The Final Days

Days 114-121
It would be too hard to recall a day by day description of our time spent in Buenos Aires, so here is a list of highlights of the remainder of our stay in the apartment. We had many great nights out on the town and eventually realized that we prefer the bar scene to the club scene. Though many of the clubs were very unique, i.e. Niceto Clubs token Drag Queen night, they generally turned out to be a bit overwhelming for us. You can only listen to bad music and watch drunk girls embarrass themselves for so long.... Several nights when we attempted to hit the club scene, we fell back on our favorite American Sports Bar, El Alamo. We were always guaranteed good company and a few free drinks there.

kicking it with our friends in La Boca
(the main shipping area)

our lifeguard in El Tigre

During the days, we spent our time roaming the city. With so much to see in this wonderful city it was impossible to be bored. Daytime was also when we did our most damage shopping.... The city is just too fashionable and reasonably priced. Needless to say, neither of us had trouble adding to our wardrobes. Thank goodness our moms had taken a good portion of our belongings home with them (I'm not sure how we would've fit everything otherwise...) Though our initial attempt to go to the beach in El Tigre  due to weather, we made it there several days later. It definitely wasn't comparable to our beautiful southern California beaches, but was worth the trip. The sun was scorching, the water was refreshing, and the beer was cheap. And of course we hit up all the basic tourists sites.

On another day, Kristin was able to reconnect with her host family. We'd planned on just stopping by for a quick hello, but ended up staying for 3 hours chatting, eating, and drinking. Apparently the no beer rule was only applicable to being a student.

Other than the disgusting bug infestation in our apartment and the incredibly leaky air conditioner, our stay in Buenos Aires couldn't have been better!


Day 122
Spent the morning packing up and cleaning out our apartment. Our biggest mess to clean up was the large collection of Quilmes (the local beer) bottles we'd accumulated. We apparently misunderstood the bottle return policy, f.y.i. it's not the same as in the states, we'll just leave it at that. However, we eventually got everything cleaned up and checked out at 1pm. From there, we headed to the bus station and hopped on the 19 hour bus that would take us to Iguazu Falls.

Day 123
We arrived in Puerto Iguazu in the morning, checked our luggage at the bus terminal backage check, and headed to the falls. Here we spent several hours roaming the falls and checking out the various view points. The only word that can really describe them is spectacular. There's really nothing like it. After viewing the falls from every possible angle, we headed back to the small town of Puerto Iguazu. With nothing else really to do, no open book stores or internet cafes (other than the falls, this town is dead, especially on a Sunday), we took to drinking in the streets so that we'd be able to sleep on the 17 hour bus we were taking to Rosario that night.

Day 124
At around 6pm we arrived in Rosario. Though we were exhausted after two overnight busses in a row, we were excited to see our friend from school, Georgia, who was currently living in the city, and I must say, she showed us a superb time during our stay. This evening, we went out to dinner at a fantastic milanesa restaurant. Milanesa is Argentina's token food, it's essentially flattened meat that's been breaded and then fried. The restaurant we went to was known for it's milanesa pizzas. YUM! Then after dinner we headed to O'Donnells, the Irish pub around the corner from her house that her roommate worked out. We got here with the intention of having one drink because we were all so exhausted, but this quickly turned into loads of free shots and bottomless beers... I guess that's what happens when you have an in with the bartenders.

Day 125
Woke up this morning not feeling quite 100%, but eventually pulled ourselves together enough to make it to La Florida, the beach which was just a short bus ride away. After lounging in the sun for several hours we headed back to Georgia's to get ready for our evening. For dinner and drinks we head to Fanesia's, a delicious brew pub, started by two Northern Californians. We treated ourselves to delicious burgers and microbrews, two things we'd been deprived of for many months. The owners were two very nice gents that Georgia had struck up a friendship with over her stay in Rosario, so we got to stay after hours at the bar, play Asshole (a card game), and even fill up pitchers behind the bar!

Day 126
We spent the day touring Rosario and looking for a bookstore with english books. Both were successful! We ended back at Fanesia's for the evening, but kept it a lot more laid back because we were hoping on a bus to Uruguay around 8pm. So we carried our backpacks into the bar with us so that we could head out immediately from there.

Day 127
Arrived in Montevideo after another all night bus, only to hop on another bus to La Paloma, the beach town we'd decided to camp in. Luckily this was only a 3.5 hour bus. Once we arrived at the campsite we decided to head into town to pick up some essentials for the evening. Unfortunately, we walked to the wrong town. We made it to the one that was closer, however, it had no ATM, and we had no cash... So we set out on a walk to the other day, which was about 40 min away. The walk would have been fined had we planned ahead a little more, but instead we ended up getting completely scorched by the sun due to wearing take tops and no sun block. When we arrived back at camp finally we attempted to go lie on the beach and read, but at the point the sun had disappeared and the wind had picked up, so we retreated back to our campsite to light a fire, cook dinner, drink red wine, and play cards.

Day 128
We woke up an immediately headed to the beach, eager to make up for the lounging time we'd missed out on the day before. I don't think we could've asked for a more pleasant day; we spent the whole time, reading, napping, eating fruit, swimming, and basking in the sun. The evening turned into a repeat of the night before, it's amazing how the sun can suck the energy out of you.

Day 129
We wanted to spend the morning how we'd spent the previous day, but after an hour in the sun, we decided it just wasn't worth it because our bodies were too burned. So instead we headed back to camp, loaded up all of our gear, and headed to the bus station so we could take a bus back to Montevideo. We made it to Montevideo but late afternoon and spent our time roaming the city, and then headed back to the hostel to catch some z's. We'd originally wanted to go out, but decided we just didn't want to spend the money and needed to take the time to catch up on some much needed sleep, not the mention we had an early bus to catch in the morning.

Day 130
Woke up early to catch a bus to Colonia, from where we caught the ferry to take us back to Buenos Aires. We ran into some trouble when we reached Colonia and were checking into get on the ferry. Apparently, we never received our necessary Visas when we entered Uruguay. The bus that took us through the border was suppose to give them to us, but somehow failed to do so. In exchange for not having the necessary paperwork, border patrol was trying to get each of us to pay a $30 fine, which we just flat out refused to pay. Their main argument was that we were Americans and that it really wasn't that much money, then after us repeating several times that we didn't have the money and that was why we were schedule to leave for the United States the next day, they told us that we should just put it on the credit card. Eventually, I think that we just complained enough, and the didn't feel like dealing with us anymore, so they gave us dirty looks and then stamped our passports. SUCCESS!

Once back in Buenos Aires, we checked ourselves into Millhouse Hostel, the biggest hostel we'd ever seen, ran our last minute errands (purchased souvenirs), and began started drinking in celebration of the Super Bowel! Our hostel was ever so accommodating too, the put out the game on the big screen and had drink specials all night!

Day 131, the last day (we were there for 134, but somehow lost count in our blog, sorry avid readers)
This was a very sad day for us, so we spent the majority of the day moping and drinking in various parks around the city. Then around 6pm we headed for our last supper at parilla restaurant in Recoleta, we splurged and it was absolutely worth it! After dinner we hopped in a taxi and headed to the airport, we had a several hour stopover in the Mexico City airport and then landed at LAX around noon the following day.

