Panama!

Panama rocks! Here's how it is going so far. I cannot believe it has already been a week...

The trip down was uneventful which is a good thing - i cannot find parentheses on this keyboard and it is killing me... Anyway. I noticed the woman in the customs line ahead of me had a very similar backpack to mine. Good thing I noticed because she was in my collectivo from the airport and got out first and I was second to last and when I got to the back of the va, there was her bag and mine was gone. She looked like she had much nicer stuff than I anyway, but she was a little small so probably would not have fit. Anyway, the incredibly nice- everyone in Panama I have met is incredibly nice- driver took me back to the other hotel to make the switch and then back to my hostel and was not even going to charge me more! I tipped him well. Stayed in Panama City at Luna'a Castle in Casco Viejo. Great little hostel with terrific views across the water of downtown Panama City. Sunday I decided to hit the Panama Canal Mraflores Locks like a local with the local buses. So what I could have done in 30 minutes took me 4.5 hours and got me completely lost in Panama City as well as 10 km past my stop from the longer bus. But I got to practice Spanish and people watch and talk to locals so I didn't really mind.

The locks were really interesting. I now know all sorts of fun facts like 40 boats a day go through. Bigger ones go during daylight hours and smaller ones at night. In the morning it runs from Atlantic to Pacific (up the locks) and in the afternoon, the opposite. I watched three huge tankers go through and get lowered 26 meters. Pretty impressive. I also learned a lot about the history in the museum. And the fact that is keeping me up at night that I got from the museum is that there are over 6000 species of cockroaches in the world. Ick!

After the canal I walked around Casco Viejo and stumbled onto a festival with lots of drums and trumpets. Kind of like what is going on outside my hostel right now- it is an independence festival this weekend (apparently they have a lot of them- and hey, I found the parentheses!). I also had awesome ceviclhe from the fish market for $1.25. Sunday night I hung out in the hostel with some travelers from Ireland, Slovenia, England and Norway. Then it was time to move on.

Monday I made the long trip to Santa Catalina (bus to Sona, then bus to Sta Catalina) a beach town in the south. It is the gateway to Coiba which was my must do of the trip. I checked into Cabanas Rolo and my dorm room was only three beds and my roommate a really nice girl from Alabama named Brelyn who is studying in Panama. There was another group next door from the US and Canada so I had a ready made group of partners in crime upon arrival. Tuesday I hit both beaches and wadered around and read in the hammocks. Then I hung out with the crew in the evening including some new arrivals from Canada, Austria, and the US.

Wednesday was the big Coiba trip. It was me and the next door crew (Jennifer, Leigh, Ava, and Levi) as well as another Canadian named Carrie. We got on a lil speedboat with our captain, Tomato, and our guide, Midget (I swear, that is what they call themselves, in Spanish of course. I will call the guild lil man to be PC). It took two hours to get to the biggest island and on the way we saw flying fish and some dolphins (I heart dolphins!). We did a short hike on the island and saw a monkey and heard howler monkeys. Then we went to Isla Granita del Oro to snorkel. Coiba is 20 km off Panama and is made up of 30 islets and 18 islands. The biggest used to be a penal colony but now it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

First snorkel of the day we saw 5 white tipped sharks. Lil Man actually went down and grabbed the dorsal fin of two to get them to move. Dangerous, but effective. We also saw a huge hornbill turtle and countless fish. There were thousands of hermit crabs on the beach where we had lunch. Wildlife abounds in Coiba!

The next snorkel spot was a little less exciting and then Lil Man raised his head to hear what Tomato was shouting. I figured it was time to head back until Lil Man shouted excitedly "tiburon ballena!!"- whale shark. So we hauled back to the boat and went to a deeper place in the ocean where there was just a small rock outcropping. Two dolphins swam in front of the boat to greet us. We got in the water and 30 seconds later there it was- a whale shark. Totally a bucket list thing. We spent the next 20 minutes following it around and it would dive down so we couldn't see it and then come up feeding with that huge white mouth opening and closing right under us. Diving down I got within an arm's length of it! So incredible.

