The Land of Inca Kola, Arequipa Peru

Apparently the Rat tail is back and in action in San Pedro de Atacama Chile!

Inca Kola!

Our view from the hostal we stayed at in Arequipa

We were not allowed to bring cameras with to the Museum, but here is Junaita. She was is a frozen box minus 20 degrees C

We made it to the land of Inca Kola! That is Peru and Inca Kola is the number one drink here. I had it before at Ay Ay Picante, a Peruvian restaurant in Chicago. It´s basically like liquid bubble gum, and you either hate it or love it. I love it!

On the 28th we jumped on a 9pm bus from San Pedro de Atacama Chile to Arica Chile near the border. We met another Rob (so many on this trip) from Ireland and we split a cab with him to Tacna Peru. Arica is on the ocean, and I found it to be a dirty city. It did not look by any means special, but Jake had stayed there a night before and said it was not that bad, and they had good sandwiches. On the cramped taxi drive north, us three sat in the back and there were two women in the front with our over sized and popular cab driver. Rob gave me some good advice for traveling around Australia, and he told us about how he was able to get a loan for traveling. Not something you will find in the states.

We made it through the boarder and into Tacna after a unpleasant night of trying to sleep on a bus, we hoped on another one headed for our final destination Arequipa Peru. We met a Venezuelan traveler named Ceaser and talked to him a bit before we left. We had a basic meal at the bus terminal and told Rob all of the things he should look out for while traveling in Latin America, he had only been here for a few days.

The bus ride was long, longer then it should have been, it was also hot on the top of the double Decker bus. They played two Denzel Washington movies both in Spanish. Luckily I had seen both, so I could still enjoy it. Finally we made it to Arequipa and got a taxi with Ceaser to find a hostel. Jake wanted to go to one he stayed in before and Ceaser wanted to find one he herd about to, we finally found the one Ceaser had in mide. It was $8US a night, and right near a convent in a great area of the city with everything in walking distance. The views were fantastic, all the rooms are built up so there are plenty of balcony's to hang out on.

We finally got to shower and feel human again. Ceaser met us for dinner as well a German who was staying at the hostel named Gunter. We went to a local place and 3 of us got a local dish called Rocoto Relleno. It was basically a filled pepper with potato's and meat. However the guys had really spicy peppers and mine was not to bad, they probably figured don´t give the girl the hot one. They both were burning up and asked for milk to make it better, but the milk was hot when they brought it out, so nothing helped. Jake got Ceveche which is his favorites and one of Peru's best dishes. We decided on dessert since it was $1 for each. My pick was by far the best, great chocolate cake. Each dinner was about 3 dollars each not including drinks. It´s amazing how cheap everything is here, I still cannot get over it. We went for a drink afterwards on a balcony over looking the Arequipa de Catedral and the plaza. The 3 of us again had the same local drink, pisco sour. It was pretty bad though, and much too sour. It is supposed to be much sweeter but when we asked for more sugar in it, they came out with a new one....minus the sugar. The travelers we met were fun to talk to, and the city here is great.

Arequipa really fills my llama fetish. Every store has great llama clothing, wall hangings, figurines, you name it. It´s all so cheap too, but my bag can hold no more at this point. Tomorrow we leave on a tour of Colca Canyon to see the large condors. The 2 day tour costs $20us not including food. Not bad, so we booked it with our hotel.

Today we went to the Santuarios Andinos UCSM Museum. This is the only museum in the world that displays Inca offerings made in the highest mountains of the Andes. We had a guided tour in English and it was pretty good. Most of the people who were sacrificed were young and of wealth. Not always the case but the smarter and wealthier your were the happier the gods would be. Children learned from day one that they would one day we scarified. The journey to the mountain peak was in itself a large sacrifice. The sandals they had of plant material would have made hiking in the snow very painful. Juanita is one of the more famous bodies found, she was 12 at the time and was found completely intact. The ice froze her and left even her organs inside. When they researched her they found that she was killed with two blows to the head and died 5 min. later. I felt pretty bad for her but to Incas this was a great honor, you would become a deity in the other world among Gods. If I had lived then, there is no way they would want to sacrifice me, I would have been complaining way to much up that mountain. Then again they might just want to shut me up!
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Pachamama

Some of the llama offerings to the Goddess in La Paz

I have become very interested in the indigenous cultures here and one of their Goddess Pachamama is by far my favorite. When a bunch of us volunteers went out to the Mosquito bar in Coroico on night, I thought one of the girls was crazy when she kept on pouring her beer for the Goddess. The more I see people in their every day life pay respect to her the more I like her. So here is a little bit more Wiki action about the Goddess in Bolivia.

Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. Pachamama is usually translated as "Mother Earth" but a more literal translation would be "Mother world" (in Aymara and Quechua mama = mother / pacha = world or land; and later spread fairly modern as the cosmos or the universe) [1]. Pachamama and Inti are the most benevolent deities and are worshiped in parts of the Andean mountain ranges, also known as Tawantinsuyu (stretching from present day Ecuador to Chile and Argentina).
In Inca mythology, Mama Pacha or Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting. She causes earthquakes. Her husband was either Pacha Camac or Inti, depending on the source. Llamas are sacrificed to her. After conquest by Catholic Spain her image was masked by the Virgin Mary, behind whom she is invoked and worshiped in the Indian ritual, in some parts of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru (Merlino y Rabey 1992)[2].
Since Pachamama is a "good mother", people usually toast to her honor before every meeting or festivity, in some regions by spilling a small amount of chicha on the floor, before drinking the rest. This toast is called "challa" and it's made almost everyday. Pachamama has a special worship day called "Martes de challa" (Challa's Tuesday) where people bury food, throw candies, burn incense. In some cases, celebrants assist traditional priests, known as "yatiris" in Aymara, in performing ancient rites to bring good luck or the good will of the goddess, such as sacrificing guinea pigs or burning llama fetuses (although these last two are no longer very common). The festival is after carnival and one day before the Catholic "miércoles de ceniza" (Ash Wednesday).

The central ritual to Pachamama is the Challa or Pago (Payment). It is carried out during all the month of August, and in many places also the first Friday of each month. Other ceremonies are carried out in special times, as upon leaving for a trip or upon passing an apacheta. According to Mario Rabey and Rodolfo Merlino, Argentine anthropologists who studied the Andean culture from the 1970s to the '90s, "the most important ritual is the challaco. Challaco is a deformation of the quechua words 'ch'allay' and 'ch'allakuy', that refer to the action to insistently sprinkle[3]. In the current language of the campesinos of the southern Central Andes, the word 'challar' is used like a synonym of 'to feed and to give drink to the land'. The challaco, just as is practiced in the studied area[4], covers a complex series of ritual steps that begin in the family dwellings the night of the eve, during which cooks a special food, the tijtincha, and that culminate in an eye of water or the beginning of a ditch where is carried out the main ritual to the Mother Earth, with a series of tributes that include food, beverage, leaves of Coca and cigars."[5]
The religion centered in the Pachamama is practiced currently in parallel form to the Christianity, to the point that many families are simultaneously Christian and pachamamistas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachamama

An Unforgiven Land

The weather was pretty bad

In front of the flamingos

Cactus Island

Only on the flats

A herd of llamas behind our jeep

The one and only

Well we just came back from a three day trip through the salt flats of Bolivia to the bottom of the country and over to San Pedro de Atacama Chile. We went with Cordillera Traver and were both very happy. To book with them ther number in Bolivia is 693-3304 or by email at ctraveler@123mail.cl Flavio Berna Estelo was our guide, please let him know two weeks in advance. Having someone there who can speak Spanish is helpful since he is still learnng English.

Day one:Left Uyuni around 10 with two Dutch named Martijnen and Lonneke. They recognized me right away from La Senda Verde and remembered me holding Apple and showing them were the donation box was. We also had talk about his Nikon as well, so it was weird that I would now be spending a lot of time with them in a cramped jeep. We got very lucky though, most tours leave with 6 people but because our tour never filled up, it was just the 4 of us and Flavio our guide. Flavio was a local Bolivian who knew a lot about the places we visited and was an awesome guide! He even went of his was to show me llamas up close, so needless to say we left him a great tip, probably as much as his monthly earning of $200US. We first visited areas were they gathered the salt and saw the men at work. Next was the cactus island in the middle of the salt flat. It was amazing, every view was perfect. Some of the cacti there were 1,400 years old. We then went to an area where they collected the salt to make hotels and such. The hotels in the salt flats are usually all made of salt, from the beds to the walls. The people that live close by on a mountain get all of their income from the salt there they collect like bricks. We made it to our hotel made of salt and had dinner with our group.