It was the trip of a lifetime and we're devastated that it had to come to an end, but now we're on to the next stages of our lives. Kristin just recently moved up to Portland and is desperately seeking a job, while Molly will be attending Thomas Jefferson for nursing school in Philadelphia starting in May.

Thanks for reading!

Beer, Wine, and Luxurious Living

Day 96
We left Valparaiso or Valpo, as the cool kids call it, in the morning for Santiago. We spent the day roaming the streets and getting lost, we also learned how to take the city buses for free (the dumb American card never gets old).

Day 97
We woke up excited because our moms were arriving today. We left our hostel and went to the hotel where we were planned to meet them. Once they arrived, we set out sightseeing. Despite the negative things we´d all heard about the city, we found it to be very clean and quite lovely. That night we enjoyed a highly anticipated sushi dinner.

Day 98

We decided to go wine tasting at a vineyard just outside Santiago, Conche y Toro. Though our tour guide didn´t seem to know a tremendous amount about wine, the vineyard was excellent, the wine delicious, and the cellar beautiful. After the wine tour we headed back to Santiago and had dinner at Phone Booth Pub, a restaurant that was highly recommended in the guide books. After filling up on sandwiches and beer we went back to the hotel to wait for the night bus we would be taking to Pucon.


Day 99
We arrived in Pucon around 9:30 the next morning, checked into our hotel, and then went to have the most delicious breakfast, eggs and sausage instead of white toast. We then spent the remainder of the day exploring the charming city and then made plans for white water rafting the next day. We were exhausted from traveling the previous night so we took a nap and relaxed for a few hours and then got ready for a wonderful Parilla (traditional meat bbq) and trout dinner. After dinner we walked around and explored some of the late night craft markets that were scattered around the city.

Day 100
We woke up, walked around a bit, and then ate lunch at a place that served burgers the size of your face. After stuffing ourselves, exactly what we´d planned not to do, we went back to our hotel to prepare for our white water rafting adventure. River rafting definitely was a highlight of the trip, thanks to the tour group we went through, Politur. The rapids were huge and at one point everyone fell out of the raft except our guide and Valerie, Molly´s mom, who was holding on for her dear life. Kristin even managed to get stuck under the boat for a few seconds. After our raft´s experience on the rapid, we watched the next raft flip as it went through the rapid loosing all passengers and paddles. As a result, the guide of that raft got stuck going through the next rapid alone with no paddles. It was all very exciting. We spent that evening bar hopping and ended up eating dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.

Day 101

We woke up early to prepare for our long journey to San Martin de los Andes, Argentina that day. Traveling took all day, but the scenery made the journey worth it. We crossed through the Andes via Lake Panguipulli and Lake Pirihueico. We docked in San Martin, a beautiful lake side mountain town that seemed as though it could´ve been in the Swiss Alps, around 8pm and were starving. We quickly checked into our hotel and headed out for a pizza dinner. After pizza, we found ourselves at a pastry shop where we could over heard a local punk band playing at the street fair that was going on.

Day 102
We spent the day walking around, but being a Sunday, the city was rather shut down. So, we resorted to picnicking and lounging by the hotel pool. We also finally were able to reserve an apartment in Buenos Aires! After that, we headed to the bust station from where we´d be heading to Bariloche. We arrived in Bariloche around 11pm, and after what seemed to be a hopeless attempt, got a taxi to our hotel. We quickly checked in, and rushed out to see if we could find an open restaurant.

Day 103
We woke up and began our exploration of Bariloche. We found the city to have wonderful views, but also to be very touristy, and very expensive. After walking around for a bit and having lunch, we stopped for ice cream, where after consuming too much ice cream, Molly was forced to swear it off for life. Shortly after, we got another bus to Puerto Madryn, where we had a tour booked to see Peninsula Valdes, a wild life reserve. This bus trip turned into one of our more interesting bus experiences when our bus was stopped at a random check point. A drug dog, one who clearly needs to get his nose checked, smelled drugs on or around Kristin´s bag and four others on the bus that lead to Kristin having all of her things searched through and scattered while her mom, Linda, was having a mini breakdown. Luckily, being the law abiding citizens we are, there were no drugs to be found.

Day 104

We made it to Puerto Madryn a little behind schedule due the chaos from the night before. So immediately upon our arrival, we were rushed onto our tour bus because the group had been waiting for our arrival. The tour was good, but dragged on a bit due to so many hours on a bus. However, it was totally worth it to be able to see penguins, one of our new favorite animals. We also saw a surplus of elephant seals and sea lions. Then, while the other on the tour paid way too much money to go on a boat trip to see more of what we´d already seen, the wise four of us sat at a beach side restaurant, drank beer, and people watched. We finally arrived back to Puerto Madryn but with no place to stay, so we made the smart decision to head to Trelew, a city an hour away form where our flight to Buenos Aires would be leaving out of in the morning. We arrived in Trelew with low expectations, but ended up staying a rather nice hotel and eating at a restaurant, Glam, that would become one of our favorites. After dinner we retreated to our rooms to prepare for our flight the next morning.

Day 105
Flew into Buenos Aires and got ourselves a room at the Art Deco Hotel. After checking in, we walked to Florida Street, one of the most touristy streets in BsAs, at lunch at a Havanna, the most popular coffee shop in BsAs, and then walked to where our future apartment is located. After that, it was time for some serious shopping. Thank you Linda and Val! Merry Christmas! For dinner that night, we ate a traditional Argentinian feast that consisted of meat and vegetables. After dinner we attempted to find wine, but to our disappointment we learned that you can´t buy alcohol after 10pm. An important fact that Kristin had forgotten. Luckily, our hotel didn´t operate under such regulations and we finally got our wine.

Day 106
We woke up and went back to a store from yesterday so that Santa Val could buy Molly the boots she was still thinking about. After that we headed to the Recoleta Cemetery, where Evita Paron is buried. The cemetery basically looks like a little mortuary village. From there, we had our worst lunch ever, mainly because the service was TERRIBLE, and then headed to a very interesting exhibit at MALBA, the modern art museum. The exhibit was by Marta Minujin, a hippe prolific artist. After the museum we headed back to Florida Street to recheck out some of the leather stores from the day before. This turned out to be agonizingly painful because the street was so crowded, so we headed back to the hotel to rest up and prepare for our night. We had dinner at a restaurant in the oldest plaza (Plaza Darango) in Buenos Aires, it was in the San Telmo district. We then headed to Tango Porteño, where we had reservations for the tango show that evening. The tango show was fantastic and the free wine was even better, we tangoed our way home that evening and slept soundly.

Day 107
It was our mom´s last day so we wanted to make it action packed, but after roaming the streets of the Palermo district for a while we collectively decided that we were tired and would be happier at the hotel room. After several hours of relaxing, we headed to an early dinner and then it was time to say our farewells. After sending them off in a taxi to the airport we vegged for the rest of the night in the hotel room that our lovely mothers so graciously paid one extra night for.

