Lima

Over and over again during this trip, I´ve heard negative things about Lima. It´s boring. It´s unsafe and congested.

The areas outside the touristy hotspots - Barranco and Miraflores - absolutely are congested, impoverished and unsafe for tourists. But in those safe zones, where the beautiful houses are protected by big iron gates, is a beautiful, funky town. The restaurants and bars are alive at night, there are people on the streets.

Walking around, I feel far less safe here than I did in other cities, even in Peru. Cusco felt safe, even when I wandered out of the old city and into the real city (in the daytime, but still.) Arequipa I didn´t spend much time in, but downtown felt safe. Lima doesn´t feel like I´ll get hurt, but it does feel like there´s always someone with an eye on my purse. One of the girls in my hostel had a wallet and an iPod stolen from her backpack the other day... you have to be vigilent, and I´ve learned it´s okay to be a little bit paranoid. There´s a difference between watching your own back and being a spaz case, and when you´re all alone in these cities, you have to know what´s going on.

Safety lesson over.

So while Lima hasn´t entirely stolen my heart, it has its good points. The neighbourhoods of Barranco and Miraflores are both perched on ocean-side cliffs , watching as the sea slams against the rocky beaches. Each area has its own feeling, its own vibe, its own beauty. It´s a neat city. I like it.

And I only have one more day to enjoy it, and I´m out of here... my flight leaves early tomorrow morning, so I have to pretend it leaves tonight lest I miss a flight (no comments please... hahaah... eek). And by this time tomorrow, I will be back on Canadian soil. I´m stoked and heartbroken at the same time.

s.

Colca Canyon

As planned, my group from the Loki hostel in Cusco rolled into Arequipa on Tuesday morning and took over a little hostel near the plaza. Myself and one other in the group were on a different bus than everyone else, and so there was a little confusion initially over where I was trying to go, but by midmorning we'd found them and set up a tour for 110 soles.... amazing price thanks to Nathan's haggling.

We bummed around Arequipa for the day... I see why people fall in love with it. While activity-wise there's not an awful lot to do other than the canyon around the city, the city itself deserves some credit. It's beautiful. Most of the buildings are white-washed volcanic stone, painted all sorts of colours down the streets and in the Plaza des Armas, kept gorgeously, glowingly white. What a pretty plaza. It's a pity I didn't get to spend more time in this city, it was a treat.

Bedtime came early and then morning came earlier... remember in my last post when I declared that I would never again wake before 4 am? I lied.

I got up at 2:55.

I am not kidding.

It's a 4 hour drive to the canyon, plus breakfast at 6 or so, and the condors that nest around the deepest point only fly in the early to mid morning. Thus, we woke up at 3 and slept in the bus on the way there. We were rewarded by 3 condors soaring through the canyon - one of the deepest in the world. The birds were beautiful, hardly bothering to flap. And from that high up, they almost look small.

The first day's hike wasn't too bad... mostly down the canyon's side, which can be perilous only because of the excessive amounts of dust on the trail. A few of us slipped and fell, but never over the edge. We spent the night in a tiny village at the bottom and split two bottles of rum between 12 of us. (We'd bought them at the top because its cheaper and carted them down... we'll call this dedication. Ha.) Nicely drunk, we were still in bed by 10.

Day two was your basic Peruvian flat hike... up and down and up and down along the side of the canyon. Slippery still, but manageable. By noon we were at the canyon 'oasis,' a little resort with a swimming pool, wood huts and a bar at the bottom of the canyon. Perfect. We spent the day lounging in the sun and learning card games from each other.

At night we had a bonfire and more rum. The bartender decided to teach me how to drink like a Peruvian. You take a shot, count to 8, breath three times and THEN you get your pisco and sprite. And when you are doing this at the bottom of the world's deepest canyon, you take your shot of rum out of a bowl. Because sometimes you have to make sacrifices.

He also gave me recipes for Peruvian food and for pisco sours. Amazing.

