maybe a FLAMINGO ate ´yo baby!

This is the gang at the valley of the moon.




Sorry about the abrupt ending to our last blog post. We are officially out of Bolivia and in Argentina now. Things got...weird in Bolivia and we are glad to be further south.

After Sorata we went to Coroico with Emma and Danny. We went jungle camping near the rio and it was awesome. We had another BBQ and went night swimming! Coroico was filled with hippies, it is a hub for open-hearted travelers. The only jungle animal we encountered was a giant jungle rat. gross.

After this adventure we went back to La Paz to return the car...finally. Don´t mind that beer can under the driver´s seat mister car rental man. ooops, BOOZE CRUUISE! We went to MEGACENTER a.k.a the mall and saw AVATAR in 3-D because Lindsey had never seen it. And get this...in Bolivia...you can smoke in the mall. Whoa, that´s weird and crazy. On our way out the movie it was super late, dark and scary out there. We waited for a taxi but then this crazy chica ran out into the street and stole the taxi that we had just flagged down! what a bitch!!!

The next day we said goodbye to Danny and Emma and caught a bus to Copacabana, the Bolivian side of Lago Titicaca. We booked ferry ride to go to Isla del Sol for the next day. The boat ride was soley transportation so we paid a local guide on the island to show us the sites. It was very beautiful, but it was raining the entire morning. BUT! we bought awesome cheap ponchos the last minute. Pink, blue and yellow. We looked like easter eggs. It was awesome. When we were boarding the boat to see the south side of the island, the boat got stuck...in the mud...we had to get off and our boat left an hour late so we basically had a half hour on the south side of the island. Just enough time to pee. Our boat "captain" didn´t know how to park the boat!!!! some other dude had to jump ship and help him park the damn thing. Now we can see why Titi- is for peru and Caca- is for bolivia. The saying doesn´t lie.

After our lago tour we headed back to La Paz and then headed to Cochabamba. This is when things started to get verrrry interesting...

Cochabamba has the following-
-giant jesus statue
-numerous museums that are overrated, except for the archeological museum that exhibited mummies and sweet alien skulls.
-bowling alley...haha bolivians can´t bowl
-scary, very, unbelievably scary market area and happens to be the location to buy a bus ticket to TOROTORO where you can see dino footprints. The taxi driver was a major asshole who basically kicked us to the curb. Luckily, we headed in the right direction which led us to stalls of mediocre to cute second-hand clothes. Morale boost!
-We also went to a swanky, italian restaurant where the waiter puts the napkin on your lap for you. We were underdressed-lil too smelly for the joint. However, we did enjoy going balls-to-the-wall and having a fancy meal. The waiter also looked very confused when we were sharing our entrees.
-Cable TV in the bedrooms where we caught some American Idol try outs.

Enough of Cochabamba...we will never go back there...except we were forced to after going to ToroToro to check out the footprints. It was one of the high-lights of our bolivian trip! We were actually excavating footprints as we went on our hike. The town was as small as some of the jungle towns we went to in Peru. We would say under 1,000 people. Most people go there to check out the canyon mirador and waterfalls and caves. But we had a different agenda. We just wanted to see some DINO FOOTPRINTS! No one else seemed excited about them and most people in town couldn´t believe that was why we came to ToroToro. But seriously, there are over 4,000 footprints scattered over the ground we were walking on. You know that in the USA it would never be this way, you would never be able to touch them. We actually dug them out and blew the dust away to be amazed at the site of Carivore footprints, like raptors, Sauropods, like brontosaurus (long necks) and Anklyosaurus footprints. It´s kind of sad because the national park doesn´t have enough funding to protect them from the elements or robbers who steal fossils and prints. However, our guide told us that there are soooo many that when it rains some disappear and new ones always emerge. WHOA CRAZY AWESOME! Also, the bus that we took there was kinda ghetto BUT it had a Jurassic Park logo on the side and back of the bus.

We thought that we could get to Sucre from ToroToro, but that was impossible. Sad, so we had to go all the way back to Cochabamaba. We went to Sucre for a day, Potosi for a day and then we went to Uyuni.

So in Uyuni we got in to town late at night and had to wander a little to find the hostel we had a reservation at. The taxi driver refused to take us and used his wacky arm motions to tell us how to get to our hostel. The hostel was a labrinyth building. At 2 a.m. the receptionist offered us a tour for the next day that left at 10.30 a.m. and we had to confirm by 8. So we did!!! After our small nap we hopped in a jeep with 3 aussies and roadtripped for 3 days. Our driver was a major asshole. We don´t know what was up his butt, he clearly hated his job and had no interest in us whatsoever...but anyways...

The aussies made it worthwhile. Their names were Alex, Josephine and Patrick. They were real fun, our age and taught us new rules for Uno, Bullshit, etc.


