End Of The Year Report

B: It has been a long, intense year. I never imagined how stressful a year travelling could really be. It is hard on your body to always be vigilent about every little detail of life--your water, your food, your bag, your pockets, your general safety, animals, cars, on and on. I still catch myself checking my coat and pants pockets for my passport on a daily basis. It took a lot of rationalizing for me to actually fill up my cup with tap water, but I am now relishing all of the veggies and fruits that I have missed for so long. By the last week of the trip, I was finally ready to come home (I think Ryan was ready by the third day in India), and am happy to be back in one place for more than two weeks! There is no doubt that we are lucky to be alive based on the events that happened in Morocco and sheer probability. We took so many forms of transportation often passing deadly accidents as our drivers sped by. We are lucky in another way, however, at 24 and 27 (Ryan's birthday is in just a few days) we have seen a good chunk of the world (although now that we have seen so much, I realize the vast amount that still remains) and been priveledged to interact with some fantastic folks in some amazing places. There is no doubt that this experience has been life-altering just based on the challenges thrown at us, the conditions we have had to adapted to, the flexibility and patience that have been absolute prerequisites when interacting with different cultures and in differnt languages (usually spoken by us in atrocious Arabic, Hindi, Spanish, etc), and the amount of different life situations and social systems that we have seen and experienced. I am lucky enough to have had the opportunity to go to college first where I learned a lot about the politics, economics, history, and cultural studies of many regions of the world, but have only now truly grasped the real consequences of government, or lack there of. Even as tourists we have learned so much about the world and ourselves. If I could share anything about my travels, it would be this...although completely relative, if you are reading this, you have amazing opportunities to live life to the fullest, so do it. You get one shot (unless you are Hindu or Buddhist) so live it up. And by live it up, I mean you have a million choices at your finger tips, so, because you can (here in the US) recycle, yes, just do it, drink water not soda, eat fruits and veggies, spend more time with your kids, be politically active, support school funding, stop smoking, tell your kids how to use a condom properly before they become teenagers and supply them in your home, car pool, go on long walks outside where there are grass and trees, and think about the small things you can do to make your local community better for ALL of its inhabitants. I realize that I sound like some kind of motivational poster, but after seeing the environmental and social conditions that so many people live in (at least to the outside eye) without a social safety net or any chance of upward mobility in their societal or economic structure, and coming back to the US, a land of plenty, and more than plenty, and plenty of plenty, it seems like the least we can do is start making smarter choices about our personal physical health, the health and well being of our community, and the health and maintainence of our environment. With that I have become the spokes person for the slogan 'Think Globally, Act Locally'. ...and while that job would actually pay my student loans back a lot quicker, Ryan and I are proud to report that we are in the process of becoming substitute teachers. So, in our small way we are getting back into the community and finding a place again.

Thank you so much to everyone that followed our journey along the way, and everyone that assisted us during the sojourn (espcially those that responded to medical emergencies!). We loved having fans and supporters. We hope to have inspired you in some way, and hope that you will share your travels too--because we are pooped and don't plan on international travel for a long time! Just remind me I said that in a year when I want to go back to China...

R: The world is terrifying and gorgeous. The sheer amount of activity and events and objects and colors is hard to digest in just one year. But having been emersed in all of those things for a substantial period of time was a truly remarkable and formative experience for me. After our return home most of the questions posed by friends and family were about what we learned about the world and how crazy the world was. My answers to those questions always leaned toward how the craziness of the world taught me things about myself, most notably about my patience, my priorities, and my limits. Depending on where we were, we always had to be different people. Calm and kind in some places (very few, however), high-strung and self-assured in others, and calculated and devious in others yet. When we were the wrong people in the wrong place we got taken, or came very close. Social norms and behavior that we can't even fathom in the West change you when you have to survive by them...and you do have to survive by them. And as if the individual stresses of each culture didn't push our limits enough, the constant changing of lifestyles and customs and money and language nearly did us in mentally. This is something I never considered before embarking on our trip. Further testing our limits was the world's food and water. You never realize how much your favorite foods (or even just edible food from your own culture) mean to you until you travel for a long period of time. We have it so good here in the U.S. Our national fare is whatever we feel like making or buying. We have every kind of food from every corner of the planet within a few miles of our homes and offices. Virtually no other country has a similar situation. And like Brittany said above, please realize that we have it so well here. Most of our worst fears would pale in comparison to the highest hopes of most of the people on this Earth. Whatever you make of this, make something. Volunteer at the homeless shelter, start your own business, make your parents cookies for when they come home from work, shovel the driveway, run the marathon you've always wanted to run. Why? Because you can here. You have the choice and the opportunity and the ability. And you don't have to worry about food, or water, or shelter--but if you do, at least there is some sort of system to help you get on your feet. I never would have offered advice that sounded anything like this prior to the trip. I am quite a different person now.

A Year's Worth of Time on the Road

By Boat: 46.5 hours

By Car: 90.5 hours

By Plane: 100 hours

By Train: 127.5 hours

By Bus: 337

....total time on the road = 701 hours, or one complete month of 24 hour days (no wonder our knees don't function anymore!)