Day 108

We woke up and went to the Recoleta Street fair where we both indulged in several purchases. After shopping it was time to check into our new apartment. It was smaller than we thought it would be, but had everything we would need. The biggest downside seemed to be the air conditioner leak that was continually flooding our apartment, we´ve since fixed it though. After getting a few necessities for our apartment, we cooked dinner and began to prepare for our night out. Two djs we´d learned of were playing at Crobar that evening so we were excited to get our dance on to some electronic music. However, we were disappointed by both the quality of the music and the crowd of people there. It still made for a fun night though and a quality hangover in the morning.

Day 109
We woke up, nursed our hangovers for a bit, and then attempted to go to the San Telmo Street fair. This plan failed when the wind picked up and the flood gates opened. After attempting to wait out the down pour, we finally hailed a cab and luckily, made it back to our apartment just in time to catch the start of Titanic. Once back in our beds, it turned into a pretty useless day, which was exactly what we needed after the life of hectic luxury we´d been living.

Day 110
We had a slow morning, but finally pulled ourselves together to head to the discount leather district, where we both successfully found leather jackets. They´re a bit similar, so thank goodness we´ll be living on opposite sides of the country upon our return to the USA. We headed back to our side of town, read in a coffee shop for a bit, and then got ready for La Bomba de Tiempo, an outside drum circle that happens every Monday night. We got home at 10, cooked dinner, and then went to bed.

Day 111
We spent the morning writing our blog, took a break to go shopping, and then came to the Internet cafe to type it. Unfortunately, the computer deleted it so we were too annoyed to retype it that day.

Day 112
We woke up with plans to go Tigre, a place about an hour away where´d be able to relax in the sun and lay by some water. Unfortunately, this was ruined by the endless rain and thunder that was going on outside. So instead, we spent the day buying groceries and finding a place to get our laundry done. It was the evening that was really the best part of the day, we went to see Chicago live. It was in Spanish, but so much fun! Although we didn´t understand everything that was said during the play, we knew the plot so it was easy to interpret.

Day 113
We woke up planning to go to a museum, but were distracted by the shopping on the way there. As a result, we ended up with some really cute things and still have intentions of going to the museum, just on another day.

Quick Decisions and Lots of Wine

Day 79

We pulled up to Cal Orck'o, the world´s largest collection of dinosaur tracks, and noticed what looked like an entire mountain side cut in half. It wasn´t until later when our tour guide redirected our attention to the hillside that we were informed that this unimpressive hillside was the site of the tracks. Both of us were astonished at how vertical the tracks appeared, but were reminded of the plate tectonic movement and quickly recalled that the land was once flat. Though the wall has been eroding, scientists are continuing to discover more tracks under the older layers of sediment and starting preservation of the new tracks now. We were also in the presence of several life size dinosaurs that once roamed the area. The rest of the day was spent roaming the streets of Sucre and learning, once again, not to eat Chinese food in South America. Later though, we bought a $4 bottle of whiskey, made up some fun new drinking games, and decided we really didn´t like the people in our hostel.

Day 80
Apparently, $4 whiskey doesn´t made you feel great the next day, so we acted like one of our favorite new animals, the sloth, all day.

Day 81
We traveled to Tarabuco, which on Sundays hosts the largest indigenious market in Bolivia. Bolivia has over 30 different indigenous tribes, many of them having their own style of hat that the women wear. The best and most interesting of these are the ones worn by the women found in Tarabuco. We ate lunch at a restaruant that was managed by a 7 year old boy and picked up a few handmade crafts. We bused back to Sucre that afternoon and caught a night bus to our next location, Tarija.

Day 82
Arrived early that morning and got off the bus only to discover that Kristin´s backpack was not underneath the bus. We were then informed that the bus company had decided back in Sucre to put her pack on a dfferent bus that would be arriving later on. After the longest hour of the trip, full of panic and terror, her bag finally arrived safely. Exhausted from an already stressful day, we checked into our hostel to nap before exploring the region´s vineyards. After hours of wine tasting, we had a moment of clarity when we realized we wouldn´t be able to spend Christmas in Salar de Uyuni, the world´s largest salt flats, like we had planned. We decided to pass up this area of Bolivia as well as Northern Chile and cross into Argentina the next day.

Day 83

Our room at Hotel LA

Our original revised plan was to cross the border into Argentina via Villazon, the most commonly used border, and we wanted to leave that night for the border town so that we would arrive there in the morning, with plenty of daylight hours to cross. However, upon arrival to the bus station we were informed that this was not going to be possible. So unsure of what to do, we made an impulsive decision to cross the border in Bermejo instead, a closer, but less commonly used border. Our 3 hour bus left that afternoon, but due to many technical difficultues it took us 6 hours to reach Bermejo, a less than impressive town. All the delays also caused us to arrive after dark, which generally isn´t the safest time to border cross. During our chicken dinner next to the bus station we realized that we really had no idea what we were doing and decided to pass on crossing the border at night and checked into the Los Angeles Hotel, but could not have felt further from LA.

Day 84
After getting thoroughly ripped off by our taxi driver, we arrived at Bolivian Immigration, crossed the bridge, and arrived in Argentina. We got to the bus station with no particular destination in mind and decided on Jujuy, since the bus was leaving shortly. However, once there, we only stopped to eat lunch before getting on another bus that would arrive in Cordoba the following morning.

Day 85
In Cordoba we checked into a hostal entirely populated by Israelites, perfect for celebrating Christmas. We explored the city and explained the story of Christmas to our new Jewish friends.

Day 86
We treated ourselves this Christmas Eve to a sky diving adventure, which was definitely a highlight of the trip. After, we changed hostals hoping to find one with more of a Christmas celebration, which we found. We celebreated Christmas the Argentinean way; with lots of meat, fireworks, and partying until 5am.

Day 87
Merry Christmas! The only thing we wanted to do that day was skype with our families. However, to our surprise, everything was closed. Luckily we decided to go to the bus station to buy our ticket for Mendoza and found a telefonica. We were able to talk with our families, which was better than nothing. The rest of the day, we walked around the city pretending not to be lost, but like always, ended up back at our hostal. Then we ate McDonalds for Christmas dinner.

Day 88

We bused to Mendoza and arrived that afternoon and walked in the 100 degree heat to our hostal, only to discover it was now a pile of dirt. We picked the next closest one where we overpaid for a room that was as big as a closet and hotter than Hades. That night we walked around a craft market, bought friendship rings, and drank in the plaza that was surprisingly lively for being midnight on a Sunday.

Day 89
We woke up early to thoroughly take advantage of the breakfast buffett in order to get our moneys worth, and checked out of the hostel so that we could switch to a full ammenities campground on the outskirts of the city. We spent the remainder of the day being really hot, roaming the city, and refreshing ourselves with cold beer.

Day 90

We woke up early to go wine tasting around Mendoza´s many vineyards on bicylces. We toured five wineries and 2 liquore, olive oil, and chocolate places. We finished the tour around 6 and returned to our campsite around 9 after eating dinner in town.

