Day 6 TOTORA-AGUAS CALIENTES

Day 6 TOTORA-AGUAS CALIENTES

Written by Sidney:

The next morning was our first day taking a car. We had to wake up early to catch a mini-bus to make two connections to Santa Theresa where we would walk solo for 2.5 hours to Aguas Calientes, at the foot of Machu Pichu. Unfortunately after a slightly late wake up call, and a slow start to the morning, we missed our minibus. Even worse, we were so late that we missed the next (and last) minibus out of town. As our guide scrambled to get everything ready to go, our host began scolding us; apparently our only option now for continuing was to walk.

Miraculously, one truck drove by which had an extra seat and we were able to catch a ride. Wilfredo and I ended up in the bed of the truck, and the views along the road were spectacular. Luckily there were no cows in the back with us, so I stayed vomit-free. Taking the truck eliminated the two transfers we would have done, and we ended up in Santa Theresa a good two hours early. We sat playing cards in a restaurant, killing time until lunch. We tried not to act starving when our guide was fed two hours before us, then fed with us again at lunch, but I think he noticed our pitiful glances (that or Marley's soft cries for "snacks..snacks"), and brought us some snacks for the next leg of our journey, which Marley promptly ate before her lunch dishes were cleared.

We said goodbye to Wilfredo as we hopped into a taxi to the Hidro Electrica (Hydro Electric dam), where we would start our walk to Aguas Calientes. The walk was beautiful, along the train tracks beside a river below the mountains of Machu Pichu and Wayna Pichu. It was the first truly flat hike that we had done, and we practically skipped along (though later talking to a fellow traveler we were surprised to hear that she had found it awful, and the uphill had almost killed her, and did we know that there was a total of 300 m elevation gain along the trail? It was a nice reminder that perspective is everything).

As was becoming the norm on this budget-trip, things didn't exactly go smoothly upon arrival in the town: our designated hotel and did not have a room reservation, our guide had also changed the time we were meeting and dinner wasn't going to be until 8pm. As was also the norm on the trip, everything worked out just fine, with only a slight amount of discomfort: the hotel called our company and eventually got us a room, our guide showed up flustered, ran away with our passports to our distress and we had dinner with the other tourists in our group (surprise we had a large group tour through the ruins!). We were happy that we had eaten a pre-dinner, when dinner was delayed, and then when dinner was tiny we went and had a post-dinner meal. Hiking is hungry work!

Day 5 YANAMA-TOTORA

Day 5 YANAMA-TOTORA

Written by Sidney:

We were a bit sluggish starting out in the morning of the 5th day, which may have had more to do with delaying putting back on our shirts which already contained four days worth of sweat and dust, than actually exhaustion from the four days of hiking. After breakfast with the guinea pigs, we were pointed in the direction of the trail, and started to walk.

Yanama felt just like the Shire, so we were in good spirits walking first thing that morning (though when Marley started saying how she felt like Frodo I started getting suspicious of what her expectations for the big mountain pass we were walking towards were). The tidy grassy hills, soon transitioned to more barren rocky mountainside. After 2.5 hours, the gradual incline became more steep and the air became thinner. We put our heads down and continued to trudge up hill, at a much reduced pace with far more frequent stops. Up to this point, I had always been the pace-setter as Marley preferred to match my natural walking pace, but when the switchbacks became even more challenging, Marley took the lead and carried us (figuratively, not Samwise Gamgee style), pushing the pace to the 4600 m summit. The view from the top was spectacular facing Totora, but we were being chased up the mountain on the Yanama side by some thick clouds, so we didn't spend long at the top.

We arrived to our designated lunch spot at 12:30, when the meeting time had been set for noon. We took inventory of our snacks and rationed out half of them to eat while waiting for Wilfredo, our guide, to bring us lunch. After over an hour of sitting, surrounded by cows, we saw a mining truck making its way down the switchbacks of the road from the pass. In the back of the truck was a large Bull, and standing in front of it was none other than Wilfredo!! Wilfredo cheerfully fed us a hearty lunch, apparently motion sick cow vomit on the pants is all in a day's work.

That night, we ate dinner in the kitchen among the guinea pigs, while the family that owned our campsite ate dinner nearby around the fireplace. We made friendly, if limited, conversation with some of the family members. The World Cup is easy to discuss with limited vocabulary, you just act very expressive while saying your favourite country's name. Like all other Peruvians, they were cheering for Argentina. It seemed like all animals were allowed in the kitchen (guinea pigs, cats), except for the dog who was sitting forlornly outside the door looking in. We got a good chuckle from the family when we  started singing "should I stay or should I go" in an imitation of the dog.

Trek Day 4 Maizal to Yanama

Day 4 written by Marley:

There isn't much to say about day 4 of our trek since it went surprisingly smoothly. The terrain changed as we made our way for a mountain pass at 4500 meters. Initially instead of the dry dusty path we were used to encountering we met a  thick slippery mud terrain which we gracefully maneuvered and avoided falling into.

We made our way to the pass in the morning then waited for our guide to bring lunch. In our many weeks of traveling we hardly encountered any rain but today at lunch it poured in the pass as we waited...Luckily we were protected by a shelter as we waited. Our guide was not so lucky and showed up a little wet and cold. The pass was particularly cold because of the altitude and the mountains made a tunnel for the wind.

In the afternoon we descended down between the mountains into what looked like the shire. It was gorgeous and perfect.  Each property had a little wooden gate leading into a  little brick house. Each strand of grass appeared trimmed to the same height...which almost seemed impossible considering they wouldn't mow the hilly area; instead the goats and other animals must have kept the grass tidy. It was obvious the little community of maybe 30 houses took pride in its appearance. I nominates this little town as one of my favorites of the trip.

That evening we helped our guide prepare dinner and ate among guinea pigs. Sidney gradually warmed up to the little critters roaming and squeaking by our feet but I never became a fan (I likely inherited my father's dislike for rodents and had a good chuckle imagining him eating in the little hut surrounded by them).

Day 4 summary: Yanama "the shire" is perfect and makes for a mind calming walk at the end of the day.

Trek Day 2 Playa to Choquequiarao

Guest Written by Sidney:
Day two of the trek, despite not actually including the highest altitude, probably had the highest highs and the lowest lows.

