3 Days, 1 Jeep

After only spending a short amount of time in La Paz, we hopped on a bus that would take us to the small, remote town of Uyani in southern Bolivia. Uyani itself does not have much to offer but it is the starting point for salar, or salt flat, goers! The salar region in the south is filled with salt plains/flats, hot springs, geysers, lagoons, caves, volcanoes, mountain ranges & deserts, just to name some of the areas trademarks. From here we would hop in a jeep and begin a 3-day tour of the region, with us ending in Chile, in the town of San Pedro de Atacama.

The bus ride to Uyani was the worst that I have experienced thus far! It was HORRIBLE! Imagine that a bulldozer came and dumped an abundance of large stones to make roads..... now take a large, rickety, old bus, with windows that don´t seal, some duct-taped shut, no defrost- with ice an inch think on the windows, and then drive! It felt as if I was sitting on an extremely powerful massage chair that it so strong its painful! Or maybe more like the Excalibur at Valley Fair! It was such a bumpy ride that my whole body, along with everyone else on the bus, was shaking vigorously for hours. I actually found myself laughing aloud and asking Laura ¨is this some kind of joke?¨ It was absolutley ridiculous! We found out the next day that the stretch of road we were on is noted as being the WORST road in Bolivia.... and Bolivian roads in general are pretty bad as it is!

After hours of discomfort and no sleep at all we arrive in Uyani the next morning, Thursday July 15th. It is absolutely freezing here! I am so crabby, cold and tired. We had to wait outside the bus forever to get our bags, which were laying in piles of dirt under the bus. We were given the wrong directions as to where our tour agency was and there were creepy men starring at us at every corner. There was no bone in my body that wanted to be here right now. I was so frustrated and had a bad attitude about everything! We finally found our tour agency and were greeted by a happy fellow who escorted us to a warm breakfast cafe where we found a table right next to the fireplace. It felt amazing! We had breakfast with some British girls who have actually been in Bolivia for quite awhile volunteering at an orphanage. We chatted with them for awhile and then walked around town buying some snacks and things we would need for our next couple days in the jeep. At this point the sun was shining, it was light outside and there was a little warmth to this city. My attitude changed tremendously at this point! I rearranged my bags, ran to the street market to buy some fruit and then arrived back to Andes Tours just in time to meet our ¨family¨that we would be spending the next 3 days with! Our jeep consisted of myself and Laura, Steven-the Chinese tourist who loved taking pictures, David- the crazy Frenchmen, Nicki and Dustin- the adventurous couple from South Africa, and Elias- our guide, who getting him to talk was like pulling teeth! I could tell right away that we were going to have a fun group! And here began our 3-day jeep excursion.

Day 1: We left Andes Tours in Uyani around 10:30 am. We first stopped at el cemetario de trenes, an old graveyard of rusting locomotives. Here we got to climb on all the old trains and take pictures. We then headed to find the famous Salar de Colpasa, the salt flats of Bolivia! We visited the salt factory and spent hours walking around on the flats, attempting to take all sorts of crazy photos with our family! We had an amazing lunch (alpaca meat) at a hotel made of salt. Everything from the walls, to the table and chairs we were sitting on were made of salt. It was impressive! After lunch we spent more time exploring the flats and then headed to La Isla Pescado. This island, called Fish Island is a rare site. It is actually an island filled with cacti, but is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by salt flats! The wind and air were so cold here that rather than climb up the cliff to get great pictures, Laura, Nicki, Dustin and myself chose to sit inside the little cafe area and drink hot chocolate instead. After leaving the island we headed to a different salt hotel, this time being the one we would be spending the night at. The rooms were so cute, all made of salt! The walls, the bed frames, even the pillars decorating the place were made of salt. There was a cute little fireplace in the common area, where we right away all found ourselves gathering. The weather outside was like a cold MN morning in the middle of winter, except our salt hotel had no hot water, nor electricity, meaning no heat! I found myself wearing almost every piece of warm clothing I had in my backpack at this point, and had no intention of taking them off for the next 3 days! That night we had an amazing dinner with hot drinks, which quickly turned to cold after being exposed to the cold air, and went to bed rather early as one, there were no lights to do much of anything and two, we were told we had to wake up at 3:30 the next morning to be back in the jeep by 4am! The six of us all said goodnight, as we really were one big happy family, all sleeping in the same room!

Day 2: The next morning came really early, as I didn´t sleep much due to the fact that I was sooooo cold! We loaded the jeep at 4am and began a 3 hour drive to see volcanoes! We arrived at Ollangue volcano first, which was amazing! After visiting a few more volcanoes in the area, we came to a chain of lagunas, or lakes. We stopped at Canapa, Hedionda (where we had an amazing HOT breakfast) and Ramaditas. We spent a couple hours driving through the Siolo desert, arriving at el arbol de piedra, which is actually a rock shaped as a tree. Here it was so windy it was unbearable. I literally jumped out of the jeep for less than a minute, just to take a couple photos, as it felt like giant hail was belting me in the face, due to the wind blowing the desert sand and rocks. After fighting the painful wind we entered the national park of Eduardo Avaroa, Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina. Here we spent some time at it´s various lakes (particularily Laguna Colorada, which is the most popular lake in the area) which were filled with flamingoes! I have seen flamingoes in the zoo but have never experienced them in abundance in the wild. They are so fun to watch! We then continued on to el Sol de Manana, where we were surrounded by geysers of all sizes. We learned a little about the geysers and how they were formed before entering my favorite part of the day..... the Hot Springs of Chalviri! These aguas termales were awesome! I have been in quite a few natural hot springs while living in Venezuela and didn´t think these would compare, but they were quite amazing! The idea of taking off my clothes and putting on a swimsuit sounded horrible in the frigid air but I did it and it was well worth it! We all enjoyed ourselves and wished we could stay in there all day, as it was the only chance we had of feeling warm! The hard part came when we had to get out, and run through the frigid air again before getting warm, dry clothes back on. We took turns sharing the two large towels that the group had brought and modestly had to get naked and change clothes, pretty much in front of everyone, as there was no changing room or bathroom around, just the open landscape! Again, one big, happy family!

