FELIZ NAVIDAD!! Bolivia Style

We set up in the kitchen, prepared for a Bolivian-American-French feast (we met a nice French guy, Sebastian, who´s traveling solo, so we adopted him.) When suddenly, 8 Koreans stroll in with 90 bags of groceries and a much more efficient cooking system than ours. We enjoyed a few bites of their spicy food, took a few shots of Korean liquor and got down to business. If anyone knows Lori´s and my experience with cooking, you know this is a recipe for disaster :) Well, kinda.

Our feast was to consist of chicken cutlets, a sweet potato dish, green bean casserole, apple crisp, tomato-basil-mozzarella-vinegar things (you know what I mean) and shrimp. We would have a feast!! (And really, with a few modifications, it was excellent. We´re still eating it day 2 and all is good!)

The only big problem is that necessary ingredients in the states, don´t really exist here. We started by asking for a super market. The nice woman at our hostal told us, go here, turn here, one block, up here and you´ll find a super market. Ok, great. Only it wasn´t a super market, it was a super street market. The ol´choose your chicken from the unplucked ones hanging by their feet and nothing is refrigerated super market. I mean, it was super big and super Bolivian. But not a super market. We bought what we could find; mozzarella cheese, vegetables, milk stuff and avoided the hanging chickens with hopes of finding a real super market (Super Stop n Shop, where are you??)

Thankfully, the next day we had only a few more things to buy and we found a real super market. The super market was, by far, our best Christmas present (though, if need be, Lori did volunteer to de-feather the chicken :) As amazing as our new found super market was, we quickly noted we would not be celebrating our feast with the necessary US ingredients. Apple pie filling (for the apple crisp) was replaced with regular apples to be peeled (does a peeler exist in this country or only butter knives?) Pecans (the topping for the sweet potato dish) were replaced with oatmeal. Brown sugar (also for the sweet potatoes) was replaced with unrefined white sugar (Is it really the same?) 4 cans of French Cut green beans (for the green bean casserole) were replaced with 2 huge bags of fresh green beans, which for a moment caused us to panic, thinking we had bought 2 huge bags of pea pods. (While cooking the green beans, I asked our French friend if he would cut them for us. I mean, the "French Cut" must come naturally to him? I bet there´s a whole factory of Frenchmen cutting beans in the states.)

Pre-church Christmas Eve, we chowed down on some delicious shrimp prepared by Sebastian. They were great! After a little partying with our new Korean friends, we were off to midnight mass at the big cathedral in La Paz. The only unique thing we noted here was that everyone had baby Jesus dolls that they brought with them to church. We had forgotten ours. There was also one blubbering drunk man harassing the poor people sitting in our row of seats. "Christmas is about love." Thanks for the wisdom!

After church, we celebrated with a sort of dry, apple crisp. The next morning, we set up shop again to start french cutting the beans and finish up the chicken cutlets, sweet potato dish, green bean casserole and tomato-basil-mozzarella-vinegar things. Honestly, everything was going well until we discovered the mozzarella cheese we had bought at the super street market, had probably been sitting in the sun for the past 2 years. What´s chicken cutlets and tomato-basil-mozzarella without mozzarella!!

We survived our cheese less Christmas with the rest of our improvised successes, exchanged gifts, took naps... and of course, made the much needed phone call home to hear all about the family festivities in RI. Thankfully, we celebrated our first Christmas away from home with the one person who practically is home. Not many people have this unique opportunity. Being far from home, one can´t ask for anything better.

We really missed our families. Next year, waking up Christmas morning and opening our presents surrounded by our families will be that much more special.

Happy Quarter Century Birthday to Me!

We celebrated my birthday fabulously on a swan paddle boat in Lake Titicaca. We were well prepared with so much of Bolivia´s famous snack food (which resembles exploded Kelloggs Corn Pops) that we were a little nauseaus from our unruly swan in the open lake and an overload of sweet cereal.

It was a great, crisp (like cold) birthday with an amazing sunset! Looking across the lake at Peru, seemed like we were looking across the ocean. It was incredible.





