Lauren's Adventures in SA

And, One More Time... Buenos Aires

2006-08-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hey Lana, guess what? IVE BEEN ON THE SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR IN AUSTRIA!!! Whose surprised? Anybody? ANyone? No...oh. Well, you can see the pictures when I get home. Speaking of pictures I have OVER 1300, and these are the ones Im keeping, Ive deleted way more. To answer another matter, do you guys really think that I would publicize the fact that I got a piercing on a website read by my whole family if you couldnt SEE it? I mean, come on, use your heads!
ANyways, Im heading off to the airport in a while so Im drinking lots of water, because I wont get any on the plane! Just kidding, I dont think those banns affect any of my flights, although I could get to the airport and realise that Im wrong, who knows. These last few days have been lame. I was bored and really lost the will do go do anything, plus I was running low on cash and refused to take out more from the bank (damn those bank fees) because I wouldnt have needed to take out a lot. So Friday morning I went downstairs for breakfast and there was this Irish guy sitting at the bar drinking a pint of beer. I asked him if he was seriously drinking beer at 9 in the morning? He asked me if I was SERIOUSLY going to the gym while I was on vacation. We both said `touche´ and parted ways. So I worked out and had spanish lessons and walked around a gypsy market (I think thats my 6th GYPSY market this trip, not to be confused ith other markets) and a road where all the stores sold antiques. It was like walking from one garage sale to another. There was some cool stuff but how was I gonna fit a tea set or candelabra into my bag? Went out for lunch, watched Gilmore Girls. OH...things got really exciting when the bead of my piercing fell into the toilet as it was being flushed, so I had to walk half way across town to get a new one. Meanwhile i was worried that the bar would fall out, but nope, that sucker stayed put! Whenever I feel like sleeping in theres this guy in my dorm who ALWAYS starts snoring around 830 in the morning (I think its cuz he goes to bed around 8 am) so, no.
On Saturday I went to the gym again, then Spanish. It was our last lesson, she was really great! I walked around for a bit but it was weird. All the stores were closed and there was like, no one walking on the street, which is weird for a saturday. Its like a ghost town, i dont know why. Ate...packed(I had to buy another bag to get everything to fit and not weigh too much)...watched tv, caught up on my journal. I dont know why I insist on keeping a journal when I travel. I never have one at home, but somehow, on a trip it seems like a good thing to do. Its a bit redundant having a blog and a journal, and plus, especially with the GAP tour there was no time to write, so you fall bahind and then it just becomes a game of catch-up. Oh well, Im sure when Im 80 Ill appreciate it...if I can still see when Im 80. I kinda felt sad walking around which surprised me. I mean, I dont wish I could stay here longer or anything but, it was kinda sad that this was my last day here, you know?
This morning I went to a market near the hostel thats always on on Sundays. I wasnt gonna buy anything though because again...no cash and plus after so long, all the stuff they sell at markets looks the same. Oh more jewlerry, more candle holders,more fancy soap...it gets old. But i found this wearhouse full of racks and racks of clothes by independent designers. So after buying a shirt and eating lunch I am down to 30 pesos...and sharing a cab to the airport with Ricky will cost me 25 so, cutting it close I know, but thats better than being left with tonnes left over.
So I guess that this is my last entry. Lets try not to cry about that. I guess Ill see most of you soon and (I dont know, this is awkward) thanks for reading? :)

Yep.. Still, Buenos Aires

2006-08-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

This town is bleeding me dry. Ive tried not to spen money but somehow, because I can just put it on visa, it seems like im not spending money, until I look at my balance online and see...if i had to be here for another week I wouldnt be able to afford it. Monday night I didnt do much after Anouk left. I watched the Juror with Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin, and read my book `The Traveller` oooo, it actually has nothing to do with travelling, and its sci-fi which is kinda lame and the cover says that its the `new davinci code` which is another strike against it, but what did you expct for free. On Tuesday I went and took a bike ride tour of the city. It was the historic tour, so I saw a lot of monuments and learned about the city too. ´Buenos Aires´ means good winds and because the Spaniards would sail here to pick up all the goods being sent from SA to Spain, because its a good central location, they named this city Buenos Aires...neat? It lasted around 4 hours and the guide kept asking me if I would go out with him for a drink afterwards,which I was trying to keep putting him off, but then this girl Maria asked if I wanted to go to a jazz club with her, of course I said yes. We went out for dinner first and had champagne? Why not its so cheap? Shes from New York (arent they all) and here for 3 weeks doing research for her PHD. Its so weird to me that I meet these random girls and we go out and basically tell eachother our life stories and talk about guys and life and all our problems, but youve only just met, and youll only know eachother for a few days, or even one day. I find it weird, but kinda nice. Anyways then we went to the jazz club and, Im so not into jazz music, but it was nice to do something different. We met up their with one of Marias friends, a guy from Oxford and, you know what, I actually just realise that I have no idea what his name was. Its kinda funny when I meet these people who havent been here long because Im the girl with all the stories now. He was like, ooh rio, whats that like, and hes doing a group tour through Bolivia and Peru and i was telling him all these things he should do, like a wise old SA expert. And then he was like, oh hows your spanish and i said terrible. But when the waiter came and talked to us he had no idea what was going on and I was understanding everything, he was like, I thought your spanish was terrible? Its kinda a cool feeling.
Since we were all going in opposite directions we all got our own cabs so that was so long to Maria and gool ol` whats his name? Wednesday I had my first...Spanish Lesson? Ill admit that maybe my first one should have been BEFORE I left Canada, but I figue better late than never. This woman, Laura is gonna come to the hostel everyday from now until I leave for a 2 hour lesson, which yes is only 8 hours in total, but at least its something. And Ive been picking it up pretty quick so...who knows what 8 hours could do? Shes cute, shes little and Columbian and my age. She is studying Film at the local university. We had some fun over how dumb I was. She gives me homework though...terrible. I also went for a manicure and a pedicure, it was $12, total. I would get it done once a week at home if it was that cheap. Plus I also started going to the gym. Theres a nice one pretty close to where Im living and you can pay a drop in fee. Its nice having a daily routine, its like I live here, kinda, for four days. After my lesson I went and got another piercing! Yep you read that right. But shhh dont tell my mom k, cuz shell freak out and just tell me how once again Ive `ruined my good looks´. I really like it, and Im not telling where it is, youll just have to see when I get home. The girl at the hostel (who has many peircings herself) told me a good street to go to, and it turns out that she sent me to PUNK CENTRAL. I had to buy the jewlerry at one store and get the piercing in another and god, did it hurt! But I also discovered a clothing designer who I LOVE named ´Agarrete Catalina´ and I bought a few shirts as well. Spent the rest of the night studying.

