Curitiba and Isla Grande

First of all I would like to fix any confusion that comments by one Miss Lana may have created. I am NOT coming home in a week, the group tour was simply ending in a week. I will be home August 14 at 10:35 AM loacl time. and #2 I am NOT a camera ho. I simply cannot be held responsible for who the photographer chooses to focus his attentions on. Anyways, back to the trip...

So after the huge meal in Curitiba we had a long walk after. The others went back to the hotel early but Melanie and I stayed at the mall to use internet and then went for another long walk before heading back to the hotel. In the morning we lazed around until midday and then headed to the local farmers market to buy stuff for a picnic lunch. I got plums which was a nice change from the usual fruit that I eat down here (papya, pineapple and banana). Also got some cheese (cheddar which we were all in heaven over because its really hard to find here), deli meat, bread, snacks. Then we took a long cab ride to this park where we picnicked. Rhiannon, Melanie and Chris all played frisbee while Jade and I read. Then they got it stuck in the middle of a nearby pond, so whe started splashing the water to make waves so that the frisbee would come closer to the edge. We took the public bus back to the mall where we went to a food court for dinner. Then it was on a nightbus for a 14 hour ride through Rio to pick everyone else up. Thne we switched buses and headed to Isla Grande.

When we finally got there it was really quite small. And there are no cars allowed on the island except for like ambulances and stuff, which they have a few because of all the watersports it can get kinda dangerous. They have self service ice cream shops, which sound like a good idea until they charge you based on how much your ice cream weighs. The also have these huge carts full of cakes and desserts that they wheel around so, all in all Id say it was a pretty great island. Hehe.

We had dinner that night, I had the fish stew again and then in the morning most of us decided to take a two hour walk to a beach. Now ths walk was really difficult, especially in the sun and I got the first blisters of my entire trip. But I think it was worth it in the end because the beach was beautiful and I was really fun to swim in the ocean which was surprisingly warm. We met up with another group who was doing our trip but in the opposite direction and just starting out. Meeting them made me really thankful to be with the group I was. One girl was just plain scary, the other a neurotic nut case who tells you all of her problems within the first five minutes of meeting her and continues to whine about them for the rest of the time. She was actually booked to be on our tour, but her friend backed out so she had to rearrange things (thank god, although she really hated her group and wished she had been with us) then there was a really quiet guy and on older german couple who barely spoke english. That was the group! I cant imagine spending all my time with them. Their guide was really fun, Peruvian but Im so glad Im with my group.

ANyways the next day CRISIS!!!!!! The airline Varig has gone under and cancelled all their flights. Donna found out that her flight home was cancelled and she had to be home on August 1st cuz she has movers coming to move apartments the next day. Jade and Chris' flight home was also cancelled and they HAD to be home on their day because they needed a full 20 days between getting home and their next trip to get a chineese visa. So they decided to head back to rio early and get their flights all sorted. We didnt know if wed see them again, or theyd hop on the first flight or what. So the rest of us (along with the other group) rented a boat for the day and had a booze cruise. We snorkled and drank and ate barbeque and drank and then went to a beach had a foodfight, played murderball and drank some more. It was pretty fun I must say. Then we went out late and had dinner at 10. There was a huge music festival starting at midnight but I was feeling sick and couldnt be bothered. The people who did go said they were unimpressed because it was so crowded not only could you not see the stage, but also you couldnt really hear the music.

This morning we caught the ferry back to the mainland at 10, arrived in Rio at 3 and Im just chilling until dinner at 730. Its our last night of the tour so were going to one of those Brazilian bbq places again. I dont know if Im ready for it. Tommorow we're doing a day tour of Rio, going to see the big Christ statue and all that. Anyways, 4 more days in Brazil!

Iguazu Falls, and Paraguay AND Argentina!

So a couple people in our group wanted to do a helicopter ride over the falls. It was $60 American and approximatley 12 minutes long. Yeah, a whopping 12 minutes. Needless to say I opted out of that activity. Instead I looked in the gift shop and wound up buying a really nice tanktop that says Brazil on it. Then we went to see the FALLS, which were such a joke cuz its dry season and that means theres no water. Melanie says that shes never seen them this dry and half the falls were just rock. So it was kinda anti-climactic. We were supposed to take a boat ride into them, but since the water was so low the boats werent running. We did however go an look in this really posh jewlerry store and I saw this really pretty bracelet made of diamonds and brazilian gemstone, and I thought maybe, just maybe if it was 500-600 dollars that I would splurge cuz it was so pretty and unique so I daringly ask the price. Guess...go on just guess. Cuz it wasnt 600, but 3600! So yeah, that was the end of my little fantasy! Anyways, then we went on this walk around the falls and there was this platform where people were doing rappelling down into the river. I looked kinda interested so the guy was showing me all these pictures, but i didnt really see the point because its basically just going down a rope which didnt seem very exciting to me, but then I saw on his little sign a ´Canopy Tour´and I was like, whats that. He DIDNT explain it very well, because I thought you just walk aroundon wires above the trees and then take a zip cord at the end. So Melanie said she would do it if I did, and then we hooked Chloe in, so us three girls head down there, pay and then find out what we were in for.

