converted into little carriage was very slow and about half way through ran out of gas. However the driver, clearly a motorcycle baller, managed to get it started by turning over the engine for five minutes. We could not help but crack up in the back seat because we kid you not it was the longest we have ever heard anyone turn an engine for... we thought there was no hope of getting it restarted. However he did and we made it safely to Bothy. After getting out of the motorcar we said goodbye to our new hero and he put the bad boy in neutral and let it roll down the hill, taxis honking all the while!
So we are now at Bothy, unfortunately every other traveller is trekking to Cuzco so we are stuck with the two male workers of our hostel constantly flirting with us. We also some how got roped into buying trout for a little fiesta we had today with a family and the boys. Which was actually really fun because we got to go shopping in the market and see women pull fish eggs right out of the fishes baby maker! Oh yeah go Puno Ladies you truely are the women!
So now we are just chilling in our hostel catching up on life and getting ready to head for Cuzco, where we will be teaching children english. We are really excited and know we will have great stories to tell! Until Next Time Adventure is out There!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
A New Appreciation for Salt, Flat Tires, and Coca Cola
Alright, we admit, it´s been awhile since we have last blogged...again. In our defense we have been spending a good amount of time in remote areas without internet and on more epic bus rides!!
We last left off in Argentina..... Shortly after our last blog we made the treck by bus to Bolivia. We made it easily across the border and to a town that looks like it´s in an old western movie called Tupiza and home of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (shoutout to Vinny). After spending one day there we decided to take the train to Uyuni....the town closest to the biggest salt flats in the world. Before taking the train we ate the most delicious street food we have ever had in our lives! Imagine fried potato and in some glorious batter with the best salsa we have ever tasted...all fried in front of your face!!
We got on the train at like 7 at night....and finally made it to Uyuni at like 2 in the morning. The next day was spent looking for a group to go to the salt flats with and going to this glorious market that had everything you could have imagined. We have also become big fans of the ¨set lunch¨here.... it´s pretty much eating a three course meal for like 2 dollars.
The next day we hopped in a jeep with four other folks from all over Europe and headed to the salt flats. However, before we even made it to the salt flats, our jeep got a flat tire, our driver, Jimmy, assured us that this is normal, and that it was all good!The salt flats are amazing. Blindingly white for days...they sort of look like snow, but good thing for us it was nice and warm! Jimmy spent a good portion of the day checking the jeep....mostly just walking around it and kicking the tires....but sometimes looking under the hood (a little more cause for alarm than a tire). But nevertheless....Jimmy was right, it was all good. We spent the night at a hostel made completely out of salt in the middle of nowhere...and spent a good portion of the evening playing cards by headlamp...what can we say, even after all this time, we never lose at Spoons!
The next day we went to the lagoons in the desert around the salt flats, right after we got up to watch the sunrise of course! The lagoons have flamingos in them, and Deanna you were right, they live in a beautiful place! They also took us to go see the "arbol de pìedra", a rock that has been eroded by the wind to look like a tree( sorry Braidy, we nerded out for a sec)!
The day was great, even if Jo woke up with the worst stomach pain she had ever experienced. At our first stop we tried everything...Coca leaves, crackers, alka seltzer, coca cola....and the pain just wouldnt subside...however, she was determined not to have this stomach pain steal her of seeing the flamingos..... At a stop to help another jeep with another flat tire, another traveler told her it was a parasite.... Oh my... WHAT!?? Ok, ok, so who says that to someone in the middle of the Bolivian desert??? So maybe we have been eating more delicious street food than usual...but a parasite? Really? Slighltly freaked out, we continued on, and as the day went on the stomach pain started to disappear, so if she does have a parasite, it is living happily inside her...so it´s all good.
On the last day of the trip we spent a lot of time crammed in the back of a jeep! We would like to send a shoutout to Lizzy Leavitt for the use of her ipod. Lizzy, you have a great taste in music, and have totally save us on numerous bus rides and this insanely long jeep ride....!
Speaking of bus rides....just when we thought they couldn´t get any better...they did. After the tour we took a morning bus to Potosi. The bus was packed...Aly spent her time squished in the back row of the bus with some sassy ladies that we absolutely loved! Oh....plus a baby...and Jo spent her time being a pillow for some guy she just met. Throughout the bus ride we helped feed and entertain the baby, and had some lively conversations with the sassy ladies as to why we were not married. We jokingly told them we had boyfriends, and they claimed..:¨Let us see the ring!!¨. Neverthelss, it was the best bus ride ever. We have heard some other travelers claim that they do not want to ride on buses with other Bolivians....this to us is a shame. They have no idea what they are missing. Bus rides are the best way to make tons of friends. Enough said...
So...now we are in Sucre...a beautiful city with white buildings...they even Eiffle Tower here..who would have thought...we def. climbed it in like two minutes, but took tons of pictures. We have spent a good part of today and yesterday being bums and chilling around the city.... Tonight we have hopes for chicken wings that we saw earlier (shoutout to Chad). We also did our laundry in the sinks of our hostel yesterday...got in trouble for it, but are now sporting clean clothes. Totally worth it.
We plan on heading to Cochabamba soon (get excited guys!) and can´t wait for a miny reunion. Until nex time, Adventure is Out There....
We last left off in Argentina..... Shortly after our last blog we made the treck by bus to Bolivia. We made it easily across the border and to a town that looks like it´s in an old western movie called Tupiza and home of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (shoutout to Vinny). After spending one day there we decided to take the train to Uyuni....the town closest to the biggest salt flats in the world. Before taking the train we ate the most delicious street food we have ever had in our lives! Imagine fried potato and in some glorious batter with the best salsa we have ever tasted...all fried in front of your face!!
We got on the train at like 7 at night....and finally made it to Uyuni at like 2 in the morning. The next day was spent looking for a group to go to the salt flats with and going to this glorious market that had everything you could have imagined. We have also become big fans of the ¨set lunch¨here.... it´s pretty much eating a three course meal for like 2 dollars.
The next day we hopped in a jeep with four other folks from all over Europe and headed to the salt flats. However, before we even made it to the salt flats, our jeep got a flat tire, our driver, Jimmy, assured us that this is normal, and that it was all good!The salt flats are amazing. Blindingly white for days...they sort of look like snow, but good thing for us it was nice and warm! Jimmy spent a good portion of the day checking the jeep....mostly just walking around it and kicking the tires....but sometimes looking under the hood (a little more cause for alarm than a tire). But nevertheless....Jimmy was right, it was all good. We spent the night at a hostel made completely out of salt in the middle of nowhere...and spent a good portion of the evening playing cards by headlamp...what can we say, even after all this time, we never lose at Spoons!
The next day we went to the lagoons in the desert around the salt flats, right after we got up to watch the sunrise of course! The lagoons have flamingos in them, and Deanna you were right, they live in a beautiful place! They also took us to go see the "arbol de pìedra", a rock that has been eroded by the wind to look like a tree( sorry Braidy, we nerded out for a sec)!
The day was great, even if Jo woke up with the worst stomach pain she had ever experienced. At our first stop we tried everything...Coca leaves, crackers, alka seltzer, coca cola....and the pain just wouldnt subside...however, she was determined not to have this stomach pain steal her of seeing the flamingos..... At a stop to help another jeep with another flat tire, another traveler told her it was a parasite.... Oh my... WHAT!?? Ok, ok, so who says that to someone in the middle of the Bolivian desert??? So maybe we have been eating more delicious street food than usual...but a parasite? Really? Slighltly freaked out, we continued on, and as the day went on the stomach pain started to disappear, so if she does have a parasite, it is living happily inside her...so it´s all good.
On the last day of the trip we spent a lot of time crammed in the back of a jeep! We would like to send a shoutout to Lizzy Leavitt for the use of her ipod. Lizzy, you have a great taste in music, and have totally save us on numerous bus rides and this insanely long jeep ride....!
Speaking of bus rides....just when we thought they couldn´t get any better...they did. After the tour we took a morning bus to Potosi. The bus was packed...Aly spent her time squished in the back row of the bus with some sassy ladies that we absolutely loved! Oh....plus a baby...and Jo spent her time being a pillow for some guy she just met. Throughout the bus ride we helped feed and entertain the baby, and had some lively conversations with the sassy ladies as to why we were not married. We jokingly told them we had boyfriends, and they claimed..:¨Let us see the ring!!¨. Neverthelss, it was the best bus ride ever. We have heard some other travelers claim that they do not want to ride on buses with other Bolivians....this to us is a shame. They have no idea what they are missing. Bus rides are the best way to make tons of friends. Enough said...
So...now we are in Sucre...a beautiful city with white buildings...they even Eiffle Tower here..who would have thought...we def. climbed it in like two minutes, but took tons of pictures. We have spent a good part of today and yesterday being bums and chilling around the city.... Tonight we have hopes for chicken wings that we saw earlier (shoutout to Chad). We also did our laundry in the sinks of our hostel yesterday...got in trouble for it, but are now sporting clean clothes. Totally worth it.
