Thursday, October 29, 2009

Construction

The past 2 weeks have been busy at the park. We're in the second phase of construction, the locations for the cages have been cleared and the ditches and holes for the posts have been dug. This week volunteers are working on cementing the posts so hopefully it wont rain too much!  We were able to buy all of the supplies needed although some of them took longer than expected to arrive.  We spent an antire morning with the whole camp carrying rocks and sand to Koru´s cage!  Luckilly Sarah and I convinced Karen (an old volunteer who came back the park to work with Leo) to take over construction when we leave.  Working with Leo the past two weeks has been great.  Im really glad that I had the opportunity to swich cats before I left the park. Ill be posting some photos of the construction work soon when I have acess to faster internet!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Fundraising!

For the past week Sarah, Emily, and I have been fundraising at the park. A few of us are probably not coming back here for awhile and we wanted to take on some sort of construction project before we left.  There is so much that the park needs and although we all can donate money when we go home you still need volunteers at the park to make it happen.  After debating what was needed most we chose to build new cages for Koru (a young puma) and Mariano (a small Brazilian jungle cat).  We picked projects that we could realistically raise the funding for and complete within a month before we leave the park.  Things have been going great!  We have been making breakfast and desserts every night for volunteers to purchase and it has been a big hit.  We also held an auction where people could bid on things like a 45 minute massage, a romantic dinner for two, and having your laundry done by another volunteer.  We also convinced two of the guys to wrestle in the compost (gross!) to benefit the auction which raised 1000BS alone.  So, today Sarah and I are in Santa Cruz to buy all of the fencing and tools we will need to build the cage.  We raised over 10,000BS in just over a week which is about 2/3 of what we need altogether!  We are going to continue the fundraising and hopefully we´ll be able to purchase the rest of the materials soon.  Volunteering at the park is awesome, but you don't always know whats going to happen in the future to the animals you work with.  We all hope that the next volunteer to work with your cat will to their best but it will be great to contribute something that will permanently improve their lives.  Koru was brought to the park in an emergency, when he was discovered tied to a dumpster living on a military base and since the park didn't have any room he was temporarily put in a very small cage intended for birds or small animals.  Mariano has been at the park for a year, but since he is not a large cat he has not always had a permanent volunteer when numbers are low.  Unfortunately he has been living in the quarantine area for all this time and he is often switched into a smaller cage to accommodate new animals coming to the park.  Now he will have a decent size permanent enclosure.  Anyone who wants to help can send a donation by mail!  We will be fundraising for about one more week. Since everything here is purchased in Bolivianos a donation of just $5 is equal to 35BS :)

On another note, I'm switching cats.  Im really excited because tomorrow I get to go back to Leo!  Unfortunately, the reason I'm switching is because Engine jumped me pretty violently.  He got my arm when he jumped and by chance he got quite close to an artery so it was bleeding a lot.  I'm fine now but it was a bit scary.  Regardless, they decided his previous volunteer would switch back onto him because he is becoming more difficult to work with.  Marc may have more success anyways because sometimes the male cats respond better to male volunteers.   It will be awesome to get to work with Leo again for my last few weeks :D  Jane Goodall is visiting the park next week too!  There´s a short article on the CIWY website about her visit.  We took a half day to do construction projects for her arrival and I helped paint all of the dorms which was a fun and they look great!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Fire Fighting

The protest was a huge sucess.  A bunch of people stayed an extra night to talk to the press the next morning and Evo (the president of Bolivia) declared his support for stopping the building of the road.  This is a great acomplishment but the campesinos are determined to continue so right now the volunteers at Machia are literally sitting in front of the machines so they cant move forward.  There is a lot going on at Ambue Ari too. The fires have started, which means that everday we are working on  lengthening the fire trail (lots of raking and macheting). The farmers here start fires to burn land for crops and last year a huge section of the park burned because they dont control the fires once they start them.  They arent huge forest fires like we have in the US but they are still dangerous even thought they are slow burning and close to the ground.  Apparently the fire trail should create a break in the land and prevent any more of the park from burning.  I went out to see Ru (one of the jauguars) the other day here is one of the photos I took.  He´s awesome!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Surprise visit to Santa Cruz

Today 12 of us volunteers decided to accompany Noemi (the park coordinator) to Santa Cruz to help out with a demonstration to bring attention to the road being built through Parque Machia. The parade marched through Plaza 24 de Septiembre (named after today´s holiday - the anniversary of the founding of the Department of Santa Cruz) and it was very exciting. We had signs publicizing what Inti Wara Yassi is about and everyone was clapping when we walked by. There was also a short speech given about the situation at the other park. This is great for the organization because there were a lot of important people in attendance in addition to the large crowds of locals. The procession is also going to be on TV in a few days! Tonight we will all head back to the park. Im exhausted from sleeping on the bus last night, Santa Cruz is about 6 hours away from Ambue Ari.
A lot of stuff has been going on at the park in the past week. I worked on cutting Engine a new trail, which wasn't quite as easy as I had expected but it is completed now and he is (hopefully) going to walk it for the first time tomorrow! A past volunteer had cut him some unauthorized trails that went very close to other cats trails and when we had to stop using them he was not a happy camper. He would try to go down the old trails for hours and get himself very agitated. So I decided it would be much better to just make a new trail as a diversion. Its taken all week because we have also been working on the Fire Trail. It is a large band around the park that ideally will prevent the neighboring fires from spreading into our land. Also, a lot of people have been asking about cats they used to work with so here is an update on Ru. He was getting quite playful and Parque Machia made a decision to take his collar off and discontinue walking him, permanently. But Noemi came up with the idea of letting him out on the runner an extending it to the river so he could swim. I went out to see him one day and it is really sad to see such a beautiful and amazing animal imprisoned in his cage. They haven't tried the new routine yet but personally I think its a great compromise that will keep volunteers safe and is good for Ru. I was in such a rush to pack for our day trip that I completely forgot to pack my camera cord :( so I will have to attempt to upload pictures on the slow connection in Guarayos next time I'm there. Until then ... I miss everyone back in the states!

