Good Times

ECUADOR with Barbara

ryanj_clark — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 13:32:00 GMT

January 8, 2010 -

When we arrived Ecuador they told me at the border that I only had 7 days left on my visa because I was in Ecuador so long before, but I thought that the 90 days per year was per calendar year because that is what I was told. I guess that is not the case. When we arrived Kayhda’s place she thought maybe her Dad could help me extend my visa through the end of January on Monday, but I waited and on Monday he was unable to do anything.

Staying at Kahyda’s place was great, and was the second time I have stayed with her. She now lives back with her family in Machala and has her own little apartment connected to her parents place. Her whole family is very warm-hearted, and her dad was always cracking jokes with us and a lot of fun to be around as well. There is not a whole lot to see though in Machala and it was extremely warm and also very RAINY, so when I got the news that her Dad was unable to do anything we were ready to continue north to Cuenca. We arrived Cuenca about 9 pm (5 hours from Machala $4.50) on Monday, January 11.

Our next couchsurfer Diego was kind enough to pick us up from the bus terminal when we arrived and took us to his parents’ place where they had a nice place with an extra bedroom. Diego is married and lives with his wife, but doesn’t have much room in his place, so he hosts couchsurfers at his parents place. When we arrived we ate some pizza nearby the house and then went to bed early because his parents go to bed quite early and get up VERY early. Diego also gave me the idea to just not get my passport stamped when I leave Ecuador so I won’t have to pay any fee or anything for being over my length of time while in Ecuador. If I was to return I might have to pay a penalty, but I don’t plan to return anytime soon.

On Tuesday, January 12 and Wednesday Barbara and I spent the days walking around the downtown area and took a tour bus of the city. I also sent my big suitcase back to the states while in Cuenca ($197 for 63 pounds) because I was getting sick of carrying around all my stuff seeing I thought I would be going to Venezuela from Ecuador to work.

We took a bus on Wedensday night to Riobamba at 11:15 pm (5 hours--$7) and arrived at 4 am. I had warned our couchsurfer Juan that we would be arriving very early, but he told us it wasn’t a problem and to call him when we arrived. We took a taxi to his house and he showed us where we were sleeping and he also had a cat that I was not aware of. As a result of coughing all night due to the cat along with a little cold that I was nursing I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep. We woke up about 9:30 am to check out the city and Juan was already at the University working on his thesis. There really isn’t a whole lot to the city of Riobamba and we even asked a taxi what there is to do in the city, and he told us nothing…lol. I really didn’t want to spend the night at Juan’s place due to my problems with the cat, so we went back to get our stuff and Juan happened to be there as well and we told him about my problems with the cat, said thanks, and took a taxi for a $1 to the bus terminal and caught a $2 bus to Banos (1.5 hours).

We had a recommendation from another family about a hostel named La Chiminea in Banos, so we took a taxi there for a $1 when we arrived and checked into a very nice room with very comfortable bed, with a private bathroom and a patio for $8.50 each. It also had free internet, towels, and soap. I would highly recommend La Chiminea hostel to anyone who goes to Banos. Unfortunately, at this point my laptop was broken, and was unable to finish writing.

Second time in PERU...Brazil...Ecuador again

ryanj_clark — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 13:25:00 GMT

November 28, 2009 – January 8, 2010

After arriving to the Loki hostel in Lima I was able to start working for them bartending by the third day after I arrived. I told them I could work until December 22 and then I will make my way to Brazil for Christmas and New Years.

The owners of the Loki hostel (www.lokihostel.com) seem to do quite well. In five years they have four hostel locations and recently just bought the house next door to their Cusco location to expand there. In each location there are five owners and the fifth person is different in each location, so there are four original people. With 5 people in on each location I wouldn’t imagine they are doing that great, but I think they actually do.

I bartended at the hostel four shifts per week for six hours each, and in exchange I got a free bed in a staff room with 3 bunk beds in it. We also got free home cooked dinner and 40% off of food and drinks. In the morning they also have bread, jelly, and hot tea for free at the hostel, so I usually took advantage of that as well.

During my time in the hostel usually it was just me and two other girls staying in the staff room, but one of my first nights we had an extra body. There was a guy named Chris who was the graphic designer for Loki and it was the night of his birthday. He usually stays at his own place but on his birthday night he decided to have one too many drinks and decided that he was going to climb up on the top bunk above me around 5 am after a full night of drinking. All of us were sound asleep and we all could hear Chris struggling to get to the top bunk with his plate of dinner food in hand. He is about 300+ pounds and out of shape with tattoos all over his arms and earrings in both ears. I have never heard someone sit in bed and chomp on their dinner and chips for as long as he did. I felt like it was a good hour of chomping loudly on his food. For all I knew I had a bear up in the bed above me. Eventually, after eating his meal, he started to snore and had left all the lights on. One of the girls got up to turn out the lights and tried to get Chris to turn over so he would stop snoring. I can’t say I got much more sleep that night, and later on in the day I noticed his dinner plate and empty bag of chips were still in the bed. Luckily there was a maid to clean up after him.

After some lazy times in Lima and working at the hostel, I was eager to catch my flight on Wednesday, December 23, to Brazil. I was scheduled to fly out at 10:23 pm so took a bus from the hostel and arrived the airport about 5:30 so I figured I would have no problems with my flight. When I gave my passport to the ticket lady she looked at my visa and noticed an error in my Brazillian Visa. I had gotten the visa in Lima at the Brazillian Embassy and they put 06 Nov/Nov 2009 as my birth date rather than Nov 1980. So the airline told me they were going to call Brazil to see if I would be allowed into the country because they usually don’t let people in with any errors on the visa. Of course, after two hours of waiting for an answer, she came back with the answer I didn’t want. She said that I would have to go to the embassy and get it fixed before I could fly to Brazil. The visa took 3 days to get originally and there was only one more day before Christmas, and now I was basically screwed because of my flight and out $135 for my Brazillian visa that will also expire if I don’t use it within 90 days. I tried to argue, but it didn’t do me any good. I then returned back to the hostel and stayed up all night until 9 am when I returned to the embassy to see what they could do for me, but of course they were closed on Christmas Eve. I looked online and saw that the Brazillian Embassy in the US was open on Christmas Eve so I figured it had to be open here as well, but wasn’t lucky enough. I guess I had to wait until Monday, December 28, to see what they could do.

I felt extremely bad because Barbara’s parents had rented a beautiful house right on the ocean about 1.5 hours south of Rio in Angra dos Reis, and her parents had purchased a flight for her from Curitiba to arrive Rio the same time as me, and then we planned to take a bus to Angra dos Reis together to meet up with her family. Luckily, I was able to get a hold of her to let her know about the unfortunate news. She couldn’t believe it as well, and I guess her parents had all sorts of plans of different things to do while I was there including checking out Ihla Grande which is supposed to be amazing.

On Monday, December 28, I went to the embassy first thing in the morning after spending the last two nights at a friends’ place named Mayte because I didn’t have my bed anymore at the hostel. They ended up taking on two different bartenders because they thought I was leaving to Brazil. So I spent a couple nights sleeping on bean bags in the lobby of the hostel, and then when I was up late on MSN Mayte said I could go stay at her place even though she was out of town. It was nice to just relax on her couch with no one else around to bug me and just watch movies the whole time.

The embassy put a note in my passport saying there was an error with my birth date and then a certified stamp so I would be able to get into the country. Then I went across the street to the TACA airlines office to fix my airline ticket and I got the same flight times that I originally had, but just leaving Monday evening and arriving Tuesday morning to Rio. I just had to pay a $55 fee to change the dates on my flight, so I couldn’t complain. I was just eager to get away from Lima and soak up the sun in Brazil!

When I arrived in Brazil Barbara and her Dad were at the bus station to pick me up after I arrived Rio and took a bus 3 hours south to Angra Dos Reis. They had been there waiting for an hour to pick me up when I arrived at 3 pm. Then they drove me to the beautiful house right on the ocean. It basically had four separate buildings to it. Down right on the water it had a boat house type place with a sauna and an area to cook along with patio chairs looking out on the ocean, and then it had a separate house for the dining room where we had dinner, a TV room, and then also a small little bar area. Then up above there was two separate areas as well where all of the bedrooms were. Barbara told me the house rented for 20,000 reals for 10 days which is about $11,428. They also had a family coming to rent right after us and the house was booked through the whole summer. I am assuming the owner does quite well covering all the expenses of the house and some additional for that price.

The first day I arrived was the only day of sun that I had and it started raining in the evening. I had never seen so much rain for such a long period of time. It was a steady down pour for the next 48 hours or so. It even ended up being a steady down pour for New Years Eve, so we just had a nice dinner and celebrated inside. As a result of the rain we had no power either because a tree had fallen onto the power line and they never came to fix it while we were there because there were so many landslides all over the town of Angra dos Reis. There was one hotel on the water where a land slide hit and killed over 30 people. It was actually directly across from the house that we were staying at about a mile away by water. There was also another landslide in a favela about a mile to the east of us that killed quite a few people. In total there were 80 deaths in Angra and many more in Rio. We had no way to get out of where we were staying by car because of so many landslides that occurred and were blocking the roads on the way out. So Barbara’s Dad had gotten the neighbor to take him to the town of Angra by boat to try and work something out for us to get us all back to Sao Paulo and then he would come back and get both of his cars and the rental car that he had rented when they cleared all the big boulders from the streets. Unfortunately the rental car company was charging him for each additional day of 180 reals ($102) per day even though it was a natural disaster and unpreventable.

I had a flight out of Rio on the night of Jan 2, but it was too difficult to get to Rio with all the landslides blocking the road so I just caught my morning flight on Jan 3 at 7:47 am from Sao Paulo. That is where everyone else was going to be flying from as well, so Barbara’s Dad rented us a boat on January 2 to have us picked up at 9:00 am. The boat took us to downtown Angrawhere Barbara’s dad had rented us a private bus to get to Sao Paulo. We finally arrived Sao Paulo about 6 pm or so, and then dropped all of our things off at Barbara’s parents place in Sao Paulo and then had the bus drop us all off at a friend of Barbara’s parents because they invited all 16 (Barbara’s family and two French couples along with their kids) of us over for a BBQ.

The BBQ was a lot of fun and at a huge house with an outdoor pool and BBQ area, but of course it was raining outside so it limited our time outside. They had a couple of microphones and a couple who played the guitar and sang as well. They were very talented and sang the whole night. It was quite the BBQ with excellent food and a great way to finish my last night in Brazil. We took four taxi’s to Barbara’s parents place about midnight or so and then Barbara and I got showered up and got our things organized to go catch our flights at the airport. Her parents had planned to give us a ride to the airport, but of course they didn’t have their cars, so we took a taxi to the airport.

I arrived Lima again on January 3 and Barbara arrived one hour after me (10:55 am). We then took a taxi to our couchsurfer Lizzybeth and Miguel’s place where they had a nice extra bedroom and were a very friendly people. We spent one night with them and then caught a semi-cama bus the following night at 10 pm (30 soles/2.85= $10.53) with a company called Transportes Cromotex (01-424-7575). We shopped around for different prices and they were the best price and also gave us dinner and breakfast on the 9 hour trip. We arrived Trujillo at 7 am and then waited in the bus terminal till 8 am to call our next couchsurfer Rudy. Rudy was actually out of town when we arrived, but his mom was happy to let us into their home and make both Barbara and I feel like we were at home. We relaxed for awhile and then caught a bus to the beach area called Huanchaco which I had already been to on my last trip to Trujillo, but found some great ceviche to eat by the beach at a restaurant with a nice view of the ocean.

Our second day in Trujillo we took a bus to the famous Ruins called Chan Chan about 30 minutes from Trujillo, and had a bite to eat for lunch at another place on the water for some more Ceviche. After some walking around the town we took a bus at 8:45 PM (Dorado 30 soles/2.85=$10.52) to Mancora, Peru. After the nine hour bus trip we arrived about 5:30 am and tried to check into the Loki hostel, but it was completely full so we stayed at another place with an ocean view that worked out just fine for one night in Mancora.

Mancora is a small beach city on the northwest coast of Peru that has many tourists and was a very hot city. They have some excellent ceviche, but definitely a small city and not much to it. After one night in Mancora we were ready to continue north up to Machala, Ecuador. We caught a bus on Friday, January 8, to Machala (4 hours 30 soles CIFA International) where our couchsurfer Kahyda had been waiting a hour for us because the bus ride took an hour (5 hours) longer than normal. There was quite a few people waiting in line at the Peru/Ecuador border and also the CIFA bus company was not very good. We were about 15 km from Machala and they told us we needed to change CIFA buses to get to Machala because our bus was now going to Guayaquil. Then when we got onto the other bus they dropped everyone off at this gas station that I had know idea where it was. I asked the bus driver why we weren’t being dropped off at the terminal of the bus company, but he just said this is all the farther the bus goes. I complained to the guy and told him I had a friend waiting for me to pick me up at the main terminal, so he dropped us off there where Kahyda was waiting for Barbara and I.

SECOND TIME IN ECUADOR!

ryanj_clark — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:54:00 GMT

September 5, 2009 – November 29, 2009

I decided to head back to Ecuador and continue to work on my Spanish after traveling for 15 months throughout Central and South America and returning back to the states for 3.5 months. I had a job opportunity that I was waiting on that would involve selling food for a food distributor in Venezuela, and decided the best thing to do while waiting for this position was to continue improving my Spanish. If for some reason the position doesn’t work out I figured it will never hurt me to become fluent in another language.

