Ok- So I have gotten a number of emails and a few comments about altitude sickness... 1- Definitely Drink Mate de Coca and chew coca leaves....it helps! They serve Mate de Coca everywhere..so drink up! 2- You will most likely feel out of breath after walking a block or two of even the shortest incline..it sucks but there is nothing that you can do about that! 3- I definitely felt ill in Cuzco...lay down for a bit and relax...spend a day or two just hanging out before heading off to Machu Picchu. 4- Bolivia is super high up..Lake Titicaca is around [View Full Entry]

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So I just spent the last 5 hours at Tiwanaku--a lil more than an hour outside of La Paz. There, one can see ruins from before BC..all the way back to 1000 BC....the Tiwanaku people reigned south america before christ and from this group came the incas as well as many other native tribes. the site was great as there is actually a pyramid there--only part of it is uncovered as this site is still be excavated. it was pretty cool and on the way back we took a road that overlooked all of La Paz. Back to Copacabana tomorrow and [View Full Entry]

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So we were in Copacabana this morning. It is a resort style town..smaller..but totally cute on lake titicaca. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the three of us had a blast. We arrived here in La Paz this evening!! I love the city--it is just amazing. We went and got some dinner when it suddenly started to hail...and i mean rocks of hail were falling. We did some shopping...i got a lot of great alpaca stuff--presents for everyone!!! We went to the presidential palace which was cool cause of all the political stuff that is going on here in Bolivia. Tomorrow [View Full Entry]

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SOOO im 22 today...and well lets just say that it wasnt too of an exciting day. We arrived here in Puno, Peru yesterday morning and hoped right on a boat on Lake Titicaca. We spent the day visiting native people who live on floating..yes floating..islands. Then we went to a larger island where we spent the night with a family. They spoke Quechua and only the father knew english so it was a bit difficult. But the day was beautiful and at night they let carolyn, marc and i dress up in their native dress and we went to a party. [View Full Entry]

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So we were up at 5am this morning and then up at the top of the mountain where Machu Picchu lies at 6;30.....it was absolutely amazing. We really were all at a loss for words. There were just soo many interesting sites to see and the place was HUGE. It is located in a cloud forest so that made it even cooler to see. I took a ton of pictures...more than a roll. We are taking a train back to cuzco in an hour and then laura, marc, carolyn and i are taking a bus down to Puno on Lake Titicaca. [View Full Entry]

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We spent the day getting up at 3 30 am to get here to cuzco around 6 30. we spent the early morning getting everything ready for getting up to machu picchu before hitting the bed for a long nap. we then paid 2 bucks each for a delicious 4 course meal before heading off to ¨shop¨ i spent about 50 bucks and got tons of amazing pieces of art, handwoven tapestries, jewelery and even a gorgeous hammock..for my one day house! cuzco is beautiful and is full of stuff from the inca empire....the people all walk around in their traditional [View Full Entry]

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OK so carolyn, candice, laura, marc and i just arrived in lima, peru this morning around 9 30 or so. we have spent the day walking around the city and are off to see some ruins right now. we even bought some coca leaves to try out later tonite!!!! *dont worry mom...its just supposed to be an appetite surpresser...tomorrow morning we have a flight to cuzco and then on sunday we head to aguas calientes which is at the base of machu picchu...then we will head up to machu picchu on monday morning..early to see the sunset. the weather is super [View Full Entry]

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¡Vamos...vamos Chileanos...esta noche tenemos que ganar! So saturday night we went to Santiago to see the Chilean nacional soccer team play against Uruguay--competing for spaces for the World Cup in Germany 2006. I bought a Chilean track jacket for the game and I was ready to get mean! We got to Santiago and of course headed to get some piscola before the game - they dont sell alcohol anywhere that is within 10 blocks around the stadium ( can you imagine a south american team and a game where all the fans were drunk!) So we drank...and quickly before heading to [View Full Entry]

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So on thursday nite, me along with 9 friends took the 5 hr bus ride from Viña del Mar to Mendoza, Chile. The ride took us through the Andes and we lasted through the the small windy roads with a bottle of pisco and coke (cola that is!). We were told that we would arrive around 7 or 8 in the morning, but even after Chilean and Argentine customs, we found ourselves at the bus terminal in Mendoza at 6 am (5 am for us since Chile is an hour behind!). So we hung out until about 8 when we went [View Full Entry]

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So let me just start off by saying what an amazing weekend....probably one of the best ever. It started off on Wednesday evening. 32 American students, including myself, got on a bus with a LOT of beer (i still dont like it but its cheap and im getting a lil used to it). We left at 9 30 and arrive in Pucon the following morning at around 9 am. Pucon is near the Argentina border in the Andes mountains. And let me just say..its Beautiful! We stayed at El Dorado which is a large piece of land with beautiful cabañas. I [View Full Entry]

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