We plan on heading to Cochabamba soon (get excited guys!) and can´t wait for a miny reunion. Until nex time, Adventure is Out There....
Sunday, March 14, 2010
A week at a Glance
Hello everybody! Due to the immense amount of funhad in the last 2 weeks, our lack of funds, a long line of people waiting in our hostel for the one computer and now malfunctioning internet we are going to make this blog a quick one... Don´t worrywhen we have the time and perfectspot we will elaborate on the awesomeness that is Argentina. So here is our brief overview of whatwe have been doing:
1. Hungout in Buenos Aires which was awesome!
2. Saw a Tango Show and ate delicious Argentinian Steak in Boca.
3. Mastered the BA public transportation system and saw some really beautiful sites around the city.
4. We were reunited with our Homie Ambra! P.S. Ambra you plus us equals India!
5. Went to the Recoleta Cemetery and saw Evitas grave and it was just straight up the coolest cemetery ever!
6. Went to an awesome street fair... Jo got a Mate she got into the Spirit of Argentina and Aly a scarf after pondering the awesomeness of the mate but lack of drinking hot drinks...
7. Left for Foz de Iguazu... the biggest falls in the world.
8. Spent hours at the falls and took about hundred pictures... It was literally our heaven there were rainbows and raccoons!
9. Got a wicked sunburn while observing the beauty of the falls.
10. Spent a lot of time at the pool at our Falls hostel! It was awesome... added to the sunburn!
11. We have a new appreciation for Reggeaton... sorry Gama...
12. Left on a 36 hour bus to Mendoza the land of wine.
13. Was pestered all bus ride by our bus ride host who was once attractive and now is the bane of our existence.
14. Played Bingo on the bus! Aly thought she had won with 4 in a row and screamed BINGO at the top of her lungs and jumped out of her seat only to find out it was a game of black out... looked like an American idiot.
15. Was woken u`p by bus attendant fake tap dancing on the stairs and playing a fake piano on the coffee machine all night... We love sleep more than cute guys!
16. Got to Mendoza and walked around the city looking for the cheapest food deals.
16 1/2. Went to a Godoy Cruz vs. Tucuman Futbol game. It was seriously amazing. The crowd was super pumped and sang the whole game through. Godoy from Mendoza won in the last three minutes with a beautiful shot. Jo had toexplain every play to Aly... It was absolutely amazing!
17. Went on a self guided bike tour of the wineries in Maipu.
18. Rented bikes from the greatest bike rental place ever! Mr. Hugo is the best!
19. Jo Drank some at Mr. Hugo´s before starting our personal tour... it improves her bike riding.
20. Visited some awesome wineries and a chocolate factory... Jo loved the wine and food and Aly was all about the chocolate...
21. Felt like we were in the sound of music... sang as rode on our bikes.
22. Took awesome photos... get excited!
23. Made it back to Mr. Hugo´s... Mr. Hugo is the nicest man ever.
24. Got back to Mendoza and searched for a magical buffet.
25. Found magical buffet. Ate for hours and it was glorious!
26. Recorded bullet points of Argentina from bus terminal Internet cafe.
So tomorrow or the next day we are going to start our long trek back to Bolivia. We are so excited to see the Salt Flats and our frineds! We will try and write more frequently, our bad, but when you are having this much fun it is hard to stop the magic! Until then Adventure is out there! Love ya all!
1. Hungout in Buenos Aires which was awesome!
2. Saw a Tango Show and ate delicious Argentinian Steak in Boca.
3. Mastered the BA public transportation system and saw some really beautiful sites around the city.
4. We were reunited with our Homie Ambra! P.S. Ambra you plus us equals India!
5. Went to the Recoleta Cemetery and saw Evitas grave and it was just straight up the coolest cemetery ever!
6. Went to an awesome street fair... Jo got a Mate she got into the Spirit of Argentina and Aly a scarf after pondering the awesomeness of the mate but lack of drinking hot drinks...
7. Left for Foz de Iguazu... the biggest falls in the world.
8. Spent hours at the falls and took about hundred pictures... It was literally our heaven there were rainbows and raccoons!
9. Got a wicked sunburn while observing the beauty of the falls.
10. Spent a lot of time at the pool at our Falls hostel! It was awesome... added to the sunburn!
11. We have a new appreciation for Reggeaton... sorry Gama...
12. Left on a 36 hour bus to Mendoza the land of wine.
13. Was pestered all bus ride by our bus ride host who was once attractive and now is the bane of our existence.
14. Played Bingo on the bus! Aly thought she had won with 4 in a row and screamed BINGO at the top of her lungs and jumped out of her seat only to find out it was a game of black out... looked like an American idiot.
15. Was woken u`p by bus attendant fake tap dancing on the stairs and playing a fake piano on the coffee machine all night... We love sleep more than cute guys!
16. Got to Mendoza and walked around the city looking for the cheapest food deals.
16 1/2. Went to a Godoy Cruz vs. Tucuman Futbol game. It was seriously amazing. The crowd was super pumped and sang the whole game through. Godoy from Mendoza won in the last three minutes with a beautiful shot. Jo had toexplain every play to Aly... It was absolutely amazing!
17. Went on a self guided bike tour of the wineries in Maipu.
18. Rented bikes from the greatest bike rental place ever! Mr. Hugo is the best!
19. Jo Drank some at Mr. Hugo´s before starting our personal tour... it improves her bike riding.
20. Visited some awesome wineries and a chocolate factory... Jo loved the wine and food and Aly was all about the chocolate...
21. Felt like we were in the sound of music... sang as rode on our bikes.
22. Took awesome photos... get excited!
23. Made it back to Mr. Hugo´s... Mr. Hugo is the nicest man ever.
24. Got back to Mendoza and searched for a magical buffet.
25. Found magical buffet. Ate for hours and it was glorious!
26. Recorded bullet points of Argentina from bus terminal Internet cafe.
So tomorrow or the next day we are going to start our long trek back to Bolivia. We are so excited to see the Salt Flats and our frineds! We will try and write more frequently, our bad, but when you are having this much fun it is hard to stop the magic! Until then Adventure is out there! Love ya all!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
4 Days, 4 Buses, Not Quite 4 Meals.....One Hot Shower in Buenos Aires = Priceless
So we made it to Buenos Aires.... It wasnt an easy task...but definitely a noteworthy adventure. To understand the craziness of this journey, let us start back in Cochabamba Bolivia. It was a hot friday afternoon when we walked into the Cochabamba bus station, we arrived with a twinkle in our eye and hope in our hearts that we would be able to find bus tickets to Buenos Aires. As we walked into the bus station, we realized that there was only one company selling tickets all the way to BA. The lady behind the counter was super friendly, she too had a twinkle in her eye.... to us, she looked like a saint. We talked with her for awhile, she told us at first that the ride was 50 hours long, but not to worry because there would be food, tv (Aly loves the movies here!), and bus camas....(these magical seats that turn into beds). Pretty much, this was the bus of our dreams. Only once in a lifetime do you come across a bus that is made of unicorn dust and leprechan gold. We were pretty sure it was parked at the end of a rainbow!!! On a scale of killer whale to fat baby skunks (shout out to all people who love these animals) it was off the charts as a multi-colored vicuna that gives free rides to people who cannot breathe at high altitudes (we love this animal).
We promised our new friend that we would be back the next day to purchase the tickets.....we didnt want to buy them until Jo had her passport in her hand!! We left the bus station with a skip in our step! Later, the next day when we showed up at the bus station, our friend was gone, replaced by a new guy with greasy hair and a shady look in his eyes! he made the same promises to us however, but charged us more than our twinkly eyed friend had promised us the day before. Nevertheless, with this being the only company, we bought the tickets and left the station.
We spent our last few days with our new friends in Cochabamba:Gama, Vinnie, Fish, and Ale. We spent most of our time playing card games, but also eating delicious Picante Pollo... (thanks Mama Sierraalta!! It was the best food we have had so far!!). It was sad to say goodbye, but luckily we will see them again!
We left our hostel the next morning at 4:45am to arrive at the bus station on time. When we arrived, the bus company that we had bought tickets with was closed. We thought: No big deal, well just ask around. After asking people for 30 minutes we figure out that the magical bus does not exist in Cochabamba, we would have to take another bus (9 extra hours) to Santa Cruz then load the magical bus. So, even though we were frustrated about being told a yarn about the bus being in Cochabamba we were still hopeful and boarded our first bus.