Upon my arrival at the Guayaquil airport on September 5, I spent my first two nights in Guayaquil with my friend Mariano from couchsurfing and then caught an 8.5 hour bus up north to Quito where I would be working at a Spanish that morning in Quito. Before I arrived Quito I had a problem that I never had before after taking MANY buses throughout my travels. My friend accompanied me to the bus station and told me where I was supposed to wait for my bus, and then he left for home. Once the bus arrived there was very little space for everyone’s luggage. I was the last one to give my suitcase, and they could not find any open space for my bag along with a few others. The bus driver was sweating from struggling to fit everyone’s bags on the bus because a bunch of the Indigineous people had these huge bags of supplies that were taking up all the space.

Finally, they worked something out after about 20 minutes. Before I hopped on the bus I double checked with the girl before boarding by asking “A Quito” and showing my ticket. I noticed when I got on the bus that my seat was occupied, but I just continued to another seat. Eventually, after being on the bus for about 20 minutes, a guy came up to me and said I was occupying his seat. So I told him that someone else was in my seat and showed him my ticket. After about 10 minutes they asked me where I was going…I said to Quito…they told me the bus was going to LOJA (as I was getting some dirty looks from the people on the bus)…which is a city down south by the Peruvian border, and I was supposed to be going north to Quito. I don’t know what happened, but they dropped me off in the middle of the highway (I don’t plan to take Panamericana buses again), grabbed my suitcase, and sent me on my way.

Now I was stuck in the middle of the highway at 1:00 am on the outskirts of a dangerous city with $1,200 in my sock, a laptop bag, backpack, and suitcase. With the amount of money I had on me I definitely have to say I was a little worried. Luckily, I was able to catch a taxi after about 20 minutes and got dropped off at another bus company (Transportes de Ecuador) where I was able to catch another bus to Quito. As a result, I showed up to my job on the first day a little late. Upon my arrival, Rosa took me to the hostel to show me my room that I would be staying in, and also offered to let me shower quickly before we went back to the Spanish School to start work.

I got the job working at the Spanish School “Vida Verde” as a student coordinator organizing activities etc for the students, responding to any questions that potential students had via email, and collecting the student’s payments. It was a pretty boring job because we didn’t have many students during the two months that I worked there. However, I did go on this “FAM” rafting trip for free that was designed for different companies to get an idea of what this rafting company had to offer, so we could promote them and create future business for them (in my case to the students of the school).

We took off for the rafting at 6:30 am and had a nice breakfast catered by the Rios Ecuador Rafting company after our arrival around 10:30 am. After breakfast we jumped back onto the bus for a short ride to the river where we each received a wetsuit, helmet, some basic rafting instructions, and also had to take a swimming test down the river. The Rios River is class IV+ rapids so it was pretty intense (they had the 2005 rafting championships on this river), and the river was actually quite cold. After about 4 hours of rafting down the intense rapids they had a nice lunch ready for us along with some cold beers, and we arrived back to Quito around 8 pm. It was definitely a great trip, but I don’t think it was worth the $89 that they charge for people to go.

One other event that I organized with the school and went for free was Horseback riding on the Greenhorse Ranch. It is a nice horseback ride through a volcanic crater a few hours outside of Quito. We had a nice 4 hour ride or so through the mountains after about two hours of driving to the ranch along with a nice lunch during the adventure. There were some beautiful sights along the way, but once again, I don’t think it was worth the $75 tourist price that I would normally have had to pay. Usually when I organize the activities I get to go for free if I get some other people to go. That was definitely a nice thing, but like I said, there just was not that many people at the school to organize activities.

One thing that I didn’t care for too much while working at the school was that I didn’t have a whole lot of time for myself. I had to organize the activities happy hours, movies, etc during the week and things on the weekends if we had enough students. It was nice to do the activities, but I felt that I didn’t have a whole lot of time to do what I wanted to do during my free time. I did sign myself up for salsa lessons on Monday and Tuesday nights, and left those nights open so I could do what I wanted to do, but I still felt like the school was my life for the two months that I worked there. I took salsa classes through Ritmo Tropical ( www.ritmotropical.com) (11 classes for $60) and Aracely, Patricio, and Anita were excellent professors. I was also supposed to get 10 hours of Spanish lessons per week during my time of working for the school, but I wasn’t getting that until right before I told them I was going to quit the job. After that they started giving me a bunch of Spanish lessons. I figured out the amount of hours I was short, and they told me they would give me the hours online when I wanted.

I really liked living in Quito for the two months that I was there. I had my own room with a shared bathroom, and was able to take the Ecovia for 25 cents to and from work (20 minutes). I felt a little spoiled as well because they had Gaby (the cleaning girl from the school) clean my room every two weeks, and she even did my laundry one time when I had my dirty clothes sitting on the floor in a bag. Living at the Vida Verde hostel (www.vidaverde.com) was nice for the first month because it was just me and another person for the first month occupying 2 of the 7 different bedrooms that they have, but the second month it was completely full with a wide variety of people.

The hostel was basically a big house with seven bedrooms, a dining room area with a table, TV room where I watched many DVD’s to improve my Spanish, and there was also a spacious kitchen to do any cooking, and a washing machine as well. There was also a nice terrace upstairs to dry your clothes or even sit outside and read while catching some sun, or even barbeque.

After my two months in Quito I left on October 29, 2009, on a night bus to Guayaquil to live for the next month. My friend Mariano told me I could stay with him, and that he would be able to find me a job. He never did find me a job, but it was alright because I decided to use the online Spanish hours that I had accumulated and study some Spanish on my own, and also take some salsa lessons during the month of November.

Living in Mariano’s house was a little change from what I had in Quito. He lives in an apartment by himself with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. His extra room has some things of his own inside it but had enough room for me to fit my stuff as well. One drawback was that my bed consisted of two blankets on the hard floor with bed sheets as a pillow. After sleeping on the floor for a month my back was quite sore. I also went from having a TV in the main room and being able to watch DVD’s to not having a TV. He also was lacking a refrigerator or a washing machine for my clothes, so I had to go back to washing my clothes by hand like I did the whole time I was traveling before. I’m not sure why, but I have yet to lay on a comfortable couch down here either. In the hostel they had the most uncomfortable couch, and when I moved here it was basically the same thing. It made it a little difficult to study, but upstairs there was another nice terrace here where I could study and catch some sun if it was not too hot. Unfortunately, after about two weeks they closed the upper terrace because they were putting in a new floor.

The first couple days that I was in Mariano’s house I asked him to take me to the grocery store so I could buy some things for the month that I was staying with him. He was quite shocked with my purchases. I bought 8 cans of tuna, two loaves of bread, 3 packets of cookies, 3 packets of crackers, and a gallon of water. During my time in Quito I think I ate tuna sandwiches almost every day for lunch while working at the school. In general you can get a lunch for about $1.75 and dinner for about $2.50 if you going during the basic lunch and dinner hours. However, I just got in a routine of always eating tuna because I never had a set lunch time while I was working at the Spanish School.

I also found a salsa school (Rumberos Tropicales) nearby Mariano’s apartment that cost me $39 for the month of group salsa lessons for two days a week the other two days with various types of music. I thought it was only salsa which I really wanted, but I guess as long as I had something to do and keep me busy I was fine with that. For four days a week at that price I could not complain. The individual classes for salsa at this school were much higher $15/hour, so I just went with the group classes for the month Monday – Thursday, and it was actually a really good school.

During this month I was supposed to start taking some online Spanish classes, but there were power problems in Ecuador. There was a huge crisis with the power, so the government decided to turn off the power in different areas at different times of the day. Yesterday they turned off the power for 7 hours throughout the day (4 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon) and today they turned off the power for 7 hours as well. They turned it off from 9 am to 1 pm and then again in the afternoon from 3 pm to 6 pm. As a result, I had to cancel my scheduled classes for Spanish on both days. This has definitely created problems for the small businesses that lose power throughout the day along with many of the restaurants, and also created problems because people can’t get money from the ATM machines during these hours. This has also caused lots of traffic problems due to no power with the street lights. They said that for each hour the power was turned off it was a loss of $1.7 million to the country.

Seeing I was not able to take any Spanish classes due to the power problems the whole month that I was in Guayaquil I just decided to start running a lot (sometimes twice a day) and studying on my own. My usual daily routine was to get up and study about an hour before my salsa class, run my three or four miles after the salsa class, shower, eat lunch, and study some more.

For awhile I got in the routine of running to the biggest mall in Guayaquil called Mall Del Sol and then stopping at this excellent ice cream shop called “Nice Ice Cream.” I would get my usual jumbo cup of twist ice cream with hot fudge hard shell, and then oreo crumbs on top of that. Wow, that is the best $1.50 spent. After awhile I made sure I didn’t put any money in my pocket while I was running so I wouldn’t be tempted to stop for ice cream whenever I was running. I also would run by a bakery every time I ran as well, and the lovely smell of the baked goods made me want to stop every time I ran by the bakery.

On Friday, November 27, I decided to make my way down south to Lima,Peru because I needed to leave Ecuador by December 5^th anyways due to the 90 day visa. I caught a bus to Piura, Peru with a company called C.I.F.A. (10 hours, $11.20) at 5:50 pm. When I arrived Piura at 4 am it was a little shady where they dropped us off and there were quite a few people outside waiting for us to get off the bus. One guy that was on the bus with me (Juan) was telling me to watch my bag because a guy was trying to sneak into my backpack and find something to steal and at the same time another guy grabbed Juan’s wallet out of his hand and took off running, but he ended up catching the guy to get the wallet back. There were departures from Piura to Lima at 3:30 pm, but I didn’t want to wait that long so I walked to a company called Transportes de Chiclayo where I caught another bus at 6:15 am (16 soles/2.8=$5.71, 3 hours) and arrived Chiclayo at 9 am. I then took a taxi 3 soles (3 soles/2.8=$1.07) to a company called Emtrafesa where they have buses every half hour to Trujillo. I bought a ticket at Emtrafesa (13 soles/2.8 = $4.64) and left at 9:45 am to Trujillo (3.5 hours). After arriving Trujillo around 1:20 pm I caught a taxi (4 soles=$1.43) to the main bus terminal where they have more options to get to Lima. I was able to get a bus to Lima at 2:30 pm (20 soles/2.8= $7.14) with a company called Turismo Erick el Rojo and arrived Lima at 11:30 pm for a total 29.5 hour trip ($31.20) from Guayaquil to Lima. Once I arrived the bus terminal I took a taxi (15 soles) to the Loki Hostel where I will be working until I fly to Brazil on the 23^rd of December.

BRAZIL

ryanj_clark — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:33:00 GMT

January 12, 2009 - April 27, 2009

After a 20 hour bus ride from Montevideo, Uruguay, to the fifth largest country in the world and one of the smoothest border crossings yet, we finally arrived Florianopolis, Brazil. Our couch surfer, Conrado was waiting for us at the bus terminal and gave both Adam and I a ride to his house on Monday, January 12. He was an 18 year old guy who lived with his mom and dad. They were another very warm-hearted family who definitely went out of their way to make sure we felt at home. On our first day he took us to our first beach in Brazil, Praia Mole. It was one of 42 pristine beaches of Ilha de Santa Catarina.

It was very frustrating after finally learning the Spanish language well enough to conversate with the families in the last few countries, but now struggling to speak any Portuguese to my new family in Brazil. The two languages have so many similar words, but yet have so many differences in pronunciations and the Brazilians speak with a distinctive nasal sound.

Conrad’s mother cooked us some amazing Brazilian meals (some of the best I have had), and could not have asked for a better host. Their aunt and uncle had us over a couple times for dinner as well, and they also cooked up some excellent meals, and one of the days they took us to a beach called Palmas to hang out and do some fishing…we were definitely spoiled with our first host family in Brazil.

Conrad lived in an apartment complex that had a basketball hoop, pool, and a gym as well. So, I was able to continue with some running each day (my only pair of shoes that I have are my all purpose skechers, and they have had to get some repairs from the wear and tear), and also playing some hoops with his cousin and uncle. I was also able to hit up the gym quite a bit while at Conrad’s place. He also took us to two different beach type clubs called P12 and Taiko on Jurere Internacional beach that were some of the coolest places I have seen so far and also another club called El Divino. P 12 is open during the day when the weather is nice and closes down at 10 pm. It has an enormous pool and just a sweet layout with nice cushioned beds, couches, dance area, soft sand, great music, and beautiful women in bikinis. It would definitely be my ideal bar to own one day.

Florianópolis (nicknamed Floripa) is the capital city of Santa Catarina State in southern Brazil. It is composed of one main island, the Island of Santa Catarina (Ilha de Santa Catarina), a continental part and the surrounding small islands. It was a beautiful city (407,000) and would have been one of my favorites if it hadn’t rained almost every day that I was there. The economy of Florianópolis is heavily based on tourism and services. The city has 42 pristine beaches and is a center of surfing activity. Newsweek put Florianópolis in the "Ten most dynamic cities of the world" list. Veja magazine, a Brazilian publication, named the city as "the best place to live in Brazil." As a result of this publicity, Florianópolis is growing as a second home destination for many Paulistas, Argentines, U.S. citizens and Europeans.

Everything seemed to be really spread out in this city, so a car was definitely necessary. We had Conrad’s car to use, but the first night he accidentally backed up into a metal garbage basket that was sticking out, and shattered the back window. Unfortunately, the glass for the window did not arrive for four weeks, but we were able to get some rides from other people and his mother and father as well while staying at his place for the two and a half weeks.

