Well that was easy

So after all the worry and confusion a half of an hour and one hundred dollars later I`m in Bolivia. The visa is good for 5 years, for 3 months a years with 3 exits and re-entries. It was just about the easiest border I`ve ever done. They never even asked me what were in my bags, I got in with an apple and a small bag of coca leaves.

Humahuaca

Humahuaca Originally uploaded by Road Trip

the last town I spent the night in before heading to Bolivia

streets in San Isidro

streets in San Isidro Originally uploaded by Road Trip

it was about 3 hours there and 2 and a half back

gnarly cactus

gnarly cactus Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Path to San Isidro

Path to San Isidro Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Iruya

Iruya Originally uploaded by Road Trip

bus stop

bus stop Originally uploaded by Road Trip

hey look at my feet

hey look at my feet Originally uploaded by Road Trip

salt pools cut for salt harvesting

salt pools cut for salt harvesting Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Salinas Grande

Salinas Grande Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Road to Salinas

Road to Salinas Originally uploaded by Road Trip

home away from home

home away from home Originally uploaded by Road Trip

where I stayed in Pumamarca

Pumamarca

Pumamarca Originally uploaded by Road Trip

road ro Cachi

road ro Cachi Originally uploaded by Road Trip

pre-columbian ruins (old wall)

pre-columbian ruins (old wall) Originally uploaded by Road Trip

poor little fella drank too much

poor little fella drank too much Originally uploaded by Road Trip

tons of peppers are grown and the dried in the area

tons of peppers are grown and the dried in the area Originally uploaded by Road Trip

surprisingly sweet though

the rental car and her other passengers

the rental car and her other passengers Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Cafayate - Cachi

Cafayate - Cachi Originally uploaded by Road Trip

a few trqavellers and I rented a car between these 2 towns in Northern Argentina, cool mountainous desert

Still up north

Northern Argentina has some amazing sights not to mention people and towns. I ended up dragging 2 days out into a week in Salta (Including a quick roadtrip to Cafayate and Cachi with the help of Hattie, Chessie and Phoebie). I also had a few days to check out Purmamarca, Salinas Grande, Humamarca, Iruya and San Isidro, not that means much to any of you but at least you can look at them on a map if you wanted to. Everything I`ve seen up here has honestly been some of the most impressive terrain I`ve ever seen. I`ll let most of the piuctures do the rest of the explaining. After a lot of differing accounts of the Bolivian Visa issue (US citizens need a Visa for Bolivia stating this past January) I`ve decided to give it a try. Because of my tendancy to stay in one place longer than expected I`m not sure Bolivia will be reached at the end of my trip. Therefore while I´m up here and so close I figured I`d jump over for a few days and at least see the Salar de Uyuni, the worlds largest salt flat. It was something I had planned on for my last trip that was a little prematurely terminated, so it`s been something I`ve been itching to do for a while. I`ll let you know how the border goes.

the local flying rats

the local flying rats Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Pigeons have been replace by small green parrots down here. They swarmed in after grain fell off a truck. Apparently they are a huge pest for farmers here. Somthing else thats been replaced down here is cockroaches. Crickets are what you find on scraps of food down here. I never had a problem with them in the states but here I feel like they might be some crazy biting south american strain

Canadian issues

So I have issues with being a Canadian, when people ask me about the country I have no clue as to what the answers are. Like what is Canada famous for or what`s the most famous musical group to come out of there. Not to mention just about any political questions. Up till now I`ve just been making up complete bullshit, but I think I`m gonna do a little basic research and then tell people I moved to the US after high school, at least then I`ll still be canadian and all questions about life after 96 I`ll be able to answer truthfully. But if anyone asks, I grew up in and all my immediate family is from Halifax, Novia Scotia.

nice spools

nice spools Originally uploaded by Road Trip

if any of the supporters of the Gin and Tonic porch want to open another one, I know where to find the parts

breakfast

breakfast Originally uploaded by Road Trip

I don`t know about you guys but the first thing I go for in the morning is a nice cold refreshing glass of Ades

unidentified monkeys

unidentified monkeys Originally uploaded by Road Trip

weird animals

weird animals Originally uploaded by Road Trip

here they call them Carpinche

Cayman

Cayman Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Capibarra

Capibarra Originally uploaded by Road Trip

behold the world's largest rodent

Changing Nationalities

So in Pousada I decided to change my background a bit. Thanks to our fearless idiot of a leader, noone really likes us down here all that much. So after a few conversations that went south once people found out where I was from, I`ve decided that I`m going to start telling people I`m from Canada. Screw the Americans, eh. Friggin´ hosers

Paraguay from afar

Paraguay from afar Originally uploaded by Road Trip

this photo was taken from Pousada which is right on the other side of the river form a similar sized town in Paraguay, but this is the closest I plan on getting

Hitchhiking Argentina

So After the falls I decided to give hitchhiking a try while I`m in the north of Argentina. It`s been going alright but it`s no where near as easy as in Central America. A bunch of samller towns so far but I also got to check out the Esteros del Ibera (I`m not sure what Esteros mean but it was more or less a huge wetland) the area is so well protected that all the wildlife lets you come right up on them. If anyone ever gets down here its worth the trip.