It was like Boot Camp to the extreme. They put us in harnesses and we have to do this obsticle course 8 meters above the ground so like walk on wobbly logs and climb spiderman webs and balance on wires whileholding on for dear life to ropes swinging abouve your head. About half way through Melanie was like `Lauren, this was NOT a good idea´and I agreed with her, and neither of us were joking. Then at the end as an extra special surprise, you get to climb up an 11 meter pole and then stand on top of it and JUMP off to catch a trapieze! I was like, I think this is the single scariest thing that Ive ever done. So of course, they let me go first, since I wanted to do this crazy tour in the first place. Getting up on that pole is scary ever though theres a guy at the bottom belaying you. Then your standing on top of it and its like, swaying in the wind. Then you put your arms out and jump. Bad move, I closed my eyes, and completely missed the friggin trapeeze, so then the guy starts letting me down slowely but then (just cuz hes so funny) he lets you drop until you almost hit the ground. That freaked me out. Melanie and Chloe both caught the trapeeze, so I decided to go again, because I wasnt going to be the only one who didnt, and the second time I caught it. Then they had this climbing wall that we all went on for a bit, but since the others were waiting for us (for like an hour) we couldnt climb as much as we wanted to. So basically, it was an entire afternoon of sheer terror, but now that its over we´re all like, that was really fun. Our hands are all blistered though from hanging on to the ropes for dear life. We all either went to the supermarket, or ordered pizza for dinner and sat in the hotels outdoor lobby eating and making caiprinahs. Its now a nightly tradition, we have cocktails before every meal.
The next day half of us woke up early to go to Paraguay. It was a 20 minute drive from where we were and you go there basically to shop and buy electronics (theyre supposed to be cheaper). They didnt even care when we crossed the border. They didnt check our passports and when the driver went to register his car they just waved him away? I figured that while there I might as well look for Ipod speakers, and Chloe wanted an Ipod nano. So we found this amazing store and the guy said a nano4 would cost 115 US and I saw these speakers which were a fair size and had a remote and good sound quality for $85. We thought how can we go wrong. Chris wanted me to offer the guy 60 for them, just to see what he would say and then he was like NO there ONE85 and chloes is THREE15. We thought it was odd that he changed the price. He said we must have misheard, but how on two different prices. We think it was just a selling tactic. So...no speakers for me. I did however buy some face wash for $2. We went walking on the streets and the vendors would come up to you with the most rediculous things...foldable fishing stools, shaving kits, bedspreads, porn...we spent a whole hour and a half in Paraguay.WOot!
Then we came back to the hotel to pick everyone up and go to Argentina to see the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls. They were a lot more impressive from that side, and we think that there was a bit more water than the day before...just a bit. We took a train to the falls itself, but walked back. Everyone was buying wooden animals they thought were really cute but, yeah they really werent my thing. So three countries in ONE day! Came back to the hotel and of course, after cocktails, went out for dinner.
This morning our group split up into two. Jade, Chris, Rhiannon and I woke up at 6 AM to continue the tour on in the regular fashion. We caught a 10 hour bus (with Melanie of course) to Curitiba. The bus was actually really nice and spacious so it wasnt that bad except twice it got stopped and the police searched the bag. And twice they had an argument with the same guy about a pile of dvds he had in his bag. The rest of the group paid an extra $100 to fly to Rio, hence missing today and tommorows bus and getting an extra day in Rio. Mostly it was the people who were leaving right after the tour was ending and needed the extra day in Rio to do everything. I however, figured that that $100 would be much better used hangliding when I finally get to Rio. Plus the group Im with is really fun.
We figured since there were no more vegetarians in the group that we should go out for a traditional Brazilian Barbeque dinner. Basically you have a block on your table and when the green side is up that means you are inviting the waiters, who are all walking around with different kinds of meat or pastas, to come put some on your plate. Plus theres a huge salad and side dishes buffet. So basically we gorged ourselves, and I mean we ate a LOT, once we started feeling sick we took a break, then got new plates and tried to go for round three but it was getting discusting and we stopped. Everyone was grossed out that I was eating the rare stuff, but I was grossed out that they were eating the well done stuff. I gotta say, I feel pretty sick right now, and my teeth hurt from chewing so much, but it was a really good meal and we laughed a lot. They offered Chris this stuff that looked like gibblets and he said oh yes please. Thenwe were like ´we cant beleive your going to eat chicken heart´and he was like éww chicken heart, thats gross´and we were like ´well what did you think it was´ Apparently he thought it was chicken HOOF? How is that any better? Tommorow we´re wasting the day in Curitiba until we catch a night bus that will take us to Rio to pick everyone else up then we´re headed to Isla Grande. Only one week left of the big tour!

Bonito

So Im really glad Ive learned as much spanish as I have over the past few weeks, cuz now all my hard work is USELESS in Portugeese speaking Brazil. Its all brand new again. And some things are the same, but its mostly different and really confusing. Oh well, Im only here for 2 weeks and I have a guide for most of it. Not only can I not speak Spanish anymore, but Ive also been forbidden to speak ´North American´. Im completely surrounded by Brits and NZs and If I ask for something in NA they pretend that they dont know what Im talking about. So now I have to ask for a torch instead of a flashlight. And crisps for chips and chips for fries...and so on. So I know Im going to be annoyingly british when I get home but, deal with it!

Bonito is creepily sponsored by Master Card. Everywhere you look theres the master card logo on everything, all the street signs, napkin holders, and even the stir sticks for our drinks last night. I dont understand why, but i think its weird. So last night we went out for dinner and became the customers that I hate to serve. When the guy brought out the food, nobody really remembered what they had ordered so he would say it and wed all just look at him blankly. I ordered catfish, so he said fish and I said thats me and we all started eating and then he came out with catfish...well that WAS me so...whose was the one I was eating? Nobodies, they had accidentally brought it out. I had only had a bit of the other one, but I was really glad it wasnt mine because it was kinda gross. The catfish was much better (I guess). The big drink in Brazil is Caiprinahs, but I think theyre really strong and not very good. Everyone in our group either loves them or hates them. Its sugar cane rum with lime, thats it. Its really sour as well.

