Merry Christmas!!

Hello!

It´s been a little while since the last post and our trip is going well. We missed all our family and friends at Christmas and hope everyone is having a good holiday. Now we´re in Buenos Aires, it´s a comfotable 80 degrees, sunny, and does not feel like the Christmas season. We celebrated on Christmas eve at a party at hostel, with probably the most Americans we´ve seen on our entire trip who are generally visiting here on 2 or 3 week long trips. After eating chorizo and steak, we had a midnight toast on the rooftop patio and watched all the random fireworks being lit off in the neighborhoods. On Christmas day we walked around the city and then had dinner at an all you can eat parilla or grill which had good chorizo and pork, but the steak was nowhere near as good as the amazing steak we had in Salta, Argentina.

Before venturing to Buenos Aires we did a couple of hikes near Ushuaia. The weather during our hikes was pretty good. The first hike we did to a lake was mostly through bog with ankle deep and sometimes knee-high mud. We were rewarded at the the end though as we had the lake to ourselves that evening, which we camped at. Our second hike was in Tierra del Fuego (Earth of Fire) national park. It´s a gorgeous park that is heavily touristed, but at our campsite there was plenty of wildlife, lots of rabbits, ducks, and Justin even saw a lost sea lion that had made it from the sea into the river near our campsite.

When leaving Ushuaia we said bye to our traveling friends Kitty and Trevor who we will not see againon this trip, and wished them a good time on their Christmas Antarctica cruise. Our flight to Buenos Aires was fairly easy except for the hour and half long delay that, in typical Argentine fashion, was not acknowledged by anyone. We got into Buenos Aires late, crashed at a hostel for the night, and took a ferry to Uruguay the next day.

In Uruguay we visited two cities, Colonia and Motevideo. Uruguay is very similar to Argentina in terms of quality of life, and the people are very laid back. Colonia is a gorgeous little town and we were both shocked that it was not more touristed. Check out the pictures at sunset. Next we went to Montevideo, the capital city. Ther we hung out on the beach, stumbled upon a free reggae/spanish pop show, and explored the city with another backpacker, Irish Dave, an almost infamous backpaker because of his Fabio hair, friendly demeanor, and his claim to fame of having a purchased a ticket on the Anarctica cruise boat that sunk the week before he was supposed to get on it.

Back in Buenos Aires we saw a great drum concert, La Bomba del Tiempo. A bunch of the best Argentinean drummers play every week for $3 in BA. We´ve wandered a bunch of the city, hung out on the rooftop of our hostel, and made plans for our trip through Colombia, where we are headed tomorrow. We´ve heard its safe as long as your are sticking to the touristy places, which we are, and we´ve heard great things about it from other travelers so we are looking forward to flying there tomorrow. Happy New Year to everyone!

Jess

From the bottom of the world (almost)

Hello!

We´re now in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world. It´s a very touristy city, many cruise ships and ships to Antarctica land here. But the scenery is very nice and we´re planning to check it out in a a couple overnight hikes in the next week. We were originally planning on a big hike in a very remote area, but we´ve heard that there´s a good amount of snow that obscures the trail even though it is the beginning of summer.
Before we got here we hiked the Fitz Roy area and saw two of mountaineering´s greatest challenges, Cerro Torro and Fitz Roy. It was pleasant hiking, we had decent weather but it cloudy at times so we did not actually see the top of Cerro Torre. But it was a good 3 day hike through a nice area. Tourism is really starting to boom in this area, which can be slightly annoying as everything was very overpriced.
After a total of 28 hours of buses (not all at one time) we made it to Ushuaia from Fitz Roy. 5 of those hours were spent waiting in a bus to cross a ferry, and the winds were too bad for the bus to cross. But we finally made it. Down here the weather is quite unpredictable. Yesterday we went for a short hike up to a glacier just outside of town. The day started nicely, but once we made our way up to the top via a muddy, snowy trail it was cold, windy and snowing. We were so cold that we did not walk the final 300 yards to the glacier as it did not look as interesting as the ones we have seen recently.
So we are going to go on a couple overnight trips in the Tierra del Fuego park before flying to Buenos Aires on the 17th. Well be there and in Uruguay until the 27th when we fly to Colombia. We´ll be meeting up with our friend Dan for the last part of the trip as well.

New pics are up under pictures 2. Hope everyone is doing well!

Jess

Busy Trekking

El Calafate, Argentina

Hello everyone! Sorry we havent been able to make a entry lately we´ve been off in the woods and in boats for the last week and half. The NAVIMAG ferry was great. We had amazing weather so we got to see the whole coast line coming down. Usually the ferry has some rainy days and it turn into a booze cruise but we lucked out and were able to see a whole bunch of Chile which is virtually imposible to get to. Since there isnt anything to do really on the boat you get to meet a whole bunch of people, see the sights and catch up on some reading. The only catch was the good weather brought a stiff head wind which caused us to get into port 8 hours late, but well worth it.

The boat drops you at Puerto Natales which is nothing special but is home to one of the best hostels we have been to yet, Erratic Rock. The owner american Bill is extremely knowledgable about the park Torres del Paine which was our reason for going to Puerto Natales and helped us out getting our Thanksgiving dinner together, cause we were scrambling. Its wasnt anything over the top but it had the essentials so it still qualified.

The next day we headed out to the park, Torres del Paine, to do a 6 day backpack route know as the W. Usually is take a day shorter but we´re cheap so we skipped the ferry and opted to hike into the park from the bus stop.

Torres del Paine is amazing park with the most erratic weather condition in Patagonia. Its has a huge glacier on one side which effects the weather and mountain range that changes stuff coming in off the coast. All and all we never really got poured on and our tent never blew away (even though the first night i thought it would). The views were amazing and i wish we had more time because there is another trek that is know as the circut which is a full 8 to 10 trek around the whole park. I´d definitely suggest it to anyone going.

Now were back in Argentina in El Calafate. This morning we saw a glacier an hour outside town which was quite amazing because it carved off a bunch of pieces. Tomorrow were off to trek around Mt Fitz Roy for 4 days or so. We´ll sort it all out when we get to the park tomorrow. Don´t expect to hear from us much in the next week or so cause internet is slow and expensive in this part of Argentina.

Hope everyone is doing we´ll and we hope to hear from you soon.

Justin

PS no pictures this time. internet is super expensive... We´ll try to post them in Ushuaia

The Lakes District Continued

Hello-

So we´ve been through the lakes districts of both Argentina and Chile and they´ve been gorgeous. We rented a car in San Martin de los Andes and headed off with our friends Kitty and Trevor on a 4 day tour of this and the Bariloche area. This time of year is pretty good to be here, it is cold but there are only just starting to be loads of tourists around (it is spring here right now).

