The Count up

These last three months have led us on an incredible journey, sweeping through jungles, deserts, praries, snow capped mountain ranges and beautiful coastlines to mention a few. We were enriched by the cultures and people that we met, as well as by each other. It was a great time for the two of us to be together and we are thankful to God for His provision as well as guidance. The memories are seemingly endless, but we thought that we would summarize quickly with a bit of a count up from our trip.

Days spent in South America - 91

Different places we have slept - 42

Number of Buses,Combis, Colectivos (excluding all city transit) - 50

Hours spent on the bus - 235

Sum of 3 longest bus rides - 62hrs.

Night buses - 13

Modes of transportation - 13 (bus, taxi, boat, train, Gondola, trolly, Subway, Ecovia, Canoe, Raft, Tram, Combi, Colectivo)

Border Crossings - 12

Countries - 7

Protests - 6

Ferry´s - 5

Trains - 4

Memories - Priceless

Rio

Well here we are on our last night in South America. The last couple of days have been nice here in Rio. It is an interesting city and we have enjoyed exploring some of it. We began yesterday by attempting to be touristy, hopped on a bus and headed up to Corcovado(the hill with the Jesus statue). We got there only to find a thick fog hanging over the mountain. A little disheartened we set off on foot back the way we had come and with the help of our map explored some of Rio´s coast. Later in the afternoon we made our way on the metro to Copacabana beach. Despite the thick clouds and chilly wind we sat on the beach and watched the waves. We headed back before the dark clouds let loose torrential rains and grabbed some supper as well as one of the many varieties of tropical fruit drinks here.

Today we woke up to bright blue skies and excited by the potential of sun set off quickly to catch a clear view from Corcovado. We jumped on trusty bus number 180 to Rua Cosmo Vehlo where we took the Cog train up. Wow, what a statue. It is incredible to see it in person as well as the great cityscape below. After this we headed back to Copacabana to enjoy some much needed rays. It was a perfect day on the beach. We wandered around abit, did some shopping, and after supper came back to pack up our bags for tomorrow. Everything looks like it should be in order for tomorrow. So if everything goes well tomorrow we will hop the metro to the beach for the morning and then head out after lunch to the airport to begin our final journey home. We are looking forward to seeing everyone.

Brazil and Beaches

Its crazy how time flies, it seems like not that long ago we were walking the streets in Lethbridge dreaming about a grand 3 month trip, and now here we are with under a week left. I guess we should back up just a few days to our time in Iguassu, Brazil. The Brazil side of the falls were incredible. Although they lacked the close up view of the Argentine side they made up for it with an incredible panoramic view, and some great rainbows as well. Mix that in with the incredible jungle backdrop and you have got a great photo. It was loads of fun and a nice tranquil time before we headed off on one hectic adventure to get to Paraty.

Our first leg to get to Paraty was to head to Sao Paulo, about 16 hours or so from foz do Iguassu. We hopped on a bus just before 7pm and began our journey. The bus was interesting, more of a bolivia type bus than a Brazil bus, there was no food, movies, or leg room and we settled in for an adventure. We had just started to get sleepy when the bus stopped at a random hotel. A couple people got off and quickly lugged off a bunch of luggage, and no sooner than it had started they were back on the bus again. We thought not too much of it as we had not seen our luggage being pulled off and soon began to doze off again. Things were cool untill just after midnight. We finally came to and realized that the bus was stopped and chaos was ensuing below. There was luggage everywhere beside the bus and police. It turns out that our bus was on route from Paraguay, the land of cheap things. However you are only allowed to bring back a certain amount per person. Well lets just say that we left alot of boxes behind that were confiscated. This gave us a bit of a jolt to say the least, and finally after about an hour or so we managed to begin to doze again, only to be woken by another pit stop. It was a long night, with even more stops to fix the bus. We pulled in to Sao Paulo at around 12:30 (missing our initial connecting bus) but managed to catch one for later in the afternoon. We arrived into Paraty at about 9pm to a completely different feel. Even though it was dark out you could tell it was a laid back quiet beach town with surf crashing in the background. We found our hostel quickly and went straight to bed.

Our time here in Paraty has been great. It is a beautiful tropical setting with georgous mountains, and ocean dotted with little islands. The town itself is quite picturesque with cobblestone streets, and brightly colored little shops lining them. The first day we explored some caves, an old fort, and checked out the town as well as enjoying a coconut juice(from the cocunut with a straw) from a street vendor along the harbour. We were lucky to have no rain although the dark clouds held the sun at bay. Today we had high hopes for the day but they were thwarted with a heavy downpour most of the morning. It didnt stop us from taking a swim in the atlantic as we were soaking already. After lunch things cleared off and we rented a canoe to tour around some of the islands and the mangroves. As the sky looks menacing once again we will head back into town and take care of a few errands before catching a bite to eat and relaxing on one of these few fleeting evenings we have left in South America.

Iguazu

We were surprised when we awoke early with the sun as we have been further south and the sun is not up until very late. We set out for the bus and were excited to see these spectacular waterfalls. We entered the park and set out for the train to bring us closer to the falls. When we arrived at the second station we saw a huge line up for the biggest part of the falls and decided to do our tour backwards to avoid the crowds. We started out on various look out points along the top of the falls and were taken back by the power and beauty of the surrounding falls. It was breath taking. We then set out to the trails that looked up to the falls and enjoyed snapping lots of pictures, although they can not capture the grandeur. We quickly made our way to the boat launch to make our way to the island. The train and boat were all included in the park intrance fee. The boat ride lasted just about 60 seconds and we wandered the island to see another view of the falls. The argentine falls are noted for being a closer view of the falls where as the brazil side is further away and therefore a panoramic view. Lastly we rode the train again to the Devils throat which is the largest part of the falls and most powerful. We made our way along the catwalk and got very wet from the spray from the water. All in all it was awe inspiring and definately a highlight!! After about 6 hours at the falls we made our way back to the hostel and scored another deal for one more night.

We took it easy this morning and relaxed. We wandered the town and enjoyed a nice lunch soaking in some much missed sunshine. We were very excited to be able to wear shorts! We packed our bags and made our way to the bus station to go over the border to brazil. We had heard lots of stories about this border crossing in getting the buses to stop for the proper paperwork to be completed, but things went smoothly and quickly. We found our way to a hostel here in Foz do Iguassu,Brazil. It is really different here and the language barrier is a new challenge and we realized how comfortable we had been with spanish. Either way we found some shishkabobs on the street and enjoyed a mouth watering meal.

Tomorrow we are heading to see the Brazil view of the falls and are looking forward to having a second chance to see this beautiful display of God´s creation. Then we will head out on a night bus to Sao Paulo and head on as soon as we can to Paraty.

uruguay

Although its only been a coule days since we blogged it feels like forever as so much has happened. We started out with a nice jaunt across the waters of the atlantic to the town of Carmelo, Uruguay. We got in just after dark and in the rain, but it felt like it was the middle of the night as the town was completely desserted. We made our way to the bus station and managed to get on a bus leaving for next town over (Colonia)in 15 minutes.

Now I should add just a few details about Uruguay to help follow along. Uruguay is a country of just a little better than 3 million people(and yet they still qualified for the world cup), just under a third of which live in the capital city of montevideo. Other than that there are really just a handful of towns, with the interior of the country being mainly farmland occupied by real Yerba drinking, horse riding cowboys. Needless to say getting into quiet costal towns was a drastic opposite to the chaos of Buenos Aires.

So back on track we hopped the bus for 1 hour and headed to Colonia where we spent the night. In the morning we took advantage of the quiet streets to snap a few pictures of some crumbling, brightly colored colonia buildings with cobblestone streets. After we caught a bus to the capital city of montevideo but we decided against staying in Montevideo and caught a bus rightaway another 2.5 hours to the city of Puente del Este, a small beach resort type city. By the time we rolled in it was dark and pouring rain. On a whim we hopped into a hotel and found it to be quite affordable, and not wanting to venture out into the rain to search for a hostel we took it and relaxed for the night. Our next day turned out to be a grey gloomy day with rain on and off so we opted out of the beach and wandered the waterfront. We saw some sea lions but try as I could I couldnt see any whales. Punta del este seems as thought it would be a great summertime vacation spot with nice beaches, a safe location, and friendly people. We stayed the night and headed out to Montevideo the next morning. Montevideo was really nothing to write about. The stores were all closed due to a holiday so we just wandered in yet more mist and light rain. Although we did see a demonstration with abunch of cowboys riding horses down the streets with Uruguayan flags regarding some historic building. The next day we headed back to Colonia where we caught our ferry back to BA.