Again, we stumbled to bed drunk before midnight, only to be woken up at 5 for the hardest part of the whole trek: a three hour up-the-mountain climb to be done before breakfast because if you wait too long, it's just too hot to even bother.

And so for the second time in a week, I climbed a mountain before breakfast. It's almost become routine, really. (Kidding... oh my god my thighs hurt...) In reality it was one of the hardest things I've done on this trip, only partly because of the mild hangover.

About half way up I banded together with one of the Aussie girls in the group and we managed to keep each other going the whole way up... although by the last third we'd essentially stopped talking and just moved to grunting and swearing because we didnt have the energy for words anymore. We did well, in the end. We set a good pace for each other and managed to power through the agony, and we made it up the canyon in two and a half hours, so better than average.

After breakfast we drove to a hot springs, where we basked for an hour and showered (VERY necessary), ate lunch at a buffet (the most full I've been in weeks...) and then drove back to Arequipa.

Instead of staying friday night, we all just hopped on a night bus. Most of the group got off in Ica this morning (If any of you see this, I miss you already!!!!) And myself, Nathan and one other went through to Lima. They went past Lima to Mancora this morning, leaving me on my own again... I'll miss you, my favourite Essex boy!

It was neat to spend so much time with one group of people. I haven't had that my whole trip and it was a welcome change, especially as this group had a fantastic dynamic. Everyone was constantly joking and playing around, keeping the atmosphere light and easy... except when food was late or skimpy, but that's just natural. Ha.

So now I'm in Lima, in the Point hostel by the ocean. I'll be here until I fly out monday night.

S.

Peruvian Flat

It turns out mountain biking is hard. I mean I should have known that, but it is really really hard.

Our first day on the MP trek was entirely biking. Granted it was all downhill and such, but out of 5 hours of biking, the last 3 and a half were on bumpy, rocky dirt roads. My bum is still sore. My hands were practically bruised from gripping the handlebars. It poured rain all day and I hav enever been so soaked and dirty.... and it was amazing.

There were moments when I was just pissed off that I was biking in the jungle in a downpour, but at the end of the day, when we rode up to the hostel... I am glad that I didn´t wuss out and take the bus half way through. I am proud that I finished the day in style.

We biked maybe 50 km, to a town called Santa Maria. Dinner was apparently traditional Peruvian (meat and rice.) and tasty, especially after a day like that!

Our group had 7 people in it, which is fairly small. There was a dutch couple, a Belgian couple, a New Zealander and a Brit. I spent most of the time hanging out with the Brit, he and I got along really well. We also made friends with some of the groups doing the same trek at the same time but with different companies. Really social atmosphere, for being stuck out in the Peruvian jungle.

That night I got my own room! Delightful.

Day two was sunny and hot, which was amazing for trekking (rain is less than ideal, shall we say...) although after a while its a bit much. We did 7 hours total. First flat, then up a mountain where we followed an Inca trail (not THE Inca trail.... there are a bunch of them) and then climbed down the mountain.

Now. When a Peruvian person says to you, the next two hours is flat walking, don´t ever listen. The problem is that Peruvians have no idea what flat is. They live in the mountains. Nothing is flat. Peruvian flat, from what I can tell, essentially means it´s not straight up, and the ups will eventually equal the downs. I had a few fights with our guide about this... he laughed at me, mostly.

The other problem with trekking is that bugs love me. Especially sandflies, apparently. I cant so much as look at my legs anymore, they start to itch and it drives me crrraaazy. Yes I used bug spray, yes it had deet, but I think they´re into that sort of thing. Uhg.

But at the end of a long day, we got to spend a couple hours in the hot springs at Santa Theresa, which was divine. I expected just a hole in the ground with hot water, like what we had in Bolivia, but it was a full on resort. Amazing, and just what my muscles needed desperately.

We went out for a few drinks that night, because the hiking day three isn´t too hard, but were still in by midnight. Life is tough when you have to get up at 6.

