FROM WILL AND TRISTA: Hola de Bolivia!

Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:16:30 +0000

Hello again everyone,

Traveling seems to going quite well, I again am not sure where I was when I wrote last... somewhere in Brazil I think. Maybe Iguassu Falls; the falls were quite a spectacular sight with over 270 separate cataracts all falling at once. It was awesome. From there Trista and I separated from our tour group for a couple of days due to some trouble with our Brazilian visas. If you are ever traveling to Brazil be sure to ask for the full amount of days you can get your visa for!

Anyway, from there we went to Bonito, Braz and did a little fresh water snorkeling, the water was amazingly clear and we were hoping to see a camen (small crocodile) but no luck. A few days later we made our way to the Pantenal Wetlands where we were able to go horseback riding through the swamp lands. It was pretty cool but the water was very deep on the whole ride. The next day we were a little tired and decided to go swimming....with paranas! The guide failed to mention that until we were already in the water! I guess they don`t bother humans unless they have fresh blood on them.

From the wetlands we made our way into Bolivia which has been pretty interesting. Bolivia is exactly what I pictured when I pictured South America. We have been having a blast so far! Everything is very cheap, which is refreshing after Brazil. We have hit several towns down here and did a 3 day 4x4 excursion into the Andes! They warned us of basic accomodation and they were not kidding! We traveled across the salt flats of Solar de Uyuni where we were able to get some awesome photos and then proceeded on to some little village where we stayed for the night. They allowed us to have electricity from 7 to 9 o`clock and from then on it was flashlights and candles.

From there we proceeded further in to nowheresville. We made it to over 5000 meters in elevation(16,500feet). We had similiar rooms that night but just no village surrounding us. We got up to watch the sunrise over a bunch of geysers coming out of an active volcano! Very cool sight.

After a full day of travel by 4-wheel drive over the desert, an overnight train ride to Oruru and then a 5 hour bus ride we finally made it to La Paz, Bolivia, where we are right now. It seems to be a very cool city still very high in the mountains (13,000ft). We are going to stay here for a couple nights to rest up and then its off to Lake Titicaca, Peru!

Hope all is well,

Will

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