In BA we grabbed a quick bite to eat before grabbing our luggage and heading out on the subway to the bus station for a big 17 hour bus ride to Iguazu. Our bus ride started out interesting as there was no bus leaving when it was scheduled to leave. We found a few others who were wondering what was happening when we heard that the bus was all banged up and they were sending another bus in about 30 minutes. Close to 11 our us arrived and we were off for the night. All things went smoothly until we were about 1 hour out from our destination when we came across another road block. We had to wait about an hour until the road block cleared and then let all the back logged traffic through. The road had remains of fire they had used to keep the road blocked and this was in regards to locals wanting more money. As we waited we noticed this part of argentina was alot poorer then other parts we had seen. The counry side changed to become much more tropical and we could feel the humidity as we were wawiting for the blockade. We were excited to wear a tshirt!! We arrived safely and headed out to our hostel we had previously booked to only find out that they did not have room. We were pretty exhausted and a bit bummed as we were excited about this little relaxing hostel away from the city and with a pool. They sent us to another hostel and we were not too happy as we had paid a reservation fee. We did not want to make a fuss, but the owner ran both hostels and we ended up paying half a nights fee even though we were right in the city.

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires...its big and buisy. It crazy how quick our time here in BA has gone. And yet I think we are ready for the next step. After we rolled in we got a good night sleep and were ready for the adventures of the big city. Our first task was to find the Brazilian embassy to get our tourist visas for Brazil (as it takes a few days to process). Well, I think that the embassy has moved, about 3 times...but we finally found the right one and got everything in order. Buenos Aires is an adventure to be in for sure. Our travel guide says it has about 13million but I have read more on the internet. Yesterday I even counted a street with 19 lanes of traffic, Yikes!! I feel like chicken on that old nintendo game where you have to get to the other side without being hit. The city has a unique feel with alot of colonial buildings mixed in with modern highrises. The city has a strong European feel with lots of expensive shopping, little cafe´s, and Mcdonalds(which I might add is nearly double the price as back home). Anyways we also tried our fate down Florida Ave. Florida Ave is a crazy walking street lined with all kinds of shops, and loads of people. Like were talking full body contact with strangers all the time.

Feeling a little claustrophobic we decided to head to the park the next day. It was a nice hour and a half long walk along the ocean which really made us feel like we had escaped the city. Feeling a bit rejouvinated we grabbed a couple Churrasco´s at a street vendor and enjoyed the art of Argintinean steak(a churrasco is a steak sandwich with all the fixins). We wandered along the warf and even toured a late 1800´s ship. This ship had been turned into a Museum but in its day had taken countless voyages around the world.

We then set off back into the city to book a tango show for the night. Tango shows are an integral part of BA. They are often quite fancy with expensive meals and a first rate show. We settled on just heading to a show. Our transportation picked us up around 9pm and we headed to something that looked like a Las Vegas Casino. It was all glitz and glamour inside with 3 stories of seating with a circular stage in the center. When we arrived those who had got the meal were just finishing up and our mouths were watering as the waiters walked by with half eaten plates of steak and the works. The show itself was great, a beautiful mix of music, dancing, lights, smoke, singing, and theatre. It was definately a worthwhile experience and we were glad to be able to take in this cultural aspect of Argentina.

This morning we have been buisy packing up to head to Uruguay. We are quite excited to leave our big bags here at the hostel for a couple days and travel light down the beautiful sandy beaches of Uruguay(although it is not actually true beach weather we will do what we can in pants and sweaters). We will take the train to a suburb of BA about an hour away(after we pick up our passports and bus tickets for Iguazu falls) and then take the ferry across to a small town where we catch a bus for 1 hour to our stop for the night(Colonia).

New niece

Also some exciting news last week that our new little niece arrived. Sydney Ashlyn Mau (to Lorraine and Christiaan- Dennis´sister). We are excited to meet this new little one...we are going to be busy when we get back!

We also have a another niece or newphew on the way and due at the end of November to Tim and Destiny (Liana´s brother). We are looking forward to meeting this little one in the fall!

We had a wonderful time in Bariloche. This small city is situated along the shore of giant lake with snow capped mountians surrounding the lake and city. We wandered the streets that were lined little shops (sort of like a little banff). I have never seen so many little chocolate shops before...there must have been over 20! We wandered into most of them when we realized that many of them give you a free sample. The temperture was not too bad, but the strong ´lethbridge´ wind made it quite cold. We spent a few days just relaxing and wandering around town as Dennis came down with a cold so we took it pretty easy.

We then ventured down along the lake navigating the bus system to a place (llau llau) to do some hiking. We enjoyed a beautiful trail up to a view point of the mountians and lake. It was pretty frosty and icy near the top. It was the first clear day we had since we arrived so we took in the wonderful view. It felt so good to get out and do some hiking as the past several weeks we did not have the opprituity. We were feeling a bit ancy and also a bit out of shape.

We decided that since we were 20km from the biggest ski hill in south america that we should experience it. So we found a place to rent snowboards and snowpants. They are quite prepared for all the essentials for all the unprepared tourists and many visiting south americans coming to try it for the first time (brazil). We took the bus that was packed full with standing room only with all of our equipment. We made it to the hill for much cheaper then our tourist guide at our hostel had offered to arrange. Although when we arrived to buy our tickets we were a bit taken back as it was double then what we had been told. We were a bit disappointed as we could see the mountian was not very big, and the bottom half was completely bare of snow! But we had our equipment and we had made it to the hill so we bit the bullet not wanting to miss the expereince. So up we went on up the first chair lift walking on through the mud and carrying our boards. We then saw some snow and ventured up again another chair lift hoping for some better snow...well from the chair lift we could see the sheets of ice on the hill and were quite disappointed. We started out and found the snow was pretty wet and was not quite as icy as it had appeared so that helped lift our sour attitudes! I had the oppritunity to work on my skills although the snow conditions were not so good and we were on a more advanced run as the easier runs had no snow. I took a good tumble and even got my board so stuck in the snow due to the deep wet snow that Dennis had to come and reef on my board to get me out! We enjoyed a short day of snowboarding as we had to catch a bus out late that afternoon.

We made it back in plenty of time to drop off rentals, change out of our wet clothes and get back on the bus to the bus station. While we were sitting and waiting we actually ran into a couple that we had spent some time with when we were in Bolivia (the ones that are actually from Lethbridge too), so that was neat. We took a deep breath and stepped onto the bus not sure we were ready for the next 25 hours of sitting....

We survived and are now in Buenos Aires. We met a grandma on the bus who spoke english and she walked us the whole way to where we were to catch the subway to get to our hostel. Just outside the bus terminal I had someone grabbing at my arm and I just ignored her and when she persisted I just shouldered her out of the way. She was trying to tell me something and I just kept going and then Dennis said that I had stuff all over me...squirted all down my backpack and down my pants. Then appeared another lady all ready with kleenex and they wanted me to go into the resturant to try and ´help¨ me clean off (and then probably disappear with our bag...although I am not sure they would be able to carry ours anyways as they are so heavy). We were on a mission and we had heard about these sort of scams before and just kept going with no concerns. Although a bit frustrated with all the stares as I was covered in some sort of white goo. Anyways we made it on the subway with no concerns and found our hostel. We grabbed a bit to eat with a great huge banana smoothie and now we are off to shower and get a good sleep before exploring this city.

chile

So here we are in beautiful Bariloche, Argentina. For those of you with an itinerary you may realize that this is not where we are supposed to be, in fact its not even on the itinerary at all. Well we managed to cut a few days here and there in Argentina and a day from Chile and have come down to more southern Argentina and Chile. But first things first I should start back about a week or so.

