Valparaiso and Vina del Mar ..or, the beautiful Chilean coast!

The bus ride to Valparaiso was quite short, under 2 hours and I got there early afternoon. After a little bargaining session in the hostel I got a room, left my things and set off on a discovery walk through the town.

Valparaiso turned out to be a very nice and colorful town with a strong bohemian spirit and made a lot better first impression on me than Santiago, which is a fairly modern town but without much of any character or anything too exciting. I was walking around Valparaiso all afternoon long, starting at the old merchant pier, through one of main streets, and ending in the old part of town, full of old mechanical escalators taking you up the hills and higher sections of Valparaiso. I really enjoyed the views of the port and the bay around which the town was built. It serves as the parking lot for the freighters waiting for their turn to be reloaded in this busy Chilean port. The walls of the old town also displayed interesting colors and murals. It was a pure pleasure walking through Valparaiso.

That night in my hostel, being rescued from between the hostel doors, very smartly locked for the night, I’ve met a couple of travelers from Korea/NYC and Switzerland and decided to join them for a tour of Vina del Mar the next day, since it was really close to Valparaiso, only 8 km.

So, the next morning we started looking for a minibus, which wasn’t so easy since there were hundreds of them going the same way and each one had few different numbers on them along with general destinations marked in abbreviations. I promise you, for a tourist it’s all “quite” confusing. Asking the driver turned out to be the only sure way of verifying where we were headed.

The ride to Vina lasted only 10 min, and here we had another beautiful coastal town, not as much bohemian, but very pleasant visually and seemingly nice to live. We walked around for few hours, checked out the famed flower clock, nearby park and the coastal highway. Finally, we met up with one of couch-surfing hosts of Vina del Mar, which we all met through another friend ..what a networkJ.
I left Vina del Mar the same night, came back to my hotel, and the next morning went back to Santiago to start my first couch-surfing experience and meet up with Michal and Ewa.

Pit-stop in Santiago ..and then what?

In Santiago I arrived still not sure what my plan was going to be, but I’ve had few options.

First, I wanted to check out what the Couch Surfing site was all about, after finding out about it from the polish couple I met in San Pedro. Next, I wanted to post some more pictures online, and find out exactly when Michal and Ewa will arrive in Santiago, so I can make further plans. I was also debating visiting Elise, my French friend in Mendoza, which was just across the mountains and 3-hour bus ride away, or Valparaiso. So, I sent out email and messages.

Michal and Ewa informed me that they should be arriving in Santiago this coming weekend, and Elise sent me a message that she’s taking small vacations in Iguazu Falls. So, since it was Tuesday, I’ve decided to go to Valparaiso for couple of days and then return to Santiago Friday to meet Michal and Ewa.

I also made an account in the Couch Surfing network and contacted few people in Santiago looking for a place to sleep for a few nights and the ability to meet locals, which was a very appealing idea. I received a reply from one of them within 2 hours and was invited to stay with him and his universi on Friday for few nights – how cool was that!

Calama, Chile ..why is this happening to me!!

Unfortunately, I lost all my pictures from Lauca National Park and San Pedro de Atacama when I was trying to download them into my computer. Something happened to the SD card I bought in Radio Shack in Arequipa, and now it’s completely inaccessible (not even formatable).

That’s all I remember about Calama, another city in the Chilean high desert.

San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) ..a short trip to the Moon.

In San Pedro I arrived late morning, after another night on the bus, which was full of control stops and police searches. They probably looking for drugs, but who knows, they were searching through spontaneously selected luggage.

So, why San Pedro de Atacama? Well I was told by quite a few people that it’s a very pretty place located in the Chilean high desert with many things to see and do over there for tourists and an incredible night sky, thanks to the lack of industrial light pollution. And, since it was on the way south, why not!:))

After a short hostel search/tour in the town, I’ve realized that the one I was originally offered and brought to is the cheapest option in already fairly expensive town. On top of that, once I returned to it I met two Polish girls getting ready to go out into town. Shocked and happy as they were to hear me speak the home language they informed me that there is another young polish couple in the same hostel, which they’ve met a few minutes earlier. I have to say, after hardly meeting any polish travelers I was quite excited about this whole encounter. If that wasn’t enough, when we all set off into the town looking for excursions into the “Salar” and the geysers, we’ve run into another small of group of young polish travelers. How cool was that!!

