sprint to the finish

Greetings - I am in Costa Rica right now staying with family friends Dem, Lee and Nia. I have a week to explore this country before heading back home :( / :)


DAY 67 (6/9/07 - Saturday)

After sleeping off the preceding night's trip to Vivian's, I ventured off solo to visit the architectural site of Tiahuanaco (Tiwanaku), one of the most important pre-Inca civilizations based around Lake Titicaca.



After visiting a couple museums (no pictures allowed) with a French guy, Nicolas (Sarkozy), that I met on the bus, we checked out the site, which was fairly impressive (although nothing compared to the Inca sites in Peru...). I'm not going to pretend that I remember or ever knew what each of the following things is, but the pictures are pretty cool.






(There's Nicolas in the last one)

When I got back from Tiahuanaco, Yelena had already bought a ticket for me to head to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca the next morning, so I did a last ditch tour of La Paz's main square before getting an early night's rest:




DAY 68 (6/10/07 - Sunday)

We left early in the morning on a direct bus to Copacabana. Here's the street where our hostel (Loki) was located, taken that morning before leaving:



In my group were Charli and Yelena, as well as Michelle, Yelena's travel-mate. Here are Charli and Michelle on a ferry across Lake Titicaca:



That afternoon while everyone else shopped / rested, I explored Copacabana, mainly checking out its church, which featured a car-blessing ceremony that afternoon:





That night we went to see a Colombian drumming band that was pretty good aside from the fact that Yelena was insulted by an ugly Uruguayan woman who couldn't dance. Lame.


DAY 69 (6/11/07 - Monday)

Yelena, Charli, Michelle and I set out to explore Lake Titicaca's Isla del Sol, the mythological birthplace of the first Inca. Rather than take the ferry straight to the island from Copacabana, we decided to go on a small hike out to a peninsula to catch a shorter ferry. Check out some of the rural scenery:




We got somewhat lost, joined up with another Brit, and ended up finding an old Inca trail, which led us up and over a hill to where we wanted to be (sortof):




After walking on the trail a bit more, we got tired, so we copped out and payed some fisher man to take us to Isla del Sol before getting to the end of the peninsula:



(Charli and Yelena)

When we got to the island, exhaustion and sickness prevented us from making it to far so we set ourselves up in a hostel at the first town we came to:




That night we chilled out and recovered, meeting up with another Brit named Ash.


DAY 70 (6/12/07 - Tuesday)

The 5 of us (Charli, Yelena, Michelle, Ash and I) set off at around 5 AM, hoping to catch the tourist sites in time to make it back to Copacabana for a 1 PM bus to Puno. We got lost a little bit (my fault, I think) but then made it to the top of a hill to check out this sunset over Lake Titicaca:



The rest of the morning we followed an old trail (perhaps Inca) that runs the length of the island, passing some ruins on the way:




The central ruin on the island is a temple complex near the sacred Inca birth stone (which I didn't get a picture of...). Here's the sacrifice stone at the temple:



and the temple itself:




(No Machu Picchu, but still pretty cool)

Later we went to a cute town for lunch before an afternoon of boat and bus rides to Puno:



(super cute kids pulling a boat)


(slyly taken to get the Bolivian women in the background, mwah ha ha)

I didn't really stay in Puno that long, just enough for dinner before getting on a ridiculously long ride to Lima. (24 hrs.)


DAY 71 (6/13/07 - Wednesday)

After spending the majority of the day on a bus, I checked into Lima's Loki Hostel in the Miraflores neighborhood, played some pool and went to bed.


DAY 72 (6/14/07 - Thursday)

I slept in and then managed Lima's public transportation to get to the airport to meet up with my brother, Ian, and sister, Tess. That night we also met up with Rebekah (who did the World's Most Dangerous Road and pampas trips with me) and her friend Maeve to go clubbbbbin' (to horrible techno music):



(Tess may be a great dancer, but I gave her a run for her money)


(Same with Ian)


(Maeve and Rebekah)

(all above pictures ripped off of Maeve's facebook, so they may not work...)


