Met a girl randomly from Atlanta who went to UGA on the street in Mendoza and grabbed her email in case we were in the same town. Becca and I ended up traveling through Uruguay for 6 days, a 6-day moment. At the hostel before we left, they tried to make her pay to store her bag there for 30 minutes while we went for lunch and I would have none of that! I argued with the staff about how absolutely ridiculous that is after I spent over $100 in their hostel, including tipping the staff, but they ended up pissing me off to the point I just yelled at them and left. Then, after a bloody mary on the waterfront, me and Becca hopped on the ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. We met a guy from England on the ferry named Joey and we ended up staying at his hotel called Leoncia.

His hotel was 5-star luxury, which was nice because I needed a vacation badly. It even included a pool and hot-tub. We stayed in Colonia for a few days relaxing and eating lots of food.

Then we took a bus to Montevideo where we attended a live Tango show of a young, up-and-coming Uruguayan tango singer. The place of the show was an amazing 100-year old building with stone walls and only 5 or 6 tables. We got the table in the front a few feet from the girl. It was an amazing show and really illustrated the difference between the Uruguayan culture and the Argentininan. During the show, a guy leaned over and asked me where I was from. He studied in a British school but was Uruguayan. He owned several businesses in Uruguay and wrote down the name of some places to visit in Punta Del Este and the names of his friends to contact. Then he asked me to visit him in Montevideo on Monday for a black-tie party he was hosting.

The next day we met up with some friends of mine from Buenos Aires and they bought us tickets to the local soccer game. As we walked up, I heard the roar of the stadium from 4 blocks away. The stadium was sold out capacity, with the most passionate and classy fans I've ever seen. We somehow ended up in the front row of the stadium on the field! Our team won, and we had a great time cheering for the Uruguayan National team against Boca, a local Argentinian team.

The following day we took a short bus (2 hours) to Punta and laid on the beach and ate amazing food. We didn't have time to visit the places the guy gave us, but overall it was an amazing day-trip experience. That night, we rushed back to Montevideo to catch a live comedy theatre show. Sinec Becca speaks fluent spanish and I speak 100 words, I did alot of infering, but they were great actors and I laughed the whole time.

When I returned to BA, I immediately met up with Joey in Palermo House and we took a quick taxi to Recoleta Cultural Centre for the One Dot Zero visual arts festival. That night was a french band called Colder, who were passion-less, too cool for school, and generally unenthusiastic. We left after 20 minutes, a huge dissapointment. BUT, afterwards we hit up 4 different bars and the last bar some locals who spoke english approached us because they recognized us from a previous bar and hung out with us. We decided to go dancing at 5:30AM and stayed till 8AM!!

I slept in today a few hours and am downloading cool songs off Joey's IPOD. Today we are going to go to the day part of the visual arts festival and tonight go back for another, hopefully more exciting, show.

Peru:
Lima
Stay at Loki Hostel. Other than that I didnt really do much.

Huacachina
Huacachina is a lagoon city in the desert near Ica, but Ica is boring so stay in Huacachina. Go sandboarding for $13 american and ride in a dune buggy...stay at Casa De Arena Uno or Casa De Arena Dos where they have a cool bar/restaurant and amazing desserts. Also try the hooka. The Lomo Saltado at the hostel is awesome and both have pools for swimming.

Arequipa
Go on the 3-day Colca Canyon tour to see Llamas, Alpacas, the worlds deepest canyon and take pictures of the largest condors in the world. Arequipa is pretty tame other than that.

Cusco & Macchu Picchu
Stay at Loki Hostel (almost 170 backpackers at a time) and party like youve never partied before. Lots and lots of wild all night parties, eat 1/4 chicken with fries and salad during the day and stop by the market for fresh juice from the ladies for $.50. Catch the train to Aquas Caliente and stay at the Eco-Hostel called ______ (something) Wasi. I cant remember the name of the hostel but it was cool. The next day the bus leaves for Macchu Picchu at 5:30AM...be there early or you wont make the 1st bus and you will miss the sunrise. Bring lunch and lots of money b/c Macchu Picchu is EXPENSIVE. Lunch there is like $20 American so bring a sack lunch. Also, hike up Hyanu Picchu early like 10AM because after that the lines get really long.

