Glad I came home a week early!!!

My flight home was long, but with several stopovers I was able to take short smoke breaks and buy the patches that were stolen with my backpack. I got peru and costa rica! That made me happy.

The best news of all is next...
The morning I got home (I arrived a little after midnight) my sister went into labor. She was in labor all morning and ended up having the most beautiful little girl at 2pm on September 2nd. I was so happy that I came home early because I got to be there (literally- in the room!) when Sophia Irene came into this world. She is now the apple of my eye and I've had such a hard time leaving her (but I've also been very busy apartment hunting).
She's so adorable and I'm so incredibly happy that she waited for me to come home. My mom hopped on the first flight out here as soon as she heard my sister was in labor, so almost the whole family has been here since I've been back. It's been quite a treat to be with my family this much between such a wonderful trip and the start of my senior year at UCLA.

Well, thanks for reading this blog!!! I really appreciate your interest if you've kept up with it and even if you just stopped by occasionally to check out the pictures!
Until the next journey...

Buenos Aires

Sorry it took me so long to write this post. I have been back in California for two weeks now and am long overdue to write this entry!
Buenos Aires is an amazing city. I was very lucky to have had so many wonderful people there to show me around and make my stay there so amazing. I have to thank Alejandro and his beautiful girlfriend Laura for being so accomodating, generous, and fun. I really had such a nice time with the whole group of friends there... they are so great.
It was also really nice to hang out with Carrie and her wonderful girlfriend. My friend Carrie had moved to Argentina about a year ago and I hadn't seen her in a few years (aside from a brief visit in Santa Cruz shortly before she went back to Argentina after a short trip home).
I took the subways and buses around the bustling city and spent a little too much time in the major touristy area in order to get my plane ticket (it was stolen along with my backpack back in Peru). Other than that, though... I got to see quite a bit of the city. I went to the natural history museum, a ballet in a beautiful European-style Theater (sad to admit, I already forgot the name of the Theater), and most notably, I went to the most incredible cemetery that I've ever seen. The cemetery beats all of the cemeteries in France or in all of Europe for that matter. It even beat the cemeteries in New Orleans. Some of the tombs were the size of Tokyo apartments! Some had enormous statues built into the structures while others were simple and elegant. Eerie though it was, I had a really nice time there.
One of the most noteworthy things about Buenos Aires (or Argentina in general) is that dinner is served so late in the evening. I didn't have dinner once before 9:30pm while I was there and more commonly ate between 11pm and midnight. I also quickly became addicted to the ice cream, especially the dulce de leche ice cream. In the morning there are many pastry shops open for breakfast with amazing pastries. Needless to say, I gained quite a bit of weight while I was there. I don't hold back when I'm on a trip because I believe one of the best aspects of traveling is eating. I even tried the morsilla, which is cow-blood-soaked chorizo. It took me the majority of my time there to even say that I would try it. I'm usually very adventurous with food, but that's pretty intense to eat something soaked in cow blood. It was good, but I didn't really want to eat more after trying a bite.
I was sad to leave not only the city, but the wonderful people that I was with while I was there. It truly was a great experience and I'm really thankful to those who made it as great as it was.

