I'm officially two months behind schedule. It's a good thing there are no due dates in this project. Although I'm now home and safe and happily going about my normal student life, it is still important to me to finish off this blog and explain the rest of my trip. I want to complete this little project and round out this record. Staying in real time for a moment longer: today my first travel column was published in my university newspaper. I'll be writing a biweekly column this year called "It's a wild world..." about culture and diversity and travel and [View Full Entry]

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OK, here´s the secret: in real life I am in Granda, Nicaragua. I´m here volunteering with the great organization ¨Ritmo en los Barrios¨ teaching piano classes to local kids and having a great time being a bit more settled. So that means that I am not in Cartagena, it is not July 8th, and really this blog is falsifying a lot of things. But I´m of the ¨better late than never¨ mindset, backtracking so that everything can be complete even in my neglect to post consistently. So, after the Salkantay trek I had a bit of a runaround wherein I found [View Full Entry]

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Salkantay means ¨Wild Mountain¨ in Quechua. This foreboding name was given to the glacier Salkantay to note its propensity towards ferocious avalanches that spelled danger for the Andean, Inca peoples. Today, Salkantay is known as a popular alternative trek from Cusco towards Machu Picchu and many travellers set off towards the glacier and the lost city of the Incas on a five day excursion that will take them up to an altitude of 4,650 m. and down again, through jungle and along a river, into towns and campsites but also off into the rugged wilderness along narrow trails. I found this [View Full Entry]

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Of all of the countries I have been to on this trip and perhaps ever, Peru is the one I will probably most reccomend to people as a travel destination. It basically has everything you would want. First of all, it is a stunningly beautiful country with diverse natural landscapes. Secondly, the people are truly lovely: hospitable and generous and friendly and welcoming. Thirdly, the cultural aspects beg to be investigated and both ancient peoples (those of Machu Picchu) and modern peoples (the Andean inhabitants) have fascinating cultural beliefs and are more than willing to share them with you. [View Full Entry]

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OK, so I realize that this whole blogging adventure has not worked out incredibly well and that I am a few weeks behind where I should be but I wanted to write a quick update about my last few days in Bolivia. Please discount the fact that I have been in three countries since Bolivia... One of the most exhilirating experiences of my trip so far was mountain biking down what they called the World's Most Dangerous Road, or the Death Road, outside of La Paz. Whispers about this old highway that winds downhill through the jungle flanked by sheer cliffs [View Full Entry]

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When I began planning my trip to South America I asked a friend who had travelled in the area for some advice and she said that a 4x4 tour in the south of Bolivia to see the salt flats was absolutely unmissable. For that reason this part of my trip was one of the most anticipated segments becuase I trusted that it would be amazing. My three day adventure did not dissapoint. I managed to leave my comfy bed and face the brutally cold morning to meet up with eight other backpackers also using Cordillera travel for their trip and cross [View Full Entry]

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San Pedro de Atacama is a really strange little town in the middle of the driest desert in the world. Although it gets points for having sandy streets, the backpacker atmosphere here is overwhelming and this desert oasis is filled with tourists who think they are better than other tourists becuase they carry their worldy posessions on their backs instead of wheeling them around. Many people here are using this town as a jumping off point for a tour into the salt flats of Bolivia, which was my plan as well, so I spent my couple of days here researching and [View Full Entry]

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The province of Salta in Northern Argentina is nicknamed ¨Salta La Linda,¨ as the pretty one. I spent four days in this region, based in the colonial city of Salta but exploring the provinces of Salta and Jujuy on excursions organized by my hostel. It was a reprieve from city-dwelling as I adventured into places of extreme natural beauty and surprisingly diverse landscapes. After my thirty hour bus journey from Santiago, Chile across the border into Argentina and then north all the way to Salta, I arrived exhausted and got a Hostelling International hostel with nice, hot showers. I explore [View Full Entry]

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Well, we crossed the continent. Heading from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Valparaiso, Chile meant waving goodbye to the Atlantic Ocean and saluting the Pacific. It meant night bus adventures that included huddling in a field at 4 a.m. and a day bus through the Andes mountain range that featured amazement at the stunning natural beauty there. The stars of the journey were fantastic people that we met along the way, as is always the case, and the highlights were adventures that we happened upon. I can only scratch the surface here of course. We ate delicious food from all over the [View Full Entry]

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Trying to write about the power of Iguassu Falls is a frustrating endeavour. I have attempted description a few times now but the waterfalls, ¨cataratas,¨ defy language. Writing this blog becomes very difficult when so many things I am seeing on this trip are twisting my tounge, making my brain, not accustomed to essay composition at the moment, work overtime. Travelling by night bus from Florianopolis I arrived in Foz de Icuacu, the town on the Brazilian side of the waterfalls and made my way up to the park by city bus. I am glad I am here in the winter, [View Full Entry]

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