Im off to salar de uyuni for 4 days
wont be able to post
www.wikipedia.org/salardeuyuni

Tons!!!

Ok so here is the quick version

I have spent the last few days in La Paz, Bolivia, Copacobana and Isla del Sol on the most beautiful lake i have ever seen - Lake Titicaca. Yes more beautiful and more clean than Lake Superior. Lake Titicaca is the largest lake by volume in all of South America and sits at 12,500 feet above sea level. Making it very cold. I did of course swim in it as well. Im hoping to still be able to have kids someday. It was as clear as a swimming pool.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_titicaca
Went for a long hike on Isla del Sol yesterday that was longer than expected but had amazing scenery of the lake. There are also Inca ruins on this island
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_titicaca#Isla_del_Sol

before Copacobana i was in La Paz. La Paz was amazing to see but very poluted, to the extreme that i could not breath very well. I did get sick with a cold for a few days but am recovering now. I blame the city of La Paz.

I did go to a WWF style bolivian Wrestling event in La Paz. Which is probably to most random thing ever. Rey Masterio and Scrap Iron Cadastky had thier grandkids there wrestling i think. It was hilarious.





Also went mountain biking in the Bolivian Andes. We were on really nice full suspension KONA mountain bikes. It was amazing and so beautiful. We start in the mountains, sometimes snow peaked, and decend into the Bolivian jungle. At the end of our ride was plenty of beer and food for us. we actually ended at an animal refuge for pets in Bolivia. There were tons of animals there.
Heres the thing, there were monkeys there.
Now my parents know this more than anyone, when i was a kid i loved monkeys so much. When we went to the zoo i would sit and watch the monkeys for hours. I remember begging my dad, begging, please, can we call the zoo and ask them how much the monkeys are. Of course no phone calls were made.
At this refuge i got to hold a couple monkeys.
It was amazing, i giggled like a school child. It kinda tickles when they crawl all over you. I was so happy. Some of the monkeys there were trained to steal things from people, cameras, glasses, watches, money and now their in recovery at this refuge. I have photos of that as well. -soon






I will write more soon and get photos up.

La Paz, Bolivia

OK

I'm in La Paz. This city is crazy and huge. Like really big, almost new york city like with less organization. I got stuck in Puno last night, i was hoping to get to Copacobana which is across the border to Bolivia but missed the bus. Crossing the border sucked, they dont like American in Bolivia and charged me 135 USD. Bullshit, thats robbery. The American government does it to them though. I had lunch in Copocobana today with a guy from New Zealand and a lady from England. It was beautiful out and we could see lake Titicaca. Also they were playing Bob Dylan. It was a great moment. My Tuna sandwich was about 1.80 USD

The bus rides sucked but i'm here now.

Few random things
i saw a lady with a pet monkey, the monkey had a shirt on and was sitting in her lap
I'm pretty sure in Peru they feel the cattle corn stalks. I saw a ton of cattle eating everything but the kernals of corn.
I think they need the corn for other things.
Bolivia is substantialy poorer than Peru. Bolivia is the only 3rd world country in South America. I can see the difference.
I'll get some more photos up soon.

Things are great still

I have met so many travelers and everyone is so nice. These are people that care about the world and people in it. They're hard working and openminded and understanding. Everyone i meet shares food with me and i with them. Even on the bus rides when they cant speak english. This Peruvian man shared his potatos and cheese with me. These situations do give me a little confidence in people.

Bolivia is really cheap.

ok gotta run. The hostal i am in has a microbrewery on site and we get a free beer everynight. and all you can eat pancakes in the morning.
The total cost for the room and all that is less than 8 dollars. Wow

Photos

This is me steering the jungle raft through a lake. We were looking for giant otters but they only come out at night.

photos

These were my friends on the jungle trek. I taught everyone how to play spoons and we had a blast that night. My Grama would be proud.


Machu Picchu

The Jungle is Hot!!