Las Leñas

Las Leñas is known to be the 7th best ski resort in the world. The first day of boarding, I couldn't imagine that the place I was boarding could have that title. It had snowed quite a bit the day before and apparently some avalanches had knocked down part of one lift and too much snow had crippled another. There were far too many people there for the few lifts that were left open, so we only got to ride six runs. The next day it seemed that many people left, so we got to ride more runs and we had quite a bit more fun. The third day we finally realized why Las Leñas has the title it does: it boasts the longest continuous run in the world. The reason we did not know this the first day is because the run was closed. It takes three lifts to get to the top and it takes 30 minutes (if you're going fast) to get all the way to the bottom. Because we were not the only ones who wanted to do this, we had to spend nearly two hours in lines and on the lifts just to get to the top. It was well worth it, though. The snow was great and the runs were so much fun. It really is a great place to board after all. I was so excited because I have been wanting to board in Argentina for close to ten years and I finally got to do it. So much fun! And the Patagonian Andes are absolutely beautiful to look at while boarding. One thing I've noticed that is surprising is that there are no trees. I'm so used to trees all over the mountains that it really caught me off guard to be able to see every run from the base of the mountain. It's just pure white everywhere you look. Truly a stunning thing to see.
We were supposed to catch a bus yesterday directly from the resort to Buenos Aires but the bus was full, so we bought a ticket for the next day and stayed one more night in Melargue. Now we are waiting for that bus, which will drop us off in Buenos Aires at 8am tomorrow. I'm very excited to see the capital and even more excited about going to my first soccer match tomorrow afternoon. We will see River Plate of Buenos Aires play Newell's of Rosario. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Mendoza, Argentina

After crossing the border into Argentina at 8am, we waited for a 3:30pm bus to take us to Mendoza. After a 27 hour bus ride with a sick stomach, I was thrilled to arrive in Mendoza and get a nice, comfortable bed and have a nice clean bathroom.
I´m quite happy to be in Argentina. The food is amazing and it´s so clean in comparison to where I´ve been recently. It actually reminds me a lot of Italy or other cities in Europe. It´s really nice. We were planning to do a little shopping here to get some stuff we´ll need for the snow, but I guess it´s a public holiday and most of the shops are closed. A few were open so we were able to get some necessities, eat, drink, and use these computers. Did I mention that the food is amazing? Yum! And real coffee. Awwwww.... Big sigh of relief.
Very happy and feeling quite a bit better too. I´m still a little sick, but nothing like I was before. I´m sure I´ll get better very quickly here.
Tomorrow morning we are supposed to take a bus to Melargue where we´ll stay a few days and from where we´ll take daily buses to Las Leñas to snowboard. YAY!!! I´ve wanted to go snowboarding in Argentina for years and I finally get to do it. I´m so excited.

Road to La Paz, the City of Peace(?), and on to the border!

Once back in Copacabana we realized that the crazy party that had been underway was now gone and the town was back to its quiet, usual self. We booked bus tickets to La Paz and shortly boarded on our crickety old bus with a million other people.
The road was rough but had beautiful views of the lake. After a while we reached a port with a ferry to take us and the bus across to the other side separately. Since there were no ATMs in Copacabana we were running really low on cash and had not anticipated this ferry or its fee. Fortunately we had just enough with about $0.10 to spare, if that. Close one.
We re-boarded the bus and drove on for another hour or two when, all of the sudden, the bus driver pulled over and the bus shut down. He pulled up the board covering the engine and began to work on it. Everyone looked around nervously and, after a bit, he told us all to get off the bus. We would have to wait for alternate transit to take us the rest of the way to La Paz. We sat on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere for quite some time before this alternate transit arrived-- a minivan to fit at most half of us. We piled in and made our way to La Paz.
Once in La Paz, we were surprisingly dropped off somewhere quite far from where we were supposed to be dropped off and we were supposed to take a cab the rest of the way. hmmm... but we had no cash on us. hmmm... some police officers found us, told us to put our backpacks on in the front or we´d get robbed and directed us to the nearest ATMs, which were several blocks away. It was night.
La Paz means the city of peace... well, I think they need to rename it the city of anarchy. It´s the most chaotic city I´ve ever seen (and I´ve seen many). It was truly overwhelming. After we finally located our ATM it was really difficult to find and catch a cab, but we finally did and made our way to a hostel with super saggy beds and shared bathrooms. This is where I got really sick. My stomach just couldn´t handle the ultra unhygienic food handling and greesy food and finally revolted against me in the cruellest of ways. After I wrote that first bit on the last entry I was making my way to the bathroom to throw up again, but ended up passing out on the way instead.
Unbelievably, the next morning I made it to the bus terminal and got the heck out of dodge. After driving for a bit, we ran into one of the infamous Bolivian road blockades. As soon as I´m able I´ll post a picture of it. We were really worried that we would have to wait there for the rest of the day, but after an hour or two many of the people in the long line of buses got out and physically romoved the rocks from the road so that we could pass. The protesters were not too happy about it, but we passed nonetheless. Second major busride incident in Bolivia.
Fortunately, we just made it to our train on time. The trains to the southern Argentinean border only leave a few times a week, so we were really happy to have made it.
I was so excited to finally be on a train instead of a bus, but after this 16 hour train ride I was aching to be back on a bus. It was so incredibly dirty... I mean, dirt coming in through every vent and being sucked up into my nose and down into my lungs with every breath. By the time we arrived at the border in the morning my nostrils were jam packed with dirt and every time I blew my nose the tissue was covered with snotty dirt. Gross, huh?