Thursday I went walking around and took pictures of all the things Ive been walking by withouth taking pictures of so, the main square, the theatre, Casa Rosada (you know, where Evita sang Dont Cry For Me...on the balcony, IF the musical was real life (which Im kinda convinced it was). Speaking of Evita Moments, in the song `Hello Buenos AIres`I thought one of the lines in it was just non-sequiter spanish, but its actually street names from the city, and Ive walked down them all... Rio de la Plata, Florida, Corrientes, Ave 9 de Julio, pretty cool huh Lana...huh? I had another Spanish lesson and we went for a walk around the neighborhood and would point to things and I would have to say what they were and also describe in Spanish what we were doing ´I am crossing the street` ´I am sitting at a table`. Then she made me ask her questions. It was fun. I asked her about living in Columbia, and was it safe? I also remarked that in Canada I am pretty short, but she only comes up to my neck, so she is REALLy short. She said she has a hard time finding clothes that fit. Then, after thinking about it for a while, I decided to take a tango lesson. My reasons for not wanting to do it were two-fold.
1- I dont have a partner
2- Where am I ever going to get to use what Ive learned? Its not like theres a local tango club at home...
But bordom overcame rationality and there I was. My partner was a mixture between the female and male instructor. She asked me where I first learned Tango and I said that this was my first lesson and she couldnt beleive it because apparently I caught on quickly and have no problem following the lead. I told her I did a lot of ballet...Then I went and sat at a cafe to finish my book, only to find out that its the first of FOUR, I cant wait for the next one! Actually, I can, I can wait a very long time.
Ive basically lost all motivation to do anything anymore, Im all sight-seeing-out (now I KNOW thats not a word). I have a basic routine of gym in the morning, spanish in the late afternoon and I basically just walk down a different street during the days. Lunch fills up a lot of time, yay lunch. Because the meals are so big here, lunch tends to be my big meal, so I work it off the rest of the day, and dinner is just like a sandwich or something. People here love eating late, but I dont see the point of eating a big meal and then going to bed? Maybe if I was cool and had friends we would go out after the big dinner and dance it off for the rest of the evening...aww, friends.

Buenos Aires

2006-08-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

So now that Ive been out and about I realise BA is actually pretty cheap. I bought a new pair of jeans for $75! JEANS!!! I know that none of you can understand how nice it is to be able to wear jeans again after 2 months of ugly cargo pants that you hate (although yes Jen and Laura, they ARE handy) but beleive me its a good feeling. And you can get a steak dinner for like $8. Spent Friday walking around and doing some casual shopping. There was a street tango show going on so I stopped to watch and the guy saw me put some money in the hat and then he grabbed me to come dance with him...I sucked, it was a little embarrasing but funny at the same time.

Speaking of embarrasing, I guess I forgot to mention that while on Isla Grande I went with Melanie to take a Capoiera class. Thats the Brazilian style of karate and its like a mix of kickboxing with hip hop dancing and back flips. It was crazy. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and spent most of the class sucking and laughing at myself for how bad I was. We did across the floor stuff where everyone was walking on their hands and I could barely do a handstand! Then we did some routines and he told me not to worrry, but he was impressed by how quickly I picked up the routines (yay 15 years of dance!) Then we all sat in a circle and clapped and sang (I just sang what it sounded like and it was really repetitory (is that a word?) so it was easy, while people in the center sparred with eachother. It was neat to watch but I was glad they didnt make me get in there. Anyways, back to BA...

Friday I bought tango shoes! They were handmade and the lady who ran the shop also designed them. Theyre really neat, black and silver. Where will I wear them you ask, dont ask. Later at the hostel I met a gil from holland named Anouk (yes Justine, like Anouk and the Sun) and we talked for a while. Shes here till monday. That night I went to a tango show where you get dinner beforehand and then go watch the show. The meal was good , you pick an appy a main and a dessert. Plus the wine is included so he asked red or white, and then proceeded to open an entire bottle of red for me, and kept topping it up. I asked if he was trying to get me drunk? Because the last time I drank an entire bottle myself I had to be taken home early (so Im told, because I sure dont remember!) Anyways, he managed to get me to drink half of it...good for him. So ofcourse Im at a table all by myself, which I dont mind, but everyone else seemed postitively horrified by a young woman forced to eat on her own!!! The HORROR! My waiter asked me why and I said I was travelling and he said we never see girls in here on there own (I kinda felt like bridget jones when shes at a dinner party with all these couples and they all turn to her and ask her why there are so many single women in their 30`s) The couple sitting at the next table must have felt the same way because when we got taken to the show I was shown to my seat (which was okay) and they were taken up to the balcony (which was much better) and the woman told the waiter to get me to come and sit with them, which was a really nice gesture, but since they didnt speak a lot of english, we could only have a very basic spanish conversation. They were Grace and Raoul from Uruguay. Their sons girlfriends name is also Lauren. They came to BA just for fun, because its only a 3 hour boatride...thats it. The show was awesome, there were 4 couples of dancers and live musicians. They also had singers and peruvian musicians between the dances. I took some pictures withough the flash, but lots of people were taking pictures with their flashes on and I was like...umm hello? Wheres your theatre ettiquite? Appartently they didnt have any.
My eyes got all infected again so this confirms my theory that its makeup thats making them go that way. Which seems really weird, I know I havent worn it in like 2 months but still, how can I magically become allergic to makeup that I wore all the time at home?

I share an 8 bed room with 5 other guys and when I went to bed at 1230 I was the only one in the room and I was like, great theyre gonna come in late and make lots of noise and Ill get woken up and itll suck. But when I woke up this morning, only one of them was in his bed, the rest just didnt come home. Where were they all night? Its a mystery...
I had to wake up relatively ealry cuz I was getting a theatre tour at 10 am. Teatro Colon is one of the top five opera houses in the world and it looks like a theatre out of Amadeus. It was so beautiful, but we could only take pictures of the main lobby. Theres a main floor and 6 balconies and the auditorium is in a giant U shape. Theres a huge dome ontop with a chandeleir. After the tour was over I decided it would definatley be worth the money to buy a ticket to the show. I thought that it would be like $100, but for Saturday night, main floor, center, `The Emperor of Atlantis`it was only...$30, can you beleive it? Thats cheaper than going to a movie! Its insane, but Im happy. During the rest of Saturday I walked down to the neighbourhood known as Recoletta and visited the huge cemetary there. After much searching I found Evitas tomb. It was like a `yep there it is´kinda moment. Then I walked around the gypsy fair a bit before going homw.

The opera was cool, it was about Hitler and the holocaust and all that stuff. As I expected, it was sung in German with Spanish subtitles, so I didnt quite understand what was going on, but they had a pretty cool set and some other technical stuff that most of you wouldnt understand, so I wont bore you with it. Then I went back to the hostel and I was dying of tiredness, so of course I go out with Anouk to the cafe downstairs and we had coffee and then wine. So by midnight I was more than ready to go to bed. We talked about lots of things and I asked her all they typical things you ask someone who lives in Amsterdam. NO she does not smoke weed all the time...just to clear that up. I knew I was getting really sick and that I had to sleep a lot, but sleeping in here is really hard because im so used to waking up early, so I do naturally and the noises of everyone else in the room waking up and coming and going is really annoying. Anyways I managed to make it to 1230, which was an effort let me tell you, and I feltl much better in the morning.

