For those of you who didn't know, I have had chronic tendonitis for a year now and even though I was doing my exercises during the trip, they were simply not healing. I have decided to come home inorder to do intensive therapy and hopefully go to europe this spring when they are completely healed. It made me really sad to make such a deccision but I think it is in the best intrest of my future. Love you all, and hope I can continue writing come a few months. Chou. ... read more

Russ and I left Santa Cruz for a small jungle town in called Samaipata 3 hours west. In between two towns on the way there were 116 speed bumbs. We took a sweet hike through the mountainous jungle and we met an awsome french couple with whom we left the next day inorder to make it to a music festival on the Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca for new years. The festival was a bit underwelming because there were not that many people but the location for new years was unto itself a once in a life time experience. Russ and I camped out on this sweet ridge with insane views of the lake but it was super windy there too and the second night it rained all night and my stuff got all wet. ... read more

The bus ride from Potosi to Sucre was alas paved and smooth, my bum surely apreciated such a thing. And it was again very beautiful giving the passengers sweeping views of vast valleys below. Sucre is, however, completely different then the rest of Bolivia. It seems as though all of Bolivia´s money found its way to Sucre, the cars are even in better shape then in Argentina. they have a mall with a cinima and everything, all the kids drive wear designer clothes and drive tinted windowed racers. The reason there is so much money here is casue sucre is the secondery capital, the national courts are here, and so there are a lot of politicians, and in such a corupt country, politics and wealth are one and the same. Bolivia recently elected Evo Moralles, as ... read more

I met up with Russell, my friend from high school who is traveling throughout south america just like me in Salta. We played music for a soop kitchen in a really poor part of town and it was super intense. the kids were constantly grabbing us, but it was fun too, we played soccer and took photos. Yesterday we took a bus up to Tupiza, BOlivia which is a small town surrounded by the same hills of infinate shapes and colors I found south in Argentina. Everything is much cheaper and the people are beautifully indian. all the woman dress in traditional skirts and top hats and even though were are way closer to the equator its chilly cause we are so high up. LOve everyone, chou. ... read more

I went to Cachi, a small town west of salta for a couple of days to do some hiking. I stopped on my way at parque nacional cardones ( cardones are a type of cactus that covers much of the land around here). the park only had 4 km of trail so just left the trail and explored on my own. It was intense cause I was hiking at at least 10,000 feet the whole time and fog would roll in quickly and I couldn´t see anything, but I was really carefull about direction and took simple lines. While I was waiting for the bus to cachi from the park I caught a ride from this really nice argetninian couple and we spent the rest of the day together. I met an awsome french guy at ... read more