One hell of a walk...

Four days on the Inca trail, meandering over stones, steps, stairs, and ruins. The mountains of Peru are unlike anything I have ever seen any where else. They rise straight out of the ground and touch the sky. Steep is an understatement. I could see how the Incas could consider them gods. I went with a group of 15 people, made up of travelers from Argentina, Colorado, California, Italy, and Israel. We all got along great, no one was complaining much. It rained everyday, but only for a few hours at a time. On the fourth and final day, we rose from the sack at 4 am to get a wonderful view of a cloud at sunrise. The classic Machu Pichu view from the sun gate was completely veiled by the clouds. So we walked to the ruins, and as the day progressed the clouds lifted, slowly unveiling the complex and the awesome views around it. By the afternoon there was blue sky and some of us hiked up to the temple of the moon, it is probably one of the highest places I have ever been. There I found a panoramic view of the ruins and the mountain on which they sit. I have no idea how they made this place, it seems to be cut out of the mountain. From above it looks like a lego set, so perfect, so different from the feel within. It was a view I will never forget....

Going walking....

I really enjoy wandering aimlessly through cities, it beats a tour anyday, or at least in my opinion. Tomarrow I will start the Inka trail, I can't wait. Said goodbye to Elisabeth this mourning, she is off to Lima, then back to Holland.

Cusco is a beautiful city, right in the mountains, at around 3200m or something like that. I'm aclimated to the altitude right now, but there is one part on the Inka trail that is over 4200m, I'll have to walk nice and slow. Afterwards I'm going to figure out what to do next, I´m thinking of heading to the south of Chile, but Bolivia feels like an option as well. Wandering around is quite a nice way to pass the time...

gotta love the road

So I find myself at an internet cafe, it has been an interesting few days, don't have a lot of time but basically it all went something like this:

Got in a taxi to go to Peru, came to an accident along the way and turned down a side street as a detour. Along the way the taxi driver stopped because another taxi driver was standing in the way. My taxi driver is Peruvian, the other, Chilean, words started to be exchanged, pretty soon the other taxi driver was kicking the car, so my driver went to get out and fight him, the other driver started slamming the door on his foot and throwing punches. My driver got out and ran away, leaving me, Elisabeth, Sandra, and two other Chileans sitting in the cab, blocking everything. Finally the guy came back with the police and after a short wait we were on our way to Peru.

Got to Peru, stopped in Arequippo, and then onward to Puno, where we tried to get a boat to some of the islands in Lake Titikaka, the highest lake in the world! There are some indigenous groups there that have made artificial islands out of dried reeds. It is really something to see, this floating islands. Then went to a natural island which is covered by stone terraces, doesn't have a single road or car. We lived in a house of a couple, no electricity, only a hole in the ground for a bathroom. The day after we arrived was a celebration and we climbed to the top of the island, which stands above 12,000 feet and offers outstanding views. Lots of offerings going on, and a shaman burning incents and other stuff. Colorful clothes, a few too many tourists, some of which are completely shameless when it comes to pointing cameras in people's faces. After the peak of the ceremony a rainbow formed around the sun, some kind of atmospheric phenomena, it was pretty amazing.

So then we tried to go the next day, and the boat that was supposed to go back wasn't there, so we were stranded, also the tour operator lied about paying entrance fees and we had to pay twice. Finally today we made it back to Puno, and should arrive in Cusco tonight!

Onward to Peru...

The excitement is setting in as we prepare to cross the border into Peru this afternoon. I am looking forward to seeing this country, it is a country with a profound history. Cusco, where I should be arriving is the old Inca capital, and and footsteps of Machu Pichu, I didn't envision my self going there when I set out for Chile, but now I can't picture not going. Last night I went to a party with Elisabeth and some of her Chilean friends who live here in Arica, good party, but having only slept an hour the night before I had to leave early, around 3:30 or so. Met some Chilean teenagers on the walk home drinking wine from a box on the beach and talked to them for a little while. We also picked up another solo traveler for the voyage north, a half French, half Italian girl named Sandra who lives in England. I look forward to the reunion with March Pietan, a lot has happened since we went our ways several months ago in Santiago. I also hope to meet up with a friend of my roommate, America, an Indian who is traveling all around the world (I think).

Swam in the ocean, slept on the beach after waking, ready, so ready to go to Peru!

Rained out in the desert...