At 130 we left the hostel to go to a football game. Apparently you cant be here and not go to one, but, sports fan that I am, I wasnt really looking foreward to it. But actually I had a lot of fun. Anouk and I sat together and the atmosphere was good. But it was soooo cold and windy that we were all like, oh god whens it over? Our team won (Boca) or at least the team I was told to cheer for. When it was over we couldnt wait to leav but apparently you have to wait until the away team (bamfield) fans leave the stadium so theres no rioting. The security was a little crazy you had to get checked three different times for weapons and they have a special girls line with a female officer so you dont get molested by the men, but of course that line was twice as long as the mens line. We met this guy from our hostel named Ricky and hes indian from England. Hes actually on the same flight home as me (to toronto at least) and were going to share a cab together.

So the three of us decide to go out for dinner and we found this nice place with a live band, steak and wine. Everyone goes crazy over the steak here saying its the absolute best theyve ever had, but Im a girl from Alberta, who works at a steak house so...I mean its good but not anything to write home about. I guess the fact thats its so cheap iis a nice feature. But its cheap like, getting staffed at the keg cheap so, yeah.

Today I went and got my hair done. It was nice to feel like a girl again, and its pretty cheap here compared to at home. I was a little nervous when the guy who does the dying didnt speak english and the receptionist had to translate what i wanted to him, but actually i reall like it. Its a lot lighter than usual, but its nice to have something different. There was a little girl sitting beside me waiting for her mom and the girl cutting my hair told her that I spoke english and the lttle girl was like, no I dont remember her from British school, she cant speak english. Then when I laughed she asked if I was laughing in English. She was cute!

Then I met up with Anouk for her farewell lunch cuz shes heading out to Iguazu tonight. Thats all for right now...

Ummm...Rio to Buenos Aires

2006-08-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

HEY!! I am NOT homesick!!! Not saying it wouldnt be nice to be home but, I can handle myself down here. And, yes, I AM the shit everywhere I go (in Rio), but Im sure you would be too since youre white and have blue eyes.

Anyways, I ended up not being able to go hangliding, even though the rain let up so the most annoying thing (other than not being able to go) was the fact that I had deliberatley taken out enough money to get through my last 4 days in Brazil and end up with relatively nothing by the time I hit the airport. But not going mean I had 240 Reals burning a hole in my pocket. Now I know I could have just gotten it changed into pesos when I got Argentina, but I decided it would be much more fun (and time consuming) to buy a nice outfit. I felt a bit like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman walking into all these posh stores looking like a grungy traveller.All the saleswomen looked at me like ´what are you doing in here, theres no way you can afford this place´ even though I could. I finally found this funky shop called OH BOY and the girl was really nice, she spoke a little english and she just kept bringing me dresses to try on. I tried some jeans too, but since all the sizing is different down here I really didnt have the patience to try and figure out my SA pant size. And plus, dresses are much more fun. They were having a 50% off sale, so I ended up getting 2. And I love them! Anyways, since the only things playing at the movie theatre were Pirates and Superman,I spent the rest of the night packing (my bag is SO heavy now) and hanging out with Bruno, the guy who works there playing pool and watching...the OC.

The next morning I had to get up early and leave for the airport at 530. I had a terrible sleep and felt nautious all the next day. I have a bad sore throat...I think Im getting sick. I was a bit nervous because this was my first flight down here without Melanie telling me what to do, and airports are crazy enough without everyone speaking Portugeese. So I left for a 9 Am flight at 530 and was ready to board the plane by...615. Meaning I had a lot of time to waste in the airport and you can only eat breakfast and browse in the duty free shops for so long. They didnt even put my bags through customs when I arrived in Argentina, which I found weird? The flight was fine and I got to my hostel around 4 pm. Its okay, theres a bar/resteraunt on the main floor. But Im sharing with 7 other people (mostly guys) and the bathroom doors dont close completely and one of the guys warned me to lock up my valuables because some stuff got stolen outta the room last week. I sat at the reception for like half an hour asking the guy what there is to do here, and theres some stuff, but its quite expensive. This city is going to break me! Im coming home broke, which is odd because in Lonely Planet it said that BA was cheap, but not so my friends. There posh resteraunts and cafes everywhere. Every where serves wine and coffee, thats like all you can get, and the streets are really pretty as well, very European. The guy told me to go for a quick walk to the main square but from there I walked to the main street, where theres this huge obelisk in the middle and the whole place reminded me of Times Square. anyways, I ended up walking around for hours looking at shops and stuff and didnt get back to the hostel till around 9.
Today I walked around some more and tonight Im going to see a tango show. Youre supposed to dress up so its a good thing I bought some dresses, although I only have flipflops to wear on my feet and a fleece for a jacket. But what do they expect from travellers, really?

Rio (Part Two)

2006-08-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

We woke up on Tuesday morning and the weather was a bit brighter so we decided it was time to go see Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf mountain. It was Chris and Jades last day anyways so it was basically now or never. We took a bus there and the driver was a maniac but arrived safely nonetheless. You take a train up to the top of the mountain and we were getting nervous because the coulds were coming in. We got to the top after a painstakingly slow ride and quickly took a few photos. Two minutes later the Chrsit was completely covered in clouds for the rest of the day, so we were very lucky. The statue was huge, like 13 stories high and if you dont know what im talking about think about the Christ statue in Romeo and Juliet that was in the middle of the city, basically hes there to bless Rio. The pope even visited the statue (not on the same day we were there of course). We ran into David and Sarah up at the top which was quite the coincidence. Then we raced over to SUgarloaf and you get up there by taking 2 different cable cars which kinda made me queasy. Jade and Chris rushed around taking pictures and then said goodbye because they had to go straight back to the hostel and go to the airport. Im so jealous of everyone whose going home, and there jealouse of me cuz im not...funny the way that works? We stayed up there and took our time. David and Sarah were there too so we decided to share a cab back to Copacabana with them.
We walked around a bit. Rhiannon had some last minute gits to buy so we did that and got back to the hostel around 5. Then we met up with her friends from Inca Trail (Tammy and John) again for dinner at 730. We wanted to go to the outback steakhouse (which actually ive never been to at home) but I asked the hostess how long the wait was and she talked to me in really fast portugeese and there were lots of people waitig so we decided to go to a ´world famous´burger place, although none of us had ever heard of it? The menu sud]ggested getting one of their milkshakes because its the best youll ever have...and you know what, i think it was. The menu didnt have any prices? so i was a bit worried, but it was also going to be my last big night out in bRazil so i didnt mind if it was expensive (wound up being $20). We all wrote farewell messages to eachother on our placemats (which John found really stupid, but signed them nonetheless). Rhiannon and I stayed up talking while she was packing. She stupidly bought 3 bottles of cachaça(to make capriniahs), which are each a litre and lots of other stuff so she was having a hard time fitting everything in.
In the morning we had brekfast together (and watched some Gilmore Girls, which Ive gotten her hooked on, its on tv here all the time) and then she left for the airport :( so now im the only person from the tour left in South America. It was really sad that she left actually because we spent so much time together and we had a lot of fun. Usually I have a great sence of direction, but in Rio its been horrible, I just cant figure this city out. Everytime I think we need to go one way...its the other. So now I dont have someone to hold my hand and take me places what am I gonna do? The weather is HORRIBLE and its not just raining, its pouring. Everyone whose left the hostel comes back drenched. So now I cant go hangliding and I cant do anything around town and...I cant do ANYTHING...bored bored bored. I fly out tommorow morning for Buenos Airesand hopefully (though colder) the weather will be nicer...hopefully?

