Welcome to the Jungle!

Well, dear reader, I just took a vacation while on (semi) vacation. How luxurious is that! We went to Sorata, a town 4 hours from here in the ¨lowlands¨to get some heat and fresh fruits! Sorata is at 2500m above sea level but compared to the altiplano (4000-4400m) and Copacabana (3800m), it seemed like an intense jungle! Lots of green plants, flowers, and fruits (oranges, bananas, grenadillas (which look like monkey brains but are soooo tasty), melons, hot peppers, and more!) all at the base of the eastern cordillera of the Andes. So, with the warm weather we also got great views of snow-capped peaks and glaciers!

We visited a small gold mine while there-- basically a few crevices in the side of the mountain. I wandered far enough in to get a bit freaked out in the pitch dark. Felt like Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli only I chose not to face my own mortality at the hands of an army of the dead! Not being the King of Gondor, this was probably a wise choice.

We also went to La Gruta San Pedro-- a huge cave system under another mountain with a sizeable lake in it! I wandered around, telling riddles and wondering what was in my pocket, but made it safely back out without having to have too much adventure or any great leaps. It was really really hot and humid in the cave, especially near the lake, which Stasia suggested meant there was magma somewhere underneath us. Eek!

Dinner was mediocre but we were all so tired after exploring all day that it didnt matter as long as we could get to bed soon! The next day (friday) involved a long search for chirimoya fruits- an andean favorite (for more info: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annona_cherimola). A lady at the market said that only villages 2 hours past Sorata, further into the valleys, had Chirimoya right now, but we were deteremined and struck out on a quest. Eventually, we wound our way down to a house that Pablo decided had some (for who knows what reason) and they did! We were greeted by a somewhat startled family who very graciously gave us a lunch of grenadillas and bananas (fresh from their garden, soooo good) and then we explored their jungle of a garden and bought lots of fruit from them. Crazy!

Returned to Copacabana friday night in order to get up and go to a wedding Saturday! More on that to come...