Sand Dunes, Penguins, Skeletons=/ and We Can Breath Again!

Again, as Mike promised, we´ve had many more adventures!!! On our way to Lima we made two wonderful stops. The first was in Huacachina, a little oasis in the middle of the second biggest desert in the world and home to the biggest dunes!!! Of course, on our first night there, we had no choice but to climb the tallest dune and get as high as we could and then come back down by rolling, jumping, and ¨swimming¨in the sand! We got our fix and got a good night sleep before big adventures the next day. We started day two by having a REAL breakfast (not just bread and butter, which we were usually given)!! Soon after we were lent sandboards, so that we could get some practice in before heading out on the dune buggy in the afternoon. We headed out for the equivalent o f a bunny hill and met some charming elementary school kids on a school field-trip. They were interested in everything from our names to whether Mike´s dad was the president of the U.S. Basically, they were fascinated with our ¨gringo-ness.¨ I think their favorite part was being able to show off their English speaking skills to their new friends, and being able to ¨teach us¨how to sandboard! Our favorite was how stoked they were! After some good laughs with these awesome kids we headed back up to the top of the sand mountain and had some fun on the boards! We sand boarded (which is pretty similar to snowboarding) all the way down and though we craved a little more speed thought we´d be having a lot more fun once we got better on our feet! In the early afternoon we finally went out on our dune buggy ride! Our driver was fortunately the right dose of crazy and took us on a great ride through the ups and downs of the giant dunes!Towards the end of our ride we stopped to do some sand boarding mod-desert! After we all got the hang of going down the dunes foot first our driver decided it was time for a new adventure. He used Mike to demonstrate how to lay on the board to go head first o n your belly. Just when Mike thought he´d be able to get back up however , our driver gave him a gentle push and Mike flew down the enormous mountain head first on his board and gave us all a big ¨YEAH!¨when he got to the bottom! after that we spent the next hour or so climbing and going down the dunes head first, and the dunes only got bigger every time! It was a real a adrenaline rush and more fun than going down on our feet could have ever been! We later learned that this sort of adventure only exists in Huacachina and in the Sahara!

By day three we had done all there was to do in this lovely oasis and we headed o ff towards Las Is las Ballestas and Paracas National Reserve. The islands are nicknamed the poor Galapagos by the locals because they are a smaller version of the animal populated beautiful islands of Ecuador. Here we got to see hundreds of seagulls and pelicans fishing in the OCEAN! As an extra special little gift we got to see perky little penguins waddling around the island! We also saw quite a few sea lions that reminded us of home and lots and lots of bird poop that covered the islands! We actually learned that every few (4-ish) years about 20 men spend 4 months ¨harvesting¨the bird poop (which they call guano) to use as fertilizer for their crops. After about an hour of circling the beautiful rock islands surrounded by turquoise waters we headed back to the shore where we had earlier head a man playing Hotel California on the guitar and pan flute(!) and found a place to drop off our things and head out for the next adventure!

Our guidebook let us down for the first time! It told us we could walk all the way into the Paracas National Reserve from the little town we were staying in. We headed out at around 12 towards a spot that seemed nice for a picnic by the ocean shore. After about 3 hours o f walking we had walked on the shore, passed by The Hilton´s private beach (and gotten stared at for being poor?), collected about every complete shell I could find, payed our fee and the check point and refused taxi rides on what appeared to be the longest road even in the middle of the desert. If we wouldn´t have known better we wouldn't have known that one day that road would lead us back to the ocean. After a ride in the back of the truck of a nice family through the rest of the National Reserve we learned about how the earthquake that happened last time Mike was here had changed the geography of the area and then followed a trail to our lunch spot (another hour walk in the dunes). The view was beautiful! A lot like the cliffs of Big Sur, but without HWY 1 and with endless sand dunes instead of endless forest. Eventually we headed back to the road to learn that taxis charged an arm and two legs to get us back to town on the 10 kilometer desert road. We walked for about an hour before another lovely family gave us a ride in the back of their truck and got us back into town before dark! We were extremely thankful to them for that!After some chicken and fries for a dollar fifty we slept like babies! The next day we took off for Lima after breakfast, and has the smoothest day of travel we´ve had in South America; despite the fact that we had to take 3 taxis and a bus.

Lima..... I´m so sleepy but the highlights of Lima has been the great cheap food and pastries (mostly at the wonderful market on the Plaza de Armas and the best Chinese food ever!), we got our lost pictures back(!!!) and we visited the creepiest church EVER!!! The the church´s basement was filled with skeletons. The Peruvians found the thousands of skeletons years ago and decided it´d be fun to sort the bones by type of bone. They then took out all of the destroyed bones and arranged the remaining bones by type in huge brick planter looking things so that the tourists could ¨enjoy¨them! AHHH! We´ve decided that either non-cooperating Incas or Inca slaves of the Spanish were the ones buried under the church =(

Chapter 2 starts tomorrow! We´re off to the beautiful beaches of Latin America and as much fun as we´ve been having, we´re SOOOOOO excited for this next part!