Some how I managed to get rained out in one of the most arid regions of the world. In a place where it might get rain 3 day out of the year, I happened to pick those three days to go. I had to cancel two plans for tours because of flooding, something I really wasn't expecting. San Pedro was an interesting place, a tourist trap to say the least, but not a glitzy one. Lots of adobe and wood structures, expensive restaurants with bond fires, foreigners from all over. There is an indigenous population that lives all around the tourist areas, a Chilean transient population that works there over the summer, and then the tourists. Yesterday I finished everything off with a tour to the salt plains, which were not white since they had seen their first rain in three years. Also saw some lagoons with snow capped volcanoes looming over them, and a couple of the pueblos that surround San Pedro. After all that, I got on an all night bus ride from 8:30 pm to 7:15 am and arrived in Arica more then a little confused.

San Pedro...

Made it here, glad to get out of the city. This place has about 5000 inhabitants and 6000 tourists, but it is another world from anywhere else I've ever been, right in the midddle of a huge desert. A good place for some adventures I think. I met a Dutch girl named Elizabeth on the bus, she was working at an internship in Santiago and now is at the end of her five month stay in Chile, it is nice to have some company after two days of being alone. Yapped the whole ride away, pulled in to San Pedro around 4:30 pm. Now its time to do a little exploring.

Antofagasta

So I made the six and a half hour bus ride from Copiapo to Antofagasta, the second largest city in Chile. It is a much differen world then Santiago, or at least from what I`ve seen in my short stay. It owes its size to the mining industry, and is a working city. I am getting into a very interesting area politically, as it has lots of mineral deposits and has been in the hands of Chile, Bolivia, and is starting to be what was traditionally Inca territory. I spent most of the ride looking out at the vast Atacamba desert, so barren, with mountains so big. Haven`t seen a green spot for quite some time. The coast in this area is very rocky, with jagged boulders sticking out everywhere.

I found the Hotel Fronterra, which is a run down dive, but cheap and in a good location. The streets here are full of energy, plenty of buses and people scurrying all about. The street front, so different then the colonial style of La Serena or Copiapo, is a mesh of old materials, burned out fronts, wires of many sorts from barbed wire to electrical wire. Bars cover most windows, reminds me a lot more of some of the barrios I went to in New York then anything else. Except for the looming mountains that keep me oriented.

There are also lots of Shoperia, which I would attribute to the working class attitude of the city, work hard, play hard. I don`t know how long I will stay here, there are some places to see, but I`m feeling the urge to move on to San Pedro Antacama, in the middle of the desert, for some outdoors adventures. We`ll see though....

Copiapo

Just arrived in a new spot, Copiapo, which lies in the middle of the mountains. It is nice to be able to see them so clearly, none of the smog that plagues the view in Santiago. I found a really cool hostel, my other room was really small and felt like a cell, this one is much more plesant. Not that I really am spending much time in the room, but its nice to come back to something comfortable.

Last night I drank pisco sour (or a version there of, made by a Belgian girl, not a Chilean) and ate BBQ with an international crowd. France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, Chile, and the US, all represented for a night of stories, drinking, and fun. It made it alot easier to sleep on the bus today.

One guy, the Italian, was riding his bike through Chile, he looked completely defeated. I felt bad for him, the terrain could really hurt you out here. The hills are high, the distances between towns long, and the sun so, so hot. He has had his share and is heading back to Italy on Wednesday. So it goes...

Out to the Isla Damas

So I´m just a bit singed by the sun, it is so strong here. Even with cloud cover, the UV rays still penetrate, so much stronger then in the northern hemisphere because the ozone layer is much thinner here this time of year. We started early today, and surprisingly the guide was 8 minutes early, something that rarely happens in Chile. I loaded in a car with Germans, Finns, English, and Chileans. It was about a two hour drive to the port where the boat was launched. The landscape reminded me a lot of Nevada, only bigger mountains. Lots of cacti, all different kinds, lots of goat herders too. I was tempted to try and buy some goat cheese but never got the opportunity.

We got to the boat port and loaded up in a boat about 12 feet long and six feet wide. It bounced all about in the choppy Pacific water, and toured around the islands. The islands all were very bare, rugged rocks stuck out and were populated by vultures, sea lions, humbolt penguins (much smaller, like 30cm) gulls, and some kind of otter. Dolphins would breach the surface near the boat but always dropped down deeper when we approached. After a passage around the islands we stopped on one where it is permitted to camp and I hiked around, looking at all the sea shells and bright blooming cacti. I also took a quick (very quick, very cold) swim in the turquoise water at the white sandy beach that is on the island.