The day started early with a massive omelette each and an exciting ride across the river in a man powered cable car; our guide did the pulling while we giggled nervously reading the "dos personas maxima" sign. It was only when we reached the other side that we noticed our guide was not carrying his bag. He explained that today was "solo hiking" and that he would meet up with us later for lunch after organizing some pack horses to carry our gear to the camping spot.

We felt pretty good about ourselves after crushing the 4-5 hour steep uphill hike in 2 hours 15 minutes. Only afterwards did we realize that this would mean waiting 2 hours for our guide. We warmed up with some delightful mint tea at the lunch spot, which came made with freshly picked mint.

We succeeded in our goal of making friends when two Canadians also stopped at our lunch spot.  The friendship may not have been voluntary on their part, but it ended with them feeding us their leftover lunch snacks, so we considered it a win.

Our guide eventually arrived, but without our bags or any horses. We ate lunch, then continued our solo day with a self guided tour of Choquiquerao, the first ruins we were scheduled to see on our trek. We spent over four hours wandering through the ruins, which were empty save six other travelers (quite the contrast to Machu Pichu which sees 2000 visitors per day!). The self guided tour was a bit questionable in terms of accuracy (Guide Marley, are you sure that the meter high stairs meant that ancient incas were giants?), but it covered more ground than any of the others we saw. We got off the beaten track, finding loops of hidden trails through partially restored terraces and well labeled must see centers. A highlight was a steep trail down to terraces decorated with white granite mosaics in the shape of llamas. We also added another friend making success to our list when we hiked to the llamas with a solo traveler from Luxemburg after offering to take his picture.

Our friend making streak continued when we returned to camp and our guide wasn't there to meet us yet, and we found a Mexican-Canadian couple who we had bumped into on the trail earlier in the day. They were super friendly and helpful, translating from their cook news that our bags had yet to leave the Playa, our previous campsite. When our guide's backpack arrived with all of his warm layers, we started to accept that we might be alone for a while in the cold, as the Playa was a minimum 5 hour hike away (mental math: 5 pm plus 5 hour hike = 10 pm tent/bag/food arrival). Our new friends turned out to be interesting and friendly AND guardian angels. As the sun went down and we started getting cold and hungry, they offered us extra layers and all of their day's leftover snacks. When we were cuddling for warmth in the dark alone outside, debating eating our emergency cliff bar,  they were in their food tent eating dinner and convincing their cook to feed us as well (oh what beautiful words: "dinner in 20 minutes"). Relieved that we wouldn't in fact starve, we enjoyed the wonders of the inside of their mysterious food tent, where a cook worked away busily on the opposite side of a tarp, and only his head would pop up periodically when he delivered delightful foods including soup, spaghetti and dessert.

Once more, while we were enjoying the comfort of their food tent, our new found foster parents were organizing our accommodations. Ana  would share her tent with us while Daniel would sleep in his guide's tent to preserve our honour.

We cuddled, swaddled in all of our borrowed layers, and slept soundly until 2:30 am when knocking on our tent prompted an automatic "no gracias" from me. Marley had the presence of mind to prompt me to accept our bag from our guide who was knocking on the tent.

The day had the potential to be extremely uncomfortable, but it ended up with us up on the new friend count, well fed, warm and happy with our experience at the ruins. Oh Canada, we love you and our fellow countrymen/women.

Trek Day 3- Choquequirao to Maizal

Post by Marley:

Day 3 definitely completes for having some of the most challenging parts of the hike. It is at those challenging parts that you are thankful for your travel partner. We made a pretty good team never complaining and using one another to push through steep switch backs that sometimes lasted 15 minutes. I was grateful to have a mentally tough champion wrestler with me that day.

There were 2 highlights of the day. The first was my first outdoor poop. The urge came on rapidly and there was no other choice. As scary as it was taking the leap of faith with knowledge of possible liquid poops on the way...There was relief  and celebration once there was successful execution.

The second was conquering a massive incline at the end of the day. This incline lasted  2 hours and ten minutes and it very steep and filled with relentlessly long switch backs. It required mental toughness when the sign said 10 minutes to the campsite and we were at our designated snack break time...Instead of stopping we pushed through. I was fairly certain I was at the verge of passing out from hunger but we made it to the campsite and collapsed in a heap with our Ritz crackers and peanuts.  Now, we just had to wait for our guide and horses to arrive.

"SOS we're so hungry"...we chuckled thinking of the French back at the salt flats in Uyuani trying to break back into the hostel.

Since the incident on night two we were lucky our guide was able to find horses. Unfortunately he wasn't able to find a horseman so again we solo hiked the day while he doubled as a horseman. Overall the day involved 1 hour up from the ruins, 3 hours down deep into the canyon with mosquitos then the 2 hours and ten minutes to our campsite.

Since we arrived at the campsite early in the afternoon and thoroughly drenched in sweat we decided that we should probably attempt the shower. Let's just say it was numbingly cold. Even worse the air in the mountains was so damp that nothing (our quick dry towel, Sidney ' s hair, worst of all our sweaty shirts which we would have to put on the next morning would dry). Things may have even gotten wetter through our tent that night.

A quick note on the campsite. It was a small home run by an older women and gentlemen nestled within the mountains. The cutest aspect was their farm. Roosters, chickens, ducks, cows, and pigs alike wandered the area. Roosters would grow to be our 5 am alarm along the trek. It was calm and peaceful but looked like a challenging life for the couple. I wonder if they are there for tourists or if that is just a growing benefit.
Day 3 summary:
Finally fed a late lunch followed by dinner so we went to bed slightly cold, well fed, and exhausted and proud of our mountainous climb.

Trek Day one- Cusco-Cachora-Playa

Post by Sidney and Marley:

Our first day involved gradually coming to the realization that we were on a budget tour and warming up our legs with a 10 km hike.

The hike supposed to be 21.5 km turned into a 10 km hike because our start time was little late when our 5:30 pick up time got changed to 7:15 am but don't worry 10 km gave us amble time to get into hiking spirits. Most of the days hike involved singing or making fun of our forest thick leg hair which Sidney could actually feel blowing in the wind.

We reached our camping spot just in time to join the mosquito party where we tried to dance and swat our way out of millions of bite. Somehow the bite count at the end of the day was only around 10. Luckily our budget tour included plenty of food...we enjoyed popcorn, hot chocolate,   soup, chicken and rice.

That evening we tried to get to know our guide by playing Go Fish. We aren't sure that we communicated the rules quite correctly since he asked for a 5 when Sidney had just put down the stack of 4 5's.  We kept trying as he awkwardly laughed at our attempts to play.

