Backpacking!!

La Serena

We arrived in La Serena on Sunday morning at like 6 am. Our hostel didn´t even open until 7 so we had to hang out for a while until it opened. Then once we put our stuff down we walked around thinking maybe this would be our sunday that we actually go to church since we had both talked about it, but not a single church was open for mass. So we just had some breakfast and read the news paper. We met up with our dutch friends, Susan and Ellen and we went to Valle Elqui to take a tour of the Pisco vineyard. It was kind of like a winery but they make it a little bit different...I couldn´t really understand this spanish tour since the vocabulary was over my head. We went to Vicuña to have dinner and then went home. We wanted to take a tour of the penguins/ sea lions/ dolphins the next day but the weather was bad. That is the only real thing we wanted to do in La Serena so we waited another day to do it on Tuesday. On Monday we went out to lunch and to the beach and at night we went to the observatorium. You can see the stars so much better from here and we got to look at the craters on the moon and all the different astrology characters in the sky and venus and ya, it was pretty cool. But it went on for a while and i was about to fall asleep. I just slept the whole car ride home. Oh and the funniest part was that i ran into this guy Andrew who I met at Nicole, my sorority friends', despedida. This travelling world is just one small place, or as you would say in spanish, ¨el mundo es un pañuelo¨which literally translates to the world is a hankerchief, but still the same thing. Today they told us that the penguin tour was going to happen... 85% sure and no. It didnt. we got up at 7 and packed our whole hostel up showered, ate breakfast and was sitting ready and then the receptionist decided to tell us that it was cancelled for the weather again. So annnoying. So we are out of here as sooon as possible, La serena doesn´t want us to see their penguins. I found out later in the day that it was cancelled purely because the company that takes the boats out didn't feel like working, not even because of the weather! Very very chilean of them. We went on a bike ride along the beach instead and made it to our afternoon bus to San Pedro with 5 minutes to spare this time.

San Pedro de Atacama

We got off the 17 hour bus ride and didn't realize where we actually had arrived considering all we could see was a desert. We managed to find our hostel about 2 blocks away though, and I had a "i am in south america" moment yet again. Ellen and Susan were already there and had booked us a tour to go to this salt lagoon. We took a long bus ride there and swam in this salt lagoon that was so strange. There was so much salt that you just floated without doing anything. You try to swim breastroke but you couldnt keep your feet in the water, they would just pop up. I had a great time swimming in there, but left with a film of salt all over my body.

The next day, we decided to let ourselves sleep in. We went on a run since working out hasnt really been a priority but the elevation was so high that we ran for about 8 minutes and then we about died. We actually cooked ourselves eggs this morning since our restaurant eating was getting a little out of budget. Later that day we went on a tour called Valle de la Luna. First we went to death valley and we were hiking around and then we were at the top of this sand dune. Then our tour guide said, "ok do whatever you want." We were all really confused but then people just started running down this giant sand hill. It was so much fun, and a happy surprise to the tour. After, we went up some other hill to watch the sunset, and the full moon come out. We waited forever for the moon to come and I kept bugging the tour guide to know when it was coming since I was freezing with my shorts on. The day into night in the desert is a huge difference. Then the full moon came out and we had been joking about the romantic full moon and me and Josi obviously not coupled, so when it finally came out, the tour guide proposed to me. I kindly refused though. Later that night we met up with some people from the tour at a bar and hung out with the tour guides. We went back to their little house afterwards and the tour guide was showing us his dance moves that he told me he learned on the street. He was quite a character.

Our last day in San Pedro, we went on a full day tour. The highlights were seeing flamingos in the salt flats and some really pretty lagoons. The flamingos aren't the same hot pink that you would originally think of and I found out that they get their pink color from their food. But, with global warming, their food is dying off, thus they do not have enough food to keep them healthy, and pink! Good thing I saw them now because they might be gone before I know it! We had to take a bus to this town called Calama to take another bus in the morning. So we stayed at this absolutely horrible hostel. We got there and they told us it was more expensive than they had before. And there was no way I was going to spend as much at that hostel as I had at the normal hostels. So I was strong and did some good bargaining skills in spanish and he said he had to go talk to his boss. Then he came back and said ok. It was 11 at night, no one else was coming to stay so I am sure they wanted whoever they could get. I put my jacket on my pillow case since I wasnt really sure how clean it was. Thank god we got out of there at six am to take our next bus. But on the way to the bus station, our taxi cab driver pointed out a dead man in the middle of the street. Absolutely loved Calama.

Iquique

Driving into Iquique, I could tell we were going back into civilization. It is a beach town and really beautiful. Our hostel was a world of difference better than the last one...a big beach house less than a block away from the beach. The only problem is that the toilet is in the same stall as the shower. We went to the grocery store and wanted sandwiches so I tried to ask the lady at the deli if she made sandwiches or just sliced the meat. She told me she made sanwiches but no, in reality she just sliced the meat and cheese. So I had about 6 different bags of ingredients to make one sandwich. Then we went to two stores to get plastic spoons and knives which we had to pay for. Then, Josi and I layed out on the beach and had to pay to sit under one of the million umbrellas, it is amazing what they can get you to buy around here! That night we decided we were really going to go out since there were clubs and all, but we had some cocktails and at midnight were ready to go to bed. Travelling is taking a toll on my body!