We love you and miss you all!

All kinds of Inca Stuff!!

Hi Everyone! It´s been a while since we last had an update, and wow is there a lot to talk about this time! It´s been all about Inca ruins and Quechua culture, as we´ve been exploring Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu!

Cuzco is beautiful and so full of history! As soon as we got off the bus the city fascinated us with its fusion of colonial-Spanish architecture built on top of ancient-Inca foundations. We went to el Museo Inca (ironically situated in an old Spanish Church) where we learned Peru´s story of conquest. It started with the Chilca´s 18000 years ago and has since been reconquered and inhabited by dozens of other cultures such as the Limas, Nazcas, and Incas, until the Spanish showed up in the 1500s. The Spanish have left since then and the Inca descendants (called the Amayara and Quechua) now proudly live independently. They even have their own flag (it looks just like the Gay Pride Flag) and try to respect their traditional values, rituals, and ways of life. After the Inca museum, we explored some local ruins just a Taxi ride outside of Cuzco. The Inca baths at Tambomachay still had water that was originally irrigated from the Andes over 1000 years ago running through them! What craftsmanship! Puka Pukara was possibly an old hunting lodge, and Q´enqo had some great tunnels to explore as well as an old sacrificial stone (where they sacrificed Chicha a highly alcoholic sacred corn beer). Sacsayhauman, by far the most impressive of the four locals, hosted one of the final Spanish battles. Massive stones, some 4 times the height of a man and equally wide, created huge zig-zags on a ridge high above Cuzco. The stonemanship was so precise that if you closed your eyes and felt the rock, it would be hard to determine where one started and another stopped! There were also a huge arena, some thrones carved out of solid rock, and some scary tunnels, which we navigated piecewise by camera flash! After spending two hours exploring the massive complex (of which the Spanish spared only 20%) we walked back to Cuzco via an ancient Inca road.

The next day we met up with our good friend Mimi from Santa Cruz so we could all conquer the next and most amazing part of the Sacred Valley together! We began our journey to Machu Pîcchu by taking a couple taxis to Santa Teresa. There we walked down river to indulge in some quaint- and very hot-springs to prepare ourselves for the long journey to come! The next morning we started our trek to Aguas Calientes, the little (crappy) town at the base of Machu Picchu mountain (whatever it was called). Our first mission: to cross the river. We had heard about a ¨scary cable car ride¨ we´d have to take to get across. We were surprised to find out it was self-operated. We each took turns getting into the basket and pulling ourselves, hand over hand, across the roaring river! Once on the other side together, we walked... far. It was amazing seeing the scenery change from a sparse high-dessert to a lush jungle throughout the day. Towards the end, we were surrounded by jungle sounds, butterflies, and avocado-bearing trees. We had an early night in Aguas Calientes to rest ourselves for our early start the next day to ..... drum roll ..... Machu Picchu!!!
We woke up at 4 that morning to begin our trek. For about an hour, we followed a long line of people climbing the thousands of Inca-stairs in the pitch dark to get to the entrance. Once inside, we were totally in awe. All the buildings were still so intact that it felt like people could have left yesterday! We climbed to a nice spot to watch the sun rise, bringing the whole place to life! After that, as if part of some torture ritual, we began climbing Wayna Picchu, the tall peak the originates at the ruins and continues up for another 1000 or so feet! Another million steps later, we were rewarded with great views of the whole ancient city and a nice rest. We climbed down and really started exploring the complex. They had everything here! First we saw an impressive drawbridge that was basically 10 stories of piled rocks on each side with a plank of wood in between. We weren't allowed to walk across. Then we went to the observatory, which housed a carefully carved calender rock. Depending on the time of year, shadows would fall along different lines that corresponded to the solstices and equinoxes to tell when seasons started. There were also some irrigation channels and baths that still functioned, quite a few temples, and all kinds of living quarters. A lot of our time was spent chasing llamas around through all the buildings, almost getting spat on a few times, in order to snap the perfect facebook photo. After 9 hours of ruins we ran back down the 1000s of steps (in only 20 minutes!) to take a shower and catch our train back towards the Sacred Valley.

The next day was really special. Kim had been wanting to learn how weave in the incredible way that the Inca descendants still do today. We heard that the town of Chincero offered some classes, so we went there directly from the train. Luckily, that night we found the Weavers Association of Chincero, where the nice Quechua women let us stay the night and use their kitchen. We spent the whole morning the next day learning how to weave! I didn't do too well, but Kim and Mimi were practically certified indigenous-women by the end! (Well, not even close I must confess. It normally takes the experts 3 weeks to weave one single cloth, but the girls got the hang of it pretty well!) After getting our weaving fix (I was quite frustrated by the end), we headed back to Cuzco. We got some well deserved rest and some amazing massages with hot rocks!