The first little excursion we did was into the Moon Valley. The tour left our hostel at 3:00 in the afternoon and took us to few places in the desert with amazing rock formations and unbelievable sceneries, reaching the Moon Valley right before sunset. You could say that in the light of the setting sun the place looked like the surface of the Red Planet, but when the sun disappeared behind the horizon, all that changed into a lunar desert. What an amazing place; and the views were simply mesmerizing. I could not stop taking pictures.

With the next morning came a very early wake-up, at 4:30, to catch a tour to Tatio Geysers. They always go off in the morning, but the whole point of such an early endeavor was to see the geysers blowing up plumes of steam and water in the rays of the rising sun, which turned out to be another truly incredible sight. Nevertheless, since it was a high altitude desert (4500m again) and on top of that early morning, the temperature was about 15-20 degrees below zero Celsius (-26 to -28 Fahrenheit). I was actually rapidly dipping my hands in the nearly boiling water to warm them up, despite the fact that I had gloves with me. And, to give you all an idea of what kind of place it was, at one point I was standing in the midst of the forest of water vapor plumes, beautifully illuminated by the rays of the rising sun ..it was, yet again, simply amazing!!

Finally, the last excursion we’ve decided to do, the same day as the geysers, was to the “Salar” itself, which constituted a white and flat, endless desert of crystallized salt. The perception of size and scale can easily be lost in such a place, which allows for very cool photographic effects. The two places we’ve paid a visit to on the Salar, were: Ojos de Atacama, nearly perfectly circular pools of water with unknown depth and saline content very similar to that of ocean water; and, small lakes with salinity similar to the Dead Sea, where we floated with our hands and feet above the surface. What a cool feeling it was to just lay in the water without any effort.

That evening I caught a bus to Calama, from where I was headed to Santiago the next morning. It was easier to find connections from there rather than San Pedro, which sometimes was referred to as a tourist trap, due to difficulties with getting out of there. Well, I got out :)).

Into Northern Chile..

...the time came to continue moving south, closer and closer towards the end of the world.

Long bus rides already became my nightlife, just with the varying degree of comfort but nothing really to complain about, as compared to some Ecuadorian buses:)) More or less midday, we've arrived in Tacna, Peruvian southernmost city, close to the border with Chile. From there it was a "colectivo," a multi-person taxi ride to Arica, the northernmost city in Chile.

While in Arica, I was planning to take a day trip east to see the Lauca National Park. The Lonely Planet guide recommended staying two or three days over there due to a serious altitude change, from sea level in Arica to about 4500m (14,500ft). Not having excessive amounts of time on my hands or serious problems with altitude changes, however, I've decided to do a one-day tour.

The early-morning departure was followed by an approximately 4-hour private bus ride to desolate, hostile, deserted and very beautiful volcanic scenery, with the highest altitude lake on earth, at 4500m above the sea level. We've started through sandy deserts and canyons, climbed up the windy mountain road, passing very few towns (exactly 3) and some lamas and vicunas consuming high altitude, sporadic vegetation. Our tour guide/bus driver had mentioned at some moment that bringing cookies could bring the lamas and vicunas closer for a picture. What I’ve witnessed later however, was an animal attack on a cookie holder before he could even get off the bus; these animals ran towards us simply at the sight of the approaching bus.

The lake was surrounded by more or less active, but at the same time very majestic volcanoes, and one could definitely feel the altitude difference; shortness of breath was what I felt when I run the trail, since we only had half an hour at the lake before going back.

After stopping for some artisanal shopping and tasty lunch at one of the three towns, I got back just in time to Arica to take another night bus to San Pedro de Atacama.

Huaraz, Peru ..and a visit to Chavin Ruins (dated about 1000 B.C.)

.. which is long long before the Inca times.

I was waiting and waiting and waiting.. in front of my hotel; I thought they'd forgotten me on a tour that I really wanted to see. I decided to start walking towards the tourist office that had sold me the excursion to ask what's going on, and then all of the sudden I run into our guide, who apparently was looking for me. She admitted however, she was quite late. Well, at least they haven't left without me :)).