We arrived in Santa Cruz after a really hot and bumpy ride through the jungle. We were hopeful that we would find the Flecha Bus company...owner of magical buses...and finally load our bus! After waiting for hours, we begin to load our bus, but quickly realize that we do not have the seats that they promised us, and since they wouldnt refund us the difference we decided to wait for another bus. Little did we know, the Flecha bus company sold us to another bus company, which was less than ideal...since instead of going all the way to BA, it dropped us off at the border and PEACED! We did meet a nice friend on the bus who helped us at the border, he was born in Bolivia, but lives in New Jersey....he was coming to bring his wife back to the states!
When we got to the border we were met with a three hour line to get out of Bolivia. Not only was this line long, it was also scattered with hustlers.... one even had a harmonica as a disquise...! But, we were not fooled, and proceeded to wait. Jo was met with a little bit of trouble in the office as her passport was new and they thought it seemed shady. After waiting an extra couple of minutes Jo was sent to the either the office of doom or redemption as we like to call it! After a half an hour of negotiations and persuasions Jo was free and we headed for Argentina! There we crossed with ease, only having to wait like an hour!
We walked to the bus station, with sweat rolling down our back, once again in search of our Flecha bus! We really thought we were at the end of the yellow brick road at this point! We even clicked our heels three times and said Buenos Aires! Once we made it to the station they informed us that we had to wait a good 10 hours for our next bus. Luckily, there was good food in the town and our next bus was baller status. However, we did have to go through 3 checkpoints of passports and bags that night, there was also no food, or tv.... At about 9 in the morning the bus stops and the driver tells everyone to get off. We were a bit confused since we were pretty sure that we were not in BA.
We got off and went to the ticket counter and asked them when the next bus would be. They said in a few hours, so we waited and might have fed some stray dogs to pass the time. As the Flecha Bus pulls up, we were just happy to finally be leaving for BA. After we give them our tickets, we find that other people have been assigned our seats. Strange....so we go downstairs to ask....they tell us that they are going to move us to another bus (the worst one yet). Thanks FLecha for being our bus pimps!! they def. sold the tickets twice!
Nevertheless, the adventure must go on, so we got on the bus. It was uneventful except for our one stop where we got pizza and stashed away some oreos for breakfast the next morning! At about 9am or so we made it to BA! YEAH! We were so happy!! And we might have started a campaign to take down Flecha....fight the man!! And the shady dude who sold us tickets! ... ok, jk but really that was a huge lie he told!!
We have checked in to a super cute hostel already had steak and watched a tango show. It was def. worth the trip! And now we have an awesome story to tell. We are looking forward to beds tonight, and the showers are hot here (we havent had these in awhile!!).
Until next time, Adventure in DEFINITELY out there!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Cochabamba, Home Sweet Home
Ok, so we admit, it´s been awhile since we last blogged.... We are still in Cochabamba Boliva and we love it here! We plan to leave on monday for Buenos Aires, Argentina....! We have to leave at 5 in the morning and the bus ride is 5o hours long! Ay Dios Mio! But good news, Jo got her passport, so we are free agents and getting ready to cross the border into Argentina.
We have been very lucky to make some awesome friends here in Cochabamba, Gama, Alejandra, Vinnie, and ¨Fish¨. They are awesome! We have spent hours at their house listening to their band practices and eating traditional Bolivian food (delicious!) called Pique Macho. Their band is awesome and mostly covers Greenday songs... (with a few originals...shoutout to Vinnie and the Black Star). We have officially become groupies..and are remembering our punk rock days of years ago. They had a concert the other night at this place called the Ratabar..and we def. had an awesome time singing along! (Thanks Gama for the drumsticks.... we will keep them forever and probably use them in the new band we are planning on starting back home!).
That´s all for now. Thank you all for the messages about the earthquake in Chile, no worries, we are ok! We are actually going to log on to cnn or bbc right now to check it out.
Until next time....Adventure is out there!!
We have been very lucky to make some awesome friends here in Cochabamba, Gama, Alejandra, Vinnie, and ¨Fish¨. They are awesome! We have spent hours at their house listening to their band practices and eating traditional Bolivian food (delicious!) called Pique Macho. Their band is awesome and mostly covers Greenday songs... (with a few originals...shoutout to Vinnie and the Black Star). We have officially become groupies..and are remembering our punk rock days of years ago. They had a concert the other night at this place called the Ratabar..and we def. had an awesome time singing along! (Thanks Gama for the drumsticks.... we will keep them forever and probably use them in the new band we are planning on starting back home!).
That´s all for now. Thank you all for the messages about the earthquake in Chile, no worries, we are ok! We are actually going to log on to cnn or bbc right now to check it out.
Until next time....Adventure is out there!!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Pigeons and Police
We never thought that we would be so afraid of birds like we are here. The other day, while enjoying our extended stay in Cochabamba we decided to go to one of our favorite parks, the same one where we met our little friend Alejandra. The park yesterday was less crowded, definitely less people, BUT WAY MORE PIGEONS. A cute family decided to share the bench we had been occupying and we gladly offered up some seats. But with them they had brought CORN, the object of ever pigeons desire.....as they began dumping the corn on the ground, the birds crept closer and closer to us.... let´s just say we ended up being surrounded by them. Did we mention earlier that the Carnival festivities also involve lighting firecrackers and sometimes even dynomite in the street? Well, needless to say that the birds don´t like this very much and everytime there was a loud boom they flew up around our heads onto the rooftop of a nearby church...but not to worry, they of course returned for the food. Pigeons can never resist delicious corn we have learned.
The situation escalated as the birds became less and less afraid of us and crept closer to the bench. We were partticularly concerned because some seemed to have unusually large snaggle beaks that could surely take us down and /or give us some sort of disease. The first offender merely slapped Jo in the leg with his wing. The situation however quickly escalated with one flying up and sitting on Aly´s foot....then again another slap to Jo´s leg...this time by an angrier flying pigeon. Needless to say, everyone in the park was laughing at us, but really, those birds were out of control...! We finally had to leave our bench...the birds were just too much for us, especially the bird who looked like he was a carnivore. We haven´t returned to this park since, but maybe tomorrow? Actually, we are totally going to go tomorrow.
Now.....today we definitely hung out with the police a lot. Not to be alarmed, we did not commit any crimes, just needed to report Jo´s stolen passport. The day began with going to the U.S. Embassy bright and early..... we actually got in touch with a guy who works there who was super helpful. The first thing that he told us though, was that we needed to go make a police report so that the US government would know that Jo was not trying to sell her identity on the streets of Bolivia for thousands of dollars. What? Who would do this? Well... now we might start up a business.....haha j/k!!
We ended up going to two different police stations. The first one refused to write a report for us.....while the second one on our first try turned us away on the first try. Needless to say it took some deals between the US consulate, ourselves, and the police to get us in there.....it was seriously like a movie. After many hours of waiting inside the police station Jo finally got her report and we made it back to the consulate´s office. We managed to fill out all the paperwork...which is the good news.... the passport will probably take until monday or tuesday though. However, we are thankful for the help that we recieved and for our new consulate homie that went the extra mile for us, it is much appreciated.
So now, we are still hanging out in Cochabamba....we found a whole other side of town today and have to admit that we ate at a Burger King. For reals though, it was the best comfort that we could have asked for since we have been yearning for delicious food and after spending hours in a police station sweet talking officers it was the best thing that could have happened!! And yes, Jo ate a double cheeseburger....the first one in 11 years....it had to be done though!!! We have decided that we never go to Burger King in the states, but tomorrow....we will return for some more delicious food!
This weekend is the actual Carnival celebration in Cochabamba, so we are excited for that. Still counting our blessings, and doing our best to avoid water balloons and pigeons!
We love and miss you all!!! Until next time, adventure is out there!!!
The situation escalated as the birds became less and less afraid of us and crept closer to the bench. We were partticularly concerned because some seemed to have unusually large snaggle beaks that could surely take us down and /or give us some sort of disease. The first offender merely slapped Jo in the leg with his wing. The situation however quickly escalated with one flying up and sitting on Aly´s foot....then again another slap to Jo´s leg...this time by an angrier flying pigeon. Needless to say, everyone in the park was laughing at us, but really, those birds were out of control...! We finally had to leave our bench...the birds were just too much for us, especially the bird who looked like he was a carnivore. We haven´t returned to this park since, but maybe tomorrow? Actually, we are totally going to go tomorrow.
Now.....today we definitely hung out with the police a lot. Not to be alarmed, we did not commit any crimes, just needed to report Jo´s stolen passport. The day began with going to the U.S. Embassy bright and early..... we actually got in touch with a guy who works there who was super helpful. The first thing that he told us though, was that we needed to go make a police report so that the US government would know that Jo was not trying to sell her identity on the streets of Bolivia for thousands of dollars. What? Who would do this? Well... now we might start up a business.....haha j/k!!
