10 Top 3´s

A busy few days catching busses (including running through the streets of a city at 345am trying to find a taxi to the bus terminal) and hurriedly exploring the places we get to finally caught up with us and we have a little break to throw up a blog post. We tend to spend evenings relaxing on roof top terraces and on balconies and occassionally we make lists and such to pass the time with the intention of possibly making them a blog post. So, more of these might be coming. This one is our top 3 (with some honorable mentions) for various categories for our trip:

COUNTRIES
1.Colombia-the perfect mix of landscapes, friendly people, great cities, good beaches, awesome fruits and a road slightly less travelled.
2. Bolivia-The altiplano including the salar, great and interesting cities, intriguing politics, fascinating indigenous cultures, beautiful art, and full of the world´s highest __________ (fill in the blank, almost everything is the worlds highest here)
3. Guatemala-It got our LAtin American addiction started and we still love it. Great colonial cities, beautiful landscapes, some of the worlds best archaeological sites, fascinating cultures, and good friends make this place stay at the top of our list.
HM- Nicaragua and El Salvador didnt quite make top 3, but both are places would love to go back to.

CAPITAL CITIES
1. Quito- We wanted more time here. Lots to see, good museums, great weather, near the center of the world and a lively place.
2. Buenos Aires- Ultra hip, ultra modern but still with a latin american flavor of its own. Its almost too big, but with so much to see and experience, a year here wouldnt be enough.
3. Bogotá- Great weather, good views, nice neighborhoods, huge student populations, nice public transport, good museums, hot chocolate with cheese in it, Botero.
HM-La Paz- Worlds highest capital city, feels a little rough around the edges, but with lots to see and an intriguing clash of cultures.

CULINARY REGIONS
1. Oaxaca, Mexico- See our latest post.
2. Coastal Belize- Main ingredients are lobster, shrimp, coconut milk, garlic and plantains along with caribbean flare. Cant go wrong with food anywhere here.
3. Buenos Aires- It is true that there is lots of great meat here, and we mean LOTS. But, with empanadas of all varieties and homemade stuffed pasta on every corner, plus the amazing gelatto along the streets it deserves credit for more than the meat.

LODGINGS
1. Campground in Ancud, Chile- Check back at our blog post from Chiloe for a photo of this spot. Unbeatable.
2. Wasi Masi, Sucre, Bolivia- Nice locally run hostal. Sleeping can be a tough call on a tight budget, so the good hostels that are cheap and nice are memorable.
3. D&D at Lago Yojoa, Honduras. Decent lodging, but good food and a local brewery onsite as well as a British birding nerd with a huge beard onsite, makes for a pleasant stay.

VIEWS
1. Salar de Uyuni from Fisherman´s Island- A rock formation covered in nearly thousand year old cacti surrounded by pure white salt as far as you can see in every direction. Feels like you are not on earth. This was number one by a long shot.
2. Machu Picchu from Wayna Picchu- A tough hike from Aguas Calientes to MP made us question whether we wanted to scramble up Wayna Picchu, but the view justified the fame that Machu Picchu has.
3. Mountain peak in Parque National Llao llao, Bariloche, Argentina- Snow capped mountains over a giant river feeding multiple lakes.

RUINS
1. Machu Picchu- We almost didnt go. Worried about our budget and worried about the huge crowds that pour into the place, we debated opting for another site. Glad we didnt. This one is impressive and has a deserved reputation for being breathtaking.
2. Yaxha, Flores, Guatemala- Almost as big as Tikal, large excavated sites and you only have to share it with the howler monkeys. There is something about being nearly alone in an ancient site that makes it remarkable.
3. Tikal, Flores Guatemala/Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico- Two great sites we could not decide between. Both are great sites with lots to offer. Our list, so we dont have to choose.

