Trip monthly update

August 9 2011 – September 8 2011

Summary of the tenth month of our trip

Number of countries visited: 3

Number of flights taken: 0 (the first, and possibly the only month without flights!)

Number of posts added to our blog: 20

Number of marital conflicts: 0 (we've been angels this month:)

Best overnight stay: Marc wouldn't forgive me if I didn't give the prize to our hostel in Sucre, Bolivia. He loves this place. It's a simple bed and breakfast according to western standards but believe me, it feels like the ultimate luxury after weeks of cold and austere accommodation. So clean, so warm, and so solid. Should I also mention that I can take a hot shower in my own bathroom whenever it pleases me?

Worst overnight stay: T night we spent at Laguna Colorada on the trip from San Pedro in Chile to Uyuni in Bolivia. It was the coldest night I have ever experienced; the temperature was minus fifteen outside and there was no heating in our dorm. Thank God the view of Laguna Colorada was totally worth it!

Best Call we made: Departing from the original plan and staying longer in Bolivia. Originally, we planned between 7 and 10 days for the whole country. But we fell in love with Bolivian landscapes, towns and villages and now it looks like we will stay here at least a month. Unfortunately this means that we will spend much less time in Peru. I guess it is better to see everything we want to see in Bolivia than do a half-ass job in both countries.

Worst Call we made: While on the road trip around Salta, we decided to visit a lake that was at some distance from the main road. We took the shortest path to minimize the number of kilometers spent on the unsealed road. Well, it may have been the shortest way but certainly not the fastest. After a few kilometers the road turned into a not too clearly defined track. We drove 25 km in two hours and got lost once. We finally decided that no lake in the world was worth passing half a day on a terrible road and risking wrecking our car. We headed back to the main road. By this time it was already too late to visit anything else. Needless to say, we found out that there was a perfectly good road leading directly to the lake.