Letter from CIWI

Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY) is the largest conservation NGO in Bolivia and is run entirely by volunteers. This organisation provides a safe haven for 1,000’s of abused animals (including pumas, jaguars, ocelots, spider and capuchin monkeys and even a brown speckled bear) and has saved over a 1,000 hectares of rain forest. However, Inti Wara Yassi is currently in crisis. The mayor of the town in which a large part of the refuge is based is building a road directly through the park where the animals live and are re-released into the wild. Without this park there will come a point where Inti Wara Yassi will find it very difficult to continue saving animals from the cruelty they face at the hands of people. This story is a plea for publicity for this struggling park. It is also a story of hope. The dedicated volunteers at the park are currently trying to raise $10,000 to buy 300 hectares of new land which will be a safe haven for these animals and also conserve precious rainforest. The refuge is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization and relies on donations and volunteer fees to survive.

A letter from Juan Carlos, founder of CIWY

The President of Bolivia - Evo Morales - has been called "Worldwide Hero of the Earth" by locals; yet how then can it be that the forest in Bolivia is being destroyed and millions of animals are being left without a home. Are we to just sit back and watch while Parque Machia (a wild animal refuge and biopark) is being destroyed in order to make way for a new road, and while Parque Isiboro Secure (one of the richest centres of biodiversity) and other national parks in Bolivia are also being destroyed? No, we cannot and for this reason we are calling out to the people of the world to join together in solidarity with the trees and the animals - the life source of the planet. We all know that a country's wealth should be measured by its biodiversity and not by its fragile and fluctuating economy.

Parque Machia is a wild animal sanctuary and part of the Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (a Bolivian grass-roots organisation dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating wild animals held in captivity). The very future of Parque Machia and the animals it houses is currently under threat as local coca-growing farmers fight to push ahead with the construction of a road that will run right through the park's land and the habitat of many of its animals. The newspaper Opinion published a story on the 5th September 2009 about a puma - Quirqui - who recently passed away. It is presumed that one of the factors that brought about his death was the stress from the noise of the machinery that are clearing the park's land to make way for the road. Quirqui was rescued by the Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi from a zoo where he was suffering and was very ill. The volunteers and vets of the Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi managed to stabilize him, make him happy and also greatly improved his quality of life; that its until the bulldozers arrived. His health then started to deteriorate and sadly the puma Quirqui passed away at the beginning of this month. The construction of the road also affects and causes great stress for all the animals that live in this refuge, animals that have been given a second chance in life after being rescued form the torture of chains and small cages.

According to the newspaper Los Tiempos from the 4th September 2009, the front page describes how the
"park is being destroyed to make way for a route to transport coca", "they are cutting down trees that are 100 years old and are destroying the natural habitat of hundreds of animals". The coca-growing farmers of the community Copacabana del Chapare are demanding this route so that they can transport out their principal crop - coca. The road will pass directly through the habitat of many of the rescued animals. The Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi has been saving this park from destruction since 1996 and has been zealously looking after it for all these years. They managed to reach an agreement with the previous mayor, Felipe Caceres, who rejected the farmers' request for a road, understanding the repercussions such construction would mean for the park. However, the new mayor, Feliciano Mamani (a supporter of Evo Morales) says that the road will be built, no matter what.

The national park Isiboro Secure is also under threat, with plans to build a road straight through it, thus linking the towns of Villa Tunari and San Igancio. Parque Isiboro Secure is the third richest park in terms of biodiversity, containing a number of endemic species and it will be destroyed by the Villa Tunari-San Ignacio road. The President of Brazil - Lula de Silva - is financing the construction of this road, which will benefit his country by opening up a route to the Pacific Ocean. This construction will cause many species of animals and plants to disappear, it will pollute the water and bring about the end of this biodiversity and of the Parque Isiboro Secure. The other Bolivian national parks, which were created to be the lungs for Bolivia and for the world, are also affected by mining and agriculture. It is of great importance that agriculture be guided and controlled by policies that are dedicated to the preservation of the environment and biodiversity, otherwise we will be condemning all sources of life to a death sentence.

If you would like to find out more information, help us in our struggle to save these animals and the rainforest by donating (a donation of £40 will buy one hectare of rainforest), or volunteer some of your time, check out the website or join the facebook group CIWY EMERGENCY NOW! The Jacuzzi Donators Group

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Into the Wild

I arrived at the park last Sunday, so I have been here for almost 1 week. Im glad to be here, travelling was getting starting to become exhausting. The weather here is quite different than the other parts of Bolivia and Brazil I had been in. Its normally between 80-90 degrees during the day and 70-80 at night so its pretty hot! But there are practically no mosquitoes - a miracle. You dont even need long sleeves when you're out in the jungle and its no longer neccesary to wear three pairs of pants :) I started working with Engine, a male ocelot a few days ago. Working with Engine is definatly a challenge, he is completely different than Vanesso (the ocelot I worked with last time I was here). He is one of the few cats who would have been a great canidate for releasing but the zoo who gave him to the park forced them to sign legal documents promising they would never release him :( so for his first few years at the park no one could get close enough to him to walk him and he never left his cage. Now, after a few long term volunteers worked really hard on getting a collar and carabiner on him he is able to walk his trails. When I got here I found out that Vanesso had escaped for almost 2 weeks and was still missing. So for the first few days we set traps and luckilly he returned to his volunteer when she was sleeping out in the jungle by his cage. I also got to go and visit one of the jaguars one afternoon and it still amazes me how beautiful they are. I took pictures but its impossible to capture what it is like to see one up close in its natural habitat. I didnt bring my camera to town this week because the internet is quite slow but next week I will try to upload a few pictures. Miss you all!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

3 days of trekking


After staying at Ginger´s for a week I decided to go on a trek. Practically everyone that comes to South America does one at some point so I figured I shouldnt be missing out! I was planning on going to Machu Picchu during my last trip but it didnt happen. (It´s my excuse to keep coming back :) Chris and Sol know a guide that has been highly recommended by a lot of travellers so I decided on a three day, two night, trip to a great fishing spot. And the best part was we were going to take horses there! Horseback riding is one of my favorite actvites and at home it is prohibitivly expensive and you horse is usually retricted to walking, what fun is that? Well, here in Bolivia of course no one is worried about anything so you can basically do whatever you want on your horse! Good for me, bad for the couple that decided to go on the trek as well. Many people fail to realize that if you are not an experienced rider you will probably not enjoy being on a horse for more than an hour or two. Definately not for 6 hours. So, after about an hour they decided to get off the horses and walk, but it would have taken 10 hours instead of 7 to get there without riding. The rain was a deal breaker and they decided to head back to the farm. It all worked out because there wasnt too much more rain and the tent would have never fit all 3 of us. So I had blast cantering with Galla and Vicente (my guide) couldnt believe I didnt fall off when she took off :D


