jack and ken's grand adventure

Gallery: Beaches

jackiestapp — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 07:51:00 GMT

coast of peru and ecuador

La Paz and Beyond

jackiestapp — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:46:00 GMT

Hola amigos! We suck at journaling apparently. So, upon our arrival in La Paz, Bolivia we were fortunate to be offered jobs as bartenders in our hostels bar, which we of course accepted, couldn´t pass up free room and beer (i mean board!!) We spent 2 weeks soaking in the culture of Bolivia, spending our days wandering through the market streets, and our nights serving yummy microbrews to fellow backpackers, truly a memorable stay in La Paz. La Paz is a crazy city, tons of withered old ladies with hundreds of babies selling the most random crap in the streets... believe us, if you need safety pins or llama fetuses, you´ve come to the right place!! Although it was sad, we had to leave La Paz eventually... our departure coincided with the hostels 2 year anniversary party, so we had a great last night... soaking in ¨beer spas¨... aka bathtubs full of beer, and drunk people, quite a great idea, not sure why these dont exist in the USA. The next morning we were off to PERU...

Our first stop in Peru is the cute city of Cusco, where we overdosed on fresh Carrot juice from cute little ladies in the streets... literally a blender and a bunch of fresh produce, so yummy. From Cusco we took the train to Aguas Calientes, the portal to Machu Picchu. We went on a CRAZY hike outside of Aguas Calientes, up a mountain near Machu Picchu called Putukusi. The hike started like any other, but about 15 minutes into our hike the trail ended, and we found ourselves standing before rickety wooden ladders, nailed to the cliffside, so up we went!! While most of the climb was vertical, parts were MORE than vertical... like, we were hanging upside down, praying to the Incan gods that we didnt slip!! Going up was totally worth it, upon reaching the top we had an INDESCRIBABLE view of Machu Picchu, and the surrounding mountains. It was going back down that was the problem! It started to rain once we reached the top, which felt good on our sweaty bodies, but was not good for our death defying descent down slippery wooden rungs... lets just say... I was scared!! Jackie was totally not scared, crazy woman, I on the other hand was convinced that we were both about to plummet to our deaths... LUCKILY we made it down in one, well two pieces... We had just enough energy left to check out the thermal hot springs just outside of town.

The next morning we woke up at 4 45 to catch the first bus to Machu Picchu. Within instants of waking up there was a knock on the door, which Jackie opened, to find a very confused looking Peruvian girl, standing outside the door like a zombie, in her pinstripe underwear... umm... can we help you?? The girl pushed her way into the room, and proceeded to climb into Jackies bed, pull the blankets up over her, insisting that this was her bed, her room... We spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure out this piece of work, until we eventually got her out, with the help of the hostels owner... Im not sure if she was drunk, drugged, sleepwalking... or just crazy, all I know is that this was one confused lady!!

After that little bit of excitement we made it to the ruins. Just as spectacular as everyone describes, those Incans were crazy, let me tell you. We hike Wyanapichu, a mountain near the ruins, from which you can get a great view of the ruins from above... really beautiful. We had an intoxicating nap in the sunshine amidst the ruins, and had a great time tackling the HUNDREDS of Incan staircases... great butt workout!!

After our great stay in Aguas Calientes we headed to Lima... which is surprisingly nice. We got our first glance of the Pacific in a longtime!! Its nice to not be at altitude anymore, we can breath!! Weve enjoyed being in a city again, lots of cute cafes and shops lining the streets. Cant wait to check out the nightlife!! Tomorrow were headed to Huaraz, a city in the mountains, from where we plan to do some hiking, and soak up some nature. Hope all is well at home... we miss you all, and love hearing from you! CHAU

Gallery: Bolivia y Peru

jackiestapp — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:08:00 GMT

Weve been busy!

