The End

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” - Pat Conroy


So this chapter has come to an end. In short, the trip was my dream of six years fulfilled. Through the ups and downs, victories and injuries, it was incredible. I have changed in ways I don't yet fully know and I have learned and seen things that only a few people can understand. I will miss being understood by people doing something similar to me, meeting people from all over the world and being able to talk about our experiences tubing in Vang Vien, the salt flats in Bolivia, riding camels in Egypt, or hiking that Franz Joseph glacier in New Zealand. Talking about that amazing restaurant or hostel or experience. On average most of the people I encountered were traveling for about six months, around my age, and just living their life to travel and see everything. Hostels are wonderful places. All you do is meet people from all over the world that are just like you, traveling with a backpack just trying to see the world and have a great time all the while doing it on a budget. Traveling alone was a challenge but also a wonderful thing for me. You are forced to reach out and meet people, learning about all them and spending hours with people you only met that day. Most hostels in South America were equipped with bars, internet, kitchens, tv rooms, and a very friendly environment. Although traveling alone is not something I had planned or really wanted to do I was grateful I did it.

I will miss my backpack and not having to think about what to wear that day and simple life free of possessions, cell phones (the iPhone, really?!?!), and anything material. I will miss waking up in a new city full of possibilities, great people to meet, new places to see, and new food to try. It was magical, the life of a backpacker, my life on the road. My list of places to see is longer then the list when I left, there is so much of the world left to see and I want to see it all. Next on the list is South Africa and Central America.

To answer the question on everyone's mind- Favorite country? Obviously I went to too many countries (29 countries in 370 days) to pick an absolute favorite so here are the tops. I loved Argentina: the culture, the people, the food and wine, the beauty, and the nightlife. Argentina has it all and they do it quite well. Other favorites were countries that I was surprised by - the generosity of the people, the untouched beauty of the landscape, the culture still evident in even the bustiest of cities. Cambodia had the majestic Angkor Wat Temples and to the beautiful beaches. Laos had the innocent curiosity of the people, that amazing three day trek to the small villages surrounding Luang Probang, and then the madness of tubing in Vang Vien. The kindness of the people of Jordan dissolved all stereotypes and seeing Petra, the city built into the mountain, and floating in the Dead Sea. Every turn of the road in New Zealand brought another breath taking view and the thrill of a glacier climbing at Franz Joseph. Bolivia provided me with the athletic achievement of hiking to Machu Picchu, climbing a 6,088 meter mountain on Huyana Potosi and wonderment of those incredible salt flats.

At this time I have been home about two months. It hasn't been as hard as I though it would be to assimilate back into this world. While cell phones still sit on tables during dinner and material focuses are everywhere I think I had prepared myself for that. While home I have been able to catch up with friends (many of which were loyal followers of this blog, thank you for that), spend time with family and my dog, Cheyenne, job search, and I created and finished six, count them, six photo albums. A couple weeks ago I got a job up in San Francisco and will be moving up there at the beginning of October to start life over again. I am back in online advertising working for an ad agency up in SF working on the Virgin America account. I am excited about it and do think it will be a good fit for me. It will be different this time and it will be time to come up with another dream. I will always be a traveler and the travel bug will never be gone, but I think I am OK with that. I could not be more grateful for my experiences and the support my parents and friends provided me during my travels. Yes there were hardships, sometimes I was homesick during the holidays or lonely while traveling alone but overall it was wonderful and I couldn't have asked for anything more. I wouldn't have done it any other way. I am so lucky and truly blessed. It was the best of times.

The End.

The Home Stretch

During the last month of the trip I think I was always grieving that it was coming to an end. The trip had been my dream - I lived it and now it was almost over. For the final stretch I went down to the biggest city in Brazil of São Paulo to see a friend, Flavio, that I had met while in Chile. I had heard that São Paulo was just a big city and wasn't really worth the visit, but since I had a local to show me around I enjoyed my time there. São Paulo is the most imortaint financial center in South America and is the most populous city in the southern hemisphere. Flavio and I checked out a local market in one of the city squares where I bought a few gifts to take home. We also went around to see some of the city sights- Bandeirantes monument and the Metropolitan Sé Cathedral- and we went to a traditional Churrasio place, definitely locals only. Now São Paulo is a huge party city filled with people from all over the world. We went out with some of Flavio's friends to a bar/club on a Sunday night at 6pm and it was so packed you could hardly move.I then headed down south to Florinopolis to get in some more beach time before I headed home (granted home is gorgeous San Diego). Again I stayed at a wonderful hostel right near the beach with another amazing dog. I met a couple girls from Texas who I joined in sandboarding that day and going to one of the local beaches. We met a dog while sandboarding and he followed us around for the remainder of the day. The next day a bunch of people from the hostel rented a van and set out to a remote beach for a nice hike to the beach then a great fish lunch on the water. After three days in Florinpolis it was all over... I ended my year adventure by flying out of Rio de Janiero.

