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Bjorn's South American Trip

Sunday, July 13, 2008

My buddy going swimming in the highest lake in the world.

Posted by Bjorn at 2:47 PM

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Presidential Building

The white house of Paraguay

La Casa Rosada

The Executive Branch (Kind of like the White House except the president doesn´t live here)

Good Friends

The Palma´s, una familia feliz, they let me stay the night in their house and even gave me some juice before going to bed. So nice.

La Plata Zoo

We couldn´t figure out if the cougar was pregnant or just really fat.

River Crossing

Rio de la Plata from Carmelo, Uruguay to Tigre, Bs As, Argentina

Fisherman´s Wharf

There were a ton of fisherman, this is looking into Montevideo

Artigas

Statue of Jose Artigas, liberator of Uruguay

Cathedral

Montevideo´s central Cathedral

The Montevideo Uruguay Temple

La Colonia

Once again, notice the beard

La Ciudad Antigua

Part of La Colonia

La Colonia

There was no room in the Inn in La Colonia

Triple Frontera II

Picture taken from Argentina with Paraguay across the river to the left and Brazil straight across. Ciudad del Este is off in the distance

Triple Frontera

A monument on the Argentine side of where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina come together

My Company

In front of the Devil´s Throat

Right on top

That walk way littlerally looks over the Devils Throat with parts of the waterfall on both sides

Salto San Martin

One of the bigger falls, the top part visible is only half, it goes down below the picture

On the boat

We went on a boat excursion, this is a view from the bottom of the Devil´s Throat

In front of some waterfalls

Amazing, notice the beginnings of a beard

The Devil´s Throat

Probably the most famous part of the Falls

Iguazu

Amazing views at the Waterfalls of Iguazu

Copywrite infringement?

This was a poster advertising trips to Brazil, apparently our temple is a tourist site

Gauchito Gil

One of 4 shrines we stopped at so the bus drivers could pray to the Saint. It made us over an hour late.

Another Church

A cathedral in Cordoba

For the one I love

This one is for mi madre

Cathedral in Cordoba

One of the oldest, if not the oldest, cathedrals in this hemisphere

The Cordillera

This is the crossing from Chile to Argentina, a series of 35 switchbacks

Sunset

Sunset on the beach in Vina

View of Valpo

View of Valparaiso, the port, and Vina

In the bay

On a tour of Valparaiso bay with Vina in the background

Valparaiso

Central Square in Valparaiso

Santiago Temple

It was smaller than I thought

Santiago

On top of Santa Lucia Hill, where Santiago was founded

La Moneda

Daniel and I in front of La Moneda, Presidential Palace

me

picture of me

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Bjorn

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Just a lot of rocks

Good view across the city to Waynapicchu

More terraces

The terraces where used both as places to build houses as well as to grow crops and graze llamas.

The tree of life

Incan houses

The Incas living in Machu Picchu had great views, but if you had a sleepwalking problem, it probably wouldnt have been the best place to live.

Terraces

Through the Window

This is a picture through the window in the temple looking up the terraced hill

The town

I was digging the two story houses

Center of Machu Picchu

Not sure what they did here, but the day I went, there were llamas grazing.

Thought

Deep in Thought

City Gate

This was the entrance to Machu Picchu, there were walls around the rest of the city so anyone coming in or out had to go through here.

The little house on top of the hill

If I were Inca, this is where I would live, excellent front porch view.

Jesse and I

This is my buddy that came with me from Bolivia to Peru.

The Incan Bridge

I think this was the back escape to Machu Picchu, the Incas built a bridge so the trail could go along this cliff. It is a type of draw bridge as you can see which keeps people from getting in to Machu Picchu.

The postcard

The most typical view of Machu Picchu.

Stone house

They had cool houses, and look how steep that is.

View of Machu Picchu

The Incans really knew how to pick a place

At the entrance

This is the entrance to one of the Tunnels built by the Inca. It got pretty dark and we had to use our camaras as miniture flashlights to make it through.

Into the abyss

This is our guide who we hired for $5 to take us around some ruins. Good thing because he explained a bunch of stuff we would never have figured out on our own. The Incas built a bunch of tunnels in this hill where they could hide.

Temple of the Sun

I am sitting where the Inca would sit. On the square in front of me is where they would tie down the llama to sacrifice.

Temple of the Sun

This was a Sun Clock. According to where the sun casts its shadows, the Incas knew when to plant crops, go to war, etc.

So I ended up going to Rio de Janeiro after all.

Just kidding, this one is in Cusco

Incan structure

This was part of an Incan Fort. Look at the size of the rocks. Legend has it that a strong Incan man could carry one by himself, but I have my doubts.

