Fancy a Board of Sand?

My salt flat tour took me right to the border of Chile and many tours allow you to San Pedro, Chile rather then back to Uyuni, Bolivia. I had wanted to see this town so it worked out perfectly to just ‘pop into Chile for a few days’. On my bus to San Pedro I ran into two girls that I met in Chile, Lucy and Laura, and we all decided to room together. San Pedro de Atacama is a cute town of cobble stone streets, little restaurants, and sandboarding. Sandboarding is similar to snowboarding and was something that I had wanted to try for sometime. San Pedro is one of the best places for it. So we rented a bike and a board and headed for Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley). Everyone sandboards down, literally, a huge mountain of sand that is exhausting to climb up, but lots of fun to board down. I was a little hesitant at first, after the whole dislocating my shoulder snowboarding thing a few years ago, but after my first fall I realized that sand was much more forgiving then snow. I had a few mini rolls down the sand mountain and was finding sand for a couple days after (especially the ears), but it was great fun overall. After boarding we grabbed some beers and headed to a beautiful spot to watch the sunset overlooking the Valley de San Pedro.

Because San Pedro is in the middle of a vast desert it has amazing views of the stars. There is a wonderful observatory that conducts tours of the stars at night. The tour started at 10pm and took us out into the middle of the desert where the observatory was located. Our guide was a hilarious French guy making all kind of jokes like how to pick up a girl by talking to her about stars. With his powerful laser pointer he walked us through the galaxy, provided us with history and pointed out various stars explaining how many light years away they were, etc. Stars and the universe are quite amazing. The observatory had about 8 high powered telescopes that were focused on certain stars, star clusters, the southern cross, a star that is red in color, and different consolations. One of the telescopes was focused at Saturn and it was remarkable how clear it looked with its rings.

Salty

One of the most incredible things I saw during my travels were the salt flats outside of Uyuni, Bolivia. There is no way to properly describe this pure white lake of salt and the salt formations on it. And it is SALT!?!? The way to see the salt flats is with a tour where the 4 wheel jeep, driver, food, and logging are all provided. I booked a four day, three night trip with the three English people I had met, James, Kyle, and Katherine and we were off. There were two other people in our group from London, Jane and Carlos. Our driver skillfully drove us across this gigantic lake of salt, stopping along to way to see a train cemetery and some of the salt mounds that are used for exporting. It is estimated that the salt flats contain about 10 billion tons of salt. The huge lake, Salar de Uyuni, is the worlds largest salt flat measuring 4,085 sq miles and it was a lake that dried up 40,000 years ago leaving behind the salt. The white lake goes on forever surrounded by mountains and desert terrain. We arrived at our salt hotel, yes the walls are made of salt bricks, and were able to go onto the flats and take some of the crazy optical illusion pictures that are so famous here (ie. jumping shots, walking into the Pringles can, holding people on your hand, etc). We also enjoyed the sunset. I don’t know that I will ever see anything like the sun setting on a bed of salt, glorious. That night we learned of a crazy stalker obsession that Jane once had for Michael Jackson (this is before he died). She would follow him everywhere, sleep outside his house, bribe her way backstage at concerts, hide in bathrooms, the list goes on. Needless to say, none of us could really top that one.
On day 2, we got up for an amazing sunrise of bright orange, purple and reds. Later we climbed up Volcano de Tunupa for an overall view of the lake. Then we were back in the jeep heading for Isla de Pescado, a random island in the middle of the salt lake filled with cactus. After a few more photo stops and a lame trip to the Galaxy Cavern we left the actual Salar de Uyuni lake and arrived at our salt hotel (this time even the bed frame and tables were made of salt bricks).
Day 3, we started to head south to see all the lagoons and mountains in this desert. At this time the road got really rough and several times we had to get out of the jeep so that it could get through safely. We got one flat tire on our first day and another one on our last day. Luckily our driver was used to getting flats and he was able to change them both quickly. It was a beautiful drive, stopping at different rock formations, lakes, and volcanoes along the way. At Laguna Ramaditas we saw wild flamingos, but there were not pink because there was no shrimp to eat.

