Ho Ho Home!

After a wonderful time in Floripa Liz and I headed up to Rio de Janiero for our final days. Our first day we were able to enjoy the famed Copacabana beach. Unfortunately our last two days it was grey and rainy. We still found things to do and enjoyed our time in the city. Including going on a walk and accidentally stumbling across the famed Rio Favellas (most dangerous slums in the world).

After many Delta delays we finally made it home, a day later than we had hoped, but safe and sound. It was great to be greeted at the airport by Meghan with a big sign reading, "Liz y Erin Welcome Ho Ho Home!"


We are excited to be home and can't wait to see everyone for the holidays.

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!

Beach Bums!

Liz and I arrived in Florianopolis, Brazil after a slightly painful overnight bus ride. We had gotten so accustomed to the luxury buses of Argentina, that after what we paid, we never expected to be back at Bolivian style buses. It was hot then cold, the seats barely reclined, and we both had to sit next to strangers. Liz had some old lady yell at her at 3 am to tell her she was in the wrong seat. I had a young brasilero sitting next to me who made himself quite comfortable sleeping on my shoulder, but he shared his blanket, so I couldn't really complain.

We took a short cab ride to our hostel that is actually located in Lagoa de Conceição. We just happened to luck out by staying at the best hostel in the world, Tucanos Backpackers. It is an old house that Caio and Lilia, a brother and sister team, converted just a month ago to a beautiful homey hostel. This is my recommendation for all to stay here next time they are in Brazil.

We spent our first day walking around checking out the town, napping in hammocks, and making our dinner in the kitchen. There is only 7 total travelers staying here. We all made fast friends as we drank caipirinas and vodka with guarana juice before going out. One of the guys who works here at night was teaching us to dance Forro, a traditional dance of Brasil. We all piled into car and went to the local Forro party. It was live music and watching the brasileros dance was amazing. We all danced too, but certainly not as well! We had a blast.

Next day we woke up to a wonderful breakfast, a huge spread of fresh fruits and everything else you could want. We put on our new bikinis (very Brazilian - tiny in the hiney) and headed to the best beach in the area Praia de Mole. We laid out and surfed in the enormous waves. It was loads of fun. We tried a traditional snack at the beach too of frozen blended Açai fruit with bananas... Amazing!

We met up with our American friends we had made on the bus ride over, Alex and Jeff, and made plans with them and the Aussie girls, Nicki and Mandy, that stay at the hostel to go to a Churrascuria for dinner. We all met up at our hostel for some caipirinas and vodka guaranas and a few rounds of ping pong before heading out. We had a massive meat dinner that was amazing. Went out for drinks again at a local bar and had tons of fun. The boys had so much fun with us we even convinced them to check out of their ritzy hotel and stay at our hostel. It's just too much fun here!

We decided to stay off the beach the next day to let our burned skin rest. Instead we went into town to check out the markets.

The following day Liz and I went on a walk with Nicki and Mandy along the Costa de Lagoa. After about a 2 hour walk we ended up at the end of the road which was tons of seafood restaurants specializing in the local fair. We had loads of prawns and fish. It was all delicious. We took the boat ferry back and went straight to town for our dessert of frozen açai.

Nicki, Liz and I made dinner for everyone in the hostel that night and then we all went out to a bar with live music. It was really entertaining as the guy was singing Beatles and CCR but had a really strong Brazilian accent. It was funny. And as it was the weekend the hostel had filled up to nearly 20 guests. But everyone was so cool and we all got on so well, that we all hung out together.

the following day we went to the Praia Mole again, but we rented an umbrella to cover our still slightly sensitive skin. But we couldn't stay away for too long from splashing in the surf and eating frozen açai.

That night at the hostel Caio and Lilia hosted a BBQ. We all sat outside enjoying cold beers and tasty meat. Everyone went out clubbing, but Liz, Alex, Jeff, and I decided to take it easy and just went to a local bar. We didn't stay out long as everyone was exhausted. Jeff and I were hungry and decided to get some food at a stand on the way back. As I was eating this brazilian style hotdog I knew I had made a mistake. I came back and went to sleep. Didn't actually sleep any and spent the whole next day sick with food poisoning. Liz was still able to go out and enjoy the day at the beach.

We have really loved our time in Florianopolis. And of any places we have stayed this is the first that I truly don't want to leave. It is paradise.

Iguazu Falls

After returning from Mendoza we had a few more days in Buenos Aires before we had to say goodbye. We really loved the city and tried to get in as much as we possibly could. We saw some museums, walked around our favorite neighborhoods, and had some delicious meals. Our last night Maria (friend we met in the Bolivian jungle) stayed with us. We went out to dinner with two Argentine guys we made friends with, Nacho and Oscar. They brought us to the best fondue restaurant I've ever been to in my life. All I know is that we were dipping cooked meat into melty cheese and drinking red wine. What more could you ask for?

Our next stop: Iguazu Falls. These are the most impressive waterfalls I have ever seen in my life. They are situated right at the Argentine and Brazilian boarder. We arrived at the falls at 8am on Saturday morning. We stayed until 4 pm just walking around seeing all the falls have to offer. We also went on a speed boat ride that brings you right under the falling water. It was so fun. We were screaming and giggling like kids! We got completely soaked, but it was great as it was so hot all day. It was one of the best days we have spent in this trip. We walked around all day seeing so many waterfalls. It was really impressive.


