Iguazu Falls

A 22 hour bus ride one way to Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian/Argentinean border...and worth every minute! Iguazu falls is over run with tourists of all ages but when you catch moments of relative calm near the falls... well words can´t describe it. It is overwhelmingly impressive and humbling. After seeing the falls on land, we took a very wet boat ride into the falls (or as far as we could safely get). While Victoria Falls in Africa is the largest continuous waterfall in the world, Iguazu is wider and is comprised of multiple waterfalls which allows for a more intimate encounter...rawwrrr.

Cafayate

Ahhhh.... Wine country! Spending a couple of days in Cafayate, we did some sightseeing of the surrounding desert and vineyards. The area is renowned for it´s ¨Torrontes¨ dry white wine (which was very refreshing on those tough treks from vineyard to vineyard). In addition to the Torrontes, we sampled some delicious reds as well. Our favorite being the Malbec from the Esteco vineyard (sold under the name Micheal Torrino in the US...highly recommend it). Oh, and the picture above is of a rock (el sapo) shaped like a toad that Elaine fell in love with.

Into the Desert - Valle de la Luna

Some pictures of the Valle de la Luna, Valle de la Muerte, and the Cordillera del Sal in the desert of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.

Laguna Cejar

We are on now our last leg of our trip, Chile. Our first stop... San Pedro Atacama supposedly the driest desert in the world. Our first day there we decided to go on a tour of Laguna Cejar which is 7x saltier than the Ocean. This translates into being magically transformed into a rubber duckie! You could not drown if you wanted and when your bathing suit dries it can stand up by itself. We also saw a lake that was 10cm deep at sunset while we sipped on pisco, a local liquor made from grapes.

Uyuni too

More pictures of the Salar de Uyuni and surroundings.

Salar de Uyuni

From October 30 to Novenber 1, we were in the weird and fascinating landscape of the Salar de Uyuni, our last trip in Bolivia. The first day we set out in a Land Rover from the remote town of Uyuni with a fun group of 3 Brazilian Med students and 1 Spanish world traveler. We visited the salt flats, the worlds largest, and the Isla de Pescado, an island of 12 meter cactuses in the middle of the salt flat sea. The landscape was surreal and one of the most unique experiences we have had on our trip so far. At night we stayed in a lodging made almost entirely of salt! The second day we traveled through desert landscapes surrounded by volcanoes and visited several lakes home to thousands of flamingos including the Laguna Colorada, which has rusty red water because of the algae which grows in the lake. We saw the Arbol de Piedra which is reminiscent of a Dali-esque tree. On the last day, we woke up for the sunrise (4:00 AM!) and saw geysers and soaked in a relaxing natural hot spring. Our day ended crossing the boarder into San Pedro Atacama, Chile.

Samaipata

While in Bolivia, we visited a small lazy town near Amboro National Park called Samaipata. Our hostel had one fiesty toucan that Elaine fell in love. The weather was perfect for enjoying all the waterfalls nearby. On our first day there we visited three waterfalls (las cuevas) and ran into some friends we met from our travels in Rurrenabaque. We spent all day enjoying the waterfalls and eating locally grown delicous peaches. The next day we got a taxi to take us to a 35 meter waterfall called La Pajcha. We were the only people around, which made the experience all the more enjoyable.