Heading home. . . see you all in a few days... read more

You have no idea how close I came to changing my flights home and just staying here. You also have no idea how much of the desert I am taking home in my shoes. Huacachina is the cutest little artesania town on a laguna, an oasis in the middle of the desert. Erika and I went with the intention to stay for 2 days, then to head to Pisco to go to the Paracas National Park. Instead, we ended up staying for 4 days. We went sandboarding (think snowboarding on sand), swam in the lake, and met a group of guys who make those crazy cool ¨braided¨ ¨bracelets. It´s hard to describe, but anyways, we only spent one of 4 nights in a hostel. Two nights we all went camping in the desert, and the other ... read more

So the border crossing from La Paz (Bolivia) to Arequipa (Peru) took 2 hours. No idea why. Finally got to Arequipa last night, of course it´s a holiday and everything´s closed early. We were SO hungry. Tomorrow we leave for a 2-day trip to the Colca Canyon. Deeper and bigger than the Grand Canyon. Full of condors, rock forests, and a vicuña reserve (they´re relatives of llamas and alpacas). So excited!... read more

So, in the last week, we went from very hot to very cold. After leaving Rurre, we decided to go down south to Uyuni. We got in at 6am, which meant it was even colder than during the day (think lots of wind). We were trying to figure out if we should just go on a tour with the folks that let us stay in their office, when a group of French kids walked in. Apparently they had already been to 4 other agencies, and this one was the best-sounding. So, 3 days to the salt flats, green and red lakes, geysers, flamingos, and rocks. Elodine, Phillipe, and Adrian (ok, not French, but Italian-Belgium) made the trip especially fun. Spanish was our common language, although not the primary language of anyone. They all spoke French together, ... read more

The Amazon is amazing. SO many different cool-looking insects and useful plants. Three days in the jungle with a bunch of Australians, 2 Israelis, and 2 Dannish girls. Our guide was amazing, really knew his stuff, found me some sap that helps reduce the swelling of bug bites (I had 65 on one arm). Went swimming in the river, several hour-long hikes through the jungle, tried fishing for pirannah. Cut open seeds to make rings. Celebrated Shabbat with the Israelis, apparently I´m the first American Jew they´ve ever met. Rurrenabaque is this cute little town. French bakery has amazing garlic-mushroom pasteries. Pachamama has the friendliest staff ever. They have a greap menu, good vegetarian options. You can rent a movie for cheap, get some popcorn, and have your own private viewing room. They also have a ... read more

i was on an island this sunday, they use solar panels for electricity, so no updates in awhile we passed into bolivia successfully a few days ago. no one told us about the time difference, so we were the last ones to cross the border. it´s $130 for a visa to bolivia. it´s good for the next 5 years though, so i guess it´s worth it. the place we stayed at in copacabana was nice, but the people were horrible. they didn´t write down that we´d paid, so as we tried to leave for the isla de sol, they tried to get us to pay. . . . they also told us they don´t hold people´s bags overnight, even though we´d asked twice about it being ok. we did get to go paddleboating on lake titicaca ... read more

So, Machu Picchu was amazing. I had some trouble with the altitude, but it was incredible. I won´t go into too many details, but, there were roaming alpacas and I got to pet one. We ended up staying almost a week in Cusco. Went on a City Tour and Sacred Valley tour after Elana left us. Lots and lots of Incan ruins. Made some friends who took us to some lesser seen ruins. Bus to Puno, Peru was only 8 hours, but it was FREEZING by the end of the ride. The last few hours felt like forever. Went to see Incan burial cylinders today, pretty cool. Some friends we´d made on the way to Machu Picchu were on the tour too! Tomorrow we are off to the floating islands on Titicaca, then off to cross ... read more

We made it to Cusco, Peru finally. We bused from Trujillo to Lima, then took a plane to Cusco (it would have been a 22 hour bus ride otherwise). Tomorrow we go to Machu Picchu. I am so excited! This has been a dream of mine and Elana´s since high school. Cusco is wonderful. Its kind of nice to be in a touristy town. Parades, yummy food, a funny cat playing in the courtyard of our hostel. There was no hot water this morning and poor Erika spent a half hour wandering back and forth between different showers trying to get clean. Everyone keeps coming up to us and asking us to buy things or get a massage. The old churches are amazing though.... read more

We spent a couple of days in Chiclayo which was lovely. Northern Peru is really into its archeology, they should set the next Indiana Jones movie there. The tomb of the Señor de Sipan was filled with women and llamas and thousands of clay pots full of food. There was also a lot of priceless gold but that was less interesting than the decapitated llamas. The women guards in the tomb had their feet cut off so that they could not abandon their post. Now we are in Trujillo, the 2nd biggest city in Peru, which is very colonial and formal. We wandered into a political rally/concert last night in the main plaza. We have no idea what party it was for but whoever they are they have a lot of fun. Today we woke up ... read more

So, few more details of our trip. The Cathedral in Cuenca has stained glass with crosses and stars of David, an interesting mixture. We also went to a museum about how "Panama" hats are made (they´re from Ecuador). Cajas National Park is amazing, although I got super winded due to the altitude, which was unfortunate, but it was only my 3rd day in Ecuador. Went salsa dancing Wednesday night, apparently I´m not too bad. Then we caught a bus at 5am to Loja, Ecuador. From there, we bused to Piura, Peru. From Piura, we caught a bus to Chiclayo. 17 hours total. Chiclayo is cute. Went to the beach today, tried a sting-ray omlette. Tasted like some kind of white fish. Tomorrow, we´re off to Sipan, then busing to Trujillo in the evening. I´ll be sad ... read more