We Counquered Death Road!

In between getting aclimated to being at an altitude of 3,600 meters we´ve had what I would say is our best time yet! So much fun that at times I forget that the only times I´ve ever been this cold hvae been in the snow with a lack of layers.

After arriving in La Paz at 5am 3 days ago we waited for the sun to rise at the bus terminal and ate a typical (bread with cheese and tea) Bolivian breakfast. Then I, of ourse, had to pee; so after getting his tail light broken by an open door, our taxi driver dropped us off less than a block away! Mike was thrilled that we payed for that sinvce he told be like 5 times it was extremely close! I´m pretty sure it took our taxi driver longer to argue about his light than it took for him to drive us over…oops! Since then however, we´ve been woken up daily by parades, from ones celebrating the day of the indigenous people to ones getting ready for Bolivia´s Independance day celebration tomorow. We also got a little shopping in since we´ve been here! We visited the numerous markets that sell wondrful traditional and touristy souveneirs, and ended up with some awesome alpaca wool to keep us warm! I´m also quite glad to say that we´ve given most of the money we´ve spent in La Paz to actual Bolivian people! As wonderful as this all has been, obviously none of this includes THE BEST PART!

Yesterday morning we woke up at 6am to walk up the hill for breakfast. By about 7:30 we were on our bikes. Mike was off to the delerium off-road trail and I was off to the windy paved road. We met about an hour later, after biking down to the beggining of Death Road! Mike flew down the wet muddy cliffs and I.. well I went fast enough past all of the crosses to have the experience of a lifetime. I´d say the ride was just a bit different from the rides down west cliff on my beach cruiser. Towards the bottom of the road however, I was speeding down the wider and dryer roads almost keeping up with Mike who was zooming through the last few rivers and waterfalls of the ride! Luckily we had full suspension bikes and we trusted our bikesenough to keep up with usas we gained trust in both our riding and dwindelling away of our fears. The ride was incredible and the scenery was beattiful through the mist and mud, but 6 hours and a 10,000 foot difference in elevation later, some hot tea and a warm shower were well welcomed.

Some Culture in the Amazon!

Hello everyone! Wow has a lot happened in the last few days! We got to Trinidad with no problems at all, except for a little paranoia when passing other double-decker busses on the little one lane dirt roads that map the Bolivian Amazon. The first thing we did was rent another motorcycle to whirl around in the city. We ended up riding most of the day, travelling into thick Amazon jungles and though some port cities on the Rio Mamoré. We must have rode 100 miles that day! We stopped occasionally to get some fresh sqeezed OJ on the street and Ice cream, but the most fun by far was when it was Kim´s turn to give the bike a go! I rode on the back at first, but immediatly got off for fear of falling. Then I got to sit back and laugh histerically as Kim wobbled throught the street (a very untrafficked street I might add) while all the local boys came out to watch and more-than-willingly offer their ¨professional help¨. Not surprisingly, Kim got the hang of it pretty quickly and I hopped on the back. We rode back and forth down some dusty roads for a while until we got tired and went home. What a great day!

