our south american travels

I visited Jose in Peru for over two months this summer (their winter) and it was really fantastic!  We spent a week in Cusco when I first got there and went to Machu Picchu for Winter Solstice and then saw the Inti Raymi festival on the 24th of June. Then we took off for our 5 week, 5 country trip around South America. We started in Bolivia (copacabana and la paz) and then flew to Santiago, Chile.  We then traveled by bus down to Villarrica, a beautiful town on a lake overlooking a volcano. We then went on to Pucon, an adventure sport town just 30 minutes away. Puerto Varas was next, part of the lake district in Chile. We visited Lago Todos Los Santos there, one of the most famous lakes in the area. Then a 6 hour bus ride through the Andes, over a very tall mountain pass to get to Bariloche, Argentina.  Bariloche is part of Patagonia and the lake district in Argentina. It is also a popular ski resort for rich folk in South America.  Beautiful place and offers many side day trips to other suburbs (we saw Colonia Suiza).  We took a 23 hour bus ride, ugh, to Buenos Aires, an enormous and beautiful city. A little day trip to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay was very charming.  Then we took another 20 hour bus ride up to Iguazu Falls at the junction of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.  The falls were really spectacular and I hope to go back again someday to see them by the full moon. We spent 3 days there and then took a taxi on a barge over to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, a knock off shoppers heaven. The next day we took a bus to Asuncion, Paraguay which was a lovely city with beautiful handicrafts and interesting, bloody history. Then we flew to Lima, and then Cusco on August 1st.  I was able to stay 3 more weeks in Cusco.   We learned how to cook some Peruvian dishes, visited local ruin sites, and got officially engaged!  We spent a lot of the rest of my time there wedding planning :)  Rachel and Jen, my good friends in SD came to visit Cusco and we spent several days traipsing around Cusco, the Sacred Valley, the ruins above Cusco, and even went on a 4 day Lares trek (just the four of us) to Machu Picchu!  It was such a blast to have them there with us in Peru.  Then sadly I had to leave to return to the states to start work again.  So, nose to the grindstone until Christmas when I'll go back a fourth time to see him. Click on our Trip Album to see our pics (via picassa) from our summer travels 2009. You can also access the same photos by going to the photo page and viewing the embedded slideshow there :)