Now, Jane and Carlos would take 100+ photos at every stop we made and by the end of the day (after we saw famous standing rock formation Arbol de Piedra), we were among the last groups of jeeps- there are 50 or more companies that conduct the same salt tour. The drive is very tough on the cars and the maintenance they get is questionable, remember Bolivia. Suddenly during the last hour of the day on the way to our lodging, our jeep dies and our driver cannot figure out how to fix it. A jeep passes, stops, and the drivers determine that it is an electrical problem, one that our driver cannot fix. Supposedly this jeep driver is going to drive his group to their hotel, get a car electrician, and drive back to us. Estimated time, 1 hour. Well one hour turns into two and although we are in a desert terrain, we are at an elevation of 4,260m. It is getting very very cold and the sun is setting. At night it will be below freezing in temperature. We have no way to communicate with the driver that went for help, remember Bolivia, so we need to face the fact that the other driver is not coming for us. It is a two hour walk into town and our driver says he is going to have to walk to town and dresses in some cold weather mechanic suit and is off. So we get our sleeping bags out for warmth and any snacks we might have left because it could be 3 or 4 hours before we are rescued. After about 30 min we see jeep lights and our driver is running down the hill towards up. We are saved!!! With the electrician our car is fixed in 10 min and we are driving towards our hotel, thankful we were alive- OK, it wasn’t that serious, but we were happy we had been rescued.

After a bitter cold night, I slept with 7 blankets on and was still cold, we set out on day 4. We drove to the geysers where we saw one huge geyser, it was great because it was blasting hot air, and the geyser basin where there were lots of bubbling baby geysers. From there we went to the thermal hot springs which was heaven after one endured the change from warm clothes to swimsuit to pool transition. It was so nice in the pool, but once you got out you froze in seconds. Even my bathing suit that I set on a rock while changing froze to the rock in minutes. Our last stops of the day were to see Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca. Then I was off and on the road again, quick stop into Chile for a few days before finally making it to Argentina.

A Miners Life

The hostel you stay in and the people you meet make a huge difference in how much you enjoy your time in a place, especially if you are traveling alone. And I stayed at a great place in Potosi, my next stop after leaving Sucre. When I arrived in Potosi there was a huge parade going on (still not sure why) so a bunch of us headed out to take in the scene. Elementary to high school age kids were all dressed up in different costumes either dancing or playing in a band. Some of these costumes the kids had on were out of this world with the sparkle and flair. That night we all decide to search out a real locals place, back alley style (meaning as soon as we walked in every patron in the place stopped eating and just watched us). We ate steak, rice and salad for less then a dollar. The food wasn’t that bad and there was no food poising that followed; a successful mission in my world.

Potosi is a mining town and most of the inhabitants work in the silver mines which has been a big source of income for the Bolivians since the early 1500s. Back then, the Spanish controlled the mines and its workers by making them work 45 hr days, using their dependence on the coca leaf against them. (Note: The coca leaf has been of immense importance in Bolivia since its existence and is fascinating to learn about- Wikipedia it). I decided to go on one of the tours that take you into the live working mines where you can see the miners and the conditions they must work in. After getting suited up in our mining attire, our first stop on the tour was to buy gifts for the miners- coca leaves, soda, and dynamite. Today the miners average 8 to 10 hour days inside the mines and cannot eat in there, the coca leaves help provide vitamins and energy to the miners.

