Now that I'm at home and have time to reflect on the 11 month journey I just had I wanted to remember the highs and lows of the trip and include some details in general. Continents Visited: Asia, Oceania, South America Countries Visited: Japan, China, Tibet (I consider it it's own country and it should be), Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia and Peru Favorite Country: Tibet followed very very closely by Cambodia Best Restaurant: Spicy Noodle and Dumpling House (Chengdu, China) [View Full Entry]

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We were really excited to embark on our last huge expedition. Throughout this journey the three of us had certain places we wanted to see the most. I wanted to see Mount Everest, Chris wanted to see The Great Wall and Krista wanted to see Machu Picchu. The first two had already been checked off, now it was time for Krista's choice. We had booked our trek in February and ended up going with one of the more expensive companies due to our strict time frame and limited availability. As we found out it is common place to book your trek [View Full Entry]

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So after spending a few fun days in Arequipa it was time to descend on Cusco where we would be for 5 nights before heading off on our Inca Trail. The bus ride was overnight and relatively painless. I didn´t sleep all that well but I never really expect to. The Irish guys were on the bus as well but they had better seats than us so they slept a little better. We arrived in Cusco at 7 am and caught a cab to our hostel. We had to wait a while before check in so we grabbed some breakfast and [View Full Entry]

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So after all the crap that happened with TAM I wasn´t real positive that we would leave the jungle on time......but amazingly our flight left right on time and had us in La Paz by 9:30am. If only our first flight went this smoothly. Our plan was to catch a bus for three hours to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca so we ran back by Wild Rover to pick up our big packs and headed off to catch the bus. Of course on the way there we ran into yet another protest with this one literally blocking our path [View Full Entry]

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So I´m usually use to long bus rides by now but the 6 hour ride from Puno to Arequipa felt like a day and a half. The air wasn´t turned on so it got real stuffy real quick and there was a lady in front of me that literally was about to die. No joke, I truly believed that this woman could die at any minute she looked that sick. Upon arrival we made our way to our hostel then headed out to get some food. We stopped by this place called Tacos & Tequila which actually had pretty good Mexican [View Full Entry]

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So we spent a few days in La Paz trying to decipher whether we wanted to go to the jungle or not. Basically it was going to cost us a pretty penny and we would have to deal with the humidity and, from what we had learned from other travelers who had been to the jungle, the ludicrous amount of mosquitoes. We ended up walking into a tour agency called Madidi Travel and spoke with the founder of the company and one of the founders of the Madidi National Park, Rosa Maria and after 5 minutes of her talking I was [View Full Entry]

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So our first overnight bus in Bolivia was a 12 hour journey from Sucre to La Paz, the capital city. It really wasn´t that bad except for the fact that it was absolutely freezing and I didn´t dress appropriately....my mistake. We arrived in La Paz bright and early and made our way to our hostel. La Paz is the Capital of Bolivia and is also the highest capital in the world at 12,008 feet. Upon arrival at our hostel we had to wait 5 hours before we could get our room and since we were all pretty tired we headed up [View Full Entry]

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So after an incredibly enjoyable trip through the Salt Flats we headed to our next destination, the so called highest city in the world....Potosi. Whether or not it is the highest city in the world is up for debate but at 13,420 feet it´s pretty damn high. Our bus ride from Uyuni was an interesting experience. The bus itself was perfectly fine. I have read other blogs where people complained that the buses were worse than anything they rode in Cambodia or Laos and I must say that I completely disagree at this point. This was my first Bolivian bus though [View Full Entry]

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So after a very entertaining few days in San Pedro we left Chile and headed off on a three day 4x4 trip into Bolivia. We were recommended a few different companies but in the end we went with Estrella de Sur who´s impeccable reputation more or less sealed the deal. We boarded a bus in the morning and headed off to the border where we would meet our driver, get stamped into the country, and head out across the desert. Upon reaching the border Krista, Chris and I were told to go first into immigration due to the fact that we [View Full Entry]

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San Pedro definitely rejuvenated me. Before arriving here I had just thought most places were so so but this place was great and actually felt like South America instead of Europe. We arrived in San Pedro from Salta after a good 8 hour bus ride that brought us to heights of around 13,000 feet.....that'll give you a nice little headache. The town is located at 7900 feet with is high enough to make you dizzy but not do too much damage. The town is located in the Atacama desert which happens to be the driest desert in the world. The region [View Full Entry]

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