But of course, that was one of 3 days of celebration (not including our sweet trip to the Isla del Sol). Day 2, I recieved a nice necklace from a friend and a strange statue thing from a very nice guy we met in a cafe. I blew out a candle at a bar and had a few drinks. Lastly, Day 3 (in La Paz, Bolivia) I ate 3 salteñas (scrumptuous Bolivian empandas) in one day. As my dad always says about lobster, I say about salteñas - The first one is always as good as the last one.

Do you want our money or not? Copacabana, Bolivia

Alojamiento Emperador Calle Murillo 235, 15 bolivianos (this place is clean with hot showers, but do not leave money, passport, etc in the room... we think they have sticky fingers and you might end up with a fake bill or two.)

At 3800m above sea level, we panted and wondered why we decided to save the 50 cents and hump our backpacks to the hostal. We´re still getting used to the exchange rate and the ridiculously high altitude.

We realized right away that Copacabana was NOT the Copacabana with Lola the showgirl, nor was it the hottest place north of Havana. It is actually its much colder, more laid back and similarly named twin. Did I mention it was cold? But still, we enjoyed this little hole in the wall place.

In Copacabana, it was just a normal day, as one señora explained to us. Everyday is just a normal day with colorful blessings of cars at 11am in the church square (new cars off to La Paz, Bolivia) and people who won´t sell you half a block of cheese... or really anything! They only sell these massive hunks of cheese. Are we seriously the only ones who don´t want enough cheese for 40 people?

Customer service was, at it´s best, iffy and unfriendly. My saying about Ecuador stands true here. The customer is always wrong.

Copacabana is famous for Lake Titicaca (heehee... you know you want to chuckle a little) Titi in Aymara (an Inca language) means cat. And caca... well, no one really explained it to us. It can´t possibly mean cat poop :)

Lake Titicaca is where the Incas began. Supposedly, an Inca God and the first Incas, Manco Capac and Mama Huaca, mystically appeared out of the lake. And thus beings the legend of the Incas. It is a huge, amazing and beautiful lake (and cold... did I mention that yet?)

There are two islands in the lake, The Isla del Sol (The Island of the Sun) and The Isla de la Luna (The Island of the Moon). The Isla del Sol has about 5000 pretty much self sufficient people living on it. The Isla de la Luna is much smaller, less visited and I don´t think anyone lives there.

We took a boat ride and visited The Isla del Sol (despite the freezing rain. Of course, Copacabana has beautiful weather 10 months out of the year. Guess which two months are rainy? :) We visited (more) Inca ruins, saw where a temple existed in Lake Titicaca but as the lake rose, it was eventually swallowed up and finally, we took what should be a 3 hour hike in 2.5 brisk, sweaty, sun baked hours from the north end of the island to the south end. It was absolutely gorgeous! It was a fabulous way to get away from civilization and begin my week of birthday celebrations!

The last part of our Lake Titicaca tour, we visited mini floating islands. The floating islands are communities that were created hundreds of years ago for people to avoid the war hungry Incas and Collas. The islands are made of reeds called totora from the lake. Hundreds and hundreds of thick layers of reeds create these floating islands. They are able to support communities of people. Pretty impressive! We only saw little mini replicas, but on the Peru side of the lake (Lake Titicaca is split between Bolivia and Peru) the islands support hundreds of Uros people. Everything is made of these reeds: houses, churches, boats, food (no... kidding.) The mini´s were pretty cool, I´m sure the giant ones are a triple wow!

Thanks Lonely Planet for the technical information in this blog entry.

From Cuzco to Puno to Copacabana

$1 = 7 Bolivianos

Bolivia has been described as, "Simply Superlative... It's the hemisphere's highest, most isolated and most rugged nation. It's one of earth's coldest, warmest, windiest and steamiest places. It boasts among the driest, saltiest and swampiest natural landscapes in the world. Although the poorest country in South America, it's one of the richest in terms of natural resources. It's also South America's most indigenous country..." -Lonely Planet.

From the small amount we've seen so far, we would have to agree.

The border crossing into Bolivia was distinct from Peru. This time, the immigration official didn't want our phone numbers; he just wanted our money. Come to find out, U.S. citizens need a $135 visa to enter Bolivia. We are one of the two countries that has this requirement. (Thanks Bush!)