Afterwards, we went back to land and stopped along the way to eat some fish for lunch. There everyone swapped stories, relaxed and ate. On the way back I talked to a German girl named Isable about all things travel, she is on here way north, likes to have off the wall experiences that come with hitchhiking, as well as a deep appreciation for hiking about in the mountains.

I think that my time in La Serena is coming to a close. Hearing Isable's stories about hiking around nature reserves has put me in the mood for some camping. Tomorrow, sometime before 11am I will head north, though I don't know where.

The beach....

It is quite something to be able to just pop over to the beach. The waves in La Serena are pretty mild compared to what I saw in Vina del Mar, but they still beat the lakes in Iowa (maybe a fast boat will send a "breaker" your way). I've met alot of cool people here, hung out yesterday and the previous night with Lars, a German living in Santiago. Also met Olli and Doug from Freiberg who work for a theater that is performing in Santiago in two weeks, and of course, I can't forget Claudia and Carmen, two sweet Chileanas from La Serena who took me dancing.

Today I want to rent a bike and go for a long ride. I also am going to go swimming and watch the sunset. Tomarrow I will get up early and go on a boat out to a group of Islands with a bunch of sea lions and penguins. Should be fun.....

On the road....

So I watched the city disappear from the window of a semi-cama turbus today, finally I'm out of Santiago on my way. It feels really good to be so free, where ever I want to go, no problem. I'm going to slowly make way to Cuzco, Peru, visit Mark Pietan and see Machu Pichu. Along the way, many sidetrips, gotta see this country. Already it feels so different then Santiago. One of the really cool things about traveling alone on a bus is that you end up sitting and talking to a lot of strangers. My Spanish is good enough that I can have a conversation, nothing too profound, but it has came along ways since I arrived. Tomorrow I will go to the beach, walk around La Serena, or maybe I'll go to this island, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

Chau....

And also...

I have been meaning to thank Dorian from Richmond, VA for being the first person ever to leave a comment on my blog, check her out, and to the rest of the world, don't be shy! Leave a comment!

aftertheparty

aftertheparty
Originally uploaded by deambular.

Happy New Years, a few days late but thats ok,

Accents

One of the things that I've noticed is how unaware I am of accents when I'm speaking Spanish. I'll be speaking to someone from say Chile or Germany or Japan, and then they say a word in English and it always surprises me to hear the accent. German accents really throw me off, even in Espanol, Zie instead of Sie, and much much more. I wonder how I sound to a Chilean. Yesterday I was speaking to some ninos that live in my apartment building and they seemed a little confused by my accent, I was saying Spanish words but they weren't so convinced. I saw them a little later and they planned an ambush, and jumped out at me grabbing my arms, but they were no match for my skills. Afterwards we talked about ninjas, and I think they were able to understand me, but understanding can never be assumed when you talk about the ninja way (hii yaa) they are good kids, lots of spirit, big hearts.

Just a little different

I knew that being in a world of Spanish would be a challenge. I knew that being in a different culture on a different continent, in a different country would also lend its challenges. However what has really effected me the most, even more so then the language, the culture, is being in a city of five million people. Iowa City's population seems like a tiny little down compared to Santiago. The constant roar of the micros, the non-stop flux of strange and different faces, the smog, the intensity dominates my daily experience. Leaving Santiago this weekend to go to Valparaiso, which only has 270,000 people living there (normally, new years is a bit difference) has a much different feel to it. It is a different world from Santiago, being a port town with a view of the ocean. In the next few weeks I will get a chance to explore Chile, and Argentina, and get a sense of the rest of the country. Right now I'm the same as someone who only has seen New York, who has never crossed the rest of the US. I wonder what I will find in those smaller communities. How will the reaction to foreigners be different? How about prices? Do people think of time in the same way that they think of time in Santiago? Is everybody as late to everything as they are in Santiago? It could possible be even more extreme. Just from the glances I have gotten in my short jaunts out of the city, I can tell that the rest of Chile is a much different world than this crazy loud city.

New Year!

Its a new year, and it begun well for me, overlooking the port of Valpo, at a party, with friends, fireworks going off, glass of wine in my hand. It was a New Years that was unplanned but came together perfectly, I hope everyone out there had a good time, I know I did.

To be continued.....