rskutezky

So the past couple of weeks has involved a lot of jumping around... Copacabana (Bolivia) - Arequipa (Peru) - Nasca - Huacachina - Pisco - Lima. Copacabana: This was a pretty great place - right on Lake Titicaca, which is huge, and we had a great few days chilling out at this beautiful place overlooking the bay. Did a day trip to Isla del Sol - according to Inca legend this is where the sun was born. So there are tons of ruins - spent the day hiking the length of it which was insanely scenic with the water and the mountains in the distance. Not surprising it left an impression on the Incas. Arequipa: we then crossed into Peru and headed to Arequipa - which was a really stylish city with unbelievable restaurants and nightlife. ... read more

Here are some pics way back to San Rafael and up to a few days ago. Leaving off from the last entry... We left Valparaiso and drove north through Chile along the coast, then into the interior (which was all desert) and then back out to the coast. It was a pretty unbelievable drive. Eventually we made it to the tiny desert town of San Pedro de Atacama, which was kindof a cool place.. all the buildings were really basic - low and made of stone, yet they had quite the tourist appeal.. so some cool open air restaurants where you could eat by a fire while looking up at the stars.. almost an apres ski crowd in this place. We woke up really early to go see the geysers at sunrise.. pretty spectacular sight. The ... read more

So Mendoza was great.. spent 4 nights there... really charming city. The big highlight was renting bikes with two brits and doing a day trip along the country roads and through little towns, while making stops to do some wine tasting. We wet to about 7 different vineyards... a couple we had a little tour of and learned about the whole process. We had such a beautiful day for it, and it was so great to see the country by bike and feel the muscles working. It was also our first real view of the Andes, which was super exciting they popped out of the sky, snow caps and all. We left Mendoza expecting to take a 6 h bus to Santiago. But this involves going through a tunnel (through the mountains) which closes sometimes due ... read more

Amazing time in B.A. One of the coolest cities Ive ever been to. First of all, it´s HUGE. 13 million people I think. It has everything of a typical big city, but because everything is SO CHEAP, you can actually afford to do things. So we did a lot of eating out, the highlights being the pizza and the insanely fat steaks. We stayed in a hostel right downtown, in a beautifully restored building. It had winding marble stairs, and cast iron railings. It was packed with people - pretty much your quintessential big city party hostel. So we had a pretty unbelievable time. The night life is rediculous - I´ll save those stories for home. But to give you an idea, the clubs don´t open until 2, and the norm is to stay out past ... read more

Wow I'm pretty behind on the blogging... sorry about that but internet is at a premium in the hostels, but it's generally free so I can' t complain.. So we left campo grande by bus in the late afternoon, with expected arrival in Iguazu Falls at 11am the next day. The bus driver woke us up in the middle of the night - we had no idea what the hell was going on, but we finally figured out that we had to switch buses. So we did. A few hours later, at 4 am, the driver wakes us up again, and again, we have no idea what's going on. Turns out we had arrived 6 hours early. Still no explaination for that one, except that the driver must have been flooring it the whole way. ... read more

here they are...... read more

Arrived last night back to Campo Grande after a great retreat into the Pantanal. This place dips into Bolivia and Paraguay as well, apparently its the largest wetland in the world. In the rainy season it all floods, leaving patches of isolate wildlife. Not peak time right now but that just means you have to wander a little farther to see things. We were shuttled by van about 6 hours into this Brazilian grassland - unbelievable drive and for the first time truly felt to be in the middle of no where - and then by jeep even further in along dirt roads. Eventually came to a ranch that puts you up and takes you to explore the forests and rivers - by boat, foot, horse, or truck. Did some pretty cool stuff; riding throught ... read more

Hey all! Ill try to keep this brief as everything in Rio - internet included - is pretty steep price-wise. Its been a good few days... staying at a hostel about 4 blocks from Ipanema beach. Really unbelievable city, from what I can tell, and a rediculous setting. Spent our time poking around the city, at the beach, up to see Christ the Redeemer and chilling out at the hostel. Really nice one. Also spent a lot of time reading, which feels so incredible to be able to do. Not to mention, showing up and finding ´Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance´ laying around and up for grabs, the very book I opted to leave behind. Must be destiny. Tried to track down the habs game the other night, but with no luck. Too bad ... read more