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.