Arajuno Jungle Lodge

We have just returned from possibly the best experience of this entire trip. I know I know, I´ve said this to just about every major trip weve done, but I really mean it this time. For a week weve been living in the Ecuadorian rainforest. We were stationed at a place that was constructed by the hands of a gringo, Tom. He has lead such an amazing life. He was a forest ranger, peacecore voltuneer, and his path eventually took him to the rainforest of Ecuador where he bought 22 hectares of land to conserve. He has lived there for 8 years now. He plans on living there for the rest of his lfie. Not only is he conserving the land, but he his also breeding yellow spotted turtles, indigenous to the river, to reintroduce back into the river because they have slowly been disappearing. He also gives back to the community by giving them bamboo he grows himself, and giving talks about how to better earn income without destroying the rainforest. It just blows my mind that he had the guts to move to such a foreign place and decide to call it home. But its awesome. I´ll admit I wasn´t very excited to be back in major humidity, heat, and bugs. But this rainforest was like paradise. It wasn´t as hot or humid, and there were much fewer bugs. It was paradise. And he has built such an amazing lodge. It exceeded everyones expectations. The cabins had real bunk beds with real mattresses that you could sink into and best of all, a bathroom in the cabins where we slept. With tile and a real toilet and an actual shower. It´s funny the things you realize you truly appreciate when your in foreign places. He has an open living room slash dining hall that overlooks the meandering muddy brown river. And his own house which is a bit further away from the rest of the cabins is well built also. He has the life. We worked almost every day helping him finish builg a new pen for the turtles. He has a big almost lagoon for the grown turtles and full grown fish, a pen for the baby turtles, and we built a new pen for more big turtles. Our jobs included hauling sand from the shore to the pens to create a beach so the turtles could eventually mate on their own there. we also cemented the new pen, and set the floor base for it. After that was completed, which took a couple of days, we planted baby bamboo so he could grow it and give it to the community, and plant it around his land. Its become a problem for him that hunters or log cutters come onto his land, pretending not to know its his, and take what they want. With the bamboo, there is a clear boundary line. It was grueling work, but very satisfying. The giant bamboo is not indgienous to the forest, but its a noninvasive species so it wont harm the forest which is perfect. Its the fastest growing plant in the world, and creates a very sturdy boundary line. It also extremely benefits the community as well. They can grow it to sell, and they can also harvest it to eat. He´s doing such a good thing down there. Every day after work we would jump into the river because we were allowed to swim in it. Apparently there are no crocs or piranahas or anything. One native said it was basically a swimming pool haha. There was one instance where this girl was swimming and a snake slithered up here leg but that was it. lol. I mean of course there are going to be snakes but they usually keep away from humans. And the food was exquisite. His wife Charo, is an amazing cook. And to cook for 13 people is especially hard. She is actually writing a cookbook. I would buy it. It was so delicious we were sad when we had finished. reverse effect lol. And she even made dessert for us every day. I canñt even describe how well we ate. I never would have dreamed such amazing accomodations. The hours after work were the best. The sun wasn´t as hot, we had finished swimming, we could either lounge on the couches or many hammocks he had strung up around the living room and jsut read or nap. We also played a lot of cards. I finally shot the moon! Yay! It was brilliant too. O and pop your goin to be so happy, we killed, skinned, and gutted out own fish for lunch one day. I immediately thought of how much you would have enjoyed doing that. It was kind of gross. But the fish was really good. They prepared it in the native way which was by folding it in a huge leaf and cooking it. One day we tubed down the river and that was very relaxing. We had a naturalist come, Tom´s best friend, and he took us into the rainforest and explained many of the plants and trees around us. He was very inspiring in that he wanted us all to do good things for the world and said we were already starting that just by being there. It was very cool. We also visited a wildife refuge. That was interesting. Most of the animals were in cages so it kind of looked like a zoo even tho it really wasnt because they try to reintroduce most of those animals back into the wild. It´s sad tho becuase most of htose animals come from being confiscated from various homes who have kept the animals as pets or have mistreated them. So some have major phsyciological issues and have no hope of recovering. They do let some of the monkeys wander out of their cages. I decided from seeing a refuge that I really wouldn´t want to work there. It wouldn´t be that fun. Unless I got to work with a cat. The only cat they had was a puma, but there were so many people that day that it stayed hidden. O they also had a really big anaconda which was cool to see. I would explain in better detail but I have to leave soon so I´m being rushed. In the end we were all very sad to be leaving such a wonderful place. Few of us will ever be back and we know it. But you can´t be sad for too long because when you think about the experience you can only recall good memories, so good feelings rush into you. I also finsihed Cold Mountain there. It was very anticlimatic. The book was written beautifully, but it just wasn´t a very interesting story. O well. I loveeeedddd the arajuno jungle lodge!!