After the hot springs we visited Laguna Verde, an emerald green lake, which was absolutely beautiful, and from there spent time driving through the desert of Salvador Dali, before returning to the Laguna Colorado where we would stay night. I could not help but be amazed with the landscape as we drove from salt flats to desert to mountains to lakes to volcanoes and more. The change of scenery was so beautiful; I couldn´t have asked for more! All of us in the jeep have been traveling for a month or longer at this point and we all agreed that this had to be one of our favorite experiences! It definitely was a highlight, despite the bitter cold that we were all ready to get away from! We arrived at the site we would be spending the night, again at a place with limited electricity and no hot water nor heat, and had another amazing dinner, this time consisting of traditional soup and a Bolivian version of lasagna. It was delicious! This was our last dinner as a group so we shared bottles of wine and played cards until the power went off at 9:30. It was then quiet time as we said our good-byes to everyone. Tomorrow morning Laura and I would be splitting from the group, as they'd be heading back to Uyani and we are off to Chile!

Day 3: This morning we woke up before the rest of our group, as we were now forced to split from them and go our separate ways. (I had not slept well as the wind was blowing vigorously on our tin roof all night long! The guides were actually worried for our saftely, not allowing us to sleep in certain rooms with windows incase the wind caused them to break. They said they had not seen wind this bad in quite awhile.) We hopped in a new jeep with a new driver and started our trip to the border. We passed many lakes, volcanoes and mountain ranges along the way and finally approached migration! It was so windy here that honestly, I almost blew away when I stepped out of the jeep. It was so cold!! We were told a bus was going to pick us up here, but we soon lost faith in this bus after waiting for over an hour! More and more jeeps pulled up, with other tourists waiting for the bus as well. It was a mess of organized chaos! Jeep after jeep pulling up with travelers, peoples things flying all over the place, tourists running in and out of the migration office to get their exit and entrance stamps and guides trying to fix two of the jeeps that had died for one reason or another!..... Eventually the bus showed up! We waited until all the passengers coming from Chile got off and then all of us heading to Chile finally got to enter. We back-tracked a little as we had to drop off a few passengers, and then we were headed to Chile! San Pedro de Atacama here we come!

4th Stop: Bolivia

On Tuesday July 13th, we boarded our 10:00 bus in Cusco and were headed to Bolivia. The bus ride was long and cold, like always, but the border crossing itself was rather smooth. We arrived at the border early in the morning, in the frigid cold air and were escorted into a small van, that would take us to immigration. Along the way we made random stops picking up locals, some of which were school children heading into town, others being farmers, fishermen and field pickers wanting a lift. At one point we had double the amount of people that should fit comfortably in this little van. I almost felt like it was a game to see how many people we could cram in it! It was quite comical! We arrive at immigration. After making multiple copies of our passports/proof of vaccinations and paying $130 for a visa (which only Americans have to pay), we are sent on our way. We continue driving a little further in the van, passing llamas, sheep herders and pigs on leashes along the way. Before we know it we are in the beautiful town of Copacabana, enjoying great views from our comfortable hotel room! Everything is very cheap in Bolivia so we were able to get a rather nice hotel for a cheaper rate than we had paid elsewhere for dorm rooms in hostels. It was rather nice to feel as if we were splurging, but really spending close to nothing! We had a delicious breakfast at a little cafe and then spent some time exploring the city, shopping and looking for boats to take us to La Isla del Sol or Island of the Sun, on Lake Titicaca.

I instantly fell in love with this city! I had been so excited to spend time on Lake Titicaca, and arriving here and seeing the glistening blue water was amazing! For those who don´t know, Lake Titicaca, located on the border of Peru and Bolivia is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world, sitting 12,500 feet above sea level. It is also the largest lake in South America! It is filled with floating islands and breathtaking views of the the water and snow-capped mountains behind it. I had planned on visiting the lake last time I was in Peru but it didn´t happen, so this time I made sure it did! We hopped on a boat in the afternoon and relaxed as it carried us for 2 hours, landing us on La Isla del Sol! The island was beautiful, offering great views of the lake and surrounding landscape. We spent a few hours here and then headed back to Copacabana via boat. We arrived back in town just in time for sunset so we decided to have dinner along the shore at a little fish cafe, eating trout, which is their best local catch. Despite the lingering group of homeless dogs begging for food, the view from the restaurant was amazing and the food was delicious. After dinner we strolled through the ¨touristy¨ part of town, doing some shopping and stopping for cheesecake and hot chocolate, then headed back to the hotel to plan our next couple days and get some sleep! (Happy Birthday Bud!)

After a night of great sleep we woke up to an amazing continental breakfast, which we haven´t seen much of in our travels... normally it´s bread and butter, if anything, and then headed out to catch a bus to the capital city, La Paz. The bus ride was beautiful, as we drove right along side the lake and mountains for much of the time, seeing some wildlife along the way. There was one point of the bus ride that completely caught me by surprise. The bus came to a stop at the edge of the water. I assumed it was just a rest stop, however, soon found out that at this point there were no roads to actually cross the lake, so.... the bus and the passengers must cross the river to get to the road on the other side. Everyone had to exit the bus and hop on a ferry, as the bus was driven onto its own ferry and taken across the water as well. It was quite comical. Only in South America would this happen! Not much surprises us here anymore!

After getting back onto the bus on dry land, we drive a couple more hours and then arrive in La Paz. We walk around to multiple different hostels, trying to find a place to stay for the night, but cannot find anything! Everything is full! We were planning on only staying one night anyway, and then taking a 3-day tour through the salt flats in southern Bolivia, so we decided to just drop our bags off at a random hostel and spend as much of the day as we could seeing the city; then we'd hop on an overnight bus. We took a guided, double-decker bus tour of the city, as this seemed to be our best option to see everything the capital had to offer in such a short time. It took us up to an amazing viewpoint where we could see a panoramic view of the city; the view was breathtaking! I think I took 100 pictures here! We ended our tour back in the city center, grabbed some dinner and headed back to the bus terminal to get a bus to Uyani, where we would start our 3 day tour the next morning.

Sickness and Machu Picchu

So, our plans had been to leave at 330am on Saturday June 10th to hike Machu Picchu, however our bodies had a different plan in mind. Due to an unexpected sickness, we found ourselves hugging the toilets that morning instead.