jackiestapp — Tue, 1 Apr 2008 00:56:00 GMT

Soo... its been about a month since we journaled on line... oops. There has been sooo much to write about, but the internet availability here, while plentiful, is INCREDIBLY slow and tedious... plus the keyboards are never complete. On more than one occasion Ive been pages into an email and the computer justs shuts the window, thanks a lot BOLIVIA! ANYWAY... were in Bolivia now, which is phenomenal. LOVE IT. But first things first, the past month of our lives has been anything but dull and we´d love to share with you! After leaving Bariloche Jackie and I headed to NE Argentina, and spent a few nights in a fairly large city named Salta. Despite some killer nightlife, and a ton of big spiders, Salta was fairly uneventful. We really wanted to get out and see the area so we rented a car in Salta, and took a two day road trip south, through the tiny towns of Cachi and Cafayete... passing through some incredible scenery along the way. The car was a manual, which means I was designated driver for the whole trip... scary thought, I know... and J was navigator. We made a great team, covering about 500 km in two days, driving through mountains gorges, along winding gravel roads barely wide enough for our car, let alone any oncoming traffic, which twisted through the Andes. The area is known as the Hills of 7 colors, and the name is extremely appropriate. The rock faces are brightly colored orange, red, yellow, green, blue... really strange, has to do with the minerals in the rocks. We had a great time driving through the many rivers which intersected the road, several of which we had to close our eyes and pray as we splashed through, hoping the current wouldn´t sweep us over the cliffside to certain death. (See why we waited until later to tell you about it MOM?) We took breaks during the day to visit some seriously eerie mountain cemetaries, a natural ampitheatre, and some wild rock formations which we OF COURSE had to climb on!! We returned the car without incident, thank god... a crash would have emptied our bank acounts, but Thanks to my superiour driving skills... its all good. ;) After our roadtrip we headed by bus north to some teeny tiny little cities in NE Argentina called Purmamarca, and Tilcara. It was here that we began to experience our first taste of altitude sickness... every breath is labored, always exhausted... we felt like grandmas. We went for a 5 km run in Tilcara, it was quite possibly one of the most difficult things weve ever done... its strange how much the altitude can affect you! After our two nights in the middle of nowhere in Argentina we took a bus to Northern Chile, to a town called San Pedro de Atacama, there were some seriously insane stars there, unfortunately we only were able to enjoy them for one night... the next morning we headed, via 4 by 4 to the Salar de Uyuni, a huge salt lake, the remains of a dried up ocean in SouthWest Bolivia. Our tour was REALLY fun... there were 7 of us jammed in a tiny jeep, 3 Canadians, 2 English and Jackie and I. We all got along great, and had a blast joking around as we traveled through one of the strangest landscapes I´d never imagined possible! The salt flats are indescribably vast, reflecting the sky in perfect symmetry so you feel like your walking on clouds! Check out the pics of that, well have them up soon! We arrived in Uyuni, Bolivia, and after a bit of trouble with customs, we were admitted into the country, yay! We took a bus north to La Paz.. definitely the worst conditions for a long distance bus ride so far, the roads are unpaved, the seats are crammed, no bathroom for 12 plus hours... no fun. Luckily, thanks to modern medicine, I was able to sleep a bit, while Jackie stayed up and enjoyed the ride. La Paz... oh La Paz... it deserves an entire entry just to itself... truley an incredible city. We like it so much that weve decided to stay for a few weeks and work as bartenders at a hostel in town... the pay is a joke, but theres free accomodation, food and booze... so were excited! Brandon came to visit us here, and were just wrapping up a ten day trip around La Paz... spending 2 days in the Amazon Jungle and 3 days at Lake Titicaca, on the Isla del Sol, the place where the Incans