Isla de la Sol, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

We spent Wednesday, March 26 on Isla de la Sol, which is was a sacred ceremonial site for the Incas. We stayed at the following hostal facing the snow-capped Andes.

HOTEL IMPERIO DEL SOL

At ease in Copacabana

We spent three days in Copacabana relaxing along the shores of Lake Titicaca. During the first afternoon, we sat in hammocks, read our books, gazed down at the town from the hillside, and I chewed a few coca leaves to numb my mouth. The following day, was spent wondering and sitting along the hillside, watching the sun move closer towards the horizon, and speaking to one another about the highlights of the trip. Our last two nights at the hotel were spent in a private cabin; we had our own living room and kitchenette where we drank wine and watched the sunset. Late in the afternoon, on our third day, we rented a sailboat and let the wind take us around the bay for a couple hours with a local kid from the village. Throughout our stay here, we enjoyed the sounds of drums echoeing in the valley below to commemorate La Dia del Mar. We slept well and enjoyed the sun. It was very beautiful in Copacabana.

Copacabana, Bolivia

We arrived in Copacabana early in the afternoon on Sunday, March 23 just in time for Semana Santa (Easter weekend) as well as Dia del Mar (Day of the Sea - where Bolivia remembers the day they became landlocked, losing their piece of coastline to Chile). We are staying at the following beautiful hotel up on the hillside:

HOTEL LA CÚPULA

Calle Michel Pérez 1-3

Copacabana, Bolivia

Tel. 00591-2-2862-2029

bolivia@hotlecupula.com

www.hotelcupula.com

Valle de la Luna, Bolivia

After a beautiful journey from the desert, through mountain passes full of a alpacas, llamas, sheep, lagoons full of flamigos, ducks, and lake birds, we were back in La Paz. We were very happy to be back for a few days. It is a fasinating city, which in many ways feels like the heart of South Amercian culture. On March 22, we ventured out of the city’s constant activity, for a day trip to the Valle de la Luna. This is an amazing cluster of eroded canyons and pinnacles (know as badlands). We wondered around this area for most of the day, admiring the views and formations of these natural structures. That evening, we hit the markets once again, enjoyed another Easter Parade (we have seen many in the last two days, yesterday's being very somber), and found a place for some Lake Titicaca Kingfish for dinner. That night while we settled in, we were startled out of bed by loud firework explosions, so we got up and enjoyed the incredible display right outside of our window. They really know how to do fireworks in La Paz (and Cuenca, of course)!

Return to La Paz, Bolivia

We returned to La Paz on Thursday, March 20 from the Atacama desert in Chile. The difference between Chile (& Argentina) compared to Bolivia is very striking. We noticed very apparent changes in living standards. Chile is comparible to Canada in the 1970s when anything seemed possible, and Bolivia more raw, primitive, poor, and far more hectic. It was an interesting eye-opener. We returned to the following hostel for three (3) nights:

Casa de Huespedes
ARTHY'S
Guesthouse
Av. Montes No. 693
Tel. (591-2) 2281439
arthyshouse@gmail.com
http://arthyshouse.tripod.com

Salar de Atacama & Valle de la Muerte

After another night bus, we landed in San Perdro de Atacama on March 17 at 2:00PM. Once we settled into this very hot, touristy town in the middle of the Atacama Desert, we walked around looking for food and tour information. Being a tourist hotspot in Chile, things are expensive, but Phil has refined his bargaining techniques and was able to get us a great deal on an afternoon/evening tour for the next day. After this, and now a pleasantly cool evening, we enjoyed live Chilean music while drinking Pisco Sours in a local bar. The next day we wondered around town, enjoyed the local museum, that tells the story of the people of this area from 11,000 years ago until the Spanish invasion, and set out on our tour at 4:00PM. It is hard to describe the landscape that we saw in the Salar de Atacama region, just south of the town. Our first stop was at the Lagunas Cejas y Tebenquiche, which are incredible salty lakes. We went for the most buoyant swim I have ever experience, it was near impossible to submerge your body in the water. After walking around the other lakes, we rinsed off in small natural pool, with less salt, where we were allowed to dive from the banks because of its depth. Next stop, an amazing salt reserve and lagoon, with flamingos and plovers. Here, we watched the sunset, while sipping, once again, Pisco Sours. It was a brilliant day, filled with sites I have never seen before.