Machu Pichu

Sorry this blog is so late. We´ve been moving around so much its been nearly impossible to get to a computer. The traveling is getting harder. We are only in places for at most 2 days now andwe always bus to the next city, which is not fun at all. They are usually night buses, meaning you will get no sleep untill you arrive at the hostel. And were on these buses for 7 to 11 hours at a time. It´s tiring. But on a happier note, Machu Pichu was one of the best experiences yet. We hiked on the Inca trail for 4 days untill we arrived at the sacred city of the Incas. It wasn´t just Mach Pichu that took my breath away, but the whole Inca trail. We hiked for 7 hours every day to the next campsite, and scaled steep valleys and narrow ridges. The scenery was beautiful. I´ve never seek mountains so tall and valleys so deep. At certain campsites we were above the clouds. They were nestled into the valley and made it appear like a giant ice cream cone. Our guide and porters were wonderful. They cooked delicious meals, which made us all happy campers. And we recieved a snack, popcorn or wantons with tea, after we would first arrive to camp which made us all very happy campers. The food really was incredible. Better than anything I had imagined for a trip like that. The Inca trail was no easy feat. It was quite difficult. On the second day we had to ascend 3,000 ft of elevation. And we all caried our own packs with our clothes and water and various materials needed for the trip. It was tough. But the views only got better. We visited ruins that overlooked giant valleys, learned a lot of the history of the region, all while we were hiking this ancient trail. I think the third day was the most majestic. That day we actually started hiking the Inca trail. Previously we were actually on a government made trail. We were told parts of the Inca trail were to dangerous and hard to follow, which was why they made a new trail. Personally I loved the actaul Inca trail. Rather than going up and down the valleys like the government road, the Inca trail was flat because it followed the tops of the ridgelines of the mountains. This was the reason forthe amazing views the third day. The whole valley was beneath you, and the combination of the clouds and the mountains were just breathtaking. I kept thinking to myself, no wonder the Incas thought they were gods, I would to if I woke up to this view every day. The day we were going to see Machu Pichu we got up at 3 30 in the morning to start the race to the city. Realize that we were not the only people on the trail. Hundreds of other people had been hiking the same trip as us, and we all accumulated to this one day where we would all be shoveled into the city. That night I didn´t like. Everybody who had been hiking was all at one campsite that was very modern. It just wasn´t the experience I wanted while camping. The previous quieter nights had been perfect. But anyways, once the checkpoint opened our group raced along the trail to try to be the first people to Machu Pichu. No we weren´t being competitive freaks, we hada purpose. We needed to be the first hikers that entered Machu Pichu so we would have a better chance of getting into WaynaPichu, the neighboring mountain that stands about 250 m taller than Machu. From there you are supposed to get the best views around. But its supposedly very crowded and unlikely that we would make it in for the 7 am opening. But being the beasts thatwe are, we made it by 7 andit wasnt crowded at all. That hike was the steepest climb of my life. Like I told my parents, at points, if you fell backwards, you would be falling to your death. It as insanely steep. But it was a short climb to the top and well worth the early morning get up, the rushing along the trail, and the steep hike. The view was unbelieveable. Machu Pichu was clear as day and we got great shots. But eventhe surrounding mountains were amazing. The clouds covered the tops so it gave this eerie feeling of pure vastness. Like the world was so much bigger than you, and you were only a small part of it. It was humbling. I´m so glad I decided to climb Waynapichu. I would have missed out if I had stayed back like some of the people in the group. The reason people hike Waynapichu is also becasue thats where the Incas set up their temples for the gods. So there were ruins up there as well. How they made those temples on such a steep mountain I have no idea. After we rested for a while and took in the amazing views, wehiked back down and really explored Machu Pichu. The tour we got was very informative because he explained to us parts of the ruins that we would have otherwise have looked over. One of the most interesting things we saw were these compasses the Incas made. They were magnetic and when we tested it it was completely accurate. The tip pointed directly south and the other tips follwed suit. Crazy. We were also showed different rooms occupied by various people of power. We saw where the priest made his home, and we also saw a room specifically for an Inca. They had their own toilet so they didn´t have to be like the common people and go into the woods. The architecture was another amazing feat of the Incas. To this day scientists are unable to explain how the Incas built these nearly perfect walls out of the materials they had at the time. Each block of rock fit perfectly into each other. There were no cracks and no holes. And they were also all smooth. It was very cool to know that theres still some mystery about them. The whole trip was such a great experience.