Day 91
We woke up early to catch our bus into Santiago, Chile. We experienced our most intimidating border crossing yet and almost had a television explode on us, but in the end we made it safely. We took a taxi to our hostel only to find, yet again, that it no longer existed. Luckily, a nice man knew of one close by and walked us around the corner to the hostel. We spent the remainder of the day walking around a plaza and then took our first shower in 5 days.

Day 92
Took the 2 hour bus from Santiago to Valparaiso, our destination for New Year´s Eve. We heard this was the most popular destination for New Years in Chile and that became more and more obvious as we watched the city grow from 200,000 to 2 million people throughout the day. We cooked dinner for ourselves and laid low for the remainder of the night in anticipation for the celebration the following evening.

Day 93
Had a long and lazy day in preperation for our evening. We cooked dinner again and gave ourselves an hour to digest before getting ready to go out. We began the night sipping beers with our new friends in the hostal and then walked up to a high point to get a good view of the fireworks, for which Valparaiso is known for. Here we celebrated midnight with thousands of people that were popping champagne and throwing confetti into the air. It felt like a scene from a movie. Then we traveled down to the plaza below where live music was playing and the crowds were equally rambunctious. Then we danced the night away and had the most memorable New Years celebration yet.

Day 94
Not feeling the best we decided to go lay on the beach in the neighboring town, Viña del Mar. It wasn´t the most relaxing beach due to every person having the same idea of spending the New Year in the sand, that may have acutally been more confetti and streamers than sand, but still, it was nice to feel the sun and reminisce about 2010.

Day 95
Due to the crowds trying to get back to Santiago, we are stuck in Valparaiso one more night. The day is looking rather uneventful.

Glama llamas, soccer uniforms, and raw meat

Day 67:
Arrived in Nazca for a fairly uneventful night, we did however have a private room with a television, and the real excitement was to come tomorrow.

Day 68:

We woke up at 10am thinking that we would be flying over the Nazca Lines by 11am, however, due to poor communitcation, we ended up waiting around until 3pm and almost missed our other tour for the day. But needless to say, it was well worth the wait! They were maybe the coolest things that either of us had seen, and learning about the history of the Incans and why they made the lines made them that much more impressive. Though we both got a bit woozy flying over the lines in a 4 passanger plane seeing the lines from that height made it obvious why they thought the gods would think them a good offering.

    We returned to our hostel after the Nazca lines to get picked up for a tour of a cementary which houses mummies that date back to 500 AD. At the tombs, our guide told us the history of how the ancient Nazcans would sacrifice a variety of civilians (i.e. servents, wives, children) to go along with the death of a warrior. This was in the hopes of creating a more substantial afterlife and to create an offering to the gods in hopes for bringing water to Nazca, where we learned there´s an average rainfall of 5mm per year. After a long , but very interesting day, we returned to our hostel to prepare for our night bus to Cusco.

Day 69:

We arrived in Cusco feeling groggy after the long bus journey, but pushed through our tiredness for a day of sightseeing and shopping, thanks to the extra strong coffee our hostel offered us. After a full day we treated ourselves to a fine dining experience at a restaurant that overlooked the main plaza, Plaza de Armas. Our dinner consisted of two bottles of red wine, a pizza, and an entire roasted guinea pig, i.e. cuy. Delicious! Though it was rather hard to eat around those tiny little bones...

Day 70:
We spent another day touring Cusco, but the city was surprisingly dead due to some random holiday. It wasn´t too much of a concern though because we had to prepare ourselves for our early morning journey to Aguas Calientes the next day.

Day 71:
Thanks to Molly´s dad, we were picked up for our luxury tour of Machu Picchu at 6:30am. First stop, Aguas Calientes, the base city to Machu Picchu. Upon our arrival, after 2 hours in a shuttle and 2 hours on a train, we feasted on a buffett lunch that was included in the package. After digesting our lunch, we went up to the thermal baths for which Aguas Calientes (¨Hot Waters¨) is known for. We made it an early night because we had to be at the bus stop for a 30 minute bus ride up to Machu Picchu at 5am the next morning, and the bed & breakfast that we were staying at insisted that we make time for a 4:30am breakfast.

Day 72:

We got to Machu Picchu around 6am, got our 10am reservation stamp to hike Wayna Picchu, the neighboring mountain to Machu Picchu, and began our 2.5 hour tour. Our tour was very informative because our Peruvian tour guide spoke great english; we learned all about the Inkan´s rituals, and their strategies when the Spanish invaded. Our giggles only interupted the tour once, when we saw a picture of a guinea pig dressed in a sparkling top hot, suit, and tie. While we thought this was hilarious, our tour guide thought it was perfectly normal, and said that they always dress up the guinea pigs before they slaughter them to dine on.         After the tour, we had just enough time for a quick snack before getting in line to hike Wayna Picchu. Of course, at that very moment, the flood gates decided to open and pour down on us. However, despite the rain, we made it up Wayna Picchu in record time, though we refrained from going to the tippy top because it looked over-crowded, wet, slippery, and steep... no thanks!

   We got back to Aguas Calientes around 1pm and were exhausted from a full day because it had started so early, but our train wasn´t scheduled to leave until 7:30pm, so we did our best to occupy our time in the small town.
   We finally made it back to Cusco, uttery exhausted, around 11:30pm, yet we were unable to get a wink of sleep due to the durnkards sharing a room with us who kept forgetting we were there, one of them actually sat on Kristin during the middle of the night because they didn´t see her on the bottom bunk.

Day 73:
Took an early morning bus to Puno. We were hoping to make it to Bolivia, but due to border hours it turned out not to be plausible. So we spent the night relaxing and prepared for our early morning bus to Bolivia.

Day 74:

We arrived at the border in the afternoon scared that border patrol would find a reason not to give us our tourist Visas, but as it turns out all they wanted were our US$. It cost us US$135 and proof of a yellow fever shot to get in, but other than that it was a breeze. Our Visas are valid for 90 days a year for the next 5 years, so we´ll be planning another trip to Bolivia.

   From the border, Copacabana was only a short ways away, and there we took a boat to the pleasant yet beautiful Isla del Sol. Though the island didn´t seem like much at first, we quickly discovered that a little path would serve as the gateway to heaven. About 30 minutes into the trail and about 100 yards from the top, 3 little local kids beckoned us over, it was there that we witnessed the cutest thing we have seen yet, about 7 little piglets nursing on their mother. We stayed there for 45 minutes, while letting the kiddies entertain themselves with our cameras, before making it to the top and then heading back down just in time to avoid the rain. That night we caught up on some much needed sleep on some very hard and lumpy beds.

Day 75:
We took the first boat back to Copacabana in the morning and then hopped on a bus to La Paz, the highest capital in the world. Though our hostel was rather shabby, we were immediately enthralled by the city. Shockingly, within 30 minutes of being in the city we ran into a friend from Panama, and after saying our hellos, we made plans to meet for drinks at her hostel later that night. Meanwhile, we walked around the city a bit and had delicious Morocon food for dinner.

