Aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi!

Australia was a whirlwind of a time and our month there flew by before our eyes.

Melbourne
Our adventures in Australia began in Melbourne with the wonderful addition of miss Halle Schlather (and our wolfpack... it grew by one. And we were the three best friends that anyone could have!)We spent a few days exploring this cute city, which ended up being our favorite city in Australia. Melbourne is to Australia as Barcelona is to Spain-- wonderfully alive with culture without having a big city feel to it. We walked along the river banks and the town center, tried our luck at the casino, bought some sweet souvenirs at the Queen Victoria Market, tasted a variety of local cuisine from a great food court at the casino, drank cheap Australian box wine (GOOON!) and visited the cute town of St. Kilda. The highlight of Melbourne being the mini road trip we took along the Great Ocean road. We rented a car and spent the day driving along the coastline in awe of the scenery constantly being reminded by roadsigns that "In Australia, drive on the LEFT". It was definately weird to be shotgunning on the left, as Halle got used to driving on the wrong side of the road (LEFT SIDE STRONG SIDE) and somehow we managed to survive. Our Great Ocean Road journey ended at the 12 Apostles, which were quite a site to see as the sun set and then we returned on the eerie dark roads of the Australia countryside.

Sydney
We left Melbourne to fly to Sydney. During our flight we were convinced that we were sitting next to one of the Baldwin brothers, or so we thought until we google/wiki-ed them and determined that it was just a very close look-a-like. We spent about a week in Sydney seeing most of what there is to see in Syndey--a taxi boat ride around the habors, a tour of the botanical gardens, walking from Coogee beach to Bondi beach, the Opera House, Circular Quay, and Darling Harbour.

 

We got to meet Halle's friend Alli who is living in Sydney and had a great time hanging out with her.
 
Halle and Alba also took a tour of the Blue Mountains, which were pretty but nothing too exciting.



We also got to experience the Australian version of Mardi Gras, which was tons of fun.

Then there was the epic disaster known as the OzExperience-- though Halle and Alba had verbally confirmed our departure date, the people at Oz booked us on a day earlier. So after getting up early in the morning and waiting for the OzBus, we were rudely told that it was our fault for missing the bus that we were booked for the previous day and that the next available bus left days later. So in order to stay on track with our plans we ditched the OzBus (forgoing our accommodation and surf lesson at SpotX) and took a Greyhound to Byron Bay later that day that experience significant delays due to engine issues (yes it was a great day). Honestly, we were ready to leave Sydney, which felt a lot like an American city without the American style customer service.

Byron Bay
It was nice to arrive in the cute beach town known as Byron Bay.

We spent a few days relaxing on the beach and enjoyed doing nothing for a while. We spent part of a day visiting the sad hippie town of  Nimbin. We discovered this amazing mexican place known as OzyMex which we frequented a few times because of the delicious fish tacos, nachos, and chilli sauces. We spent most of our nights sitting on the beach staring at the stars trying to find various constellations. Halle and Alba went on a pub crawl and ended up winning free kayaking from their victorious win during Knights-Gentlemen-Vikings game, which was awesome! They got to see tons of dolphins, but sadly Alba got attacked by a jellyfish tentacle.

Sadly at this point our wolfpack went back down to two, as Halle headed back to the states.

Adios South America

After a quick couple of hours in Paraguay we went back to Brazil to meet up with our group. We then headed over the border to Argentina to catch an overnight bus to Uruguay. Yes...you counted right...thats 4 countries in less than 24 hours!

Salto, Uruguay

After many hours of driving we were finally let out on the side of the road (literally a ditch on the side of the highway) and proceeded to our wonderful destination of Salto, Uruguay - wonderful being used very loosely. To be honest, Salto, Uruguay was probably the worst city we have been to. Known as a "spa town" we decided to take advantage of the local spa. Bad idea. We paid the equivalent of 60 US dollars aka insanely expensive for Uruguay, for an "hour and a half chocolate massage". This "hour and a half chocolate massage" consisted of about a half hour of someone using a paintbrush to spread fake chocolate exfoliators and lotions on us as they rushed to be done and go home. We were happy to leave this place.

Montevideo, Uruguay

An early start got us to Montevideo by mid-day. What a pleasant surprise compared to Salto! Montevideo, supposedly the most livable city in South America, is a charming city with street vendors selling everything you could possibly want lining streets surrounded by beautiful historic buildings. Uruguay is also home to an amazing dish called a chivito. A chivito is basically a hamburger on steroids. Instead of a hamburger, you get a piece of steak on a huuuge bun that is usually topped with everything you could possibly imagine from eggs to avocado. Delicious!