The ride back was wet and cold as we got hit with a downpour but we didn't care. That night the group from next door made a Thanksgiving feast a day early complete with stuffing and mashed potatoes and pumkin pie and shared it with the rest of us. Then we hang out and played cards and kicked it. Awesome awesome day!

OK, it is two days later and I am in Boquete, but I feel like this is tres long and the band is starting up outside and I want to see what goes down with the festival.

Ciao for now. I'll add more next week sometime when I have internet again.

The final country

Oh dear, loads to report. Trip is winding down faster than I am comfortable with but there is not much I can do about that... Since the last post, Misha and Krsitin came and met up with me in Bolivia. It was so great to see them! We spent a couple of days hanging in La Paz with Ken. On Sunday we found this awesome street festival with live music and dancing. We were the only gringos in attendance and the locals were all very amused by us and included us. That night we were supposed to head down to Uyuni to tour the salt flats, but while I was watching our bags so TK and Mish could use the bathroom, someone tapped me on the shoulder and asked me a dumb question and when I looked back down, Mish´s camera bag was gone. Totally a textbook ruse and I am still kicking myself for falling for it, but it happened. In the bag was Mish´s passport along with cameras, phone and bank card. I felt awful. So we cancelled Uyuni and spent the next few days in La Paz filing police reports, getting her a temporary passport, and buying her a new visa (a $135 visa...). Mish was super good about not dwelling on it and when we finally got through all of the red tape, we headed to Copacabana for a couple of days.

In Copacabana we did a 17km hike to a little fishing village called Yampupata where we got a boat to Isla del Sol. We arrived just as all the tourists were leaving and headed up to the top of the hill (quite a feat at 3800 meters) to watch the sunset. It was interesting for me being there again in the off season as the first time I went to the peak to watch sunset, there were about 100 other tourists. This time we had the whole place to ourselves. We had a leisurely dinner with some wine on the island and got up to watch the sun rise over Bolivia (it set over Peru). The next day was a chill in CPCB day. Much deserved after the long trek the day before. We ate fresh trout from the trout shacks on the coast of Titicaca and shopped and relaxed. For sunset we walked to the top of the Cerro overlooking the lake.

Friday we went back to La Paz to pick up Mish´s passport and visa and booked a day trip for the following day. Unfortunately it was canceled due to weather (which was weird cause the next day was lovely...). Instead we took a micro to Valle de La Luna and wandered around the lunar landscape for a bit. Later we checked Mish into a hostel (she was leaving the next AM) and Kristin and I took an overnight bus to Uyuni. We arrived at 6 AM and booked a 3 day tour for that morning. There was a bit of a delay in finding a jeep for us but we managed to leave around noon for our tour. We met an awesome honeymooning Irish couple who were our buddies for the trip. Day 1 was spent in the salt flats. We took fun pictures messing with depth perception, ate lunch at a salt hotel, wandered around an island made of coral covered with cacti (the flats were an inland sea) and spent the night in a salt hotel. Day 2 we went to a variety of lakes with 3 kinds of flamingos living in them. We had lunch under a volcano and spent the night next to a large red lake. Day 3 was a long day and began at 4:30 AM. We headed out to some geysers (that were really bubbling sulfur pools, but still cool) and then hit hot springs before breakfast. From there we went to a bright green lake under another volcano and then started the long (8 hour) drive back to Uyuni. After a farewell dinner with our Irish friends, we caught the night bus back to La Paz.

Wednesday was a chill day in La Paz (we needed it). Thursday we headed to Coroico in the hills. It was lovely and we stayed at this great eco lodge about 20 minutes (uphill) from the town. It had a pool and lounging areas and was a great place to relax for the afternoon. The next morning we got up to hike to the top of a hill. We made it about 2/3 of the way before deciding that it was more trouble than it was worth and headed back to the pool. That afternoon we went back to La Paz as Kristin had an early AM flight on Saturday. We had a yummy upscale llama steak dinner for Kristin´s last night in Bolivia.

