South America
I began packing for an exciting trip to Latin America. I planned on touring South America, ,then a little bit of Central America, and the Caribbean. From the Caribbean I would head to Mexico to complete my tour of Central America, and from there, back to the United States.
Two days later I arrived in Brazil in the Aeroporto Internacional Cataratas, Foz Iguacu (airport) to begin my month long journey. From there I would tour the nearby Iguassu Falls.
Video of the Iguassu Falls and nearby area
Sept. 29, 2007
Our tour guide was very friendly. She was not native but she lived here for 15 years. Seeing the Iguassu Falls was a magnificent experience. Gallons of water poured down and you could smell the freshness in the air." Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful girl named NaipĂ, who fled with her lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river creating the waterfalls, imprisoning the lovers to an eternal fall," the guide explained.
We toured the falls for another hour or so and the guide talked about birds and other life in the area of the Iguassu Falls. Soon after the tour was over, I rode a bus to my hotel. Tired after my flight and tour, I greatfully checked in.
Oct. 1 2007
I spent most of the 30th relaxing.Today on the other hand, I would travel to the Amazon Rain Forest. I would drive all the way to Sau Paulo, and from there, take a flight to the Amazon. The drive was relatively exciting. On my way I saw the Latin American people. I even heard of few of them speak Portuguese, Brazil's only official language.
Oct. 3, 2007
The flight I took was extremely long and boring. It took out quite a bit of my time. My clock reads 9:00 P.M in my hotel room. Fortunately, I don't have any jet lag from all the travel.
Here is a picture of my hotel room in the Ariau Amazon Towers Hotel. There aren't too many good hotels in the "Brazil part of the Amazon". I saw more in the "Equador part of the Amazon", but the hotel I'm staying in is in Brazil.
Oct. 4, 2007
At about 7:00 A.M I planned for a tour of the Amazon. We would not venture very far in so it was a relatively short tour. It was extremely hot in the daytime! I learned about the wildlife in the Amazon, history etc. The sunset was lovely to view. In the night, around 9:00, the stars were so bright! This is because there is zero light pollution/reg. pollution. I even got to see some of the natives from a small village.
View of the sunset from the AmazonOct. 6, 2007
I've arrived in Peru to see the Andes mountains (after ANOTHER flight). Unfortunately I got altitude sickness which they called soroche in Peru. Taking light meals, coca tea, and rest really helped though.I will not be having a tour guide for my tour. I'll be taking tons of pictures though.
Oct.7, 2007
It was finally an extremely relaxing day. I sat back, enjoyed the view, took out my camera, and snapped away.
Andes in PeruOct 8, 2007 Machu Picchu
To end my tour of South America I would be seeing Machu Picchu. To get there I took a train that took about three-and-a-half hours and then a bus ride about 20 minutes long. My only other option was to go on a four day hike.Machu Picchu is an old Incan city. It was not rediscovered until 1911. It had tall rock formations and Incan buildings all over. Looking one way I could see a stone wall. The Incas would get up in the morning and pray as the sun rose every day. They called this the Sunrise Call and it was meant for their Sun God, Inti. Sometimes they would pray at Machu Picchu. Generally, Machu Picchu was a place where the noble Inca would be.I was reading an article about the Nazca, who where an ancient people who lived even before the Inca. They drew lines all across their civilization. It still remains a mystery today. I think the Nazca must have drawn these lines for spiritual or religious purposes. They might have wanted to communicate with their dead ancestors, for example, and maybe they used the lines as giant symbols their ancestors to see who they could have thought were above them in heaven.
Later I visited a cenote. The Maya believed it was a portal to the underworld. I got to explore the water in the cenote. Once I went in, I could see why the Maya thought it was a portal to the underworld. It WAS a portal to the underworld! I saw ancient Mayan temples and Maya culture everywhere! I was being pulled in! NOOOOOOO!!!!! I saw what I think was someone being sacrificed!! The world around me looked similar to the earth we all know, except it was strangely eerie. Darkly clothed figures grabbed me and dragged me to the top of a large stone buildng. The next thing I saw was a knife and..........................................................
