Mitad Del Mundo and More!!!

For the first time in about 9 months, we are back in the Northern Hemisphere! We spent one week in Ecuador, ending in Quito and visiting the Mitad Del Mundo, or Center of the World, where we straddled the equator and passed for the first time into the N. Hemisphere. Next we crossed over into Columbia, where we are now.

Columbia is not as scary as the US Government would lead you to believe, but there are still some precautions that should be taken. Buses have been known to be hijacked at night, so we have not been taking buses at night (obviously!) However, this means we have to do all of our travel during the day, which cuts into our time to explore the country. However, the scenery here is beautiful; the mountains are all green and they are in their growing season, so there are plants and vegetables and fruits everywhere!

We first stopped in Pasto, in a 7 dollar flea bitten hotel near the bus station. That was a 10 hour rest stop so we wouldnt have to travel at night. Then we went to a nice little colonial town called Popayan, where the streets are all numbers and you can get lost, but not in a bad way. Next we went to the town of San Augustin, which sits at the top of the Cordillera Central (Central Mountain Range) and looks down onto the valley of the River Magdalena. We took a horseback tour to a bunch of old ruin sites which are from BC.

Our most recent stop is here in Bogota, where we are now. It is nice to be in the city, where there is semi decent internet, but it is just so big and everything is so expensive....we are looking forward to our next stop, Valle de Leyva, where we will go hiking and biking and nature watching.

Sicko

Whew! Well, I must have ate something bad, becuase I was pretty sick for a little while...Luckily, thanks to the F word and Mr L, I was put up in the Lima Sheraton for a few days, which allowed me to get better in style.

Then I met up with Chris and we headed up to Trujillo, which is the jumping off point for the ruins of Chan Chan. Chan Chan is an all adobe city, which is reputed to be the biggest adobe pre-Columbian city in the Americas. It was partly pile of dirt, partly cool old fortress.

Next we headed to Ecuador, where we are now. First stop, the city of Cuenca, where they make Panama Hats (go figure, Panama Hats are NOT from Panama). We went to a National Park and did some hiking, it rained on us a bit, and we sampled the local fare (really good buns!!) Then we took the bus to Baños, where we are now. Baños is the city of hot springs and massages, so we went to the hot springs (it was closed) and then got a massage (only 17 dollars - Ecuador uses dollars so it really seems like my money is going faster...is that weird).

Next is the city of Quito, where we will visit the ecuator and then head north to Columbia. Our trip (feels like it) is nearing the end....we only have a little over a month left!!! It will be strange to be back in the States, doing NORMAL stuff again...will I be able to handle it!!?? We shall see.....

5 Days of Fun!

Machu Picchu! We did it! We did a 5 day trek over the Salkanty mountain, which took us to a height of 4600 meters (15,180 ft) into the cold and then down to 1500 meters into the jungle, finally ending at Machu Picchu. It was a hard hike, but very rewarding at the end.


Before going to Machu Picchu we went to the Sacred Valley and to the very important ruins of Sacsayhuaman (pronounced Sexy Woman), which was a fortress made from 8 (or more) sided rocks used to build the zig zag shaped walls (also used to represent the teeth of a puma, where Cuzco represents the rest of the head).

Now we are in Lima, where I will meet back up with Chris, who has been volunteering for the last month in Bolivia while I have been cavorting in Peru (he already came here with his parents, hiked Macchu Picchu, got e-coli and then came back and met up with me in Brazil).

Titty Caca

Haha, I can actually say that without feeling like I am disrespectful! We are near Lake Titicaca, in Puno, Peru. According to the Peruvians, they got the Titi and Bolivia got the Caca. The funny thing is that Bolivia actually has the more beautiful side of the lake. There are a bunch of mountains surrounding it which are more than 6000 meters high (19000 Feet) and are covered in snow. It is a very nice place to be.

First we went to the WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS ROAD, which is near La Paz, in Bolivia. We survived! We mountain biked down from about 4000 meters to about 1000 meters in about 4 or 5 hours. Half of it was paved and half dirt, but the whole thing was a lot of fun! Next we went to Copacabana and the Isla de Sol, which is supposed to be where the Inca civilization began.