Our first stop in Chile(and last blog) found us in the port city of Valparaiso. If you are following along on your map valparaiso is a city on the coast just north of Santiago(in the middle of chile). Valparaiso proved to be one of the most intriguing cities we have come across yet. It is a hodgepodge of thrown together houses and buildings of every color and shape clinging to the mountainsides. The streets are narrow and nearly every open surface has some form of grafitti. One of the unique things about valparaiso is the little cable cars that are used to climb up the steep mountains to the different levels of the city. And of course there is the bustling harbour that adds a different feel to the city. Just a few clicks north of Valparaiso is the city of Viña del mar, which is like valpo but somewhat higher class. We landed a great little hostel in valpo and enjoyed our days wandering the curving streets, exploring buisy markets and of course riding the cool cable cars. But our time came to an end and we had to head off to Santiago.

We caught a bus mid-morning and enjoyed a forested view outside our window as we rolled onto Santiago. Our entry to santiago proved to be somewhat of an adventure as the bus station was not where we had expected it to be, or not really a bus station at all. We were informed that we could take the metro(subway) to a station near our hostel. This was somewhat of a shock as we had all our luggage and had no experience on the subway. I should add that although Liana was confident my upbringing in Guernsey had not adequately prepared me for this metropolitan task. Well as we were at the ticket booth a lady approached us and in english asked if she could help. It was definately a blessing as she showed us where to go and we soon got a feel for the metro. We ended up using the subway quite a bit as it was a fast and inexpensive way for us to commute through the city.

So the first problem on entering any city is where to stay. This problem seems to be magnified with the size of the city as you have issues of good or bad areas, transportation, expense, and how spread out the hostels are. This is a bit of a deal as our packs have gotten overly heavy. This is an issue that we face every couple of days as every couple of days we are in somewhere new. So on the way in we searched our lonely planet and as the hostels were quite expensive we hit up one of the cheaper ones....it turned out to be quite a dive, but also cheaper than we had expected and so we took it, the hastle of wandering the streets for hours on end just seemed to daunting. Because of this we ended up spending alot of time out and about in Santiago. Santiago is a nice city circled by beautiful mountains (if you can see through the smog) and was quite a friendly city. We had only two days in Santiago but managed to see a good bit of the city. We went to the markets(of course), toured the downtown, went to some great parks and took this cable car up a mountain with a great panorama of the city. All in all it was a good time and we enjoyed our time there, but with southern Argentina in mind we decided to keep moving.

Since we planned our trip Liana and I had dreamed about heading to southern chile/Argentina, but just thought that there was no way we could fit it in. However as we rolled on down through Argentina we found we didnt need as much time in the cities as we thought and quickly put together a plan to make it down. From Santiago we took an early morning bus down to the city of Osorno, about 13hours. As we didnt have much time in Chile it was nice to take a day bus and see the Chilean countryside. We arrived in Osorno to yet again that age old problem of a place to stay. We found a place right close to the bus station and decided to hole up there for the night. It was again a bit of a dive but we threw off the gross blankets and pulled out our trusty sleeping bags(they have saved us a multitude of times). Then the next morning we set off mid-morning for Bariloche, about 7hours away. I should take a minute to write a quick blurb on Chile. Its great!! It is a land of beautiful green pastures, vineyards, orchards, friendly people, and is quite easy to travel. Even though our time in Chile was short we really enjoyed being there.

So once again we passed though into Argentina happy to see our passport pages filling up and continued on to Bariloche. Wow!!!!!! Now that was a beautiful drive. Unbelievable mountains, forests, snow covered mountains, rivers and lakes. There are these little towns with gorgeous log and stone homes dotted along the lakes. We pulled into Bariloche and were quickly hounded by bloodthirsty hostel hawkers(overly pushy people trying to get us to stay in their hostel). But having done a little research we navigated our way into the city via the bus which is much much cheaper then a taxi to this great hostel. It is awesome here, there is a nice big Jucuzzi (hot tub-private use 1 hour a day over looking the lake and mountains), spacious clean rooms, lots of hot water, and a great view of the lake and mountains. Needless to say we spent tonight soaking our sore muscles in the Jucuzzi and washing off 2 months of south american dust. WEll that is just about long enough for now as it is time for bed.

Mendoza and into Chile

So it has been quite some time since we have gotten around to the email. We spent about 3 days in Cordoba and we didn´t do too much. The shops all close for the afternoon and then reopen around 5pm so it leaves a bit of a dull afternoon. Then there was an election while we were there so again things were closed, and also there was a Sunday somewhere there too and oh you bet things are also all closed! We did enjoy sitting in a few cafe´s to sit and relax and lots of window shopping.

We continued on to Mendoza which is a smaller city for about 112,000 and very beautiful. There are lots of green spaces within the city and a man made lake with loads of park area. Although being ¨winter¨it is more like a fall day, with sunny afternoons. Some of the leaves have turned coulour or fallen while others are still green, but it is still quite beautiful. In the background are the mountains and surrounding the city is vineyards. We did venture out on a wine tour to 2 wineries, 1 olive oil factory and a chocolate factory. We learned more wine history and the art of wine making and tasting. It is amazing to see the quaility of a good wine vs a cheap wine although the wine here is very cheap to our standards. Many of the small wineries are family run for over 100 years and are very passionate about their quality of wine.

We took a sick day yesterday and it was much needed. I had quite the cold and Dennis had other bowel concerns.

We were not sure if we were going to make it too Chile as when we arrived in Mendoza the border was closed due to snow in the mountain pass. It remained closed for our stay, but just opened up again so we took a day bus out to Valparasio, Chile. It was a nice change to have a day bus and it was a beautiful drive through the mountain pass and lots of little ski lifts along the way. It was a funny coincidence that we eneded up taking the same bus with 2 dutch girls that we had done our salt flats tour with weeks before! As we descended on the Chilean side of the mountains it was not long until we were out of the snow and there were cacti covering the hills. Once down there were fields of orchards, vineyards, palm trees and most things are still green!!! We found a less expensive hostel...as everything is quite pricey and are very excited to explore tomorrow. We had a quick glance at the ocean as we drove to our hostel while the sun was setting with a beautiful pink sky silhoutting large cargo ships out at sea.

We were quite starving when we arrived so we headed out to see what we could find. Just a few blocks away we found a ¨quick¨ food as the pubs were not serving any food at this time and were very smokey. So ordered 2 things off the menu and see what we got. So a completo, basically is a footlong hotdog smuthered with guacamole, cheese sauce, and tomatoes for about $2. The other thing was a steak sandwhich with the same toppings.

a few days in argentina

Coming out of Bolivia into argentina gave us quite a start. We left bolivia on an overcrowded bus that cost us about $.50/hour travelling down a dusty gravel/dirt road. An old man was actually sitting half on my lap most of the way as the bus was so overcrowded. The border town of Villazon was an absolute mess of vendor stands selling all kinds of indigenous wares, so much so that we had to walk on the street because the stalls were pouring out onto the sidewalks. Then we entered Argentina...



Argentina (at least what we have seen) is a very neat and orderly country. We started off by heading to Salta where we spent a few days. Salta is relaxing city and we enjoyed wandering the streets but were blown away by how european it was. The streets were lined with trendy coffee shops filled with buisnesmen and women in their nice suits. Many of the people even look European with fair complection (we dont stand out so much anymore). We felt it in our wallets as well as we tried to get a bus ticket and found that it was over three times as much as in Peru(which had been by far our most expensive tickets). Among other things we enjoyed riding the gondola to the top of scenic point over the city and a tour of Cafayette. Cafayette is a town a couple of hours from Salta. Very similar to Tupiza it was like stepping back into a cowboy cliche with brightly colored canyons and tall cactus dotting the landscape. In cafayette we got to tour the town as well as one of the wineries which are quite famous. Although we had a number of days planned for Salta we felt like we had really seen what we wanted to of the city and we decided upon returning from cafayette to take the night bus to Cordoba.
I should point out that yes the busses here are expensive but they sure are nice. We enjoyed a smooth bus ride that included a great supper and the best part of all, there was only 4 passenjers on the whole double decker bus. We rolled into Cordoba to a bustling station at around 7:30 and spent the next hour trying to find a hostel at the internet cafe there. Cordoba is somewhere between 1.2 - 4 million people(depends who you talk to), and is bustling with energy. It is sure a different feel however to exchange rambling markets for clean orderly stores filled with expensive north american clothing. We spent the day and wandered around town. Tomorrow we are hoping to head out to explore the surrounding area and likely take a bus on to Mendoza. Although we are sort of missing the dusty streets and worn down houses we are used to we are excited about the adventure of Argentina.