Day three was mostly flat (remember, Peruvian flat....) and not too tough. A couple of the other groups got to climb up a mountain right near machu picchu and view the ruins from afar, but our giude apparently doesn´t do that in the rainy season, so we relaxed in the town at the base of the mountain, Aguas Calientes, for a few hours. Dinner was Mexican food and bed, in a decent hotel, was early.

And then, on saturday, I got up at 3:45 in the morning for the first time in my life.

I will not be doing that again, let me tell you.

It takes about an hour and a half to make it from Aguas Calientes to the ruins at the top of the mountain, so we started walking just after 4. The site opens at 6 and only the first 400 people in get permission to climb Waynupicchu, the sister mountain that juts off machu picchu, which is a magnificent view.

It´s dark when the walk starts. All you can see is little clusters of people lit up by flashlight, hardly anyone speaks because we´re all too tired and too caught up in the magic of the pilgrimmage. Dawn broke half way up the mountain, and I´d tell you it was magical as well, but quite frankly, I was just trying to drag myslef up the 2000 stairs. It was a tough but fairly short climb, totally worth it over taking the bus. I was within the first 40 people up the mountain, I made it by 5:30 or so, which is a fantastic feeling. The mountain climbing accomplishment, not the 5:30, lets not kid ourselves.

Macchu Picchu gets a lot of hype, and in my travels I´ve heard people tell me both that it was stunning and that it was just a buch of rocks on a hill. I side with the people who claim it deserves its status as a new world wonder. The place is 80 per cent original. The craftmanship of the entire city is phenomenal... massive earthquakes and 500 + years of wear have yet to bring down the Inca architecture. The focus on symbolism, on shape, on knowledge and learning and spirituality is awe -inspiring. Everything means something... although we don´t always know what that something is, everything means SOMETHING. Amazing.

Our guide for the tour was okay, nothing spectacular. The best was just wandering the city and imagining the civilization, the priests who spent their lives in this place, the riches it held once. The climb up Waynu Picchu, 45 minutes of essentially straight up stairs, was taxing after the morning climb, but was worth it for the overhead view of the city. I have some fantastic pictures.

We took the train (and bus) back to Cusco with only a few hitches - some of the tickets were for later than they should have been, and my name somehow got left off the bus list, but there´s nothing a good hissy fit won´t fix... hah.... I am not one to play the throw-a-fit card, but when I´m about to be stranded an hour from cusco anything is fair game. In any case, I got back just fine, showered and drank and danced til 4:30. Which is when I realized, standing in a bar in downtown Cusco, that I had been up for 24 hours, and perhaps this was not the best life choice. Hahah!

Today I leave Cusco. I´ve joined forces with my British guy from the trek - Nathan - and his friends, and 12 of us are descending on Arequipa on a night bus. There, hopefully we can hook up a canyon trek. I´ll stay in Arequipa til saturdya night, get a night bus out, spend one night in Lima and fly home.... scaaaary.

I´ve sent approximately a billion postcards home, to nearly everyone who gave me addresses now, but as far as I know none have arrived. Hopefully soon? Ha.

Take care, everyone, and wish me luck on the last leg of my trip. xo.

Cusco

Cusco is a beautiful, if uber-touristy city. It´s practically dripping in history. I´ve seen all sorts of Inca walls, and Spanish colonial churches and buildings and such. A push towards the city´s cultural history means that the Inca flag is all over - not actually the ancient flag, but the new version, but still. It´s neat to be in a place so passionate about its cultural roots... even if it´s partly a show for the tourists.

I leave tomorrow morning on my Machu Picchu trek. Day one is mountain biking, days two and three are hiking. Day four is the lost city itself! I am sooooooo stoked... all of my nerdy tendencies are showing!

I cannot believe there are only two weeks left in my wanderings...

s.

Bolivian Beach Vacation

So La Paz didn't as such work out. As the bus drove into the city after the bumpiest ride in history (oh, Bolivia.) I started talking to a Californian woman, Cara, just  few years older than me, who convinced me to skip La Paz and head right out to Lake Titicaca. We booked a bus and wandered La Paz for a few hour before taking off.