Best's and Worst's List

While some people might write about the best country to visit, etc... this is our list, so...

Best Toilet: Warralinga Alpaca Stud Farm, Richmond, Australia

Worst: Rugby 7's game, Suva, Fiji

Best Train: Beijing to Xian, China

Worst: Rishikesh to Varanisi, India (27 hours of complete hell)

Best Bus: From Foz do Iguazu, Brazil to Buenos Aires, Argentina -- complete with steak!

Worst: Sleeper bus to Nanning, China -- complete with smokers and men in leather

Best Overall Cuisine: Egypt, Thailand & Cambodia

Worst: Northern China & India (on safety, not taste)

Best Meal: Koshiri in Cairo, Egypt (it is a really cheap local dish with rice and noodles...yum!)

Worst: Soup at Beijing University, Beijing, China (grey water and noodles)

Best Drink: Coconut shake, Thailand

Worst: Ouzo, Greece ...if you like licorice, don't drink this, it will make you hate it, at least in the quantities we experienced

Best Dessert: Mango and sticky rice, street food in Bangkok, Thailand & Passion fruit mousse in Foz do Iguazu, Brazil

Worst: ...is there a worst???

Best Animal: Llama -- specifically those of Bolivia and Peru, & penguin, of Patagonia, Argentina

Worst: ...is there a worst???

Best type of travelers to find yourself stuck with: the English!

Worst: Isrealis, Americans & Germans (not all, but MANY...maybe most!)

Best Accomodation: Wendy Mar Hotel, Copacobana, Bolivia (the all pink sweet 16 room we've always wanted)

Worst: Sarajevo, Bosnia (nice city, horrible hostel...rats, fumagation, disgusting toilets, and thieves)

Best Beach: Rantee Beach, Phi Phi Islands, Thailand & Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia

Worst: Beach in Mumbai, India (although the cows were a nice touch, the large packs of rabid dogs make it hard to get around)

Best Tour: Ha Long Bay, Vietnam (limestone spires seen from a great boat...and kayaking!)

Worst: Bolivian Salt Flats, Uyuni, Bolivia (40 hours in a Jeep on a rocky trail with two annoying German girls, altitude sickness and not enough bathroom breaks...but amazing sights nevertheless!)

Best place to Vomit: Lawn of Albergue de Paudimar, Foz de Iguazu, Brazil (palm trees and sun...and copious amounts of bile!)

Worst: Streets of Mumbai, India (luckily, Brittany is a trooper!)

Incas, Llamas, and Lost Cities: Peru
While the lure of Copacabana's beds provided a real reason to stay in Bolivia we soon realized that we needed to get on to Cusco and work out our Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu. And although we bought our border-crossing-bus-tickets by a merchant that promised a bathroom for the nine hour journey we were sadly disappointed. With full bladders, and infrequent stops to relinquish the pain, we sourjourned west crossing the Bolivia-Peru border, where we noticed immediate change. Let's just say that things started to look and smell a little more like India. Due possibly to the sizable population difference between Peru and Bolivia (Peru's 30 million to Bolivia's 8 million), Peru seemed to generate much more trash, and our bus ride included scenic views of lovely Peruvian dumps (those being the border neighborhoods leading all the way to Cusco!). More memories of India came rushing back to Brittany and Ryan as they watched gangs of young kids (maybe 4 to 7 year olds) picking through the trash piles and train tracks for food and recyclables. This was set in interesting contrast to the hordes of families in black visiting cemetaries on All Souls Day. It is not an exaggeration to say that nearly the entire population to Cusco were dressed in black and at, heading to, or coming from family graves. This was a thought-provoking way of being introduced to Peru.

At midnight we arrived in Cusco and made our way to a hostel about 70 laborious, steep steps from the center square, Plaza de Armas. Cusco is certainly set up for tourists, many from America (finally! ...where have they been?), and with those tourists come an extreme hike in prices. From food, to goods, to transportation Cusco is an expensive city to be at the end of one's trip and, thus, at the end of one's budget. While it is possible to find some cheap set meals, USD$8 is the going rate for a plate of food, which is catostrophic after weeks of wonderful Bolivian prices. As a result we found the market of our dreams just off the Plaza which offers Top Ramen, Cup of Noodles, Ritz Crackers, peaunut butter, American-style wheat bread, and more. Needless to say, we have been munching down several sandwiches and noodle bowls a day. We have never been more excited about such basic and normally-regarded-as-last-choice foods! After weeks for Dylan, and months for Brittany and Ryan of orfice-puckering food we were extatic to find food that our bodies knew what to do with.