Crossing the border...

So where do I begin...back in tupiza which despite being only a couple days ago feels like months. we left on saying that we had booked in to go horseback riding and that we did. Wow, the scenery around tupiza is absolutely stunning. It is a landscape coavered by colorful red canyons, caves and magnificant rock formations dotted with cacti and thorn bushes. Our tour guide gave us fake little cowboy boots(A cover over our calves and shoes) as well as cowboy hats to enrich our experience. Its been a while since either of us have been on a horse but we quickly got the hang of it. Dennis´s horse was super lazy and would only gallop for a few seconds and then decide to start walking again. This was allright though as we enjoyed the scenery. We only wish we had some more time there to camp out in the canyons like real cowboys(girl).

We returned to the deserted town in search for some food with our 22 boliviano´s (just over $3.00)...not to much option! We did find a hamburger and fries for that price. Although we were very thirsty and had no more money for a drink...well the table over some tourists left half a bottle of Coke...so Dennis scammed it and we finished it off! Now why didn´we have any money? Well we didn´t calculate quite enough money to get us to the border, and in Tupiza we were not able to take any money out of the bank. So we ventured on as we had already bought bus tickets to the border hoping to get some money there. Loading the bus we discovered a bus terminal tax, and we gave the remainding change and she let us go on only paying one way. We arrived at the border town of Villazon, and we tried to exchange chilean money we had, but were unsuccessful and hoping we could exchange it on the other side. So we went through the procedures and were through quite easily....dennis started to have his bag searched and when he saw how packed it was he left it! Now we walked to the town on the argentina side and came across no way to exchange money! What a situation...so we went on to the bus station quite desperate and praying we would find a company that would except credit card. Luckily enough we found a bus and bought tickets although sure he scammed our credit card (we´ll have to wait and see). We didn´t care at this point and starving we sat and waited for the bus (a forced fast). Anywho the bus arrived and then they wanted money to put our baggage underneath....well dennis talked our way out of it when the guy realized we truly didn´t have any money! So due to this ordeal we had to skip a stop to Humahuca, which is a small town that was suppose to be very beautiful and traditional, but had no bank. So we headed on to Salta through the night and this bus stopped many, many times so we didn´t get much sleep. We also had to stop at a control station at midnight and have all the bags checked...again we got off easy when they took a look at our bags!

We arrived in Salta around 4am and ventured out to find a hostel. Walking of course as we don´t have any money for a cab. So loaded down we walked for over an hour looking for a hostel finding that many were full. Finally around 530 we found a hostel and went to sleep. We snoozed for quite some time and awake around 11 just starving...as it had been 24 hours since we had anything to eat! We were both quite groggy and very sore from carrying our bags we found a bank and thankfully we got money out!!! We found the first place to eat and not realizing it was pretty pricey for a very small amount of food...who knew empanadas were bite size! Anyways we ventured to the super market and bought a few things to fill our stomaches.

Now we are wandering around the city and everything is closed until late this afternoon. We go checking our email and find that we are an aunty and uncle again to little Jordy Austin, that was a shocker as were expecting news anyday from Lorraine and Christiaan who are expecting. So Wendy and John have been waiting to adopt for awhile, so we are excited and hopefully they will have him home soon!!

Salar de Uyuni

We ventured out and joined up with our tour group which included 3 dutch girls, 1 swiss and us (and our driver of course). We threw our bags on top of the 4x4 jeep and crammed in. We set off to see the train graveyard, which consisted of delapitated, rusted old trains that were used to transfer the salt. Then shortly we arrived to the salt plains that are very white!! It is the biggest salt reserve in the world. It is a endless sea of blinding white and we were glad to have our sunglasses. Our guide, Elias, explained the salt plains. We had met up with a german journalist who had come to write about the large lithium reserves under the salt plain, but they can´t harvest it. We drove on the salt which was quite hard and after we stopped to take some silly pictures we continued on until.... off popped our tire! I also didn´t mention that we stopped at a small town were we also had a flat tire and we had put our spare on. Being quite the handyman our guide set to work whistling away and he inflated a new tube which was leaking. So he scrambled with some scraps until he was satisfied the leak was sealed for the moment. We arrived at Inkawasi which is a rock hill covered with cacti. The cacti were very big and one was over 9 feet tall and dated back...1 cm a year? We had a lovely lunch on tables created of salt after which we continued on to our sleeping quarters for the night. We managed to stay warm with our team huddled all in one room. The second day we set off to various locations to see different lagoons, rock formations, and flamingo´s. We arrived at our hostel which was not quite so nice or warm...thankful for the duck tape on the cracks of the windows! Our group bundled up for supper and as soon as we were done we hit the sack to hopefully sleep through the cold. That night it reached down to -27, although we managed to stay warm (I had rented a second sleeping bag, which was a lifesaver). We had an early start to the day at 5:00 to change into swim gear...um that was difficult task. We saw geysers and then arrived at the natural hot springs shortly after sunrise where we ventured into the hot water. There were only a few of us brave souls as there were many onlookers from other groups (it wasn´t so bad, considering we´re from Canada). We then enjoyed a pancake breakfast out the back of the jeep. Off we set again for a long day of driving back to Uyuni bundled in our sleeping bags.

We stayed the night in Uyuni as the train was still not running due to blockades so we took a morning bus to Tupiza. The drive started out very cold, but as the sun rose, the bus warmed up. The roads around here are all gravel/sand roads so very dusty and bumpy. The drive was quite pretty teh closer we came to Tupiza with rolling hills, with rock formations from errosion, and cacti covering the hills. The place has a very western feel and Dennis was wanting his cowboy hat! Anyways we are booked for a horseback ride through the canyons tomorrow morning, before catching another bus out to the border into Argentina. We´ll let you know how that goes as the last few times I have been on a horse it was a white knuckle ride! I should mention that this is a western town in more than just scenery. A small town outside of Tupiza is where the infamous Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their match, just a bit of Tupiza history for you.

P.s Happy Fathers day!!!

a bolivian drive and a bolivian winter

So you might be wondering why we are blogging so soon when we have just recently done so., perhaps something catastrophic happened... Actually it is ripping cold outside, as well as in our hostel and this internet cafe is wam so here we are.
So to start when the lonely planet "strongly suggests" taking a train because the bus is bad they mean it(as well as a friend who had the unfortunate experience). We boarded our bus at 8pm in oruro, popped some gravol and settled in for a good ride. I was expecting switchbacks and craziness(which we were used to) but was actually surprised to find it rather tranquil and we soon fell asleep. All of the sudden we were awoken from our sleep by an earthquake of unbelievable magnitude. I quickly realized that there was not in fact an earthquake but only an infamous bolivian gravel road. This destructive washboard road rattled us untill it felt like our lungs were all mixed up in the bottoms of our stomach. Everynow and then we would get a small break (which we hoped was the end) and seemingly each time the earthquake would begin again. The funny thing is that the locals didnt seem to mind one bit, and as the bus was oversold as ussual they were comfortably sleeping in the seats as well as the aisles.
The bus ride itself was really cold(even with the help of our sleeping bags) and when we arrived we found that it was -13 explaining the cold ride. We grabbed a taxi with some cool germans we had met at the train station and searched for a hostel(at 4 in the morning). Thankfully we found a bed and curled up for a few hours. This is an interesting town, which would probably be a ghosttown except for the tourist draw of the salar salt plains. It is quite and a bit rundown but at the same time safe and easy to explore. We are going into their winter and the temperatures drop to -12 to -20 at night which is chilly considering they dont have much indoor heating. So needless to say Liana and I hit up the market today for some much needed warm alpaca socks, mits, and scarfs. We also booked a three day tour of the salt plains leaving tomorrow morning and are quite excited. Liana(although a canadian) is somewhat nervous as to the cold temperatures as they are exceptionally cold in the barren salt plains with no escaping the cold.

killing time

So here we are in the little town of Oruro killing some time. We arrived this morning on the bus from La paz.