On Friday, January 30, Adam and I said goodbye to Conrad and his wonderful family. We took a 1.5 hour bus ride (17 reals=$7.36   ) to Balneario Camboriu. This city is one of Southern Brazil’s major tourism hubs. Its resident population is 100,000, but in the summer time it welcomes up to 1 million tourists. It is a beautiful city with small and friendly vibe and some lively night life as well. It’s major event is for New Year’s Eve, with fireworks busting all along its shoreline.

We were invited to a couchsurfing party on Saturday with about 30 people by a couchsurfer named Eddy in this beautiful small town. Once we arrived the town Eddy came to the bus terminal to pick us up with his friend. We then went back to his apartment where he lives with his wife and adorable 5 year old daughter. He lived only 2 blocks from Camboriu Beach, so once we dropped our stuff off we went walking with he and his friend Jean along the beach to check out the city. His friend really took a liking to Adam and I, and invited us over for dinner at his house to have his mother cook for us. Jean’s mother, father, and brother were all very nice people and told us we could stay at their place anytime we wanted. His mother cooked us up a great meal on Friday night, and then also invited us to come back on Saturday night for dinner before the couchsurfing meeting. During the day Jean’s brother drove us to a really nice beach as well. Afterwards, we got showered up at Eddy’s place and had another excellent meal at Jean’s parents house. When we were done with dinner we went to the couchsurfing meeting at a small little restaurant/bar. We met a lot of very nice people and had a great time.

On Sunday, February 1st, we just relaxed and walked around the beach, and in the evening I played “Guess Who” (my favorite game as a kid) with Eddy’s daughter Sara. Eddy and his wife Steph are both Brazilian, but speak English very well. They are trying to teach their daughter to speak both languages as well, so they definitely liked having Adam and I around to help her speak in English. Sara also has a few games that she plays to help her learn as well. I wish I would have had the opportunity to learn another language at a young age like her. It is the best time to learn! She also is a big fan of Michael Jackson, so she would play Michael Jackson music videos on the computer through youtube and dance to them as well. She is the cutest and most well behaved five-year old daughter I have ever been around, and always has a glowing smile on her face.

On Wednesday, February 4, I went and played paint ball with Eddy and seven of his friends in the rain. We had a blast playing, and had a few bumps on my arms from the balls hitting me. Then the following day I went and played some soccer with he and his friends as well. We had an excellent time hanging out with Eddy and his family. Unfortunately, on Friday, February 6, I continued north and caught a bus to Curitiba at 7:45 am (29 reals=$12.55) and arrived there at 11:30 am. Barbara picked me up from the bus terminal after her class and took me back to her apartment.

I had met Barbara in Florianópolis where she was visiting her parents and little brother, but she lives in Curitiba. After talking with her and keeping in touch via internet; I converted her to a couchsurfer and went to stay with her before I continued north to Sao Paulo. It took a little time for her dad to give in on the
couchsurfing concept, but eventually he did because Barbara wanted to learn about couchsurfing and was eager to invite me into her home. I try to spread the word and tell everyone about it (www.couchsurfing.com) because it is an amazing way to build a worldwide network of friends and make traveling so much better when you are meeting local people and learning about the local cuisine.

Barbara normally just lives with her brother (who is in the states for 5 months), but her youngest brother and mother were visiting from Florianópolis for a week. Barbara’s mother cooked us some “mouth watering meals” (all the homemade food seems to be awesome in Brazil) and definitely made me feel at home. Her mother was always making sure I was comfortable, well fed, and constantly trying to get me to eat more (I might have gained 10 pounds).

Barbara toured me around the city, took me out to a few clubs on the weekends, and also took me to a friends birthday BBQ that was a lot of fun with some great food as well.

She is currently studying physical therapy and is finishing up her last year, so she was keeping busy with her studies, but seemed to really like having me around. When she was busy, I played ping pong, pool, studied Portuguese, or went running with her little 15 year old brother Felipe. Her littler brother was an awesome guy, and always so friendly, polite, and making sure I felt comfortable. He said he liked having my company and also liked practicing his English. He is actually going to France soon for 6 months or a year to learn French…I am so happy for such a young guy to have such a great experience like that. I know it will be an experience of his lifetime.

On Thursday, February 12, a couchsurfer by the name of Gustavo contacted me and wanted to meet up with me. He contacted me when I was in Florianópolis, but we never ended up meeting, but he lives right next to Barbara, so we finally met up, and he took me to his gym to work out. It is always nice when couchsurfers can get you into their gym because it is difficult to keep up with the exercise when traveling. He said it was the best gym in town, and I definitely believe it. It was huge and had everything you wanted. After working out for a couple hours we did a hour spin class as well. Earlier in the day I had gone for a 3 mile run with Barbara’s little brother as well, so the day turned into an “exercise only” day. It felt good to just have a full day of exercise, a couple meals, and a little studying of Portuguese.

Barbara’s father arrived on Friday to visit until Tuesday, and took us all out for a nice dinner on Saturday, Feb 14, at a Japanese restaurant called Batel Grill that was very classy and delicious. It was an awesome place where they came to your table giving you all the fresh meat, desserts, or whatever you wanted and you basically just end up “stuffing your face” at this amazing all-you-can-eat restaurant. The sushi there was incredible (love hot filadelfia rolls), and the service was outstanding. I hadn’t had sushi for at least a year and a half, and this was some of the best that I have had.

It was neat to hang out with their family during the day as well because both her little 15 year old brother Felipe and father play the guitar very well and they were playing a bunch of Brazilian songs inside the apartment smiling, singing, laughing, and making me feel like I was a part of their family. Right when her father arrived he told me he was happy to have me visit and to make myself at home. This is a very unique family, and is so nice to see the love that they have for each other. I have been very fortunate with my first three families I have stayed with here in Brazil! Words can’t express how nice it is to have these families make me feel so welcome in their homes when I have not seen my family for a year now. Couchsurfing has been the most amazing experience of my life.

I did not plan on staying as long as I did in Curitiba, but Barbara and her family were awesome, and I loved being around them all. I was planning on going north to Rio for the week long Carnival celebration, but Barbara and her family invited me to go back down to Florianópolis to stay at her parents place and celebrate the carnival down there. She had some friends that were going to be there as well, and her other brother Ciao was actually coming back from the states too, so they all wanted to give him a warm welcome back to Brazil. So, on Friday, February 20, Barbara, a few of her friends, and I drove down to Florianópolis until Tuesday when we made our way back to Curitiba. The carnival was a great time, and I had a lot of fun hanging out with her family as well during that time period.

Barbara had to get back to school on Wednesday, February 25, so we headed back on Tuesday to Curitiba and then returned back to Florianópolis (3.5 or 4 hours in car) for the weekend to hang with her parents one last time, and her brother Ciao finally arrived from the states as well. We had a nice brazillian BBQ and some other excellent meals along with some of the best desserts that I have had in a long time. Her mother was the dessert master (I need her keylime pie recipe)! We also went to the beach to hang out and relax on our last day.

On Sunday, I had to say good bye to Barbara’s family because I was leaving to São Paulo on Monday, and we were heading back to Curitiba (3.5 or 4 hours from Florianópolis) with Barbara and her brother Ciao. I really enjoyed being around her family and I had become attached to them. They were also a little sad to see me leave. I never thought I would have become so close to a family in such a short period of time, but it was DEFINITELY hard to leave them!

On Monday, March 2, Barbara took me to the bus terminal to catch my bus to São Paulo at 2 pm (6 hours/55 reals = $23.81) where my next couch surfer Vicente will be picking me up at the bus terminal upon my arrival. I really had a tough time saying good-bye to Barbara because we really became connected with one another, and had created a special bond. She is a very sweet and attractive girl with a lot of drive in her studies, and I know she will be very successful. I look forward to her visiting the states hopefully after she graduates in December.

Staying at Vicente and Andre’s place in São Paulo was great. Vicente is still looking for a job, so he had a lot of time to spend with us. He was extremely kind and helped me with all the necessary things I needed to do to have my visa extended in Brazil for another 90 days (67 reals=$29) because my visa expires on March 11. They were both such warm hearted people and toured Claudio and I all around town on the subway. The days in São Paulo were a little tiring because it was quite warm, and we spent a lot of time walking and taking the subway to get to all of our destinations in the largest city in Brazil and South America, and among the seven largest metropolitan regions of the world (11,105,249 residents).

On Saturday, March 8, Andres took me to my second soccer game of my trip “Santos vs. Oeste Paulista.” Santos was the favorite and usually a very good team. They ended up winning and it was pretty neat to see what die hard fans they were and to hear the constant chanting of their theme song during and after the game on the subway ride home. Soccer is the main sport in South America, so I figured I needed to check out a game in Brazil because they are supposed to have some of the best players in the world.

On Sunday, March 8, I took a 6 hour bus to Rio de Janeiro (58.50 reals =$25.32) at 9 am with another couch surfer Claudio that I met while staying with Andres and Vicente. He actually arrived in São Paulo the day before I did, and was planning to leave to Rio as his next destination as well. He was a young (20 year old) from Germany who plans to travel for at least a year as well, and he had a friend that we both could stay with in Rio.

After our arrival, Claudio and I caught a taxi to Silvio’s house in Copacabana 3 blocks from the beach. When the taxi dropped us off at our address that we gave him he told us to keep our “eyes open” in this area. Just as we were getting out of the taxi a little black boy was begging us for money. We both told him we did not have any money and continued walking passed him. We each looked back shortly after, and realized that the little boy was throwing stones at us. Luckily we were right next to the entry of Silvio‘s place. We then hopped inside the apartment building to drop off our bags and wandered around with our new host Silvio along the beach.

Silvio also lives 3 blocks from a favela. A favela is a Portuguese word for shanty town. The majority have electricity, but in most cases it is illegally tapped from the public grid. Favelas are constructed from a variety of materials, ranging from bricks to garbage. Many favelas are very close and very cramped. They are plagued by sewage, crime and hygiene problems. Many of the most infamous are located in Rio de Janeiro. In Rio one in every four cariocas (as Rio's inhabitants are called) lives in a favela.

The following day we went to the famous Christ the Redeemer Statue. The massive statue of Jesus Christ stands 120 feet tall (38 meters) weighs 635 tons, and is located at the peak of the 2,300 ft (700 meters) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. It is the second tallest of its kind in the world.

To get to the statue we took a bus from outside our place in Copacabana and then from there you either take the train (36 reals=$15.58) or else you can take a car ride all the way up (40 reals=$17.31). We decided to take the car route where he let us off two different times to take pictures and then once you get near the top you are transferred into a van where they take you all the way up to see the statue. Once we finally reached the top it was an amazing view of the beautiful city of Rio. There was definitely many tourists though, and after doing this I remembered why I don’t do the tourist things anymore. Just too many people for me, and everyone taking all of the same pictures.

On Wednesday, Claudio and I met Silvio after he was done with work to climb to the top of the Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) at 5:30 pm before the sun went down. Sugarloaf Mountain is a peak from the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising 1,299 feet (396 meters) above sea-level, its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. However, it is believed by some that the name actually derives from Pau-nh-acuqua (“high hill”) in the Tupi-Guarani language, as used by the indigenous Tamoios.

Silvio is an avid climber and had some extra equipment for Claudio and I, so he told us he would help us climb the mountain. If we climbed the mountain we also did not have to pay to go up there by the cable cars. After about an hour and forty-five minutes we made it to the top just as it was getting dark. It was an amazing view from the top of the mountain to look out and see all the lights of the big city, Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city of Brazil and South America, behind Sao Paulo, and the third largest metropolitan area in South America, behind Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. Rio is known as the cidade maravilhosa (marvelous city). It is definitely a beautiful city with gorgeous mountains and white-sand beaches. Coming from the south I did not see many poor people, but in Rio there are lots of poor people begging you for money and also sad to see many people sleeping on the streets. This is the first city I have been to in Brazil with a huge separation of poor and wealthy people, and also one of the most dangerous cities. Despite its charm and beauty, Rio is reputed to be one of the most violent cities in the world and motivated movies such as Bus 174, City of God, and Elite Squad, portraying severe social issues. Much of the violent crime is concentrated in the favelas or shantytowns but it also spills into middle- and upper-income neighborhoods. In Rio, unlike other major cities, many of the slums are directly adjacent to some of the wealthiest areas of the city.

Rio and Sao Paulo are also two cities that I have seen the most gay people in my life. To me it was quite funny to see two gay guys (28 years old or so) on the beach in Rio flirting with each other by kicking sand at each other and playing games with each other in the water. When you go to the beach in Rio you will see big flags up in the air with rainbows to let you know where the gay people are, but I think they are everywhere you walk.

On Sunday, March 15, I took a taxi to the bus terminal and caught my 27 hour bus to Salvador, Brazil (215 reals=$93.07). Upon my arrival on Monday at 1 pm, a friend of Barbara’s (Tracy) picked me up at the bus station and gave me a ride back to her house. After we arrived to her house I changed my clothes and we walked by the beach. Then we went to another beach to hang out with a few of her friends. I lucked out again because Tracy only lives four blocks from the beach, and she also had a separate little apartment downstairs for me to sleep in that sometimes they rent out. I had my own little kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom, and an amazing house keeper that washed my clothes and cooked up some excellent lunches.