Our hostal, to our surprise, has the nicest swimming pool we've seen in ages. It's huge, clean and cool. This hostal is more like an all inclusive resort for young people. It looks like the setting for an MTV spring break edition. And the people act it is sometimes as well. Our first night we took it easy because we were tired from the overnight bus ride and had to be up early for the falls. But Saturday night we decided to let it rip. The hostal hosts a huge Parrilla (bbq) and all you can drink caipiriñas party. They even had some samba dancers for entertainment. At one point, both Liz and I were pulled up on the stage to dance samba and god knows what else with the group. It was loads of fun, but that might be the caipiriñas talking! We met a group of young Swedes and joined them after the hostal party to a bar in town called Club Bar. They gave us more caipiriñas there, then we went dancing at another dance club Cuba Libre.

We spent Sunday laying around the pool. We heard it was about 40 degrees Celsius. Sounds hot right, yup that's a whopping 104 degrees Fahrenheit! It was too hot to stay in the sun. We mainly swam around in the pool and also hid in the shade reading books. A friend we met in Mendoza, Ben, showed up in the afternoon. So we wemt in to the city and had dinner. We called it an early night as we knew we had an early morning check out and a lot of errands to take care, i.e. getting Brazilian visas!
We are now on our way to Florinopolis on the beach of Brazil.

Mendoza

One of the top cities we wanted to see in Argentina was Mendoza. And (sadly) because our trip is coming to an end soon, we had to pick a weekend and get there.


We took an overnight bus and arrived in the afternoon finding an amazing hostel complete with a pool. The city itself is beautiful. It is right at the base of the Andes and has this great atmosphere everyone would enjoy. All the streets are lined with trees, and there are 5 city squares or parks in the center of town. The main park has statues, fountains and a huge stretch of booths of an outdoor flea market. Next to the park is a pedestrian mall filled with outdoor cafes and tons of boutiques and shops. Erin and I sat for a while and people watched, then headed back to go to bed early... we were going wine tasting the next day!

We went on tours of 3 different wineries. The first one was the largest of the 3. The coolest part of this tour was seeing the HUGE casks they use while making the wine. Erin says they are the biggest she has seen, normally they are about 250 liters, these were taller than us! The largest one (which Erin is helping herself to) is the 3rd largest in the world.

Normally the smaller casks last 5 years before they are recycled into furniture, floors, serving platters, this large one can last 250 years! The wine from Weinert was ok. We had 3 different tastings and my favorite was the dessert wine that had a strong honey flavor.

The second winery was Vinniterra. The guide for this was a hoot. He was very knowledgable and gave a great funny tour. This winery was pretty new, the owner used to be one of the head honchos of a huge commercial winery but sold his stake to start his own smaller family company. One of the neatest things I learned was for some of the fermentation process, they put the wine in steele barrels and add logs inside in order to get the oaky flavor. The wine here was really great, Malbec was our favorite.


The last winery was Carmine Granata. It was the smallest of the 3. It was more artesinal and independent. You could definitley tell a difference between this and Weinert. The wine here was pretty good too, but we only got to sample 1 type, their Malbec aged 6mos.

The best part of the day was lunch. We had this great spread of cheeses, meats, little dishes filled with snacks. Olives, beans, corn, artichokes, just a table full of food. And all you could drink wine. Who doesnt like that?



At night, we went to dinner with a group from the hostel. It was pretty fun, most were cool peoople. Erin and I shared the parilla aka Argentine BBQ and it was great.

When we got back to the hostel we got a great suprise! My cousin Ryan was waiting for us! He came over from Santiago to party with us for the weekend. And we definitley crossed that off the list. Erin went to bed around 3a, Iturned in around 630a and Ryan about 8a. We ended up hanging out with all the people that work at the hostels bar. (They chill in the backyard when they´re finished working, about 4a). Before we knew it the sun was coming up!

The next day Ryan and I went to a huge park on the west side of town. It was beautiful and reminded me of Golden Gate Park in that it was fairly large and had tons of activities to do. Clearly it was a great hangout for everyone. Kids doing bike tricks, soccer games galore and families having picnics. While Ryan and I were at the park, Erin was helping out a fellow American traveller from our hostel. She spent the day translating for the girl at the police station and hospital. Not a fun job for anyone, but she did a great job.

We decided to make our last night quiet. We had a great dinner and hung out at the hostels bar. Erin went to bed around 1a after being exhausted from her day of working as a translator, I went to bed around 3a and Ryan made it home as we were waking up. This kid knows how to party!
As with all South American citites Sunday´s are slow days. We found a place for breakfast along the pedestrian mall and then found a place for Ryan to get his haircut! The men down here have a classier version of the mullet that everyone has. Ryan mentioned wanting one and when we walked by a barber we convinced him it was now or never.


The rest of the day was spent lounging by the pool waiting for our bus to take off. Mendoza was great but we were ready to head back to BA to enjoy our last week in Argentina.

Our Tigre Trip

After spending a couple weeks around Buenos Aires, we decided to get out of the city and explore. First trip... Tigre. We were told of this cute town about an hour north of BA that we needed to check out. It is right on a delta and has a great outdoor shoping market, good restaurants and close enough to make a day trip out of it. After one of my Spanish classes we met up and took off. The train to get there was about an hour and went through all the suburbs of Buenos Aires, including past where the president lives. We ran into a guy on the train whom we went out with on the first night in town and he reiterated how nice Tigre was and also told us of a new art museum to check out. We were pumped. Shopping, good food and a great museum? Perfect day!

We arrived and headed straight to the Puerto de Frutos. Not just a fruit port, it has hundreds of stalls of things to buy. Supposedly, that is. When we arrived there was nothing. It was like a ghost town. A few people had their stalls open but most of it seemed tacky or useless junk. Confused, we asked around and found out that the market is really only hopping on the weekends. We went on a Tuesday.