Our road trip began with attempting to pick up our reserved car from the local Hertz, but they informed us that they had extended the car for the people who had the car before us. I was speaking my best Spanish to the guy working there, but Trevor came over and swore at the guy in English, and I decided not to translate. Trevor is working diligently to learn Spanish, and has written down all the words he´s learned in a small notebook. He even has a page of swear words, but I guess he was too worked up at the moment to remember his Spanish swears. We even considered breaking out the Seinfeld reference ("You see, you know how to *take* the reservation, you just don't know how to *hold* the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take them.") but I think it would have been lost in the translation. Fortunately it all worked out in the end as we ended up with a company with better prices and an english speaking guy working there.

The first day of our road trip we visited a a large lake with lots of hotels around it, but only one was open because it is still the off season. After driving all day on a bumpy dirt road the car began to make some strange rattling noises and we were a bit concerned, but it turned out to be just a rock stuck in the underside of the car. The rental guy fixed the car on the way back through San Martin, but later in the trip we got another rock stuck up there.

Over the next couple of days we saw many gorgeous views and went on a few short hikes. Once in Bariloche we did the Circuit Chico, a driving loop that includes some great views and we took a look at one of Argentina´s nicest hotels. There were quite a few tour buses traveling the route the same day but we still managed to find a couple nice walks and a nice spot to have lunch.

We spent the next couple days around Bariloche, a nice ski town. I have been working on graduate school applications while traveling and am hoping to get them finished up soon. We are now in Puerto Montt, a town that is nothing special but we are waiting to get on our 4 day ferry this afternoon to go to Puerto Natales in the south of Chile. Looking forward to some good hiking soon!

Jess

PS New pictures are up under Pictures 2.

Santiago was good but Trekking is better

San Martin, Argentina

I hope everyone is doing well. We successfully crossed into Chile and back again into Argentina. Santiago is ultra modern and is like stepping into any US city except they speak spanish. We stayed a couple of days in the city and took an excursion out to Valparaiso, which is Santiagos hour away get away city. Its kinda ironic but in the coffee growing continent its hard to find a cup of brewed coffee, its usually instant coffee which is not the same. So at Valparaiso I got to indulge on a coffee ice cream drink that was absolutley amazing.

After that we took an overnight bus down to Pucon, which is a great place because it has a small ski town feel (like Vail or Tahoe). It also has a volcano in the back drop and i thought for sure Dante´s Peak was filmed there. We went on a 2 day snow shoeing trek which was a great time because we hiked up a day and stayed at a refugio. And the 2nd day we broke out the snow shoes to make it to the peak of local mountain. Its turned out to be really cloudy and a little rainy the second day so we made it to the ridge but decided not to summit.

Now were back in Argentina in San Martin and we are going to be renting a car with Kitty and Trevor and heading south through the lake district. The trip is going to take a us a few days and we´ll be car camping for most of it. Its also starting to get cold so you probably wont see anymore pictures in shorts for a while. Anyways all has been well and we´re really excited to start this part of our trip because we´ll be backpacking a lot.

Hope everyone is doing well

Best

Justin

(PS some picts are up under my site... i think im 2)

Wine Country is great

Mendoza, Argentina

So Argentina has been great so far, a little bit more pricey than we thought but great. First of all the food is amazing, any steak loving, wine drinking individual should make it to this country because they know how to satisfy you. In Salta we went to this great steak restuarant called Viejo Jack´s. My steak was 750gs (about a 1.5lb) of amazing goodness, which is the perfect size to make anyone happy. Anyways Salta was quite a shock too because it feels more like Europe than South America, in fact all of Argentina seems that way and it´s great. Its nice to walk down the street and not stick out and draw as much attention. Also Argentines have a thick accent so our conversation skills have taken a few steps back but im sure we´ll get that figured out soon. We also got to see the first 2 games of the World Series so that was a big plus. The game was announced by a spanish announcer and since they dont pronounce the letter J it made for an interesting game pitched by Yosh Beckett.

We also decided to rent a car with our travel friends Roland and Katalin. We ended up getting a 3 door VW Gol. The Gol is the smaller cousin to the VW Golf but since Americans dont like small cars they dont send it here (i dont even think the "f" could have fit on the back of it to confuse it with the Golf). Anyways our 3 day road trip was more of an off roading trip in which we got to get off the beaten path which was great. We camped every night and the first night was at a secluded lake which hardly anyone goes to. We also got to visit a couple of bodegas (wineries) and go on a few walks. Our friend Roland has a thing for cake so we even got to test out one of the camp grounds adobe ovens which as a first for all of us, and it turned out great.

After returning to Salta we decided to hop on the 19 hour bus to Mendoza. The bus was actually very comfortable because the seats are very similiar to 1st class seat on international planes vs grey hound bus (there´s a picture of the bus in the photos and our favorite seats are the ones right over the driver.)

Mendoza has been a great town. Yesterday we rented bikes and toured the country side stopping at every winery and oliveara we could. I even tried to send some home but it would have been cheaper to buy a case of wine its on seat on a plane than ship it home... Oh well.

So i think our next move is into Chile and down into the lake district. We´re excited about this part of the trip because the best backpacking and scenery will be down that way. Anyways hope all is well and check out the pictures. Hope everyone had a good Halloween, we missed it :(

Best

Justin

3 Down, 5 to Go

Salta, Chile

So its been a while and i guess we have some stories that need to be told. Lets start at the begining...

The mines at Potosí were very good and we successfully made it out of there alive. Probably wasnt such a good idea waiting to write the last blog entry since we kinda left you hanging last entry but oh well. The mines were a good way to see how people in Bolivia make a decent wage under horrible working conditions. The mines there employees about 20,000 people and usually about 15,000 of them work in the mine daily in small cooperative groups of about 5 to 30 miners. The mine is no longer state run so these individual groups just pay taxes on what they produce and the government gives them nothing in return. All and all it was a great experience but i dont think i need to step foot again in a mine anytime soon.

After that we headed off to Uyuni to find ourselves a salt flat tour. We have been traveling with Roland and Katalin for most of Bolivia but we hooked up with 2 Belgium kids to fill up our jeep. Uyuni itself is a town that's sole purpose to host travelers while they wait to leave on a tour or catch the train leaving town. Allthe residents in that town know that there is no need for them to provide any nice accommodations since travelers only spend a night or two actually in Uyuni. We ended up going for a 4 day reverse tour of the Solar de Uyuni and it was awesome. On the tour the first 3 days you see different colored lagoons, flamingos, geysers, active volcanoes, and plenty of other things (see the pictures... if they ever get up). The last day we drove out onto the salt planes which are nothing more than a huge flat deposit of white salt. There are a couple of islands in the middle and we visited on of them with was extremely interesting because it was its own eco system. Since the back drop is all white on the Solar you can take some interesting pictures as well (again they will need to be posted before you can actually see the sweet pictures). All and all the trip was amazing; the scenery felt more like the Moon and Mars at times than Earth. We also did get up to our new highest altitude of just shy of 5,000 m!

