I am not sure if my days are right. It is funny right now I seem to have lost track of what day it is, what the date is and how many days I´ve been gone but I guess it is not really that important.

Lida arrived today. It was really nice to see her and we have had such a specail day together which has been wonderful. It is so important to me to have a close and supportive relationship with her and I am not sure how great I have been at that so I am happy that we are having a good time. When she arrived we picked her up from the bus station and then we went and had lunch. It was good food and we had a spectacular view over all of Arequipa. It is called the white city cause most of the buildings are made out of the local volcanic rock which is white. Anyway it is very attractive, not to mention it has a very beautiful plaza and churches. After lunch we visited the Santa Catalina monastry. It must be the biggest and most lovely monastry ever. Then we wondered around town for a bit and then visited an archaelogical museum which houses “Juanita – the Ice Princess”. Juanita is a mummy whose remains were found in the mountains close to here. She is a very important mummy as she is pretty much fully in tact (it is bizarre) and she was sacrificed to the Inca god in the 1500´s. From all the other artifcats that they have found they believe she was a very noble and imporatnt sacrifice. It was fascinating, really fascinating.

We just had dinner and now I am going to go and have a shower and go to bed even thought it is only 8.30. Sight seeing really takes it out of me but will write soon.

Time is a funny thing. It feels kind of like an eternity since I was in Sydney yet on the other hand however it feels like only yesterday that I first came to Peru.

We made it to Peru today (maybe that is what has got me thinking about time). When we crossed the border Martin lay down on the soil for awhile. I didn´t go that far but I was feeling pretty moved. However where have we been since then.

I did manage to see the Valle de la Luna and it was pretty cool. Maybe not worth a five year wait but good and incredibly unique. After that we went back into La Paz and Martin went to the Coca museum. I didn´t as I had seen it before but it was pretty interesting. A sure example of just one of the ways that Bolivia has been so completely exploited.

After that we left La Paz and went to Copacabana, a cute little town on Lake Titicaca. There we visited the Island of the Sun. It took about five hours to walk across the island and it was stunning. There was also some Inca ruins to visit. Along the way though we were frequently asked by children with llamas if we would like to take their photo for one boliviano. Obviously they have realised that tourists like to take their photo so they are cashing in on it. You can´t blame them at all but I found it pretty grose. It just makes it so difficult to genuinely connect. That evening we went out with some other travellers we had met that day. They were great but some of the other tourist were just appalling. They complain about everything. While travelling one seems to meet the best and the worst of humanity.

This morning we left Compacabamba and after about three buses and nine hours we arrived in Arequipa, Peru. It was a bit of adventure as we had got down to about $10 and every town we arrived in told us there was no ATM so everything was pretty budget and there was lots of walking but it all worked out in ther end. As said it is good to be here. We will be staying here for three nights I suspect which will be nice as I may actually be able to unpack somewhat and it is a bit warmer so I am hoping to shake the cold that has been stalking me.

I have been feeling pretty negative the last two days really. Mostly to do with the fact that both Martin and I have been a little physically sick (a cold combined with the altitude sickness is not all that pleasant) but also pretty tired with constantly moving, living out of a backpack, being looked at a lot (although Bolivia believe it or not is better than Argentina) and just not knowing how to respond to all the poverty that I see around me. Martin thinks that I make it more complicated than it really it is. I think he makes it more simple than it really is. As usual the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

There have been some good and interesting moments though. After our nap in Oruro we went for a walk around that town. Again nothing spectacular but I enjoyed walking around. We sat in a plaza in the sun for awhile and I shut my eyes and felt the sun on my eyes and it was so soothing. We also visited an old mine that is no longer in use so they turend it into a museum. How awful it would be to work in a mine. I was feeling really sick and claustrophobic after like half an hour in there I couldn´t imagine been in there all day.

The next morning we moved on to La Paz. We bought tickets at the front of the bus upstairs so the drive was pretty spectacular especially driving into La Paz. What a crazy city it is. People everwhere, still dressed very traditionally and all with some crazy thing to sell. We went and checked out the Presedential Palace. It is quite attactive and we were hoping to get a glimpse of Evo Morales. Bolivia´s first indigenous president who is making some pretty big changes. The Bolivians we have spoken with tell us that they are yet to feel them but there is hope for the future. We sat in yet another plaza outside and after been hassled for about five minutes Martin aggreed to let one of the shoesshine boys clean his shoes. He did and then Martin cleaned his. You should have seen the looks of the people walking by when they saw that. Anyway we got chatting with them and it turned out that Bolivia was playing Uraguay in the America´s cup that afternoon and the boys did not have a TV to watch it or the ten Bolivianos it costs to see at the cinema so we invited them to watch it in our hotel. It was a fun 2 hours that we spent with them although Bolivia lost 1-0 so they left pretty disappointed. Then Peru lost 2-0 to Venezuala so I had a very disappointed Martin as well.