Day two:

We left San Juan (little town in the middle of nowhere).and visited Necroplis Arqueologica de San Juan. It was an ancient burial ground which pre dated Incas. The conquistadors that came there found it to hard to survive in and left. The site had not been looked at until 2000 and opened to the public in 2003 by two German Archaeologists. Some of the bodies were still intact with pottery and other offerings left behind. It was a really cool place and we were amazed at how many other tours drove right by this place. We then stopped by a lagoon with flamingos and had a nice lunch there. It was very windy and cold so I have no idea how these flamingos manage to survive. We also saw lots of wild llamas and Vicuñas which are pretty rare in the wild. We actually saw a lot of them on the trip and I got some good photos. For anyone that likes alpacas and llamas, Vicuñas are by far cuter. We stopped at a rocky area and saw Vichcha a small Chinchilla like animal that lives in rocky areas. Along the way there were more flamingos, especially when we made it to lagoon Colorado, here the water was pink from the algae which the flamingos eat and turn their bodies pink. We stayed a hotel close by and got to get out and see a herd of llamas which belong to someone which you can tell by the red ribbons on their ears. Our hotel was freezing, the wind was insane! I have never seen anything like it, our guide had only seen the weather like his 3 times. We had to wake up at 4:30 the next morning so after our pasta dinner with the Dutch couple we all went back to our room.

Day Three:

Got up early and the stars of the southern hemisphere were still out. We drove through Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa, whoch is a masive landscape of unbareable conditions. The mountains were huge followed by volcanos. We hardly got out of our car because of the wind. It was that bad! We also saw geyers but I took a couple of photos and ran back in. One thing I noticed along the way was the lack of snow on all of the mountains. Snow caps are retreating worldwide but in Bolivia it is a real problem. Where we stayed our first night in San Juan they were now shipping water in to the town and are very concerned about the future. When the conquistadors came there, the mountains supplied lots of water. In La Paz it´s a similar story, rumors say they they may be out of water in 2 years. Most of the water they depend on comes from a glacier which is shrinking.

Going back to the trip, by 10 am we were already on the border and waited in the jeep for our bus to arrive and take some of us to Chile. It was still freezng. We got on he bus and on the border parted ways with the Dutch couple we had spent so much time with. We made it to San Pedro de Atacma and found a hostel to stay in. It is by no means cheap here, and when you come from Bolivia where everything is dirt cheap it is a real shocker. The town hear is pretty touristy and hip. The people here look very different then most Bolivians, because of their Spanish heritage. The dogs here are also in pretty good shape. I recently found out that one of the reasons the dogs in Bolivia look so good is because of Pachamama the earth goddess. Those who believe in her, believe that taking care of animals is good luck, so needless to say they are well feed. Some dogs will sit on the side of the road waiting for a truck drivers handouts.

We hop on a night bus for Peru tonight and have made the decision not to visit Machu Picchu. It would add another 18 hours of bus riding and at this point we both want to relax. If only I had more time. The good thing is it will always be there, just probably cost more. We are instead visiting Colca Canyon in Peru and seeing the Condors which are the largest raptor in the world. We also plan on spending time in Arequipa's Peru. Not looking forward to the bus drive, but looking forward to the rest!

Uyuni

Jake and I on the Salt Flats


Jake Stepping on me
Stray dogs in Uyuni

Jake with some strange statue

There is not much to talk about Uyuni at least for now. We got here at 2 am and after almost being ripped off of a hotel, we found a new one. My first impressions of this place is that it is cold, really cold at night!! The stars here are amazing, we are after all in the middle of no where. We got our tour today of the salt flats for tomorrow which was almost a $100 us per person for 3 days. One more reason I love it here. While paying for the trip we found out that one of our 200 Bolivianos was a fake, which is equal to $30 us. We had got it from an ATM too! So from now on we will only get money at banks and check it there, now that we know what to look for. Many travelers come across this problem and you should always check the bills when they are large. I got to buy some gifts for people from a fare trade store here, the stuff is so cute, and lots of clothing is made out of Alpaca which is so soft. It´s more on the expensive side here for Bolivia but would probably cost an arm an a leg back home. I thought I would take the time and put a little bit of info about Salar de Uyuni where I am going tomorrow. Thank you Wikipedia! Won´t be on here for 4 days until I am in San Pedro Chile. Aidos!