It was in Cusco that we prepared for our three-night, four-day Inca trail hike to Machu Picchu. Because a guiding service is necessary to trek to Machu Picchu (due to a recent change in park policy) we reluctantly choose the cheaper and recommended local outfit in town called Liz's Explorers. Unfortunately, the cheaper price came with the bonus of more chaos. We nearly called the whole thing off because the head of the business, Liz, couldn't keep anything straight and kept adding additional, mysterious fees to our bill. But we stuck to the plan, forked over A LOT of cash, and found ourselves in a group of 15 Americans, Columbians, Swiss, German, and Dutch tourists (some more ready than others) to complete a four day, 58 km trek with a substantial elevation gain. While we don't consider ourselves to be in the best shape, it must be noted, with some hilarity, that we did tend to frustrate some of our group members with our consistent, determined speed. And in our defense, we must say, we wanted a good workout damn it! Although each day required considerable distance to be covered, we found the second day especially tiring with its 700 or so steps to the saddle of a pass at 4,200 meters. Drenched with sweat, and shivering from both lack of caloric intake and the cold temperature each one of us summited with a smile due to the party of llamas who were grazing and greeting us at the top (and by greeting us, we mean pushing us off the trail and out of the way of the best looking grassy knolls). As with Ryan and Brittany's experience in the Himalayas, the guides, cook, and porters were fantastic! Beyond the four (and sometimes seven!) course meals, the hand washing stations, and the private morning wake up calls complete with a cup of tea served to your tent, the people involved on our journey made the experience amazing. What we could not get over was how fast the porters were able to move up and down the mountains with 20 kilos on their backs in (get this) sandals made out of tires, or Converse, or Keds. Without trekking poles, and most often pants, or appropriate gear to meet the elements our porter crew of 15 was an inspiration! What is even cooler is that our primary guide, Wyra, told us next year there will be female porters on the trail. Go get 'em!

Our first three days on the trail was like hiking inside of a cloud. We would accend and decend to these fantastic viewing points that left us looking into mist and more mist. It wasn't until the very last day, when we passed through the Sun Gate and passed into Machu Picchu itself that the fog finally lifted and we were able to see the "lost" city in all of its glory.

Along the way, our guide Wyra treated us to a Quecha baptism ceremony, where we were each given Quecha names and doused with water from a fountain that has been flowing consistantly for hundreds of years! But before the trek began he led us in a Quechan prayer dedicated to the mountains and other natural elements asking for permission and safe passage for our journey. This will be the only time you see Ryan on his knees in prayer mode. Wyra also provided us with some great information about each site we saw on the trail and some comic relief from the bad weather.

Once we got to Machu Picchu we didn't stop hiking. Instead we climbed Wyna Picchu, a 3,700 meter nearly vertical tower overlooking the Machu Picchu site. It was a gruling but rewarding extra adventure, one that only us and 3 other from the group dared to do. However, we weren't done yet. As the rest of the group boarded buses to ride easily to the town below, we opted to embark on the winding 2-hour hike that led to the same place. Along the way we met some Peruvian students who were very, very excited to meet some folks from the U.S. We exchanged emails reluctantly and ran the rest of the way down. The road less traveled, indeed!As if all of this wasn't hard enough, Ryan stupidly chose to do the whole Inca trail in his sandals...and bare feet! One can clearly see the damage that resulted from his bad choice in this picture. I bet he'll think twice next time!

After we gathered our gear, we quickly boarded a bus from Cusco to Lima, ready to finish our last bus ride of the trip. The tickets were expensive so we all expected to have a relatively comfortable trip, despite the quoted 24-hour duration. Well, we were very wrong as the trip proved to be a very long and quite uncomfortable slog down from Cusco's 3,200 meters to Lima's 89. We did make it, however, and stayed our last nights in South America in an interesting hostel called Hotel Espana which had two large tortoises and a macaw providing entertainment.

After 6 weeks of craziness the time came for us to break up the group and say goodbye to Dylan. Brittany and Ryan sadly and jealously sent him off in a taxi bound for the airport. Just minutes after seeing him off, the event that ultimately caused us to return home a bit early happened at the KFC in central Lima. Brittany's wallet was stolen from her zipped and velcroed coat pocket by a two-man team as we sat in the restuarant. By this time in our trip we were quite used to having our money stolen, so we realized quickly that something was awry. We each took a door and shut the place down. Ryan followed one suspect into the street while Brittany alerted the police. Once the suspect was brought back into KFC, the officer asked Ryan to join him and the suspect in the bathroom, where the suspect was told to take all of his clothes off to show Ryan that he didn't have the wallet. He then demanded that we all go down to the police station. The officer said (via a translator) no problem, but he didn't know where it was and didn't have a car to get us there. So we flagged a cab and, with Brittany in the front and Ryan, the police officer, and the suspect in the back, headed for the police station. It was not a straight shot, however, because we had to keep asking different police men on the street where the Lima Tourist Police Station was located. After going through the lengthy paperwork process, we came to find out that our suspect was already known to police for theft and other crimes. He stood handcuffed in the corner during the four-hour ordeal and, on our way out, even posed for our camera! What an experience!

After talking it over we decided that we had had enough and it was time for us to just go home. Our trip plans had us spending 4 days in Panama before returning to the States. But we had other ideas and with a little talking and a lot of luck we got our tickets changed by Copa and Alaska Airlines, having us arrive at our humble Anchorage International Airport 4 days early to the surprise of both of our families!

