Bolivia

Where to start with Bolivia...well it was chaotic, first of all.  Dirty, dusty, extremely poor, unorganized, crowded, stressful, at times extremely inconvenient, sanitation was questionable, the buses were the worst and Jac puked in an internet cafe.  But despite all this it was an unforgettable two weeks and an absolutely integral part of the trip.  I think we needed the jolt, to wake us up to many of Latin America's political and social realities and to really help us appreciate Chile.

We crossed the border from Peru at Lake Titicaca and were in the lakeside town of Copacabana.  The town had a definite beach vibe, unexpected in the landlocked country and is home to the Bolivian Navy (just one of the many Bolivian paradoxes).  Lake Titicaca from here was absolutely stunning and the very first night we witnessed one of the most breathtaking sunsets I have ever seen.  We made our way to Isla del Sol, an island in the middle of the lake (where all humankind was created, according to the Inca creation story) where we spent three nights hiking, relaxing, meeting what seemed like every hippie Argentine on the planet and getting really sunburned.  It was a gorgeous and farm animal filled few days and it was really nice to get away from cities and tourist stuff.

Next we were off to La Paz, the insane capitol where we spent a few uneventful days walking a lot, visiting markets, and gawking in wonder at the mess of it all.  Once you get used to the complete lack of any order, it's sort of beautiful to see so many people living so close together with no regard for any rules.  Example:  bowler hat and gathered skirt clad women take to the streets every day to sell vegetables, fruit, bread, cheese, llama fetuses, etc.  And wherever they congregate is then an unusable road because they just spread out their tarps and sit down in the middle of it.  And that's just how it is.  If you're driving through downtown and all the sudden you can't get to church (or the hospital or work or whatever) because there's an impromptu market in your way, that's just too bad.  Some drivers try to push on through anyway though, adding to the mess and frankly terror of wandering around La Paz.  Bustling and energetic doesn't do it justice, it's a city to be experienced, for sure.  Also this was the only time all summer that any of us were sick, Jac spent two days in bed (we think it was bad fry bread from a street vendor) so that was a further downer. 

From there we traveled to the smaller and more relaxed Sucre, which was quite beautiful and where we had the BEST papas rellenas ever.  Papas rellenas are potatoes filled with cheese and baked with onions and they are so so good.  Sucre is interesting because it's the constitutional capitol of Bolivia and many Bolivians consider it the true capitol, although the government operates out of La Paz.

Next stop was the wild west themed town (not really but it seemed like it) of Uyuni where all the tourists have to stop before seeing el Salar de Uyuni, the Bolivian salt flats.  The best part about Uyuni was probably the restaurant that Jac and I stopped for hot chocolate in that played Lady Gaga videos for an hour, we were mesmerized and didn't leave til closing.  "I guess we just needed some Gaga," Jac rightly observed upon leaving.  The salt flats though, they were AMAZING.  I don't have enough words to describe how incredible they were.  It was like another planet.  It was basically a dessert, but made of salt.  Miles and miles of the flattest ground MADE OF SALT.  And it had rained the night before, meaning there was a fine layer of water on top of the salt, perfectly reflecting the sky.  Everything was blue and white as far as you could see and so bright.  Spectacular, truly.

That was where Jac and I split up with Rob, we were then headed down to Salta, Argentina, a trip which would be the most trying 24 hours of our time together.  Bolivia is a fascinating and beautiful country, not for the faint of heart but a grand adventure nevertheless. 

Peru in Early January

To continue the narrative of what just happened I now take up to the extreme North of Chile where we crossed the border into Peru.  The border crossing was uneventful, other than at the bus station Jac was convinced that she had left around $200 USD in cash in San Pedro de Atacama (it was a MAJOR downer, until the secret underwear pocket in her backpack was found guilty in Cusco, ha) but the bus ride from Tacna to Arequipa, Peru was one of the most unpleasant we had.  Smelly busmates, crazy divers (crazier than usual, I mean) and the most boring and ugly scenery we had yet encountered made it not the most unpleasant but probably the second most unpleasant South American bus ride yet.  After spending around 5 hours in Arequipa, Peru's second largest city behind Lima and trying our first Peruvian empanadas (I've now had empanadas in five SA countries and it's a draw between Arg and Chile) we got on another bus to Cusco, the ancient capitol of the Incan empire, the Archaeological capitol of the Americas and the oldest continuously inhabited city in this hemisphere. 