Rio de Janerio (Part One)

2006-08-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

So we arrived in Rio and the weather turned nasty. Its been raining here ever since which has crushed my hopes of spending 4 days on the beach. We´ve had to find other things to do. Our first night here was our last night of the tour so we went out for a farewell dinner. It was this huge buffet place and I must say that Ive become a buffet champion. For desser they had chocolate pizza which was weird because it was pizza dough with nutella on it but it also had cheese? Which souynds gross but actuall tasetd all right. Then everyone wanted to go to the markets but Melanie wanted to go out clubbing because it was Saturday night in Rio and you know what, I agreed. So everyone else left to be boring and we went out partying with another group and another guide (10 all together). The other group was on a ´comfort tour´ meaning they had spent a lot more money for their trip and had a lot more money. Three of them were staying at the Marriot and one guy (who was 28 and a plastic surgeon) loved showing off the fact that he had tonnes of money so he bought drinks for everyone all night. He always made sure I had a beer in my hand...I wasnt about to complain. We went to Club 6 which is like the hottest spot in Rio. It had 3 floors and 4 different dance rooms. When we got there there was a huge line up and they make the girls and guys go in seperate lines. But this guy selling cigarrets walked up to us and asked if we wanted to buy VIP cards for 5 Reals. Well of course, so we got in right away. I wondered why everyone didnt buy them and the gu7ide were like, well they cant afford it. They save up all week just to come here. When you get in they hand you like a plastic credit card. So you dont pay cover or for any of your drinks until the end of the night, which could get dangerous because you dont really keep track of how much youre spending, plus you have to wait in line to leave at the end of the night. I was looking HOT in my short pants and socks with hiking shoes and smelly t-shirt. Plus my eyes were really irritated from something and bright red and leaking, but I still managed to get smarmy boys hitting on me. I really think they need to get higher standerd. This one guy kept grabbing my face to kiss me and I had to keep shoving him off. Finally I swore at him, not just any swear, like the WORST swear you can possibly say in Latin America, he got the hint. But these guys are just rude and insane. We left at 3 AM.

Had to wake up early to say goodbye to everyone. We were going to go on a city tour, but since the weather was really bad, the guide said we wouldnt see anything anyways, so we should leave it for another day. Rhiannon and I decided to take a tour of the Favellas. Now in Lonely Planet they say do not, under any circumstances go to the Favellas. Yopu will be raped, robbed and murdered. They are basically ghettos run by drug dealers and since the residents steal water and electricity and dont have to pay taxes it is the cheapest area to live in Rio. I think (after dinosaur tracks of course) that this was the best tour Ive ever been on. We got driven to the base of it (there were 8 of us) and then you get on the back of a motor bike and ride up to the top. The guide said you can bring anything with you ,money camera, gold bars and you WILL NOT GET ROBBED for 2 reasons. #1- 60% of the money you pay for the tour goes back to the community so they like you being there. #2- The drug dealers employ drug managers to watch the strees and ensure that there is absolutely no crime in the Favella because crime attracts police attention and THAT would get in the way of their drug dealing. This makes the favella the safest place to live in Rio. Plus they dont need our stuff anyways, the amount of money that goest through there is insane. The drug managers alone make 10 million Reals (about 5 million dollars) a MONTH...EACH. Also unlike in Peru where if you take a picture of someone you have to give them money, in the favella they beleive that if they are on your camera they will get on tv and one day be famous. They just wanted to be famnous so they would run up to us begging us to take their picture and then we would show it to them after and they were thrilled. One man ran to get his pcamera to take a picture of us. All the people were really nice and friendly. They teach the kids to make stuff to sell rather than beg for money. So they paint pictures on old pieces of wood or make bracelets. Rhiannon laughed at me as I bought quite a few, how could you NOT encourage them? Then near the end one of the drug dealers came up to us and wanted me to have a drink with him. Jim Beam and coke, well how could I refuse. I keep great company these days. The guide said that he told her if I ever wanted to come back to the favella on my own, he would protect me. All in all he was pretty nice, for a drug dealer? We stopped at an art gallery run by people living there and Rhiannon and I each bought a painting. Then we went to a bakery and had some cake. It was a really great tour. After it was done we got dropped off at the hippy market that is only on on Sundays.

There were a lot of stalls, it was way bigger than we thought it would be. We both bought some stuff and realized that we had spent an obscene amount of money that day. It was weird random starngers would come up to us and ask if we were sisters. We dont look alike at all except for the fact that we´re both short, and white. Then we went back to the hotel to pick up our stuff to move to the hostel for the next three days and Chris Jade and Donna were there waiting for us because the hostel messed up and everyone was in different rooms and they didnt even have my reservation so I didnt have a space at all. So they ran around trying to find another hostel that we could all share a room together. It worked out to be 3 Reals cheaper a night, but Im glad that they dealt with it for us and we just shopped all afternoon. That night we ordered pizza and watched a pirated version of the new superman movie, which we all thought was terrible. We basically mocked it the whole time. Chris was in a really bad mood and wouldnt talk to anyone except me for some reason. Jade was just like, why is he being nice to you. I said its cuz Im pretty. She told me I could have her husband for 20 Reals...I said that was too expensive. OUr roomates were 3 gay guys in town for the gay pride festival that was happening on Copacabana beach. They were flamboyant and loud, but really nice. One even offered to style Donnas hair after she took a shower because he was a hairdresser. She refused.

The next day Donna left for the airport and after shopping together for a little bit Chris and Jade broke off from me and Rhiannon and (sadly) us two girls were stuck together for the whole day again (just kidding I really like her). We did a lot of walking basically because after looking in the guidebook about Rio there was only 3 things to do:
1. Go to the statue of Christ and Sugarloaf mountain (which were covered in clouds)
2. Go hang on the beach (where it was cold and rainy)
or 3. Go to some museums (which were way on the other side of town)

So we decided to have some lunch and go walk across Copacabana beach, weather be damned. It was about 4.5 KM across the beach and it was nice. We walked along the water but sometimes we had to run cuz the water would come in further than usual. The waves were huge because the ocean was so rough. We met up with Chris and Jade at the hostel and went out for dinner with a couple Rhiannon had met on Inca Trail. They were really nice, from England. Then we headed off to see Pirates of the Carribean. Everyone was mad cuz I had a student card and paid only half of what they did (worked out to like $3). The movie was really good, I liked it alot. Then we went back to the hostel for bed. The guy who workes there keeps telling the other girls how beautiful I am and how much he likes me, and gives me free chocolate and caiprinahs...its funny to see them be like, we want chocolate and capriniahs. Oh well...

Curitiba and Isla Grande

2006-07-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-07-24T18:04:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

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!

