Day 4

Go Giants! fence or historic street in Kyoto?

Day 3

The watercolor view and the real view at Ninnaji Temple

Day 2

Temple breakfast at Daishin-in

Day 1 - Arrival in Kyoto

Relaxing in the garden at our home for the next 5 weeks, Daishin-in

Argentina and Uruguay!

I've fallen back on my old habits again and haven't kept up with writing this. Oops. But I've been all over. I've seen so much in the last few weeks...and also spent many, many hours on busses. In between the bus rides, though, I visited amazing red rock formations in Salta, Argentina called the Quebrada de Cafayate. A beautiful place to explore and climb around on the rocks. Next, to the wonderful Iguazu Falls. I was there in the dry season and still, the falls were huge. The amount of water and the force of it going over the edge of the falls was stunning. From Iguazu in the north, I crossed the border into Uruguay for a few days. It is a pretty country with lots of rolling hills and farms. And the capital, Montevideo, was a small-ish big city with lots of old buildings and nice places for exploring. Next, was a big big city. Buenos Aires. It was a very lively, exciting city although it's obvious that winter is not the season to be there. It felt like for the low tourist season, it was a bit closed up and especially now with the swine flu...they take it very seriously in Argentina. Even in smaller towns where no one is infected things are closed and people are wearing masks. But back to Buenos Aires. There is a good subway system and lots of different neighborhoods spread out around the city that each have something unique to appreciate. Some areas are very crowded and overwhelming, others are calm and quiet and don't feel like the city at all. Within the city there is a huge cemetary that is like a mini city of old churches and temples that all happen to be filled with coffins. I saw tango dancing and ate good food, stayed out late, did all the big city things. Then, before long, I was in Mendoza, the wine region of Argentina. I had a fantastic time there with an Argentine friend of my cousins who took on the job of being my personal tour guide for the weekend. It was great to be with someone who knew his way around. Taking us to all the best wineries and the most beautiful mountains. I learned how to tango...a little bit...and had a great time. Now, I'm in Bariloche. An amazingly beautiful mountain town at the north end of Patagonia in the Lake District, which, not surprisingly, is full of beautiful glacial lakes. Everywhere I look there is another amazing view of snowy white mountains and a sparkling blue lake. It's fantastic, but a little bit cold down this far south in the middle of winter. Worth it though. From here, I go to Chile for a week or so and then I'll be heading home!

After another (though much much colder) tour of the Salar de Uyuni, I arrived in Chile! So far...it's nice. I knew right away that it's a bit different here than Peru or Bolivia. The first hour on the road, there were about 6 'pistas emergencias'...the equivalent of run away truck ramps in the US. Not something you would see anywhere else I've been. I'm in the town of San Pedro de Atacama. It's a new kind of town for me, with quiet little streets, lots of white washed adobe walls, and pear orchards. It's touristy, but charming. Cute little buildings, nice trees, warm (enough) weather, relaxing. That's it for now, not sure where I'll be going next, so I'll keep this updated...hopefully.

Photo captions

Here are the short explainations for the photos in order that they are posted.

-La Paz at sunset
-La Paz at night
-Mountains from the plane on the way to Rurennebaque (jungle)
-Rurrenebaque airport
-Boats in the Pampas
-Alligator...maybe Caimen
-Sunset 1
-Sunset 2
-Anaconda
-Mountain in the Bolivian Altiplano
-Icy edge of a lake
-Hot springs and ice
-Sunrise through the icy car window
-Jumping for the Salt Flat

Photos

Back in Bolivia

As many people have already heard, my time in Cusco is done. Now, I'm with my friend, Katie, traveling in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. It was slow going getting out of Peru, due to strikes that closed the roads for a day. Eventually though, we made it to the big city of La Paz. We spent a day here exploring the crowded, colorful city. Ate good food...Japanese, Mediterranean..not much Bolivian food. The next day we took a short, but amazing flight in a little 20 person plane to the town of Rurrenebaque. To get there, we flew over the Cordiollera Blanca, a mountain range with 500 peaks over 5000 meters...it was beautiful! The scenery changed drastically as we neared Rurrenebaque which is about 3000 meters lower than La Paz and in the middle of the jungle. The feeling there, is surprisingly different than other cities I've visited in Bolivia. I think the people there are a little happier because of the warm, sunny climate, even if there is still a lot of poverty there. From Rurrenebaque, we went on a three day tour of the pampas...which is supposed to be different from the jungle, but I'm not really sure how. I guess less dense forset, more grassland/wetland. It was a very relaxing tour. We spent a lot of time riding around in a little boat, watching animals and looking at the scenery. We saw tons of alligators/caiman, beautiful birds, some snakes (including Anacondas...but not very big ones), pink river dolphins, monkeys, capibara (aka giant hamster/rat things), a sloth...and probably more that I'm forgetting. We slept under mosquito nets and had amazing views of the stars. It was a short, but very nice trip. Rather than taking the same flight back, we chose the 18 hour bus. It turned out to be quite an adventure, with dirt roads most of the way and the seat next to us occupied by two women and their three children...so not surprisingly they were spilling over into our laps most of the time. Nonetheless, the scenery was beautiful and we made it back to La Paz. From here we will head to the Salt Flats of Uyuni (the second time for me) and then to Chile. I'll try to add photos when I can.

Photos...

Ok. Now my pictures are easier to see. You don't have to sign in or anything. Here's the link. http://picasaweb.google.com/levenberg.laura
Enjoy!