We ended up going to two different police stations. The first one refused to write a report for us.....while the second one on our first try turned us away on the first try. Needless to say it took some deals between the US consulate, ourselves, and the police to get us in there.....it was seriously like a movie. After many hours of waiting inside the police station Jo finally got her report and we made it back to the consulate´s office. We managed to fill out all the paperwork...which is the good news.... the passport will probably take until monday or tuesday though. However, we are thankful for the help that we recieved and for our new consulate homie that went the extra mile for us, it is much appreciated.
So now, we are still hanging out in Cochabamba....we found a whole other side of town today and have to admit that we ate at a Burger King. For reals though, it was the best comfort that we could have asked for since we have been yearning for delicious food and after spending hours in a police station sweet talking officers it was the best thing that could have happened!! And yes, Jo ate a double cheeseburger....the first one in 11 years....it had to be done though!!! We have decided that we never go to Burger King in the states, but tomorrow....we will return for some more delicious food!
This weekend is the actual Carnival celebration in Cochabamba, so we are excited for that. Still counting our blessings, and doing our best to avoid water balloons and pigeons!
We love and miss you all!!! Until next time, adventure is out there!!!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
South America is BiPolar
Okay so we have decided that South America has been a BiPolar experience. Our highs are so high and our lows are so low. Everything is extreme! One day you are swimming with monkeys at an awesome ecolodge and then the next you are sitting waiting for a bus in La Paz and your backpack gets stolen. That´s right folks on Thursday night we were waiting for a bus in La Paz for Sucre and as we were checking our emails at an internet hub Jo´s backpack was stolen. Jo´s back pack had everything important in it from her passport, to credit cards, camera, camp good times patch and even license. This theif must have been a ninja because we were sitting on our packs. Before we go on you should all know that we are okay! We are in a safer city, Cochabamba, and in a really nice hostel. We have even found a cool little French Cafe that is meeting our needs of not consuming another fried chicken meal. Okay so back to the horrible backpack incident. So we called the embassy and were told to go the next morning with two pictures and they would take care of it. Jo also called her banks and everything is good. So we decided to hunker down for the night in a Hostel next to the bus station, that luckily had cable TV and we got to watch MTV Made, to us MTV felt like comfort food. Other than being shaken and it being probably the worst traveling thing that could happen we were okay.
So the next morning we went to the Embassy bright eyed and bushy tailed thinking the U.S. Embassy would surely solve all our problems and possibly even give us a free call to home or at least a cup of coffee in the movies. We were bitterly disappointed when the Secretary informed us that due to Carnival the Embassy was closed and would be until Wednesday! We felt a little betrayed and decided that the best thing to do would be to get out of La Paz. That morning with a bad taste in our mouth and an eagerness to get out of the city that wounded our little traveling hearts, we boarded a bus to Cochabamba. Cochabamba is a smaller city that also has an Embassy so we thought this would be a good location to camp out until we could get a replacment.
As we travelled to Cochabamba we had our first encounter with the immigration police. What awful luck right? Luckily Jo remembered more Spanish than she ever thought she knew and we made it through. We got to Cochabamba and found a really nice Hostel to stay in and our happy with our locale. We are really close to a little park where we have already made friends with a three year old named Alejandra. She loves ice cream (which we bought for her), coca cola (that she grabbed from us and started drinking) and us swinging her into groups of birds (which kind of freaks us out cause the birds come flying at our heads). Meeting Ale and her Mom has been a high.
We have also decided that Carnivale is the worst holiday ever because in Cochabamba it means no Embassy till wednesday and dodging water balloons like we are in a war. We seriously have PTSD now from it because as it turns out water balloons hurt! Everytime we hear a car we turn and pray that we won´t get pelted in the face. They also have shaving cream type stuff that they spray you with... who came up with this tradition cause we are about to punch them right in the face!
Okay so we have a little story to tell you about a monkey now that we are done purging! So we are having an awesome time swimming with monkeys at this awesome animal refuge place. All of a sudden we see this cute little monkey come up to the pool, Aly alomost pet it and Jo was too distracted by a monkey pooping in the pool. One of the guides at the refuge had a scared look on his face and told the owner to take a look at who got out. We were suddenly asked to quickly but calmly back away slowly because Cicerelo the alpha male mokey had chewed through his clothe leash and would attack if felt threatened. We quickly walked to the other side of the resort where we were told awful horror stories of Cicerelo giving people stitches and chewing through peoples ankles! We went back to our cabin and laughed for like twenty minutes because the monkey was about the size of Jo´s backpack that was stolen. It was so funny to think that we were all held hostage by a tiny monkey. Needless to say we made it out okay and he fer must have beem realy because this place has a bear that they aren´t as scared of.
Speaking of Monkey´s we should tell you one more funny story about a long jeep ride and a monkey tail dread. So for those of you that don´t know Aly is a little freaked out with big long dreads that look like monkey tails, no offense all you dreaders I think they are cool on your head not on my arm during a four hour jeep ride. So as we drove out of the amazon another guy on our trip had a big dread and was sitting right in front of Aly. His dread kept flicking her the whole ride and even hit her face, Jo feels like a horrible person because she couldn´t stop laugh. Actually both of us were busting up about this dreadful situation.
So there you have it folks we are happy, well fed and counting our blessings. Thanks for thinking of us and wishing us safe and happy travels. We are happy to leave Bolivia and go to Argentina once Jo is legal again! MOM´S we are okay and we love you! Until next time adventure is out there!
P.S. Brian Crater we were eaten alive in the jungle by Mosquitos and Sand flies, but we have no bugs in our brains yet, at least we don´t think so!
So the next morning we went to the Embassy bright eyed and bushy tailed thinking the U.S. Embassy would surely solve all our problems and possibly even give us a free call to home or at least a cup of coffee in the movies. We were bitterly disappointed when the Secretary informed us that due to Carnival the Embassy was closed and would be until Wednesday! We felt a little betrayed and decided that the best thing to do would be to get out of La Paz. That morning with a bad taste in our mouth and an eagerness to get out of the city that wounded our little traveling hearts, we boarded a bus to Cochabamba. Cochabamba is a smaller city that also has an Embassy so we thought this would be a good location to camp out until we could get a replacment.
As we travelled to Cochabamba we had our first encounter with the immigration police. What awful luck right? Luckily Jo remembered more Spanish than she ever thought she knew and we made it through. We got to Cochabamba and found a really nice Hostel to stay in and our happy with our locale. We are really close to a little park where we have already made friends with a three year old named Alejandra. She loves ice cream (which we bought for her), coca cola (that she grabbed from us and started drinking) and us swinging her into groups of birds (which kind of freaks us out cause the birds come flying at our heads). Meeting Ale and her Mom has been a high.
We have also decided that Carnivale is the worst holiday ever because in Cochabamba it means no Embassy till wednesday and dodging water balloons like we are in a war. We seriously have PTSD now from it because as it turns out water balloons hurt! Everytime we hear a car we turn and pray that we won´t get pelted in the face. They also have shaving cream type stuff that they spray you with... who came up with this tradition cause we are about to punch them right in the face!
Okay so we have a little story to tell you about a monkey now that we are done purging! So we are having an awesome time swimming with monkeys at this awesome animal refuge place. All of a sudden we see this cute little monkey come up to the pool, Aly alomost pet it and Jo was too distracted by a monkey pooping in the pool. One of the guides at the refuge had a scared look on his face and told the owner to take a look at who got out. We were suddenly asked to quickly but calmly back away slowly because Cicerelo the alpha male mokey had chewed through his clothe leash and would attack if felt threatened. We quickly walked to the other side of the resort where we were told awful horror stories of Cicerelo giving people stitches and chewing through peoples ankles! We went back to our cabin and laughed for like twenty minutes because the monkey was about the size of Jo´s backpack that was stolen. It was so funny to think that we were all held hostage by a tiny monkey. Needless to say we made it out okay and he fer must have beem realy because this place has a bear that they aren´t as scared of.
Speaking of Monkey´s we should tell you one more funny story about a long jeep ride and a monkey tail dread. So for those of you that don´t know Aly is a little freaked out with big long dreads that look like monkey tails, no offense all you dreaders I think they are cool on your head not on my arm during a four hour jeep ride. So as we drove out of the amazon another guy on our trip had a big dread and was sitting right in front of Aly. His dread kept flicking her the whole ride and even hit her face, Jo feels like a horrible person because she couldn´t stop laugh. Actually both of us were busting up about this dreadful situation.
So there you have it folks we are happy, well fed and counting our blessings. Thanks for thinking of us and wishing us safe and happy travels. We are happy to leave Bolivia and go to Argentina once Jo is legal again! MOM´S we are okay and we love you! Until next time adventure is out there!
P.S. Brian Crater we were eaten alive in the jungle by Mosquitos and Sand flies, but we have no bugs in our brains yet, at least we don´t think so!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Most Dangerous Road in the World!?? Oh....that totally makes sense now.....!