Cusco is both a tourist mecca (for good reason) and a deeply important city to the cultural history of Peru and the Andes, making it a very fun and chaotic combination of cultures and even time.  Colorful gathered skirts and bowler hats abound as well as llamas and alpacas roaming the streets.  The city is sits on a foundation built by the Incas so walk down any given street and you're in the presence of Incan architecture and engineering (which is FASCINATING).  The huge market has everything from weird Andean fruit to wool leggings (very fashionable in the Andes) to $1 plates heaped with chicken, beans and rice.  We frequented the juice stalls every day where for a dollar you get any combiation of fresh fruit you can come up with, in a blender.  It was SO GOOD.  Oh we also found a pretty cool English pub to watch the Ducks lose, while meeting what must have been every other American in the city that day.

 Scenes from Cusco

Surrounding the city in all directions are Incan ruins, I think we saw about eight sites.  They were all fascinating and photogeninc (and packed) but of course, nothing compared to the big one, Macchu Picchu.  While the site itself did not dissapoint, it poured down rain (like, POURED) from 4:30 am (when we got up to start hiking) until around eleven, making for some not very good photos, wet socks and rather low spirits as it was also quite cold.  But as we started hiking up Waynu Picchu (the big mountain behind in all the famous photos, did you know there are ruins up there too?  We didn't, those Incas were so loco) the weather cleared up and as soon as we got to the top, the fog rolled over and we had just breathtaking views of the place.  And when we got down the crowds had all but left us (the weather I guess) so we were able to wander around at our lesiure and finally take some decent pics.  It was a perfect day. 

Scenes from Macchu


The next stop in Peru was Puno, a pretty lame town but on the shores of Lake Titicaca, sitting at about 12,000 ft.  I was a little underwhelmed by the lake at first, it was pretty dirty and sort of smelled weird.  Puno had a bustling market and illegal DVDs up the ying yang but all in all I was happy to not spend more than three days there before heading off to Bolivia, where Lake Titicaca was all that it should be.

The market in Puno

Home! (In Chile)

Great news:  I safely made it back to my Chilean home of Valdivia!  After  three months of backpack wandering I have found a new appreciation for this rainy little town and a bed I recognize.  I came across this quote about traveling back in December that really speaks to what I've been learning down here: "No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.  ~Lin Yutang  

I have seen so many things this summer, met so many people and heard many diverse beliefs and stories, it's so exciting to really understand just how different and beautiful the world and all it's people are!  But what has been resonating the most with me lately is the notion of home.  I never thought I would feel this attached to Valdivia, but here I am feeling very comfortable and at ease in my own room and in a city where I know where I want to go and how to get there.  I have people here who I run into around town!  After being homeless for a bit, I will no longer take for granted these simple aspects of a sedentary life.  I think it's all about having a deeper comfort level, I was not fully at ease in, for example, La Paz but here I can relax.  Not to mention go barefoot in the shower, woo!  It's all very exciting and I feel so incredibly lucky to have found such a wonderful community here for the last third of this continuing South American adventure.  So basically I've just been walking on sunshine ever since I got back.  So I just wanted to say a quick thank you and share my appreciation for life at this moment.  Thanks for listening and I hope you're doing well too, I know we all have things to be so thankful for that we just don't think about enough.  

And now for travel updates!  

The Atacama Desert was the next stop after sending my Mom to the airport and meeting up with my travel buddy Jac again.  (By the way, her blog is great and she takes some truly incredible photos, http://www.lajacabroad.blogspot.com/).  The Atacama Desert is the driest in the world and in the extreme North of Chile, about 4000kms away from Patagonia.  San Pedro de Atacama is a beautiful, dustly little adobe oasis set at 12,000 ft above sea level where we stayed at not the greatest hostel but was made worth it by the colorful owner, Maria, who had quite a few stories about what those foreign govs are really doing in the desert with those big telescopes (the sky out there was UNREAL) and it has to do with UFOs (which she and her son have had direct communication with) and Cold War conspiracy theories.  In the desert we saw a geyser field, just steaming away in the early morning, Valle de la Luna, which is really just a bunch of rocks and sand dunes but so orange!  And we drove (sans road) around the National Park of Flamingos where we did indeed see a lot of flamingos and some salty lakes.  We walked a lot and wore a lot of sunscreen and it was the complete opposite of Patagonia.  Chile is a weird little country indeed.