Puno
Go on a boat tour to the reed islands and Tequila Island.

Bolivia
La Paz
Stay at Adventure Brew hostel, book a trip with Gravity to mountain bike down the worlds most dangerous road. Bring like 10 layers for the morning and shorts for the afternoon. Temp changes from 35 degrees to 85 degrees while biking. Also go to the black market (Mercado Negro).

Cochabamba
Worlds largest market. Freakin sweet.

Potosi
Tour the mines. Very tight spaces but amazing experience.

Uyuni
Tour the Salt Flats on a 4 day tour in a Toyota Land Cruiser 4x4. Get them to drop you off in Chile after the trip instead of riding all the way back to Bolivia.

Chile

San Pedro de Atacama
Stay at Hostel Florida. Eat at the restaurant across the street from the hostel with a picture of lightning and a little girl in a door that has 666 written on it. I dont remember the name of that restaurant though, but best food so far on the trip. In the restaurant, there is a great selection of wine.

Santiago
Just went out. Stayed at Casa Roja and had an amazing time partying there.

Argentina

Mendoza
Bit boring for me, dont stay in hostel Itaka. Stay in Hostel Damajuana, and if its booked go to Campo Base 1 or 2. Lot of good wine though and wine tours.

Cordoba
Stay at hostel El Refugio and go skydiving. Its amazing and fairly cheap. Eat at Betos for amazing steak.

Buenos Aires
Stay at Hostel Milhouse (100 backpackers) and eat the best steak of your life at Desnivel. Go to a Boca Jrs soccer game or River Plata soccer game. Visit the cemetary and take pictures of the above-ground graves. Walk around the city and on thurs catch the mothers of the disappeared at 3:15PM in Plaza San Martin.

The last few days have been exciting. Alot of partying and staying up late, and last night was no exception. Hung out at the hostel playing horse race then hit up the late-night pizza parlor. Today I woke up early to do some shopping with Alex and then we walked to the cemetary again for some pics. A guided tour was standing in from of the coolest grave and I wanted to take a picture so I stood there waiting for them to move. The tour guide stops talking to look at me and says, "This is a private tour please move on," and I about lost it. He stood there yapping away for almost 30 minutes while I stood there with my camera out poised to take a snapshot. Eventually he shut his huge mouth and moved on so I could take one lousy photo.

Then Alex really wanted sushi and we decided it was 20 blocks and that we would walk. Almost an hour later we found the restaurant and had the most amazing sushi of my life. Brilliant. We taxied it back to the hostel and I napped for a few hours.

Tonight is Alexs last night so he wants to go out big. We ate steak again and are planning to club it. Tomorrow is another long day ending with a 6 hour adventure to a local soccer game with the boys in the largest stadium in Argentina. Fun fun fun.

I´m in Cordoba and yesterday I heard that Cordoba is the cheapest place to skydive in South America. So, of course, I jumped at the chance (get it, jumped). I heard it was $90 (that´s dirt cheap) with 30 seconds of freefall and so I went for it. Today, an hour before I´m supposed to leave they tell me it´s going to be $160. Ouch. Then I look up Skydive Atlanta and it´s $189 for over 1 minute of freefall. Double ouch.

This is becoming a regular pattern, the price is (blank..cheap) and when the bill comes it´s wayyyy more expensive. Ans since there is no price regulations in South America, I could have put the parachute on, been in the plane, and the guy could have told me it´s gonna cost $500 and I would have been stuck paying. The whole reason I came here was to skydive so now I´m stuck between paying or wasting 4 days in a city with nothing going on. And since the place doesn´t accept credit cards, I have to pay a $4 service fee at the ATM to get cash out. Then another $4 in Buenos Aires because I´ll be out of cash again!

On a positive note, I found a parilla (grill) that serves 20 oz steaks and a bottle of Argentinian wine for $7.50. I´ve eaten there 2 times in one day and I´m going back again today for another couple of rounds. On wednesday there is a Spring Welcome Party in Argentina because it´s the first day of spring. I helped the hostel decorate for the party by making a colorful poster last night and it was alot of fun.

This is gonna be a long one. I´ve gotten lazy with the blog, lazy with everything really. In Santiago, I stayed for about 7 days because I met some Brits who were absolutely crazy. We went out everynight, drank tea all day, and relaxed. But since we were going out so much, I actually got exhausted.