Isla of Paradise

One place I had heard all about was Isla Grande. There are two hostels right on the beach that everyone stays at and they are a taste of paradise. Each hostel is always packed with backpackers and each contain BBQ dinners, a bar, dance floor, and live band every night. One thing to know about Brazil is their pluming is very old and no paper products can be flushed. Signs are posted everywhere, but apparently the people staying in our dorm room before us didn't obey. I had met up with the Swedish girls on the Isla and after moving into our room we went downstairs to grab our fresh fish BBQ. While we were eating our toilet overflowed and soaked all the Swedish girls clothes (thankfully my area was spared from the flood). I am talking clothes dripping with toilet water. So the girls had a huge bag of clothes to wash and we got a free BBQ dinner and free drinks, caprinias, for the next couple nights.
There are amazing beaches on the island and the most famous is Lopez Mendez. It takes a two hour hike through the center of the island to get to the other side and this wonderful beach. I was with the two Swedish girls, Sanna and Matis, and Ben and Kate, the two English mates I met in Rio. We enjoyed a glorious day at the beach and took a sunset boat ride back to our hostel. That night the owner of the hostels decided to get a DJ and turned the two packed hostels into a club. While we were there the island had a fair in the main part of town to celebrate the spring harvest festival. There were stalls selling any and all the treats then you could imagine, outdoor bars, live bands and it seemed all the people that lived on the small island were out to party.
We wanted to take advantage of the beautiful day so we grabbed some kayaks and paddled out to explore some of the more remote beaches on the island. While kayaking, Ben decided we needed some music so he set up his iPod speakers on his kayak and we paddled our way jamin' to good tunes. After ansuccessful attempt to find a waterfall we were told about we landed on a small deserted beach nearby what we thought was a hotel. We were all by ourselves and walked up to the hotel to buy a drink when we are told by one of the many workers that this place is not a hotel but a huge house. This resort had five employees running around, a grand buffet spread full of fresh fruit, drinks, and other snacks- where was the owner who lives in this amazing house??! After sometime we suddenly saw a helicopter flying over head and land on the yard of the house. Clearly the owner or the resort had arrived. We watched in awe as a young waiter sprinted out with a tray full of drinks and the owner showed someone around the property, spending about an hour at the place before getting into the helicopter and he was off on his way. Now that is the life for me.

After a couple more days on Isla Grande I was off to the south of Brazil to enjoy my last few days of this trip.

Rio... Rio... Rio...

Rio de Janiero is everything you could hope for- beautiful beaches, beautiful people, a loco nightlife, great culture, and yummy food. I was nervous because I had heard stories about people being mugged while in Rio, but like during all of my travels it just came down to being safe, not carrying anything too valuable on you, and being smart. My photos while in Rio are limited because I simply didn't carry my camera with me all the time- not to the beach and especially not out at night. I stayed at a pretty lively hostel that had a huge bar and provided transportation to some of the attractions and nightlife in Rio. I met some great people while in Rio that I traveled with during most of my time in Brazil. I met Ben and Kate on my way to see Christ Redeemer, which is the immense statue of Christ that overlooks all of Rio. You can honestly see it from everywhere in the city and it is impressive to see it all closeup and personal. I was staying in Copacobana so I was just a quick walk to the beaches, both Copacobana and Ipanema beach. Both beaches are gorgeous, filled with women and men in barely there bathing suits (and it doesn't matter if you have the body or not), and people walking around selling bathing suits, towels, and all types of food.

The other main attractions in Rio are 'The Loaf' which is really named Pao de Azul and you take a tram up to the topis a great place to go see the sunset. There are also the botanical gardens, the Lapa steps, and lots of museums. We went to see a local futbol game- not as crazy as the ones in Argentina- and had a late night swim at the Copacobana Hotel. One important thing to do in Rio is to see the favelas, the slums of Rio. They are shanty towns crowded onto hillsides are units of irregular self-constructed housing that are typically unlicensed and occupied illegally. The poor-quality residences are built randomly, houses on top of houses though a network of stairways and alleyways that you have to squeeze though. Often the favelas are run by drug lords (the one who ran this one was 21 yrs old) who make millions of dollars which they use to pay off the cops so they don't raid the towns. 60% of the people in Rio live well below the poverty line. I feel it is important to see this side of Rio and get outside the tourist, wealthy areas of the city to see how most of the people live.

In Brazil on the street corners there are often fresh fruit smoothies and pastries grab and go stores. Acai is the fruit smoothie that all the locals get; it is chalkfull with tons of vitamins and protein and is a deep purple color. It is delicious (especially with granola, banana slices, and honey) and I think I got one everyday while in Brazil- it is going to be the next big thing. Additionally there are lots of Brazilian BBQ/steak places, called churrasios, where you sit at the restaurant and people walk around with meat on sticks. Additionally there are stalls with kebabs, corn on the cob, and churros filled with chocolate - covering all your basic food groups.

OK, lets get to the nightlife. Friday night is the lapa street party which is basically three streets packed with people. The streets are lined with stalls selling kebabs, women with trays full of tequila shots, bar stands that can make you any drink you desire- caipirinha is the traditional drink in Brazil, and lots and lots of people. There is an awesome drum band that plays under the bridge located at the end of one of the street. In addition to the street party there are lots of clubs that line the street offering you a place to party when the street gets too packed. Saturday night we wanted to go see how the locals party so we went to Casa Rosa, a Lapa club/bar located in a renovated house. One room had a live Brazilian band, another room had a DJ playing all the hot hits. When we arrived we noticed that in the court yard there was a mechanical bull and everyone was dressed up like farmers. After some investigation we learned that people were dressed up for the spring harvest festival- the time of year that farmers harvest crops. Anyway we had a great time mingling with all the locals, dancing some salsa, and yes I did dabel with the mechanical bull, not one of my finer moments. On Sunday night the Favela Funk Party which is a huge club- we are talking 10,000+ people- dancing samba (a crazy shaking everything you got dance).

