Well, all went well with our flight this morning. We actually took a bus to the airport instead of a taxi. This way we paid about 50 cents each compared to about $6 each. Our flight was about 30 minutes late but arrived on time in San Salvador. We checked with Taca Airlines of the cost of a plane ticket from San Salvador to Tegucigalpa... just in case. They were $422 each and we decided as nice as it would be to be back a night earlier, we'd stick with our $35 bus. We then decided to do a bus from the airport to the center of town instead of a taxi. What would have cost us each about $14 cost us a 60 cent bus ride and then splitting a $3 taxi. NICE! We checked ... read more

Last night was fun. Everson and Nara arrived with Nara's personal taxi at the hostel. Ruben got lost somewhere and since he lost his cell phone, we had no way of contacting him. Nara and Everson took us to some nice family restaurant that specializes in chicken. We all ordered and shared a whole chicken, some fries and a salad. It was GOOD! It was also fantastic to see these guys again. It's been 1.5 years since I left the ship, and yet it felt like I had just seen them yesterday. It was a great visit. This morning we woke up and ate breakfast (included!) at our hostel. They gave us eggs, toast and jam. This held us over until lunch/dinner around 3pm. From our hostel it was about a 5-10 minute walk to where ... read more

Well, we made our flight this morning. They changed it to 9am instead of 11:30 but we knew this time so we were on time. Our flight actually left a little late but it wasn't too bad. We flew Puerto Maldonado to Cusco then sat on the plane while passengers got off and got on then were on our way to Lima. Once in Lima, we quickly got our bags and headed outside to find a taxi. Things go much faster when you don't have to check through customs! We got an "official airport taxi" and managed to talk them down from S45 to S35 to our hostel. Ok... I have had bad taxi drivers before but this guy took the prize for worst driver ever. We almost got into about 10 accidents. He was weaving ... read more

Well, we're back from the jungle and no one was eaten by jaguars or caymans so we're good! The trip was fun. We did it through the hostel (Tambotata hostel in Puerto Maldonado). Because there were 7 of us on the tour, it cost us less and we were able to do the whole thing for about $150. This included transportation, lodging for 2 nights, ALL meals for 3 days, and our guide/tours. About $50/day and totally worth it considering how well they fed us and all the things we got to do! On the first morning, we all woke up and enjoyed breakfast at the hostel together. It was bread and jam but ALSO an egg and fruit salad with yogurt! Then we walked about 5 minutes down to the dock where we caught a ... read more

Well, dinner last night with our new friends was fun. It was nice to be able to see them again before parting ways. We talked a lot about theatre. These boys have had quite the performance stints... including Puccini's La Boheme on Broadway! Right up my alley... Anyways, we were VERY happy to awaken this morning and hear cars on the street. This meant we would be able to get to the airport and make our flight to Puerto Maldonado. We arrived at the airport around 9am. Our flight wasn't until 10:20 so we had lots of time... except that we didn't, and actually got lucky. Our flight time was apparently changed and we had no idea. It was bumped up to 7:20. We think maybe they sent us an email about it, but since we ... read more

This morning I slept until about 8 and then woke up and watched the World Cup game with Sarah from our beds. Today was a lazy day. We stayed in our room for a long while. I finally got up at some point and took a mostly warm shower, then we head out to see how the craziness of the city was going. Today was the "strike" we'd been hearing about for awhile. We had heard crowds and drums in the streets from our hotel as well so we knew something was happening. Since we've lived through all the craziness in Honduras this year, this seemed like nothing to us. It was more like a parade with people carrying banners and flags. We're not positive what they're protesting but there's lots of talk about gas. Lucky ... read more

Last night we had a VERY delicious Chinese food "menu" meal, meaning that you pick an appetizer, a soup, a main course and a hot beverage for only S15, which is about $5. I had wantons, miso soup, beef and vegetables with fried rice, and a chamomile tea! So much food for so cheap, and a good price. We were also happy with this place as they didn't charge us some fake tax that every other restaurant in Aguas Calientes seems to charge but no one can explain. We did argue it at one place and the lady agreed we didn't have to pay it. This is the ONLY place in Peru where we have run into this - seems like just another money maker to me. We then walked around a bit and waited for ... read more

We woke up this morning bright and early. We left our bigger backpacks (wrapped in garbage bags and packaging tape so that we will be able to tell if someone tampered with them) and took our little bags (packed only with what we'll need for 1 night and 2 days) and set off for the train station. We were only about a 5 minute walk to the station. We arrived 30 mins before our "train" as our ticket told us, and were surprised how quickly we were loaded onto a 20 seater van/minibus. The reason for this (instead of the train) is that due to the overabundance of rain that they experienced this year during their rainy season, Peru experienced many landslides, as well as roads (and train tracks) being completely whiped out. Because of this, ... read more