While everyone else on our bus skipped happily, cost-free through immigration, then sat patiently on the bus waiting, the dos americanas filled out visa applications. Apparently we also needed to show proof of a yellow fever vaccination. Since we didn't have that, they squeezed another $10 out of us. (One guy also told me he needed a copy of my credit card! Even if I had arrived to South America yesterday, I don't think I would have fallen for that one.)

Before giving us our visas, one of the officers gave us a speech about how much Bolivians pay ($180 ?) for a 30 day visa to the states. (hmm ok, he has a point there.) We finally took our newly stamped passports and crossed the border; with a lot of good memories behind us, happy to begin a new adventure.

Is Machu Picchu Overrated?

"Machu Picchu is overrated!" was written on the train tracks on the way to Aguas Calientes. Really? We thought...(worried that it wouldn't live up to our expectations.) After 3 long days, we'd have to... disagree! (You'd have to decide for yourself...)

Overall, the experience was amazing! Machu Picchu itself is really breathtaking and we definitely got lucky sharing the experience with two irreplaceable friends, Dan and Peter. We told them they're our favorite Swedes (they are also the only Swedes we know). Regardless, we're sure that whoever we meet next, Swede or not, they'll have some big shoes to fill!

Do you guys want to see something real? Machu Picchu, Peru

Hostal Caminantes when you enter Aguas Calientes, right off the train tracks 10 soles x person

We opted for the cheap option to visit Machu Picchu, which involves not-so-comfortable buses, waking up early to hike a lot and sharing rooms :) But it was amazing!

Day 1
5:20am Wake up. Lori and I are sharing a bed because it´s soooooo cold in Cuzco. 6am Leave Cuzco Hostal, eat a rice, egg and french fry breakfast in the market (which our Swedish friend Peter said "I can´t eat french fries this early, and definitely not without Rhode Island Sauce!"
7:20am Arrive at bus station (too late... the ol´ hurry up and wait trick)
8:30am Leave for a windy, unpaved trip to Santa Maria
8:40-8:42am Listen to man telling his sad life story and selling candies
8:43-9:00am Listen to different man (similar sad story?) selling all healing, all curing, all natural Peruvian cream. 4 soles to cure every problem we could have? I think it even promises you´ll find true love or something.
9:01am Lori says "I have all those problems he´s describing!" (Especially the love problems.)
9:02am We buy the miracle product anticipating the activities we have ahead of us.
9:05-10:05am Listen to different man selling math books, science books and Spanish dictionaries. We lose his trivia questions (Percentages were invented in the 1600s, not the 1500s... why do we need to know this?)
10:05am Peace and quiet finally!
10:06am-2:00pm We try our best to keep our breakfast down (at a pee stop, I have to say that I´ve never seen so many people pee squatting (in their long skirts), pee standing and vomiting... great.)
2:00pm We arrive to Santa Maria. Phewf!
2:10pm We board a van to the Hydroelectric Plant about 2 hours away.
2:11pm I chat it up with the driver as we fly around death defying curves on the edges of cliffs.
2:15pm Lori tells me to shut up and let the man drive. Yeah, I was just going to do that.
4:00pm We arrive at the Hydroelectric Plant, we pray for a moment, thanking God that we arrived in one piece.
4:15pm We start walking the 7km hike to Aguas Calientes (Walking on train tracks isn´t as much fun as it seems in the movies.)
6:30pm It´s getting dark. Is that a tunnel ahead? Thank God for our two valiant Swedes! As we are leaving the second tunnel (and I´ve practically peed my pants from fear) Peter tells me he was glad I was there with him because he felt safer. He doesn´t know me very well :)
6:45pm We arrive to our decent hostal and pay 10 soles each to share a room between the four of us... Eat... Sleep.
3:30am I wake up Dan with my mindless sleep talking. This time it´s a caveman pick up line. "OK, here we go. You´re a good looking male and I´m a good looking female." And they say Americans are to the point... no... :) I think that wins the award for the Best Nerd Pick Up Line ever. What was I dreaming about?

