island of the sun.

after leaving the comfort of dao and marco's fantastic hospitality in santiago, we boarded a plane for la paz, bolivia.. landing and taking a taxi through the crazy, congested, and populated mountain streets, we found a hostal and did our best to settle in. danelle got a chest infection our last few days in santiago, so pair that with an altitude of 3600m, and cold weather; we moved pretty slow for a few days..

we spent two days walking around the city.. lots of wool knits and knick-knacks galore in the expanse of markets that seemed to continue as far as the eye could see. danelle and i found a coca museum which was extremely interesting. it walked you through the entire history of the coca plant - as the basis of their culture, and their most important religion.. the discovery of cocaine and it's initial use as an anesthetic in medicine, continuing on to it's exploitation.. it gave a step-by-step process of how you make it.. (just kidding) one fact really surprised me: coca-cola is one of only three companies world-wide that still legally buys coca leaves. they use it as flavoring in their products.. need an extra boost? drink coke. literally.

after la paz, we took a bus to copacabana. after a few hours of driving, we were ushered off the bus. having no idea what was meant by it, we stood around looking entirely lost and confused until someone finally pointed us over to a dock.. we got on a boat, and watched as our bus boarded a ferry, and we crossed the river together meeting on the other side. another hour drive and we arrived in copacabana. a small city wedged between two mountains, right on lake titicaca. sitting at 3800m, we are thankfully all over our boughts of altitude sickness, as minimal as they were for some of us.

meeting camil on the bus, we made friends and found an adorable hostel together. the next morning we woke and hiked the mountain to the west of town. chewing coca leaves for the first time, we breathed a little easier and reached the summit moments before it started to spit.. and then quickly realising the spit was actually small pellets of ice, we hiked down the mountain in a hail storm.. soaked but in high spirits, we got back into town.. dried off and warmed up with some hot tea.. the clouds left and the afternoon was sunny and warm.. we lay on hammocks with our books and relaxed.. sheep grazing around us, mowing the lawn.. at about six o'clock we hiked up the eastern peak to check out the sunset. unfortunately it was cloudy so there wasn't more than a small sliver of fluorescent orange poking through the grey.. but the view of the lake and surrounding islands were amazing. hard to comprehend a lake of that size. it was danelle's birthday, so we freshened up and went out to dinner. free-pour pisco sours and mojitos.. we left full and in high spirits.

the next morning we said goodbye to camil and went down to the docks at 8:30 to catch a boat to the 'isle del sol'. our boat kept puttering out and having to be restarted throughout the journey.. quite the experience. a canoe may have been a faster option.. but we finally made it, getting off on the north side of the island and hiking 10km down to the south tip to catch another boat back that afternoon. it was an amazing trek.. crossing peaks at over 4000m, the views were spectacular and the weather was perfect. not too hot, not too cold.

today we woke to a misty rain.. perfect excuse to stretch out, relax, and read books. we were hoping to get down to uyuni tomorrow, but with strikes and flooding, we aren't quite sure what will happen yet. only time will tell..

santiago, chile.

mendoza was very fun and relaxing.. we wandered the streets full of cafes and restaurants.. fell asleep to rain drumming on the rooftop.. walked the markets.. and booked a bicycle wine tour.

taking the local bus to the bike rental shop - [which was supposed to take about 20 minutes], and ended up taking almost an hour.. we were unsure of where we were going to end up exactly, [the thought of missing out on wine must have given us an acute sense of direction..] we ended up finding it after getting off a stop too late, and were rushing to get to our first appointment..

the first tour was of a very small bodega.. they produced about 40,000 bottles of wine a year.. we sampled two wines, both quite sweet.. they were the primary producers of church wine in argentina with a long history of passing the business down the family to the next generation. because we started the first tour a little tardy, we were again rushing to our next appointment.. with liquid motivation we pushed on, despite the sweltering heat.. mike's front tire wobbling and on the verge of collapse.. danelle's front tire disintigrating upon arrival.. and mine stuck in between gears and squeaking to no avail.. we somehow managed to be on time, the 5km ride seemingly infinite.