We then entered The Candelaria Mines, one of the many mines in Potosi. Once inside you can see how dangerous the mining here is, crappy logs hold up the mine walls and without any technology just ‘general knowledge’ on how to mine along the mineral lines, sections are blown up with dynamite. The miners work in teams and there is a leader that directs the miners were to dig or what section to blow up. Every team works for themselves and gets paid not by hours but by the amount of minerals and silver they find. Realistically there are no strict regulations on the hours the miners work or the age they start. Inside the mine we met one man who works with his son, age 13. I asked him why his son was not in school and he said that in school his son doesn’t make money for the family, but in the mine he does. We crawled, slid, and shimmied our way down to the fourth level of the mine, there are about 10 levels in total. We were about 75m under ground and the conditions were horrible, with so much dust and whatever else was in the air made it was painful to breathe (most miners die at a young age from lung cancer). We presented our gifts to some of the miners we met and I realized how little it really was. One outside in the fresh air we were able to light one of the pieces of dynamite that we purchased, yes I got to hold the dynamite with the lighted fuse before our mining guide ran out into the field for it to explode.

Pour Some Sucre On Me

After completing Huayna Potosi I got sick and my body needed a break from the high altitude. So I took a bus to the cute little city of Sucre, in the southern part of Bolivia. The city is actually the capital of Bolivia and celebrations were in full swing because it was the month of May and the 200th anniversary of their independence, 25 de Mayo. To celebrate there was a concert in the main plaza every night in May. There were many lovely plazas in the city and they were always filled with people and families just enjoying the day or the concerts at night. And I found it very interesting that during the concerts it seemed everyone was eating candy, but I didn’t see anyone drinking a beer or alcohol of any kind.

The city feels like a small bussing town with a wonderful fresh fruit and veggie market (if you can avoid the slaughterhouse section) and lots of small stalls line the street with people selling jewelry or other household goods. There are an abundance of chocolate, ice cream, and candy stores, law offices and universities… and the next most popular type of shop, dentists. At least they know the importance of dental hygiene.

On the last night I was in the town there was a huge free concert located in a large field outside the city. The most famous Bolivian band, The Caporales, was playing. And people from all around Sucre turned out, I would estimate over 15,000 people, to see this band play. They played traditional Bolivian music and had great cultural dancers joining them onstage. The crowd sang every word to every song and might have been louder then the band themselves. It was an amazing experience not just to see the band but to see the joy on the faces of the local people listening to them.

The Worlds Most Dangerous Road

We arrived in La Paz for the final leg of our GAP Adventure and I was sad to say good-bye to the group I had spent the last two weeks with. We had a big good-bye dinner that night. We were the only people staying in our hotel, so the whole group came back and we played card games (those Aussies have some strange ones) into the early morning. Additionally Mary was very excited because she was reunited with Hari that day when we arrived in La Paz. After La Paz Mary and Hari continued their travels north and I went south.

The next day it was off again to the world of hostels and eight person dorm rooms. Luckily many people in our group were going to be staying in La Paz for a few days and we all went to the same place. At first La Paz struck me as a very congested and crowded city, but over my week stay I learned to love it. It is a city full of life. There are loads of great markets- the witches market selling remedies or spells to everything that might ale you, the black market where you can find many illegal things to buy, and the general street markets selling llama gear and jewelry. Plus La Paz is very very cheap.

One thing we really wanted to do was bike ‘The Worlds Most Dangerous Road’. There are many companies that offer the service, but we went with the safest one, Gravity. The company drove us up to the start of the road. At the top we received our bikes, which are valued at around $3,000 usd and are the top of the line for mountain bikes, and an orientation on the road and what we could expect during our ride. The bike ride down took about 6 hours to complete, allowing us a couple stops for pictures or snacks. We had an instructor with us that gave us warnings about an upcoming section of the road. We also had a van following us taking photos and there to help if anything should happen on the trip. Now this road is very dangerous and going off the road most likely means death as most of the drops are around 1,000m. Although it was fun, I never took my eye off the road and never forgot that this road was not something to take lightly. We celebrated our safe landing with some beers and a bottle of rum for our drive back into La Paz. A few days after our ride we found out that someone who was riding with another company did go off the road and did not survive.

Just Living on Floating Reeds

From Cuzco we went to Puno, a city known for its traditional dances and their wooden flute instruments. There are over 100 different cultural dances and each of them have their own costumes. That night we enjoyed a show and I finally got to try ginny pig. It is a delicacy in Peru, but I wasn’t impressed by the lack of meat and how scary the thing looked when it was served.