Disappointed, we decided to head to the art museum. The town was small but was on a number of rivers. It also didn´t have many bridges so we did a lot of walking. We came across a tourist information booth and asked what the best way to get to the art museum was. She told us we could take a collectivo (bus) but that the museum was closed on Tuesdays. Good to know. She did say there was a Naval museum up the river and there were plenty of restaurants nearby. We decided that was our best bet and started walking. The town really was beautiful. We followed the river bank which was lined with trees and lovely old houses. Being so close to Buenos Aires it is a major destination in the summer for people getting out of the heat and it also is a huge spot for rowing. About 10 huge mansions owned by different rowing clubs lined the banks.


We arrived at the Naval Museum and was told that it was closed! Just kidding, it was open but just for an hour, and we were told it wasn´t enough time to see everything. We smiled and said that it was fine, we´d be ok. And we were. We spent about 45 minutes looking at old ships, models of old ships, flags, weapons and everything involving the Argentine Armada. I thought the most interesting was the collection of artifacts from the exploration to Antartica in the early 1900s. I couldn´t imagine going 100 years ago without today´s tecnology and fancy warm clothes North Face makes!

After the museum we had a great din at a restaurant on the river. We were the only ones there! (quite common for us) but it was early after all, Argentines eat late, like 10pm; we sat down at 530p. After yummy fish and delicious wine we headed back to the train station. We wanted to make it back in time for our yoga class. We did, but were so full (and a bit tipsy) this class was not our best one.

Busy, busy Buenos Aires

Lizzie and I have been keeping ourselves very busy here in the bustling city of Buenos Aires. We have signed up for Yoga class that we go to twice a week and we love by the way. We have a great instructor from Texas so he does a bilingual class. It's just the relaxing we need.
We have also dolled oursleves up a bit going to the salon for our hair and nails. We needed it!
Our first big event here in BsAs was Creamfields. Creamfields is an electronica-techno music show from England. Big techno djs such as Chemical Brothers, Too many djs, and LCD Sound system. Not really Lizzie and my kind of music, but everyone we met was going, so how could we pass it up. It started at 3pm, but we didn't arrive until about 10pm. As music would be raging until early morning we figured that was early enough. We danced all night and ended up having a really fun time. We left at about 4am, but people went on well into the next day.
Other than that we have been doing lots of shopping and sight seeing.

Last Tuesday James, Liz's brother, came for a visit. We were so excited to have some family come stay with us. We were really excited when he showed us that he had brought some Peanut Butter!!! We had been craving this sweet snack for months! But that wasn't it. He had an even better surprise in store for us. Cooking lessons! He was taking us to learn how to make some traditional South American fair. We jumped up and down as we were so excited.
The woman in charge, Terecita, is a cute little Argentina. She greeted us with a big smile and showed us into her warm kitchen. First lesson - Empanadas! Liz was especially excited as she had been wanting to learn the art of empanadas for the whole trip. We made two kinds, meat and corn. We even learned how to make the dough for frying and baking. It was so much fun and she always kept our wine glasses full.
After there we made our way to the futbol stadium to watch Buenos Aires' River Plate team play soccer against Arsenal. The game was crazy. The fans jump, yell, cheer, and even light off fireworks! River Plate lost in the end in penalty kicks, but it was a good game to watch.


The next day we took a bike ride through the whole city on a tour. It was a great way to really get an idea of where everything is and how much there is to see.
Then came James birthday! We had another cooking lesson at Terecita's. Parilla aka Argentine BBQ. Meat. Our driver, Buda, picked us up and drove us to the local butcher, best butcher in town. We picked out kidneys, intestines, sweetbreads (glands), morcilla (blood sausage), skirt steak, flank steak, ribs and more. We had loads of meat and I doubted we would be able to eat it all(very wrong). There were two Canadians staying at the bed and breakfast that joined us in our parrilla lesson. The guys tended to the charcoal and Terecita taught us how to make the tradicional sauces. The chimicuri is amazing, but the others were good too (I'll make them for you when I get back).



They put all the meat on the grill and slowly brought it over for us to eat. I can't forget to mention the wine! We started drinking at about 11am and didn't stop until we left that evening at about 6pm! Terecita knows her wines and picked out a fabulous selection. As for what our favorite new meat are - James' favorite was the ribs, Lizzie loves intestine, and I loved the morcilla! Yum. We just ate and ate and ate for hours. They surprised us at the end with a cake for Jamie. We all sang happy Birthday and stuffed ourselves even more.

Our last cooking lesson was brazilian Poa de queço and muceca de pescado - a delicious cheese bread and fish soup. With that we made rice and fried bananas. We also learned to make caiperiñas (traditional brazilian drink similiar to mojito). All amazing!


Our original plan had been to make our own attempt at a Thanksgiving dinner. But with out really knowing how to work our stove, and being exhausted from three days of cooking with Terecita we kind of flaked out on the idea. But at the last minute we thought we had at least try. So James and I went to the store to pick up an already made rotisserie chicken while Liz started on the mashed potatoes and salad. We even got apple pie for dessert. So, it wasn't the original Thanksgiving we had hoped for, but it was still family and it was delicious.

For our last event we had planned with James we were going to go to the Miguel Bose Papito tour concert. We were so excited and had been listening to the cd all week. We got all dressed up and wondered why when we arrived no one was around. We found out the concert had been cancelled due to illness. This is us being very sad.

We have really been loving BsAs and can't wait to see what is next!

And the winning number is....

011 54 11 4953 3821

Now you can call us!

