The world famous Torres Del Paine at sunrise. What a perfect last day to end a wonderful ten day backpacking trip in the Torres Del Paine National Park in Patagonia, Chile. Not a cloud in the sky made for a perfect sunrise at the towers.

Cerro Paine Grande, the highest peak in Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile. How could you not fall in love with a mountain like that. We spent most of the previous evening watching the sun-set reflect off the "ice mushrooms" on the summit and listening to the thunderous sound of the glaciers calving in powder waterfalls.

Water, water everywhere. This is a spring next to one of our campsites in Torres Del Paine National Park. We were lucky in that most of the water we saw was already on the ground and not falling from the sky which is what normally happens in Patagonia.

This is what really old ice looks like. A little different from the piles you see around Telluride Town Park in the springtime. We actually had a chance to see a large peice of this glacier "calve" into the lake while we were eating cream cheese and salami sandwiches for lunch. The sound is a lot like a thunder clap mixted with an air force fighter jet. The wall of ice is probably about 100 ft. high out of the water.

Yes, it is very windy; and yes my hair really does have that much body. This was the first pass on the Torres Del Paine Circuit hike that really afforded a nice view. The one nice thing about the wind is that is keeps the pesky mosquitoes away.

La Paz, Bolivia - The highest capital city in the world at over 12,000 ft. It is a jumbled mess of circular streets, round-a-bouts, and plazas. It seems like every streets sidewalk is lined with black market venders booths which encroach on the sidewalk to make them just as crowded with pedestrians as the streets are with trafic. From where I am sitting at this computer I could by hairspray, a belt, packing tape, or a Pentium 4 processor within about 10 ft.
From here, we start our long travel down to Patagonia. We are pretty much going to head straight south from Arica, Chile until we hit Puerto Natalas and Torres Del Paine National Park in Patagonia.

Sunset over Lake Titicaca from Isla Del Sol. We were having dinner at a restaurant that didn´t have electricity which featured fire baked pizza. Yes, it was as cold as it looks at 12,500 ft.

Jamie, the Sacrificial "Virgin" at the place where the whole Inca empire legendarily started. We spent two days on the Isla Del Sol in Lake Titicaca which is where the sun was supposedly born. It makes sense because this island was the sunniest Incian place we have been. All the other ruins, Machu Picchu included, are typically covered in fog and clouds. This arid island is covered in Inca terraces so they could cultivate even the steepest land. Reached only by a two hour boat ride from the main land, Isla Del Sol was a nice change of pace for us because there were no cars. Because of this, you would think it would have been pretty quiet, but instead of cars, the island was infested with the loudest and most comical donkeys we have ever heard.

Llamas look funny when they go to the bathroom!

Machu Picchu was just as amazing and awe-inspiring as everyone says. We were a little frustrated by how much it cost and how difficult it was to get there (Machu Picchu is the only place in Peru that doesn´t have a bus, the only way to get there is by train), but after seven hours of hiking up and down Incan stepping stones, we think Machu Picchu is just about the coolest place we have been yet. We started hiking at 5:00 am through the morning mist arriving at the entrance gate just after opening and had the place relatively to ourselves. We climbing to the top of WaynaPicchu (the mountain that forms the backdrop for the ruins) then hiked down to the Great Cavern. We were the only ones there and felt like Indiana Jones as we climbed through the overgrown and mossy houses build into the cave. In hindsight, it was worth all the effort, but a word of advice - Go early in the morning because by noon there were about 1000 people clogging the pathways.