Welcome to the Jungle

Despite our harrowing ride to and from Villa Carmen, we had a wonderful week volunteering here. We were excited to meet up with our new friend Nicole who we had met on our trip to the Salt Flats and volunteer coordinator at Villa Carmen. After spending the last 6 weeks or so in cities, it was nice to take a break and be one with nature and breathe some fresh air.

Us with Nicole

Our abode for the week and where we ate all our meals with the other folks

Bev and Sam's Wild Ride, or How We Survived Our Trip to the Jungle (Just Barely)

Sam and I just spent the last week volunteering at Villa Carmen, a nature reserve/biological station situated in Manu National Park in Peru, in the Amazonian region of the country. Now, spending a week in jungle sounds pretty adventurous, but little did we know that the biggest adventure would be our trip to and from the reserve.

Just a glimpse of what the ride was like.

How Amazing Are Peruvian Buses?

Ok, I can't speak for all "Peruvian buses", but one Peruvian bus company called "Cruz del Sur". We had met some people along the way that said, when you go to Peru take Cruz del Sur because it is a class above the rest. Man, this was like miles above any bus I've ever taken.

9 Days, 3 Countries, 6 Cities

In the past 9 days Sam and I have moved around so much it's hard to remember where we were when and what day it is today. I actually had to look at the calendar to see where we have been since our last post, but to sum it up we've been in six cities in three different countries; taken three 6-hour or more busrides, 1 plane ride, a colectivo (a shared cab), and more cab rides than I can remember; and seen two professional futbol teams. Whew!

That's me climbing into a concrete casket that used to make white wine.

10 Bands.. 11 Hours.. Santiago, Chile.. Lollapalooza

Last Sunday Bev and I went to my first concert festival - Lollapalooza Chile. It was a two day event, but since my parents were in town on Saturday we decided to inaugurate ourselves with one day. It was a packed day, and we were very glad we went. Definitely hoping to do more festivals back in the US. So here's the my ranking of all the bands we saw from worst to best.

Chilean' in Chile

**I apologize in advance for the length of this post, I tend to get a bit wordy, plus its been a pretty eventful week, filled with us being at the wrong place twice, a new country, and a happy ending**


After spending 5 weeks in Argentina, Sam and I decided it was time to venture over to a new country. We spent the last week, as I'm sure you've figured out, smack dab in the middle of Chile, in Santiago, Valparaiso, and Viña del Mar, where we spent our time taking more free walking tours, touring a vineyard, visiting an ecolodge in the mountains, and seeing Lollapalooza. And of course, what trip of ours would be complete with a few bumps to shake things up a bit and two important lesson learned: don't assume anything, and don't underestimate the kindness of strangers.

The Argentine Experience feat. 5 Cultural Lessons

Last Monday, March 26th, we decided to partake in the #1 rated tour on TripAdvisor.com's Buenos Aires section - the Argentine Experience. They described themselves as a "group of likeminded individuals devoted to showing off only the highest qualities of Argentine culture and cuisine." I didn't know what that meant, but I did really like their website design: http://www.theargentineexperience.com. From it I learned it would be a cooking class /dinner party, where we'd make empanadas, eat steak, drink mate and make alfajores for dessert. So how was it?