The tour included-
-visiting the salt ocean.
-cactus island
-salt hotels with sweet sculptures
-crazy desert rocks that were GIGANTE!
-variety of lagunas
-wild FLAMINGOS
-awesome mountain ranges, beautiful landscapes all around
-geysers
-sunrise dip in a thermal bath
-good food, but horrible stomach reactions
-rockin´80s mix in the car
-endless games of UNO and bullshit...lots of drinking and story telling
-speaking in accents

By the end of the tour we were all pretty beat. It was one of the best parts of Bolivia. We were happy to meet friendly people who were nice to us, even though they were aussies. We were happy to meet blokes and sheilas from down unda´!
However, when we got back to Uyuni the train was cancelled due to rain. So we booked a shady bus to Villazon. We had to spend the day playing cards, Jimmy 500, and avoiding this bitchy lady who was just horrible all around. She hated that people were relaxing in the shade, that she claimed to own, outside her restaurant that said it was open but she yelled that it was CLOSED! to any hungry person who walked in. We also were worrying about all of our buttstorm situation...we had to dip into hannah´s immodium stash. We made it to Argentina though!!! We also had to wait, just WAIT for the river outside of Uyuni, to dry up for 4 hours...seriously just build a bridge already!!!

We made it to Salta and it´s refreshing to be somewhere where the sun shines and you can paddleboat. People are friendly here and that is refreshing. We´ve been having fun in Salta. We have been eating lots of meat. We cooked mexican food last night, quesadillas y guac y arroz. It was tasty! Today we went paddleboating, bought some shoes and shades. Lindsey just left to go back to BsAs. Sad face! We will reunite with her before we know it.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Iguazu to see some awesome WATERFALLS! We are taking a baller-swank-whiskey included-bus. Hannah has a fear of being stranded in the middle of nowhere again, like last time. Also it is a 23 hour ride...of SWANK TIME!

Renting a Car in Bolivia = BALLER

So it´s been a coon´s age since we updated...we know...because we have been having WAYYYY too much fun in a new country. We met up with Lindsey and her two best friends from Buenos Aires, Danny y Emma, in La Paz on the 6th of January 2010! Danny is from Bolivia so he wanted to show us some sweet places in and around La Paz. Which included the following:

-Hard Rock Discoteca- this night started at a local dive bar. we drank about 30 lt. of beer, played some of circle of death, met some crazy old men, met Alejandro who is Danny´s friend from Colegio AND who bared a striking resemblance to BRET from Flight of the Conchords...with braces. The night continued, unexpectinly, after dropping Linds off at her hostel, we followed a skipping Danny to the Hard Rock down the street. The rest of the night is a little hazy, but it was filled with colored lights, dancing and trying to carry Danny to the taxi...among other things...

-The following day was off to a rough start. We had plans to rent a car, because that is what you do when you have moneybags, which Danny has and so do we since we are gringas. Renting a car was a bust, but Danny´s dad owns a "cabin" half hour combi ride outside of La Paz. So finally after dusk, after buying 10 lbs. of MEAT!!!!to grill!!! we headed to camp out near the cabin with Emma (short for Emmanuel), Danny and Lindsey. Camping was awesome because the night was mostly filled with drinking, sing-alongs, feeding eachother meat because we had only one knife and hiking in the rough terrain. Landscape similar to Valle de la Luna...basically moon crater, falling rock, falling lindsey, cactus butt.

-The next morning we had MEAT FOR BREAKFAST! cuz that´s what champions eat. We caught a combi back to La Paz and bummed around, played some MASH and then finally rented a CAR. With Emma´s driver´s license, Hannah´s funds, Danny´s sense of direction and Lindsey´s and Marie´s support for the cause this was all a possibilty. We picked up Alejandro to join us on our trechorous journey to Sorata to spend the night in the jungle town. All 6 of us, 4 in back and 2 in front, we made it safely despite all the fog, steep mountain roads and emma´s mediocre driving skills. That night we ate some pizza, drank wine and played cards. We taught the dudes how to play BULLSHIT and SPOONS. Also, we fell asleep listening to michael jackson of all things.

-The next day we did some site seeing in Sorata. We hiked in a cave, it was real hot and sticky in there. We saw the rio, checked the mercado and bought some mangoes. It was a scenic drive back to La Paz during the day, despite being cramped in a car with 6 smelly bodies. good times. We got back to late to return the car, so we just kept it...because we´re ballers.

- the next day we went to the Valle de la Luna, which is inside La Paz. Really awesome landscape that looks like decrepid sand castles, similar to the bad lands. Also, there was Andean energy there eminated from the land...apparently. Then we headed to the Valley of the ghosts.

ok so more happend and we will finish the updates later because we got a night bus to catch! quick! we are headed to Sucre.

p.s. here´s something to remember us by. something about a dictionary?...this song rules so we wanted to remind yáll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMD2TwRvuoU

is there anybody out there??

Christmas in Mollendo


festive plastic people


where i bought the radio!!


mercado en mollendo. chicken. its whats for dinner.


la casa de la señora en marampata. en ruta a Choquequirao.