Salar de Uyuni (or Salar de Tunupa) is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 km² (4,085 square miles).[2] It is located in the Potosí and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, 3,650 meters high. The major minerals in the salar are halite and gypsum.

Some 40,000 years ago, the area was part of Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake. When the lake dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó Lake and Uru Uru Lake, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Uyuni. Uyuni is roughly 25 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States.

Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt, of which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually. All miners working in the Salar belong to Colchani's cooperative. Every November, Salar de Uyuni is also the breeding grounds for three species of South American flamingos: the Chilean, James's and Andean flamingos. It is also a significant tourist destination; highlights include Palacio de Sal (a salt hotel) and several so-called islands. As it is so flat it serves as a major transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano.
Also, Salar de Uyuni holds half of the world's reserves of lithium, a metal which is used in high energy density lithium batteries. There is currently no mining plant at the site and the Bolivian government doesn't want to allow exploitation by foreign corporations, but instead it intends to build its own pilot plant

Due to its large size, smooth surface, high surface reflectivity when covered with shallow water, and minimal elevation deviation, Salar de Uyuni makes an ideal target for the testing and calibration of remote sensing instruments on orbiting satellites used to study the Earth. In addition to providing an excellent target surface the skies above Salar de Uyuni are so clear, and the air so dry, that the surface works up to five times better for satellite calibration than using the surface of the ocean. In September 2002 a team took detailed GPS elevation measurements of a portion of the salt flats. This GPS data was then compared to the data from several ICESat passes over the area were used to evaluate the accuracy and precision of ICESat's instruments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_De_Uyuni

Also worth a look is wikipedia Bolivia. It gives a good insight to the cultures, resources and history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivia

Two Gringos in Oruro

This type writer was made in Chciago....woohooo!

El Diablo of the mine

Llamas on the way to Uyuni

The little lady I got a photo of for 10 Bolivianos

We left Cochabamba this morning at 7 ish, the bus was late and we had showed up an hour early. We got to Oruro around noon and went to have lunch. I have had such cravings for pizza ever since I have left. So I got some and we then walked around looking for a hotel for Jake to book a room for the Carnival in March. This town is well known for their Carnival every year, it´s pretty much the only time you will see tourists here. You go around throwing water at each other, and if your a gringo they really will get you soaked. Speaking of gringos, Jake and I seem to be the ONLY ones in this whole town!! We only saw 3 in Cochabamba. These places are not as international as La Paz for example so you can only imagine the looks I get every where I go. I told Jake I feel like a celebrity.

We made it to two Museums today. The Museo Sacer, Folklorico, Arqueologico Y Minero and Museo Anthropologico Eduardo Lopez Rivas. Both were like 40 cents and we were not allowed to take pictures at both. The Eduardo Museo had mummies! Also skulls with the large heads that people created by pressing a babies head and forming it. Sort of like the new Indiana Jones movie that came out, the alien skulls were thought to have a connection with the human skulls found that are similar. There were also lots of artifacts that I am pretty sure were pre Inca, so for a Anthroplogy student like myself it was all pretty amazing. The most featured animals in carvings and pertroglyphs was the llama of course.

The second museum we visited was half under a cathedral and we went into a mine. Oruro is a mining town, though not as rich in resources as it once was. In the cave was two Diablo statues that people pay respect to so that the devil of the under world is kind to them. They leave pure alcohol, cigarettes and coca leaves for him. Can you guess what all of this smelt like? Believe me it stunk!

So after my Internet time we are going to have dinner, then make a night train for Uyuni were we will hop on a tour bus for Salar de Uyuni for 3 days. The best way I guess of explaining what the salt flats look like is probably life on mars. I have seen pictures and it is amazing!
For travelers to Bolivia I have come come up with a few tips to keep yourself safe.

