http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/balpo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from balpo en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:31:17 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:31:17 +0000 well we made it to tikal after spending a couple of nights in san ignacio. Tikal is right up with there with some of the most amazing places that I have seen in my life. The spread of buildings involves 6 major temples the tallest of which shoots into the sky at well over 200 ft. Although the temples are incredible it may be the setting that truly makes Tikal so special. It is crazy to walk t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Belize/Belize-Barrier-Reef/Caye-Caulker/blog-34555.html Hello Well it has been about 6 months since our last trip. We spent about 6 months at home recharging the batteries and pulling together a little money. We are only doing a short three week trip starting in mexico and then heading into belize to guatamla back to belize then back to mexico. We spent 2 glorious days running the white sands of tulum. We had an incredible beach front cabana th http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Belize/Cayo-District/San-Ignacio/blog-32513.html this is without spell check and was written a blistering speed so please excuse the numerous errors.We just watched the sunset over Lake Titicaca colors painted rapidly before our eyes. New shades with every sip of beer. Its our second sunset here and our second in Bolivia. And we are enjoying being on top of the world. Although we have felt this high 13000 ft at least for the past fe http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ancash/Huaraz/blog-9042.html this is a try to post some photos from our machu picchu trip. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-8128.html it has been a while since the last entry and much has happened. we headed north through argentina and have made our way into peru. some highlights horse riding in san lorenzo traveling up to tilcara a magical little village in the north mountian biking with giant cactus an epic bus journey from argentina to chile to peru over 40 hrs straight seeing a convent that has been closed to the public http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/blog-7760.html this will be short but at least it is a start. we are in brazil in a little hostel called crab hostl. This morning we got up had a little caf and walked two blocks to the white sandy beach of ipanema. the sand was so warm that it was buring our feet. for those that have never made it to rio it is must see. the beach is surrounded by jungle covered hills all of the buildings have little te http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-3193.html ola' todo bem hello how are youToday celebrates our our first week in brazil and we feel like little sponges soaking up everything possible. Right now we are at a place called the Sitio which is a mountian home of our friends that we have been visiting in brazil. It is a beautiful house in the middle of a valley near the city of petroplis. Prior to coming to Sitio we spent 6 glorious day http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/blog-3414.html its a mesmerizing little island. its only about 8km long and maybe 1 widemaking it easy to explore and understand why there are no motorized vehicles here. lots of bikes and buggies but no cars. it is like going back in time. the sandy streets and early 20th century buildings have for sure outlasted their hayday but i still get the sense of their grandier. its plesant quaint and very http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/blog-3570.html the last few days we spent in rio going an assortment of blocos these are basically a tradition that started with carnival where each block has a band that plays on the flat bed of a truck and then everyone from the neighborhood and anyone eles who wants to join in follow behind and drink a ton of beer and sing along. they were great fun and also very tiring. one of them went on for about 3 h http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Paraty/blog-3779.html We found it It's a place called Trinidade. About an hour long at moments life threateningdramatic effect bus ride from Paraty. It's a peninsula where the the jungle is as accessible as the beach and we did both in one day. It started VERY LAZY Drinks on the beach catching sun and watching surferes in our wooden beach chairs. I think we did that for about 5 hours hard to say I kept f http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-3888.html Carnival timeYesterday we spent the day trying our best to recover from the night before and sorting out tickets to one of the biggest parties in the world carnival. The good news is we achieved both with incredible success. we are joining our new friends from ireland met them on the bus to paraty for the festivities. it all kicks off tonight at 9pm rio time and goes till 6 am so we are go http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-3969.html this will be quick as we working on the details for our next destination. On sunday we got our chance to experience carnival and the parade first hand. We got to the sambadrome at about 930 pm and didn't leave till 830 the next morning. It is quite an experience to be in the thick of things the crowd dressed up in many colors the lights flashing the fireworks to kick off each samba school http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-4083.html bom noite we write this from a little town called puerto seguro meaning safe port that is north of rio about 1300 KM. it is a sleepy little town that serves as a jumping off place for the beaches of brazil both north and south. We have had a great time since leaving rio discovering little beach towns and the rigors of bus travel in south america. two nights ago we found ourselves extremely ti http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Porto-Seguro/blog-4234.html we got on a bus for valentines day ahh true love and headed for a town on the coast ilheus. after the lengthy 7 hr ride which was only supposed to take 5 we got of the bus and sat to figure out our plan of action. in every town thus far this has consisted of going to the tourist office talking to travels at the station ringing a few pousadas and trying to figure out what direction things http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/blog-4332.html we have had many more adventures since our last entry it is always tough to remember them when we sit down to write again. as predicted in the last email sun did come our way and we spent a beautiful day on a beach called itacarezinho. it was a glorious beach with tropical rainforest hills sliding in aquamarine as in the crayon color oceans. this was a part of the brazil cost that has not me http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/blog-4530.html on the eve of march we write yet another entry. when we last left we had made our way to salvador bahia for a signal night before heading of to lenois. we spent a night in salvador soaking up the colonial artistry and some bahian food. in the morning we were off to the bus station for our next 7 hr social confinement exercise. at this point i think i should give you a primer on bus riding in http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/blog-4831.html well it has been a while since our last entry. we last left off with lencois and then were on our way to capao. capao was a fantastic village. it is in serene valley covered in green jungle with dramatic granite cliffs towering above. on day one we walked 15 km to a beautiful waterfall that looked out over another valley town below called saber. the waterall created a perfect swimming pool for http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/blog-5352.html They are our last stop in Brazil. The end of our Brazilian trip approached fast and felt like we kept a rapid and steady travel beat. Capao to Salvador bus. Salvador to Belo Horizonte plane. Skip a beat as our flight was delayed. Belo Horizonte to Rio plane. Say goodbye to Maria Antonia and the Serra and Pinheiro clans who are some of the most delightful and generous people on the plane http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Paran-/Foz-do-Igua-u/blog-5353.html buenos aires we have spent the last couple of days soaking up this beatiful and soulfull city. we arrived on sunday morning at 730 am. we took a fabulous bus from posadas that was called a full cama. this baby was better than some hotel rooms we have stayed in. the seats were wide and plush like 1st class airline seats. they feed us three times although i dont anyone would call the food a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-5488.html we hope you enjoy some of the photos http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-5600.html