The Inca Trail

2006-06-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

So, I did it. No donkeys! For those of you who don´t even know what Im talking about basically I went on a 4 day hike which ends up at the lost Incan city of Macchu Piccu and the hike is special because the trail was created and travelled upon by the ancient Incas. There were lots of Inca sights along the way to look at and of course, lots of scenery. They said we went through 8 different micro-environments during the hike. I feel I really did pick the best tour company to go with, Llama Path, especially hearing stories from other people (´My guide didnt even have a flashlight, he didnt tell us we needed to bring water, he said we could buy it along the way AND he forgot to give us our entrance tickets to Macchu Piccu´) I however ´roughed it´in the lap of luxury. There were 9 of us and we had 2 guides, 2 cook and 9 porters to carry all of the cooking equipment, food, tents, tables.
When we first got picked up I saw 4 couples, and me which was awesome. Talk about being the 9th wheel, but actually there was only one couple (married from Norway) and everyone else was just friends. I mostly hung out with Carlos and Rhianon (Ree-anneon) who were from Washington DC. They were both really nice and we had lots to talk about. Sometimes they would bicker and Id hang out with them individually cuz they were getting on eachothers nerves. THEN there were 4 friends (2 girsl 2 guys) who I nicknamed TEAM AMERICA (yes, like the movie). They were these 4 really tall ´trekkers´who all carried these huge packs and hike all the time and didnt even use walking sticks. I found the two girls of that group really hard to like, they were just really antisocial. Infact, TEAM AMERICA played cards in their tent more often than they hung out with the rest of us, which was fine.
The food was amazing. We would have breakfast, Tea, Lunch, Tea and then dinner. And these were all three course meals. But we were always hungrgy from the hike. Out of all the non team america´s I was the only one who DIDn´t hire a proter to carry my bag (thanks to some BAD advice, you know who you are) SO I had a really hard time the first day carrying my big bag (which wasnt even full, or very heavy) up and down stairs and being told that the first day is the easiest. I was ready to fake an injury so I didnt have to finish the hike. But on day two (the hardest day) Carlos carried my sleeping bag (which was surpisingly my heaviest item) and actually he carried it on day three as well which SAVED me. Our guides were really great as well, really passionate about the trail and maintaining it and really into the history and spirituality of the place. So the hike:

DAY ONE
We got picked up at like 430 AM and got bussed to the start of the trail. The first day is called the Inca Flat and we came to realize that comparitively to the rest of the trail it was flat but, not actually flat. We saw some Inca sights and took breaks quite regularly. By the time lunch rolled around I was dying of the weight on my back, plus the sun was blasting. Usually most groups stop and camp where we had lunch, but we walked 2 hours more uphill in order to make dreaded day 2 a bit easier.

DAY TWO
Was definatley the hardest day. We basically climbed up 900 meters to the high altitude of 4200 meters, only to directly climb down 700 meters on stone steps. Then we had lunsh and went up again, only to come down again. SO we basically did an ´N´ up and down two mountains. And let me say, going up was hard but so was going down, especially on the knees. And these Inca steps were definatley not even. I was confused because the Incas were short but some of these steps were at my stomach, just going up or down one step was really difficult. And because of the altitude, I felt so out of shape. Doing anything made you breathless sometimes it was rediculous. Walking from my tent to the bathroom I would be huffing and puffing, but so was everyone else so...

DAY THREE
Was the easiest day. Because we had gone farther than most groups on day one and two, on day three we only hiked for 4 hours and then got to chill in the afternoon. We went to a nearby Inca site and went for a drink in the bar located at the campsite. It was quite nice.

DAY FOUR
Woke up at 3 AM so that we could start hiking by 430. We wanted to be the first in line at the gate to get onto the final part of the trail. SO we did a 5 minute walk from the campsite just to wait at the gate for an hour. But we were first. Walked for another hour and arrived at the Sun Gate, which is where you get your first glimpse of Macchu Piccu. IT was kinda surreal being there because you work so hard to get there, and then there it is...just like the pictures. We took an hour long tour of it and were given free time to explore. Then we headed to th nearby town of Aguas Calientes (Hot water) and went to the hot springs, which was so nice after 4 days of hiking. Had lunch with everyone and then caught the train back into Cusco. Evryone came back to gether except (you guessed it) the people I bonded with the most. Carlos and Rhianon satyed in Aguas Calientes for one more night. The rest of us went out for dinner at 930 (after showers of course) to this place that the Norweigan couple went to Ç(and was reccomended in Lonely Planet) called the Witches Garden. It was pricey, but so worht it. I had (as if I hadn´t eaten enough over the past 4 days) fresh strawberry-mago juice, some wine, an Alpaca steak covered in Andean cheese and some sort of sauce, sweet mashed potatoes and stir fyied veggies. Then we all tried this dessert called the Black Hole (also reccomended in LP) and it was so amazing. Went back to my hostel around midnight and packed because I had a bus to Puno this morning.

Arrived in Puno around 4 today and booked my tour for tommorow.Ill be seeing and staying on the floating islands, back on Sunday, leaving for Bolivia on monday. So, yeah.

Change of Plans

2006-06-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

So today I went horse-backriding. But wait, Lauren, weren´t you supposed to go water rafting today? Why yes friends, yes I was but you´ve forgotten 2 important things
1. Im inPeru
2. Im dealing with Peruvians

So I wake up nice and early today and Im all ready formy 830 pick up.Standing around, waiting. Go sit in the office ofthe hostel. Chat with the very nice owner whose Irish and a little hard to understand sometimes. Wait some more. We call the tour place and they say ´5-10 minutes´. Half an hour goes by...we fill time by looking up dirty phrases in the Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook, which has phrases for everything let me tell you. We flip to the ´sex´portion of the book which I must admit was a bit immature/quite funny. My favourite phrase was ´Thats okay, Ill just finish myself off´. Im not lying people, if your in a Spanish speaking country and you need to say that to someone, Lonely Planet has got your back!
ANyways, now its 1015 and the guy from the tour agency walks into the office and apologises, but therewill be no rafting today. His reason? We couldnt tell, it was in very muddled English, although the rest of his english was quite good, funny that! So he offers me horse back riding to all of the ruins around Cusco which sounded quite nice, and it was really coldfor rafting anyways so I agree.

So we walk to themain square and he passes me off to some woman, who then passes me off to a different woman and her little child. Then we wait around in the square for quite awhile ´waitingfora cab´although there weretonnes of cabsdriving by. Finally get a cab, drive up to Sacsaywaman and she says, go explore for 30 minutes and then meet me back here.
30 minutes later she is nowhere to be found. Another random guys comes up to me and asks if I was the one for horses? Well yes I was, so we walk to his ranch like 5 minutes awayand finally im on a horse.

The actual riding was kind of awkwards because
A. I havent been on a horse in 6 years
B. There saddles and harnesses arent Western, Albertan type saddles and harnesses
andC. Im not actually wearing riding shoes so they keep slipping through the foot hold.