Our time in la paz was nice and relaxing. Yesterday we spent the morning wandering the "black market". This is not actually a black market, but a labrynth of thousands and thousands of stalls selling everything from shoes to electrical odds and ends. Although a bit claustrophobic it was a cool experience. Then in the afternoon we relaxed with a fruit smoothie(for a dollar) and wrote some long awaited post cards(sorry).

Today we got into Oruro(about a 4 hour drive) and quickly made a b-line for the train station to get our tickets onward. However when we got there we were informed that there was a blockade and the train would not go out today. So back to the bus station we went with some cool german travelers who had the same luck. We managed to get a bus out tonight at 8pm. However this is one of the most notably rough roads in bolivia and we arrive at 4 in the morning so it may be a long night. Did we mention there are no bathrooms on the bus...it stops twice(or so they say). Nontheless this is part of the adventure and we are happy to at least be on route to Uyuni. Once there we hope to catch a tour of the salt flats for a few days so it may be a few days before the next blog.

A few more pictures...

soccer, sun, and friends

Well we have made it to la paz and it is nice to be here. It is a bit chilly but all in all we are enjoying ourselves and had a nice day.
I guess I should start by backing up just a bit to our time at isla del sol. We took a ferry for a couple of dollars from copacabana to ISla del sol(island of the sun). This is said to be one of the most important inca sights, in a sense it is an inca mecca. This is kind of funny because there is nothing there, just some simple ruins of a temple, a stone table, and a big rock. Other than that it is a desolate little island with sparse vegitation here and there. I guess this place holds significant value in their creation, worship, and calender.....we werent that impressed. Nonetheless we checked out the ruins (on the north end of the island) and set off on a trek to the south end of the island. IT took us about 2 hours from where we caught our ferry back home. We got home and quickly realized that we were quite red. I should say that Liana was more of a purple then a red. I owe it to my big beard that I never burned my face(tried to get a picture but the macro setting wouldnt focus in). So tired from sun and hiking we went to bed to rest before our next move.

We set off early in the morning on a bus for La paz, about 3.5 hours or so. Everything was cool untill we drove through this small town and came to the beach where the road ended. I was confused and quickly became somewhat nervous when our bus drove on to this super rickety old...boat I guess you would call it. Now I figure the bus ways a good bit but the old boat seemed to have no problems and we were propelled along by a little outboard motor. We are safe!!!

On the bus we started talking to some people who were actually from lethbridge!!! Now thats a coincidence. They are pretty cool and after the bus we shared a taxi and found a hostel. We were all hungry and so went out to eat together. On the way back to the hostel I heard someone listening to a soccer game on the radio and after asking found out that there was a game on in la paz in an hour or so. We all decided to go and caught a taxi to the game where we bought some soccer jerseys(lee and I payed $4 for two) and bought our tickets. The game was two teams from the Bolivian league and after a slow start picked up in the second half. I really enjoyed this and I am sure Liana did as well as she is used to watching the slightly slower pace of the browns(my team in lethbridge) . Tonight we went out of sushi(a welcome change) and are relaxing abit before a promising day tomorrow of some sight seeing and a bit of shopping.

Bolivia

Well so as not to keep you in suspense for too long we managed to make it to bolivia this morning. It was an eventful night as Liana´s stomach started becoming upset prior to departure on our night bus. It was a problem too tough for even for a good dose of gravol and after considerable discomfort the vomitting began at about midnight. This continued on untill the early morning managing too keep everything contained (although disturbing those around us I am sure). We rolled up to a fork in the road at about 8am where we were told that those heading for copacabana were to take this little combi(small van) the rest of the way. I guess the first sign should have been when the driver asked me to help pushstart the van....ya right. Finally we got a boost and took off down the road which lasted about 10 minutes before the combi completely died. So here we were sitting on the side of the road, Liana still feeling quite sick and weak while our driver pulled out the passanger seat and started tinkering with the engine(which is apparently under the front seats). Thankfully another combi came by and we hopped on and headed to the border. This part was actually quite smooth and we were soon enough off in another combi to copacabana, just a few minutes away.

Copacabana is a small little town on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the biggest and highest lake in the world. It is an intersting landscape, they call it the altiplano (high plains) and it is quite different than what we have seen thus far. It is a more dry climate, mostly flat with some low rolling hills dotted here and there with some vegitation. Liana is starting to feel a bit better, we got a nice little hostel room and had a light lunch. If all is well we will head off to the island of the sun tomorrow to see some ruins.

Machu picchu and more

So here we are in cusco, resting from the adventures of Machu Picchu, and what an adventure it was! Our journeys began as we boarded a train to the town of Aguas Calientes (the gateway to machu picchu). The train is really the only way to get to machu picchu and they make you pay for it dearly. However it was worth it and we both enjoyed watching the mountain scenery go by while listening to the clicking of the train of the tracks. After about 3 hours on the train we pulled into Aguas Calientes at about 11AM where we were met by a hostel liason who brought us to our hostel.

Realizing that time was short we headed off quickly on a hike over machu picchu that had been recommended to us. What a hike. I should start by saying that Aquas Calientes is nestled in beautiful jungle clad mountains. We felt like we were on the set of Indiana Jones as we hiked up our trail which included numerous sets of long, high and steep rickety ladders that stretched on and on. The hike left us somewhat short of breath but our reward was worth it as we crested the mountain to see Machu Picchu spread out in the mountains before us. We snapped a few pictures and headed back down to the natural hotsprings to rest our weary legs. Finally after some good food we headed back to our hostel for a few short hours of sleep before our big day.

Our machu picchu experience started bright and early as our alarm went of at 3:45am. The reason for this craziness is that there is a hike above machu picchu that is only open to the first 200 people(as another 200 are reserved). So rather than waiting for an expensive bus to take us up we hiked up the thousands of stone stairs that take you to the entrance. The experience was worth it as we headed off under a beautiful moonlit sky hemmed in by the silhouette of the mountains all around us. We climbed up the stairs and switchbacks with the light from our headlamp and what an exciting experience. It was an exciting hike and we were feeling pretty good as we got to the gate and realized we were within the first 20 people there!We relaxed and waited for the gate to open(at 6am) and then ran to get our tickets for the Huaynu Picchu hike. The view of Macchu Picchu almost stopped us in our tracks, it was absolutely beautiful and after getting our tickets we headed up to the guardhouse (view point) to sit and watch the sun crawl down the mountains and light up the city.

Machu Picchu isnt really that huge as it was only a retreat center for royalty, probably hosting only a few hundred people in peak times. However the natural setting mixed with the ingenious building make it a sight to behold. They say that 60% of machu pichu is underground, providing a flat base in the mountain to hold the buildings as well as provide drainage for the city. What is above ground is an impressive use of stone to provide a naturesque feel to the city. It is truly fantastic.

After spending a few hours exploring the bottom half of the city of a maze of buildings and stairs. It included the temple of the condor, living quarters, and agricultural terraces. We set off on our climb of huaynu picchu, a mountain overlooking machu picchu. We braced ourselves for a tough 1hr. hike and were quite surprised when after only 40 minutes we were standin on top with out too much effort. We took in the panoramic view and explored the few buildings and guard house on top before dropping back down to finish our tour of the upper half of the city. The top half included the royal housing, the temple of the sun (the place where they believed the sun was tied too) and other sacred areas. I should add that the selfguided tour book liana bought me for Christmas proved an awesome guide as we worked our way through the maze of stone buildings. Finally, we said our sad farewell to machu picchu and hiked back down the thousands of steps to aguas calientes to wait for our train.