After Kristin left I got a bus to Arequipa via the border at Desaguadero. There was quite a line to get the entry stamp but I made it to Arequipa after 11 hours of travel. I ran into Laura from New Zealand at the hostel in Arequipa (we met in Mendoza and again in Tupiza- she is convinced I am following her). We did dinner with some other hostel peeps and then went back to the Halloween party in the hostel bar. Later that night we all headed out to see one of the hostel employees´borther´s band play at a local bar. The streets were totally packed with people in costume. Seriously, Peru celebrates Halloween more than some places in the US! The band members were all dressed as superheroes and something about hearing heavily accented covers of Evanescence and Shania Twain (along with some local pop songs) done by Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Captain America made the night damn near perfect. Yesterday I spent the day in Arequipa with Laura and a Canadian girl. Arequipa is a lovely city with lots of white buildings that sparkle in the sun. It has loads of old, oranate churches and a good vibe. If I wasn´t beelining to the beaches right now, I would have spent a couple of days exploring (although I was there before on a previous trip).

Today I am in Lima after an overnight bus ride. Tomorrow I head north up the coast to hit some ruins and start working on my pre-winter tan before I meet Kara in Mancora (she really is going to make it this time... I hope).

All for now. Less than 3 weeks til the end of the journey....

Back... in Bolivia!

My border crossing experience was interesting (aren´t they all?). I had no problems finding the border and gtting my exit stamp but once over on the Bolivia side I stood in a line for 45 minutes waiting for it to move just a little and wondering why no other travelers were there. Luckily I decided to ask the immigration police for a form and he told me that I did not need to wait in that line and I breezed into Bolivia. I bought a ticket for the next bus to Tupiza and went to check on train tickets for the next day. That was when I discovered there was a strike in Uyuni and no buese were running. That was upsetting because it meant I had to take a bus through Potosi and add about 8 hours of travel time to get to La Paz.

I got to Tupiza after 3 hours on a shaky, dusty bus on unpaved roads and was met at the bus station by Ken who I had traveled with in Bolivia. After I checked in and freshened up, we headed out for food and drinks and ran into Laura from New Zealand who I had met in Mendoza. Small world. The three of us went for dinner and drinks and ran into Ken´s German friends and an Austrian guy I met on the bus. So we all hung out for awhile and then Ken and I decided to check out the local nightlife for a bit. The next morning Ken and the Germans headed for Uyuni. I gave the train station one last shot and found out that the trains were back on! So I booked a ticket and spent the day lazing around Tupiza (I had been there previously so didn´t need to check out the tourist sites). I splurged for "executive class" on the train. Once on I was reminded that I was back in Bolivia as "executive class" had more comfortable, smallish chairs that reclined a bit. It did not include food (and apparently you cannot bring any on) but did include blankets and heat which I was VERY thankful for that night- it was freezing!

The next morning I arrived in Oruro and took a bus to La Paz. I wandered around and booked into a little hotel and booked a tour for Monday. The tour was terrific! We drove up to close to the top of Chacaltaya Mountain (5450 meters- 17,895 feet) and hiked up to the peaks. The views were terrific! We could see Illumani (tallest in Bolivia) and Waima Potosi as well as others. After the mountain we headed south of La Paz to Valle de la Luna which is named Valley of the Moon because the white rocks and formations look like the moon´s surface. Awesome day! I got back to La Paz and moved to a hostel to meet more people and then booked a trek for today. Today I hiked for over 4 hours to alpine lakes with more terrific mountain views. Pretty good couple of days!

Anyway, this is a quick update and I am trying to keep them shorter. Ciao for now!

