Sunday, April 18, 2010

A Long time coming..

Dear Friends,
Although we may have promised frequent updates outlining our adventures and detailing cultural activities we have participated in I hope that you can understand that due to sheer laziness we have failed to update this blog since February.
Wayyyy too many fabulous things have happened since that fateful February date so I will just outline what we´ve done in point form:

-After leaving Mendoza Argentina we took a bus across the Andes ( scary hair pin turns on double decker bus, not enjoyable) and met Pablo and Gabriela in Santiago Chile. We stayed with this lovely couple for a week, enjoying becoming apart of their little family, swimming and relaxing by their pool and touring Santiago in fashion. Their friends kindly invited us to stay in their abode in Vina del Mar, a city by the sea and we enjoyed several days touring Vina as well as Valapariso ( a neighbouring harbour city) Food poisoning made for Sarah made the visit a little less enjoyable but who doesnt enjoy a good night with their head in the toilet?
- Onwards and upwards we spent a few nights in La Serena, then in the Elqui valley where we enjoyed star gazing and a horseback ride though the gorgeous dry sand mountains, vineyards and a picnic by a lovely stream.
- After a ridiculous amount of time on busses and in terminals we arrived in the oasis town of San Pedro de Atacama where we had an absolute ball swimming...well, floating in the salt lakes, sinking in the fresh water pools, posing on the salt flats and chatting with our tour group members. We also hiked to nearby ruins (we forgot to wear sunscreen...) and rode bikes to the Valley of Death, a fabulous ride and stunning views.
- We arrived in Tacna Peru, spent the day watching movies and walking around town then caught our flight to arrive in Cusco!!!! Here we met Jason and enjoyed a fabulous six days touring the city, hiking in ruins, playing card games ( five different nationalities represented means five different sets of rules!) and browsing in the multiple artisan markets.
- Kaya and I left the big city by local bus and arrived in Urubamba a small town in the Sacred Valley where we met Stelly´s highschool from Victoria and began our two week volunteer stint. Now, there is way too much to say about this absolutely AMAZING experience so I will say just that, it was AMAZING. Well, maybe a bit more. We helped the group of 18 grade 12 students and four awesome teachers construct a primary school as well as build clean air stoves in local communities. We went on treks, spent time in the local town square, enjoyed cultural activites, a weekend in Cusco - once last visit with Jason before he headed home - and much much more.
- Saddened by the end of our time in Urubamba we spent a few more days in Cusco before bussing towards Lake Titicaca where we spent a night on an island with a local family, visited a colony of floating islands made of reeds, dressed in local attire and swam in the freezing lake! The boat rides in between islands was very enjoyable and my personal favorite moment from the boat was when Kaya and I sat on the very front of the boat with the sun pouring down on us as we giggled and basked in the beauty of the surrounding water.
- Moving on to Bolivia we spent another night on the lake this time on the Island of the Sun. It poured rain. But we were able to enjoy a beautiful walk before the heavens opened.
- La Paz and a wild hostel made for a fun few days, we biked down Death Road and had an absolute BLAST! We made friends with Tam, Pao, Pedro, Alice, Adam and Vix and enjoyed several days of exploring and fun.


I have to go watch some Cholita wrestling now so Ill continue later!!!!!!
xoxo

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