the second bodega was much larger.. they produced something like 260,000 bottles a year.. we lunched on fresh bread, fruit, and cheese.. sampled some fabulous reds.. enjoying this tour far more than the last.. possibly because the rest was much more appreciated.. we called the tour company and they arrived a short time later to 'fix' our miserable bicycles.. not sure whether we would make the third tour in time, we pushed through those 5km in half the time it took us to get there.. we made it with time to spare.. and looking every bit as though we had just hammered through 5km on half-par bikes..

the third tour, the norton bodega, took the cake. we had a private guide, being the only english-speakers in the group.. she was great.. funny, relaxed.. we asked a lot of questions.. she, sampling the wines along with us, talked about the qualities of the wines they produced and the differences between the stainless steel compartments and the oak barrels.. the taste quality was surprisingly substantial.. [of course it comes with a price..] they produced something like a million bottles of year.. crazy standing next to compartments holding thousands of liters of wine at a time..

heading home with 17km under our belts and a couple bottles in our backpacks, we washed up and slept well.. the next day leaving mendoza to santiago. our 6 hour bus turned into 10.. protestors blocking the road a short distance before the chilean border for about half an hour, and the border crossing taking almost 2 hours.. dao, our couchsurfing host, was waiting for our phone call upon arrival.. we taxied over and after some visiting, happily went to bed..

dao is a full-time musician and a full-time couchsurfing host. he has been so fabulous.. our first day in the captial, we did lots of walking.. going to cultural museums.. local food markets.. hiking cerro san cristobal.. we went out dancing that night with some of his friends.. vip hookups.. lots of fun. on saturday we went out to valparaiso and spent the night with some of his friends out there.. more dancing.. lots of walking around the beautiful port city.. the next morning, more sightseeing.. watching his friends band play.. and hanging on the beach all afternoon before busing back to santiago.

chile has the best cuisine thus far.. [argentina being the beef capital, it's not exactly vegetarian paradise..] we have been cooking together, dao sharing his recipes with us.. it's fabulous. today danelle, mike and i had our first day of spanish school.. it's a one week course and i am very excited about it.. i've had verbs and conjugations swirling through my head all day.. which means, time to sign off and get to bed.. class in the mañana!

water bottle fights.

after a 22 hour bus right through the topsy-curvy passes from iguazu, we arrived in cordoba, argentina's second largest city. we were very grateful to have a few hours to walk around and stretch out.. walked a few markets, charged our ipods, and got back on the bus for another gruelling 12 hours. although almost half the length of the first one, it seemed much longer as we were sitting right in front of the wheels.. the potent smell of motor oil settling into our skin.. baggage thumping behind us at every brake and turn.. blasting air conditioning, no blankets.. no lights to read.. it is so so good to be in mendoza.

we found a quiet, simple hostel, and took a walk through the town. going nowhere in particular, we were walking down the sidewalk when mike got bumped on the head with a water bottle by a passing stranger.. turning around he was quite taken aback, and not sure how we was going to tell this girl in spanish that she had mistaken him for someone else and did not deserve to be beaten with her drinking container.. after a moment, recognition set in.. it was natalia, a girl he had gone to school with in regina. hugs and introductions took place.. and we had plans to meet up at the market that evening.

natalia is here visiting family in chile, and came to mendoza after iguazu and cordoba (both places we would have been visiting at the same time..) she is travelling with another girl from bermuda whom she met in chile. we had a really nice evening walking the park and market stalls, and going for a few drinks.. chatting about mutual friends (turns out we know quite a few of the same people..) and the funny encounters that life inevitably brings.