believed the sun and the moon were created. The jungle was sheer sticky humid madness... Ive never experienced such humidity in my life, and the bugs were INSANE!! Ive never seen so many different types of creepy crawlies... were talking bees that attacked us, burrowing deep into our ponytails.. wierd, huh? Tons of spiders, some tarantulas, a creepy long legged spider with a huge web that Brandon actually held... weirdo!! Weve got pics to prove it! Other than insects we saw a few monkeys and some parrots.. the animals didnt really show off too much for us. We spent about an hour hunting a wild boar... we could here it and smell it, but never saw it. I felt like a jungle warrior, crouched against the steaming mud of the jungle floor, vines tumbling out of the dense canopy, and the constant whistle of insects as they sing through the humid air. I felt like I was in Apocolypse Now... crazy. We slept in a tiny hut in the Madidi National Forest... mosquito nets and all. The jungle is definitely the least comfortable climate Ive ever been in... dripping sweat within instants of stepping into the thick forest, and not stopping until we took off on our 15 seater lemon of an airplane, which thankfully got us safely home (yes, La Paz is home). The next morning we caught a bus to Lago Titicaca... were we then took a looong cold boat ride to Isla del Sol, the largest of the 40 islands on the lake. The boat dropped us off at the bottem of the STEEPEST LONGEST MOST HORRIBLY PAINFUL staircase of our lives, which in the altitude was certainly one of the most physically strenuous moments of our lives, the weight of our backpacks weighing on our trembling leg muscles and we puffed for breath all the way to the top. BUT... the good news is that it was worth it. The Island is SOOO utopic... the constant twittering of birds, the crashing of waves on the sandy shores, and the pleasant smells of farming and flowers wafting through the air. We were more than happy after our climb up the staircase of doom to enjoy a bottle of cheap Bolivian wine on the balcony of our hostel as the sun set over the massive sparkling blue mass of Lago Titicaca, the worlds highest altitude lake. The next day we were awoken by the strangest noise, the Island, which the day before had been super sunny and warm, was covered in a thick layer of hail, pouring from the grey clouds above. Luckily the hail storm blew over, and we were able to spend some time outside. We walked the lenght of the island, about 10 km, with our packs on our backs... passing through several small indigenous pueblos, some glorious white sand beaches and a TON of farmland, speckled with old Bolivian men herding sheep, pigs, donkeys and cows. The walk was beautiful, a great way to get to know the island. We reached the northernmost settlement, ChallaPampa, with enough time left for some sunbathing... I think we ALL got burned, but mostly my poor nose (I look like Michael Jackson, my nose is literally falling off), and the backs of Brandons thighs, which have not seen the light of day for a long, loooong time. We stayed at a tiny hostel on the beach, and of course indulged in our favorite passtime, sharing a bottle of wine during sunset... listening to the gentle lull of the waves, and the squawking (sp?) of donkeys and snorts and chortles of tons of little piglets, that run freely through the cobbled streets. The next day we walked the lenght of the island back to the boats, got to enjoy walking DOWN the staircase of doom... so gratifying... and caught the last boat back to the mainlaid. WHEW... it was a whirlwind tour of Bolivia, but we wanted to maximize our time with Brandon. We had a blast, it was great fun having a third travelling buddy for the week or so that it lasted. Brandon leaves tonight, so were going to spend the day milling through the hundred market stalls of La Paz, and taking it easy in our new home away from home. It will be sad to see Brandon go, but we had a great 10 day trip... definitely a bonding experience for all of us! Well... we´d better run off and enjoy our last day as a trio... hope all is well back home. Sorry for overusing the ellipses so much throughout this blog, this keyboard leaves little choices for punctuation! Love you all, CHAU

