http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Chona/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Chona en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:39:52 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:39:52 +0000 La Paz is the highest capital city in the world and its obvious as soon as you step off the planebus. Especially since while walking around the city you always seems to be going uphill and are immediately out of breath It is a very fun city to be in for a budget backpacker. Lots of gingorun party hostels discos yummy restaurants with international cuisines had Sushi and Indian food there http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/blog-389366.html ...or in between earth and heaven is being on the Salt Flats of Uyuni tour in southwestern Bolivia. It is a tour completed entirely in a 4x4 jeep. It is one of the most surreal magical and beautiful experiences I have had on this trip. The breathtaking scenery included multicolored altiplano lakes filled with wild flamingoes snow covered volcano peaks gushing geyers natural hot springs ancie http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-388741.html I arrived to Cusco from Lake Titicaca and my plan was to stay only a few days. I wanted to get to know the city nearby Sacred Valley sites do the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu and then move on from the very touristy Cusco to the North of Peru where the gringo trail is not quite as crowded. However as most backpackers experience when you make a plan things rarely end up that way. And that is one http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-351577.html Wow...not sure what else to say but WOW. And hope you enjoy the pics. PS. I highly recommend the tour group that I chose to go with on the Inca Trail. They are called Peruvian Treks and are a nonprofit agency based in Cusco. They go above and beyond to make sure their paying clients and very hard working employees are well taken care of. The difference in the working conditions between our po http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Inca-Trail/blog-346903.html This lake is so beautiful and so are its Quechua and Ayamara people whose ancestors have called Titicaca home for thousands of years. In spite of the tons of tourists that seem to be everywhere cant imagine what it is like in the high season I really enjoyed my days here. It was borderline magical to spend time in a place and with people who are so different in so many ways from what I am and http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Lake-Titicaca-/blog-343404.html I arrived in the southern Peruvian city of 1 million called Arequipa on Thursday morning. Rewind 2 days to when my travels began. Monday night I moved out of my home away from homeMacondo Hostel in San Gil Colombia. Tuesday morning I jumped on the first bus to Bogota...was only supposed to be 67 hours but of course turned into an 8 hour trip. Got to the airport in Bogota and on my plane at pm http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-341758.html I lived in Macondo Hostel for almost 2 months in the town of San Gil Colombia. One of the reasons I stayed in San Gil for so long was because of how much I enjoyed this hostel its very helpful chill and informative owner Shaun the Aussie its lovely Colombian lady staff of Blanca and Gloria and the MANY other backpackers from all over the world that I got to meet and sometimes befriend while http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Gil/blog-341389.html Here are some photos of the children that I worked with for the last few weeks. I volunteered for a few hours a day during the week at a children's home where these children are currently living. Some of them live at the home full time because their parents have abused neglected or abondoned them or have passed away. Ot Then there are a few children whose parents are not able to take care of th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Gil/blog-337886.html I arrived to San Gil from Bogota on September 10th. It is now October 23rd and I am still here Originally I wasn't even going to go to San Gil. Instead of coming here from the coast like most other backpackers do I went from the coast of Colombia to Medellin. Then I headed to Bogota and was planning to go directly on to Cali. However when on the coast I met many backpackers with stories of Sa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Gil/blog-336608.html Last week I went with a trio of Frenchies on a 2 hour hike through Cueva Vaca. It was loads of fun We wore our crappiest clothes...which isn't hard to find considering we are all backpacking...put on the head lamps and helmets provided by our guide and off we went The best part was that I got to take pictures the whole time in spite of the fact that for most of our time in the cave we were craw http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Gil/blog-333365.html I forgot to upload these photos. Didn't take that many in Medellin...only spent 4 days there and the real attractions of the town are the nightclubs...don't take my camera there In Bogota I roamed around a lot during the day and was able to take out my camera every once in a while to take some photos...but just like in any big city I had to keep my camera out of sight so as not to advertise that http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Bogota/blog-325696.html So after paragliding the day before and partying with my new paragliding friends all night the night before I dragged my butt out of bed at 10 am on Friday barely awake and with a huge guayaba andI jumped into a taxi with 2 of my friends from the night before and off we went to a waterfall 26 km away to go rapelling I had never been...and of course neither had they We arrived to a farm with http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Gil/blog-324032.html So I left the most extreme adventure for last...bungee jump Holy s I went with another couple travelers from my hostel...an art student from New York and her friend from South Africa who I had actually already befriended a couple weeks back in Parque Tayrona and Cartagena. It was her last day of her 6 month trip and their last day traveling together after being together for a couple of the la http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Gil/blog-324826.html I left Bogota to San Gil so that I could do some paragliding. I wanted to do it in Medellin the week before but never woke up early enough. So here I came to this small town in the Santander region after a 7 hour bus ride north from Bogota. I arrived in the town...very well kept active but not overwhelming. It has a beautiful plaza with a fountain lots of trees and benches full of local famil http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Gil/blog-323733.html Wow I loved this experience I got to white water raft just outside of San Gil Colombia in the Rio Suarez...which at the moment has class 3 4 and 5 rapids...major white water....and it was my first time Such an adrenaline rush and mental challenge...along with a serious physical challenge. I don't remember the last time I worked both my mind and body so I went with a new friend from the hoste http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Santander/blog-323657.html I spent a blissful 4 days and 3 nights in this national park on the northern coast of Colombia....just near the border with Venezuela and outside of the city of Santa Marta. It is an absolutely beautiful place that I enjoyed greatly for so many reasons. It is on the coast just a few hours from Cartagena. I took a 5 am bus from Cartagena to Santa Marta. I was supposed to get off the bus there and t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Medellin/blog-319216.html Hi guys I am in a fabulous hostel called Casa Kiwi in Medellin with internet right outside my door...too easy So here are the photos from a while ago when I had to travel for 2 very long and difficult days from Ciudad Bolivar in the far South of Venezuela to Caracas and then to Maracaibo on my way to Colombia. I was so lucky to make some friends on the bus who saved me from a potentially disastr http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Medellin/blog-319168.html Here are the photos I took of Cartagena 2 weeks ago. The old city is just gorgeous and so romantic. The more modern part of the city is packed full of high rise apartments for wealthy Cartageneros and hotels for wealthy Euro and South American tourists. A very interesting city with an extensive and deep history to the continent. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Medellin/blog-319178.html Here are the photos I took during my peaceful weekend on the island. treated myself to a very nice room at an expensive hotel on the island. Simply beautiful. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Medellin/blog-319188.html As most of you already know my desires to travel and experience other places and people are born out of those same desires held by my parents when they were my age. They too fell in love with and traveled extensively throughout Latin America mostly Mexico parts of Central America and Colombia in the 70s...a much different time than now. They were in Mexico and Central America for over a yea http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cartagena/blog-316602.html