San Pedro de Atacama to Arequipa, Peru - Part 2

Leaving San Pedro de Atacama and NOT entering Bolivia was a little depressing. I just wanted to continue hanging with my new found friends, but in the back of my mind, I knew more great adventures lied ahead.

Crossing into Peru was quite a trek. I took a night bus from San Pedro to Arica, Chile (12 hours). From there, I hopped on a local bus that takes you from Arica to Tacna, Peru (about 1 hour). Since it was early in the morning and again my spanish was terrible, it took about an hour to figure out how to get on the bus. I was a little nervous my bag did not get on that bus because the bus station was a little sketchy, but once I crossed the border, my bag was sitting at the stoop. Relief! If anybody knows me, I was NOT calm during this trek and in my mind I was planning thousands of scenarios of how I was going to handle my bag being gone. Let's just say I hated my bus ride to Tacna. Anyways, from there I caught another was-supposed-to-be an 8 hour bus ride to Arequipa, Peru, however it turned out to be a 10 hour because the Peruvian police had to come on the bus at a local checkpoint to detain a woman. It was 100 degrees in the bus and the woman refused to get off. The adventures of traveling! After 24 hours (3 buses), I made it to Arequipa, Peru!

Once in Arequipa that night, I decide to book a 2-day, 1 night tour to Colca Canyon. Apparently, it's the deepest canyon in the world, and I will say it's really pretty, but it reminded me more of the vast valleys of the John Muir trail then say the Grand Canyon. We covered roughly 16km (9 miles) of hiking in two days and it was probably 1200m (4000 ft) of vertical climb in and out of the canyon. It was definitely beautiful and you stay at this amazing Oasis resort at the end of the trek. The whole tour was worth the $30 USD and that included a majority of our meals too!. 

I met some great people like Tara from Vancouver and the lovely, mom, brother, and sister combo from Australia. Really enjoyed hiking with them and hopefully I can catch them on future adventures (Sam, I am crashing at your place in Buenos Aires. Ha)

Lastly, Arequipa (know as the La Ciudad Blanca, "white city") was the cleanest city I had seen on my adventure so far. The Plaza de Armas is surrounded by Spanish colonial architecture and engrossed with a gorgeous catholic church. On the free hike tour, I learned about the Santa Catalina monastery (it's a whole city block long and apparently was shut off to the outside world until somewhat recently), the last supper painting that is different from Da Vinci in Italy (Jesus is a little darker and the meal is of a coy [roasted guinea pig]), and learned that Mt. Misti is a very much active volcano that threatens the city of Arequipa if and when it has a big eruption (it's drawing comparisons to Mt. Vesuvius eruption in Italy circa 1944). Arequipa definitely has a lot of history and huge mountains to see on a clear day. 

Church in Plaza De Armas

Arequipa definitely has it right! Duh!

Last Supper in Arequipa Church

Spanish influence

When the nuns died at Santa Catalina Monastery, their eyes were always closed for final painting (few expectations did occur)

Colca Canyon

Flying Condor in the wild

The Trail down the Canyon

Colca River

The Oasis pool

Bed for the night at the Oasis

The hiking crew at Colca Canyon

Me and a falcon

Wild Alpacas

However, it was time to get to Cusco. The history of the Incas awaits!

Ciao,

Burner Billy

San Pedro de Atacama to Arequipa, Peru - Part 1

San Pedro de Atacama...ahhh, the desert. For some reason since visiting the desert last August for Burning Man, there's something special about it. I don't know if it's the landscape or that it's literally left out to dry, but I really enjoy it. San Pedro, Chile is located close to the border of Bolivia and Argentina and it is usually a final stop before most travelers jump over to Bolivia. Unfortunately, I could not go to Bolivia, especially the Salt Flat/Desert tour in Uyuni, but I made the most of my time in San Pedro.

I stayed with Charlotte and Marjanneke at the Hostel de Atacama. It was sort of dump in the case that a young lad from London woke up and pissed on the door in the middle of the night. Let's just say Tony Galbo would be proud :). But overall, it worked out well because our hostel host gave us salsa lessons. Yeah, I was dancing with his mom, who spoke little english, so it was quite a feat that I didn't kill her when we danced.