It was an exhausting, exhilerating, eye-opening, stomach-purging, fast-paced, and eduducational year on the road, one that could only culminate in our tearful and joyous return home. What a story...thanks for letting us share it!

Signing off for the last time (with just one more post to follow that should wrap-up our year long journey), with love, hugs, and good holiday vibes...best wishes and adios, Ryan, Brittany & Dylan

Interesting things about Peru:
1) As with cows in India, there are actually llamas in quite a few places in Peru. We happened across many in the main cities roaming around the streets, and of course at Machu Picchu.
2) Much like Bolivia, you also have the fantastic opportunity of being electrocuted in the shower! Watch what you touch!
3) There is a very good chance that if you are a tourist in Lima you will get robbed. Just as our experiences in Morocco were not singular, most people who have been to Lima share similar stories involving muggings and robberies.

Interesting things about getting robbed (multiple times):
1) After the first few times you really toughen up.
2) You develop an immediate survival reaction that takes over everything else and helps you lock down the situation.
3) Instead of feeling sad or mad, you think to yourself, what can I do right now to get my stuff back and kick some serious ass.

Interesting things about LA and LAX after being gone for one year:
1) It seems clean
2) It seems normal
3) It seems nice
4) It seems green
5) It seems safe
....is it?

Interesting things about Alaska after being gone for more than one year:
1) It is damn cold....we got back to negative 10 degrees (F)!!!
2) It is BEAUTIFUL. There is nothing like flying up to Anchorage on a crystal clear day with snow capping the Chugach Mountain Range.
3) It is nice to be home. Our real home. It is nice to nest, and have a place, one spot, to just be for at least a year. ...And then?

From the widest section of the Andes: Bolivia
We got to rest for a few days in Salta, but our travels picked up their usual frantic pace again as we ventured into Bolivia. The bus ride from Salta was nearly eventful (and after traveling for a while 'eventful' is not the way you want things to be) as our driver was hell-bent on passing every vehicle between him and his destination, despite the steep hills and tight curves of the road. We all thought that trip would do us in, but we arrived at the northern edge of Argentina without a scratch and walked across the border into the tiny Bolivian town of Villazon. After wandering around town for 45 minutes in search of a train that we heard was supposed to head north, we were told by a woman standing on her balcony that the train wouldn't leave for a few days. So we walked to the bus station and were quickly put on a bus to Tupiza, the town where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid finally met their demise. The bus ride there was one of those classic traveller bus stories, going something like this: We get sold tickets by an eager salesperson who hurries us onto an unbelievably packed bus. I don't mean packed by Western standards, I mean truly PACKED, with people, clothing, sticks, chickens, dogs, and miscellaneous unknown bushells of stuff. No definition of 'uncomfortable' begins to describe the situation on a bus such as this. Of couse, we look at our tickets and we have assigned seats, but we are not actually able to get to them. So we cram ourselves into the aisle with the other 20 people and a dog who have done the same. Standing room only, and barely that. Further, the eager salesperson who sold us the ticket promised us that the bus would arrive in Tupiza in 2.5 hours, no problems. Of course, for 3.5 hours we stood crammed into the aisle with what seemed like every single person in Bolivia, breathing the butter-thick dust that was oozing in through the windows and bouncing relentlessly along the gravel road. For all the masochists out there, this is your bus. We arrived at the dusty and lonely Tupiza bus station shaken but happy to finally be done with the beating. We found a hostel and got our first taste of Bolivian lifestyle, which included showers which pose the threat of electrocution! Exciting!
From Tupiza we quickly got on a 4-day, 3-night expedetion to the Solar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world. After our days-long bus epic from the Patagonia to Bolivia it was a tough decision to subject ourselves to more driving time, but our schedule necessitated us doing so as we had to be in Cusco, Peru by November 7th for our Macchu Picchu hike and the salt flat was the main reason we had come to Bolivia. So we stocked up on snacks for the road and got in our guide Leonce's Toyota LandCrusier (which we got to know very well over the next 4 days) and took off into the mountains! The Solar de Uyuni is plopped high up on the Altiplano, the widest part of the Andes. On our way there we saw flamingos, emus, vicuñias, alpacas, llamas, and even a rare type of chinchilla! We also got to bathe in some salty natural hot springs and climb on some amazing volcanic rock formations. The landscape of the Altiplano looks exactly like we expect the surface of Mars to look, complete with red rocks, bubbling thermal pools, volcanoes, and geysers! Most of the trip was was spent above 4ooo meters, so for the first few days splitting headaches, buldging eyes, and nausea afflicted all three of us. However, this trip helped us get aclimatized for our next two weeks, which was spent above 3600 meters, on our way to Macchu Picchu.
The food on this trip was great. Prepared by our lovely cook Esther, we had some tasty tomales, crisp vegetables, and we got our first taste of llama steak! Our favorite was this incredible vegetable soup she whipped up for every dinner! We don't know how she did it, but it was wonderful!
When we finally arrived at the Solar de Uyuni we were quite ready. We had been driving and driving for 3 days, crammed into the Toyota with two horrendously rude German girls. Luckily, the flat was incredible! We arrived at 5:30 in the morning to watch the sun rise over it. There is just so much flat, white nothing. After the sun came all of the way up, the true vastness of the flat became apparent. We didn't think there was so much salt in the whole world, let alone in Bolivia! 12,000 square kilometers of nothing but salt (and no pepper to be found anywhere!). Our guide and cook showed us how to dig up crazy geometric salt formations from the water under the salt crust. The salt extends 8 meters (over 25 feet) deep! After our dig, we drove to this surreal oasis of an island out in the middle of all that salt. It had some 1,200 year old cacti on it and was made of ancient coral. Being in this place was like walking into a dream. Nothing seemed real or earthly at all. After a quick visit to the salt hotel (kind of like Alaska's ice hotel, but with salt) and lunch with a llama we finally arrived in Uyuni, a large, dusty town on the edge of the salt flat. Though we had completed our 4-day trip, we could not rest in Uyuni. Immediately after saying goodbye to our cook and guide (and, happily, the two German girls) we waited outside the bus station for it to open so we could try to get on the tourist bus (Yeah, the tourist bus. We weren't messing around this time) bound for La Paz that evening. All worked out, and with the help of two lovely Irish folks, we had enough money to buy our tickets and eat dinner at this savior of a restaraunt called Minuteman Pizza. Oddly, it was owned by this guy from Boston named Chris who made an absolutely succulent chicken pizza! It was the best food we had had in a very long time, and we thanked Chris gleefully for his culinary skills before hopping on the bus and enduring the VERY bumpy ride to La Paz. It should be noted that this ride was so bumby our bus company made an announcement before we departed to persuade people to drink as little liquid as possible so as not to get sick. And it should also be noted that our bus cost so damn much because it came with accident and life insurance for each of us--not the road you exactly want to travel on, huh?! But, of course, other than flying there via the Bolivian army's planes, this is the only way to get to Bolivia's capitol.

