Well, we have made it to La Paz Bolivia our current home. We have been here for about 2 weeks now. We have done so many things since our last post. I know people are anxious to hear about what we have been doing. I will start from when we left Lima almost a month and a half ago.
* The pictures below are not our original pictures. We are unable to upload pictures at internet cafe´s so we found a few pictures online to give you the gist.
Hunt, Pedro, and I left Lima and took a 4 hour bus to Ica, Peru. From there we took a 20 minute taxi to a small beach town called Paracas. This was a very cute touristy town. We stayed at a hostal called Mar Azur. It had a rooftop bar with the best view of the water. The main reason we stopped in this little town was for a boat ride to Islas Ballestas. These are 3 small islands located in the middle of the ocean where sea life is abundant. There are sea lions, penguins, pelicans, and all sorts of other birds. It was quite a site. This area is very protected by the Peruvian coast guard. There is a home on one of the large islands where an officer lives for three months at a time and watches over the area. These islands are a large producer of guano. When I arrived I didn’t know what this was but as we approached the islands you could smell it from miles away. Guano is the bird poop they harvest every 5 years and use for fertilizer. This is an extremely large income for the area and guano is a highly demanded product worldwide. It was really astonishing to see these islands and all the nature that thrives on them.
Our next stop was this amazing desert oasis town called Huacachina. This place was another sight in itself. Stuck in the middle of a desert this small lake was spectacular. We found an amazing hotel with a pool right in the center of everything. Hunt and I took a dune buggy ride which included sand boarding. It was something neither of us had ever experienced before. It was a really nice place to meet other travelers. We met a few different couples we became close with. One was from Canada and the other was a German/Mexican couple. They were awesome. We extended our stay in Huacachina to 3 nights and 4 days. The only down side to this stop in our trip was Hunt and I both got sand fleas. Those little suckers really made us miserable. It is a beautiful spot though as you can see in the pictures below.
So despite the beautiful semi expensive area of Huacachina we decided to get on the move again. We took a 12 hour overnight bus to Arequipa. This large city is located 2900 meters high in the Andes. In Arequipa we stayed at a beautiful family run hostal called Casa Solar. It was located right in the center of the city. This beautiful hostal was the presidents house over 300 years ago. Restored and in prestige condition every little detail astounded us. The whole building was made of local white volcanic rock. We felt safe and very lucky to reside in such a historic spot. Arequipa is a very large city and you could defiantly feel it by the hustle and bustle every time we hit the streets. We did take a wonder opportunity to see the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. This monastery was over 400 years old. The whole place took up a few blocks in the center of the city. This was an amazing sight to see. It was only opened to the public in the 1970´s. Hunt took lots of pictures we will share with you later. Below is Arequipa.
We left Arequipa in a hurry to get to Puno, Peru for the Festival de la Calenderia.This was AMAZING. This annual festival (similar to Carnival) is one of the most impressive things Hunt and I have ever experienced. This festival was full of colorful costumes, music, and beer. It went on for the whole time we were there. Parades start as early as 6am and last until midnight almost every night. It was so neat to partake in the festivities. We ended up booking a room right on the main plaza so we had a front row view of the Parades. Many times it provided us with one of the few dry places to watch the festivities ( you can see our hotel in the backround of the 2nd picture). Puno is also right on Lake Titicaca so we were able take walks to the lake and see all the local artisans as well.
After the crazy festivities of Puno we took a 3 and a half hour bus ride to the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. The boarder charges Americans (only) $135 US dollars to come in. It wasn’t a big deal we just got our visas and went on our way. About 30 minutes later we arrived in Copacabana, Bolivia. It was another beautiful beach touristy town high in the mountains. This was one of the first places we could really feel the altitude ( we were about 12,000 plus feet above sea level). The altitude affects everyone different but here it really made us feel sick. We only explored this town for two days and one night before we hoped on a bus to La Paz.
Below is La Paz
While in La Paz, we first stayed at the ¨Wild Rover¨ hostel which was a fun lively experiance. It was a fun youthful english speaking hostel where we made lots of friends from all over the world. This hostel ended up being a little too much for us after a week so we decided to spend an extra $10 and get a nicer hotel room in La Paz. We have been staying in La Paz for longer than planed because Hunt got a pretty serious infection. It had to be removed by a doctor who made him go on anti biotics. Now we are well rested and just about ready to head south and explore the Bolivian Salt Flats. After that we will head over to Chile for some hot beach time! We are both ready to be back in summer and down at sea level. We miss lots of things about America, mostly our family, friends and especially the FOOD but this experiance is one we will sure never forget.
Salud everyone!!!
Kim and Hunt
