Machu Picchu was amazing... the pictures don´t do it justice:

We took a flight in a teeny tiny plane from La Paz, Bolivia to a town named Rurrenabaque. ´We are about an hour away from going to the airport and boarding the same 12 seater. Atleast the weather is fine... although I still question the dirt runway. Yes... it´s a dirt runway.

Why did we come to this town?

We took a 3 hour dirt road to the river where we saw monkeys, pink dolphins, and a number of birds I can´t begin to name. We also went anoconda hunting, but that proved less than fruitful as they were probably scared away by the herd of 500 cattle down the muddy road. All in all, it was in good fun.

Will post pics as soon as I can sort out the mess.

3000 meter descent, gravel roads, and waterfalls...

I loved Gravity Assisted biking. It was thrilling taking a turn and being just feet away from a drop. There were waterfall that we needed to ride through. Love it. Highly recommended for anyone that bikes!

Gravity Bolivia

Three days into our trip, I loose the cable for the Nikon D80 charger. Totally bummed, and disappointed at not being able to find a replacement cable in four different cities in three countries, I give up. The camera would stay in its carrier, until those special times... Iguazu, Machu Picchu. We were walking in the electronics district of La Paz, when we see a cable that seemed like it would fit. After thnking about it a little, we decide to just give it a shot, at 7 Bolivianos, the equivalent of 1 USD, we didn't really have much to lose.

And EUREKA! It works! So the battery is happily being charged. Life is good again.

SPOT Check OK. Checking in. We're okay. Wanted to convey our coordinates.
ESN:0-7345235
Latitude:-16.4953
Longitude:-68.1404
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:03/28/2008 15:46:43 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-16.4953,-68.1404&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

We LOVED Cuzco. Machu Picchu was amazing... can{t wait to post pictures. We saw a lot of Incan ruins. We hopped a bus out of Cuzco, Peru two days ago. Now we{re in Coapacabana, Boliva. We spent the night in Isla del Sol, and the views were breathtacking. Isla del Sol is in Lake Titicaca.

We{re going to be hopping a bus off to La Paz, Bolivia in 30 minutes or so.

Amazing!

SPOT Check OK. Checking in. We're okay. Wanted to convey our coordinates.
ESN:0-7345235
Latitude:-13.5216
Longitude:-71.9756
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:03/24/2008 17:44:57 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-13.5216,-71.9756&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Tonight, at about 8 ish, we´re heading to Cuzco. Yay. Will check in when I can, as internet access seems to be more and more scarce.

Inca Training!

Machu Picchu!

I did it... I cashed in my fancy hotel card... at the Intercontinental in Buenos Aires. We're just staying in BA for the night, and we booked another party hostel... along the same vein as Mellow Yellow. We got there, and requested to be in the same room. They put us in a bi-level room, each of the beds are on a different floor. One of the beds was under open steps... so as people walk up, they're dropping dust from their shoes onto your bed. Not cool.

Otherwise, Hostel Clan, in BA, would have been a decent place to stay. Since we've been in BA already, and we just wanted a good night' rest, it wasn't for us.

We had booked Loki Hostel, another party Hostel in Cuzco, but given that I might be suffering from altitude sickness, I preferred a lower key place. Rest and relaxation and plenty of coca tea for the first few days.

Anyone have any feedback regarding altitude sickness?

Our plans have been thwarted!

Originally, we had planned to go through Asuncion, Paraguay to make it into La Paz, Bolivia. But we were dissuaded, as there isnt much to do or see in Paraguay. So the route was changed to enter Argentina at Puerto Iguazu and bus it to Salta, ARG. Then up to Bolivia. No problem, except that its 17 hours to Salta, with a day layover in Resistencia, ARG. All overnight buses. BUT thats only the Argentine side! Then its another 7 hours to the border of Bolivia and Argentina. And another 20 plus hours to La Paz on non-paved roads in Boliva.

So, at 9pm, at the bus terminal, we cancel our bus tickets and instead book a ticket back down to Buenos Aires, ARG , in hopes of finding a flight directly to La Paz. Unfortunately, there are no direct flights into La Paz from BA, only to Santa Cruz. Then we would be bussing it again to La Paz.

Since we are not gaining anything by going into Santa Cruz, instead we might as well fly into Guyaquil or Quito, Ecuador to get a jump start on our Galapagos tour and work our way down. Plan final... UNTIL we find that the flights are 50% less if we fly into Bogota, Colombia.

So, as of now, we¨re in Argentina, flying to Colombia just to get to Ecuador. I dont really get it either. I{ll update where I am in a few days.

** Update **
Now, instead, we are flying directly into Cuzco, Peru somehow. JC is looking into flights directly from Puerto Iguazu, INSTEAD of bussing it down to Buenos Aires.

The only reason JC is able to make any decision is because we run out of time. I am keeping out of this one. Separately, there are direct flights out of Buenos Aires, ARG to Paris, FRA.

* Typing on a portuguese keyboard, can{t find the apostrophe.