It´s been a while since our last blog. We last left you in La Paz, Bolivia. A rather GIANT city, but quite pretty due to the fact that it´s located in this giant sprawling valley. We also made some friends in our hostel and managed to find this awesome local hang out that likens itself to Hollywood karaoke.... (shout out to the Tinga Tinga lovers out there)!
The next morning we hopped on a bus....preparing ourselves for a 20 hour bus ride, our longest ride to date. We are getting better at these long rides, but each one ends up being an adventure and a half. For example, once our bus got going in La Paz it decided to stop and let this guy get on (who by the way had the best mullet ever!) and give the longest speach...(we are not really even sure about what...the engine and the smoke billowing through the window from the exhaust was distraction enough. But not to worry Chad, as promised we captured this and many other moments of this bus ride on video.
Once we made it out of town, we quickly noticed that the road was becoming smaller and smaller....less than one lane in some parts. The scenery was beautiful, however, with waterfalls and jungle alike. But did we mention that the waterfalls were ON the road, and the bus was sliding everywhere in the mud!?? We realized about 2 hours into it, that we were on what the Bolivians call the Death Road, the most dangerous road in the world... due to the fact that it is one lane, on the side of a cliff, in the middle of the jungle, and that giant trucks and buses have to pass eachother frequently. We however were the only travelers on the bus, as well as the only people who were freaking out when the bus had to reverse on the tiniest piece of road we have ever seen. People kept laughing and telling us how funny we are...but that was real my friends, we really were scared. Nevertheless, we made it to Rurrenbaque, our destination, and the gateway to the Amazon.
The next few days were spent in the Pamapas (kinda like grassland and jungle mixed together) swimming with Pink River dolphins, seeing alligators, and anacondas. It was awesome, totally worth the bus ride to get up there. Our guide, ¨Negro¨, was a true baller naturalist, and Jo was definitley given ample opportunity to ¨nerd out¨ and learn about the native plants (that one was for you Braidy!). Aly still thinks that swimming with the dolphins is the best and that mosquitos really do love her.... (don´t worry, those Malaria pills are being taken!)
After our trip we spent a day chilling in Rurrenbaque, and by chilling we mean SWEATING due to the humidity and the hot weather. We loved it all the same though. Last night we endured another long bus ride....on a bus with NO shocks whatsoever. Imagine 20 hours of Indiana Jones. Throughout the night we would be woken up by crashing into the window, the seat in front of us, or by catching air in the ailse. We do hope that these rides are earning us street cred when it comes to bus rides! This morning we were dropped off on the side of the road with some of our other travel companions from Chile. We managed to catch a cab to Corico, a tiny town that has tons of character and an animal refuge that we are going to try and volunteer at for a few days. We love monkey turns out, and there they let us hang out with them all day long!
Love to you all! Until next time, Adventure is out there!!
The next morning we hopped on a bus....preparing ourselves for a 20 hour bus ride, our longest ride to date. We are getting better at these long rides, but each one ends up being an adventure and a half. For example, once our bus got going in La Paz it decided to stop and let this guy get on (who by the way had the best mullet ever!) and give the longest speach...(we are not really even sure about what...the engine and the smoke billowing through the window from the exhaust was distraction enough. But not to worry Chad, as promised we captured this and many other moments of this bus ride on video.
Once we made it out of town, we quickly noticed that the road was becoming smaller and smaller....less than one lane in some parts. The scenery was beautiful, however, with waterfalls and jungle alike. But did we mention that the waterfalls were ON the road, and the bus was sliding everywhere in the mud!?? We realized about 2 hours into it, that we were on what the Bolivians call the Death Road, the most dangerous road in the world... due to the fact that it is one lane, on the side of a cliff, in the middle of the jungle, and that giant trucks and buses have to pass eachother frequently. We however were the only travelers on the bus, as well as the only people who were freaking out when the bus had to reverse on the tiniest piece of road we have ever seen. People kept laughing and telling us how funny we are...but that was real my friends, we really were scared. Nevertheless, we made it to Rurrenbaque, our destination, and the gateway to the Amazon.
The next few days were spent in the Pamapas (kinda like grassland and jungle mixed together) swimming with Pink River dolphins, seeing alligators, and anacondas. It was awesome, totally worth the bus ride to get up there. Our guide, ¨Negro¨, was a true baller naturalist, and Jo was definitley given ample opportunity to ¨nerd out¨ and learn about the native plants (that one was for you Braidy!). Aly still thinks that swimming with the dolphins is the best and that mosquitos really do love her.... (don´t worry, those Malaria pills are being taken!)
After our trip we spent a day chilling in Rurrenbaque, and by chilling we mean SWEATING due to the humidity and the hot weather. We loved it all the same though. Last night we endured another long bus ride....on a bus with NO shocks whatsoever. Imagine 20 hours of Indiana Jones. Throughout the night we would be woken up by crashing into the window, the seat in front of us, or by catching air in the ailse. We do hope that these rides are earning us street cred when it comes to bus rides! This morning we were dropped off on the side of the road with some of our other travel companions from Chile. We managed to catch a cab to Corico, a tiny town that has tons of character and an animal refuge that we are going to try and volunteer at for a few days. We love monkey turns out, and there they let us hang out with them all day long!
Love to you all! Until next time, Adventure is out there!!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Hasta Luego Peru... Hello Bolivia!
So we made it across the border with a four hour bus ride and a million stamps in our passports. Thankfully the VISA process wasn´t as scary as we thought! Except we had a little snag on the Peruvian side with Aly´s exiting stamp and Jo almost had to say goodbye... Just kidding we would never do that to eachother. Unless there was a queso empanada on the other side! Side note today the object of our desire was a queso empanada and we could not find one anywhere, luckily we live on cake corner and had a variety of sweets to wet our palate. Okay so we made it! We are in Bolivia. Booya!
We are happy to be in Bolivia but sad to leave our new friend Ambra! Ambra was our third musketeer in flirting our way into more morning pancakes and possibly the Puno Bothy Hostel Website! We hope we will get to meet up with Ambra in Argentina, She was our voice of reason!
Our first two days in Bolivia were spent in a little Coastal town called "Copacabana" it is the hottest spot South of Havanna! But really it was pretty hopping. We happened to be there during one of the biggest festivals of the year. We have some awesome pictures of little old ladies in traditional gard getting hammered at 10am. It is a blessing festival where you can get anything blessed for the year including your car/bus... which luckily the one we rode in today was blessed! We considered getting blessed ourselves since blessing consists of getting showered in Champagne and flower petals (Just kidding Mama Leavitt, Mama Vance wish you were there to partake!). P.S. you can buy three cupa libras for three dollars!
So the first night we ran into some of our friends from our Lake Titicaca Island expedition! They are the greatest little Indie Family from Argentina. We had very little money because there is no ATM in Copacabana... we will talk more about this later! They helped us find the KFC of Bolivia and we had a good old fried chicken dinner for about two dollars. We had our very own emergency chicken... sorry Dot we ate this emergency chicken and it was delicious ( but no Roscoes!). We are hopefully going to meet up with them in Buenos Aires... they were lifesavers. All the people we have met from South America have been so awesome.
As the night continued we came upon a group of musicians, we´ll just call them the Bolivian Backstreet Boys. They had colonial looking outfits with mowhawks... we may become their new groupies and follow them across the country with shiorts of their faces and signs saying "America Loves You"! but seriously they were pretty fun to watch and the other people in the crowd were jamming. We danced with some Bolivianos who offered us a drink from their bottle...Drinking was a huge part of this festival. We continued on to another stage with an instrumental band and jammed with some more locals in traditional clothing. We are totally famous with the older men of South America!
The next day we decided to walk around as we waited for the ATM/Bank to open... it opened at 2:30pm. So there we were with no money looking at all the delicious food, and beautiful but cheap craft work being sold on the street. We were a little scared that we weren´t going to make it until 2:30 and started to scope out which street dog would be the best to eat. To pass the time we walked down to Lake Titicaca (hehe) and realized that the shore was covered with Bird boats and shards of glass of course we took multiple pictures. P.S. someone almost hit us with a glass bottle as they threw it from a taxi to the shore! As we began our climb back to the city we not only realized we were at even higher elevation, but that the street dogs were starting to look pretty good!
Luckily we made it to the bank along with about a hundred other backpackers! We felt a little better about our situation, knowing that we weren´t alone in our unplanned hunger strike. As we got closer to the bank doors there was a young guys policing the situation, there are so many cops in Bolivia! He didn´t let us stick together at first... Jo was left outside with some smelly backpackers as Aly was stranded without a translator in the Bank. We finally got our money and felt like Ballers because 7 Bolivians equals one American Dollar! Woot Woot we had money in our pockets and we celebrated by finally partaking in some delicious trout!
