This past weekend, Bolivia took the opportunity to celebrate Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Needless to say, everything was closed -- including a lot of transportation. Meaning I was stuck in Sucre, the judicial capital of Bolivia. I came to Sucre hoping to do some trekking in the surrounding valleys, but found that unlike the more touristy areas, the price is based on the number of people. And all the travelers I met in Sucre seemed to be more inclined to partying than hiking. On Saturday I took the "Dino Bus" up to the Crustaceous Park, which contains the alleged "longest track of dinosaur footprints in the world." It´s actually pretty cool (the tracks were made horizontally, but uplifting of the Andean plate has made them almost vertical), but felt more like Disneyland, ... read more

Last Friday, 23/10 I arrived in La Paz from Copacabana. I spent pretty much the entire day trying to obtain my Paraguayan Visa--which I recently found out was actually a planning mistake and now Im traveling to Paraguay because I feel that I HAVE to, given the expense. I took the 6:15 flight from La Paz to the jungle town of Rurrenabaque, which borders Parque Nacional Madidi. Even making the flight was very lucky, as there had been rain for several days prior, and flights cannot land in Rurre after rain because it is made of dirt. The flight in itself was very scenic flying several km by snow-capped peaks (we were below the summit) in a 12 person jet. I opted to take the Pampas tour instead of the jungle, because no matter how tough ... read more

On Monday, upon returning from Arequipa, I decided on doing the Salkantay Trek. After pricing around tour companies (they are twice as expensive when you book online rather than in the Cusco office -- and most offer the exact same tour for the exact same price. Even the established, Lonely-Planet-recommended companies did the exact same trek, often with the same food and everything). I was able to get the student discount, making my trip only slightly more expensive than a two-day trip to Machu Picchu. I spent the rest of the day trying to visit ruins museums included in the Boleto Turistico; the ruins immediately outside of Cusco were not comparable to the ones Id already seen, and the museums were small and redundant (except for some elaborate sculptures made of bone in the Museo de ... read more

I thought I was getting used to South American driving until we came inches from hitting a cow head-on on the highway. Of course, it's always hard to feel comfortable going 100km/hr in the back of a beat-up colectivo with no seat-belts on a windy, wet road, but asi es la vida. Just spent the last few days exploring the towns surrounding Cusco in an attempt to make purchasing the extremely expensive Boleto Turistico worthwhile. Saqsaywaman was extremely crowded, likely a result of it being only 2km from Cusco and the fact that I didn't make it there until the afternoon... Much of the ruins was also closed. The ruins above Pisaq were fantastic; I took a 4km hike up the side of the citadel and returned to Pisaq via a trail that descended through the ... read more