The crossing of the Cordillera Blanca was an incredibly beautiful drive. At the highest point, about 4500m (14,500ft.) above sea level, we have passed through a tunnel and a totally different scenery opened up in front of us, with a snow-white statue of Jesus right in the middle of it. The views were mesmerizing as we continue to follow a windy road, which lowered itself into consecutive valleys opening one after another.

When we've finally reached the city which was built around the ruins it was lunch time, and of course the bus took us to a specific restaurant, which of course was prepared to receive tourists with its translated menus (among other things, they offered Trucha, which translates to Trout, but the menu said "Troll" in the translation ..maybe that's what they actually serve, he he:)).

The Chavin ruins were very impressive, and showed signs of advanced angular calculations, astrology and anti-earthquake construction, but the best part was the fact that we could get inside (everybody is invited to check out the pictures in the 'Photo Albums' section of the blog ..top right) ..I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie. And, of course, there was a room with a tall, sacrifice "lancon," completely covered with incredible carvings. Very cool. The tour was finalized with pictures under the last of the remaining Chavin Heads still attached to the temple.

Huaraz, Peru, a.k.a. "Little Switzerland"

..you can judge for yourself..

The city is indeed beautifully located, and it did remind me a bit of some Swiss or Austrian scenery. Hanging out in the Plaza de Armas with such views (look below:)) in the light of the setting sun is just pure pleasure. Of course there are plenty of things to do there aside from just sitting in the middle of the town and staring at the mountains.

Right from the bus station, as soon as I arrived, I was offered and led to a hostel at the edge of the Plaza, which, after asking, was reduced to $6/night for a private room:)) I cannot say it was a luxury stay, but I also had a private bathroom with hot water, and that's all I really cared about.

In the town itself, there aren't that many things to do if you're by yourself, however, one could easily commit a week of vacation or more in there with all the possibilities of excursions and trekking, which I could only imagine, since I didn't have time to do it, is incredible! (Next time!)

On my second day there I was taken on another tour, to Honcopampa, which wasn't as exciting as I'd expect ..quite boring actually. I was with a group of older people and very young kids, so we could only do an hour and a half of hiking up the valley, which I did by myself of curse. The hike was nice once I left the group, and the views were, again, incredible. After we were taken to thermal baths, so I sat in a bathtub full of naturally hot mineral-rich water for almost an hour. Bored of my mind however, since I was by myself.

Huaraz, Peru - a tour of Llanganuco Valley, or what can an angry mountain do to a town!

Of course, even before I even had a chance to step down from the bus, I was "attacked" by hostel/tourist office workers, offering places to stay and excursions. And, the thought came right away, 'it won't be hard to bargain again':)) So, I got a private room for only 15 soles, as well as three consecutive days of excursions reduced to 90 soles, from 120.

A tour of Llanganuco Valley was programmed into the first day. We were picked up in the morning and taken through the towns along the valley between the two mountain ranges. The towns were small and seemed quite nice and friendly, but there wasn't anything special about them except for the fact that they are surrounded by beautiful mountains, on the east by massive and majestic "nevados" (snowy peaks) of Cordillera Blanca, and on the west by rugged crest of silent and dark Cordillera Negra.

Our tour bus stopped in few of those towns, encouraging us (tourists) to add to the commercial come rotary, but for me it was all about the sights and pictures:)) One of the towns, Yungay, was particularly interesting due to the tragedy it encountered at the beginning of the '70s. Practically half of the town, right through the middle of it, was destroyed by an avalanche that came down from a giant right behind it, Huascaran (6700m-tall mountain). This monstrous "bulldozer" of rocks and snow was caused by an earthquake and split the city in two, taking the lives of thousands of people. You can still find the remains of Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral, and a bus fused with a truck in a weird and twisted way (you can see pictures in the 'Photo Albums" section of my blog - top right-hand side).

A visit to Huascaran National Park was also included in the tour, and our bus took us to a lagoon situated nearly at 4000m above the sea level (more than 13000ft.). The surrounding mountains however, were not as visible as I'd hoped for due to cloud coverage, but I still had a nice 40-minute walk through a bushy trail:)) It was very windy, and therefore quite cold, but trail running is a perfect solution for that:))

We've finished our day with palm trees, an incredible view of a burning sky, and a ceramics-making presentation, again, encouraging us to make more purchases.