In the morning we got up and had brekfast. Here the breakfasts are much better than Bolivia and Peru (where they only served bread with jam). Brazil has meat and cheese and fruit and, oh dont forget the cake? Like actual chocolate cake for brekfast...weird. Then we went snorkling at this river outside of town. River Sucuri, it was so clear you could see right through it to the bottom. We all looked really hot in our wetsuits let me tell you. The guides there helped us all into ours because it was obvious we had no idea what we were doing, plus they were hard to do up because they fit so tightly. It wasnt classic snorkling, it was much better. You get in the river and the current floats you downstrem, so you dont really have to swim, you just float and look. There were lots of fish, it was really neat. One of the girls bought an underwater camera, but I didnt think about it till it was too late. Oh well. After an hour of snorkling we ended up at the pick up point. I was glad to be done, it was a good amount of time cuz we started getting cold, and the guide started getting a little to friendly, if you know what I mean.

After that we headed to a nearby beach for the rest of the afternoon. It was really nice and hot, of course. I mostly slept and read and worked on my tan (little by little). Finally the younger girls decided to head out to the water trampoline. It was fun, but 5 of us trying to stay up all at once was difficult so we mostly just knocked eachother down. Then we swam over to the ´Flying Fox´which is where you hold on to handle bars and they slide down the rope on an angle and then you drop into the water. It was scary actually doing it cuz you think youre going to slip before your low enough to let go, but we all landed in relative safety. I cut my foot on the bottom of the lake (what is it with me cutting up my feet?) but it was fun. Ive discovered coconut ice cream and decided that its the best flavour in the world. After the sun was getting lower and everyone was starting to get attacked by sandflies we decided to leave.

Went out for dinner and I tried a Brazilian dish called Muqueca. I was for two people to share but Chole, DOnna and I all shared it and we were full. Its fish and vegetables in a tomatoe stew served with rice and mashed potatoes. It was very good, were going to have it again in Isla Grande which is another big seafood place.

Yesturday I decided to sleep in but only made it as late as 815. Spent the morning lounging around and at about 1130 David, Sarah and I decided to rent bikes and bike down to the local beach to meet up with everyone who had walked there earlier in the morning. They were so funny and anal checking that all the bolts were screwed in tight enough and horrified when they guiy said he didnt have helmets. We´re in Brazil, they arent going to have helmets. Biking took half an hour and looking at the route we couldnt imagine walking that far. We thought we were really smart renting bikes. The beach itself was nice, but the water was freezing, of course cuz its winter. We saw a lot of unfit brazilian woman in really innapropriate assless bathingsuits. Yikes! Then everyone else had cabs coming so we decided to ride our bikes back and holy crap the ride was so much harder on the way back. The bikes were total crap to begin with and they didnt have gears or anything so all the uphill facing into the sun, with a really strong wind pushing against us was not making for an easy ride. The rest of the group went by in cabs and waved, not to be assholes just to generally wave, but i was in no mood for waving back. When we got back all our faces were bright red, it was NOT a good ride.

Spent the rest of the afternoon packing and a couple of the girls decided that we should make our own Caiprinahs which were really good because we controlled how much sugar we added. It takes a lot apparently to make that drink taste nice. Went out for an early dinner because we had to get on the bus at 8. The bus actually being a van that we all squished into for the 11 hour ride to Iguassu Falls. It was not a comfortrable ride by any measure. I got put in the row with the least leg room, the theory being I have the least legs, but I was uncomfortable for most of the trip. It was weird though, everytime we stopped at a petrol station to grab snacks or the bathroom there would be a big party going on...at the petrol station. The locals would be drinking and listening to loud music and dancing? I dont know about you but I dont head to the local Esso for a good night on the town...it was weird.

So we arrived this morning at Iguassu at 7 there time, Im now 3 hours ahead of home time, and there are no rooms ready. So we´re basically wasting time until we can go see the falls at 10. They are apparently the widest waterfalls in the world?

The Pantanal

So I´ll say that Brazil is like a freakin paradise compared to the rest of SOuth America. Its hot! And pretty. The Pantanal was really nice, once we arrived. After travelling all night and all morniing we crashed on our hammocks until around 230 in the afternoon. We were supposed to go for a nature walk, but since we were all so dead our guide took us piranah fishing instead. So we hopped back onto the pickup truck that has two benches facing eachother. They warn you not to lean on the outside railing because its not very sturdy. So we bump along the dirt road and see lots of birds (my favourite were the toucans) and some alligators. Then we go traipsing through this muddy water up to our knees (barefoot) and finally arrive at a little pond. We had to walk waist deep into the water with our bamboo fishing poles, and no one was leaving until we had each caught a piranah. I feel at this point I should mention that David has a prosthetic leg, so he cant do some of the things we can, like go traipsing in the mud, and he had to stay on the main road with the truck. But Sarah came along, of course she refused to go in the water and tried to catch a fish from the shore, which you cant do! While walking to the pond I had cut my foot on something and had a bloody toe. Everyone joked that I would be the bait, but the guide said going into piranah infested waters with blood all over you was FINE, so I did! They cut up this giant cow heart for bait and our guide put a piece of meat on all our hooks amd we went and fished for a bit. But those piranahs are fast little suckers and they would eat off the bait before you even knew that they were pulling on the line. So like, every two minutes I would be asking for ´Mas carne, por favour´which my guide found really hilarious. So finally I just reached my hand into the bag and held my own bait, which grossed out all the other girls completely. But they didnt complain when i baited their hooks! Anyways, wed been there a while and I kept going deeper and deeper because Jade and I were the only two that hadent caught one. So the guide switched poles with me, I said óh is this the lucky pole?´cuz he had already caught 4 and even his daughter who was like 5 years old had caught one. So instantly after using that pole I catch one. It was about 3 inches long. I KNOW, it was a MONSTER!! haha, oh well, at least I caught one, and jade did too, so we headed back to the campsight all wet. Along the way there was this GIANT stork (like almost as tall as me, okay so not giant) on the raod. It was really neat to be so close up to one. Dinner was pretty good. They had lots of vegetables and rice of course. They also cooked up our piranahs to eat. The meat was nice, but hard to find cuz those little fish are very bony. We went to bed at the ungodly hour of 830!