Puno

Puno is offically over. And it was a good time. Beautiful city, the community work was great, and the host families were so kind. Puo was so interesting this week especiall because there was a party literally every night. Every day there was some sort of celebration, whether it was Halloween, Day of the Living, Day of the Dead, University Day, and the aniversary of Puno. Every night in the plaza center there was a huge parade marching through that stopped all traffic. Vendors sold popcorn and cotton candy and candied apples, everything you could ever want lol. So to say in the least the nights were crazy. Every day we would go to a nearby town called Chuyuni, where the preschool we were working at was located. The first day the kids celebrated ou arrival by throwing confetti into our hair and wrapping ribbons around our necks. We all looked so festive. They were so cute. Every day our work consisted of painting a mural on several of the walls around the center of the school. They turned out great. Samuel, the forman, outlined all of the designs and we had but to paint within the lines. Easy work, but the sun and altitude nevertheless took a lot out of us. After the bus would drop us off at our respective drop off spots and Jenna and I, my homestay partner, would have to walk up this huge hill to our apartment. Took away our breath every time. In Peru they have linners, which is my moms version of saying a late lunch that is pretty much dinner too. And those were always delicious. The one thing I did get sick of was the breakfasts. All they eat is bread and tea which is just not my style lol. I loved it for the first few days but it definitely got repetitive. The juices they stir up continue to amaze me with their deliciousness though. Most nights after we had tea for dinner Jenna and I would meet up with the group and go out. There´s this one main street in Puno that hasjust about everything you could ever want. One night we went on a shopping spree lol, and other nights we just explored and found really cool cafes or yummy pizzereas. And they do make delicious pizza here. We found this one cafe, called Ricos Pan, that was to die for. There were so many different kinds of pastries and you could just buy them and leave or you could sit down and have a coffee and dessert. A-mazing. One night we went to the hostel our leaders were at and made food from ingredients we bought at the local market. Surprisingly, everything turned out well. And ingredients are so cheap. That would definitely be the way to go if a foreigner was living here. On the last day the preschool kids made a big show for us from this dance they had been practicing and it was great. I got a video. Still haven´t figured out how to put pictures up sorry. Then we feasted in one of the rooms and said our goodbyes. Such a nice community. Most of thosekids actually live on the floating islands on Lake Titicaca. It´s sad actually because the Puno government doesn´t recognize them as a school and therefore doesn´t give them any funding. They loved that we were there to help. Yet another great experience. And as I write this I am in Cuzco, which I can already tell is going to be an awesome city. Have to go!