BEACHES
1. Tulum, Mexico- We actually just thought people flocked to resorts in the Yucatan because of the moderate prices. Now we realize that the powdery white sand on the bright turqoise water probably has a lot more to do with it. Add in the coral reef and sea turtles swimming right off shore and it makes sense.
2. Parque Nacional Tayrona, Santa Marta, Colombia- Gorgeous and a bit challenging to get to. Dont like this beautiful beach with crystal clear water, hike 10 minutes through the woods and you can have another one all to yourself.
3. Mahahual, Mexico- Again with the beautiful Yucatan. We timed it right and were almost the only gringos in the town. Eating every meal right on the ocean makes a beach even more memorable.

FAVORITE FARMING ACTIVITIES
1. Milking sheep- Seriously, we really liked this job a lot. Hopefully we can introduce sheep cheese into the high country of NC within the next 5 or so years.
2. Plowing with a mule- We didnt get to do much of this, but it was a great experience. Inefficient, sure, but tractors lack personality.
3. Herding sheep- The jumpy, crazy, intelectually lacking animals can be frustrating, but we admit we loved trying to solve the puzzle of getting them to herd into whatever area we wanted them for the day.

THINGS THAT WE WOULDNT HAVE TOLD OUR MOTHERS ABOUT BEFORE DOING
1. Hitchhiking in various countries. Sounds more dangerous than it is, but in a lot of places this is a perfectly acceptable mode of transport.
2. Waterfall jumping- 10 meters high, and make sure you jump far enough because that rock juts out some at the bottom. weeeeee.
3. Hiking a very active volcano to the point where you can touch the lava with a stick- The irony is, we took our mothers here. However, we failed to mention the part about the lava flows before they were already there and feeling the rubber melting on the bottoms of their shoes.
HM-taking a small boat between Colombia and Panama in 15 foot seas. Scary and painful.

COUNTRIES FOR ARTISANS
1. Guatemala- Just go there, you cant miss them. When art is entrenched in culture and clothing, it gives it an additional beauty that we love.
2. Bolivia- Again with the art that cannot be separated from daily life. Traditions passed on for thousands of years thrive here and are breathtaking.
3. El Salvador- Beautiful Naive art in El Salvador. The way that such beauty oozes out from such painful tragedy in this country gives the work an extra meaning.

Alright, that is all we got for now. Let us know if you want us to list any other top threes.

Here is a little something for your computer wallpaper: Adam Zapata and Tracy Pancho Villa.

Viva Mexico

Another week down, but not wasted. We soaked in big city life with a mix of political tensions and normal city life, saw more ruins dating back to 1000 b.c., and enjoyed the wonderful food- from cheese to homemade ice cream- that Oaxaca has to offer.

We then headed for a short stroll through Puebla, the site of the historically insignificant, but drunk American college student very significant Cinco de Mayo battle. (The battle was between Mexican and French soldiers. The French outnumbered the Mexican soldiers 600 to 200, but the Mexican soldiers won. However, the French would go on to occupy the city for the next 4 years. We have been told that Cinco de Mayo is celebrated as a day off of work in Mexico, but is rather insignificant on the whole, it was compared to Flag Day).

Finally we landed to Cuernavaca where we had the privelege of two local tour guides. Susie, who we know from Pullen and her husband Carlos, a native of Cuernavaca, showed us the sites, but most importantly they showed us the best places in town to eat local Mexican fare.

The Oaxacan sampler platter- 2 types of cheeses, golden taquitos, cecina (pork with a spice rub), beef strips, chile relleno, guacamole, tiny stuffed tortillas, fried pork rinds (chicharron), and fried grasshoppers (which were out of season and not on the plate, a major disappointment).


Tracy digs in to a Gordita in the Cuernavaca market.


If you go to Cuernavaca in search of the delicious gorditas, look around the corner from the pig head...


Taco con Cecina for breakfast. Large blue tortilla, covered in a thin slice of spicy pork with beans, cheese and cream. Absolutely delicious (oh, a note the giant cup of horchata).


Stewed lamb and goat being prepared in this wonderful kitchen in Guadalajara (since we are on a food kick).