So after the 4th day we were dropped in Uyuni to wait for the train to Tupiza which left at 3:00am so we had some time to kill. Im going to vent about our train experience so if you dont care skip this paragraph, but looking back on it, it was pretty funny. Before leaving on the Salar Roland and I tried to buy tickets for the train because we knew it be difficult to get them once we got back Sunday night. The Uyuni train station is a very special place that only has one worker and he has 2 posted hours for the morning, 2 for the afternoon, and on the nights of the train the hour before the train arrives. Of the possible 5 hours he works he only serves customers for about 1 or 2 hours a day and when the shift is up he kicks everyone out and tells them to come back. Ive come to the conclusion that he isnt really interested in selling tickets or making money period since i think he´s secretly on salary for the bus company. So Roland and i tried to buy tickets in advance because that seem to be the logical thing to do. We got there 30 minutes before the window open to didnt get a number until 15 minutes after the place was supposed to open. They used to not do numbers and the line for getting tickets was very similar to a Royal Rumble you might watch on TNT at 3:00 in the morning during the week. Anyways once we go to the ticket counter we told the ticket guy we like to buy tickets for the Sunday train. All he said was "no es possible" (you dont need to speak spanish to figure that out). We tried to explain to him that we were leaving and wasnt going to make it back but he really didnt seem to care, advance ticket sales just didnt exsist you can only buy them the day before. We ended up having our tour agent buy them for us but she was only able to get the lowest class. Usually this isnt a problem since were on a budget but 3rd class, popular class, didnt have reclining seats and its packed with people, and on overnight travel we usually splurge since we dont need a hotel room. Anyways we get to the train station in hoping that we can upgrade our tickets right before the train get in. The only problem is at night they dont have number and its like a Royal Rumble and Roland and I didnt feel like taking a beating from people who werent as lucky as us to have any tickets. We were also told by several employees that the train only had 3rd class so we werent that upset. The train rolls in and to our amazement we see cars full of reclining seats and think to ourselves that 3rd class doesnt look so bad. But as the train stops and we look waaaaayyyyyy down the platform we see third class in all its glory. So we realize that there are empty seats on first and second class and ask the conductor of one of the nicer cars if we can get an upgrade. He says to go to the ticket counter, and we explain to him that the guy at the ticket counter has a girlfriend in Hong Kong and the only reason he took a job as a ticket seller is so he can sit on instant messenger at 3 am to chat with her. Well, we didnt exactly say this, but he came in with us to the ticket office and saw that this guy was basically refusing to sell tickets to both foreigners and locals. So we didnt get an upgrade and took our third class seats and got hardly any sleep on a 6 hour train journey, and still have no idea why he wouldnt sell tickets.

The train did take us to a gorgeous town in the south of Bolivia surrounded by mountains that reminded us of Arizona. We stayed at a pretty nice hotel (the last nice cheap hotel we will probably see for awhile) with a pool and went on a horseback ride through the area. Check out the pics once were up.

Now were in Argentina and I said Jess once we got here that "we´re not in Bolivia anymore." Salta looks a bit like a European ciy and the prices are starting to reflect that too. But it is a welcome break from the chaos of Bolivia. We´re looking into hiking or a horse trip soon.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Justin

Meeting the locals

Hello All-

Justin and I are doing well, we have spent the past week in a couple of Bolivia´s nicest cities and some of the small towns around them. Our first stop after La Paz was Cochabamba, a university city. We came there with two other backpacking couples that we have been hanging out with for a little while. We hung out in the city for a day and then went for a day hike outside of the city. We were hoping to hike to a couple of lakes, but in classic Bolivian fashion no one told us accurately how far away from the lakes were. Upon arrival at the check in point for the hike the trail ranger told us that the lakes were actually about 30 miles away. So we did not make it to the lakes on that hike but still had a nice time.

After Cochabamba our friend Roland suggested traveling to a couple of small towns that were not very touristed and making our way to Sucre, another large city. We packed up and left to the middle of nowhere, a small town where we did not see any other tourists. It was quite pretty, but not much was going on. Roland came down with a stomach bug, so Katalin, Justin, and I headed off to explore some of the other small towns. We visited a small market and another small town where there were not any attractions or much to do, and then decided to give up on finding anything to do and leave the town. We were waiting to take a shared cab that left when it was full (full meaning two people to every seat) to another small village, and a couple of locals joined us in waiting as well. After a few minutes they got up to leave, and the man with them approached us. He spoke very quickly and all I caught was ¨una copita¨which means one little cup. He was motioning to the house across from us, and we realized that they were inviting us to come have a drink of chicha with them, which is the local alcohol made from corn. So for the next half hour while waiting for the cab we found ourselves having drinks with the locals which was no mild event. They were very welcoming though and we had a good time.

After these small towns we headed to Sucre, Bolivia´s other capital and another very pretty city. For our 2 year anniversary we got a nice hotel room and splurged a bit, meaning we spent $30 on an hotel room instead of the usual $7 or so. It and the city were very nice. The next day we met up with Trevor and Laurine, backpacking friends we met in Galapagos and have not seen since. Justin and I watched the Rugby World Cup with them and unfortunately saw Argentina lose in the semi finals. If they had won we could have seen the finals on TV in Argentina, but oh well. Later that night we went to the movies for the first tome on our trip and saw Die Hard 4, a ridiculous but entertaining film.

We are now in Potosi which was a very affluent city in the 1700s because of its silver mines. We are going to take a tour of its Mint museum and then we are going to tour the mines where the miners still work in very primitive conditions. We were a bit hesitant at first but we have heard that it is amazing to see and that the miners enjoy having visitors, as they bring gifts and break up the monotony of the day. Tomorrow we are headed to Uyuni to do a salt flats tour so we are porbably going to be out of internet access for the next 5 days or so.

Best wishes to all,

Jess

Our Jungle Adventure

La Paz, Bolivia

So were back from our adventure to the jungle and it was well worth it. We started off at 6:30 am last Saturday to be picked up by a private bus. It took us a while to get out of the city limits because its the start of the rainy season which means any road could be washed out so we had to detour a few times. As some of you may know The World´s Most Dangerous Road is located to the North of La Paz and until a few months ago took a few hundred lives a year. But lucky for us international organizations (like the UN) now step in and help out countries that cant afford to build proper roads, and they have replaced the most dangerous part of The World´s Most Dangerous Road. This road was amazing it had things we hadnt seen yet on this continent such as painted lanes, tunnels, signs and even real guard rails. Jess and i were amazed at this multi hundred million dollar effort, it was fabulous. The funny thing about this road is that is hardly more physically dangerous than many of the roads in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Andes. It had so many more deaths per year because of the drivers. They often drove drunk or for 24 hours at a time.