Floating Islands-Amantani

So I realize I haveyet to blod about my week here in Puno, and fret not, it will come, but since we still have two more days in this beautiful city I thought id conclude my experience after those two days. So right now Im about to go into detail about the amazing experience I had on Lake Titicaca. Fast fact: lake titicaca is actually spelled titikaka and is qetchua for puma rock. Many people make fun of the name but there is reason for the silliness. So on saturday we took a boat out on the lake and made our first stop at the uros islands, or more commonly known as the floating islands. It was so wierd. People literally live on reeds that are piled on top of very moist earth that lies in the water. One of the ladies showed us a model of exactly how they make their islands which are constantly being rebuilt because the reeds die or disintegrate. They start by compacting this really moist earth and stringing rope through the entire block and then tying all the blocks together for the base. But realize these blocks of earth have to be big enough to hold 28 people on one island. That was the number of people on the island we were on. Then after that, they pack tons of reeds on top of each other, layer after layer, untill its dry enough so they can build their houses on top of the reeds. And the houses of course are made out of reeds also. And these families live on the islands their whole lives. For schooling some go to the mainland, and if they need any supplies they go to the mainland. It was just so different. It reminded me of going to a petting zoo. When you step into the yard the ground is soft because it is covered in hay, and thats exactly how the reeds felt. They were very soft and most everyobdy walked barefoot. But the reeds are such a staple for their lifesyle. They build everything with them, and they eat them too. The reed, totoro, is peeled like a banana and eaten like one. Tried it, not very good. But it has a natural floride in it which keeps their teeth clean. Thats their method for brushing.And it was very surprising, you could definitely tell they all had very white and straight teeth. And the handmade boats were awesome. So old fashioned. They were made out of the reeds and shaped at the head to look like a dragon or some other animal. Very tribal. The only drawback to the islands is that they are so connected to the tourist way of life. Right as we stepped on the island the familiesput out their handmade items for us to buy. And they only wear these brightly colored costumes for us. Its like they are role playing the whole day. But they were still fascinating. After that we took another boat ride to the island Amantani. We took a 40 minute hike up pacha mama, one of the mountains, to catch the sunset. It felt like mt. ritter all over again. We were climbing up to about 13000 ft., and it was tough. No air lol. But the view from the top was breathtaking. You could see the whole island and wegot some amazing shots from the cliffs. The ripples in the water made the lake look frozen. It was gorgeous. And then we watched the sunset which was an experience in itself. As it slipped behind the mountains in the distance the clouds above turned first a fiery red and then calmed to a musky orange. I got some beautiful shots. It was the perfect spot to celebrate our halfway mark! Which just happened to be Halloween. When we got back to the houses we all ate together and just got to reflect on our experience so far and share good and bad memories. The second half will go by faster, and Im sad about that. Although I do miss the familiarities of home, this is such a cool experience. Most were glad we were only halfway through because we all feel we have more to learn about ourselves and more to experience before heading home. I completely agree. I feel this second half will be amazing. I cant wait for machu pichu and cuzco!

