It was no surprise to me to wake up Wednesday morning with my throat aching badly and feeling woozy and hot.  After thinking about eating breakf…

The girls at the orphanage were off from classes for a month and a week outside of La Paz in the Sur Yungas was planned for them and I was asked …

Every three months there is a birthday lunch at the orphanage for all the girls who have had a birthday in that time.  For obvious reasons, it´…

Here in the southern hemisphere the seasons are opposite those in the US and so June 21st is not the summer solstice and longest day of the year, but…

The ominous dark clouds obscuring the tops of the hills above Aguas Calientes the afternoon before didn´t give me high hopes for a sunny dawn at M…

I joined Alana, Katherine, Megan and Rupert and a few of the others in the morning and shared the fresh ground local coffee I had bought the night be…

It was chilly when we woke up but nothing like the night before.  The same mate de coca still tasted wonderful after another night in the tent.&…

I was awake before dawn since it was so hard to sleep.  The best solution was to pull the cover of the sleeping bag over my head, but when I fou…

4:30 came around ridiculously early and it was a good thing I had packed my things the night before because I was almost incoherent.  On top of …

Settling into my seat for the several hours to get from Copacabana to Puno, I entered into a conversation with an Italian from Bergamo.  At firs…

I had to make my way back to the border with Peru to renew my passport as it’s already been 3 months that I’ve been in Bolivia.  I decided t…

I had a great Easter week exploring Cochabamba very leisurely.  I was staying at Anita´s mom´s house and I could come and go when I want…

This visit merits its own entry.  It was a gorgeous day, yet again, in Cochabamba and I finally got around to visiting one of the highlights…

I agreed to attend this variety show with Anita and her sister Sarah because Anita's niece Nicole was in the production.  She was the youngest o…

Holidays in other countries are always an adventure and full of emotion, mostly of missing your family and traditions back home.  The best cur…

Anita and I took a bus after her work to go to Cochabamba for Holy Week and Easter.  We arrived at 11:30 and Anita went to bed but she told me t…

One of the girls I tutor asked me what I was doing that afternoon and told me about the anniversary celebration in her high school.  Lilian begg…

Palm Sunday arrived hot and clear.  I walked just around the corner with Anita to her parish which was the charismatic Catholic church.  Th…

I awoke with a bit of a headache, not because I drank so much but just because I had forgotten to drink any water all night.  But it was a bea…

Tonight Anita and I and some of her friends got together in Sopocachi at Ramiro's apartment.  Ramiro is Fabiola's boyfriend. He has a nice place…

I awoke fairly early to gray misty skies, but a pleasant warmth in the air and made some coffee with the excellent Yungas local variety that I had bo…

The weather wasn’t looking too good for a long bike ride down down down the World’s Most Dangerous Road.  The billing intrigued me, ever sin…

All was well in the morning.  I got a hot shower but the drying off and getting dressed was very cold.  Days are warm here but the nights a…

The morning was at least sunny and I set out early to round up everything I needed for my visa to enter Bolivia.  Since the USA requires a visa …

I liked Arequipa but I was ready to go to La Pa.  There were some things in Arequipa I would have liked to stay to see or do.  Some churche…

We left Cabanaconde in a dense fog, and I worried about the dangers of traffic on the road, with its steep dropoffs.  I tried not to think about…

My sleep patterns have dramatically reversed since I´ve been traveling.  I was up at 5:30 in the morning ready to have some breakfast and get o…

I booked last minute with Colca Trek for a three day excursion into the canyon.  I had wanted to go for four but it's low season and none of the…

I'm writing about my spectacular day tonight because tomorrow I embark on a three day tour of the Colca Canyon and environs.  I'd call it a tr…

Ouch, and ouch again.  I was paying for something I was sure, gauging from the virulence of the stomach bug that bit me.  I awoke the m…

My overnight bus trip went fine, although there was a two hour delay because of Sunday evening traffic on the Panamericana Highway, much of it week…

Peru is not known for its wine industry…and rightly so.  Having tried several of the different selections, white and red, dry and sweet, from …

What a relief to leave Lima behind!  As soon as I got on the bus to take me south to Ica and Huacachina I felt everything lighten, my mood and m…

I have to confess, I almost don't recognize the city, seeing it in the middle of summer.  My previous experiences of a gray, polluted, humid…