DAY 73 (6/15/07 - Friday)

After shaking off our hangovers, we ran downtown to take care of some business. Rebekah and Maeve decided to come with us to go sandboarding in Huacachina. I split up from everyone else for a while to get some pictures of Lima's main gov't buildings:


The post office arcade


The presidential palace


The cathedral...


where Pizarro was buried and I was kicked out for taking a photo without paying, truly a place of great evil.


All the buildings had a similar wooden trim about 2 stories up.

Then we met up and took some goofy pictures before boarding a bus and watching El Señor de los Anillos on the way to Ica / Huacachina, our next destination:



That night I ran into Laura in Huacachina, another British friend that I met on the Salar de Uyuni tour. We hung out:


(She's behind me)


DAY 74 (6/16/07 - Saturday)

The 5 of us (Ian, Tess, Rebekah, Maeve and I) got up early to go on a sand buggy / sandboarding trip. Huacachina is essentially an oasis in the Peruvian desert (made for touristssss).




Our rides... definitely the worst ones of all the tourist groups we saw.


I taught her how to surf like Thrilla Gorilla.




Our Christian rock band.

Unfortunately, Maeve fell off her board and got hurt, so Rebekah and I escorted her to the hospital, Rebekah for support and me for translation services:



Nothing was wrong, but at least I got to see a Peruvian hospital (replete with a massive power outage and ridiculous waits) and got to ride a Peruvian moto-taxi:



Later that afternoon, Ian, Tess and I toured some horrible Peruvian wineries (I guess there's a reason why we don't drink Peruvian wine at home...):




That night, the whole gang went out for dinner, as Rebekah and Maeve had to return to Lima for their flight to Costa Rica the next day.




DAY 75 (6/17/07 - Sunday)

Ian, Tess and I jumped on a bus to Nazca to check out its famous lines by plane. The whole trip cost about $60 per person, but was pretty cool, I guess, aside from the nausea induced by flying in a shaky Cessna for 20 minutes:



Here are some of the cooler lines:


A monkey


A tree and some hands


A hummingbird

All in all, the experience felt a little bit like Pilotwings:


They shoulda let me fly this thing:


We spent the rest of the afternoon dickin' around in Nazca, eventually getting on an overnight bus to Arequipa.


Anyways, I'm exhausted from typing. See you all soon. Also, shout out to Elisabeth.

Continued ramblings of things that happened 2 months ago

Still in Medellin, Colombia, but heading to Costa Rica Tuesday morning, amigos.

DAY 57 (5/30/07 - Wednesday)

Got into Cochabamba, Bolivia, felt horrible, ate breakfast, felt more horrible, took a nap, woke up, felt worse, stayed in bed, didn't eat. Thank you, Bolivia!


DAY 58 (5/31/07 - Thursday)

Due to feeling a little better, I decided to head out with Sharon and Shirley to check Cochabamba's requisite Jesus statue, which bore a striking resemblance to me:



Afterwards we met back up with Billy to go check out a former tin baron's mansion which has since been converted into an overpriced museum of opulence and strict no photo policies. Here's a legitimate one of the outside:



After forcing down a horrible "Indian" food meal, we headed back to our hostel to catch some sleep, still suffering from sickness (joined by Shirley this time).


DAY 59 (6/1/07 - Friday)

After a third breakfast at the same place, I unsuccessfully tried to meet up with Brighton friends Kensa and Rachel (to no avail) before hopping on a bus to La Paz. We arrived in La Paz around midnight, just in time to go out and not sleep until 10 in the morning (partially due to lack of a room to stay in)...


