Headng out the the coast to get a day or 2 of the beach before heading to Buenos Aires. Staying in a town called Viña del Mar, which is right next to Valparaiso. I heard Calgary received another cold spell...I think it´s deserved after the 17 degree weather from a few days ago!
Santiago weather:
Sat: 31
Sun: 32
Mon: 31
Tues: 31
:o)
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Chile...part 2
We rush to the bus terminal to make sure there is a seat available for me on their bus...3 seats left! (horseshoe)
I travel 5 hours by bus through the Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world, 1674 km north of Santiago. The Atacama desert is home to giant sand dunes, salt pillars, boiling geysers and a volcano. None of which I saw besides the sand dunes.
Iquique is where I stayed for the past 3 nights. A fairly small coastal/beach city.
Anyways, the family brings me back to their place, shows me to my own room and explains that their house is my house. Their apartment - super nice! Overlooking the ocean!
I had a wonderful sleep after a late night ´´once´´ (a small dinner). Woke up to a traditional Chilean breakfast of bread with cheese and ham, toast, tea, coffee and juice. Walked downtown, checked out some of the sites, had lunch with Lily and then spent the evening at the beach.
Tuesday, slept in and sat by the pool all afternoon. 30plus degree weather is fine with me! The boys and I stayed up late playing cards and having a blast trying to teach eachother spanish and english. Wednesday morning, Lily´s husband, Carlos, came home and took us to the local museum. This is wehre the oldest mummy in the world is on display. Very interesting! That night, the son of Carlos arrived, adding one more person to the mix. We stayed up late eating cake, drinking wine and once again, trying to converse in broken ´´Spanglish´´
My new friends in Chile made my stay extremely enjoyable! Muchas gracias por todos!
I caught an early morning flight at 08:00 to Santiago. Instead of taking a taxi to my hostel, I decided to go with public transportation....lol
Let´s just say it worked out. I took a bus to the metro where this lady asked if I needed assistance (I msut have had the ´deer in the headlights´ look while wandering around the metro station). Nah, I think she overheard me ask someone for directions. Anyways, she basically took me by the hand, paid for my ticket and explained exactly where to get off!
I plan to spend another day in Santiago and then head to the coast for a fwe days before flying to Argentina.
See my dad in 6 days!!!!!
I travel 5 hours by bus through the Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world, 1674 km north of Santiago. The Atacama desert is home to giant sand dunes, salt pillars, boiling geysers and a volcano. None of which I saw besides the sand dunes.
Iquique is where I stayed for the past 3 nights. A fairly small coastal/beach city.
Anyways, the family brings me back to their place, shows me to my own room and explains that their house is my house. Their apartment - super nice! Overlooking the ocean!
I had a wonderful sleep after a late night ´´once´´ (a small dinner). Woke up to a traditional Chilean breakfast of bread with cheese and ham, toast, tea, coffee and juice. Walked downtown, checked out some of the sites, had lunch with Lily and then spent the evening at the beach.
Tuesday, slept in and sat by the pool all afternoon. 30plus degree weather is fine with me! The boys and I stayed up late playing cards and having a blast trying to teach eachother spanish and english. Wednesday morning, Lily´s husband, Carlos, came home and took us to the local museum. This is wehre the oldest mummy in the world is on display. Very interesting! That night, the son of Carlos arrived, adding one more person to the mix. We stayed up late eating cake, drinking wine and once again, trying to converse in broken ´´Spanglish´´
My new friends in Chile made my stay extremely enjoyable! Muchas gracias por todos!
I caught an early morning flight at 08:00 to Santiago. Instead of taking a taxi to my hostel, I decided to go with public transportation....lol
Let´s just say it worked out. I took a bus to the metro where this lady asked if I needed assistance (I msut have had the ´deer in the headlights´ look while wandering around the metro station). Nah, I think she overheard me ask someone for directions. Anyways, she basically took me by the hand, paid for my ticket and explained exactly where to get off!
I plan to spend another day in Santiago and then head to the coast for a fwe days before flying to Argentina.
See my dad in 6 days!!!!!
First glance at life in Chile
Wow, I don´t know if I have a horseshoe up my @ss or what but things so far in Chile have worked out great!
I caught a bus at 07:30 on January 18 from Arequipa to Tacn (both cities in Peru). Tacna is about 15 minutes from the Chilean border. The 5 hour bus ride went by fairly quickly. There was an unexpected stop where everyone had to get off the bus and put their bags through a scanner. This wasn´t at the border though, it was at a what looked to be a random spot on the highway. I asked the attendent why we stopped. The response....¨frutas¨ FRUIT?? My Spanish couln´t be right, a fruit checkstop. (I know the last few sentences are probably setting myself up for some comments but I couldn´t think of a different way to say it). My tranlation was right, they were inspecting the bags and disposing of any fruits being brought into the next region. Apparently, some species of larva are a huge problem.
