In La Paz… …residents live in the world’s highest de facto capital. At approximately 12,000 feet (the city sits in a bowl, so true altitudes range greatly from 10,500 to 13,500 feet), La Paz is Bolivia’s cultural or people’s capital while Sucre is the legal capital. The city itself has a population of 877,000, but … Read more
In La Paz
December 26th, 2013 | Posted by in Bolivia | Celebrations | Food | Lodging | Oh | The Places We've Been - (7 Comments)Rafting Across Lago Titicaca
December 20th, 2013 | Posted by in Bolivia | Border Crossings | Oh | The Places We've Been - (4 Comments)As I mentioned briefly in yesterday’s border crossing post, one benefit of our choice of the longer route to La Paz via Copacabana as opposed to the more southern route through Desaguadero was a surprise bridgeless lake crossing. I should begin by introducing this lake, which is notable for a number of reasons. First, it … Read more
The simplest way to describe Peruvian chicha is to call it traditional corn beer. There are a number of varieties, including a strawberry version around Cusco called frutillada and many other fermented beverages that all fall in the chicha category, but for the sake of this post, we’re talking about the alcoholic beverage made from … Read more
Cuenca to Cusco Part 2 – The Vigilante
November 19th, 2013 | Posted by in Dogs | Lodging | Oh | Peru | Speedbumps | The Places We've Been - (8 Comments)Our four day drive from Cuenca, Ecuador to Cusco, Peru was both long and eventful, so we’re going to break it up into pieces and give the rundown one segment at a time. Read Part 1 – A Ridiculous Border first if you want. This post covers the second half of our first day of … Read more
Cuenca to Cusco Part 1 – A Ridiculous Border
November 17th, 2013 | Posted by in Border Crossings | Ecuador | Oh | Peru | Speedbumps | The Places We've Been - (10 Comments)Our four day drive from Cuenca, Ecuador to Cusco, Peru was both long and eventful, so we’re going to break it up into pieces and give the rundown one segment at a time. This post covers the first half of our first day of driving, from Cuenca, Ecuador to the mountain border crossing at Macará. … Read more
We are planning on visiting El Cajas National Park this week. About 20 miles east of Cuenca, El Cajas is a rugged landscape of peaks, valley, lakes, and alpine tundra set between 10,000 and 14,600 feet. Our research for the visit has brought to our attention the supposed existence of Ecuador’s own version of bigfoot. … Read more
The Worst 9 Moments of Our First Year on the Road
September 19th, 2013 | Posted by in About | Celebrations | Costa Rica | Dogs | Honduras | Mexico | Nicaragua | Oh | Speedbumps | The Places We've Been - (6 Comments)Yesterday we shared our best 10 moments from our first year as Vangabonds, and so today we think it’s only fair to fess up about the worst 10 as well. Except we couldn’t think of 10 moments that were all that deserving. We stretched ourselves, but 9 will have to do. As we devised this … Read more
We’ve used a lot of bugspray in the last couple of months. Too much bugspray. In Honduras, the screens of our house weren’t well-sealed so mosquitoes were a problem inside as much as they were outside. In general, we’re pretty naturally inclined in terms of the products and foods that we prefer to buy and … Read more
GUYS! GUYS! GUYS! WE SAW A SLOTH!!! It was amazing. He/she was just hanging out (get it?!) in a tree right next to our local store. To mark the occasion, here are some awesome facts about our two- and three-toed friends: There are six sloth species in two different families. Two of these species are … Read more
Act One 9:56 PM – (Laying in bed watching a movie). What was that? Something just flew by the bedroom door. Giant moth maybe? 9:57 PM – There it is again! What was it? Too fast to tell… 9:58 PM – (Three steps into the hallway) BAT! BAT! BAT! BAT! Holy geez there’s a bat … Read more