And that about wraps up Rio... Rio... Rio...

Guest Blogger: Mom actually makes it to South America!

I was overjoyed to have my mom come and see me during my travels. Not only was it wonderful to live the life of luxury, aka hotel rooms, it was very special to spend some quality time with her since it had been about 10 months since I had been home. She had been worried about me traveling, especially since I had been traveling alone, and it was reassuring for her to see South America and how safe it felt. She got a little taste of my life on the road and that is something that no amount of stories can really convey. She also got to check out a couple hostels I was staying in and meet some of the friends I had made along the way. Needless to say hostels had greatly improved since the 70s when she spent a year backpacking through Europe - yes you can blame my travel bug on her.
So mom has the task of writing this guest blog entry about our time in South America because I can't really be asked to write anymore. The highlights are:
Buenos Aires: city tour with Mariano, La Bomba de Tiempo drum show, tango show and steak dinner at La Cabrera with the Swedish girls
Uruguay: Montevideo, massive steak, and the futbol match
Iguazu Falls: sneaking into Brazil to see the Brazilan side of the falls, the Argentina side, and the Sheraton Luxury

I have a feeling she will never get around to this, but I am putting the pressure on. Stay tuned...

Buenos Dias Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires only further completed my love for Argentina. However I was rather disappointed when I arrived because my mom had planned on meeting me in BA, but days before she was scheduled to leave she discovered an obstruction growing in her trachea which turned out to be scar tissue. She had to have emergency surgery and would not be able to fly out to see me. I had been really excited to explore this new city with her, but she was recovering from her successful surgery at home (FYI: she is completely fine now.) So I was left to tackle BA on my own, starting the first day exploring the Cemeterio de la Recoleta, home to Evita's grave. Then I went to the local markets in Recoleta where there were crafts to buy and some great tango dancers to watch. I walked around the city and just felt at home there, a similar feeling to the one I had in Spain. Next I ventured back to my hostel, Millhouse, where I met a great group of guys - English- that I spent the next several days with. The two Swedish girls, Sanna and Madis, came a met me a day later. The nightlife in BA is intense and the typical evening starts in the hostel bar and then around 2am everyone leaves for the clubs, which close at 6am. Needless to say we had a good time.
On my second day, my two roomies and I, Alex (English) and Jeremy (American) and took off to explore the houses and parks in Palmero, which is the wealthier area of the city. We spent the day at the zoo, parks, drinking mate, and eating empanadas. That night Alex and I went to a lovely local steak place in San Telmo that at 11pm the line was out the door. I got delicious Bife de Chorizo and wine we were all set for another late evening. The next day we went to the famous San Telmo markets which, for all the markets that I have been to- and there have been a lot, it may have been the best. Street after street were filled with stalls selling amazing jewelry, leather goods, and some random things like old clocks or bottles. Even better was all the live music- full bands and single singers, salsa and tango dancers, just made for a great time at the markets. That afternoon we went to see the famous Boca Juniors futbol team play. We had to do some bribery to get into the game after scalping some fake tickets (long story), but we got in and as we entered the stadium we realized we were in the popular section, aka hard core local fans. Although Boca was doing horrible that season the popular section- #12 fan- was full of the real fans who never stopped singing or dancing. The stadium was pretty empty except for our section. It was great to see one of the most famous teams in all of futbol and watch with the true fans, the ones who will support their team even when they are doing badly (San Diego fans should take note of this phenomenon).

Later that same evening I finally got around to checking my email and discovered that my mom had booked a last minute flight to BA and was coming out in two days. She was feeling really great a week after her surgery and was going to come out. I was so excited!

The next day our crew was all geared up to go to a huge futbol match, a semi final game, outside the city for a local team, The Estudiantes vs The Nationals (from Uruguay). Dare I say one of the coolest things I did while traveling was seeing this intense futbol game, it puts even the most dedicated sporting fans to shame. When we all arrived to this big deal game the stadium was electric with noise makers and chanting. We never sat down, stopped dancing or singing the entire game. Flairs, smoke bombs, and fireworks were going off all around us. Sometimes the smoke was so thick it was hard to even see the field and I have no idea how the players could even see the ball. It was just a big party. Because the game mattered so much people were screaming, cheering, booing, and cussing (puta) as they followed the game very closely. Suddenly there was a huge squrimish in the stands and the crowd opened up and we saw a guy literally getting the shit getting kicked out of him. Three huge guys were just kicking him because, as I later discovered, the guy had a flag from another team- a sister team- and that was why he was beat to a pulp. No big deal is what all the locals were saying to me, it happens every big game. Well as the guy was bloody and carried out on a stretcher I thought he probably thought otherwise. Despite the momentary interruption, the game was so much fun and the home team, The Estudiantes won. Even better, the next day my mom was coming....

Patagonia and the Asada

I needed to get at least a taste of Patagonia while I was in Argentina. Because it was winter while I was there, many of the hiking trails down south were closed so I will have to settle for coming back to Argentina sometime and exploring the far south on another next trip. Seeing just a bit of Patagonia would make anyone want to come back and see more.