Day 76:

After sleeping in, we were ready to thoroughly explore the compact yet energentic city. We started our day with a surprise lunch of llama, it was unexpectedly not bad. From there we got lost in the city and ended up at destinations such as the Museo de Coca and the Museo del Instrumentales Musicales. It was easy to get around the city on foot and it became one of our favorite cities from the trip, not to mention the weather was beautiful. That night we indulged in good old fashioned american food, cheesebugers and onion rings. Though not the best burger we´ve ever had, it definitely satisfied the craving.

Day 77:
Little did we know, this would turn into one of the longest days ever. We left in the morning for Cochabamba, a supposedly young and vibrant town, only to discover that we held a different opinion. After just 2 hours of walking around, we knew this wasn´t a place we could spend a lot of time. We would have been willing to at least spend the night, however, there were only night buses to our next intended destination. So we made up our minds to hop on a bus that evening to Sucre, because 28 more hours in Cochabamba would be too many.
   We arrived at the bus terminal 15 minutes before the bus we wanted was scheduled to leave, thinking that it wouldn´t be a big deal. However, the bus was sold out and we were forced to buy our tickets through scalpers. This turned into a rather interesting experience and we´re just glad we made it on a bus, and we plan to never buy scalper tickets again.

Day 78:
Made it to Sucre around 8 this morning. We had a rather relaxing morning and then walked around the street markets in the afternoon. Tomorrow we´re off to see dinosaur fooprints!

Churrascos and Cheese

Day 53
Finally we were able to get away from the cold rain and made it to Canoa on an overnight bus. Although the weather may not have been ideal it was a def pick me up from Quito's dreary mountain climate. We were happy to be in a pleasant little non-touristy beach town where we were able to relax in hammocks and cruise through our novels. We had the company of Ned's friend, Hans, and his travel companions, Alex and Rob.

Day 54

This morning the 5 of us went on an adventure to some cove side caves. The sun came out that afternoon so we spent the majority of that day watching the waves and lying on the beach. That night at a local surfer bar we heard about this shot known as "la uña de la granbestia" (the fingernail of the beast) which only one person in the entire world makes, it consists of coca leaves, marijuana, centipeds, and scorpians, and is soaked in a sugar cane liquor. The men who told us about it spoke so highly of it and said that they would take a shot of it everyday. Obviously we needed to try this local concoction, but the bar was closed that night, so the 5 of us made a pact to try it the next morning.

Day 55
We quickly learned that a) it is not an everyday thing, and b) it is not ideal for breakfast. But live and learn, right? We had plans of spending Thanksgiving in Baños, but had to make, what we thought would be quick stop, in Quito. That night we bid farewell to our new friends and took the night bus back to Quito.

Day 56
Arrived in Quito at 5am with no place to go besides a 24 hour coffee shop, and unfortunately, Kristin was sick as a dog. We revised our plans to stay the night in Quito so Kristin could get some much needed rest. Thanksgiving was completely uneventful but at least we got to skype with our families.

Day 57

 Arrived in Baños that afternoon wanting a light lunch because Kristin was still not 100% and Molly was beginning to get a bit of a bug too, so the idea of some soup and rice sounded perfect. However, the serving of chicken soup was complete with chicken beak, chicken feet, and black hair which really didn´t help our stomach situation. Horrified and still feeling icky, we went back to our hostal to rest. That evening we were able to get our share of relaxation in at the thermal baths for which baños gets its name.

Day 58

We woke feeling better and ready for a day of adventure. Although we didnt get to bungee jump and zip line as we had planned, we were able to have a tour of many of the local waterfalls and got a 1.5 hour massage and facial for $20! So by the end of the day we were feeling good, but things were unknowingly about to get even better. To our fortune, we got to see Volcan Tungurahua erupt with lots of smoke and molten hot red magmay lava!! It was so glorious and def a highlight of the trip, especially after the let down of the daily erupting Volcan Arenal (volcano in costa rica) failed to show us lava. This one was way better anyway because it only erupts once every 10 months, so in your face volcan arenal!



Day 59
We were legally locked inside the hostal all day due to it being Ecuador´s census day where they go around to every house in Ecuador and physically count the residents, besides us. So, we sat inside, played lots of cards, and slowly became infected with cabin fever. Once we were free, we went for a walk and ate a delicious dinner. We were scheduled to leave early the next monring for Cuenca.

Day 60
Arrived in the late afternoon with a couple hours of daylight left to explore the neighborhood around our hostal. Then got to sleep early to prepare for a full day of exploring Ecuador´s 3rd largest city.

Day 61
Spent the day wandering around the majestic streets, exploring squares, churches, and markets. We really enjoyed Cuenca because even though it has a population of 400,000, everything seemed to be very close.

Day 62

We embarked on our 4th border crossing today into Peru. While that part was relatively easy, 13 hours of sitting on a bus was not. We arrived in Piura, a crowded city with very little tourism, famished. The only restaruant we could find was Chinese (which seems to be relatively popular in Peru) and almost as bad as the chicken soup meal. We had no intention of spending more time in Piura than necessary so we booked a midnight bus to Trujillo.

Day 63

 Arrived that morning, checked into a hostal, where we got our own room equipped with a tv and private bathroom, and napped for a bit. Then we took the bus to the beach town of Huanchaco, where we laid in the sand and felt the sun. Here we had an amazing lunch overlooking the beach of ceviche and beer. That night back in Trujillo, we wandered around the quaint little city and stumbled upon a John Lennon tribute band. Then we got onto another bus that would take us to Peru's capital, Lima, the next morning.

Day 64
Got to Lima around 10am feeling surprisingly very well rested. We checked into a hostal in the Miraflores district of the city, the new european-like part of town, and wandered around the area for the day stopping at cafes to sip coffee and people watch. That night we went to see the new Harry Potter movie and were bribed by the doorman of a restaurant with free drinks if we ate dinner there (actually a very common thing). It was an easy choice.

Day 65
Had plans of exploring the center of Lima where many historic sites are, unfortunately these plans were spolied due to bank robbers in that area with lots of guns, big guns. So our day turned out to be similar to the previous. This night turned into one of our most interesting and definitely memorable nights. We were serenated by a man who would only sing Mexican ballots and songs by America, because he said Peruvian songs were ugly. Then we went to Barranco, another district of Lima, where after walking into a bar, were immediately hustled on stage for an apple eating contest. Molly and her partner won the great prize of a bucket of beer. Kristin was then entered into the next competition, but wasnt as willing as the other young ladies were to, shall we say, get dirrty with her dance partner. Then, overwhelmed, we left that bar and were standing outside trying to figure out our next move when two men approached us. Unknowingly, we both chose the same tactic of pretending to not to understand a word of spanish, and that we were lovers. Though it may have not have been the fastest working tactic it was hilarious for us.

Day 66
Kristin got her yellow fever shot, again, but this time she has an international card to prove it, so that she can enter Bolivia. Leaving on a bus for Nazca in 1 hour.

Women, men who ride horses, and kids

Day 38
We woke up early after dancing into the wee hours of the night to bumping techno beats with flashing green lasers, only to get on the coldest bus ride ever to Bogota. In Bogota, we stayed at a quaint homely hostel where not only did we get hot showers, free breakfast, and free internet, but we were also  taken care of by the cleaning women, who was the closest resemblance to a mother figured we´d had since we left home.