After a lot of soccer we went out for dinner and stumbled upon a drag show in the street that was trying to raise awareness of gay rights. It was pretty tame compared to Sydney but the crowd was still pretty quiet and didn´t fully know what to do but it was good to see that there is some openess to the rights of homosexuals and lesbians.

This morning feeling much better but still pretty tired and out of shape. Walking around this place is so hard. Two flights of steps and I am gasping. I am not sure why the altitude has affected me so much more this time as I am much fitter but it has. Today we head off to Valle de la Luna which was somthing I tried to see last time I was here but didn´t manage to due to getting robbed and few other disasters so I am hoping today will go well.

We have now arrived safely in Bolivia but it was an adventure to get here that is for sure. We left Ju-Juy in the morning and took a bus to the border where we crossed over into Bolivia without any problems. In fact it always amazes me how little they check at the borders here. Certainly not like home. Entering Bolivia the difference is pretty immediate. I am much, much more aware of the poverty here and much, much more aware of the indigenous culture. I guess that is like home and perhaps the rest of the world where it always seems to be the indigenous culture suffering most.

It is hard to know exactly how to respond. Before I came I was listening to the CD of Robyn Hemmes who spoke at the TEAR conference a couple of years ago. I have listened to it before but I wanted to engage with some of the stuff that she talks about before I came. In one of her talks she describes our tendency to look away when we come in contact with the poor. To ignore them and pretend they don´t exist. I was challenged on this trip not to do that but it sure is hard. On almost every street there is someone selling something or asking for money and when I look it seems to give them the impression I am going to buy something and they just keep at me until I look away. I can´t buy from everyone, I can´t give to everyone that asks and I am not sure that, that exchange empowers either of us so how do I have exchanges that empower people and make them feel valuable and lovable?

There have been some moments though which have felt good. I hope the other person would say the same. We decided to catch the train from the border to Oruro where we are now (about three hours from La Paz) in popular (third class). It was a fifteen hour trip over night and it may have been the most uncomfortable and cold night of my life but I would do it again for the exchanges we had with people. The guy who sat opposite us was named Andres. He talked with us a lot of the trip about Bolivia, the political, economic and social situstion and it was fascinating to hear it from him. In the middle of the night when it was so cold I had gone numb he put the only blanket he had over me and Martin so we could share it with him. It was very moving. There was also a woman who sat in the aisle across from us. She was dressed traditionally and I smiled at her and she smiled back. We didn´t say a word to each other but continued to smile through out the trip. Martin and I bought a bag of mandarines which we shared around and people took gratefully. I was worried people would look at me the whole way and wonder what the hell I was doing there but they didn´t seem to.

When we arrived we took a taxi to the hearest hotle and had a hot shower and a rest in a comfy bed. It was amzing and I was very grateful but I guess the others won´t be doing that.

We are still in Ju-Juy. It has been nice to spend more than one night somewhere. It´s been a pretty tranquil day. We got up late, wandered around the town for a couple of hours, ate and then came back to the hotel for more thermal baths and relaxing watching the view.

It may be one of my favourite days so far. I mean we didn´t do or see anything particularly exoctic or exciting but I just enjoyed wandering the town and the markets and watching people and how they live. It´s the ordinariness of it all or something that I like. No photos though. I was having dilemas about it as I would have liked to have got some but I just didn´t feel it was appropriate, not to mention kind of embarassing getting out the camera in some of the places that we were.

Martin and I desiced to make a list of ten things that we were grateful to God for. We got past ten but here are ten:

Times to relax
Mountains
Eachother
Hot water
Stars
Stillness
Waiting
Food
Wine
Different Cultures

I think that is the spelling but I am not sure. Anyway we are in a town in the very north of Argentina. This will be our last stop before we head to Bolivia but before that where have we been since I last wrote.