I left there tired and mentally dead and went to Mendoza. Argentina is very very different than the rest of S. America. Some general feelings I´ve gotten since arriving 3 days ago: They don´t really like Americans (or foreigners for that matter), or maybe they just are apathetic towards foreigners because I can´t get a smile or a bit of attention from anyone here. The town is very relaxed, but it comes across as cold because the people don´t try to speak to you like they did in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Of course my blonde hair and blue eyes scream AMERICAN! So that doesn´t help, it´s hard for me to blend in. Also, I´ve been so lazy lately because my unhealthy diet and lack of excersise is starting to take its toll. I think I´ve lost around 30lbs total and I´m getting pretty soft. But, today I was so lazy that I kicked myself in the butt and went to the market and bought health food. What a difference it made! I cooked chicken and rice with broccoli, and yogurt as desert. I´ve met back up with Vicki and Christy (the couple from England I traveled the Salt Flats with) and hopefully I can tag with them for the next few days.

I went to a place last night for dinner, and I heard a guy
singing Bob Dylan with an acoustic guitar ala Morgan unplugged. I asked him if he was from America and he said no, but he was playing a show tonight and singing american songs. We ended up hanging out for hours and I watched his show and met his best 10 buddies. Tonight his band (a rolling stones cover band) is playing and I´m gonna try to go.

He also has a friend I met who owns a ski store in Las Leñas which is
the Aspen of S. America and can hook me up with lessons, gear, and a
hotel for $200 dollars. The only problem is that a girl told me ski season is over in Las Leñas so I def don´t want to go there for nothing. I´ll check the weather report tonight after din-din.

If not there, I´ll leave for Cordoba with the Brits in 2 days to go white water rafting, horseback riding, etc.

Last night in Santiago, I met some folks from Australia and in general, they are a crazy bunch of party animals. These aussies were no different. We went to a local bar and I drank Budweiser (which was a little taste of home) then onto one of the biggest clubs in Chile. It was NUTS. The dance floor was packed and we really let loose. I danced like I've never danced before. I was doing all the old-school moves. The roger rabbit, the electric slide, the hammer, the guido arm pump. And since they were pumping the Mega-Mix I couldn't control myself. Got home around 5AM after a lonf cab ride because me and the aussie couldn't find the hostel. I woke up at 4PM today and had a burger at a local joint and hung out with another American I just met at the restaurant. It was one for the books.

Tonight I watched the UGA game on ESPN GamePlan, which means I watched it over the net for $22. It was pretty good quality and a handful of people in the hostel actually got into it. Met some auusies who are gonna watch some aussie-rules tomorrow on a projector. Should be fun. I really like Santiago.

So much to write and so little memory. I decided to tour the mines while in Potosi and boy am I glad I did. Imagine decending 100 meters underground in a space 2 feet high and 2 feet wide with so much dust in the air you literally choke the whole time and 110 degree heat. That is the mine in a nutshell. And the best part is that the people who work there do it 6 days a week for 12-14 hours! Of course they chew Coca leaves, which is what cocaine is derived from, but even with the aid of Coca leaves, it would be brutal. I was down there for 2 hours and felt like I was going to pass out and die. And not only do they work down there, they set off dynamite everyday in order to extract the mines. Unsafe you say? You have no idea. The mines collapse like monthly because they have asolutely no structure or organization and end up blasting into other people's mines causeing collapse and massive deaths. Such is life in Bolivia.

The next day I took a bus to Uyuni and on the bus a girl sitting behind me rather rudely asked me to move my seat forward because she didn't have enough room. I very bluntly told her that I was 6'3" and it's a tough world so deal with it.

When I arrived in Uyuni and booked a 3-day trip to the Salt Flats and Chile, I arrived to the agency the next morning and guess who was in my group of 6 people... the rude girl from the bus. We ended up laughing about it and making friends and the entire trip I hung out with her and her boyfriend who were from England. We saw the salt flats which were amazing, cactus island, red lagoons, pink flamingos, and steaming geysers. We ended the trip with a couple of days in San Pedro de Atacama. San Pedro is a little tourist town in the world's driest desert and it was so different from Bolivia it seemed like a trip to a luxurious resort. The food in San Pedro was amazing, the wine amazing, the service amazing, and the people incredible. Met up with a Swiss guy named Alex and a serbian buy and we spent the next couple of days together partying and hanging out.