OK
once again i dont have enough time to write about this, I got picked up by our guides for the jungle trip 4 days ago. We took a van for quite a ways and then a motorized canoe up the river a ways. Both vessels were quite sketchy. Every once in a while we had to stop to tighten the wheel nuts on because they weren´t staying tight for some reason. We also crossed a small river in the van. It was really fun. i was soo excited. The roads through the Andes mountains are not good. Gravel roads only big enough for 1 van. We had to stop every time another car came.
I got to see 3 different types of monkey, tons of medicinal plants, over 50 different types of moth\butterfly. tons of insects, spiders. We went white water rafting as well and on a zipline through the canopy of the rainforest.
Also-this is a longer story-i spent the night with some type of Jungle rat that we could not identify. He slept in my room with me. hehe.
All very fun and amazing, exacally what i was looking for. and safe too-
The jungle is soo cool and i wish i could have stayed longer and gone in deeper. I also got lucky because the people in my group were really cool. I had 4 people from switzerland, 2 from Holland and 2 from Russia. We had a great time together.
I am going to Puno next and then to La Paz Bolivia.
Sorry i cant write more or put up more information but there is a 15 min limit on the computers at the hostals.
ok by for now

MACHU PICCHU

Today i saw the amazing ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu. This is a city build in the middle of the Andes on top of a mountain. It was for sure one of the top most amazing things i have ever seen.

Sorry i dont have time to write. Tomorrow i am leaving early for a jungle trek in to the peruvian amazon. i´ll be gone for 4 days. its gonna be crazy fun.

i hiked some mountians in Aguas Calientes yesterday before seeing machu picchu today and they were amazing as well

things are great here
sorry i cant write
i´ll put more later

Machu Picchu

Tomorrow i am taking an early train to Aguas Calientes, which is a small town close to Machu Picchu and staying there for a night and then rising early to see the sun rise over Machu Picchu. It will be amazing. I decided against hiking there because of the altitude and time crunch. I am kind of dissapointed but i am going to do a jungle trekk as well now. instead of only one or the other.
I am now at 10,800 feet above sea level, which is the highest i have ever been i believe. I am climitizing now i think but every time i go up some steps i get out of breath. The air is really thin here. Planes have trouble taking off and need more runway. Its really wierd, i have no energy.
I'll post again after Machu Picchu in a few days.
miss ya all

Cusco

I'm in Peru.
So far everything is really great. I arrived in Lima and got some sleep on both flights. I dont even remember taking off on them. When i got to Lima i was planning on sleeping in the airport and getting a flight to cusco in the morning, but i met an Irish lass that was going to a cheap hostel. So i baught a ticket for cusco in the morn and we shared a cab to the hostel. The owner of the hostel was really really nice. we talked for a while and then hit the hay. The Irish lass just got done with a trip on a motorbike from Colombia to Buenos Aires. She did it on a 125cc bike. Holy shit. now shes doing volunteer work in Pisco a city that had an earthquake wipe them out. Speaking of earthquake there was one the morning before i got here. hehe
anyways
Things are great here there are tons of travelers and people are really nice.
I havent taken any photos yet but will start soon. I have not had one chance to really relax yet. I have a feeling thats how its going to be until i get to Buenos Aires.

This evening i had a traditional Peruvian dinner which consisted of Alpaca, which is llama, rice, potatos, tomatoes and onions. Llama is not too bad but pretty tough. Kind of gamey like venison, only in taste though, not in texture.
There are alot of Aussies, Irish and Brits here that i have met. Only a few Americans and thier all from CA.
I also just found out that none of the hostels have heat and most of them dont have hot water. Peru is really something so far.

Few days out

First off-

I just finished a book that i have been reading for about a year now. Its very very dense and packed with information. Its a text book essentially. Written by Jared Diamond the title is "Collapse". I recommend it to anyone that is ambitious. Jared Diamond is a professor at UCLA and world renowned. The main premise of the book is a major study on different societies in our past that have collapsed and all of the different reasons that led them to collapse. Diamond reviews probably 10 or 12 different societies, each unique in their own situation, also including some situations that the society was near collapse and how the pulled through.
anyways -

Last night we had a wonderful dinner at Joan's house and i had a great time. We swam in lake Minnetonka (Oct. 3rd) it was pretty cold. Not unbearable though.
Thanks everyone that came and shared food and good conversation.

I leave on early on Mon. morning which is less than 35 hours away.

Its starting to hit me. I wont see anyone for 6 weeks. Wow.

And i will be in only spanish speaking countries.

I'm really excited.