The Cast of Characters

The Aussie Angel








Matias










Nacho








Mark and Lewis, aka The Welsh boys







Lucas, aka the Brazilian








Martin, aka the Swedish Spoon








The Columbian Cousins










Carlos aka Pablo Escobar







Guy and Stewart

Kerri gives a shout out to:

Jockey's Ridge for the sand skills
Bus from Puno to Arequipa for showing me a new low in bus travel
Bolivia- for changing the visa rules
my super shoes
Kulo!
simply sleep meds
Knob Creek in Cusco
The Cuy- I'm sorry, i had to do it. besides, Jesus did.
Joaquin- for the steam room and lovely stay
Mark and Lewis aka the Welsh boys- for the best laughs of the trip and giving our bus the wonderful aroma of morning after alcohol
Dona Ines Hostal: everyone there for the food, fun and rowdy times!
Carlos- being my blackout buddy and sending me home in the magic cab
Guy/Fiona/Shelly/Stewart- for sticking around for the "slovenly" sunset and finally getting the money shot, hell yeah delinquents
Pablo- for inspiring me to go to South America in the first place
Nooner- for all the travel advice. Peru was a complete success bec. of you!
Nacho- for the cheesiness
The Columbian Cousins- for the icecream, music siesta in the park and absolute perfect day
Habermans- for the airport transport, breakfast, enduring the buzzrat photo and reading the blog. :)
Mom and Dad- for giving me the genes to look German, thanks a lot ;) and always encouraging travel.
Kyle- for having every dirty hippy remind me of you :) haha
Lauren- for letting me text torture you with photos
and especially to:
Philip aka The Aussie Angel- for dinner, saving us, allowing me to show my freak side with Elvis and bourbon, bottle of wine and truly being our guardian angel on the trip who kick started the good kharma. can't thank you enough.
Matias- for my massage, yerba mate, dancing, Maradona tattoo, the Buenos Aires advice, all the conversation and laughs, truly loving and living life and just being you. you're lovely
Steph aka my better half :)-for swapping places with me..now we truly are one! for being the best roommate, friend and travel buddy a gal could ask for. These trips wouldn't be possible or nearly as fun if it weren't for you.

Stephanie gives a shout out to:

Bolivia- for changing the visa rules and therefore giving us Northern Chile
sunglasses
the wifebeater glow a la blacklight
7th grade spanish teacher
Dona Ines Hostal- for the sausage roll at the bbq
Carlos- Carlito for helping finish my pisco sour
Guy/Fiona/Shelly/ Stewart- for striking a pose
Leo the cabbie- for showing us where to go out in Buenos Aires
Mark and Lewis aka The Welsh boys- for laughs
Arle- for the post-it
Philip- for the magic meds, lovely dinners and bottle of wine
Joaquin- for eucalyptus leaves
Santi- for sharing wingman duties with me
Colombians- for the gift, hands down best send off to Buenos Aires
Kerri- for swapping places, now we truly are one!
Dad- mini mag light and other skills of survival
Mom and Dad- for giving me the genes to look Spanish, Italian, Pakistani and of course, Jewish

We are thankful to Peru, Chile and Argentina for

making us feel like locals and not tourists wherever we went. the best kind of an experience a traveler can ask for.

We are thankful to New York for

making us street smart and making us cool wherever we travel

We'd like to thank ARGENTINA for...

Cluny- hands down the best welcome meal and even better the 2nd time around, letting us breathe again, Nacho, 2 for 1 cervezas, the language of love, shoes shoes and more shoes, shopping, icecream- in particular dulce de leche, young don Juan, the Art Hotel, tango, wine, architecture, Anjey..Aaannjey.., post work parties at Shamrock, quilmes beer but not so much fermet, dog walkers, crazy grey eyes, great names, drag queen standup, male? strippers, Jloria Jloria!, man i feel like a homan, bread baskets, celebrate good times come on!, closing the clubs for us, airport lines, cab drivers, and a plethora of frollets.
In addition we'd like to thank Buenos Aires for being one of the most fantastic cities we've ever seen. The food, tango, design, culture, everything. We are truly truly in love with this city and it broke my heart to leave. But I can't be too sad knowing I'll just have to go back within the year. :)

We'd like to thank CHILE for...

semi cama buses, drug busts at 3am, better bus rides than Peru (i.e. mothers who control their children), letting us cross the border..finally, Africola, drinking pisco y coke out of a horn, bringing the YMCA back...not, letting us leave our mark graffiti style, monster jellyfish, Maradona tattoos, room #5, beach that comes with a masseuse, the Swedish spoon, booty shaking with the Colombians and sambaing with the Brazilian, escaping duct-taping to a tree by the dictator, frolefauxtails, our Cocktail bartender- shaken not stirred, manjar, Lan for not striking and having the best snacks, dining with such elite company as Pablo Escobar and William Wallace, Carlito, Orlando Bloom... guy, girl?, magic flip flops with the power to repel mud, firepits, crying dogs, laughing bums, damn cows, dune running, money pics of the sunset, English and Aussie delinquents so we're not alone, the number one song "Jesus", eroding our adobe, Arica for being the only place with no rain, blackouts and generators.
In addition we are thankful to Chile for hosting us 2 years in a row and having the most amazing and diverse landscapes of any country we've ever seen in addition to very welcoming and mellow people.

We'd like to thank PERU for...

Cornuts, coca leaves, Marco Antonio- may he find his JLO, the best pisco sour of the trip, ceviche, depriving us of oxygen, bringing back Maroon 5 (she will be loved bra!!), the Rain Gods misinterpreting our dance, fashionable panchos, making muddy jeans fashionable and stripping us of all femininity, blonde girls with dreadlocks...not!, bus rides from hell, cuy wtf??!! and other interesting food, disco music fashion runway trains, "Adios Goodbye" boy, scary dancing mask man, great gringa hats, eucalyptus steam rooms, magical medicine, and Jesus' last supper.
In addition we are thankful for the country's stunning beauty in its' landscapes and people, magical ruins, the beauty in simplicity of life and their deep rooted attachment and pride in their culture.

Home not so sweet home

ok ok, I do love New York and I suppose some part of me missed it, but I was in no way ready to come home. And it was especially bitter coming from the Perfect Day in a sundress and sandals to a freezing day in New York. And I'm sure I'll be fine in a few days as I reminisce looking over pictures or laugh over stories. And god knows we've made so many new friends that it will help to keep in touch with them and swap travel stories. But this truly was the most amazing trip I've ever been on which is why I didn't want it to end. In a way I suppose it doesn't end by making all these new connections and giving us new places to visit. And for that I am eternally grateful. now if only New York would warm up.. :)

The Perfect Day

Our last day of our trip in our favorite city of Buenos Aires. We began the day by going to the Mercado de Caminito in La Boca (Thanks Matias for the tip on that, it truly was a photographer's heaven!). La Boca is considered a rough neighborhood of Buenos Aires, I guess what some might consider the Bronx to be. La Boca has the Boca soccer team and stadium right there and is a little rough around the edges. But the market on Saturdays down by the water was beautiful! The buildings are all so colorful and vibrant. There's tango music playing everywhere and people dancing in the street. It's a little touristy, but you honestly don't mind bec. of how lovely the atmosphere is. We strolled around for a couple hours taking pictures and watching people dance and then headed back to the Recoleta area to check out their arts fair. As we were strolling up towards the Recoleta we had the craziest run in of our trip. We ran right into our 2 Columbian friends from the hostel in Arica!! it was the most bizarre thing! All 4 of us did a double take and literally stopped dead in our track in disbelief. With all the people in Arica we didn't get to talk to these guys as much as we would have liked so we had no idea they were going to Buenos Aires. But low and behold we all happened to be walking on the same street at the same time. I'm telling you, it was our good Kharma, which was truly the theme of the trip; the good kharma trip. Anyways, the guys were so lovely and treated us to icecream at Freddo. (shocking that we were eating icecream again! haha) After sitting and chatting for a while we strolled through the arts fair which was really terrific. I could have spent even more time there if we had it. But the jewelry and art was just beautiful. After strolling we sat in a park where our friend showed us his hammock he travel with from Columbia. He takes it with him everywhere and just attaches it to 2 trees and naps where he pleases. Talk about a great way to travel! But the best was he pulled out this musical instrument, similar to a tambourine, and started playing it and singing songs. His voice was so so lovely and the music so fantastic. I can't even begin to tell you how perfect it felt to be sitting in a park in Buenos Aires listening to him sing. Stephanie and I truly were in heaven. It was the perfect day. We finally had to go our separate ways, the guys were going on a 26 hour bus to Iguazu and we had to have dinner before our flight. Though it was terribly sad to say goodbye to them (even more so bec. we knew in a way we were saying goodbye to our trip) but we knew we'd keep in touch with them and hopefully see them again soon. Guys, you truly truly made our last day amazing! Thank you so so so much.
We headed over to La Estancia a big steak restaurant for our final meal: steak and a nice malbec wine. It was perfect, as everything was that day. Full from our meal and the best day we sadly hopped in a cab to go to the airport. Our trip last year was great, but i don't remember dragging my feet or being in such complete denial as I was this year. I really and truly did not want to nor did i believe I was actually leaving. I could hardly look out the windows of the cab and definitely couldn't turn to look behind me as we left the city.
I am head over heels in love with Buenos Aires. As you all know my heart has always belonged to Paris, and of course New York, but I now think Buenos Aires has snuck in there as the third contender. Fantastic food, wine, architecture, shopping, people, culture, dancing...etc. etc. etc.
love love love it.