So here we are in cusco and it looks as though it might stay that way for a while. There has been some conflicts in the jungles of peru regarding oil, taxes and borders. This has resulted in numerous clashes between police and natives. There have been quite a few mortalities and although this is in the north of peru there have been solidarity marches all over. These are quite peacefull and well controlled however both the bus station and airport have been shut down for cross border transportation. There is a chance we will get through tonight but everything is up in the air. If we cant get through we may try to get to Puno, which is close to the border, alongside lake Titicaca. We will keep you posted on how this goes.

Pictures

We have had the chance to copy our memory cards onto a DVD, so we thought we take a moment and put a few random pictures onto the blog before we send them home in the mail for backup. Enjoy...there are lots more. Difficult to find a computer with a DVD drive to upload. We will try for a few more down the road.

Well we have finally made it to cusco, and are only a short night's sleep from catching the train to machu picchu. It was an adventure to get our train tickets to say the least but everything seems to be in order. We realized as we looked at our blog that it is alot of what we are doing, so in an attempt to explain what life is like we thought we would write a blog on the south american experience.

It is incredibly difficult to explain what you see when you look out your window here. Although things change from the mountain villages to the coast there is one thing that remains is balagan. This is a hebrew word taught to us by some israeli's we were travelling with and it means chaos, or mess in every sense of the word. From the constant blarring music, honking taxis and busses in overcrowded streets, street vendors, colorful signs, unfinished buildings, stray dogs, and and so much more it is very much so balagan for all the senses. However when you are in it for a bit things seem to have a rthym to them and it is quite enjoyable.

The buildings here are made almost without exception from concrete or brick(both cynder block and mud brick) with a finish of bright pastel colors. In the more arrid climates the roofs are flat with clothes lines hanging on everwhere, and rebar sticking out for future building potential. In the mountains the houses all have a type of spanish tile, which gives the cities a unique feel. The cities themselves boast a strong colonial feel. There are loads and loads of immaculate churches and state buildings encircled by cobblestone streets. Every city has a plaza de armas which includes some sort of fountain, some trees, a massive church or two, and these beautiful state buildings. The streets are a constant hum of taxis and wild buses with employees leaning out the winow trying to get more people crammed onto their already full bus. Lining the streets are all kinds of small restaraunts and artisan shops(especially in places like cusco). These artisan shops boast loads and loads of alpaca sweaters, toques, mits, tourist shirts and hats, woodworking, blankets and weavings, clay mouldings and other trinkets, once again the word balagan comes to mind.
We have talked alot about the nature in our blogs, this is a truly diverse land with humid jungle, intense mountain scenery, desolate deserts, and beautiful coastal cities. However one thing seems to be for sure, when you think you are in the most remote place in the world you will find a small adobe hut with cows roaming around, kind of funny to see.
The people here are great and generally quite friendly with a fun loving way about them. They love their country, their soccer, and their catholic church. Here in the mountains the people have a very different look with all kinds of brightly woven alpaca shalls, skirts, pants and socks. And of course there is the funny bowler style hat that is extremely popular.
The food here is great. Peru and ecuador are quite similar however we are still waiting to see the other countries different foods. At lunch time we ussually hunt out the ever popular menu. This is a set group of choices including a starter, a main course and a drink(sometimes a dessert). Liana and I can ussually get away for about $5 for the two of us although it is not uncommon to be less than $3. Supper is a bit more expensive usually ranging from about 5to10 dollars for the two of us. There is a lot or rice, beef, chicken, noodles, as well as lots of vegetables like avacadoes and tomatoes. We have really enjoyed the food although it is safe to say that we are missing one of grandma's home cooked meals.
Our hostels have been on average pretty fair. They range in price from $10 to $20 for the two of us and for the most part have at least a little hot water and sometimes a tv. Usually its best not to look too closely and we have often slept inside our sleepingbags on the beds.
Other than this we are safe and sound. A few rough fights with some foreign bugs but nothing too bad. The sun is shining and we are enjoying ourselves. Liana has been busy buying more souviners and not sure how we will carry it all with us!

huacachina,nasca and arequipa

So its been a few days since we have blogged and I guess we should backtrack a bit. We left Lima on a bus and arrived around lunchtime in the city of Ica. From there we took a taxi for about 5 minutes to the town of huacachina, pop. 200. Talk about a change, going from a city of 9 million to 200 people and it was a welcome change. Huacachina was unlike anything either of us had ever seen, it was an oasis in the desert. The town was surrounded by these mammoth sand dunes on every side and if you climbed to the top you could see them stretching into the horizon. We found ourselves a hostel, got a little food and quickly rented a sandboard for an afternoon in the sun. I wont say that sandboarding compares with snowboarding but it was a lot of fun to play around in the dunes. After a good day we retired to our hostel for some good peace and quiet...oops, or maybe we accidentally registered into the biggest party hostel in southern peru. Once again the earplugs saved us (as much as I love latin dance music at 4 in the morning). Even so we both loved huacachina and were sad to see it go when we set off for nasca the next day.

We rolled into Nasca around noon and after storing our bags at the bus station we hopped onto the same bus we were just on to take us back to the mirador(lookout point). IT was from here that we climbed up a tower to catch our first glimpses of the nasca lines. They were interesting, especially how they are only made by removing a top layer of gravel from the desert sand and yet they are still there. The funny thing is that the panamerican highway runs smack through the middle of some of them(so much for the lizard). We flagged down another bus heading back into town and then tried to decide how best to kill the afternoon untill our 10pm night bus. After some meandering through the streets we decided that we had better splurge and fly over the nasca lines. We headed to the airport hoping for a late afternoon flight. After some searching around we landed one of the last flights for the day. It was a bit more expensive than we had hoped for but we really didnt want to kick ourselves later for being too stingy. The plane was a little 6 passenger cesna with no doubt the red baron himself for a pilot. We whipped and twirled around the lines in the sand so both sides of the plane could see(should have taken a gravol beforehand). nonetheless there were ample bags for us just in case (liana came close). The lines were really cool, interesting how the shapes could be made without arial vantage. We finished our flight(about 40min.) and headed to wait for our bus. We were scheduled in for 10, and about 20 to 12 we were on our way to arequipa.

We have spent the last few days here in arequipa just relaxing a bit and taking in the sights. It is a nice town, famous for the white blocks used in building that come from the volcano (sillar) that lies just outside of the city. Today we went to the monastary santa catolina, built in the 1500´s(and on). Although there are still nuns living in one sector the rest of the monastary is open for public viewing. The monastary takes up a full city block, a city within a city. IT is a maze of passagways, streets, and living areas. It was neat to see for sure. Anyways that is about it for now, we have our tickets for cusco on saturday night and are excited to take in this rich historical experience.

Santa Cruz Trek in Peruvian Andes/ Lima

After a short sleep and an early start as we set off on the classic 4-day santa cruz trek in the Cordillera blanca mountain range of Peru. I may have been more sure but for my part Dennis was a little uncertain of his skills in tackling such a big task. We met at the tour office at 6 AM and were joined by 5 others who were all traveling alone. There were two Israeli´s, one german, one slovakian, and one other canadian. We set off in a small combi with our bags strapped to the roof and arrived at our start point (which was actually the traditional end point, so therefore we did it backwards). We hiked up (in the hot sun) alongside a beautiful river in a valley between sheer cliffs for about 9 kms to our first campsite. In an open valley and when the sun was behind the clouds the temperature dropped significantly and we quickly bundled up to stay warm (no fires allowed in the park). Once our donkey driver arrived with all of our baggage our guide cooked up a wonderful meal. On the second day we were awake early from a long sleepless night in the cold. We started out for 7 hours of hiking with amazing scenary of snow capped mountains peaking out from behind the vast mountain scape. We veered off the the main trail to a hike up to a view point of another mountain view and continued on up to a glacier lake. The view was breath taking and the wind even more so, we quickly headed down to keep warm. Our camp for the night was below a magnificent mountian view. The night was cold and we got very little sleep, when we awoke there was a thick layer of ice on our tents and the ground was white with frost. We got moving early to keep warm and to start our climb up the mountain pass. Our guide told us it would take 3-4 hours, but under 2 hours we were at the top enjoying the view on either side of the valley. The elevation on top was just under 16,000ft! We then descended down on a very different landscape to another valley with lots of trees (and random cows). We hiked on to our last camp spot and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in the warm sun playing cards with our group. We had a great time getting to know all of the people in our group. Finally we hiked out of the mountains to wait for transportation which took many hours longer then expected. We drove down a winding nail biting road that left us grateful to be alive at the bottom. We returned to huaraz and went for some awesome food with our group from the trek and then we went our seperate ways.