I first went to the very small town of El Bolston (located in the Lakes District in the northern part of Patagonia) where I heard you could go and stay with families. Staying in hostels is great, but getting the opportunity to stay with a family was an experience I didn't want to pass up. I got to stay with this adorable little family who had two little kids that were so fun and could play with you all day The kids always get so much attention because there are always backpackers staying with the family and that means there is someone new to play with.
At the family home there was another backpacker, Mariano, who I ended up spending the next few days with hiking with. Mariano was born and raised in Buenos Aires so I got to meet up with him again in that city a couple weeks later. We spent our next three days hiking. We hiked up to Pt Panoramico from there to Mirador del Azul and finally to Cabeza del Indio for beautiful views of the Rio Azul. Our next day we went to Lago Puelo and were hiking around and suddenly we sunk into the mud like quicksand. Mariano was stuck in mud up to ankles, which was quite funny to me as an innocent bystander.
One of my highlights of Argentina was going to the family asada party that the family threw for their friends and us backpackers staying with them. Asadas are very typical in Argentina and consists of a lot of meat, asada in this case, lots of wine, and lots of friends and family. The amount of meat that they prepared was immense, but when I asked if there was other food being prepared the answer was, nope just meat and some bread- sorry vegetarians. The meat and chimichurri sauce were so good and there was so much of it that I didn't need much else. It was just a special night to be allowed to participate in such a festive dinner that is so traditional in Argentina.

Next I headed up to Bariloche to meet up with the Swedish girls to do some more hiking. We stayed at a cute hostel with amazing views of Lago Nahuel Huapi surrounded by lofty mountain peaks. I had hoped to do some skiing while I was there because there are great ski resorts, but the snow had not yet come. On our first day we rented bikes to explore the lake areas. We hiked up to Llao Llao point and Lago Moreno Oeste before the huge rain storm began. It was raining so hard and we were almost being blown over by the intense wind. Lucky the guy from the bike rental shop drove by to get us because the storm was so fierce.

We also decided to do a little two day climb, staying at one refugio that was still open at this time of year. After stopping at the very helpful tourist information center we were off on our adventure. We took a bus over to the start of the trail and spent the next two days walking, enjoying nature and the amazing views. As we walked up the mountain it started to snow which made our task much more difficult. We had to abandon mission half way up because of the snow and the fact that we didn't have proper hiking equipment for the snowy weather. We did find a cute refugio near the bottom of the trail and stayed there for the night and headed back to Bariloche the next day.

"This Club Gets Really Good From 7am to 10am"

I headed down to Cordoba with the two Swedish girls, Sanna and Madis, who I ended up traveling with off and on for the next several weeks. Cordoba is known as the cultural center of Argentina and everywhere you go you see signs for tango or salsa lessons, artistic cinemas, or literature readings. There were tons of plazas or parks within the city and there were also lots of people sitting on the grass, drinking their mate and studying. (Herbal mate is the national drink and served in a gourd with a metal straw. Hot water is stored in a thermos and is poured onto the herbs to be drunk. It has a very strong taste, a cross between green tea and coffee). It is also a big university town, seven in total, and the nightlife there represents that spirit. The city was comfortable to be in, not a lot of touristy things to do. It was here that I first saw the real Argentina... from sipping mate in the park, to the yummy pastry shops on every street corner, women and men practicing tango in parks at all hours of the day, clubs that are packed until 6am, and that reggaeton music and dancing.
The girls and I checked out the city, watched some tango, sipped quite a bit of mate, and danced to reggaeton (we loved Daddy Yankee) till all hours of the morning. We took a day trip to do some hiking at nearby waterfalls and saw a local independent film that was probably quite good if we were able to understand all of it. Without the pressures of being a tourist, we were able to take some time and just enjoy the city. They had an amazing local night market filled with independent artists work and we spent a couple hours prusing all the different art pieces available. On Saturday nights in the main plaza locals young and old come out to dance tango. Someone sets up speakers and plays music and the people just dance. I saw little kids dancing, instructors with their students, and elderly couples that you know wait all week to come out on Saturdays and show their stuff. No one is judged, no tourists, just people out having fun dancing the tango. It was beautiful.

We made friends with some people that worked at the hostel and they invited us to their home for a traditional Argentina dinner which was lots of fun. They brought us to lots of local clubs and bars where I was able to practice my spanish, (and they practiced their english), with some universtity students in the area. Now in Cordoba people head out to clubs at 2-3am and those clubs close at 6am, but a whole other group of clubs open at 6 and they are PACKED. It is at one of these clubs that the famous line was uttered to me "Don't worry, this club get really good from 7am to 10am." That says it all. Argentina put Brazil to shame in the way of nightlife.

"She'll Meet Us at the Bar Later"

I think that Argentina was the country I was most looking forward to when starting this journey. And it did not disappoint. I get asked all the time what were my favorite countries and Argentina is always one of the top. I loved the culture, the people, the beauty, the food, the wine, and the nightlife. Argentina had it all and it did it all very well.