I'm not sure how to do it exactly, but the country code is 54 and the city code is 11 then our apartment number is 4953 3821. We don't have an answering machine or voicemail. So, either email us to plan a time to chat. Or, just keep calling. We'll be home sometime!

Come visit, or at least MAIL US STUFF!!!

Erin Tyrrell and Elizabeth Mitchell
Pasteur 783 6B
Balvanera 1028 Capital Federal
Buenos Aires, Argentina

This is our current address for at least a month. It a cute little two bedroom apartment with pastel pink walls and little decor. We have bought some candles and are dressing it up slowly. We have been cooking great meals at home and are so excited about that! Today we also went on our first run. I got a little lost (but don't I always!) But I figure it is a good way to see the city and get our barrings. We found a place to start Yoga classes and are looking for Tango, Salsa and Spanish lessons still.

I expect to start seeing the mail pile up!!!

From here to there

Well, Liz and I seem to be on a whirl wind tour of southern Bolivia. As we were planning to get to Buenos Aires by November first, we have been rushing down there. Our first stop after La Paz was Cochabamba, only a 8 hour overnight bus ride. We relished in the hot hot heat and crazy humidity. We went shopping straight away to buy more tank tops! We also saw a couple of the can't miss sights like an old mansion built by a rich miner (at one point he was one of the 10th richest in the world). The house, and especially the gardens were beautiful. We also hired a cab to take us up to the high hill to see a big Jesus. Liz and I took pictures under the big Jesus, holding our arms out singing, "She's got the whole world in her hands!"
We are going to hell for sure. We really took it easy in Cochabamba and had a nice time. We boared another bus to take us to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz is another world compared to what we had been seeing in Bolivia. It's rich, it's white, and it's clean. No stray dogs running wild, no beggars (ok, less beggars), and amazing international cuisine. Again, it was so hot here as we had been spending most time in the altiplano of Bolivia (around 4,000 meters) and now we were at a nice 400m. The sun baked us, but we were loving it. Our first night there we ran into our old friend, Ruairi, whom we met climbing Machu Picchu. He and a friend were bellied up at (you guessed it) and Irish pub. We left with them to head to the hot spot of San Miguel. This area is lined with bars and clubs. All the young people are on the streets drinking outside their cars blaring music louder than the clubs. Just like home (well, almost). We had some beers and chatted. The next night we went out again and partying with rugby teams that were in for a championship. Needless to say, we were out quite late. Our days were spent just relaxing and enjoying the heat. Our last night we stayed in at our hostal and hung out with other travelers recouping from the weekend.


On the bus again to Sucre. We arrived after a short 14 hour bus ride. We arrived in Sucre at about 7 am. We got breakfast and immediately went back to bed. Seems we didn't get much sleep on the bus. But we did manage to get some colds. We found people to be very rude and unpleasant in Sucre. We only stayed two days and made our way to Potosí.

In Potosí we did the obligatory miner's tour. It is tour that takes you underground to the silver mines of Potosí. Unfortunately for us it was the Halloween, Day of the Dead, and All Saints Day holidays which meant everything in Sucre and Potosí were closed. But for the tour it was a good thing as the miners were taking the day off because it meant much less dust in the air.
It is already hard to breathe as Potosí is the highest city in Bolivia, but being underground with all the miners dust in the air made it really hard to breathe. We wore bandannas over our mouth and nose, but they did little good. We climbed (hand and knees at some points) through this Bolivian mine and have never felt more uncomfortable. After descending to the third level we heard a lone clank clank clank.
There was a miner. One sole miner still working even though it was a holiday. Turns out he was working by hand in the dark. His head lamp had burned out. So we sat there and gave him light, water, and some Bolivianos (money). He was so happy and grateful. We were hoping he would take a break and go spend time with his family,but he wanted a few more hours of work. It was amazing. Remind me to never complain about a job again! Liz (the crazy girl) even held live dynamite after we left the mine and blew shit up!


We spent just one more day in
Potosí and caught a 14 hour bus to Villazon. We arrived in Villazon at 5 am with no sleep as it had been the bumpiest, worst ride yet. Poor Liz's seat didn't even recline at all. We bought a ticket to head 24 hours to Buenos Aires. We waited until 10 am and boarded that bus. The bus drove us about 5 blocks to the boarder of Argentina. We all got out of the bus and waited at the boarder. Still not sure what we were waiting for. We did not board the bus until 2 pm. We were not the most pleasant people at this point. I tried to stay at a distance from everybody as I was sure I would snap any moment.
But once finally able to board it was a nice bus and we had the whole bottom level to ourselves. They served good food and played decent movies. We were able to sleep, thank god. We finally arrived in the mother land at 4 pm the next day.

Liz and I are so excited to have gotten to Buenos Aires. It is a beautiful big city and we love it. On the bus ride we made friends with a Canadian Chad. We found a hostal and decided we had to go out and celebrate our new found city! We had great steak dinners at a nice restaurant that played Tango music! A great start. We went out from there, met more travelers and stayed out until 5 am on our first night.




The next day Lizzie and I were on a mission to find an apartment to rent. Mission accomplished! We found a great two bedroom apartment in a great neighborhood, in between Recoleta and Palermo. We even have a pull out couch for visitors! So, no excuses... we will be here for one whole month. You are all invited!

Madidi National Park

Liz and I arrived back in Rurrenabaque and were asked if we could wait a day to start our jungle tour as the planes weren't coming in and they were waiting on some people. Sure, no problem. We just hung around the lazy town of Rurrenabaque eating and drinking these amazing chocolate banana peanut butter shakes at Piraña, a local hang out.
The next day we left for the Madidi office. Only one other tourist had made it, but we loaded up the boat and headed out on a 3 hour boat ride. This boat, luckily, had cushions and a roof to keep the blazing Amazonian Basin sun off our skin. Taking anti malaria pills makes me extra sensitive. The ride was beautiful, we stopped for a lunch half way there and got to see how the indigenous people live.
We arrived at Madidi and we're introduced to our guide, Ramel.

