driving away from the sun

COSTA RICA

i forgot to add this, it´s a pava negra or black jungle turkey that we found in costa rica at volcan poas. there was a pair of them jumping around in the canopy.

Black Jungle Turkey

PERU

ok then, so after the massive hiking, we went to machu picchu. we were there the day before it was voted one of the new 7 wonders. we got there at dawn and hung out all day. it really is an impressive city. the masonry of the Inca is so intricate.

Machu Picchu - One of the New 7 Wonders of the World

the peak in the background above is called Waynapicchu. so I climbed it with our irish friends. the stairs and trail up were treacherous and awesome. so was the view. that bit of green land to the left is Machu Picchu

Waynapicchu - 800 ft above Machu Picchu




Some spiritual group. We thought they might jump


There´s tons of these falcons everywhere.


Attemped road blocks in Peru. Apparently there was some sort of political or bus or teacher´s strike that resulted in the highway being covered in boulders for several miles. Thats when we decided to leave and go to Bolivia. That and the fact that the border was closing for a few days due to said strikes.

BOLIVIA

We headed from Peru south to Bolivia. On the road down, several local vendors and kids would get on and off the bus to sell stuff. this one lady got on with a huge bag. We thought she was just another passenger. Then she plopped her bag on the armrests in the aisle and started hacking at something inside. After a while, she lifted her butcher knife along with a piece of bone and flesh. She was selling pieces of an entire grilled sheep´s body that lay in the bag. I was almost hungry.


Lake Titicaca - 12500ft

So past Lake Titicaca on to La Paz - Bolivia. We met these two British friends, Tom and Gabby, and travelled with them a while.

British friends


Wild flamingos

Bolivia, by the way, is freaking cold.

At the Salar in Uyuni Bolivia, we took the obligatory crazy salt flat pictures. The salt flat is so huge. It is the world´s largest salt flat weighing in at about 4050 sqaure miles.

mmm...Andrea


She was too clever

ARGENTINA

several overnight buses later, we said bye to gabby and tom and traversed all the way across Argentina...all the way to Iguazu Falls. another massive natural wonder.

Iguazu Falls



we took a boat adventure underneath the falls and down the rapids. you can see the little boat in the picture. thats not us though because during our turn, we were underwater.

Boat adventure

these guys are all over iguazu

Coatie - a long nosed raccoon relative

in the town of Puerto Iguazu, we were on the borders of three countries, argentina, brazil, and paraguay

Brazil off to the right, Paraguay above, and Argentina at my feet

Now we are hanging out in Buenos Aires. We head for South Africa in a few days.

the land of many bananas

COSTA RICA

Costa Rica was the first stop. san jose was kinda sketchy so we left the city for some volcanoes. Volcan Poas was semi-active and sulphur smelly. But Volcan Arenal is quite active. Only lots of lava spewing equals lots of steamy clouds as seen below. But dont worry, the lava is up there.


volcan poas


volcan arenal

it was awesome to finally be in a tropical rainforest. saw wild monkeys, jungle turkeys, lizards, and snakes.


howler monkey







i did a bit of zip-lining in the Monteverde cloud forest. The longest line was 600m at 300m above the forest floor




went to the beach on the pacific coast. here i drank coconut milk and donated my watch to poseidon.

its fun practicing my spanish but andrea is doing most of the speaking. i´m stuck using few verbs and all present tense. my favorite food here has been platanos. there are fried plantanes and they are delicious. they are also very delicious.

PERU

We went to the airport to say goodbye to costa rica and were denied. there was apparently a huge storm in peru the day before and all the flight were delayed a day. so the result after many toiling hours was:
1. free room in San Jose
2. free room in Lima
3. flight vouchers to use with United airlines
4. we had to buy a flight to Cusco, Peru from Lima



our hotel in lima was awesome. there was a giant atrium right out the front door that happened to be hosting a boxing match the night we were there.

we flew to Cusco the next day. there was a guy from the tour agency that was holding a sign with our names on it. i´ve never had that happen before. the next day we began our inca hike. it was on the Lares trek through the Andes. its a bit steeper and less touristy than the Inca trail.


here is the start

we hiked with an irish couple on their homeymoon. we went up to about 14000ft from 11500ft (Reno is about 4500ft). Andrea got chased by fighting llamas. it was funny.


Silver Cross Glacier

14000ft