After my last update I was headed to dinner with Laura in the town of Aguas Calientes. We had ordered pizza and pasta, intending on eating carbs before our big hike the next day, however we may just as well have eaten candy bars and icecream. We both got extremely sick, most likely from something we had eaten a day or two before. The sickness hit Laura first, on our walk home from dinner, as she threw her purse with me on the counter at the local pharmacy and ran to the bathroom. We had a meeting that night about our hike and at this time we were still intending on heading to Machu Picchu the following day, in hopes that Lauras sickness would pass quickly. We were playing it by ear, but as long as she was done vomiting we figured we could take the safe route and take a train to the ruins instead of hiking up there. Little did we know, neither one of us were going to feel up to doing either option, especially not at 330am!

After the meeting we set our alarm for 330 and both got ready for bed. Right as I got into bed, I realized Laura was not the only one that Peruvian food had got the best of, I was going to be just as sick! And so it began, 12 straight hours of puking and 24 hours of laying in bed! Thank God we happened to be in a hostel where we had our own room and bathroom. We have been sharing dorm rooms with anywhere from 6-20 other people on parts of this trip, but having our own room that night was a life saver! We were literally taking turns in the bathroom, the poor toilet had to have been flushed 100 times! There was a point where we both looked at eachother and said "I just wanna go home." The stomach pains were unbearable and even worse, the thought that we were going to miss our Machu Picchu trip the following morning, which we had invested a lot of time and money into was killing us. We went to sleep, telling ourselves that it was out of our control and we would somehow make things work.

Our alarm went off at 330 and without even talking to eachother we knew the hike was not going to happen. So, we went back to bed. Nothing we could do about it at that time of day. We woke up again around 8 or so and realized we needed to start asking a lot of questions to try to salvage our 5 different tickets we had for that day. In our package we had an entrance ticket into Machu Picchu, a bus ticket out of Machu Picchu, a train ticket out of Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo, a van transporatation out of Ollantaytambo to Cusco that evening and one night in our hostel, which was now turning into two. We somehow had to get all of these things changed, while still feeling completely sick and exhausted and in hopes that it would not cost us a fortune. We made some phone calls explaining our situation and made a couple short walks to the bus and train stations, as we really had no energy to go too far. After hours of waiting around for answers and taking naps in between, things started to come together for us. Turned out our entrance tickets were good for 3 days, as well as the small train back down the mountain. Our van transportation was changed for free and our train ticket was changed for $8.00. So besides having to pay for another night in the hotel and the small fee to change our train ticket, things went in our favor. The one thing that was killing us was the fact that we had already booked a bus into Bolivia for Saturday night, which we were now forfeiting and our trip was pushed back 3 days, making us wait until Monday night (tonight) to head to Bolivia. At this point we had no other option, we had come way too far to not see Machu Picchu! We rested the rest of the day/evening and woke up the next morning at 3am, this time knowing we were going to conquer the mountain!

At this point I was still undecided as to whether I was going to hike or take the bus up, as I still felt sick and a little weak, having nothing in my body but some gatorade and a little bread and fruit I ate for breakfast, but as we approached the bus stop, tickets in hand, I decided I could not make Laura do the hike alone; I had to do it! So we began our torturous hike up to Machu Picchu around 415 am. With only the light of the flashlights we had in hand to lead the way, we started the trek. We were told the general direction of where to go, a couple bridges to cross and that we would see watchmen about a half hour into the walk. So far, so good. We were following the footsteps of another guy, who was attempiting the early morning hike as well, in hopes of seeing the sunrise and being the first 400 people to the site, therefore getting tickets to climb Wyna Picchu, a mountain at Machu Picchu that gives you a fantastic overview of the ruins. (This was the reason we were leaving so darn early, not just because we're crazy!) We did take a couple wrong turns but realized it sooner than later, not causing us to lose too much time. About 30 minutes into the hike I was beginning to regret my decision to not take the bus. The steep steps were never-ending and the quick shortness of breath at this altitude was not helping, especially after being sick. Laura and I wantet to give up but realized we had made it this far and could not turn back now. At this point there were many other hikers on the trail, which was good motivation for us, as we needed someone to push us at times. About 2 hours later, we knew we had to be close as we could hear voices just above us. Sure enough we arrived at Machu Picchu right around 6am! What a feeling of success! We made it!!

We spent an hour or so just relaxing and taking in the scenery, while at the same time catching our breath and stretching our leg muscles. At 8:00 we had a scheduled tour with a guide where he took us around the whole site explaining each monument, ruin and the history of it all. It is such an amazing place and I felt so fortunate to be there for the second time in my life, as most people never will get there. After the tour we had the rest of the day to explore on our own. We walked around a bit, ate some snacks and took tons of pictures. Laura decided she wanted to hike Machu Picchu mountain that provided a spectactular view from above, similar to that of Wayna Picchu. I decided not to do it, as I was still not feeling 100% and I did it last time I was there. We were told it would take about 3 hours to do so I sent Laura on her way and I sat in the outdoor cafeteria at Machu Picchu where I had a delicious lunch and got to enjoy watching the final World Cup game with hundreds of tourists from all over the world. It was such an amazing experience! I was sitting by a couple from Spain and a group of young backpackers from Holland, so as you can imagine it was quite the crowd! The game ended and Laura finally worked her way back down the mountain, 2.5 hours later than planned. I had a sick feeling of worry in my stomach as we had chosen a meeting place and I had been watching for her for nearly 3 hours at this point. When I finally saw her I was so excited, as I was sure I was going back down the mountain without her if she didn't hurry up; the site was closing in about 10 minutes. Being we got there as they opened and were some of the last ones there, I guess you can say we definitely got our moneys worth!

We headed back down the mountain, walked to town to get our belongings from the hotel, thanked them for taking such good care of us and then headed to the train station to catch our late train back to Ollantaytambo. The train ride was amazing, as it was nice to sit, rest and listen to the peaceful Titantic tunes they were playing on the speakers. We arrived in Ollantaytambo with transportation waiting for us. Three hours later, after a crazy, scary and dark ride back to town we arrived back at the Loki hostel in Cusco. It was so nice to get out of the van as the driver had nearly killed us a couple times and all I wanted was a nice bed to sleep in! I couldn't have picked a better place than the Loki, as this had been our favorite spot so far..... however to our surprise they were completely full and had no space for us. How stupid that we didn't make a reservation! We asked for the hostel nearest them and headed that way, walking down the steep Cusco streets at midnight- tired, crabby and carrying everything we owned!