As my bag goes through the scanner, I realized I have bananas and plums in my bag. Great...I am going to jail! For what??? smuggling fruit...I could have at least made it worth while. They said nothing and handed me my bag back. Once I got back on the bus I had figured I should get rid of the evidence some how...so I ate it all...6 bananas and 2 plums.
Once the bus pulled into Tacna, I grabbed my luggage and hurried across the street to the other station to book a taxi - a 1983 Crown Vic - to cross the border (the buses do not cross). I was told I had to wait until 4 other people bought tickets to fill the taxi before it would leave. Luckily, it took only 5 minutes for this to occur.
My 4 border crossing mates were Lily, Jonathan, Christor and Sebastian, a mom and 3 boys. We communicate through ther broken English that they had to learn in school but received just enough credit to pass, and my broken Spanish that I haven´t been using as much as I should.
The officer stamped my passport at the border and I was in Chile! As we were waiting for our taxi driver to finish his smoke to continue our drive, Lily asked if I wanted to be a guest at their house on my way to Santiago? They live in Iquique, a 4 hour bus ride in the direction of Santiago. I figured what they heck!? I have known these people long enough...33 minutes. What is the worst that could happen...they steal all my stuff, hide me in a basement and hold me for randsom.
I caught a bus at 07:30 on January 18 from Arequipa to Tacn (both cities in Peru). Tacna is about 15 minutes from the Chilean border. The 5 hour bus ride went by fairly quickly. There was an unexpected stop where everyone had to get off the bus and put their bags through a scanner. This wasn´t at the border though, it was at a what looked to be a random spot on the highway. I asked the attendent why we stopped. The response....¨frutas¨ FRUIT?? My Spanish couln´t be right, a fruit checkstop. (I know the last few sentences are probably setting myself up for some comments but I couldn´t think of a different way to say it). My tranlation was right, they were inspecting the bags and disposing of any fruits being brought into the next region. Apparently, some species of larva are a huge problem.
As my bag goes through the scanner, I realized I have bananas and plums in my bag. Great...I am going to jail! For what??? smuggling fruit...I could have at least made it worth while. They said nothing and handed me my bag back. Once I got back on the bus I had figured I should get rid of the evidence some how...so I ate it all...6 bananas and 2 plums.
Once the bus pulled into Tacna, I grabbed my luggage and hurried across the street to the other station to book a taxi - a 1983 Crown Vic - to cross the border (the buses do not cross). I was told I had to wait until 4 other people bought tickets to fill the taxi before it would leave. Luckily, it took only 5 minutes for this to occur.
My 4 border crossing mates were Lily, Jonathan, Christor and Sebastian, a mom and 3 boys. We communicate through ther broken English that they had to learn in school but received just enough credit to pass, and my broken Spanish that I haven´t been using as much as I should.
The officer stamped my passport at the border and I was in Chile! As we were waiting for our taxi driver to finish his smoke to continue our drive, Lily asked if I wanted to be a guest at their house on my way to Santiago? They live in Iquique, a 4 hour bus ride in the direction of Santiago. I figured what they heck!? I have known these people long enough...33 minutes. What is the worst that could happen...they steal all my stuff, hide me in a basement and hold me for randsom.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Goodbye to Peru
It´s been a long three and a half weeks in Peru, but I had one of the top experiences of my life - Machu Picchu.
Just got back from a day tour to the Colca Canyon. You know how I was bitching about starting to hike at 5am, well, today I got picked up at 2:10am for a day tour. I managed to get about 5 hours sleep which definitely helped since I wasn´t really able to sleep on the bus. The tour consisited of driving 3 hours from Arequipa until Chivoy. This town consisted of nothing. We ate the typical Peruvian breakfast offerred at hostels - butter, jam, a hollow bun and coca tea. Luckily I was prepared this time and had my backpack stashed with fruit and trail mix! ¨My Trailmix........¨
Drove to Cruz del Condor where the bus stopped and we all jumped out in hopes to see the giant condors take flight. We waited, and waited...about 30 minutes looking out into fog...excited I know. All of a sudden you hear someone yell ¨there´s one!¨ A mad rush of turning on cameras to catch a glimpse of this giant bird...the wingspan is over 3 meter long!!!! I think I heard it´s the largest bird in the world. Correct me if I am wrong. I could google it right now but dont´feel like it. Took a few cool pictures which I will post on Facebook for now. I´m trying to get an account set up with flickr...it´s supposedly much easier to download photos while keeping the quality.