San Pedro is a small town and really exists for many of the tours that people check out each and everyday. I did two, laguna cejar and sandboarding. I will say swimming in water that makes you float was quite possibly the most amazing thing I have done on the trip so far. It was freezing but well worth the experience. I didn't think salt flats would be such a satisfying feeling. Now, the sandboarding and the sunset of the vast desert afterwards was also a fantastic thing to see and do. I am not much of snowboarder, but I was able to pick up sandboarding and would later learn in Huacachina that it can be quite dangerous if you can't control yourself. Ha. After that fun adventure, we hiked through some caves then up to a some rocks to watch the sunset drinking pisco sours. I have seen a ton of beach sunsets in my life, but desert sunsets bring amazing lighting to the surrounding rocks and mountains. It's a completely different experience.

After doing those two tours, Kris, Marjanneke, Charlotte, and I decided to explore the desert by mountain bike. We went out on a late evening adventure, and experienced a couple of neat things. The valle de la Muerte was incredible. I felt like I was in 127 hours cruising through the terrain that was at times only a couple of feet wide to pass through. You went in and around caves, weaving around the corner to the next adventure. It wasn't until the day after with Gunstein did I experience the entire route. The other thing I learned on the bike trip....I am terrible at replacing a flat. Marjanneke got one just before we were about to enter the valle de la muerte, and with time permitting, Kris and I rushed to replace the new innertube. After about 30 mins of messing with the tire, we tried to pump it up and it immediately popped. Thank God for this amazing chilean who came by and put the 2ND innertube on in about 5 minutes. We were really lucky that the shop gave us 2 innertubes because that would have NOT been a fun ride back. However, we were able to see all the beautiful stars, helped a lost soul find her way back into town, and had an awesome dinner later that night in San Pedro. The crew of Jonas, Gunstein, Camille, Kris, Marjanneke, Charlotte, and I even experienced a night out in town to which we walked from town to a desert party. I met a half dozen great people out there, and I sort of felt back in San Francisco, surrounded by great people and culture. It was very comforting. To see the least, it was sad to leave San Pedro.

De Atacama Desert

 Still no ups...

Floating in Laguna Cejar...it's good!

Babes and me

Pretending I know what I am doing....

Dutch babes...Charlotte and Marjanneke

My Norwegian friends...Camille and Gunstein

Jonas and Gunstein

The San Pedro Crew...(minus Kris of course)

Sunset deserts...

Chakra bra on the Mtn Bike

Kris trekking across the stream

The full San Pedro crew....good times

Chile was great, but Peru and Machu Picchu were waiting for me (and so was Bob and Jess. Ha).

Ciao

Burner Billy

Santiago and La Serena - Meeting new peeps - Part 2

After spending a few nights at a great airbnb in Santiago with Bob and Jess, I decided to venture on my own to La Serana before meeting them again in Cuzco, Peru. As always, you are a little nervous traveling on your own, but once you get off the bus and find your hostel, you realize it was all for nothing. It always seems to work out.

I stayed at Hostel El Punto the first night in La Serana and found myself wandering the streets of the downtown. It is a gorgeous downtown with lots of shopping and a TON of churches. Allegedly, La Serana has the most churches for city in Chile and Dad you would be proud, I stepped into a few of them, to pray obviously, and check out the architecture :). But the most rewarding experience I had at El Punto was meeting chilean Andres. We both wanted to talk to each other, but one problem, he spoke terrible english and my spanish...well, non-exist. However, at breakfast, we were able to communicate with each other through pictures and the few words we knew of spanish and english, or better known as spanglish. Encantado de conocerle, Andres!