Alba opted to spend the next day visiting Punta del Este, while Mandy decided that with such a short amount of time in Montevideo, she would rather stay and enjoy the city for another day. Punta del Este is a famous beach town in Uruguay, where the rich and famous of South America go to vacation. The Brazilian soccer players, Shakira, Antonio Banderas and various other celebs have houses there. It has the infamous huge hand statue as well as the crazy Casa Pueblo (a Gaudi-esque mansion built entirely by hand by Carlos Páez Vilaró). We also went to a Nacional vs. Cerro futbol match! South Americans are crazy about their football and we got to see first hand just how insane they get. Jumping up and down and cheering for 90 minutes is to put it mildly. Apparently many of the people at the games are members of gangs who would not normally be able to afford tickets, but the gang leaders make deals with the stadiums and get tickets to pass out to their gang members. As crazy as a game in Uruguay was, it is apparently nothing compared to other South American countries, particularly Argentina, where we were told that approximately 18 people die a year from fights at the matches.

However, Montevideo was not all fun and games. Our last night in Montevideo we went out for one of the girls on our tours birthday. Mandy and the birthday girl decided to stay out later than the rest and at around 3 am started to walk down the street to catch a cab, when out of nowhere a guy grabbed the birthday girls wrist and pulled off her purse and camera before running away down the street. Mind you, it was probably the busiest street in Monetvideo at that time of night, we are not talking back alleyway here. All in all we still had an amazing couple of days in Montevideo and we learned an important lesson about not carrying a wristlet out in the open at night (or really any time) in South America.

Colonia, Uruguay

Sad to leave Montevideo, we boarded a bus to Colonia, Uruguay. We found Colonia to be cute and old-fashioned, but slightly boring. We figured that if we had not been to Paraty, Brazil we may have liked it more as the two had a similar feel, but Colonia paled in comparison. However, we did have a fun afternoon which consisted of Alba riding a scooter and Mandy riding a golf cart around town.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

From Colonia we took a ferry to Buenos Aires.

I (Alba) had about a day and a half in BA due to NYU's ridiculous requirement to interview in person. In that short time, I did a few things. I had a tango lesson (I am now a certified tango dancer) and watched an amazing tango show while enjoying a 3 course meal and all you can drink wine. I also did a city bus tour visiting all the neat neighborhoods of BA. Then I was off on a red eye from BA to DC, bussing later that day to NYC to briefly hang with my newly engaged NYU doctor amiga the lovely miss Emily Skoda (congraats!!), interviewing the following day at NYU (loove the school and people), meeting up with old friends Kenny and Ryan for a quick lunch in the city, then bussing back to the DC area for a wonderful weekend with the fam and Tom.There was an epic meeting of the families as the Serrano-Mateo-Jankowski-Newtons hand an amazing night of delicious food and fun! After spending some time in the DMV, I was off to San Fran for a few days before heading off to reunite with my long lost travelover in Australia.

Meanwhile, I (Mandy) was still in Buenos Aires. I had a crazy night out at a drum show that consisted of a really fun night out, minus getting pick-pocketed (I didn't even know it had happened until I got in the taxi and realized I no longer had any money to pay for it). Luckily, all they got was about $50 in cash. The next night was the last night with the group, so we went out to an amazing steak dinner and said our goodbyes.

The following day I met up with my parents who had decided to come to Buenos Aires for 2 weeks! So, for one full week I got to stay in an apartment, have my own room, and unpack. Oh yeah, and I got to see my parents haha love you! We made the most of our week going to a tango show (the same one Alba had gone to), a city tour, visiting the historic cemetary where Evita (Eva Peron) is buried, going to festivals and markets, and just walking around the beautiful neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. We also ate, a lot, as Buenos Aires has some of the best food I have ever tasted. Between gelato, flan, alfajors, dulce de leche, steak, and wine we were pretty busy getting our eat on. Alfajors (you can remember the name by thinking of them as the head bitch) are delicious desserts that basically consist of cookie/cake around layers of dulce de leche covered in chocolate. Drool. After a week of relaxing and eating well it was time for me to leave the parents and head out on the next part of my journey.

Australia here we come!

we ARE alive!

It may appear that our AMWT blog died, but in reality it just took a shortish vacation as the demands of traveling the world are just too much for it to handle sometimes...