We approached the hostel and I instantly wanted to run. It was dark, small, dirty and had no feeling of comfort to it. It was so late and we were so tired that we just decided to suck it up, as it was only one night. We were with another guy who was also denied at the Loki so the 3 of us shared a room. I took the covers off my bed to find dirty sheets, a bug on the dirty sheets, and no pillowcase on what was obviously a well used, century-old pillow. I immediately got grossed out and covered myself from head to toe with clothing. I put on socks, tucked my pajama pants into them, put on a tank top tucked into my pants and then ended with a sweater and a hood! I used a t-shirt as a pillowcase; there was no way any of my skin was touching this bed! To make matters worse, the guy we were sharing a room with tried to shower and we had no running water. Apparently they only have water from 4am- 4 pm or something, how ridiculous?! They also had no water in the toilet, no toilet paper nor soap (which Mom, you know was a problem later, haha!). Luckily I had rinsed off back in Aguas Calientes. I went to bed that night watching music videos, hoping no part of my body touched my bed, and anticipating an early morning where I could get the hell out of this dump!

We made it through the night, paid for our 'luxury' experience, and immediately grabbed our bags and walked over to the Loki to shower and have breakfast. They have so many people coming and going that they didn't realize we weren't actually paying guests this morning. We have actually spent the whole day here, and everything has been great! We are finally headed to Bolivia tonight via bus at 10! We will be crossing the border in Puno, Peru and then ending in Copacabana, Bolivia, where we will be spending the day on the islands of Lake Titicaca tomorrow! We then will spend a day or two in the capital, La Paz before heading down to see the salt flats of Uyani in the south! It is then off to Chile!! It feels great to finally be leaving Peru, simply because we have spent way more time here than expected, and we both have already been here. Bolivia here we come!!!

In Cusco Again!

We were now off to Cusco, where I have already been, when I did the 4 day Inka Trail hike to Machu Picchu a couple years ago with some friends I met while living in Venezuela. Although I had been here before I was very excited to return, as I had loved this city of Peru!

Our bus ride to Cusco was yet, another bad bus experience for me. We had requested certain seats with more leg room, but did not recieve them, we were served only crackers for dinner, and it was more cold than ever! We arrived in Cusco at 9:00am and immediately met Flo, a British girl who happened to be heading to the same hostel as us, The Loki. This hostel is known as the party hostel in Cusco, having a full bar/restaurant, center courtyard, movie room, pool table and much more, in addition to over 100 beds! One of our friends, Nick, we had met in Colombia was currently staying here as well. Flo had informed us that the Loki offers great daily volunteer experiences and it just so happened that it worked out great with our schedule that day! We could not check into out room yet anyway so we decided to spend the day at a preschool a few minutes out of the city. I had wanted to do some sort of volunteer work while I was down here anyway, so this was perfect! This program put on a preschool during the morning and was like a big brother, big sister program in the afternoons. We took a bus to the small school house, which looked like nothing more than a brick shed, where we spent the morning helping four and five year olds make potato stamp paintings! They were so adorable and loved the attention they received from us! The craft was a success, however it quickly turned into a disasterous mess of finger and hand painting! There was paint everywhere, but somehow we laughed through it and got it all cleaned up! After a lot of hand washing and cleaning we did face paintings on the kids and then had playtime outside. The children insisted on us giving them piggyback rides around the school house and giving them wheelbarrel rides! After a few hours of hanging out with the kids, they needed to head home for lunch and so we headed back to the Loki. I had a fantastic time at the school and would definitely consider this one of favorite parts of my trip thus far!

We checked into the hostel, booked a trip to Machu Picchu, watched Spain beat Germany in the World Cup and then just hung out with other Loki travelers. We were exhausted, having had a busy day with the kids and too many sleepless nights the last couple of days, so despite being in the party hostel, we headed to the TV room where we watched a couple episodes of ´Friends´ before heading to bed! I was very much looking forward to a nice bed that night! Although we were in a dormroom with 13 other people I slept very well! (Happy Birthday Dad!)

This puts us at Thursday, July 8th, being yesterday, if I'm trying to catch up on days! We had quickly become friends with a large group of girls in our hostel, mostly rom Australia and England, and we had all decided to spend the day together. We visited the San Pedro market, where we all ordered amazing, fresh fruit juices from the hundreds of vendors, walked through the Inca market, where we all bought warm Alpaca sweaters, of which are a must-have in Peru, both in a fashion sense and for the bitter cold nights, and we ended with a tour of the Plaza de las Armas where we had a great lunch and icecream. Laura and I had an Alpaca burger for lunch, which was actually very tasty!

After lunch and icecream we all went our seperate ways, as Laura and I wanted to do some more shopping, a couple girls were going to the police station to file a theft report and the other girls wanted to nap. We got back to the Loki in time to rest a little before participating in ladies night at the bar! Drinks were free for girls and also for guys who dressed up as girls! We had two Peruvian guys staying in our room who were all about this idea, so Laura and I took the initiative to get them ready for the night, providing them with dresses, accessories and even hot pink and purple bras. They were definitely the best dressed at the party!! It was a blast!

We had a late night last night but got to sleep in a little this morning. Today, Friday July 9th, I am currently sitting in the town of Aguas Calientes, the town next to Machu Picchu. We took a bus to the town of Ollantaytambo, of which I got super car-sicked due to the extreme speed and curviness of the roads, earlier today and then took a train here to Aguas Calientes. Despite almost missing our train due to the late pick-up from our driver, the train ride was relxing and very pleasant after the crazy van ride. We got snacks and got to take in the beautiful scenery. The coolest part for me was when the train passed the start of the Inka Trail Hike! It was so familair to me, as I have done it and it brought back such feelings of accomplishment as it was was probably one of the hardest things I have done in my life! Tomorrow we will be waking up at 3 am to start a 3 hour trek up to Machu Picchu, (arriving in time for the sunrise, if all goes well). Being this is my second time doing it I convinced Laura to do a 3 hour hike to the ruins instead of 3 nights! She was okay with that as we are crunched for time and money as it is! This puts us at today and my stomach feeling very hungry, so that's all for now! I am going to get some dinner and I will let you all know how my second adventure at Machu Picchu goes after tomorrow, probably writing from Bolivia, as we are headed there tomorrow night via bus! Adios!

