Villa Tunari

Hopped on a bus/van from Cochabamba to Villa Tunari last Monday. I told the driver a few times that I wanted to get off at Villa Tunari, but he went a mile or two past it anyway. I was able to get a taxi back after multiple questions and an hour or so of waiting. Spent the rest of the day wandering around the town, taking some pictures. I had a permanent layer of sweat on my skin because of the heat and humidity, which was a nice change from the frigid cold of the mountains.

View from my hotel. I spent a lot of time here reading or doing nothing.

The next day I went to Parque Machia, an animal refuge that has lots of young backpackers working/volunteering there, including a couple of friends I had met in Arequipa. (Wasn't ever able to meet up with my friends, and got an email from one of them telling me he had gotten bit by a monkey -again- and that's why he couldn't come meet me when I came by the park...) It was a beautiful area, I hiked around the park where they had monkeys jumping around from tree to tree and also some beautiful macaws. They charged extra to bring your camera in so I decided not to. So no pictures, unfortunately.

After a lunch I took a ''trufi'' (shared taxi) to a resort hotel that you could pay to take a hike down to the natural swimming holes on their property. It was a beautiful, relaxing hike, but not quite hot enough to swim. It started raining on my way back and ended up pouring for 20 minutes or so, luckily not until I got to my hotel.

The trail on the way to the swimming holes.

One of the swimming holes

The next day, after asking around a lot about how to get to Santa Cruz, I set out with my backpack to wait on the highway. The sun had come back out and I was drenched in sweat after just 5 minutes of waiting for the bus. After about 10 buses passed me by without stopping, I started to get a little nervous. But every time I asked someone, they said just wait there and a ''flota'' will come by. They said a flota is a big bus but I thought the big busses had already gone by. But once the flota arrived I knew which one it was. (it was huge compared to the others) I hopped on and got the last seat on the bus. It was a sweaty 5 hour trip to Santa Cruz, and it had started raining by the time I got there. I asked the taxi driver if this weather was normal (it's supposed to be the dry season) and he said no, it's only today. ok phew. I didn't leave Seattle to spend days in the rain.

I stayed at one of the best hostels I've encountered on my trip, and met a couple of other travelers. We tried going out that night, but after the first bar it was absolutely POURING down rain so we called it a night and went back to the hostel for a few beers.

The next day the weather continued. Freezing, windy, and pouring down rain. I felt like I was in a minor hurricaine. Not an inviting climate to wander around a city in. So I plopped myself down on a beanbag in the tv room and watched about three movies. Stepbrothers was a hilight. We braved the weather for lunch at a Bolivian-Mexcan restaurant and bought pasta to make for dinner. I didn't leave the hostel again that day. Unfortunate about the weather because the hostel had a great-looking pool.

DEFINITELY wasn't expecting that...

While wandering the streets of Cochabamba a few hours ago (which, may I add, is a little underwhelming on first glance...) looking for a place to throw away my yogurt container, I finally found a dumpster. I opened the lid to toss in the trash and there was a PERSON inside!! I yelped and ran away. But not before I threw the yogurt container in. I think it might have hit him.

I'm in an internet cafe where there are 13 computers, all but one have adolescent boys playing world of warcraft and yelling ''mierda'' and ''puta'' a lot. those are bad words.

Bolivia - land of the freezing cold

two of my best friends in Arequipa, Eli from Germany and Claudia from Peru

After a tearful goodbye in Arequipa, I left on a 5am bus headed for Puno, a town close to the boarder where I could hopefully catch a bus that would take me straight to Copacabana in Bolivia. Unfortunately I couldn't find a bus that did that, so I got to hop on a local ''combi'' to take me to the border. I was a little nervous because I had to have all my papers and forms ready for the Bolivian border patrol and it was my first border crossing all by my lonesome. It turned out to be quite easy, except I lost a sleeping bag on the way. Thats two sleeping bags in three years that Peru has claimed. oops

Copacabana was nice, it is right on the edge of Lake Titicaca. My hostel said it had lake views but when I arrived my tiny cell of a room didnt even have a window. There was also some weird green stuff on the wall that I was going to take a picture of for you, my friends and family, to see if you could figure out what it was, because I sure could not. But then I forgot. It will always be a mystery.

I took a boat out to the Isla del Sol my second day there and walked around the island for a few hours. Saw ruins and sacrificial stone tables. The sun was out in full force but I was still freezing! Copacabana is 12,500 ft above sea level, so it gets pretty cold there. Met more guys from the states who are cycling around South America. www.oneroadsouth.com.

Isla del Sol

An elaborate boat made out of reeds. Maybe they actually used it one day instead of it just being a tourist attraction. hopefully.

I went out to dinner at a little place that I picked because it had a space heater. (I have yet to stay in a hostel/hotel with any kind of heating. That might have something to do with the fact that I find $10 a night ridiculously expensive...) It was really tiny so when a couple came in to eat and there wasn't a table for them, the waiter just put them at the table with me. They were a really sweet gap year couple from southern England. We played jenga while we waited for our food and then they walked me home after the whole city lost power. The stars were incredible, though. I haven't seen the milky way that bright in a long long time. The power didn't come back on until 9am the next morning. crazy.