Gallery: Salar de Uyuni

jackiestapp — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:03:00 GMT

Salt Flats, Flamingos, and Geysers

Gallery: More Pics of Cool Places

jackiestapp — Sat, 1 Mar 2008 02:30:00 GMT

miscellaneous photos in awesome places

Bariloche

jackiestapp — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:12:00 GMT

Hola! We´ve found ourselves a cute little home away from home in the city of Bariloche, Argentina. We really like it here, so we´ve decided to stay for five weeks (SUCH a welcome change of pace, travelling is exhausting!). Weve found plenty of things to keep us busy. I (this is Kendra by the way :) am taking spanish classes at a language school called La Montana. Im REALLY enjoying it... learning a language is SO hard, but I´m slowly improving... I´m able to get by with my basic travel spanish, but I look forward to being able to carry an intelligent conversation and actually use other tenses than just present. I sound like such an idiot sometimes. If someone asks me what I did yesterday, my responses resemble this- ¨I go to the store. I study spanish. I swim in the lake. Later I go to bed. It is very fun¨ !!! AHHH... It makes general conversation very difficult. Bluh...good thing I´ve got lots of time to learn! Jackie has been a saint, helping me learn... shes patient even when I make the same ridiculous mistakes over and over. While I´m in classes Jackie is working as a volunteer in two different places in the city. The first one, called Sembrar, where she goes in the mornings is an garden-forest deal where she works with indiginous plants, transplanting them... working in the sun. The other, called ¨gotitas de esfuerza¨, literally ¨Drops of Effort¨ is a huge kitchen where poor families can come to get food. She helps out with the kids, teaching them English and playing games with them. It´s in a really poor neighborhood of Bariloche. It´s incredibly sad to see how some people live. No running water, no electricity, literally little shacks in a row in a dust bowl at the bottom of a valley. Many of the kids quit going to school really young, to help out with their HUGE families, or to start families of their own. In our free time there is tons to do in Bariloche. We spent our first week in a hostel, but now we are living in a homestay... it´s much nicer! The school set us up with an Argentinian family. Jackie and I share a mother-in-law apartment below the house. We have everything we need, a kitchen, a bathroom, closets... even a really annoying dog named Tibu. There are 5 backpackers living in the house right now, all of us taking classes or volunteering at the school. Its really awesome to meet people from all over the world, and its perfect for practicing spanish becuase everyone speaks different languages. There are two German girls, two Dutch girls, and us.... quite a riot to hear us trying to communicate! There is a massive national park right by Bariloche, and we´ve had a killer time exploring the lakes and MILLIONS of hikes. Last weekend we went on a 2 day hike to the top of Mount Tronodor (Thunder Mountain!) We went with our friend Libby, and Aussie we met at the hostel, and two of her friends... one from France and one American. The hike was incredible... 6 hours of steep climbing through dense forests, mountains, and the best part... 2 massive glaciers at the summit. The Andes mountains are amazing, rugged peaks as far as the eye can see. We camped in a tent at the tope of the Mountain, right in between the two glaciers. It was such an experience... but VERY cold. Jackie and I had to spoon for warmth! Once the sun went down it was literally inky black save for the millions of sparkling stars overhead. The milky way is INSANE here... you can see everything so clearly, even a violet blue Venus, and the burnt orange of Mars. We woke up early and watched the sun creep up over the mountains, bathing the ridges in soft gold and pink light, while the glaciers growled behind us as the ice lurched into life. We descended that afternoon, exhausted but so stoked on the whole experience. We plan on doing some more hikes in the area... we´ll keep you posted! For now, it´s seista time, a part of latino culture we are more than happy to embrace! CIAO