My first destination in Argentina was Salta. I was only there for a couple days and enjoyed exploring their outdoor market, watched the Champions League futbol championship game (it is like the Super Bowl except the whole world actually cares), and got my first taste of Argentina meat. For my first meal we made the mistake of looking for a restaurant at 8pm at night, forgetting that restaurants don’t open until around 10pm and don’t get crowded until around 11pm. We had to search out a locals place, whenever you ask someone for a recommendation they always point you to a tourist spot. We finally found one and took a seat for dinner at 9:30pm. We were the only ones in the restaurant. We decided that for my first meal I needed to get a taste of everything and ordered this popular mixed plate. By mixed I mean lots of meat from every part of the cow. True to my word I tried cow stomach, liver, heart, brain, intestine, unidentified something, and blood sausage. We also shared a filet steak and a Bife de Chorizo which became my staple choice for the rest of my time in Argentina.

I decided to go down to Cafayate with a group of three girls, Robyn, Sanna, and Madis, that I had met at the hostel in Salta. The group of us girls- Robyn (from London, also traveling alone), Sanna, and Madis (both from Sweden) had a terrific time together over the next four days. Cafayate is a very cute town consisting of a few quiet streets with restaurants and shops surrounding the main plaza. We stayed in a great hostel that had a huge patio and bonfire area and often served big BBQ dinners for the guests. Our first night there they had a BBQ (served at 11pm) with all you can eat delicious meat, salad, pasta, potatos, etc. We also grabbed a simple 5 liter bottle of wine for consumption. Everyone hung out by the bonfire before it was time to head out to the local salsa bar for the night. Everyone from the hostel set out for the bar, including this dog that I fell in love with, Ameria, and yes the dog came into the bar with us and chilled there like a local. It was at that bar that Madis and I fell in love with the locals drink- Fernet and coke. Fernet is a strong tasting alcohol, sort of but not at all like black licorice, that you will hate upon your first several attempts, but it grows on you.

The next day we were off on a hike to some nearby waterfalls. We are thinking this hike will be a basic 2.5 hour climb, it turns out not to be a hike but more of a rock climbing exhibition- pulling ourselves in and out of rock crevasses, jumping over rivers, and creating our own path because there was no real trail to follow. We actually made it successfully to the waterfall which we were very excited about. On our second day we decided to do some wine tasting and cheese eating. We went to Bodega La Banda where we drank their red and torrencea white wine. Then we went to Cabras de Cafayate which is a goat cheese factory where we saw and learned (OK it was all in Spanish so we didn’t really learn anything) about the goat cheese making world. That night was another BBQ and trip to the salsa bar. To got to the bar we got a ride in a van and mi amor, the dog Ameria, tried to follow us by running after the car. Her owner and the owner of the bar, Carlos, looks at me and says “Don’t worry, Ameria will meet us at the bar later.” Shortly after we get to the bar I see the door kick open and in strolls Ameria and she struts her way onto the dance floor. Blood brilliant.

On our final day we got a car and took off to see the famous Quebrada de Cafayate, which is a highway that goes through an insane rock landscape and formations. The true brilliance of the place were all the colors in the rocks. In one rock you could see layers of seven different colors ranging from a rich red to green to white. There was also an amphitheater where a few musicians were playing music for the tourists. I must say the acoustics were great for a rock formation.

Home Sweet Home

So Mary and I have officially returned home (safely) from our journey around the world. Mary is home in New Jersey. She and Hari are happily together and are planning on making a life for themselves in New York. I am home in San Diego working on photo albums, looking for a job, and catching up with friends. Have no fear, I will be finishing up the blog not only for myself, but for all the blog followers and stalkers out there. I am glad to hear that so many people followed our journey.

So my transition home has been interesting, quite boring, but beneficial nonetheless. I can say that life is not as fun when you are not exploring new cities every three days. It has been great to see all my mates and they all seem to think that I have a British accent which is hilarious, but that is what happens traveling with the English for two months. I had my welcome back party last week (aka an excuse for my dads band to play) so life is moving on.

Stay tuned, the journey on this blog is not finished yet.

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” - Lin Yutang

Fancy a Board of Sand?

My salt flat tour took me right to the border of Chile and many tours allow you to San Pedro, Chile rather then back to Uyuni, Bolivia. I had wanted to see this town so it worked out perfectly to just ‘pop into Chile for a few days’. On my bus to San Pedro I ran into two girls that I met in Chile, Lucy and Laura, and we all decided to room together. San Pedro de Atacama is a cute town of cobble stone streets, little restaurants, and sandboarding. Sandboarding is similar to snowboarding and was something that I had wanted to try for sometime. San Pedro is one of the best places for it. So we rented a bike and a board and headed for Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley). Everyone sandboards down, literally, a huge mountain of sand that is exhausting to climb up, but lots of fun to board down. I was a little hesitant at first, after the whole dislocating my shoulder snowboarding thing a few years ago, but after my first fall I realized that sand was much more forgiving then snow. I had a few mini rolls down the sand mountain and was finding sand for a couple days after (especially the ears), but it was great fun overall. After boarding we grabbed some beers and headed to a beautiful spot to watch the sunset overlooking the Valley de San Pedro.