Old Buenos Aires meets new Buenos Aires

Post siesta we began our night at Cafe Tortoni for a tango show. (thank you so much Carlos for recommending this place! it was perfect!) Cafe Tortoni is 150 years old and truly is reminiscent of the old Buenos Aires. It's a lovely cafe. We were seated in a smaller private room where they do the tango show. The show was fantastic!! It included a band, a singer and of course the dancers. The band was adorable, all dressed in black shirts with white ties. The accordion player was our favorite. He had to be early 70's and had this fantastic face. He was so serious playing and then the second he stepped off the stage he had this big adorable smile. Also in the band was this great piano player with a huge handlebar mustache, a violinist and a bass player. The singer was this probably 50 year old woman in black pants and a tube top with too much makeup and big hair, but it worked. And she rocked. She was sort of the emcee of the night if you will. But she did these very dramatic songs that were part singing, part acting. And even though we had no idea what she was singing it didn't matter bec. you could still feel it by the way she acted. And her voice was phenomenal! The dancers were of course amazing. They probably did about 5 different dances so it was neat to see all the different interpretations of the tango. i preferred the first which was the angry/dramatic one. Lots of long angry stares, near kisses and passionate dancing. truly truly beautiful. all of it was. We had champagne and some of the churros and hot chocolate which the book recommended. So it was fun to have dessert before dinner and top it off with champagne. :) We also had lovely dinner company, a couple from the Netherlands, who were very very sweet. It truly was the best place to see the tango; exactly what we were looking for: not too touristy, an intimate setting and a true feeling of old Buenos Aires. perfecto
Dinner was at Olsen's (yes family, i was getting back to my Norwegian roots). It was a fabulously designed Scandanavian restaurant in Palermo. We had cocktails instead of wine since vodka really was the drink to get there. ANd trust me, listening to Stephanie order a pink flamingo was priceless! haha Dinner was good, not as good as cluny, but then what is.
So after dinner dressed in our finest we hit the town for a night at the discos. We headed to a club we heard was great and it turns out it was closed, as apparently were a lot of the clubs since it's summer vacation for the Argentines. Fortunately for us Leo, our cabbie, was in his 20's and recommended another club for us to go to that had dancing and more importantly, was open. Well I can't remember the name of this club, but the experience was priceless. We pay our cover charge, turn the corner getting ready to dance and instead walk into this huge space with tons of people in their 20's sitting at tables watching a sort of stand-up drag queen show. You can only imagine the look on our faces. Fortunately our admission ticket came with a free drink so we beelined for the bar to get our tasty free beer (we're pretty sure the name translated to "Beast" in English, which was appropriate). So we sat down to watch the drag show, not sure what kind of club this was and deathly afraid that the queen would pick on us as part of her show. When "her" show ended we saw two people in sailors outfits walk up to the stage and we thought... yep, this is about to get even more interesting.
Sailor number 1 did a strip show and although it was a pretty convincing outfit and body, the person was definitely a man, just with breast implants, and scary ones at that. Because yes, he, or she rather, did take the top off and start dancing. Stephanie and i kept cracking up looking at each other like, "where the hell are we??!!! and how did we go from the Tango to this??!!"
The last act was a male stripper which really was equally disturbing, but of course funny. and yes, we have some pictures to support this. FINALLY the stripping ceased and the music commenced. Music from a band though, and a bad one at that. We knew it was going to be bad when the first song they launched into was Shania Twain's "I feel like a Woman" though when this singer sang it it was more like, "I feel like a Homan" pretty funny. and seriously, we heard this song multiple times on the trip. South America has a weird obsession with it, Maroon 5 and YMCA. Anyways, the music stayed bad, like music at a bad wedding. But we made the best of it and just cheesed it up on the dance floor. So although we truly time traveled from the tango of buenos aires past to the drag stripping of present, it was a fun night fully of funny stories.

The Jew and the German

Quick side story, as many of you know wherever we go Stephanie gets mistaken for a million different nationalities: Chilean, Peruvian, even Pakistani once, whatever. she gets them all. But in particular she gets, ¨so are you Jewish?¨which always pisses me off bec. i feel like i could be so why doesn´t anyone ask me?? ug.. haha anyways, it´s an ongoing joke with the two of us and this trip has been no exception with everyone asking her if she´s Jewish. So of course the only other nationality I ever get mistaken for, other than American, is German, which just isn´t as cool as being mistaken for an Argentine or Chilean. So when when we werein the convent in Arequipa, Peru my point was proven when this little German boy kept running up to me blabbering in German and giggling.
damn. always German. one day I´ll get mistaken for something coool, or even better they´ll ask me if i´m Jewish.
ok ok probably not, but a girl can hope.

Lazy Friday

Another wonderful leisurely day today. We went to see the Teatro Colon only to find out they´re still renovating it! which was very disappointing. And it left us with no other option than to shop. :) (Nacho andSantiago were mildy horrified that all we´re doing here is walking around getting icecream and shopping) We went to the Galleria Pacifica which is a gorgeous mall in downtown Buenos Aires. Kind of reminds me of La Defense in Paris. A few pairs of sandals later :) we hopped in a cab and headed over to our favorite area, Palermo Soho for lunch and more shopping. Now completely exhausted from overexerting ourselves today :) haha we´re acting like locals and taking a siesta before our big night out.
Tango at Cafe Tortoni
Dinner at Olsen´s
Clubbing at tbd
i love this city

Hello Buenos Aires

Ah... it´s so nice to be in a city that feels like home and have no agenda. We can just wander around and relax without having to worry about rain (knock on wood) or worry about making a tour. It´s great!
For our first day we finally slept in and then went to the Belles Artes art museum. It was bigger than we thought and had some great paintings. Thanks Jaime for telling us about it last year! Plus there are some beautiful parks around it that we wandered through killiing time until the museum opened at 12:30. Afterwards we went over to the Recoleta Munich for lunch, one of the older restaurants in Buenos Aires, and supposedly where Borges used to hang out. It was very nice and old but we made a big mistake ordering what we thought to be a Waldorf Salad. In fact it turned out to be creamed apples, pear and hearts of palm. I can barely blog about it bec. my stomach is still turning. Fortunately we ran out of their trying to erase the creamy mcream memory and headed to Freddo, a local icecream place, for an afternoon snack to erase the horror of lunch. Mmmm.. dulce de leche and chocolate. so so good. And what come best after icecream in Buenos Aires? shopping of course. So we hit up Santa Fe for the cheapy shoes, and of course each walked away with one pair. Shockingly me with a bright yellow pair of sandals and STeph with black ones. We´re so predictable. haha
We also went to this amazing bookstore that is in an old theater on Santa Fe. It´s called El Alteno ( i could be spelling that wrong). Anyways, it´s such a brilliant idea! We had coffee in the cafe on the stage and looked out to the balconys of books. I´m convinced all towns should do this with old theaters they don´t use anymore. It really was beautiful. And we wouldn´t have known about it except this American woman came up to us in the Museum and told us. She also told us to go to Bella Italia for dinner in Palermo and so we did. We felt a little guilty eating pasta in the city of steak, but it is also a city of supposedly great Italian food. And indeed it was. Steph had an interesting lemon ravioli with salmon that was tasty and me spaghetti with broccoli and salmon. excellent
Afterwards we met our friends Santiago and Nacho, god it´s still funny, for drinks. They were great hosts to us and we thank them.

