I thought Oasisses only existed in movies and Arabian desserts. In other words, I never thought I would actually find myself at one. Happily, I was wrong! There is not much more to say about Huacachina since there really isn't much to do at an oasis....except of course, play in all the sand! Which is exactly what we did by going on a sand dune excursion. The excursion had two parts, the dune buggy and the sand-boarding. Both were SO much fun. The dune buggy was similar to being on a roller coaster except there were no tracks! Our driver was [View Full Entry]

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Co-authored by Seth and Gali: Seth: The plan was simple: Day 1: Leave Cusco and Mountain bike (downhill) for 4 hours. Day 2: Hike in the morning through the jungle along the Inca Trail, then white water raft on class 2 and 3 rapids followed by lunch. After lunch, class 4+ rapids. Day 3: Hike Day 4: Hike up to Machu Pichu and spend the day there. Reality for Seth and Gali: Day 0: At the hostel, they provide heavy wooden chests for us to keep our belongings in. They have metals clasps on [View Full Entry]

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Not wanting to be stuck in the ongoing bus strike, we booked a flight from Arequipa to Cusco. One way was $160 US and roundtrip was $170 US so we decided to spend the extra 10$ and avoid the over-night bus back to Arequipa. We arrived in Cusco, safely, sore from the canyon trek and hungry. We grabbed a taxi and headed for the Loki Hostel. They had made a mistake with our reservation so we ended up in a four bed dorm with a private bathroom as opposed to an 8-10 bed dorm with a shared bathroom. Not the worst [View Full Entry]

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First off, it is essential to say: We survived!!! Our excursion to the Colca Canyon started very early in the morning with a 3am pick up. We drove until 6am when we took a break and then continued on until we reached the Canyon of the Condors (Huge birds!). We saw some of the amazing creatures and then got back in the van. When we arrived at the Colca Canyon we started walking. None of us had any idea what we were in for. The hike started and we were all amazed by the scenery! We had no idea of the [View Full Entry]

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Upon our arrival to Arequipa I was feeling a little under the weather. Luckily, I'm traveling with two wonderful amigas who took good care of me, making me a yummy dinner!!! After, I went to bed and the girls headed out for some proper food. The next morning I was feeling better so we all went out exploring. Arequipa seems quite European, with beautiful architecture, a grand plaza, nice restos, and a main shopping street. It is a welcomed change from Bolivia. The buildings are built from sillar which is white volcanic stone. Before lunch we went to the Colonial House [View Full Entry]

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Following our jungle and pampas adventures we flew back to La Paz -slept there over night and caught a 3 hour bus in the morning to Copacabana which is part of the infamous Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is one of the highest navigable lakes in the world. So... besides having a great name, there is also something cool about it. We arrived to Copacabana which is on the southern section of the lake. To get there, we bused from La Paz ($45 Bolivianos). Towards the end of our journey, we had to get off the bus and onto a small boat [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to PERU!! Or so we thought!!! (We were all happy to leave Bolivia and begin to scope out a new country.) Originally, our first stop in Peru was supposed to be Puno, located on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. It is famous for the floating islands and not much else besides its cesspool smelling waterfront. On our way there, rumors spread through the tourist bus that Peru's transportation sector was going on a 3-day strike starting the next day. We had a group huddle and decided to skip Puno and go straight to Arequipa avoiding the risk of getting [View Full Entry]

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Written by Gali: Onto the jungle portion of our journey... This was the second excursion we took from Rurrenabaque. Madidi national park is a MASSIVE reserve, occupying 1,900,000 Hectares of land, which range from the snow capped mountains surrounding La Paz to the humid jungles way up in Northern Bolivia. As well, there are approximately 4,738 species of plants, 156 types of animals, and 867 bird species. The jungle is much more of what Dani, Seth and I expected from the Amazon in terms of plants and trees. It was stunning!!! We had yet another wicked tour guide, Eric, who happened [View Full Entry]

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Written by Gali: After hearing amazing recounts from fellow travelers we were all super excited for the Bolivian portion of the Amazon. As the first part of our excursion from Rurrenabaque we headed to Las pampas for 3 days & 2 nights. The word literally translates to swamps or a more appropriate term would be wetlands. Our tour guide, Ronny, was great, he was able to spot the wildlife from miles away, for this reason we nicknamed him Eagle-Eye-Ronny. Our accommodation was laid out in a serene setting...little wooden huts in the middle of nowhere accompanied with the bare minimums...a to [View Full Entry]

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We flew to Rurrenabaque with Amazonas Airline on a small 17 passenger twin propeller plane. In the air we were all freaked out as the tail seemed to be swaying with the wind. To quote Dani, ¨I have honestly never been so terrified in my life.¨ Not to worry though, we got there and back safely! The landing strip in Rurre is grass so if there is any rain, all the flights for that day and the next are cancelled. Luckily, there was no rain while we were there. (We are traveling in the dry season) The ticket cost about $75 [View Full Entry]

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