As we sat in the Restaurant eating our $3 Trout we noticed a little Boliviano torturing white female tourists with water balloons! He stood on his balcony found his target and then bam they were wet and he was nowhere to be found. Needless to say he was our favorite entertainment of the night!
The rest of the night was spent in our Hostel due to heavy rain, hail and lightning. We might have watched some Simpsons and Friends we are not going to lie. Who knew the summer in South America was also the rainy season? Not us!
Today we got into La Paz after a scetchy bus ride which started with hitting a pedestrian with a loose rock (or street brick) and a stop at the Policias to document the incident. But from the sounds of it in our Hostel right now it sounds like Luck has been on our side. A girl just told us her bus tipped today... Hello crazy! We did however today made an unexpected stop were we herded like cattle onto a little boat to cross a pass on Lake Titicaca where the bus took its own boat over! It was kinda crazy seeing our bus floating next to us on the lake.
So we are now happy, feed and safely in our Hostel in La Paz. Tomorrow we are going to Rurrenbaque, which is a jungle! We are super excited to see pink Dolphins, monkeys and other wildlife... we are not as excited to start taking Malaria pills. Okay well we will try and write again in about five days after we are out of the Amazon! Till then Adventure is Out There!
LOVE YOU,
Aly and Jo
We are happy to be in Bolivia but sad to leave our new friend Ambra! Ambra was our third musketeer in flirting our way into more morning pancakes and possibly the Puno Bothy Hostel Website! We hope we will get to meet up with Ambra in Argentina, She was our voice of reason!
Our first two days in Bolivia were spent in a little Coastal town called "Copacabana" it is the hottest spot South of Havanna! But really it was pretty hopping. We happened to be there during one of the biggest festivals of the year. We have some awesome pictures of little old ladies in traditional gard getting hammered at 10am. It is a blessing festival where you can get anything blessed for the year including your car/bus... which luckily the one we rode in today was blessed! We considered getting blessed ourselves since blessing consists of getting showered in Champagne and flower petals (Just kidding Mama Leavitt, Mama Vance wish you were there to partake!). P.S. you can buy three cupa libras for three dollars!
So the first night we ran into some of our friends from our Lake Titicaca Island expedition! They are the greatest little Indie Family from Argentina. We had very little money because there is no ATM in Copacabana... we will talk more about this later! They helped us find the KFC of Bolivia and we had a good old fried chicken dinner for about two dollars. We had our very own emergency chicken... sorry Dot we ate this emergency chicken and it was delicious ( but no Roscoes!). We are hopefully going to meet up with them in Buenos Aires... they were lifesavers. All the people we have met from South America have been so awesome.
As the night continued we came upon a group of musicians, we´ll just call them the Bolivian Backstreet Boys. They had colonial looking outfits with mowhawks... we may become their new groupies and follow them across the country with shiorts of their faces and signs saying "America Loves You"! but seriously they were pretty fun to watch and the other people in the crowd were jamming. We danced with some Bolivianos who offered us a drink from their bottle...Drinking was a huge part of this festival. We continued on to another stage with an instrumental band and jammed with some more locals in traditional clothing. We are totally famous with the older men of South America!
The next day we decided to walk around as we waited for the ATM/Bank to open... it opened at 2:30pm. So there we were with no money looking at all the delicious food, and beautiful but cheap craft work being sold on the street. We were a little scared that we weren´t going to make it until 2:30 and started to scope out which street dog would be the best to eat. To pass the time we walked down to Lake Titicaca (hehe) and realized that the shore was covered with Bird boats and shards of glass of course we took multiple pictures. P.S. someone almost hit us with a glass bottle as they threw it from a taxi to the shore! As we began our climb back to the city we not only realized we were at even higher elevation, but that the street dogs were starting to look pretty good!
Luckily we made it to the bank along with about a hundred other backpackers! We felt a little better about our situation, knowing that we weren´t alone in our unplanned hunger strike. As we got closer to the bank doors there was a young guys policing the situation, there are so many cops in Bolivia! He didn´t let us stick together at first... Jo was left outside with some smelly backpackers as Aly was stranded without a translator in the Bank. We finally got our money and felt like Ballers because 7 Bolivians equals one American Dollar! Woot Woot we had money in our pockets and we celebrated by finally partaking in some delicious trout!
As we sat in the Restaurant eating our $3 Trout we noticed a little Boliviano torturing white female tourists with water balloons! He stood on his balcony found his target and then bam they were wet and he was nowhere to be found. Needless to say he was our favorite entertainment of the night!
The rest of the night was spent in our Hostel due to heavy rain, hail and lightning. We might have watched some Simpsons and Friends we are not going to lie. Who knew the summer in South America was also the rainy season? Not us!
Today we got into La Paz after a scetchy bus ride which started with hitting a pedestrian with a loose rock (or street brick) and a stop at the Policias to document the incident. But from the sounds of it in our Hostel right now it sounds like Luck has been on our side. A girl just told us her bus tipped today... Hello crazy! We did however today made an unexpected stop were we herded like cattle onto a little boat to cross a pass on Lake Titicaca where the bus took its own boat over! It was kinda crazy seeing our bus floating next to us on the lake.
So we are now happy, feed and safely in our Hostel in La Paz. Tomorrow we are going to Rurrenbaque, which is a jungle! We are super excited to see pink Dolphins, monkeys and other wildlife... we are not as excited to start taking Malaria pills. Okay well we will try and write again in about five days after we are out of the Amazon! Till then Adventure is Out There!
LOVE YOU,
Aly and Jo
Monday, February 1, 2010
Dancing in the Street!!!!
Last night we went to an awesome festival where people were dancing in the street pretty much continuously for like eight hours! In the afternoon, the festival was more like a parade. We sat on the stairs of a church for like 5 hours stuck in the same position. We were the only travelers in the bunch....we were squeezed together super tight and by the end all of our limbs and bums had fallen asleep. The families around us def. were amused by us!! We made some friends for sure!
Later that night, we returned to the festival. The dancing continued and we ended up being pulled into a dancing group (A dream come true!). In the dancing group there were the cutest little girls (who by the way had sweet dancing skills). We ended up dancing down the street with them and about 20 or so people were taking pictures of us. When we were done dancing they asked where we were from and if we voted for Obama. When we said : ¨Oh yeah, we voted for change!¨ The entire crowd yelled ¨OBAMA!¨ We kissed them goodbye and were given a little handkercheif as a souvenir, It was glorious. Basically, we are famous in Puno now.... hahaha This morning when we were walking down the street this guy said he remembered us from last night.
Now we are getting ready to go to Bolivia, where we probably wont have internet for awhile. We also hope that paparrazzi don´t follow us to the border...haha j/k. What we really hope for is to make friends with the Bolivians at the border!
Until next time! Adventure is Out There!
P.S. We included a picture of our family from the island and a festival crew picture.
Later that night, we returned to the festival. The dancing continued and we ended up being pulled into a dancing group (A dream come true!). In the dancing group there were the cutest little girls (who by the way had sweet dancing skills). We ended up dancing down the street with them and about 20 or so people were taking pictures of us. When we were done dancing they asked where we were from and if we voted for Obama. When we said : ¨Oh yeah, we voted for change!¨ The entire crowd yelled ¨OBAMA!¨ We kissed them goodbye and were given a little handkercheif as a souvenir, It was glorious. Basically, we are famous in Puno now.... hahaha This morning when we were walking down the street this guy said he remembered us from last night.
Now we are getting ready to go to Bolivia, where we probably wont have internet for awhile. We also hope that paparrazzi don´t follow us to the border...haha j/k. What we really hope for is to make friends with the Bolivians at the border!
Until next time! Adventure is Out There!
P.S. We included a picture of our family from the island and a festival crew picture.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
I´M ON A BOAT! (well, a bus first, then a boat)
Since our last post, we spent a day hanging out in Arequipa nursing our altitude sickness and doing laundry at our hostel. Doing laundry included buying a giant bar of soap from the market, washing our clothes in the giant sinks on the roof (little house on the Praire status Mel!) and then hanging them to dry. All in all, a pretty sweet operation, we hope to find more sweet set ups like that one along the way. We are also very thankful for pepto bismol....we´ll leave it at that....
The next morning we hopped on a 6 hour bus ride to Puno. We totally scored these cheap seats in the back of the bus with extra storage and reclining seats...very nice! The 6 hour ride was nice, eventful with some unscheduled stops and random performances by bus passengers.. Ok, lets be real, Jo still can´t sit still at ALL! Aly would like to say ¨Thanks mom, for the long car rides growing up, they have made me a professional bus rider!¨
Upon arrival to Puno, we met up with some fellow travelers from Australia and San Fransisco that had been on the same bus as us. We shared a cab and went hostel searching. We ended up finding an awesome hostel that serves pancakes in the morning (a big selling point for us) and looks deceptively horrible from the outside. However, it´s really cute and awesome....also currently sponsoring this blog! Ambre, our cool new San Fransiscan friend came with us to the hostel.