In reality our posting hiatus is a result of the absurd fact that in New Australand you have to pay for internet. But how come Alba has been posting pictures on facebook and neglected this blog? Well, Alba is crazy enough to buy internet to use on her phone to facetime/skype with Tom, Carmen and Jose. Unfortunately, there is no blogger app for the iPhone, so the blog remained post-free. (For all you programmers out there, get ON that already). As for Mandy, the internet she bought was used doing necessary FB and email checking. Which leads us into BIG NEWS EVENTS!!! Mandy got into school! Yay! and not just any school! She was accepted at the prestigious social work programs at Columbia and UNC. Alba has been put on endless waitlists by stupid MBA programs that can't decide if she is awesome enough for their schools (Wharton and NYU are slow fools) but has recently gotten accepted into the great program at UCLA! Yaaay! So yes, we both have a forseeable futures when we finish our grand tour of the world. I LIIKE!

As posting takes a lot of time and money (apparently) we have completely neglected this blog, but oh well deal with it.

Now where did we end off?? ahh yes, South America!

do you want a marriage?

After the 2ish weeks of the cold of Peru we finally arrived in the Brazilian heat.

Rio de Janiero, Brazil
We spent 4 days in this awesome hostel in Copacabana (O Misti) about 400m from the beach, enjoying the sun and fun of Rio. We experienced the crazy night life of Lapa- a HUGE street party complete with samba and capirinhas (an amazing combo of a mojito and margarita) and VERY forward brazilian men (hence the marriage proposal Mandy got). Went to a pre-carneval rehearsal in Sambodromo and took a city tour hiting all the hot spots- Christ the Redeemer, Sugar loaf mountain, and Maracana Futbol Stadium. But mostly we enjoyed the amazing beaches (Copacabana and Ipanema) and doing nothing before our tour started. Note: It is perfectly acceptable to wear a thong bikini no matter your shape, size or gender.

Ilha Grande, Brazil
The first stop on our tour, this beautiful island off the shores of Rio. We hiked through the mountain jungle to the most amazing beach Lopes Mendes. And then explored this cute town, purchasing some cool jewlery, and chilled.


Parati, Brazil
A few hours away we arrive in this cute Portuguese style town. Took an amazing boat ride for most of the day- grilling, drinking capirinhas, cliff jumping and swimming in the clear blue ocean (aka paradise). Alba went on a jeep tour hiting up some amazing waterfalls and cachaça distilleries while Mandy just wandered around the cute little town. For such a small town, there was a lot going on - in one night we managed to see a marching band, a concert, a festival complete with skeleton and goblin costumed men running around, and Capuera (a brazilian artform that is a mix between dance and martial arts).



Iguassu Falls (Brazil and Argentina)
After a five hour bus ride to Sao Paulo, we boarded our overnight bus to Iguassu Falls that ended up being more eventful than we expected. After about an hour the bus broke down and we had to wait on the side of the road in the middle of the night for a mechanic to come fix our bus. We finally arrived in Foz do Iguaçu and after checking into out hotel headed straight to visit the Brazilian side of the falls. We have never seen this many HUGE waterfalls-- they are everywhere! We spent the night grilling at our hotel pool. The next day we went to the Argentinian side of the falls, experiencing them head on-- a speed boat tour of the falls/ through some of the falls. We spent the day walking through the park checking out the many waterfalls of the Iguassu Falls.




Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
We hopped over to Paraguay to do some "cheap" shopping and have lunch, but really just an excuse to add another country to our list.

Observations from Peru

So, while Alba gave you a detailed record of our daily life in Peru, I want to share the little oddities and intricacies that make this country what it is...here is what I have observed so far

1. When Alba asks someone how much something costs it is generally 5-10 soles (Peruvian currency) cheaper than when I ask

2. Toilet paper cannot go down the toilet and has to be thrown out in a trashcan (even for No. 2-- gross), that is if you are lucky enough to find a toilet with toilet paper

3. You pretty much get an upset stomach from looking at tap water

4. Alpacas are both a tasty treat and make really soft hats

5. It is perfectly acceptable to walk down the street holding a baby goat

6. You can get any kind of antibiotic you need without a prescription for about the equivalent of 25 cents

7. It is possible to build an island out of reeds and live on it

8. The definition of a sexy llama according to our Inca Trail tour leader is a llama with big dark eyes, long eye lashes, and a long soft neck

9. "Summer" in Peru is more of a vague term than an actuality

10. Coca leaves cures all diseases, makes you live longer, gives you energy, is a great substitute for food, and pretty much makes you invincible

Peru

Mandy and I have been quite busy since the start of our tour moving to a new place almost every since day so far. First off, I can NOT believe that we are only 10 days in--it feels like so many more! So here is a quick summary of the trip so far:

Day 0- So we were actually able to leave on the same flight on the 13th, albeit it when we arrived in Bogota our flight was already boarding. So upon getting off the plane, onto a bus taking us to the terminal I start yelling like a mad woman conexion a LIIIMMAAAA¿!?¡ Fortunately they had held up the flight for a few of us with late connection flights, so we made it on the flight, but quite unfortunately our bags did not. Thankfully we were staying with my friend Virguit at her sweet place in Miraflores so she took care of us.