Isla del Sol

Wow! I take back what I said about Lake Titicaca not being blue! It´s amazingly blue around Isla del Sol and I should be able to post some pictures once we get to Buenos Aires. Kevin still has his camera, although he doesn´t have the charger anymore. So we took some amazing pictures, fortunately.
I will edit this post with more info later. I´m currently in La Paz and sick as a dog. I need to get back to bed now.
More later...

It´s later...
We walked from Copacabana to the shores of Lake Titicaca across from Isla del Sol, where we and a couple fellow travelers were looking for a boat to take us across. There we found a wonderful man who offered his rowboat for a very low price but first we would have to look at his 1001 postcards from around the world. I got his address to add Los Angeles to his collection and we were on our way. It ended up being his friend who rowed us across. Apparently he´s the salesman. The wind was strong and blowing in the opposite direction, so the boatman was absolutely exhausted after rowing for about an hour. He dropped us off at the southern tip of Isla del Sol, which looked absolutely rocky and jagged. After jumping off the boat onto the rocks, we quickly found a path through the rocks and made our way north. After about an hour of walking and climbing we reached the first village where we were intending to stay.
The views from this village were absolutely astounding. First, the water is a gorgeous blue and the sun was reflecting on it and making it sparkle. Second, you could see Isla de la Luna between the village and the shore, which looked beautiful. And third, behind the shore across the lake, the Cordillera Real peaks rose snowcapped and magnificent into the sky. It was truly stunning. I had wondered before why I was in Bolivia and at that moment I was so glad I had come.
The next day we trekked the entire length of the island and then back some distance, taking a boat the rest of the way back to the same village. The trek north was along the spine of the island and reached some of the highest peaks from where we could see the entire island and the whole of Lake Titicaca. Again, the blue of the water was breathtaking. There were many small ruins along the spine path, which was apparently the path that the Incas had used during their time there. Once at the north peak, we visited the ruins there which were more extensive than the ones along the way. From the ruins, you can look down at a beautiful white sand beach that is absolutely breath-taking. I almost wanted to go swimming, but realized that Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world... hence, it is very cold.
Walking south again down the east coastal path, the sand changed color about every 15 minutes, then changed every few steps. It was brown, white, pink, grey, and various mixed shades as well. Along the path we saw the Aymara community at work on the path... looked like the whole community was either working on it or watching as the others did. Then we stopped at another small lakeside community, ate lunch, then found our way to the port where we were to catch a boat back to the village we had stayed at the night before. There we waited for quite some time for more people to come to lower the individual price for the boat ride. There were only 5 of us and a small kid and we needed 8-10 people for the boat to take off. Since no one else came, we were supposed to pay a higher price but one man said he´d take us for less. All the other boat owners got really mad and one of them punched our guy in the mouth. Bleeding, angry, and apparently drunk, he got in the boat and we took off. I thought about the various ways people implement the rules of a cartel and laughed at this version of punishment for breaking those rules. Primitive, yet effective for what it´s worth. Needless to say, though, competition broke through in the end and the cartel was damaged for the day if not forever. The drunk capitalist, after he cooled from his anger and wiped his blood away, began falling asleep as he steered the motorboat. All of the passengers, including myself, laughed quite a bit until he was nearing a cliff, then woke him up. We made it safely back to the village where we ate and looked at the beautiful scenery, not wanting the sun to set. The next morning we took our last look at the beauty and headed back to Copacabana on the slowest motorboat in the world.