We went to bed early knowing we would be in for a long day and to escape the mosquitos.

Day 1 Summary: excited, hairy, and a little itchy.

10 signs you're on a budget tour

post written by Sidney and Marley:

We have recently returned from our seven day trek through Choquequiarao and machu pichu in peru. We had an amazing time, but it was important for us to recognize that we were definitely on a budget tour. For anyone considering doing a trek, here are ten simple signs that you are on a budget tour.

1. LAST MINUTE CHANGES:
-A pick up time of 5:30 am becomes 7 am
-Initial 10 km of trek becomes a 10 km taxi ride (after a suspiciously long wait at starting point)
-"family issues" cause a change of guide last minute

2. MOST COMMON WORDS FROM GUIDE ARE "SORRY SORRY"

3. MAJORITY OF TREK IS SOLO HIKING (on your "guided tour")

4. TOUR OF MAJOR ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE IS ALSO SOLO
- Helpful tip: use of imagination is key to understanding the wonders of the past

5. THE PROMISED GUIDE, HORSEMAN AND COOK ARE ALL ONE PERSON

6. SHODDY EQUIPMENT
- Moldy tent, with faulty zipper that allows bugs in (hard to complain though when your guide doesn t even have a tent)
- Kettle has no handle
- Helpful tip: bring extra repellant and Tylenol for your guide

7. "PRIVATE TOUR" OF MACHU PICHU INCLUDES TEN OTHER PEOPLE

8. JEALOUSY OF OTHER NON-BUDGET TOURS
- You find yourself gazing longingly at the non-budget tour's mysterious food tent, with cook inside

9. JEALOUSY OF SELF GUIDED TOURS
- When your dinner is 2 hours late you are jealous of the people who carried their own food and camping equipment up 2000m of elevation gain

10. YOUR SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON THE PITY AND GENEROSITY OF NON-BUDGET TOURS
-second night after solo hiking, instead of meeting guide at 5 pm, wyou meet only his bag, which is ominously filled with all of his warm clothing
- Other tour gives you snacks, additional layers and dinner (You finally see inside the mysterious food tent!!)
- Other tour shares their tent with you when night is setting in and your bags and guide are nowhere in sight (you now owe a life debt to your new Canadian friends). Guide arrives at 2 am

Full details on our awesome trek soon to come!!

Beautiful Day

Tired, smelly, and dirty but our feet were happy to take in Machu Pichu today.

The last leg of my 5 week journey

Sidney and I have now arrived in Cusco, Peru. It took a full day (with a 4 hour break in Arequipa) and a night bus to reach Cusco.

What little we saw of Arequipa was beautiful. Mostly my favorite part of the day was sitting in a little alley people watching over dinner then enjoying an ice cream cone in the town square. For being the second largest city in Peru it didn't have the hustle and bustle one might expect in the town center so it made for a relaxing afternoon.

Today July 3 we spent the day trying to plan the last leg of our adventure. We had heard of a beautiful sister ruins to Machu Pichu called Choquequirao that is only accessible by a 4 day hike and had our hearts set on that with hope that we could then do 4 more days to Machu Pichu.  We were hit with disappointment at first with a few travel agents laughing at our plan. With only 2 people this would be outrageously expensive. Normally, we might be able.to find a group but with the World Cup travel is a little slow supposedly. Heart broken we set out to find our own group asking random strangers if they had planned there trip.  Most had chosen the typical 5 day trip just to Machu Pichu. 

We sat in the city plaza discouraged but then decided we should ask a few more. We somehow found a company willing to operate a tour four with a guide, cook, and horses for our gear for a reasonable price. It will still be an expensive expenditure but I really think this is a once in a life time opportunity since we will see one set of ruins that is not yet open to the world and has not been entirely restored and the famous Machu pichu.  So on Saturday we head out for an 8 day trek through the wilderness. It sounds epically challenging and we were told by other traveling athletes that it is the most challenging thing they had ever done (and that was just the 4 day tour). So needless to say I am a little nervous and scared about what is to come but Sidney and I are also really excited to see and experience everything.  Let's hope I'm not to tired to enjoy Machu Pichu when we arrive there after 6 days of walking.

photo's

Canyon del Colca

Sidney and I departed the Bolivia June 29th and made our way to the Canon del Colca which is about 5 hours from Arequipa, Peru. It took us a whole day and a half to reach the canyon by bus and required us to spend one sketchy night in a hostel near the bus station in Arequipa. Let's just leave the details about our sketchy night out and say we were happy to arrive safely at the canyon.
We hadn't actually planned on traveling to Arequipa or the canyon initially but kept hearing that it was worth seeing so decided to head blindly in that direction.  We met some kind Americans on the bus who took sometime over lunch to show us some of the sights to see on a map.

With their information and the bus ride into the canyon we quickly found ourselves in a pickle. There was so much we wanted to do and not quite enough time if we wanted to make it to Cusco and do a trek and see Machu Pichu.  Luckily, I chose my travel partner well, Sidney sat down with the map and with some help from the locals planned everything we wanted into 2.5 days.

Before I elaborate on our two day adventure I should desctibe the drive into one of the deepest canyons in the world. The views were breath taking. I don't think I had ever seen such a sight but it may have been comparable to the Grand Canyon for Sidney.  The canyon edges had been terraced to trap melting water from the volcanoes  by the locals over the last 2000 years. It made for millions of little puzzle pieces making layers upon layers into the depths of the canyon. My favorite part about this affect is how natural it still seemed...it is hard to believe that humans have impacted the land for so long in fact when walking deep into the canyon it is easy to forget people have been around.

Day 1:
So when we arrived at the Canyon on June 30th we headed to pachamamba a highly regarded hostel which offered us unbiased advice for our trip. We quickly packed our sling bags with water, tooth brush, camera and bathing suits and headed off for the night leaving the rest of our possessions at the hostel. Packing light allowed us to walk the first days recommended 5 hour walk in 3.5 hours. It was a steep hike down into the canyon often walking only meters from the edge. Along with the views of the canyon and surrounding mountains we got to enjoy geysers on our way down.  We luckily reached the river at the bottom and our little hostel in a small town called Llahuar  before dark which meant we were able to sit in the hot springs and watch the stars emerge. It was so peaceful listening to the roar of the canyon, star gazing at the unknown southern constellations,  while dipping my toes into the steamy water.