Yesterday and today we took a boat ride to Uros and Amantani Island on Lake Titcaca. Uros Island was pretty awesome. The people make the islands themselves out of reads that grow on the lake. They call them the floating islands, because when all the reads are attached they do just chill in the water and float around! After we went to Uros, we went back on the boat for another 3 hours to Amantani Island. We were hosted by a super cute family, including a four year old that we LOVE, Ihon (Ee-o). We did spend a lot of time playing crazy games with him!
TOday, after leaving the island, we experienced some intense waves and our boat was a rockin´. The rocking was only intesified when our boat broke down for about half an hour. the waves were almost splashing us, so we decided to climb up to the top of the boat.... about 30 seconds later, we realized this was a horrible idea as the boat was rocking even harder up there. We then proceeded to army crawl across the roof and back down the ladder to safety. Some other passengers thought we were crying, but really it was cackling laughter. No cause for alarm.
We are back in Puno now, and have decided to stay one more night to go to a festival tomorrow. Apparently there is a lot of dancing in the streets... needless to say, we are pretty stoked!
On Monday, we plan to take a bus to Bolivia, and begin a whole other adventure there!
Until Next Time,
Aly and Jo
p.s. love and miss you all!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
You might feel a Little Dizzy but that is just normal... try and sleep on the Bus.
"You might feel a Little Dizzy but that is just normal... try and sleep on the Bus." When we first heard this phrase two things came to mind 1. Are they joking? 2. What is going to happen to us? Well as it turns out when you have lived your whole life at sea level you really have no chane in the Andes! So we traveled to the largest Canyon in the world and saw some pretty amazing things!
We started our travels by getting on a bus at 7:40am (which is not our earliest departure to date but still pretty early.) When we started to pick up other passengers we quickly realized we would be speaking five different languages. Most of the people on our bus were pretty cool, some not so cool. We got to hangout with a family from Cusco, who said they would hook us up with a hostel when we got there. They were seriously awesome... we called them our family and took a few pictures with them (which will soon be up as soon as we learn how to put them online.) We also got to chill with this really cool life traveler from Switzerland. She even gave us her leftover sandwiches because we were too cheap and sick to pay for a fancy lunch... we will talk about that more in a sec. So we had a pretty cool bus of peeps and an awesome tour guide, hollar at LEO!
Alright so back to living at Sea level your whole life... ummm you can´t breathe in the Andes and or feel like crap for a while when you first get there. Jo as we started to ascend started to decline in health, but pulled through in a few hours. Due to our cheapness and feeling sick we even sat out in the rain during a fancy buffet lunch because the smell of food made Jo want to puke!
After Jo slept it off we walked around the coolest or "lo maximo" town we have been to as of now, CHIVAY. It is so cute and people still do agriculture bartering. We walked around bartered a little ourselves and now are proud owners of an Alpaca beanie (Jo) and an Alpaca scarf (Aly). We will have to post pictures so you can truely understand the awesomeness that is Chivay.
Later that night we met back up with our bus homies and went out for a little dinner, music and dancing. The place was hopping and we tried Alpaca steak for the first time, which may we say is delicious. Thank you little Alpacas for being so cute and so good to eat! There was a really cool band and dancers that performed traditional music and dance. In the end we couldn´t help ourselves and ended up on the dance floor raising the roof and thunder clapping. All in all freestyle was encouraged and we had a great time.
Though we were tired from dancing the next morning we got up at 5:30 am to have a little bite to eat and then go see the Canyon of Colca and Condors. The Canyon was absolutely beautiful as were the villages and people surrounding it. We hiked for about an hour and Aly experienced Asthma. I, Aly , can honestly say I have never been so scared of passing out in my life! I could not get a full breathe of air... Jo said she would carry me up the mountain and I thought she was going to have to. Luckily we both made it and say four condors today. Which checked one item off Jo's bucket list. It was amazing to see them in real life. We had an awesome day in the Canyon!
On the way back we admired our new favorite animal Vicunas. They look like they would be friends with the Brown Barbaloots from the Lorax. They are so adorable, kind of a mix between a baby deer and Llama(which we also saw and took pictures with). Get excited we will have photos up soon!
Okay so we are off on an adventure of itself to find food that is not delicious street food that will tempt us and make us sick, the temptation is becoming too much no promises! Love you all! Adventure is out there!
P.S. Brian Crater no bugs yet but we are still freaking out about them thanks... say hi to the mountain for us!
We started our travels by getting on a bus at 7:40am (which is not our earliest departure to date but still pretty early.) When we started to pick up other passengers we quickly realized we would be speaking five different languages. Most of the people on our bus were pretty cool, some not so cool. We got to hangout with a family from Cusco, who said they would hook us up with a hostel when we got there. They were seriously awesome... we called them our family and took a few pictures with them (which will soon be up as soon as we learn how to put them online.) We also got to chill with this really cool life traveler from Switzerland. She even gave us her leftover sandwiches because we were too cheap and sick to pay for a fancy lunch... we will talk about that more in a sec. So we had a pretty cool bus of peeps and an awesome tour guide, hollar at LEO!
Alright so back to living at Sea level your whole life... ummm you can´t breathe in the Andes and or feel like crap for a while when you first get there. Jo as we started to ascend started to decline in health, but pulled through in a few hours. Due to our cheapness and feeling sick we even sat out in the rain during a fancy buffet lunch because the smell of food made Jo want to puke!
After Jo slept it off we walked around the coolest or "lo maximo" town we have been to as of now, CHIVAY. It is so cute and people still do agriculture bartering. We walked around bartered a little ourselves and now are proud owners of an Alpaca beanie (Jo) and an Alpaca scarf (Aly). We will have to post pictures so you can truely understand the awesomeness that is Chivay.
Later that night we met back up with our bus homies and went out for a little dinner, music and dancing. The place was hopping and we tried Alpaca steak for the first time, which may we say is delicious. Thank you little Alpacas for being so cute and so good to eat! There was a really cool band and dancers that performed traditional music and dance. In the end we couldn´t help ourselves and ended up on the dance floor raising the roof and thunder clapping. All in all freestyle was encouraged and we had a great time.
Though we were tired from dancing the next morning we got up at 5:30 am to have a little bite to eat and then go see the Canyon of Colca and Condors. The Canyon was absolutely beautiful as were the villages and people surrounding it. We hiked for about an hour and Aly experienced Asthma. I, Aly , can honestly say I have never been so scared of passing out in my life! I could not get a full breathe of air... Jo said she would carry me up the mountain and I thought she was going to have to. Luckily we both made it and say four condors today. Which checked one item off Jo's bucket list. It was amazing to see them in real life. We had an awesome day in the Canyon!
On the way back we admired our new favorite animal Vicunas. They look like they would be friends with the Brown Barbaloots from the Lorax. They are so adorable, kind of a mix between a baby deer and Llama(which we also saw and took pictures with). Get excited we will have photos up soon!
Okay so we are off on an adventure of itself to find food that is not delicious street food that will tempt us and make us sick, the temptation is becoming too much no promises! Love you all! Adventure is out there!
P.S. Brian Crater no bugs yet but we are still freaking out about them thanks... say hi to the mountain for us!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Taxis,Hostels, and Parks
So, it´s only been two days since our last post, but so much has happened to us!!
We made it to our hostel in Miraflores after a crazy taxi ride through the city. Everyone drives like it´s their own road here, and we quickly learnt that pedestrians better watch themselves! Our taxi driver was super nice and played American music for us...even "Party in the USA". (Shoutout to Braidy).
Once we made it to our hostel, we decided to walk around the city. We went to the beach, a park with all of these cool bull sculptures and some markets. When we got back to our hostel, we were serenaded by our host Omero, turns out music is a great way to hang out without needing to know a lot of spanish! Luckily, almost everyone could speak a little english and also help us with our spanish... which, we are proud to report is getting better by the day! Also, we taught them a very important word in english...awesome. Roughly tranlated to ¨lo maximo¨ en espanol. The folks at our hostel were interesting, we met a Brazilian doctor, two swedish backpackers, Italian students, and Argentinians on vacation. They were all really lo maximo. They gave us really good travleing advice (We think we are now going to volunteer in an animal reserve in Bolivia there might be Pumas there, that´s Aijah booya) and it was fun listening to music and hanging out on the porch with the evening noise of the city in the background. Let´s just say..... that night we didnt get a lot of sleep....sharing a room with 6 guys was eventful...not sure how we ended up there.. oh the life of a CHEAP hosteler...haha (don´t worry moms¨;))
The next day we took the longest bus ride to date....16 hours to Arequipa, which is where we are now. The bus was actually really fun. While waiting we met the nicest guy ever in this park. We (aka Jo) talked to him for a good fifteen minutes in Spanish.. holla! While Aly stared and smiled... but still looked good doing it! We also shared a pastel de manzana with one of our new friends on the bus. Everyone has been so nice to us here, and we quickly learnt that smiling and making friends, regardless of our lack of spanish skills goes a long way.