The thing that struck me most about La Paz were the markets. Coming from Chile and its gung-ho mall culture, it was a big difference. I didn't see any malls in La Paz, although they may just be farther from the downtown core. Instead, everything you could ever want is in the streets, in outdoor vendors. This existed in Chile as well (usually right outside the mall...) but not with this sort of enthusiasm. And the food market was incredible... several long, winding streets covered in fresh fruits and vegetables. Gorgeous colours. So much bustle.

So we wandered the market and got out of town. We made it to Copacabana, a little beach town on the lake (Bolivia is landlocked, so this is as good a beach as they get) on Friday afternoon. We spent the whole weekend there, first wandering the town and then hiking through a nearby island.

Remains of a building on the Isla del Sol

Isla del Sol is the birthplace of the Inca religion and the site of a fairly large temple ruin. It was neat to walk through, to see the complexity of the building itself and the care that was clearly taken in the way it was laid out. Otherwise, the 4 hour hike across the island was nice, but uneventful. We went back to Copacabana and grabbed a bus out Sunday night.

Copacabana (no, not the one from the song, that's a beach in Rio) is a cute little town, but clearly has morphed into the super-tourist hub. Despite this focus on tourism, however, there really was no hostel culture developing.... we couldn't find any hostels with common areas to meet people and hang out, which is tragic. Thank goodness Cara and I had banded together... we got a hotel room and saved a little cash that way. The restaurants were great, but the nightlife fizzled at about midnight... so Halloween ended a little early for us. Ah well.

Trout restaurants on the beach

I tried the local lake trout, which was really good. Although my stomach is making odd gurgles now... I also ate a salad even though I know better. Uh oh.

I must say, finding people to hang out with for two or three days is making this trip infinitely easier for me. You get past the backpacker twenty questions (where are from, where are you going, how long is your trip etc. etc.) and have real conversations like you would at home with your friends. It makes the longing for home easier to handle. I've found a few people now that I have been able to make friends with through the trip, and it´s fantastic.

So now, Monday morning, I am in Cuzco, Peru at the Loki Hostel, which is supposed to be a pretty bumping place. I´m exhausted after an all-night bus, but I think with a nap I will have the energy to wander the city today and set myself up a Machu Picchu tour.

S.

La Salar and the Never ending Atacama.

And here is post two.

So I believe I left off in Iquique.

I left there on Sunday night (25th of October) and made it to San Pedro de Atacama on Monday morning. Found a half decent hostel.

San Pedro is an odd little town. You can tell that it's a desert nowhere village that was surprised not too many years ago by a tourism boom its only recently learned how to handle. There are only two ATMs (only one worked on Monday...) and NOWHERE to cash traveler's cheques. Frustrating!  There are shops selling alpaca everything and restaurants that are rather expensive even by Chilean standards (Chile being one of the most expensive countries on the continent.)

Outside of San Pedro, La Valle de la Luna at sunset

It´s cute, though, for a couple of days. I only spent one there, as I managed to get a spot on a tour to La Valle de La Luna and do some sand boarding the day I got there. The floor of the valley is covered in rocks that are 70 per cent salt, and so it looks white. Moonish, even.

Sandboarding is HARD. Especially on your first day in a relatively high altitude. I'm glad I did it, though. But I´ll do some squat practice before I try again.... yikes.

I secured a spot to leave Tuesday the 27th on a three-day tour through the northern Atacama and the Salt Flats in southern Bolivia. Very cool. We saw lakes that are every colour under the sun, flamingos all over the place and some of most visually fantastic landscapes I have ever seen. We stayed in a salt hotel (outside of the actual salt flat, so it's legal... the one inside the salt flat pollutes too much and thus is illegal.) and I made friends with a young French woman, Eleanor, traveling with her family. It really makes all the difference in the world some days when you have someone to talk with.

Playing with perspective on the salt flats

As of this afternoon, Thursday Oct 29, I am in Uyuni, Bolivia. I have a ticket to La Paz for tonight, so I'll be there by morning. As much as the desert has been a very unique and rewarding experience, I am ready to head back to the mountains.... I don't think I´m a desert girl.

