City Living: Santiago and Mendoza

Our bus ride from San Pedro to Santiago was--at 23.5 hours--the longest bus ride of our trip and our lives. It's funny how something like that toughens you up a bit. Bus rides of 12 hours seem like nothing after that. And it's funny also how you come up with little tricks and strategies to most successfully pass the time. For example, my ipod works for probably 7 or 8 hours. I had to save my music for the moments of greatest need. To other ladies with small bladders, you can relate to my strategic plan of water intake.

Arriving in Santiago was one of the coolest moments of our trip. I think we just felt completely at home in the city. It just felt good. It was the first place on our trip where we felt like, "Yeah, we could live here." Not only does it have the density, public transportation, and diversity that big cities should offer, it also has a sweeeeet amount of green space. I was pleasantly surprised by how many parks there were, spread all around the city. There were trees everywhere. It was so cool to have that along with the hustle and bustle of big city life. And public art like this:

Huge sidewalks and lots of pedestrians:

Santiago was the first place since Houston, in July, where we could do the following things:
1. throw toilet paper in the toilet (instead of a bin)
2. drink tap water
3. eat fresh vegetables (including lettuce!) without having to worry about our stomachs the next day

Unfortunately, it was also the most expensive place we'd been to yet. We stayed at a really awesome hostel that was in Barrio Brasil (not in the center), so it was on the cheaper side. Still, even sleeping in an 8-person dorm there, the price of one dormitorio bed was close to the price we'd been paying for private double rooms! And food...it's really hard to pay 9 USD for a sandwich. But I guess we can look at it as our contribution to Chile's economy, which is obviously moving up in the world. And it was neat to see that. The city was very clean. Drivers were respectful. The language, however, was practically impossible to understand. This made for many a joke. People would tell us or ask us something, and we'd just nod and say "esta bien" or "si, si." Then one of us would inevitably ask the other, "What did he say?" Which was followed by, "I have no idea."

Prices were high and the Spanish was fast and crazy, but we loved Santiago. So....what did we do in that wonderful city? Our first night, we met up with Meredith (Ryan's friend since middle school). Hers was the first familiar face we'd seen since Pat's in Guatemala, in August. Meredith has been living in Santiago for a couple years, teaching English. We saw her apartment in Providencia, and went out later to Bellavista, where we met her boyfriend, Federson.

Meredith and Federson, Calle Pio Nono

We drank Chilean beer on the crazy popular street (Calle Pio Nono) where everyone goes out drinking and practically has to fight for sidewalk tables. We talked about being away from the States for a long time, something Meredith has experienced for much longer than we have. And we talked about Haiti, which is where Federson is from. We talked about teaching English as a second language, and how it differs from teaching in the U.S. It was a great first night in Santiago.

Our day time hours were spent walking around exploring the city. We discovered that we really liked our neighborhood, even though it didn't have any special touristy spots. It just felt really good there. All weekend long, in the park a couple blocks from our hostel, there was a comics festival going on with music and cartoonists, etc. We could also walk to a movie theater, which we did, twice. We saw The Town and The Social Network, and really enjoyed both films! I guess we were enjoying just feeling like residents of the city.

One day we went out on Lonely Planet's suggested walking tour of the city, and it was really lovely: lots of parks, old buildings, neighborhoods with different characteristics. The highlight was definitely Cerra Santa Lucia, which is a gorgeous park right in the middle of the city. There's a path that circles round and round the hill, and then several series of stairs. The whole climb is maybe half an hour or so, and the whole time you just can't believe you're in such a beautiful natural place right there in the city! It's kind of like the feeling in New York when you get a little lost in Central Park and the city feels so far away.

The entrance to Cerra Santa Lucia

The view from the top was awesome!

We planned to leave Santiago after three days, but when we went to the bus terminal, we learned that the border was closed. There was unusually bad weather for this time of year, and it wasn't safe to cross the pass through the Andes. So, we hung around Santiago for one extra night and made our way eastward the next day to the country we had been waiting for since we first started planning this trip: Argentina!

Leaving Santiago, heading east toward the Andes:

Once we reached the mountains, we were surrounded by snow and it felt like we'd entered a winter wonderland. It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful up there, so otherworldly. The mountains take over. You cannot escape them...so you slowly, slowly weave your way through. There were hundreds of trucks and buses in front of us, all of us making our way to the border at snail pace.