That next day we headed to Lake Titicaca which is the highest lake in the world at 2,000m. Now on the lake there are floating islands made of floating reed. Yes the island, the homes, and we even saw some boats, were all make of reed. We went to visit one village of the Uros people. They began their existence on the islands to isolate themselves from the Colla and Inca Tribes centuries ago. About 300 people live on the island, but people are always moving off to live on the mainland, Puno. All the village people were wearing their traditional outfits which they let us try on, and they discussed their life living on reed. I love this part, when someone decides they want to move off the island, all they have to do is cut the reed around their house and float away to another village. Also, if someone doesn’t like you it is possible to wake up and your home has been cut off the island. Excellent example of conflict resolution.

From there we went to Taquile Island which was a proper island aka. made of land and dirt. It was a beautiful day and there happened to be a big festival that day. All the villagers were dressed in these impressive band costumes (some of the outfits cost more then the persons actual home), ready to compete in a day of music and dancing. Beer was flowing at the celebrations while groups would have a ‘band off’ and compete against each other with their costumes, band skills, and dancing. It was great fun just to watch and take in the local lives and festivals of these people.

Walking like an Inca to Machu Picchu

The group arrived in Cuzco which is a beautiful colonial town with cobble stone streets and a very lively atmosphere. Most people will come to Cuzco to help them acclimate to the altitude before they embark on the Inca Trail, so there are lots of backpackers around the town. Coca leaves and coca tea are something that really helps with the altitude and we were frequent followers of ‘packing a chew’ during our trip. It is rather cold up at the altitude and there are lots of people selling alpaca and lama scarves, gloves, and sweaters. We stayed in Cuzco for a day to adjust to the altitude and to see the Scared Valley of the Incas. It is a lush green region that supplies produce to Cuzco. We do some hiking and you can really feel the altitude as we would get out of breath going up even the smallest hills. We also stopped at Ollantayambo, which is a fortress strategically situated over the valley helping the Incas guard the village. This was the first taste we got of the amazing planning and engineering that the Incas were capable of. Looking at the huge boulders that created the fortress, it was hard to believe that the Incas were able to get them from the mountain side to this area. We would be more impressed with the Incas as our adventure continued.

Early the next morning we began the four day hike on the Inca Trail that would lead us to Machu Picchu. We each had one duffel bag containing our clothes and toiletries for the next four days. There were ten of us in the group and we had 14 porters, 2 chefs, and one guide traveling with us. Our oldest porter was 55 years old and had been a porter for about 30 years. These porters would carry our bags, all our food, tents, tables, and everything else we would need on their backs. One porter was even responsible for carrying the propane tank on his back. Each day they would wake us up with breakfast prepared. We would head out on the trail and they would pack up our tents and run by us on the trail carrying all OUR stuff on their backs. When we arrive for the spot for lunch, it would already be prepared and waiting (and the food was yummy and there was lots of it). The same thing would happen in the evening, but our tents would be setup and snacks would be waiting for us before dinner was served. These men were our heros.

On our first day walking the Trail we were at an altitude of about 2,500m. All along the Inca trail we would walk by Inca ruins (destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors). On our first day we saw the ruins Llactapata and Wallabamba (the place where we camped our first night). When we thought there could not possible be any more stairs there always were. The trail was so tough because we were going up and down mountains at such a high altitude. The second day was one of the hardest because of Dead Woman Pass, it is called that because the side of the mountain looks like a woman. The Pass was at an altitude of 4,215m and was painful to get up. It was very hard to breathe, but at the same time amazing because you were struggling with all these people who felt the same way, pushing themselves with the same goal in mind, Machu Picchu. Mary and I did a little extra climbing at the top of the Pass, climbing the ‘boob’ as we referred to it. We also got to see Andrew's naked pose, which we would not be the last time we would see that naked bum shot. On the third day, the longest one walking 16k, we walked by several Inca ruins, some of them served as villages and others as fortresses. All of them were very impressive with the stone work and the sheer size of the boulders. We walked Runkuraqay Pass which was a beautiful stretch of jungle. Our last night was very cold because we were sleeping at 3,000m. We woke up at 4am to start our trek to Machu Picchu. We had a quick 2 hour hike to the Sun Gate that overlooks the peaks that surround Machu Picchu. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy and we couldn’t see much, but luckily the fog cleared later that morning.