More time in Peru

So we left the comfort of Mancora, despite a large attempt by the bar staff to get us to stay another night, and again had to hop on an overnight bus. This time we were heading on an 18 hour ride to the capital city, Lima. We were told we were leaving at 7:00 and that we would get dinner and breakfast, sweet! The bus was 40 minutes late, and after being on the bus for an hour or two we figured we had to have missed dinner as it was now almost 10.... We hadn't eaten yet intending on getting food on the bus but were so hungry at this point that Laura resorted to pulling out the only food we had on us.... a smushed loaf of bread and some fruit that we had bought way back in Quito, Ecuador. As she handed me 2 pieces of smashed, days old bread she told me ¨dinner is served.¨ It was so funny! Then about a half hour later we actually were served dinner! Turns out there was another late stop and they don't serve food until everyone was on! Well, now we know for next time, although I was a little upset I suffered through those nasty slices of bread for nothing! Surprisingly after watching four movies, an hour of music videos, eating dinner and receiving a blanket, I actually was able to sleep that night, and rather well I might say!


Around 1:00pm on Saturday June 3rd, we arrived in Lima, Peru. We were planning to stay with a girl named Mili who is a friend of one of Laura´s friend, Christian, who is from Peru but now lives in Wisconsin. We had not had any communication with her but had been communicating with Christian, who was then updating Mili. As far as we knew Mili was aware we would be arriving to Lima that afternoon. So, we get off the bus and immediately send Christian a text saying where we were and asking whether to take a cab to her place or wait for her. We get no response. We send another text, still no response. At this point in time we realize we are at the wrong terminal! We are way outside of town and were suppose to have stayed on the bus. Dumb move. After sitting in the wrong terminal for over two hours we decide we need to be more proactive about this situation. We need a phone because apparently my texts are not going through. We finally find a phone and get a hold of Christian! He says he has been calling and texting us the last couple hours and that his friends were waiting for us in the other terminal.... the one we were suppose to be at. We get Mili's number and address and decide to take a cab there as to not inconvenience her as we were quite far from her house now. We jump in a cab and head towards her place. Our cab driver is crazy! He clearly demonstrated his ignorance about the United States asking us questions about racism, Obama, immigration and many phrases in English. He was entertaining but could have really offended some people. About 45 minutes later we are still in the cab; he is clearly lost! We stop at a market and ask for directions, no success. We stop at a gas station, still no success. We find a payphone and have the cab driver call Mili, as they can communicate better with one another. She doesn´t answer. Finally we get directions from a cop (and a random guy eating pineapple on the street), who was surprisingly helpful, even pulling out a map for us, which made our cabbie super surprised. He said he's never seen a policeman be so kind! Finally we arrive at Mili's house!


Her house was very nice and in a very safe part of town, called San Luis, which is located in the center of everything, making it very convenient. We showered after being on a bus for 20 hours, got settled in and then went out for dinner. Laura and I were craving pizza so we convinced her to take us to Dominoes. We had not seen one yet on our trip and although we felt we should eat typical food we were working off little sleep and really wanted comort food! It was amazing! After dinner we went to a friends house. One of Mili's friends was having a 1st birthday party for her son, Sebastian. We arrived at the house to about 20 friends and family memebers and a ton of presents!! I have never seen so many presents for a young child! It was crazy. We socialized, had cake and opened presents. At this point of the night Sebastian was super tired and clearly had no interest in anymore presents, so his parents put him to bed and then broke out the beer and snacks. Laura and I clicked really well with a couple of Mili's friends and enjoyed having some drinks and just talking to them about life in Peru and the U.S. It was fun to be able to hang out with a bunch of Peruvian girls. Traveleing, we have met a lot of guys, and although a few of the girls there had boyfriends and husbands around, it was still fun to just have a night with the girls. We stayed until about midnight or so and then decided to head home to bed.

We slept well that night, woke up to a good breakfast on Sunday and had just a few hours in the afternoon to explore Lima. Laura and I both have already been here but neither of us had seen the main plaza and it's surrounding areas so we spent some time doing that. We walked around a bit and then decided to make a quick stop for fruit and snacks for the bus. We walked into a little convenience store and it was immediate chaos! Five Peruvian men working/drinking at the store immediately began taking our pictures, asking us to take shots with them and throwing free stuff our way! It was as if we were celebrities or something. We explained to them we were in a hurry, said our thanks and ran out with our fruit and other unwanted things. So much for our ¨quick¨stop. We then jumped in a taxi, needing to get back to Mili's to get our stuff and then to the terminal in 30 minutes! Of course our cab driver, not knowing we are in a hurry, decides he wants to play tour guide, showing us all around the city, even stopping for us to take pictures. It was very much appreciated, but we quickly told him we needed to be on a bus very soon! We rushed back to Mili's, said our thanks and good-byes and headed to the bus terminal, where we again would be taking an overnight bus.


We were now off to Arequipa, a beautiful town southwest of Lima, known for its volcanoes and colonial architecture. Arequipa is also called ¨la ciudad blanca¨ due to the abundance of white buildings built from light-colored volcanic rock called 'sillar' surrounding the city. We got on the bus at 3:30 pm from Lima and were looking at another 18 hour ride. About 5 hours into the trip our bus made an unplanned stop on the side of the road. We had a flat tire. We knew these were common here due to the bad road conditions and all the night driving, but hadn't experienced one yet. The bus sat for about an hour and finally we were on the road again. I unfortunately had no luck sleeping on this trip. I had a man next to me who I nicknamed Snorey McGee, a girl behind me who was super car sick and got up to puke every 10 minutes, and a cougher infront of me, not to mention the extreme cold temperature of the bus. It was a nightmare. Thank goodness I was able to watch 5 movies, two of which I had wanted to see back home! Somehow Laura slept through the whole thing; I was quite envious of her.