Sunday morning we decided we were going to paraglide. The company picked us up at noon and we were on our way up the huge mountain! I was freaking out. They put a suit on us and strapped all these buckles on me while I was just focusing on breathing one breath at a time. Then all of a sudden he told me to run and I was pulled into the air before I knew it! Once I was in the air, I was completely comfortable and totally relaxed. We mainly stayed near the mountains, but went over the town and landed on the beach. While we were hovering over the ocean, he asked me if I wanted to do some tricks, and I kind of agreed. So he whipped me around from side to side and if I thought about it, I would have freaked out but I just let myself enjoy it and it was amazing. The landing was easy and it was definitely worth it. Vale la pena as they say en espanol. Oh! I have had two kinda dreams that parts were in spanish. That is supposed to be a good sign though in that you are starting to get fluent! I am happy about that. For dinner, we had chinese food which I was so happy about since I have not found a good chinese restaurant yet. We watched some tv at the hostel and prepared for our next longgg day of travelling to cross the border into Peru.

Well, we tried to cross the border the next day but there was a protest in Chile so we couldnt. We went back to our hostel and were able to stay in the exact same room that we had before. So instead of a travel day we had another relaxing beach day. At the night time, we decided to make some food with our new british friends so we made fajitas. And we bought a bunch of red wine and beer and decided that we were going to teach the boys how to play beer pong. So we did and they thought it was such a great game (which it obviously is!) The mixture of red wine and beer did not do well for Josi and me...we learned that the british can drink even more than americans!!

Puno

We actually got to leave this day and it was a longgg freaking day. We got a bus to Arica, then ahd to take a taxi to the border, then another taxi from the border to Tacna and then from Tacna overnight to Peru. And Tacna is where all of the protests have been so we didnt want to leave the bus station so we sat inside for about 4 hours. Then we took a scary longg ride to Puno, Peru. We arrived in the morning and took naps in our hostel. The elevation is really high there so we took a day of rest, just shopped and ate and watched a movie. The next day was quite an Adventure!

We decided to spend a night on an island with this tour group because I guess that is the thing to do on Lago Titicaca. We went by boat to one island that is floating that all the houses are made out of reed. There are all these traditional peruvian women that wear these huge skirts and this little hat on their head and they are pretty large. They told us to get in this boat to cross the island which was made out of all reed and then once we were in it, they told us that it cost 10 soles each person which is not that much but it was just the principal that we had no choic because we were in the middle of the lake at that point! These south americans all want to take advantage of us since we are rich in their eyes. Then we took a really long boat ride to the next island-Amantani- and I definitely was not feeling so hot after that boat ride. So we got out and were assigned to a family for the night. I guess the ladies stand at the port everyday and wait to see if they can get any tourists to stay with them, because that is their only form of income. We went with a women named Violeta to her humble abode and waited for here to make us lunch. The oven looked like it should have been in a museum. The ¨stovetop¨was made of stone and a fire underneath. She kept the fire going with tree branches. She made us soup with potatoes and some fried cheese and some more potatoes and rice. And then for dinner we had the same thing. In between we walked up this hill and we were all dying since the altitude is way higher than anything I am used to. We got to this temple and had to walk around three times to recieve positive energy. After dinner, the mom and her 6 year old daughter dressed us up in their traditional outfits and we went to a dance with all the tourists and the moms. We danced the night away (til 9:30) to some peruvian music and then we were pooped. I had an interesting night sleep. Oh and they had no electricity or running water or toilet paper or a seat on the toilet. But the mom happened to have a cell phone. And the family told me about 3 times that she was a single mom and the father went off with another woman. They just want you to feel bad and give them more money, its so weird but makes sense since, again, we are rich in their eyes.

The next day we got up early and went to Isla Taquile. Just another island on Lago Titicaca that we walked around. Then they told us we were going to lunch and we had already paid for the whole package, so we figured it was included and then they tell us we all need to pay 15 soles for this lunch. Then we went back 4 hours on boat but this time this lady gave me a pill for motion sickness and i felt muchhh better. I had my final dinner with Josi that night at this italian place and we made a list of al our fun memories of our trip. We really had a great time together and I am so happy I found her as a travelling partner because we always seemed to be on the same page about everything from what we wanted to eat, to how much we wanted to spend on things, and places we wanted to see. She was off to travel the south of chile and me up to Cusco so she laft on a bus that night. I stayed in the hostel one more night and was going to leave in the morning. At the hostal that night, I watched sex and the city the movie and all of a sudden when it was over i had this weird feeling like, whoa, I am in Peru watching this movie about big exciting cities and girlfriends and shopping..it made me miss home:(

BTW the school address in Cusco where I will happen to be on December 6...hint hint... is:

ECELA
San Juan de Dios 250
Centro Historico
Cusco, Peru