Had to wake up at 5 to be ready for a 530 walk. Walked for a few hours and saw monkeys and mccaws and capibaris (the worlds largest rodent) and an anorexic cow that was dying, and a dead cow that had been killed by a puma. Lots of stuff. In the afternoon we went horse back walking. Which was really exciting for most of the group because theyd never been on horses. We nicknamed Jades horse Greedy, and mine, Mr. No Trot, because I could not get him to go faster than a fast walk! Bed again at 9 this time!

This morning we woke up at 6 to be ready for a 730 boat ride on the river. We saw an otter and lots of alligators and birds. Then we got out of the boat and it was time to go swimming, with the alligators! The water did not look very clean but I went in anyways because now I can say this: Ive been swimming with alligators! Once we got back to camp we packed up and headed out. Arrived in Bonito late this afternoon. Ill miss the pantanal, it would have been nice to have one more day just to hang out. Im in love with sleeping in a hammock! IN LOVE! And apparently we saw a lot more wildlife than you would in the jungle because its much more open. Everyone kept pointing out all these birds and things with their correct names and I was like ´how the hell does everyone know so much about wildlife´ but apparently they do. Anyways, Bonito is like a beach bum town. We´re going snorkling tommorow and lounging on beaches for the next 2 days, cant wait!

Santa Cruz

Finally, a place thats hot and I dont have to always wear a jacket, and theres palm trees! We arrived in Santa Cruz yesturday afternoon after a half hour flight. Our firt stop was Dumbo's ice cream shop. They also had one in La Paz and most of the group had been to that one and loved it but a few of us hadent tried it yet. It was really just a big ice cream shop with lots of flavours, it was no Marble Slab, but it was nice to eat ice cream instead of hot chocolate. Then we chilled out and went to dinner at an Irish pub.
Today Chloe and I decided to go to this butterfly farm thats 30 minutes outside of town. It has the largest butterfly sanctuary in the world. They also had lots of orchids. We planned to go for about 2 hours and then come back to town and go gocarting with everyone, but once we arrived we knew we were going to stay all day. We went to see the orchids and butterflies. It was a fun game trying to get good pictures of the different butterflies. Then we went and ate lunch at the resteraunt there. We met a couple from Bolivia, but they've lived in LA for the past 20 years, and then another couple from the USA who were missionaries. There were these pools there that were really pretty with waterfalls and stone steps and stuff. So we spent the rest of the afternoon in our bathing suits lounging by the pool reading, tanning and swimming. The rest of the group was really jelous when we told them, and they thought it would be boring!
Tonight is our last night in Bolivia. We have to fly to the border at 1 in the morning, then arrive at 330 AM and take a 6 hour bus ride. THEN take a 6 hour PICKUP TRUCK ride into the Pantanal, which are Brazils wetlands.Its going to be a lONG day. Were going to spend a couple of days camping and sleeping in hammocks and wildlife watching. This next week is really busy and we'll be in remote places so, Ill be out of touch for the next week.