The next day in San Pedro de Atacama, we rented sandboards and bikes, and road to the Valle de la Muerte (Valley of Death) to try out this sport on spectacular sand dunes, surrounded by pre-historic rock formations and a view of the Andes. We joined about eight others who were already there. We climbed up to the top, waxed the boards, and headed straight down (after a few tumbles). The advice we received from other boarders, was to just go straight, that you can’t turn like you would on snow, and just have to trust that you will slow down once you reach the bottom. This was easier said then done, as my instinct was to try to slow myself using the edge of the board, which resulted in large spills. Thankfully my landings were always soft, the benefit of sand! The best exercise was climbing back up the sand dune to give it another try, and try we did. Feeling like we got the hang of this sandy sport, we decided to get out of the heat around 2:00PM, and to ride to a nearby pool, fed by a natural hot-spring (which wasn’t hot, thankfully), on the other side of San Pedro. After a great swim and de-sanding, we headed back to town for a cold beer and a quick dinner, before jumping on a bus, once again for a night ride, to Arica, Chile.

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

We are currently in the oases town of San Pedro de Atacama (in the middle of the driest desert on earth). There are dusty streets, wonderful landscapes, and it is incredibly quiet. We have spent two nights in the following hostel:

CAMINO DEL INCA

HABITACIONES Y CABAÑAS

Calle Licancabur 246

San Pedro de Atacama, II Region, Chile

Tel. 055-851157, 09-97837556

jfgarciavengas@gmail.com

Enjoying La Serena

We finally hit the beach again, the Pacific ocean, in La Serena. We left on a night bus from Santiago and arrived at 6:00AM. We had a morning nap (night buses are efficient, but the sleep isn’t always satisfying), wondered around this beach town, walked along their miles of white sandy beach and booked a star gazing tour at Observatorio Comunal Cerro Mamalluca, about 2 hours away. We are a little sceptical of tours, but this area of Chile is the best place to observe stars in the world, so we took the chance and jumped on the toursit bus around 7:00. At 8:30 and in the dark, we arrived at a small building holding a large telescope. We joined the English tour and learned an emense amount about the sky, specifically the southern hemisphere and the planets. We saw the moon through the telecscope, mars, satarn, clusters of stars that the naked eye sees as one star, the milky way, a galaxy, all companied by interesting facts and stories from our guide, who was extremely passionate about the night sky. We found out about a great website (http://www.starrynight.com/) that allows you to observe the stars and planets at different times of the year and in different locations. We spent the next day on the beach, and sipped wine (another specialty of Chile). Neadless to say, we enjoyed La Serena.

La Serena, Chile

We arrived in the town of La Serena early on Saturday, March 15 (6:00AM). We organized a room at a small family hostel. The mother of the house is a cobler and suposedly makes Chile's cutest shoes. When we arrived, the hostel was full and we ended up staying in the son's apartment; it worked out really well. (unfortunately, we didn't visit the shoe-maker).

Maria's Casa

Las Rojas 18

La Serena, Chile

Tel. (051) 229282

wini1818@hotmail.com

www.hotelmariacasa.cl

Exploring Santiago

We spent two full days in Santiago after arriving from Córdoba. We were pleasantly surprised when we got there. Many people during our travels had mentioned that they weren't particularly impressed by the city itself, but we thought that the streets were clean and safe, and both of us were taken by some of the architecture. During our first day there, we visited a beautiful park downtown called Cerro Santa Lucia & Jardín Japonés. The entrance is a neoclassical archway, and a hike up the staircase to its summit presents a lovely view of the city. The park itself has many stairs and gardens, and we could have easily spent more time there sitting and relaxing. We wandered the streets, visited the main square, and watched the many Chileanos engaged in their regular routines. For dinner, we ate at a small hamburger diner and afterwards sampled various locally brewed beers at a small bar and played some chess. The next day, we passed through the Centro Artesanal Santa Lucia (outdoor craft stalls) and I ended up buying another instrument (surprise surprise). This instrument is called a kalimba (African influence) and it is classified as a percussion/rhythm instrument. It makes lovely sounds and is a perfect campanion for my guitar and quena. After the market, we visited an excellent museum called Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino that chronicles 4500 years of of pre-Colombian civilization throughout the Americas with ceramics, textiles, and Chinchorro mummies (which predate their Egyptian counterparts by thousands of years). Shortly afterwards we walked to the Parque Metropoliano which overlooks the entire city (very impressive, and very smoggy). We took a cable car up the hill and a gondala down (I didn't feel as afraid of heights - must have been the skydiving). We had dinner and went to the bus station to catch our night bus to La Serena.