Finally after four days we arrived at our destination… Machu Picchu. And it is truly an amazing archeological site. The site was not “discovered” until H. Bingham in 1911 put it on the map for all the world to see. There is not much known about the Village because it was never discovered (or destroyed) by the Spaniards. In the village there were areas where agriculture was grown, areas of prayer, temples, staircases, windows, and sections for the rich and sections for the poorer people. There was a sundial that counted the passing seasons and gutters to collect the rain water to distribute it throughout the village. There was also a sacred rock that if you hold your hand over you can feel heat come off it. We spent several hours just walking around this wonder.

From there we took a train back to Cuzco, although we were tired we had to accept the ’24 Hour Challenge’ which meant that we all had to stay up until 4am that night. Luckily, Cuzco has an amazing nightlife with lots of clubs and we partied until the early hours of the morning.

The Peruvian Amazon

Months earlier, Sarah and I had signed up for a 14 day tour through Peru with GAP Adventures. In August of 2007, I had done a trip with them to Machu Picchu and was really pleased with GAP, so Sarah and I decided to give it another go. From my experiences, the tour is very well organized and the tour leaders are not only extremely knowledgeable about Peruvian history and culture, but very passionate about teaching. In my previous visit to Peru, I had hiked the Lares Trail and went to Machu Picchu, but I had always wanted to do the Inca Trail, plus there was so much more of Peru I wanted to see, so despite having already seen Machu Picchu, I was still really excited for the tour and to see more of Peru.

After our epic bus ride from Santiago to Arequipa and then Arequipa to Lima, we arrived in Lima to meet with the rest of the group. I won`t say much about Lima because there really isn`t much to say. In short, it is nothing special. I am not a fan at all. It was my second visit to Lima in 2 years - I have no desire to go back there anytime soon, and I really had no interest in seeing it again this time, but alas the tour began in Lima so I planned on arriving the same day the tour began to minimize my time there. We met up with our group and knew right away that we were in for a great 14 days - everyone was really outgoing, fun, friendly, and anxious to have a good time. The GAP tour leader, Walter, went through our itinerary and some other tour necessities before we all really introduced ourselves and started socializing. There were 8 other people in the group - Anita and Nadia (fun, sweet Uni students from UK), Una and Maria (hard-core hikers/rock climbers from Finland), Jan and Tara (mother-daughter team from Australia), and Andrew J and Andrew S (the staple lovable, crazy party animals from Australia). The Andrews were surrounded by 8 women. They were noticeably happy and schmoozing with all the ladies at our first dinner together!
After going through all the technical stuff with Walter we all headed to dinner and got to know each other a little bit, there was not one moment of silence as everyone was sharing travel stories. Sarah and I were excited to be with such nice, fun people for the next 2 weeks. We all went to bed early after dinner, as we had to be up at the crack of dawn the next day to start our journey.

We spent the first 3 days of the trip in the Peruvian Amazon and it was nothing short of incredible. We flew into a very small airport from Lima and hopped on a small riverboat that took us 3 hours to our jungle lodge...we were truly in the depths of the jungle. The lodge was actually really nice, basic as expected, but comfortable and cozy. There was a little hut with hammocks (screened in, thankfully, the bugs were evil) and a nice dining area. The place was owned by a crazy-Boho French woman who rescued a little spider monkey from the nearby jungle - its mother was killed by natives and she walked around with it wrapped around her all day. It was actually pretty to have this little monkey in a diaper running around the lodge and swinging from the wooden ceiling beams.