Next we headed to Peru, where we visited Arequipa, which was built in the 1500s and is quite beautiful with a huge church on the main square which occupies the whole block. We also visited the Convent of Santa Catalina which occupies a whole city block and is where the rich Spanish families would send their daughters (for a hefty fee of course). The picture above is one of Santa Catarina. It was beautiful!

From Arequipa, we came to Puno, where we are now. Yesterday we went on a tour of the floating islands and got to spend the night in the house of an indigenous person as well as dressing up in local dress and going to a local fiesta (pictures to come later - it was great!).

Tomorrow we head to Cuzco and then we will tackle Machu Pichu!! I am very excited about this although the altitude has been a little rough at times!

Huelgas, Desfiles y Fiestas!!

The election is in 3 days. Actually it is not an election, it is a referendum. What happens is this... Everyone goes and votes whether they want to keep Evo or not. If so, he remains President. He has been President for 3 years...normally a term is for 5. If they vote no, he gets impeached and they have to vote for a new President. Supposedly, out of the 9 departments (states), only 3 are for Evo and the other six are against him.

Like I said before, they love to protest here! So, we have protests every day...and if Evo gets voted IN (to remain) there will be even more. If he gets voted out, I dont really know what will happen. Yesterday, he flew to the city of Santa Cruz and they would not let him get out of the plane! They canceled the parades for Independence Day in 3 cities...! These people are crazy! They are saying that never has there been such unrest in the month of the Patria (Patriot)!!!

So, we shall see what happens. I bought a flight to La Paz so I wouldnt have to worry about whether or not I will be able to take the bus...However La Paz is going to be crazy!! Evo is going to be in La Paz during the election... We are making history here!

Mi Patria Bolivia

Tomorrow is the Dia de Independencia of Bolivia and the flags are flying! They have been practicing their drums and batons for the last couple weeks and today they finally got a chance to show their stuff.

This week has been very interesting, to say the least. Not only is it Independence Day tomorrow, but the Elections are on Sunday, the 10th. On top of that, the President, Evo Morales, is still imposing taxes, cutting pensions in half and making other changes like that, so...this means people are striking, protesting and rallying on the streets. The last week, there have been protests every day, there has been no school (the teachers are on strike) and there have been roadblocks (no busses or cars can come or go out of any of the cities)... However, this is normal. The only problem is that I need to get to La Paz in 4 days and I dont know if there will be any busses!

However, that is in 4 days. There are parades, parties and fun to be had right now! Viva Mi Patria Bolivia!

Honk If You Are Bolivian!

I almost got hit by a car the other day. It is becuase the people here drive like they are the only ones on the road. It is funny sometimes, the complete lack of rules or maybe just disregard of the rules, but sometimes there are some close calls. They just honk when they are about to hit you, so at least before you get hit, you are sure of what is about to happen.

Here is the thing. At most of the intersections, they dont have stop lights or signs. Basically, whoever gets there first and squeezes their way out into the intersection first, has the right of way. Where there are lights, they are just suggestions. If it is red, but you dont think that other cars are coming, go ahead and go (maybe to make yourself feel better, you should honk). If other cars ARE coming and they are about to hit you, just honk, you will be fine.

This is all well and good, but if you are a pedestrian it is a little hard sometimes to figure out what the cars are going to do. You cant just go if your light is green... So that is what I was doing. The traffic was stopped. There actually WAS a light, which was RED. The green way was stalled becuase they were all backed up through the intersection, so I had a green light basically. So I went. And some dude with a red light decided to try to creep through the stalled intersection and make his way across...and he almost hit me.

But I survived. I just laugh when I see the way they drive. It is comical. Oh, and PS, the car at the top is a Volkswagon Brasilia...this is the most common car in the city of Cochabamba...

Hoy Es Un Dia Normal

Well, we are now in Cochabamba and have been here for about a week. We are settling into our routine...Here it is, for your reading enjoyment.