The Hairstyles of South America

As some of you know last year we named the popular haircut in Buenos Aires the frollet, half fro half mullet. Well this year we are pleased to announce some new additions.
First, we present to you the Frolletail. This is part fro, part mullet, part rat tail.
Second, the Frollefauxtail. Same as above except the rat tail isn´t quite the real deal, more like a halfsy.
And finally we are pleased to announce the Buzzrat. Totally shaved head with just a big curly rat tail hanging down the back. (some of you were lucky enough to receive that picture).
Now, while I will say the Buzzrat is pretty nasty, the guys down here manage to pull off the others. IN fact I´m quite fond of the Frollet and I´ve even come around to the Frolletail and Frollefauxtail. I guess this should come as no surprise to a lot of you who know I have a thing for weird hair. :)

His name was Nacho

We´re back! And oh so happy to be back. Man, we love this city. We got here around 6 last night and it was just perfect. IT was in the 70´s not a cloud in the sky and bright as could be outside. I don´t think it gets dark until around 10 or so. We checked back into our lovely Art Hotel, the same hotel we stayed at last year and LOVE! And we headed off to our favorite restaruant from last year in Palermo Viejo, Cluny. Which when you come to this city (not IF, but WHEN, bec. you can´t miss this city) you must must must eat here! we had the same thing as last year, the specialty, black ravioli with lamb. it´s oh so delicious and addictive. A great bottle of malbec and a fantastic desert of chocolate, bananas, rum and oranges. I twas paradise.
Determined not to be lame like last year and stay in we headed over to the Shamrock, a Irish bar of sorts that is pretty popular as an after work bar around here. Well it´s definitely popular bec. we didn´t leave until around 2. Again, we made some new friends. Unfortunately we can´t remember 2 of the guys names bec. the other one´s name was so, well, special. His name was, Nacho. Yes, his name was Nacho. I ask you, how are you supposed to remember anyone´s name after that? esp. when he follows up the introduction with: you know, like nacho cheese?? hahahaha Steph and I are still rolling. Anyways, the guys were great and we will most likely go to a club with them tonight that they recommended. Again, it´s more fun to go out with the locals and not feel like a tourist.
WE are so happy to be back in this city again. It´s such a wonderful place. The only sad thing is we don´t have our lovely tour guide here with us, Matias. Matias, I miss you! I know how much fun it would be to have you here. next time... :)

Jesus!

quick side story, on our first day in Chile last year we climbed to the top of the mountain in Santiago to look over the city, I believe it´s called San Cristobal. Anyways, while we were there this song started playing that had a chorus that went, ¨JESUS! JESUS!´over and over and over. we found it very funny.
Even funnier is that on our way to the airport in Calama to leave Chile for good, what song is on in our cabbies car?? none other than the chart topper, Jesus.
what a send off. thanks Chile. and thanks Jesus. ;)

Our final night in Chile

Ah.. our last night in Chile, for what will probably be a long time. We had a wonderful steak dinner by the fire with some local musicians singing and then we headed back to La Estaka for drinks with our friend Carlos. Unfortunately I was barely able to keep my eyes open and Steph wasn´t far behind me. We called it an early night, but we have to thank Carlos for an awesome time in San Pedro! It was so much more fun to hang out with locals, and he was so good to us. We had a blast dining with him, esp. in the blackout. Carlos, NYC is an open invitation.
It´s sad to leave Chile, but I think we´ve seen almost all of it now. I highly recommend anyone coming to visit it. It´s a great country, very easy to travel, and had wonderful people. And honestly I´m surprised i didn´t hear more about San Pedro last year bec. I can´t imagine coming to Chile and not seeing it. So come visit!

What´s that sound?

I have to mention that during our stay in San Pedro de Atacama we heard some of the weirder sounds we´ve ever experienced.

Example 1- the crying dog. In one of the small towns on a tour we heard this dog wailing, I mean wailing-crying on the street. It didn´t belong to anyone and looked lost. It was just wandering and whining at the top of its lungs. It didn´t sound like a dog at all.

Example 2- the laughing man. Now, hailing from NYC we are used to our fare share of bums, but we found a rather unique bum in the same small town as the wailing dog. He was lying on the street, near the dog, cracking up. I mean seriously seriously laughing. At what? we have no idea, nor did he probably, maybe the dog?

Example 3- the cow. There was some cow that was behind our hotel that would not shut up. Now i feel like I´ve heard cows before in my life, but never have I heard one moo this loud. over and over and over. damn cow

Salar de Atacama

As usual, it was an early morning for us the next day. We were up at 7 to go to the Salar de Atacama, aka the salt fields in the desert. Our book described this place as looking like god went crazy, which it really did. The landscape was wild! Plus there were some little pools of water where flamingos were. It was really really neat looking, as our pictures will tell. From there we stopped off in a little town about 40 minutes outside of the Salar. I can´t remember the name right now. But it was basically to snap some photos. I found this amazing soccer field at the base of one of the volcanos that was the epitome of what I´ve been saying throughout south america: you can find a soccer field anywhere! no matter how small the town, or how poor, there´s always a soccer field. and voila! at the base of a volcano.
From there we headed another hour back up to high altitudes and the lake area (again, can´t remember names, will have to find that). It was gorgeous! Kind of reminded us of Torres del Paine, but more lakes. We hiked to the top of a hill and had this spectacular view. Then we hiked down and had a fantastic lunch at the lake. Tired from the hiking we piled onto the bus and headed into the desert desert.
We went to the Hidden Valley which was this amazing forest in the middle of the desert in a valley. It was really really cool! But so unforgivingly hot. We climbed down into the valley and walked along a path by the water. It was really bizarre to be down in a valley walking along all these fruit trees and gardens and then look up to see canyons beyond the trees. But lots of people live down there since they can grow all these crops. Plus there´s a big swimming hole, which i was very sad not to take advantage of. Esp. after being so hot.
But we piled back on the bus and headed to our last stop which was another small town. The town was very lovely but at this point I was toast from the sun and in desperate need of water. Unfortunately we had spent our very last cent of Chilean pesos and had no money. we were seriously considering our options: give the woman in the store $20 for two bottles of water and suck it up, Steph distract the woman and I grab the two bottles and run, Attack the girls sitting next to us on the bus and grab their water, or borrow money from anyone who will take pity on us, or.. just wallow in our agony. We opted for the last. I thought I was going to die. When we got to the city and changed our money it never felt so good to drink water. Note to self, make sure you have enough money to provide food and water before you leave a country.
Anyways, despite my near dehydration, the day was again, perfect. I´ll have to look up the name of the tour agency, bec. I really think they were the best ones. WE had great guides, great groups, plenty of time in each place and really saw a lot.

Dining with Pablo Escobar and William Wallace

Post apocalyptic rain shower, Steph and I decided to brave walking into town. Our 15 minute walk to town is fine during the daylight, but at night in the dark it´s almost impossible to see. Now add some gigantic mud puddles to that and well.. you can imagine our walk that night. Thank goodness Steph at least had a flashlight (Mr. Haberman would be proud). So being the brilliant person I am I wore flip flops and had to hold my pants up the entire walk into town as I slid everywhere. kind of hysterical actually. We went to dinner at La Estaka where we began with a bottle of one of our fav Chilean cabs and we ran into our new friend, Carlos, from the hotel. He was ever so kind to join us for dinner that night and we were rather entertained from there on out. Things got interesting when, we were finished with our bottle of wine, into the pisco sours and then boom, power went out. It was pitch black in this little adobe restaurant except for some minimal candle light. And yet somehow it ended up being a fantastic time! All of a sudden Pablo Escobar was at our table making demands for the power to be turned back on and our equally funny waiter had somehow become William Wallace. again, wine and pisco sours + no power= hysterical laughter.
Carlos,ehem.... I mean Pablo, we thank you for your company that night and esp. for finding us the cab to get home.

360 days and then this?