We headed out on a night bus the day we returned from our hike to Lima where we arrived at 5 am. We found a hostel and quickly headed out for a full day out in Lima. We visited some ruins which were neat to see. Then we headed off to Larco Mar, which is an open air mall that is over looking the ocean. Then off we went to do some souviener shopping at hundreds of craft stalls. Weary we treated ourselves to a little McDonalds for supper! We then pressed on rejuvinated from our meal and a bit of ice cream for dessert to drop off our treasures at the hostel before heading out to the "festival of fountains" (or something) where there are over a dozen water fountains that are lit up with different coloured lights all around a huge park. The various fountains are all very unique where one you can walk under a tunnel of water, or one where you can dodge the water (there were lots of screaming teens-we just watched), one was in the guiness book of world records for the highest fountian, and one lazer/music show on water!! It was pretty neat to see and the park was full of people.

Another day on the big city today we killed the morning waiting to go paragliding, but unfortunately there was no breeze and we were not able to go. We walked along the walkway at tge top of the cliffs that over look the ocean. Lima has a beautiful water front. We relaxed most of the day wandering around Lima.

We are off again tomorrow morning for Haucachina and Nazca.

Did we mention that the ice cream here is great and everywhere!! I am a very happy girl.

Santa cruz trek

So here we are in Huaraz, Peru and we arrived at 700am on a bus from Trujillo. Our last days in Trujillo were great we had fun hanging out with friends and family. On Sunday Dennis had lots of people to see even though for just a short time. Dennis had the oppritunity to say a few words in church on Sunday. It is great to see how the church has grown from a thatch roof to a beautiful 3 storey building. And although I didn´t know the songs or what the sermon was about, it was neat to be with other people worshiping God here in Peru. The young people that Dennis know when he was there came over to Liana Penners to play a few rounds of Dutch Blitz that the Trek group had introduced. It was cool as there were a few people that hadn´t been going to church for awhile and with Dennis here they came together to hang out. Monday we headed out with our wonderful host (Maribel) and daughter Gianella to Huaca la Luna y sol. These are old ruins from about 400 to 800 ad from the Moche people. It was neat to see how they built the structure over the generations and they covered the old building to build on top (Like an inverted triangle) and they are still working at uncovering more of the ruins under the sand. Around Trujillo it is very dessert like with lots of barren mountains and sand. It is very unique and beautiful (although I am not sure when it is really hot out). Then our time came to an end very quickly and we had to say goodbye. We had a send off at the bus station and off we went on our night bus to Huaraz.

We started out looking for a tour group and signed up for a 4 day trek (Santa Cruz) which we were hoping to get to do. We are off tomorrow morning at 600am and looking forward to it and hope we are in good enough shape! We spent today walking lots with a short hike up a "hill" to help get acclimatized to the altitude. We also visited some ruins from the wari people. It was interesting with all the very small stone rooms, and very short doors (we had to basically crawl through). We also managed to find a couple of markets and did some souviner shopping (now hopefully it will fit into our packs).

The Trujillo Times

Well a few days have gone by since we arrived here in Trujillo and we thought it was about time for an update. We ended up taking a "luxury" bus from Piura to Trujillo with big poofy reclining seats on the second deck as it was a night bus (we felt like we were first class). We managed to get a little bit of sleep(due in part to the earplugs I borrowed from work) and we rolled in at about 5 AM. We were greeted by Liana Penner at the bus station ( a missionary here in Trujillo that works teaching english and at the church as well through mbms). It was nice to see a familiar face as I had worked with Liana when I was here in the past. So Liana let us crash at her house for a bit before we embarked on our surprise to the house of Edgardo and Maribell where we were to stay (My peruvian family where I had stayed for 3 months). We rang the doorbell and when Maribell answered the door she stood there in disbelief. After pulling herself together she let us in and called down her son Andres who was equally surprised. The daughter Gianella was there as well and although she was too young to remember me she has grown quite attached to having us in her home (she has been writing us a constant stream of cards which appear under our door in the mornings). Unfortuantely we did not get to see Edgardo untill the next morning as he was gone but his reaction was great as well. It is good to be here with Liana. The family always jokes that I had said I would return one day with my wife and here we are.
So we have been quite buisy both meeting people and going to see various places in and around Trujillo. Some of these activities include going to Huanchaco beach and laying in the sun with the sound of the waves crashing. Also we ventured out of Trujillo to the town of Chicamita where Edgardo´s mother lives. She is a very small and sweet and lives in a beautiful little house with a tree in the middle and a talking parrot. We also got to surprise my old spanish teacher Isabel. Her reaction was probably the best as she had absolutely no idea that we were coming and just couldnt believe it. We hung out at Isabel´s place for the evening, talking and playing table tennis which their whole family are professional at.
Today we went to buy our tickets for Huaraz only to find that the bus is full and so we will be staying here untill our bus leaves on monday night( another night bus). So we will try to see some more people and maybe go to ChanChan(the largest adobe ruins in the world) or hit the beach again.

sad note

we will not be able to post any pictures while we are here.....so inspite of my over preparedness, we don´t have the computer cable for our "back-up" camera which we now rely on. So you will just have to wait until we are home...sorry!

saying goodbye to ecuador

Well we have given our fond farewell to Ecuador. We have managed to cover quite a bit of ground in the last few days, although nothing too exciting. It is quite the experience watching the andes go by outside of the bus window. There is so much variety as you are driving along the side of mountain. But if you think that many hours on a bus would be boring you have never driven with the retired nascar drivers that man the many buses. There is debris flying from one side of the bus to the other as the driver rips around potholes, animals, people, and vehicles. One time there was this little old lady in the front seat and the driver couldnt make the pass on a blind corner so he slammed on the brakes. WEll the lady slid clear off her seat, across the floor and onto the steps, good thing the door was closed. This interesting driving also managed to do a number to our stomachs, swerving through all the switchbacks. The buses are interesting. There are people who sit and wait for the buses to come by and then jump on and try to sell you food, drinks, and other random things. Ecuador proved to be quite the beautiful place. Our time there allowed to meet many interesting people. There is such a diversity from the big city, to the laid back countryside where some people still dress very indigenously, with bright colors, cool hats, alpaca ponchos, traditional jewlery, and babies (or anything else) strapped to their back. Although I will add this, on one bus a very very indiginous looking grandma sat down beside us and proceeded to whip out a cell phone...are we the only ones in the world without a cell phone??? Things in Ecuador were also very cheap. We ate many typical meals at small local "hole in the walls" with meals consisting of rice, meat, some salad and usually starting with soup.

Today we crossed the border into Peru. In this process we had to go to 5 different stops, slightly confusing as we were ungulfed into a massive heat wave. We had to go into a makeshift health station to be screened for the swine flu. The nurses did a basic vitals (and even casually took our picture on her cell phone of us) and then we had to see the doctor who just asked some basic questions. We were given the ok to proceed on with a perscrition type note from the doctor. Interestingly enough no washing of hands, change of gloves, cleaning of equipment as they went from person to person (maybe now we have the swine flu)!!! So now after 9 hours on the bus we are in Piura Peru, which is basically situated in a dessert. IT is smoking hot here and we are dripping with sweat as we are crammed into this little booth at an internet cafe. We decided to move on quickly and got tickets for an overnight bus to Trujillo leaving at 11 pm. Hopefully we will be able to get some sleep. But untill then we have another 6 hours to kill so were going to find some food and check the place out a bit.

So we finished up in Baños with a very beautiful hike up the mountain to try and get a view of the volcano. We hiked up for several hours to have some lovely clouds covering the top of the volcano, but hey it is the journey. So we came to the top thinking we were pretty isolated (after 2 hours of vertical over grown switch backs) we came upon a house and some cows! And in fact there was a whole village up there and apparently they are in better shape then we are (or I think there is a road up there from the other side). Either way we hiked for about 5 hours following this map that almost lead us to our doom, not such an accurate map to say the least.

