yo,
i am pathetic at this blog thing, so this will be my last one if anyone is still checking. This is good timing considering crumbs is back iñ seatown and i am getting ready to leave South America in two days. i last left off in Buenos Aires right before Iguazu falls(IF). IF is this massive waterfall that splits Brazil and Argentina. Crumbs posted pics on facebook if you are interested. it was pretty spectacular for both of us and well worth the 20 hour bus ride. the whole thing can be done in about six hours seeing all the different parts. the whole park is filled with gorgeous scenery to compliment the waterfalls. we were also toying with the idea of sneaking into Brazil to do the Brazil side because we found out how to do it from a dude in Buenos Aires. the brazil side isn´t that good and we didn´t have much time, so we decided not to risk it.
crumbs went back to Seattle June 13th at which point i went down to Mar Del Plata to volunteer at the YWAM base. i have a friend doing the missionary school which is how i got plugged in. it was a good time of relaxing for me. A time to read some books and help get their yard cleaned up and painting done in the house. i was going to stay for the remainder of my time, but felt a week alone with God in Uruguay would be more beneficial. I just got back today and i am thankful i went. Uruguay is this tiny country mainly of coast line. My book has hardly any info on it which is also what intrigued me. it is similar to Argentina in a lot of ways, but more chilled out and relaxing. After a night in the capital i found myself in a little town on the altlantic coast called La Paloma. it was beach and forest, a nice combination. this town was shut down considering it is winter time, so i had some trouble finding a hostel. i walked around for an hour knocking on hostel doors with no answer. finally i talked with this guy on the street who had a friend with a hostel and he took me there. it was a nice little place but was colder inside than outside, which for me was difficult to take. my core temp was down most of the time which is torcher for me. a couple nights i went into the forest to gather wood for some indoor fires. I suck at starting fires, but the owners were there for some assistance.
i am back in Buenos Aires now for my last two nights. i fly out wednesday for Africa and will be back in the northwest mid august. i hope this post finds you all well. thank you for investing in the lives of both me and rumbles.
sun boys for life
Monday, July 6, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
BA
Hey,
sorry it has been so long since i last chimed in. We finally made it over to Buenos Aires. the city is huge, but we like what we see so far. Saturday we are going to the world cup qualifier vs. colombia. i am happy to say we will be sitting in a chilled out section rather than the crazy fanatic section so we don´t have to worry about getting killed. other than that we will just check out the city until Iguazu Falls next week. Rumbles leaves next Saturday for Sea town so time is really winding down for him. As for me, I am trying figure out some plans for the 3 weeks after he leaves before I go to Africa.
Previously we were in Mendoza, Argentina which is the primary wine region of the country. it is a pretty nice place and most people head that way from Chile for vineyard tours and wine tasting. The hostel we stayed at offered free wine to the guests, so wine tours weren´t necessary, but we still made it out to the vineyards by bike. Some other people biking with us could really taste the difference between wines, but all taste the same to us. There are two types of wine in my opinion. Carlo Rossy and all the other guys. but hey, i still consider myself a wine enthusiast.
The rest of Chile, was pretty good. Both of us were surprised about how nice and clean Santiago was. It has a quality subway system which made it great for getting around. we tried going out one night to a club, but nothing started until 1 am. we made it until about 11PM before heading home. Rumbs ended up staying in Santiago for 8 days, but i decided to head down to the lakes district to a city called Pucon. this was one of the coolest cities on the trip for me. it is such a tranquil place and a paradise for any outdoorsmen. i had a couple sweet days of hiking and biking, but no pictures. I forgot to take Rumbles camera.
that is all. keep smiling.
J and P
sorry it has been so long since i last chimed in. We finally made it over to Buenos Aires. the city is huge, but we like what we see so far. Saturday we are going to the world cup qualifier vs. colombia. i am happy to say we will be sitting in a chilled out section rather than the crazy fanatic section so we don´t have to worry about getting killed. other than that we will just check out the city until Iguazu Falls next week. Rumbles leaves next Saturday for Sea town so time is really winding down for him. As for me, I am trying figure out some plans for the 3 weeks after he leaves before I go to Africa.