Tracy and I went to Pelourinho which is an area in the “old city of Salvador on a Tuesday night, and they had all different types of live music all around the street. I guess in the summer time there the streets are always packed with people and live music everywhere. It was fun to sit back and see everyone dancing and listening to the excellent music. It is always nice as well to watch the girls work their hips and “Bunda=butt” dancing samba.

On Wednesday, we had lunch when Tracy arrived from school around 1 pm. The housekeeper cooked up one of my favorite dishes called “Strgonoff” (I think a French dish) which is an amazing tasting sauce on top of chicken or beef along with rice. After indulging and eating too much food we relaxed for awhile and then hung out at the beach with her sister and caught the sunset. It was extremely warm but it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen on the trip at Porto da Barra beach.

On Friday we went to Stella Maris beach and hung out at a little beach bar/restaurant that a friend of Tracy and her sister owned right on the beach and I got some information on how much it cost her to start the place there etc. I guess her friend had lived in Spain for three years, and then when she came back her dad bought her the place on the beach and she said it would sell for about 80,000 reals ($34,632) and the license to sell food and alcohol is 130 reals ($56.27) per month. I thought Brazil would be expensive place to own a bar on the beach, but I guess it definitely is not in Salvador. We also had Caranguejo which are like clams or something….and they were excellent!

On Saturday…my last day in Salvador we went to Flamengo beach and hung out at another beach/restaurant bar called Marguerita Bar that a couple of Tracy’s friends own to get some more bar ideas and some information on possibly starting something. I ruled out Brazil for starting a bar, but have found out that up in the north it would be quite a reasonable price to get something started in the north.

Salvador is a very nice city with an 85% black population and lots of culture. It used to be very common in Brazil for everyone to have house keepers, but now it is getting a little more expensive in the southern parts of Brazil. In Salvador, there is a high black population because many years ago they came over as slaves, and as a result, there are many housekeepers that work at houses for the minimum wage ($200/month for an 8 hour day). The housekeeper at Tracy’s house cooked us up some nice lunches, cleaned and ironed the clothes, and of course cleaned the house, and she even washed their cars.

On Sunday, March 22, I said good-bye to Tracy and her family and caught my first flight in over a year back to Curitiba (279 reals=$   ) at 9:20 am to spend some more time with Barbara. I had stayed up all night so I could sleep on the flight, so when I arrived to the airport I was quite tired while waiting in line. I waited in line for about an hour, and never heard anyone call out my flight. Once I was at the front of the line and ready to check in it was 15 minutes before my flight, and I was told I could not board the plane. I then had to go talk with someone about getting another flight. After I told the first guy my thoughts on the situation he came back saying he was going to charge me $50 to take the next flight that left at 12:20 pm. I flipped on the guy and told him it was not my fault. He came back saying he talked with his manager and that I didn’t need to pay, so I waited in the airport for my flight very tired. After I checked my bag in I could not find a place to lay down, so I set my watch alarm and laid myself right on the floor of the airport to sleep. About 20 minutes before my flight was ready to take off I felt a little tap on my shoulder and it was a girl asking me if this was my flight that was boarding. It was really ironic that she was kind enough to wake me up for my flight, and she happened to be assigned to the seat right next to me on the plane as well. My watch alarm never went off, and she was a kind angel who saved me from missing another flight. I eventually made it to Curitiba and Barbara was there to pick me up.

After being in Curitiba for a few days, and not being able to find a volunteering position teaching kids English, I decided to buy a gym membership for a few weeks. I started working out for a few hours in the morning and then going back in the evening to do spin (bike) class.

On Friday, March 27, I was invited by Barbara to go to one of her friends graduation parties. It was a little different than what I expected, and I also did not have any dress clothes while traveling. I had to borrow some dress clothes from Barbara’s dad and one of her brother’s friends. I went to the graduation with Barbara, her brother, mother, and her father met up with us at the actual party. I did not realize that we were actually going to the graduation ceremony, but it was only a class with 24 graduates, so it went by quite quickly, and then we all met at the restaurant that the university rents out for the night to have the party. They had some excellent food there, and also a live band playing. Later on in the evening while the band was playing and everyone was dancing; they were passing out glow sticks, funny looking glasses, hats etc, for all of us to dress up in. The party was a lot of fun, and we all had a good time.

On Friday, April 3, Barbara and I planned to go to an Island called Ilha do Mel (Honey Island), but all the buses were full, so we went at 7 am on Saturday morning . It is an extraordinary place, with no cars, no roads nor power lines to the mainland, and miles of beautiful white sandy beaches. It was a good thing I brought my head lamp flashlight because it was pitch black in certain areas at night, but also very peaceful!

To reach Ilha do Mel we took a 40 minute boat ride (23 reals roundtrip =$10) from Pontal do Sul which was a 2 hour bus ride (19 reals =$8.26) from Curitiba. We ended up camping one night on the island in an area called Brasilia, and then caught the boat back Sunday evening. The Brasilia side we stayed on and the Encantadas side are supposed to be the best. Barbara and I walked about an hour to the Encantadas side as well to check it out early Sunday morning, but it did not seem to have as many options for places to stay. Although, I feel it had some nicer beaches over there. The island was amazing and extremely peaceful. We camped outside in this ladies backyard that was quite small, but I guess at times she has over 40 people camping there at a time. Barbara and I were the only ones camping there on Saturday night, and it was nice little area with two bathrooms and showers outside, and the lady even gave us a mattress for our tent.

This island was definitely one of my favorite places I have been to in Brazil, and was nice to see the beautiful sunset on Praia da Fora beach and spend some of the night laying out on the beach looking up at the moon and stars with only the sound of the waves crashing into the shoreline. We could not have had better weather, and there were few clouds in the sky both days we were there. We also got a little sunburn from the extremely hot sun, but could not have had a better time!

On Wednesday, April 8, Barbara, her brother, and I went down to Florianópolis again because she and her brother had a few days off from school, and returned back to Curitiba on Sunday. Her parents were actually in Salvador at the time, so we did not get to hang out with them, but her grandma was down visiting from Fortaleza. So we spent some time with her and also checked out two different beaches that I had never been to before called Campeche and Barra de lagoa. They both were beautiful beaches.

On Friday, April 17, Barbara and I went down south to visit my couch surfing hosts Eddy and Steph that I had stayed with before. We spent two nights at their place in Balneario, Camboriu, and then we invited them to go to Florianópolis with us as well. We all packed into the car and cruised down to stay at Barbara’s parents place until Tuesday because there was a holiday so they all had Monday and Tuesday off. It was great to meet up with Eddy and Steph again because they are such nice people, and it was great to see their beautiful daughter Sara as well.

On Monday, April 27, it was a tough day because I had to say good-bye to Barbara after spending 60 excellent days with her. She gave me a ride to the bus station to catch my bus to Sao Paulo at 7 am (6 hours 55 reals=$24.88; Cometa). Before I boarded the bus we both shed some tears of sadness. I think we both felt a special connection, and felt that we had known each other for a long time. I look forward to seeing what happens when she comes to visit in the end of December and possibly do her masters in the U.S.

When I arrived Sao Paulo at 1 pm I had a quick bite to eat, and then took a 30 minute airport bus (31.20 reals=$14.11; Passaro Marron) at 2:15 pm. When I arrived the airport I had a lot of time because my flight to Guatemala City didn’t leave until 9:50 pm. I had a ten hour flight from Sao Paulo to Atlanta with three seats next to each other all to myself, and was able to lay down and sleep. We arrived in Atlanta at 6:40 am, and then my flight from Atlanta to Guatemala City left at 9:50 am. I finally arrived Guatemala City at 11:45 am (3 hour flight with time change) on the 28th where my 45th host, Hiram, was there to pick me up from the airport with his United States T-shirt on so I could recognize him.

Gallery: Brazil

ryanj_clark — Wed, 4 Mar 2009 16:04:00 GMT

Gallery: Uruguay

ryanj_clark — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:50:00 GMT

Uruguay

ryanj_clark — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:45:00 GMT

Thursday, December 18, 2008 - January 11, 2009

After arriving on a three hour boat from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, Uruguay I took a taxi with Adam and his uncle and their couchsurfer Martin because he lived nearby the couchsurfer Federico, that I was going to stay with for the night. When we got to Martin's house I gave my couchsurfer a call to let him know I was in the area, and then we went to meet up with him about 3 blocks away from Martin‘s place. He was an awesome musician and actually had to give a class, so he just gave me the keys right away for his first couchsurfing experience and told me "my house is your house...make yourself at home, but I have to give a class right now." It was a tiny place, so I moved to another couchsurfer's place, Sebastian on the 20th. I stayed at his place for a few days, but I did not have keys to the place, so it made it a little difficult, so on Wednesday, December 24^th, I went to stay at Martin's place to be with Adam and his uncle for Xmas Eve and Xmas. We had a great night on Christmas eve because the family did up a BBQ with lamb and pork with about 15 of Martin's family members that were all very friendly and made us three feel like a part of their family. At midnight there was an amazing firework show that we watched from the upper balcony outside of their house where the BBQ was as well.

We spent Dec 30^th and New Years Eve night in Punta Del Este, Uruguay (7,200), which is a very expensive city and an international beach resort. It is packed during New Years and the first few weeks of January because everyone in South America takes their holidays during this time period, and the weather is awesome during that time. We couch surfed with a family that lived right next to the beach and was a nice little setup for the two nights that we were there, and they even had a little tree fort with a bed as well.

On New Year’s Eve night we went to a house party that this guy from New York has every year. I have never seen a party similar to this one. He had this huge house with a gigantic yard and had about 10 security guards watching the fences to make sure no one sneaks in without paying, and had about 4 people in charge of collecting the entry money and putting on the wrist bands. He also had a big pool, the best DJ in Uruguay, and about 10 bartenders working for him as well. It was a good time and met some great people and actually even met a guy that was from Uruguay that worked about 3 blocks from where I used to work in San Diego according to his business card.

On Tuesday, January 1, we made our way up north a couple hours to La Paloma (3,200). We arrived there at 8 pm and then had to wait in line at this campsite to check in. There was such a long line that we finally got into the campsite at midnight. I have never seen such an unorganized operation, but it was pretty sweet once we got into the site. There was over 4,000 tents in this campsite along with little cottages that they rent out as well. It was a lot of fun, and the sun was blazing every day. I have never seen so many people on the beach. This is the time when all the people take their holiday vacation and go to these beach areas. It reminded me of 4^th of July in San Diego on the beach every day that I was there.

I planned to stay 9 days camping, but I decided to leave a little early and head back to Montevideo on a bus on January 6 (220 pesos/24.2 = $9.90 4 hours) to relax and rest up before I make my way into Florianopolis, Brazil on January 11 at 4:30 pm (2437 pesos/24.2 =$100.70 20 hours). Martin was actually in La Paloma camping for the weekend as well, so we met up while he was there. He told me I could return to his house whenever I wanted before I take my bus to Brazil.

Montevideo (1,270,000) is my favorite capital city in South America. It is small enough to walk around, but big enough to have some fun as well, and it also had some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I have seen on this trip. The people there are very friendly and the city also runs right along the ocean as well which was great because I was able to run along the beach area most of the days I was there. I definitely felt that the people in Montevideo were much more friendly then the people in Buenos Aires. It seems that the two areas don’t tend to get along with each other for this reason, and there are many Argentinans that come up to the beach areas in Uruguay because they don’t really have any nice beaches and it even seemed that in Punta Del Este there were more people from Argentina there than local Uruguayans. Most of the wealthy Argentinans buy their second homes in Punta Del Este and as a result there is an extraordinary amount of Argentinians there, and I think some of Uruguayans are bothered by that.

Gallery: Chile

ryanj_clark — Thu, 4 Dec 2008 09:55:00 GMT

Chile

Gallery: Argentina

ryanj_clark — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 10:58:00 GMT

Argentina, Paraguay, and Chile

ryanj_clark — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:32:00 GMT

October 18 - December 18, 2008

I arrived Salta, Argentina with 9 other people and we all stayed at Hostal Yatasto (www.hotelyatasto.todowebsalta.com.ar) which was a pretty cool place to crash for a night. The following night I caught a 10 hour bus to Cordoba at 9 pm (165 pesos/3 = $55). When I arrived Cordoba I did not have a couchsurfer in line, so I went to hostel Patagonia Lodge (www.patagonialodgehi.com.ar) and spent four nights there (35 pesos/3 = $10.51 per night). It was a nice hostel, and I had the whole dorm room to myself because there were no people staying at the hostel. It was nice to finally relax a little bit, and do some walking around, and also a little studying of my Spanish after some exhausting rapid travels. Cordoba (1,272,000) is a city with 7 universities, so it is definitely a younger crowd with a lot of lively night life.

On Friday, October 24, I took a 19 hour bus to Asuncion, Paraguay (1,200,000) at 12:30 pm (145 pesos=$43.56 for semicama bus), and arrived Saturday morning around 630 am. Then I caught a local bus to my couchsurfer Cray´s house and spent Saturday and Sunday night there. He was an awesome guy and had a huge house by himself with a couple extra bedrooms. He was actually from California, but teaches English in Asuncion, and had been there for almost two years, and was in Brazil teaching english before that. There was not a whole lot to see in Paraguay that I was aware of, but seeing I already bought my visa for the country there was no reason not to check it out.