La Paz is a very unique city. Its 1.5 million inhabitants live their lives at a lofty 3660 meters, making their city the world's highest capital. Further, the city sits in a small, bowl-shaped valley with extremely steep walls, and the people have used every square inch of space there. There are houses and buildings in La Paz that are terrifying to look at as they are barely balanced on the steep slopes, seemingly floating above the city! Every direction we looked we could see hundreds of these, packed on the valley's walls.
Having made it to La Paz we figured we were on schedule and we owed ourselves a few much-needed rest days. So we walked through the streets in time to buy Halloween costumes (which we never actually did), catch several weddings (complete with pounds of confetti), and get a picture of a llama fetus being sold at the Witches Market before catching a bus for Copacabana, a relaxed little town on the eastern shore of the world's highest lake (and South America's largest), Lake Titicaca. We had originally planned to head north from La Paz to the Amazon Basin to go pihrana fishing and hang out with leopards, but time became an issue again (along with money) and we decided to just relax and look around Lake Titicaca instead. And, funny enough, our first glimpse was offered when we were ordered off our bus on the way there and told to buy a ferry ticket. When we asked more questions our bus driver told us that the bus needed to cross the lake on its own ferry and that passengers would weigh him down...with that explanation we were happy to disembark and pay our way across. With no road over this particular 1000-foot stretch of lake, it turns out that all motorists have to ferry across, even our bulky bus.

Copacabana is located right on the Bolivia-Peru border and overlooks the huge and majestic Lake Titicaca. It has an island feel to it, despite being well on the mainland. This town had some fantastic restaraunts, cafes, and hostels, so it made an ideal stopover for us on our way into Peru. We visited the town's 16th-century Moorish cathedral, took a short day trip to Isla del Sol (origin of the Incan creaction story), ate good food, played Espanol Scrabble, bought some affordable presents for our families, and slept very well (on real mattresses with real boxsprings in our totally pink room!).
It is right to say that Bolivia surpassed our expectations. The people were facsinating, the food was better than expected, the land was gorgeous, and...we didn't get sick! I guess we'll see what happens in Peru!

Abrazos,
Brittany, Ryan, & Dylan

Interesting things about Bolivia:
1) You get electrocuted in the shower...no really, you do. You have to be completely mindfull of touching any metal and, if you are Ryan and Dylan, you have to duck way below the shower head (which itself also offers a nice zap)!
2) Bolivia just elected its first indigenous president (Evo Morales) and people seem nuts over him. His picture was up everywhere (not as crazy as the pictures of the king in Thailand, but still).
3) Due to Bolivia's majority indigenous population, the indigenous flag is everywhere (as crazy as in Thailand, but a flag, not the king). For those looking at our pictures it is a bright, multi-colored checkered flag.