After lunch we picked up the rest of group who elected to mountain bike the old death road (see Mom I am being safe) and got to travel down the less dangerous part of the road that was not part of the new road construction... There were a few things i didnt know about driving this road. First all traffic drives on the left side so the driver has the best few of his front tires. Second the outside driver also gives way to the inside driver, which usually requires stopping and pulling as close as possible to cliff face (remind you there are no barriers what so over). Third it´s a good idea to blow your horn around every blind corner (which is every one) to alert them to stop and make way. All those rules along with a competent driver will let you safely pass this part of the road in just under 5 hours (we have great video and pictures).

Next we boarded our boat to the jungle which was nothing more than a 40´row boat with a motor on the back. Traveling by boat was more enjoyable than bus because its much cooler and you dont have to worry about inhale dust with every passing vehicle. The guide was a bit on the sub par side just cause of the lack of information and his english skills but we had a great boat full of people so it ended up being a great experience. Both the 2nd and 3rd day we had stops where we walked about the jungle seeing fascinating things with little to no explanation... All well, not all our guides can be amazing naturalists but the boat defiantly beat the bus.

We got into Rurrenabaque Monday night and the next day a group of us from the boat trip set off to find a Pampas tour. The pampas is a term locals use to call an area where the river meets the jungle and its also where most of the wildlife congregate to drink. Most of the group headed off early to go interview tour agency and Jess and I kinda got off to a late start after breakfast and some expensive internet. We only checked out 2 places while everyone covered at least 5 or 6 but i guess we have a nack for finding the best deals in town because we went with the 2nd tour agency we talked to. The following day we set out in on a 3 hour jeep ride to Santa Rosa where we were to pick up the boat to the Pampas. On the jeep ride we encountered our first road block, and it was quite an interesting experience. To start a road block you all really need 3 things, everyone in the town to show up, a front end loader to drop huge pile of dirt in the middle of the road, and beer (or the local moonshine). The only thing that determines how long the road block is when the locals run out of beer because i think its very important for them to be drunk during the whole process. Lucky for us our tour agency was the only one that was owned and completely operated by a neighboring village, so there was always a family member that could help out somewhere. We were allowed to pass through the road block, but not our jeep, so we carried everything across where another family member picked us up on the other side.

After that we hopped on our boat for our 3 hour trip up river were we saw no shortage of alligators, capybaras, and a large assortment of birds and monkeys. The trip was good i suggest you to check out the pictures; everyday we took the boat out somewhere then walked around looking for various animals. Some of the highlights were swimming with river dolphins, howling monkeys, and all the little fish that jumped into Jess´s lap while motoring around. There is much more but ill fill you in over a beer the next time i see you.

When we got back to Rurrenabaque we had planned on flying back to La Paz but this is the burning season for slash and burn farming. This is when locals cut down the jungle and burn it then plant their crops. It works great for a season or so then when there is no more nutrition in the soil they just burn some more. All this burning make for great sun sets and also makes it impossible for planes to land in the smoke filled valleys. Lucky for us yesterday was the first day planes we´re flying so Jess and I paid $65 for a 40 minute flight versus $10 for a 20 hour bus ride. The airport was a grassy strip and the most advanced piece of equipment (besides the plane) was the scale to make sure the plane would actually leave the runway. The plane was a 19 seat twin prop plane that was so small you could see into the cockpit and could offer a back seat flying tips on final approach. The flight was fine until the end. The flight was pressurized but La Paz airport is at 13,000 ft so with 10 minutes left they basically opened a window to equalize the pressure. Also at this height a plane must land a twice the speed because there is so little air to create lift. I thought this was a great time but a lot of the people including Jess were a bit worried when it came to final approach and thought it was necessary to clap. Everything worked fine and it was another experience.

Anyways we´re in La Paz for another night before heading to Cochabamba. We´re not sure what there is to do there but it sounds like some nice hikes and some caving to do. Hope everyone is doing well.

Best

Justin

Picts are up with comments on #1

Lost in the Jungle

La Paz, Bolivia

Tomorrow at the hour of 6:30 am Jess and i will be embarking on a 3 day jeep/boat/trekking trip to the jungle. This is suppose to be one of the best jungle treks in Bolivia from what we´ve heard and we are really excited. Once we are there we are thinking about doing a Pampas tour which is a boat tour where you can see all the animals. All and all it should be about a week that we we´ll be out there so dont expect any contact until next week sometime. We´re pretty sure we are going to fly back because 60 min flights beet 20 hour bus rides thru the jungle any day of the week.

La Paz has been our favorite capital so far and we have had a full week to see it. We have seen several museums with our favorite being the Coca Museum which basically out lines the history of the plant. For all of you that are anti Coca you should know that Coca Cola still is made to this day with coca leaves and they come straight from Bolivia.

Also this week we officially cut Brazil from our trip (partially because of the $100 entrance visa for Americans and partially because its own trip in itself) and added Columbia. On Christmas day Jess and i will be flying from Buenos Aires to Bogota. We have heard backpacker rave about Columbia since we got here so we are going to see what all the fuss is about.

Anyways we´re off to the jungle and we´ll talk to you in a week.

Best

Justin

Island Hopping on Lake Titicaca

La Paz, Bolivia

Justin and I are doing well, we arrived in La Paz yesterday and it is our favorite city so far. Lots of markets, people out and about, and the smog and pollution is not bad for a South American city. We have been at Lake Titicaca (pronounced Tee Tee Ha Ha, more or less) for the past week. We spent a couple days on the Peru side touring a few of the islands. We went with a guided tour to the islands which turned out to be a lot of fun as there were a bunch of other backpackers and travelers on the trip that we had a good time with. As Justin and I have traveled in Peru, we have been mostly on the "gringo trail," which means that we have seen many other backpackers, and often times we have run into the same people in different places. This has been fun so far, but in the future we may go to some more remote places as well.

But the island trip was a good time. We first visited Uros Islas, which are a group of floating islands that are built on reeds that they replace as the ones on the bottom rot away. The locals have cashed in on how profitable tourism is for their islands, but it was still interesting to see how their islands are constructed. Next we went to Amantani island, which was not that impressive but it was still a good time. They housed all of us with different families, which was interesting, but the family that Justin and I stayed with turned out to be a little awkward. The people of the island speak their native language, and then the kids learn Spanish at school. The mother of our family did not speak much Spanish, but it took us alittle while to figure this out so we just assumed she wasnt very friendly. They had a simple house with sheep and chickens outside which is normal to most people in this area. She fed us a delicious meal of fried cheese (a specialty of their area), fresh vegetables and a root called oca. Later in the afternoon we walked with the groups to yet another Peruvian ruin/crumbling stone wall of some importance and watched the sunset. Later that evening, as we were waiting for dinner, the oldest son (17) came up to our room and started playing a typical wooden flute instrument. We assumed that his mother had sent him up because maybe she thought we were bored waiting for dinner, but once he played a few songs he asked for some money. We gave him some change, he looked at us, and asked for more. Justin and I were both a bit shocked by this and told him no. We pay the families to stay with them, and we had already bought a few trinkets that the mother had made, and we had brought them a gift of rice and pasta when we arrived, so we felt we had already been very generous to the family. This incident shocked us a bit and made us a little sad about how tourism has made these people a bit greedy. We later concluded that the sons actions probably didnt represent the whole family, as the other children were very nice to us. But the incident still upset us a bit.