So the first day we took the horses as far as we could and then hiked for about 2 hours along the river. Unfourtunately my camera case and extra battery are floating downa rive in Bolivia somwhere not because when I was jumping onto a rock in an attempt not to get my feel wet my backpack unzipped and they fell out. I wasnt happy but they´re not the worst things I could have lost. :/ We camped on the beach of the river the first night and at about 3am I opted to abamdon the tent (I was pretty cold) and sleep by the fire. Of course, on the coldest night since Ive been here I didnt have my brand new 20° sleeping bag! I had left it at the farm because I didnt want it to get dirty haha little did I know it was going to be freezing the next 2 nights! Well, I survived anyways. The fish tasted great, we made a soup for dinner and then ate them cooked on the fire for lunch the next day. I also managed to fall into the river and somehow not break my camera. It went something like this ... Vicente mira! Mucho pescado! And then he thought I jumped in to catch them. Not exactly. But shortly after we arrived at our next destination which was the house of a family living in this area. They are the only people for miles but it was pretty cool. They fish and grow everything they need and make the two day trip to town if they need something.
The next day we headed back to Ginger´s with the horses. I was a little sad to leave the farm. Being in transit all the time gets difficult after awhile, and Im starting to get bored of travelling. I bet no one ever thought they would hear me say that! But its differnt when you feel like your missing out on stuff at home. So tomorrow I will go to the park and we´ll see how long I stay there.

Life on the farm

So, Ive been without internet for about 2 weeks and I have a lot to update! I spent a little under two weeks at an organic farm called Ginger´s Paradise. In exchange for 2 hours of work each day you can stay there and eat for about $10 a day. I learned so much in the little time I was there! I can now make peanut butter, jam, cheese, yougurt, dulce de leche, pesto, various kinds of bread, and empanadas from nothing but ingredients I gathered myself at the farm! :) I learned how to harvest tomatoes, beans, carrots, radishs, lettuce, oranges, papayas, and coutless herbs that they are growing there too. I took 2 days off work to go to nearby Samaipata which was about 2 hours from Ginger´s. I stayed at a little pousada there for one night. In the very early morning (about 5am) I was a little annoyed to be woken up by the chickens but when I got up to see what the ruckus was about I was able to get the best view Ive had here of the sun rising over the mountains. I was too tired to get out the camera for this one though :D Samiapata is pretty small but it has attracted a lot of foreingers that are now living there. I noticed this in Iquitos, Peru as well.

The next day I explored an archaeological site, El Fuerte. It is a unique place because it contains remains of three cultures, the Chanes (a pre Inca culture), the Incas and the Spaniards. Here Im hiking up to the site.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Back in Bolivia

I crossed the border of Brazil and Bolivia yesterday. It was a long trip, my flight got into Campo Grande at about 10:30pm and then I took a taxi to the bus station and an overnight bus to Corumbá. I got in at 6am but I had to wait two hours to get an exit stamp from Brazil so I could enter Bolivia. A bus and taxi ride later I was in. The officer at the border made sure I understood I was to stay no longer than 30 days and that I couldn't return until next year. So, I will have to go to the immigration office in Santa Cruz to look into getting an extension on my visa. If you overstay there is usually a fee when you cross the border to enter another country but since Im leaving from the airport it may not even matter.

I realized I am much more comfortable here, in Bolivia. When I was in Brazil I didn't notice immediately how much more difficult it was travelling in a place where I didn't speak the language. I was always able to communicate what I needed somehow, whether it be in Spanish, English, or broken Portuguese, but it is much less stressful (and embarrassing) when you can communicate with locals easily. The hostel here is great, there are only 3 guests so I practically have the whole place to myself.

There is a huge pool and it is right on the edge of the Pantanal. I was relieved to find that it is hot here because some of the places I visited in Brazil were quite cold. The only bad thing is that the mosquitoes come out at sunset but I will just have to get used to it because in a few weeks Ill be back at the park. At least I can hide in my room or in the common areas here. Tomorrow I will be taking the `Death Train` to Santa Cruz (15 hours). It earned its name in the 80´s when locals used it to transport contraband and sat on the roof. When the train derailed, which happened frequently, people often fell of and died. Its much safer now, and I will most definitely not be riding on the roof ;)

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Curitiba, Brazil

Im leaving Curitiba today to fly to Campo Grande and Ive had a lot of fun here the past 4 days. Im staying with Mariana´s sister, Flavia. Her apartment is located right in the downtown area so it has been very convenient. Ive done a lot of sightseeing here but Ive also been quite a bit of of shopping and eating. :) Our first night we ate at a really cool pasta place where you select the type of pasta you want, the sauce, and the other ingredients and they cook it for you right there. (Sortof like Fire and Ice except its faster and a lot cheaper!) Ive also had delecious gelato, cheese bread, and other brazilian desserts. We also discovered a lunch place called ´Green Time´ that only serves food grown locally and organically. We´re eating lunch there today for the second time this week. The other day we went on a mission to find a shirt I saw with a jaguar on it in the correct size. After three malls it was a sucess :D

Flavias soccer team was playing on Sunday and I went to the game with her and and friend. It was a close game but Atlético won in the end; The game was similar to the one I went to in Florence - sports fanatics in the US cant even compare. The visiting teams fans never even come in contact with the home teams fans. They have seperate entrances and their section is blocked off an guarded by two rows of security guards!

Curitiba is famous for its pioneering transportation. They have the most effective public tranit in all of Brazil and the city is considered a global model for efficiancy. I took the Tourist Line which was an awesome deal. It takes you all over the city to 24 places of interest to tourist and you can get on and off the bus which they tell you a little bit about what you´re looking at. This is also the coldest city in Brazil and its the winter here so it was a little chilly on the top of the bus. Im glad that Im heading inland and their winder is coming to an end! One of the stops I got off the bus at was the German Woods. They have memorials all over the city to each ethinic group that has immigrated here. In the german woods there is a trail you can follow telling the story of Hansel and Gretel.