On our first day we did not arrive until about 4 in the afternoon, so we had some free time and then set off on our first jungle excursion - a night trek. It reminded me a little of my first night dive, I was a little nervous to walk into the creepy jungle in the dark but as soon as we got in there everyone was so excited and loving it. We armed with torches and the guides had machetes to clear paths for us. We were given knee-high rubber boots which were totally necessary - the entire jungle floor is 3 inch + deep mud. Our 2 guides were excellent, spoke very good English and clearly loved the jungle. They told us about all the different trees, plants, and their uses. We have always known this, but the rainforest truly has a cure for EVERYTHING - they showed us plants to cure asthma, arthritis, repel mosquitoes, etc. Truly amazing. Within minutes we encountered a tarantula that was easily the size of my entire hand, palm to finger tips, very creepy! One of the Aussie guys, Andrew S (nickname Strody) is terrified of spiders so he jumped back and kept his distance, but I must say that he handled being that close to a massive spider like a champ. The rest of us got pretty close for photos and to examine it. I had told the guides of my terrible fear of snakes and warned them that I was not joking - I told them that if they tried to be funny and stick a snake in my face that I would be truly furious, and luckily they took me seriously. We were walking along and one of the guides, Steban said ¨Mary, stay in the back¨. He came to the front of the group holding a foot long, skinny, white and brown striped snake. I actually remained quite calm but stayed at the back of the line. Gross, evil creatures. Luckily, that would be our only snake encounter in 2 days! After we survived our first night trek, we went back to our cozy rooms, enjoyed a nice cold shower (no one complained that there wasn`t hot water, who needs it in the scorching jungle?), and crawled up under our mosquito nets to rest up.

The next day we got up early and made our way back to the jungle for a full day trek. We were lucky to have no rain at all, dry season was approaching. We stayed dry, but again the jungle floor was all mud and there were times when we had to trudge nearly knee deep in rivers to get to the trail. So much fun. The jungle sounds were so peaceful and of course everything was GREEN. We saw tons of bugs (some with way too many legs), birds, lizards, and caimans (similar to crocs, but much larger - they can grow up to 5 meters long!). Strody bravely survived walking through spider webs and many encounters with ¨Jesus spiders¨ - they walk on water so even as we were trudging through streams they were all around us. It was HUMID and we were all covered in mud, sweat, bug spray, and sunscreen. It was an incredible adventure that I will never forget. We returned to the lodge for some relaxing and then a night boat tour of the river to try to find some caimans lurking along the shore. There were no clouds in the sky, and since it was so clear we saw tons of stars and heard nothing but crickets and birds all around. It was so nice to be away from cars, motorbikes, and other loud city noises. Unfortunately though, our mission to find caimans was unsuccessful. Oh well, at least we got to see some during the day.
I slept like a baby under my mosquito net that night. We were so lucky to be there. Our time in the Peruvian Amazon is something I will never forget. I just hope that we all do our part to keep the rainforest alive and thriving for future generations, it is the home to thousands of species of plants and animals that the world needs to survive. I was so impressed by how much our guides knew about the plants and animals living in the Amazon, but they were the first to say that there is so much more that they have not yet discovered...

Our group hopped a flight to Cusco where we would begin our Inca Trail trek, perhaps the leg of the whole trip that Sarah was most excited for.

At the Colca... Colca Canyon

Mary and I had to endure a looong 32hr bus ride from Santiago to Peru. (And I remember when I thought the 2 hr drive up to my grandparents house was long.) We made it and dare I say it wasn´t that bad, but it better be the longest bus ride I ever have. Peru was vastly different from the clean and organized Chile that we just left. People sat on every street corner either selling stuff or begging, cars clogged up the dirty roads, and finally things were cheap again. We headed up to the town of Arequipa to do a two day hike in Colca Canyon. Arequipa is a very cute little town with restaurants lining the balconies overlooking the central plaza. Once we got there we booked our trek and went to relax and get some food. Finally I got to have the pisco sours that Mary had told me all about and yes they are delicious and addicting.