Day 39
Today was a Sunday and we´d heard about a nearby flea market so we went on a mission to go find it. We never made it to the actual flea market we were looking for, but there were numerous other ones that we ran into to compensate. So we spent the day walking around, trying different foods, and denying merchants left and right, who were trying to sell us everything from used cell phone chargers, remote controls, tattered wigs, blenders, all the way to typewriters. After a day of walking, the cold Kristin had been fighting began to creep up on her, so we headed back towards the hostel to relax. Her cold was likely due to a disgusting hoodlum we were trapped with on the gondola in Medellin, who was hacking with his mouth open while trying to sell us a ring that he´d obviously stolen and polluted with germs. Needless to say, we took it easy for the rest of the day.

Day 40
Monday turned into quite the scavenger hunt for Massive Attack tickets. Our English friends from the Darien Gapster informed us of their arrival so we fetched them from their hostel in the morning and the rest of the day turned into a wild goose chase around Bogota. What we thought would be an hour and half round trip to a mall where we cold buy our tickets turned into an hour and a half one way trip across the city. Then on the way back, we learned a very important lesson. We were staying in the La Candaleria district, so without thinking the 5 of us jumped on a bus that said Candaleria and assumed that we´d be arriving safely back at our hostels in about 1.5 hours. However, after being on the bus for a good 2 hours and not recognizing anything around us, we decided to ask a fellow passenger if we were near our destination. We learned that we most definitely were not when the entire bus erupted in laughter and told us that we should get off immediately. After this experience we gave up on public transportation and hopped in a taxi that got us safely to our hostel in roughly 30 minutes. We spent that night gathered around a table telling our new friends what life is like in America.

Day 41
We woke up to the rainiest day we have ever experienced. We needed to take a quick trip to the store, when just to our luck, the sky opened up to torrential downpour and hail. In the 20 minutes we were outside, we managed to get more soaked then we´d ever been. Needless to say, that was our only trip out for the day. We did however get to know some of the people we were trapped in the hostel with.

Day 42

We decided to take a day trip to Zipaquira where we visited Colombia´s most impressive man-made wonder, an underground salt cathedral. It took about 2 hours by bus to get there and we stopped for a quick meal before entering the cathedral. During brunch, we were greeted by about 15 school children who thought that we were the bee’s knees and excitedly practiced their English with us.
We took a 2 hour tour of the underground salt mines where we learned there are 16,000 things you can do with the salt they extract, except eat it. Some highlights were mining salt, blowing dynamite, and most importantly wearing hard hats. SAFETY FIRST! At the Englishmen´s hostel that evening there was a free salsa class so they came and fetched us when it began. Obviously we were at the top of class, aside from our teacher who was probably the best dancer we´d ever seen in our entire lives. He honestly had the ability to shake his booty and move his hips faster than Shakira.

Day 43
We both weren´t feeling well and we had Massive Attack the next day so we took day relatively easy, though we can proudly say that we conquered the bus system! Our main event for the day was to go to the mall so that Kristin could find an outfit to wear for Massive Attack. The mission was a success, but other then that it was a pretty uneventful day.

Day 44

Anxiously awaiting the show to start!

We awoke on Friday ecstatic that the day had finally come for us to see Massive Attack in Bogota. During the afternoon we went to the Museo del Oro, a gold museum, that is known to have the largest collection of gold in South America. After touring it thoroughly, we went back to the hostel to get dressed and prepare ourselves for the night ahead of us. Once dressed, we hopped in a taxi, sat through a traffic jam worse then any one we´ve been in ever in LA, and after an emergency bathroom stop we made the taxi driver take, we eventually made it to the show and met up with our friends. The show was absolutely AMAZING and shockingly uncrowded!
Afterwards we recappedand wound down with our friends and then headed back to our hostel toget ready for a day of travel to day to San Agustin, a small little hippie village.

Day 45 through 47

San Agustin was beautiful though our hostel was rather unwelcoming. Here we took a ¨jeep¨ tour of the Parque Arqeologico, where we saw hundreds of tombs and statues and ate a delicious meal. After the tour
we prepared to depart the next day to Popayan



Day 48

Ewwwww.

We arrived in Popayan early in the afternoon to a very accomadating hostel in the historic district, aka ¨la ciudad blanca,¨ that provided us with a map of all the sites we could see within walking distance.On our walking tour we saw beautiful churches, viewpoints, and wound up at a museum with stuffed animals of every imaginable species. The most disturbing being beetles with horns as big as your face. As we left the museum we ran into a friend from Seattle that we´d met at a previous hostel and made plans to reunite in Quito. Popayan quickly became our favorite small town, though we weren´t sad to leave because one day was sufficient to see all and we were excited to be moving onto Ecuador.

Day 49

¡¡¡ECUADOR!!!

We left Popayan early to ensure that we´d be crossing the border with plenty of daylight hours remaining, because we´d been worried that this border would be troublesome. It turned out to be a breeze. Our only complication was when we couldn´t find the window where they would stamp us out of Colombia, but it turned out that it was because our taxi driver had already driven us across the border into Ecuador, so we just had to walk back across the bridge, and all was solved. We then hopped onto a 5 hour bus to Quito and arrived in the early evening with plans of going out that night. However, altitude sickness quickly became a problem, being that we were in the second highest capital in the world, and we wound up playing cards and going to bed early instead.

Day 50
Our first day in Quito we spent exploring the La Mariscal neighborhood, the neighborhood we´re staying in, and wondered down to an artesian market. We were pleased to find that not only did Ecuador have awesome things, they were also affordable. We kept spending to a minimum here though because we had plans to go to the biggest artesian market in South America the following day, in a city about 2 hours away called Otavalo.
Later that day we met up with some of Ned´s friends for coffee, and we found out they were taking off that night for a beach town called Canoa so we wouldn´t get a chance to hang out with them. But since they were heading towards the sunshine, so we made plans to meet them there. After weeks of rain we are ready for summer sunshine again!

Day 51
Today was a fabulous day! We went out to Otavalo early in the morning, although we were feeling under the weather and it took a lot of motivation to get out of bed, but it was absolutely 100% worth it. Not only was the market cheap, it had some of the coolest things we´d ever seen. We allowed ourselves to splurge a bit, but we ended up with some very very cool memorabilia, the most exciting being the most amazing
pair of overalls ever made.

Day 52
Rain struck Quito with a vengeance once again. Our plans of wandering around Old Town were shot so we spent the day huddled inside a coffee shop trying to stay warm and reading our books. We plan to leave Quito for Canoa tonight where we´re hoping for sunshine.

"Hey Dad, I´m in Colombia!"

Day 25-27

 Though Panama City was quoted as being the "Miami" of Central America, and though neither of us have been to Miami, we cant imagine that Will Smith would have written a song about it if it were anything like Panama City. The hostel, Lunas Castel, was really nice, we picked up more reading material, and got to see the Panama Canal, but other than that, it was uneventful. Public transportation was confusing, to say the least, and people stared at you blankly even when you were speaking perfectly understandable spanish. As a result we mistakenly took a hot, sweaty, icky, bus around the entire city, and though it was a nice tour, it turned out our intended destination was only 6 blocks from our hostel.

