Joshua's Blog

To see some really stunning images from our trip, definitely check out Joshua's blog.

http://jjbphoto.com/blog/

Now that we're back in "civilization" i.e. the land where computers actually function at semi-normal speeds, the key boards don't stick and people actually know the meaning of USB, Joshua has been able to get some more photos up -- Bolivia and paragliding. Well worth a look!

Parapente!

The best part of being in a country with a third the regulations at a third the cost is the possibilities for living on the edge-- or off the edge as the case may be! Joshua and I decided that our trip wouldn't be complete without an afternoon of paragliding... and how right we were! It was such an incredible, thrilling, freeing experience that I'm now contemplating the idea of learning how to do it myself... one to three months for five hundred dollars, not bad at all!

Joshua is under the red sail in the upper lefthand corner

Getting ready to launch

My feet in the air, with the shadow of sail below

Self-portrait while flying

The sail that carried me down -- 16 min. total descent time

The landing pad

Joshua on his way in for landing...

Joshua nearing the ground...

Touch down!

A perfectly blue sky day

Northern Argentina

The crazy, beautiful road to Cachi. The five of us (Katja, Fin, Joshua, Sabrina and I) rented a car in Salta to drive this very scenic, five hour one way route!
Joshua hanging out at our hostel in Uspallata. The hostel was several kilometers outside of the town and since it's the off season (meaning too snowy and cold to climb Aconcangua) we had the whole place to ourself. The fall colors were beautiful and the setting tanquil!
Joshua and our guide on the two hour horseback riding trip we did from the hostel in Uspallata
Me and Joshua

The beautiful colors in the Quebrada de Cafayate (just outside the town of guess where?... yep, Cafayate)
Joshua, Sabrina, Katja, Fin and I sitting down to the great dinner we made in Cafayate
A really beautiful rose growing next to a vineyard in Cafayate
The famous mountain of Aconcagua
Joshua infront of our tent in Aconcagua National Park. We had planned to do a five day backpacking trip in the park. Small detail: Nobody, from Information in Mendoza to outdoor equipment store clerks to hostel managers, happened to mention that the park is closed to backpacking this time of year. We ended up setting up our tent near the ranger station and doing day hikes into the park. This actually turned out to be quite nice, full of great views of the mountain and sleeping in until the sun hit the tent, just not what we expected.

One of many cool cactus scattered throughout Northern Argentina
Joshua and Fin, delighted to find McDonalds!
The five of us infront of the stacks of Santo Domingo wine bottles (in Cafayate.... we did a wine tour... rico)
Argentines do love their meat

Travel...

Would you rather be stranded on a Carribean beach or in a South American desert? I can now say I've had both experiences. The Carribean beach in Honduras, and the South American desert yesterday. The jeep we were all piled into was putting along nicely, and then sputtering along not so nicely, and then completely stopped. Somehow water seeped into and saturated the oil. With miles of desert in every direction we had no choice but to wait, and wait we did.

Two hours later a bus comes rolling down the road. We flag it down and crawl in. On our way again... right? Nope. Some 45 minutes later there's a loud bang and something is broken. At least this was fixable and only set us back an hour. By the time we pulled into Tupiza, all the buses for the border had long since left and we had no choice but to hole up for the night in the town.

At 4 a.m. this morning we were back on the road. A smooth border crossing, and by 7 a.m. were in Argentina. We found a bus to Salta and seemed now to really actually be on our way... that was until we ran into a road block set up by protesters, resulting in a minor half hour delay.

Why don't more people backpack through South America?

I do have to say that while I really enjoyed Bolivia, I'm super happy to be back in Argentina. In some ways crossing the border felt like coming home. Everything is so familiar and I feel so at ease. As soon as we checked into our hostel here in Salta, Katya, Sabrina (a girl from Germany who's now traveling with us) and I went to a really nice cafe for coffee. With the exception of one place I found in Copacabana, it's the first really good coffee I've had in a month. Now I'm going wild with, and sligtly in awe of, the high speed internet connection and fast computers. It's amazing what little things we take for granit.

Our jeep broken down in the middle of the desert

An Argentine bus station we passed through on our way to Salta

Serafin showing his utter excitement for bus travel on day two

Sabrina, Katja and I at the cafe here in Salta

Salar tour

Joshua and I, with our friends from Austria (Katya and Serafin), did a three day tour of the salar (Bolivia's huge salt plane) and surrounding high altitude desert. It was a spectacular, fun-filled three days... perhaps the highlight of my time in Bolivia!

The tour started at a train grave yard, now an awesome jungle gym scattered with all sorts of random rusting parts

Serafin on top of a train

Serafin and Katja Standing by the flags outside the Salt Hotel on the salar. The Salt Hotel is an actual hotel built completely out of salt.
Serafin
Joshua hugging a salt mound. They shovel the salt into these pyraminds to let the water settle, making the dried salt much easier to transport.
The four of us hiding behind a salt mound
Souveniers made from salt Joshua at lunch on the first day... llama steaks and quinoa... yum!
Fish Island... a cactus filled mound smack dab in the middle of the salt flat
The cool cactus on Fish Island
Preparing for lunch
Katja and I drinking a beer in the Salt Hotel... even the furniture was made out of salt Joshua, Serafin and I ontop of Tree Rock. We brought our climbing shoes specifically with the hope of finding a route up this rock. Success!
Flamingos! We saw so many flamgos. It was great!
Reflections on a flamingo filled lake
The many rocks, which were formed by lava and strewn throughout the desert, made for sweeet bouldering.
Handstands on the salt flat
Gotta love the sign. We made our driver stop just to take this picture =)
A volcano reflecting on Laguna Verde. Beautiful!
We watched this sunrise while SOAKING IN HOTSPRINGS!
Alpacas and a baby flamgino enjoying the afternoon More bouldering fun!
The moon over the desert