Gallery: Bariloche

jackiestapp — Fri, 8 Feb 2008 02:23:00 GMT

Home sweet Home

Pucon, Chile

jackiestapp — Sun, 3 Feb 2008 23:47:00 GMT

We weren´t planning on visiting Pucon, in the Lake District of Chile, but we are SOOOO glad that we did! Only an 8 hour bus ride from Vina del Mar (can you tell that were getting used to the long distance bus rides), Pucon is a town on a beautiful volcanic lake, perched at the base of the looming Volcan Villarica, an enourmous active volcano, which constantly spews sulferic clouds into the sky. We checked into a cozy little hostel in the town center, and spent our first day checking out the beach, not quite like the white sand of vina, rather a lakeshore with painful volcanic rocks instead of sand, but beautiful nontheless. The mountains in the distance shoot up out of the lake, giving it an incredibly beautiful backdrop. The lake was FREEZING, which were finding to be the trend, but nice to cool off after lazing in the hot Chilean sun. Our second day were were feeling really ambitious and decided to rent bikes for the day and go on a ¨leisurly¨ 40 km bike ride through the mountains to vist Los Ojos de Caburgua, a cluster of waterfalls nestled in the mountains. The ride was.... interesting, but so worth it. It was laundry day, so were were both wearing dresses, not quite mountain biking attire, but we made it work! The path was a dusty gravel road, twisting through the mountains, passing by several beautiful rivers, cutting through the farms and forests. 3 hours after embarking on our journey we reached Los Ojos... exhausted, but excitied. A path through the woods led us to the falls, 4 or 5 waterfalls falling from the mountain ledges into a pool of crystal clear water. A short way from the falls we discovered a small wooden sign for ¨La Laguna Azul¨, and decided to check it out. We are so glad we did, nestled in the forest we found a pool of the bluest water weve ever seen. The rocky ledges surrounding the pool dropped dramatically down into the earth, so the pool seemed bottemless. Looking down into the pool from above it looked SOOO deep, a crevass into the Earth, and clear all the way down. There was really nothing else for us to do but to JUMP IN of course. We stripped off our dirty sweaty dresses, luckily we wore bikinis (were really smart, or actually just lucky that all of our underwear were in the laundry). Taking the plunge into the Blue Lagoon was SUCH a rush. The water was icy cold and sent a shock through our weary bodies, waking us up for the long ride home. This is one of the most indescribable things weve ever seen. The water looked fake because of its bright blue color, it was like a private little paradise in the forest. HEAVEN. After our swim we hopped back on the bikes to pedal 20 km against the wind back to town. WHEW. We slept well that night! The next day we were surprisingly unsore, but spent the day being lazy, cathching up on journaling and sleep, and rebuilding our energy for the next days adventure. We woke up bright and early the next day... well actually it was still pitch black outside at 3:45 am when we rolled out of bed. We jumped into a van and drove to El Parque Nacional Quehuerue, where the massive Volcan Villarica burst out of the forest floor. Our guides, two cute Chilean dudes named Guillermo y Nicolas, fully equipped with long hippie hair, tans, and all of our other favorite things, gave us ice picks and headlamps, and we began our ascent in complete darkness, save only the eerie white glow of the moon, and the literally THOUSANDS of twinkling white stars overhead. A strange red glow in the distance caught our attention, I was certain it was a UFO, but Guillermo informed us that it was actually LAVA, spewing from a neighboring volcano... yikes. In the moonlight the jagged spine of the volcano cast creepy shadows agianst the mountain, and the crunch of volcanic rock echoed in the silent night. After 2 or so hours of hiking a bright blue glow crept slowly up from behind the volcano, melting the dark night sky into a brilliantly bright blue. Looking down from the volcano the mountains below us were covered in a sea of clouds, bathed pink and icy purple in the sunrise. The sky faded from blue to the most incredible shade of hot pink, weve agreed that it was definitely the most surreal sunrise ever, the colors were absolutly breathtaking. Once the sun was up, its bright light shone on the icy ledges, and they glistened like water... so beautiful. After several hours of hiking the wind began to howl and Guillermo became visibly distressed, concered that some in our group weren´t strong enough to continue up, having to pass over the narrow ¨ridge¨ reach the top of the volcano. Our group huddled in the lee of a pile of volcanic rocks, and Guillermo explained that he would only continue with the ¨strongest¨of the group... Jackie and I both held our breath and he counted off who he would allow to continue up, and who would have to begin the descent from the volcano. ¨Alaksa, Seattle¨ (as he referred to Jackie and I)... ¨you´re in¨. YAY. Jackie and I were the only girls, of 3 groups of hikers, who were allowed to continue up. HELL YEAH... thanks to all of our runs! 5 from our group continued up, strapping metal spikes onto the bottom of our shoes to help us grip into the icy ground. We crossed the ridge without incident, and continued to climb towards the summit. Unfortunately, as we neared the top, the volcanos sulferic outbursts began to thicken, and as the wind died down they hung stagnant in the air. Becuase of the toxicity of sulfer gas we had to stop just shy of the summit, but the view was incredible... and thanks to our tiny bladders we actually got to climb higher than anyone else on the volcano that day, as we had to hike up to find a rock to hide behind... you follow? The descent from the volcano was much easier than we expected... We slid down on our butts! Trekkers from the previous days had carved chutes into the ice, so all we had to do was sit down and slide, just like a waterslide! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Kinda scary, we were bombing down the mountain, which was REALLY steep, and our only brakes were our ice picks, which did nothing at all. We both caught some serious air on the bumps in the mountainside, our bums were pretty sore afterward! The hike was such an awesome experience, it has motivated us to hike a lot more on this trip, as well as vow to explore the awesome hiking around Seattle when we get home... who wants to come with us?