Sucre

So apparently (little known fact) SUcre is actually the capital of Bolivia, even though everyone says its LaPaz so, go figure. Its definatley the nicest city Ive been in in South AMerica, lots of white buildings, red roofs and cobbled streets. We got off to a rough start thought because the bus ride here (3 hours) there was a baby screaming and crying basically the whole time. Elliot and I commented that it was really ruining our music listening :) Anyways we got here and were walkng past this really posh hotel and Chloe and I were like, wow thats really nice and then our tour guide was like okay, we{re here? SO basically this is the nicest hotel Ive probably ever stayed at and I think its something like $50 a night. It reminds me of where the English would stay in colonial India. We all went out for dinner together and there was a play being performed inside the resteraunt, so they ushered us to this back courtyard and told us we had to be quiet for the next 30 minutes whoile the play finished. Thats a tough thing for our group let me tell you. So everyone orders at the same time and the woman is meticulous about going in order and writing everything down. Not only did people have 2 rounds of drinks, but they had also finished dinner before I even got a beverage. They literraly had to be reminded 5 times about my order and someone elses. BUt its just beyond my comprehension of how it could be missed (5 times) if she was so careful about writing it down?
The next morning we decided to visit an orphanage. We went and bought the boys lots of school supplies and books and stuff and then went. It was interesting to see, they have all boys from 6-16 and they have to work in the kitchen and theres gardening, wood working, metal working and bakery shops where they can learn skills and sell some of there goods. They also have to go to school and obay lots of strict rules about chores and cleanliness. AFter a while we kept hearing the same thing over and over again and there were lots of speeches basically saying the same thing and wed been there longer than planned, so it got a bit boring, but it was still a good thing to go see.
Then at lunch in a resteraunt I met a family whose from Edmonton, and on a GAP tour (same as me) but going the opposite direction, which was a weird coincidence? Then we all went on the funniest tour weve ever had. Theres like the biggest collection of dinosaur footprints in the world here. SO we went to go see them. Theres a Dino-Truck that takes you there. I got there 15 minutes before it was supposed to leave and it was packed, so they got a cab for us instead. Im kinda sad I didnt get the truck cuz I missed out on the experience, but at the same time it looked really uncomfortable. We got there and the prints are still in a working quarry so they hand out hardhats...until they ran out. There were only a handful of us for the English tour but it was fun. This guy had plastic dinosaurs and play acted with them. Then he made some of us be dinosaurs and would attack us to show how they fought. It sounds lamer than it was...seriously best tour ever. Then the guide started getting all creepy and hitting on Allana (another Canadian girl) and asked if he could come to our hotel tonight and hang out. It was only 430 but we were like oh no we{re tired and going straight to bed...at 430? Spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and then we all went out for authentic Bolivian, which was A LOT of meat, but still nice. A lot of the group went out drinking but I had to be up by 6 to go paragliding so I lamely went back to the hotel.
Next morning we were ready by 7, but the tour guide didnt show till around 8. Then we drove an hour oustide of Sucre to a big hill. There were 4 of us girls Me, Melanie (the guide), Allana (my roomate, from London Ontario) and Rhiannon (From Wales). It was neat but also really time consuming cuz they had to set up the parachute (1/2 hour), go on the ride (1/2 hour), then drive down to the bottom and pick up the guide and bring him back to the top of the hill, (1/2 hour). So just getting through one person took forever. I went third. It was kinda shady (paragliding in Bolivia, imagine that) cuz basically your strapped in and the guide is strapped in behinde you and yours supposed to run down the hill, run run run, and dont sit until the guide tells you, even if youre in the air. But this haill is so rocky and slippery that we kept being afraid that someone was going to fall. Well my turn rolls around and the wind became a lot stronger. SO hes telling me to run forewarsd but we both get yanked backwards. I end up on my ass and the parachute is tangles in the trees. They have to reset up. When we finally get up I had the highest and longest ride cuz the wind was so good. Now Im not afraid of hights, but being all the way up there and realizing a strap is keeping you from falling out makes you a bit queasy. It sdidnt help that he was doing tonnes of spinns. SO by the time he said were going to go down, I was ready because I felt like I was going to puke. He let me stear a bit and we totally had a crash landing where we ended up in a huge ball, but it was fun.
SO Im down in this dry river bed with Allana and the truck breaks. So theyre spending like 45 minutes fixing it and were like, they probably think Ive died up there. Then the wind changed again, for the worse and Melanie wasnt able to go. In a way its good its her cuz she lives down here and can go again, but this is also the third time shes tried to do it, so she was pissed off, understandably because it was now almost 3 in the afternoon and shed basically wasted her whole day not to go. Once we got back to the city I did some more shopping. ANd then it was time for our farewell dinner because 3 people were finishing the trip today and heading back to LaPaz to go home. Mike (American, retired, the most obnoxious man in the world!) we were happy to see go. Elliot (Late 20´s, AMerican, We all make fun of him for being American) and Allana we wanted to stay, but what can you do. We went out for dinner and drinks. I tried the national drink here which was so gross. THen around 1130 we headed to a club to go dancing. It only had about 6 people in it when we got there, but within an hour it was hard to find room on the dance floor. We acted like such obnoxious tourists taking pictures of innapropriate body parts and such. Melanie told us not to talk to any of the guys who were immediatly around us because we were acting so inappropriatley that they would think we would definatley sleep with them If they bought us a drink. Apparently our behaviour wasnt ´Lady Like´. I did end up dancing with one Bolivian guy who after about two minutes asked me if I was his girlfriend. They move quickly down here dont they. I told him no, my boyfriend was ´just over there´ and he looked a bit freaked out like, why would I dance with him if my boyfriend was here? Anyways, around 230 we left, which was normal for us, but the bar looked like it was nowhere near shutting down. Got back to the hotel and watched a bit of tv with everyone before going to bed around 4. This morning we{re catching a flight to Santa Cruz, which is a half hour plane ride, but an 18 hour bus ride. I think we made the right choice!
So now the group is down to 9 and Ill give you a quick run down of everyone.
Melanie- Tour guide. Late 20´s, from Toronto, Canada. I really like her, weve bonded a lot.
Chris and Jade- A married couple, early 30´s. Hes from England, shes from NZ. They´re lñots of fun and not couply at all.
Sarah and David- A couple, not married but have been together 9 years. Early 30´s. From England. The prissiest, whiyniest, most intolerant pair Ive ever met. Everyone complains about how much they complain. ABout the food, they dont want to go mountain biking cuz its too dusty, about EVERYTHING. AT first we thought it was just her and thought, oh poor guy. But hes actually worse...yikes.
Rhiannon- 24, from Wales, really nice, has a hair dryer. Now that people have left rooms are gettin rearranged and shes my new roomate, which is great
CHloe- 23, from England, also really nice, like her a lot.
Lesley- Late 30´s, a teacher from England. Really funny. SHes been travelling for a total of one year and this is her last leg. She has lots of great stories
Dianna- Early 50´s. Older, but fun and cool. From NZ but she teaches at international schools all over the worls and has been living in Thailand for the last 2 years.
Me- well, ithink you already know...

Potosi

So since we only spent one day here, I cant really tell you much about the town itself. It has a huge silver mine here and it used to be the richest country in SOuth America but now the mine is almost barren and investors have left. They still mine copper and zinc and a bit of silver. We went and visited the mine which was really sad, but a really important thing to see. They picked us up and we got taken to a house where they dress us for the mine. I had hot blue track pants and a pink jacket, complete with rubber boots, a hard hat, and a headlamp that they tied around our waists. We looked so funny and YES I do have pictures of that as well.

We got to the mine and saw lots of other tourist groups all perfectly colour co-ordinated and we wondered why we looked like such a hodge-podge group? Then we went and bought gifts for the miners. 20 Bolivianos ($3) got us 2 boxes of crackers, a bag of coca leaves, and DYNAMITE with all its accessories. We never thought wed be the type of people who give dynamite as a gift, but I guess sometimes you surprise yourself?

We went into the mine and there was lots of ducking and accidentaly hitting our heads and crawling at one point. We watched the men do various mining things and sometimes got to try them out, like hauling up rocks and banging a hole into a rock for dynamite and stuff like that. We watched them light the dynamite and then heard the consequent 16 explosions. Then they tied us up one at a time to be lowered down a 30 meter shaft to the lower level of the mine, which was really freaky, I kept thinking I was going to get stuck, but never did. After an hour in there I was definatley ready to leave. OUr tour guide was rubbish, she didnt really tell us about the history of the mine, so it was a lot of watching the miners and watching them some more.