The Pampas

Ok, so the rainforest was beautiful for its vegetation, but we didn´t see as much wildlife as I expected. The pampas, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. It wasn´t beautiful in its landscape because it was mostly a savanna, but I have never seen so much wildlife in my life. WE took a three hour canoe ride to our camp, and in those three hours I probably saw 80 caiman, which is a relative of the crocodile, 50 capybaras, 20 squirrel monkeys, countless turtles, and many different species of birds. It was incredible. I was not expecting that at all. The caiman were so cool. Some were basking in the sun, where we really got to see therir size, and some were chilling in the water, but you could only see their eyes. Everything about them says stealthy. They are such a prehistoric creature. So instinctual. And we got so close to them. I got some great pics. Caiman are smaller than crocodiles, so most of the ones I saw were about 6 feet long or shorter. And then there were the infamous capybaras. They were so weird looking! They really are overgrown guinea pigs. They were basking in the water and grazing. And they weren´t afraid of the caiman at all becuase most of the caiman are too small to actually take down a capybara. They were funky looking. The squirrel monkeys were absolutely adorable. They are very small, with yellow bodies and black faces. They were very curious and came very close to us. So to say in the least the wildlife was abundant. Our camp was on the shore of the river. Al the houses were on stilts so the frogs and snakes would have a harder time coming into the rooms at night. Creepy. The next day we swam with pink river dolphins!! You are definitely not allowed to swim in the water if they are not present. Pink river dolphins scare away caiman and piranahas, making it safe to swim as long as they are there. It was a little scary when we were in the water and the dolphins were circling us but probably about 20 feet away was a caiman just watching us with its beady eyes. The dolphins are actually pretty ugly lol. They have these long snouts and big muscular bodies that are a faded pink. But they are very curious animals and stayed by us all the time we were in the water. It was very fun. We also went piranaha fishing. For some reason I just couldn´t catch one, but a lot of people did. They have very sharp teeth. We had to be very careful taking them off the hook and putting them back into the water. Pop, you should be proud that I tried to fish even though I didn´t catch anything. I got very close once though lol. Can´t say it changed my view on fishing though sorry. On the final day, we woke up early to explore the marshlands on the opposite shore. We were searching for anacondas. Anacondas! The water and mud went up to your knees. I just hoped that nothing would swim by and bite my leg. We did quited a bit of searching and trekking though the mush untill we came upon our first specimen. A green mamba. It was absolutely gorgeous. And its camoflauge was amazing. Its body was green but it had a blue head. It matched perfectly in the green reeds. Although quite small, it was pretty long, and extremely venemous. One bite would kill you in 30 minutes. That was a scary thought considering we were in the middle of nowhere and civilization was 6 hours away. A little while later we finally found what e were looking for. We actually got very lucky considering anacondas are getting harder and harder to fing considering the affects humans are having on its habitat. But there nestled in a bush was an anaconda about 3 feet long. It wasn´t big, but its presense was still powerful. You could just see the power it held in the way it moved its body. It was made to suffocate the life out of its prey. I´m so glad we saw those two snakes. It really made the trip. And now I´m writing this and I am in Puno, Peru!! Bolivia is over! Que lastima. But Puno is great. My host family is awesome. The mom is so nice and energetic. And her 11 year old daughter is very sweet, and they also have and 11 month old baby girl who has the hugest cheeks ever and is adorable. Time is flying.

The Amazon

Possibly the most incredible part of my journey here in South America has just come to a close. I spent 5 days in the most lucious part of the world, the amazon. We landed in a small tourist town called Rurrenabaque. The town is nestled into the mountains of the rainforest. The first thing that hit all of the group, the humidity and the heat. It was expected, but for me living in that kind of atmosphere is not normal. And I never really got used to it, but that didn´t distract me from the amazing place I was in. Our adventure started the next day as we all jumped into an oversized canoe and traveled up the river Beni. We got our first real taste of the vastness of the amazon. Giant mountains towered over us that were covered in moist green trees of all varieties. It was beautiful to say in the least. Our camp was between the shore of the river and the dark depths of the forest. The first day we trekked into the heart of the forest by foot. Our guide, Freddy, was amazing. The guides have an amazing knack for hearing and seeing wildlife. A few of the astounding things he pointed out to us were a posionous tree, a tree that heals wounds, bark you could chew on, and countless insects. The posionous tree was amazing because a few drops of the liquid that lay just beneath the surface of the bark could kill a human. We had to look away while he hacked at it with a machete because if the liquid had gotten into our eyes we would have gome blind. Intense. The tree that heals wounds had a red liquid that resembled blood. It looked like the tree was actually bleeding. The next day we hiked even further than the day before into the forest. There wasn´t a trail. But thats where we were rewarded the most. We got to observe the parrots in the tops of the trees, and we happened upon a large group of wild pigs that were foraging. They make the weirdest noises. The parrots too. When they made their bird calling noises it sounded exactly like a small child screaming. A bit unnerving. That day a group of us also took a dip in the river. It felt absolutely delicious. It was such a relief from the heat. We floated down the current on logs we found on the shore. It was great. After our swim we boated up the river for a few minutes untill we were at the parrot house. It´s this cliff side that all the parrots build their houses in. They dig holes into the side of the cliff and raise their babies there. We saw so many parrots. Their colors are beautiful. Red, blue and yellow. And they are elegant flyers. The part that all the girls mooned over, including me, was that parrots mate for life. So you could see all the pairs because they always fly together. So cute. That night we did another hike. There we saw the biggest tarantula I have ever seen. It was on the ground near its den hunting for prey. So cool. The other guide, Angel, made jaguar noises through this tube that would attract them to our area. Although it didn´t work because no jaguar appeared, the noise itself was an experience. And after we did a bit of stargazing. The stars are so bright and numerous. And we saw countless shooting stars. It was such a cool experience, but wait, the pamaps are next!