-8:00 get up
-Have breakfast, watch my favorite show on Discovery Kids (in Spanish, its about what I can understand), Charlie y Lola
-Walk to class (about 20 minutes, mostly downtown, with a few plazas thrown in)
-10:00 - 12:00 Tutor in Spanish. We mostly just talk girl talk, in Spanish...I mean, what else am I paying her for? I am getting the best gossip in Cochabamba!!
-Walk home
-1:00 - 2:00 Lunch with the family (we are staying with a family in the down town area. They have other family come over all the time for lunch, so we always have a full table for lunch)
-2:00 - 2:30 Bus ride to work (volunteering) goes from down town to the subburbs, where the orphanage is
2:30 - 6:30 Help the kids with their tarea (homework), help them with their work (they each have a daily chore) and if there is time, play with them. The kids are from 3 yrs - 17 years. 30 kids live in the orphanage full time and another...maybe 30-40 come for an after school program around 3. It is busy, busy, busy...and my arms are tired from all the spinning around and carrying we do! But it is a great time.
-Bus back home
-7:00 Dinner with the family
-At 8 Julietta´s novela (soap opera) comes on and if you want to watch it with her (and another at 9) you can...It is actually good becuase they speak really slowly, so it is easier to understand the Spanish this way...but they are SOOOO cheesy!!!
-After dinner activities (there is a festival/holiday right now for one of the virgins, so there is a mini carnaval with food and fireworks and music every night)

And that, my friends, is our normal day!!!

16 Tons And What Do You Get?

Today, we are in Potosi, the highest city in the world. It sits at roughly 4100 M (about 13,500 ft) which is only 1000 feet less than Mt. Whitney, the continental US´ highest mountain. We arrived last night and decided to walk to the center of town to get some dinner. The hill we walked up was not too steep and the entire walk was about a mile, but I was so out of breath just trying to accomplish the short walk. I also had a little bit of a headache, which is one of the syptoms of altitude sickness. However, the cure for that is a tea made of coca leaves, which actually helped! After dinner we went to bed early, becuase we had scheduled a trip into the mines for early the next morning.

The mine tour was very interesting. We got to see how the minerals are mined, processed and what the finished product is. In the Potosi mines, they are all collective, which means that each miner works for himself. Actually, groups of miners work together as a team; they each have their own area of the mine. There are approximately 15,000 people working in the mines, the youngest is about 8 (which is illegal, the age limit is 18) and the oldest is about 68 (which is rare, many die after 10 or more years from black lung).

We were down inside for about 2 hours, breathing dust and stuck in small hot spaces. It was horrible. I cant believe so many people spend 8-10 hours a day in that (6 days a week)!! I really have a new respect for the miners. After the tour, we went outside and we got to set off dynamite. It was pretty cool. With a wick of about a foot, you have about 4 minutes before the dynamite goes off.

Now we are back in the town, walking around, waiting for our overnight bus which will take us to Cochabamba, which is where we are going to do a month of volunteering.

Bouncy, Bouncy

After crossing the border from Argentina back into Bolivia, we took the bus to Tupiza, which is supposed to be a kind of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid kind of place. After getting in late and getting over charged for a room, we kind of had a bad attitude towards the place, but the next day we booked a horse riding tour and our attitude changed.

I have only ridden a horse maybe a half a dozen times, so I am no expert, so when our guide, a 14 year old named Michael (NOT Miguel, what is that all about) asked if I had any experience I said, un poco (a little). Well, a little spans a big gap. Chris and I have gone riding a couple of times and he is much more advanced than me, so he told me how to (try to) sit when the horse is walking, jogging and running (I dont know the correct horse terms but you get what I mean) and I have JUST mastered the walking (go me!) and started to work on the jogging.

The ride was nice. It went through canyons of colored rocks, cacti and crazy thorny bushes. However, we got onto a straight away and Michael decided to get the horses to a run! I had absolutely NO IDEA what I was doing. I just tried to sit like I did during the jog and it did work, but wow, we were cruising!!! It was great!! I was so scared but so excited at the same time! I loved it although the whole time I thought I was going to fall off.