Later that night there was a party that the islanders throw every night for the tourists. They play traditional music, and the locals give the tourists their typical clothes to wear. So Justin got a poncho and I got a shirt and shirt. It was a fun time, the locals get very into it, especially some of the young girls. It was a good time and made up for the negative feelings we got earlier in the evening. The next day we went to another similar island, walked around a bit, and at lunch we learned about some of the traditional dress of the island. They have some very specific things for married and single men and women to wear. Singe women have more decorations on their shawls and skirts, such as larger, more colorful yarn pompoms, and the single men and married men wear slightly differeing hats. And altough a man may be unmarried, he still may have a girlfriend. So when at parties the unmarried men have to wear the point of their hat to one side or the other depending on whether they are "looking" or "taken." A Dutch girl on our boat remarked that she wished the guys in Holland would do the same to make it all simpler. My favorite customary hat was the one that the male leaders/policemen wear; their hats are the most colorful and brighest of all.

After the Peruvian side of the lake we headed to the Bolivian side, stayed in a very touristy area, and visited the Isla del Sol, the birthplace of the sun according to Incan history. We did this trip on our own, saw some very nice scenery, and walked through a few small villages where we were the only tourists passing through. And dont worry we have pictures of the rock where the sun was born.

We are now in La Paz, and on the way here we had our first bus water crossing (sorry we were too confused at the time to take pictures). We had to cross a skinny portion of the lake, and to do so everyone had to get off the bus, take a people boat across, and the bus got on a very small barge and crossed that way. We assume the people who run the boat business have fought any proposals to build a birdge across this stretch of lake.

So we are going to be in the city for a few days before heading on a hike and then off to the jungle! I hope everyone is doing well!

Jess

PS New pictures are up under Pictures 2.

we will stay for a few days before heading on a trek and then to the jungle

Back from one of the new 7 wonders of the world

Cusco, Peru

Jess and I are back from our 5 day Salkantay trek which ended at Machu Picchu. The trek was a wonderful, long 5 days which took us over a 4650 m pass and usually consisted of 6 to 8 hour long days of hiking. We decided to go with an organized tour instead of doing it on our own because it cost only a little bit more and its nice to have a cook and guide. Our group was just over a baker´s dozen strong: 2 guides, a donkey driver (DD), a cook, 2 Ecuatorians, 3 French girls, a couple of Brazilian guys, and a Swiss backpacker. All in all the group was a good mix and at any one time there could be up to 5 languages being spoken at once! Even though the days were much longer than the past trek, we felt better with the altitude and being on the move everyday. Every morning we were woken up by our crazier guide Jose with "Amigos, Amigos, Coca Te, Coca Te". So we basically started each day hopped on Coca tea, which is suppose to help with the altitude, hangovers, and lack of sleep. We suffered from most of these symptoms. The first day and half was high up in the mountains and after that we were into the jungle. In the high mountains it is cold at night, extremely bright during the day, and has little air, while the jungle has hot days, and tiny biting bugs (BTW all biting bugs that fly in South America are called Mosquitoes) so you have to pick your poison wisely.

Anyways the first four days we walked up and down towards the base town of Machu Picchu, Aguas Calientes, which sole purchase is to host visitors to Machu Picchu. The Peruvian government has done everything possible to make this the most expensive place possible. First, there is only two ways to get there, walk (free) or ride the train which is a rickety old thing that cost $40 each way (mind you that our budget for Peru is $25/day/person). The train pretty much eliminates most outside transportation in because the goverment is the only one that can operate trains on it. After you are in the town you are still 1500 feet bellow the ruins. This leaves you two more options to get there, walk (free), or take the bus that was brought by the train which is $6 dollars each way. I and the Swiss guy opted to rise at 4am and hike 1 hour and 15 minutes straight up, the other decided to take the 20 min bus to the top. There really isnt any other reason to hike beside to beat everyone else to the gate, I was the 3rd person to arrive (we even beat the workers!) The student entrance ticket was $20, and the last place they get you is with $0.15 bathroom charge. Don't forget to hide a lunch in your bag or you´ll be opting for the $45 lunch buffet, I hear its nice. But other than that its a really good deal... kinda.

Once you are in the main gate you climb a couple more minutes to the watch tower where the typical picture of Machu Picchu is taken (the one with the mountain in the background). At that point you forget about money and know why its part of the new seven wonders of the world. Our guided tour started at 6.30 am and lasted for two hours where we were guided around by a local expert. Really not much is known about the city (including the name, Machu Picchu is the name of the mountain that it resides below) experts now think it was a university for Incans and only housed 800 residents. The city was never completed because the Spanish sacked it. Only 40% of the ruins have been rebuilt meaning most of the city was untouched since the 1500´s. I can ramble on some more but i´d better stop here or Jess and I wont have any stories to tell you when we get back!

After that we took the train then bus to reach Cuzco Friday night where we ate and fell asleep. We are planning to go to Lake Titicaca tomorrow and hangout around there from a week or so. After that its were off to Bolivia, where the air is thin and everything is cheap.

Hope everyone is doing well

Best,

Justin

PS The pictures are up for the trip under Picts 1... enjoy

Santa Cruise Trek

Huaraz, Peru

Jess and I finished the Santa Cruz hike but we didn't have the strength to go on and do the extra day trip to Laguna 69. The hike was pretty amazing, but donkey ended up being a horse, which was a bit disappointing but what can you do. Anyways the horse, Miguel, ended up lugging most of our stuff, which was good because we weren´t in good enough shape to carry full gear above 4000m. We did end up splitting the donkey with our German friend Axel. He was a good guys and was a lot of fun to hike with. Anyways, the third day was the most interesting because when we woke up at 5:30 it was sleeting and was pretty cold (40´s). We ended up hanging around camp until we left at 9:30 to ascend the Pass. The Pass is at 4750 meters ( about 15,500 ft) and was ridiculously cold so we didnt hang out at the top too long. The other side of the pass was very nice with snow capped mountains all around. The last day was a quick hike out and a long bus ride back to civilization. This was probably the most intensive road we had been on and must have included about 30 switch backs to descend this mountain. There were also 21 passengers packed into a mini bus, aka a euro van, so there was barely room to breath let alone see outside. We did end up taking a few stops on our 3 hour ride and got to take some nice pictures.

Anyways were off to Lima tonight on an overnight bus. No one we have spoke to has said anything good about Lima. I guess its foggy all the time. Were actually going to try and catch a cheap flight from Lima to Cuzco to avoid a 30 hour bus ride. Cuzco seems to be another big trekking point but is a very touristy area since Machu Picchu is close by. We are hopping to take a bus up to the ruins instead of the expensive train but we´ll let you know how that all works out.

