Columbiaaaaaaaaa

Well, I finally made it to Columbia. I spent the last week or so in Mendoza. Its a cool town to pass some time in and has a lot of opportunities for adventure tourism. Anna, my new BBFF (British Best Friend Forever...hahah) MADE me go paragliding and rafting...

Paragliding was actually amazing and not at all as terrifying as I thought it was. In fact, I had to fight the urge to take a nap while in the air! (naps come easy these days). So those of you who arent sure what paragliding is, basically you just run off the top of a mountain (or large hill - ours was 1650 metres above sea level) attached to a chute...and OF COURSE a professional guide...haha. It was actually really comfortable, you have this seat that you kind of sit in that is attached to the guide and he takes you higher, and lower and then around in circles until you think you are going to throw up and then you land...but you have to run in order to not fall when you land. I was the only one who didnt fall or muck up the landing. GO ERIN!

THEN, the next day, we went rafting (no, not white water rafting, more like red mud rafting) outside of the city. We got a big group together - we had met these three Canadian navy boys the first day in our hostel, and just went down the river (once again, with guides). Only we picked a day with some of the rockiest water conditions. It truly was scary, but we all managed to stay inside the raft for the whole hour! After rafting, we treated ourselves to some beers by the pool...and then more beers...and a bottle or two of wine...and next thing you know, its 4 pm the next afternoon. opps....so much for our biking wine tour. Which was for the best really. I think Anna and I had consumed enough Argentinian wine on our own that we didnt need to get on a bike and do it!

So thats the good stuff. The bad stuff (as there always will be). We got to our hostel (recommended by lonely planet so of course i figured it would be ok) only to be informed that some nice Argentinian lads broke into the room the night before and stole everyones electronics. So without haste, already having paid for our first night, we went and found a much more amazing hostel that people didnt break into. Anyway, we went to bed relatively early that night, only to be awoken by one of the British lads fighting with two more Argentinian boys who managed to make their way into our room. We checked out real fast. There was a lot more crime in Mendoza than I would have liked. But we made it out unharmed.

I left Mendoza on Sunday on a 6 hour bus to Santiago, Chile. Then headed straight to the airport (9pm) to wait for my flight (730am the next day). I was amazed at how many people actually sleep in airports...and not just backpackers...there were 60 year old couples there too! Crazy. Got on my delayed flight about 9am....flew to Lima, Peru by 10 am. Then waited around for my 530pm flight to Bogota, Columbia. Got to my hostel about 10pm and man I am exhausted!!!

Off to Santa Marta tomorrow for Christmas and then Taganga for New Years. If I dont post again before then:

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

On the way to Cusco

After all the excitement in Huacachina, we decided it was time to move on. We booked an overnight bus ticket to Cusco (the ride was 18 hours) for the following day.

We spent the day in Ica, doing stuff, (i.e. giving police officers money) including a wine and pisco tour by a local taxi driver. It was neat to get out into the country and go to some private wineries and learn how pisco is made.

After that, we went back to Ica, for dinner and to catch our 7:30pm bus. Getting to the bus station at 7 just in case the bus arrived early (ha!), it was about 8:30 before we asked where the bus was. Oh it caught on fire. I think they were lying to us and the 7:30 bus just didn´t exist. We ended up waiting for the 9:30 bus, which showed up at 11:15pm. Gotta love Peruvian time. It´s funny because we went all out and purchased a ticket with the expensive bus company and one of their statements is that they are always punctual! Riiight.

Anyway, we got on the bus (which provided us with blankets, movies, a crappy breakfast, and 2 roadside stops). The bus was trekking it through the mountains along tiny winding roads and I woke up multiple times in the night to look out the window and there was no road in front of us! (We book the very front seats on the top deck). Also, I had to demand one the roadside stops because you are only allowed to go #1 on the bus, and 18 hours is a LONG time.

We arrived safely in Cusco on Tuesday around 4pm. I haven´t done much here, yet. Suzy used to volunteer here a couple of months ago, so she introduced me to the city and the volunteer organization she worked with. We also toured around a bunch of the different markets. I picked up some alpaca clothing to keep me warm!

On Wednesday, we went to a cooking class and we learned (kind of) how to make a potato dish.

Cusco is an awesome city, it´s so pretty. I think I´m going to stick around and take some Spanish lessons before I move on again!

Will have more pics the next time I post!