end of malcorancho, return to la paz

Malcorancho was a wonderful experience. The last two days we finished cementing the walls on the insides of the classrooms, and we got a big chunk of the sidewalk done. And the most embarrassing moment...dancing in front of all the kids at the school in traditional dance clothing. Despite the snickering and laughing, we did pretty well. But the heat plus the dresses got to be a bit much. On the last night we had a fiesta. Everyone ad their families came and we danced and ate. Dancing with the little kids was so much fun. And the food, as always, never fails to be delicious. Sarah and I had a long goodbye with our host sister Andrea. She was such a sweetheart. She gave me her bracelet and told me in a letter not to forget her. Such a sweet person. We have know been in La Paz for three nights. It has been a blast. I actually started to do some shopping, which is so hard to resist when all the colorful clothing and alpaca is screaming, buy me! O and a few of us also visited the coca museum. That was very interesting. They had the whole history of the coca leaf in this little shop that you could barely walk around in. The information was very informative though. The coca leaf is very nutritious for you, especially at high altitudes. I want to take some back home because that would be the perfect remedy for all the intense hiking trips my family and I go on. But, alas, its illegal...hmmm....well see. Today we visited Tiahuanacu. The tour was pretty boring, but the ruins were cool. It´s amazing to think that people in that age were able to accomplish that much. Like make arrowheads and designs in pottery. That´s pretty advanced. O and i quick fact. The Tiwanaku people were believed to be pacified, but in fact they sacrificed many people. At one point they even sacrificed several children. So that was pretty interesting. The ruins weren´t that great. It was mostly a mound of dirt where they used to be becuase the Amarya destroyed them when they came through. And now were off to Rurrenabaque!! Time for some jungle!

malcorancho

so i just finsihed a week in the rural pueblo of malcorancho. ill admit i was a bit worried at first, all the natives i spoke to gave wierd looks when i told them i was staying in the pueblo for a week. but it was awesome. and beautiful. every home owns their own feilds to grow their own crops and every family has their own cows or chickens and geese. huge hogs wander the fields and the dogs roam the streets in the day. the colors in the campo are beautiful. the fields and so green, and the sky so blue. and like clockwork, its sunny and hot until noon, and then huge thunder clouds come over the mountains and cover the sun for the rest of the day. giving us workers a huge relief. i prefer the cloudcover. i almost think it makes the colors of the earth look even richer. and i loved my host family. there was a 4 year old daughter, a 14 year old daughter, and a 23 year old son. the parents are so nice and welcoming. and sarah and i, my roomie, became really close to andrea the 14 year old daughter. they feed us so much lol. they just want us to be perfectly content. and our house...cant complain. we have a toilet and shower....enough said. so we got into the routine that every day we would wake up and leave to walk 3k to the school in a neighboring town called viloma. there we would slowly but surely build the classrooms untill 12. take an hour break for lunch, and then get back at it untill 3 30. its very demanding but very satisfying work. the clouds provide such a huge relief from the sun. and then we would go home, shower, eat, and sleep. the week went by so fast. i couldnt believe it. o and one night we all met up at the leaders house and ahd salsa lessons!! they were great. its actually not that hard. well for me it wasnt lol. that was a great night. and another night we all got together and just chilled and watched a movie. group activities are very fun. i got sick the last two days from dehydration, i know stupid me, but im all better now. i just have to remember to drink lots and lots of water on the work site. o and another thing. the kids at the school are teaching us a native dance. we have to perform for them on tuesday. quite nervewracking. we practice at the school during lunch with a few of them. the kids love to watch us work. its so funny. and they love to watch us eat. they wont talk to us, just stare while we talk and eat and work. there are a few who are brave enough to talk....but not many. but they love to help out. a 3 year old came with his mom and tried to shovel cement. it was the cutest thing ever. today the group is relaxing at an eco spa. and tonight we head back to malcorancho for two more days to finish the classrooms. untill la paz!!