DAY 60 (6/2/07 - Saturday)

Before going to sleep, we moved to our new hostel (a hotel for Israelis called Hotel Lobo) ate breakfast, and watched the parade for the celebration of el Gran Poder. (Jesus, surprise!) It mostly consisted of women wearing dresses of different colors walking down the streets and spinning back and forth, like this:



and this:



After going to bed for 9 hours or so, I woke up at 7 to see this:


(which you can't see, but is the same thing)

That night I went over to Kensa and Rachel's hostel (finally able to meet up) for an uninvited dinner, followed up by a night out on the town, hitting up numerous clubs, including La Paz's most infamous Vivian's (straight out of an 80s movie, wow) where I essentially ran into everybody I had randomly met over the past 2 months.


DAY 61 (6/3/07 - Sunday)

I spent most of the day recovering from the previous two nights' activities and planning out tours for the next week. Got an early sleep that night in preparation for the DEATH ROAD.


DAY 62 (6/4/07 - Monday)

Got up super early to go take the bus to the WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS ROAD for a mountain bike ride. A number of awesome people (including, Yelena, Charli and Rebekah - future Pampas tourmates) came along.

Here's the view from where we started:



The ride involves descending some 2000+ some-odd meters from the altiplano to a lush jungle. After riding along a nice paved road for a bit, we turned off onto the old death road, which is rarely used by cars these days due to the construction of a new, safer auto-pista:



Soon the road descended into the clouds, impairing vision to a fair extent:



I went in the fast group (I ain't no sissy!), which was fun and not very challenging.




Pretty amazing imagery! Afterwards we ended up at the town of Coroico, where we ate a meal before heading back (a van trip I will never forget due to the seemingly endless t.A.t.U. discography being played by our driver).

Coroico:



That night we got an early night's sleep in order to get up in time to fly to Rurrenbaque for the pampas tour!


DAY 63 (6/5/07 - Tuesday)

After an early morning flight in a Bolivian military propeller jet, we arrived to the humid warmth of Rurrenbaque, on Bolivia's side of the Amazon Basin.



(Amazing jungle scenery beyond the grass runway).

We went straight to the tour office (Flecha Tours) where we set up our group to go explore the pampas, a flooded grassland teeming with wildlife. I was with Charli, Yelena, and Rebekah, three girls from London. Fortunately, our tour was joined by three other English girls (lucky me!), Sam, Hannah, and Camilah (sp.?) from Brighton. Our guide was a Bolivian named Antonio.

On the way to the pampas, we stopped for lunch where I saw this:


(A parrot and a pig, what's cuter than that?)

We got to the boats in the early afternoon:



Here's a good alligator sighting:



I got in the water to swim with some pink dolphins (which we saw, but were too timid to touch me here):


Another alligator sighting:


We also saw the cutest little monkeys you ever did see:




This is apparently the biggest bird in the region:


That night we stayed at a riverside cabin with poor mosquito netting yet good food.


DAY 64 (6/6/07 - Wednesday)

We woke up early to go hunting for anacondas, first donning our protective gear:



After taking our canoe through narrow waters, we disembarked to go hunting by foot:



Unfortunately, I had to wear boots that were a bit too small, but that didn't stop me from getting into the jungle spirit:


Unfortunately, the most interesting wildlife we saw was this neat owl:





That night we watched the sunset from the jungle's local watering hole where more English people told me I looked like the 118 guy:




Before dinner, we went on a night time cruise to look for alligator eyes, which reflect red at night (no pictures...).

I also stayed up late playing "Never Have I Ever" with Charli and Yelena... I love English girls, maybe?


DAY 65 (6/7/07 - Thursday)

We got up early to watch the sunrise, followed up by some more unsuccessful anaconda hunting under the ridiculously hot sun:




After another fruitless search, we returned to camp to pack up and play with monkeys:


Fortunately another group caught an anaconda and brought it around for us to play with:


On the way back, besides swimming with dolphins (which I accidentally kicked) we saw a rad capybara:


After returning to the town of Rurrenbaque, we set out to do karaoke (to no success), eventually ending up at Moskkkkito's Jungle Bar, where a ridiculous game of truth or dare left a poor 19 year old Bolivian falling for Sam... "sabes que tu eres muy bonita?"


