nearing the end!

well gang its true, the sparkle tog 2009 is coming to a close. i have about a month left in my trip before i head back to the good ol US of A. im in brazil at the moment and will be here till my flight back. again i left alot to write about but here goes of what i can recall. so after the salt flats i headed south then north to potosi. it is know for the huge silver mine that they discovered. the spanish found it or heard about it and took all the silver back to spain. now there is only zinc and some other minerals left so its just cooperative groups of bolivians left mining what they can. i ended up going on a tour of the mines and it was crazy. hot, dusty, not a great place to be working especially since there isnt much money in it. but there still going at it so here are a few pictures.

the mountain (cant recall the name)

climbing around in the mine. we ended up going about 900 meters into the mountain.

workers in the mine

next up was sucre. and i didnt take many pictures of the town because i wasnt in the mood i guess. i took some spanish classes and ate lots of good food. there were these fruit salads in the market, goat cheese, wine, chocolate. its really know for its chocolate and it was great. i was going to bring some home but i ended up eating it on the bus from sucre to santa cruz. i should have put it in my big bag not the little one with me but youll just have to go taste for yourself.

mask museum in sucre

i went to santa cruz next to sort out my brazilian visa then went back to samaipata to see some archaelogical ruins...El Fuerte. samaipata was a great relaxing small town. nice change from sucre and santa cruz which are both relatively big cities. el fuerte was kind of a crazy place. just this big rock on a ridge that people, pre inca, carved on. it looked like they carves a space ship out of the rock. doors and windows...strange and lots of work. impressive all the same.

el fuerte

el fuerte

samaipata

after i decided to go check out the jesuit mission circuit before heading to brazil. i wanted to get off the main track and sure did. stopped in four different towns and it was slow going. buses didnt leave everyday and at odd times so i wandered around small towns and waited alot. nice break but slow. and all the missions started looking alike so i was ready for brazil when i made it.

jesuit mission

jesuit mission

mission

picture at the mission

i took a train from san jose de chicitos (something like that) to the border then over to corumba in brazil. and wow i knew brazil was going to be expensive compared to everywhere ive been but it was shocking. getting me ready to be back in the states i guess. the first place i really stayed was bonito and it was beautiful. ended up taking a couple tours, one to a bunch of waterfalls, one snorkling and one rapeling into a cave. the rivers in the area are super clear and clean because they spring out of the ground. but the rapel onto the cave was great. it was 70 some meter rapel into the cave, 30 stories, and there was a lake at the bottom that was 80 meters deep at its deepest point. the cave was huge and really beautiful. then we had to climb the ropes back out, absailing, and that was a bit of a challenge. but great fun.

bonito

cave

ben and i in the cave

the hostel we were in in bonito had some really fun people and we ended up heading to iguazu falls next. first to the argentinian side then to the brazilian side. i was in argentina only for a couple of days but managed to fill up on steak while there. the falls were amazing! nothing like ive seen before and no wonder so many people go. immense.

iguazu falls

iguazu falls

iguazu falls

after seeing the brazilian side i caught a bus to belo horizonte then on to ouro preto to meet up with my aunt sharon. ouro preto is a beautiful and steep city. they discovered gold here some time ago and thats why the city was founded. lots of green hills, churches and jewelery stores.

ouro preto

ouro preto

look at the size of that brazilian snail!

sharon and jenny in ouro preto

waterfall we hiked to one day

and so here we are up to the present. i said goodbye to sharon and the gang, hello everyone, left ouro preto and decided to come to diamantina north of belo horizonte. another beautiful city with lots of churches and rolling green hills. just relaxing and wandering around the hills. next up im off to meet some friends who live near curitiba, felipe and tati for those who know them. and just wile away my time visiting until i make my was back home.

diamantina

they like togs here!