Day 1- Walking around Miraflores then headed to Barranco for some ceviche, a Peruvian potato stuffed with lobster dish and Cusqueñas for lunch. A massive siesta bc we didn't actually get to her place till after 3am till about dinner time. Then pollo a la brasa and other amazing brasa meats feast with some pisco sours. Appletinis as we waited till after midnight for our bags to arrive, then off to dance the night away until 3ish.

Day 2- Lazy morning, then headed to our hotel to check in and drop off our bags. Then went to the city center to meet up with our Canadien (eh?) friend Allison near la plaza de armas to have lunch consisting of family style peruvian dish feast accompanied by of course cusquenas. Then to the Hotel Bolivar to have the original pisco sours- la catedral. Then partied the night away at Virguits before going home around 2, to make sure we got a nap in before waking up at 530 to catch our flight to Cusco.

Day 3- Mandy and I die on our way to Cusco. Low key day trying to not feel terrible and pack for the Inca Trail.

Day 4- The Sacred Valley tour. Visiting the Argoyos a small Quechua community to learn about local textiles, where we purchased some cute alpaca wool hats. Visiting the Pisac ruins and as well as the ruins in Ollantaytambo. Relaxing in Ollantaytambo trying to recover for the start of the trek!!

Day 5- Day one of the Inca Trail!! Seeing that we hadnt eaten very much in the prior days, we were very weak and struggled a bit on this "easy day", but were beginning to feel better. On our 11k hike to the first camp ground we saw some sweet ruins, amazing agave plants, and stunning mountains including some glacier capped mountains.

Day 6- THE hardest day of the Inca Trail. 8km straight uphill in the rain with an increase of elevation of over 1200m to the Dead Womans Pass (it almost was renamed dead womens pass, but we made it somehow).  Then another 4km straight downhill along a slippery rock path, where Mandy fell about 10 times with the bruises to prove it. Our chef did make us an amazingly delicious cake as a rewardmust be a magic chef bc I still do not understand how he made that cake at our campsite).

Day 7- The longest day of the Inca Trail, yet our favorite day. A relatively  flat day with a few ups and downs along the dense cloud tropical forests. We enjoyed the 16km hike along the mountains, forests and ruins taking our sweet time.We celebrated our accomplishment with some beverages at lodge near our campsite.

Day 8- Machu Picchu!!! We were awakened at 3:30 am in a crazy downpour to get ready to hike to Machu Picchu aka try to be first in line when the park gates opened at 5:30 aka waiting in the dark for 1.5 hours. Hiking the 6km to Machu Picchu in the semi dark surrounded by clouds was interested. The torrential downpour of the night had caused some mudslides making part of our trek a bit treacherous. Nonetheless we made it to the Sun Gate (in our case cloud gate) and finally to Machu Picchu. Nothing can describe the feeling of walking down the path and then seeing before you amongst the clouds the amazing Inca city. We spent most of the day exploring the great city, then headed down to Aguas Calientes for our final lunch together as a group. We stayed relaxing in Aguas that night, and even got to barter for a cheaper dinner at a restaurant!

Day 9- We took the train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo, where a GAP van picked us up (and some friends we had made along the way) to take us to Cusco. Feasted at Los Perros, picked up our bus tickets to Puno, the relaxed the rest of the day.

Day 10- 7ish hour bus ride from Cusco to Puno. Booked some tours to visit the floating Uros Islands and the Taquile Island in lake Titicaca, then chilled in our hostel.

Sorry for the lack of better pictures, eventhough raw pics are great for photoediting, them seem impossible to upload anywhere...back to jpeg!

and so it begins...

So after spending a very stressful few days before kicking off this whirlwind of an adventure, I was actually ready to go to the airport. Ready to be done with planning, freaking out, stressing, packing and worrying IF I have EVERYTHING that I need for the trip and just do it already! 
Mandy and I are at the counter ready to go, and then THE news. Our flight was delayed two hours, because of weather reasons, causing us to miss our connection flight to Lima that night. So when given the choice to either arrive after 11pm in Bogota and find a hotel to stay in until the flight tomorrow afternoon OR go home and sleep in our own beds and just take the same flight tomorrow...the choice was clear. Not that we wouldn't like to experience the Colombian night life, but getting abducted and ransomed on day 1 would have put a serious damper our tour.
We have a few days in Lima before our Machu Picchu trek actually starts, so thankfully we won't miss out on much. So today we get to catch our breaths, maybe do some more repacking/organizing of bags, but mostly do absolutely nothing and take on the world tomorrow!