A short stint in the desert

From Cordoba I took a very disappointing overnight bus to Salta. Since I am not a fan of long bus journeys, I splurged for the ¨cama¨which usually involves a hot meal, wine, pillow and blankets. Our bus (Ken was with me) had none of these. And it arrived late. So that was lame. As was the ridiculously loud snoring man across the aisle from me. But we made it nevertheless. In Salta we headed to the hostel where Ken´s camera was and headed out to check out the town. We wandered around, found some great pasta, and checked out the overpriced, interesting and rather sad mummy museum (that is not the official name for the record). Apparently the Incas used to take the most attractive and physically fit children in each town and make them walk hundreds of miles to a religius ritual. Then they walked back and one of the children was ¨chosen¨to be the sacrifice. This child was taken up on a mountian, fed chicha (alcoholic drink) until s/he passed out, and then buried alive in a cave with ceremonial objects. There were two of these mummified children on display. One of them had obviously woken up before freezing to death. It was kind of gruesome. After a nap, Ken and I decided to have dinner and check out the Salta nightlife. It was Sunday so not too much was going on (we spent Saturday night on the bus) but it was fun watching the souped up cars cruise the strip. Souped up in Argentina runs the gamut from shiny race car look-alikes to beaters with flashing lights.

Monday a crew from the hostel took a bus to San Lorenzo about a half hour away for some hiking. There was a short zipline that a couple of people did and the hike was short but nice. It is really hot up north during the day (finally!) so we were all cool with a shorter hike. That night we treated ourselves to a steak dinner (probably my last in Argentina). Tuesday morning I headed north to Tilcara with a couple of Canadian girls from the hostel. We had a relaxing afternoon reading and enjoying views from the hostel, but one of them realized she had lost her passport and they headed back to Salta to look for it. I hope they found it! Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by blue skies (forecast was for rain) and spent the day exploring the desert near Tilcara. First I went to Purmamarca which is know for its ¨Seven Color Hill¨which, as the name implies has seven colors of stripes in the hill. I took a little hike there and then headed to Maimara where there is a picuresque hillside cemetary. The walk back to Tilcara was a bit farther than I anticipated, but I go there eventually. Then I headed to an archeology museum and up the hill near twn t the Pucara which is the ruins of an Inca fort. I ended the day with a llama steak (regional specialty) and paid for it later that night. Ah well, the last one I had was fine... This morning I came up to another indigenous town on the way to Bolivia called Humahuaca. I wandered the town and did a short hike to the Peñas Blancas or white rocks overlooking the town. Tomorrow I am heading up to the border to Bolivia. I am so ready t be back in Bolivia! Argentina has been nice to fantastic, but it feels so incredibly first world and comfortable. I will have plenty of that when I get back to the US in 6 weeks (OMG- just 6 more weeks!). Plus I miss the vibe and people and otherworldlyness of Bolivia.

All for now!

I heart Cordoba!

I planned to spend two nights in Cordoba. I ended up being here for six. Sometimes you just get stuck in a place. And I am so not complaining! I met some people in the hostel the first night and three of us decided to head to Alta Gracia the following day to see the Che museum. Two more people arrived from Mendoza the following morning and the five of us spent the day in Alta Gracia. The Che museum was really interesting. It is in a house that Che lived in when he was young and mostly focused on his "pre-Che" life. There were loads of pictures and letters and maps- definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in Cordoba. That night we added another couple of people from the hostel and hit the biggest buffet in Argentina for dinner (my second visit). A couple of the girls decided to go skydiving the following morning and invited me to join them. I said I would think about it.

I woke up the next morning and decided to jump out of a plane. There ended up being five of us in total- Mercedes and Fiona from Canada, Cathy from Australia, myself, and Espen from Norway. The plane was so small that only one person could go up at a time so we spent a long time sitting in the sun and waiting our turns. There were some Israeli girls before us. It was all of our first times to skydive so we were all in the same boat. I was terrified. I hate heights and always said that unless the plane was going down, I was staying aboard. Since I signed up last, I went last. It was great being there to watch my new friends do their dives as it became more and more real that I was about to do the same thing. Finally it was my turn. I was totally OK until I was strapped to the instructor hanging out the door of the plane. Then I freaked out a bit. By "freaked out" I mean screamed a few obscenities and wondered why the hell I was there. Then I was falling through space from 8500 feet. Oh and our intro talk where they explained what to do lasted literally five minutes... Anyway, before I knew it, the parachute was open and we were drifting down. All was well. I survived. About 10 minutes after my jump, a plane from another company broke its wheels on landing and they had to cancel all of the rest of the jumps for the day. Lucky for me it happened after my jump because I do not think I would have come back the following day... That night we went for a celebratory steak dinner with nice wine.