They start mining at the age of 12, and they work 12 hour days without food or water, because they arent allowed bathroom breaks. Thats why they chew the coca leaves, to numb them from feeling cold or hunger. It was realy sad. There was one 12 year old boy who was learning the trade from his dad, who was 45. In five years the dad woud retire and the son would take his place in the mine.

Left the mine way later than we were supposed to so I didnt go to the silver museum because it was too late. Had lunch with Chloe an English girl on the trip. Shes rellay nice. Did I mention Im the youngest on this trip as well? But its funny because pretty much everything that I did in Peru on my own, they all did in the group tour. Anyways, going to catch a bus to Sucre where we´ll be for a few days and Im going to try and go paragliding!

South-West Bolivia

So I have to say that Bolivia is really cool. We just spent four days seeing the most amazing, varied, weirdest andscape Ive ever see. And Gareth, to anwser your question some people say the strikes are to protest the USA trade agreement, which we think would be all of the country, not just these nothing little towns. SOme people say its to protest the new President (of Peru or Bolivia take your pick) and others say they just want a day off work...hmm. Anyways, back to the trip...

Day One- The Salar des Uyuni
We got picked up from our hotel in 3 4x4s. Thats the ony way to travel out here because most of the time we werent on actual roads, just randomy driving in the middle of nowhere. It was reay bumpy and again, because Im the shortest I sat in the back, because anyone ese who say back there would hit their head on the roof. So we drove through the salt plains all day. It was really weird because it looked just like snow, so when the drivers were going really fast and curving around I kept feeling like we were going to slide, but I mean its salt, so we didnt. We took lots of funny pictures, we spelled BOIVIA with our bodies. We went to this salt hotel thats completely made of salt. I thought about buying some sore of salt souvenier but I figured it woud just disintigrate by the time I got it home. We brought 2 cooks with us so we always ate in the middle of nowhere. The food was alright, but it was not up to Inca Trail standards. We went to this island that had lots of cactus trees on it, then to these caves with fossils of stalagmites, but they looked realy cool, like paper. By the time we got to our dorm for the night it was a bit late and I was realy queasy from being in the back the whole day, so for the rest of the trip I stayed away from the back. Theres no heating in these dorms, and power and running water shuts off around 9, even though we havent quite finished dinner. Oh well.

Day Two- The Coloured Lakes
Today we went to some different lakes that were weird colours. The best was the pink lake (like actually pink) there was also some green ones. We saw lots of flamengos and other wildlife. IPODS are a hot commodity out here and only 4 of us have them. Today, three of us were in the same car which was kinda funny, but none of us really wanted to lend them out to other cars and pus, it gave us a huge variety of musice. This was definatley the coldest night, there was realy thick frost on the windows and we slept in dorms of 6 or 7 on concrete slabs with a matress ontop and then our sleeping bags. Usually get to the dorms arounf 5 or 6, have tea, play cards and eat dinner around 830 or 9 whie fighting to stay awake.

Day Three- The Desert
Today was an early start at 530 am. OUr tour eader is really sick so she stayed in the car all day. IT was too bad cuz its a really bad time to be sick, off roading in 4x4s. Anyways, our first stop was some geisers we were all freezing and stuck our hands in the steam, but then we stunk like sulphur. Then we went to some hotsprings where only a handfu of people braved the cold and went in. I had my bathing suit on but there was no way that I was going to go in, especialy because they werent that warm anyways and there was nowhere to change after. It was literally just a pool in the middle of nowhere. We ate breakfast outside and then headed through the desert. Saw the vally of rocks, another green lake and so on. IT sounds like we didnt see much but, actually it felt really crammed in. ANd there were lots of long driving stretches. Had a fun night playing cards and dancing. These places that we stay at are really bizarre, they´re just random little towns of maybe 50 people in the middle of nowhere. We climbed up ontop of this hil and you can see where the town starts and stops and you coud wak through it in about 10 minutes. And they are really plain. Theres no green anywhere, weve started caling in Dirt Word because that realy is what its like.

Day Four- Back to Civilization
Today we stopped at the train cemetary for lunch before heading back to Uyuni. Its this random place where they dumped a the old steam engines that they dont use anymore. Got some scrapes from climbing around on them. Then we went to Uyuni to pick up our big packs and got on a private bus (I make special mention of this because we all decided to pay $5 extra to have our own bus) to Potosi. When we got to Potosi (5 hours later on a windy dirt road) the driver refused to take us to our hotel and dropped us at the bus station. But wait, didnt we pay him to take us to our hotel, why yes we did but...wlecome to Bolivia. We al went out for pizza which was okay, but not the greatest and then, for the first time in 5 days, I HAD A SHOWER. It was so nice to be clean again. I was in a triple with two other girs and of course, one of them snored. So I got woken up at 3 and never made it back to sleep again. I listened to music for the rest of the night, lovely. I realised that Ive NEVER had a good night sleep since Ive arrived on this CONTINENT! Oh well, thats all part of traveling I guess.

Uyuni

So, the tour group is really great. Everyone on it is loud and fun and funny, which makes for a nice change. OUr tour guides name is Melanie, from Toronto. Theres another Canadian girl on it too. In 10 days our group will go from 12 to 9 and it will be two couples and 5 girls, which will be a blast. Yesturday we took a bus to Oruru. But, alas, there was a STRIKE )are we really surprised) but the bus drove off road around the protestors. We arrived in Oruru after 3 1-2 hours to get straiyght on a train for 7 hours to Uyuni. The train was not bad. More spacious than the bus, and we had dinner in the dining car. ARrive to Uyuni at around 1030 and it was sooo cold. Went straight to bed.
Today we leave for a 4 day tour of SW Bolivia so Ill be out of touch, but we´re going to see some amazing things. Tell you all about it when I get back.