Slowly climbing up the Andes:

I don't know if the craziness at the border was due to the fact that it had been closed the previous day, so border traffic was doubled, or if the border is always crazy. Well, we got stuck at the border for hours. It wasn't even clear what was taking so long. There was just a long, long line that wasn't moving. Eventually, we officially entered the country.

Argentina!

Mendoza is the heart of Argentina wine country, and it is a really special place. I am not exaggerating when I say that the differences between the culture in Mendoza and the culture just across the border are instantly noticeable. First of all, there's the Spanish. We could suddenly understand what people were saying! Along with that, there just seems to be a different approach to life. Mendoza is all about living and loving. The city is even greener than Santiago. Streets are lined with gigantic trees. There are parks and plazas everywhere, with lots of fountains. Everyone seems to be outside, breathing in the fresh air.

Plaza Independencia

We stayed in kind of a crappy hostel, but it didn't matter because the city was so alive and amazing. We followed the example set by the locals and filled our days with wine, coffee, walks, breaks in the plazas. The only thing missing was our friends. We watched friends meet up at cafes and talk for hours and we talked a lot about everyone we miss back home. It would be so awesome to travel to Mendoza with a bunch of friends. Days of Mendoza life-loving living!

Consuming the local product:

Peaceful lake at Parque San Martin

After spending the mornings enjoying the extensive, peaceful parks, we'd make our way to one of the many streets lined with sidewalk cafes. The cafe culture is huge in Mendoza. I loved sitting and watching all the interactions around me. Business partners meeting over coffee. Moms with young children sharing croissants. Elderly ladies with their little coffees and sandwiches. I loved how the notion of sitting inside for a meal or a coffee was ridiculous. There was no reason to be inside when the weather was perfect and the air was alive with movement and something else I can't describe outside.

Sidewalk cafes:

Hours of our afternoons spent like this:

Our introduction to Argentina was awesome, and we were ready for Buenos Aires!

Machu Picchu to Northern Chile

So there we were, hiking up the last leg of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. The fog of mosquitoes was relentless and the terrain was not meant for man to climb. I collapsed from exhaustion and begged of Sheer, “Go. Leave me, I’m done for. Tell my dad that I didn’t make it to manager but I died trying.”

Just kidding (obviously). So we arrived in the touristy town of Aguas Calientes (via train after the Lares Valley trek) and enjoyed ourselves for an afternoon and evening.

Aguas Calientes (the closest town to Machu Picchu).

At 5 am, after one night in Aguas Calientes, we took a bus up the switchbacks to the base of Machu Picchu, entered Machu Picchu and continued to hike up Huayna Picchu (the mountain in the background of most photos of Machu Picchu). It was beautiful.

Sheer interviewed a local llama.

I tried to ask him a few questions too but, after he found out that I work in the oil and gas industry, he turned his head and muttered some derogatory comments (awk-waaard).

We hiked up Huayna Picchu early in the morning.

Climbing up Huayna Picchu (you can see the switchbacks in the background).

Machu Picchu in the background

Just a couple dorks

Leader of the dorks

Then we hiked back down from Huayna Picchu to Machu Picchu.

Here's a look at Huayna Picchu from Machu Picchu

Rocks

Machu Picchu

Indiana Sheer and the Temple of Doom

llama break

Machu Picchu is one of the seven wonders of the world… which to me means that it is one of seven places that makes you wonder if you should be more moved by witnessing it. It's not about how great it is or isn't, that's not what I'm saying, it's just interesting to me how huge a role expectations play in leading up to and the experience of an expected event. For example, if
I were walking my sister's dog in some forest park in Atlanta that I've never been to and I stumbled upon 500 year old ruins, I'd be extremely excited... heck, I'd be excited and telling everyone I knew if I found $5 while walking my sister's dog.

So anyways, it was beautiful. I guess I was just a little let down after realizing that I wasn’t to gain clairvoyance from the experience. To be fair, I had visited before when I was a punk teenager. I guess punk’s not dead…

After Machu Picchu, we headed south for Arequipa (via Cusco). Arequipa is a beautiful city with a progressive feel, happening night life and much more oxygen than Cusco.

Arequipa

Plaza de Armas in Arequipa

Here's a neat little street with cafes and bars.