After dropping off our bags and meeting our roommate Peter and the huge tarantula he found in the bathroom(!) we headed off us on a sunset boat ride on Lago San Fernando. The boat was one half of a tree that had been hollowed out by hand, it was so neat. We saw lots of birds, loads of fish jumping, and we're basically eaten alive by killer flies. We stayed out on the lake until the sun was gone and found the first stars.

We went back to the main cabin for a delicious dinner and then we went out for a night walk through the rain forest. Ramel and Liz had flashlights (I lost mine). But it turned out best when we turned off the lights and just stood still listening. Then Ramel would quickly turn on his light and point out what he found. Usually a small mouse or bird. We, unfortunately, never found the allusive Puma nor anything else too exciting. We did find enormous bugs, though.
The next day we were scheduled to take a walk through the rain forest to Lago Gringo. About every 10-15 feet Ramel would stop and point out something. Bugs, spiders, which animals were making the noises we could hear. He knew so much about all the plants. Which helped with stomach problems. Which could cure the sting of a huge ant. Which plants to stay away from because they had jumping ants that sting like crazy. He told us of the trees that could make you blind if you touched the sap. He showed us where the termites lived.

(They taste like mint!) We had been walking about 4 hours when we notice we are not quite on a path anymore. Yup, Ramel had gotten us lost. We didn't say anything and just continued to follow him blindly deeper into the vegetation. I actually liked it, I felt like an explorer. But we could have used machetes! After about a half hour of this I asked him if we were lost. He assured us that even though we lost the path, he still knew the way. We did eventually find the path again. Only to begin to feel the rain drops. The thick canopy above kept us dry for some time, but then it started to down pour. We hid under a palm tree. That did little good. We waited for about 40 minutes getting soaked and decided to make a run for it to the cabina waiting for us at Lago Gringo. We made it there, soaked and starved. Ramel had our lunch in his bag so we set us camp, ate a great lunch then rested on the hammocks in the cabina. We waited for a couple of hours, but with the rain showing no sign of stopping we decided to head back. Luckily there was another route that only took about 30 minutes to reach our main cabina.


After getting dry and having a nap we went back to the main cabina for dinner. They pointed out the enormous cayman that was floating by on the lake. During dinner Rosa Maria stopped by to see how we were enjoying our meal. Rosa Maria is the founder of this ecolodge. And she is one incredible woman. She was born in the jungle to a Belgium mother. She has lived her whole life in the jungle. She and her mother have fought against dictator regimes, and other corrupt political leaders year after year to save rain forest. She has had everything she owned burned to the ground because they didn't like what she was doing. She also had to flee Bolivia and was exiled in the USA for some time. She is highly educated and has worked with groups like Stings to help save the planet. Aside from all of this she is incredible because she survived a viscous cayman attack.
She used to swim every morning in the lake very early. About 2 years ago on her swim she saw a cayman heading right for her. The trick to avoid a cayman is to swim under it and come up on the other side, as they have a hard time turning around very fast. Unfortunately she didn't swim far enough and basically came up for air right under his nose. He bit her and dragged her under water. They struggled and she fought hard. For some unknown reason he did let her go. She swam to the surface and called for help. He basically ate off her quadriceps muscle and all the tendons. She endured 16 surgeries of re grafting muscle and tissue from other parts of her body. She is lucky to be alive - and walking! We enjoyed talking with her and learned so much. We stayed around for a few hours drinking chelas (beers) and talking with the rest of the staff.
That night laying in bed I heard the craziest sound. It sounded like a deep roar and I was convinced the Puma was just outside our cabina. The next morning I asked Rosa Maria what it might have been. She asked me to make the sound I heard, I tried but felt like an idiot. Rosa Maria then introduced me to Chaco Mano, he too, grew up in the jungle and knows every thing about it. His special talent is to imitate nearly every animal sound. She asked him to do the Puma, monkeys, howler monkeys, cayman, and so on. I was so impressed. It was the coolest thing ever. Most likely what I had heard had been a large male cayman.
After breakfast we set out to do some piraña fishing, but Liz and I were mainly just feeding them as we caught none. We had lunch then caught the boat back to Rurre.

We came walking up the street to find Maria (from our Pampas trip) waiting for us. She was headed to dinner with two English girls she had met in the jungle. So the five of us met at Moskkito, the gringo bar, for happy hour. Turns out in the jungle every thing is fresh squeezed juice. A Greyhound is vodka with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. Amazing and dangerous. We had a couple of cocktails then went to a lovely dinner at La Perla. We all ordered the house specialty which is Surubi fish in a mustard garlic sauce... again, amazing! It was so fun to sit around the table with a bunch of girls and have a girl talk session! It's usually mixed company, so it was quite refreshing. After dinner it was back to Moskkito for more cocktails and eventually dancing.
We had a blast our last night in Rurrenabaque. The next morning we met for breakfast and lazed around the local pool for hours. It was just what we needed as a break from the incredible heat. We boarded the plane in early evening and were back safe and sound in La Paz.
Now, Liz and I hadn't really yet taken advantage of the La Paz night life and we were determined to do so. We have been sad missing all the football games at home, but we found something that felt quite similar. We went to Oliver's Travels, an English pub in the center of the city. There we watched the Rugby World Cup Final between England and South Africa. The bar was divided with travellers from both countries. Liz and I claimed to be "Swiss" in that we were neutral. We were really rooting for England, but it became quite clear that was a losing battle.
After the game ended we went to dinner. We had a Coca mojito! That was wild. We met up with friends at the Loki Hostal for a TOGA party. We were basically the only ones with out togas, but it didn't matter much. Then it was out to one of La Paz's hippest (and most crowded) dance clubs, Orange. We danced all night long and loved it.
We are now headed to Cochabamba.