DAY 66 (6/8/07 - Friday)

After our flight back to La Paz, we took another trip to Bolivia's nightlife scene, visiting its tourist friendly late-night den of hedonism, Vivian's, at the end (see stealthily taken photos below, no illicit activity shown):



Think Scarface...



Anyways, it's getting late and I have a long bus ride back to Bogota tomorrow in order to catch my flight to Costa Rica. So until next time, besititos.

-Darin

colooooombia

Greetings friends - news: I return home the night of August 2nd... I will hopefully see most of you who might read this before school starts (Aug. 16th). Anyways...


DAY 48 (5/21/07 - Monday)

That night we stayed in another random village on the edge of the salt flats:



and visited another group's hostel (ours wasn't too nice) where a little boy was dancing to cumbia music all night:



Afterwards, I forced Lauren, Arin, and Wouter to stay up playing hearts with me (I think I won, thanks to Lauren's last minute shoot the moon).


DAY 49 (5/22/07 - Tuesday)

We all got up really early to check out the sunrise over the salt flats:



After which we explored an island in the middle of the Salar with enormous cacti:



The salt flats have mysterious shrinking and gigantifying powers, a la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's magical TV:

Normal size:


Mini-Darin-Daniel-san:


Too much to drink?


The others got even better pictures on their cameras, which I will share if I ever get ahold of them.

After driving around the salt flats all morning, we visited a hotel completely made out of salt:



and saw a vicuña up close:



Unfortunately, we had to spend a night in Uyuni, a cold and boring town (although we did have good pizza and I did get a fancy new sweater).


DAY 50 (5/23/07 - Wednesday)

We got up fairly to grab a bus from Uyuni to Potosí. Unfortunately, the bus was completely miserable - dusty, car-sickness inducing, and at a high altitude, so by the time we got to Potosí I felt pretty horrible and was bed-ridden for the rest of the day (a recurring theme in Bolivia). The hostel we stayed at, however, was awesome (The Koala Den) due to an amazing book exchange, cheap rooms (something like $3 a night per person for a double with private bath and cable TV), and a built-in travel agency.


DAY 51 (5/24/07 - Thursday)

Got up to do the Potosí mine tour... intense. Here is some of my group before entering:



After going to the market to buy coca, dynamite, and soda for the miners, we headed over in a mini-van to the mining complex.

They first showed us how they process the lead / silver that they get from the mines:



Interestingly, the mine is completely cooperative, meaning that a miner makes as much as he is able to bring out on his own, encouraging them to work ridiculous hours (aided by coca leaves), lowering their life expectancy to something like 5-10 years after entering the mines.

Here's the ominous entrance to the mines:



The mines quickly become stiflingly hot, a condition whose discomfort inducing powers are aided by lack of oxygen due to the high altitude, poor ventilation, and necessary dust-blocking bandana. Here's a picture of Maarten playing miner:



This miner is in his 50s, an age reached no doubt to the fact that he had to stop working for 20 years due to a depression in the Bolivian mining industry:



Here's the whole group deep down on level 3 of the mines (reached by sliding down a 45 degree wooden shoot replete with loose boards and jutting nails):



After 3 hours or so in the mine, we finally got to leave and light some dynamite:



All in all, the mine was one of the most intense experiences of my life - I will NEVER go in again, but would recommend it to anybody who isn't faint of heart.

That night was pretty tranquilo - we tried to go out, got scared, and came back.

Oh, and I still felt pretty horrible due to the altitude / food.



DAY 52 (5/25/07 - Friday)

Pretty much the only thing we did this day was venture out to the nearby hot springs, which were beautifully situated amongst the mountains around Potosí:




Tranquilo.

Afterwards we cooked a feast under Marco's direction (the king):



followed up by some attempted club-going which left us in a cumbia/karaoke club frequented by 30/40 something Bolivians... Potosí nightlife, woo!



DAY 53 (5/26/07 - Saturday)

We sticked around Potosí an extra day to see a llama sacrifice ritual performed by the miners several times each year. Here are the llamas before being sold (they run from about $50-$100!!!)