After no sleep I arrived in Arequipa around 9:30 am on Monday July 5th. We took a cab to a hostel called Home Sweet Home and got beds in a dorm-room after waiting a bit for people to check out. This place was very busy, yet very homey. We had a great view of volcanoes from the roof of our place! We showered and headed out to see some of the city. We first headed to a tour agency where we booked a tour for the following day to visit a famous Canyon in the area. We almost chose not to do the tour as we were told it had a 3:30 am pick-up time, but decided to go ahead and do it. We ate a delicious lunch at Crepisimo where we ordered 2 amazing crepes, and ate them while having a beautiful view of the volcanoes infront of us. We then headed to the main plaza in town where we took photos and were surrounding by pigeons. Afterwards we did some street shoppping because I was in deep need for socks! I only brought a few pairs and had been complaining for days that I didn't have any clean ones. My Mom reminded me that I could probably buy some for very cheap anywhere, and so I quit being lazy and went out and bought 6 pair for $1.00! What a deal! I've never been so excited about socks! After shopping we visited a popular cathedral in town and the Monasterio Santa Catalina, then went to get our things ready at the hostel for our early morning tour pick-up. We had planned on going to sleep early that night but found ourselves in an internet cafe until 12:30 am, oh no! We totally lost track of time. Looks like another night of no sleep as we had to be up by 2:30 am or so!

The tour started bright and early on the morning of Tuesday July 6th, with a 3 hour cold bus ride at 3:00 am, where I kept asking myself ¨why we do this to oursleves?¨ The bus took us to a little village called Chivay, up in the mountains, where we ate breakfast, before starting our excuriosn to see Colca Canyon. Our next stop was at Colca Valley where we had an amazing view of the landscape surrounding us! We then ventured higher up the mountain, driving along-side donkeys, sheeps, bulls, and horses, before approaching the Cross of the Condor and Colca Canyon. El Canon del Colca is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and is 120 km long! This canyon is famous for it's spectacular view and also is home to the world-famous condor birds, which were seen flying over the peaks all around us. It was quite cool to see these beautiful creatures so close to us. After leaving the Canyon and the condors, we made a quick stop at Pinichollo to see yet another amazing view, and then Maca, a small village where we were able to take pictures with Alpacas and local women and children in thier traditional dress. I also tried a new fruit and juice, typical of this area, called sancallo, which is similar to a kiwi. We then headed back to Chivay for a delicious lunch buffet, and a walk through the city´s market and plaza, before heading back to Arequipa. On our drive back we stopped at the highest point in Peru, as well as at a llama/alpaca farm. We arrived back in Arequipa after a long day, grabbed some food at a Mexican restaurant and then headed back to our hostel to relax before getting back on another overnight bus! This time we were headed to Cusco, Peru, an 11 our ride.

3rd Stop: Mancora, Perù

We made it through the hectic border and at this point found ourselves in a crazy, yet relaxing beach town of Perù. The city is called Mancorá, and we heard about it from a girl traveling with us in Colombia. As of a few days prior, we had agreed to cut the beach day out, as we have so much to see yet in so little time, but I am so glad we revisited the idea and went with it!

We arrived safely in Mancorà still a little shaky, hopped out of our van and jumped in the back of a ´tuk tuk´ to take us to our hostel on the beach. We approached the beach just in time to catch the end of the beautiful sunset on the water. The place we stayed at is called the Point and we instantly felt like we were back in highschool on a spring break trip to Cancùn! The guys behind the bar were shirtless, pouring drinks with their tanned and toned bodies, the music was blarring and other hostel guests were doing beer-bongs off the bar! Not to mention, when we were escorted to our room, which was dormitory style, there was a hot surfer from England napping in his swimsuit in the bunkbed below ours. I knew we were going to like it here!

We spent that night having drinks to relax and getting to know other people at the hostel. We ate a late dinner, had a poker tournament, watched other crazy travelers drink themselves to stupidness and ended the night with a large group of us laying in a circle in the sand on the beach talking about our travels. It was awesome! I love the people I meet and the stories I hear while traveling. I slept very well that night, knowing that we were safe on the beach and had a fun day ahead of us!

The next morning, Friday June 2nd, I woke up to beautiful weather and spent the first early hours watching the World Cup outdoors in beanbags on the patio. Holland was playing and we had many people from there staying at the hostel so it was a big game. After a few hours of soccer, Laura and I broke from the group and heading into town. We walked the shore of the beach and did a little souvneir shopping. I love little beach towns! We bought some icecream and shared a coconut before grabbing some lunch. We ate at an awesome seafood joint right on the water, endulging in shrimp and prawns, all while having another feeling, like in the Galapagos, that we were in paradise! After yesterday it couldn't get much better than this. We walked back to our hostel along the beach and then relaxed by the pool for a couple hours, before enjoying an organized game of volleyball at the Point. We unfortuantely then had to say goodbye to the beautiful beach and our new friends, as we were attempting our 2nd overnight bus ride, this time to Lima, Perù! Adios for now!

Busses, Besos and Borders

So I left off with me leaving Quito, Ecuador on Tuesday June 29th.... I am now in Arequipa, Peru and sooooo much has happened since the last update!

The night of June 29th was our first overnight bus experience and let me tell you, it was everything I expected: long, cold, uncomfortable, cold, nauseating and did I mention, cold? I somehow survived it, but it was one hell of a trip! We left our friends in Quito and decided we were going to head to Cuenca, a beautiful colonial city southwest of Quito. After arriving at the terminal, we bought our tickets and were told the bus would leave at 7:30, it would take 10-12 hours and it was a "comfortable" option. If only this were the case. Our bus was over an hour late, as we were sitting outside a cold, dark terminal, not knowing if we had somehow missed the bus or what was going on. When the old, rickety hot pink super-taxi did finally arrive we were not sure what we were getting ourselves into. There were swarms of Ecuadorians, all carrying large, oversized plastic potato-sac looking bags running to the bus like children on a mad dash to the icecream truck. Hmmm... By the looks of it we are either getting on a large drug carrier bus or everyone instantly decided to move to Cuenca that night! There were so many of these "bags" they were stuffing them anywhere they could fit- inside the bus, on top of the bus and even on the bus next to ours! After magically getting all of these objects in/on the bus, we finally took off! I planned on watching movies and falling asleep, however the t.v. was broken, the windows were squeakier than ever, the roads made me feel like I was back on a boat in the Galapagos during a heavy storm and there was a horrible draft coming in all the windows. For those of you who know my sleeping habits, I don't sleep much as it is and I definitely am not able to sleep when I am cold and restless and this was exactly where I found myself. I ended up not getting even a tiny bit of sleep that night, finding myself wide awake as we approached the terminal in Cuenca at 5:00, earlier than planned, which was a relief as I wanted more than anything to get off the bus, but also a pain because now we needed to find a hostel that had a room available at 5 am. We got in a cab and he dropped us off at a hostel we found in our ever-so-handy Lonely Planet travel guide. We paid him and away he went. Just our luck, the hostel was full and we found ourselves aimlessly wandering the dark streets of Cuenca with all our luggage. There were two other guys wandering around looking for a place to crash as well. At this point we had many options around us, it was just a matter of luck and luckily we had success before the boys, leaving them on the streets and us laying in a bed, at least for a few hours, before going out to explore!

