La Selva (Jungle)

15-19 July

Our next stop was the jungle. We first took a bus to La Paz, and then went to the airport to fly to Rurrenabaque, in the northern part of Bolivia in the Amazon Basin. Taking a cab there took a while. There seemed to be road blocks everywhere as some kind of protest. We finally got there and after waiting for someone to show up at the Amaszonas Airlines desk to check in. When someone finally showed up, we learned they cancelled our flight. Apparently Amaszonas is the only airline that flies there and cancels flights frequently. And there´s no compensation for your inconvenience. They put us on the first flight the next morning at 6am, so we could still make our jungle tour. We then had to go back to town to find a hotel in La Paz. None of the hotels here in Bolivia seem to have websites to see pictures. Also, it seems to depend on the person behind the desk as to what rate you get. So you sort of just have to go and check out a few places to find something decent and affordable. I think we ended up going to 5 different places, and with your packs, its annoying. After a flight delay, we finally got to Rurrenabaque, and it was great. It was warm. It was so different from La Paz and Lake Titicaca. I went from winter gear, to t shirt and flip flops. It was 77 deg F with 50% humidity.

We stayed at the eco lodge of San Miguel del Bala, owned and operated by the indigenous community of San Miguel of Tacana culture. We took a 30 minute boat ride to get there. It was a really nice place. And they have hammocks. I took many naps there. I love hammocks! They gave us a great cabana to stay in, with mosquito nets and a private bathroom. There was no hot water, but it was so hot anyway. To get to the cabana though, you had to climb a huge amount of stairs. And to get to the dining hall at night you had to use a flashlight or headlamp, so the stairs were a little tricky in the dark. But the meals were excellent. I ate so much there. It was a really great place and super comfortable. I´m glad we picked that place to stay. We stayed there for 4 days and 3 nights.

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Our guide showed us the community. His name was Felsi and was a native from the Tacana community. We even saw his house. Along the way pointed out fruits and plants they grew there, like pineapple. He showed us how they make sugar cane juice out of a big machine. It was really yummy. It is really really sweet, so putting some lime in it made it perfect.

We wondered though where all the people were in the community. He told us they were all at a big fiesta. So we asked if we could go. We took the boat to another part of the river to the party. They ate, danced, and played soccer. There we had our first animal siting - a spider monkey. Okay, it was someone´s pet. It´s not like we saw a wild one. But still. It counts. After the party, we took a medicinal plant tour. We learned about plants that helped digestion, blood circulation, conjuctivitis, and even shampoo. He said no one in the community used western medicine.

The second day we went to the canyon. It was a pretty narrow canyon that we walked through. There were tons of bats flying in the air above us. We also saw some spiders and snakes. They said there was a tarantula too, but I missed it. In the forest we saw a whole bunch of monkeys, saddle backed tamarins. It was pretty far, so I couldn´t get a picture. Most animals smell humans (insect repellent) and stay pretty far away. Luckily it was only Kim, I, and the guide, so we could stay relatively quiet to even see animals. We also heard the sounds of a leopard, and saw the footprints of a lowland paca, a type of rodent, and the footprints of an anteater. That afternoon we went on a trail that had trampas, or traps. He showed us how they used to trap animals for foods with contraptions they built.

On the third day we went to the Madidi National Park. It is part of one of the largest protected areas in the world. We saw a chanco, collard peccary. It´s a type of pig I guess, like the one in Lion King. Again, it was kind of too far to get a good picture. We also saw a whole bunch of Red Howeler monkeys and Brown Capuchin monkeys, swinging around and jumping from tree to tree. (I love monkeys). I did get some pictures of the red howler monkeys by zooming in really far. We also saw some parrots, that always travel in pairs. Again I got some pictures with some major zooming. We also saw the footprint of a leopardand heard southern amazonica red squirrels. At the end we heard another type of chanco, White Lipped Peccary. They travel in hundreds and make these crazy noises. We waited and waited, hearing them stomping, and chomping on food, trying to be as quiet as possible. It was a little scary. I didn´t know what they would do when they came closer. Finally we saw them from a far. There were so many. I think they smelled us and stayed away. A whole bunch of black pigs moving in the bushes. It was kind of cool. Our guide also found an almond.