Santiago, Chile

We arrived in Santiago early in the afternoon on Thursday, March 13. We carried our bags to the nearest metro station and made our way to the following hostel, where we spent one night. We are heading north to La Serena later this evening (Friday, March 14).

EcoHostel CHILE

General Jofré 349

Santiago, Chile
Tel. (56 2) 222 68 33

Mobile: 08 - 901 70 30

info@ecohostel.cl

www.ecohostel.cl

Paracaidismo in Cordoba Province

I have always wanted to sore, like large birds flying across the sky, which is why I went skydiving. And Phil wanted to defy his aerophobia (terrible fear of heights), which he did beautifully. We also said we wanted to do it about a month ago, so in a way we were following through on our word, even though, the day of, we seriously thought it was the craziest craziest craziest idea. Hanging your legs out of a plane, with the intention to jump, is absolutely insane. We jumped from 10,000 feet above the ground and enjoyed a freefall towards earth for 35 seconds!!

With our friend Lisa, from our Cordoba Hostel, we set out midday to meet our destiny in the sky. We had to wait all morning, and travel on a bus for two hours, so as you can imagine, we were thinking way too much about our decision. However, our friend, Marcel, an experienced jumper, calmed our nerves and explained to us the amazing safety precautions taken and the limited risk factors. So repeating his words in our heads, and the reassurance we received from our very competent skydiving guides, we suited up and headed for the sky. Phil and I were able to jump together, so the two of us, our two guides (attached to our backs), a camera man and our pilot, took off to find a good spot, with few clouds to jump. It wasn’t until the door on the side of the plane opened that my stomach went into my throat. And then all of a sudden, Phil was sitting on the edge of the plane, he blew me a kiss and said I love you, and was gone. One second he was there and then next he was lost in clouds. This was probably the scariest moment for me, and even retelling it makes my heart beat faster. The good thing was I didn’t have much time to think about, because a second later my guide hoisted me to the edge and we too, were gone into the clouds. We fell for 35 seconds through clouds and blue sky, and then the parachute was pulled and it was then I realized the immense adrenaline rush I just had and the complete relief I was now experiencing as I floated down to our beautiful Earth. We were in the foothills of the Andes, so the scenery couldn’t have been better. I could see for miles, mountains, lakes, rivers, farmland, and Phil’s parachute, twirling, safely to Earth. I held my arms out like wings for my descent, and enjoyed the peace and tranquillity of the sky. Phil had an excellent ride and landing, and was incredibly calm and thrilled all at the same time. He conquered his worst fear, and did it in amazing style. Although I had a rocking landing, a gust of wind hit just as we reached the ground, which resulted in both my guide and I rolling to a stop, I felt amazing. It was the most extreme thing we have done, and one that we will never forget, although it now feels like a dream.

House of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

On the morning of Tuesday, March 11, we visited the small town of Alta Gracia about one hour outside of Cordoba. The reason for our visit was to see the country home of the South American revolutionary idol Che Guevara. It has been transformed into a museum, charting Guevara's life from his youth to his early death. The Guevara de la Serna family home holds numerous photos, letters and exhibits that the museum has successfully sourced, all revealing fascinating parts of the famous Argentinian's life.

Córdoba, Argentina

We arrived in Córdoba at around 8PM on Saturday night and were welcomed by heavy rains and flooded streets. People were scattering everywhere to stay as dry as possible. After a short taxi ride, we knocked on the door of our next hostel and were greeted by a handful of backpackers drinking beer and listening to music (we joined in).