Best to everyone,

Justin

PS new pictures are under picts 1.

Galapagos pictures are up!

Hello-

We have been hanging out in the mountain town of Huaraz for the past couple days and are about to leave on a 5 day trek in the mountains. And we have finally gotten our Galapagos pictures up! They are under Pictures 2. We are excited about the trek, we are going with a German guy we met at our hostel, a donkey, and a donkey driver. It is the Santa Cruz trek and Laguna 69 in the Cordillera Blanca if anyone is interested in looking it up. Afterwards we are heading to Lima and then off to Macchu Picchu and the Cuzco area. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoy the pictures!

Jess

The adventure continues

Justin and I have now made it to the second country of our trip, Peru. So far Peru has been good, with nice buses that actually come to a complete stop when you get on, cheaper in general than Ecuador, and the people have seemed more welcoming and outgoing overall.

During our last few days in Ecuador we did a hike close one of their big national parks. The owners of the cabañas that we were staying at also have a reserve with a lodge a day´s hike away from the cabañas. When Justin and I think lodge, we think of THE LOJ, our outdoors club´s exquisite wooden structure in the White Mountains. So we decided to pay $9 a night each (this may sound cheap but it´s not, the cabins at the hostel were $7 a night each) to hike up to this lodge and stay the night instead of bringing up our tent. The hike was very nice and the area that the lodge was in was gorgeous, set on a ridge between two rivers, but the lodge was dark, dirty, and the running water we had been promised was not functioning. So we would have been more comfortable in our tent, and the moral of the story is that South America´s lodges do not measure up to NUHOC´s.

After leaving Vilcabamba we head our first of many border crossing experiences. We took a 9-hour bus that crossed the border and it turned out to be a very lax experience. The "border" consists of a bridge with the Ecuadorian exit office on one side and the Peru entrance on the other. All the foreigners, about 7 of us backpackers total, got off the bus and took an hour or so to get our exit and entrance stamps. No one else got off the bus to do any of this, and while we were going through these formalities the fruit guys were freely walking back and forth across the bridge selling their wares.

In the town we stayed in Peru we befriended a few of the other backpaskers who had been on the bus. Since there was not a lot to do in the town, we decided to buy a couple beers at the grocery store and sit on the rooftop deck and hang out. Buying beer at the grocery store turned out to be more complicated than we had expected. They do not care how old you are when buying alcohol, but they are very protective of their bottles. In much of South and Central America they reuse the glass beer and soda bottles, so there is a large deposit. But at this grocery store it turned out to be very complicated to explain this to us. While checking out we all spoke some spanish, and usually it is enough to get by, but it was not enough to figure out this situtation entirely. When the first of us tried to buy his beer, the lady shook her head at him, said she couldn´t sell him the beer, then said it would cost more, he asked why, and a couple times during this exchange she looked at the security guard with the large gun standing at the back of the store, and he would shake his head. Finally she just rang up the beer plus an extra sol (1 sol=35 cents) to cover the deposit. This might not sound like a lot, but 3 soles buys you a decent lunch. So we tried to ask if we could come back and return the bottles in the morning, but again she looked at the security guard and he shook his head again. So we conceded defeat and left with our beers.

After the first town we ventured to a nice beach town where we again ran into our backpacker friends, before venturing to Huaraz, Peru, which is very close to one of Peru´s nicest mountain ranges. We had our first overnight bus ride last night which was amazing compared to all of the other buses we´ve been on. Reclining seats, a meal, and even a bus stewardess. We are planning a few hikes and will keep everyone posted about how they go!

Again we don´t have pictures up yet from the Galapagos but we are working on finding a fast enough connection to upload them all.

Hope everyone is well!

Jess

Boobies and tortoises and sea lions, oh my!

Vilcabamba, Ecuador

So we got back from the Galapagos Monday and it was great! The boat we stayed on was the newest in the fleet sailing the Galapagos and it was really nice but not up to the luxury standards us budget travelers were expecting. If we had paid full price, like some of the people on our boat did, we would have been rather mad but we didnt so were not. The boat had lots of space and windows everywhere (even in the shower), but the food, service and other aspects of the boat were only ok. The only luxury service we really got was the guide who was superb.

The boat was divided into two groups, the scuba divers and the walkers. Since neither Jess or I had scuba dived we part of the hardcore walking group. There were 16 guest on the boat and 10 crew. Originally the whole boat was booked for diving only but 2 weeks ago the Galapagos national parked restricted 2 dive sites, off the islands of Darwin and Wolfe, to only 3 boats and ares was not one of them. Theses two dive sites are the two most northern islands in the national park and also the best places to see Hammerhead and Whale sharks, which is what the Galapagos is know for. Anyways once the divers heard this 8 of them dropped out leaving spots open on the boat for us. Of the walkers there was a Canadian/Irish couple, a guy from Whales (UK that is), a group of 3 Peruvians from Canada, and a Swiss couple that only really spoke German, Spanish, and French. The 6 divers were all based out of a dive shop in the not so close to the ocean region of Columbus, Ohio. If anyone has the urge to learn go diving in Columbus, ask for Jack and Gordy at Aquatic Adventures!

First off let me state that the Galapagos are a amazing national park, and i doubt you will get so close to so many wild animals and birds anywhere else in the World. The trip started early Monday morning when we left our hostel in Guayaquil to head for the airport. There we were met by our travel agent who helped check us in and more importantly reminded us that the price of the trip was confidential and if anyone asked we paid $1800. We laughed... he didnt. We went through security and then waited in the terminal. The interesting thing about flying to the Galapagos is there is two airports which are on two different islands but they dont decipher between the two. So our tickets said we were flying to San Cristobal but there we ended up going to Baltra. This was very confusing to us but seemed business as usual in Ecuador. The flights to the Galapagos start in Quito then land in Guayaquil and then go to the islands. Once we got to the Galapagos we were met by our guide Ruly who was a Ecuadorian native and the dive master Santiago. On the island of Baltra there is nothing except a airport and harbor so we collect our stuff proceeded to the boat.

The one thing we didnt know about the sailing in the Galapagos is it´s pretty much the open ocean and the seas are rough and the water is pretty cold (mid 60s). Everywhere we went there were sea lions on the beaches and they had no fear of us. There were so many in some spots it was important not to trip over them when you were taking pictures. We also saw blue footed boobies which do dive bombs into the water to catch fish. Usually they fish by themselves but on the last day we saw 100´s that had a trapped a school a fish and dive bombed them all at once (we have an amazing video of this). We also saw crabs, pink flamingoes, and number of other animals (check out the pictures once we post them, probably early next week). The snorkeling, all though cold, was amazing. We saw many of the things the divers did, but not a hammerhead shark. This included sea turtles, white tip reef sharks, marine iguanas, penguins, sea lions, sting rays, and a ton of fish. This was probably the best snorkeling i´ve done, which tops the great barrier reef.