Left the next day for Santiago on a 24 hour bus ride. Sat next to a woman who was returning to Santiago after her eldest daughter's wedding. It was a fun bus trip trying to communicate with her and her 2 daughters who were 14 and 15 in broken spanish. The hostel I'm staying at now is called Casa Roja and is in the center of Barrio Brasil which is the party/college part of town. Should be a good night. Tomorrow I'm scouring the city looking for a place to watch the UGA vs USC game, and if I can't find a place here, I'll buy it off ESPN.com and watch it on the laptop!

Left Cochabamba last night and when I went to the bus station and load up on the plush Full Camas bus, there´s a guy in my seat. That´s nothing new so I tell the guy he´s in my set and show him my ticket. Well he pulls out his ticket and it´s the same seat number as mine. Hmm. We go inside to sort it all out and the lady at the counter tells me I bought the Economico bus. Except that his ticket says $40 and mine says $50, which means that I paid MORE MONEY THAN HIM and was ressured at the time of purchase that I had the nice, posh, expensive bus. So I raise hell in the bus station but of course they don´t care, they have my money. Eventually the lady tells me that my bus has already left and if I want to leave Cochabamba, I need to hurry and catch it before it leaves town. I ended up sitting in a seat the size of a baby carseat even thought I paid $50. That´s been kinda the standard down here. Bolivia is undoubtedly the stanky crotch of South America. I honestly think Bolivia is Spanish for "ignorant" or at least slang for it.

This morning the hostel tells me that breakfast isn´t served till 7AM, it was 6:58AM. SO I go to sleep then wake up at 9AM and ask for breakfast. Sorry we stop serving at 8:58AM. Sheesh. The sooner I get out of this armpit called a country the happier I´ll be. I just keep telling myself 2 more days then I´m home free....Chile here I come!

Today I plan on reading, eating lots of food, randomly napping, and generally wasting time away from the animal-like people of Bolivia.´

I´m thinking about skipping the mines and getting the hell outta here tonight.

When I got to Cochabamba, I went to a very cool hostel called Hostel Elisa which is, apparently, in a very very rough part of town. I know this because last night I was walking around at 10PM and wandered into a restaurant and met some locals who were about my age. One of the guys named Ariel who lived in Virginia and spoke english invited me to sit with his table. Then after we hung out at dinner for awhile, he tells me that the highest crime rate in Cochabamba is in this very area. Its so bad in fact that he insisted on walking me home.

We decided to meet up the next day and go to the market so he could help me buy shoes and a bus ticket. I found lots of shoes I liked and for about $11-14 american, but when it came down to buying them, none of the vendors had my size! They all acted like they had never seen a foot that big! So eventually, me and Ariel just asked if they had ANY shoes in size 13. Only 2 vendors had shoes in that size and they were 350 Bolivians, which is about $44 dollars :( But I really needed a new pair of shoes because mine got destroyed mountain biking, so I was stuck with buying a pair of brnad new Adidas that I would have never bought in America.

Then we went to lunch and he took me to a cool restaurant and we played chess. I beat him 2 times before our food arrived. I wanted to go back to the hostel to rest before the long bus ride tonight, and when I got back the owners gave me a room with a double bed and a tv so I could chill before the bus. I read 100 pages in my book and watched 2 episodes of Prison Break.

Tomorrow I arrive in Potosi at around 7AM and have a sweet hostel to stay at. Then I´ll plan a tour of the mines and get a bus ticket out for the Salt Flats.

The last few days have been really hectic, I lost my bag on a crazy bus ride then after much negotiation got it back and landed in La Paz. Stayed at a sweet hostel called Adventure Brew Hostel which has a brewery inside the hostel. Met up with some travelers from Ireland and we went to a local pub. Had great food then hit the sack. Next day I hit the Black Market and bought a pair of Nike sweatpants, a backpack, pair of sunglasses, and a new camera. I´m such an American!

Yesterday I biked down the world´s most dangerous road through a company called Gravity on a sweet $1,500 mountain bike with disc brake and front shocks. First, we tried to leave La Paz and couldn´t because La Paz had blocked the roads becaue of a strike, so we took off over the side of the mountain on a "shortcut" that supposedly got us around the blockade. A few hours later and many almost disasters, we routed the locals and were on our way, albeit late.