Previously we were in Mendoza, Argentina which is the primary wine region of the country. it is a pretty nice place and most people head that way from Chile for vineyard tours and wine tasting. The hostel we stayed at offered free wine to the guests, so wine tours weren´t necessary, but we still made it out to the vineyards by bike. Some other people biking with us could really taste the difference between wines, but all taste the same to us. There are two types of wine in my opinion. Carlo Rossy and all the other guys. but hey, i still consider myself a wine enthusiast.
The rest of Chile, was pretty good. Both of us were surprised about how nice and clean Santiago was. It has a quality subway system which made it great for getting around. we tried going out one night to a club, but nothing started until 1 am. we made it until about 11PM before heading home. Rumbs ended up staying in Santiago for 8 days, but i decided to head down to the lakes district to a city called Pucon. this was one of the coolest cities on the trip for me. it is such a tranquil place and a paradise for any outdoorsmen. i had a couple sweet days of hiking and biking, but no pictures. I forgot to take Rumbles camera.
that is all. keep smiling.
J and P
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Chile Part 1
Yo,
We made it to Chile with no problems. We thought there might be a 100 dollar fee at the border, but luckily the info we received was a lie. We spent the first 3 days in the northern city of Arica. The city had a nice feel to it. The people are friendly and they had a few decent beaches lining the city. Our time was spent checking out the chilean beach scene and getting our first tastes of Chilean food. Rumbles was excited to arrive in Chile which made the food taste better for him. He was raving about the first set lunch, like it was the best thing he's tasted since his last Pho meal. It is crazy to think how different Chile is from Peru and Ecuador. Everything is clean, and cars actually stop for you when you cross the street. It didn't feel right at first, everything being so calm that is. Chileans have been friendly so far, although they have more to do and are on the move a bit more than Ecuadorians and Peruvians. With that said, its tougher to practice spanish since I don't feel stopping people on the street.
After Arica, we took a 28 hour bus ride down to Valparaiso which is on the coast a couple hours from Santiago. The drive down was pretty sweet going through the Atacama Desert. Its crazy how much untapped coastline there is in Chile. Valparaiso is a pretty cool city that is full of artists, artwork, and loud colors. it isn't very backpacker friendly, but the surrounding region is pretty nice. the past 5 days, we have been chilling here, and in Vina Del Mar which is the city directly north of Valparaiso. Vina Del Mar has some nice beaches, so we took advantage of a little more beach time. Being late fall here, the weather is a bit more mild and the beaches are fairly empty. It has definitely been nice relaxing here after traveling so much recently. We have even cooked up some meals since Chile has some quality grocery stores.
Tomorrow we head for Santiago
J and P
We made it to Chile with no problems. We thought there might be a 100 dollar fee at the border, but luckily the info we received was a lie. We spent the first 3 days in the northern city of Arica. The city had a nice feel to it. The people are friendly and they had a few decent beaches lining the city. Our time was spent checking out the chilean beach scene and getting our first tastes of Chilean food. Rumbles was excited to arrive in Chile which made the food taste better for him. He was raving about the first set lunch, like it was the best thing he's tasted since his last Pho meal. It is crazy to think how different Chile is from Peru and Ecuador. Everything is clean, and cars actually stop for you when you cross the street. It didn't feel right at first, everything being so calm that is. Chileans have been friendly so far, although they have more to do and are on the move a bit more than Ecuadorians and Peruvians. With that said, its tougher to practice spanish since I don't feel stopping people on the street.
After Arica, we took a 28 hour bus ride down to Valparaiso which is on the coast a couple hours from Santiago. The drive down was pretty sweet going through the Atacama Desert. Its crazy how much untapped coastline there is in Chile. Valparaiso is a pretty cool city that is full of artists, artwork, and loud colors. it isn't very backpacker friendly, but the surrounding region is pretty nice. the past 5 days, we have been chilling here, and in Vina Del Mar which is the city directly north of Valparaiso. Vina Del Mar has some nice beaches, so we took advantage of a little more beach time. Being late fall here, the weather is a bit more mild and the beaches are fairly empty. It has definitely been nice relaxing here after traveling so much recently. We have even cooked up some meals since Chile has some quality grocery stores.