We knew we wouldnt be able to cross the boarder into Colombia overland so we made plans to take a boat. We needed to get to Portobelo because thats where our boat, the Darien Gapster, would be waiting for us. We had to take 2 buses to get there, the second of which was unbearably overcrowded, sweaty, moist, and theft-ridden (good thing our thefts were only after an ipod charger, a cell phone charger, and a headlamp). Portabelo was interesting as it used to be one of the richest cities in Panama and is now made up of beach side ruins.

Day 28
Our ocean adventure started that morning on a 20 passenger speed boat, with bench seating, and shade to protect us from the elements. We opted for this trip over the common 4 day sailing trip because this way would get a cultural experience by visiting many different islands in the San Blas chain. The first day at sea was the easiest with only an hour of travel to Nalunege. Here we got to interact with the island native, the Kunas. We played volleyball with the kids while the adults generously prepared our dinner. And spent the rest of the evening hanging out with our fellow travelers.

Staying warm in the ocean during the storm with new friends

Day 29
The second day at sea was a bit rougher leading to our new friend Lisa getting violently sea sick. But we eventually made it to Iguana, a practically deserted island populated by just a few fishermen. Here we lazed in the sun for a while until a pounding, terrential, thunderous storm rolled through. But dont worry, being the wilderness survivors that we are, we were able to erect our tent in under 90 seconds and were able to keep all of our stuff dry. Well almost all of it. That night was spent gathered around a camp fire with burning plastic and lobster spewage.


Day 30
We woke up in the morning to hear the other travelers complain about almost drowning in their tents during the night. Thank goodness for our perfectly awesome tent, because we stayed relatively dry. The last day at sea started out like the 2 previous days. We left from Iguana Island and docked at Piños for lunch. Piños was a beautiful completely deserted island but we didnt stay for long because we still had a couple hours on the boat before arriving to Colombia...so we thought. However, in 2 hours instead of being in Colombia we had docked at a beach that was supposedly 10 minutes from Colombia. We were told we were staying the night here but everyone on the boat opposed this idea as we were all anxious to arrive in Colombia. At that time we had no way of knowing that this would lead to a chain of events that would delay our arrival to Colombia by 4 hours. At around 5:00 we were rushed to leave the beach by our french-canadian captain, Marco, the worlds most interesting man who constantly had us in stitches. After getting on the boat we were told we had to back track to go get our passports checked by the "officials" farther north. We arrived there at 5:40 and were told that if they didnt have all 21 of our passports checked by 6 then we would have to stay at the broken down, water logged, military invaded city, that is Puerto Obalido. Needless to say none of us were thrilled about that idea, so we stood over the 2 men checking our passports with flashlights, encouraging them to hurry up. Luckily we made it by the hair of our chiny chin chins. (we learned in the end that they were just looking for a bribe and that we already had the stamps they were looking for) We finally pulled into Sapzuro, Colombia, exhausted, soaked, and coughing from the fumes of the boat around 7.

Day 31
First thing in the morning we had to offically get checked into Colombia and then we just hung out for the rest of the day because we couldnt catch a boat out of the area until 7:30 the next morning. That night we celebrated our friend Lisas birthday was the next day and we wouldnt be together the following evening to celebrate with them. Marco arranged for us to have a dance party on a small covered dock with a mini bar.

Turbo

Day 32
We had to wake up at 6am and a night full of drinking did not leave us feeling well. This day was full of punishment. It began with a 3 hour turbulent boat ride to Turbo, the most terrifying place in the world. Luckily we were with a small group who made the arrangments for us to get to Medellin from Turbo on one of the worst roads we have traveled. We got to Medellin halloween night, thought we would be able to rest up to celebrate, but ended up getting delivery and going to bed. Happy Halloween.






Day 33-37
We LOVE Medellin. Its our favorite place so far. It has everything, its beautiful, has the best public transportation complete with gondolas, and a great night life. Here we learned all about Pablo Escobar and his influence in Medellin and Colombia, actually the whole world. We mistakenly went to a museum that is made for 3rd graders to take field trips to where we learned about static electricity, and the 3 phases of matter. We saw amazing views of the city aboard the 2 gondola lines and visited the national park thats at the top of one of them. We also went to the largest mall in Colombia where we cursed ourselves for walking into a store where we fell in love with everything in it but couldnt justify buying anything. Tonight will be our last night here so we intend to go out with a real bang, though we will probably be cursing ourselves on the 8 hour bus to Bogota tomorrow morning.

WE LOVE YOU, GOOD NIGHT!

-Kristin and Molly

Muddy poop, mangroves, and a 17 mile hike

Day 19:
Woke up to disappointment when we found our catamaran trip was postponed. We later learned that a private party that consisted of one Colombian drug lord and his five Colombian hoes,who reportedly got completely naked on the boat, had chartered. So we had been pushed aside to the next day, (since we were paying student prices for a school that we weren't enrolled in...) but the weather was nicer for us anyway.

So we abrutly decided to catch a water taxi to Isla Bastimientos to go to the lush Wizard Beach. We were dropped off in what looked to be the slums of the small city on the island, and were told to simply walk along the trail and go to the right. So we went straight and on the trail to the left, which we immediately realized was wrong because it lead us to a graveyard. We were thankfully pointed in the right direction by a German couple, who were quick to laugh at our choice in shoes, sandals, and told us that the path we were on was known as the "flip flop graveyard". We soon discovered for our own that what they had meant by that was hot, moist, gooey, muddy, horse poopy path. About 30 minutes into what quickly turned into a barefoot trek we heard the German man calmly state from ahead, "Hey girls, watch out for that huge poisonous spider on the right." Upon hearing this we demanded that he point out exactly were the spider was and wait for us to pass unharmed.

We soon got to the beach where Annabelle and Molly got really sunburned. We relaxed for as long as possible, only to delay the dreadful excursion back, which after hours of agonizing, didn't seem to be as bad as we remembered. We ate one of the best meals we have had at an oceanside Caribbean cafe called Roots; a delicious jerk-ish chicken with coconut beans and rice, a salad, and french fries for only $4.

Day 20:
Woke up to the most beautiful day we had seen on the island, giddey as school girls and ready to partake on ocean adventure. We met our fascinating German captain while aboard the catamaran, which the 5 of us shared with 3 other people. Our captain had a very diverse selection of music to say the least. We heard everything from Belle and Sebastian, to Xavier Rudd, to Justin Timberlake, to P. Diddy, to Sting. (his playlists contributed to his lived persona along with the fact that he had sailed across the Atlantic at least 5 times)

The first stop on our boat was a snorkel spot at what is known to be the second largest coral reef. We then continued on to a mangrove filled bay that was polluted with dozens of dolphins. (A mangrove is a type of tree that has its roots in the ocean) We snorkeled once more and saw thousands of different kinds of coral which came in the most beautiful colors we had ever seen. Oh captain, our captain, then prepared sandwiches that we washed down with a cold refreshing beer. (for the first time Molly ate mustard, but don't assume her irrational phobia has deceased.) Needless to say, it was a perfect day!

