Just got the word last week that I have a two month leave of absence approved for this November/December! Which means another awesome trip is in the works. A short stint in Vietnam followed by some time in Indonesia and the Philippines is on deck for this trip. Stay tuned for trip details and adventures!... read more

After an amazing few days in Cochabamba where we did not really get up to a whole ton except enjoy the City, Amy and I both bought bus tickets to head in opposite directions. Amy wanted to do an ice climbing trek to a mountain somewhere in the 6,000 m altitude range outside of La Paz and I wanted to go visit Sucre. After our last day in Cochabamba, I got on my night bus that I was dreading for the entire day. Mostly because it was the only bus that said they had cama (bed seats) yet it was only Bs. 60 (which is about $9) for the 12-hour ride. Needless to say I expected the worst. However, my recent experiences with other horrible night buses had me prepare well in advance for the discomfort. ... read more

Well we had a day to fool around in La Paz before our flight to Rurrenabaque, so Amy elected to go for a hike and returned with a sprained ankle and a big grin. It was apparently a very challenging hike, but she rocked it. I spent the day wandering around the Black Market, browsing llama fetuses in the witches market, buying some gifts, exchanging books and generally exploring the City. I also had an incredible steak for lunch! The next morning we jumped on our flight down into the Amazon basin. We heard that the Bolivian Amazon is the most untouched part of the entire jungle, so we figured we would have a great time. We dropped off our gear at a hostel, and went out in the intense humidity to track down one of ... read more

Well this computer is not the quickest, so all I coud get was one photo uploaded. I will add some more at the next computer I find. In the meantime, after our adventures in Cusco, we hopped a night bus to Arequipa, which is slighty south east of Cusco. We got there pretty early, had a great breakfast overlooking the Plaza and then found our hostel by about 8:00 a.m. I laid down for a few minutes while Amy organized her stuff and then we woke up and it was 1:00 p.m. Needless to say the night bus was not as good as the one we had going to Cusco. So we peeled ourselves out of bed and headed to a vegetarian restaurant for a buffet, which Amy was thrilled about, I had a good meal ... read more

So we arrived in Cuzco around 11:00 a.m. and found a great hostel a little bit up on the hill. Cuzco is really neat and a lot of their streets are actually just stairs. Which with the thin air of the high altitude, a large backback, and me out of shape, saw me show up at the door to the hostel and barely able to get two words out. Thankfully Amy is better at Spanish, and apparently more fit! After we dropped off our stuff we went exploring and had some lunch. Amy, Warrior Princess, finally started to feel the effects of the altitude and felt a bit drunk when we were eating lunch. So we both decided that we would take the advice of our previous hostel owner and rest and eat small meals and ... read more