Bad Blogger

So I am now in Chile (Valparaíso to be exact)and only have one week left of my trip...very sad! I´m sorry I have been so terrible with the whole blogging thing. I had the intention of blogging very regularly and including lots of pictures, but the internet is sooo slow down here and the computers are generally very old and without USB ports, so downloading pictures in a pain. Anyways the trip has been amazing!!! and I will provide full updates on my blog once I get home, on Aug. 11. I´ll even change the dates so it looks like I was an avid travel blogger. Hasta luego.

Back in Bolivia!!

I made it back to Bolivia:-D Our itinerary is: Copacabana with Lake Titicaca; La Paz during their 200th anniversary of their freedom, lots of parades and road blocks; Cochabamba with my host family and lots of icecream; then to Uyuni and their beautiful salt flats. More to come...

Machu Picchu...Bike Hike

Machu Picchu was more incredible than I imagined it would be, and I was expecting great things. Maryanne and I went on a 4 day tour with a really great group made of of 2 New Zealanders, 1 Aussie (named Kas, Fro and Becca respectively and we kept traveling with them through Copacabana and La Paz), an Irish guy, 2 Brits and 2 Germans. You´ll have to wait for photos because like the worst sister ever, I left my sister´s camera in a taxi with all of our pics :-( Hopefully we will get some from our friends.

Peruvian 4th of July

I hope everyone had a great time yesterday celebrating Independence Day. Maryanne and I celebrated by going to the ruins at Chan Chan with our Irish friend, Ashling (that probably isn´t how you spell it). They were very impressive and I kindly acted as our tour guide. Unfortunately, most of my predictions were incorrect and as you can see by following the link, the city was not destroyed by gigantic ants. Other than that we enjoyed some Peruvian styled Mexican food and played some pool with Californians, and lost twice.

Bussing it...again :-/

So I officially hate traveling by bus. Unfortunately we have many more hours of bus rides ahead of us into going into Bolivia and Chile. Maryanne and I arrived in Trujillo, Peru today after a 26 hour bus ride on 3 different buses, all equally uncomfortable.

These pics show the inside of one of the buses: (There not great but better than nothing)

Read on for a reflection on what it is like being on a bus in South America.

Forgive my grammar, I wrote this on the bus

First you must enter a terminal, sometimes vast and organized, sometimes small and dirty, with men surrounding you calling out names of cities and persistently asking you where you are going, if they have not already grabbed hold of your bags. After going with one of the men or approaching a ticket counter you are ready to board. You climb the steps of the bus and are affronted with various smells: air freshener, pine sol, gasoline, the occasional urine or fresh peeled orange. The vehicle appears to be a second hand tour bus or even a nice plush long distance bus with TVs and a bathroom. With a lurch you start on you way and almost immediately a young man from 12-26 years old is standing at the front asking for your attention. He is there to sell candy that whitens your skin, homemade coconut cakes and sometimes beauty products; or he is an older man who is blind, in need of surgery (one even lifts his shirt to show you scars and a precariously taped on bandage, which you hope doesn´t fall off to reveal the wound or lack there of) or representing the deaf community. The give their speech, loudly and with lots of informality calling everyone friend, queen, or even cousin. After their affronting speech, too loud to be ignored, is over they walk up and down the aisles collecting money and handing out goods.

Then there is a peaceful quiet, broken by a few coughs or the cry of an infant...but only for a moment. Music that is look loud or a poorly made action film, chuck full of violent scenes, is put on and you are bombarded with theses grating sounds, unable to think or read, let alone sleep. Eventually either the volume is lowered or you grow accustomed to the sound so you can read for a but, until the bumping of the bus lulls you to sleep.

As the bus pulls to a bus stop, is stopping at a toll, or is refuelling, the lack of motion wakes you up in time to see a handful of men, women and children sprinting towards your bus. "Potato chips! Ice cream! Cold drinks! Sweets!" all sung out in Spanish from the throats of boys as young as 8 and women well into their 60s. In a whirlwind they are gone, but not before a small pool of guilt has been tapped inside of you to question your privilege that allows you to travel and obtain a steady job. So as you gaze out the window, staring at the beautiful green or snow-capped mountains, rushing rivers and bright sunsets; you can´t help but notice the mud huts with metal roofs, the crumbling brick developments or the makeshift shops crammed around the highway. You think about the economic conditions that have brought all of this about; government mandates, policy decisions made by the local governments and--more worryingly-- by your own country´s government. And while your mind is thus engaged, you are lulled by to sleep as the country side of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, passes you by.