I caught my next bus to Cuidad del Este, Paraguay (223,350) at 9 am on Monday morning, October 27 (5.5 hours 40,000 pesos/4,400=$9). I arrived there around 4 pm or so, and the whole city shuts down about 4:30 pm. I have never seen a city shut down so early...every business in town was closed, and you could not even find a restaurant that was open to get a bite to eat, so I just ate at some vendor on the street. I spent Monday night there, so I could get up early for the giant electronic street market to buy a new camera. I am sick of fixing my stupid casio camera, so I bought a new Canon camera, and also made a new laptop impulse purchase. It was a little tiny laptop and I got a good deal on it ($630). I figure I can sell it in Brazil and make a little profit off of it after using it for a couple months, or maybe I will just keep it for the rest of my trip. I definitely can feel the additional weight in my backpack now.

On Tuesday, October 28th, I caught a bus to Puerto Iguazu which was only about 30 minutes or so from Cuidad del Este. I actually some how ended up at the border of Argentina and Brazil...so I was not able to stamp out of Paraguay, but they told me no problem, and I continued on into Argentina. Once I arrived I checked myself into Hostel Inn Iguazu and crashed the night there early so I could get up early and take the first bus to Iguazu falls at 8 am. The falls were amazing and mind blowing. I have never seen or heard anything like it. It was definitely worth making the trip there and paying the $14 to get in. I got completely drenched from the falls, but dried off quite quickly. It ended up raining very hard about mid-day as well, but I had enough time to get some pictures of the falls. I did not go to the Brazil side of the falls, but I heard the Argentina side is better anyways. They have so many different ways of seeing them at all different angles. Some people even took a boat to see them, but I decided against it because it was raining most of the time.

On Thursday, October 30, I took a 19 hour bus (140 pesos=$42.05) to Buenos Aires (13,000,000) at 250 pm, and arrived at 10 am Friday morning. I stayed two nights with couchsurfer Pedro in a neighborhood called Palermo. One of the days we went to a town nearby called Tigre. We took a train and then a boat to get to the small town which is on a river. It was Pedro's friends birthday, so we had about 14 guys who all went to this town to BBQ. They made up some excellent steaks and we played some soccer as well, and had a really good time.

On Sunday, Nov 2, I left Pedro's house because his parents were coming, and I moved to Nicolas' house which was only about 10 blocks away. Nicolas was kind enough to drive me around the city the first night I arrived at his place. During my time at Nicolas' place I just walked around the neigborhood to get a feel of the people, and decided to stay away from the tourist site seeing things because I knew I was coming back to Buenos Aires again anyways. Nicolas was a great host who made a copy of the keys for me, and just let me come and go as I wanted.

On Monday, Nov 9th, I caught a 4.5 hour bus (51 pesos=$15.32) from Buenos Aires to Rosario (909,000) through Friday and then went back to Buenos Aires for a concert, but my friend was unable to get a hold of the guy he was getting the tickets from, so I didn´t even go to the concert. My couchsurfer Nacho and his two roommates were awesome guys in Rosario and had a huge place. They also had two other couchsurfers staying there from Germany. They just let me come and go at their place as I wanted, and I just walked around every day in the HOT weather, and checked out the beach they had there as well. It was a very nice city and people say that the most beautiful women in Argentina are in Rosario. I definitely would have to agree with that statement.

I arrived back in Buenos Aires on Friday, Nov 14th, around 10 am, and did not have a couchsurfer for Friday. I tried to go to a hostel to check in, but was unable to check in until 2 pm...so I just sat around waiting to check in, and the following day I went to another couchsurfer Adams house to stay Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights. I decided to basically stay and kill time in Buenos Aires to wait for my friend Adam to get his new passport that was stolen, and then we are heading south for a few weeks together and then returning back on Dec 6,7,8 for a big couchsurfing gathering in Tigre nearby Buenos Aires.

On Tuesday, November 18th, I had to make my way to another hostel because I could not find another host, and then finally on Wednesday Adam got his passport and we took a 21.5 hour night cama bus with Andes Mar (261 pesos/3.2=$78) to Puerto Madryn and arrived at 630 pm Thursday, November 20th. We planned to check out the whales and penguins while in Puerto Madryn, but it was $100 and no food or anything was included so, we just spent the night there at a couchsurfers place and got up in the morning to catch a bus to our next destination Rio Gallegos (18 hours/240 pesos=$72 Patagonica). We then arrived Rio Gallegos at 8 am on Sat 11/22 and had to wait till noon to take our next bus to Calafate (4 hours/48 pesos=$14.40) where they have the amazing glacier. The Perito Moreno Glacier was amazing to see and to hear the cracking of the glacier as well. Myself, Adam, and two other people that we met took a taxi to the glacier an hour away (300 pesos for 4 of us= $22.50/per person). The 60m jagged ice-peaks sheer off and crash into the ice. The glacier is constantly advancing--up to 2m per day---while constantly caving icebergs from its face.

On Tuesday, 11/25 we arrived at 10:30 pm to Bariloche after a 30 hour bus ride (300 pesos=$90), and myself, Adam, and two other guys that I had met in Bolivia happened to be on our same bus, so we all checked into the same hostel. We spent the first two nights in a hostel called Marcopolo and then on Thursday we all checked into a hostel called "Penthouse 1004" because so many people recommended it (www.penthouse1004.com.ar). This hostel had an awesome view that over looks the lake and had a huge balcony to look out from as well on the 10th floor of the building. While staying at this hostel we cooked up a big Thanksgiving feast and had an excellent time meeting the people at the hostel. The people working there were all so friendly. If you are in Bariloche I highly recommend this place!

Bariloche (97,000 population) is the Lake District´s largest city and sits on the shores of beautiful Lago Nahuel Huapi and also has some beautiful mountains. Bariloche is a great city and offers camping, hiking, trekking, rafting, fishing, and skiing. It is a city definitely worth checking out!

On Friday, November 27, I planned to catch a bus to Pucon, Chile, but all the buses were full, so they said I could take a bus to Osorno 5.5 hours (75 pesos/$22.53) and then catch a bus from there to Pucon. Once I arrived Osorno they said all the buses were full to Pucon, and I would have to spend a night in Osorno if I wanted to make my way to Pucon. I was short on time, so I just bought a ticket to Santiago (16 hours/10,000 pesos...)and arrived Saturday, Nov 29th around 1130 am. I then called my couchsurfer Lori and went to her place to stay for the next two nights. She and her mother were awesome people and very kind. They cooked me up some very nice meals and Lori showed me around Santiago a little bit.

On Monday, December 1, I took a bus north to Vina Del Mar (286,900) at 2 pm (2 hours/4,000 pesos=$5.97 with Condor bus). I then walked to my couchsurfer Sebastian's house and hung out there until December 4th. Sebastian and his roommate were awesome people and introduced me to a bunch of their friends. One night one of their friends had a bbq that they took me to as well, and I met some very nice people. Sebastian also walked me around the city, and we checked out some of the beaches as well. The first day it was quite warm, but I arrived kind´ve late, and then the next couple days were overcast, but the beaches were very nice there, and it seems like it would be a great place during the main summer months. I would definitely like to go back there in January or February sometime when it is the heart of the summer there.

On Thursday, December 4, I continued my way back to Buenos Aires (24 hours 44,500 pesos=$66.51). When I arrived Friday morning I took the metro to my next couchsurfers place Matias´ (who I had met in Venezuela at a couchsurfing outing) to stay for a night before I went to the couchsurfing weekend BBQ meetup. I covered a lot of ground in the last 17 days and ended up in a bus for 121 hours (5 of the 17 days)... and ready to relax at the BBQ.

The camping in Tigre was a great time with all the couchsurfers. We had almost 200 people and we all camped out there by the river. The first night we cooked up some steaks and chicken on the grill and the second night we did up some pizzas. During these hot two days we did some olympic event competitions as well that were a lot of fun, and also met some very nice people.

On Monday, December 8th, I returned back to Matias´ house until Wednesday, December 10th when I caught a 11.5 hour bus (Chevallier = 95 pesos=...) back to Cordoba for a week to visit some couchsurfing friends before I make my way into Montevideo,Uruguay. I then stayed in Cordoba until Wednesday, December 17th and planned to catch a bus to Montevideo, but all the buses were full, so I had to leave to Buenos Aires at 10 pm and then booked a boat online for 330 pm on Thursday, December 18th (3 hours 241 pesos www.buquebus.com). I stayed with a cool couchsurfer named Pablo in Cordoba that other couchsurfers recommended to stay with. He had a huge house where people were just coming in and going all the time. I think there was about 15 different people with key sets to the house, and it was great because they were all so friendly and made me feel like a part of the house. It was so damn hot though, and when I put my clean clothes outside they were dry within a half hour. I think it was hot enough out to fry an egg (100 degrees). I just relaxed once in awhile on their patio in the sun and practiced up on some Spanish, and we cooked up some meals and BBQ as well. There was four other couchsurfers in the house as well, so we all just hung out and had a good time together. It was nice to take a week to just relax and not be out on the streets wandering around.

Gallery: Bolivia

ryanj_clark — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:17:00 GMT

Bolivia

ryanj_clark — Mon, 6 Oct 2008 11:29:00 GMT

Sunday, October 5 - Saturday, October 18

On my way to Copacabana, Bolivia we had to cross a portion of Lake Titicaca, so they put our bus on top of this ferry that only had enough room for the bus and nothing more. This little ferry deal was built out of wood and did not seem to be built very well. Then they put us passengers from the bus in these little boats which took about 20 minutes to get to land. It was a interesting adventure. I eventually arrived Copacabana, Bolivia, and spent my first night there.

The following morning I caught a boat at 830 am {1.5 hours} to Isla Del Sol (15 bolivianos = $2). I went with 5 others from Israel, and we planned to spend the night in Isla Del Sol, but decided that one full day (6 hours) of hiking there was plenty and we caught a boat back at 430 pm.

It was an amazing hike though...Isla Del Sol (Island of Sun) is the legendary Inca creations site and is the birthplace of the sun in Inca mythology. The island is surrounded by Lake Titicaca which borders Peru and Bolivia and has a population of roughly 5000 people. The Lake is the largest in South America and is at an elevation of 3820m, and more than 30Km long and 97Km wide. It also has a crystal blue look to it. It is also known for trucha criolla, one of the worlds largest trout. I had this trout at several places, and it was awesome and amazingly cheap.

On Tuesday, October 6, myself and two of the guys from Israel caught a bus at 8 am (20 bolivianos =$3) (3.5 hours) to La Paz {3,600 M}. Once we
arrived we checked in hostel Loki and did some research for some tours and just walked around the town all day.

On Wednesday morning at 745 am I went on a crazy bike adventure {www.radicalrides.com} with five guys from Israel down what they call "Death Road" because it is the most dangerous road in the world. It is the most dangerous because it sees the most fatalities annually (over 100 on average), but the raod itself is not that treacherous. It is extremely narrow and can be muddy, slippery and deeply rutted, but there are many other bad roads as well. What makes the road so dangerous is the drivers: a combination of weekend warriors, macho bus drivers, and tenderfooted tourists. After we were done with the bike excursion they took us to a hotel and we spent the night in Coroico which is on the way to Rurrenabaque. The next day we caught a bus to Rurrenabaque which was a 15 hour ride.

Once we arrived about 8 am Friday morning we went directly to a tour agency to book a 3 day Pampas Jungle tour that day after the roughest bus ride that I have ever been on. We were all quite tired after that bus ride, but we all wanted to start this tour the day we arrived if possible. After booking the tour we had to all jump into a van and head our way 3 hours to the jungle area.

After hearing all five of these guys talk Hebrew for the whole 15 hour bus ride, and now during the three hour ride to the jungle, I was already almost all Hebrewed out. I guess this agency that we went with is an agency that all the Israel people take, so once we arrived there was another group of 8 other people from Israel as well. Of course, I was the only American wondering what the heck I did this for.

The first day consisted of the 3 hours in the van and three hours of boating down the river where we saw all sorts of animals. I have never seen so many alligators, pigs, turtles, and birds in my life. I think all of us eventually fell a sleep in the boat because we were all so exhausted. Once we arrived our camp area we had dinner and we all crashed out quite early with no problem.

The second day we went on a long walk to find Anaconda Cobra snakes...the guides found a couple and let us all hold them...you needed to keep their mouth closed though because they are poisonous snakes. In the afternoon we got to go fish for some pirannas. They were all very small fish, but it was kind´ve cool. Later we had some dinner, and I was still quite exhausted and crashed out early the second night as well. Then we got up at 500 am to have breakfast and catch the sunrise on the last day (Sunday, October 12). We had some amazing meals, and it was an excellent experience. I would recommend the company if you want to practice your Hebrew, but otherwise you might want to look for another company. I was amazed that I lasted that long hearing Hebrew the whole time!

On Tuesday, October 14th, I returned back to La Paz about 530 am after a 21 hour bus ride from Rurrenbaque. That was by far the worst bus ride I have been on so far. I ate some food at one of the stops and my stomach was killing me...not to mention all the bumps that we were hitting along the way on these dirts roads. I was planning to spend another night in La Paz, but I heard back from my couchsurfer that I plan to stay with in Acuncion, Paraguay that he could only host me on the weekends. As a result, I got a bus ticket to Uyuni (80 bolivianos = $11.40) 12 hours and also booked my 3 day trip the salt flats with Olivos Tours (595 bolivianos = $85).

I arrived Wednesday, October 15, to Uyuni around 7 am after another rough 12 hour bus ride. When I jumped out of the bus I had about 10 different agencies hounding me to sign up with their agency to Salar de Uyuni. Of course I told them all that I already had an agency.