1. Always have your bag in front of you.
2. If you can try not to carry a bag, I use a money belt that goes under my pants.
3. If someone starts following you (like some little kid did yesterday to me) grab your stuff make sure they know you see them, and walk away.
4. I would carry mase or a knife or something of the sort, hoping to never use it, but it sure scars people. I carry mase, and Jake has a knife on him always.
5. If your taxi driver starts driving the opposite direction of where you are going and seems suspicious, ask to get out and grab number 4.
6. If someone jumps in the front with your taxi driver do number 4 as well.
7. If your taxi driver does not have a radio and seems drunk or suspicious, don´t be a dumbass and don´t get in, same goes for bus drivers.
8. Never put your bag on the floor under a table, little kids will crawl under and take your stuff.
9. If someone spills on you and someone comes to wipe you up, as Jake would say¨punch them in the face¨. Even if they are some old lady, they are robbing you so better punch them!

I may have more further on this trip. People just need to be careful, there is no reason not to visit places like Bolivia, but you need to be safe.

There is a lot of poverty here! In fact it has gotten to me, it really bothers me to see such old people living on the streets and children as well. Jake and I both have given people money and food but as of today I decided that when asked by people for money I would ask for their picture in exchange for money. Not all of the time of course, but some people have such interesting faces here. And I would rather get a picture in exchange. I did it for the first time today to some old Cholita and she kept asking for more until we walked away. Got respect the effort. As for the stray dogs, they seem to be some of the best looking ones I have seen in Latin America. Central America is by far worse when it comes to strays. Wells that's all I got for now.

Waking up in Cochabamba

Cristo de la Concordia in in Cochabamba, taller then the one in Rio

Sheep at the old train station in Cochabamba. The train is no longer in use but you can still buy tickets here for other places in Bolivia

This Taxi driver had a strange collection of beanie babies and other stuff animals, all worthy of a picture

View of Coroico in the morning

We left La Senda early at 7:30 to Coroico. Jake met me at La Senda on Saturday, and he spent most of the time making sure the other animals would not bother his dog Tus. She was actually good with all of them, and had no interest in the monkeys or any other animals. However Flaca and Corbon two of the dogs would not leave her alone. The coatie afttacked her twice which was scary. They seem to be better now. She is staying there while we travel for two weeks. I showed him around the place and spent a good portion of the day with Apple. She is a 6 month old Capuchin monkey that arrived a few days ago. Her mother had been shot by a poacher, and her thumb was shot off as well while she was clinging to her mom. She is as sweet as can be, and is coming out of her shell and jumping on trees. I have her on a leash though because she is getting fast. Some of the monkeys are very sweet to her and come over to talk in monkey language and I even saw a spider monkey give her a hug.

Sunday we had more volunteers. June and Robin from England who were new. Also Sarah, Rob and Holly also from England. Jake and I took them on in a game of pool at night, America against England....and yes we won! We also got to watch Wolverine for the second time on Friday night. The movie is a pirate and not completely finished being edited, making the movie awesome!! You get to see the ropes and everything. Best film ever!

At the end of the trip I will get to spend 3 more days at La Senda, but I will really miss it for now. I however will not miss the giant moth in our room, giant leech, termites or tarantula.The people I got to work with were great!! I hope there will be other good volunteers. If you are ever interested in volunteering, visiting or just donating I would highly recommend it! Visit www.Sendaverde.com

Monday we got on a bus to La Paz which was probably the best ride I have ever been on. It went through the Andes and was beautiful the whole way. I felt a little sick the higher up we got towards La Paz. I also got to see my first llamas!! The first time I did this trip was a night so I did not get to appreciate it as much.

In La Paz we jumped on a bus to Cochabamba. It was about 8 hours in a pretty comfy bus. However no one would open a window, still not sure why so it was very hot. All along the way you could see the current president Evo Morales name and pictures on rocks. One common sign I saw was a graffiti that said Evo Si. They did play Mean Girls in Spanish which was great! We arrived pretty late and now have the rest of the day to walk around and see the city. My best friend Tany's family is from Cochabamba and we have already called them and are hoping to see them later.

A day at La Senda Verde

Nina needs a hug

Vicky the owner with Camilo the baby howler


Feeding time: Justina with Chica and one of thw spider monkys, Sarah with some of the dogs

One of the Blue and Gold Macaws

Some of the Volunteers: June, Rob, Robin and Sarah

June with Apple
8 am
Feed birds, chop up fruit and while you are doing this try to keep the large spider monkey from opening the door and taking everything in sight including the knife you are holding.

8:30
Feed dogs, Andean bear, cats, coati and geese.

9am
Breakfast, usually eggs and toast plus llajawa, my favorite spicy sauce.