I don´t have many comments about Bolivia yet, except that they speak more slowly than in Chile here. YAY.

Thank you everyone for your comments. Hope you´re all doing well!

S.

Adios, Chile.

I am going to do this in two posts, one to wrap up my Chile experience, one to start up Bolivia.

So I would like to add to my last post... I ranted about the sexism rampant throughout Chile, but I neglected to add that while cat calls are constant and frustrating, the people in Chile, as a pretty general rule, are fantastic.

I felt safer in every Chilean city than I ever imagined I would, and the people I've met have been incredibly friendly and helpful. Whether I´m asking for directions, clarification as to the buses or where you buy a postcard in Santiago (more difficult than you think!) people go way out of their way to make sure I can accomplish what I need. They have been patient with my inadequate, halting Spanish, correcting me and trying to speak English back to me to make things easier.

In fact, I have noticed that when I approach someone and try to ask a question, I get the impression that they are almost embarrassed that they can´t speak MY language... which is ridiculous, given that I am the one visiting. You´d never find this attitude in North America... if you don´t speak English there, you´d better be able to communicate in hand gestures. But here, at least in Chile, people went incredibly out of their own way to facilitate at least basic communication.

And my Spanish is getting much better, gradually. I learn dozens of new words and new uses for words every day and I am understanding far more. I still have trouble with basic things sometimes, but usually I can make myself at least mostly understood. Thank goodness.

The other thing I´d like to comment on is the Chilean bus system. It´s infinitely better than I expected it to be. In fact, it´s better than the Canadian system by far. The buses are punctual and frequent, they give you juice boxes and cookies, and it´s incredibly cheap. It allows the country to rely on the bus even for longer trips, whereas in Canada, if you have the money, you wouldn't think twice about taking a plane, or at least a train.

Now that I am in Bolivia, we´ll see how it goes. I've heard some horror stories about the buses. (just kidding mom, it´s okay... haha.)

S.

Desert life, and Chilean women

I am now in one of the driest deserts in the world... the Atacama. I was in the desert in Iquique too, but it doesn´t feel so much like it when you´re flush against the ocean. The sun is HOT. I´m in the town of San Pedro de Atacama, hoping to do some sightseeing and sandboarding tonight and then head out on a tour across the salt flats to Bolivia tomorrow morning.

I have been meaning for a while to make some observations about Chile.

Sexism is the first thing I´ve got to talk about.

In 2005, a woman was elected President of Chile for the first time. That´s wild in a country where divorce was legalized only the year before. In her term in office it seems she's made some striking changes in the realm of equal rights, but good lord is there ever a long way to go. Chile is a very, very traditional, religious society, as many Latin American nations are. But sexism seems to coat things more than I had anticipated, and I was ready for quite a bit of machismo.

I think what makes the blatant sexism so... blatant... is that Chile looks a lot like home in some ways. The cities here are modern, the people advanced. These are not people who have just never been in contact with the outside. (although for many years Chile was rather isolated) They have a thriving mall culture.

And yet, I wore a skirt that reaches my knees, and the sky could have been falling in Santiago. I have never received that kind of attention, especially in a modern, metropolitan city. Cat calls, hisses (also a cat call), kissing noises. To an extent I couldn't believe. And I was totally prepared for attention, given the red hair. It´s young boys right through to 70 year old men. And they don´t pursue anything, I don´t actually feel unsafe, but they will stop anything they're doing to cat call.

The message I have gotten from Chile, and what I've heard from other travelers, is that a woman here has a role, and she should be sticking to it. I've also heard that while Peru is more traditional and old fashioned, there´s less attention, perhaps because Peru is a country more accustomed to tourism and foreigners.

Someone was also telling me the other day that it looks like Michelle Bachellete will lose the upcoming 2010 election, not because she has done anything wrong, or that she hasn't delivered on her promised (although i am not an expert here), but because she is a single mother in a position of power, and that makes the men here uncomfortable.

