The trip from Mancora (one of Peru’s best beaches and a top, TOP recommendation to visit if you have the chance) by bus to Lima takes approximately 17-20 hours.  I never realized just how big Peru really is until I traversed it all by bus (in every direction, multiple times).

About 10 hours into our bus trip I drowsely woke up to notice that we were not moving.  I quickly dismissed this and immediately fell back into my slumber.  After repeating this twice and noticing each time there were less people on the bus, I finally looked outside to see us surrounded by desert and recognized familiar faces from my bus standing around in the sand.

After some investigation (basically stepping outside) I found that some curteous truck driver had decided to create a massive road block on this two lane highway that took 10 hours (no exaggeration on that) to get around.

A few notes for the video:

• Notice how close our bus (Cruz del Sur) is to the accident, scary…
• The middle of nowhere desert atmosphere
• The massive line of hundreds of cars in the distance (10 hours…and we were in the front of the line…)

I have three words for you: Bomba del Tiempo.  This is by far one of my most memorable experiences in Argentina (although eating steak and wine every day for a month didn’t help…).  Bomba del Tiempo is a 3 hour percussion concert in Buenos Aires that goes on every Monday night.  These guys are intense and the crowd (you can’t help but join) goes absolutely nuts.  If you’re around for these guys, I highly, HIGHLY recommend checking them out.  Admission was something like 15 pesos (less than US $5), you can’t go wrong with that.

Oh, and tell “El Guerro” we say hi.  EL GUEEERRRRRRRROOOO!

And the grand finale rock out:

It’s hard to fully convey the ziplining experience, so what better than a video of the whole ride??  This was taken at the Tucanopy Cloud Forest Reserve just outside of Mindo, Ecuador.   They have 6 intense lines and the “longest zipline route in Ecuador.”  It’s no Costa Rica, but they’re working on it.  If I remember correctly I believe this was the 4th or 5th line that was their longest.  Tucanopy is actually a natural reserve that focuses on the preservation and reforestation of the cloud forest.  The ziplines and other tourist attractions are just on the side to generate some income for their projects.  They also are always looking for volunteers!

PS – If you ever go, also consider their FULL MOON Night Zipline Ride…I’m yet to make it for there, but let me know!

(Oh and if you were wondering, no monkey’s were explicitly involved in this ride, but they were there in spirit)

New video site is up and running!  Keep an eye out for new videos from my South American adventures.