In Brazil and Bolivia for the month of July

Hi friends and family!

The hiatus on this blog has been due to my travels during this month.  I was in Brazil for a couple weeks, traveling from Sao Paolo to Rio, then up to coast to Salvador de Bahia. Now I am in Bolivia going south back towards Santiago.

It has been beautiful, full of interesting people, generous hosts, long bus rides, swimming in lakes and the Pacific Ocean, new adventurous foods like quinoa apple juice or chicken hearts, bustling markets, endless dancing and peaceful sunrises.

I will post some full updates in the first week of August once I am out of Internet Cafe land.

Love to all,
Anika

June Hiking

Last week I went on an unexpectedly gorgeous day hike near Santiago in Cajón del Maipo.  These are the foothills of the Andes around Santiago - just two hours away!  My housemates and I went to a reservoir called Embalse el Yeso, which was created by damming the Yeso River.  In the wintertime here, we were hiking in a bit of snow, but its was still nice and warm.

Embalse el Yeso is at about 2,500 meters.  It provides a large portion of Santiago's drinking water.  We hiked all around the water, then ended up in the dry lake bed at the base of the river.  It was a huge landscape of clay!