last day of civilization

today is our last day in cochabamba, as well as our last day of civilization for about a week and a half. our next stop is the rural pueblo of malcorancho where we will begin our first volunteer project, building a school. im a little nervous only because every native weve told that were goin to malcorancho has given us wierd looks. like, why would you want to go there? ha so i guess its going to be a very different experience. it´s very hot here. despite the random rain storm we got two nights ago, the weather has been very claremontish in the summer. i wont be able to blog untill saturday. omg, i need to tell everyone who reads this blog how amazing my host mother is. she makes her own ice cream!! and its possibly the most delicious ice cream ive ever tasted. im not lying. and its so easy to make. i asked her and she showed me the ingredients to make it and its super simple. all you need is evaporated milk, the powder of the fruit or flavor you want, and a little bit of sugar. and all you have to do is mix them and let it sit for an hour. ah its so good. im going to try to make it sometime. the only bummer is that i dont know if the states sell the powder mixture they have here. ill have to see when i get home. im a little homesick lol. i think its because weve settled down here for a long enough time that i have time to think about how things would be at home. and of course the whole home setting makes me miss seeing everybody every day. but its no biggie. i can deal. spanish lessons are also coming to an end. they were good overall. i reviewed a lot and am overall better off. there isnt much other news to tell....so ill say goodbye now and catch up in a week with all my stories of malcorancho!

cochabamba

i am currently in the beautiful city of cochabamba. it truly is great here. it´s pretty small, so much cleaner than anywhere else ive been, and arguably the food capital of bolivia. the south american culture is so different in relations to food. they really only have one big meal a day, which is lunch. that can consist of a three course meal, but then breakfast and dinner is just bread and tea. i dont think ill ever get used to it. i have never had a bad meal though. the food is great. they really value good cooking. but then again, ive been careful to go to all the right places. i had a health scare a couple nights ago. we were still in the hostel, and i took a swig of my friends water to wash out my mouth after brushing my teeth. all of a sudden she shouted, robyn, thats not purified girl. i practially choked up the water. i was a little shocked at my own carelesslness, but i got over it eventually. you really just cant drink the tap water here. the natives dont even do it. its just so unclean. so i still might get sick, but for now there have been no affects and it seems that luck was on my side. i told myself i couldnt get sick anyways. i made a bet with my leader jess that i could stay healthy for two weeks. ten bolivianos is on the table. im going to win. so anyways, cochabamba. im rooming with a girl named elise, and shes super chill. our host mom is great. shes a grandma, and her niece and another girl from washington who teaches down here room with her. theyre all very nice. we live in an apartment flat overlooking a park thats also a chaoitc roundabout. and then there are the spanish lessons we have twice each for an hour and a half. my mom would be so happy if she were here lol. im getting a lot of review. unfortunately im a little more rusty than i had thought. the teacher, toni, is highly recommended by everyone i have talked to. im remembering a lot. putting it into conversation is another thing. the nightlife here is great. i think weve all gone out just about every night. the first night we all met up at globos, a burger and helado joint. its very similar to jhonny rockets. and last night some of us met up and tok taxis to the cine. we saw the ugly truth for like 1 dollar, and it was in english. apparently all the movies are in english with spanish subtitles. i never would have guessed. it was a lot of fun. and last night it rained! we would have walked to the cine, but it was raining so hard we would have been drenched. the city reminds me of claremont because of the houses that back into the hills. it looks very familiar. i walk to both of my spanish lessons. i get to explore the city that way. its unsafe to walk alone at night though so we always group up. o, interesting story about last night. four of us girls took a taxi from the cine to the first stop, sarahs and amandas house. our house is just up the street from theirs, but the driver was goin to make us pay a total of 15 bolivianos. which is totally a rip off and we knew it. we could get to the other part of they city for 5. so we argued with him and he kept making excuses so finally we all just got out and told him we would walk. we still had to pay 6 which was ridiculous for a 2 minute drive. but im glad we didnt pay the 15. my next lesson is soon, so adios!