Next on the agenda for the Amazon was the famous San Ignacio de Moxos celebration! Every year, for about a week, the small city about 4 hours from Trinidad celebrates The San Ignacio Saints Day. We got there on a camioneta, which is Spanish for a flat bed truck which uncomfortably packs 60 people and their luggage into a hot confined space where the stupid kids in the front don´t know the ¨don´t spit into the wind rule,¨ and angry fat bolivian ladies yell at you for squishing their kids with your backpacks. The front tire popped halfway through our ride which thankfully gave us time to strech out our legs and wipe off the spit. The bus dropped us off in the middle of a raging market (presumably for the festival) and a nice lady pointed us towards the plaza. We tried several hostels and walked around the city for hours until finally we resorted to following other white people around, hoping they were luckier than us. Wow! power in numbers! Within 5 minutes a large italian looking man drove up to us and offered us a room. Turns out, the guy turns his house into a hostel every year for the fiestival and he´s pretty much the God Father of the town! Lucky us! The next day, we climbed the roof to see an amazing parade! It was full of local kids dressed in indigious costumes, others dressed in animal pelts and macaw head dresses (they´re recycled every year), bands, people on stilts, a giant statue of San Ignacio, and lots more cool stuff. At some point, the ¨Don¨ learned that Kim´s family was from Mexico. He told Kim how everyone in Bolivia wants to be Mexican and points to his Mexican boots and talks about how much he loves Mexican music. From then on, he only adressed Kim as ¨Mexico¨. Later he learned her dad´s name was Ignacio so he drunkingly and repeatedly cheered and toasted for Mexico AND her dad. On the third day we went to the bull-teasing rink. Let me just say the stands were built in about a day and were really just 20 foot wooden poles shoved into the dirt with planks tied across them with some wires, with no stairs but plenty of home made ladders that got moved around to help people up! At first I felt sorry for the bulls as they were roped and dragged into the rink, but then they got loose and totally kicked everyone´s ass! There were a few fist fights too, which were at least entertaining, but not at all painful looking (the drunk contestants fell over more on their own than from opposing blows). Over all, a great time and I was happy the bulls didn´t die. Later that night, we watched a dangeously awesome fireworks show! Two of the rich locals competed on the street with their fireworks displays while pieces of hot cardboard flew into the audience. What a blast! We searched for some non-fried foods afterwards, but we ended up eating a bunch of empanadas anyway (emapandas are a pastry dough filled with chicken stew and then deepfried -- tastes like a chicken pot pie). Later we watched as costumed guys with fireworks coming out of their heads chase all the local kids around. The next morning, we awoke to a rediculously loud Moxos band that the wasted ¨Don¨ had hired to, probably, play a joke on all of his hungover residents. Overall, the three day long party was awesome, and we were sad to go, but we won´t miss hearing the loud banda style bands that only beated one song the entire time we were there!

The next day was full of travelling. We caught three taxis for 15 hours on some of the most dangerous roads in the world to finally get to La Paz! The altitude is tough, but we´re hanging in there. Until our next update, peace and love to all!

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!

Jesus has his head in the clouds

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing well! Kim and I have been having a great time in Brasil, although it hasn´t exactly been what we expected thus far. SiOnce the last blog, a lot has happened. Our two days in Rio de Janeiro were clouded in fog and rain. n our first day, we walked along the famous Ipanema and got absolutley soaked! There were no hot babes in little bikinis, all the little kiosks were closed, but we still had a great time getting laughed at by all the bus drivers as Kim waved them all down. We eventually figured out how to pronounce the suburb were our hostel was in (botofogo is pronounced bodjofOH!!go and only like that!) and made it home safely. The next day, I contracted some kind of stomach virus and dry-heaved for half a day while Kim made me soup and bought be crackers and drinkable water (what a great girl). When that was over we took a train up to O Cristo Redentor, but Jesus looked decappitated since the fog was so thick! Unfortunetly we also missed the beautiful view of the city -- oh well.

On day 3, we upped and outted West toward Bonito, having had enough of the bad weather and in search of better. A month later we arrived in Bonito (well, the bus ride felt like a month, but it was really only 30 hours), a small ecotourism funded town with expensive snorkelling trips and still no sun. Instead of hopping on a tour, we rent bikes and rode around the area. We must have biked 30 miles that day! At Balneario Municpal (City Baths) we saw hundred of fish in the clearest water, played with monkeys, and a huge bright red macaw attacked me! I think it wanted to make a nest out of my beard. That night was so cold, Kim refused to get out from under the blankets to take a hot shower! We left the next day at 7 in the morning.