Pampas Baby!

Rurrenabaque (Rurre) is a small town on the edge of the jungle. If you are interested in going there from La Paz there are a few ways to get there. A)By plane. A good option, pretty cheap and is quick 45mins or so. Downside is that the flights are not reliable as there is just a grass landing strip in Rurre and if it rains, no planes. B)Bus. Buses in Bolivia are not the nicest. Not much leg room, no bathrooms on board and is usually packed to the gills with locals. Also the trip is about 18 hours on a good day with much of the way on the worlds most dangerous road. The country has recently built a new road for part of the way, but for the remaining part, its a narrow 1.5 lane dirt road along the side of mountains. C)Jeep. Almost as expensive as the plane but is 12hrs. The upside is that the trip is 5-8 people and you can make as many stops as you like. For our trip Erin and I chose to fly. It was a no brainer and we were so excited to leave La Paz the 5a wake up call did not even phase us.

We arrived at the airport and waited for a bit, it slowly got busier with other travellers. We checked our luggage and crossed our fingers. No flights had been taking off in the previous few days due to smoke in the Rurre area from forest fires. We hoped it was a good day for us. And it started off great. We lined up to board and ended up chatting with Alex and Patrick a German-American couple from San Francisco and a girl named Maria from NY. We exchanged info on our upcoming jungle treks, discussed our overall travel plans and just were really excited to meet fellow Americans travelling. (We´re quite uncommon). The next thing we knew the plane was delayed for an hour due to smoke. We ate breakfast at the cafe, and waited some more. We were just about to teach them our favorite Carioca card game when we were allowed to board! This was it! Or was it? We probably jinxed ourselves when we started snapping pics on the plane because we were then told it would be another 20 minutes. The next thing we knew the flight was cancelled all together. Our options were now taking the next plane (scheduled to take off at 430p the next afternoon but no guarantees), or we could take a bus that left at 11a that morning. The 5 of us realized that we could split a jeep and get there that night in time to do our scheduled trips the next day. After a few calls we found a driver and got excited about leaving (again). The driver picked us up at the airport and after a trip back into La Paz to get more money, we were off!

Most of the 12 hour ride was uneventful. The ride was pretty bumpy, roads curvy but there were great views of the country. We had a bit of a problem just after it got dark when we got a flat. Patrick helped our driver change the tire and we were back on the road in no time. (Thankfully Patrick neglected to tell us that the spare was as bald as could be...) Just after midnight we pulled into Rurre, happy to have made it that day just a few hours behind our original schedule. Our hostel had a bar next door and we decided that we needed 1 quick beer before heading off to bed. The next morning Erin and I met up with our friends again before we headed off on our own. That was when we decided that we liked their company so much we would postpone our jungle trek in order to take a pampas trek with them. (the pampas is more of a grassy version of the jungle. similar animals and insects with fewer trees). After letting our tour company know we would be back a few days later to go, we signed up with the new company and were once again ready for our next adventure.

We loaded our stuff into the jeep and got psyched up for a 3 hr jeep trip followed by a 3 hr canoe ride. The 5 of us were under the impression that it would just be us on the trip but we made a stop on our way out of town and picked up 2 French guys Pierre and Charles. As they walked up we all really hoped they would be fun and add to the dynamic of the group. Our fears grew when we talked a bit to them and realized they had opted for the bus ride the day before and it took them 21 hours! They had just gotten to Rurre about an hour before we picked them up and hardly talked the entire way to the Pampas. We were way off though, it was the bus ride that made them tired. Without them our trip would have never been as fun. They were great!

The jeep drive was long, hot and bumpy. And we got another flat about halfway through the trip. (Patrick by this time is really good at helping change flats). We arrived at the head of the river and moved all our belongings to a canoe, lathered on sunscreen (no sun cover overhead) and started our trip. Along with the 7 of us came Sabino our guide and Freddy our cook. This was where the fun started. We were barely on the canoe for more than 10 minutes when around one bend was an alligator, within just a few feet of us! (the river was about 20 feet across and pretty shallow)Then another! Then really exotic birds. Then capibara (cousins of rats, and are the largest rodent in the world, which us girls nicknamed ROUSes, Rodents of Unusual Size, Princess Bride anyone?). It seemed like every corner had another surprise for us. Beautiful cranes, storks, turtles and monkeys! About halfway through the ride Sabino let 2 canoes pass us before he pulls the canoe over to the bank. We were all kind of wondering what he was doing when he pointed up to some trees and there were a bunch of little monkeys looking down at us! Sabino started calling to them and they came down and seemed just as curious about us as we were about them. We were so close to them, it was amazing.


We made it to our cabin in enough time to unload our things and head over to a nearby bar. We had a beer, watched the sunset and relished the idea that we were finally there. The previous 2 days had taken a lot out of us. After dinner Sabino took us on a night canoe ride. Armed with bug spray and flashlights we headed out on the river. Sabino taught us to shine our lights on the river bank and look out for glowing eyes. There were so many. Big alligators, small baby alligators all looking right back at us. After seeing them in the daytime it was really cool to see them glow at night. When we returned to camp Sabino informed us that we were going to get up early and watch the sunrise, see the animals and listen to the birds in the early morning. We dutifully agreed and went to bed, all 7 of us in one dorm room. The beds were basic and uncomfortable. And it was sticky hot. We did get mosquito nets, a blanket and a small pillow but everyone was so tired nothing mattered. After getting used to the jungle noises, we all went right to sleep.