That afternoon we wanted to make tea, a tri-mate tea made of colonia, torongil, and cedron. We went back to the community to get the plants that all grew there. We also saw our guide´s cute daughters and some other camera shy kids in the community.

On our last day we took a crazy hike to a waterfall. I took a picture of this butterfly. There are so many beautiful butterflies in the jungle, but its always hard to take a picture of them. The hike was pretty hard and its hard to hike in humidity too. We took a nice swim there and relaxed. When we went back to the cabana to get our stuff, we saw an awesome looking catipillar on the trail. Our cabana had a huge spider on the porch. I guess he was saying Good Bye to us.

Lake Titicaca (Bolivian Side)

13-14 July

From Puno, we took the bus to Copacabana in Bolivia. It stops at the border where they charge Americans $135 cash for a visa. Plus you have to give them a photocopy of your passport, yellow fever vaccination card, and a passport photo. They just started it a few years ago. My lonely planet guide is definitely out of date. Well I was well prepared and had everything in order. I had no problems.

Copacabana was a really nice little town. There was a really nice church. People from all over bring their car there to get it blessed. They also had this cave like room where people lit candles. It was a little creepy in there.

From Copacabana, we took a day trip out to an island called Isla del Sol. The boat ride was pretty long, I think about 3 hours, but it was really bumpy. I don´t usually get seasick but I didn´t feel to great once we got there. Kim wasn´t feeling well either. W e arrived on the north side of the island, where you can hike for 3 hours to the south of the island. Well we weren´t feeling to great, so we just hung out in the north side, and just took the boat to the south side.

There was a great beach there. Its really weird to be on a beach with full winter gear on. But there were some crazy French girls in bikinis. I guess the French just like to take their clothes off. There were also pigs roaming around too. Ever seen a pig on a beach??

The south side of the island wasn´t that impressive, unless you wanted to do some hiking. There were some pretty tall hills to tackle. We just hung out on the shore. That night in Copacabana, when we were just glad to have electricity and running water again, (unlike Amantani), there was a blackout! It lasted all night and into the morning. And since the showers were electric heated, no showers. I guess I could´ve taken a cold shower, but it was already cold there!! Oh, and those french girls... Kim was in the internet cafe during the blackout. Those girls left without paying. Stupid. Its not like the internet costs a lot here, maybe 50cents an hour? The people here don´t make a lot of money, and they gip the guy?? Come on. Some travellers are punks.

Lake Titicaca (Peruvian side)

11-12 July

After Cusco I took an overnight bus to Puno with my new travel buddy Kim. Man, the bus ride was freezing. Good thing I bought a winter jacket, hat, gloves, scarf, and blanket beforehand. Puno is located right on Lake Titicaca, which is the world's highest navigable lake, at 3,860 m (12,421 ft) above sea level. That´s why it was so damn cold there.

As soon as we got off the night bus in Puno, we booked a two day tour around the islands. First we went to two of the 40 or so man made floating islands of Uros. The people there speak the Aymara dialect. The islands are made of the reeds that grow in the lake. They gave us a little demo of how it was made. You can also eat the reeds. It tastes kinda like celery. The people were friendly but mostly wanted you to buy their crafts. (There´s always a market everywhere) They do have solar panels there that were given to them by the ex-president Fujimori. We saw a few tvs in those little houses.


After our short visits to those islands we went to another island called Amantaní, where we would spend a night. There are no hotels or restaurants on this island. Once you get off the boat, the "jefe" of the island arranges for each group to stay with a family. There is no electricity or running water. It´s as basic as it gets. Meals were made in the kitchen, a little shack where cooking was done with a fire. There is a candle there at night, but was still pretty dark. The food was very simple- quinoa soup (the pic below has the two kids showing Kim where they grew quinoa), and rice with potatoes and cheese, and coca tea. Our bedroom was nice and lit with a candle at night. A bucket of hot water was given to us in the morning to wash up. Some houses had an out-house out in the back. But our house had a bathroom.... but there was no running water. So you had to dump water from a bucket in the toilet to flush it. I don´t know why there was even a sink there.