I think I mentioned before that Stephanie and I might be rain goddesses, well, it´s official, we are. After the last blog we walked back to our hotel room as the sky opened up and unleashed one of the nastier thunderstorms I´ve ever seen. I guess in the desert when there´s not much for the lightening to hit, it feels like you´re more of a target. Seriously, it was like the lightening was right outside our window, well actually it was. We were staying in one of those little pueblos and I´m pretty sure it´s not used to rain bec. all of a sudden I looked at the window and water was streaming down and actually taking part of the wall with it creating this little sand heap at the bottom. Steph and I kind of looked at each other like, uh, is this room going to stand up? eek..
Well it turns out that not only can the rooms not withstand the rain, neither can the town. Maybe bec. until we got there they had gone 360 days without rain. I mean what are the chances that we´d be there the day that streak breaks?? Well when it rains, it pours, literally, in the ATacma desert. San Pedro was one big mud puddle. We have some lovely pictures as proof. Internet went down in our hotel and never came back up and most of the town lost power, which is another story I´ll tell in a second.
So San Pedro de Atacama, we are glad we could be your rain godesses for the year.

That old geyser

Ug.. 340 was rough, but we managed. ON possibly the bumpiest bus ride ever I did manage to sleep and all of a sudden woke up around 6am to pay my entrance fee at the El Tatio Geysers. Fortunately for us, Shelly and Stewart were along for the ride to share in the early am pain. Once again we were back up at a high altitude and cold temperatures. flashbacks to both Peru and Patagonia from last year with the wind. But you have to get up there at sunrise to see the geysers bec. that´s when they´re active. And though it was v. v. early, it was really lovely to see a sort of sunrise behind snow capped mountains and a massive field of geysers going off. it was wild!! Everywhere you stepped there were geysers. I was convinced I was going to step into one, and it wouldn´t have been pleasant since they are boiling hot. Unfortunately Steph did happen upon one, but she´s ok, despite having a wet foot for the rest of the day.
While we started to eat breakfast, probably around 8am, one of the bigger geysers started erupting which was so cool. To stand in this massive field with geysers going off all around you, surrounded by the snow'capped mountains and volcanoes was just wild. so so much fun! After finishing the geyser tour we headed off to the hot springs where the brave were stripping down and jumping in. I´m sure it felt good, felt great to stick my hand in it, but the thought of taking off umpteen layers of clothes and then gettting out of the hot water and into that freezing wind was just not appealing. But Stewart in the end was the brave man amongst us and went for it. I think he would agree it was worth it, despite maybe his clothes falling into the mud. eek..
my favorite was watching some guy in a little red speedo jump in and out and then run around taking pictures. it was hysterical, and you better believe i got some great photos of that.
Cold and tired we headed off to the second and last part of our trip, Cactus Valley. This partcouldn´t have been more different than the morning. We hiked off into the canyon in the hot hot sun, now stripped down to minimal layers and lathering on the sunscreen. It was pretty cool to be surrounded by desert and cacti and yet be walking in these green reeds with a stream. WE followed the stream down to a small waterfall and pool area where we all relaxed for a while. The hike down to it was amusing, and a big of a surprise, as I think I and Shelly would attest to. I nearly took a girl down jumping down from a rock and then slid on my butt down a massive rock into the swimming area. no worries, no injuries, just laughs and a sore ankle and butt. So in the end it was a lot more rock climbing then any of us expected, but we made it. And it was a really lovely canyon. We finally bid Shelly and Stewart farewell, as they like most others, are traveling for a few months. so jealous. And we actually had an afternoon to rest at our hotel and hang out poolside. Tonight is supposed to be our stargazing tour, but due to the clouds, it may not happen. Regardless, we´re happy and relaxed and relieved to be somewhere for 3 days. esp. somewhere as nice as this.
I have to say, when I recommend Chile to people I would ABSOLUTELY recommend you come here! The south and Patagonia are a must too, but this is a can´t miss as well. The landscape is just wild and the views are stunning. The town of San Pedro de Atacama is just this smalle little green blip amongst all this desert.- The town has a wild west feel to it, but it´s really cool. And there´s lots of adventurous, fun travelers here. Def. def. come visit!

The desert...

AFter catching a bus from Calama we finally made it to San Pedro de Atacama. The light at the end of the tunnel was our beautiful hotel, Altiplanico. google it, it´s gorgeous!! we like to call this back end of our trip the luxury end. Meaning we actually stay in a hotel for more than a night. Trust us, after almost 2 weeks on the road this is a luxury. WE had just enough time to shower and book our tours for the next 3 days. ´We´re usuallynot the tour type, but this is probably the biggest tour town ever. And so far the tours have proved to be fantastic! So yesterday we did our first one, the Valle de la Luna and Valle de la Muerte. We started off with Death Valley. Our tour guide was pretty funny, and spoke amazing English and was a riot. It actually started to rain, yes RAIN, in the Atacama desert. We are now fully convinced we are the rain barers, bringing it with us wherever we go, even to a desert. But fortunately it only drizzled and subsided quickly. Our group turned out to be probably the highlight of the tour, well in addition to an amazing sunset or running down the sand dunes, but i´ll get to that. WE had 2 great couples, the kind of couples that you love to hang out with and want to be. Guy and Fiona from New Zealand (though Guy is from Liverpool, some place that i suppose has good music haha) and Shelly and Stewart who live in London. We knew we loved Guy the second I took off down a massive sand dune and he yelled ´yeah New York!!´to which i screamed ´LIVERPOOL!´ actually that´s not true, we loved Guy when he put up with Fiona, Steph and I swapping Madonna concerts at our first photo op, such a good sport. This is also when we first loved Fiona. Like a virgin!! ah...madonna. Anywayw, running down the sand dunes in death valley was awesome! I had so much sand in my shoes, it was nuts. I was kind of hoping someone would fall (a la Paul Horner, though everyone thought i was mean by saying that, but obviuosly if theyhad seen the infamous JOckey´s Ridge wipe outs they´d understand). But anyways, from there we went to the Valle de la Luna to walk around and then see sunset. IT really was a cool and bizarre place. A lot of the ground did look like whta you´d imagine the surface of the moon to be. words can´t do it justice, but when i get back my photos will. (esp. the alien one of me, thanks Guy!) So the 6 of us hiked to the end of these rocks to settle in and watch the sun set, or ´get the money shot´as Fiona would say. :) We were afraid due to the clouds we wouldn´t get a sunset, but just our luck, we did. And the real magic didn´t happen until after the sun set and the colors went wild in the canyons and dunes. One side looked like another planet, all purple and dark looking. And the other side with the canyons was a beautiful red and orange. WE couldn´t stop taking pictures! in reality the boys couldn´t, i mean Stewart and Guy just couldn´t stop striking a pose, a la Madonna. :) don´t worry boys, you´ll DEFINITELY be getting those pics when we get back. So after literally having to drag ourselves off the rocks (also out of fear of complete darkness and being stuck up on a cliff with no lights) we returned to teh bus. ONly to find out we were the 6 delinquents who were 20 minutes late. yes, we were all scolded, but it was worth it in the end to get the ´money shot.´
Back from our tour the 6 of us plus 2 lovely Austrians, whom i´m horrified to say i can´t remember their names, all had dinner and drinks at Adobe. A fun bar-restaurant that has a huge opening in the middle with a fire pit and apparently some dancing with glow in the dark balls? if i recall correctly. :) so once again, another fantastic day.
we have to thank Guy, Fiona, Shelly and Stewart though who kept us laughing and were fantastic drinking-dinner company. YOu guys better come to New York! Fiona, it´s better than Buenos Aires ;) and Shelly we know you love it!
so off to bed we went for a 340 am wake up call. brutal.

Drugged and searched for drugs

We had low expectations for the overnight bus to Calama, approx. 10 hours. However when we got on the bus and realized it was a semi-cama, which means it´s almost a bed, our hopes were lifted. AN hour after leaving, so roughly 11:30 pm i popped the simply sleep medicine and steph her dramamine and we drifted off into sweet bus slumber. Unfortunately this didn´t last long when somewhere early in the morning we awoke to the bus conductor shaking usto wake us up and getting off the bus to have our purse and camera bags searched. not just us of course, but the whole bus. I had just fallen asleep so i had no idea what was happening. My fear after the fact was that I would be so out of it that if they asked me if i had drugs i´d say yes. haha being as incoherent and sleep drugged as i was. fortunately this did not happen. Now it would have sucked if this were the one time it happened. But unfortunately there was a second search, this one somewhere around 4am i imagine, and this one much much worse. Poor Steph had to shake me and get me off the bus. I was even more out of it this time but awake enough to be really really pissd. NOt to mention at the second stop we had to take out our suitcases from under the bus and have them searched. They even took the lens cap off my camera! though i´m sure in my sleepy state and angry scowl i probably didn´t look to legit. haha But the funniest was Steph . As out of it as i was i did manage to get my suitcase, unlock it and have it open and ready to go for the police. As did everyone else, everyone except for Steph. SHe just stood beside me and left her suitcase, the lone suitcase, standing in front of the bus. I figured sh ewas just waiting to get it so i didn´t say anything. Then naturally a security officer and bus driver were over there in a heartbeat demanding to know who left an abandoned suitcase. clearly more suspect for a bomb or something. oh god it was hilarious. I looked at Steph and was like, did you just not want to get it or something? and she muttered, uh, no, what..uh.... oh god, it may not come across that funny now, but trust me, it was pretty hysterical. a moment of levity in an otherwise horrible situation. But despite the annoyances, we did make it to San Pedro de Atacama.