We awoke at 5am to howler monkeys. They are larger monkeys and make the craziest noise. I think its similar to the noise your stomach makes when you are very hungry but MUCH louder and nonstop. We were curious as to whether they do this every morning (love nature wake up calls!) or if they had another reason to do it. We soon learned that they like to howl when it is going to rain. We climbed into the canoe and started off in search of the sunrise when we realized that it was cloudy and beginning to rain. No sunrise for us. Sabino turned us around and headed back to camp.

After breakfast Sabino told us to put on rain gear, grab the rubber boots that were stacked up nearby, we were going searching for Anacondas! After a short boat ride we pulled up to the bank and got out. And started walking. In the rain. At first it was kind of fun. The grass was just above the knee and we trudged though on the prowl. After cutting across a huge swampy field we came up to a small pond. Sabino motioned for us to stand on the edge as he slowly zig-zagged through the pond. Anacondas like to stay at the bottom of the water and usually lie straight as a stick. If he felt one with his boots, he would pick it up and show us. We searched in different puddles like this for about 3 hours. And if I was not there to live through it I would never think that the jungle gets cold. But it does. It got a bit windier, half of us had holes in our rubber boots and there were no Anacondas. We all decided that we were ready to be done. Unfortunately Sabino takes his job very seriously and continued to search. Our new French friends start singing to us as entertainment and at one point when Sabino wanders off, Pierre teaches us Ticky-Tocky. He used to teach it to kids at a summer camp but his Rugby team adopted it as their favorite post match, drinking dance. You can only imagine what we looked like, in the middle of the jungle, drenched and cold doing a crazy French song and dance. It was great, at least it helped us warm up. Sabino soon abandoned the search and we headed back to camp. We got warm dry clothes on, had lunch and took a long nap.


That afternoon Sabino took us out fishing for Pirañas. And to spice things up it was going to be a contest. Bolivia vs. Germany vs. France vs. USA. We made him promise however that if it started raining again (it had stopped when we were eating lunch) he would take us back to camp. We fished for about 30 minutes (France up by 2 or 3)when it started raining again. True to his word we started up the motor and headed... in the wrong direction to our camp. We soon pulled up to a farm along the river. He pointed to a building and we all went in happy to get out of the rain. We walked in and realized that it wasn´t a shelter just in case it rained, it was actually someones house! 2 bedrooms, an open area with a few hammocks and kids everywhere. Two families was eating lunch when we came in. It was a bit awkward but clearly we weren´t the first or last tourists to use their house to get out of the rain. The family had snacks and drinks for sale... definitely a way to subsidize their income. The Bolivia vs. Uruguay football game was on the radio and we listened in along with a few more locals that had come to party as well. After 30 minutes or so a few of the men went outside. We were a bit curious and watched them go outside. That is when I looked out the front door and lying on a board next to a tree was a pig. A recently killed pig. It actually was still squirming a bit. I told the others and we all looked on in shock. Sure I eat meat but don´t usually see the process. As interesting as it was, it was kind of gross. Really gross when the dog came over and licked the blood on the ground. At this point the rain had slowed and we headed back to the canoe. We all walked pass the pig and made comments. And the men working on the pig laughed! I´m sure they thought we were the crazy ones! Then Alex shouts to watch out and on the ground in front of us are hooves. Unfortunately the hooves were not currently attached to an animal. And nearby in a tree we see the head of a lamb, wedged between 2 branches. The lamb was the owner of the hooves. YUCK. It was like we were in some kind of scary movie!

Back in the canoe the Frenchies (they liked being called that) and Sabino smoked us in the fishing contest. I believe they had 15 to our 6... not sure how many Sabino had but I´m sure it was a lot... It started raining again and by this time we really were done. We headed back to the cabin and changed into dry clothes and had some tea to warm up. For entertainment Pierre and Charles taught us the Wolf game. Its a strategy game where 2 people out of the group are wolves. The rest are villagers, some with powers, some not. The point of the game is to kill the wolves before they kill the villagers. After a few minutes of explanation we start to play and are quickly addicted. Even after spending only a day (or 2) with the people in the group everyone can kind of read each other. But then it gets tricky... are they lying? How well can I read them? How well can I read Erin? How can I convince them that I am actually a villager when the want me gone? It was great fun and even when we were served dinner we continued to play. It was only when Sabino came in and started telling us stories about being a guide when we stopped.

Sabinos stories were incredible. He had been a guide for about 13 years and before that he had lived with an indigenous tribe for a year studying natural medicines. He had even learned their language and taught us a few words. He told us of a time he was searching for Anacondas and found a huge one, or rather it found him. The snake was huge and it bit his hand and then coiled around his neck rather quickly. Luckily there was another group and guide with him because it took all those extra people to get him untangled. Another story was the time he was bit by a tarantula. The poisonous kind. He had learned from his time in the jungle to use iguana skin to get rid of the venom and to basically save himself. Truly amazing. The most scary story he told us was of the Cannibals that lived in the Madidi National Park. Madidi is one of the largest national parks in Bolivia. But when we heard that there were Cannibals in the area we freaked. It isn´t something Lonely Planet ever mentioned when it talks of what can be seen in the jungle. He said that we were safe and if we were ever trekking through Madidi our guides would know where not to go. But he did say if they found us, we would not survive. Thanks for the info Sabino.