By the way, I am reading the Kite Runner right now, which is incredible. I also have Wuthering Heights waiting for me in my backpack and just found Nickled and Dimed at a book exchange. I've got some good reading ahead of me.

I arrived in La Paz on Wednesday, and I'm couch surfing (www.couchsurfing.com) with a guy from Australia who is living here. There are also two other girls staying with him, and we have been having a great time together. Couch surfing is great but it unfortunately makes you never want to leave the house. Yesterday was the bicentennial celebration of the independence of La Paz, so Wednesday night I met a bunch of couchsurfers downtown to watch the parade. Then we made our way up the hill (slooowly, La Paz is at almost 12,000 ft.) to watch a concert. It was interesting seeing people walk around with full bottles of liquor and see the traditional music on stage, but I was freezing and tired so I took off to meet my Irish friends at their hostel. It was great to see them again and we made plans to do a tour of the uyuni salt flats (sounds incredible... google it and look at the pictures) when they get back from the jungle next week.

A street in La Paz

I got really bad food poisoning on Wednesday and spent all day Thursday on the couch watching Six Feet Under. (such a great show!!) Thursday was a horrible day but I woke up feeling 100% better yesterday. We spent the day walking around the city, drinking coffee, eating $2 lunches and shopping. I bought a beauuuutiful jacket that I have been wearing ever since.

Now I'll head to Cochabamba tonight (hopefully will find Harry Potter playing at the cinema...) and then to a little town called Villa Tunari on the edge of the Amazon basin to warm up a little and visit my friend who is working at an animal refuge.

Love and miss you and want to hear from you!!

Another post about the hostel known as Bothy

This is my last week in Arequipa. Sad, I know, but I am excited to move on to Bolivia and then Colombia. I was planning on spending my last week working at Bothy and saying goodbye to all of the wonderful friends I have made here. Then Sunday evening I was told by another girl who works at the hostel that the owner asked her to tell me not to work in the morning because the city was coming to do inspections. Since I'm a foreigner working there illegally (which I assumed but never actually talked about with the owner... who is Peruvian, by the way...), it would not be good to be seen working there when official guys stop by. She told me I could, however, help out in the afternoon with David, from England, who is also working there.

So I thought awesome! A day to sleep in. Then I checked my email Monday afternoon and saw that I had an email from the owner. (classy, huh? he couldn't call me or stop by the hostel.) He went on and on about I was getting the whole week off, (oh wow sweet! i was told it was only Monday) and it is a shame because it is my last week. But he said nothing about whether I could continue staying there. (let me first remind you that the only payment I was receiving in exchange for 3 weeks of working 48 hours a week and 3 more weeks working 30 hours a week was a dorm bed to sleep in and 2 hours a week of Spanish lessons...) I was a little confused about the whole situation.

He was at the hostel at around 8pm Monday night, so I asked him to clarify. He told me that he didn't know which day the city inspectors were coming, just that they were coming some time in the week during the morning hours. Thus David didn't have anything to worry about since he only works in the afternoon.
''Well can I help out in the afternoons?''
''No, you know there's really no one around in the afternoons, so one person is enough...''
''Sooooo there's nothing I can do?''
''Nope, you've got a free week''
''And I can still stay here?''
''Well you don't have to pay for tonight, but we will use tomorrow as the date for your check-in.''
(erin: blank stare. you have GOT to be kidding me)
''ummmm ok. can i have a discout?'' (seeing as how the hostel is about twice as much as most of the others in the city, and he knew the reason I was working there was to save money)
''no, I can't d0 that you know because this is the high season. you can always couch-surf you know''
(another blank stare)
''well.... ok...''
(walk out of office that I have spent over 200 hours in, without pay, regretting not throwing some kind of tantrum on my way out)

So I decided that not only did I want to pay for an expensive dorm bed, but I also didn't want to give him any of my money. So I moved into a little hostel where I get all of the same ammenities (minus toilet paper) for less than half the price. I am quite pleased.

The story isn't over. Seeing as how a lot of my friends are still at the hostel, including three who work there, I went over to Bothy a couple times after I had left. When a few people saw me leaving with my backpack, they asked me where I was going, so I honestly told them that I was moving to a cheaper hostel because I wasn't working there any more and couldn't afford to pay for it. No harm done, right? It's honest and not my fault that I was pretty much forced to leave.

I got a call today from David, who told me that Raul told Juliana (another girl who works there) that I am no longer allowed inside of Bothy. Why? Because apparently I told people staying at Bothy that they should go to a cheaper hostel and they did. WOW. David and Juliana can be friends with me, but only outside of Bothy. David didn't think that Raul was planning to tell me himself, so he thought he should tell me before I show up again and he can't let me in.

I am pretty frustrated because I had a fantastic 6 weeks working at the hostel and was planning on recommending it to everyone heading to Arequipa. Now, seeing the way that I have been treated and the way he treats others who are working and staying there. A sad ending to a good era. I still love you, Peru.

Now on to Bolivia!