Perú To Bolivia

Our bus stopped in the mid­dle of nowhere (lit­er­ally) and we had a chance to take pic­tures of the lamas and the alpacas, as well as flamin­gos. We could barely breathe: at 3,000 meters, oxy­gen is scarce. Just walk­ing a few meters is hard (smok­ing not, funny enough – yes, I know).

Por La Carretera - Arequipa

We drove away at sun­set, observ­ing Lima´s sub­urb, mostly slums built on sand hills. What a strange city, caught between the desert and the sea. We fol­lowed the Panamer­i­cana Sur, along the Pacific Ocean, pass­ing through Pisco and Nazca, a vast coastal desert, arid low­lands and sand dunes.

Southern Hemisphere: Lima, Perú

We enjoyed Lima these last few days. We walked around the his­tor­i­cal cen­ter and went to Miraflo­res, the newer (and posher) sub­urb. The beaches are not that nice (noth­ing com­pared to Costa Rica) but it was fun. South­ern hemi­sphere… here we are!

Faces Of Central America

Observ­ing peo­ple in Cen­tral Amer­ica is really inter­est­ing. First of all, there is a true melt­ing pot of cul­tures: Asians, Blacks, His­pan­ics, indige­nous peo­ple such as the Kuna in Panamá…

¿Y Ahora Qué?

We went to Panamá (in Panamá City, David and Boquete) and then to Costa Rica (in Que­pos, Playa Coco, Playa Tamarindo, Liberia, Mon­teverde and San Jose). We tried to cross to Nicaragua but could not make it.

There is no way we are com­ing back to Canada now. So we bought a plane ticket to… Perú. We will arrive in Lima, and travel in South Amer­ica for quite a while.

Adrenaline Rush In Monteverde

We were in Mon­teverde, in the Costa Rican moun­tains, where this is a pop­u­lar activ­ity. Basi­cally, we were attached to a steel cable with a har­ness, attached itself to a remov­able trol­ley. Plus the cute hel­met, of course. We were taken deep into the rain­for­est and left on the first plat­form, on top of a tree. There, we were taught to use thick leather glove (to brake) and… that was it!

It´s A Wild Life...

These are some of the ani­mals we met in Costa Rica. I have not included pic­tures of mos­qui­toes… damn blood suckers!

Busing Around Central America

But bus­ing around in Cen­tral Amer­ica is not that straight­for­ward. First of all, we have to agree on the def­i­n­i­tion of a bus. If it has no win­dows and no doors, it is still a bus? What if it is painted in flam­boy­ant col­ors, like bright red and yel­low, and has words of wis­dom such as “no pain, no gain”, or “dio bendigo mi alma” writ­ten on the win­dows? And if it takes 5 hours to drive 20 kilo­me­ters? Is it still a bus?