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 :)

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!

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!!