From the land of great steaks, good air, and waddling penguins: Argentina...
After a long 20-hour bus ride from Foz we finally pulled into the largest bus station in the world in Buenos Aires. Our plan was to scout out the town a bit before meeting Ryan's brother, Dylan, at the airport, and finish up Ryan's kidney stone business at the British Hospital. We did just that and moved into a hostel in the center of downtown, and spent several days visiting an amazing doctor that took several tests that were able to tell Ryan he was stone free! Buenos Aires is a wonderful city with one of the best backpacker scenes of any city we've seen. The people rank among the friendliest we've encountered and the food is cheap and absolutely wonderful. The city gets a top rating in all of the important categories: accommodation, people, and food!
Meeting Dylan at the airport was like getting a breath of fresh air for our trip. After traveling for so long we had become a bit road weary. Dylan was really excited about seeing new places and things, so hooking up with him on a continent that was new to us did wonders for our spirits.
Brittany and Ryan had been on busses for all of Brazil and had just got off another long haul from Foz (although we can't really complain because they served us steak and champaigne!). Dylan had just spent the entirety of two days on planes and in airports. Needless to say rest was due for us all. So we opted to spend a few days in Buenos Aires to relax and ready ourselves for our Patagonian trip. One of the first things we did was to go on a walking tour of the city where we saw the Mothers of the Missing protest the disappearance of their children, husbands, relatives, friends and co-workers during the genocide of the 70s and 80s. That week's protest was particularly interesting, however, because a key witness, named Jorge Julio Lopez, who would have testified against ex-military leaders for acts during the genocide, had disappeared and been gone for several days. Thus the Mothers were surrounded and supported by hundreds of other activists, political parties, and media groups. (Lopez's disappearance sparked a wide range of concern that we have continued to see throughout our travels in Argentina and of course made us cautious as well.) Besides our walking tour of the city we visited the Recoleto cemetary (which houses the body of Evita Peron), ate unbelievable steaks (with mashed potatoes) for about $5USD, and went to a soccer game. All of these activities were fun and interesting, but the soccer game was truly amazing. As in Brazil, these folks really get fired up about their soccer and we happened to get tickets to go see the biggest team in all of Argentina play at their home stadium. The crowd was easily the most racous and fervent group of people any of us had ever been around...and we were right in the middle of them! The team is called Boca and they are known around the soccer world for having uncontrolably passionate fans, and they upheld their reputation at our game. They were down 2-0 with only 20 minutes left in the game when they started their comeback, fueled all the while by their fans. When the game ended Boca had climbed back and won 3-2! The game, of course, wasn't why we went. It was for the crowd. The stadium was small in comparison to others in South America as it only held 60,000 people (legally, that is!). But those 60,000 were nuts and we got plenty of video capturing how the stadium swayed and bounced with their enthusiasm. The crowd surpassed all of our expectations, making the game a truly unforgettable time.
Before seeing the game we had made plans and bought bus tickets to venture down into the Patagonia. Our main goal was to see the largest continental penguin colony in the world, located 19 hours southeast of Buenos Aires, just outside of a town called Puerto Madryn. We arrived on a rainy and brutally windy day, but seeing our flippered friends made it all worthwhile. We only got to walk among them for 30 minutes, but it is a 30 minutes we will cherish forever! We got out of our bus and looked out over 400,000 Magellenic penguins, all ashore in their colony for their mating season. The coolest part was that we didn't just get to look at them but we actually walked right in the group. They looked at us (one eye at a time!) and tried to figure us out, but they generally seemed uninterested in us and just went about their business waddling all over the place and fighting with one another. They are awesome animals!
It was sad to leave the penguin colony, but we had to move on, venturing deeper into the Patagonia toward the bottom of South America, the region known as the "edge of the world". We hopped on a bus heading to Rio Gallegos, the southernmost city of continental Argentina. The stretch of road connecting Puerto Madryn to Rio Gallegos is among the most barren in the world, rivaled only by other Patagonian roads we travelled connecting Rio Gallegos to Calafate and Chalten. Even in its nothingness Patagonia somehow nurtures small groups of flamingos which we saw in lakes along the way. But besides the flamingos, hour after hour of endless rolling hills and shrubs broken only by the occasional river or lake was our visual. According to legend Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid rode all of the way down here when they were on the run from US authorities in the early 2oth century. After travelling these roads with all the comforts of 2006 we can't imagine how they survived on horseback in the first decade of the 1900's! (By the way, Rio Gallegos is the city where they robbed their last bank!) After the seemingly endless bus rides, we arrived in El Calafate. El Calafate is a small town of a few thousand inhabitants with one main draw: the Moreno Glacier, one of the only advancing icefields in the world. As such, it calves all of the time, its huge 120-foot tall face plunging into the water with thunderous cracks. Having seen the glacier, and having stocked up for our camping plans, we finally made it to El Chalten, a tiny town whose main purpose is to serve as a base for mountaineering expeditions to Cerro Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. We rolled into town with the rain pouring down into lake-size puddles in the muddy streets and learned exactly why early October is considered "off season" for this region. But we waited it out for a day and just as we set off on our three-day hike, against all odds (and the weather forecast), the skies cleared and the mountains showed themselves. The place was gorgeous, with Fitz Roy and Torre towering over 16,000 feet above us. The benefit of being in El Chalten in the off season was made clear on our first day trekking: no other people! We had the whole national park to ourselves and we made good all three days of it! We made our camp at a river junction called Poincenot and went out on more challenging hikes from there. First, we went up to Lagos del los Tres, two hanging lakes set stunningly at the immediate base of Fitz Roy. The next day we trekked around the corner to one of the many valleys in the park. This one held an unbelievably close hanging glacier, seemingly suspended right above us! It was a great three days to ourselves. Nature sure did put on quite a show for such a small audience!
We hiked back into town only to see that it had come alive. The shops were all open, there were some people walking in the streets, and there were even a few cars driving around! After one more day-hike we boarded a bus back to Calafate where we would begin our long journey back north, first to Bariloche (where we attempted to hit the last day of ski season but were put off by the total lack of snow left), then to Mendoza (where we had a half an hour break to stretch our legs), and finally to Salta, in the far northwest corner of the country. Having spent over 80 hours on busses in just under two weeks we are tired and need to stay in one place for a few days to collect ourselves before we head into Bolivia. Salta is a bigger city with some decent places to eat and some good hostels (with hot water showers!). We will leave here soon, rested and ready to face the challenges and excitement of a new country...
Our best always,
Ryan, Brittany, and Dylan