Tomorrow we head for Santiago
J and P
Sunday, May 10, 2009
peru
yo,
sorry i haven´t written in a while. we have been on the go living life in the fast lane. I have to mention one other thing about banos, ecuador. they love hoops there which brought a smile to my face. even the middle aged women ball all the time and i was fortunate enough to get in on a game. rumbles didn´t want to get crossed over so he just stayed on the side line. probably a good idea. Ecaudor is a great country and I recommend anyone to go there.
after banos we had a treacherous journey to the amazonian city of iquitos, peru. travel in ecuador is so slow and it took forever to get to peru. finally when we made it to peru, the whole country just seemed like a big scam. people were more agressive than Ecuador and we got different answers from everyone. kind of a nice change of pace, but still frustrating at times. to give you a taste, we pulled up to a bus station and some of the local workers opened up the car door and tried to pull out my bag while the car was still moving. they managed to get both of rumbles bags on different buses. so classic!
the next leg of the journey was a two day boat through the amazon to iquitos. for the journey we had to buy hammocks for sleeping. pretty sweet experience, but not comfortable. at 500 am the first morning they blasted peruvian music videos. such a load of bullshavik. the food was cooked from river water as well which was incredibly dirty. we paid 16 dollars each for food and the journey so we can´t complain. so cheap and well worth it considering the scenery along the amazon is gorgeous.
luckily when we made it to iquitous everyone was friendly and we scored a sweet 5 day amazon trip with an indigenous guide, Octavio. we saw quite a bit of wildlife, went on a few walks, went spear fishing, pirana fishing, and relaxed. We ran into Ice Cube there as well. He said he enjoyed his time, but is ready to get back to the LA traffic and his cellular phone.
After Iquitous we flew to Lima, and took a posh overnight bus to Cuzco which is the base area for Machu Picchu. buses can be a pain sometimes, but seeing all the scenery makes it all worth it. Cuzco was a great city, but definitely overpriced and touristy. up to that point we hadn´t been around too many tourists, so it was funny seeing that much white skin outside of the states. so many whities trying to get a piece of Machu Picchu. Sadly there is only one direct route to Machu Picchu and its costs a whopping 96 dollars minimum on a train and the entrance fee is 45 dollars to Machu Picchu. This train company has a monopoly so it can charge crazy prices. so gay. we took the train home part way back to Cuzco, but we found about a great cheap way to go there. so, we ended up taking a 5 hour bus ride to Santa Maria, and then a car to another city called Santa Teresa along a ghetto road hugged against the mountain side. such a great road. on the way we picked up an overdramatic American women who didn´t like the driving tactics of our driver. From Santa Teresa we took a van to the traintracks, and walked 2.5 hours along the tracks to aguas calientes which is the city below machu picchu. the whole journey took 10 hours, but it was a lot of fun. that whole area around Machu Picchu was so beautiful. some of the best ive ever seen. the next day we woke up at 4 am to get up to Picchu by sunrise. We opted to hike up instead of take the bus. it was so much fun hiking in the dark with our headlights. surprisingly, Picchu exceeded our expectations. neither of us like tourist sites that much, so we expected to be bored after an hour. the scenery and the city are both incredible. the best tourist site ive seen. yes, I know what your thinking, ¨Did they take pictures?¨ crumbs managed to take a few along with some vids, so we will try and post them soon.
Currently, we are at lake titicaca chilling for a few days before heading down to Chile.
enjoy life!
Sun Boys
sorry i haven´t written in a while. we have been on the go living life in the fast lane. I have to mention one other thing about banos, ecuador. they love hoops there which brought a smile to my face. even the middle aged women ball all the time and i was fortunate enough to get in on a game. rumbles didn´t want to get crossed over so he just stayed on the side line. probably a good idea. Ecaudor is a great country and I recommend anyone to go there.
after banos we had a treacherous journey to the amazonian city of iquitos, peru. travel in ecuador is so slow and it took forever to get to peru. finally when we made it to peru, the whole country just seemed like a big scam. people were more agressive than Ecuador and we got different answers from everyone. kind of a nice change of pace, but still frustrating at times. to give you a taste, we pulled up to a bus station and some of the local workers opened up the car door and tried to pull out my bag while the car was still moving. they managed to get both of rumbles bags on different buses. so classic!
the next leg of the journey was a two day boat through the amazon to iquitos. for the journey we had to buy hammocks for sleeping. pretty sweet experience, but not comfortable. at 500 am the first morning they blasted peruvian music videos. such a load of bullshavik. the food was cooked from river water as well which was incredibly dirty. we paid 16 dollars each for food and the journey so we can´t complain. so cheap and well worth it considering the scenery along the amazon is gorgeous.
luckily when we made it to iquitous everyone was friendly and we scored a sweet 5 day amazon trip with an indigenous guide, Octavio. we saw quite a bit of wildlife, went on a few walks, went spear fishing, pirana fishing, and relaxed. We ran into Ice Cube there as well. He said he enjoyed his time, but is ready to get back to the LA traffic and his cellular phone.