My tour did not leave till 1030, and the owner owned a hostel as well, so she told me I could shower and had some breakfast as well. The first day we went to Salar de Uyuni (3656 M) which is the world´s largest salt flat and covers 12,000 sq km. It was a part of a prehistoric salt lake, Lago Minchin, which covered most of the southwest of Bolivia. When it dried up, it left a couple of seasonal puddles and several salt pans, including the Salar de Uyuni and Salar de Coipasa.

Eventually after stopping at a few sites along the way and having lunch we arrived our destination of Atulcha (a small little village town) around 5 pm. This was actually a really nice place that we stayed at with hot water and electricity from 7 pm to 9pm so I could charge up my camera battery that died.

On Thursday, October 16, we woke up at 530 am for breakfast (just bread, jelly, and hot tea) and then left around 6 am and arrived our destination of Laguna Colorada (a beautiful red lagoon with pink flamingos all over) and paid a 30 boliviano ($4.50) entrance fee. We stopped at a few other sites on this day as well, and stayed at a dumpy place next to this lagoon which did not have showers or running water. I was not too impressed, but I guess it is all part of the experience.

Our last day was a long day. We woke up at 430 am and jumped into our 4X4 shitty Toyota and started driving until the sun came up. They dropped us off at some hot springs along the way and then we ate breakfast there as well. I was not too impressed with our guide because our food was pretty bad, but he was a nice 65 year old man that loved his job I guess. This day was pretty much just 10 hours of straight driving in the vehicle...we continued a ways further south until you reached this beautiful green lagoon. At this point you are pretty much at the Chile border, and we had to head back up north for a long haul, and returned back to Uyuni at 530 pm. Then when I returned I asked the lady if I could use her shower at the hostel again, and then killed some time on the internet until I caught a 9 hour train to Villazon (Argentina border city) at 1030 pm. It was difficult to get to Paraguay from Bolivia because usually you go to Santa Cruz, but right now that is a not a safe city, so I went south to Argentina to see if I could find a bus to Ascuncion, Paraguay. When I arrived to Villazon at 7 am (Sat Oct 18) I was unable to find a bus to Ascuncion, so I ended up taking a little mini van (55 pesos/3.2=$18) with 9 other people that I had met on my salt flats trip in Uyuni. We ended up arriving to Salta around 5 pm and all checked into the same hostel (Hostel Yatasto).

15 days in Bolivia was enough...ready for some awesome STEAKS in Argentina!!!

Gallery: Peru

ryanj_clark — Thu, 4 Sep 2008 06:31:00 GMT

Peru

ryanj_clark — Mon, 1 Sep 2008 02:08:00 GMT

Friday, August 29th - Sunday, October 5

Once I arrived Trujillo, Peru (768,300 pop) on Friday, Aug 29th, late in the evening...I met Cecilia´s mother and brother at the door, and they quickly made up my bed for me, and we all went to bed. She lives with her grandma, two brothers, mother, and father.

On Saturday, I went with Cecilia and her brother and one of her friends to check out the beach area and grab a bite to eat by the beach. It was pretty little beach area that they have not far from their house. We also drove by Chan Chan in the taxi, but was not able to stop or go see it again while I was in Trujillo. It is what Trujillo is famous for. The site once formed the largest Pre Colombian city in the Americas and the largest adobe city in the world. At the height of the Chimu Empire, Chan chan contained about 10,000 structures, from royal palaces lined with precious metals to huge burial mounds.

I also went with Cecilia to her gym on Saturday morning, it was nice to get a work out in...I haven´t been able to work out since I left...just limited to situps and pushups...they also had this dance work out class at her gym which I did with Cecilia as well. It was pretty cool, and a great work out.

On Sunday, Aug 31, Cecilia and I went to the gym again in the morning and did a spin class with her which was an awesome work out, and then she had to go to a modeling class, and I cruised back to hand wash my clothes at her house, and just relax while studying some Spanish at the house.

Cecilia was very busy with her studies...she just got back from the Netherlands, and is studying law. She had some exams and lots of work to do when she got back, so she did not have much time to tour me around (I don´t miss the college BS). It was fine for me to sit at her house eating the excellent meals that her mother and grandma cooked me and study away with my Spanish. During the night I would watch TV with her grandma and she would chat to me, but I did not understand her Spanish very well. It is always good practice for me though.

On Tuesday, Sept 2, I took an 9.5 hour bus to Huaraz at 830 pm (35 soles=$11.66) to spend a night or two there to break up the bus ride to Lima which is another 8 hours from Huaraz. I arrived there around 6 am on Wed (Sept 3) and my couchsurfer Victor had his sister pick me up at the terminal because he was up in the mountains and would not be back till Saturday (Victor is a certified mountain guide in Huaraz who has climbed every thing). She took me back to the house and gave me the keys, and then went on her way to study away. I wish Victor would have been around to take me hiking in the mountains, but I guess I will come back soon. It is a pretty sweet city with an amazing view of the mountains. I wish I was feeling better to do one of the 5 day hikes through the mountains. Probably would have to stay around to get acclimitized, and I have a cold right now, so the asthma is not doing that great. I have had a sweet cough for about a month now...no bueno!

Huaraz (88,300 pop) is the nerve center of one of South America´s premier trekking, mountain biking, and climbing areas. The mountainous region of the Cordilleras blanca and Huayhuash are among the highest mountain ranges in the world outside of the Himalayas with pristine lakes, ice caves, and torrid springs. I guess I will just have to come back here when Victor is available to take me up there.

On Thursday, Sept 4th I took a 8 hour night bus from Huaraz to Lima (35 soles = $11.66). I had to make a last minute adjustment to line up a new couchsurfer in Lima because I was having troubles getting a hold of Ambrita who I was supposed to stay with to let her know I would be coming a week earlier than I originally told her. Fortunately, I contacted another girl Lucia today and she responded quickly to let me know that I could stay at her place. I arrived Lima about 6:00 am and then waited at the bus terminal for awhile because the couchsurfer told me to come to her house at 7:30 am before she went to work around 8:15. When I eventually arrived to her house we chatted for a little while and then I had to leave because she was going to work and she did not give me any keys to her house, and she was not done with work until 730 pm. I just packed a small backpack for the day. Luckily, I knew another guy, Pedro, in Lima as well. I called Pedro and he picked me up and toured me all around Lima all day. I met Pedro´s sister when I was in Costa Rica, and she lives in the states now, so she told me to contact him when I made it to Lima. He was an awesome guy, and I told him my couchsurfing situation, and that I did not have any keys etc...he told me to come stay at his place instead, so I actually did not even spend a night at Lucia´s place because I found it wierd that she did offer for me to stay at her house while she was at work.

Everything was going well the first few days at Pedro´s house. He lives with his grandparents right now because he is on vacation from the Cruise Lines that he works for. His grandparents have a house keeper who cooks up all the meals, and had some great food there. After a few days I realized that Pedro had taken money out of my money belt, so on Wednesday, September 10, I decided to move on from their place, and get a hotel until Sunday when I will leave to Huaraz again to do some hiking. During my time in Lima I also got my visas taken care of that I need for Paraguay ($65, 2 3X4 white background photos, copies of two credit cards), Brazil ($130, 2 3X4 white background photos), and now I just need to get my visa for Bolivia if I decide to go there at all with the turmoil going on.

Lima (7.6 million) is a great city, and I was impressed with how clean it is. The government has a lot of people constantly cleaning up the streets. It was twice as clean as Bogota. It is the only capital city that I know of with the ocean. There is definitely a lot of pollution from all the cars on the streets, but I heard they are working on some type of new trolley type transport system. I think once they get that in place the city will be awesome! The price of gas is over $4 per gallon, but yet, the taxis are still extremely cheap. I think the most I paid for a taxi was 12 soles ($4). It goes to show how much we are over charged for taxis in the states.

On Sunday, Sept 14, I arrived Huaraz again for my second time to go trekking in the mountains for four days. Once I arrived I called Victors sister and she let me into their place again...they have a separate house where they put the couchsurfers, so I had the place to myself. I was supposed to be going on the trek at 6 am on Monday, but some people from the group were sick, so it ended up that I went at 6 am on Tuesday, Sept 16th, with an agency (AndeXplora www.andexplora.com) that Victor recommended. It was like $100 with food included for four days, so it was a good price, and then I had to pay an additional 65 soles ($22) for the park entrance fee. The first day consisted of a 4 hour bus ride up into the mountains, and then 4 hours of trekking once we arrived to the mountains. Right before we arrived to our base camp we got rained on pretty good, and upon our arrival, we had dinner and went to bed. It was definitely the coldest night of the trek because my clothes were still damp, and I did not have a sleeping bag that zipped up. I probably slept about 4 hours and after tossing and turning, I got up about 445 am and started running in place outside the tent to stay warm until we had breakfast and some hot tea around 7 am.

On Wednesday, Sept 17th, we took off pretty early around 730 am after breakfast because we had 8 hours of hiking ahead of us. This was the toughest day because we climbed up to our ultimate peak (Punta Union 4750 M). We were hiking with 10 people on the first day (myself, 2 from London, and 7 from Israel), but on the second day two of the Israel girls took a horse back because one of the girls was sick, and the other was her friend, so they left together. So now we had 8 people including me, and everyone was quite friendly along with the 3 different guides that we had. We had the main guide who cooked us up the meals and two other guys that helped cook, and packed up all of our stuff on the donkeys, so we really did not have much to carry at all, and it made for an awesome trip. The trek on this day was probably the most beautiful because once we reached the peak the view was amazing and there was a beautiful blue lagoon as well, and there was even a little snow coming down. After we reached the top and relaxed up there for awhile, we started descending downwards where we ended up posting our tents right in front of this beautiful mountain. The view could not have been better, and it almost seemed fake with the white snow glistening from the mountain in front of our tents.

We had chicken for dinner the first night and the second night they made us up some great steak as well along with excellent soups. After dinner when it was dark outside, the stars up in the sky looked amazing along with the moon and the glistening white snow on the mountains. It looked like something out of a movie. I have never scene anything like it before, and I cant really describe it.

On Thursday, Sept 18th, we got up pretty early again to start out 6 hour trek for the day. We had some breakfast and then went on another beautiful scenic journey for the day. The guide made us lunch for each of the days that we carried in a bag to stop and eat whenever we felt the need. Usually during the trek it was me and the couple from London, and one girl from Israel that ended up leading the pack on the treks and were usually at least an hour ahead of the rest of the group. Once we arrived to our next base camp we had our tents and everything set up for us by the other helpers that guide the donkeys along the path ahead of us.

After our arrival we had a nice spaghetti dinner for the last night to get carbed up, and then the last day was just a five hour trek to catch a bus, and then we all arrived Huaraz around 3pm on Friday. At 1030 pm Friday evening I caught another 8 hour bus from Huaraz to Lima. I arrived Lima about 630 am and then checked into my same hotel again for another night.

On Sunday, Sept 22, I took a 4 hour bus to Huacachina where they have these huge sand dunes. I arrived there about 5 pm, and then checked into my hostel. After that I hiked up the sand dunes which took about 35 minutes to get to the top. I stayed up there watching people sandboard and just admired the beautiful view from up there. That evening I also caught an amazing sunset from the top of the sand dunes!

I stayed at hostel Casa de Arena for one night for (15 soles = $5) which had a nice pool and was a very clean place. The following day I went on a 2 hour dune buggy ride and sandboarding trip at 10 am (45 soles=$15) that was awesome. The sandboarding in the sand dunes was super fun, and the ride in the dune buggy was a little wild and crazy, but an awesome time as well.

On Monday, September 22, I took a 11.5 hour bus to Arequipa (73 soles =$25) at 9 pm. Once I arrived on Tuesday morning, couchsurfer Jose met me at the terminal to escort me back to his house where I got showered up and ready for the day. He walked me all around town, and then I booked a 2 day trek to Colca Canyon through one of his friends agencies (Wasi Inca Tour) for (120 soles = $40 plus 35 soles for entrance). They had food included, the transportation, and one night in a bungalow. The trek actually starts at 1 am, so Jose actually found me a hotel right next to the agency so I would not have to worry about getting to the agency. One of his friends worked at this hotel and I did not have to pay for it. They also they said they would watch my big backpack for me until I got back from the trek on Thursday, Sept 25. Once I got back from the trek I took a 10 hour bus (50 soles =$18) at 8 pm to Cusco.

As far as the trek went...I would not recommend it to anyone. We caught the bus at 2 am and then after the five hour bus ride we made it to our destination where we had breakfast before we continued on with our hike. We started hiking about 730 am, and made it to our bungalows around 3 pm. Around 7 pm we had dinner, and then I was told for the first time that we would have to wake up at 330 am to start our hike for the next day. The last time I checked you usually hike to see the scenery, but with this Colca Canyon 2 day trek I guess you dont because the whole second day trek was in the dark. They also had these hot springs and Condor look out thing included but, after the hike I just wanted to get back to Arequipa, so I caught my bus back. I had three other people in my group, and the one guy from France was cool, and the other two were a couple from the States. She was a little out of shape, and would not quit complaining the whole time, and it got old real quick. After the first day, she ordered the guide to get her a donkey to ride the following morning because she would not be able to do it the following day. I have never heard someone complain so much in my life...she was even complaining on the bus about how loud the Spanish video was on the TV.. Anyways...it was an experience, and I am glad it is over with!!