Ive just finished a book called The Omniviores Dilemas and it was one of the best books Ive read recently. It was about where our food in America comes from. Very interesting, and a little disturbing. I highly recommend it to anyone who makes a concerted effort to eat healthy! The author, Michal Polin has a new book called In Defense of Food that Im looking forward to reading when I come home.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Southern Coast

The past few days Ive been on the Southern Coast of Brazil in Balneário Camboriu and Florianapolis. I started out in Pouso Alegre where I met my friend Mariana. The night before we left we had a big Mexican themed dinner party (she just returned from Mexico)and the food was delicious. We had to leave at 3am to get the bus to the airport and we arrived in Navegantes. We took another bus to Balneário Camboriu which is a city on the coast. We ate at a really great restaurant on the beach here. Lunch was $7 each ;) There was an awesome view at night of an island near the coast that they lit up at sunset.

Yesterday we went to a little museum about the Tamar Project which is run by an organization that is working on preventing sea turtle from becoming extinct. Today we hung out by the pool in the morning and went to the beach in the afternoon. The place we´re staying, Backpackers Sunset Hostel is by far the most amazing hostel Ive ever stayed in! Its on a cliff overlooking Lagoa Conceição and the views are amazing. This is us at breakfast.

And me on the rocks at the beach ... I was the only person in the ocean without a wetsuit. (But I think the water at the beachs at home is much colder!) The beach we were at is very popular with surfers so there are tons of them even in the winter (now).

We did come across a depressing sight while we were walking on the beach though. We saw four dead penguins and could not figure out what happened. We asked someone at our hostel if it was common and Unfourtunately is it. The penguins swim north from antarctica during the winter months in search of food. On the way a large percentage of them come in contact with oil pollution from large ships transporting international goods. The oil is not concentrated enough in the water to kill them immediatedly but it eats away at the protective coating of their feathers and most eventually die and wash up along the southern beaches of Brazil :(

Monday, August 17, 2009

Parati é o paraíso

I made a last minute decision to visit Parati for 2 days because Juliana and Camilia have work and school and I saw most of Sao Paulo during the week. I'm so happy I came! Parati is a small town on the coast north of Sao Paulo in the state of Rio. I took an overnight bus and arrived this morning. The BBQ last night was awesome I had a lot of fun and met a lot of cool people. I was a little sad to leave Sao Paulo though.

The weather here is perfect, it was 90 and sunny. I walked around an old fort and then went to the beach. Later on I decided to explore the old town. They had some of the most interesting shops and artist I´ve seen so far in all of South America. One of them had really cool acrylic and resin designs.







I also discovered a self serve ice cream sundae place where you can get as much as you want and they weight it to determine the price. Mine was about $5 but I definitely got my money´s worth ;) Tomorrow I´ll be taking the bus to Pouso Alegre, a town in the state of Minas Gereis. Mariana lives here and we´re going to Florianapolis on Thursday morning. Hopefully I can upload my pictures to Picasa while I'm at her house!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Sightseeing!

I had a full day of tourist activities today. I made breakfast at my hostel and then took the Metro to the "Luz" station. It's a beautiful building and it was actually assembled in England and then disassembled and sent to São Paulo. There was a very interesting museum there - the Museum of Portuguese Language. They had great exhibits but unfortunately I was limited in understanding a lot because nothing was in English or Spanish. After that I went to the Pinacoteca (literally means picture gallery) which was a museum that housed all different types of media by brazilian artists. There was a huge whale made out of denim material. There was also a unique textiles exhibit by the artist Norberto Nicola.
I took a break and walked around the park next to the museum which was really nice because they had all different kinds of sculptures and trees in it. Then I decided to head back in the direction of the hostel and walked through the downtown area. I got a really cute pair of shoes too for about $7 USD!

After a lot of walking around I went back to the hostel to make dinner and decided to stay in for the night because tomorrow will be my last day in Sao Paulo. I'll be posting the rest of my pictures soon, look for a link on the right side of the page :)

Friday, August 14, 2009

I´ve arrived in Brazil!

I had an overnight flight on Monday that arrived Tuesday morning in São Paulo, a city near the coast in the southern part of Brazil. It is the middle of the winter here and I didn´t realize how cold it can get sometimes! Most days are between 70 and 80 but it can drop down to the 50´s at night. I´ve been having a great time with my friends here. Two of them live in the city and I'm going to the country to visit my other friend, Mariana next week. It is Camila´s birthday so we have been celebrating all week. We went to play pool (it´s called a Snooker Bar) the night I got in and last night we went to a Latin club and went salsa dancing. I had a lot of fun and I managed not to injure my dancing partners!! I´ve also been learning a little Portuguese because although many people can understand Spanish they often don't speak it. I haven´t had any trouble communicating with Juliana and Camila´s friends because most of them speak Spanish or English. On Sunday Camila´s parents are having a big barbecue for her birthday so I will get to eat a lot of tasty Brazilian food this weekend :) Next week I will take the bus to Pouso Alegre (a town in the countryside) to visit Mariana. I´ll be doing a little more traveling in Brazil before I head to Bolivia. And, if you´re interested in reading about the park there was an article written by an journalist I met when I was there in this months Outside magazine about it. You can read it online here. There are links to my pictures from the park on the right side of this page.



Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A little over a week left ...

I'll be leaving in just a little over a week for Brazil :) and Im really excited to visit my friends there! I feel like I still have a million things to do before I go so Im glad that I'm in Maine for a few days with my parents. It's nice to have some time to relax, especially after moving everyday for the past week. Plan ahead is the best advice I can give anyone planning international travel. In retrospect, although people thought I was a little crazy for packing my backpack 3 months in advance of my trip to SA last time; it was nice to know I had already taken care of all those last minute things. But, it always seems like summer is over too soon so I guess everyone else will be feeling this way in another month. (Plus, I can't really complain about the beaches in Brazil) ;D

Sunday, July 19, 2009

So ... Im going back!