Wednesday was spent relaxing and walking around Cordoba. Wednesday night an impromtu plan was made to take a long trek on Thursday. So Thursday morning myself, Ken from Ireland, Jules from Oz and Wouter from Holland got up and grabbed a bus to the Quebrada del Condorito. The first 10 km of the hike was fairly easy and flat. Then we hit the valley- 500 meters straight down followed by 500 meters straight up. But at the end we hit this amazing overlook with condors soaring past. Totally worth it! The walk back seemed longer and had a bit more elevation gain. We were all pretty tired but glad to have done it. We got back just in time to shower and head up to the roof for the hostel BBQ.

Yesterday was the start of a 10 day Oktoberfest in a German town about 2 hours from Cordoba. There was a group of nine of us from the hostel who went to check it out. Unfortunately it was pretty dead the first day but with such a big group, we made our own fun. And the weather was terrific! It was the first time I was able to wear shorts and a tank top in months (still got pretty cold at night though). Today is a chill day and tonight Ken and I are taking an overnight bus to Salta. I am looking forward to exploring the quebrada north of Salta that I skipped on the way down. Also getting very excited to meet up with TK and Mish in two weeks in La Paz!!

Photos uploaded! Many fewer than I would have liked since I lost five weeks of Bolivia and Argentina, but better than nothing...
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacyb/ArgentinaUruguay#

Uruguay

I love the word Uruguay. I have no idea why, but it never ceases to make me giggle...

So, as the title implies I spent a week in Uruguay. And it was just the thing to make me stop complaining about how expensive everything is in Argentina- Uruguay is definitely more so. And it is all relative, but you know, compared to say SE Asia, India, and Bolivia, these places cost a lot. But Uruguay was fun. I spent a couple of days wandering around Montevideo. One night I got locked out of my hostel for 2 hours (my key did not work and 24 hour reception in Montevideo apparently excludes Sundays). But I met some really nice homeless people and found a good little restaurant nearby. Plus the Uruguayan family that was also waiting outside the hostel asked if I was from Spain after talking to me for 10 minutes so that made me very happy about my Spanish skills. From Montevideo I headed to the deserted (out of season) beach town of La Paloma. It was kinda fun to have the town to myself. I did a long walk along the beach to a neighboring town and just enjoyed watching the ocean. I do love the ocean.

After La Paloma I spent another night in Montevideo but it was super cold (and it is Spring!) so I was glad my hostel did a communal dinner and had a bar and a pool table. My roomies were these hysterical girls from Brazil and Columbia so we had an entertaining evening. I was sick of the cold at that point so I headed up to Salto in the north where there are hot springs. I went to Dayman which is described by Lonely Planet as "the Disney of hot springs" and it really is a huge complex. It has about 12 pools of varying sizes, temperatures and depths plus lots of green areas for lounging around. There is also a thermal water park next door, but I stuck with the plain ol pools. It was much warmer in Salto which was nice. Yesterday I headed back across to Argentina and spent the night in Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a colonial town with a bunch of lovely ornate churches so I walked around and checked them out. Today was rainy so I decided to make it a transit day and took a bus to Cordoba. And they served wine on the bus! That was a first for me. And I have taken loads of buses in Argentina.

Wanted to remark a bit on the mate culture. I am intrigued by it. In Argentina, and even more so in Uruguay, everyone drinks mate all the time. They carry a thermos of hot water and a mate glass with silver straw everywhere they go. I love it. Well actually I am not a fan of the drink but I love how completely addicted everyone here is. Note to self to take a picture...

OK, this was my attempt at a shorter post. More in a few days. Hopefully the weather will clear and I can get out and explore more of Northern Argentina. Cross your fingers for springlike weather for me. I have another winter to face when I get back to the US.

