Where do I begin? I guess I´ll start at the beginning. This is good, read it til the end. We woke up at the Hostal Austria on the morning of our big downhill bike trip down Bolivia´s infamous ¨Death Road.¨ The previous night we had argued with the worthless administrator of the hostel because my clothes, which i had delivered at 8am to be cleaned, were not to be back until around 10pm, not the agreed upon 8pm. Anyway, I don´t want to bore you with worthless bullshit. We left the hostel in a huff and got to the travel place [View Full Entry]

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Another day in La Paz, I took care of some administrative tasks (laundry, reservations for my upcoming trip to the Salar de Uyuni, wine) and took a day trip to the semi famous Moon Valley of La Paz. I took a micro (1.80Bs.) through the entire town to Mallasa (where the valle de la luna is located). The bus ride took me through a very rich looking district of La Paz and actually took almost an hour. La Paz is a lot bigger of a city than i had originally thought. Upon arrival at the valle I popped in my new [View Full Entry]

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I arrived on the 7th of February for my first day alone on the trip. I got some good sleep after 2 nights of sleeping on the floor in Oruro. Today I went to Tiwanaku, a famous archeological site near La Paz that was home to, yes, the Tiwanaku civilization. They existed from 1500 BC until about 1200 AD and controlled territory almost as widespread as the Incas. They had some impressive sculptures, strangely shaped skulls (because the rich men would strap boards around their heads while they were children as some sort of status symbol), and a huge pyramid that [View Full Entry]

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Carnaval in Oruro was eventful if nothing else. Chrissy and i took the 630am bus with Miguelito (bolivia pcv) and his sister. By 10 we were settled into a huge apartment with about 15 other people (all peace corps). There we would be sleeping on the floor for 110Bs (cheap by carnaval standards). Soon we were hard at work making water balloons - the chief attraction of carnaval in oruro. From our 4th floor balcony we rained down a storm of american firepower not seen since hiroshima. people scattered, we developed stealth techniques for more effective mayhem, and it was a [View Full Entry]

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Chrissy and I took the 4 hour bus from La Paz to Copacabana to catch the big party they throw there on February 2. We were worried that there wouldn{t be any hotels with room for us as feb 2 is a big tourist day in Copacabana, but we easily found a hellhole to crash in for only 10Bs (a little more than a buck). Me being in a bad mood, we decided to finish off the gin we had purchased way back in arica a week earlier and hit the town. We quickly polished off a nalgene full of gin [View Full Entry]

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We descended from our 2 night visit to the absolutely frigid Parinacota on a 5 hour bus to La Paz. It isn{t often that people actually descend into La Paz, as it is the worlds highest capital at 3500m (about 12,000ft.). But we did indeed come down from Parinacota (at 4300m) though I still had some problems breathing. I soon found myself in a bad mood and needed to get out of the city to find some peace. The next day Chrissy and I took off for Copacabana and Lake Titicaca (to be read in another journal entry). A couple of [View Full Entry]

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We took the 2000 peso (it sounds expensive, but the chilean peso is 575 to the dollar) ride from arica to putre, at the entrance to lauca national park. this park is a unesco world heritage site and it is entirely over 4000m (about 13,000ft.) above sea level. the pictures looked really beautiful, so we had to give it a try. we were glad we did. its cooler than a polar bear{s toenail there. we took a 10,000 peso cab from putre to parinacota, a town of literally 17 people. there we got a room with one of the families and [View Full Entry]

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After a tiring, but beautiful, hike of the colca canyon, tom and i shared some large beers together atop an arequipa bar and pondered life. i{ll go off on a tangent here, so if you dont{ want to read my meanderings continue on to the next paragraph. I really dig latin america and moreover latin culture. i just feel so at home here. the people of peru and chile have been incredibly kind and helpful to us - further reinforcing my desire to stay in the latin america. so, not only have we seen some beautiful sights, we have met some [View Full Entry]

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Colca canyon is the 2nd deepest canyon in the world at 3,400m at its deepest(the 1st is cotahuasi canyon which is also in southern peru). its about a 5 hour busride from arequipa. we went to a small pueblo named cabanaconde to begin the trek. our original plan was to go it alone and camp wherever we found a suitable spot. however, once we arrived in the town and sat down for some almuerzo, our waitress told us that it really wasnt{ advisable to hike alone as the trails are not well marked and going with a local guide will actually [View Full Entry]

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we arrived in arequipa, peru{s second largest city, on gwbs inauguration day. just to let all of you know, he is a total douchebag and is a terrible representative for our country. those who believe the contrary are simply wrong. now, to continue, arequipa is a beautiful city. the plaza de armas is one of the prettiest central squares i have ever seen in my life. all the buildings are made of this white volcanic stone that was spit out by the [el misti[ volcano which towers over the town. we found a cool little hostel, hostal nuñez, for 20 soles [View Full Entry]

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