After returning home from my last trip I decided that I wanted to spend more time traveling and this would be the perfect opportunity considering I haven't found a job yet ... I will be starting out in Brazil to visit some friends and then spending the rest of my time in Bolivia. While in Bolivia I will be returning to Inti Wara Yassi and will also be spending some time at an organic, sustainable farm that I visited with a friend during my last trip. I'm leaving August 10th and will be returning around Thanksgiving. I never finished uploading that last of my pictures from my last trip so hopefully I will get that out of the way before I leave. I'll be updating the blog about the same as my last trip and I hope you all enjoy reading it!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

From the jungle to the mountains

Yesterday was my last day in Bolivia :( but we went to a farm called Ginger´s Paradise and had an awesome day there. It´s run by an american/bolivian couple with thier three kids. The view was amazing, their farm was right in the mountains near a river. Sunday is their day off of work so we went down to the river to swim. Colleen grew up in Mississippi and couldn´t believe I hadn´t ever swam in a river, it was a lot of fun. I also ate some of the best food I´ve had in South America! The farm is almost completely sustainable, they produce most of thier food there and are even using solar power to generate their electricity. We tried all sorts of sauces and their home made peanut butter was delicious. You get a discout on the rate for your room and meals if you help out for a few hours so we helped out in the garden the next morning.

I got to Lima last night and I had forgotten how beautiful the city is, especially at night. Many of the historical buildings and plazas here have been very well preserved and are lit up at night. Another thing I forgot was how annoying the men are here! The second you sit down anywhere in a public place someone starts talking to you ... and it always starts out as a friendly question, what´s the time? where are you from? etc. but without fail they´re always looking for a wife! Oh well ...

Tonight Im heading to the airport here and I´ll be in the states tomorrow morning! Im looking forward to seeing everyone and eating a tuna melt. haha :)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Santa Cruz

I left the park on Thursday with a friend, Colleen and it took us 12 hours to get to Santa Cruz instead of 5. We decided to hitchhike (which is a normal mode of transportation here for backpackers and locals) because we thought we had missed the bus. Somehow the truck that stopped for us ended up being the slowest vehical on the road! At least it was free ... We´ve spent the last few days mostly just relaxing at our hostel pool. Luckilly it´s not one of those crazy party hostels, especially because Im still waking up at 6am every morning regardless of when I go to sleep. One of our other friends from the park had to come to Santa Cruz for the day so we all went out to breakfast yesterday. And I ordered a huge sundae :) because I´ve really been missing ice cream!

Tonight we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I thougth it was an interesting story, but it was pretty long. Tomorrow we´re going to Samaipata for one night. It is supposed to be a beautiful village in the Cordillera Oriental. We´re also going to visit an organic farm there that we met some volunteers from. Im really glad I´ve had some time in between leaving the park and coming back to the states because it is a lot to adjust to.

Santa Cruz is also climbing to the top of my favorite cities in SA. It is more expensive than most other parts of Bolivia, but in perspective it´s still really cheap. Today we went to a salon and my pedicure cost about $3 :) Another think I love about this city is that there is an endless supply of street vendors selling various kinds of empanadas and juices. Today my refresco of choice was coco which is a juice made out of the coconut milk mmhhh!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

This week was Semana Santa which is the biggest festival in Latin America (except for carnival in Brazil) so all the kids get school off and everything (literally) was closed Friday. I only have 3 days left at the park :( Im going to miss being here and I think its going to take some time to readjust to living in the states. I wont miss the mosquitos thought!

The dry season was supposed to come at the beginning of April but it has been raining almost every day. Some years are wetter than others. Leo´s trails are completely flooded so he is swimming for about 80% of the trail which is fun, but exhausting sometimes ... Pumas swim really fast! I want to take a video of it but Im afraid I´ll get my camera wet because Im always falling in the water it´s up to our waists. An old volunteer that worked with Leo last year came back so he is going to take over when I leave. On Wednesday night Im taking an overnight bus to Santa Cruz with Colleen, one of my friends I met here. We´re going to stay in a nice hotel with a pool (for about $8/night!) and relax in Santa Cruz for a few days. Then, Im planning on flying to Lima early next week for my flight home. And in less than a month I´ll be graduating college!!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Paradise :)

So I haven´t been updating the blog as often as I would have liked but I havent been coming into Guarayos (the nearest city) very much. Time has been going by so fast here! Im still working with Leo and Vanesso and things are going great with them. More volunteers have come and I came into town tonight with three American girls I´ve become friends with, which is ironic because I havent met any other Americans while I´ve been travelling. (and one of them is from Ocean Beach!)

Im going to be really sad when I leave here. I know I´ll come back here someday. Im definately excited to come home (and sleep in a bed that´s not made of straw!) but I will also miss the park. I can understand now how some people come for 2 weeks and stay for months. Yesterday a baby Jaguar arrived from a home in Potosi. Im going to get to see it tomorrow!

I´ve also been reading a lot here, which is good because my backpack is getting lighter as I give away the books I´ve read! I just finished reading two really interesting historical books, Sarah´s Key and Trudy´s Promise. One of the French volunteers was telling my that Sarah´s Key is famous at home. It was about one of the thousands of jewish families that France deported to concentration camps during WW2 - something I didnt even hear about in school. Thanks Mom for choosing awesome books!

I dont have much time on the internet tonight cause everyone is waiting for me to go to dinner, but Ill be updating again before I go to Peru in a few weeks.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

So many stories, such slow internet!

This week was definately the most eventful so far in my trip! Ill start at the beginning ... working with Leo and Vanesso has been amazing. Even when you´re sick, hot, dirty, and exhausted you still want to go out into the mosquito infested jungle to walk your cat!

Vanesso´s previous volunteer only had a few days to train me so we didn´t get a chance to walk all of his trails. In addition he has quite a few and they haven´t been maintained very well so there is a lot of patuju (big leaves) growing over. One day he decided to walk his long trail to the lagoon and I though no probelem. Well we walked and walked and he was perfectly content but I eventually realized that we must be on another cats trail because we had ben walking forever. The cats at the park ever interact for many reasons, one being that it can be dangerous (for the cats and the volunteers) and is very stressful for the cats to even smell another cat around their cage or trails. I figured this was no serious problem, I would just backtrack and find the original trail. How can you get lost in the jungle when you´re on a trail?

Easilly, especially when there are a lot of trails! The general procedure when you get lost is to wait until it gets dark and the volunteers come looking for you. But, there have been a few people who wandered out of the park because they went off trail (not sugessted) and acctaully slept in the jungle with thier cats! I think Vanesso finally realized we were lost- the cats are very perceptive to your emotions and decided to climb up a tree and wait it out. Luckilly I could hear the road and so I tied him to the tree and finally found my way back to camp via the road that runs through the park to get some help. We found Vanesso right were I left him and eventually got back to camp around 10pm. So I got to walk a cat in the jungle at night!