The trip goes south

As a result of a series of setbacks and random events, we did not trek the Ausangate Circuit. We instead made our way south toward Bolivia and Lake Titicaca. After long bus rides, we arrived in Puno, Peru where we stayed the night and got our first glimpse of the grand lake of Qechua, Aymara, and Inca mythology. It wasn´t as blue as people say, but maybe it was just that particular viewpoint. After decent sleep and a shower, we made our way to the bus terminals. There we found a million people trying to get to Copacabana, Bolivia, which is where we were headed. We found out that there is a 15 day festival occurring in Copacabana and that most buses were full. There are several ways of getting there, though... so we tried our luck with the "combis", which are minivans acting as mini buses. We were stampeded by both child and grandmother alike and, as a result, could not get a seat. We went back to the bus terminal to see how long it would take before we could get a seat on the bus. On our way, we were asked by several cab drivers if we wanted a ride to the border. The price was significantly higher than the bus, but it wasn´t high at all by U.S. standards and we could leave right away. We thought for a while about it and then decided to take the taxi. Our taxi filled up with three other guys besides the driver and we headed off. It was only about three hours before we got to the border town of Yunguyo, where we were instructed by police to pull over and get a permit to cross the border. We all got out of the car and headed toward the official building. We all went together, but once we got there the other guys in the car split up and we did not know who to follow... so we followed the driver who went into the bathroom. We waited outside for a while and, when we did not see him we made our way back to the car. But the car was no longer there and our backpacks, which were in the trunk, were gone with it. We ran in circles around the plaza looking for the car or any of the guys we had rode with to no avail. We talked to the police officer in the plaza who instructed us to quickly catch a cab to the border. He said there was a long line and we could probably catch them there before they crossed if we hurried. We were afraid they might still come back to the plaza, so I waited there while kevin went to look for them at the border. Two hours and several cigarettes later, kevin came back without our backpacks and I told him that I had looked and looked and they did not return for us. We just got jacked... royally.
We still have our passports, our money, and our ATM cards. I had my camelback backpack with me, which had in it my iPod, two guidebooks, my reading book, a pencil, and some paper. That´s all we have now aside from the clothes on our backs. Shocked and angry, we made our way across the border and took a taxi into Copacabana where we got a place to stay for the night. Unfortunately, we were not in a very festive mood and the crazy festival went on loudly into the night and kept us awake. After about three hours of sleep, we made our way into the labrynthe of street stalls selling everything from underwear and jeans to miniature houses and confetti. There are a million people here, literally, and the town just can´t physically hold this many. It is horrendous to walk through the streets, but fortunately we don´t have to carry our big packs through the streets! haha... joking. It´s not funny yet. I hope I can laugh at it later, but I just can´t yet. I lost so many things that were either very important to me or were very useful. Either way, they were things I didn´t want to part with... and SO many things. This is a great lesson in letting go of material attachments. I hate this lesson, though! So this also means that I will not be able to post any more pictures since I am now without a camera. Sorry. I really want to post a picture of this crazy madhouse of a town!
We found out today that the trek we had planned on Isla del Sol is still possible since there are hostels on the island. We can´t do it the same way, of course, but we can still do it. We will probably spend three days on the island and then make our way to La Paz. I don´t want this to completely ruin the trip, but it will unless I can keep going and have a good time.
Lesson learned... the hard way.