When we arrived at the top of the world´s most dangerous road, it was freezing and foggy. So freezing and foggy that my pants were wet and my glasses covered in dew/ice. First, before we set off, we offered a sacrifice to Pacha Mama by pouring 96% alcohol on our tire and then taking a shot. It was excrutiating. The start of the road is a 19Km paved road that is straight downhill, we reached speeds of 50Km/H, which is darn fast on a mountain bike in freezing temps with fog so thick you cant see 10 ft in front of you!

We reached the gravel road in about an hour and from there is was all bumpy, rough riding. Flying downhill on a narrow road filled with loose gravel is a rush I can´t expain. Also the 400meter dropoff added to the suspense as well! I almost went off the side 5 times and pretty much just got lucky. I took the lead most of the time and went a fast as the bike could go. It warmed up half way down and it was hot! I shed my layers then finished up just in time, I dont think my hands could have taken any more bumps.

The buffet was great, then our group sat around and talked for a few hours. The bus ride back was a grueling 4 hours, and when we arrived John and James from Ireland accompanied me to Burger King for some greasy late night food.

From the Drab Seastars blog: "Took the train from Cusco to a town called Aguas Calientes- basically just the basecamp for tourists going to visit Machu Picchu (which, for those who dont know, is an site of Inca ruins situated in the Andes- 2,400m above sea level- discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, a professor from Yale. The city, never discovered and therefore never looted or destroyed by the Spanish, is impressively preserved.) Went with James, our southern gentleman(Tessa just calls him Georgia), and stayed in an Eco-lodge called Rupa Wasi. A bit of a splurge...and a disappointment! We planned to catch the first bus up to Macchu Picchu at 5:30AM so that we could see sunrise over the site. Rupa Wasi staff said no problem, organic breakfast at 4:45AM and packed lunches to take to the top. Well, at 5:10AM, no coffee and no eco-brown bagged lunches! Aggravated, we left without food but thankfully still managed to catch the first bus up.

Pricey entrance fee (120 soles, about US$36) which Georgia calls "gringo rape"!

Being first into the site was worth it though- looking out over the ruins at dawn, dewey grass, llamas grazing...appreciating the magnificance of this massive civilization, which was desserted years ago and not seeing a dozen tour groups, priceless! Lost Tessa in the first 10 minutes (and did we mention that the site is massive?). James and Sasha found her about an hour later playing with the llamas- who would have thought?!?

Without our packed lunches we had to eat at the Macchu Picchu lodge- their posh breakfast buffet set us back $20 each. Ouch!
After fueling up James and Sasha set off to hike up Huayna Picchu, the mountain right beside the site that provides overhead views. An hour of stone steps later, and slightly out of breath, we sat and admired the Inca site from the top of Huayna Picchu, a once in a lifetime opportunity. And Sasha, of course, insisted on doing some yoga poses right on the edge before heading back down. Wobbly legs at the bottom was a small price to pay! Recommended to all!"

So my first big travel adventure took place today. I bought a ticket for full camas (reclining chair) so I could sleep. Paid extra but its worth it on an 18 hour bus ride from Cusco to La Paz. I show up to the bus terminal and the driver tells me I´m upstairs with the locals in the economy seats. I explained to him that I paid extra and he told me that there´s nothing he can do about it, if I want a ride I need to get in NOW. So I was in a seat the size of a potty chair for 7 hours until we reached Puno where we transfered buses. The Puno bus was much nicer and even though it wasnt full camas, the seats were more comfortable. Then at the border, we stopped to get our passports stamped. As I waited in line, the driver kept yelling at me to hurry but I couldn´t just leave without the stamp. Right as my passport was being stamped I looked up and saw my bus drive away! Since my backpack was still on that bus, I really needed to follow that bus or else I was booking a flight home today. I paid a bus driver 10 Bolivians to let me bum a ride and when I get to Copacabana where all the buses stop, my bus isn´t there! Of course the people in the bus office (if you call a chair under an umbrella an office) assure me that my bag is A OK. And my question is, ¨If you take such good care of my bag, why did you leave me?¨

Payback is hell because as I was argueing with the bus people a huge group of travelers walked up and asked me what´s going on and I told them to take another bus company. They quickly walked away with the bus company employees chasing after them.