We managed to sleep on the bus pretty well.... (aka Aly) Jo on the other hand is not very good at staying still for 16 hours.... woops my bad. !! Aly has promised me benadryl for the next ride though. We hghly recommend CIAL to anyone who travels across SA! They are the bomb. We also got food...which was AWESOME and delicious... including this sweet pudding stuff that we... I mean Jo, couldn´t stop eating.
Today upon our arrival in Arequipa, we took a taxi (don´t worry D, he was super friendly), also for a much lower price, we are learning! OUr hostel, is super cute, colorful, and definitely more chill then the previous one we stayed at. The roof is awesome, and we plan on hanging out there later tonight. Everything is so extreme and beautiful in the city, it´s awesome. We saw lots of churches today and amazing architecture. We spent some time in the city center and watched kids feed pigeons. Also, we went to another park and watched some of the best street performers ever. Sometimes people think that violence is funny....especially in the park. I guess slapstick comedy is the best comparison. We also met a new friend named Johnny who showed us around the park and told us he has dreams of coming to the states.
We love it here so far. Tomorrow we are going to travel to Colca Canyon which is the largest canyon in the world, take that grand canyon! We will be spending one night in this little town called Chivay and then trek to a volcanoe the following day. We are super excited to see what Colca has to offer! We will for sure report back on Colca and trekking (which Jo is super excited for and Aly has decided due to the altitude Jo may have to carry her or rent a mule!)
We love you Guys and know we are loved! Thanks for reading our blogging and checking in on our travels! Until then Adventure is out there! Hasta Luego!
We made it to our hostel in Miraflores after a crazy taxi ride through the city. Everyone drives like it´s their own road here, and we quickly learnt that pedestrians better watch themselves! Our taxi driver was super nice and played American music for us...even "Party in the USA". (Shoutout to Braidy).
Once we made it to our hostel, we decided to walk around the city. We went to the beach, a park with all of these cool bull sculptures and some markets. When we got back to our hostel, we were serenaded by our host Omero, turns out music is a great way to hang out without needing to know a lot of spanish! Luckily, almost everyone could speak a little english and also help us with our spanish... which, we are proud to report is getting better by the day! Also, we taught them a very important word in english...awesome. Roughly tranlated to ¨lo maximo¨ en espanol. The folks at our hostel were interesting, we met a Brazilian doctor, two swedish backpackers, Italian students, and Argentinians on vacation. They were all really lo maximo. They gave us really good travleing advice (We think we are now going to volunteer in an animal reserve in Bolivia there might be Pumas there, that´s Aijah booya) and it was fun listening to music and hanging out on the porch with the evening noise of the city in the background. Let´s just say..... that night we didnt get a lot of sleep....sharing a room with 6 guys was eventful...not sure how we ended up there.. oh the life of a CHEAP hosteler...haha (don´t worry moms¨;))
The next day we took the longest bus ride to date....16 hours to Arequipa, which is where we are now. The bus was actually really fun. While waiting we met the nicest guy ever in this park. We (aka Jo) talked to him for a good fifteen minutes in Spanish.. holla! While Aly stared and smiled... but still looked good doing it! We also shared a pastel de manzana with one of our new friends on the bus. Everyone has been so nice to us here, and we quickly learnt that smiling and making friends, regardless of our lack of spanish skills goes a long way.
We managed to sleep on the bus pretty well.... (aka Aly) Jo on the other hand is not very good at staying still for 16 hours.... woops my bad. !! Aly has promised me benadryl for the next ride though. We hghly recommend CIAL to anyone who travels across SA! They are the bomb. We also got food...which was AWESOME and delicious... including this sweet pudding stuff that we... I mean Jo, couldn´t stop eating.
Today upon our arrival in Arequipa, we took a taxi (don´t worry D, he was super friendly), also for a much lower price, we are learning! OUr hostel, is super cute, colorful, and definitely more chill then the previous one we stayed at. The roof is awesome, and we plan on hanging out there later tonight. Everything is so extreme and beautiful in the city, it´s awesome. We saw lots of churches today and amazing architecture. We spent some time in the city center and watched kids feed pigeons. Also, we went to another park and watched some of the best street performers ever. Sometimes people think that violence is funny....especially in the park. I guess slapstick comedy is the best comparison. We also met a new friend named Johnny who showed us around the park and told us he has dreams of coming to the states.
We love it here so far. Tomorrow we are going to travel to Colca Canyon which is the largest canyon in the world, take that grand canyon! We will be spending one night in this little town called Chivay and then trek to a volcanoe the following day. We are super excited to see what Colca has to offer! We will for sure report back on Colca and trekking (which Jo is super excited for and Aly has decided due to the altitude Jo may have to carry her or rent a mule!)
We love you Guys and know we are loved! Thanks for reading our blogging and checking in on our travels! Until then Adventure is out there! Hasta Luego!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Cowboys,Christians and Ivos
So we started our journey at 5:30 am pacific standard time when we left Downey (woot woot) Shout out to hoops thanks for the ride! From there we got on a plane to Houston. When we landed in Houston we already felt like we were in another country, people seriously wear cowboy hats! When we got off the plane we immediately smelt Barbeque and knew that we had to have it, so we left our gate in search for delicious food! As we sat and ate our barbeque and Wendy´s frosties We said goodbye to the USA!
At our gate we meet our first South American boyfriend Ivos. He is a rock climber from Chile and offered to give us a discounted price on Andes mountain tours if we were in the area. Just thought you all should know... Don´t worry Moms we aren´t going to marry anyone in South America, but we might come back to visit a few! So there you have it we still got it!
Our next and final Layover was in Panama. P.S. Panama was like LAX but with a little more Spanish. As we boarded the plane for the last time we quickly realized that the seats were much smaller and wished we hadn´t eaten everything given to us on the flights and Texas barbeque! Hopefully by the end of our trip we will be able to fit in the seats thanks to some friendly parasites. So after an uncomfortable four hours we landed in Lima Peru.
So as we walked through customs and got our passports stamped we realized we had made it! The Lima airport was crowded with people and our original plan to just sleep on the ground was quickly kabashed by our fears of being kidnapped! As we looked down at the crowd we say some obvious fellow Americans and thought hey maybe they can direct us in the right direction and they did. The group we came across was a group of missionaries from the midwest going to a remote part of the Jungle to give medical care. They were so awesome! They let us hangout with them in the airport and even let us ride on the fancy tour bus to a little beauty of a hotel The Hotel Manhattan, which is an airport hotel. They were seriously a blessing! Thankyou Sandy and Beth if you ever get the chance to read this, you are both amazing!
Now we our sitting in our little jem of a hotel on the lobby computer with empty bellies since we slept through our free breakfast, but all in all we are happy and ready to find a cheaper place to Stay in Miraflores for the night. We miss you all already! Moms we love you, don´t worry we are safe and smart and friendly which is a great combo! Until next time Adventure is out there!
At our gate we meet our first South American boyfriend Ivos. He is a rock climber from Chile and offered to give us a discounted price on Andes mountain tours if we were in the area. Just thought you all should know... Don´t worry Moms we aren´t going to marry anyone in South America, but we might come back to visit a few! So there you have it we still got it!
Our next and final Layover was in Panama. P.S. Panama was like LAX but with a little more Spanish. As we boarded the plane for the last time we quickly realized that the seats were much smaller and wished we hadn´t eaten everything given to us on the flights and Texas barbeque! Hopefully by the end of our trip we will be able to fit in the seats thanks to some friendly parasites. So after an uncomfortable four hours we landed in Lima Peru.
So as we walked through customs and got our passports stamped we realized we had made it! The Lima airport was crowded with people and our original plan to just sleep on the ground was quickly kabashed by our fears of being kidnapped! As we looked down at the crowd we say some obvious fellow Americans and thought hey maybe they can direct us in the right direction and they did. The group we came across was a group of missionaries from the midwest going to a remote part of the Jungle to give medical care. They were so awesome! They let us hangout with them in the airport and even let us ride on the fancy tour bus to a little beauty of a hotel The Hotel Manhattan, which is an airport hotel. They were seriously a blessing! Thankyou Sandy and Beth if you ever get the chance to read this, you are both amazing!
Now we our sitting in our little jem of a hotel on the lobby computer with empty bellies since we slept through our free breakfast, but all in all we are happy and ready to find a cheaper place to Stay in Miraflores for the night. We miss you all already! Moms we love you, don´t worry we are safe and smart and friendly which is a great combo! Until next time Adventure is out there!
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