Chile & Peru

Santiago

Two weeks in.  Good times already.  We (and when I say we, I am also talking about Brett Luxton) arrived in Santiago, Chile, Brett from Dublin (via an indirect 37 hour transit), and myself from Auckland.  Not knowing much, about Santiago, we jumped on a bus headed for downtown.  We got out when the driver told us to, and were met by a sprawling bland mass of city, with no landmarks of note around us.  We started walking, having no idea where we were, but armed with a tiny map courtesy of Brett´s lonely planet guide.  After walking 10 or so blocks down the road we finally had our bearings, and had located a nearby hostel on our map.  Turning left we walked 3 blocks, followed by another left for 8 blocks.  There was our hostel, approximately 3 blocks from where we got dropped off from the bus.  Lame Santiago walk #1.

Brett Luxton

We got into our hostel at 5pm.  We slept until midnight.  Upon waking, we decided upon a beer at a bar accross the road.  We had a couple of beers.  After the beers we decided to take a stroll around the block to see what else was around.  The bouncer started talking to us as we were leaving.  He spoke in Spanish.  We didn´t understand.  He then did a walking motion with his fingers and pointed to the direction we were walking in, before pounding his fist into his hand.  We understood, and postponed our walking plans until the morning.  In the morning we went for a walk.  We walked along all the places that looked possibly interesting on our map, none were, but we ended up walking for about three hours.  Lame Santiago walk #2.  The best place we found was an information centre which told us where the bus station out of the city was.  We picked up our gear and we were off to the coast, to Valpariso, about 3 hours out of Santiago. (But not before another hour long walk in the midday sun with all our gear to the bus station.  Lame Santiago walk #3.  A disclaimer really should be made on maps of large cities that things look closer than they really are.)

Valpariso

Fish Markets

Valpariso is a choice town.  On the coast of Chile, it was South America´s biggest port before a devastating earthquake, and the opening of the Panama Canal, both in the early 1900s.  The place is filled with steep cobbled roads, dingy alleyways and street art everwhere.  The best morning so far had us heading down to the local fish markets at dawn and picking up a bunch of super fresh scallops.  We cooked them up at the exact time the standard hostel fare of bread and jam was being served up to the rest of the backpackers in the hostel.  Cooked in a hot pan with a dash of white wine, lightly peppered and served with a few slices of lemon, we were winning. 

Santiago Again

We had another couple of nights in Santiago before flying to Peru, but this time we were armed with some better information, and stayed in a much better part of town.  Beer doesn´t come in 330ml bottles in Chile, it comes in giant litre bottles.  At $3nz a bottle, you can´t help but win on the transaction.  After a couple of bottles with some folks at the hostel, it was time to check the scene.  We walked into a blues bar, with two people at the bar, and two people on the stage, but one of them being the best harmonica player I have ever seen.  We got chatting in between sets, stayed the whole night, drank a few more beers and took some photos (approximately 450 - yes things got a little crazy, but for sanity´s sake, I have only included two of my favourite pics below)

The three stringed guitar

I asked why he only had 3strings.  He said 3 was all he needed. Pretty badass answer I thought.

The Blues

We left Santiago a couple of days later, but not before it got a couple more lame walks over us though.  There was a hill (very close to a mountain) with a cable car that you could take to the top to view the whole city.  We decided to do so at sunset after meeting up with my brother Scott.  Not realising the implications of catching the last cable car of the day to the top of the mountain we watched the sunset before trying to find our way down.  Apparently there wasn´t any easy way down anywhere near where we came up, so from a two minute cable car ride up, we had a two hour walk down that led us to the opposite side of the mountain, in the dark.  We christened Santiago the city of lame walks and left for the second time.

Chile

Flying into Lima was pretty much all we did in Lima.  After less than 12 hours in the city we were on a bus headed inland to Cusco.  The bus trip was long, 23 hours straight, but took us through some amazing sights.  From people living in the middle of nowhere, to people living at the top of the Andes, it was a sight to behold, and managed to snap a few pics out the window of the bus as we sped by.

People living in the middle of nowhere.

People living at the top of the Andes.

Cusco

Cusco is cool.  I am realising how long this blog is getting, so just take my word that the city is pretty sweet, and I will tell you a bit about the most intense experience I have ever had, tramping in the Andes to the ancient and lost city of Choquequirao.

Cusco.  Pretty sweet.

Tramping to Choquequirao

A bunch of us had been planning this treck for ages.  When I say planning, I say it in the loose sense of having absolutely nothing planned except the idea of tramping to Choquequirao.  In the end 9 of us made it to the start line, for what was to be 4 days of pain, with some of the most impressive scenery going around to cheer you up.  Ok, it wasn´t all bad, the first day was pretty sweet, a nice easy 19km gentle uphill followed by a steep decent into our first nights camp site.  The second day I learnt about altitude.  Our treck had us climbing 2000m on that day, including a brutal 8km straight up assault without relent or remorse.  We were lucky we had donkeys carrying the majority of our gear, or I there could have been a few casualties.  The end result was definately worth it though.  In the middle of the Andes we were, several hours from the nearest anything, but right in the middle of an ancient city.  Pretty awesome. 

To give you a taste of the next two days walking back, think about being crammed 3 a piece into 2 man tents, being woken up in the rain at 4.30am each morning by guides for no apparent reason other than to get a good early start, and couple that with over half the group having either some serious runs, or serious troubles keeping their breakfast in their stomachs, well that was where we were at.  I am only starting to recover now 3 days after the treck.  But for those who make it over to Peru, I would definately recommend it.

Uphill

Where´s Wally?

The Andes.

I couldn´t fit the sheer scale of the Andes into a single frame.  But this gives you some feeling.  We started on the other side of the mountain on the other side of the river that you can see.  We then crossed over the mountain, walked down to the river, crossed the river, then climbed up to the spot where I took this photo.  Then turned around and did it in reverse.

Donkey, or small horse, I could never tell.

Up top.

One of the few gentle inclines on the first day.

One for the ladies.

Well if you made it through this in one go, you are doing better than me.  Next step is to jump on a night bus tonight through to lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia, at approximately 4000m high.  I´ll be writing something more in good time, probably after Bolivia.

Catch you then.

Mark.