10 am
clean bird cages(theres probably 50 or more parrots), dogs and bunny cages.

work until around 1 then sit down for lunch. Always pasta.....

1:30 Gravity the bike tour that goes on the worlds most deadly road comes for lunch here and to hang out. Give a speech to them, and make sure to tell them all of the rules. Monkeys will take your things if you bring it near them. This is when we realize people don´t listen and I don´t care that the monkey now has your earing. Once they leave we hang out with animals or do odd jobs.

There is always something to pick up or clean, always!!! I made perches and swings for the birds the other day...monkeys liked a few of them more and destroyed one.

5 pm is the rest of the night feeding, all animals are happy at this point. This is usually when the monkeys attack the bird food and I spend a good amount of time chasing animals away from each others food. by 6 we should be done and then it´s off to the showers!! Yay!

I have never worked this hard in my life, I have never sweated this much and my feet have never hurt this bad. Oh and I have need had so many bite marks on my arm. At the same time I have never felt that something I am doing is really making a difference. From chopping up turtle food differently to spending time with animals who once lived a pretty bad life. There are animals here with missing eyes, deformed faces, broken wings, and some that do tricks and pick pockets all because people did this to them. It´s hard to think there are so many bad people in this world but at the same time so many good people that come here and want to make a difference for them. It´s a good place. I am woken by parrots and go to sleep to the jungle at night. The parrots now follow me to the shower and sit outside making so much noise, it´s hard to ever get away from the animals here, but why would I want to. Where else can a baby howler monkey lick your face dry. The stars here are amazing, and there are ones I have never seen before. It´s hard to get to a computer since the drive up here is life or death....ok well maybe no that bad but it´s pretty scary!
Looking forward to my last week!

La Senda Verde

Well I have about 19 min. and way too much to say. So I just figured I would make a list of everything I have done in the last few days.

1. Almsot had my bag pick pocketed, but I´m too fast and all that was there was lip gloss, and I´m pretty sure he does not wear any.

2. Drove for 3 hours on Bolivias number 2 roads from hell while having no sleep in 24 hours and trying to adjust to being up higher then pretty much anyone else in the world.

3. Walked over a bridge in the dark with my 36lb bag still with no sleep thinking this mught just end up being it.

4. Started training with the animals, mostly birds but pretty much everything as well. I cleaned up atfter Aruma the bear a few times, with is a task in itself.

5. Got the best hug EVER from a spider monkey. They hug in the early morning and before bed. Her name was Nina.

6. Held a Owl Monkey at night, will get the chance to take him for a walk at night soon, it has to be done once a day.

7. Got to know vicky her husband Marcelo, Irena, Sarah and Holly. Only 4 volunteers now. Many locals work there as well such as cooks, and their kids. 2 of which let a monkey in the kitchen the other day.

8. The lightening bugs here are awesome! Also Blue Morpos are out everyday.

9. Finally saw macaws fly in the wild, they are free to go as they please here. And they are always flying around the area here, nestled in the mountains.


What an amazing place, good food, nice and happy people, crazy animals!! The worst part is trying to keep the monkeys away fro mthe bird food when it´s feeding time! They just don´t care, and will jump on you when you least expect it. There is a baby howler with diapers that Vicky is looking after. Also a Tree Ocelot that we got to meet today, she is far away from the rest of the animals though, since she would love to eat them. So pretty with big eyes sinc ethey are nocternal, her names Sasha.

La Paz

Well I landed, after a 11 hour flight...no sleep and at a very high altitude I made it. I feel pretty sick from the lack of sleep and being so high up. I was amazed from the moment Holly met at the airport and the drive to her hotel. Lots of stray dogs and crazy drivers. The poeple are so fun to watch, most women are so short and I feel like a giant near them. The kids are as cute as can be, maybe it´s the outfits they wear or just their plump faces but I love them all. When we first got to hotel we saw a dog at the edge of a roof, he looked like he wanted to jump, but I have seen him around all day since. There must be some political protest going on, people had poster boards and the policia is everywhere. We got to sit in the plaza and I bought some seeds to feed the birds which then attacked me, and scard Holly. It was great. Here are some pics from the first day...more to come. I should also mention that we went to the Witches market and got a chance to see some llama fetuses for sale. They are buried under homes here for good luck. Off to have some pizza...Bolivia style!

Adios!