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!

jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell ROCK

our christmas at the beach was filled with TIDAL Waves of great joy...
here´s a lil christmas/season´s greetings from THE SHORE!


Here's Hannah opening her Christmas presents from Mer. She's got her Isle Taquile elf hat on. Feeling super festive.


Marie and her SUPER AWESOME POCKET RADIO!!!!


This was our Christmas morning spread of Santas, and Gnome, and the presents. NOTE! our little Pink Hamburguesa speaker. ITS AWESOME!

This was Christmas Eve ZUKE BAKE PARTY! Thats an olive in the center. Thats the electric oven our hostel owner Americo let us use. BEST ZUKE BAKE OF OUR LIVES.

Our first day in Mollendo. Hanging at the beach. Not very sunny that day, but we had plenty of sun for Christmas.

We saw a billboard on the side of the road that said ''La Navidad es Jesús'' and it just became our christmas motto. so yeah. that explains that.

white christmas, by hannah

dear santa claus aka papa noel,

Please bring me the original Home Alone, The Prestige, and Caddyshack (NOT DUBBED) on cable. Also, I would like everyone in my family to get GIANT bowls of soup before lunch and dinner, because that's what I will be having. 6 more 6.5 inch x 4 inch moleskine notebooks would really come in handy.

A small, yo-yo shaped, portable, ipod speaker like the israeli dude Adi had in Cuzco would be awesome, too. That way we could give Marie's fashion buds a break and listen to tunes on the beach and while we play cards.

I would like to at least SEE a 1 litro Fanta for once. Just Coca Cola and Inka Kola -- why??

I need more colors for my drawings, pleeeease.

WONDER YEARS BOX SET!

Also, I would like the weirdo boot rot between my toes to heal...A better pocket Spanish dictionary would be a practical gift. I hope that I see another UFO when I meet up with Lindsey because that would be AWESOME!

Please make sure they have Limonada and SALTY POPCORN at the beach.

DELIVERY CHEESE PIZZA!

I hope that Paula and Laila get some pretty yarn to knit more things: fingerpuppets and legwarmers?!?!?!

CHIFLES!

but most importantly, make sure to send Merry Christmas cheer to my new friends: Miguel Marcías, Paola, Demitrio, Irma, and Jefferson on Amantaní, and Rodolfo (the best Guia ever). and of course -- to all my loved ones back home. I wish I was carolling around a Christmas tree with you all RIGHT NOW! have a very wonderful, white christmas filled with PIES, STOCKINGS, TURKEY, EGG NOG, SHOVELLING, CHAMPAGNE, and PRAISINS!!! Miss you all and love you much.

Feliz Navidad,
Hannah

ps: i will be on the beach in Perú (Mollendo and Mejía) if you're looking for me. :)

MASH´n it up

We made it to the beach! We had been discussing where we should spend the holidays and decided rather than going to cuzco AGAIN we should find a beach. We´re in Mollendo, just outside Arequipa. We plan to head to Mejia, another beach spot, just 2 km away.

We have been to the canyon and back since we last blogged...We met up with Megan in Arequipa over a week ago.

The tres amiga were all feelin´a little peculiar...you know what that calls for...SPRITZER!!! It is a magical elixer with this equation: orange juice + sprite = SPRITZER. It cured Marie´s poop butt situation, Megan´s headache and got Hannah raving about it´s refreshing, thirst quench. We´ve had several spritzer parties since then. After the spritzer hang out session, we met up with two of Megan´s schoolmates at our hostel and drank some red wine. We had heard and smelled some hippies earlier that day and then outta know where some waltz to the patio table we were at and who was with them...FERNANDO! He was one of the artisans we partied with on the sand dunes in Huacachina til´dawn. What are the chances?

The next morning, we checked out of our hostel, stashed our giant backpacks and hopped on a bus headed to Cañon del Coca. It´s the WORLD´S DEEPEST (well, second by 150 meters to be exact) CANYON! Megan and Marie were super excited because they have never been to the Grand Canyon or any canyon for that matter. While waiting for the bus to depart Marie spotted a really attractive gringo. "I wonder what bus HE´S getting on.." Turns out cute boy and his friend were on our bus. We were a little weary about when to get off the bus and what city we should stay in for the night. Also, we were sold the last seats in the back of the bus which was actually convienet to see when people get off...and by people I mean the gringos.

We all got off in Cabanaconde, a larger pueblo in the desert. We approached the gringos to see where they were planning on staying and also to escape from this scary, carnie looking man who was handing out flyers for to recruite travelers to his hostel while he was chugging a drink called "ENERGINA" His name was Cesear and actually ended up saving Marie´s lil butt because she almost left her wallet at the hostel.