The days were all pretty much the same iternary. Breakfast at 8, first landvisit at 9, then maybe a snorkel, lunch at 1 (while sailing to next spot), 2nd land visit at 3, another snorkel, and dinner at 7. We sailed almost every night and the first night was the worst that even the crew said was unusually rough. That so that meant that we got abosolutly no sleep. As the nights went on we got used to rocking and rolling.

8 days was enough time for us, even though there was a lot more so see. Tomorrow we are leaving for a 3 day trek around Vilcabamba and we should be on our way to Peru Monday.

Hope all is well

Justin

PS we didnt feel the earthquake nor did we even hear about it until we heard about it through email. We are interested in doing any type of engineering diaster relief and we should be in that area in a few weeks. Please email me if you hear of anything or have any contacts. thnxs

Cuenca and my new favorite drug

Cuenca, Ecuador

The trip from Guayaquil to Cuenca is not for the faint hearted. The ride is about 4 hours, 2 of the them on a nice paved highways (elev 500ft), and then last 2 were straight from hell (up to 13,300ft then back to 8,200ft). First off i want to let everyone know that neither Jess or i got sick on the bus but we were both very close to the breaking point. Jess claims the ride was very pretty any even has pictures has we ascended past the clouds and into the mountains, but i had my eyes glues to the road so i cant comment on any of the views.

Cuenca is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador but seems to have the most character. There are a lot of shops and restaurants that cater to its wealthier residents. Jess and I haven't been able to experience too much because I've been under the weather. But because of my new favorite drug, ciprofloxacin (or Cipro for short), I'm back on my feet again and ready for the Galapagos this Monday!!!

Jess and I have also realised that we had made a big mistake after shortly after leaving Quito. We had decided not to bring our guide book that her parents had nicely bought for us, because it was too heavy (stupid huh). what a mistake not only have we stayed at a couple of shoddy places but we were probably overcharged too because the going rates vary town to town. Anyways we finally corrected our error and purchased a brand new Lonely Planet book (for the price we paid i think it flew down in the seat next to me). We also have now discovered that the book is almost 4 years old and many things have changed... oh well. We have started a list of things to write to the authors about. At the top of our list is their top ranked hotel in Cuenca, which turned out to be a pay by the hour with boards for beds and windows that could have made inmates feel at home. I believe they described it as a gem but it was far from it.

Tomorrow we are back on the bus to Guayaquil, and will stay there the night before we fly out to the Galapagos Monday. The next time we post we should have some amazing pictures, and there might even be internet on the boat.

Hope all is a well

Justin

Montañita,Salinas,and Guayaquil....and we´re Galapagos bound!

Hello Everyone-

Justin and I had a good few days in Montañita hanging out with the volunteers that we met at Alandaluz and Cantalapiedra. There was one American, 2 Chileans, 2 Dutch, one Austrian, and a few from Ecuador. We spent the weekend in the party town of Montañita, and then moved on to Salinas on Sunday. We were excited to go to a place that we thought would be a nice hangout, but since we were on the coast in the rainy/cloudy season, it was overcast and there was hardly anyone there. It was a very different place than we had been to before, and it looked a bit like a nice beach in Florida, full of high rise condos and hotels as far as the eye could see. But they were all empty. So we hung out on the beach, which was ok, but the real treat of our two nights in Salinas was the dicovery of a grocery store. Until then we only had convenience stores, and we were not sure where everyone bought there food. We think that in smaller towns people drive around and sell meat and rice on the street. So we generally eat at restaurants, trying to find the best $1-2 meal.

We spent 2 nights and day in Salinas and then came to Guayaquil. It is a big, noisy, somewhat polluted, but affluent city. There is not a lot to do here for tourists, and we only came here to find a last minute deal on a Galapagos trip. Yesterday, after 3 travel agents, and 2 hours at the final agent, we are booked on an 8-day trip on the boat the Queen of the Galapagos: http://www.galasam.com.ec/queenofgalapagos.html# But don´t be alarmed we definitely did not pay the price that is listed. We were looking for a tourist class boat, but they were all booked. I think there are less cancellations on the less expensive boats than on the more expensive ones. So we are headed to the Galapagos on Monday!

Until then we are leaving Guayaquil to go to a nicer and livelier town, Cuenca. It is up in the mountains so we are headed back up to a substantial elevation. From there we may make day trip to the smaller Baños which has many public thermal baths.

Pictures should be loaded soon on Pictures 2!

I hope everyone is doing well.

Jess

Finished Volunteering

Montañita, Ecuador

So we finished volunteering and the end of our experience didnt end like the beginning of it. let me explain... Last Monday when we returned from our weekend at Montañita all the volunteers had our usual talk with the owner where he explains his master plan of the day. We weren´t going to say anything about our grievances with the volunteering programs because he doesn't speak English and our Spanish wasnt good enough to politely explain our issues. But the head volunteer thought we should and she translated our problems with the program we had into spanish.
Here were are main problems:

• Volunteers should not clean the public bathrooms
• Volunteers should have rides to the beach after work(it was a 40 min. walk and then a 30 bus ride to the beach)
• The Coordinators should explain the whole volunteering experience better in their emails and website

Well we didnt even get through our first problem when he started talking extremely fast and didnt have a happy look on his face. He thought volunteers should have the experience of cleaning the bathrooms and that it was part of the volunteering experience. He really didnt care about what we had to say (or that we were paying to be there!!!) and pretty much left it as if you had a problem you could leave. The meeting ended with the volunteers coming up with a list of jobs they would like to do around the grounds (ie making trails, cooking, giving tours). Well Jess and I mentioned that we would like to look at the water system to see if we could help make any improvements. This list was passed on to the owner and within 12 hours we were being taken away to Alandaluz to live in the lap of luxury.

The owner all of the sudden was very apologetic, and one night even bought us a round of drinks, and very much wanted us to take a tour of the main hotels facilities. Without making this go on too long, the first day we sat around and read, took long walks on the beach, went swimming, and had great food. Day two we saw their systems for the morning and then did the same things we did day one. Day three we did some research and calculations about system they could use to purify there water without boiling it.

With all that being said one of the most ironic things was that a maid cleaned our rooms and bathrooms for us at Alandaluz... What an experience.

This weekend we are back in Montañita to party with all the volunteers before heading south down the coast to Salinas. Salinas is supposed to be vey upscale so it will be a nice change for us. After that we off to the major city of Guayaquil to find a cheap Galapagos trip.

Anyways hope all is well

Justin

PS we forgot the camera but we will post pictures tomorrow

Volunteering Spot

Montañita, Manabi, Ecuador

So we safely made it to the volunteering spot which was quite an experience. The guide books we read said the trip from Quevedo to Puerto Lopez was not a common one and we now know why. The road up the mountain was fine and not too bad but once we started going down we descended into the a fog and went from about 13,000 ft to 1,000 ft in about 3 hours on muddy roads (i think i still have nail marks from Jess in my arm). Anyways everything was fine and we made it to Puerto Lopez after about 6 hours of busing around that day so we were pretty beat. We stayed at the closest hostel to the bus station which seems like a great idea at the time but we could have done better if we had looked around some. The town is nice and basically revolves around tourists, which was a huge change from Quevedo where we were the only tourists in the whole city.