The BBQ

After resting up some and showering we started the all you can eat - drink bbq at the hostel around 1030 pm. It was so great. We had wine to start with and all sat in the courtyard by the bbq under the tree lit up and the graffiti surrounding us. We ended up talking a lot to the Aussie girls, who were great! There was girl from Holland, two guys from Columbia, a guy from Brazil, the Swedish guy Martin, Matias from Argentina, two other girls from BUenos Aires, Roberto, an American named Emily and us. It wa sa blast! We had delicious sausage cooked on the pit adn then thi samazing steak, so so good. homemade chilean potato salad and then some sort of chilean beer. it completely hit the stop. then all of a sudden it went from eating to dancing the samba in the courtyard drinking pisco and coke out of a horn. God i wish i had a picture of that! but there are some pretty funny pictures from the evening. as you can imagine it only got more fun from there. we went to some bar in downtown arica and had a few drinks around 1230 before heading to a club at the beach around 2am where we stayed dancing until 5am. when we got home my ears were ringing so much and i was completely soaked with sweat from all the dancing in this packed club. but it was a riot! i would go from doing the samba with Lucas, teh brazilian guy, to the merengue with Matias, to techno dancing wiht martin from sweden. it was a riot! such such a blast.
and so today you can imagine none of us woke up at the hostel until around 11am or so. haha
and the poor brazilian, lucas, around noon. but it was fantastic! in a way im´glad that everyone is leaving today for the most part, since we leave tonight. otherwise it would be so hard to go. as it is Roberto the crazy owner and martin the swede who works here are talking about duck taping us to the chairs to prevent us from leaving (apprently they actually ahave done this in the past). haha
tonight is an overnight bus to Calama and then three days in the desert! we´re excited, but i have to say Arica has been amazing. Last night was one of the more fun nights ever!!

Beach and bbq

We finally made it to our hostel in Arica around 10 or so in the morning, the Dona Ines hostel. Now the emails we had with them were cracking us up. They always mentioned an all you can drink-eat bbq and guaranteed hangover. So to be honest we were a little nervous about what we were walking into. Our fear was that in this beach town of Arica the hostel would be a little Cancuny full of trashed American college kids. Fortunately, that was not the case.
The hostel is an experience to say the least. WHen you walk in it´s a courtyard full of graffiti on the walls of travelers who have stayed there leaving notes for Roberto, the owner. There´s a swing hanging from the balcony of the courtyard made of parachute-hangliding looking stuff and a hammock and ping pong table and big brick bbq pit. THe people there are so relaxed and tan and in flip flops, weknew immediately we were going to have a relaxing and fun time. And having come from so much rain and cold weather and having to be somewhere at a certain time, i twas paradise to be here and be on beach time. We relaxed and had breakfast and decided to head to the beach, Playa El Laucho, per Roberto´s recommendation. Well it´s a good thing we decided to do it bec. the afternoon and on into today became one big party.
We met Roberto and Matias, an Argentine travlere staying at our hotel, at the beach and then Roberto´s girlfriend, a Swedish guy named Martin, and two Aussies, Steph and Christina, all from our hotel, ended up coming over. It was so much fun and exactly what we needed. The beach got packd in the late afternoon and felt like the Greek ISlands when the dj started. Turns out Matias used to be a masseuse in Buenos Aires so I actually got a free one hour massage. no joke. it was heaven. I couldn´t believe i was sitting on a beautiful beach in the warm sun getting a massage. (dad i know you´re rolling your eyes now) haha but anyways, the sun was strong and the water was pretty warm for the pacific, but there were a million jellyfish in the water. I mean HUGE huge jellyfish everywhere. SO gross. So no swimming for me. But it didn´t matter. We all had a blast.
Around 6 or so we all headed back. STeph, Matias and I went to the downtown area of Arica which was really really cute. Definintely looks like a beach town with all the cute colored buildings and fountains adn people in flip flops. It was really pretty. We got some delicious icecream and i was pretty sure this was the perfect day. We both knew there was no way we were waking up today and doing a tour out into the desert. This just isn´thte kind of town you wake up and have to be somewhere. it´s so great.

Run for the border

Bus ride from Arequipa to Tacna was infinitely better. thank god. We knew we were cutting it a little close with time, getting to Tacna around 9pm and having to get to the border into CHile before it closed. Unfortunately by the time we made it over to the taxis to go to Chile no one would take us. Frustrated we thought we could convince someone to make a run for it, but alas, we failed. So we had to call our hostel in Arica, Chile, just over the border and cancel, adn find some hotel in Tacna for the night. It all worked out. We found somewhere to sleep and took a cab first thing the next morning to Arica, CHile. And after waiting in a long line at the customs we can see why no one would take us at 10pm when the border closes at midnight.
But finally around 9am we made it across the border.
It was sad to say goodbye to Peru, we really loved it. But again, like any place you really love, it´s always a relief to know you´ll come back.

Arequipa

Tired and pissed from the bus we made a huge travel faux pas that fortunately worked out ok. We got into a cab that wasn´t really a cab, in the night, in the rain. I started to freak out when we went down dark streets with no one on them. I was cursing myself for having let my exhaustion and frustration get the better of me and not think smart. Fortunately our driver was legit and got us to our hotel. BUt it taught us not to slack off again.
Our hotel was the La Casa de Melgar. And it was gorgeous!! seriously, try googling it. Otherwise i took a bunch of pictures. The whole hotel is made out of volcanic stone and was painted these rich colors of blue and sort of a rusty color. Some of the rooms had huge vaulted ceilings. There were gorgeous gardens and a beautiful open courtyard for breakfast. really really lovely hotel. can´t recommend it enough.
Arequipa actually turned out to be a fabulous city. And we only ended up there sort of haphazardly to break up the trip from Puno down to Chile. But the city had a very European feel to it, while also looking distinct with all the volcanic rock buildings. WE slept in a little and then went to the Convent de Santa Catalina, which we were told was the one must see in the city. And boy was that true! The convent is almost like it´s own city behind the walls. again, it´s all made out of volcanic stone and painted these rich beautiful colors. There were gorgeous flowers and every turn was an amazing photo op. Truly truly a photographer´s paradise. I think I took close to 300 pictures that day. It was that stunning! There are still about 40 nuns who live there and it just happened that i was walking alone in one of the streets when they came hurrying out to go to mass. It was really cool to see. The whole convent feels so primitive with the stone. The ovens are stone and built into the walls as are the beds. It´s like a maze too, v. easy to get lost. We also saw that they kept guinea pigs, the first we´ve seen on the trip. I couldn´t look at their feet i was feeling so guilty. ug..
AFter spending about 3.5 hours there we were so happy to have seen such a beatufiul place,and be dry and not on a bus, so we went to a nice lunch at the Zig Zag Creperie. oh my god the lunch was fantastic!! We had wonderful crepes with ham, cheese, spinach and mushrooms adn then some great wine. And for dessert we had a crepe with banana, sugar cane and some reserve rum from Cuba. so so good. It all felt so wonderful after the travel day from hell the night before. We really really loved the city and would have easily spent more time there had we known how great it was.
But sadly we had a bus to catch to Tacna to try and make it across the border into CHile that night.