Because San Pedro is in the middle of a vast desert it has amazing views of the stars. There is a wonderful observatory that conducts tours of the stars at night. The tour started at 10pm and took us out into the middle of the desert where the observatory was located. Our guide was a hilarious French guy making all kind of jokes like how to pick up a girl by talking to her about stars. With his powerful laser pointer he walked us through the galaxy, provided us with history and pointed out various stars explaining how many light years away they were, etc. Stars and the universe are quite amazing. The observatory had about 8 high powered telescopes that were focused on certain stars, star clusters, the southern cross, a star that is red in color, and different consolations. One of the telescopes was focused at Saturn and it was remarkable how clear it looked with its rings.

Salty

One of the most incredible things I saw during my travels were the salt flats outside of Uyuni, Bolivia. There is no way to properly describe this pure white lake of salt and the salt formations on it. And it is SALT!?!? The way to see the salt flats is with a tour where the 4 wheel jeep, driver, food, and logging are all provided. I booked a four day, three night trip with the three English people I had met, James, Kyle, and Katherine and we were off. There were two other people in our group from London, Jane and Carlos. Our driver skillfully drove us across this gigantic lake of salt, stopping along to way to see a train cemetery and some of the salt mounds that are used for exporting. It is estimated that the salt flats contain about 10 billion tons of salt. The huge lake, Salar de Uyuni, is the worlds largest salt flat measuring 4,085 sq miles and it was a lake that dried up 40,000 years ago leaving behind the salt. The white lake goes on forever surrounded by mountains and desert terrain. We arrived at our salt hotel, yes the walls are made of salt bricks, and were able to go onto the flats and take some of the crazy optical illusion pictures that are so famous here (ie. jumping shots, walking into the Pringles can, holding people on your hand, etc). We also enjoyed the sunset. I don’t know that I will ever see anything like the sun setting on a bed of salt, glorious. That night we learned of a crazy stalker obsession that Jane once had for Michael Jackson (this is before he died). She would follow him everywhere, sleep outside his house, bribe her way backstage at concerts, hide in bathrooms, the list goes on. Needless to say, none of us could really top that one.
On day 2, we got up for an amazing sunrise of bright orange, purple and reds. Later we climbed up Volcano de Tunupa for an overall view of the lake. Then we were back in the jeep heading for Isla de Pescado, a random island in the middle of the salt lake filled with cactus. After a few more photo stops and a lame trip to the Galaxy Cavern we left the actual Salar de Uyuni lake and arrived at our salt hotel (this time even the bed frame and tables were made of salt bricks).
Day 3, we started to head south to see all the lagoons and mountains in this desert. At this time the road got really rough and several times we had to get out of the jeep so that it could get through safely. We got one flat tire on our first day and another one on our last day. Luckily our driver was used to getting flats and he was able to change them both quickly. It was a beautiful drive, stopping at different rock formations, lakes, and volcanoes along the way. At Laguna Ramaditas we saw wild flamingos, but there were not pink because there was no shrimp to eat.

Now, Jane and Carlos would take 100+ photos at every stop we made and by the end of the day (after we saw famous standing rock formation Arbol de Piedra), we were among the last groups of jeeps- there are 50 or more companies that conduct the same salt tour. The drive is very tough on the cars and the maintenance they get is questionable, remember Bolivia. Suddenly during the last hour of the day on the way to our lodging, our jeep dies and our driver cannot figure out how to fix it. A jeep passes, stops, and the drivers determine that it is an electrical problem, one that our driver cannot fix. Supposedly this jeep driver is going to drive his group to their hotel, get a car electrician, and drive back to us. Estimated time, 1 hour. Well one hour turns into two and although we are in a desert terrain, we are at an elevation of 4,260m. It is getting very very cold and the sun is setting. At night it will be below freezing in temperature. We have no way to communicate with the driver that went for help, remember Bolivia, so we need to face the fact that the other driver is not coming for us. It is a two hour walk into town and our driver says he is going to have to walk to town and dresses in some cold weather mechanic suit and is off. So we get our sleeping bags out for warmth and any snacks we might have left because it could be 3 or 4 hours before we are rescued. After about 30 min we see jeep lights and our driver is running down the hill towards up. We are saved!!! With the electrician our car is fixed in 10 min and we are driving towards our hotel, thankful we were alive- OK, it wasn’t that serious, but we were happy we had been rescued.

After a bitter cold night, I slept with 7 blankets on and was still cold, we set out on day 4. We drove to the geysers where we saw one huge geyser, it was great because it was blasting hot air, and the geyser basin where there were lots of bubbling baby geysers. From there we went to the thermal hot springs which was heaven after one endured the change from warm clothes to swimsuit to pool transition. It was so nice in the pool, but once you got out you froze in seconds. Even my bathing suit that I set on a rock while changing froze to the rock in minutes. Our last stops of the day were to see Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca. Then I was off and on the road again, quick stop into Chile for a few days before finally making it to Argentina.

A Miners Life

The hostel you stay in and the people you meet make a huge difference in how much you enjoy your time in a place, especially if you are traveling alone. And I stayed at a great place in Potosi, my next stop after leaving Sucre. When I arrived in Potosi there was a huge parade going on (still not sure why) so a bunch of us headed out to take in the scene. Elementary to high school age kids were all dressed up in different costumes either dancing or playing in a band. Some of these costumes the kids had on were out of this world with the sparkle and flair. That night we all decide to search out a real locals place, back alley style (meaning as soon as we walked in every patron in the place stopped eating and just watched us). We ate steak, rice and salad for less then a dollar. The food wasn’t that bad and there was no food poising that followed; a successful mission in my world.

