Argentina

Buenos Aires....

Translates to 'good air'. I was only there for the weekend, but long enough for me. Large city travelling isn't my thing. And to me, 'good air' should equal clean air..though BA is a port city, travelling in the centro I felt trapped amongst exhaust... Anyway, It was like the Paris of South America. A beautiful metropolis with lots of people, statues and buildings of European decent, mosty Italian, Spanish, and Mediterranean.

Very European, even the people..I almost forgot I was in South America. Unlike Chile where I'm often mistaken to be a chilena, two island girls definetly stood out amongst all the light haired light skinned argentinos. Which in my opinion and from my experience, not necessarily a good thing for two girls travelling alone. I had heard that argentinos are overly romanitic, but all thier machismo is not my style, sorry...
But a super good weekend! Went to a super huge concert...Cultura Profetica, Los Cafres, Gondwana y mucho mas! Tons of people gathered together with the same incentive; to listen to goood music. Never had I seen mullet dreadlocks until this night. awesome.
My list of happy things coming from Argentina:
-mucho mas barato (cheaper) than Chile
-they got it down with the cafe culture and good coffee
-lots of fine art and performing art.
-crazy night life. we didn't go out until two in the morning, and the night is not complete until you catch the sunrise.
-you can eat like a queen and for cheap
-didn't eat any, but the red meat, supposably best in the world.
-the tango beats the cueca(Chiles national dance) any day.

Sociedad Chilena

So I've been living here in Chile for almost two months now...I figured I should provide a list of things that Chilean society has taught me so far... =)

1) Chileans do not speak spanish. They speak Chilean, chilenismo that only superficially resembles the spanish I learned in school.

2) Flushing toilet paper down the toilet is a sin! That belongs in the bin next to the toilet.

3) Also, it's a good idea to bring along extra napkins when you go out. The bathrooms you don't have to pay for to use, generally don't have toilet paper.

4) People only drink water if they are trying to loose weight. No matter how thirsty or dehydrated you are, coca cola or juice is always better for you than water. Also, be sure to grab the red bottle of water, sin gas...w/o gas. Chileans like their mineral water carbonated. Can I jus get some water?!

5) Don't take a shower without lighting the calefone...the only heat source in the house. Two turns of the knob, spark the match and your good for a ~7minute shower.

6) Nescafe is a perfectly good substitute for real coffe. This is something I don't understand, South America is a huge producer of coffee; why isn't real coffee more popular than a scoop of powerdered instant?

7) Wine is a good with almost anything, a good mixer. I've had it with banana, onion, coca cola...

8) Chileans do Mayonaise like Americans do Ketchup..on salad, any kind of starch or meat...you want mayo on that? no gracias! actually my Chilean dad makes some pretty good all natural mayo (oil, eggs, flour)

9) Mullets are hot! Never have I seen so many different kinds. I guess it's the punk look. Not gonna lie, its growing on me =)

10) Women in bikinis is an effective way of advertising just about anything, or even for your morning co-host. But for everyday people, showing alot of skin will get some glares.

11) PDA. Everyone does it. Generally couples never hang out at the house, if so, in the family room with the family, so public is their privacy. Latin love is no joke. ssoo Romantico!

11) Spicy food is generally not a desirable characteristic in cuisine. They like it either really salty or really sweet.

12) Graffiti art is culture

13) Eat with both hands on the table.

14) Don't pet the street dogs, guaranteed they have fleas.

15) Not wearing shoes or house slippers in the house is dirty.

16) Never walk alone at night, people will look at you funny, especially if your a girl...people will go way out of their way to make sure you at least get to a taxi.

17) Generally, los chilenos are super friendly, even to those who scream gringo. If you look lost, they'll come up to you and ask if you need help.

18) Going out for carretear any earlier than 12 is much too early.

19) It's normal to be physcally affectionate within the first hour you meet someone of the opposite sex. I know that an important part of living in another country is adapting to thier local customs, but this one takes some warming up to.

20) Cross-walk lights are only suggestions of when to cross.

