Blogs from South America - page 5360

It doesn´t seem to matter where you are, Asia, Central America, or South America, the boats are slow. Since we´re on holidays and having nothing to do but meet new people, soak up some sun, and take in the sights, 2.5hrs for 20km is no big deal. We arrived in the village of Cha´llapampa at the northern end of Isla del Sol, which is by far the nicer end of the island as most folks only come for the day and go to the southern portion of the island. During our boat ride we met 4 other Canadians, which is the most we´ve come across so far. The six of us hiked north of town for the afternoon to the sacred rock which is both the legendary Inca creation site and the birthplace of the sun ... read more

Completed my first week at school and it´s all gone pretty well. I´m not exactly fluent yet but, I am starting to understand a lot more of what people are saying to me. Did a walking tour of the city on Thursday, it´s a beautiful place. But, more importantly, the guide offered to take me to see Boca juniors (Argentina´s biggest football club) play on Sunday. Waiting for a mail at the mo to confirm the arrangements- I hope it comes off. I had my first real night out last night and am paying for it today. Everything starts so late here, it´s difficult to get used to. I finished my dinner in a restaurent at 11 and got to the bar I was heading for around 12, it was empty!! People started arriving between 2 ... read more

Saturday. Herv and Karla depart at 22:45. Master traveller Herv has arranged a late departure from the hotel, so we have a full day ahead to SHOP! We are off to the Palermo Soho neighborhood. It is centered around the Plaza Sorrento and every radiating street holds more surprises. There is a Saturday market in operation when we arrive, so Holden and Herv head there, while Julia and I head to the boutiques. We agree to meet to have lunch at the small Hotel Bo Bo. Leather goods and clothing is of exceptional quality and very reasonably priced. For the first time, I wish I had brought an empty suitcase to fill. Reason number 43 why we have to return. ... read more

I´m Back Y´all So you´ve probably been asking yourselves.... How does my hair look? Does he/she like me for me, or only my stunning good looks? Can it really be, has Chris Penn left us for good? Were thirty-six roses enough, or should I have gone for fifty? Well allow me to give you a short respite from your everyday problems, with another entry from my travels which are ironically becoming increasingly domestic. About twelve days ago now I was starting to plan my exit from Quito when the unexpected happened. I met a girl. Her name is Vanessa and she has swept me off my feet in that kind of unreal romantic/comedy way, so surely much drama will follow. She is a medical student here and dropped by my Spanish school to use the computer ... read more

Three hours from Copacabana, on the other side of Lake Titicaca is Puno. Everybody who comes here makes a visit to the floating islands of Uros on Lake Titicaca. The islands are made of totora reeds, which grows abundandly in the shallow parts of the Lake Titicaca. The reed seems to be quite a versatile plant. The people living on the islands use it for pretty much everything: they use it for the islands, they eat it, they burn it, and they build houses and boats and all sorts of things of it. We took a one day boat cruise on Lake Titicaca visiting the floating islands and Isla Taquile. Visiting the floating islands was an interesting experience but Isla Taquile was less impressive. After seeing Isla del Sol, Isla Taquile was just another island on ... read more