Our foul mouthed dutch friend Nard, who we had met at Rocking J's, surprised us by being in our dorm when we returned. So we all went out for a celebratory dinner on a boat called Riptide that has a 24 hour happy hour 7 days a week. There we drank $3.50 pitchers and ate yucca fries. On our way home we stopped at a party hostel only to run into our other dear friend from Rocking J's, Pike. All around a great day!

Day 21:
Off to a slow start after a night of drinking, we finally gathered ourselves and decided to venture to Red Frog Beach, a National Park on Isla Bastimientos. We were sadly  informed later that this beautiful and pristine beach will soon be littered with villas and private condos. MUY MAL! But anyway, we swam in water that is clearer than a bathtub and strolled along sand that was softer than silk. Because we were still recovering from the night before, we played cards that night and came to terms with the fact that we would be separating from the group the next morning.

Day 22:
We bid farewell to Annabelle, Anna, Kristen, and Nard, stopped at a bakery to pick up turkey and ketchup sandwiches, and let it sink in that it would just be the 2 of us from here on out. In total it took us 1 boat and 2 buses and a total of 7 hours to get to our next destination, Boquete. The first bus was interesting as we saw a young girl carrying her pet cat in a plastic potato sack and a little boy vomiting right next to us. On the second bus we were stuck directly behind a 13 year old couple in love. Gross. Enough said. We finally made it to Nomba Hostel, a quiet adventure hostel and were surprised to see an Ofersures sticker on one of the doors (our brother's friend's band from Manhattan Beach). From our arrival we took it easy and preped for the 12 hour hike we decided to partake in.

Day 23/24:

Did nothing all day on the 23rd expect dread the Volcan Baru hike that we had already signed up and paid in full for. We were informed to bring a bottel of water, a raincoat, good walking shoes, and a snack. This hardly prepared us for the unknowingly 17 mile hike we were about to venture on. Luckily we had enough sense to bring some warm clothes, because we had read that temperatures can drop to near freezing on the summit.

We were picked up at 10pm by our 51 year old guide, Eduardo, where we took a taxi to the start of the hike. There was light drizzle and a nervous swagger to our step because we were terrified, and rightfully so. One of our logical first questions was "Que tipos de animales estan aqui?" to which he replied, pumas, jaguars, snakes, and raccoons, (but not the kind that steal your lunch) however assured us of our safety. Needless to say this exponentially increased our fear because we were already walking through the dark jungle. The "trial" was rocky, uneven, muddy, and inconsistent. Our uneasiness grew as we approached hour 2, and were still very low in altitude, and wondered what the hell we were thinking. Mind games began kicking in when we realized we still had 5 hours left uphill so we could see the sunrise while standing on the summit of Panama's only volcano...and then would STILL have to turn around and repeat the hike going downhill! At least at the top of the summit we were able to see both the Caribbean and Pacific oceans, though we would NEVER EVER do this again.

Around hour 10 going downhill, Eduardo informed us that jaguars attack and eat horses and cows, but not to worry because they don't like humans....we both made a mental note to take what he says with a grain of salt. Anyway, we made, barely, and now we actually cannot move. We are paralyzed from the waist down. But don't mom, we are hoping it will pass.

We are off to Panama City tomorrow and are currently residing in the a really, really purple hostel in David.

Ciao!

Well here it is.... as promised

Day 18 of our trip... sorry for the delay. There was excitment before we even left the airport. For starters, we saw Nick Lachey at LAX, though he was trying to keep a low prof, we were quick to recognize him. But more important then that, we almost couldn´t leave the airport due to not having an exit ticket, so we just charged it. Thank god it is was fully refundable, or we would´ve been home on Oct. 10th.

San Jose was alright, not our fav. But there were some pluses, like Sarah Anne Pringle was born the day after we arrived. She´s beautiful, happy, and very very small, oh and she giggles a lot. All and all San Jose is a big city, but we were ready to leave. Although we were told that we brought the sunshine with us, because the rainy season ended the day we arrived! Well kind of...

From there we took a bus to La Fortuna on day 3 of our trip. From here we took a tour that led us to a look out point for Volcan Arenal, and we hiked to a beautiful waterfall in the pouring rain, and then shivered to wait for lava, which unfortunately we never saw. But it was still wonderful. Here, we also found our favorite food place. A local soda (small family owned restaraunt) that gave huge portions of casado, basically rice, beans, meat, fried plantains, tortillas, and potatoes all for around 4 bucks!

On day 4 we were pointed towards a local swimming hole, there were waterfalls and a rope swing and not as crowded as the rock slides. And for the first time, we were able to convince Annabelle to jump off a rock over a waterfall (though she was holding Molly´s hand).

On day 5 we traveled to Tamarindo, or Tamagringo, as the locals call it. We stayed on the beach near crocidilles, which the hostel failed to mention to us. However, we eventually learned the safe place to swim and got to surf. The next day was Annabelle´s birthday, we met up with a guy we met on our La Fortuna volcano tour who asked us to join him and his father for a fresh tuna dinner, which they had caught fishing that morning and were having prepared at a local french restaraunt. It was awesome! and probably the best meal we´ll eat in the next few months.

From there we took a private shuttle to Jaco due to poor public transportation. In Jaco we got to live like queens for a few days because of the condo Kristin´s family has there. Though she has failed to take advantage of it, college reunion trip anyone? We took a bus to Manuel Antonio, a national park, where we were able to see a SLOTH, monkeys, and mean raccoons that stole our bananas. All and all our stay in Jaco was lazy.



Day 12, we returned to San Jose to check in on Sarah. Here we pitched our tent for the first time and fell in love with it. It´s perfect for us.

SLIP N SLIDE!

Day 13 we took a bus to Rockin J´s hostel in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, it was our first time on the Caribbean side. This hostel is like a crazy zoo. No walls, around 200 hammocks, 2 stories of camping space, and the place is covered in mosaics and paintings. We pitched our tent for $4.50 a night here. On day 14 we saw a lightning storm that was spectacular, the lightning struck every ten seconds right over the ocean. We made 2 good friends here, a dutch and an australian, who taught us funny words, like kongazoid, which means cancer shit. A common swear word in Holland. We had the same breakfast everyday at a local soda, for $3 we got coffee, two eggs, gallo pinto (seasoned beans and rice), and a fried plantain or tortilla. Additionally we may add that we got to do slip in slide in the rain and it was AWESOME, though are bodies have been aching from it since!


Puerto Viejo was a favorite place thus far, but we were anxious to move onto Panama where the cost of living is less. Day 17 we crossed our first border, and what an exprience. The trip was relatively easy, but the bridge that we had to walk across connecting the two countries was super sketchy.

Once we got to the other side the shuttle driver tried to tell us that they were going to put our bags in another car that would meet us at our destination, but we immediately refused and said we´d sit on our bags if we had to. Luckily he just let us sit in the taxi that was carrying them. We took a boat to Isla Colon, one of the islands in the Bocas del Toro chain, it´s beautiful and we´re excited to see more!

Sorry for the laundry list of what has happened so far, we promise our future entries will be more entertaining, we just wanted to catch everyone up! Ciao!