Day 2
4:20am After one alarm clock beep, Peter springs out of bed, proclaiming "Good Morning!" Lori and I are shocked, we´ve never in our lives woken up in this prompt manner.
5am We´re in line to buy bus tickets. Why is this so chaotic? Isn´t this a Wonder of the World, shouldn´t this be more organized??!?!? Wait... It´s Peru and it´s 5am... EVERYONE RELAX!!
6am We arrive to Machu Picchu.
6:01-10:10am WOW! Our mouths hang open in awe. We spend these hours admiring in amazement how this beautiful place could have been constructed! Lori incessantly videotapes "the edge." Fear of heights maybe? :)
10:11am We being the climb to Wayna Picchu. Our mouths are still hanging open but mostly from the panting and heavy breathing from the steep, exhausting climb.
11am We arrive at the top of Wayna Picchu (2600m) to find more ruins. We´re on the top of a tiny, steep, jutting mountain folks... how can these ruins be here!?!? Lori´s still thinking about the edge :)
12pm We begin the climb back down. Did the Incas have really small feet? These are the smallest, steepest, highest stairs we´ve ever seen. Pee-your-pants material my friends.
1pm Pooped with a capital P, we eat lunch. Thankfully we brought our own lunch, but we did have to breakdown and buy a 10 sol bottle of water (Aren´t we paying 10 soles for our hostal?)
2:30pm We start the hike back to the hostal with our spaghetti legs.
3:45pm We arrive at the hostal. Shower. Nap. Eat. Drink. Sleep. Oh, that was real good!

Day 3
5:40am Alarm clock doesn´t beep because Dan set this time for 5:30pm. No, it can´t be! It´s toooo early!! Even Peter doesn´t jump up. Are we in hell?
6:30am We´re back on the train tracks. 7km to the Hydroelectric Plant.
9am We squeeze into a crappy station wagon with 8 other people (including some friendly Brazilian hippies)
9:30am We´re back on Death Road. No distractions this time, I´m sitting in the back of the wagon between Dan and some backpacks... asleep.
11am We arrive to Santa Maria.
11:02am Yipee! Here comes the bus! They don´t let us on. What?!?
11:03am-2pm The ol´ hurry up and wait trick. We eat breakfast, talk sleepy nonsense and wait for the next bus. We play a card game we learned from our Thanksgiving American friends, Dan and Paul. Wait. Invent a card game. Wait. Talk nonsense (Didn´t we do this already?) Wait.
2:40pm Bus comes! We get on and happily begin our trip home.
2:50pm People come on the bus with tickets for our seats. No problem, we´ll stand for a bit.
3:30pm We´re still standing. We´re sure a seat will open up any minute now.
3:35pm We meet some nice (also standing) Polish guys. We share interesting conversation.
4:10pm Lori´s feeling nauseous. Still no seats. Convo with Polish guys becomes dull.
5:00pm Road gets windier. Lori feels sicker. Still no seats. Polish weather discussion begins.
6:00pm Our legs have locked in the standing position.
7:00pm I´m thinking about punching someone for a seat.
8:00pm $?!Ñ¡*!!!!!!!!!
9:00pm Off the bus, in a taxi. We have to keep the doors open because our legs won´t bend due to excessive standing. (Just kidding.)

Back to hostal. Shower. Eat bad hamburgers. Go dancing (I don´t honestly know how we´re still using our legs.) Sleep.

Machu Picchu $100 (Not including celebration drinks or a massage :)

3 days of amazingness and fun with Peter and Dan, priceless :):)

Cuzco, Peru: Do You Want a Massage Lady?

Hostal Huiñary (or something like that...) - Saphi Street, 10 soles a night (includes breakfast with hard bread and pancakes!)

Before putting on our trekking shoes and heading up to Machu Picchu, one of the 7 wonders of the world, we spent a couple of days in Cuzco relaxing and getting to know the city. We arrived in Cuzco with our new Swedish friends and we followed them to a cheap hostel to meet their Brazilian friend, Livia. The hostel turned out to be a Hebrew hostel and the 5 of us, the only non-Israelis there. The place was nice, had a cozy feel, although, it was actually so cold that Laura and I had to sleep in the same bed in order to avoid freezing to death at night.


Cuzco turned out to be less annoying than we had imagined, since everyone told us it was sooo touristy. We did get tired of people asking us if we wanted massages. They were even selling Swedish Massages to Swedes who had never heard of such a thing.

The food in Cuzco wasn't the best we had eaten, but we did try alpaca (similar to a llama) burgers. Tasted like a hamburger to me!