Potosi is a mining town and most of the inhabitants work in the silver mines which has been a big source of income for the Bolivians since the early 1500s. Back then, the Spanish controlled the mines and its workers by making them work 45 hr days, using their dependence on the coca leaf against them. (Note: The coca leaf has been of immense importance in Bolivia since its existence and is fascinating to learn about- Wikipedia it). I decided to go on one of the tours that take you into the live working mines where you can see the miners and the conditions they must work in. After getting suited up in our mining attire, our first stop on the tour was to buy gifts for the miners- coca leaves, soda, and dynamite. Today the miners average 8 to 10 hour days inside the mines and cannot eat in there, the coca leaves help provide vitamins and energy to the miners.

We then entered The Candelaria Mines, one of the many mines in Potosi. Once inside you can see how dangerous the mining here is, crappy logs hold up the mine walls and without any technology just ‘general knowledge’ on how to mine along the mineral lines, sections are blown up with dynamite. The miners work in teams and there is a leader that directs the miners were to dig or what section to blow up. Every team works for themselves and gets paid not by hours but by the amount of minerals and silver they find. Realistically there are no strict regulations on the hours the miners work or the age they start. Inside the mine we met one man who works with his son, age 13. I asked him why his son was not in school and he said that in school his son doesn’t make money for the family, but in the mine he does. We crawled, slid, and shimmied our way down to the fourth level of the mine, there are about 10 levels in total. We were about 75m under ground and the conditions were horrible, with so much dust and whatever else was in the air made it was painful to breathe (most miners die at a young age from lung cancer). We presented our gifts to some of the miners we met and I realized how little it really was. One outside in the fresh air we were able to light one of the pieces of dynamite that we purchased, yes I got to hold the dynamite with the lighted fuse before our mining guide ran out into the field for it to explode.

Pour Some Sucre On Me

After completing Huayna Potosi I got sick and my body needed a break from the high altitude. So I took a bus to the cute little city of Sucre, in the southern part of Bolivia. The city is actually the capital of Bolivia and celebrations were in full swing because it was the month of May and the 200th anniversary of their independence, 25 de Mayo. To celebrate there was a concert in the main plaza every night in May. There were many lovely plazas in the city and they were always filled with people and families just enjoying the day or the concerts at night. And I found it very interesting that during the concerts it seemed everyone was eating candy, but I didn’t see anyone drinking a beer or alcohol of any kind.

The city feels like a small bussing town with a wonderful fresh fruit and veggie market (if you can avoid the slaughterhouse section) and lots of small stalls line the street with people selling jewelry or other household goods. There are an abundance of chocolate, ice cream, and candy stores, law offices and universities… and the next most popular type of shop, dentists. At least they know the importance of dental hygiene.

On the last night I was in the town there was a huge free concert located in a large field outside the city. The most famous Bolivian band, The Caporales, was playing. And people from all around Sucre turned out, I would estimate over 15,000 people, to see this band play. They played traditional Bolivian music and had great cultural dancers joining them onstage. The crowd sang every word to every song and might have been louder then the band themselves. It was an amazing experience not just to see the band but to see the joy on the faces of the local people listening to them.

The Worlds Most Dangerous Road

We arrived in La Paz for the final leg of our GAP Adventure and I was sad to say good-bye to the group I had spent the last two weeks with. We had a big good-bye dinner that night. We were the only people staying in our hotel, so the whole group came back and we played card games (those Aussies have some strange ones) into the early morning. Additionally Mary was very excited because she was reunited with Hari that day when we arrived in La Paz. After La Paz Mary and Hari continued their travels north and I went south.

The next day it was off again to the world of hostels and eight person dorm rooms. Luckily many people in our group were going to be staying in La Paz for a few days and we all went to the same place. At first La Paz struck me as a very congested and crowded city, but over my week stay I learned to love it. It is a city full of life. There are loads of great markets- the witches market selling remedies or spells to everything that might ale you, the black market where you can find many illegal things to buy, and the general street markets selling llama gear and jewelry. Plus La Paz is very very cheap.

One thing we really wanted to do was bike ‘The Worlds Most Dangerous Road’. There are many companies that offer the service, but we went with the safest one, Gravity. The company drove us up to the start of the road. At the top we received our bikes, which are valued at around $3,000 usd and are the top of the line for mountain bikes, and an orientation on the road and what we could expect during our ride. The bike ride down took about 6 hours to complete, allowing us a couple stops for pictures or snacks. We had an instructor with us that gave us warnings about an upcoming section of the road. We also had a van following us taking photos and there to help if anything should happen on the trip. Now this road is very dangerous and going off the road most likely means death as most of the drops are around 1,000m. Although it was fun, I never took my eye off the road and never forgot that this road was not something to take lightly. We celebrated our safe landing with some beers and a bottle of rum for our drive back into La Paz. A few days after our ride we found out that someone who was riding with another company did go off the road and did not survive.

Just Living on Floating Reeds

From Cuzco we went to Puno, a city known for its traditional dances and their wooden flute instruments. There are over 100 different cultural dances and each of them have their own costumes. That night we enjoyed a show and I finally got to try ginny pig. It is a delicacy in Peru, but I wasn’t impressed by the lack of meat and how scary the thing looked when it was served.