I´m supposed to go stand outside on the street in 20 minutes to get my bag, but I have a feeling that it might take a little longer and alot more american dollars than that to get it back.

Welcome to Bolivia!!!

The last few days have been great. Ive been hanging out with my buddy Brett and a ton of other guys from the hostel. Yesterday I went on a train with Sasha and Tessa to Auqua Caliente, which is the town outside Macchu Picchu. We walked around the town which was amazingly beautiful and enjoyed our day. The town can only be described as a Chinatown look in the mountains of Peru. Everywhere you look you see tall mountains, not in the distance, but almost close enough to touch, with a river flowing right through the middle of the town. After a few hours of walking around, the girls got tired and went back to the hostel, and I met up with 6 guys from the hostel who were enjoying happy hour. It was 3 aussies, 2 kiwis, a canadian, and me. We partied from about 4:30 till 7:00 and the whole time we were loud and obnoxious and having a generally rowdy time. So rowdy in fact that we had about 10 customers upstairs on the balcony enjoying their dinner and after about 10 minutes of hearing us, they quickly got up and left! Then at 7, the boys decided that they wanted to streak across the plaza, which meant it was time for me to leave.

I bought a bottle of Chilean wine called Castillo de Diablo, and went back to our hostel to hang with the girls. We ended up talking and laughing for about 3 hours before we decided to hit the sack. Our hostel was an Eco Lodge, which meant it was built into the landscape and was beautiful and organic. The lodges were wood and had amazing views. It also had a great bathroom and the girls let me use their bodywash so I felt clean for the first time since arriving in S. America.

We wole up at 5AM to catch the first bus in order to see the sun rise, but since it was cloudy at Macchu Picchu, we woke up for nothing. Macchu Picchu is the most expensive park Ive ever heard of. Its a $6 bus ride to and from the park, and ticket price was $40 american. I pitched a fit but they wouldnt come down. We spent a few hours in the park taking pics and enjoying the spectacular views, then headed back to the gate for brunch. The only place open was a buffet for $19 american, which was expensive but worth it. I ate like a king. Then Sasha and I hiked up Hyuana Picchu which is 1 hour of torcherous mountain climbing, but once up we had some of the best views a human can ever expect. Tessa didnt want to get sweaty so she stayed at the gate and read a book.

We caught the train back to Cusco and are going to eat dinner tonight then there is a party called School Disco at our hostel which is gonna be crazy. Too bad Im exhausted and just want to go to bed.

Arrives last night in Cusco via a nightbus, but my ticket said seat 4 so I sat in seat 4 and after our first stop some Peruvians got onboard with the same ticket as me. So I asked the bus manager where my seat was and he told me first class! Yay, except that there was a guy in my seat. We argued for a few minutes then the manager kicked him off the bus and told him that they sold him a ticket to my seat and that he would have to leave. I felt really bad about that, but I also felt good because I didnt want to sleep on the floor for 5 hours.

Met some young brits who invited me to stay at their hostel, we arrived at 3AM and I had a single room with double bed! The shower today was cold but good, then I caught a taxi to Loki. Met a guy from England who I went to lunch with and we had an awesome meal of rotisserie chicken. He's an athletic guy who goes to the gym and eats protein with every meal, so we have a lot in common. You dont meet alot of travelers who are in shape.

Today I'm just relaxing with a bottle of wine and a book and tonight I'm going to party at the hostel and really just relax with some of the friends I've met today and some travelers I've met in other places I've run into.

Last night I was walking around Arequipa and heard a familiar voice, so I peeked in the shop and it was my two friends from Holland! They were shopping buying belts and stuff and we decided to meet up later for dinner.

Then I went and hung out with Nobert, my buddy from Germany, and we decided to buy our tickets together for the bus ride to Puno.

At dinner me and the girls from Holland ate mexican food then went back to the hostel for a nightcap of Pisco and Ica Real (which tastes like sprite).

The bus ride today was looong and hot, I don´t know how they suvive in Peru without opening the windows on those stuffy buses. Ate dinner tonight with Nobert and it was the best fish I´ve ever eaten. I bought a tour for tomorrow to see the islands and met some aussie and british girls who are going to be there too. Then I leave on a night bus to Cusco!