jeep safari

we just got back from the jeep safari throughout the bolivian desert and salt plains. i actually didnt like it as much as i thought i would. the scenery never really changed and the we were offroading the entire time so it was very uncomfortable. some of the sites were cool. by far the coolest site was the lake with the thousands of flamingos. why would there be flamingos in a desert....i know not. and i dont know how to write questions marks on this computer lol. the salt plains were also pretty spectacular. theres nothing but white for miles. and if you taste the ground....pure salt. we took some crazy pics using small toys and us in the background. it looks so cool. the people who live out there are crazy. these tiny towns, one only consisted of three families, live out there and make their living from these tourist attractions. to me it didnt seem like any kind of life and they seemed pretty bored themelves. so im kind of happy its over. i felt like i was on a ski trip the whole time. it was wierd. it was so windy and cold and i was wearing so many layers that it just felt like i was on top of mammoth about to ski down daves run. the people here are so nice. everyone is polite and friendly if you talk to them. i was exchanging money at a bank in la paz and this cholita, a well respected old woman, turned around and just started a conversation with me. she wanted to know where i was from and if i liked bolivia and she talked about how much she lved bolivia. she definitely kept me on my toes with the spanish. tongiht were taking an overnight bus to cochabamba for our first host family stay. im pretty excited. o and i bought my first item for myself haha. its a really cool blue and purle hat. totally something a hippy would wear lol. but its very warm. it so hard not to buy everything i see because all the alpaka is so pretty and the jewelry and armbands....ah man. but im doin good. im holding out. the nights were the best on the jeep safari. we would all just get into the same room and talk and give each other massages....good bonding stuff lol. o ya and there was a hotel made out of salt in the salt plains!! people cant stay in it...but it was very cool. they make a big profit out there by digging out the salt and exporting it. well thats all i have for now!!

la paz

Hola! I have traveled for 24 hours straight, am exhausted, and now in a pretty nice hostel in the city of la paz in bolivia. it is 9 35 at the moment. we arrived at 5 50 after taking a red eye from miami to la paz. my first impression...it´s a city in the clouds. literally. the elevation is about 14000 feet. so in the alto region you are level if not above big puffy white clouds. other impressions...la paz is a pretty poor city. and very bare, since it´s so high. they don´t clean the streets, huge buses crawl through tiny streets, and people are going about their normal day. o and its pretty chilly. there are so many houses fitted into this bowl shaped town, and many of them are rundown buildings. the roofs are all covered in tin shingles. but the culture is great. the best thing ive seen so far are the cholitas. they are these old women who wear colorful shawls and bright full flowy skirts. but the best artical of clothing is the bowler hats they all wear. they are tall wide hats that are placed delicately on their heads. this wardrobe just speaks culture. it´s a symbol of their status here. apparently the french brought these hats over back in the day and it carried on here. they are pretty expensive, so you know if these ladies are wearing them they are pretty well off. i´m exhausted though, and i´m going to try to get some sleep before we go explore the witch markets where they sell llama fetuses and such. i just wanted to get everybody started on some reading. ill write again soon! especially because the internet here is free.