Summer camp wedding and a killer time with Mom and Dad!

Oh dear, I swore to make these more often and more brief. Such a failure am I (and Yoda to boot).

Beach day in Rosario was good. Then headed to Buenos Aires where I found a dress for the wedding and hung out for a few days. The weather turned super cold so much of my time was spent indoors.

Flew to Boston and had a great time hanging out with Ali and Dave (thank you!!!!) both times I crashed at their place. Friday night met up with Johnny and Sam in Boston and on Saturday we headed up to the summer camp in NH for the wedding. Let me just say that the summer camp wedding idea was a fabulous one!! Even though I had a little fall and my face was a bit scratched up for the ceremony (no, do not expect pics), it was even more fun than it sounds. Talent show, kickball, bonfire, s'mores, a great wedding ceremony by the lake and party thereafter... Way to go Tom and Court!!! Before I left I got a quick dinner in with my cousin Alex to round out the week.

Had a few days in Buenos Aires to get things ready for Mom and Dad's arrival and sightsee. Unfortunately I had my camera stolen in a crowded subway car two days before they arrived and I lost all of my pictures from Bolivia and Argentina that I had been being lazy about uploading. I was really bummed about that. Thanks to Mom and Dad for getting me a new camera at the last minute as cameras in Argentina are more than twice what they cost in the US. Aside from the camera mishap, I had a great couple of days with some girls from my hostel in Buenos Aires. We explored the town and got to drink a penguin of wine (used in lieu of carafes in some places) at an awesome empanada house.

Mom and Dad flew in last Saturday early morning. I met them at their hotel and they were super troopers in shrugging off the jet lag (after a red eye) and walking to Plaza de Mayo and Puerto Madera. Later we went out to diner and to a Tango show at a classical BA institution, Cafe Tortoni. Sunday we ran all over town seeing the Recoleta Cemetary (where Evita is buried) as well as the Evita museum. Monday we took a ferry over to Colonia, Uruguay for the day and wandered around the old city and parks. Tuesday we relaxed a bit and went to the zoo and gardens and an art museum. Of course we ate well during all this (highlight being Juana M in Recoleta) and Mom and I sampled some Argentine white wines. Oh and Monday night Del Potro, an Argentine tennis player won the US Open. On the walk back from the ferry we stopped to watch the finals outside a bar with flat screens facing out into the street with loads of Argentinians. I love stuff like that!!

Wednesday morning we flew up to Iguazu to see the falls. It was a rather cold and rainy day but we perservered and saw the most incredible falls I have ever seen! Thursday the weather was still iffy so we spent the morning seeing other Iguazu attractions, the Plastic bottle house and the tree and stone houses. Both were way more interesting then they sounded (and I had totally made fun of Mom for wanting to go), especially the plastic bottles. Later the weather cleared up so we went back to the falls to see them in the sun and saw loads of rainbows. It is hard to describe the falls. The Devils Throat is insanely powerful and high. Then you walk the upper and lower circuits and just see the incredible breadth of the falls. I cannot even estimate how many there were...

Thursday night we flew back to BA and had diner close to the hotel due to rain and lack of taxis. Friday we rented a car (excellent work Dad driving in the crazy BA traffic) and went to San Antonio de Areco- home of the gaucho tradtions. We did the gaucho (cowboy) museum and other local sights before heading back that evening. We had our last dinner (and ice cream of course) out in Palermo. Saturday we did shopping and the planetarium before it was time for Mom and Dad to head home. We had such a wonderful time and covered a lot of ground! I am so so so glad they came down to meet me!!

OK, two days later and I am now in La Paloma, Uruguay on the beach. It is off season and really quiet here but it is nice to see the ocean. Yesterday I was in Montevideo which was fun for a day (except for getting locked out of my hostel for 2 hours, but these things happen). Tomorrow I think I am going to head back West. We will see how I feel in the AM though.

Thanks Jen for reminding me to stop putting this off! Will write in a few days so the next is shorter- at least that is the plan...