On Saturday March 31, we awoke early and walked 40 minutes to the Puno bus station. We walked back through the street market and I got to limbo under one of the umbrellas, which one of the local Peruvian woman got a kick out of. She said something about me being a giant. We made our bus with only a few minutes to spare before its 8:30 am departure. And unfortunately, the hostel host girl met us at the bus station since we accidentally left with our room key. Oops. The bus turned out to be a cama bus (bed bus), so that started off awesome. Unfortunately, again, all the windows were closed and there was no air so the ride was stuffy and uncomfortable. I tried opening the emergency exit window on the top of ... read more

We arrived in Puno to a downpour. As suspected, there were tons of hostals within a block of the terminal and after a little shopping we settled on one for $20 soles ($8 USD) in total. Oh how I love these prices. No restaurants were open nearby so we went back to the terminal and picked up some bread and fruit. We met a nice english speaking guide there who recommended a hostal closer to the main square, also for $20 soles. Tuesday (27th - 1 month in to our trip!!!) morning I talked to a tourist information place while Sarah organized. And after Sarah filled herself with a pre-breakfast snack of bread and fruit. The view from our hostal window showed shambles, chaos, colors, tons of different kinds of taxis, dogs, people...just chaos. From the ... read more

Despite the extremely small town of San Pedro, we were able to book Tur Bus to Calama and then Tur Bus again to Arica. We had an 8:30 PM bus out of San Pedro. We arrived in Calama at 10:00 and stayed at the station unti our 11:20 bus to Arica. The ride to Arica was 8 hours. It was another semi-cama. This time the driver did not stink, but the road did. For the first couple hours we were on a rutted dirt road that was totally washed out. So, yet again, very little sleep. We arrived in Arica bright and early, about 7:30. Arica is a border town with Peru, so it was our last stop in Chile. We became a little nervous at the bus station when everything was closed. It was Sunday, ... read more

So, what do we eat down here? The food in South America has not been what we expected to this point and it deserves a blog of its own. Let me start by saying that Sarah has an uncurable hunger. Before finishing lunch she is on to thoughts of snacks and ultimately dinner. She just read over my shoulder and said I can say more, "I am hungry all the time. ALL THE TIME. I am thinking about it all the time. What to eat when I wake up. Snack before breakfast. Breakfast. Snack after breakfast...I mean, I am hungry right now (we just ate breakfast)..." She went on and on. Me, I have been hungry once or twice on the whole trip. It is a really weird shift. I do not know which is more ... read more

One month in and there are a number of thoughts that don´t fit too well in to a blog of what is going on, but thoughts nonetheless we want to remember. Sarah The amount of top 40 American pop music we hear on a daily basis is wild and unexpected. Restuarants, streetside stores, buses, the random traveller in a hostel, etc, etc, etc, all can´t get enough of it. Everyone from the kids to the older folk - a homely, 60ish year old woman on our bus had ´i wanna be a billionaire, so f***ing bad¨as her ring tone. We couldn´t stop laughing. So while the amount of music, movies and American culture is largely visible, the American people are not. We have met only a few long-term backpackers from the US (2 that I can ... read more