Gallery: Pucon

jackiestapp — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:19:00 GMT

Gallery: Viña del Mar

jackiestapp — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:15:00 GMT

Gallery: Mendoza

jackiestapp — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:00:00 GMT

Vina Del Mar

jackiestapp — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:15:00 GMT

Yay for beaches!

We are in Viña del Mar, on the coast of Chile. Its really beautiful here, the houses are built up on the hill, and look like castles with elaborate architecture. Each morning we wake up and go for a run along the beach, which stretches for several kilometers along the white sand coast. (sounds pretty good, eh?) The ocean is an incredible shade of teal, and sparkles underneath the bright sun. It may be beautiful, but it´s also FREEZING! The water comes up the coast directly from Antarctica, which means you have to REALLY want it to dare getting in the water. This trip is certainly not without the typical beach mishaps- sunburns, bad BAD sunburns. For some reason my burn (this is kendra) is on my eye, and i´m not talking about the lid... were talking the suns evil rays have penetrated my eyelid and burned my actual eye. Just imagine red, stinging, swollen pain. Yeah, thats how I spent the last 24 hours. Thankfully it was only one... but thats even weirder. Apparently my left eyelid is thicker than my right... who knows. Oh... yay. Theres not much to do here except hit the beach, so when you´re suffering from crispy sunburns, things get a bit tricky. We´ve entertained ourselves by exploring the city, taking buses in the wrong direction, and cooking elaborate and delicious meals. Who knew that Jackie and I were such good cooks! The fruits and veggies here are all super fresh and sweet, so after a stop at the market it´s pretty hard to mess things up. We´ve been eating salads like mad, they´re just too good! Tomorrow we´re heading south to Pucon, which should be really cool too. Theres a volcano to hike, and thermal springs to relax in. We see nothing wrong with that picture, so were going to go check it out. CIAO

nos encanta mendoza!

jackiestapp — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:59:00 GMT

HOLA!! Jackie and Kendra here.... we´ve worked our way from East to West via the most dreadfully long busride imaginable (36 hours!) and find ourselves in the beautiful city of Mendoza, and we absolutely love it. The ride from Iguazu was pretty bad... long, stuffy and hot during the day and freezing at night, we nearly starved to death (you can only eat so many crackers), babies cried, sleep deprivation occured, hippies with really stinky feet sat behind us. You know, the usual bus ruckus. WHEW... but we made it and we´re pleased to say that it was well worth the trip. Mendoza is a cute city with wide cobbled sidewalks, forested parks, friendly people, and LOTS of vino! We´re staying at a hostel just outside of downtown in a very trendy neighborhood with lots of cute cafes to chill at, and an enourmous park nearby. We´ve been very good girls and actually squeezed in several runs through the park, exploring everything. Our first day here we walked for 6 hours through the various trails in the park, eventually working our way up El Cerro de Gloria, a very steep hill which offered great views of Mendoza and an even greater bum workout. We worked up quite a sweat, it doesn´t help that it was in the high nineties. We´ve made lots of friends at our hostel, its a very friendly and eclectic bunch, and much more welcoming than in Buenos Aires. Mendoza is less pretentious all together. It was my birthday on the 21st (this is Kendra by the way) so we celebrated with a few bottles of great Mendozan wine, barbeque, and lots of cool new friends. What a great way to spend my 23rd birthday... definitely my best birthday ever! We´re headed to Chili sometime this week... it will be sad to leave Mendoza, but the coast awaits! Before we leave were headed to wine country to ride bikes from winery to winery, sounds like a fun way to experience the vast array of Mendozan wines to me :) More later, CIAO! Kendra and Jackie!