(Just kidding) Here is a picture of the cenote I visited with it's blue water and high walls:
Central America
Oct. 9, 2007
On my way to Central America! I am currently driving through Venezuela on the way to the airport. Visiting South America was a great experience. The thing that really amazed me was how there could be so many different types of environments in one place. Mountains,Deserts,a lush green forest, and so much more. I stopped by at a few restaurants and a small market. The restaurant served traditional South American food (food from Venezuela in particular). My favorite dish was the Carne Mechada. It is basically deliciously cooked tender beef I chose to have with rice and vegetables.
Oct. 11, 2007
I flew out of the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas, Venezuela and landed in Costa Rica. I would be taking a tour of the Irazu Volcano and I would take a canopy tour. Lastly, I would visit the Gold Museum. The Gold Museum in downtown San Jose is a collection of Pre-Colombian gold artifacts.
artifact from the Gold Museum
It is now 1:53 P.M in Costa Rica. I hope to get my tour of the Irazu Volcano and the Gold Museum completed. Tommorow morning I will take the canopy tour and head over to Guatemala.
The Irazu Volcano tour cost me $58.00. It included lunch, transportation and entrance fees. The Irazu Volcano is 11,260 feet above sea level and is spread out over 5,700 acres. It is the largest volcano in Costa Rica. The Irazu Volcano is still considered active. It's last erruption was in 1994, but the last major errupution occured on March 19th, 1963, the day President Kennedy arrived in Costa Rica. The area around the Irazu Volcano looked a lot like the moon (I'm not kidding). It was a barren dark gray area. At the rim I could see the greenish liquid in the crater.
Irazu Volcano
The gold museum was okay. My favorite thing about all the artifacts is how detailed many of them were. Most of them were based on the same subject though.
Oct. 12, 2007
Today I would be taking my canopy tour. The actual tour took roughly 3 hours. It was $44. I went over suspending bridges, trails, and zip lines. I really got to see the forest up close.
Zip Line
Oct.14th, 2007
My tour of Latin America is already over halfway done. For now though, I must travel to the Caribbean..... BUT WAIT!!!!!!! WHAT ARE MY DOING HERE! I should go somewhere with hopefully, less violence, and hopefully, more political stability. Besides, I realized I, (probably you, the readers too), am EXTREMELY BORED.! Lets make everything more interesting, and travel to the other side of the world......lets go to Japan!
1 hour later.....
Uh...well..I'm broke....I guess I spent too much money on airplane tickets in boring old Latin America....
Besides...aren't airplanes boring too! So, I must now come up with a devious plan to travel to Japan for free. Hmmmm.....maybe a boat? Of course, but by myself! Never!
4 days later....
I had somehow gathered several people interested in traveling to Japan. Some very few like me, bored. Most though, were crazy thrill seekers who wanted to risk their lives traveling to Japan in a small boat. One person, simply wanted a better life, but I thought that risking your life on the ocean trying to get to Japan was a ridiculous way of doing that considering there were many nearby countries to travel to. Well, I guess they were like a crew, but I of course, knew nothing about sailing, so they of course would have to take up the position of steering (those who could). Lucky for all of us, one of the members of our knew crew was an expert at making reed boats.
4 more days later....
We finally had a very large reed boat in which we would travel. We knew we would need more than just this, so we made a very non-traditional change. We added sails and some oars to our boat.
Next day...
We gathered our supplies and set sail! It was really quite exciting. We brought plenty of food, clothing, a large tarp in case of a storm, and lastly, all the money we had.
20 days later....
Blogging helps you synthesize the material your reading. You can be more imaginative with it than in most of your work. The only difficult part is to make your information fit together. All of the above is an imaginative trip to Latin America.