Entonces...the gringos turned out to be Belgian, Rob(HOTTT) and NYC, Seth. They found a different hostel than ours, but we all ate menu at our hostel and we went with them to drink some beer at their hostel. Both were really nice guys who were traveling after a reforestation project in Ecuador. The beligain said some ridiculously things to say about eddie murphy that we will never forget...

In the morning, we started our downwards hike into the canyon. It was epic and beautiful. The hard thing about canyon hiking is that what goes down, must come up ;) We realized when we were almost to the river that we DID NOT bring enough water. We all looked at eachother and realized we needed to ration out the water on the way back up...eek! When we got near the river there were rock signs with arrows that lead us to a swimming pool oasis. For about $1 we swam in the most beautiful pool that made us feel like 70s movie stars on a hollywood set. There were cascades, an alligator carved out of a tree trunk and a surrounding manicured green lawn. We also consumed the best AVOCADO salad with rice. After one last dip, we stared hiking back up.



It was Megan´s toughest, roughest most challenging hike of her life. Marie and Hannah were huffin´n puffin´too, mostly from the lack of drinkable water, but also because they had just hiked to Choquequirao for 4 days. Hannah had a brillant idea of filling up our empty water bottles from the cascade so we could douche our heads! Marie really got into duching her head...it really relieves you from the heat.

During one of our breaks a lively, nice hiker stopped and asked us if we were okay.."do you have enough water?" we said we had a little and he was nice enough to give us two apples from his pack. They were delicious and gave us the extra strength to finish the climb. On our way to the top after rationed-out sips of water we caught the end of the sunset. ¡MAGNIFICO! We finished the hard part before the sun set completely and then busted out our headlamps. We had to snake our way back to the pueblo by manuevering through terrace farms, dodging mule doo-doo-piles and avoiding strange animals bones. WE DID IT! Megan was so happy she made it and we all celebrated with SPRITZER! We then grabbed some papas fritas and saw part of Home Alone 2 on the tv in the restaurant. One of the peruvian cowboys was crackin´up to Kevin´s hilarious prankster antics.

The next day we took a bus back to Arequipa and booked a night bus to Puno. Two words: COLD BUS! it was freeeeeeeeeezing and not only did the bus company fjuck up our seats but the driver went over some scary bump that caused everyone to scream and yell "DESPACIO".

-above- Parque Pino, Puno

We arrived in Puno before dawn. The cab driver was a major asshole who took us to a crappy hostel...don´t need to get into that. We slept and checked out and found a better one. It was cozy, had a balcony, cable tv and private bathroom for s/15 each. We ate some good, not great, vegetarian food at a hare´krishna place called GOVINDA. On our way there we witnessed some crazy protest about worker´s and miner´s rights. Then we mosied in a moto (rickshaw) to the lake. We ate some popcorn and took in the view. Then we walked through a giant handicraft market and Megan found some amazing xmas presents. That night we consulted lonely planet for a fun place to go drink and hang out. We decided Positive Vibrations sounded like a winner. "I´m pickin´up POSITIVE VIBRATIONS..." It advertised itself as a rock n´reggae bar. Soon we found ourselves at the bar getting to know the young 20 year old bartender and it was his birthday! MAS CERVEZA POR FAVOR! Then this chico sat next to Marie at the bar and his english was really clear. After we told him our midwest states of origin and that we all knew eachother from the U of I he told us he lived in Fairfield, IA for 5 years...WHAT THE HELL!?!?!? So random! His name was Cesar and was really friendly and studied biology at Fairfield and now works for the government surveying a eco-project on the Bolivian side of Lago Titicaca.

After staying up wayyyyyyyy past midnight at Positive Vibrations we got some sleep and had to be at the dock at 7.30 AM to catch a boat to the islands. We ended up going with a tour agency, because it´s really the only way to get to the islands. Tres amigas are more down with D.I.Y traveling, but a tour we had to go. The tour was a 2 day-one night excursion that took us to the floating reed islands "UROS", Isla Amantaní, Isla Taquile.


The first day we saw the floating islands, Uros, which are really interesting and crazy. Our group was given a presentation with a diarama by a woman named Maria Louisa on one of the islands that showed how they were built.