If you want to be modern, choose based on something more than gender.

And now I cannot remember what else I had saved up for a rant, but I will continue later. Back to wandering around this desert town!

s.

Adrenaline rush

Well, now this little redhead has a sunburn... thank you, beach town. Ouch. And only on the back half of my body... thank goodness I brought aloe vera!

Surfing went fantastically. Well. It went better than it ever did in Biarritz on the France trip, and the instructor said I did really well for a beginner. I stood up almost every time and managed to ride a bunch of waves... amaaaazing feeling. It made up for the salt and sunscreen in my eyes, the exhaustion from hitting the club the night before and totally made up for the times I just couldn't manage to stand on that board... you get so annoyed, and feel so dumb, and then you get up, you finally find that balance and OH MY GOD it worked! Exhilaration.

But it gets better.

Yesterday, Saturday, I went paragliding for the first time. It will not be the last time, let me tell you that. Iquique has one of the best sites for paragliding in the world, stemming from the warm ocean breezes and the fact that it NEVER rains here. No exaggeration. Literally never. Here, you can paraglide every day, no matter what.

It's hard to really describe the feeling of riding on the wind, weightless, adrenaline pumping, strapped to a funny little Chilean guy. Exhilaration might be the word for the second time today... so wild. It was so gentle and slow, feet dangling around, you feel so vulnerable. We flew along the hills that push Iquique against the ocean, over the sand dunes, over part of town and then landed on the beach. I didn't get motion sickness at all, which was great, and I got some fantastic pictures.  And yes, Mom, I wore a helmet. I also got to wear a jumpsuit, which is an awesome thing in itself.

Tonight I am catching a night bus to San Pedro de Atacama, a desert town near the Bolivian border. I´ll be there for maybe one night, and then I´m going to find a three day tour through the salt flats into Bolivia.

I am once more amending the trip plan... tragically, the pampas tour into the jungle of northern Bolivia is not going to happen. If I could be sure I could get in and out in three or four days, it would be perfect... however, while it might take a few days, it might take a week and a half, being Bolivia, so it won´t work. I will just have to come back to south america to see the rain forest.

It´s so hard for me to believe that it´s already been almost two weeks, and that three weeks from tomorrow I fly home.

Hope everyone is well, I miss you all.

S.

This little red head has a TAN.

.... Yes, you read that correctly, ladies and gents, your favourite super pale Canadian has a tan. And a burn, in parts. Hooooray for beaches!!

To update you:

As I said in my last post, I made it to Santiago after leaving Valparaiso. I was there for about 24 hours, so not long, but long enough to get a feel for the city. It´s nice, lots to see, but didn't have the same kind of crazy bohemian vibe that Valparaiso did. I stayed in the barrio Bellavista, which is like the trendy, funky part of town, but it was a Monday. Win some, lose some. I did go out for beers with some English guys who bought motorcycles in Bolivia and were riding through to Brazil. Wicked!



Then Tuesday afternoon I made my way out to the enormous bus terminal and caught a bus out to Iquique. And by that, I mean I spent 28 hours on a bus. Deep. Breath.

It's cool in a way though because in the course of that bus ride, I went through wild changes in the scenery. From the bushy, rolling mountains outside of Santiago we moved into the desert, where the mountains are gnarled and polished and the dust just hangs in the air... you can tell it hasn't rained out there, like, ever. I've never seen a desert before, so this was pretty stunning for me. I sat for hours staring out the window.

Iquique is still in the desert but is a fairly large coastal city with a lot of tourism. Its nice enough, but really not somewhere i'm walking around at night ever. But you don't come here for the culture, really. You come for the gorgeous beaches, the surfing, and the paragliding.

I'm signed up for surfing today and for paragliding tomorrow... it's okay mom, promise. Should be a wild adventure. I spent yesterday wandering the town and then flat out on a beach... thus the tan!

S,

Hello, pisco.

Today outside it's sunny and warm. We're going to the beach. I am never coming back to Canada.

... just kidding.

