After saying my goodbyes to Ashley in Rio, I boarded a plane to Montevideo in Uraguay to meet up with Valen, my Canadian friend from Toronto that I met in Mancora, Peru and travelled all the way to Cuzco with. I spent my first day in Montevideo walking around the city. Montevideo is also another beautiful South American city, lots of plazas and beautiful buildings. The next day, Valen arrived, as well as Iona and Heidi, who she had been travelling with. That night, we went out for an amazing steak dinner (seems to be a recurring pattern for me in [View Full Entry]

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What could be better than meeting one of your besties in South America for a couple of weeks of fun in the sun? If you figure it out, let me know!!! I left Salta, and took a night bus to Buenos Aires to meet Ashley, who was flying in from Vancouver to spend almost three weeks with me - our planned route being Buenos Aires, Iguaza Falls, and Rio. I arrived in Buenos Aires a night before Ashley was to arrive, only to find that the hostel that I had booked us in at had lost our reservation. I managed to [View Full Entry]

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After San Pedro de Atacama, Esther, Lindsey, Carol and I took a bus to Salta, Argentina. Salta in a beautiful city in the northeast of Argentina, a city of about half a million people. We stayed at a nice hostel with a pool (essential, since it easily hits 35 degrees during the day in the spring). We spent our days in Salta shopping, sitting in cafes on the main plaza enjoying the local Salta beer, and going out for long dinners with steak and wine. Salta was my first experience of what Argentianian dining has to offer - i.e. amazing steak, [View Full Entry]

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Our salt flat tour dropped us off in San Pedro de Atacama, and small town in the Northern Chile. As soon as we got off the bus, we met Simply Red, or, the owner (?) of Hostel Flordia. Checked into the hostel and wound up spending three nights in this great little town. On the first night, Esther, Lyndsey, Carol, Rhod (who we met on the salt flat tour), went out for dinner at La Casona (which Rhod and I discovered earlier in the afternoon when looking for a place to get some afternoon drinks at). Great little restauarant with a [View Full Entry]

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Esther and I left Puno, Peru, to go explore the other side of Lake Titikaka in Cochacabamba, Bolivia. The lake was beautiful from both the Peruvian and the Bolivian side. We checked into a great little guesthouse called Wendy del Mar, which worked out to be only about $4 USD each for a private room with a TV (which, as I will explain later, proved to come in very handy!). Had lunch in the town, and the next day headed out to Isla del Sol. We took a beautiful boat ride over to the island, and then went on a guided [View Full Entry]

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This travel blog is a bit late, have been in Bolivia for well over a week, but have been too busy to update about my travels through Peru. Peru was AMAZING! Before travelling to Peru, I thought I wouldn't spend much time there, since I thought it would be overtouristy. However, it proved to be amazing, and I'm so glad we spent a lot of time there. After leaving Montenita in Ecuador, Esther and I headed for the crossing at Tumbes, Peru. We were a little nervous about this crossing, as it has earned the title of the "Worst Border Crossing [View Full Entry]

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I flew out of Bogota, to Quito, Ecuador. Most of my travel throughout South America will be overland, however I had heard that the border area between Ecuador and Colombia was quite dodgy, so decided to avoid it by flight. I arrived in Quito quite early in the morning, and got a cab and made my way to a hostel quite quickly. However, I was soon hit with altitude sickness! Quito is quite elevated, but not as high as Cuzco or La Paz (which I plan to visit as well), so we will see how I fare in those cities. After [View Full Entry]

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Hello all, Picking up where I left off during my last entry . . . we flew to Cartegena, which is a beautiful city on the Carribean coast of Colombia. We spent an afternoon there walking around, checking out the beautiful architecture of the city. All the buildings in the old town are very colourful and Spanish-influence. After walking around the old town, we went to go see the fort that the Spanish built to keep invaders out the city. It was extremely impressive, one of those things that make you wonder how they built such a structure without modern equipment. [View Full Entry]

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Hello friends and family! I am currently in Bucamaranga, Colombia. We will be flying to the coast (Cartegena) early tomorrow morning. A quick recap of my time here so far: I arrived in Bogota on Saturday night. Aaron and our new friends Lorenzo and Marie met me at the airport, and then we went back to our hostel in Bogota. From there, we went out for drinks at a really great bar. It was fun to practise our spanish with Lorenzo and Marie, who were very patient with us and happy to help us fill in the blanks when we weren't [View Full Entry]

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Hello Friends and Family, Welcome to my travel blog of South America. I'll be documenting my travels throughout the continent for your reading enjoyment. :) Mom and Dad took me to YVR last night. We went to Tim Horton's for a coffee (will be the last one for three months), and then said our goodbyes. I will miss home, my family and friends, but I am also excited to go see a part of the world I've always been interested in seeing. I am currently at the Toronto Airport, waiting to board my flight to Bogota. I am excited to start [View Full Entry]

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