La Serena was the first town where I went a couple of tours. I went to the observatory one night to learn about the stars. Did you know the Chileans never see the big dipper? Yup, only people in the northern hemisphere see it. Just like the Southern cross, we can not see it in the northern hemisphere. Cool stuff to be learned from astronomy in other parts of the world. I also trekked the Isla de Damas to see penguins, dolphins, and even a manatee! I also went to the beach, cruised around on bikes to Coquimbo with two England travelers (best fish sandwish in Coquimbo), and of course hangout with Charlotte and Marjanneke. We shared a lovely evening together checking out the chileans version of Beerfest and all the activities happening in La Serena. But, hanging out a hostel del arbol was probably the best. From there, I met Gunstein, Camilla, Jonas, and of course, Kris all at this hostel. Little did I know we would all be hanging out again a few days later in San Pedro de Atacama. The beauty of traveling...you meet some really awesome people along the way that they sort of become family. La Serena, you had me at Hola!

La Serana Beach

La Serana Downtown

Sunset at La Serana Beach 

Isla De Damas with the Dutch girls

Can you find the solo penguin?

Taking it easy

Coquimbo (Brit neighborhood)

View of Coquimbo

Ciao
Burner Billy

Santiago and La Serena - Meeting new peeps - Part 1

After our lovely stay in Valpo, we set off to the big city of Santiago. Now, most people try to steer away from big cities during their travel, but when I got to Santiago, I felt a little bit at home. Public transportation, wall street lifestyle, micro-neighborhoods, and museums for days (Anne, right up your alley) made me feel like I was back in San Francisco. At first I enjoyed it, wondering the endless city streets and viewing the different lifestyle, but towards the end, it seemed a little claustrophobic, like I needed to get ready for work or be doing something to make money...and that's where anxiety kicks in. NO thanks for me. Not when I am traveling. And that was important lesson learned for really my first adventure of traveling on my own....don't get trapped back into your normal ways

Aside from the big city, a few things stand out for me in going to Santiago...and one of them was a big step into my adventure. I really enjoyed hiking up the San Cristobal mountain, checking out the neighborhoods of Bella Vista and Bella Artes, and the castle on Cerro Santa Lucia. Our tour 4 tips was really cool to understand the history of the city, and our visit to the human rights museum really solidified our learning experience of Chilean history. BUT, the best part of the visit to Santiago was meeting my future traveling mates, Charlotte and Marjanneke at La Casa Roja (which by the way was your typical hostel, BUT had a sweet swimming pool and bar in large back yard. Highly recommend it if you want to meet people and be in a cool part of town..Barrio Brazil. Good find Jess). Meeting these girls would setup my adventure to come in La Serena and San Pedro.

La Casa Roja

Funicular coming down San Cristobal

Top of San Cristobal in Santiago

View from Santa Lucia castle

Hiking up San Cristobal

Bella Vista Neighborhood

Best restobar in Santiago!

Hostel Living at La Casa Roja

Ciao,

Burner Billy

Valparaiso....Chile, not Indiana

Bienvenidos to Chile!

After a 4 hour flight to Mexico City, 3 hour layover, followed by a 8 hour flight from Mexico City to Santiago, then a $140 US dollar cab ride for 2 hours to a man who spoke un poco english, I made it to Luna Sonrisa in Santiago! Of course, it took my chaueffer (that's what I am calling him since I was paying him so much) about an hour to actually find the hostel once we got to valp, but once we did, my friends didn't make it easy for me. Because Julia has such a warm heart, she didn't make me keep spitting out broken spanish, and Bob came running down the stairs. I let out a big ol sigh of relief. I finally made it to my friends.

 Luna Sonrisa

 Bob the first day there

After venturing around Valparaiso, the comparisons to San Francisco were tremendous. Hilly, lots of street art, views of the bay, and amazing culture that later did we find out that Valpo was a stopping point for sailors looking to hit the gold rush in California. However, after the opening of the Panama Canal, Valparaiso became a stagnant port. Regardless, I had a lovely time in Valpo. Julia was the best host and we enjoyed a lot of good laughs together with her, bob, and jess. We saw the city, the beaches in vina del mar & quintar (where I got stung by a bee in the mouth and we hitched a ride home), and amazing chorrillana!

Vista de Valparaiso

Bee Sting with View of Quintay in the Background

Chorrillana - Meat, egg, cheese, and papas fritas

Street Art

Street Art

More to come, but Valpo was a great way to start off this trip! 

Ciao

Billy