Arequipa was a cool city from what I saw. It is the second biggest city of Peru (760,000) {2,300M altitude}. Colca Canyon is one of the worlds deepest canyons at 3191m, second to its neighboring Canon del Cotoahuasi, which is only 163m deeper.

On Friday, September 26, I arrived Cusco around 6 am after a 10 hour bus ride, and went to a hostel called Loki that was recommended in the guide book. It was a good hostel with breakfast included for 21 soles*$8 per night. There are not that many couchsurfers in Cusco, but I met up with one named Frank on Friday night, and he offered for me to stay at his place. On Saturday, at 1pm I checked out of the hostel and met Frank to drop my stuff off at his house. I also booked my trek to Machu Picchu which was quite expensive. I paid $170 for 3 days 2 nights, and this included the return train and bus tickets, the food, and lodging in hostels.

I spent two nights at Franks place on the weekend, and then I went back to hostel Loki on Monday, Sept 29. It seemed that he was quite busy, and they were in the middle of moving to a different house, so I did not want to inconvenience them, and I was also heading on my 3 day trek to Machu Picchu at 730 am Tuesday morning.

The three-day Inka Jungle Trail trek was awesome. The first day we took a minivan to about 3.5 hours to Abra de Malaga pass (4319 M) and then let us off to jump onto our mountain bikes and coast down hill for about 2 hours to Santa Maria (1250 M). Then we jumped back into our minivan and they took us to these hot springs just before Santa Teresa. We hung out in the hot springs for a few hours, and then we went to Santa Teresa (1500 M) and checked into our hostel. It was definitely not a great hostel, but they had a bed and that was all we needed. At about 7 pm we had some dinner, and the following morning we woke up at 10 am to start out 5 hour trek for the day to Aguas Calientes (1900 M). We road a cable car across the river along the way and then followed disused train tracks all the way to Aguas Calientes. My feet were quite sore after this from walking on all the stones along the way. The following morning (Thurs Oct 2) we woke up at 4 am to start our 1 hour trek from Aguas Calientes (1900M) to Machu Picchu (2425 M). We arrived Machu Picchu and had plenty of time to take photos for the day, and was quite amazing to see the ruins. If you can get to Machu Picchu early enough in the morning you can wait in line to get a ticket to hike up to Wayna Picchu (2634 M) (1.45 hrs) as well. They only let 400 people go up there a day, and everyone in my group got there early enough to go, but it ended up that I was the only one that went from my group. Everyone else was too tired from all the trekking. It was pretty sweet from up on the top of that mountain looking down on Machu Picchu. After I was done with the trek I came back to Aguas Calientes this time on bus (35 min $6), and then waited till 6 pm to catch my train to Ollantaytambo. Then from Ollantaytambo I had to catch a bus to Cusco. I originally had booked a 4 day trek for the same $170 price because I was told by the company that there was five people in the 3 day trek and five in the 4 day trek. Once we started doing the trek we were all combined for the first day (4 day crew and 3 day crew), and I found out that the only people in the 4 day trek was me and another couple. So, once I found that out I quickly told them I wanted to change to the three day trek and then I was with 2 other guys and 4 girls, and made for a better time. All in all it was a great trek and I would highly recommend it!! (www.nicetourperu.com)

Cusco was a pretty sweet city of 322,000 people {3400 M altitude}, and lots of history of course. Many tourists come to this city for Machu Picchu and everyone hangs out in Plaza de Armas, the heart of the ancient Inca capital. In this area you will find tons of restaurants, Cuscos Cathedral (took 100 years to build), a couple other churches, and tons of people asking you if you want cheap massages. There are also tons of little shops where you can get some really nice hand made clothes.

On Friday, October 3, I checked out of the Loki hostel and caught a night bus south (15 soles = $5) (8 hrs) to Puno. I thought there was a bus every hour, so I tried to catch one at midnight so I would arrive early morning. Unofortunately, the last night bus was at 10pm. So once I arrived the terminal I had to kill some time there until the morning bus at 4 am. I ended up walking around in the terminal to kill time. I seemed like the clock was standing still. I arrived Puno Saturday afternoon around 12:00 and checked into my hotel (Hotel Esther).

Once I arrived I booked a little excursion to these ruins off of Lake Titicaca (25 soles =$8.50) called Sillustani ruins, and also to Euros floating island (25 soles) the following morning at 9 am....returned at 12 pm and then caught a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia at 230 pm (15 soles =$5). It was pretty amazing to see how these people live on these little islands surrounded by Lake Titicaca. The islands are built using layers of buoyant totora reeds that grow abundantly in the shallows of Lake Titicaca. They use these reeds to make their homes, boats, and the crafts they sell to tourists.

Once I arrived Copacabana around 4:30 pm (Sunday, October 5) after the border immigration and continued on 8km to my destination...I checked into my Hotel Mirador which was 50 bolivianos (about $7) and had two beds that looked right out on the water. I can´t believe how cheap things are. I guess paying the $135 for the visa was worth it (also needed copies of credit cards and copy of yellow fever vaccination). My first night in Cocacabana I had the ever famous trout (trucha criolla...one of the worlds largest trout)...was a amazing and so CHEAP!

Thirty eight days in Peru was amazing...so much to do...now ready for a short stay in Bolivia before I cruise into Argentina!

Guayaquil, Ecuador

ryanj_clark — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:38:00 GMT

Monday, July 28, - Fri, August 29th

I spent 4 nights (M-TH) with Juan Rodriguez during my first four nights in Guayaquil (the biggest city in Ecuador 2,118,000). He was a great guy who cooked me up some excellent meals. The first day I met up with couchsurfer Daniela who I had met in Quito, but now she was back in Guayaquil, and she and Juan toured me around Guayaquil. It was a great first day, and extremely hot here in Guayaquil! The other days I just kind´ve relaxed, studied some Spanish, and met up with a few other couchsurfers. On Friday morning (Aug 1), I went to stay with another couchsurfer Kahyda because she was going to the beach with some people on the weekend, and I wanted to join as well. About eight of us took a 4 hour bus to the beach at 1 pm on Saturday. We spent two nights in Montanita and then me and one other guy Ciro also went on a Whale Watching excursion on Sunday. It was pretty cool to see all the whales. There were five different whales that we saw at one time, and it was pretty cool because two of them actually started fighting. You could see the termoil a little bit under water, but that was about it. It was a pretty sweet experience to see.

Saturday, August 9th, about 40 of us couchsurfers did this FREE HUGS event. It was pretty sweet because we all made signs that read ¨Abrazos Gratis¨(free hugs), and all went around on the street giving people free hugs. We even went into people´s places of work that were close to the street and gave them hugs as well. I think I probably ended up giving out at least 70 hugs by the end of the day. It was so neat to see all the people with big smiles on their face and many of them wanted pictures with us as well. After the event was over a bunch of us couchsurfers went to another couchsurfers house (Paolo and Karen´s) house for pancakes they own a banana farm and made us some amazing banana pancakes with bananas and hersheys and had a great meal there as well. They have the two cutest little kids, and I pretty much played with them the whole night I was there.

On Wednesday, August 13, I went to Cuenca to couchsurf with a lady in Cuenca for two nights. Cuenca is supposed to be the tidy jewel of the south with 417,000 people. I jumped around and checked the sites there and then returned back to Guayaquil on Friday, and a group of us took off for the weekend to another beach area called Playas.

On Friday and Saturday August 15th and 16th a group of us went to Playas. It was a small little beach town that was having an annual festival. It was a good time, and always fun to hang around all of the couchsurfers. We came back on Sunday the 17th and the following night was my last night at Kayhda´s place after spending 12 excellent nights at her place. She was an amazing person, and it was great spending time at her place because she usually has about 6 couchsurfers there a night. I ended up meeting some great people at her house, and got some more insight on the countries that I am going to visit during the rest of my travels. She lives with her sister and cousin as well, and she just puts down 3 mattresses in the main room of her house for all the couchsurfers to sleep on. She is 30 years old and has an amazing amount of energy,and is always so upbeat!

On Tuesday night I moved onto Sara Tomala´s house in Guayaquil to stay there through Saturday night (8/23). Her family was awesome...they took me in as one of their own. She lives with her mom and dad and two brothers. They were all so welcoming to me, and her mom cooked me up some excellent meals, and she was even kind enough to take my shorts to a store to get them sewed up for me. I tried to give her money for the repairs, but she wouldn´t take any from me. They were constantly asking me if I wanted more to eat and making sure I felt at home. Her brother took me around the town in his dad´s vehicle one night as well, and they all told me I had a house to come back to anytime!

On Sunday, August 24, I decided to head to Banos ($4) on a 6 hour bus ride north. It is a small town of 12,300 people. It was supposed to be a great small town from what I heard. I spent one night there, and was not too impressed, so the next day when it was raining a little bit there, I decided to take a (4 hour) bus back to Quito for a few more nights and try to take a few more salsa lessons before I made my way down to Peru.

I went to stay with Mercedes again on Monday, Aug 25th. It was nice to get back to Quito and have a double cheeseburger and hot dog every night at my favorite burger place. I also took 2 more hours of salsa classes on Wed and Thurs. It was kind´ve nice because the salsa teacher that I had came right to Mercedes place to give me the lessons and it was only $7/hour, and she is a good teacher from Cali, Colombia. She was much better than the teacher I had in Colombia.

On Thursday, Aug 28th I caught a 15 hour bus ($10) to Huaquillas (Ecuadorian border to Peru) at 745 pm. Once I made it to Huaquillas at 1045 am, I had to take a taxi ($1.50) to get stamped out of Ecuador, and from there I could have taken a two hour bus to Tumbes and get stamped into Peru, but I decided to go with this taxi which was 40 minutes. I tried to get a price from the taxi several times before I jumped into the vehicle, but he was giving me the run around. I ended up just getting in, and they took me to get stamped and then to Tumbes where they took me to a bus station where I had to take another bus to Chiclayo at 12 pm (20 soles = $6.50) because all the buses direct to Trujillo were not until 945 pm. Before they dropped me off they ended up charging me $60 for the cab ride...ridiculous, but I guess that is the worst border in South America and usually people always get screwed over on money exchanges. I just got screwed over on the taxi. Once I arrived at Chiclayo at 745 pm I had to catch another bus to Trujillo so I jumped in this moto taxi and as we were driving I saw another bus that read ¨Lima¨on it, so I jumped out of the moto taxi to ask this bus if they would stop in Trujillo for me. They said it would not be a problem, so I jumped into that bus, and ended up arriving in Trujillo at 1145 pm. It was nice to finally make it to Trujillo on Friday, Aug 29, after a 28 hour trip. I caught a taxi from there to my couchsurfer Cecilia´s place.

It was a great 45 days in Ecuador...THANKS TO ALL THE GREAT PEOPLE I MET...READY FOR PERU!

Gallery: Ecuador

ryanj_clark — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:33:00 GMT

12 NIGHTS IN QUITO, ECUADOR!

ryanj_clark — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:18:00 GMT

Monday, July 14-Sunday, July 27, 2008

It was great staying with couchsurfer Mercedes for two weeks in Quito. Her mom owns a very nice big house called Casa De Verde with about 10 nice bedrooms, and Mercedes lives there and manages the place. So I was able to stay at the place and crash on the couch there, and had my own keys so I could come and go as I wanted. She usually has an extra room for couch surfers but she was all booked up. Fortunately, this has only been my second couch that I have slept on. Luckily, all the other places that I have stayed at I have had my own room and bed.

The second week that I stayed with Mercedes a room became available so I was able to sleep in a bed. It was a great place to spend two weeks, and every night I was there I ate at this same place that had the best burgers and hotdogs that I have ever had. I think they started to know me when I walked the short distance to this place to buy myself a double cheesburger ($2) and a traditional hotdog ($1.20). They make them so quickly and put crushed up potato chips on the hotdogs. Both the hotdogs and the cheeseburgers are huge, and they have them ready for you within 5 minutes. This place is always busy too because it is so good and so fast. The only local thing that I ate in Quito was the ceviche, and it was pretty good here, but had better in Costa Rica.

During my second week in Quito I decided to take some Spanish courses through the school of Mercedes´ mom. I took 20 hours of Spanish 830 -1230 M-F) and then 6 hours of salsa for $170. Both the Spanish courses and salsa courses were very good. I feel like I learned a lot, and it was well worth the $170.

Quito is a pretty cool city with 1.4 million people that is separated into an Old Town and a New Town. The New Town has a lot of American Franchises like Tony Romas and a new mall and shopping center, and the old town has all the old historic buildings and the presidents building. Quito has a great public transportation system with a trole bus, Ecovia, and Metro bus that take you pretty much anywhere you need to go and they all have their own separate lane that takes you right down the middle of the road.

It is unfortunate that the majority of the young kids in Quito are not able to go to school at a young age. You see a lot of 5 and 6 year old kids out on the street selling candy and whatever else to provide themselves with food because their parents had kids when they were too young. A lot of them also jump onto the Ecovia and try to sing for you, and then ask you for money. One time a blind guy that you could tell didn´t have much money was with his son, and he basically was saying he wanted money to buy some food, and he could not get a job because he is blind. I didn´t want to give them money, but told them if they got off of the stop that I was getting off I would buy them some food. I took them to my favorite burger/hotdog place, and they were quite pleased to sit down and eat with me. They both were very nice people, and got some more Spanish practice in as well. Another time we were eating out at a Ceviche restaurant (LOVE CEVICHE) and Daniela didnt finish all of her food on her plate. So a little girl who was maybe 7 asked for her leftovers, and we got it bagged up for her. This happens quite a bit, and is nice to give them food, but also sad that they dont have any.