Canyon de Colca - second deepest cayon in the world, and a home to the majestic condor

..no, Grand Cayon is not the deepest, it's another cayon quite close to Colca, which itself has an impressive depth of over 3000m.

It was another 2-day tour that I did, but this time out of Arequipa, to which I came back specifically to see this canyon. The price of the tour was of course bargained again, and I managed to get it for 55 soles. It included a guided tour of the canyon and local sites, a night at a simple hotel (single room with hot water is all I cared about) with breatkfast, and all the transportation.

So the tour took off in the morning, 9:30 that is, but the goal of the first day was getting to the town of Chivay, which barely even begins the canyon itself. On the way however, we have stopped in few places. The first was the Needle Forest, a place with many sharp conical rocks populating the hill sides of desert cliffs. It was quite an interesting place I have to say, but it also included an artesanal market, which completely consumed the attention of some people. Secondly, we stopped at what's called Aquas Verdes, which consisted of scattered pools of water on high altitutde, green meadows with animals like Llamas, Alpacas, and Vicunas grazing here and there. After that we've stopped at one of the highest road passes in the world, at 4900m above the sea level. To give some of you an idea of how high it is, it's about a half a kilometer/a thrid of a mile higher than the highest peak in Alps and more than 1000 feet higher than the top of Mount Whitey ..and a road passes through there, how cool is that:)) Anyway, just like some of you might be throwing coins into the fountains to come back to the place or for good luck, in Peru they build small pyramides of stones, and that place had thousands of these. The views of the mountains were no less impressive than the place itself.

After reaching the town of Chivay, we were taken for some lunch, buffet for 18 soles, placed in our hotels, and then taken (who ever wanted) to the thermal baths, which were quite enjoyable in contrast to the not so high open air temperature. And, since at almost every thermal bath in Peru alcohol is served to the edge of the pool, a group of people I've met earlier this day and I had couple of beers ..surprisingly from glass bottles.

Quite early in the morning, 6:00 am, we begun continue our trip to the actual Canyon de Colca. The canyon kept opening up and getting deeper and deeper, or so it seemed, as we continued to drive further and further into it, and the view kept getting more and more amazing along with it. At about 9:00 in the morning we had reached a place called Cruz del Condor, and then, those majestic, but at the same time so graceful, birds showed up, gliding literally only few meters over our heads ..it was incredible!! I simply couldn't stop taking pictures.

After a short walk along the edge of the canyon, we were taken back to Chivay for some lunch, and then directly to Arequipa. But what a marvelous place it was, and discovered by a Polish expedition.

Island Tour: day 2 - Taquile

..as soon as I got out from under those blankets I wanted to immediately jump back in, it was quite cold in the morning. I was served pancakes for breakfast with a hot Munia tea, a mint herb abundantly growing in the area. Still feeling the cold I ate them with shaky hands, but enjoying the taste:))

Around 8:00 a.m. we all met up at the little harbor and boarded our boat to go to Taquile, the last of the islands in the tour. It took us more than an hour to reach it, even though it didn't seem very far. The lake is quite big and the distance perception changes. On the island we've had a plan to hike to the other side of it, on a gentle trail we were assured, to visit the town, have lunch, and head to Puno.

During the walk we stopped only once for a brief history and traditions lesson of the island and people inhabiting it. I found out that divorce is still not allowed in some parts of the island, but a young couple is also coached extensively before the matrimony. Also, the way and style of hats the locals wear signify different things: virginity, attracted to someone, in love with someone, married, etc.

In the town I met a group of Polish people, all with hefty life's experience (that's right, not my age group, he he:)), touring Peru with a Polish tour guide married to a Peruvian woman (yes, he was traveling in his young age too, came to Peru, and got stopped in his tracks by a Peruvian girl, for whom he stayed over here:)) However, I didn't have a lot of time to talk to them since my group was headed to lunch, and I was hungry as well. And, to my joy, for lunch we were offered a very tasty trout.

The boat ride home took about 3 hours, but afterwards, I went out for dinner and some drinks with the new friends that I made during the tour, two Buenos Aires natives. Funny as it was, the Polish group ended up in the same bar, out of quite a few in Puno, so I had couple of drinks with them at the end of the night, which gave a shaky walk home (..no, I wasn't that bad:)) Well, I felt the effects of alcohol a little bit since I hardly have been drinking during my trip (I'm saving money this way).