The past few days have been fantastic. Friday I went wandering again. I found a market and bought some veggies, managed to communicate somewhat. Although I only wanted one onion and somehow I got a whole kilo, so we'll call it a partial success (rice and onions! Yum. Hah.) I saw some sea lions basking in the sun out by one of the piers in Valparaiso. Incredible. They're enormous! Friday night we drank some vino and I went to bed and was a good kid, but last night we got into the pisco and danced til 5.


Pisco is a wine-based brandy, Chilean or Peruvian in origin, depending who you ask. To me it tastes like wine meets vodka with some sugar, and it has exactly that effect on me. Ayeeeeeyeye. Hahaha. Delicious. Chris and I split most of a bottle last night playing poker with some of the other exchange students and a few Chilean friends. (For the record, I came fourth out of eight or nine. Poker champ.) and then we met up with B and we all went and tore up a dance floor.

The more I wander this city the more I like it. It's scruffy but it's so flashy. Valparaiso is colour, colour, colour. From down by the water, the houses look like jellybeans cascading down the hills, all different shapes and colours, stacked on top of each other. The graffiti seems to be a national art form, it's everywhere. You can track different artists by looking at the style of the graffiti. There's graffiti on the doors of the people who live in the slightly dicier areas because, well, it's hard to stop an artist sometimes, door or no. There's hardly a wall untouched.

You go ten minutes by bus to the sister city of Vina del Mar, and it's a totally different story. The buildings are ritzy and new, the streets are clean, there aren't any dogs begging for scraps. There are two Starbucks. Wait, what country are we in?! That's where the best beaches are, too, and they're gorgeous.

As far as my game plan goes, there's been a few changes. I think I'm going to give Mendoza a pass. It'd be fantastic to see, for sure, but I think for this trip it's too far out of the way. So from Valparaiso, on approximately Tuesday I'm going back to Santiago for maybe a night. Then I'll head north, probably by bus, to Iquique. Surfing and paragliding for a couple days, and then to San Pedro de Atacama. Mostly I'm just trying to make this all happen so that I can have the most time possible in Peru. Touristy, yes, awesome, clearly. If I end up with enough time I might check out Nazca and the Nazca lines. Wikipedia that. (Piper! Wikipedia challenge: "Nazca lines" to "banana". ie what I am living on... hah.)

Well everyone, have a fantastic Sunday. I will be on a beach, missing Hartholt family dinner. A little sad about that.

PS... shout out to my Mom's office friends, who apparently are following my trip. Hi!! Thank you!! :)

s.

Valpo

I flew into Santiago yesterday morning and found B and Chris at the airport. Amazing to see them after so long. For those of you looking for updates, they have not changed all that much.... which is a good thing. As proof, Benji is sitting across the living room from me right now trying to take apart a keyboard to fuse with another keyboard to make a super-awesome multicoloured keyboard for his mac. There was dancing earlier. Love it.

Valparaiso, where they live, is neat. It's a little run down... bohemian, you could say, but still has a lot of charm in the cultural stuff going on. It's one of Chile's major port cities, so the harbour is pretty serious. You're not allowed to take pictures of naval stuff though, as the army is paranoid about Bolivian and Peruvian spies. The whole place has a lot of emphasis on military. They're clearly very proud of their military history and that orients their culture. As does soccer, clearly. We watched the match against Ecuador last night at a bar. Intense!

Chile has a lot of stray dogs. Like, a LOT of them. And they're not overly scruffy or sketchy looking. You could totally get money for some of these in Canada. They just chill out on the streets and wander around, follow you for a bit if it looks like you might feed them. They're not threatening. The cats I've seen, however, are pretty scruffy. Even the house cats. Weird. The one that lives next door to the boys is, I think, in heat constantly and yowls. Worse than the cat at home, Dan. We have it good there. Seriously.

My Spanish is definitely not adequate, but it's getting better literally by the hour. I can manage enough, if people speak slowly, to get by. I imagine it will just get better as the trip goes on, although if the accent changes, I'm screwed!