On Thursday, July 17, I decided to go to the Teleferico in Quito. I arrived at 10 am and there was an express ticket for $7 or a normal ticket for $4, but there was not really a line at all, so I went with the $4 ticket. It was definitely a mistake because they just started letting all the express people go ahead of the normal ticket price people. I ended up waiting in line for 2 hours. A multimillion dollar sky tram cable car takes six passengers on a 2.5km ride up the flanks of the Pichincha Volcanoe to the top of Cruz Loma (4100M). It definitely didnt seem like they had very many cars, and it was not an efficient system at all. The one in Merida, Venezuela was much more efficient and fit about 30 people per cable car and had a lot more cable cars. From the top of the Teleferico you can hike to the summit of Rucu Pichincha which is 4700M high. I decided to do the three hour trek up this mountain to see the amazing view up at the top. Along the way I decided to take a horse a portion of the way $5 for 1/2 hour. I hopped on the horse and the damn thing did not want to go up the hill. The lady that I paid had to tug on the rope to get the damn horse to go up the hill. I kicked as hard as I could to get the horse moving, but she still had to continue to tug. So this lady was quite tired, and she definitely cut me at least 15 minutes short of the half hour. I didn´t care though because I could have walked a lot faster. After I hopped off the horse I ended up chatting with two Canadian guys, and made the trek up the Mountain with them. Towards the end it was definitely a little challenging and the altitude was definitely a factor, and we had to stop a few times to catch our breath. However, once you reached the top of the peak, it was an amazing view. It was pretty cool to see the clouds coming in and out so quickly at the top of the mountain as well. After taking pictures etc. at the top we hiked back down, and ended up gaining a European girl for the trek back down. She was hiking by herself and decided to join with us for the hike down. It was definitely a little scary at times going down, but was well worth the trip. By the time we were all done with the trek it was 6pm and a long day!

On Saturday, July 19, I took a two hour bus in the early morning to Otavalo for the largest craft market in South America. Traditionally dressed indigenous people sell handicrafts to all sorts of foreigners who come there for the great deals. The men wear long single pigtails, calf-length white pants, rope sandals, reversible gray or blue ponchos and dark felt hats. The women wear embroidered blouses, long black shirts and shawls, and folded head cloths. It was fun to walk around and see all the different things they had, but I didn´t purchase anything because I didn´t want to haul the things around for another ten months. I went with another couchsurfer to Otavalo who didn´t speak and english, and she showed me another town called Peguche. It was a cool little town that had a pretty sweet waterfall as you walked through the forest. They also had people canyoning down this waterfall, and looked like a lot of fun. It was fun to hike through the forest, and then we returned back to Quito because I had tickets to the Quito soccer game at 6pm. I made it back just in time for the game. It was cool to experience my first professional soccer game.

On Sunday, July 27, I left to Guayaquil at 10:30 pm on a 8.5 hour bus ride. I arrived Guayaquil early Monday (July 28) morning at 7am. I took the bus with another couchsurfer Hector who is from Guayaquil, but he happened to be in Quito. My new couchsurfer was not going to pick me up from the bus terminal until 10 am, so Hector offered for me to walk to his house because it was close to the terminal. He was nice enough to cook me some breakfast and let me hang out with him until 10, and then I went back to the terminal to meet up with my new couchsurfer Juan Rodriguez.

12 nights in Cali, Colombia to Popayan to Quito, Ecuador

ryanj_clark — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 01:46:00 GMT

Monday, June 30 - Monday, July 14, 2008..... My couchsurfing hosts (Josh & Karen) are great people, and I was fortunate enough to stay at their place for 12 nights. They were very kind and welcoming couple. She is from Colombia and he is from Kansas, and they plan to get married soon in Ecuador. They both were great cooks and cooked me up some great meals, showed me around Cali, and helped me find a place to get some salsa lessons. I had my first salsa lesson on Tuesday, July 1st. I paid for two weeks worth in Cali which was 70,000 pesos ($35) for a total of 8 hours. I could have done the whole month which was even a better deal of 130,000 pesos ($65), but figured I would not stay in Cali for a month. The name of the place where I got my lessons was Allegro, and it was within walking distance from Josh & Karen's place which was nice.

It was kind've ironic...I was laying down in the main room of their apartment and one of Karen's girl friends came walking in and woke me up, and behind her was someone I recognized while in Cali, Colombia. It was Brad Paine. I found it very hard to believe that I would run into someone from Superior, Wisconsin in Cali, Colombia. I guess this girl Gabby that he knows through his cousin, is really good friends with Karen. So the next day we all went to this waterfall and grilled up some burgers, and had a good time hanging out during the day.

On Sunday, July 6, six of us all went to Parque Nacional del Cafe nearby a small town of Pueblo Tapao, about 15 km west of Armenia, and about 3 hours from Cali. This area is kind've a coffee-bean disneyland that has a museum, a small coffee plantation, and many different activities to keep you entertained. We went on a rollercoaster, horseback riding, go-karting, and on this little train that took you around the park. We also saw a 40 minute theater performance that was incredible. The actors were all so good, and amazing dancers. It was a lot of fun to watch, but they would not allow cameras, so I was not able to take a video of any of the performances.

Cali was a great stop and I had a lot of fun hanging out with Josh and Karen, and learning some salsa. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay with them the whole time I was in Cali, and had some fantastic meals as well, but on Saturday, July 12, I took a three hour bus south to Popyan and met up with my new couchsurfer host Emma.

It was nice to spend one night with Emma. Her boyfriend was a very kind guy and introduced me to his friends while Emma was working on Sunday. We went to one of his friends houses outside of the town of Popayan and it was a beautiful house and his parents had a beautiful home right next to his as well. All of his friends were very kind, and told me I had a place to stay whenever I wanted to return. After hanging out at this house all day we had to get moving so I could catch my bus to Ipiales, and Emma´s boyfriend and one of his friends that I was hanging out with both made sure I caught my bus at the terminal before they left. They were very genuine people, and I felt like I had known them forever. Unfortunately, seeing I did not arrive Popayan on Saturday until about 430 pm, and it rained most the day on Sunday, I did not really get any pictures of the city, but it was a beautiful colonial city of 240,000 people. Some people say it is one of Colombia´s most beautiful old towns.

On Sunday, July 13, I caught a bus at 1030 pm from Popayan to Ipiales (6.5 hours) the Colombian/Ecuador border city (29,000 pesos =$15), and arrived on Monday morning at 5 am. The border didn´t open until 8 am to get my passport stamped, so I just killed three hours worth in the bus terminal, and then took a short bus ride to the actual border to get stamped out of Colombia, and into Ecuador. Once I got to the Ecuador side I caught a bus at 930 am ($4) and was on a bus another 5.5 hours before I finally arrived Quito, Ecuador. By the time I called my next couchsurfer Mercedes, and took a taxi ($7) to her place, it was 4 pm. I am a little exhausted. After 49 great days in Colombia it is great to be in Ecuador!!

Places in Colombia I visited:

Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa, Marta, Taganga, Tayrona Parque, 4 Rivas/Uribia, Cabo De La Vela, Maicao, Cucuta, Bucaramanga, San Gil, Barichara, Bogota, Duitama, Medellin, Cali, Buca & Parque Nacional Del Cafe, Popayan, Pasto, Ipiales

5 nights in Medellin, Colombia

ryanj_clark — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:59:00 GMT

Tuesday, June 24 - Sunday, June 29

After a nine hour bus ride from Bogota to Medellin, I called Andres, my next couchsurfer to make sure he was home. After I spoke to him I took a taxi to his house, and all went quite smooth (Tuesday, June 24). Once I did a little laundry and got settled in, we caught a bus to catch the metro, and eventually we made it to the fix it shop where his truck was getting fixed. He is a tire salesman so, from there we checked out some tourist sites, and he also dropped me by about 6 different tire places around the town of 2.5 million people. It was good because I got to see a lot of the city this way...so beautiful with the mountains surrounding the city! Andres doesnt really speak any English at all, so it is good practice for me while staying with him. Most all the other couchsurfers were able to speak english, so I didnt get as much practice in.

One of the days while in Medellin, I decided to make my way to El PEÑOL. It is a small city that has a huge 200M-high granite monolith that rises straight up from the banks of the lake. Then you climb up 649 steps to see an unbelievable view from the top. I left at about 745 am, and it took me about two hours to get there. It was definitely well worth the trip, and while I was on the hike up this thing I started conversating with two girls from Colombia. One spoke a few words of English, but the other one didnt. They were two very nice girls from Bogota and Cartagena, and after we were all done, they invited me to come with them and their friends to this small town nearby called Guatape. All six of us piled into their small car, and went on a 20 minute car ride to this town where we hopped on this boat that took us around this lake. It was fun to hang around all of them because I got lots of practice with my Spanish. After we got done with the boat it was about 430 pm and a guy on this bus yelled out that this bus was leaving to Medellin...so, I said goodbye to them all and caught the bus back to Medellin. I arrived back about 730 pm, so it was a long day. The only problem I had was that I didnt have keys to the couchsurfers place that I was staying at, and he was gone when I returned. I just sat there for about a half hour because it was raining and I didnt want to go out in the rain to try calling him. Fortunately, one of his neighbors was kind enough to let me into his place to hang out, and he borrowed me his phone to call Andres. I ended up hanging out at his neighbors house for about an hour until he returned home. It was good once again though because I was able to practice some more Spanish with his neighbor, and he was an awesome guy!!

After spending four nights with couchsurfer Andres I moved on to couchsurfers Sheena and Sean´s place for one night before I caught a night bus to Cali on Sunday, June 29. When I arrived Sheena and Sean's place I went to the store to buy something cheap to eat to last me the two days I was there. I ended up buying 30 eggs for about $2 and ate them within a two day time period, and that was all I ate. Not sure if that is good or not, but it seemed to satisfy the needs. I also ended up buying my usual things that I purchase for my long bus rides (couple cans of tuna with bread, and my cookies, and some sort of candy). It was nice during my stay in Medellin because it was quite relaxing. I spent one full day of seeing all the sites, and a couple days it rained, so it was nice to stay inside and study some spanish. Sometimes it feels tiring because I am always on the go to check out the sites.

I arrived Cali at 8 am on Monday the 30th after a 9 hour bus ride from Medellin at left at 11 pm. Once I arrived, I called my couchsurfers Karen and Josh to make sure they were home, and they told me to hop another bus to this gas station where they would meet me. After another 35 minutes I had arrived the gas station, and made it to there place. It is great to be in Cali...more to come later...ready to learn some more salsa!!!

3 nights in Bogota, Colombia, side tracked to Duitama for two nights, and then to Medellin

ryanj_clark — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:10:00 GMT

June 18 - June 23, 2008

I arrived Bogota at 7 am after a 7 hour bus ride from San Gil. Once I arrived, couchsurfer Eliana was there waiting for me at the bus terminal. We sat and waited for ever to catch a bus or cab back to her place. We finally ended up catching a taxi after about an hour of waiting. I have never seen so many taxi´s that were all full in my life. On the taxi ride to her house we saw a guy on a motorcycle rear-end a bus, and he fell right into the median, and was knocked out cold. You have to be crazy driving a motorcyle in a huge city of Bogota with 8 million people! I picked up some dunkin donuts at the bus terminal so I had something to give to Eliana, but once we arrived her place she insisted on making me breakfast as well. A few hours later after relaxing, she then made me lunch and then met up with her boyfriend and two of her other friends who were all very nice. My first day in Bogota was a great relaxing day after some long travel days, and I hope I can make Eliana´s first couchsurfing experience a great one!

I spent three nights at Eliana's place and I couldn't have asked for a better host. We checked out a couple muesuems in downtown Bogota that were pretty cool. One was the museum of gold and another one was a musuem on how they make their money which was pretty cool as well. On Saturday morning Eliana's friend Viviana told me that Eliana got into a little fight with her dad, and that it would be best for me to come stay at her place instead. So, I packed up my bags and went to the University with Viviana and Eliana because they both had to give exams to their students. They both are studying to be english teachers, so they introduced me to their classes and told them they could ask me any questions after their exams. I was in their classrooms from 1 to about 5 pm...I had plenty of time to study up my Spanish and it was fun to communicate with the 14 year old kids after they were finished with their exams. During the exams they were all trying to get me to give them answers. It was pretty funny, and a good time!

After the exams were done I took off with Viviana to her mom's house which is in a town called Duitama about three hours north of Bogota. She thought that I would be able to catch a bus from there to Medellin (my next destination), but unfortunately, I was not able to. So I ended up spending two nights at Viviana's mom's place and then went back with her to Bogota. Viviana was a great host who was always making sure I was doing alright, and she introduced me to some of her friends who were all very nice.

The bus ride back to Bogota on Monday was a long one. It took us 4.5 hours on the way back, and when we arrived Bogota, it took us about an hour to get to the bus terminal because we kept on stopping to drop people off along the way. This bus drive was far from smooth too. You would have thought it was the bus drivers first time driving a stick. Everytime he stopped and started back up I got whip lash from him shifting gears. He couldnt even shift into third gear smoothly. I was quite exhausted after that bus ride, and then I caught another one to Medellin at 1130 pm that night (I arrived into Bogota about 930 pm on Monday, June 22). The ride to Medellin was nine hours, so I arrived Medellin about 830 am Tuesday (June 23) morning.