When we stopped, I realized I had a blister on my butt! I have never had that before, I can say that for certain! And now, today, two days ago, my ass is still so sore, I can barely sit in a seat. It is pretty funny really. All I can say is, I love riding horses, but I have a lot to learn.

I Am SO High!!

We just came back from a wonderful time in the salt flats of Bolivia. We started in the town of Uyuni, which is kind of a dirty little city and is mostly used as a base for the salt flat tours. Uyuni was FREEZING!!! We only stayed one night there and then took off the next morning for our tour of the salt flats.

The salt flats were amazing!! I am not sure of the whole story, becuase our guide spoke all in Spanish, but from what I understood, they are about 12,000 square km and used to be under the Pacific Ocean until the plates shifted and they got pushed up. They sit at about 4000 M (13,200 ft) above sea level and are only interrupted by a couple of islands which are covered with coral, proving that they used to be under water. How cool is that?

Our first day was spent making silly pictures, which I will post later on, and going to see how the salt is harvested and processed. We also visited a town where the buildings are all made of salt. We went to the island, which has a lot of coral on it, as well as being covered with thousand year old cacti. Pretty cool. That night we slept in a local village, where the temperature was...-6 degrees celcius (about 20 degrees F). It was cold! The next day we went and toured the colorful lakes and mountains of the antiplano. The next day we got up at 4 to go see the geysers, which are at 5000 M (16500 ft)!!! It was freezing and hard to breathe! Our next stop was at a thermal springs where the water was warm, but not warm enough for me to get into it!!

After exploring the salt flats, we headed back down (to ONLY 2500 M) to San Pedro de Atacama, which is in Chile and sits right in the middle of the Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world. We met a couple of nice folks from the UK and Australia and hung out with them there. We also all traveled to Salta, Argentina together, where we celebrated Chris and my birthdays (we had not had a chance to celebrate them together before), our 6 month travel anniversary AND 4th of July as well as Matt and Sally's 6 week travel anniversary...It was a lot of fun. We splurged and got a room at the Sheraton, where we decorated the room with balloons and bought hats and noise makers and drank Argentine wine (mmmm) and had a grand time!

Now we are back in Bolivia (high again, 3000 M) and are planning some horseback riding and hiking.

Sucre - So Sweet

We made it to Sucre, but it took a while to get here!
From the town we were in before, Semaipata, we caught a bus...which was supposed to pick us up at 7, but arrived at 8:40 pm instead. We got on and got comfy. About 10 minutes later, the bus stopped for dinner. As we had just gotten on, I stayed on the bus and made myself comfortable. All of a sudden the bus was moving, without anyone on it. As I sat there, I felt the bus being jacked up. They were changing the tire!

It was over in about a half an hour or 45 minutes, I dont know, as I kind of dozed through it. So, around 9:40 we got back on the road. I fell back asleep but was awoken about 3 more times by the bus breaking down once and getting 2, yes 2 more flat tires! Then finally around 8 am, the bus pulled over (I had to pee so bad! There are no bathrooms on these buses) and I went to the bushes to pee...Then I realized they were putting oil in it or something - another break down? We arrived in Sucre about 3 hours later than we were supposed to.

Sucre is beautiful. It used to be the capital, but La Paz has taken over that title. It was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1991 and rightfully so. It was built sometime in the 1500s and many of the buildings are old and beautiful. The roads are small and some are cobblestoned and there are archways over some of the central streets. We went to the municipal market and drooled over the fruits and veggies before finally buying lunch for 8 Bolivianos, which is about 1 dollar.

Unfortunately, I caught a cold and the weather has been...COOOLLLLD (about 30) and so I am taking it easy lately. Luckily Sucre is warmer (I think it is in the 50s or 60s here in the day time) so it is a good place to recuperate. However, nobody has hot water showers, so if you want to be clean, you have to be even colder. I am deciding to be dirty most days. We leave tomorrow for Uyuni, which are where the salt flats are (and houses etc all made from salt). Supposedly in Uyuni it can get down into the teens! BRRRRR... I need to buy another sweater! From Uyuni, you can do tours of the salt flats, so we will do a 3 or 4 day tour from there, ending up in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.