By then we were pretty tired and ready for bed. Unfortunately Erin any my beds somehow became covered in Bat Guano. Great. Rather than switching the sheets we opted for a new room. We said goodnight and once again after getting used to the jungle noises were fast asleep.

We awoke to rain. Again! We were supposed to take a morning canoe ride and but we all vetoed that idea, Sabino included. Rather, we slept in, had a nice breakfast and played Wolf. Then Sabino surprised us with a marvelous gift! He had found an alligator skull the day before and was telling us that he uses the teeth to make necklaces. We all figured he would make them for himself or sell them. We were all completely taken aback when he pulls out 7 necklaces!! He had stayed up late the night before making them and gave them to us! It was so unexpected and so special, truly a great gift.

We continued playing Wolf when we looked outside the cabin and saw monkeys! All these monkeys were walking along the boardwalk that connected our cabin with a nearby bar. The monkeys were going on the other side of the cabin to eat the organic garbage left nearby. We all ran out and were watching them when Sabino asked if we wanted to feed them bananas. Who wouldn´t? At first I was scared, I thought they had claws and when they grabbed the banana they also grabbed your hand. But the monkeys had fingers! Little baby fingers! They were so cute! We watched for a bit more and took turns feeding them when it started raining again. Back to playing Wolf!

After lunch we packed our things and headed out. The plan was to make our way back to get picked up by the jeep with the possibility of swimming with the pink river dolphins. We were all pumped but Erin was the most excited. We saw people swimming with them on our canoe trip in and we wanted to do it, except for the idea of getting nibbled by pirañas. It would be worth it right? When we arrived to the area they usually hung out in, Sabino pulled us up to the bank and got out. Nearby was an alligator and he marched right over and touched it! We were all tempted but I don´t think anyone got as close. Except for Erin, but that was against her will s Sabino picked her up into the air and carried her over to the alligator - she screamed the whole way (but I think she liked it)! That´s when we noticed the dolphins! 6 of them swimming around and playing. They do not have as large of a dorsal fin as bottle nose dolphins so they are not as easy to spot in the water, but every so often they´d come up to the surface. Beautiful pink river dolphins. We were all talking about going in to swim when Sabino told us we couldn´t. There was a cayman nearby and it was too dangerous. (They are related to alligators but are larger and more aggressive. Alligators wouldn´t go after us but caymans would). Normally the dolphins protect from the cayman but Sabino explained there were not enough, there needed to be 10-15 dolphins. Dissappointed we watched a bit more and then continued on our way.

We arrived back at the pick up area and decided after 3 days in the pampas we ought to do a show for the people who were just getting there. Ticky-Tocky anyone? We loaded into the jeep and headed off. Slowly. All that rain made the dusty dirt road mud. We were even warned not to open the back vent windows because if we tipped they would break. Tipped? Yes, it actually came pretty close. Too close for comfort but our driver got us out of the huge tracks we were in with only a scare. The other thing that kept us busy was watching for two toed sloths. Sabino pointed out the trees they lived in and we looked and looked. Patrick was the first to see one!(and the most excited, he and Alex had been looking for them the entire trip). We all got out and took pictures and watched him make his way SLOWLY down the tree. Poor guy was soaked (like the rest of us) but was really cute and remarkable to watch.

We made it back in the early evening and decided to meet out for drinks and dinner to end our trip on a great note. Our trek into the pampas was crazy, rainy and incredbly fun. We never stopped laughing. We laughed so hard we cried and our stomachs hurt. Who would have thought that a 3 day rainy trek into the papmas would be such a good time? Many thanks to Sabino, Maria, Pierre, Charles, Alex and Patrick for such a memorable trip. Hope to see you all again soon!

La Paz, Bolivia

We have taken a few days here in La Paz to regroup and relax. Poor Liz caught yet another stomach bug, so we have been waiting that out before leaving for an extended adventure. We have been enjoying our days here though. This is the most crazy congested city we've been to yet, but we like it. There are people lining every street selling everything from underwear to batteries to makeup. It's strange, I haven't figured out if there are any real stores yet, or if everything is just on the street. The weirdest thing being sold are these packets you can buy that consist of herbs, flowers, tokens, little figurenes, and yup you guessed it... dried Llama fetuses! It's some sort of a witchery/good luck thing. But it smells wierd and I don't feel the need to buy one.
We have been doing a lot of shopping here as it is the cheapest country we've been in yet. We had developed a saying "I'll buy it in Bolivia". And now we are putting our money where our mouth is. Also, eating has been a pleasure as it is ridiculously cheap! We eat like Kings for about 2 bucks. I love it.

We did just get back from our trip to Copacabana on Lago Titikaka. It was absolutely beautiful. We spent the night out on Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). Unfortunely, due to some forest fires up north there were loads of cloads in the sky preventing us from seeing what was sure to be an impressive sunset. There is a lot of legend associated with Isla del Sol and it is a very important part of the Inka history. The Inka believed that the very first Inka were born of the Isla del Sol. The island is were the Inka Kings came to rest and relax. And just across the water is Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon) that housed all of the most beautiful virgins in the Inka time.
I was amazed to be there, as I remember learning about Lake Titicaca as a kid and thinking that it was the most hilarious name for a lake ever. Never knew one day I'd be floating along enormous lake. I had to keep reminding myself I was on Lake Titikaka! Wow!

We had a great guide, Wilmer, that even played the traditional flute while we were in the old resting place of the Inka King that is over 500 years old.
We are back in La Paz, for a day or two, and tomorrow we will be making our way up to Rurrenabaque.