La Paz

So I fell like I{ve left Red Deer and headed straight to New York. Because that is definatley the difference between Puno(actually maybe anywhere in Peru) and La Paz. There are so many street vendors here selling not only food and candy but like...batteries, clothes, any kind of soap or shampoo, I got a flashlight (cuz BOTH of mine have now mysteriously stopped working?). You never need to go into an actual store (which I dont because I feel like the people on the streets need my money more than the people who can afford a store, you know?) And the streets are so crowded at all times of the day. Finding a taxi is also a challenge cuz most of them are full.

My fist day in LaPaz I went shopping. I got lots of neat stuff, I even bought a good luck charm from a witch (I KNOW, Im a sucker). Anyways, my day wasnt too hecic. I feel a little altitude sickness kick in everyday around mid afternoon, which is frustrating because Ive been living at a high altitude for a while, but I guess cuz LaPAz is SO high, I still have trouble.

Yesturday was so cool. I went mountain biking down ´The Worlds Most Dangerous Road´or the Death Road o some. This is 64 kilometers of complete downhill (3600 meters) on the edge of a cliff with a gravel road a and trucks whizing by. The road leads from LaPaz down to Coroico. With that in mind its really not So bad. Its usually the cars that fly off the cliff at night when its dark. They operate with ´Bolivian Radar´which mean they honk when turning a corner and if no one honks back they proceed. Once two trucks collided and rolled over the cliff killing one mans wife and childern. So he has set up the human traffic light system at these dangrous corners where people will give you the green or the red to proceed. Our guide was from New Zeland and he says that hes had two bikers go over the cliffs and the most dangrous injury was a broken coller bone. They were quite safe with us though, we would stop every 2-3 kilometers to regroup. We had to bike on the cliff side cuz they say its safer than going on the mountain side where you can get squished by trucks. They also would make us get off our bkes and stand to the right of our bikes away from the cliff, cuz some people have gotten off their bikes on the wrong side and fallen down the cliff. We got picked up at 730, and by the time we reached the start of the road, got geared up and the safety talk we got riding about 9-3 in the afternoon. There was only one little uphill section of 6Kilometers, but because we were over 4000 meters, it was hard work to breathe on this uphill part that normally would have been easy. Apparently, Im the shortest person IN THE WORLD and so when they assigned bikes, i got the littlest one. The guide called it the pocket rocket, but I called it the little bike that could. Oh well, it still went just as fast as the others.
By the end of the day my hands and forearms were killing from gripping the breaks all day. But we were rewardd by cold showers and a buffet. Then we headed (at night) back up the wolds most dangerous road and back to the city. I was watching and we would get really close to the cliff sometimes, but because we were going uphill we had the right of way and passed cars on the mountain side. Uphill gets right of way because the downhill drivers can see how close they are to the edge and two cars cant pass eachother on the road at the same time, its just too narrow. Mostly and bus and a bike couldnt even be on the road at the same time which made it a hassel to get off everytime a car came. Got back to La Paz around 10 at night, went straight to the hostel and got all my stuff together because Im switching hostels. NOt that cold showers and a bar that blasts music right under my room wasnt fabulous, by my group tour starts today. Its an arrival day so I dropped my stuff off at the new place and wandered around LaPaz some more. Compared to my $4 a night hostels, i think this on looks around $20 and wow, its nice. Nicer than what Im used to thats for sure. Im excited to meet the rest of the group that Ill be with for the next 3 1/2 weeks all the way to Rio. Wer have a group meeting tonight. And tommorow we leave for the salt flats. Im feeling a little dizzy with altitude sickness so...im gonna go have a nap.

Crossing The Border

What an ordeal! Yesturday was definatley the craziest most frustrating of this whole trip, maybe of my whole life. I was supposed to be at the bus station at 7 for a 730 bus to the border, then to Copacabana for a 2 hour lunch break, then on to La Paz to arrive at 4 in the afternoon. SOunds nice right_ So as Im checking out the lady asks where Im headed and I say La Paz and she tells me that its impossible and theres absolutely NO WAY ill be able to get there because there was a strike in one of the towns we had to go through and busses wouldnt be allowed to pass. But I already have a ticket so I decide to go to the station anyways.
First of all, they dont have my reservation, even though Ive already páid and they say the bus is full. A girl told me about another company that was going and they were going to walk through the town, about 20 minutes, and have a different bus pick us up on the other side, and so I get there and they have no seats except one right beside the driver, which isnt even a real seat. I take it and they take me out the back way, I dont have to pay departure tax or even for a ticket.
Then after 20 minutes of driving, there IS a seat on the bus, so they move me and charge me 10$, this is the second time ive paid this mind you, but because were already on the bus, they cant give me a ticket, this becomes important later. After 40 minutes of driving we get to that town and...everybody off. We pick up our packs and day packs, one guy even had a snowboard, and were told we have to walk 5 kilometers, which will be mmore than 20 minutes, and then after we walk a while they say, oh actually its 10 kilometers! There was supposed to be a worse strike the next day so we all decide to keep walking. Normally my bag is heavy, but because Im planning to send stuff home from LaPaz I went shopping in Puno and my bag is EXTRA heavy. Everyone starts spreading out and by the time we reach the other end, 2 hours later, theres only a handfull of us. And NO bus in sight! SO we wait, and wait, and wait some more. Finally, I made friends with 3 people from Isreal, they worried about the border closing before we get there, so we try to get a cab to take us to the border, but no one would they said that they didnt have clearance, plus they wanted 20$, when I say dollars I mean American. We decided to wait a bit longer and it was good we did because people who had gotten cabs to take them...protestors would throw huge rocks at the cab and they had knives to slash the tires...it was a bit scary. So finally someone from our bus company comes and tells us to keep walking cuz the bus is up the road...we get there and they wouldnt let us on the bus. They guy had to come and they argued fo a while before we got on. Then we were moving and the guy came down the isle asking everyone for tickets...which i didnt have. So I told him what happened and he didnt really have any other choice but to beleive me. After 10 minutes we all get off the bus and get stuffed into vans. There were two huge tourist busses of poeple walking when we started and now we were down to about 20...I never saw snowborder guy again. We got to the border, got everything stamped and then swithched to another cramped van, and these suckers were hot. OH did I mention I didnt eat breakfast because I thought wed be havinglunch by 11, so its one and Im starving. We finally get to Copacabana and me and this one other guy were the only ones headed for LaPaz.So theres no oone from our bus company in sight, neither of us have tickets, so we pay to get on a bus to La Paz, it leaves in an hour and a half. So we go for lunch and then get on the bus. Arrive in LaPaz around 8, 4 hours later than we were supposed to, we head to a hostel that was reccomended to us by one of the girls in the small vans. Get there and they are full so he calls another one for us, but thinks this guy and I are a couple, so he asks for the matrimonial sweet...wrong. ANyways, we walk to this hostel and sort everything out, hes, Lee from California, in his own room and Im sharing with anothe girl. At this poin I can totally smell myself cuz not only was it a long day, my last hostel didnt have water when I came home fom the isalnds, so a shower had been a long time coming. The water, of course was freezing, but I did it anyways.
Well, that was my adventure...one day Ill look back and laugh...I hope!