Countries Visited

Every Picture Tells a Story, Dont It?

Well, I finally....got more photos online!

You can visit them here.

Or you can see Chris´pics here.

Pantanal

Tuiui (source)

We just got out of the Pantanal, where we spent 4 days. We had a great time - we went horseback riding, fishing for piranha, cayman hunting, and on an all day safari. We saw lots of birds, including blue macaw and toucans and a huge giant stork, called in Portuguese "tuiuiu", which is really fun to say. This bird is 1.5 meters tall (about 4-5 feet!) It is crazy! We also saw many, many caymans, a giant river otter and many capyvara, the largest rodent in the world, which looks like a huge guinnea pig and SWIMS! They have crazy animals. It was great!

We were hoping to see an anaconda and a giant anteater and a jaguar...or an anaconda eating an anteater and both of them being eaten by a jaguar... but it was not meant to be. We did see an anteater named Phillipe when we got to the border town of Corumba. It was really cool. He was really big and has no teeth but will suck on your fingers and lick you with his weird tongue. He does have large claws, but is basically like a big funny looking dog. (pics will be put online later)

Now we are in Bolivia. We just arrived today after a long (23 hours) ride on the Death Train, which goes from Quijarros (the border) to Santa Cruz. The ride was good, although long, and we did not have any scary situations. The reason it is called the Death Train is because apparently in the 80s they used to carry a lot of contraband in the inside of the train and the people would ride on the top. The train used to derail a lot and many of the people on the top got killed. Hence the name. But now it does not derail as much and I did not see anyone riding on the top (or any contraband *wink, wink*)

Next stop, the Jesuit Mission Circuit, which is a few hours East of the town of Santa Cruz, where we are now. We are excited to be in Bolivia, but it is going to be hard to adjust to the temperature after being in the warmth of Brazil for so long! Where we are going in the next couple weeks, it gets way below freezing! Oh and now that I finally learned a few words in Portuguese, I have to switch my brain back to Spanish! Oh mio dios...

Jericoacoara - Land of Sand

I found my new favorite place! It was hard to get to, but in the end, it was totally worth it! To get here, I had to take a bus for 2 hours, wait for another 2 hours, take another bus for 8 hours, wait for another 2 hours, take a bus for 5 hours, get off and then on to another "bus" (this one is 4 wheel drive, open sided with bench seats and the luggage goes on the top) for an additional hour.

After all that, I arrive in a town with all sand roads, no sidewalks, barely 2 small markets and no stress. This town is, as the locals say, TRANQUILO, tranquil, layed back and beautiful. The beach stretches some 30 km the town one way and I dont know how many the other way... I was going to stay here for two or three days and then...Chris finally met back up with me AND we both loved it so much we ended up staying about a week. We met some great people, hung out at the beach, relaxed at the hostel with our books, chatted with the owners of the pousada, hiked up sand dunes, rode horses, watched MANY sunsets.... it was great.
Then we decided to get back to the real world...but first we wanted to go to a Park called Lençois Marahenses, which is full of sand dunes and lakes. But to get there, we had to...take a 4x4 for about 2 hours, a van for about 3 hours, a bus for about 4 hours...to the town of Tutoia, where we spent the night. Then the next day, we took another 4x4 to a small town where we spent the night, then the next day another two hours to Barrerinhas, where you can do a jeep tour to the dunes. Whew!

The jeep tour was great! We went in the afternoon to be able to see the sunset, but it was kind of cloudy. However, we did swim in a few warm fresh water lakes and hike over some beautiful white dunes...
Next we went to the big city of Sao Luis, where we walked around the colonial center, met a bunch of people and got to see the locals practicing for the Bumba do Moi festival by dancing around in cool feather costumes...It was very cool!

So, next stop, Brasilia and then the Pantanal!

Potty Please

So, one of the things that many of you people who are sitting in your office or home where the bathroom is within easy reach dont think about is the idea of NOT being able to go to the toilet whenever you want. If you have ever driven on the Mass Turnpike (Grant - hehe! Thanksgiving 05) you know what I mean.

