A Bicycle with a Motor Isn´t Exactly the Same Thing

They speak Spanish in Bolivia!!! We´ve decided that´s allowed for much more adventure! WE started our journey with a taxi ride to nowhere.... so we´ve learned to be VERY specific with our directions. We did manage to eat some delicious Bolivian cuisine in the midst of our confussion. =) Next was the train ride from hell, or ´the death train´ as the locals call it. Mike would agree that that´s what it should be called, since we could see the car in front of us bouncing and swaying off the track and could feel that ours was doing the same! But 15 hours later, with quite a beating, we had survived and arrived in Santa Cruz. We ate a wonderful breakfast downtown and wandered the market before catching a taxi to our next destination.
After some sharp turns on the edge of the Andes mountains we crossed a hangingbridhe onto Ginger´s Paradise. Here we met a loving family who ran a lovely organic farm and fed us the best food ever!!! The had every kind of jam you could ever imagine, quinoa, neggies of all sorts, fresh squeezed qjuices (with our help since Mike picked the oranges and I SQUOZE them!!), and lots of other organic yummies! Here we also had a few firsts! Mike rode a horse by himself, I made peanut butter and we washed our clothes at the river! After some laughs and new friends we safely hitch hiked to Samaipata thanks to a kind family.
Samaipata was full of adventures! The first day we listened to Germans tell how to go about traveling the city, the second day we decided to do it OUR way! We started the day by taking a taxi over the river and through the woods to ¨El Fuerte,¨ the Inca ruins of Samaipata. Though the most important ruins in Bolivia, we hope to be more impressed by Machu Picchu! None the less it was a beautiful sight and a wonderful view. Looking for a little more adventure and a lot more excitement we decided to rent a motorcyle! After Mike lied to the renter about knowing how to ride a motorcycle (because a bicycle with a motor isn´t exactly the same thing) we were off! We had figured out thta there was a road up to a great view bordering the National Park that was usually driven on by 4x4s, and figured we´d try it on our bike (which I should mention: wasn´t much more powerful than a vespa). We forded three rivers (which i was pretty impressed by, especially after Mike splashed fearlessly through the first!) After getting the hang of the gears, and me having to get off of the bike to make it up the steep hills, things got a little smoother and were able to get some speed on the windy dirt road! By the time we were on our way back to town Mike was a pro! We decided to ride out to a zoo made up of animals who were rescued or were there to be rehabilitated and then let back out into the wild! Here we got to meet tons of happy animals, the first was the friendliest spider monkey in the world that immediately climbed onto Mike´s arm! After he held Mike´s hand and showed us around, a howler monkey searched my fuzzy jacket for lice! There were also friendly pigs, shy turtles, colorful macaws, viscious geese, a ferrocious linx and some wonderful horses we learned we could rent! We went back the next day for our horseback riding, and again bent the truth a little about Mike knowing how to ride things! I think one of the dogs caught on because he came along to make sure we didn´t get lost =). The horses lead us to a lovely lunch on the hilltop overlooking the beautiful Samiapata valley. After a short break, we attempted to continue on our path, but the horses had their own plan (two ifferent plans actually). So after a little wandering we all agreed we would take the same path back.
Now we´re off to Trinidad on the Amazon side of Bolivia. I´d happily like to mention that Mike realized yesterday that the camara is working again, so we´ll have more pictures on the next blog! I´d also like to publically mention that his spanish is great!!

We love you all!
Mike and Kim!