That evening we enjoyed a delishes cream of corn soup and spaghetti with only our new American friends and 3 other travellors. I was so famished I can't tell if the soup was amazing because I was hungry or if it was just creamy goodness. Sidney has taken to sharing her meals with me since I think she can tell how hungry I am and she swears she is full. All I know is was greatful for the extra portion of spaghetti that night.

We packed it in pretty early that night since we were getting up at 6 to eat breakfast and start hiking plus we were a little sleep deprived from the night before.
Day 2:

We awoke to Roosters at 6 am. Well actually the roosters started at 5 but we stayed in bed until 6 when we knew breakfast would be available. I was stoked to have pancakes...well only 2...not quite as hardy of a breakfast as I was hoping for but they were a treat. I am looking forward to pancake breakfasts with papa bear once I am home again though. 

Anyways, we were on the road around 7 and again had a estimated 5 hour journey ahead of us to the Oasis. We walked up hill for about an hour and a half on a thick dusty road (no joke it was several inches of dust that could have made a beach) winding our way back up the canyon before the ground became level. We spent another hour or so walking along before the trailed dove down again to the level of the river.

It was here where the trail dipped down again that Sidney and I shared a bonding moment unlike any we have had yet. Keep in mind Sidney has been with me through a lot...In the last 3 years. Anyways, nature called that morning and as the trail dipped down into the canyon I had to pee like a race horse. I have a natural fear and angst of peeing and pooping as you know from my previous blog in nature. I mean I shouldn't the donkeys clearly do it (often this was the marking of our trail) and so do the birds but I just couldn't quite calculate how to ensure I wouldn't pee on myself or have the wind blow it onto me. So Sidney the big little sister (as her older sister Jesse-she calls her) stepped up and said "here watch my form" and I did. She is a  natural pee-er in nature. I then took form and adjusted as instructed and peed in the exact same spot to ensure things went smoothly. Sweet sweet success!!! Of course we had a really good laugh before we continued on.

We reached the oasis at around 10:30 luckily before the canyon was getting to hot and in under our estimated time.  The oasis was a beautiful resort like area with several hostels looking into the canyon with pools to swim in. We spent the next 3 hours dipping in the pool, hanging in hammocks, and eating lunch waiting until 2 before we would finish the estimated 3 hour straight up climb out of the canyon. Well that isn't exactly the truth...The oasis part went more like this for me:

step 1: dunk in pool to cool off
step 2: sit poolside to dry enough to move into the shade to enjoy hammock
step 3: sit on hammock
step 4: fall out of hammock stereotypically
step 5: look dumbfounded now covered in mud while Sidney cries with laughter
step 6: rinse all the mud off
step 7: sit pool side embarrassed as I warm up again
step 8: attempt hammock again with success
step 9 : do not dare to move before lunch is prepared in case one should fall out of said hammock again.

Wow this is turning into a long post. Anyways at 2 we headed up the steep canyon working ourselves out of the intense heat with water. I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting the climb to be deadly as when we looked across the canyon at our path it was a steep zig zagged path up one of the deepest canyons in the world...and don't get me wrong it was a challenge but I was just relieved to know that I would be able to make it out of the canyon by foot and not by donkey or helicopter. We were able to complete the climb in 2.5 hours and were exhausted by the time we reached the top.

It is a remarkable feeling to conquer your fear of the unknown. Setting off I was worried about getting lost or hurt in the canyon or just being to tired to continue but I survived and the experience, views and memories from the 2 days was well worth it.

Day 3:
Because this post is so long already I will just quickly mention that we arose on day 3 at 5:30 to catch a 6:30 bus so we would be able to see Condors which are  known to fly in the morning in one area of the park. They are the largest flying birds with a 3 ft wing span and they come within 10 to 20 meters of the viewing area. It was really neat to watch 8 condors soar the sky's over the canyon.

That ladies and gentlemen is how Sidney and I crammed a ton of canyon adventure into 2.5 days. It was hard to leave since there was so much more to do but Machu Pichu is calling!

Copacabana

Star gazing tonight on the roof of hostel all we could hear of the city was the howling of dogs that roam the city. It made me think in Vancouver you would often hear cars or perhaps the skytrain.

Sidney and I enjoyed a quite day in Copacabana today. We took the time to cook ourselves a breakfast in the communal kitchen before we headed off to explore the town.

I think the small colorful town on Lake Titicaca made us both feel as if we were in Greece. We spent the morning walking along the beach and eating our homemade sandwhiches. We had quite the startle when our new friend Charlie (a dog) stuck his big wet nose in behind us. He became our pal and guardian protecting us from cars, bikes, and other dogs that we passed.

In the afternoon we made our way up to the top of a hill that overlooks the city and is a sacred area for the community. We climbed slowly trying to catch our breath up the steep stairs... I think it's safe to say the altitude and plague (which may have be passed on to Sidney) was affecting us. The climb was worth it as it gave us a spectacular view of the area.

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and making ourselves a delishes quinoa dinner with veggies. It was so refreshing to make our own healthy option.

Salt Flats

This is a recount of some of the highlights of the three day jeep adventure through Bolivia's Salt flats.

The salt flats are one of Bolivia's biggest tourist attractions and is the world's largest salt flat. They offer 1, 2 or three day tours through the area..we opted for the traditional three day tour.

Our jeep companions for the adventure included Michael of Switzerland and Josh and Elle of England.  They were kind, fun companions.

Day 1:
First stop the train graveyard with abandoned trains driven into the salt flat. Quite a sight to see.

Surprisingly a three day tour of salt flats isn't composed entirely of salt flats but day one was. It is kilometers of white hexagons with a few mountains in the distance. We took the typical perspective photos and enjoyed lunch in the middle of the flats.

The tour then continued on to a island of Cactuses that had grown on top of coral. It is amazing to think that the earth can change so much and that an ocean in such a large area could disappear. Apparently the world's oldest cactus is one the island but I haven't Google to confirm the accuracy of this factoid.

Night 1:
Surprisingly not as frigid as we had been anticipating. Our lodging for the evening was partially made of salt and had cement beds with mattresses on top. We spent the evening eating and playing cards and dice with our car mates. It was an enjoyable evening.

Shortly after we had gone to bed we all heard a pounding at the door. Some traveller's had gotten locked out of the hostel were trying to get back in. The joke of the trip became an imitation of the French accents yelling "SOS somebody help us its so cold". 