Tango Hostel Internacional

Fructuoso Rivera 70

Córdoba, Argentina

Tel. +54 (0351) 4256023

infolatitudsur@arnet.com.ar

www.latitudsurweb.com.ar

Exploring Rosario

About 4 hours by (a lovely) bus is a city of 1 million called Rosario, which is a small version of Buenos Aires; with pretty streets, lots of boutiques, beautiful people, and fresh take-out pasta (a favourite dinner of ours). Rosario is on the Rio Parana, which seperates the city from its frequented beaches. Every half an hour a small ferry crosses the brownish-painted river to a small strip of sand (nothing the same as beautiful Bayswater Beach in Nova Scotia), but a beach nontheless. For the past week we have experienced a lot of rain, and on Friday we awoke to a beautiful bright sunny day, so we packed our backpacks and hit the beach. It was a relaxing afternoon of reading, people watching, and soaking in the sun. Around 5PM, we took the ferry back, walked around town, found Che Guevara's first home, got some fresh take-out pasta and an extra large bottle of vino, and headed back to our very lovely hostel for dinner, drinks and a night on the town with some Porteños (people from Buenos Aires) on vacation. The next day, was cloudy once again, which made getting on yet another bus easier, and we headed to Córdoba.

Rosario, Argentina

We woke up early on Thursday, March 6 and took the ferry back to Argentina from Uruguay. Upon arriving in Buenos Aires, we caught a bus north-west to a lovely city called Rosario. This is the birthplace of Che Guevera. We stayed at the following hostel for two nights, and it turned out to be one of our favorite places to sleep thus far.

La Comunidad Hostal
Presidents Roca 453

Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina

Tel. +54 (0341) 4245302

info@lacomunidadhostel.com.ar

www.lacomunidadhostel.com.ar

Colonia, Uruguay

We travelled by bus from Montevideo on Thursday morning to Colonia del Sacramento, located a few miles southeast of the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Rio de la Plata. Its historic district has been declared a World Heritage Site to illustrate the successful fusion of styles Portuguese, Spanish and post-colonial. It was the first settlement in what is now considered Uruguayan territory. We stayed at the following hostel while visiting the town.

Hostelling Colonial

Gral.Flores 440
Colonia, Uruguay
Tel. 598 52 30347
Fax. 598 52 30347
hostelling_colonial@hotmail.com

Steak in Montevideo

I know that I left your mouth watering from my last post on steak (for those meat-eaters anyway), so I thought I would endulge you further with Phil's steak in Montevideo. First of all and as a side note, it is important to recognize that eating is perhaps our main activity, it consumes are days while we wonder around a town or travel between places. The food we eat is a cultural symbol of where we are, teaching us about the people, the geography and it's history. And if we don't eat we get cranky. So we have become a custom to looking out for eating opportunities everywhere. And on that note, back to Montevideo. We just had a very nice cafe con leche, in the old part of town as we made our way to the water in Montevideo, when we stumbled upon Marchado del Puerto, which from what we saw, was a market of steakhouses, all with wood buring barbecues and grills absolutely packed with different kinds of meat. It was close to lunch and the place was busy. mostly with locals, so we pulled up a stool and ordred right from the grill. I went with pollo (chicken) and Phil with a steak, and it was absolutely huge, it took up the whole plate, and as Phil would say, enough to feed a family (but he managed to eat every last piece). For the rest of the day and night, we walked off our meals and visited a couple museos, the waterfront, banks (we had trouble finding an open one), and finally restaurants for dinner. We eventaully found one and had lovely fresh pasta, which they are also known for here. It was an interesting day, perhaps the most variable weather day we have every experienced (sun, rain, wind, warm, cold, changing every 5 minutes, a reminder of Halifax but even more variable). Here are a few pictures of what we saw (and eat), the ones of the costumes and the paper mache head are from a colourful Carnival Museo.

Montevideo, Uruguay

We arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay by ferry/bus from Buenos Aires late at night on Monday, March 4. Upon arrival, we realized that the our reservation was in another town and we had to scramble to find another place to sleep. We found the Hotel Alcazaba at 2AM (strange spot). There were no rooms available upon arrival, but we were assured that if we waited for 20 minutes, we could get one (only had to pay the "half night price") that's great we thought.

