You can pretty much do whatever you want in some of these countries. In Bolivia, they are extremely lax on most rules. If you want to drink in the cab, no problem. Feel like offering the security guard at the airport a drink? He´ll accept.
I just returned from a trek into the Amazon jungle with some people I met in La Paz and these guys will try anything. I have pictures of amateur Cobra and aligator wrangling where the guide just sat back and let them do whatever they wanted. Crazy stuff.
Anyway, the trip to the jungle was really fun where we went fishing for Piranhas, fed monkeys and searched for snakes.
Upon my return to La Paz tomorrow, I´m heading straight for the salt plains which should be pretty cool. I´ll update the post if when I get back from that trip.
By the way, landing a plane on grass in the jungle is not for the feint of heart.
PO
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Bolivia?
Ok. I must admit, I´m drunk.
Beginning from the last post, I went to Puno and visited the islands of lake Titicaca on my own. It was great fun and really interesting learning about the culture of the people who live on each island. Probably the coolest part was visiting the islands created from reefs. That was amazing.
Aside from that there are a few things I was meaning to discuss:
1) Liquids tend to expand at high altitudes. This means my pens, shampoo and toothpaste exploded on arrival.
2) After 5pm you can negotiate with hotels in Peru. I go a $45 hotel for $25. I felt quite pleased with myself.
3) Being American never pays when traveling. Getting into Bolivia, Americans had to pay $135 to enter. Needless to say, the Canadian passport came out as I paid about 12 cents to enter. The guy at the border told me there was a ¨political feud¨ between Bolivia and the USA (who knew?).
After Puno, I successfully made my way to Bolivia and am having a great time in La Paz. It feels a little weird drinking with people I just met, but this seems to happen most places I travel solo.
The current plan is to visit the Amazon Jungle followed by a trip to the salt flats. Nothing is planned yet, but I should have things figured out tomorrow.
If I haven´t mentioned this before, traveling is awesome, and I wish I could stay longer, but alas, I must return in September.
By the way, I´m having a hard time posting pictures to facebook, hence the 6 pictures currently there.
PO
Beginning from the last post, I went to Puno and visited the islands of lake Titicaca on my own. It was great fun and really interesting learning about the culture of the people who live on each island. Probably the coolest part was visiting the islands created from reefs. That was amazing.
Aside from that there are a few things I was meaning to discuss:
1) Liquids tend to expand at high altitudes. This means my pens, shampoo and toothpaste exploded on arrival.
2) After 5pm you can negotiate with hotels in Peru. I go a $45 hotel for $25. I felt quite pleased with myself.
3) Being American never pays when traveling. Getting into Bolivia, Americans had to pay $135 to enter. Needless to say, the Canadian passport came out as I paid about 12 cents to enter. The guy at the border told me there was a ¨political feud¨ between Bolivia and the USA (who knew?).
After Puno, I successfully made my way to Bolivia and am having a great time in La Paz. It feels a little weird drinking with people I just met, but this seems to happen most places I travel solo.
The current plan is to visit the Amazon Jungle followed by a trip to the salt flats. Nothing is planned yet, but I should have things figured out tomorrow.
If I haven´t mentioned this before, traveling is awesome, and I wish I could stay longer, but alas, I must return in September.
By the way, I´m having a hard time posting pictures to facebook, hence the 6 pictures currently there.
PO
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Cusco to Machu Picchu
Ok, so I suck at updating this thing. I landed in Lima late Friday night and took a flight out in the morning to get to Cusco. Cusco is the starting point for most treks and visits to Machu Picchu. When I arrived, I had a terrible head ache due to the altitude and met up with Seb later in the day. It took nearly three days for me to get over the altitude which was just enough time to visit some of the minor sights around the city. We visited some bars, but they weren´t great and since I felt like crap, we didn´t stay out too late (i.e. no drunken escapades).
On Tuesday of last week, Seb and I went on a 5 day tour of Salkantay Trail which involves a 65 kms hike cumulating in a visit to Machu Picchu. This hike almost killed me. Not only was it really really long, but it went up to 4,600 m. If anyone has been hiking before they would know that this is really high. Regardless, at the end of the day, I survived to visit Machu Picchu which was really cool and well worth the effort.
On a side note, the people of Peru are really nice, but unlike Southeast Asia, very few people speak english. Instead, they assume that you speak Spanish. This will pose a problem once Seb leaves tomorrow.
If everything works out as planned, I should be going to Puno tomorrow to visit Lake Titicaca followed by a visit to Bolivia.
PO
On Tuesday of last week, Seb and I went on a 5 day tour of Salkantay Trail which involves a 65 kms hike cumulating in a visit to Machu Picchu. This hike almost killed me. Not only was it really really long, but it went up to 4,600 m. If anyone has been hiking before they would know that this is really high. Regardless, at the end of the day, I survived to visit Machu Picchu which was really cool and well worth the effort.
On a side note, the people of Peru are really nice, but unlike Southeast Asia, very few people speak english. Instead, they assume that you speak Spanish. This will pose a problem once Seb leaves tomorrow.
If everything works out as planned, I should be going to Puno tomorrow to visit Lake Titicaca followed by a visit to Bolivia.
PO
Thursday, August 7, 2008
New Trip same Job
Ya, so I'm back at it. I leave for Peru shortly and I couldn't be more exited. This trip will involve meeting my friend Sebastien Long in Cusco for a week while we go on a five day hike culminating in our visit to Machu Picchu. After I leave Seb and Machu Picchu behind, I have no fixed plans. I'll try to update this site at least twice a week, but no promises.
PO
PO
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