Border Crossing!!

So I just want to say that we crossed the border from Bolivia into Argentina yesterday so we are freewheelin in a brand new country!! Brand new couldn´t be a truer phrase: roads, towns, cars, stores, food, hostals, etc. are all much more developed than in Bolivia. We enjoyed are 2 weeks in Bolivia with heavy bus travel from north to south (except for 2 trains in the south, love that smooth travel!). For 4 days we stayed in La Paz where we: got altitude sickness (I fainted, something I´ve never done in my life), bought everything we ever wanted (a guitar, a futbol, futbol jerseys from around the world, speakers for our ipods, and goodies for folks back home!), hung out with friends, and met the vice president of Bolivia ÁLVARO MARCELO GARCÍA LINERA who is a friend of our gracious hosts: Joel, Dora, Magali, and Nicole Bransky.
Afterwards we headed to Lake Titicaca where we swam (muy frio!) climbed rocks, and hiked for 7 hours. We caught a row boat through high waves finally reaching isla del sol where there was no dock. I learned to make some necklace and bracelet designs which I plan to use to create an item out of the aligator teeth I took from Bolivia. We met amazing people from all across the globe as well as right next door.

After lake titicaca we headed south of La Paz by train to Uyuni where we entered the Salar de Uyuni which is a salt desert the size of lake titicaca (imagine being in a desert where instead of sand every single kernal you see is made of salt). We stayed for one amazing sunseted swept night and finally made our way down to the Bolivia-Argentina border at 2:30 am on the train. Nothing but desert and cactus for miles on both sides of the border and after 9 hours on the bus (1 hour to navigate along a highway that had burst open with mud, rainwater, and rocks after a heavy thunderstorm, we thought we were in safe developed Argentina!) we arrived in the city of Salta where we are right now. Tonight we head for Cordoba on a 12 hour bus and then try to make our way down to Mendoza over the weekend!
We wish everybody love and hope you enjoy our Traveling Tricks!
Nic and Ric

NEW PICS!

HEY EVERYBODY!

There´s new pictures on our shutterfly link! We´ve been at a house in La Paz for the past 4 days so we´ve been taking advantage of the computer and the insane amount of time that shutterfly needs to download pictures. So now there are pictures up all the way up until the last city we were in. Lima, Valle de Colca, Cusco, Machu Picchu, hangin out with awesome kids in different countries, Brazil, long bus rides in Bolivia, animals of the Bolivian jungle (monkeys, tropical birds, alligators, and anacondas oh my!) Enjoy!

WHOA! we need to catch up

So, sorry about the last message being a little crazy in the order of events. I didn´t notice on the blog that the last entry was in Chile!

So we did spend two weeks in Peru after flying from Santiago to Lima on October 15th. we spent about 4 days in Lima. Then we headed to Arequipa on 14 hour bus ride south to visit with Ricardo´s dad and see the Colca Valley which has condors and a 4000 meter altitude. 3 days later we were off to Cuzco where we stayed with Ricardo´s best friend, Narda´s family. We bought a program for a 4 day hike to Machu Picchu. Then we went to Puerto Maldonado in Northeast Peru in the jungle where we stayed for a night and then headed north to Brazil! We stayed with a Brazilian family who were living in Bolivia and then headed to Riberalta the next day where we are right now in Norther eastern Bolivia. In 45 min we head on another 12 hour bus south where we will be camping in a national park (Shout out to Charles Howard- Mckinney!). Hope all is well and there should be new pics up in 4 days! Love, Nick and Ric

Change of Plans!

So initially we were going to go to the Amazon in Peru but seeing as we want to spend a good 2 weeks in Bolivia we´ve decided to head up to Brazil! Makes sense right? Well we*re heading up there and then down to Bolivia! Just thought I'd send a quick note! All is well and extremely hot in Puerto Maldonado! Nick