Sadly we had to move on to try and catch the train in Riobamba. We once again said by to the guys who were not feeling so hot and niether were we. We toughed out the bus ride to only arrive and find out that the Nariz del diablo train was full!!! A bit of a disappointment, but it turned out to be alright as Liana got really sick during the night. Although she had not been feeling well it came on like blitzkreig and about 6:30 AM we finally managed to get a few winks of sleep. The fear of being sick on the bus proved not to be a match for our dislike of Riobamba and we headed off for Alausi. It is a small town where we were to end up if we had been able to catch the train and we had the place cased in about 30 minutes. So now we are relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery and the laid back atmosphere. If everything goes well and we are feeling good tomorrow we will take off to Cuenca which is about another 4 hours. Buses are very cheap out here, its awesome!

the adventures of baños

So here we are, still in baños and enjoying it thoroughly. Baños is located about 3 hours south of Quito and is situated in the valley between beautiful green mountains. The city itself is actually quite small, like our hostel is 2 blocks from the main plaza and is considered "out of the way" (can I get a cheer from everyone who grew up in Guernsey). Baños is like an ecuadorian banff with lots of outdoor activities and lots of touristy things, like people that make toffee on every street corner. We have met up with Tim, Ryan, and Devin again which has been very nice. At first we expected to only see them a couple of evenings but it turns out that we have been together since they got here. So we have managed to have a few adventures here already, yesterday we bostered up the courage to go Bridge jumping. We headed out to the big bridge on the edge of town and put on harnesses. Then we stood on this little platform on the top of the guardrail and jumped out into the canyon. You freefall and then swing out under the bridge, wow what a rush. Liana was a little nervous so the guy ended up pushing Liana on her legs and with his head so she fell the right way. So I guess if that wasnt enough of an adrenaline rush we all went out white water rafting today. We got a smoking deal because there was five of us and headed out down the river. It was a class 4 rapid(sometimes higher) and turned out to be a white nuckle ride. So now we are just relaxing and planning on heading out for supper with the guys.

Change of plans

We are here in Baños and it is beautiful! We decided that we would come straight here and spend extra nights to relax and that is what we are doing. We had a $3 lunch (for both us) and then did a bit of a splurge for supper with a nice glass of vino! We are wondering the town and are excited about adventures to come.

set backs

Well we had our first travel hiccup today. We were having supper in beautiful central quito after a long day of seeing the sights when we heard a knock on the window beside us. Some lady was making all these crazy gestures at us, which took us off guard for a moment, and when we turned around our bag was gone. Oldest trick in the book to be sure, the tried and true distraction tactic. We are okay and thankfully we left our passports, some money, and some of our cards in the hostel. WE did however loose our video camera, one of our camera´s, some money, and a few gifts including some post cards(sorry to you who were the recipients). IT is not so much the money we are upset about as the pictures and video from our journey thus far (and the anaconda was really15 feet). So immediately after we realized it was stolen we found a policeman who took us to a place we could report the incident. Soon after the tourist police came to take us too the station for a claim report(keep in mind we are currently only blocks from our hostel before they took us). So they drove us to the station and got our report completed and that was it...only we didnt have any money or any idea where we were. So "graciously" the policeman gave us a tourist map to walk back to our hostel (by now it is dark). Well we managed to make it and when we told the lady at the hostel she said we were the third one today from that one hostel, buisy day in Quito I guess. Well we are thankful that we are safe and sound, just a little flustered. I guess we will most likely continue on to Guaranda and salinas tomorrow, let you know how it goes.

Amazonian adventure

So we are back safe and sound in Quito, relaxing a bit after a great adventure in the amazon. We kicked off our trip by flying into the city of Lago Agrio (where we almost missed our flight as it was bumped up earlier, but the flight ended up running late where we met up with Tim, Ryan and Devin. We met our tour company and quickly packed all of our belongings into dry packs and started out on a 3ish hour drive into the jungle. We passed small towns and enjoyed the scenery as everything was so green and so humid (our cameras didin´t work at first as they were all fogged up). We arrived at the river and started a few hours of canoeing down stream and then our guide, Diego, took us down a detour...... so as it was getting dark we canoed through, over and around fallen trees that our guide cut a path with his machette. Wow that was definetly a highlight and we´ll have to tell you more later. We arrived to a candlelight campsite that had been set up for us and food waiting. We continued on with more canoeing the next day and arrived at our jungle lodge. We saw all kinds of animals (anacondas-15ft, caiman, monkeys, fresh water dolphins, lots of birds, insects, sloth....and the list goes on)! We had the oppritunity to do some fishing for pirhanas...we weren´t too successful. Some of our other adventures included going to a village, going on a night walk, and a jungle walk where we learned the ways of the native ecudorian tribes. Dennis swung on some vines, ate some ants that tasted like lemons as well as some larvae. Lots more stories too tell...... We ventured back with a motor boat and are all set up at our hostel in old town quito. Looks beautiful here and we will spend the next day exploring before heading off down south to a small town called Salinas. We have been feeling fine (mom an dad) and yes we are taking lots of pictures. We have had a wonderful time seeing Tim and sharing part of our adventure with him. Thanks for all the prayers and support.

Quito

Well we are finally here...actually we have been here for a few days but have not found an internet cafe close to our house (sorry to our parents who probably thought we were dead). Its been three days and already we have had our fair share of adventures. Well to begin with thanks for all the prayers because we arrived safely with all our lugguage and even had Jose and his father pick us up at the airport. Jose and Cynthia have graciously let us stay in their house untill we head out to the amazon tomorrow. Quito is nice and we have enjoyed being here. Its kind of a funny climate, changing from rain to hot sun, and then back to rain within minutes, but it is a beautiful encircled by luscious green mountains. On friday Jose and his family invited us over for a traditional Ecuadorian meal and some good conversation...it was a lot of food!! Then yesterday Liana and I braved the Quito transit system via bus as we ventured to a place called Mitad del mundo (the center of the earth). It was a bit confusing trying to figure out what buses went where, and where our stops were according to the color of bus we were on and random names of parts of the city we did not know. But with the help of some nice ecuadorians we made it(and even returned home). What made this all worth it was standing in a bus crammed full of ecuadorians with a sign that said "occupancy - 37 sitting, 40 standing" and having a bus full of tourists half asleep drive by. They were seeing all the sights but missing a great adventure. Today we braved the transit once more and went to Cruz Loma, which took us up a gondola to a station overlooking the city, from which we continued hiking up the mountains for about 2 hours in the fog. The moments when the fog broke made the trek worthwhile as we were rewarded with breathtaking mountains and a great view of the city. Tomorrow we head off in the morning to the Amazon so it will most likely be a week or so untill our next entry.
Ciao
Dennis and Liana

We are off...

Our bags are all packed and we are heading off to Calgary to see Dan, Saryn and Taliah for the night. Then it is a VERY early morning to the airport. Not sure we will sleep much at all, but it is worth a try! We are very lucky to have a connection in Quito to come and pick us up from the airport and give us a place to stay as we start out. We have been pacing around the house trying to make sure that everything is taken care of before we set out and I have a feeling this day is going to drag on. We have double and triple checked our lists, so we are off, see you in Quito!

8 days and counting...

Well the time is finally drawing near for Liana and I to leave on our trip. After months in the planning and years in the dreaming it is sometimes hard to believe that our plane leaves in a couple of days. I have always thought that the pre-trip is one of the best parts of a trip. At this stage everything is wrapped in adventure and mystery. From the ruins of long lost civilizations covered in beautiful cloud forests, to metroplolitan cities bustling with vibrant latin american feel, everything brings with it a sense of nervous anticipation. Our downstairs is covered with piles of clothes, backpacks, and various travel items waiting the final packing. And of course there is the desperate final attempt to cram our minds with as much spanish as we can. Our plan is to update this blog every now and then, you are welcome to follow along on our adventures.