We woke up after a short nap on Wednesday June 30th, and headed out to explore Cuenca! It was an amazing city! We had a delicious breakfast at a little cafe down the street and then went to visit the main plaza in town. Due to our lack of sleep we decided to find a bench in the plaza and people watch for awhile. We took pictures, ate icecream, met some local rastafari artists and laughed at a guy wearing a Mankato Minnesota sweatshirt (who had no idea what is meant)! We then went and took a peaceful walk by the river and met some men making jewelry on the central stairway back up to the city. We chatted with them for awhile, bought some bracelets and then headed out on another adventure!

This adventure surprisingly worked out very well for us, although having a somewhat rocky start. At the Loop, the restaurant I work at, I am good friends with one of the cooks, Augustine, who happens to be from Ecuador. While still back at home, him and I discussed how awesome it would be if I could somehow meet up with his family while I was in Ecuador. His family just so happens to live an hour out of Cuenca so after a few texts back and forth between him and I and him and his mother, I decided to attempt it! Laura and I jumped on a bus knowing only the name of his Mom, the name of the city, and that she worked in a market.... this could´ve ended up being a wild goose chase, but we thought of it as more of a scavenger hunt! So, we got on a bus to take us to the terminal and somehow not paying attention we missed our stop. We realized this as the bus came to the end of the road and we were the last two on the bus. The driver made us get off and jump on another bus going in the direction we had just came from. Once on the bus, I specifically asked the driver to tell us when the stop for the terminal was. Well, of course he didn´t and so again we missed the stop. We jumped off a few blocks late, walked rapidly to the terminal through a sketchy alley-way and finally found the bus that would take us first to Gualeceo, and then Chordeleg, two small villages up in the mountains an hour from Cuenca. His family is from Gualeceo but his Mom works in the market in Chordeleg.

About an hour later we arrived in a central park in Chordeleg and here began the scanvenger hunt. We got off the bus and first asked where the main market was. Easy enough, there is only one market! We got a little lost walking to the market but found it in good time. We entered the market and then began step two, asking for Carmen Reinos. We hesitantly walked in and began asking everyone we saw if they knew her. After a few attempts and feeling like we were playing a game of ¨where in the world is Carmen San Diego¨ we found someone who was able to direct us to her! There she was, making tortillas and pouring coffee for a guest! We found Carmen Reinos! I approached her, gave her a big hug and instantly got emotional! I was soooo excited to meet her! She seemed equally as excited as she began calling over friends and other family members to meet us. How rare that some random American girl that works with her son in the United States would show up at this little local market in Chordeleg?! She gave us coffee and tortillas and we sat at a table in the market for awhile just chatting. Eventually her daughter and grand-daughter showed up, as well as Augustine´s Aunt, cousins, and nephews. We left the market in his sisters car along with his Mom and 8-year-old niece, as they wanted to show us around the city. They took us to a beautiful park by the river, where we took pictures and got to know eachother. They then took us to a church and a couple little markets in surrounding cities. At the street market in Gualeceo we decided to have dinner. They wanted us to have a traditional meal with them, so we ate huge plates of potatoes, mote, which I would describe as a mushy grain of some sort, and of course cuy, or guinea pig! This would now be our second time eating guinea pig, however this was a WAY more cultural experience. We were literally sitting on the streets as women were roasted the guinea pigs the way you all were probably roasting marshmellows this last weekend for the 4th of July, on a stick, over an open wood buring fire. We actually watched the whole process and got to choose what Cuy we wanted to eat. As the food arrived at our little outside picnic table on paper plates and drinking out of dixie cups, it smelled amazing but Laura and I both looked at eachother and said, ¨this is a lot of street food.¨ We kept our fingers crossed as we ate it that we would not get sick! Surprisingly everything was delicious and we experienced no sicknesses! The ladies were so happy to have shared their family and food with us that they didn't want us to leave. Laura and I had already made up our minds earlier that day that we were not going to stay there, as we had to leave super early the next day to head to Peru, but we couldn't resist. They were such nice people and it would be a great cultural experience to spend a night in rural Ecuador with locals. So, even though we were paying for a hotel room back in Cuenca, where all of our belongings were, and with nothing on us excpet a purse and our clothes, we decided to spend the night with Carmen.

We left the market with the girls gleaming from ear to ear as they were so happy we decided to stay with them. I was under the impression that we were going right to Carmen´s house, but.... we showed up at yet another Aunt's house where we were greeted by Augustine´s huge family! They were just finishing dinner and then brought everyone into the living room where they immediately grabbed every chair they owned from around the house and set up a semi-circle, with Laura and I claerly being the center of attention. It was actually a little intimidating! We were asked an abundance of questions about ourselves, our families, our travels, our lives back home, Augustine´s life in the U.S, and many phrases in English, the most common one coming from the men and little boys in the family wanting to know how to say ¨beso¨in English, which is KISS. His Aunt then took out a photo album of Augustine growing up in Ecuador! It was so cute! They actually gave me a few pictures to take back to him and show people at work. I had a few pictures from home that I had brought of friends and family so I shared those with them as well. They loved it, especially the one of me and my Mom sitting in a suite at Target Field! After a couple hours of laughing, English lessons, kisses and pina colada shots we finally headed to Carmens house to sleep. It actually was kind of sad to say bye to these people, even though we had just met them, they were like family! His cousin offered to pick us up early at 5:30 in the morning to take us back to Cuenca as he had to go into town in the morning anyway, and it´d save us a lot of bus time.