Straddling the Ecuator

Maryanne and I have now stood in two hemispheres at once. After a very hectic and crowded bus ride, which was well over an hour in a bus filled to the brim due to shut down trolley services in order to honor a workers´ strike, we arrived safely with our new British friend Ollie. Unfortunately I didn´t get any pictures of him, but for those of you who know Dan McFadden, he was his identical twin. Here are some pictures of our day:

The initial straddle

The forces of the Hemispheres seems to be stronger on Maryanne´s side

Leaping over the line on the West side

Maryanne also jumping the line

The idea of that picture looked cuter in my mind

Quito: Taxi rides, churches and craft fairs

Maryanne and I are thoroughly enjoying Quito. Thanks to Amy Knops suggestion, we found a really interesting Basilica to explore today in the Old Section of town. We were first reminded of our mortality by entering the underground catacombs of the church. They were eery and filled with tombs and reminders of the dead, so we didn't quite muster up the nerve to take photos. Next, for just $3 we got to climb up the bell towers of the church, exploring all the nooks and crannies to our hearts' content. Hope the photo below give you an idea of how that was.

After being turned away from entering the interior of the cathedral, where it seemed a confirmation was happening, we headed off to a large craft fair in Parque El Ejido. Only $1 for the 20 minute taxi ride...nice!

We had a great time haggling down the prices on jewelry that were already pretty low.
A general exchange went like this:
"How much is this necklace?"
"Six dollars. It's a handmade original."...although it looks just like the one I was admiring 2 stalls down.
"Oh, well I can get it for $3 at the other stall." vaguely point"
No, $6. (pause) Ok, $5, but that is it."
"Not $3.50?" Start to look at other items.
"No, $4.50" Start to walk away.
"Ok! $3." the women shouts after you.
Deal!...This all takes place in Spanish and in a crowd of other shoppers. I know it seems kind of pointless to haggle down just $3, but once you start bargaining, it becomes addictive. Plus the vendors generally up the price once they see you are a foreigner...which is quite obvious, especially once I open my mouth.
After the haggling and shopping we walked around a bit and caught a taxi back to the hostel, since we really have no idea where we are. It turns out we are just a minute away, but we already agreed to the $5 cab ride!...I guess it is a good thing we haggled the jewelry prices down.

At the top!

In an Ecuadorian jail

I'm a gargoyle

Cruising the Galapagos: "I love Boobies"

We had a great time on our cruise!! and are back on land, but still in the Galapagos until Tuesday, then onto Quito. Here are a bunch of photos depicting a day on our cruise and showing most of the interesting animals we saw! Enjoy
...and by Boobies I mean blue footed boobies, a very colorfully footed bird on the islands


Sleeping in our cabin

Sunrise off the boat

Sea lions playing around

Land Iguanas

The scary male sea lion and some babies

Me attempting to get the sea lions to play with me

The coolest cactus I've ever seen

A bird (I don't remember what kind) and a lava lizard

Curios mocking birds

Dancing blue footed Boobies

Land iguanas

Galapagos Hawk

Rainbow

Albatross

In a lava cave

Beach with my sis

Land tortoise

Sending mail the sailors' way (I'm bringing 2 cards to hand deliver)

If I were a turtle...sort of reminds me of you Kris ;-)

Nap time

Mother and baby sea lion shortly after a birth

Penguin

Nice view from our last island...windy much?

Same view but a bit higher up

Mother sea lion nursing her baby

Sea lion that just gave birth! the baby is by her head

Baby heron, what a neck

Male sea lion on red beach...I'm too lazy to rotate it

Blue footed boobies on their nest

Male Friggot, his red balloon neck in all puffed up for mating season

So ends a great day on the Galapagos

From Colombia to Ecuador...on bus :-/

So I am entirely sick of riding on buses. Maryanne and I made a 50 hour bus trip from Taganga, Colombia to Quito, stopping for one night in Bogota. I really like the city of Bogota and wish we could have made a longer stay, but we only had a day and a night. We explored the city a bit and found a very pretty but pigeon infested town square surrounded by architecture ranging from Greek style to very modern day. We also went a free art museum of Fernanado Botero´s work, he like to depict his subjects as extremely fat, click here if you want to see his work.

At night we went out with some people we met from the Hostel, the Platypus, a 30 year old Spanish woman and 37 year old Colombian. I´ve found that I am frequently the youngest traveler, expect the 37 year old did have a 22 year old girlfriend. Maybe I´ve been setting my sights too young and should be looking for a boyfriend 15 years my elder...kidding!
Speaking of boyfriends...why does every Latin American man/boy think it is appropriate to always ask ¿Tienes un novio? as the second or third question in a conversation? (you all thought I was going to say I met someone, didn´t you?) I´ve begun answering this question in the affirmative, by making up an all-caring, non jealous, understanding boyfriend who is too busy studying or working to come travel with me. I find this answer puts the conversation in my control and stops any further come-ons, for the most part.

Here are some photos from random points on our trip:

In Cartagena

First Motorcycle ride

Our creepy military friend who we met on the way up to the Lost City

With Miguel, our guide, in the Lost City

Maryanne in the Lost City