We decided to relax in Puerto Lopez the night instead of heading straight to our volunteering spot. We met a local that ran whale watches who name was Winston Churchill. I think i laughed at him the first few times he said his name until i figured out he was serious, but i guess its common for some people to have names of famous people. Anyways he brought out his log book of guest he had taken out and decided to read off where all his passengers had been from looking for people that were from Boston, which there were none. Then he proceeded to tell Jess and I that whales around here were much bigger than our whales on the east coast. He was nice guy though and if anyone goes to Puerto Lopez look him up and he´ll hook you up with a deal.

Anyways we arrived the next day at Alandaluz where we thought we are going to be volunteering. Jess and I were really excited to be right on the beach and doing some work to help out the local community and learn some other interesting things about the local ecology. We´ll that wasnt the case... It turns out we are volunteering for a for profit psuedo-eco hotel satellite farming facility... Not cool. This place, Cantalapiedra, is used to support Alandaluz by growing various crops and bamboo that are many brought to Alandaluz. No Tourists stay there, they only come for Canopy tours which is just a set of 4 zip lines that are strung over the grounds. I think we would have been happy if we were giving Canopy tours but we are used as unskilled labor doing random mindless tasks. If you want to hear me rant more just email me and ill give you the goods but needless to say Jess and I will only be staying till this friday. The only reason were staying is because the other volunteers are cool and our spanish is getting a lot better.

Next week were planning on coming back to Montañita to figure out more of out trip and our next spot. We have added a couple of pipe dream places to the map so check that out. And Jess added some caption to her picture (picts 1... i think). Anyways i hope people are enjoying these posting and feel free to post some stuff up. I hope we´ll have pictures of the volunteering place next week. Until then

Best

Justin

ps our volunteering place is in the middle of nowhere so no more email or blog til this weekend.

Our second day in Quito and day at the volcano

Hey Everyone-

Justin and I are doing well. We are adjusting to different things, such as how much a taxi ride should cost and how to throw our bags under a moving bus. Our second day in Quito was nice. We took a gondola ride up a mountain next to the city and got a view of how expansive it is and of the mountains surrounding the city. The gondola took us up from Quito´s 10,000 feet to 13,000. We have not experienced any bad altitude sickness, just some light-headedness and shortness of breath. We also walked around the old city and had our last dinner at the hostel. It is a very European style hostel where everyone speaks English, but that night it was Ecudaorian night with classic Ecuadorian food and a band. For dinner we had a fried yuca (a potato) stuffed with cheese, and shrimp with coconut sauce and rice. The band came up to the hostel´s dining area which was on the roof of the hostel. The food was delicious and the band was good as well. They did not play for very long as they were probably booked at about 3 hotels that night.

The next morning we headed out to Cotopaxi national park, which is Ecuador´s 19,000 foot active volcano. At this point we got our first Ecuadorian bus experience. We asked the taxi to bring us to the bus terminal, which turned out to be a huge rotary with buses coming and going. As we got out of the bus a man ran up to us and asked us where we were going. We answered and he quickly ushered us to the bus closest to us which was driving away. He helped us with our bags and we ran onto the bus, all while the bus was moving. We were a bit nervous at first because we needed to let them know when to let us off, because if you aren´t getting off at a town then they will drop you off wherever you want on the side of the road. We had read that there is a place where you can get off and hire a truck to take you on the half hour trip to the campsite at the base of the volcano. Our spanish is passable right now, but not good enough to get us the local´s rate on taxis or to speak in complex sentences. So I tried to ask a woman next to us when the stop was for Cotopaxi, which is the name of the national park and the volcano. She looked very confused as I asked her this, and then the money guy for the bus (there is always a driver and a money guy on buses) came by as well and she told him what she thought I had said. They looked at each confusedly and laughed a bit. He asked me some questions I didn´t understand, and then he walked farther down the bus. Justin and I discussed what had happened and decided that they thought we were asking if the bus went all the way to the volcano. Turns out he eventually did understand what we wanted, and the bus stopped on the side of a major highway (and by stopped I mean it kept going but slowly enough for us to jump off). We hired a truck and drove up to the campsite we had researched. Turns out this place, Tambopaxi, was not the hut we had imagined, but a pretty nice lodge where older Europeans came and stayed before attempting to climb Cotopaxi. Camping was cheap enough but the meals were expensive, so we ended up cutting our stay there a night short. But while we were there we went for some walks. We were still feeling the altitude effects so we did not hike very far. I also wanted to go horse back riding, but when we asked they told us they needed 24 hours notice to find the horses which were out in the hills somewhere. Most people come to the volcano to pay a guide $200 to take them to the top, but this was not within our budget and we did not have the time to spend a few nights acclimatizing. Overall the area was gorgeous but a bit too expensive for us.

So tonight we are in the small city Latacunga and we will spend the next two days taking buses to get to our volunteering spot.

Check out Pictures 1 for the most recent pictures. If you are leaving a comment we added the word verification feature because we have gotten a couple spam hits.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Jess

Made it to Quito

So we arrived safely in Quito with no major problems. The flights were both very smooth with no problems, but i could feel the altitude right off the plane though. If fact just before landing they decrease the cabin pressure to match the air pressure at Quito... If they didnt the door wouldnt open.

Anyways on to Quito. We are staying at this amazing hostel called the Secret Garden in the Old part of the city. Its really nice and seems to be a popular place amongst the British Travelers. It also seems to host a great crowd of trekkers from 20 to 50 years old, and have all managed to get at least a month away from their lives and jobs. Today we walked around the old town up to the Basilica and it was well worth it. You can climb all the way to the top of the bell towers and the main tower that is over the center altar.

Cab rides seem to be $5 to $10 to pretty much anywhere but lunch only ran us about $1.25 each so it all evens out in the end. Were going to be in Quito another 2 nights then we are going to make it the coast to start volunteering.

Thanks for all your emails... We appreciate everyone telling us to be safe but feel free to try some new closing lines, such as best or have a great adventure or voice how disgruntled you are about your jobs and school.

Hope everyone is well!

Justin

PS check out picts 2... no captions so use your imagination

First of Many

Hi Everyone

Welcome to our Blog!! Jess and I will be departing on Monday at 7:00 am and will be back around the end of January (almost 7 months!!!). Email and this blog page will be the best way to talk to us while we are on our travels. We are planning on updating this page as often as we can to keep everyone in the loop. If you want to get a post card please send us your mailing address and we'll do our best to get one to you. We are always accepting visitors so come on down!

Hope everyone has a great summer

Jess - Jessica.Fosbrook@gmail.com
and
Justin - MrJustinRoy@gmail.com