A couple girls in the plaza on Halloween.

Estabamos bloggando con cafe y dulces.

We intended to use Arequipa as a base for a trip to the Colca Canyon (one of the deepest canyons in the world) but after reviewing our schedule we saw that we were shorting our time in Chile, Argentina and Brazil. So after a few days in Arequipa we made way for Chile.

The border crossing was really interesting.

The Peruvian border town is called Tacna and the Chilean border town is called Arica. Chile has a much better public school system than Peru and Peru’s best public schools are in Tacna (the closest town to Chile... it used to be part of Chile). We spent one night in the Chilean border town of Arica. The exchange rate is about 500 Chilean Pesos per USD. It’s kinda weird exchanging a short cab ride for 1,000's of anything but we got used to it. We walked around this really neat, overlooked town. There weren’t nearly as many poor people or hagglers as in Peru. It was very pedestrian-friendly too. In fact, one time we were about to cross the street but stopped after seeing that a car was approaching. The car then slowed down to a complete stop and waited for us to cross. Sheer and I gasped, “What is going on?!” We doubted our observed respect for pedestrians but after repeated tests of the hypothesis (intentionally stepping in front of cars and taking a long time to cross the street), it became a theory: Chilean autos yield to pedestrians.

Arica, Chile

After a night in Arica, we headed to the highly recommended town of San Pedro de Atacama. The best analogies for this town in the U.S. are Santa Fe and Taos. It is a beautiful desert town with a really neat square, arts and it’s very expensive.

San Pedro de Atacama

Chillaxing zone at our hostel.

Hostel rooms

German Shepherd (or as they say, "a German")

"One day we're going to be rich, live in a palace and never have any problems at all." - Street Dog

From San Pedro de Atacama, we visited some geysers. They didn’t tell us that it was going to be sub-arctic temperatures so Sheer almost got frostbite from wearing her Tevas.

Sheer is covering her toes from the sub-arctic temperatures.

Sheer seeking shelter from the cold

Sheer sought shelter from the cold

They told us that a week before a girl got too close to a geyser/atmosphere interface, fell in and burnt her leg badly. They also told us that 10 years ago some French guy got way too close, fell completely in and went to heaven shortly after. I was really impressed with the Chileanos for our safety briefing ( in Guatemala, they let us walk within one foot of hot flowing lava without one word of safety). I was being ridiculously careful walking around the geyser/atmosphere interfaces thinking, “it would suck to die just because you went to see geysers.”

geysers

I saw a Japanese tourist closely leaning over a geyser feeling the steam with his hand. I anticipated his death while I thought, “he must have not understood the Spanish or English safety briefings.” The Japanese man did not die though… that’s two points for you anti-establishment folks.

The surrounding country was very beautiful.

After the geysers, vicunas in the same area

Later that night we took a space tour (at midnight). It was called something else but we kept referring to it as the space tour. The space tour will make my brother totally jealous. Basically we went an hour out of San Pedro de Atacama via bus to an observatory. In this area, we saw more stars than we’ve ever seen in our lives. I also noticed the slight side effects of my lasik surgery too but we can talk about that over a beer. Two astronomers lived at the observatory, the wife Chilena and the husband French. They pointed at stars, planets, galaxies and nebulae with hand held lasers and explained how to determine the axis of rotation for the stars. After the naked eye tour, we toured about a dozen huge telescopes that were all pointed at amazing objects far, far away: Jupiter, Beetlejuice, Andromeda, alpha centauri, etc. This was all done outside, in the blackest of a cold desert night. After an hour or two outside in the cold, they invited us inside for hot cocoa. The inside was very dimly lit with LED lighting. There we covered ourselves in blankets (we were a group of about 20, Sheer and I were the only Americans, mostly Europeans) and drank our hot cocoa while the Frenchman went through a very interesting and very humorous review of the human relationship with the stars. He talked about how for thousands of years all people could do at night was sleep or look at the stars. He talked about how the stars were seemingly so constant and far but how nobody could have really imagined (or guessed) how far they actually are. He talked about how so many civilizations hypothesized that after death we go from all this change we experience on the surface of the earth to the constant of the stars. As I said, he was really interesting, really funny and very French.

San Pedro at night

The stars

After a few days in this desert paradise we headed to the capital.