TWO SPRING BREAKS IN ONE YEAR!!!!
SB2k13II is currently in the planning stages.
We already booked:
- Flight Buenos Aires to Lima
- Two day stay in Lima Hostel
- Day in Lima: Walking distance to beach, pre-Inca mud-brick temple Huaca Pucllana, Museo Larco
- Flight from Lima to Puerto Malonado
- 4 Day G Lodge Amazon hiking/excursion trip in the Amazon of Peru
- Transportation on dugout canoe up the Tambopata River
- Hike to Lake Condenado, tree platforms, swimming in Gallucunca stream, Tambopata River nocturnal animal search on canoe
- Hike to Lake Sachavacayoc and swimming
- Canoe trip on river at dawn
We still need to book:
- Flight from Puerto Malonado to Cuzco, Peru
- Cuzco apartment/condo/hostel
- Transportaion from Cuzco to Poroy and back
- Train from Poroy to Agua Calientes and back
- Hostel in Agua Calientes
- Enterance to Machu Picchu
- Hostel in Cuzco
- Flight from Cuzco to Lima
Here's a link to our 4-Day G Lodge Amazon Trip!
For that trip, though, I need to prepare a bit and buy some hiking gear.
First, I'm on a hunt for a new backpack. I brought a big backpack that was unopened in my garage. Apparently my Uncle Jay got me the backpack years and years ago but I just never used it. It looked pretty strong and it was big so I figured it'd be perfect for my BA trip.
Nope.
BOTH adjustable plastic things on the straps broke within the first 3-4 weeks of being here-not cool.
So now my backpack is huge and uncomfortable and falling apart. Therefore, I'm getting a nice hiking backpack for school and my trekking travels.
I've been looking everywhere and so far everything has been super expensive. I looked at a Colombia and a Montague store... I'm not about to spend over US$100 on a backpack.
I was once told the reason everything is so expensive here is because everything is imported. But in reality, the exact opposite is the case. To give citizens jobs, the government made it extremely difficult, if not impossible to import anything into the country. That's why you see tons of store names that you've never seen before and why there's no Apple products here. Everything has to be made in Argentina. If a student on my program had a problem with his Mac, he'd be screwed.
I's a lot more expensive to make things in Argentina than it is to make them in China then import them (like the US does) so that bumps up the price. The only way Argentina can have international companies like Zara, Nike, Coca Cola, etc.
As I was walking to the bus stop from my internship the other day, though, I passed by a camping shop. I stopped by yesterday to see what they had and everything was about half the price of anything else I've seen so far. SCORE!!
Obviously had to transfer over my Sigma Kappa Alzheimer's awareness ribbon and my airplane pendant.
It's even got a laptop holder!! No one is gonna be stealing my laptop on the street!!
This waterproof daypack was only AR$360! Better than the ones at Montague that were like AR$560!
Here's a list of other things I need to keep an eye out for:
- waterproof backpack cover
- poncho
- knee-length socks
- sunblock
- purification tablets
- insect repellent
- malaria pills
This is gonna be a spring break I'll never forget! Hiking Machu Picchu, adventuring though the Amazon... it's gonna be awesome!
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