The reeds rot from the bottom up so it´s important to keep stacking fresh reeds on the islands. We also tasted the reeds, similar to sweet celery. We took a lil joy ride with one of the islanders in a reed boat and then made our way to Isla Amantaní, where we would spend the night with a family. The island was beautiful and tranquilo. The islands in Lago Titicaca were formed by volcanos and look like little mountains in the lake. When the boat dropped us off at the dock we had to hike up to meet our families. The hillside was scattered with terrace farming, cows, sheep, flowers, etc.

Our family was an older adorable couple Demetrio y Paula and their daughter Irma and her son? Jefferson...gender uncertain.

We ate some awesome quinoa soup, chatted with Paula and giggled with Jefferson and then Hannah and Marie went to meet the group while Megan napped. We hiked to the top of Pachapapa, a temple at the top of the island where we took coca leaves, walked around the temple 3 times, thought about our wishes and desires, blew on the leaves and tossed them into the enclosed temple.


The view was unbelievable. Beautiful stone archways and the lake went on forever. So blue. Our guide was a horrible speaker, but this quote we still laugh about "As you can see we are surrounded by blue water. Blue Sky...it´s a blue world!" We watched the sun melt into the mountains beyond and the sky turned awesome shades of pink, orange and purple and we listened to lil chicos were playing panflute. We decended the temple hill and went back to our host families casa for some dinner. The soup and papas were just right...they weern´t ginormous, portions we like.

That night we were invited to fiesta with our host mom - Paula- but we had to wear traditional indigenous Amantaní wear. It consisted of large and warm pleated skirts, long tunic embroidered top and thick brightly colored, stripped waist belt. And a long black vail, with flowerly stiching at the bottom. It resembled something a nun might wear. We walked with Paula and our headlamp, there is little solar electricity on the island, to the building where we heard the music starting. The stars were insane! The sky looks so foreign and bright down here. We spotted another UFO to show Megan, but it wasn´t moving as crazy as the other one we saw. The fiesta consisted of chicos, who were all brothers, playing panflute, guitar, flute an the youngest one banged on the base drum with pride. We danced with Paula A LOT because she kept asking us to. The dance was mainly holding hands and moving round n´round in a circle to the beat of the music. If the music sped up, so did the circle of people. Marie even did the "hollogram" dance with a gorro wearing man who resembled the dude on the over of our PERU GUIDEBOOK!


We all slept like little babies that night. Like little lambs wrapped in wool. We got up with the roosters and the sun, ate some pancakes, said goodbye to our fam and then hopped on the boat and sailed to Isla Taquile. We all love lakes so much! We´re all ladies of lakes. When we got to Taquile, we hiked from the dock through the terraces. It was so peacuful and clean and beautiful and socialist and WHY CAN´T WE LIVE THERE?!?? We met our group in the town plaza and FINALLY Marie could show Hannah and Megan the freakin´ awesome floppy elf hats she had been talking about..forever! Marie´s dad has one that he only wears at xmas time and now Marie had grown up with that hat, knowing it came from such a special place and now is the proud owner of one. The men of Taquile take pride in knitting them. white symbolizes single. Red = married. Black = important authority.


-above- little boy on the right is wearing the ''single boy'' hat.

After the hat shopping, the tres amigas were up to their old antics of being prepared and brougght their own lunch from Puno. We had a picnic with pan y queso y palta sammiches! also, some warm coca-cola to wash it down with. We took in the views and loved all the cute lil houses on the hillsides made out of clay. Beautiful gardens and sheep "baaaa-ing" from all directions.

Fun FACTS:
-Lago Titicaca is the highest elevated navigable lake...EN TODO EL MUNDO!
-Men knit the most awesome stocking caps you´ve ever seen...en todo el mundo.
-Apperantly, there is a lost "atlantis" like city at the bottom of lago titicaca. Jacques Cousteau and his cronnies did some great dives there and claim the city was built for GIANTS. we´re talking like 6-7meters tall. it´s wacky n´wild
-TITI=peru CACA=bolivia
-sometimes you think you get a false bill or coin...but really it´s legit.
-Musical senstaion 4 NON BLONDES and their smash hit "what´s up" has gotta be one of the top 5 most popular songs in Peru right now





Some other highlights from our excursion with megan included, singing 4 non blondes, supremes and aladdin at a kereoke bar, drinking mas cerveza til´the rooster crows and watching the sun pop out of the lake´s horizon, hannah gettin sicky-icky, eating lots of delicious cake and saying goodbye to megan...i can´t believe she went to paris...to work for ralph lauren...ok maybe we´ve been watching too many episodes of friends...viva los años noventas!!!!!!!!


we miss you all and love you more. we´re off to eat ice cream and check out the beach.

peace, love and fannypacks!

p.s. la navidad es jesús.