Day 2: The day of lakes

It was a spectacular day of seeing Bolivia's country side. It honestly seemed like the view changed from rocky desert to rolling mountains and hills every 15 minutes. The hills were often a faint yellow from little tuffs of grass that randomly arose from the rocky ground. Rarely there were little shrubs that mixed green in with the soft yellow. The jeep rumbled along and I strained to keep my eyes open (successfully I might add) so I wouldn't miss any of the sights. We stopped at 4 different lakes which unfortunately I can't remember the names of. My favorite was the last and was called Lagoon Colorado, the blue contrasted nicely with the pastel colors surrounding it. Also,   each time we jumped out of the vehicle we had to bundle up as the cold winter air was being whipped against us by the wind. I often find myself wondering why I vacationed somewhere so chilly...but at least it has been dry.

Along with the four lakes we saw a rock forest which is basically massive boulders randomly in the middle of the desert. It is shocking when you first arrive upon the structures.

Night 2 was much cooler. Our lodging had limited resources and the fire to heat the common area was hidden by the bathrooms. We all huddled around our table playing cards and dice again but this time listening to another rowdy van sing and play the guitar it made for a fun atmosphere.

Day 3:

A long day back driving back to Uyuani that started at 5:30 am. Along the route home we stopped and saw geysers which were pretty interesting but it was hard to take them in since we were freezing. From there we headed to hot springs.  I almost bailed at the idea of heading out into what felt like artic air to get into the water but I am glad that I didn't. It was so nice to warm up, view the mountains and lake, and watch little snowflakes fall. I think the springs were the highlight of the day for me. Jesse's favorite part was the massive rock formation that we stopped at for lunch...he and Sidney had a jolly good time climbing.

Overall the salt flat tour was well worth the time and my favorite part was getting to see Bolivia's vast land scape.

Island Del Sol

Today Sidney and I visited the Island Del Sol a beautiful little island that is 2 hours by boat from Copacabana. We spent the day walking from the North to the south end. It was a beautiful trail that had amazing views all the way along.

Somehow I have managed to get a small sunburn even though it is cold enough that I am wearing my gloves and toque. So I have now invested in an epic wide brimmed sunhat which offers extra sun protection.  I will be looking super good in all my photos from here on out!

I'm beat from walking in the sun all day so I'm off to bed super early. Tomorrow I think Sidney and I will head to Peru!!

A story you won't want to miss

Today June 26th started out with us flying from Uyuani (where the salt flats were) back to La Paz so that we could see Jesse off. It was a quite morning with breakfast and cards together at the airport to help Jesse pass the time. At about noon we bid Jesse farewell.  It was hard to say good bye since we had gotten so comfortable as a traveling trio.

Sidney and I feeling brave decided to attempt public transit from the airport to the city center where we hoped to catch a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia by lake Titicaca.  It was a tight squeeze with our two big bags in the mini bus but the man riding next to us slightly squished by our bag smiled graciously.

We made it with ease to our destination even making a connection to shorten our travels with the help of friendly drivers and passengers. Sweet success and we saved significantly with our bravery. We couldn't believe our luck wither when we found a bus departing for Copacabana in 15 minutes.

The bus ride was gorgeous and Sidney and I almost solved all of the world's problems with our deep conversations. I guess I could post our solutions in the future ;) Lake titicaca is the highest lake of its size in the world and looks like a ocean holding many little habitated islands.

At one point along our ride all the passengers were asked to disembark the bus and cross the lake via boat...While the bus would cross on a barge and meet us on the other side. I had read about this and was prepared but the problem is we weren't quite certain if we were at the right stop so we decided to wait and see if everyone else got off as well. They did...no big deal right?

We walked over with the last of the passengers to buy our fare across the water. I fumbled to find our change as Sidney purchased the tickets before we headed for the little boat.

But this is where things get interesting..we were stopped since the boat was full... and we were forced to watch the rest of the passengers on our bus disembark on the boat without us. We were kindly redirected to another boat that would take us across. At first I wasn't worried I had read that the barge takes a lot longer to cross than the little boats so we should have plenty of time. But then we sat... and sat and slowly watch our bus with our "muchilas" (AKA our giant sacks with all of our worldly traveling possessions) float further and further away towards the opposite shore. Of course we were getting more frantic but the boat wouldn't depart without more passengers and there were only 4 of us. We were close to paying for the boat to cross with just us when another mini bus arrived. We too were finally on beautiful blue lake with sparkly water chasing our bus across. They would wait for us right? They knew they had our bags and possessions ?

I turned to Sidney half way across the lake as our bus gradually disappeared from sight and said "I wish I could appreciate this moment more". She agrees and took 20 seconds to take in the beautiful scenery before she rejoined me in worrying about our bus.

We thought we could maybe see it a corner of it parked behind a large building...but we couldn't be certain.  As soon as our boat docked the boat driver let us off first. Sidney shot off like a rocket running and I was in close pursuit as soon as our feet hit the ground.

I almost had time to sigh with relief with the sight of our bus parked behind the building before the bus pulled out and started to roll down the street.

If Sidney and I weren't at full speed before we were now. Half a block behind our bus we started to scream...

WAIT

STOP

Sidney screamed HEY at the top of her lungs.

I who has learned to say hello, Thank you, count to 8, and some other very basic Spanish decided to scream "Escuopa" my best attempt at excuse me in Spanish.

But the bus continued on... and that is how we have come to be south American adventures with a sling bag and two little purses.

Just kidding the bus went about half a block with us screaming in pursuit before it stopped and let us on. All the passengers were having a good laugh so it's hard to say if the bus departing was a joke or if we were really 30 seconds away from only having the clothes on our back.
A day I won't be forgetting...more on our trip in the Salt flats to come. For now I hope someone has a good chuckle with us as we our counting our blessings tonight that we made it safely to Copacabana.

A short travel story

Here goes the short story of how Jesse, Sidney and Marley rode the bus with a pig.

Once a upon a time there were three eager adventurers who needed to commute from Sorata to La Paz in order to continue on their Great South American adventure. Sidney the early rising adventurer got the group moving to catch the 7:30 bus (although truth be told she really wanted to be on an earlier bus).
The adventurers arrived and at first glance they believed they would be the only three on the mini bus that morning. It wasn't until their bags were being loaded on top of the mini bus that Marley noticed a little snout emerging from under a tarp.  She should have been a better person and in this moment hesitates to admit that when the bus driver started asking for their bags she poked her brother Jesse and said pass him your bag. She wasn't wanting her bag to end up next to the "dead" pig. His bag wasn't placed next to the pig and so she sighed with relief that her conscious could be clear.