After our lunch we hiked to the temple at the highest point on the island. Everyone was there waiting for the sunset. Supposedly when you run around the temple three times, it was good luck- the first time for love, the second time for job or money, and the third time for wisdom. The family takes you back to the house in complete darkness. You had to go back with a flashlight. There were no street lights. And good thing someone takes you back, because everything kind of looks the same- farm after farm. Staying there makes you really appreciate electricity and running water. It was a pretty cool experience.... for one night.


That night there was a party after dinner where they dress up all the tourists in traditional clothes. But we were so tired, we skipped it. Maybe taking the night bus and going directly to the islands and hiking wasn´t a great idea, especially trying to get used to the altitude there and all.

The next day we headed to Taquile island before heading back to Puno. The hike to the main square was pretty nice. But there wasn´t much else to see besides the plaza where of course there was a market. I didn´t even see that many locals. But we had a nice lunch where our guide taught us that you can tell if a man is single or not by his clothes. The red had means he is married. And men knit there also, with 5 needles at a time. After lunch our guide played some traditional music for us.


Here is the one picture I took in Puno. Puno is just like any other city down here. There was a Plaza de Armas. We met up with our friends Ariana and Eric again who were also in Puno. It was the same meeting arrangement in Cusco - meet at 7:30 at the Plaza de Armas. Who needs cell phones?

Cusco & the Sacred Valley

After Machu Picchu I spent about another week in Cusco. I went to a bunch of museums and churches and visited some other ruins in the area in the Sacred Valley. Unfortunately you cannot take pictures in the museums and churches.

Most of the churches are like all the other churches, really really nice, but after awhile it all looks the same. But the main cathedral in Cusco was really different. There were three churches inside with different altars. There was a Last Supper painting with traditional Peruvian food, cuy. There was also a black Jesus statue. It turned black after all the smoke from the candles. It was full of Cusquenan art and was one of thie nicest churches I´ve been to. Its the one on the left in the picture below.


The museums were pretty interesting. I went to Museo de Arte Religioso (religious art), Museo del Sitio Qoricancha (incan and pre-incan pieces from the Temple of Qoricancha), Museum of Contemporary art, and the Incan museum. My fave was the Incan musuem.

I also met up with my friend Kim. We originally met in spanish school in Quito and I had met her in Arequipa a few weeks before. She was heading to Bolivia at the end of the week so we traveled together.... after hanging out and partying in Cusco for a bit.

We ran into Ivan, a Peruvian that lives in Alabama. We shared a cab with him back from Pisac one day. And we also ran into Kim´s friend from spanish classes in Cusco, Matthew, a Belgian. After one of the museum tours, we went to find chicha. They kept mentioning it in the tour. (Tours by the way, are sometimes better to do in Spanish because their English accent is hard to understand). Chicha is an alcoholic drink made from fermented maize. We asked people on the street where to go, and everyone pointed in a different direction. We finally found it. But it was pretty nasty. I think there are better ones out there.


Travelling around Cusco, I ran into other people I´ve met in other cities. Its kind of cool to travel around and recognize people. It´s almost like being home. Okay, not exactly. Everyone generally has the same travel route also known as the gringo trail so you see the same people a lot. Kim and I also ran into our other friends from Yanapuma classes in Quito, Ariana and Eric. They have had some really bad luck with their travels. They´ve been robbed, scammed, and gotten sick several times. This is a picture of them at dinner. They had cuy, or ginea pig, a traditional Peruvian dish. It looked like a rat.


There was also a big protest in Cusco. Apparently it happens a lot. Everything was shut down for a day. I still don´t know exactly what they were protesting. It seemed like they were protesting everything. It looked more like a parade.



We visited the Incan ruins of Pisac, not too far from Cusco. They had a great market. There are markets at every single tourist destination in South America. Pisac had one of the better ones. Oh and the ruins were cool too, but it was no Machu Picchu.


We also went to Salinas de Maras, where they mine salt. They had natural salt terraces of mini salt-pans spread out in the valley.


Moray was also in the Sacred Valley. They had several circular terraces for agriculture. Each level had a different microclimate.


Chinchero..... more ruins. Nothing compared to Machu Picchu.


Ollantaytambo. This Incan site was pretty cool. No Machu Picchu, but it was nice. The tours are interesting, learning about the Incan life. Those guys were so smart the way they built their cities. Its amazing that they are still around.