It´s currently the wet season and the dry season normally arrives in March. This year there hasnt been much rain but I think the past few days made up for it. It downpoured for three days straight this week and the soil in the rainforest does not absorb water quickly. Everything was flooded! Including the baños! Two of the boys have dug a new toilet now, but it accross the road which isn´t fun in the middle of the night. There is no drainage system at camp so we had to dig new canals so that the rain wouldnt flood all of the buildings. The trails were another story. Vanesso´s entire cage and the surrounding area was under at least a foot of water and in some parts it was waist deep! It was like walking through a lake! Leo gets really excited in the rain so walking him was fun that day. Im glad the rain has stopped thought because Im already tired of being wet all the time!

Im currently training a new volunteer, Rhys from New Zealand on Leoncio. The last guy I was training got eaten. (joking!) He is sick and didnt get on too well with Leo and Im not sure if he´s staying at the park much longer. Im heading to Santa Maria (the town near the park) for some dinner tonight with some other volunteers because one of our friends is leaving. I cant believe I´ve been here for 3 weeks already! I´ve decided that Im going to stay until at least the 15th of April because I cant imagine leaving any earlier. I know I´ll be back in SA again and have another chance to see Machu Picchu anyways. Until next week ... besos!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Leoncio y Vanesso

I´ve been at the park now for 2 weeks and Im having a great time! It´s hard work, but definately worth it. People are always arriving and leaving because some only volunteer for 2 weeks and others stay for a year. I was a little sad that some of my friends left last weekend but I´ve met lots of new people. Now I´m working with two cats, Leoncio (the puma) and Vanesso, an ocelot. There´s only about 25 people here now so most of the cats are on half days. Vanesso´s owners thought he was female so they named him Vanessa but when he arrived at the park they changed his name because they realized he was male!

Working with an ocelot has actually been more dificult than working with a puma because he´s really small and likes to go off trail into the bush which is really diofficult to walk through unless your a small cat! He also enjoys hunting reptiles ... and unfourtenately there are tons near his trails. The first day he found a lizard and I got to witness his usual routine ... he carried the animal to an open spot (keeping it alive) and then ¨plays¨ with it, which is basically tourture until a slow death! He loves it thought.

The challenge with Vanesso is that when walking him you have to also protect him. There are a lot of things in the jungle that can injure an ocelot like chanchos (wild pigs) for example. A wild ocelot knows what its predetors are and can easilly run up a tree to escape them but since Vanesso has always lived in captivity he could easilly try to chase something that would normally eat him. Today he got ahold of a snake and I tried unsucessfully for an hour and a half to get it away from him ... this was interesting. At first I tried to fling it away with a stick. No chance Vanesso was letting the snake escape. I was getting worried because every few minutes he would bat at it too hard and it would bite him. After another unsucessful attempt at tug of war (me and the snake vs. Vanesso) I decided the safest thing would be to just kill it then at least it wouldnt bite eaither of us. He finally got bored of the dead snake (after another 45 min of waiting and being eaten by mosquitos!) I checked with the vet when I got back to camp and now I know how to tell a venomous snake from a harmless one. It was an eventful day :)

New volenteers came, so I´m training one guy from Austrailia to work with Leoncio. Some of the cats require two people to walk for saftey but Leo was actually trained to walk by following someone who is walking ahead of him on the trail. He is very well behaved and the worst he´s done so far is nap for an hour on the trail when he gets lazy or it´s too hot out. I took a video of him but the internet is so slow it´s taking forever to upload a few pictures. There is a small village about 15minutes away from the park that we go to sometimes during the week. The park owns a house there that they use to house extra volunteers during the dry season when there are more people here. Tonight we´re going to have a bbq there because we dont eat dinner at the park on Saturdays since its only a half day and a lot of people leave for the afternoon. It should be fun and it was great to eat some ice cream in town today because its really hot and theres no electricity at the park which means no cold drinking water!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

The Jungle!

I arrived at the park (Ambue Ari) last Saturday. It took a few buses and a lot of hours to get there but I finally arrived! I started training with Leoncio (an adolescent, male puma) on Sunday. The two girls who were working with him for the past month have been training me all week and tomorrow I will start working with him and another volunteer. Even though I have only been here for a week this is already one of the most amazing experiences I´ve had. In the mornings I feed the Macaws, (there are 10 of them here and they´re beautiful birds!) one of them bit me once but it was nothing serious. Ironically, most of the injuries here are not even from the cats, they are from the monkeys or birds. I know some of you were a little worried about me coming here but the organization is awesome and it´s very safe here. They have a medical facility at the park and any injuries that have happened in past years haven´t required more than a few stiches which they can do right at the park.

There were about 45 volunteers here when I arrives but a few people have left and some more are leaving this weekend. Hopefully more people will show up because when they have low numbers the cats only get walked once a day instead of twice. If they do have a shortage of volunteers I will get training to work with another cat and do a half day with each one. Leoncio is adorable and has awesome eyes. I havent been able to take any pictures yet because new volunteers are not allowed to use their camera in the park for a week as part of our training. Better to be paying attention rather than snapping pictures!

There are about 20 cats here and around 30 birds. There are also two monkeys. One is a howeler monkey who does the wake up call every morning at 6:30am and he sleeps in one of the bunk houses ... with a volunteer! I´m in Trinidad today to use the internet and it is the closest ATM (4 hours away!) but I´ll be back at the park tonight. A few other volunteers came too because we all had to use the ATM.

We work everyday except we have a half days on Saturdays. There is another town, Guarayos thats closer to the park and has internet access so next weekend I will hopefully be posting some pictures!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Endeaveors in Bolivia

After two attempts, I was finally able to cross the border into Bolivia. After flying to Arica, I bought a ticket for an overnight bus to Cochabamba. This was the beginning of disaster! I was waiting for the bus on the side of the road with about 40 other people and when we finally got on at about 2am it was gross and smelled awful. When we arrived at the border it was closed (of course) and I was feeling really sick from the altitude! So we waited there for about 3 hours until the border opened ... in the cold. This is when I started really running into problems. When I went to fill out my visa application I realized the price had gone up and I didnt have enough money. I thought I would just go to and ATM, but no - the closest ATM was 2 hours away! Basically there was no way they were giving me a visa and the bus was like we´re leaving so get your backpack. Luckilly another bus came through that was going back to Arica and they let me on for free.