After Iquitous we flew to Lima, and took a posh overnight bus to Cuzco which is the base area for Machu Picchu. buses can be a pain sometimes, but seeing all the scenery makes it all worth it. Cuzco was a great city, but definitely overpriced and touristy. up to that point we hadn´t been around too many tourists, so it was funny seeing that much white skin outside of the states. so many whities trying to get a piece of Machu Picchu. Sadly there is only one direct route to Machu Picchu and its costs a whopping 96 dollars minimum on a train and the entrance fee is 45 dollars to Machu Picchu. This train company has a monopoly so it can charge crazy prices. so gay. we took the train home part way back to Cuzco, but we found about a great cheap way to go there. so, we ended up taking a 5 hour bus ride to Santa Maria, and then a car to another city called Santa Teresa along a ghetto road hugged against the mountain side. such a great road. on the way we picked up an overdramatic American women who didn´t like the driving tactics of our driver. From Santa Teresa we took a van to the traintracks, and walked 2.5 hours along the tracks to aguas calientes which is the city below machu picchu. the whole journey took 10 hours, but it was a lot of fun. that whole area around Machu Picchu was so beautiful. some of the best ive ever seen. the next day we woke up at 4 am to get up to Picchu by sunrise. We opted to hike up instead of take the bus. it was so much fun hiking in the dark with our headlights. surprisingly, Picchu exceeded our expectations. neither of us like tourist sites that much, so we expected to be bored after an hour. the scenery and the city are both incredible. the best tourist site ive seen. yes, I know what your thinking, ¨Did they take pictures?¨ crumbs managed to take a few along with some vids, so we will try and post them soon.
Currently, we are at lake titicaca chilling for a few days before heading down to Chile.
enjoy life!
Sun Boys
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Yo folks,
Our last two weeks in Canoa were great, although it feels nice to be in a new spot now. We are currently in Banos, Ecuador which is one of the coolest towns i have ever seen. It is a small city wedged between mountains, and from what we can see is very touristy especially on the weekends. Sadly the weather has been crappy, so we´ve only managed to hike, eat some local cuisine, and soak ourselves in the local hotsprings which are scolding hot. as everywhere else in Ecuador the locals are incredibly kind and love talking with us. talking with the locals is the best part of the trip so far.
The last two weeks in Canoa were much the same aside from Easter Weekend which brought in a ton of Ecuadorians for 4 days including Juan Carlos´s family. He had some classic family members who were great to talk with. Both Friday and Saturday we stayed up real late mingling.
Tomorrow we are heading toward Peru. the next time you hear from us, we should be in the Amazon with Ice Cube and J Lo hunting for an anaconda and a pygmy marmoset.
Our last two weeks in Canoa were great, although it feels nice to be in a new spot now. We are currently in Banos, Ecuador which is one of the coolest towns i have ever seen. It is a small city wedged between mountains, and from what we can see is very touristy especially on the weekends. Sadly the weather has been crappy, so we´ve only managed to hike, eat some local cuisine, and soak ourselves in the local hotsprings which are scolding hot. as everywhere else in Ecuador the locals are incredibly kind and love talking with us. talking with the locals is the best part of the trip so far.
The last two weeks in Canoa were much the same aside from Easter Weekend which brought in a ton of Ecuadorians for 4 days including Juan Carlos´s family. He had some classic family members who were great to talk with. Both Friday and Saturday we stayed up real late mingling.
Tomorrow we are heading toward Peru. the next time you hear from us, we should be in the Amazon with Ice Cube and J Lo hunting for an anaconda and a pygmy marmoset.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
2 weeks in canoa
Sup yáll,
we have been in Canoa for 2 weeks now. the time has flown by and rumble´s sunburn is getting worse. ha ha!
classes are going fairly well. our teacher, juan carlos, runs the hotel with his wife. he is a funny dude, and a great teacher. we have been going through a book a bit, but i have mainly wanted to concentrate on speaking and listening. most of the time we tell stories. he explains stories for us in spanish clearly so its easy to understand. and we make an attempt to tell stories with our broken spanish and lack of vocab. he enjoys our humor which is nice and sometimes his wife will sit in on a class. we have two more weeks to improve, so i am hoping it goes well. food is provided and it has been a bit disappointing. its all fried and not always enough but we should be okay for a couple more weeks.