Bus ride from hell

Like last year I guess there´s always that one day of traveling that really really sucks. Last year it was our overnight bus from Santiago to Pucon in Chile. THis year, I hope, it was just the bus ride from Puno to Arequipa. Before we left Puno the sky opened up and rained like i´ve never ever seen rain. it was insane!!! And our pour Welsh friends were spending the night on the floating islands in it, and with no alchohol, what would they do?? :) haha
so when we got on the bus we were soaking wet and freezing. And the freezing got worse since they never turned the heat on. Not once. I was sitting in my raincoat with my hat on and mittens huddled into a ball trying to regain feeling in my nose and toes, to no avail. Then there was this horrible child who screamed the ENTIRE trip. Now, i´m very understanding about mothers with crying babies. But this wasn´t a baby, it was a 2 or 3 year old who wasnt crying, just screaming at the top of its lungs to get it´s mothers´attention. I seriously wanted to strangle this child and kill the mother for not telling it to be quiet. But as the american tourist i felt like i couldn´t turn around and say something. but i was shocked no one else on the bus did! though they were all upset since we were exchanging pissed off glares. I wish i had said something now. That kid was just a nightmare. I also felt sick when we got on the bus so it was a pretty torturous 5 hours for me. it seriously felt like it would never ever end. When we got to Arequipa I couldn´t have jumped off that bus any quicker. uggggggg....

The Floating Islands

Having only 4 hours of sleep we dragged ourselves out of bed and headed down to the docks of Lake Titticaca to catch a boat to the Floating Islands. Now there are a million boats down there and a million tourists, but who got on our boat at teh last minute? The Welsh boys of course. WE could smell the liquor coming off them first and then saw them. haha So we spent another morning with them touring the Floating Islands off of Puno. The islands were amazing. We really disliked Puno so we were discouraged waking up thinking maybe this just wasn´t worth it and Puno was a total bust. But thank goodness the islands were amazing. Everything on them is made out of reeds, including the foundation, which is reeds and mud. It´s sort of weird when you walk bec. in some spots teh reeds aren´t as thick and you sink a little and some water comes in. It´s pretty amazing to think people live on these, but they do. And there homes are made out of reeds although some of the islands have sturdier looking houses made out of wood, etc. The children here were esp. beautiful. I made friends with one little girl in particular who was just so so sweet. I have a hard time being a tourist and taking pictures of the people bec. i feel like i´m exploiting them. But this one little girl I talked to and then when I felt comfortable taking her picture I asked her if it was ok. ONce i did i showed her the picture and she got such a kick out of it. so i would take a couple more and then show her. Before you knew it she had a friend come over and i repeated the same thing with her. They really were lovely kids and it was fun to show them what cameras can do.
While at the islands we also took a reed boat over to one of the islands. The boat is actually really really comfortable and was so smooth sailing across the water. and NO, this water was NOTHING like the near death experience at Isla Magdelena in Punta Arenas last year, thank god!
We came back to Puno around 12:30 had lunch and then got on the bus from hell to get to Arequipa.

Rockin´Reggae with Maroon 5

After getting settled in our hotel we had a lovely warm dinner at La Casana in Puno. We ran into some of the RUssians from our bus tour, which was funny. They were hitting up the piscos pretty hard. We had a great dinner of alpaca, though we decided in the end the meat is too tough, so that might be the last we eat of it. We were determined to go out more on this trip and definitely in Puno, but full from dinner we decided to call it a night. That was until our Welsh friend, Lewis, saw us walking in the street and came running out to grab us. That was probably around 9pm. And we didn´t see our hotel until 2am. I suppose when a British-Scottish-Irish-Welsh guy asks you to stay and have a drink that never ever means one. But beyond the drinks, Lewis and Mark had to be two of the funniest guys I´ve ever met. From the moment we walked into the bar until we left Steph and i were in tears laughing at their stories. From hysterical childhood stories of a trip to a monastery where they couldn´t keep the vow of silence to their most recent rafting trip with obnoxious American guys who they said kept yelling 'USA!! number 1!!¨' ( why are some american guys like that_??) their other favorite, which they said the whole night, and which steph and i are still saying, was 'Yeah bra!' haha, they thought that sort of cali slang was hysterical. but anyways, the bar we were at was playing pretty horrible music accompanied by the videos, which is always funny esp. when a classic 80´s one comes on. But this cool looking kind of punk bartender kept playing Maroon 5! and he wouldn´t stop! i think we heard the song 'she will be loved' about 7 times, no lie. finally after some dancing in a hysterical blacklight room we called it a night and bid farewell to our Welsh boys thinking we´d never see them again since they ahd an early tour to the floating islands and we were doing our own thing to get to teh floating islands. never see them again... always famous last words when travleing. :)

cuz I want it that way..tell me why

our day with thePeruvian boyband tour guide, Marco Antonio, who is looking for his JLO, on our bus from Cusco to Puno.
yes, his name was Marco Antonio, though i highly doubt that was his real name. MOst certainly a stage name. And he really looked like a boybander complete with the torn jeans, slick shirt, gelled hair, tweezed eyebrows and slightly effeminate manner. I´m pretty sure he was gay, despite him constantly announcing to the bus that he was looking for his JLO or Cleopatra. oh yeah, this guy had his routine down pat. (though after talking to a Japanese tour guide we found out you have to go to school for 3 years to become a licensed tour guide so it makes sense that our guy had a routine)
In any event, we took the Inka Express down to Puno. It´s a nice tour bus that makes stops along teh way, a 9 hour trip, and takes you to little towns and ruins. well worth the little money it cost. Our first stop was Andahuaylillas, acute little town with a gorgeous old church that was painted top to bottom. They´re about to restore it but it was actually cool to see through the paint and to the structure of the church. All the old woodwork. v. cool. Next up was Raqchi. There were some very large ruins there in a sort of farmlike area in the valley. ANd our lovely boyband guide snuck me, >Steph and an aussie girl into the ¨private¨museum, which we think was actually an archeologists office. def not some whwere we were supposed to be. But it was so cool bec. 2 weeks ago they found some skulls near the ruins. they were really neat looking. but even cooler was a mummy they found that was in a fetal position complete with teeth and some pretty well preserved skin. freaky. AFterwards we headed to Sicuani for a lovely local lunch cooked by some women in the town. v. delicious. It was here we met our new friends from Whales, Lewis and Mark, who at this point were so hung over they hadn´t even gotten off the bus yet, until lunch of course. And our lovely Aussie friend Heather dined with us as well. THe Welsh boys will return to the picture later. But basically the rest of teh busride after lunch they slept.After lunch we went to the highest point of our journey, 4335 meters, La Raya. The view was amazing, but we didn´t stay long since the altitude was so high. Our last stop before PUno was Pukara which had a cute small museum. Then finally we reached our destination of Puno. Just in time for the sky to open up and downpour. We barely had a chance to thank our boybander Marco Antonio and missed saying goodbye to the Welsh boys (or so we thought) and our Aussie friend Heather. But with the weather we had to dart to the taxi and get to our hotel. After being on a bus for 9 hours we were ready to get to the hotel.

Party on the Vistadome

I forgot to mention our train ride back from Aguas Calientes to Ollantytambo the other day. Perurail which runs the trains has 3 options: the backpacker, vistadome and the fancy shmancy one. We took backpacker going and vistadome coming back. Now the vistadome was beautiful, huge windows that went up above your head to give you a great view. But we were still skeptical as to why it was about $40 more than the backpacker. that was until a crazy Peruvian dancer came out in one of those Mexican wrestling looking masks and danced up and down the aisle shaking some tambourine type thing and staring at you. I cant really do this story justice without pictures (which will be coming when i return) but trust me, it was a riot. And if the weird traditional dancer wasn´t bizarre enough there was a fashion show to top it off. Picture a techno version of ¨are you coming to san francisco¨and then these two waiters on the train runningin and out of the bathroom changing into sweaters and scarfs and walking up and down the lenght of the train, and oh yes, even doing the spin and smile.
hysterical!!
so worth the $40 more? for the view AND the laughs?? yep, i think it´s worth it.