We walked up a small hill to Carmen´s house which was very cute and quaint. She showed us the outdoor bathroom and the room we would be sharing. She was sweet, giving us besos and putting us to sleep like we were her own children. Laura and I said goodnight and found ourselves laying up in bed for quite awhile as there were chickens, roosters, dogs and crazy cats making all kinds of noises around the house, definitely a different kind of noise that we were used to as this was our first ¨rural¨ Ecuador experience. After what felt like only a couple minutes of sleep we were awoken by Carmen yelling at us from the room next door at 4:45; Javier was there to pick us up. Not sure what happened to the 5:30 am part but we jumped out of bed, gave Carmen a huge hug, still in our clothes from the day before and headed back to Cuenca with Javier. Due to the fact he had come so early, we again found ourselves arriving at our hostel at 5:30 in the morning! The owner of this place is going to think we are party animals! We again took a few hour nap, similar to the day before and woke up to start yet another adventure.

We left Cuenca at 9 am on Thursday July 1st, getting on a bus that would take us to Huaquillas, which is a town bordering Peru. We had decided that rather than fly to Peru we would cross via bus and walking, as it is a lot cheaper. This later turned out to be one of the most terrifying experiences in my life. The bus ride to Huaquillas was scary enough, as were pretty much balancing on the edge of a cliff for 7 hours through the moutains of Ecudaor. For those of you who have traveled in South America before you may understand when I say there is one lane of traffic next to the edge of a cliff where you must honk if going around the corner, as to warn drivers coming from the other direction that you are there. There were many instances like this and many times of helpers jumping out of the bus to direct the driver on how to safely back up without falling off the cliff to allow the other vehicles to pass. What a nightmare, but absolutely beautiful scenery! We made it through the ride and found ourselves being dumped off at the immigation center on a dusty road with no clear idea of what to do next. Here began the ever-so-scary border crossing experience.

Like I said we were kind of just thrown off the bus with our backpacks and a driver pointing in the general direction of where we were suppose to go next. It was here that Javier, if that is even his name, came into our lives, who would soon be our best friend and yet our worst enemy. We knew that the border crossing between the two countries was long and complicated so we were glad he was there to help us. We took his word and ran across the street to the Ecuadorian Immigration Center where they needed to check our passport and give us an exit stamp. So far so good. Then Javier informed us that we needed to take a taxi to the next part of the process, so we hopped in a cab with him and another driver and were brought to the part of the border where you actually have to walk through a crazy market of chaos to get into Peru. The area is filled with vendors and an abundance of people harrassing us to exchange money, which we later found out is fake so good thing we didn't do it! After walking awhile with Javier carrying our large backpacks and us carefully watching our surroundings and clutching our purses as to not get robbed, (as we had been warned of many robberies during this step). We made it through this step and were greeted by Peruvian immigration officials who checked our passports, warned us not to pay more than $2.00 for a taxi to the terminal and sent us on our way.

Javier then got us another taxi, to which we agreed only to pay $2.00 and took us to Peruvian immigration to get our entry stamps. This was quickly becoming the most hectic and overwhelming process we had been involved in thus far, and unfortunately it only got worse. These were all steps of the border crossing that we had researched previously and we knew what the next step was. We were suppose to take a taxi to a bus terminal to catch one of the frequent busses to Tumbes, the nearest city. From Tumbes we could get a bus to our next destination, Mancora. I specifically asked Javier how far we were from the terminal and he said it was two minutes away. A few minutes later we were driving rapidly down a highway in the country where there was nothing around us except fields, no other cars, no other people, just me, Laura, Javier and the taxi driver. I suddenly got extremely nervous and scared as I grabbed Laura's leg to express my uncomfortableness. I quickly confronted the taxi driver and Javier as to where they were taking us. They responded that it was about twenty minutes away still. I expressed my anger and concern as to why they told us 2 minutes and they responded by saying they had meant 2 minutes to immigration. That was clearly NOT what I had asked. My Spanish may not always be the best but terminal versus immigration is pretty clear! They responded by saying ¨Relax, chicas, we will be there in twenty minutes.¨-Red flag number 1-

Knowing there was nothing we could do at this point we sat back and hoped that they really were taking us to the terminal. 15 minutes later we pulled into a back alley with no one else around and the taxi driver pulled over. He turned off the car. My heart stopped. He got out and walked away leaving us alone with Javier, who said something about the taxi driver needing to get something. Laura and I stared at each other, silently wondering if we should run, knowing there was no one else around and we had no idea where we were. We waited. The driver returned after a couple minutes claiming that wherever he had been going was closed and we drove away again. We arrived in a more populated area and I began to relax a little, but unfortunately that relief was short-lived as the next time we pulled over Javier instructed us to go to the ATM and take out hundreds of Soles (the Peruvian currency) because there wouldn`t be any ATMs in Mancora and we wouldn`t be able to purchase our bus tickets to get there with a credit card. -Red flag number two-

Then he said that one of us should go with him to take out money and one of us should wait in the taxi. -Red flag number three- Yeah right, we are both going, together. That is our number one rule of the trip- WE NEVER LEAVE EACHOTHER ALONE! We walked to the ATM, with Javier following us but felt so uncomfortable with this situation so decided not to take any money out. We first wanted to know that we 100% could not pay with card at the terminal and that they weren't feeding us lies. Javier said that was fine. When we got to the ¨terminal¨ it was nothing more than a minivan with 12 seats and a couple of guys offering tickets on the street. It was clear that they would not accept credit cards, and our only way of getting out of this cab and out of Tumbes was to take out money with Javier watching over us. We again brought us to the ATM and I took out 100 soles ($33.33), which was far below their recommendation, and Laura took out 300 soles ($100.00) but hid 200 in her bra, letting them believe she only took out 100 as well. After returning to the ¨terminal¨ they said we each owed 200 soles. Yeah, right. After a lot of frustration trying to argue in Spanish we got the price down to 75 soles each, which was still a complete rip off because they had taken us all the way to Tumbes instead of just taking us to the bus terminal for $2.00 like we had asked. At this point though we needed to be away from them and away from that border more than we needed $25.00, so we paid, got in the back of a van and spent the next two hours trying desperately to relax after that terrifying, chaotic border crossing. Both hating Javier for taking our money and being grateful he actually did help us with the logistics of it all, we were still left wondering if they had really intended on robbing us or were we just being paranoid... Either way, it's done and we could not have picked a better night to splurge and let ourselves have a beach night. We needed this more than ever, Mancora could not have came at a better time!