SweetCaroline

Hello to all my dedicated subscribers!! As some of you know and others may not - I am headed back to Chile for 6 months to get my dream business off the ground! :) I wanted to let you know that I have moved my blog to a new one in order to make it easier to keep up and discuss other topics other than just where i'm traveling. You can find the link here: http://sweetcarolinepb.wordpress.com/ I will definitely still be sharing all my wonderful travel adventures with you, so feel free to subscribe to the new blog as well :) Cheers! Paige... read more

The trip to Quito from Cuenca was uneventful but it was a treat to have a flight instead of a 10 hour bus ride. I was given the advice to sit on the right side of the plane to get a better view of the volcanoes on the way. It really was a beautiful view and I saw no less than 5 volcanoes including the famous Cotopaxi that I was able to get some fabulous close up photos of from my window. The Quito airport was fairly small and easy to navigate and it was a quick process to grab a cab outside the front door. As was told in most guidebooks it was a $6 cab ride to the New City. We had pre-booked a room at the Travelers Inn (formally Amazon) and so I ... read more

Well, its been a wonderful few days here in the tiny beach town of Mancora in the north of Peru. I wanted sun and warmth, and boy did I get it. The overnight bus from Trujillo to Piura was uneventful, and I arrived a little sleepy in Piura around 5:30 in the morning. I asked the lady pretty dazed where the EPPO bus terminal was (this is supposedly the most safe bus up to this area) and she told me only a few blocks away. It was dark outside and I considered waiting to walk to the other terminal but ran into a nice girl from Scotland who suggested we walk together. Once again, my mantra, everything seems to work out when it needs to. The bus ride to Mancora was fairly long, about 4 hours ... read more

So this blog will have to suffice to my two different adventures to Mendoza, since I was unable to write last trip because of earthquake madness. So, anyways, needless to say I have no see two different sides of Mendoza: The Flashpacker Version and the Upscale Traveler Version. So maybe a quick summary of flashpacker version to start: Rita and I went to Mendoza back in February at the tail end of our month long circle around Chile and Argentina. We were limited to just one full day in the city which was depressing since we discovered after arriving that there really was so much to do. We went ahead to the tourist offices and found some private tour companies but decided that we would just do the bike tour the next day in Maipu. There ... read more

I am writing this blog from the comfort of my home in Austin. I am still trying to grasp everything that has happened in the last week. I thought as part of this process, I could fill you in on my adventure, post earthquake. I left off when I arrived in Pucon. I was very happy to see my friend Chris and quickly made a new friend, Maria, who was traveling alone and staying in my dorm room at the hostel. I spent most of Sunday walking around with Chris, trying to get information and figure out what the next step would be. There wasn't much info on the roads and the bus systems were down, so they weren't giving out any information either - not that they had any. We dropped by the local Municipal ... read more