Affter a filling breakfast of pork tacos, mushroom stuffed quesadillas and a stuffed tortilla full of beans and cheese, we took a strenuous hike to a pyramid in Tepoztlan. A stunning view, well worth the climb.
-A huge thanks to Susie and Carlos for their wonderful hospitality and for giving us their insider knowledge of Mexican cuisine and culture (Carlos recommends the pig eye tacos, though we did not get a chance to try them). THANKS!!!!

We are now in the United States...

of MEXICO!

It is interesting that there is no good name for us. Americans doesnt do the trick as there are lots of Americans: North Americans, South Americans, Central Americans. So we tend to call ourselves whatever the locals call us, sometimes that is gringos (in South America that is all white people, but in Central America and Mexico it is specifically for people from USA). Sometimes it is estdounidenses, which seems to be the most common thing to call us, however, beings that we are now in the Estados Unidos de Mexico, or United States of Mexico, that also does not seem to specify very well. Oh, well, gringo it is!

We have gone from sheer relaxation to a sudden realization that our time is getting short and we have a lot of ground to cover, so here is what we have been up to.

We last posted from Hopkins, Belize. From there we went to Corozal, Belize. We intended only to stop over to break up our travels, but the threat of a tropical storm held us there for an extra night. The extra night gave us a chance to soak up a local party involving a Caribbean band. They were sponsored by Happy Cow Processed Cheese, the number 1 cheese in Belize. An enjoyable night and a nice way to say farewell to Belize, a country we expected to pass through casually, but ended up enjoying every minute of.

We then headed into Mahahual, Mexico. A beautiful Caribbean beach town that was completely destroyed in 2007 due to a hurricane. Tourism is their money maker, but since it was down season, we got to just relax with the locals who were taking it easy and our friend Danny and Adam got absolutely destroyed by two local females in a volleyball tournament. (Destroyed, as in did not score a single point)

From Mahahual we went to Tulum. Tulum is well known for its Mayan ruins. The most impressive part of the ruins is that it sits atop a cliff overlooking a beautiful white sand beach with bright blue water. The least impressive part of the ruins is that huge busses of people from big money resorts and cruise ships pile in, taking away from much of the mystique of being in such an interesting location (I expect that someone from the resort is blogging about having to see the ruins amongst bearded, smelly, ragged looking backpackers). While in Tulum, we snorkeled a bit more with no less than 20 sea turtles (it is great fun following them around since they are never in a hurry and could not care less that you are swimming with them) and snorkeled a cenote, which is an underground river system, essentially snorkeling a cave full of beautiful rock formations.

We then hopped a 17 hour bus to San Cristobal de las Casas. A beautiful colonial city with lots of character. It is located in Chiapas and in 1994 was held by the EZLN, better known as the Zapatistas. Political tensions still exist because the demands for more justice, equality and self-determination for local indigenous groups have not been met (nor does it appear that there are any intentions of meeting those demands).

We were also able to visit local indigenous communities that have been able to beautifully retain their traditions and who welcome those who would like to observe and learn about those traditions. We saw everything from the beautiful clothing that we have talked a lot about with almost all of the indigenous groups we have encountered to religious rituals mixing pieces of Catholicism with traditional Mayan beliefs (the church floor was covered in fresh pine needles and several families had brought chickens to be sacrificed in order to address a physical or spiritual ailment). We were able to get very informative explanations of these traditions and beliefs and we were fascinated by the way the local governing bodies, police forces and spiritual leaders operate in the villages.

On a landscape note, we traveled by boat through a large Canyon in which a river cuts through cliffs up to 1000 meters tall (that is 1 kilometer for those that are metrically challenged). Really amazing scenery, especially once you add the monkeys in the trees on the banks, the hundreds of crocodiles that live along the river and the many birds that fly around the steep cliffs.

On another note, Mexican food is awesome.

We mentioned our time is getting short. We will likely be back in NC in a little over a month. So start hoeing your gardens, get your cookingware ready, clear off your couch or extra bed and buy some extra NCSU football tickets. We cant wait to spend some quality time with our friends and family back in NC.