we had high hopes of getting accepted for private lessons from a girl that comes highly regarded here in mendoza, but unfortunately she is unavailable right now.. so today we are on the hunt for a spanish school. i got us some couches to surf in santiago for next week, so we are excited to see some of chile.. and danelle and i signed up for 'wwoofing' in northern chile.. we are going to spend a week or two working on an organic farm! room and board for free, 3 hours of work a day.. it will be an amazing way to save some money, live locally for a time, and learn some cool tricks of the trade. not sure exactly where we will go yet, but there are some avacado farms.. we'll shoot some emails out in the next day or two and weigh our options. mike has done the wwoofing thing before and figures he has the money to spend, so would rather go look for a beach town with a good book. i don't blame him. we will meet up again afterwards and head into bolivia..

life. exciting.

this morning i woke up and took my coffee up to the rooftop. reading anna karenina with the mountains on the horizon..

iguazu falls.

leaving the bliss of cabo, we headed to montevideo. a quiet city, still holding true to the mellow vibes of uruaguay.. with lots of stuff to see and do if you're looking for it. after 2 nights we hit the road once again. heading early to the bus station with the intention of booking tickets to santa fe for that evening, it turned out the bus was full.. our second option, parana? also full.. salto it is. our last option to get north. life seems to be making our decisions for us..



thinking we had the full day ahead of us because 'our' bus was supposed to leave at 6pm, we had arrived at the station by half past 9, and the bus to salto left at 10. so, on the bus we went. getting into salto 7 hours later, we now had to determine how to cross the border back into argentina to continue north. we went up to the ticket booth and asked a woman, who told us we could taxi across. it would be an hour drive and we would arrive just in time to catch a bus from concordia up to iguazu. alright. so we follow this man to the 'taxi'.. which turns out to be his beaten little blue car in the parcade.. and away we go. crossed the border, gaining an hour in argentina and arriving minutes before our bus was supposed to leave. we jumped out of the car and headed to buy tickets. the woman assured us the bus hadn't left yet and would actually be coming a little late, we so were set at ease. bought some snacks and prepped our bodies for the 12 hour bus.



anxiously checking every bus that came into the terminal, we started to wonder whether it had come after all and we had missed it.. we ended up waiting 3 hours in the bus station (finding out later that it was due to a bus strike in buenos aires).. thank goodness for bus strikes, because had the bus actually been on time we would have been screwed. so we boarded our bus and found out much to our surprise that we had purchased first class tickets with lounging chairs and a hot meal.. that made sense after thinking back to our ticket price.. but they were the only seats available, and we certainly weren't complaining. 14 hours later we arrived in puerto iguazu.



yesterday we took the local bus out to the national park to see the falls.. my vocabulary is far too limited to even explain the experience and do it any justice.. they were amazing. it looked just like jurassic park, minus our prehistoric dino friends.. lush misty jungle.. huge green cliffs.. and 275 waterfalls strewn over 2.7 kilometers.. we saw impressive birds.. stealthy coatis.. thieving monkeys.. mutant butterflies.. an armored armadillo.. large web-dwelling spiders.. rode into the park on a little train.. hiked along platforms and off into the jungle on trails.. attempting all the while to capture a portion of the experience through my digital camera lens since my words fall short.

we decided to take a 'nautical adventure' boat tour.. getting a closer view of the falls and a better angle to snap a few photos. for $30 we left the shore and went out about 5 meters, floated for a minute or two.. and then proceeded to drive directly into the waterfalls, soaking ourselves entirely from head to toe. the water splashed down so heavily that none of us could even keep our eyes open, to the screaming delight of everyone else in the boat. someone's marketing idea of a sick joke.. in retrospect, it was hilarious.. but we were bound to spend the rest of the day hiking around in sopping jean shorts and hiking boots. best money i ever spent. sarcasm at it's finest.

last night danelle, mike and i went out for a few drinks on the town.. and today was spent lounging around the pool, catching some sun, reading books, and buying bus tickets for tomorrow. we leave at 12:45 to cordoba, arriving the next morning at 10am.. then leaving cordoba at 6:45, and arriving in mendoza at 7am on sunday. it's going to be a long couple days.. looking forward to some argentinian vino to make it allll better.