Tonight is going to be awesome, me and Nobert got a single room with a private bathroom in a quiet part of town so I don´t have to worry about noise or other people waking me up!

Just got back from the a trek to the deepest canyon in the world. I saw condors with a 10ft wingspan, saw incan ruins, and slept in below freezing temps at 5,000 meters above sea level! I woke up several times last night gasping for air because I had altitude sickness, but other than that the trip was cool. Ate a sweet dinner tonight, filet mignon with my german friend for $7 american. It´s so cheap to live down here! I found my favorite beer of Peru, it´s called Cusquena Malta, which is a local brewed dark beer that´s really sweet. And my favorite wine is Gato Negro which comes in a box. We have either a drink of beer or wine with every meal because that´s what everyone else does around the world and it´s really cool.

The language barrier just hit me these last 2 days because I was stuck on a tour with 9 people from other countries who only spoke fractured english and couldn´t understand my accent. So there was a lot of hand signals and frustration when trying to talk. As I go to more populated areas, the english will become more rampant.

The last 2 days has been the celebration de aniversario for Arequipa and that means really loud obnoxious music all night long. I woke up at 5AM bother nights and they were still going at it. But the funny thing is that noone realy knows the song so its just a bunch of raquet! Its like 500 people all playing a different song! But I guess that´s how they party down here.

Tommorrow is Lake Titicaca where I´ll sleep on the reeds, and then onto Cusco where I plan to stay for a long time because I hear its one of the best places to go.

I´ll post pics as soon as I find a computer with a USB port.

At night, we went to Casa De Arena Dos, where me and my friends from Holland played Jenga with a group of touring Brits. The teachers were right in the middle of the party, tossing them back like they were in college again!

While sandboarding I met 2 Israelis(Israelis seem to be the people who travel the most) who invited me to go to a wine tasting tour. We went with a small group from our hostel to 2 local wineries to see how Pisco and Vino are made and also sample some of the fresh wines. The first was a very small Pisco winery where they still create the wine by hand, stomping the grapes by foot, etc.

The second winery was a larger more commercialized winery with many popular wines. The night before the tour I bought a bottle with dinner to share amongst our table and we decided as a group it was horrible. You can imagine how I felt when I heard that we were going to tour that same winery! 2 hours of drinking bad wine!

Also I met a cool Australian guy who I hung out with all day yesterday and then we met some folks from Montreal who only spoke French and a little English who we ate dinner with. At the bus station waiting or my 12 hour ride to Arequipa, I met some girls from France and Germany who spoke spanish and helped me negotiate with the bus company. It just so happens that they are also going to Arequipa, then Puno, then Cuzco, same as me! So Im sure Ill get to hang out with them some more.

Today I am walking around Arequipa with a local guide who is going to show me around. Today and tomorrow Arequipa is celebrating their independance with a huge festival in the square. Then after a day of fiesta, I wake up early tomorrow for a 2-day trek up to some volcanoes, hot springs, and the deepest canyon in the world. It was VERY expensive, but I think it will be worth it.

I cant hook my camera up to these computers because they are in an internet cafe, so Ill have to wait till I can get free wireless internet to upload my outlandish number of pics and videos.

5 hour bus ride from Lima to Ica, then a short taxi ride to Huacachina. This place is amazing. My hostel is gorgeous with 4 levels, hammocks, and a tiki bar in the common area, and the sister hostel 1 block down has a sweet restaurant/bar where everyone just chills on pillows on the floor and they play Bob Marley all night. The main attraction is sandboarding which is just like snowboarding except in the desert. A big dune buggy drives you up the hill, then you surf down. Big time fun so I hear. I´m going at 4PM today.

I hung out with some girls from Holland and their guide from Peru, all who spoke english better than me and we took tons of pictures of the lagoon. We even climbed up a sand mountain to take pics of the whole city at night. Then we went to a local bar that looked like someones backyard BBQ and I met 2 women from Spain. We played Jenga and they told me that if I lost I would have to dance on the bar. I lost 2 times but I think they set me up. I called them out and didn´t dance, but it was alot of fun. Went to bed early last night and slept like a baby. I was the first one up this morning at 7:30 in the whole hostel.