Apparently they smash body parts against the walls as part of the ritual:



and skin the llamas as well:



They would die anyway (to be eaten by llama-hungry Bolivians).

After being thoroughly grossed out, we moved on to Sucre, 4 hours away by bus.

Overjoyed at finally being in a party town on a party weekend, we went to a Dutch restaurant (of course) and danced to Dutch music (amongst other things... wat wat wat wil yu du nau? sp.)


(L to R: Marco, Dave Grohl, Maarten, Lauren)



(alongside future pampas tourmate Sam)

After going to the Dutch place (Joyride café for those interested in names) we continued to a place named Mito's 'til early in the morning.


DAY 54 (5/27/07 - Sunday)

Slept in a decent amount, then went on a mini-tour of Sucre. Sucre is Bolivia's main college town, but also features amazing white walled colonial architecture and perfect weather (at least when I was there):





Over lunch I happened to meet a Bolivian musician named Pedro, who, after talking for an hour or so, offered me a charango lesson the next day. I also called Tess to wish her a happy birthday (wooo Berkeley wooo!)


DAY 55 (5/28/07 - Monday)

I pretty much just went on my charango date with Pedro (on the outskirts of town) and bid farewell to my travel companions (as I was planning to stay in town another day). Sucre is an easy town to just hang out and live in... I could definitely go back to relax for a bit.

DAY 56 (5/29/07 - Tuesday)

For today's charango date, Pedro took me (and Brit friend Charli) to a quarry to get in touch with Bolivia's countryside (sorta).



He ended up leading us into a restricted area and we had to bribe a security guard not to get us in trouble. Here are Pedro and Charli:



Anyways, that night I got on an overnight bus to Cochabamba after awkwardly being asked to support Pedro's family (10 kids) and buying his kids a chocolate cake. On the bus I met Billy (American), Sharon (English), and Shirley (Israeli), who I would travel with for the next week or so...



Anyways, too much time on the internet. I will update this hopefully before I get home, otherwise I will finish it when I have a break from school (assuming I will have some free time).

Besos,

-Darin

quick picture update for 4th of july

Hey - I just thought I would do a quick picture update to show what I've been up to for the past week or so. Happy 4th of July, btw.

Machu Picchu:




Lima sightseeing:






Lima nightlife:







Hooters and contemporary dance:




Cartagena, Colombia:






Anyways, hope all is well at home. Hasta luego!

-Darin

carrrrtagena

OK - here is a real entry. I love the fact that despite my being in paradise - the Caribbean Sea - I still lock myself up on the internet making blog entries. Traveling by yourself is a bitch sometimes...

Anyways, to continue off from where I left off...


DAY 43 (5/16/07 - Wednesday)

When I got back from Iruya, I met a group of 3 Dutchmen (Maarten, Marco, Wouter) and a Swiss (Luca) who had identical plans as me re: going to Bolivia. We decided to join forces for a bit.


DAY 44 (5/17/07 - Thursday)

First thing we grabbed the bus to La Quiaca on the Bolivian border. The border crossing was a cynch - we just went through a side office to get our passports stamped while a stream of Indian women with blankets holding goods for sale (or something like that) passed through the main gate. On the Bolivian side (Villazón), we boarded a train for the town of Tupiza. Here's the beaut in all her glory:



When we got to Tupiza, we settled at the cheapest place we could find (less than $3 per person), ate dinner at a shit restaurant (the Alamo, shucks, welcome to Bolivia), and went to bed.


DAY 45 (5/18/07 - Friday)

After numerous banking problems, we headed off for an afternoon gallop across the formerly-inhabited-by-Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid terrain around Tupiza. Lauren and Arin (an Aussie and a Calaverasian) also joined us on the journey, led by a 10 yr. old on a horse who was a better rider than any of us will ever be. Here's some of the scenery...