But all in all, I got back in the swing of things pretty quickly because at one time (6 years ago)I was quite decent (right Nadia?) and because it was just me and this guiide, I got to set the pace and didnt have to worry about anyone else. So we ran the horses alot. Went to 5 different ruin sites and it was supposed to take 3 hours, but since we ran somuch, we did itin 2. We passed tonnes of other big groups who were just walking the horses, which I could imagine would have been quite boring. So all in all it was good I didnt go rafting anyways.

I was going to walk back into town, but then it started pouring so I shared a cab with this other tourist, from Slovenia. Anytime IsayIm from Canada, Ive noticed that people are really proud of themselves for knowing the capital. Peruvians and foreigners alike. Heres a typical conversation.

THEM: ¨So, what part of the States are you from?´ (Do they not see my big Canada flag?)
ME: Actually Im from Canada
THEM: Oh Canada, capital Ottawa!

Unless they are from the States and then theconversation ismore like this

THEM: You must be from Canada
ME: Why do you say that?
THEM: The way you say out and about, its funny

Anyways, I kinda though I was being silly booking the Inca Trail back in January. But now I just smile as all these other tourists arrive here and are like, I want to go to Macchu Piccu. Well, the Inca Trail is booked solid until September, The train isbooked as well. So you can do other, longer, harder treks if you would like. No they would not like, but what can they do, they´re screwed.So I leave tommorow, back on Thursday and then moving on to Puno on Friday. In Puno I will see a big boat and some floating islands. Ive heard its nice. Then Im off to Bolivia. It´s actually is easy to get there by bus, so no worries that my plane ticket got cancelled. Andits much cheaper so, yay bus! Bye!

Cusco

2006-06-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

So being in Cusco right now is crazy because of the festival. Everyday theres parades going on in the street and people in crazycostumes and the streets are packed and people are selling food , I want to say its like the fringe, but 10 times bigger. When I first got here I was still recovering so that ment a lot of staying in the Hostel and watching TV, which was lame. My hostel is freezing because its basically a courtyard, so you have to go outside to reach all the different rooms. And at such a high altitude, its not very warm outside.

I finally went to explore Cusco but Ive decided that Im all ´museumed´out. It seems that they all have the same stuff. So from now on Im only going to ones that have a different subject matter than ´the history of peru´. I finally ate after 3 days of not and I ordered ravioli, cuz the picture looked good, but we´re in Peru, so their Italian is not the best and I couldnt eat it all anyways cuz my stomach shrunk. So basically Im at one meal a day right now.
Yesturday I went on a tour of ´The Sacred Valley´ which is basically three different towns which have old Inca cities by them. The first two were huge, and so pretty, but of course, I was really cold. I got some nice pictures though. Then we had this buffet for lunchwhich was really gross I must say. They had some odd choices for food and by ´buffet´I mean they just hand you a plate with everything on it, so i picked through that. By the time we reached the last sight it was really dark and you could barely see anything, but the only thing there was to see was a church. I wondered outloud why we even bothered coming here at all, quite a few people agreed with me.

Once I got home there was this massive partyt on the streets. Everyone was drinking and eating, there were bands and dancers and firecrackers. It was crazy. Of course in all of this madness I had to find a bank, withdraw 300 USD, find my tour agency and pay them for the rest of the Inca trail It wasnt easy let me tell you, and walking around withall that money freaked me out, but I made it. Im getting picked up on Monday at 430 AM! YES!

Today there was the actual closing of the Festival called INTI RAYMI. Everyone goes up to one of the ruins just outside of town called Sacsaywaman (Not to be confused with Sexy Womanas my guide warned) and they re-enacct this ancient Solstice ritual. But firt I went to the main square and watched them there. They had the band enter the square, and then the warriors, and then the dancers, and then the GOLDEN INCA, which is really just a man dressed up as an Incan King. There was lots of music and dancing and then some speeches. It was so crowded and a little hard to see (being so TALL and all) but it lasted about an hour. And then the crowd followed them all up to Sacsaywaman. I had lunch first cuz I didnt really feel like going up and waiting for two hours for the Inti Raymi to start. Walked up a bit later and I had been warned that I wouldnt actually see any of the ritual because there would be so many people there. But I managed to find a little place to watch from (although my view was quite limited) The walk up was a bit brutal, lots of stairs and basically straight up for 45 minutes, but there were lots of vendors along they way. Ive learned not to let them catch you looking at their wares, otherwise they will just not leave you alone! I am now the proud owner of a friendship bracelet and this weird wooden pear with the history of the Incas carved into it. Lucky Me! Theres also so much cultural ponography here. Like women will walk up to you with their babies in their arms in Traditional Costumes and say ´take my picture for money?´ ITs horrible.

Anyways, the ritual was kinda slow and there was lots of talking which (of course) I didnt understand so...After an hour I kinda lost interest and then it started to rain so I took that as a sign that it was time to leave. Tommorow Im going on a full day Rafting trip. It should be harder than the one in Arequipa so Im excited, espeially now that im such a ´seasoned´rafter:). Anyways, on MOnday I leave for the Inca Trail as I said before and I´ll bbe gone for 4 days, and of course, out of touch. Ill post again when I get back. Wish me Luck!

Colca Canyon

2006-06-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

3 things I got made fun of on a regular basis at the Canyon:
1. Having a big Canada flag on my backpack (the Americans especially found this funny, as did other Canadians, I told them my mom made me)
2. Keeping my bag locked while we were in the middle of nowhere (like who was going to steal my stuff? )
3. Yet another tour guide having a crush on me!

Anyways, I really liked everyone in the group which is unusual, but great. There were two couples; one from eastern Canada, one from Russia/Spain. An English girl, a South African guy, and my favourite Melissa from Colorado. OUr guides name was Nestor and while we were walking he would give us lots of information about local plants and their medicinal uses. So the first day we hiked down into the canyon and once we reachd the bottom we had to go about halfway back up on the otherside to get to our camp for the night. It was getting late and dark and while we were crossing a river and walking on the edge of cliffs in complete darkness with nothing but flashlights I mentioned that this was getting a little sketchy. But we reached the camp safely and it was so cute, like being at summer camp. The people in these little villages all still dress in tradtional Peruvian attire and they are self sufficient. Which we thought was cool until we saw all the dead birds hanging upside down at breakfast. We slept in a log cabin and I (horror) slept in the same bed as Melissa cuz we were so cold, Tom (the SOuth African) called us Gay on many occasions!

The next morning we had pancakes for breakfast and then had an easy hike back down into the canyon to an oasis (thats 2 oasis´Ive been to now) we went swimmin and suntanning and then instantly I felt really sick. Like nautious sick and the smell of food at lunch only made it worse. We had a three hour hike up the canyon, at the two hour mark I had barley made it halfway, so my guide ran a got a donkey for me to ride up the rest of the way which was embarrasing/hurt my pride/ so helpful. The donkey was a bit scary though, cuz it would go right to the edge before turning to go the othr way and Its so stubbor and it kept getting whipped to keep going and I felt like, maybe if he didnt have this stupid girl on him he would have a much easier time. ANyways, made it to the top, finally. Once we got to the hostel for the night I just went straight to bed. Slept from 6pm-6am with a fever and everything.