Interesting things about Argentina:
1) We have never seen dulche de leche as popular and as widely used than in Argentina. In fact the last time we had ever seen it was as an ice cream topping, but in Argentina it is used as a breakfast spread for bread, as a filling between cookies, and is crammed into about anything else you can think of. While it sounds delicious, and is in small portions, there are no small portions here! No carmel for us for a while.
2) And speaking of condiments, nothing grossed us out more than 'Salsa Golf' some type of horrible mayonnaisey mix that the locals seem to love.
3) Unlike any other transportation experience we had yet, in Argentina the buses (our main mode of transportation here) are set up to be comfortable and many offered steak, champaigne, blankets, desserts and more. It almosts makes up for being on a bus for 35 hours, almost...
4) From what we can gather the majority of school kids here wear uniforms, however, the uniforms seem nuts to us. While we can recognize one particular group of schools based on kids wearing long, white lab coats over their normal clothes, the majority of uniforms we have seen include putting plaid mini-skirts on grade school girls--an interesting fashion statement for catholic schools!
5) As twisted and wrong as it may sound we are sick and tired of steak and potatoes--that´s right, we said it. Perhaps our tune will change after a few weeks in Bolivia...

((Note: Due to problems with one of our CDs, pics will not be added until later. Stay tuned.))

Our longest flight of the trip brought us from Amsterdam, one of the most relaxed cities in the world, to Sao Paulo, one of the most hectic and high strung. Fortunately for us we had Brittany's mother Engel waiting for us at the airport. She had some extra air miles and chose to use them to fly down and travel with us through and around the country of Brazil. It was so great to step off the plane and see a familiar and friendly face waiting in the crowd for us! It had been eight months since we had all seen each other in New Zealand so it was fantastic to reconnect, and to receive Girl Scout Cookies, Panda Black Licourice, and O'Boy Oberto Beef Jerkey...you can't even imagine how amazing these items are when you are denied them for 10 months, and even better after you get a huge hug from your mum. (R - There have only been a few times in my life when I have been happier to see such snacks.)

Our tentative plans for Brazil took quite a turn once we realized how expensive the country really is. From Sao Paulo, a city which had not received high reviews from any travelers that we talked to, we went straight to Rio de Jeniero, with a one night stop at a Marriot which was one of the nicest places Brittany and Ryan had been in a long, long time. Rio lived up to its reputation particularly because we were able to stay on Ipanema Beach, just a short walk from Copacabana. From Rio Brittany and Engel went on a fantastic favela tour of the Recina barrio. While originally sceptical of such profiteering, we were happy to support a local tour that shared its profits with a local school. The tour itself was a fasinating way to interact with some of Rio's poorest, yet richest neighborhoods, and according to the people we interacted with is desired to help visitors connect and thus realize that the favelas have real people living in them. On the tour we encountered many local artisans that have been quite ingenious with the materials that they have on hand including soda can tops being made into belts and plastic bags being made into hats. It was really cool to also support young artists who are trying to help their families. In Rio we also had the opportunity to support a local Samba Club for a Saturday night Samba fest. We are not sure how one even describes Samba, there is a lot of booty involved and a lot of fast feet. We tried, but could barely keep up, mostly because the music isn't necessarily one continuous beat, but instead three different beats hitting you all at once. You just kind of hope that maybe you have one of the beats and go with it. It was certainly a unique experience, but not one that the three of us would probably do again because the music was so damn loud--it took Ryan three days to get his hearing back properly! After a sunny day at the gay section of Ipanema beach (full of pride flags and speedo sales) we also had a chance to attend a local Fluminese football (soccer) match, which was awesome despite its poor attendance. We finally figured out how to take video with our camera, but are still not sure how to load it to the web for your viewing pleasure. If you are interested we have some great video of the goals--the crowd went nuts! While we intended on seeing Sugar Loaf mountain and viewing Rio from the giant Jesus statue our luck with the weather ran out too soon, and we had to find a place to relocate while Rio and Sao Paulo were bogged down in heavy rain storms. Salvador we found was too far and too expensive, our beach options were bleak due to the weather, so we hopped on a 24 hour bus to Foz do Iguazu to the west of Sao Paulo near the border with Paraguay and Argentina.