(L to R - Lauren, Marco, guide, Luca)





(Arin)

Lauren and my horses were a bit mischievous - I think being on an out of control horse galloping in the Bolivian wilderness has actually been the scariest part of my trip so far. Also, horseback riding is more physically demanding than you might think - my back was sore for days.

When we got back, we settled our Salar de Uyuni tour plans for the next day and prepared a massive feast for ourselves and the traveling friends we had accumulated along the way (Lauren, Arin, Katrine, etc.).


DAY 46 (5/19/07 - Saturday)

We set off this day for a 4 day off-road tour culminating with the Salar de Uyuni, which is the biggest salt flat in the world. For guides, we had Celia, the cook, and Julio, the driver, who are actually brother and sister. Also, to fill the sixth spot in the van, we had an unlucky South Korean woman named Jeanie (affectionately known as Jean Jean to the group).

The first day was fairly uneventful - here's what we saw...


The scenery


Don't ask...

Actually, this was the origin of a bet regarding who could touch a llama in the wild ($10) and who could tackle one to the ground (another $10), which none of us were able to do, despite our best efforts (YouTube video to come...).


Town in the middle of nowhere, Maarten in the background


Jeanie thinks this is a llama/baby sacrificial ground to the rain god...

That night we stayed at a Bolivian pueblo in the middle of nowhere - it was freezing, but a bottle of Old Smuggler warmed our innards. Marco made fun of an old German man in a different tour group and we played an intense game of poker.


Here's how we passed the time before dinner... Uruguayans are better at soccer than Bolivians... we lost the game I played in, but Luca and my Uruguayan substitutes helped us win the second one, while I captured the glory on film. Luca's comment that Bolivians play like girls didn't go over too well, but we bought them some sodas to smooth it over. The big goalie in the background is Wouter, "el gigante" (roughly 2.0 mtrs.).


DAY 47 (5/20/07 - Sunday)

We got up early this day (want to say 5 AM) to go to "THE CIUDAD DE LAS FANTASMAS" (City of Ghosts), an old village that was forced into mining slavery by the Spanish and later abandoned. (A recurrent theme in South America).



We later went by some crrrazy rock formations (and unsuccessfully tried to race to the top - damn altitude):




(existing at that height is harder than you might think).

In the afternoon we headed to a hot springs, where we ran into a number of other groups doing their own tours:


(L to R - Luca, Maarten, Marco, Wouter, 118 Guy)

After lunch, we drove by the Dali desert


(rock formations are supposed to look like a Dali painting)

and went by dusty road



to a green lake with borax around the edge:



Later in the afternoon we went by some geysers that smelled bad and didn't erupt.



That night we stayed at an outpost for tour groups, drank bad wine, and played more cards. (drinking alcohol at such a high altitude was not the best of ideas... more on the results of that later.) We also got Jeanie to sing the blues with us in Korean.


DAY 48 (5/21/07 - Monday)

Day 3 of the Salar de Uyuni trip started later for us than the other groups (thanks to our fast driver) and began with more tours of colored lakes, including one with flamingos (never thought I would have seen them in the Bolivian altiplano):


Notice the line of flamingoes...


Baby flamingoes...

We also saw the famous rock tree of Bolivia...


Anyways, the internet café is closing (probably a good thing) so I will have to fill you all in on the rest of the trip later. Going to the beach tomorrow and then la Ciudad Perdida.

-Darin

emperor's new groove to pirates of the caribbean

Just a quick update - I am in Cartagena on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. Just got in last night from Lima. I am going to the Ciudad Perdida within the next couple of days. So to put my life down here in movie terms, I went from the Emperor's New Groove (Cuzco) to the Dancer Upstairs (for those of you who saw it... Lima - I actually went to an interpretative contemporary dance performance) to Pirates of the Caribbean (here) to the first scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark (Ciudad Perdida - obviously haven't gone yet). I love how movies still somewhat mold my experience of foreign sites... must stop watching them some day.