It was just a few moments prior to boarding the bus that the pig got bumped and let out a loud squeal. Marley jumped in surprise giving the  Bolivian folk at the bus stop a good chuckle. That is how the 3 adventures got onto a bus with a pig.

It would be easy to think that the story stops there because the bus ride although a little smelly was quite uneventful what more could there be to share?

Well let's just say Marley's conscious wasn't let off the hook so easily that day. As the adventurers unloaded there bags from the bus in La paz Jesse found a nasty surprise from a car sick pig on his bag. Pig vomit on his bag.

Truth is the pig vomit could have ended up on any of the bags and to be honest Marley is a little relieved that her borrowed bag narrowly escaped pig vomit. What will karma think though?

Day 3 Sorata our epic hike

Our plan traverse via jeep to 4200 meters then try and hike to about 5000 meters to a glacier.

The journey started early we departed out hostel at 6 am. I of course was nervous because the manager of our hostel, a obviously wise man, warned us that we wouldn't make our target and would likely feel the altitude before that. We left with sound advice to watch over one another and were prepared to accept if we didn't make it all the way to the glacier.
Warning some of the next few details may be an over share. So my nerves have a tendency to do a number to my bowels and let's just say between the nerves and possibly food I had good reason to be nervous about trekking out into the wilderness that morning. One of my biggest concerns between stomach cramps as we started up the mountain was that poop would end up everywhere. Rest assured that somehow I survived the trek without fulfilling this worry but let's just say it was a relief to return to the hostel that night.

So the trek...first thing in the morning it was dark and the clouds looked like our view during the hike would be impaired and like we might also get wet. But as we climbed higher we gradually emerged above the clouds. Because of the altitude we set a fairly slow pace each of us feeling slightly short of breath or had small headache at some point during the beginning. I should mention that the first two hours of our hike or so before the sun caught us was frigid. I was numb and was thankful that Sidney lent me her  toque and gloves. I think because i was sick i was having more trouble regulating my temperature. I think because my hands were numb and Sidney took pity on me and when the sun started to emerge and she put the cold sunscreen on my face so the cream wouldn't make my hands even colder. It was a kind gesture. After about 4 hours that our guide warned us that at our pace we wouldn't be able to make it to the glacier. Our guide was also quite concerned about my cough and worried about it with the altitude. Sadly, I felt like the slow one slowing the group down but I just had to remind myself that at times they were also feeling the altitude as well.  Regardless of the fact that we didn't make it to the glacier the trek was an outstanding! The scenery was epic. We traversed a little trail along the rocky mountain meadow ish terrain between steep ridges with a view of snow capped peaks. Jesse took lots of photo's on his camera so I won't try and use a 1000 words to describe what we saw.

I will say it was a spectacular day and we live on one amazing planet.

Roof top shots in La paz

Sorata

Sorata: June 18,19,20

After Sidney 's spectacular arrival at 6:30 in the morning we headed to Sorata which is on the west side of Bolivia and is know for its trekking in the Cordillera mountain range. It was a 4 hour bus ride from La paz.

Sorata was beautiful it is a smaller (but still quite large) quieter town surrounded by mountains. We found a simple hostel that day and explored the town to get our bearings. We decided to walk to cafe illampu recommended by lonely planet just outside of sorata. We had a nice chat with the  Swiss owner while we ate delishes sandwhiches. They had built a look out tower between trees that we climbed. Jesse and Sidney went to the very top but I stayed at the lookout just below because it was already swaying and I felt dizzy so I decided to play it safe and they reassured me I wasn't missing a new view. 
Since they had just baked a new fresh cake they convinced us to have a piece while they went about work on their farm.  Work during our visit included killing three rabbits to transport  to their friend in La Paz. I will spare you guys the details on how that went down and say that the cake made with duck eggs and organic flower was yummy and we enjoyed playing cards in the country sun.
  
That evening we went back to our room played some more cards and then slept early. We sure made the most of Sidney 's first day and Jesse and I were so happy to have her join us.
  Oh one funny thing I forgot to mention was on our walk to cafe illampu we wandered 30 minutes in the wrong direction before we finally decided to ask for directions from the Bolivia children who had been walking near us. These children were friendly and eager to interact with us, they had gotten their English books out of their bags and were shouting words like "dog" "boy" "girl" at us. They were happy to give us directions back in the right direction. Luckily between Jesse's and Sidney ' s Spanish (and I like to think my smile ;) ) we have made out ok so far.

Day 2:
We were sleepy bears and slept until 11. I think we all needed it. I know I did as I have been fighting a cold. We hurried to get up and on our was as we wanted to walk to the caves 6 km out of town and at altitude it we had been walking a little slower than we normally would.

All three of us loved walking the winding roads through the mountains to the caves. Each turn in the road held a new view for us to take in. Jesse said it reminded him a lot of his trek in Nepal with winding roads along the  steep hillside between villages ...where as in Canada a lot of these area's would have been parks. It took us two and a half hours to reach the caves.

Going into the caves confirmed a few things for me:
1) I'm not a fan of small dark spaces. It was really just the entrance of the cave that was small and narrow and then it opened up into a big chamber but even the thought of the big chamber being burried under the earth made my skin tingle.
2) Likely because of reason #1 but I Don't think caves for are for me. This was the second time for me and the the first floating on a inner tube wasn't any better.

The cave was pretty interesting though it was 400 meters deep with an enclosed lagoon. We opted to walk the cave instead of taking little paddle boats. They lined the cave and path with little lights so luckily it was easy to see where we were going. We also had a nice guide who came in with us. The cave was extremely humid and was about 21 degrees Celsius. I think the humidity contributed greatly to my discomfort because I had more difficulty breathing and it brought out a barking cough. So although the walk to the caves was fabulous and was Jesse's and Sidney 's favorite part of the day, mine was the moment we exited the cave back to the fresh air.

Because we had slept in so late we were forced to take a taxi back into town so that we wouldn't be on the road in the dark. It actually worked out in our favor though because the taxi had to take a different route back do to Construction.

It is impressive to see the cars handled on winding tight turns and is even more impressive and terrifying when two cars have to pass on the road with sharp cliff on the side.