Couldnt eat the next day either, and we were mostly on the bus so I slept even more. We stopped at the Condor place, but barely saw any. APparently its not bird season. Then we went to the hot springs, but I just sat and had a juice since i still felt crappy. Arrived back in Arequipa at my hostel at 445 and the girl there told me my bus had changed and instead of leaving at 10, its leaving at 6. So I do a rush job packing and hurry to the bus station only to sit on the bus for 2 hours. We didnt leave until 8! Apparently we were waiting for a connecting bus. But this bus was sweet, it was like being on an airplane, but with more legroom. They even gave you dinner, and we played bingo. The Peruvian boy sitting beside me helped me play. Then a stupid Steven Segal movie was on called ´Today You Die´I tried to watch it but it was SO BAD I just decided to go to sleep.

So now Im in CUsco and just by coincidence theres a major festival going on for the next 4 days. So I watched a parade in the main square, which was kinda fun!

Downtown Arequipa

2006-06-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

A few fun facts about Peru:
1. Black slaves were used in Peru up until the 1800´s, can you beleive that? Even in SA?
2. Arequipa was named afted the man who founded it, Harry Keeper, but since the locals couldn´t pronounce that very well it morphed into ARequipa.
3. Human Sacrifice is STILL practised to day in remote areas of Peru...STILL!

Anyways, today I spent the day in downtown ARequipa. I went out for breakfast (which I never do) but the resteraunt was on a terrace overlooking the main square and I just had to. So I had this huge breakfast of fresh orange juice, coffee, toast, this awesome fruit salad and of course...a hamburger? I mean its breakfast, why wouldnt you have a hamburger? Anyways it was very good. Then I saw a few churches and a colonial house. Then I spent a few hours in an old monistary. It was like, 4 city blocks and so pretty. I got a guided tour with some other girls and I took lots of pictures. Then I went to go see JUANITA THE ICE PRINCESS. She was a child sacrifice that they found frozen on the top of a mountain. It was creepy but really neat!

I´ll be out of touch for a few days because Im going on a three day trek idown into what they thought was the deepest canyon in the world! Turns out the one beside it is 150ft. deeper...oh well. ANyways there will be hiking, rewarded by lots of hotsprings and at the very end we go to a national condor (like the bird) reserve. Ive seen other peoples pictures and it looks amazing! Anyways, Im calling this my pre-inca trail workout. Should be fun!

Arequipa

2006-06-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have mentioned that A: I dont post pictures and B: My spelling and typing is crap. What I have to say to them is that A: My blog site is in spanish and you try figuring out how to post a picture with Spanish instructions and B: Most of the keyboards down here are so old that most of the letters have worn off and it makes things a bit difficult. SO there!

I spent my last few hours in Nazca in a tourism office with the lady who works there teaching me some spanish. She thinks Im crazy for being down here by myself. Imagine that? She was really nice and wanted to see my guide book. SHe has never been outside of peru. Another interesting fact, down here they wear their wedding rings on their right hand, not the left. When I arrived at the bus station there were lots of other travellers there. I met a brother and sister from Detroit who were a bit bitter about me being from edmonton (you know, the whole ´hockey´thing) I also ran into one of the guys who I flew on the plane with that morning in Nazca and we ended up having seats next to eachother on the bus (its assigned seating). So we´re supposed to leave at 945 and dont end up getting out of there till 11, something about thew fog? At this point Id been up since 7 and it wasnt a very good sleep at that (roosters) and hge is just rambling on and on. Like the whole bus is sleeping and just keeps talking to me about how he was unfairly fired from his job and how great Thailand was and...on and on. I added the occasional úh huh´ but really couldnt wait just to go to sleep. The bus smelled as good as it did for Keg Cup, and I think we all (or at least some of us) remember that. Sleeping on the bus was not that great and we arrived in Arequipa at 7 am.

Arequipa is apparently the most beautiful city in SOuth AMerica. I havent seent that much of it, but the place that Im staying is quite nice and walking around on the streets (im in a residental area) it seems to be wealthier than most of the cities Ive been to. The first day I literally did nothing. I was feeling really sick. I think the food/bad sleeps/roosters/always being on the go was catching up with me plus its a much higher altitude here. So I watched two World Cup games (Ecuador beat Costa Rica 3-nill and England beat Trinidad 2-nill, in case you were interested) then I slept, watched some movies, hung around on a hammock...basically nothing.

Today I slept in and then went white water rafting. It was so much fun. There were ten of us all together and I was with 4 other girls and our guide. You can imagine all the squealing and high pitched shreiks as we went down dips and smashed into rocks. But it was awesome. We went from level 1 to level 4 (the highest is 6) and at the end down a 2 meter drop. I had fun but I was freezing next time Ill be more prepared (oh there will be a next time, probably in cuzco). Anyways, back at the hostel now. Planning on checking out the town tommorow.

Ica and Nazca

2006-06-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

So the days of shadieness are almost over. The most shady part of all was Pepe, my tour guide. I wanted to go to Ica and go sandboarding so he arranged a package for me, because he already arranged Pisco and Nazca. But what I didnt realize is that Pepe comes with you? Its called ´personal assistance´. So we hop a bus to Ica, which immediatley breaks down. Its 840, i have to be in ica by 10, and it takes a hour to get there. So we get off the bus, take a mini cab back to the bus station to get a refund, take a bigger cab out to the highway and just grab the next bus that comes along. Arrive in ica at 953, take a cab to Huacachina, an oasis just outside of Ica, where we arrive at 10 on the dot, and the tour doesnt even get going until like, 1030. Awesome. So it was weird travelling with this guy because not only could we not really uinderstand eachother, he also had a big crush on me. It was getting uncomfortable, he would always sit and stand too close, be touching my face, calling me beautiful. He even asked if I wanted him to come to Nazca with me, I said NO. I couldnt wait to get rid of him.
But the sandboarding was awesome. It was a group of 12 and we went out on dune buggies. It was like being on a rollercoaster. They would go really fast and over jumps and down really steep hills. So basically we would go to the top of a hill, they would drop us off. We would sandboard down, and they would pick us up at the bottom, drive around a bit and then board down another hill. There were 6 hills in total. I was actually pretty good on that thing. I guess I should thank the person who taught me how to snowboard. Lots of the girls were just going down on their bums...lame.It was harder than snowboarding though because theres no edges and you cant turn, uyou basically just go straight down. It was sooo hot.
Then I went to a museum and a wine vineyard. The wine, though was one of the best wineries in Peru tasted el cheapo! I got a private tour in spanish,. but she talked slow for me and I actually picked up a lot more than I thought I would. Then Pepe wanted us to have lunch together, but I told him I wasnt hungry (which was a complete lie, i hadent eaten all day) and that I just wanted to go on to Nazca. I went to nazce in get this, a cadellac? There were 7 of us stuffed in there but lots of the people were travellers and spoke english.
They were all travelling on this 80 foot research yacht that was sailing around SA. They said anyone could get on and it costs $25 a day to live there. Sounded fun. Arrived in Nazca and actually it wasnt scary at all. Pisco was way worse. After trying to sort out our hostals (mine didnt have my reservation) and they had to find one. Finally, around 8 we went for dinner. We astually went to quite a nice place and they told lots of crazy stories about life on the boat. Then we parted ways, we wanted to get together for lunch the next day, but by the time I was done my tours they had already left.
My hostal room was really nice and it was private, but the windows faced the open street and I had such a bad sleep because of all the roosters, seriously roosters at 4 in the morning, and dogs barking..ahhh!