We spent one afternoon hiking up a zillion stairs to a giant statue of Jesus Cristo, of course on the top of a big hill. When we got to the top it was raining and so muddy that we literally slid to the feet of Jesus.

While in Cuzco we did learn a few important things. Livia taught us a cheap and off--the-beaten track way to get up to Machu Picchu. Most tours that take the Inca trail cost anywhere between 200 and 500 dollars. We spent $100. Almost equally as important, we learned that there are no Swedish Fish in Sweden! (What?? How can this be? Have the candy companies been deceiving us?) However, although the Swedes didn't know what Swedish Fish are, they told us that there is this really popular thing in Sweden called "Rhode Island Sauce" and that french fries are not complete without it. (Ummm... Rhode Islanders out there... have you heard of this??)

Cuzco is definitely a really beautiful city, probably the most beautiful we've seen so far, except Quito of course.

Arequipa, Peru: Does It Smell Like Christmas?

Home Sweet Home - Rivero 506 y Ayacucho
20 soles (shared bathroom, breakfast including yummy crepes)

Arequipa is called the "White City" because of the off-white volcanic rock used in most of the architecture. There isn't too much happening in the White City, although it is very beautiful. The ride to Arequipa wasn't exactly beautiful however...(why haven`t we left the desert yet?)


The highlight of our 3 day stay in Arequipa was Museo Santury where "Juanita, the Ice Princess" can be seen. Juanita was a 14 year old girl from the Inca period (around 1400-1500 AD), most likely royalty. She was sacrificed at the top of Nevado Ampato Mountain, after having walked for 3 months to get there. Her death was meant to calm the angry gods who "punished" the Incas with natural disasters. (Well, Arequipa is at the base of several active volcanoes!!!) Her body was almost perfectly preserved in the snow, until she was discovered by a German some years ago. Although Laura expected the site to be creepy, it was actually a very fascinating, but equally sad, window into the past.

While in Arequipa, we thought we should try the traditional food. The lunch was good (except the pigs feet!), but not worth the 700 soles that they waiter tried to charge us! (Just as we were thinking... "we have to wash dishes," the waiter brought us the correct bill, oops!!!) We particularly liked the "rocoto relleno" (stuffed pepper). The folkloric music in the background was...nice, although the musicians appeared lost at times. We ended up with so much food that we had to eat it for two days!

On the last day we met 2 guys from Sweden, Dan and Peter. We had a good feeling about them when Dan asked Peter if his Mexican food smelled like Christmas. (Do they eat refried beans for Christmas in Sweden?) Little did we know, this was only the beginning of an entertaining week and two, great, new friendships...

ET or The Incas?... Nazca, Peru

Hotel Nazca 25 soles for a double, Av. Lima (it´s such a small town, all taxistas know where it is)

After leaving Lima we headed South to Nazca, Peru which is a hole in the wall town. We spent some funny 28 hours here. We discovered Slovenia, a country we didn´t know existed until we met Ivan, our new Slovenian friend ("I don´t know all the 50 states, you don´t have to know all the countries in Europe"). We knew we´d be friends right off the bat when we took a picture together (after meeting for 2 minutes) and he proclaimed "It´s like we´ve been friends for months!"

We visited the famous Nazca Lines which are mysterious geoglyphs (straight lines and geometric images) in the desert sand. How they were created, no one actually knows. But theories say that maybe aliens created these lines, maybe early Incas. Who knows? But what we do know is that up above, in a 4 seater plane, is the only way you can see these lines. A 4 seater plane in Peru... does this make anyone else nervous? Yeah... we know what you mean.

We quickly bonded with Ivan, while we all bravely fought bouts of nausea from our flipping stomachs. The pilot told us, as he made three stomach jumping rotations around an imagine, "The tip of the plane wing is pointing at the humming bird (as we feverishly looked at our pamphlet and then the desert sand, searching for similarities)" I´m thinking, Should the wing of our plane be perpendicular to the ground? I´m sure Jay (my cousin) does this every time he flies... if he can do it, our nice Peruvian Pilot surely can (As he tells us to "Get right up close to the window ladies!" Lori and I have already fogged it up with our nose prints.)