Here it is a constant battle. We get so used to the good old US of A, where we can stop at McDonalds or Starbucks or the Rest Stop on the side of the road (ha! no such thing here!) or...pretty much wherever and people will let you use their toilet. Here, first of all, they probably dont have a toilet and if they do, they may or may not let you use it. If they DO let you use it, you may have to pay. Oh, and, there probably is not toilet paper. Actually, it is more than likely there is none. And maybe no seat on the toilet, as if you were going to sit on it anyway. Oh and probably no sink.

BUT you are LUCKY to have found a bathroom in the first place, so you can't complain. But it sure is a shitty situation sometimes!

In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle...

I have arrived in the Amazon and there are many trees.

We first arrived in Manaus, which is not the middle of the jungle villiage you imagine. It is a teeming city of over two million people, which is a major hub for commerce on the river. It reminds me of something that used to be a beautiful place and could still be if it hadnt gone into disrepair years ago and never recovered. The city is filled with what used to be beautiful buildings, with tile façades and gated courtyards, but are now covered with soot and dirt and grime.

Next a boat cruise was in order. There are two ways you can do it... 1) like the locals, who use the Amazonas River as a means of transport as well as commerce. This entails a 3-5 day trip from Belem to Maunaus, which can be fun. However, the river is quite wide and you dont really get to see a lot of wild life. 2) a group tour, with a bunch of white people. We chose the latter. Which I was not really too keen on at first, becuase going with a bunch of other tourists is not usually my thing. However, it was GREAT! The first day we went on a sunset canoe ride and saw snakes, birds and frogs. The next day we went on a sunrise canoe and saw another snake and many birds, including parrots and macaws. We also took a hike and learned a lot about the flora of the jungle. There are about 800 species of vines, many of them with medicinal properties. There are more than 3000 species of trees in the Amazon. And 3000 fish, 70% which are edible. And the Amazon dumps more water in one day into the ocean than the Thames river dumps in ONE YEAR!!! Crazy huh?

The next day we went piranha fishing. I caught NO piranha, but our driver caught about 7. I kept feeling them nibble, but could never jerk the line up fast enough to catch one. They are smaller than you think and most of them do not eat human. So, there goes that myth.

The last day we went to see the meeting of the waters, where the Rio Negro meets the Amazonas river. The Rio Negro is black and the Amazonas is brown and they flow next to each other for about 3-5 miles without mixing. It is pretty cool!

So, I got a little bit of edumacation and had a very awesome time on my jungle trip!

Trip Pics

Well, it is raining today so I finally got a chance to put more photos online! Yay!

You can, of course, view them here.

Enjoy!

Chopping Broccoli

You never realize that when you travel you are going to miss some things. Little things. ¨Normal¨ things. Everyone alwasys wonders how much fun you are having, what new things you are doing, who you are meeting, etc. But sometimes I just want people to tell ME what THEY did today, who they hung out with and what they did. The normal things, the mundane, everyday, normal things have become more desirable to me. I want to go to dinner on Friday night with the normal work crowd. I want to have a beer at Vics while watching the koala fly back and forth. I want to play pool at Cooter Browns; I want to make pizza with Matt and Pam; I want to hike to Bucks creek with Dad and Shay. Okay, so I am not saying I am not having fun, quite the contrary, but it is funny how we always miss or want what we dont have.

The food here is good. A lot of it is fried, but there is also a lot of good local food, seafood and fruit...oh the fruit! It is delicious. Many papaya (mamãou), pineapple (abacaxi), passion fruit, watermelon and more! Every day for breakfast I eat about one ton of fruit. However, I had a dream the other day about broccoli, and now I want some broccoli SO bad! However, they dont have it here at all. Well, at least I have not seen it. And it is not a choice on the street or in the grocery store.

So, I have made a list. When I get home, I am going to eat good cheese and many soy products. I am going to play pool at Cooter Browns; I am going to go to the Mission for a burrito; I am going to have miso soup with K; I am going to have girls night on Thursday (where I eat good cheese and drink good wine) and last but not least, I am going to have tons and tons of Broccoli!