Viva las Cusco

this is in reference to the Elvis song, viva las vegas, which played not once but twice during our dinner in Cusco last night. some of you may know that i have a bizarre affinity for elvis movies, blue hawaii being my favorite and viva las vegs being second. so needless to say i let my freak flag fly at dinner and poor Philip got to experience it. :)
Coming back from Ollantytambo in the morning was an experience. We took the locals bus to Cusco which at first seemed empty. Then at 1130 when the local train pulled into Ollantytambo it was a mad house! Drivers yelling for people to take their bus, locals sprinting and dragging their children to get on the bus. it was insane! but it{s always more fun to travel that way then with all the other gringos, as Philip would say.
Now while we really didn{t experience altitude sickness in Cusco a few days ago, this time it was different. by the time we got to the city Steph and i were both feeling light headed and out of breath. i twas really bizarre. we had to walk slow and i had to take advil to kill the head ache. (this seems to be the way altitudes affect me, bad head aches). But we managed and went to check out the ruins in Cusco, Qorikancha. These Inca ruins form the base of a Colonial church and Santo Domingo convent. IT was pretty cool inside. One weird note, there were paintings and on particular series were 12 paintings detailing the life of Mary. Steph called to my attention number 10 which was the circumsision of Jesus. i kid you not. so that was a first. we kept looking closer and it was a pretty graphic painting complete with blood. eek
AT the ruins we ran right into the older Americans who we{d met at the airport on our flight from Lima to Cusco. THey were so adorable and greeted us with hugs and kisses. Then one of the sweet older men came running back and took a picture of us. I think they felt like it was their kids traveling or something. they were just so so adorable.
aFter walking around the inside of the ruins and doing the museum we walked down by the gardens which was actually my favorite part. I was camera crazy with allthe different types of flowers. Dad you{ll die! I took tons of pics so you can identify them all for me. THey also had this beautiful rose garden, just stunning.
post Ruins we headed down to the Cusco Market where we became very good at negotiating deals. I cant say what we bought since they are presents, but we had some good finds. Market was followed by the wonderful reuniting with our luggage ( we had backpacks with minimal clothes for the sacred valley days) so it was great to see all of our clothes again!
And of course the evening ended with our wonderful farewell dinner with the Aussie Angel, Philip. Steph had some grilled Alpaca in a brandy sauce and I tried an Alpac burger. I think i liked mine more than hers. They tend to only understand well done here, not rare.
We really really did enjoy Cusco and could have even stuck around longer. It{s a great city so it was sad to leave. WE were leaving our home base, our great hotel, Ninos Hostel, the Sacred Valley and of couse our dear friend Philip. But the best part about leaving a place you love is knowing you{ll come back. And i most definitely will.

Machu Picchu

Our morning got off to an early start. We took the 530 am bus which meant we were up at 5 havhing breakfast in our hotel with a bunch of other Americans. Now remember, this is rainy season in Peru, and it was no joke that morning. Things did not look good for us when we got there. The rain was pouring down and suddenly i began to think my "waterproof" jacket wasn{t so waterproof. and for the first time EVER, and i mean EVER, those tacky touristy parkas looked like heaven. I{m talking i actually resented all the smart people in their multi colored parkas. damn them, we needed some! it was just our luck that the hotel at Machu Picchu had 2 left! a beautiful pink one with a purple hood and a bright yellow one. haha, wait till you see the pictures of us! classic. but seriously, they saved us that day. Going over the hill and having hte first glance down at Machu Picchu was amazing. AFter two days of hiking ruins i was beginning to wonder whta could be so special about this one, but i was wrong. AT around 830 we decided to hike up Waynupicchu, the high mountain behind Machu PIcchu that you see in most photos. It{s about an hour hike and a steep and tough one at that when it{s raining, but when you get to the top it{s all worth it. we got up there around 930 adn there were about 10 other people sitting on the edge waiting until 11am when we heard the sky would clear. so we settled down too. fortunately the sun was out and it was actually pretty amazing. we were sitting so high up that we were actually sitting on clouds. Then the most unbelievable thing happened, like clockwork, around 11 am the clouds cleared and there below us was the most amazing view of all of Macchu Picchu. It{s a moment i{ll never ever forget. it was nothing short of magical. everyone gasped and just sort of sat there taking it in. I mean it was absolutely breathtaking to be sitting on top of clouds looking down at that. unreal. i just felt so fortunate. AFter staying up there for about 2 to 3 hours it began to rain again. it{s kind of crazy actually, the clouds come at you quickly and then engulf you in rain. it{s bizarre. So down we hiked praying we wouldnt slip and kill ourselves on the steep hike down. AFter lunch we went up to the top of Machu Picchu, the caretakers hut, and as our luck would hve it, the sun came out again and we got another unobstructed view of Machu Picchu. I truly felt like we were blessed with good luck that day. it was amazing.
I cannot begin to describe what Machu Picchu and the SAcred Valley of Peru are like. it{s an indescribable experience. But i know hiking through the valley and sitting on top of Waynapicchu I couldn{t help but hope that all of my friends and family would get to experience it some day.
again, thanks to Nooner for the all the excellent advice. i wouldn{t have changed our itinerary at all except to stay longer. so thank you!!

mmm corn nuts

quick mention of the delicious corn nuts they give you at restaurants when you sit down. almost as good as the redneck ones in the states which i{m ashamed to say i love.
anyway, the deserved a shout out.

Our Aussie Angel, not to be confused with Thorpe´s Angels

I believe I made mention of our lovely Australin friend Philip in a previous post, but after dining with him four evenings in a row he deserves his own posting.
He earned his name on the afternoon we arrived to Aguas Calientes. Lost and tired and hungry and shut out from getting our Machu Picchu tickets until an hour later we were grouchy wanderers. Being the true New Yorkers we are when we heard someone yelling "Manhattan! Americans!" we did not turn around. It wasnt until the poor guy took off running to catch up with us that we realized it was our dear friend Philip. He very kindly took us to his hotel and gave us a map of the city and showed us where to get all of our tickets, where our hotel was and how to exchange our train tickets to take an earlier one home. Lifesaver moment number 1. We parted ways thinking oh we{ll hopefully run into him again. Well later that night post internet cafe we were sitting on the street when low and behold, there is Philip. We agreed to meet for dinner and ended up shutting down the restaurant (this kind of became our style in the last few days). We had some lovely Peruvian wine (Philip is a connosieur! thought he won{t admit it) and great conversation, and again, parted ways. Early early the next morning, 530ish again, we run iinto Philip on our way to Machu Picchu. We each did our own hikes there and then almost like clockwork when we went to get lunch, there he was, our Aussie Angel. IT got to the point that we{d get disappointed if we didn{t run into him. So we all had a fabulous dinner at a Hare Krishna restaurant that night and once again shut it down. We all traveled back to Ollantytambo together but Philp, being wise, stuckaround the town and got to see a festival. lucky man. But we all had our farewell dinner last night in Cusco, and, shock, shut the restaurant down. I will take some responsibility for that since they had Knob Creek bourbon and i got excited. (dad you would have been proud! haha). But the highlight of our dinner was when Philip presented Steph and i with two lovely watercolor paintings he had picked up in the market at Ollantytambo for us. IT was the sweetest gesture adn we were incredibly touched. And i{m sure you{re embarrassed thta i{m gushing about you PHilip, but you deserve it. Philip hails from Adelaide, Australia and beyond being a wine connesieur and world traveler truly was like our guardian angel these past few days. So Philip, thank you. We are so so grateful to have met you! have fun in Cuba!! and remember, Viva las Vegas! well see you for the elvis festival! haha

Sacred Valley- Ollantytambo

We arrived in Ollantytambo at about 2pm after Pisac. Again, thanks to Nooner, we were told to stay here and break up the journey to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu. Again, this town was really lovely. A little more hustle and bustle than Pisac, but beautiful. Probably our favorite part about the town was the bed and breakfast we stayed at, Hotel El Albergue, right on the train tracks. it really is! Once again Lonely Planet came through, but i don´t even think their write up did the hotel justice. If you come to the Sacred Valley you must stop in Ollantytambo and stay at this hotel! Joaquin Weeks, who runs the hotel, is absolutely wonderful and was incredibly kind to us during our stay. The hotel, as i said, is located right on the train tracks, but the bed was so comfortable ( i called it my cocoon) that I didn´t even hear the 5am train this morning, even though our room was the closest to the tracks! The hotel has these lovely gardens behind it with fruit trees and flowers galore (Dad you´d be in heaven!) I took a bunch of pictures so everyone can see when I get back. In the back of the gardens is this relaxing area with hammocks which was a great place to nap in this morning after our hike. But last night after being exhausted from the hike in Pisac we decided to eat dinner at our hotel. Only $10 for a 3 course meal, and a delicious home´cooked one at that! It was actually candle lit and we dined with another older American couple and a funny Australian named Phillip. The dinner was so delicious (my fav was this fantastic pumkin soup) and the wine so yummy (thanks Phillip!) that we all ended up sitting there for an hour or so after dinner just talking and drinking. (Thanks Joaquin for letting us!) Full from supper we remembered the hotel has a sauna, which Joaquin was kind enough to set up for us. Now this is a real sauna, or steam room rather. it´s a little hut and inside is a fire place with coals on top and then spread on top of that are a ton of real eucalyptus (spelling?) leaves. It was HEAVEN! esp. for Steph with her cold. It was just what our legs wanted after a long day of hiking. We slept like babies after that.
In the morning we had a delicious breakfast at the hotel of granola and real yogurt with the most amazing honey! ( steph and i seriously really can´t stop talking about the honey) then we set off to the Inca Ruins. Steph was still a little under the weather so she walked down by the water canals at the bottom of the ruins with me (again, thanks nooner for that tip). And i did the hiking by myself. Again going in the morning proved to be great since there were no tours. And i started at the end of the ruins so again i was by myself. These ruins are more of a military fortress than then the ruins in Pisac, which were more ceremonial. But these were nonetheless gorgeous. After the hike we retired to the hotel for a quick nap in the hammock and then caught our noon train to Aguas Calientes which is basically the base for Machu Picchu. It´s pouring here now, hence us hanging out in the internet cafe. But again we had a great lunch at Indio Feliz. Another wonderful soup. whatever this local soup is it´s fantastic! Tomorrow is Machu Picchu which we´re so so excited about.
But please, if you´re coming to Peru you must stay at our hotel in Ollantytambo and say hi to Joaquin for us! here´s the web address- www.elalbergue.com