Plaza de Armas, Cusco

Most of the cathedrals in Cusco were built on top of Incan religious sites. And... a sweet llama hat.

Cusco

Incan on the bottom, Spanish on the top.

Puno, Lake Titicaca

A view as we are headed out of Puno on our bus to Cusco. Puno is right on the shore of Lake Titicaca.

Trucha

That is right mom, I am eating trout in a little restaurant on the Artificial Island

Uro tower

They also make their watch tower out of reed.

Uro women rowing her boat

They dont just make their islands out of reed, they also make their boats out of it, and their houses, and they eat it (no joke).

Las Islas de los Uros

This is one of the Artificial Island, made out of a reed that grows in Lake Titicaca. The island is made of two different materials and is about 6 feet thick. On top you can see they put dried reed. It is soft on the feet.

Desaguadero, Peru

This is a town on the Peruvian-Bolivian Boder. Getting across the border was easy, but moving on proved to be very difficult and a little expensive.

Jujuy

Church and central square, Jujuy, Argentina

Humanitarian Aid Week II

A kindergarden being built in Santa Cruz

Humanitarian Aid Week

An Incan Grandma holding up some carrots from the garden that Ascend helped her plant

Crossing the bridge

Here we are crossing a Bridge on a bus in Bolivia, see the train tracks, I can think of at least one reason why sharing a bridge with trains is not a good idea.

The Bolivian Side

This is not to long after crossing the border into Bolivia from Argentina, very beautiful. I was imagining a spase landscape and a lot more llamas.

Tilcara Fortress

This place was in Tilcara, on top of a hill, a type of mini Machu Picchu. This was supposedly the altar used for religious purposes.

Incan Soccer

So these guys were Incans, they were playing a gravel field and still slide tackling, and boy were they hot headed.

Cerro de Siete Colores

This isn´t a very good shot, but the hill in the background has seven different colors of rocks in it, it is a big deal in Argentina

Old Cemetary

Old Cemetary in Purmamarca, the dirt was raised above the ground so I´m not sure if they are burried very deep

Another of Purmamarca

Really cool red rock formations

View of Purmamarca, Jujuy, Argentina

A very small village on the old Inca trail, now a tourist location because of the "Hill of Seven Colors"

Guemes

A monument to General Guemes, a revolutionary heroe from Salta

On top of the hill in Salta

Salta

From on top of the hill, with the Gondola in view

A church in Salta

I wish I could say something about the architecture that would sound intelligent, but all I can say is that it looked pretty cool.

Gracias por su visita a Paraguay

Gracias por consumir alta cantidades de Chipa, really the only evidence that I have of me being in Paraguay because they wouldn´t stamp my passport

Man in truck

This is getting close to the border crossing between Paraguay and Argentina, I wonder if this guy didn´t have his visa either?

The presidential Palace

The Executive building in Asunción, this is a view of the front

Monumento a los heroes

A monument in Asunción to famous people/dictators

Some famous Paraguayo

Can´t remember who this is, but I´m pretty sure he was important

Hotel Alfonso

My bed for the last month in Buenos Aires in the Alfonso House

Ezequiel and I

On top of the monument, looking out over the Rio Parana

view of Rosario

This photo was take from one of the balconies on top of the Monument to the Flag, it is looking out over Central Rosario

Monument to the Flag

this thing is huge. The picture is taken with a mission buddy, Ezequiel Sanz, and some kid that needs more attention at home.

El Che

A monument that they put up to comemmorate El Che´s 80th birthday which was last saturday.

Fireworks in the Stadium

So, not sure if this was against the firecode, but everyone was shooting off fireworks. Sparks were landing in my hair.

La Familia Caulo

Great Family

Congreso

The thinking man, to bad he isn´t thinking inside of the Congress building

Another of Caminito

They put fake people on the balconies for some reason

9 de Julio

another shot of the 9 de Julio with the Obelisk in the background

Don Quixote

So in case you need an explanation as to what you are looking at, it is a man riding a horse. I think it is from Don Quixote de la Mancha.

Naldo

One of my old Ward Missionary Leaders, he was the recipient of one of my suits that I gave him for his mission

Boca Juniors

Me in the Stadium of Boca Juniors

Another shot of Caminito

The street on the right is Caminito, the whole tourist attraction is only about a block long

Caminito

The Birthplace of Tango

Congreso

From the Plaza Congreso, where the congress and Senate hold session (background), statue in the foreground

The American Embasy

I was expecting a little more, like marines guarding the building who would be able to save me from unjust police chasing me, like Jason Bourne. Nope, they had Argentine Security, maybe to save money.