That next day we headed to Lake Titicaca which is the highest lake in the world at 2,000m. Now on the lake there are floating islands made of floating reed. Yes the island, the homes, and we even saw some boats, were all make of reed. We went to visit one village of the Uros people. They began their existence on the islands to isolate themselves from the Colla and Inca Tribes centuries ago. About 300 people live on the island, but people are always moving off to live on the mainland, Puno. All the village people were wearing their traditional outfits which they let us try on, and they discussed their life living on reed. I love this part, when someone decides they want to move off the island, all they have to do is cut the reed around their house and float away to another village. Also, if someone doesn’t like you it is possible to wake up and your home has been cut off the island. Excellent example of conflict resolution.

From there we went to Taquile Island which was a proper island aka. made of land and dirt. It was a beautiful day and there happened to be a big festival that day. All the villagers were dressed in these impressive band costumes (some of the outfits cost more then the persons actual home), ready to compete in a day of music and dancing. Beer was flowing at the celebrations while groups would have a ‘band off’ and compete against each other with their costumes, band skills, and dancing. It was great fun just to watch and take in the local lives and festivals of these people.

Walking like an Inca to Machu Picchu

The group arrived in Cuzco which is a beautiful colonial town with cobble stone streets and a very lively atmosphere. Most people will come to Cuzco to help them acclimate to the altitude before they embark on the Inca Trail, so there are lots of backpackers around the town. Coca leaves and coca tea are something that really helps with the altitude and we were frequent followers of ‘packing a chew’ during our trip. It is rather cold up at the altitude and there are lots of people selling alpaca and lama scarves, gloves, and sweaters. We stayed in Cuzco for a day to adjust to the altitude and to see the Scared Valley of the Incas. It is a lush green region that supplies produce to Cuzco. We do some hiking and you can really feel the altitude as we would get out of breath going up even the smallest hills. We also stopped at Ollantayambo, which is a fortress strategically situated over the valley helping the Incas guard the village. This was the first taste we got of the amazing planning and engineering that the Incas were capable of. Looking at the huge boulders that created the fortress, it was hard to believe that the Incas were able to get them from the mountain side to this area. We would be more impressed with the Incas as our adventure continued.

Early the next morning we began the four day hike on the Inca Trail that would lead us to Machu Picchu. We each had one duffel bag containing our clothes and toiletries for the next four days. There were ten of us in the group and we had 14 porters, 2 chefs, and one guide traveling with us. Our oldest porter was 55 years old and had been a porter for about 30 years. These porters would carry our bags, all our food, tents, tables, and everything else we would need on their backs. One porter was even responsible for carrying the propane tank on his back. Each day they would wake us up with breakfast prepared. We would head out on the trail and they would pack up our tents and run by us on the trail carrying all OUR stuff on their backs. When we arrive for the spot for lunch, it would already be prepared and waiting (and the food was yummy and there was lots of it). The same thing would happen in the evening, but our tents would be setup and snacks would be waiting for us before dinner was served. These men were our heros.

On our first day walking the Trail we were at an altitude of about 2,500m. All along the Inca trail we would walk by Inca ruins (destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors). On our first day we saw the ruins Llactapata and Wallabamba (the place where we camped our first night). When we thought there could not possible be any more stairs there always were. The trail was so tough because we were going up and down mountains at such a high altitude. The second day was one of the hardest because of Dead Woman Pass, it is called that because the side of the mountain looks like a woman. The Pass was at an altitude of 4,215m and was painful to get up. It was very hard to breathe, but at the same time amazing because you were struggling with all these people who felt the same way, pushing themselves with the same goal in mind, Machu Picchu. Mary and I did a little extra climbing at the top of the Pass, climbing the ‘boob’ as we referred to it. We also got to see Andrew's naked pose, which we would not be the last time we would see that naked bum shot. On the third day, the longest one walking 16k, we walked by several Inca ruins, some of them served as villages and others as fortresses. All of them were very impressive with the stone work and the sheer size of the boulders. We walked Runkuraqay Pass which was a beautiful stretch of jungle. Our last night was very cold because we were sleeping at 3,000m. We woke up at 4am to start our trek to Machu Picchu. We had a quick 2 hour hike to the Sun Gate that overlooks the peaks that surround Machu Picchu. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy and we couldn’t see much, but luckily the fog cleared later that morning.

Finally after four days we arrived at our destination… Machu Picchu. And it is truly an amazing archeological site. The site was not “discovered” until H. Bingham in 1911 put it on the map for all the world to see. There is not much known about the Village because it was never discovered (or destroyed) by the Spaniards. In the village there were areas where agriculture was grown, areas of prayer, temples, staircases, windows, and sections for the rich and sections for the poorer people. There was a sundial that counted the passing seasons and gutters to collect the rain water to distribute it throughout the village. There was also a sacred rock that if you hold your hand over you can feel heat come off it. We spent several hours just walking around this wonder.

From there we took a train back to Cuzco, although we were tired we had to accept the ’24 Hour Challenge’ which meant that we all had to stay up until 4am that night. Luckily, Cuzco has an amazing nightlife with lots of clubs and we partied until the early hours of the morning.