Island Tour: day 1 continuation - Amantani

Following the visit to Uros, we've arrived at Amantani, a large natural island inhabited by the the Quechua indians. Once we stepped on a solid groud we were greeted by a number of locals, who were to be our host families for the rest of the day and that night.

I feel quite bad not remembering my hosts' names, who were so increadibly nice to me. But that's just a thing with names. The island is almost at 4000m above sea level, and for some people it's quite a challenge to hike up the hill to individual houses, so once we came to my "family's" house I was invited to a snack (visible on the picture below) and to take a rest. After about an hour I was served lunch, which consisted of a soup and different roots (including potatos, he he:)) and vegetables. They don't eat any meat, poultry or fish (which means I couldn't live there:)). Lunch, nevertheless, was quite tasty and of course, healthy.

After lunch we all met in the center of the village to hike to the top of the island to the temple of Pachatata, the God of all the things Above (cosmos). And since we were stopping on the way up for people to catch some breath at this altitude, we've also recieved a local stronomy lesson as well as a short rundown of the technological achievements of the "ancients."

Healthy and meatless dinner followed the walk, and the evening was concluded with a fiesta, where we could experience a simple but fun local dance, all dressed in traditional clothing (yes, a poncho and a colorful hat for me:)). I went to sleep under very warm Alpaca blankets. Getting out of that warm bed is a different story..

Uros - the floating islands of Lake Titicaca

Another amazing place I managed to visit: human-made islands, constructed from tall water grass and floating on the highest navigable lake of the world. They are usable for 25 to 30 years and then abandoned. Every 15 days or so the inhabitants of each "floater" lay a new layer of grass since the island is slowly absorbing water, but after about 25/30 years the island becomes to thick and they start a new one. What a way of life; unfortunately it's plagued by rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. And how did they find themselves on the lake? ..supposedly it was their way of escaping the inland tribal fighting and competition for the land.

I found that going to local agencies and looking for tours of surrounding areas is a good way of being introduced to the area not having too much time to explore it yourself, but most of all a great way to meet people, practically from all over the world.

When I arrived in Puno, and as it was to be expected, I was approached by people on the terminal asking me if I need a place to sleep. Already there you begin browsing prices and locations, and bargaining. So, I got my own room with a bathroom, not far from the center (plaza de armas), for only 15 soles. In the hotel itself they had offers on different tours, and after another discount, I bought a 2-day tour of three islands for only 60 soles, with accommodations and meals included.

We were all picked up in the morning from our hotels and taken to the port of Puno to board a tour-boat. When we took off from the port, along with other boat-tours, we begun navigating through a maze of canals in the sea of water grass, eventually (after about 40 minutes) landing at our first destination: Uros - Lake Titicaca's floating islands.

Cuzco-Puno bus trip ..watch out! The King of the Road, a big and angry bus is coming..

..yes, they're literally not affraid of anything, passing everybody right before blind corners, intersections, etc.

We were coming up on a round-about intersection, making a right turn (as it later tourned out). Sitting on the left-hand side of the bus by the window I was observing traffic. On the highway perpendicular to our direction, there was a motorcycle coming; it seemed slightly ahead of our bus. As every driver would/should do, I subconsciously claculated the current and future positions of the bus and the motorcycle, and the result projected a contact between the two if current speeds of both remaind unchanged. To my surprise, neither one altered their speeds, and having the bike enter the round-about first, the bus kept charging at the same "intersection-devastating" speed. With growing (in the matter of seconds) concern, which soon tourned into horror, I watched as the motorcycle disappeared under the bus right under the window ..and then magically, or miracolusly I should say, reemarged withy a shaky path, driving a bit like a drunk after (what must have been a bump) the contact with the bus. They both slowed down, the bus driver must have gotten concered, looked at each other, the motorcyclist had an interesting look on his face but never stopped ..so, we continued on as well. What an experience!!

Other than that, I wached as the scenery was changing by the hour as we continued south from Cuzco to Puno, a major town on th western/Peruvian shores of Lake Titicaca. It went from foresty green hills of Cuzco region to more and more ruggedy and inhabitable, it would seem, mountaneous scenery, eventually becoming a grassy steppe ..then, the night came and I couldn't see anyhing anymore, but clearly the desert was taking over the landcape.