Back in Arequipa for tonight, meeting up with a few people from the tour for drinks a little later on. Wont´be a crazy night since I have a 5 hour bus ride at 7:30am tomorrow to Tacna, Peru. So I could go hard tonight and sleep on the bus...we´ll see how it pans out. From Tacna, I have to take another bus across to Chile, and then another bus to my next destination, which at this point I´m thinking will be Santiago. The one downside is I heard the drive is over 25 hours!
Just got back from a day tour to the Colca Canyon. You know how I was bitching about starting to hike at 5am, well, today I got picked up at 2:10am for a day tour. I managed to get about 5 hours sleep which definitely helped since I wasn´t really able to sleep on the bus. The tour consisited of driving 3 hours from Arequipa until Chivoy. This town consisted of nothing. We ate the typical Peruvian breakfast offerred at hostels - butter, jam, a hollow bun and coca tea. Luckily I was prepared this time and had my backpack stashed with fruit and trail mix! ¨My Trailmix........¨
Drove to Cruz del Condor where the bus stopped and we all jumped out in hopes to see the giant condors take flight. We waited, and waited...about 30 minutes looking out into fog...excited I know. All of a sudden you hear someone yell ¨there´s one!¨ A mad rush of turning on cameras to catch a glimpse of this giant bird...the wingspan is over 3 meter long!!!! I think I heard it´s the largest bird in the world. Correct me if I am wrong. I could google it right now but dont´feel like it. Took a few cool pictures which I will post on Facebook for now. I´m trying to get an account set up with flickr...it´s supposedly much easier to download photos while keeping the quality.
Back in Arequipa for tonight, meeting up with a few people from the tour for drinks a little later on. Wont´be a crazy night since I have a 5 hour bus ride at 7:30am tomorrow to Tacna, Peru. So I could go hard tonight and sleep on the bus...we´ll see how it pans out. From Tacna, I have to take another bus across to Chile, and then another bus to my next destination, which at this point I´m thinking will be Santiago. The one downside is I heard the drive is over 25 hours!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Lake Titicaca
Who knew that people were living on floating islands made of reeds?! Well, there are on Lake Titicaca. I took a tour of the world´s highest navigatable lake at over 3000meters. On this lake, there are the Uros islands which are home to numerous families. A bus brought me out to one island where the group was greeted by 5 women wearing bright bright neon colored dresses. I guess they are in style since neon is back! haha We watched a ´performance´ explaining how they build the islands, how they trade food and do not use money - they trade goods for goods (however, when it was over, we were expected to buy their handcrafts with money....strange huh?!) I had a 3 course meal with Alpaca salad, alpaca steak and ice cream...mmmmm...alpaca. Tastes just like beef. The boat took us to another floating island of reeds where there was a convenient store. Got back to Puno, the port town, to catch my 5 hour bus ride to Arequipa.
Ventured around Arequipa (Peru´s 2nd largest city with approximately 700 000 people) and had a nap in the afternoon. Met up with 2 czech guys, Mira and George, at the front desk when inquiring about a tour to Colca Canyon. We grabbed a bite to eat...I had 3 filets of meat...Alpaca, Ostrich and Beef with a decent glass of wine! Good combo!!! Think I might go for that again tomorrow night.
Early night tonight and hopefully a full day of nothing tomorrow.
Ventured around Arequipa (Peru´s 2nd largest city with approximately 700 000 people) and had a nap in the afternoon. Met up with 2 czech guys, Mira and George, at the front desk when inquiring about a tour to Colca Canyon. We grabbed a bite to eat...I had 3 filets of meat...Alpaca, Ostrich and Beef with a decent glass of wine! Good combo!!! Think I might go for that again tomorrow night.
Early night tonight and hopefully a full day of nothing tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Machu Picchu
After 4 days of hiking I didn´t want to move. But walking all that way to miss the purpose of the trip would not be smart. Woke up at 4:00am to start walking up, up and up to Machu Picchu. It was about 1 hour 20 minutes of stairs. My calves were the size of tree trunks.
Machu Picchu - what an experience! Pictures don´t do it justice. And there is a reason why it was named one of the Wonders of the World.
I´ll let the pictures speak for themself.
Machu Picchu - what an experience! Pictures don´t do it justice. And there is a reason why it was named one of the Wonders of the World.
I´ll let the pictures speak for themself.
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