The rest of the night was uneventful..we found a quiet place to eat, bought food for our trek (hike) the next day and then went to bed early since we were leaving at 6 am.

Day 3 of sorata will have to be written later as we are almost at our destination and I hope to post this when we have brief Internet at the airport.  We are hoping to find our way down to Uyuani where the famous salt flats are located.

No guarantees on Internet since sorata didn't have connections any time we tried. But for now you know we are alive and well and enjoying our time in Bolivia.

La Paz

YesterdayJune 17th was a day I spent cold. It started off with a 30 second warm shower that turned cold. The shower only lasted about 2 minutes as a result.                                        
                                           
I also spilled on my pants and decided that it was more important to have clean dry pants and since the high was supposed to be 15 shorts should be fine right?  Wrong! I was the only person in La paz wearing shorts (or so it seemed).

I knew before embarking on my trip that it was winter in Bolivia and to expect -5 at night and 15 Celsius during the day. So I thought I would be warm enough in pants and a fleece during the day and my -20 sleeping bag borrowed from Diana. But even though the sun was shining there is something about being on top of a mo Mountain at altitude that makes it down right chilly. Jesse is chuckling to himself since we are still headed to colder regions...I am not chuckling and will be on the look out for something warmer.

Jesse took some pestering to get him to wander into La Paz ' s city center. He wanted to wander around by our air b and b and then explore with Sidney when she arrived. But I wanted to move so we got on the city bus (van) and headed into town. It was just after lunch time at that point and I was famished so our first mission was to find food. We found a restaurant that was recommended by lonely planet and headed in. My heart sank when Jesse said " I don't know what any of this is". I was now dismayed that I would surely be eating outside my comfort zone. Jesse found 2 meals with one that had the word chicken in it
and one with the word egg and ordered it. Jesse did a fantastic job and when the food arrived I was delighted to find meals with rice and Potatoe. Go Jesse Go!

After we ate we headed to the coca leaf museum. It was very interesting. Did you know that coca cola used to have cocaine in it? Now they just use the coca leaf to flavor the drink. I wish they had dated some of there information better since it said in Asia addicts who refuse refuse treatment are dealt with by gunfire and homosexuals are sawed in half. Those are just not ok with me. Overall the museum was great and we both really enjoyed it.

We then headed to the shopping district and found that you could purchase dried llama fetus. We mostly looked at llama wool sweaters.

We then headed home on the bus and had an early day I think we were both glad to have had an adventure out own town. I will have to write more about the actual city of la paz later :)

Travel day

Today was a travel day. Somehow we found our ways from Santa Cruz to La Paz. We have also spent quite a bit of today trying to figure out how to see the things we want to see in Bolivia.

Travellers at our hostel last night were telling us how challenging it was to get to the salt flats since there was protests and road blocks along there way. Apparently they were told by there bus driver they had to get out and walk through then another bus would be waiting...but there wasn't.  It made for quite the risky adventure one that Jesse and I aren't to fond of especially since the Canadian government recommends not crossing the road blocks.  This leaves us with flying which is quite a bit more expensive but I don't want to miss this world wonder that is supposed to be amazing.  I think we will just have to bite the bullet.

I have to say planning all the nitty gritty details isn't my favorite it would be lovely if it was simple and straight forward.

I think La paz is a beautiful city surrounded by mountains looks sort of like salt lake city and the Utah.  The culture here is already obviously very different though.  I'm hoping I don't get altitude sickness...I felt funny getting off the plane but Jesse attributes this to my outstanding ability to create a nervous response. He may be right :)

good night.... If I can figure out how to post my blog on the wedding it will be posted otherwise I will have to wait for downtime to rewrite it.

Brazilian Fruit tasting adventure!

A quick summary of yesterday and today so far before I nap before the wedding tonight.

Yesterday was a peaceful day. Jesse and I walked woth Thomas ' s opa for an hour or so. We weren't quite sure what we were in for since there is a language barrier since his opa speaks only a little German and Portuguese. Plus, we were told his opa has alzeihmers and we weren't exactly sure how bad it was and if we should be finding our way back safely. We did.

It's quite sad Thomas told us that his grandpa often gets robbed as he doesn't do online banking and thief's target the elderly. It made my heart hurt to hear that because he is the dearest man and always has a smile on his face.

Most of the rest of the day we either watched the world cup or were planning the next leg of our trip. Sadly, we have decided not to go to Iguassu falls as it is very expensive and we would only have 24 hours there before we would have to be in Bolivia to meet Sidney. Instead tomorrow afternoon we will fly to La paz and spend a few days adjusting to the altitude and doing adventures around there before we meet Sidney. I think Jesse and I are happy with our plan.

In the evening we went to the Super market and got fruits that we don't have in Canada so we could try them. Mostly, they were all quite good.  One the cashew fruit was quite gross in my opinion although Jesse ate the whole thing.

This morning we drove around Sao Paulo and got the full tour!! It is quite a different city first off it is massive. It has 25 million people and is 74 x 50 km. I am pretty sure it could eat Vancouver if it was a animal. Secondly there is a huge range of economic class. There will be a massive house or very nice apartment then not even a block away there are slums and it is like this all around the city.

We also went to the institute butantan.  It is a famous snake museum and research institute.  They have the only hospital in the world that specializes in venomous bites and they research antivenom.  It was very interesting.

Tonight we will go to the ceremony which starts at 7 and then the party for the wedding after which apparently lasts until 5 am.  That should be interesting for me lol.

#So itchy

#So itchy
# unknown erythematous papular rash errupting on my forearms
# long itchy 6 hour bus ride
# thanks dad for the sensitive skin

Jesse and I were reluctant to leave Rio today as we have had fantastic hosts. They made us feel safe and welcome and showed us a great time in the city. Our host even got up with us at 5 this morning and took us to the bus station.

We had a nice bus ride to Sao Paulo and met Jesse's friend Thomas at the bus station.  He brought us to his family apartment where we spent the evening catching up and watching Brazil play. I should also mention we drove by the Brazilian team bus and there groupies.  It was fun watching the game here in Brazil...The city around us went nuts with people yelling and lighting off fireworks from their balcony when Brazil scored. From everything that is happening here in Brazil around the world cup I am wondering about the effect it is having on the people. Such a beautiful game and sport should be having a positive impact and I'm not sure I think it is...but more on that another night. I am exhausted from not being able to communicate with anyone. I wish my brain would start picking up Portuguese.

scratch you all later!!!! (hopefully this rash disappears soon!)