So we visited the Iguazu falls. They were absolutely incredible. Really undescribable so I won´t bother. Lots of photos but as usual of things of a grand nature they don´t really capture it. We were going to spend the night at the Sheraton for my birthday but we decided not to. It was a bit grose, totally overpriced and and we were finished at about 3pm (we have been getting started so early) so we thought that we should move on. I am keen to have plenty of time in Peru.

So we moved on to San Ignacio. We got there at like 11pm at night and it was absolutely freezing and we had to wonder around town looking for a place to stay. Thankfully we did without too much trouble but it was a little unnerving. The next morning we spent checking out the Jesuit missions which were pretty cool and very old (they were built in 1620) in temperature of about 0.

We then hopped on another bus for about 20 hours until we arrived here in Ju-Juy. Ju-Juy has been great for the couple of hours that we´ve been here. I had not heard anything about before and was expecting to pass though pretty quickly but I have changed my mind. I think when you are not expecting anything and then it turns out to be great you appreciate it even more.

So we have checked ourselves into a nice hotel hidden in some mountains and are really enjoying not been in a bus. We have done some exercise and had ourselves a themal bath in the water from the mountains and are now sitting watching the sun go down over the hills. Tonight we will celebrate my birthday with some wine and a nice meal so I better go but will hopefully write soon.

We have now left Buenos Aires and are in Iguazu. Buenos Aires is a pretty cool city but I am glad to have left. By the end I was finding the crowds and the pollution pretty taxing. We spent yesterday doing a whole bunch of touristy things as you do. We visited a pretty amazing cememtry where some presidents and generals and whole bunch of important people were buried, probably the most note worthy was of Eva Peron (the person who the movie Evita is about). Her grave still has the most visitors to it and was overflowing with flowers. We also went to La Boca and visited the stadium and the museum there. For those who don´t know Boca Juniors was Maradonna first team and probably the most popular soccer team here. Martin was in heaven and I found it pretty interesting too. What I found most interesting though was that these two places are the opposite side of town (I have an interesting story of trying to negotiate the bus system), one rich with lots of beautiful parks and statues and the other one very poor. The contrast was startling I have to say and of course quite sad. At the same time Boca is a city of passion (you can feel it) and of community, people gathered around fires together under the bridges whereas on the other side of town people walk along in their trendy clothes and on their phones and try not to look at you. We also visited the big cathedrals and parliament house. It is pink so people called it the pink house. That made me laugh. In one of the catherdrals was the tomb of Jose de San Martin. Again for those who don´t know he is considered the liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru so we were moved to be there especially Martin of course.

In the evening we took an overnight bus to Iguazu which we arrived at, at about 2.30. It a gorgeous little town, has an alomosty coastal feel. It is nice and warm which I am enjoying so we had a pleasnt afternoon sitting in an outdoor cafe, Argentina style eating and drinking beers. After a nap we (I am still struggling with the time differnces) we have come out and are off to try and find somewhere we can dance and then tommorrow we´ll be off to the waterfalls. I´ll let you know soon.

I am sorry that there are no photos. I can´t seem to work out how to do it and the internet here is so slow that it drives me mad trying.

After a very long flight we have made it to Buenos Aires. I was very keen to get off the plane by the end of it but it was a pretty good flight. Was feeling a bit emotional after farewelling my mum in Sydney so it was good to have some time to process it. I was very happy that we had the IPOD so I could listen to some soothing music. Birds eye view of some snow capped mountains was a bit of bonus too. And for Tom and anyone else who is interested I watched one film called Farmer Astronaut. It was not great but it was not offensive or difficult either so that is good.

Anyway I am very tired right now as I did not really sleep at all. It is 7.30pm and I am going to bed but I just wanted to let everyone know that we landed safely despite a few almost anxiety attacks from Martin. I was fine on the plane but I nearly had one too with the taxi driver who nearly killed us coming inot town. I had forgotton how crazy it is driving on South American Roads. I am happy to be here though. We haven´t done much, wandered around town, ate dinner, watched some buskers doing a tango show but I feel very at home on this continent.

Only three more days and I will be on a plane flying to South America. How much I am looking forward to the stillness of sitting on a plane and doing absolutely nothing except reading, listening to music or watching a movie. And the bigger bonus is that no one will expect anything of me.

The BBQ that Martin and I were having is off and we think people would probably prefer just to stay home but if you do still feel like coming out we will be eating some hot soup at around 7pm and you’d all be welcome to join us. I can’t guarantee a warm house but I will do my best about the soup.