HAPPY NEW YEARS!! Borrachas.


HOLOGRAM DANCING!


Yaaaaaaaay!


the discoteca en Cotahuasi


Yomara, Wilbont, Marie, and Sonya.


Thermal Baths, Che, y Marie.


Cotahuasi Cañón, y Puente Chayme.


Parque Tingo, en la Picsina con gorritos.

christmas at the beach montage.

okay, folks. today is our last day in peru!!! we are crying. here are some more pictures of the trip, including our new years fiesta. they are the 35mm ones.

see you on the other side of the frontera. besitos grandes.

by the way -- we appreciate comments. it lets us know you are out there. DO IT WE DARE YOU!!!!

Feliz Año Nuevo en RURAL PERÚ!!!!!

So friends and family. We decided not to take the long trip all the way back to Cuzco for New YEars like we originally thought. We decided to check out the OTHER canyon in Arequipa, its the Cañón del Cotahuasi. We had to ask around at a few Tour Agencies for info because none actually take groups out there. Its about a 10 hour, unpaved, bumbyass bus ride outside of Arequipa. We also read in our guidebook that there was a dinosaur footprint SOMEWHERE out there. So we made the gameplan to spend New Years out in the World's Deepest Canyon.


-lovely view of lagoon just outside the one main road of Cotahuasi. it is most beautiful.


-WORLDS...okay REGION´S highest hanging bridge over canyon Cotahuasi. It was super high and creeky. Even though we saw cowboys crossing with their horses, we couldn´t do it. So here´s our shadows.


-view near the tiny town of Alca on our walk to find the thermal baths. pretty terraces and cowboy typa stuff everywhere!


-heyyyy there good lookin´ whatchu got cookin´? seriously, the thermal baths were off the hook. really hot water, rock bottom pool, beautiful view, what more could you want? most people came and went just to bathe but we stayed for a few hours because we love swimming and had never been to such a beautiful hot spring. the hot water helped cure our peeling sunburn. we no longer look like snake people. we have new skin for the new year. also, hannah´s hair was looking better than ever that day. we are looking more 80s everyday.


-marie took this photo on the bumpy bus ride, view of the glacier mountain in the canyon. really pretty sunset. we thought we were taking the bus to go check out the dinosaur footprint, but we were never told when to get off so we ended up BACK in arequipa. no big deal we know the bus station like the back of our hands.

hannah took many photos with her 35mm camera with different color flashes!!! we have yet to go develop them, so we might be able to scan and post some in the near future.

quick story about our new year´s eve celebration...
entonces...we get back to cotahuasi after the thermal baths and find a bodega to buy some beer. the bar is full with dudes drankin´ and eyeballin the only gringas in town. we ask for the beer to go and the friendly, young chica working asks where we are going to drink tonight. we said we were going to drink at our hostel because there wasn´t much happening in the town besides a few bodegas and one music store blasting cumbiya and a few bollywood jams. we did the name introduction thang, her name was Yomara and she invited us to come back to her bodega-restaurant and then we can all go out to the discoteca. our eyes lit up when she told us the town HAD a discoteca. i guess no matter how rural you go, there is always some place to dance.

so we drank our beers in the hostel, played some power hour and then met up with Yomara. she was still gettin´all ready to go dancing and we drank our champagne while we waited for her to close down the place. we met yomara´s amigos- jessica, who worked at our hostel, wilbur, jose, sonia and a few other peeps at the ´´club´´. it only cost 5 soles for both of us to get in. the band started playing. the lead singer was hilarious to watch. dirt floor, outside, everyone sharing and passing around a half liter of beer with a small cup. we danced in a circle for hours and once in a while this crazy 55 year old man would pull one of us aside and do crazy kick and spin moves while laughing his ass off. he was awesome to dance next to. he also bought us so much beer to share with our friends. on the stroke of 12 everyone hugged everyone else and said feliz año nuevo! also, yellow is the color of good luck so everyone threw lil yellow confetti EVERYWHERE. it was all over our heads and in our coats. we stayed out til 5 a.m. and then realized we had drank wayyy to much and needed to go sleep. most people stay out until much later.

the next day we slept in and then ate some lunch with wilbur and then caught our bus. bummer about missing the dinosaur footprint, but hopefully we can see some somewhere else. we are back in arequipa now and meeting up with lindsey in LA PAZ on the 6th. YES! thank god we found a computer that allows us to upload pics.

it feels good to be back in a cake district...seriously there is soooo much cake here and it´s all within a 4 block radius. it rules.

we also went and saw the movie AVATAR before we went to the canyon. GO SEE IT! it rules! we had to go to CINE PLANET located in the mall, which was a trip. they have burger king and pizza hut there. we went all out at the mall. marie bought a sweet tank top with wolves on it. we also bought the ´´combo gigante´´ at the movie. so much popcorn, and no ice in the soda...but i guess that is typical here.

hope you all had a happy holiday. welcome to 2010! it´s the future!