Foz was a fantastic place to stay for our remaining time together because the weather was fantastic, we were able to see the most incredible water falls in the world along with fantastic animal interactions. And this is where Ryan passed a kidney stone. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

On a bright, brilliantly blue skied day we viewed the Brazilian side of the falls walking the trails toward the falls with a child's wonder. The way the trail system is set up at each turn in the path you think you have seen all there is to see, but it just keeps getting better and better. It truly is amazing. It was on this same day that we decided to do a high ropes course through the jungle including a zip line along the forest canopy. Ryan and Brittany were so proud of Engel who was super energetic about each obstacle all the way through the end--which included a 35 foot pole climb to a small platform where you had to jump off to reach an even higher bar. It was tough, but awesome! There is even of a video of our trials, which Engel might be willing to lend out, but it comes with a 'PG 13' or 'R' rating due to Brittany's use of explicitives throughout the course. It is funny! On our second, bright, brilliantly blue skied day in Foz Ryan woke up with some side pain, but just assumed that he slept on a testicle. Within an hour, however, he was vomiting into a bucket from a hammock on our hostel lawn to the amusement of the Portugese speaking kitchen crew that thought it was perhaps their cooking from the previous evening--it turned out, however, to be kideny stones! It is like Ryan's body wants to put him through even more this year--the worms weren't enough! So, after describing his intense pain, which had him literally rolling on the lawn, Brittany called his dad, Jim, to compare symptoms from his stones. After talking to Jim, Brittany and Engel decided that it was time to go to the hospital, which was an interesting adventure in our small, rural town of Foz. With the help of a hostel maintainence man who drove like we were in an ambulance, and an amazingly helpful guest who volunteered to come help translate for us, we managed to get Ryan to the hospital in a bed, stuck with a needle, and asleep from some glucose within a few hours. Through a urine test the hospital confirmed that it was, indeed, kidney stones, and prescribed two types of pain killers. (R - For those of you who have experienced kidney stone pain, you know what I'm talking about here. But for those of you who have not, I truly hope you never have to know what I'm talking about. It is easily the worst physical pain I could have imagined ever going through. And to have all of this happen in a tiny border town in Brazil was, to put it positively, not optimum. Those who saw me that day, September 22nd, saw me at my worst. That little stone took me right out. I was vomiting not from nausea or stomach problems, but rather from the pain...and it got to the point where I loved the 10 or 15 seconds of relief that the intense pressure of throwing up allowed. It was not pretty, and neither was I. Thanks to the care given to me by Brittany and Engel and the info from my dad via telephone everything worked out. I would give a lot to never have to go through that again.) In far less pain, Ryan, Engel and Brittany enjoyed their last days together by going to the coolest bird park in the world where they interacted with super-social tucans and macaws that were mostly interested in Engel and Ryan's sunglasses and buttons, but to an extreme that made us run out of the aviary. They were actually quite aggressive and had some powerful beaks that we did not want to mess with! On our last day together we went to Argentina to view the falls from the other side. While this might seem like overkill, both sides offer a totally different picture, and one that isn't complete without the other. The Argentinian side is awesome. We were literally walking across the falls and could feel the mist off the most amazing piece of the falls called the Devil's Throat. Besides a major tire blow out on the public bus that we took back from Argentina to Brazil (which proved amusing in and of itself) we had a great last day together and were very sad to say goodbye!

It was an incredible two weeks thanks to Engel. We boarded our 24 hour bus to Buenos Aires, Argentina, sad to be done with our Brazilian adventure, but excited to meet Dylan, Ryan's youngest brother in Bs. As. for a six-week journey through the rest of South America.

Interesting things about Brazil:
1) Along with Che, Irish Pubs, Chinese Restaurants, and Rotary International the Brazilian flag is truly a world-wide symbol. And while we expected it to be covering every rooftop, balcony, and booty in Brazil we were a bit shocked not to see it that much in Brazil itself.
2) Getting into Brazil as an American is atually more of a challenge than one might think. We each had to pay about USD$150 for our Brazilian visas which seems to be a pretty big Brazilian FU to the American government due to reciprocal visa policies. But after arriving we realized that the big visa price tag is just to prepare you for the actual cost of your adventure.
3) Brazil is one of the most expensive places that we have travelled, which was a pretty decent shock to us. And, much to our amusement, we were told that Brazil gets twice and up to three times as expensive during Carnival, which makes us wonder how anyone can visit during Jan/Feb let alone live in this country year round!