Besides class, we have been exercising on the beach, reading, chilling in hammocks and hanging out with a few other folks at the hotel. there is a family down here named the Wonseys. the father is a massive chiseled black man with a mexican wife. they are a lot fun and are actually moving down here in september with their kids.
sadly, no real stories since it is such a sleepy isolated town. juan carlos´s dad, jayme, is an awful driver. a couple days ago, he got the car stuck on the beach and we had to push him out. on top of that, he drives 60 feet to the cafeteria for meals. absolutely ridiculous.
well thats all for now. rumbles posted pics on facebook. our next destination is a town called Banos and we´ll travel there in two weeks.
adios
we have been in Canoa for 2 weeks now. the time has flown by and rumble´s sunburn is getting worse. ha ha!
classes are going fairly well. our teacher, juan carlos, runs the hotel with his wife. he is a funny dude, and a great teacher. we have been going through a book a bit, but i have mainly wanted to concentrate on speaking and listening. most of the time we tell stories. he explains stories for us in spanish clearly so its easy to understand. and we make an attempt to tell stories with our broken spanish and lack of vocab. he enjoys our humor which is nice and sometimes his wife will sit in on a class. we have two more weeks to improve, so i am hoping it goes well. food is provided and it has been a bit disappointing. its all fried and not always enough but we should be okay for a couple more weeks.
Besides class, we have been exercising on the beach, reading, chilling in hammocks and hanging out with a few other folks at the hotel. there is a family down here named the Wonseys. the father is a massive chiseled black man with a mexican wife. they are a lot fun and are actually moving down here in september with their kids.
sadly, no real stories since it is such a sleepy isolated town. juan carlos´s dad, jayme, is an awful driver. a couple days ago, he got the car stuck on the beach and we had to push him out. on top of that, he drives 60 feet to the cafeteria for meals. absolutely ridiculous.
well thats all for now. rumbles posted pics on facebook. our next destination is a town called Banos and we´ll travel there in two weeks.
adios
Monday, March 23, 2009
sup y´all,
it has been one week now, and Ecaudor is awesome. we spent 5 days in Quito seeing the city and speaking with all the locals. i can´t stop talking to the locals. they are probably getting sick of us by now. we also spent some time throwing the frisbee in a park and a few of the locals joined in with us. Tossing the frisbee brought on a couple of toothless smiles. i love these guys. from our experience so far the country is safe and the people are friendly. A few highlights so far: We got flipped off crossing a busy street. we had mustard spilled on our backpacks and clothes and probably on purpose. one night we went into a nice restaurant and a drunk girl came over and tried to kiss us.
Currently we are down at the beach town of Canoa. the 9 hour bus ride was full of beautiful scenery along the way and the town is awesome. there is a ton of surfable untouched water where we are at that Rumbles will take advantage of. i have never seen anything like it. We start school tomorrow, and i can´t wait to hit the lessons tough. talking spanish is awesome. we are here for the next 4 weeks and will try to take a few more pics. Rumbles posted some on facebook already if you are interested.
adios
it has been one week now, and Ecaudor is awesome. we spent 5 days in Quito seeing the city and speaking with all the locals. i can´t stop talking to the locals. they are probably getting sick of us by now. we also spent some time throwing the frisbee in a park and a few of the locals joined in with us. Tossing the frisbee brought on a couple of toothless smiles. i love these guys. from our experience so far the country is safe and the people are friendly. A few highlights so far: We got flipped off crossing a busy street. we had mustard spilled on our backpacks and clothes and probably on purpose. one night we went into a nice restaurant and a drunk girl came over and tried to kiss us.
Currently we are down at the beach town of Canoa. the 9 hour bus ride was full of beautiful scenery along the way and the town is awesome. there is a ton of surfable untouched water where we are at that Rumbles will take advantage of. i have never seen anything like it. We start school tomorrow, and i can´t wait to hit the lessons tough. talking spanish is awesome. we are here for the next 4 weeks and will try to take a few more pics. Rumbles posted some on facebook already if you are interested.
adios
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