Hotel Alcazaba

Mario Cassinoni Nº 1669

Montevideo, Uruguay

Tel. 4080915, 9000063

estudioelopeza@hotmail.com

River State vs. San Juan

One of our priorities in Buenos Aires was to go to a futbol game, and last Sunday we were fortunate enough to catch a River Plate home game. They were playing San Martín de San Juan, from the North West of Argentina. There were 35,000 in attendence, most in the third level of the stadium, and most wearing red and white. Just watching the fans was enough to entertain me; they sang and chanted, hung over the railings, waved flags, danced – it was spectacular. And the futbol game, of course, was entertaining with lots of close calls, men diving all over the place, dramatically recovering from trips and falls, and a score of 3 to 2 for River Plate. It started raining during the second part of the second half, and it just poured which made the crowd sing and chant louder (and take their shirts off, the men anyway). It was great, quite an experience. The only unfortunate thing was the rain was so heavy they did call it off ten mintues before the end, so there will be a rematch (maybe a good thing, it means another game in the season for River Plate fans, which I now consider myself a part of).

La Boca

Yesterday, we ventured south-east to a very interesting area in Buenos Aires called La Boca (the mouth) located near the city's port. It retains a strong European flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa. La Boca is a popular destination for tourists visiting Argentina, with its colourful houses and main street, the Caminito. We walked from shop to shop, admired all the multi-couloured buildings, listened to music coming from the open-air bars, and watched tango in its abundance throughout the streets. La Boca, is also known throughout the sporting world as the home of Boca Juniors, one of South America's top football clubs. The large yellow stadium lies just a few blocks from the Caminito. We made our way home late in the afternoon and picked up some fresh pasta for dinner.

Tango

Our plan on Friday night was to find some live Jazz for the evening. So we checked the old guidebook and headed to Café Tortoni, the oldest café in Buenos Aires. When we got there we were told that Jazz was off and a tango show was starting in 30 minutes. So we jumped on the opportunity and settled into our front row seats for a night of tango (watching). It was a very entertaining show, that took the form of a dancing musical, with a traditional drumming act thrown in the middle. One of our favourite parts was the live band that played passionately throughout the whole evening. And of course, the amazing footwork and emotion of the tango, beautiful!

Recoleta and Palermo

Our days here in Buenos Aires seem to start off slowly, as it is impossible to go to bed before 2AM. However, it stays light until 9ish at night, so we have lots of daylight to walk around and see the sights. We had one of these days on Thursday. In the early afternoon we jumped on the subway and headed for an area called Recoleta, which is the wealthiest neighbourhood here, and is known for elegant cafes, unique boutiques, and the Recoleta cemetery where the wealthy and famous people of BA are buried, including Evita. After strolling around the elaborate sarcophagi, we made our way to the Museo National de Bellas Arts, to see an amazing collection of classical and modern Argentinian art. Next it was off to a huge metal flower sculpture, that actually opens and closes. At this point it was about 6:30PM, so we decided to head up to Palermo, a nearby neighbourhood, where we were planning to have an Argentina Steak dinner, at a famous grill. I was feeling a little under dressed, so we popped into a salon for a haircut and a boutique for a little black dress. Now, all dolled up, I was ready for my fancy steak dinner!! We got to La Cabera Restuarant at 8:15PM and the place was completely empty, but it turend out they had reservations for every table starting at 8:30PM. So we were directed down the street to the second La Cabera, opened to deal with this overflow issue. We sat down at 8:30PM, and within minutes the whole second restaurant was packed. And completely understandably, this meal was absolutely outstanding. The best example is perhaps Phil's Argentina Steak dinner, that cost around $45 pesos, expensive for us, but included 3, yes three (including bacon), of the best steaks Phil has ever had, and about 20 little salads and condiments to dress the steak. Essentially every bite could be different. I never thought I would be going on about steaks like this!! But to tell you the truth, and to reassure you that it is me writing this, my favourite part was the condiment/salad tray. Once again, we ate and drank the night away, caught a late night bus home and were in bed by 2, I think...

The Clan House Bed & Breakfast

We have moved locations, yet again, in Buenos Aires and have relocated at the following bed & breakfast. It is quiet, clean, and we get to fry our own eggs in the morning.

The Clan House Bed & Breakfast

Alsina 917 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tel. (54 11) 4331 4448

info@bedandbreakfastclan.com.ar

www.bedandbreakfastclan.com.ar