Iguazu Falls

jackiestapp — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:41:00 GMT

IGUAZU FALLS... what a beautiful place! After a week in the big city, we were more than ready to get out of town, and into the jungle. Puerto Iguaza, a cute little town 20 km from the falls, was such a welcome change from Buenos Aires. Everything is in walking distance, the sun is so shiny, things are clean, and cute, and WE LOVE IT! After exploring the town, which takes all of about 20 minutes, J and I headed to the falls for a full day of hikes around the incredibly huge and rumbling waterfalls. Upon entering the park you take a train to the base of the falls, where you are dumped off, with several different trails to take. The waterfalls are incredible... you can walk right up to them. The water roars wildly as it plumets hundreds of feet down the rocky cliff. The force of the water creates so much mist, that it rises up in thick white billows, and almost looks like smoke. Everywhere you go you are sprayed with the mist, which is SO refreshing after hiking through such heat. The largest fall, La Garganta del Diablo, or The Devils Throat, was phenomenal. We walked out on a rickety little bridge over the falls, when you look down all you see is the crashing water disappearing off the edge of the Earth... very scary, but also very beautiful. All around the park colorful butterflies zip by in bright shades of blue and red, often landing on you as you pass through. Huge lizards, were not really sure what kind, lurch across the path, sunning themselves on the rocks of the falls. We also saw several turtles, and a water snake... yikes! The highlight of the day was a 6km hike down to a secluded waterfall, feeding into a tiny swimming hole. Most people dont make it to that part of the park, so it was nice to have the jungle to ourselves. The insects buzz loudly as you walk down a windy red dirt path through the trees. The humidity of the jungle makes all of the sounds hang in the air, making the insects SO loud! At one point in the hike we looked up to see a huge woven web with a BIG spider chillin in it, RIGHT NEXT TO US! Ah, we were paranoid for the rest of the hike! Luckily we didn´t run into any, that we know of at least. Upon reaching the swimming hole, we were eager to jump in and cool off. The water was warm, but still refreshing. We swam to the far side of the pool and climbed on the slippery rocks to stand under the cool waterfall which fell from the cliff above. It was an incredibly beautiful day! Once we got back to the hostel we realized that all of the mist and sweating of the day had washed away our sunscreen, and we both had some pretty gnarly sunburns... OOPS!! Iguazu will definitely be one of the highlights of Argentina, I can´t wait to see the rest! KC

Gallery: Iguazu

jackiestapp — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:02:00 GMT

Umm... this application wont let us delete photos, so every picture appears twice. SORRY! The sunburn pics are the last ones! miss ya!

BA part 2

jackiestapp — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:18:00 GMT

After six days of exploring Buenos Aires, we`ve decided to move on to Puerto Iguazu, a 15 hour bus ride northeast, where the beautiful Iguazu waterfalls are. Buenos Aires is a huge city and we visited several different barrios. Palermo is definately where the rich live- lots of lush, green parks and shopping. A big contrast to La Boca, the cultural center, which has narrown streets with brightly colored buildings and tango music every few feet. Even though it was packed with tourists, it still had an authentic tango vibe. The antique markets of San Telmo gave us a unique opportunity to mingle with the locals, while enjoying the tons of street performers and vendors, selling everything from elaborate artwork to wrenches (weird!). The downtown district, near our hostel, has a ton of incredibly old buildings with ornate european architecture. There exists an unusual melding of these old buildings with the sleek modern skyscrapers that are overtaking the city, you can clearly see how the times are changing. Were both excited to get to Iguazu and breath some fresh air. We´re going to be spoiled on our 15 hour bus journey, as Argentina has one of the most luxurious bus systems in South America, offering seats that recline into beds, and we´ve even heard that there might be champagne!! We´ll keep you posted!

Gallery: Buenos Aires

jackiestapp — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 07:21:00 GMT

Buenos Aires!!

jackiestapp — Wed, 9 Jan 2008 08:40:00 GMT

We made it!! After an incredibly long and BORING flight we landed in Buenos Aires this morning. The heat is incredibly stiffling, ten minutes after a shower you are drenched in sweat and dirt again! yuck. We havent had much time to explore the city yet, but it seems to be beautiful and HUGE. Tomorrow well set out to see the sights, but for now, its time for a glass of argentinian wine and slab of barbequed steak. Life is good.