Redonk Redonk

Day 4:

Today was another day where I am sure that we met the recommended 10 000 steps. Our air b and b hosts toured us around downtown Rio and showed us all the sites. We saw 3 amazing cathedrals and an outstanding monastery that I am sure we would have never have been able to find ourselves. Unfortunately,  there is quite a bit of political unrest and the security guards for the museums are all on strike so the museums are all closed. The timing of this blows my mind with so many tourists here for the world cup. I think it just shows how much unrest there really is in the country right now.

Tonight we went out for a traditional Brazilian dinner which was delicious. They ordered 3 appetizers for us to try and one massive entrée for the 4 of us to share. The food was not that outlandish and I enjoyed everything that they ordered. It's amazing how less picky I am when I am hungry ;) ... I think I forgot to mention I thought I was ordering a Mediterranean sandwhich last night with cucumber,  cheese and tomato sauce but what I really got was a massive eggplant sandwhich with sundried tomato and cheese. It was surprisingly tasty but I was also famished from our long day. Regardless tonight's meal was tasty but ridiculously (redonk redonk) expensive.  It made a major dent in our wallets.

The rest of the evening we spent listening to our host playing the guitar for us and sharing his music which he had recorded it was a nice way to unwind after a long day.

Grouse Grind in sandles anyone?

Day 3

Jesse and I slept in this morning to find a wonderful breakfast prepared for us by our hosts. I am still a little nervous (probably for no good reason) but so far there hospitality is outstanding. They are definitely showing us the best of Brazil. After we ate we made our way to the fruit/veggie market to pick up lunch for the day. I wish I had a pedometer on as once we started walking for the day we didn't stop.  We went to Impanema and Copacabana Beach which were beautiful. Jesse swam a little in the large waves while I just waded. We then made our way to the famous sugar loaf (Paodeacugar? ). We decided we would hike up to the first peak. The beginning of the hike reminded us both of the grouse grind and I was cursing my choice to where sandal s. Luckily the hike didn't take as long as the grouse grind or as long as they told us. We made it up in about 20 minutes. I think this was the highlight of the day for me as half way up Jesse froze and pointed into the thick jungle and said look.... Low and behold a monkey!!!! Then there were 5 climbing around the trees around us. Unfortunately they were two quick to capture a good picture. The trip up the Gondola was also spectacular, again, we had arrived around sunset and the view of the ocean sparkled and the city was starting to light up.  It was a little bit chilly at the top and we could see dark clouds rolling in so we decided to head down after snapping our photos.  Our legs were exhausted riding the subway back to our room.

Another day well spent in Rio!

Elevator music anybody?

Well I'm lying here listening to Portuguese banter, the spinning fan, and Jesse's gentle snore. We just laid down and it took him seconds to pass out cold while I lay awake pondering the fact that I am on another continent and wondering how safe it was to sleep. It had been a long day of travels but none the less went more smoothly than I could have imagined. I found Jesse easily at the airport and we smoothly found a cab to take us to our air b and b. The hosts were wonderfully friendly and showed us around the neighbourhood and fed us a delicious lunch. Jesse and I then headed off to the Christ Redeemer (Corcovado). The subway is a handy way to get around town and plays wonderful elevator like music at every stop...so today's adventure was filled with 5 second dance parties. It was a beautiful ride to the top along a winding steep road before we reached our destination. We arrived just in time to enjoy the sunset over Rio along with many other soccer fanatics who have come to enjoy the world cup. What a glorious city and a spectacular way to spend our first day.

Cat cuddles are the best

Day 5:
Our final day in Rio is coming to an end. Today felt less jammed packed full of tourism but was a fulfilling way to spend our day.

This mornings news would have made us happy regardless of where we were in the world. Jesse found out he passed his final exam of medical school and can officially call himself Dr. with confidence. I felt honored to be with him as he read the results and celebrated in the tiny internet cafe.

We then sent off on an adventure into the jungle with our hosts that Jesse and I were both looking forward. The National park of Tijuca is an enormous park. We only wandered through part of it and saw 2 species of butterflies, hummingbirds and other bird species. I kept hoping for a sloth but was not able to conjour one with the power of positive thought (I haven't given up on the possibility of one before the end of the trip yet though).

In the afternoon we spent some rushed time at the Natural history museum. It was an outstanding museum in one of the houses of the Rio family. I was shocked by their display. Having been to the national history museum in New York I was impressed with how it compared (especially since it was so cheap to enter) and was shocked by some of the exhibits, for instance, mummies from Egypt.  Let me repeat that...legit mummified human beings not just in their tomb but openly on display. I do not remember seeing that in New York but maybe I have forgotten. Or it means more to me now having been in the gross anatomy lab. I have a feeling though that there is just a slightly different level of custom on what can or should be displayed.

Our (by which I mean picky Marley's) brave food adventures for the day included a custom Brazilian lunch with rice, brown beans, chicken, and an unknown vegetable powder substance. Jesse also finally found the Acai berry smoothie that he had read about in Lonely Planet. I know he really enjoyed the flavor and was blown away by how sweet it was considering he ordered the one with no added sugar. I'm just happy we survived another day well fed!

In the evening we spent the night making sure we had everything gathered, bought groceries for our 6 hour bus ride to Sao Paulo,  and of course purchased some amazing  Brazilian chocolate for Jesse to bring home. I may now be regretting not having purchased my own. Once we were all packed we sat down to read and unwind... it wasn't long until our previously shy cat friends joined us for some cuddles. Jesse and I both enjoyed there company.

Good night from Rio!

This is just a short message to let you all know that I am alive and well in Rio. I have more blogs written on my phone to post when I finally find wireless but as my time on the computer is short this is just a quick update.

Rio is a gorgeous city that is very similar to Vancouver in many ways. The beaches are amazing!!

Our hosts through Air b and b have been superb. I don´t think we could have been any luckier!!!! They have been very welcoming and been our own tour guides throughout the city.

More to come when we arrive in Sao Paulo tomorrow I hope :)

The journey begins

Dear Friends,

Well I am off on a my Great South America adventure!!!! I have to admit I am filled with fear and excitement. I have decided to use the blog to journal about my trip and thought I would share my experience with those who may be interested. I can't promise to be a thrilling writer or to be completely grammatically correct but I can promise to update on whether I am still alive!!!! 

First stop: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Here's hoping I am all packed...my bag seems a little light!!!!!