Sacred Valley- Pisac

Thanks to Nooner, our journey through the Sacred Valley was perfectly planned out and fantastic! We left Cusco early in the morning Friday and took a little bus to Pisac, about an hour and a half outside of Cusco. We recommend leaving your luggage in Cusco and taking a backpack for the days in the sacred valley-machu picchu. The buses to get out here are small and i´m not sure how our luggage would have fit. we barely fit the backpacks. And it feels great not to lug around a suitcase. Anyways, the ride into the valley is gorgeous. Right before you get to Pisac you drop into this valley with the beautiful green hills all around you. It really does feel magical. Pisac is a small town in the valley by the river. If you leave from Cusco early you´ll get to Pisac and be able to enjoy it without tourists. We got there around 930 am, which was perfect. The ruins there are the Inca Citadel. You can do the roughly 4km hike up, but we took a cab to the top to save time. And actually it was good bec. he took us all the way to the very top where the tours usually end, so no one was there. The ruins are huge so definitely budget about 2 to 3 hours. The terracing in the land there is stunning and the view of the surrounding hills and valleys is spectacular. We had almost the entire ruins to ourselves until we got to the end (or really the beginning of them) when we started to hit tour groups. The weather changes constantly s othat was pretty funny. One moment you´re burning up and the next moment it rains for about 5 minutes (just enough time for you to put on your coat and the rain to stop). I convinced Steph to do the 4km hike back down to the city. She was a trooper since she´s battling a nasty cold. And the hike was kind of hard. Because of the terracing in the land there are pretty much vertical steps scattered here and there and then little foot paths, mainly to prevent erosion. So it´s a steep steep hike down that will do wonders for your calfs. :) But the hike down is well worth it! the views are amazing and we hiked the whole thing by ourselves. At one point we came around a turn into this little valley surrounded by the terracing and it was just amazing. one of those moments where you feel so so lucky to travel. After about 2 hours of hiking down we came into the town behind the church and into a little market. Exhausted we sought refuge in the quaint Mullu cafe, right off the market. It´s very cute and you can sit on these great cushions on the floor while you eat, which felt great after all the hiking. We had fantastic fruit smoothie and I had a wonderful Sopa de quinea (not guinea pig) which was all veggies and cilantro in this great broth. totally hit the spot. After resting up some we hopped on a bus to Urubamba, about an hour away and then caught a cab to Ollantytambo. I would HIGHLY recommend stopping in Pisac on your way to Machu Picchu. It´s a very sweet, very quaint town that is really really beautiful.

mmm guinea pig

Well on our first night in Cusco we finally sucked it up and tried the local cuisine, cuy, aka guinea pig. We also wanted to try the alpaca so we ordered a meat assortment if you will. We ate at Sumaq Misky, which was delicious. v. cool laid back steak house of sorts. anyways, the alpaca was delicious! kind of like a light steak. The guinea pig on the other hand... well i´ll first the menu had a whol epage called ´Sunday Guinea Sunday. which we thought was hysterical . now as for preparation of the cuy, we thought it would come out cooked in something so we wouldn´t really have to look at it. WRONG. it was a guinea pig wing, i´m not kidding, which meant right at the end of it was this tiny little cuy foot. sorry if i´m grossing you veg heads out, but trust me, it disturbed us too. The worst part proved to be cutting into it. I don´t know how to put this nicely, but basically the skin looked like human skin and was disgusting. Poor Steph had to do the cutting bec. i was gagging. We each tried a piece of the meat inside and that was it. we can say we did it and never ever eat it again. so if you´re coming to Peru and are adventurous foodies like we are i would say try it. but prepare yourself for what it looks like.

Cusco

Left for the airport at the crack of dawn today only to realize that yet again, Lonely Planet was correct. most flights to Cusco get delayed or cancelled due to weather. So from about 7am to 1130 we sat in the airport until our flight finally left around noon. However once we were on there i realized why flights get delayed bec. of weather in Cusco. It was definitely one of the crazier landings Ive ever done. It{s gorgeous as you come over the mountains and out of the clouds, but you{re literally right next to mountains!! kind of scary. then the plane circles around real quick and has to drop fast and land on the runway. It was pretty amusing. We met some funny older Americans on our flight who provided us with entertainment. Though it was embarassing for a moment when they started telling us how they went on tours of the slums in Lima. just seemed like they were on one of those tours that exploits hte poverty here. but anyways...
Cusco is fantastic!! (Nooner, you were so so right!) This really feels like what I imagined Peru to be. THe city has gorgeous buildings and theyre all built into the hills. the city sits sort of in this tiny valley surrounded by lush green hills (always with the cross and - or Jesus looking down) It{s definitely chillier here, sweater and hat weather, and it was pouring when we first got here, but it{s fine now. Our hotel is fantastic, Ninos Hotel. It{s run by a woman who works with the impoverished children in CUsco providing them with healthcare and dentists. SO proceeds from our stay go to that. IT{s pretty amazing and they have all this gorgeous photography at hte hotel of the kids. each room is named after one of the first group of kids she adopted. v. v. neat
After dealing with logistics we went to the gorgeous Catedral in the PLaza de Armas. It was amazing and tacky at the same time. Lots of doll Jesus{ and Mary{s and tons of neon lights. BUt it apparently has the largest bell in all of south america. we had a great meal at Chez Maggie. they have this little fire oven where they make pizza{s that are fantastic when it{s cold and rainy outside. now as for the altitude, it is kind of insane. I defiintely recommend at least a day to get used to it! It{s really hard coming from NYC and being used to walking fast bec. you just cannot do that here. I made the mistake of running up the stairs in our hotel and was so winded i felt dizzy. haha it{s really really bizarre. but to counteract that they give you the cocoa tea when you arrive. i{m sure most of you realize what that really is. it{s pretty good actually, sorry mom and dad. dad, you{ll probably have to explain to mom wht it is. and mom, don{t tell your class about that one. hehe
tonight if we{re brave we might attempt the cuy, guinea pig, but since most of the pictures we{ve seen look like the actual guinea pig roasted i{m not sure if we can stomach it. (apparently in most of hte pictures in Peru of the Last Supper, Jesus is dining on guinea pig. it{s hysterical! i{ll definitely get postcards)
Tomorrow we head out to the Sacred Valley, specifically Pisac and Ollantytambo, and then on to Machu Pichu for Sunday!

Bienvenido a Lima

We made it! actually the flight to Lima from Miami is short, almost too short. so don´t take sleeping meds like we did. otherwise it´s a pretty rude awakening. 5 and a half hour flight, soquick.
staying at the Gran Hotel Bolivar. gorgeous building with beautiful stained glass dome in the lobby. not what it used to be but it´s very easy to imagine what it was during it´s golden age.
as one of my friend´s acurately described Lima, it really is a shit hole. the cab from the airport to the hotel was kind of a shock. just immense immense poverty. really sad.
we´re in miraflores now, which is the nicer area on the ocean. it is definitely nicer but you can still see these pockets of poverty. Down by the water we went to the Parque de amor, v. much like the Gaudi parks in Barcelona. it´s gorgeous and right on a cliff overlooking the pacific. lots of paragliding too, and surfing. sadly, no kelly slater yet. ;)
we´ll sample some local ceviche for dinner (not brave enough to risk the cuy aka guinea pig just quite yet) and then we have an early flight out to Cuzco in the morning.
v. v. warm here... jealous? ;)