The weather in the desert is hot during the day and absolutely freezing at night. I had 2 extra thick blankets and was fine, but I don´t know how the other people managed. I guess travelers are used to extreme weather.

Next I want to go further south to Arequipa which is a 15 hour bus ride! I´m a little nervous about the next 7 days because I know that it´s going to get progressively colder each day. But after the amazing bus ride yesterday and meeting so many cool people, I can definitely see why this gets addicting. There is sooo much to experience and every day there´s just more and more to do. Also, travelers are really nice and always inclusive. So first thing when I arrived yesterday I met 5 people right off. Oh and the beds here are really comfortable and the pillow is thick and the blankets are soooo warm. This is the kind of place I could come to once a year for vacation and an adrenaline rush.

Lima at last! The plane from Houston to Lima was a 7 hour long nightmare. Small seats and lots of people all moving around. Luckily I planned ahead and had a taxi driver waiting on me at the airport holding a sign with my name on it.

Last night I went to bed as soon as I arrivedat 1AM. That was a bad idea. My roomate snored all night long and I had a thin blanket in freezing conditions and a pillow that looked like a thick pillowcase. Total sleep since Atlanta = 2 hours.

Ate breakfast this morning with an Australian girl who gave me some great info on what to buy, pack, and do while traveling. I'll get the hang of it yet. The biggest question I've asked everyone and gotten no answer to is "what do you do during the daytime?" To which I haven't received any real answers. Examples: 1. "Umm, just kinda chill. Plan your next move." 2. "You walk around and see what's going on. Like yesterday I walked around the entire city for 10 hours and took pictures."

So after breakfast I took off with my water bottle and a camera. After an hour of walking I saw the beach on the west coast of Lima and had a great photo op. I quickly grabbed a local and asked him with wild arms flailing if he would do the honors. After a few minutes of unsuccessful picture attempts, I realized my batteries were dead. So I turned around and hiked another mile back towards town uphill, then got smart and got a taxi ride for $1.50.

Good news. Bought a fleece jacket for $7.75, 2 new shirts for $6, and some other doodads. I'm such an American! But tonight should be interesting b/c there's about 35 people here ready to party. Seems like the game plan is sleep till 3PM, smoke cigarettes all day while surfing the net, then party till 5AM. I don't know if that's going to work for me but hey, when in Rome!

I officially have a sponsor for my backpacking trip! Gramicci Clothing has decided that my rugged good looks and overall marketability is a perfect match for their brand image. That, and also because I asked them very nicely to sponsor me.

My last day at Courier Connection was Friday and it was very weird thinking that I won't be working there anymore. For the last 2 years I've worked my butt off for them and I've seen so many things change as the company grew. I also realized over the last 2 weeks just how much effect I had on the company and it's growth. It's good to look back and see that my work actually accomplished something tangible. There was no party, no hugs, just goodbye. I don't like long goodbyes anyway so I'm glad it ended like that. John and Lomax are great guys that are like mentors to me. I hope that they realize how important they were to me while I was learning about business after college.

Only 7 days till I leave, I have lots of work to do beforehand. I'm so excited though I think about the trip 24/7. I know that it's going to be one of the defining experiences of my life.

Countdown continues! I'm slowly but surely gathering my gear for the trip.

I keep hearing over and over again, people telling me that I'm so lucky to be able to travel down to S. America. But isn't everyone ABLE to travel. Couldn't anyone just save up $2,000, take a hiatus from their job, and just go for a month? The most difficult part really going for it was quitting my job. I thought "What will I do for money? I can't just drop my career, I worked so hard! Will anyone want to hire me when I get back?" and other scary questions. But then I realized that LOTS of people take extended vacations from work to travel and things always work out. I don't want to be the guy who tells his kids "I almost went down to S. America, but I didn't because I was scared of what would happen when I got back." I want my kids to take some risks and be adventurous so I have to be too!

I decided after my recent trip to Acapulco for Spring Break that I would begin traveling. Since I've traveled to most provinces of Canada with my grandparents and driven through a fair bit of America, I'm not totally clueless to the perils of travelling. But I'm also not ignorant of the adventures. So after meeting a native of Peru and hearing her describe the country, I thought I'd quit my corporate sales job and actually do something FUN with my life.

And that fun thing is backpacking South America.