Via camioneta and combi, we arrived at the Pantanal; a vast wetland the size of Texas that floods annually. It´s home to a huge number of speicies and still pretty much untouched by humans. By the time we settled in, the weather was clearing up, and we were excited to see the sun, sky, moon, a star...after a week in Brasil! Then we saw a Monkey! We took a boat tour shortly after and saw 11 monkeys, countless caimen (crocs but smaller), cocibara (like a cross between a guinea pig and a bear), and a hundreds of beautifully colored birds! We went on a night Safari later, and it was too cold out for most of the animals (coldest it´s been in 35 years), but we still got a cool look at some glowing caimen eyes. We woke the next morning feliz como una lombriz! The sun came through like a champ, brightening our smiles and warming our hearts. We were so excited we jumped out of our sleeping bags at 6:30 in the morning for breakfast (bread and coffee). We fished for piranas afterwards, but the only thing in the water was the camera I dropped. oops. During a relaxing break between activities a macaw of every color of the rainbow appeared in our camp! Normally, red and blue macaws refused to mate, but when they do, the most amazing colors appear on the offspring. Apparently there are only a few of these in the wild and only one in captivity. You won´t see this bird in any fieldbook either. Kim says it´s the rainbow bird I summoned with my hippie powers. Truly a rare and special moment for us. Later we galloped on horses through the fields to spot armadillos, bush deer, reah (like an emu), more caimen, more monkeys, and a flock of vivid blue macaws! The best activity was walking through the pirana, caimen, anaconda infested swamp barefoot on a five hour trek deep into the Pantenal! The mud felt great between our toes and the wildlife was amazing once again. We saw a family of monkeys in a tree, a flock of flamingo-type birds, toucans, and got super close to the caimen! They were more scared of us though. We left that amazing place this morning to find ourselves in the border town of Corumba, between Brasil and Bolivia. We´re heading off the marsh and into the Amazon tomorrow! Who knows what adventures await us!

We love everyone,

Mike and Kim

Why is his beer chunky?

We´re in Brazil! But whoever told me that by knowing Spanish I´d be able to understand Portuguese was absolutely wrong!! I mean i guess I can mostly get by but I MUST first process and then I can pretty much get it. In fact Mike was the big speaker at first, but now I´d like to think that I´ve caught up! =) Thankfully the people are absoulutely wonderful and super patient with us!! When we arrived in Brazil we very smoothly made it on the right bus! We met a fellow back-packer and together we all made it to our lovely hostel. One of the best parts so far?? We haven´t seen a bug neither in our hostel nor out and about!! We have now safely made it around town, to the beach, and had great food with out feeling sick (knock on wood)!! As much as we´ve had some great (although wet) fun in our first few hours in Rio we can´t wait to get into the jungle! Not sure if Mike´s mentioned but we actually got to see quite a bit in Texas: at least 4 shooting stars (one super amazing one), a huge frog, huge nasty bugs (of course), the fourth generation of geese to go to his grandpa´s, turkey vultures eating a wild boar, turtles, elk, deer and cardinals. With that said, that´s not enough and our adventure goes on!
**pictures will come soon we promise!**

Leaving on a Jet Plane

After a stressful week, we finally left Santa Cruz via Greybound -- bound for Las Vegas. We visited my Uncle Nick and Grandma June, hung out at the Colorado river, and watched one of the best firework displays! We chilled in Nick's pool, barbecued, played cards with my Grandma, and played pool on Nick's table too!! Then we left for Texas where we floated on my grandpa's lake most of the time, drank beer with a few of the locals, and melted under the big, hot, Texas sun (everyting's bigger in Texas (except for the beer quality!!) no offense Texenios!). Kim adds: It's was a surpisingly welcoming and loving place desite the neighbor's tattered confederate flags on the road leading to grandpa's (but at least it's history). We visted more family members in Dalls on the way to the airport and we were off!!! .... but not before US Airways made me travel 3 miles! from where we checked our bags to print an intenerary for our trip >:o . Talk about a pain in the ass! We barley caught our plane, but it all worked out in the end!! At least we landed -- and that's what I paid for I guess! But all shitty airlines aside, we've made it to Rio!!!! Time to party!!