El Norte Grande

18 de Septiembre, Fiestas Patrias= week long break So..caught a flight up north to the desert and bused around alot. Dreadfully early 6am flight, and since we still had to make the two hour car ride to Santiago airport, we left Vina at 3am and I didn't sleep that night. On the bright side...the plane ride was gorgeous, getting to see the sunrise over the mountains and mountains of untouched sand dunes, and the morning coastal fog called "camanchaca" nestle in between the desert valleys.

Once we arrived....Our First destination>> Arica, Chile's northernmost city and where we will make our way up to Lago Chungara. An 11 hour bus ride, so considering that we were travelling all day, we were in no mood to hostel hunt when we arrived and went to the first cheap run-down place we found right across the street from the bus terminal.

My longest bus ride thus far, pretty dreadful trying to sleep in the beating desert sun, but we did watch three good illegal copyright movies, I practiced my spanish skills and made pretty good friends with the bus attendant guy.

Hostel Blanca! Only 4.500 mil a night but pretty raunchy. Funny, how I'm perfectly comfortable sleeping outside with the dirt and bugs, but for some reason hostel beds (especially the pillows) are still a little frightening.
Archaelogical Museum....Chincorro mummies, petroglyphs and artifacts showing this regions indigenous human development back 10,000 years of history.

Bienvenidos a Peru...since we were so close, we decided to jump the border to Tacna..a bustling commercial town. The Arch of the Alto de Alfianza, built to relflect the cities herocity in achieving its independence from spain.

I don't feel like saw much of this country to fully compare it with Chile, but from my short stay I did find that Peru was incredibly cheaper than Chile! Hence the length of time it took us to actually cross the border. Many Chileans cross the border daily for cheaper simple services. One can live here with a "free fork". Had an awesome fish for lunch and it only cost me ~2dollars....Much more people hustling you on the streets to buy something, much more kids trying to sell you candy, sunglasses, shine your shoes...I sort of find it sad, but its normal here. For some reason, I found that Peruvians are a bit darker skinned, and have a distinct nose from Chileans...que mas?...more indigenously dressed...I like Peru!

And we're back in Chile....in a small pueblo on our way up to Lago Chungara.....

Coco Tea! ....given to us to help acclimate to the altitude. Altitude sickness is gnarley! It first hit me when I got out of the van to go to the bathroom, I walked ~30ft and had to slow down to catch my breath.

Back in the heart of the desert....Valle de Lluna.....Crazy desert formations created by centuries of floods and winds. Looks like your walking on the moon.

Cliff hanging and sunset watching. Check out all the people climbing up and the amount of salt that settles on the desert floor. Unusual sunset watching...instead of gazing into the horizon, we watched the the colors change on the face of the sand dune mountains. Yellow, orange, pink, purple and blue...

Treking through Valle de Muerte. Valley of the dead. Considered the driest place on earth for its lack of rainfall.

Here, sand boarders doing what they do best...nothing because the hike back up the mountain is super fume! it sucks

Yes...we biked through the desert, and yes it was hot! Thankfully, there were a few big puddles, gunned it through...instantly cooled off, but muddy...

El Tatio Geyser Field...4.2 km above sea level. A very bumpy morning ride over the desert terrain. Luckily, I had it under control with the altitude and car sickness. Started heading up at 4 in the morning, best time to see the geysers is when the steam condenses in the cool morning air. Over 80 active geysers. Earth..doin its thing



Spooky...I can't see anything! Careful not to step on a geyser. Ouch!

Awww yes...naturally heated thermal baths...what I had been waiting for

Heartless!....grinding that carne llama! that is, vicuna, a type of llama meat...Como era? Es super rico y es sano..sin gratis sin cholesteral

San Pedro de Atacama...Love this town...muy tranquilo y relajante.

S. Pedro Hostel living..5mil peso por noche..cheap, but community bathrooms and showers and no hot water. Cold showers suck, even in the desert. But, the chef bumped latin/reggae music all day and everymorning I woke up to Cultura Profetica so, I loved it!

Antofogasto el centroDieciocho!! VIVA CHILE!!