-Darin

sickness no. 4

Hello friends - I am writing you on a combination of Pepto Bismol and Advil. I may need to stop this blog entry at any moment as their effects wear off. I am in Cuzco, Peru (Qosq'o in Quechua, apparently) leaving Ian and Tess in our hostal room. I spent all day in bed. Non travel related things: I am getting my school loans soon (joy) and I am currently scouring craigslist for Berkeley/Oakland housing opportunities... oh, there is also a new Bad Brains album coming out apparently... don't know what I think about it: http://myspace.com/badbrains - doesn't really sound like them (but then again, I don't have the Quickness).

Anyways, to continue:

DAY 40 (5/13/07 - Sunday)

I arrived into Salta around 6 in the morning, using my newly bought knife (from Valparaiso) to have a breakfast of bread and cheese. Afterwards, I went into the city's cabildo (traditional center of police/government) a beautiful colonial building with an interesting museum on the region's history:





There was also a BS nationalistic photo display outside about the murderous English and the Falklands War. Argentina's nationalism is unfortunately a major turn-off. I can't tell you how many people I saw wearing Argentine flags. It's the equivalent of suburban middle American flag wavers and equally stupid.

Anyways, after the museum I checked out some of Salta's many churches/convents:






which were actually quite beautiful.

Of course, as in any city with a mirador, I had to take the cable car up to the top



to see the city's requisite Jesus statue:



In the afternoon I grabbed a bus to Jujuy, capitol of Argentina's northernmost and poorest province. Unfortunately, Jujuy didn't seem so great, so after walking around the plaza at night,



I simply went back to the bus station and boarded a bus to Tilcara in the Quebrada de Humahuaca.

In Tilcara I went to a peña for dinner, which featured traditional music of the region and my first exposure to the CHARANGO, which I ended up taking a couple lessons for in Bolivia (awkwardly enough).

I also must add that the place I stayed in Tilcara was great - with individual cabins, kitchens, and small dorm rooms with individual lockers. It also didn't hurt that there was only one other person there (Katreen, a Swede who I would end up running into several times over the next month).


DAY 41 (5/14/07 - Monday)

I set off this day to explore the city's Pukara, an old pre-Spanish fortress. Check out the view coming out of the hostel:




Also check out this llama farm I found on the way:



When I got to the ruins, they were not as impressive as the surrounding scenery:



(Check out the color of the stone in the background).

The area also featured some fine specimens of cacti:


(What a beaut!)

That afternoon, I checked out the town's regional museum:



followed up by a hike to the nearby Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) ravine:




That night I decided to cook for myself in my now completely empty hostel's kitchen after shaving off my beard (at least halfway). Using the kitchen's radio, I was able to stumble onto an amazing radio station playing all 70's Spanish language stoner metal. If anyone knows anything about this genre and who I may have heard (could not pick up any of the names between songs) please let me know!


DAY 42 (5/15/07 - Tuesday)

First thing I grabbed a bus to the nearby town of Humahuaca, slightly bigger than Tilcara:





In the late afternoon, I grabbed a cab with a Dutch couple to check out some nearby ruins (somewhat of a letdown to tell the truth, but there were awesome cacti):




That night I grabbed a bus to the nearby town of Urquia, where I ate at the only restaurant in town - an awesome place where the cook (actually a native of Buenos Aires) grows all the food in her orchard organically and makes a fusion of traditional regional cuisine and her own inventions based on her experience as a professor at a culinary school in Buenos Aires.

Here's downtown Urquia looking like a nativity scene:



Afterwards I headed back to Humahuaca to get an early sleep.


DAY 43 (5/16/07 - Wednesday)

I set off early in the morning for the town of Iruya, 4 hours from Humahuaca on a dusty road in a dusty bus:




Iruya is a small village whose mountainous location lends it its steep streets and gorgeous surroundings:






Also, cute donkeys:



After watching the French election results over lunch (globalization!) I set off on a mini-hike in the surrounding canyon:




and got back on the bus to Humahuaca:




Anyways, this internet café is closing, so until next time...

-Darin