So that's it so far. I think we're going to a movie tonight (in English with Spanish subtitles! YAY!) but last night we were up late, so probably not tonight. B promised he'd take me surfing soon, too.

Miss everyone, and hope you're all well.

Goodnight!

Ready, Set...

Take-off is in four and a half hours, right now I'm sitting at home finishing up a few things and waiting for Dan to get home. I'm SO excited.

Everything I planned to bring fit into my backpack (a testament to my planning skills or to my backpack? We'll say both.). Impressive, really. I've said my goodbyes, although it's really only 5 weeks. That's not THAT long. Although it feels like it is.

I got three vaccines (and one mild reaction... thank you mom for clearing that up... hah) and have a bunch of different pills for all sorts of things. No Malaria, altitude sickness or explosive diarrhea here! Too far? Sorry.

So I'll be flying into Santiago at 11:30 tomorrow morning to meet a very excited Chris (and B??!) and then staying with the boys for a week or so if they'll keep me that long. (I love you both!) After that, I'm not so sure on the Mendoza plan, but we'll see. Maybe I'll just go straight north through Chile.

I've made it through most of the first level of my Rosetta Stone Spanish course... I'm not very good, in fact I'd say I'm terrible, but I'm over it. I have the gist of how the language works, my bumbling French skills, a phrasebook and lots of willpower/miming skill. I'll be juuuust fine.

If you want a postcard, send me your address!

So goodbye Ottawa, see you in five weeks. Here's to a safe flight and successful baggage transfers.

Two weeks left... getting ready.

So. In complete contrast to pretty much every other trip I've ever taken, I'm trying to make sure I'm as prepared as possible for this trip. Well. Not that I'm booking anything past the flights... but still. I've got an appointment for yellow fever and typhoid vaccines, and that's a good thing.

I'm sticking with the 65 litre Osprey backpack I bought last summer for my trip to France with Piper and I'm starting to freak out over what to pack for a land of many climates. Sweaters? Skirts? A coat? Good lord. If anyone wants to come over thanksgiving weekend to help me, I'll be sitting in the apartment in a mound of discarded clothes working my way through a bottle of wine.

... at least I don't have to pack Piper's bag as well... for those of you who've ever seen the phenomenon of her packing skills.....

As I said, I have nothing booked but the flights. I bought a travel guide - Lonely Planet's South America on a Shoestring - and that's it. I almost booked a Machu Picchu tour but Benji dissuaded me with promises of bargains. Having reviewed his stories... I don't think I'll be free-styling the Inca trail, but maybe I'll find something cheaper than 800 bucks leaving from Cuzco.

My general plan is this... and please feel free to tell me if any of this makes no sense, is silly, is a waste of time, or if I'm missing something crazy awesome.

- Fly into Santiago, Chile on October 13. Two of my good friends from school, Chris Tester and Benji Loney, are just outside of the city on exchange. So they'll hopefully be able to meet me. I'll spend about a week with them to get oriented in the south and clearly to dance ourselves silly. B and Chris are renowned for their dance moves.
- East to Mendoza, Argentina (Wine country! Mmmmmmm.)
- North towards the Bolivian border
- Duck back into Chile (Is this possible?! Hmmm.) to San Pedro de Atacama and its wild landscapes.
-Farther north to Iquique, Chile, a paragliding mecca (Mom don't worry about it, I'll be fine and yes I have travel insurance)
-Cross east into Bolivia, hopefully to Uyuni and the salt flats
- La Paz, Bolivia
- Probably cross into Peru, although there's a sweet looking national park farther north in Bolivia. Featuring Amazonian rain-forests. Sweet!
- Lake Titicaca (real name) (Piper stop giggling) into Peru
- Arequipa - the city that Sarah LeClair, my wandering roommate from first year has convinced me I cannot miss
- Cuzco, Peru, which leads into the Inca trail hike and Machu Picchu
- Lima, Peru.
Fly home Nov. 17.

It sounds like a lot but I've got five weeks exactly and really, this is a rough plan. Whatever happens, I'm sure this will be an eye opening trip.