All in all, the impressive desert lines made our jaws drop. "Magical" as our Israeli friend described them. Be it that they were created by ET, the Incas (in approximately years 200 BC - 600 AD) or the government (to up tourism, Lori´s theory), they are mind-boggling. More or less 300 hundred figures cover about 400 square miles of the Peruvian desert. $50 will get you in a tiny, bouncy plane to see about 20 of them. That was all our stomachs could handle. It was pretty amazing.

Some other funny things happened during our 28 hours in Nazca with our Slovenian friend. (Remember... simple minds, simple pleasures.) We were looking at some postcards of the Nazca Lines in a souvenir shop and one was terrible quality. (I can see Jeffy P saying "You have to take this minuscule image and sttttrrrrreeeettttcccchhhh it.") I´m ranting and raving, "Look at this garbage! This is terrible quality! Does anyone even know what this is? I mean, it´s all pixilated and everything. You can hardly make out what it is! It looks two llamas or something... they expect to sell this junk?" We turn over the postcard and the caption says "Two Llamas Nazca Lines, Peru"

We were figuring out which bus company to take to Arequipa, Peru (our next destination). Ivan showed us a brochure from Cruz del Sur, a fancy bus company that we´ve never traveled in but heard alot about. I´m looking at the brochure and read one of the perks, BINGO. "Ivan, this bus company is the best! You guys even play BINGO!" We definitely have never played BINGO on the buses we take. We´re just lucky no one steals our stuff. BINGO... hmmm... definitely a selling point.

Then I read another perk, Musical Instruments. What the?!? "And they give you musical instruments?" I ask Ivan. He replies "What are you talking about?" Lori says "Gimme that thing... let me see..." Ah yes, minor error... Instrumental music. Now that makes more sense. We laughed and joked for the next 5 hours about musical instruments on the bus. Imagine, bus attendants handing out musical instruments to passengers... one gets an accordion, another maybe a trombone (and he´s hitting the guy in front of him in the head), a flute, cymbals... the whole marching band. We were laughing soooo hard, we were crying. Just thinking of a bus full of rich tourists with their instruments all playing them terribly and loudly at the same time. Someone with a harp, another with the pan flute, the trumpet, drums... think about it.

10pm, please return your instruments to the nearest bus attendant. Music time is over, lights out, time to sleep.

Off to Arequipa :)

The Home of the Cajòn: Chincha, Peru

Chincha, a city slightly to the south of Lima, is the city where the cajòn peruano originated and is really the home of afro-peruvian music. In August of 2007 much of Chincha, Pisco and Ica (two nearby cities) were destroyed by an earthquake that registered 7.9 on the Richter scale! Although we didn't make a stop in Chincha, the sights we saw while passing through were despairing. The damage done to the city over a year ago is frightfully apparent. Hopefully this place that holds so much culture, a real Peruvian treasure, will be brought back to life again.

What is the Cajòn Peruano?

The cajòn (said, cu-hown) peruano is an instrument that has developed over the years since African slaves were brought to Peru. When the slaves arrived, they had no musical instruments which is problematic in a culture that relies so much on music. So what did they do? They started using whatever they could find in order to make music. Originally they used giant pumpkins or fruit crates as drums. The crates eventually developed into what is known today as the cajòn (literally, "drawer" in English); a very diverse instrument with a really beautiful sound, that to most people looks like an ordinary box with a hole in the back. In Peru, the cajòn is used mostly in two types of music: creole (mix of European and African) music like the Peruvian waltz and Afro-Peruvian music with rhythms such as Landò and Festejo. Festejo is always accompanied by a happy, flirtatious dance (between men and women) that involves a lot of exaggerated hip moments and shoulder shakes. (Ask Laura for a demonstration when she gets back!)


Another instrument that developed in the same way as the cajòn is the "cajita" (in English "little box") which is in fact, exactly what it sounds like. This instrument, like the cajòn, was developed from a household item.

Probably the most surprising is the "quijada de burro", (donkey`s jaw bone). This instrument is used by striking the wide end of the jaw with the side of your fist. It has a really unique sound. (Do you think I could get one of these through customs?)

Peruvians are really proud of their culture, especially their music, as they should be!

If you're interested in Peruvian music look for Eva Ayllòn, currently one of the most popular Peruvian artists (mine and Laura`s personal favorite). She now lives in New Jersey.