dos hermanos

dos hermanos Originally uploaded by Road Trip

These are the only 2 brothers I know that don`t make pizza

the little rascals

the little rascals Originally uploaded by Road Trip

these guys were all over the place, I think they`re Coatamundis in english, but who knows I could be wrong

some kind of jay

some kind of jay Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Falling Water

Falling Water Originally uploaded by Road Trip

lizards, lizards everywhere

lizards, lizards everywhere Originally uploaded by Road Trip

nose to tail this guy is probably about 2 and a half feet long

Da Foz

P2261268 Originally uploaded by Road Trip

the argentinian side

Falling Water

Falling Water Originally uploaded by Road Trip

This is the best view from the Brazil side, "The Devil´s Throat " is the biggest part of the falls.

Foz de Iguazu

As my last stop in the overly expensive Brazil I went to see the Iguazu Falls. They might be the second biggest in the world only to Victoria falls in Africa but who really knows, I´ve heard so many differsent things. I can tell you one thing though Argentin´s side is much more impressive. I don`t mean to bore you with too many pictures of waterfalls but the place is so damn amazing that I`m going to.

Cunha

Cunha Originally uploaded by Road Trip

this is the town I was hiking to. Other than a bit while I was sleeping under the tarp it hadn`t rained the whole hike up unitl the last half hour. When it rains it pours, I was drenched through after the first 5 minutes.

and down the other side

and down the other side Originally uploaded by Road Trip

the downhill was along pavement which is hell on the feet but I did get some great scenery

my digs

my digs Originally uploaded by Road Trip

a hammock with a tarp overhead works pretty well. unfortunately the mosquito net attatched to the hammock had a small rip in it and when I woke up in the middle of the night it turned out I was catching mosquitos rather than keeping them out. Thankfully the problem has been taken care of.

parati

parati Originally uploaded by Road Trip

its hard to see but down near the water is wher I started the hike, this is about where I camped for the night

coolest bar ever

coolest bar ever Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Tarzan Bar is a little out of the way but probably the best setting for a pub I`ve ever seen

aqueduct

aqueduct Originally uploaded by Road Trip

sorry, water engineers are required to take pictures of things like this. its like crack to us. scratch that, crack is a lot better

cool property

cool property Originally uploaded by Road Trip

on the way up to Cunha theres an awesome property with a waterfalls and natural swimming pools, road access and a cool open aired building (although the roof could use a little work) the asking price is only a measly $300,000 any investers out there?

more of the beach

more of the beach Originally uploaded by Road Trip

nice cold fresh water bath on the beach

Wasp vs. Tarantula

Wasp vs. Tarantula Originally uploaded by Road Trip

I only caught the end of the battle but its impressive that wasps can take out taratulas. he got pretty protective of his kill afterwords, ot worked too cause it scared me off. for scale sake the wasp is about at long as a dollar is wide

beaches near Parati

beaches near Parati Originally uploaded by Road Trip

this was about an hour walk out of parati, you can see the path on the next hill that takes you to an even better beach

Wrapping up Brazil in Parati

So I finally felt like it was time to leave Rio and the rest of Brazil behind. Rio was a lot of fun but I just can`t keep up that pace anymore. It`s kind of sad because in a way it`s an admission the I can no longer refuse the fact that I`m aging. My body anyway, my mind is just as young and immature as it ever was. Wanna hear a poop joke? So after Rio I moved down to Parati, which was the final stop the gold took on it`s long haul from Diamantina back in colonial times. Once better routes were found the town was pretty much forgotten. When it was finally reinhabitated it was kept colanial and it still is to this day. As the final stop on the Camino de Oro its a pretty touristed spot, but for good reason, there are tons of out of the way beaches and tucked away waterfalls. I actually got to hike about 50 kilometers of the tail end of the trail. It was a gift to myself for quitting smoking when I left Rio. I had planned to do it in three days and ended up finishing it in two, the 25 k uphill just about killed me, it honestly felt like somone kicked me in the lungs. But I met some nice people along the way that let me rest at their places durring the hotter parts of the days and my first glimpse of Cunha, my objective city, for what ever reason made me feel like I accomplished something, eventhough it was a 2 day hike that cars can do in about 3 hours.

Travelling Bulletin

So for those of you that travel and read this every once in a while or for those that might travel in the future and even for those that have no plans to travel, here is a little travel tip that should be observed at all times: DO NOT SLEEP NAKED WHEN IN A SHARED BEDROOM. I forgot to mention it but there was an irish guy that was staying at the same place as me in Rio. Unfortunately, in a room of about 16 people, he got placed in the bunk under mine and quite a few times I got an accidental view of things I`d rather not see (especially first thing in the morning after struggling to let my self down off the top bunk). This is what I`ve come to understand to be the general view, most everyone in the room, guys and girls agreed. It was quite a topic of conversation. It just makes it even weirder that it was a co-ed bedroom. So if there are still any doubts, this should never happen again and it should not have happen the first time. If for nothing else think of your own reputation, he was pretty much tagged as a complete weirdo the entire time he was there.