Puno

Well, I think I officially just did the WEIRDEST tourist thing that you can do in Peru. But since this is my last two days here I figure, it seems fitting. So, I actually didnt see any of Puno itself except the main strip where I had dinner and used the internet. The real draw to come here is to go see Lake Titikaka and the islands. I did a two day tour of the islands. SO yesturday we took a boat (there were like 25 people in the boat, it was a little crowded) first to the floating islands of the Uros people. These were really neat because the people actually BUILT the islands out of reeds and mud and rope...thats it. ANd they live on these huge man made island. Becuase it was made from reeds the ground was very soft. But they also make their houses and boats out of reeds as well. It was really cool. We went for a ride in a reed boat as well.
Then we went to Amantani island where we were paired up with a host family to spend the night. Since I didnt know anyone I paired up with another single girl who I had talked to on the boat and she was Heather...from Edmonton (yes thats right, theres more than one of you). Anyways, we thought that was really quite the coincidence. So basically the women from the island just stand around and we all get randomly placed and then walk to their house with them. SHe didnt speak any English, but I was doing pretty well translating for Heather. We called her our Mom for the duration of the stay, she even fixed a hole in my sweater for me. So we got put in our room and then sat there for like 40 minutes wondering if we should go down for lunch, or if shed come get us...which she did. We had soup and then a big plate of a variety of potatoes and some fried cheese. Lots of Carbs on this island! We all found it odd that there were NO young men on the island that we could see. There were old men, and little boys, but all the women were doing all the work, and we were like, ´where are their husbands?´. It was bizzare. OUr guide said that there were 5 women on the island for every man, so some took more than one wife!
Then we all went for a hike up to the top of the island to watch the sunset. It was quite the climb, but we learned that people fall in love on this island based on the size of the guys radio...interesting. I also spent a lot of time with three teachers from Connecticut, they were all really nice and two of them spok fluent spanish.
Went back to the house for dinner which was a mix of rice, potatoes AND pasta! They also have this tea on the island thats different than Coca tea, but still good for altitude sickness, it was called Munya and you can only get it on this island, which was too bad because it was minty and much better than coca leaves.
After dinner, we got dressed up in traditional Peruvian clothes (yep thats right, dont worry, theres pictures) we had two skirts, a blouse, a belt that was tied really tight like a corset and a shawl/veil type thing. We all looked a little hularious, and the guys only had to wear ponchos! Then we went to a fiesta and did some traditional dancing, but after a while all of the music started sounding the same, and we were all really hot and we wanted to go. BUT the teachers Mom really wanted to stay (cuz she liked our tour guide we figured out) and their mom and our mom were friends, so of course, our mom wanted to stay too. Finally we left, after quite a while of waiting, and we were one of the last groups there.
In the morning we had pancakes (more carbs) for breakfast. It really surprised me that pancakes are so popular in Peru. Anyways, it was funny because everyone in the group got all of the same meals, which we thought was odd. Then we got back onto the boat to go to Taquile Island. There was this one family and it had been the moms dream since university to go to peru. But her husband was stuck back in Puno seeking medical attention, and her two sons got sick this morning...throwing up sick. So she was taking care of the younger one all day (who was only going into grade 6), we felt so bad for them. So we hiked (the hiking never ends) up to the top of the island again and hung out in the main square. I bought a scarf (its this really pretty green colour that we´ve never seen in Peru yet and hand made from Alpaca wool) and this really funky bracelet. Then our guide told us about the different traditions on the island. Like different coloured hats and different sized pompoms denote marriage status. And this is how they fall in love. They fall in love around 16-17 years old and the boys carry small pebbles in their pocket. If they like a girl they throw a stone at her and ask her if she wants to marry him. Then they fall in love over the next 5 hours (im REALLy not making this up). Then she moves in with his family for 5 years to ´prove their love´. During that time they HAVE to have at least one baby, if they dont, they cant get married, if they do, after 5 years they have a three day drink fest to celebrate the union and then they are married for life...absolutely no divorce. We were all a little confused by the process, but what can you do. All three of the islands used to have problems with imbreeding, but they have regulated that all now.
Then we walked to the other end of the island for lunch of soup (of course) and fried kingfish. IT was pretty good. Now Im back in puno and Im going to meet Heather and the teachers for dinner. Tommorow I have a really early bus to Boliva so its my last night in Peru...sigh!