Back in Arica things got much better. I got a hostel, went to the beach and watched the sunset. Then I went out to eat. got ice cream, and bought myself a scarf for my bday :) The day was not a total disaser! I got a new ticket for a bus to La Paz the next morning and this time I took out more than enought cash for the visa. This bus was much better and even included lunch. Choosing a bus company is kindof a crapshoot here beacause you never know what to expect, but I lucked out this time.

When we arrived at the border half of the officials were like hey you were here yesterday! haha not funny ... They only accept US dollars for the visa so I went to change my money from Chiliean pesos to USD when a new problem surfaced. The exchage rate the wonem at the border were giving was horrible and they were only going to give me $129 when I had the equivilant of $160! I was lucky again because the nice couple I had met earlier on the bus paid the difference for me - I did not want to go back to Arica again!

I ended up getting off the bus in Oruro because it is closer to Cochabamba, which was my next destination. Carnival is going on this weekend in Bolivia so everything was a little crazy there. Oruro was pretty cold and it had just started raining so I decided not to stick around to get hit by water ballons (they sell them on the street for kids). I found a bus heading for Cochabamba an hour later and now I´m here!

In an hour Im taking an overnight bus to Santa Cruz, which is my last stop before the animal refuge. A lot of people here are familliar with Inti Wara Yassi and I´ve heard only good things so far. There is no electricity at the park but there is a town about 45 min away that supposedly has a realiable internet connection. As of now, Im planning on updating the blog on the weekends when I go into town. Thanks for all of the birthday wishes! :)

Monday, February 16, 2009

Last Day in Santiago

Today is my last day in Santiago, tomorrow morning I'm flying to Arica. I might spend one night there depending on the bus scheduals to Bolivia. We got back late last night from Con Con and I had a great weekend on the coast. It was Julio's cousin's birthday and his family had a big BBQ. I love the food here! I ate tons of chilean food. Later that night we all headed back to Julio's family's house to hang out and I got mini lesson on how play the conga drums, apparently I was pretty good at it.

Liz, Emily, and I walked around Valparaiso on Saturday and it was very nice. It is often referred to as the city of art because there are many artists living there; and we went into a lot of cute art studios. Unfourtunately, the art has gotten pretty expensive due to the large amont of tourists that visit Valpo. I got a really cute pair of earrings there though. Later Saturday night we went to a salsioteca (like a discoteco, except they play salsa music). Well, to say that I am not the best salsa dancer would be an understatement. I've been taking lessons for awhile now, at school and with friends but I dont think anything I've learned so far was helping me that night. Let's just say I felt bad for my dance partners who got stepped on more than a few times, and I actually accidentally elbowed Julio's cousin in the face :(

After the salsioteca we headed to Vina del Mar where they have a huge clock made from flowers that actually works. I have no idea how, but I took pictures. It's cooler on the coast but the weather was great on Sunday so we all went to the beach. I haven't gotten sunburned again which great because there is a huge hole in the ozone layer abover Chile and the sun is very strong here. We got back to Santiago pretty late Sunday night so I'll be posting pics today. Im excited to be heading to a new country tomorrow!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Tourist Activities!

Today we are going to Concon, which is a popular destination for chilenos during the summer (now). Liz's friend from work, Emily is coming with us as well as Julio's 4 year old nephew who is adorable! We are all going to rent a 3br house and it's only costing $30/day ... total!

In the past few days I've been doing all the touristy stuff here in Santiago. I went to Parque Quina Normal and Parque Metropolitano where there is a huge statue of the Virgin Mary on the hill of San Cristobal, which is visible from the entire city. It is the largest open space in Santiago, complete with two swimming pools and countless gardens. I took the funicular up to see the view which was awesome because you can see the Andes mountains as a backdrop to the city.

I also went to Cerro San Lucia and Plaza de Armas, two other historic sites in Santiago. Cerro San Lucia was built in 1875 and was once a hermitage, then a convent and was converted into a military bastion. There were fountains and winding staircases throughout the remains. I walked around downtown Santiago too and saw La Moneda, where the president works; and some other historic buildings. When we get back on Sunday I'm going to upload my pictures from the past 2 weeks. We probably won't have internet access at the house so until then ... enjoy the snow :)

Monday, February 9, 2009

A busy week in Santiago

After a tiring weekend and lack of sleep we took it easy and decided to stay in Sunday night. During the day we went to the feria, which is a huge market they have in Santiago every sunday. I drank mote, the national chilean drink (according to Julio). It was very sweet and kindof tasted like peach iced tea. We also ate completos, which are hot dogs with tomatoes, avocados, and mayo - very popular here! Then we headed to La Caro to eat lunch with Julio's family and later on Liz and I tried some Chilean wine, which was very good.

I found out about a glassblowing place here in Santiago so we are going to check it out today or tomorrow. Later this week we are going to Concon, which is on the beach near Vina del Mar and Valparaiso (two popular areas to visit). It's about 2 hours west of Santiago. We'll be staying with more of Julio's family there and then come back to Santiago for a few days before we all fly to Arica on the 17th. Liz and Julio are going to Cusco to see Machu Picchu and I'm going to take a bus to La Paz and make my way to the animal refuge. Im really excited to go there! I haven't decided exactly how long I'm going to stay there yet but it will be for at least one month.

I've finally finished uploading all the pictures from Argentina and Uruguay, which would have been impossible if Liz didn't have the internet at her apartment. I've also had a litte extra time on my hands due to a little problem we encountered this weekend. During the bbq we closed the door to the room Im staying in here because a lot of people were smoking (nothing in S. America is non-smoking!). Well, later that night we realized that someone had accidentally locked the doorknob and neither Liz or Julio had a key! So, for the rest of the weekend I slept on the counch and luckilly someone is coming to unlock the door today.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Estoy pasando la raja!

I've been at Liz's for a few days now and Im having a great time here. Getting into Chile was a process though... I noticed that there was a lot of traffic at the border but it was in the middle of the night so I figured I would just go back to sleep. Around 4:30am I woke up and realized that we had to actually get off the bus to go through immigration and customs. It took forever! There were probably over 100people in line already but at least the line was moving. Well, after I waited for about an hour and thought I was all set I realized that I still had my customs form. I was wondering if they were going to check our bags but I figured it out quick enough. We had to take all of our luggage off the bus and get it examined and of course they thought I had fruits and vegetables in my bags which then required extra screening. The whole process took a few hours and I finally arrved in Santiago at about 11am. I realized during all of this that Liz was expecting the bus to arrive at 6am! It's a good thing she wasnt planning on picking me up at the station. Luckilly she's taken plenty of public transportation in Latin America to know that arriving on time means arriving sometime that day.