Now we're off towards Lima! Our time in South America is coming to an end, but there's still lots to do before we fly to Panama! Keep reading and we'll keep going! Hope everyone is having a great time!

Llegamos antes que las mulas!

Just as Mike promised we had our handful of adventures in Arequipa! A city filled with coloquial buildings from the 1600s made from all white rocks, which i think looks even lovelier at night! We spent the first day enjoying the town we even got a view of the Plaza de Armas from the same roof Mike and Matt were at 4 years ago! We of course later strolled through the plaza like the couples do. By the early afternoon we decided we´d seen what we were going to see and booked our three day trek for the 2nd deepest canyon in the world, the Colca Canyon. We were woken up at 2:30am to get ready for our trip, and by 4 we were on our way! After about a 4 hour ride we arrived at the over crowded and super touristy Cruz del Condor, which we weren´t all that excited about at first. We walked past the crowd to a quiet lookout and after a few minutes started seeing Andean Condors all around us! It was incredible to see them flying over us with their 3 meter wing span! We ended up seeing about 15 even though we were only supposed to see 1 or 2 since they are at risk of extinction! After quite a few pictures we raced back to our bus and drove just a bit longer to where our trek would begin.

The first day we hiked 8 kilometers downhill. It seemed like a breeze, but my muscles didnt agree the next morning! At the end of the day´s trek we had warm alpaca waiting on our plates, and it wasn´t tooo bad! On day two we hiked 5 kilometers (filled with ups downs and straight across-es) through two villages. In one of the villages we stopped for a small tour in a local museum and some chicha (the national fermented corn drink). We ended the day at an oasis at the bottom on the canyon where we dipped in a refreshing pool while we waited for more food! Before going to bed in our grass and adobe rooms we were told that we had the option of finishing the trek on a mule instead of hiking the 6 kilometers uphil for 3-4 hours =/. I pondered the idea since I don´t exacly consider myself a good hiker, but although the experience seemed pretty cool to us both, I didnt want to feel like I´d given up so I decided to hike! We headed up at around 5:30am on day 3, and after thinking we were almost there a few times we finally made it up in less than 2 hours! The best part? We beat the mules we (well probably more like I) would have ridden up! It felt great to make it up and we were rewarded with some wonderful hot springs then headed back to Arequipa.

After a night of trying to sleep during super loud techno music we decided we deseved more fun and went on my first rafting trip in the Rio Chile! We both managed to stay on the raft the whole time, although sometimes maybe more by luck than skill! We had a great time going down some rapids and even getting some speed in that rocky and oh so chilly river! Since then I´ve been trying to recover from some funcky virus, but we´ve left Arequipa and arrived in Cusco this morning ready to explore! You´ll get to read all about it when we come back from Machu Picchu some time next week! Oh and a small bummer... technical dificulties.... something went wrong with our memory card and we dont have access to any of our pictures =( But we´re hoping to get out files extracted somehow and we have a new memory card for new pictures!!! YAY!!!

Lake Titicaca...hehe

Hello friends and family!

After four days, and a few good beers, the time came to get out of La Paz. Kim and I left for Lake Titicaca and the Isla del Sol which Incans said gave birth to the Sun! True to legend, the sun was shinning bright and hot. Our lips peeled and our necks burned -- but the sun rewarded our sacrifice with a deep blue sky, sparkling clear waters, and amazing views of the snow capped Andes. The whole island was beautifully simple. There were no cars, maybe one streetlight, and the Amaraya-speaking residents brought water to the top of the island via donkey! To get there, we took a little boat that probably doubled as a bathroom judging by the smell. After porting, an intimidating ancient-Incan staircase tested our hearts and legs as we already had sore nalgas from the bike ride and now really heavy packs. Eventually, after many breaks and offers to stay at lower hostels, we and some new English friends made it to the top of the island and found the most amzing room. It had a private deck and an amazing view of the lake and mountains, over which the sun rose ever morning -- well worth some tender calves.
On one of the days there, we took a boat to the Northern part. We relaxed on a white sandy beach, saw some cool ruins, and walked back to the south -- not as easy as it sounds. Five miles at 12,000 feet in the scourching sun and biting cool winds while walking on what seemed to be a trail that went prepetually up, was tough. Kim was a champ and never whined like everyone else on the trail. We had some great locally caught trout when we got back!
The next day it was time to leave the island, and Bolivia. We caught a better-smelling little boat back to the mainland and took naps on the cabin roof. We bused to Puno, Peru from there to see some floating islands. We didn´t really get to explore as much as we would´ve liked, but they were still really cool. Descentent from a group that wanted to escape Inca oppresion, the inhabitants built islands out of reeds. Now they have their own system of governement, president, voting system, school, etc... They used to sell their reed boats and fish to make money, but now they mostly survive off of tourism. We ate some of their fish in one of their reed huts with a squishy floor--definatly a unique experience. With that done, we caught a bus to Arequipa, one of my favorite cities, where we will have the next batch of adventures! Hasta luego mis amigos!

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!