This morning I went and flew over the Nazca lines. It was in a small 6 seater airplane and I felt sick after about 10 minutes. Good call on not eating before! The lines were a lot smaller than I first thought they would be so it took a while to actually see one. The lines are shaped etched into the rock and can only be seen from the sky. There are some serious theories out there by serious archeologists that they were put there by aliens and not the Nazca tribes. Who knows? Then they took us to the cemetary of Chauchilla. There were lots of excavated tombs and I got to see lots of mummies. The mummies here are really cool and really well preserved. They were buried in the fetal position and wrapped into bundles. So now the hair and the skin is still there and there are these creepy little mummies all curled up! Then we went to a pottery workshop and a gold workshop to see their process. Then the tour was over, that was at 2, my bus to the next city doesn t leave until 945, so i have a lot of time to kill. I went and atelunch and then and saw the aquaducts, which were really neat. I was expewcting, you know, roman aquaducts. But the process here was so different. Then I went and read in the square for a bit. I was approached by a guy and we talked for a while. He read a bit of my book out loud, he doesnt have very good english. Then he asked me out for dinner. I said no, my boyfriend was back at the hostal waiting for me, but somehow he just didnt seem to understand ´boyfriend´. How convenient.
Anyways, Im leaving for Arequipa tonight. I takes 9 hours to get there, so its an overnight bus, thats why it leaves so late. I guess Ill go watch a soccer game. Thats all they do here, every tv I pass is playing a soccer game and there eyes are glued to it. The only channel you get down here in english is fox news so, I am very up to date on foreign affairs. Did you know that President Bush made a surprise visit to Iran yesturday to show support to the new government, cuz I do. I know your saying, your in Peru and your watching tv? But late at night in my hostal the noise makes me feel more comfortable. Anyways, Ill try to post again soon.

Pisco

2006-06-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

One of Peru{s most famous drinks is the pisco sour, which is a bit of a spicy version of the lime margarita. Why they would decide to name the drink after this dingy little town is BEYOND me! I arrived yesturday on the bus. The bus actually wasn{t bad, like the greyhound. And we watched Smallville (of all things) in English no less, with spanish subtitles. Once again I was the only white person for MILES. It was really gloomy yesturday and so foggy I coulnt see out the windows most of the time. When I could, it wasnt much to look at, just dirt. So I arrive and this town has nothing, I mean nothing to see. A church and a cemetary, and even then I was warned not to go outside of the main square by myself. So I was stuck in my hostel room for the rest of the night with no roomates (which actually was scarier) I went to bed at 8:30. ANyways, remember how I thought I would feel safer and like the smaller towns better, no, in retospect Lima was totally fine. K so enough ranting about Pisco, but seriously, its a dingy, shady little place.
Today I took a day tour of the national reserve and the Ballestas Islands, which is actually why I am in Pisco. It was really beautiful, and there were 4 other people who spoke english round my age, so we all hung out together. We saw the ´poor mans galapagos´ which was the island. There were tonns of birds and sealions, penguins. It was neat. Then we drove around the reserve which was like a desert. I got some great pictures of the ocean and the cliffs. Sometimes we drove past fish factories on the way there, which stunk let me tell you, thanks for the Tigerbalm mom!
I also ate a lot of seafood. I tried this one dish that Peru is known for called ceviche. Its raw fish which marinates in a lime sauce, which was quite tasty. I also tried a banana hilkshake, but it was weird, cuz it wasnt cold. It was like drinking thick banana. I find all there juices are warm and thick, Im not sure if I enjoy it. I have to start drinking more water, I know Im not getting enough. Everytime I buy a bottle I drink half a litre at one go.
Tommorow Im out of here. Tonight Im going to hang out with on of the girls I met today, since we are the only two staying here tonight. Tommorow I head to ICA to go sandboarding and dune buggying, then onto Nazca which Ive been told is worse than Pisco in terms of shadiness, great!
In other news its my Dads birthday on Tuesday, so everyone wish him a Happy Birthday!

Lima

2006-06-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

Remember how in my last e-mail I was kinda sad about being alone? Sratch that. Right after I sent that these three girls from Michigan asked me if I wanted to go out on the town with them. I thought it sounded better than going to bed. It started off well we danced and drank some Pisco Sour which is like the national drink down here, then the fighting started. They couldnt agree on where to go next, we finally decide on this karaoke bar but one of them is pouting. Then We want to go dancing but a different girl starts pouting and walks off on her own. Then we have to go find her...and on and on. It was fun for the most part, but all the drama made me remember why I was doing this alone.

So now that Ive been in Lima for three days I think Ive actually done every tourist thing that Lonely Planet has suggested, and then some. Yesturday I went to downtown central Lima and saw the two main plazas, the cathedral, an inquisition museum, the presidents residence. There were so many police around the area and tanks as well, which was a little disturbing. Sometimes there would be a row of them standing in fron of a street I would want to go down. And I asked if I could go there and they were like, of course you can, like why would you think you couldnt pass a large barricade of police with riot shields? I walked pass a strike demonstration which was a little intense. Took a bus to the highest point in Lima. Then I went to these catacombs, but there was a tour of the upsatirs fist and of course it was in spanish. Now this was my 3rd tour in spanish that day so I decided just to go off on my own. But, of course, I couldn{t actually find the catacombs so I was a little lost. Then I ran into this cool couple from New York who were having the same problem. So we stuck together and finally found them. The good part about being down there on our own was that we could take pictures (which were not allowed) but the bad thing is that it was so creepy being down there with the bones and the silence. Oh well. Then we headed to an Indian market closer to our hostels and decided to go for dinner in this party area known as Barranco. But it was dead. I couldnt read the menu so I just ordered the most interesting sounding thing. Which ended up being meat with onions on a pile of fries, with rice and salad on the side. It was really salty, but pretty good. It seems the most popular meal down here is 1/4 chicken with fries and salad and this gross pap called Inca Kola, which tastes just like Iron Bru, from Scotland which I didnt care for either.

Then we went to a cuban club and watched all the salsa dancing. If I had more energy I would have tried to find a dance partner, but I was so tired. Rohan and Erika were leaving Lima this morning so I said good bye.

Today I went to Pachacamac, which are ruins of an ancient city about 30 kms outside of Lima. I was adventerous, I took a local bus, which is more like a big van. Their local busses are crazy! And theres about a million of them so if you get on the wrong one it could be trouble! Anyways, the ruins were neat but again, if I wanted to pay for a tour it would have been in spanish, so off on my own again. Im leaving Lima tommorow morning to go to Pisco.