Liz and Julio both have the next two weeks off of work and they've planned a bunch of stuff to do when I'm here. We went to the mountains one day and went swimming which was a lot of fun. They also had a bbq for me last night and the food was amazing. Tonight we're going to go out with some of thier friends to the discos. It's been nice to sleep in a bed everynight and be able to relax! And I've been able to give my feet a rest from all the walking I was doing before. The weather here is awesome, it' the summer in Chile right now and most days are sunny and between 70-90F. I think I will miss the snow by the time I get home though.

Most of their friends and family only speak spanish so I have been getting A LOT of practice. At first it was really frustrating to not be able to understand everything and even when I could understand I wasnt able to say much. I've been learning a lot and I can already communicate much better than when I arrived. Most Latin Americans will agree that Chilean spanish is very difficult to understand, even for fluent spanish speakers because they speak very fast and use a lot of slang terms. Catchay?

I've stated uploading my pictures and on the right side of the page there are links to the different albums. It's been taking longer than I expected so I'm still adding captions and uploading pictures. Hopefully they will all be up by the end of the week!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Mendoza

Today is my last day in Mendoza. It´s much smaller than Buenos Aires but it is a nice city. They have a huge park with a lake in the middle. Mendoza is right in the middle of the wine country here in Argentina so there are a lot of winery tours. It is a popular place for backpackers to stop but is seems as if many people just decide to stay here. I´ve met a lot of travelers that were passing through and ended up staying for months. Tonight I will take an overnight bus to Santiago, it is supposed to be a very scenic ride so hopefully it will be light enough to see the scenery for some of the ride. My seat is in the front row which is good for the view of the scenery, and bad for the view of the bus flying through the roads in the Andes! The drivers here are a little crazy but accidents are rare. I´m excited to see Liz and finally get to eat home cooked food! (I´m getting tired of bananas) Julio is supposed to be a great cook so maybe I will learn how to cook some Chilean food. They´re having a BBQ on their rooftop this weekend so that should be lots of fun. When I wake up in the morning I´ll be in Chile!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Uruguay for a day

I booked my ticket for Colonia del Sacramento only one day before I wanted to go so I had to take a late ferry and return at night. I was lucky thought, because the sun doesn´t set until 9pm here and I got to watch the sun set over the water before I left to return to Buenos Aires. Colonia is a small historic city, it is considered a UNESCO world heritage site. It was used for many years as a port to illegally smuggle goods into Argentina and to avoid tariffs on imports. The port is no longer used except for recreation. Colonia had a very relaxed, beach city tempo ... the drivers even stop for pedestrians! (In the rest of this continent pedestrians are seen as moving targets) When I returned to my hostel at 11:45 my Brazilian friends were waiting and we all decided to go out for one last night in Argentina together. Buenos Aires is the city that never sleeps. The portenos have dinner around 11, sometimes take a siesta, and then the clubs open at 2am and stay open until people leave for breakfast. No wonder the streets are empty on Saturday and Sunday mornings! I haven´t been able to upload any pictures yet, but when I get to Liz´s in Santiago I´ll be adding them to my posts!

Friday, January 30, 2009

I´m Here!

Buenos Aires is one of my favorite cities, second only to Florence, Italy. It´s beautiful here, they have a lot of parks and the city has a European feel to it. Im staying at the V&S hostel, and I guess I was lucky to pick this one because everyone else staying here says it is the best place they´ve stayed in awhile, which makes me wonder what I´m in for later... I´ve been taking it easy the past few days because I didn´t sleep very well on the plane down here. Siesta is my favorite time of day :) I went to Palermo yesterday and walked around the neighborhoods there. I visited the Jardin Japones (Japonese Garden) and walked through the Rosedal, where they have thousands of different types of roses, some of which have won international awards. Tomorrow I will go to Uruguay by boat. I´m going to the city of Colonia, which is a few hours away and then I´ll come back to Buenos Aires. Sunday is my last day here and then I will be going to Mendoza on an overnight bus. Pictures are coming soon! Miss you all!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Why am I going to South America?
What will I be doing for 3 months?

After volunteering in Ayacucho, Peru this summer I knew I would go back to South America. I was able to do some local traveling on the weekends but there were many more places I wanted to see. I decided that since I will be finished with school in December this would be the perfect opportunity to go back. After a lot of research I narrowed down my destinations to Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. There were many things that influenced my decision, I wanted to volunteer again and be able to experience the different cultures of each place I visited; which is why I chose to spend a few weeks in some places. This will also be a great opportunity to practice my Spanish!

I will be flying from Boston to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The remainder of my travel will be by land, with the exception of one domestic flight. This takes more time but it is much cheaper! After a few days in Buenos Aires I will be heading to Santiago, Chile. This will take two bus rides, and I will stop in Mendoza, Argentina for one night. Luckily, I have a friend living in Santiago and I will be staying with her for 2 weeks. On February 17th I will fly to Arica in northern Chile. From there I will make my way by bus to La Paz, the capitol of Bolivia. After arriving in La Paz I will go to Cochabamba, and then Villa Tunari. Here I will spend 5-6 weeks volunteering at the animal refuge Inti Wara Yassi.

When I leave Bolivia, I will travel back through La Paz to Puno, Peru. This is where Lake Titicaca is located. From Puno I will travel though the Andes to Cusco. This was once the capital of the Inca Empire. There are many archaeological sites in the surrounding area and I am planning on doing an 8 day trek to see Machu Picchu and Choquequiaro. I do not have any concrete plans for the remainder of my trip. After leaving Cusco, I will have between one and three weeks to travel in Peru. Currently, I plan on travelling through the northern coastal cities of Trujillo and Chiclayo and then to continue on to Chachapoyas. I will arrive in Lima a few days before my flight home on April 22nd.

I have a lot to look forward to and I am really excited about this trip! I will be updating this blog regularly except for when I am in rural areas where there are no internet cafes. Keep in touch : )

Where are you in the world?