Early the next morning we loaded our bus taking us to Colca Canyon. We had a puker on the bus which is never a good thing on a 3 hr bus especially for Mary because this smelly puker guy ended up sitting right next to her. She soon was able to tactfully trade seats and sit next to me. On our journey to the Canyon we stopped at Cruz del Condor, the famous cross overlooking the valley. We were lucky enough to even have a Condor, a very important symbol for the Incas, flying in circles above us while we were there. Slowly, we were getting adjusted to the higher altitude as Arequipa is at 2300m and Cruz del Condor is at 3500m. We would be in and out of high altitude areas for the next 6 weeks.
On our first day we were trekking 16km and the second day was only 7 km, but all up hill. We were hiking with two people from Argentina, Marco and Anna, that were on a short holiday to see Peru. The first half of our day was mostly walking down hill which was so hard on our knees and created blisters all over my feet. At the bottom of the hill we went to a local family house for lunch. They had a nice house, clearly funded by the tour groups, and were currently adding additional rooms onto their property. After lunch we still had a good 4 more hours of hiking to do, but this was much more pleasant. We walked through a few small villages that dot the canyon side. Our guide told us all about the fruit trees in the areas and the different uses all the plants have and as is it often the case, everything has a use and is not wasted. Eventually we reached Sangalle, aka The Oasis, where we stayed in a bug filled hut and enjoyed our coca tea.

The next day we rose at 5am to start our 7 km uphill hike out of the canyon. We each found our own pace with Mary leading the pack. I figured this trek would help me get in shape for Inca Trail as I hadn´t seen the inside of a gym or any physical activity in over 8 months. Although marathon girl (yes she found it necessary to wear the whole outfit, all one inch of spandex) beat us all to the top, Mary and I both made it in great time. We then went to the small town of Cabanaconde for lunch. On our way back to Arequipa our group made another stop at another dusty town where there was nothing to do. Since we had 2 hr to kill, Mary and I grabbed a bottle of wine, which we always think is a good idea, and sat down in their beautiful plaza to just enjoy the sunny day.

Guest Blogger: Andrea meets us in Santiago

Santiago was a special place, not only because Sarah and I would be meeting up again, but also because a close friend of mine from NY, Andrea, would be meeting us there for a week! My uncle is in the wine business and had put us in contact with a close friend of his, Pablo, who lives in Santiago and owns a vineyard about 3 hours south of the city. While we were in Santiago, Pablo took excellent care of us, constantly checking in to see if we needed anything and recommending places for us to see and of course, wines for us to taste...
Without further ado, here´s Andrea with a guest blog entry on Santiago, Chile:

Our first night in Santiago, we went to a college soccer game with a few guys from the hostel. It was so much fun! "Hinchada Hay Una Sola" The fans were PASSIONATE about their team! I thought Penn Staters were passionate about football, but this was a whole new level of intensity!

The next few days we were planning to do some wine tasting... The challenge was trying to taste as much as we could on a tight budget. Sadly, my tasting notes never made it to paper... and were a bit of a drunken blur by the end of the day, so I don't have much to offer in tasting notes.

Colchagua Valley, located three hours south of Santiago, is known for their Bordeaux reds. I wanted to visit Casa LaPostolle, but the tasting was too steep for our budget. Instead, we went to Viu on Pablo´s recommendation. The tour started with a lovely horse ride through the beautiful vineyards. With the cool, crisp fall air, we really enjoyed their warm tasting room that was heated by a wood burning stove. Our favorite wine was their Malbec Reserve. When our taxi driver picked us up, he was hosting a radio show (while driving us)! It was entertaining listening to him speak in the car and then hearing him on radio... We stopped at Estampa, and drank a bottle of their Malbec and Petit Syrah blend. It was delicious for the price! Finally, we made it to the last winery of the day, Bisquertt. Mary and Sarah loved the beautiful house filled with antique furniture and family pictures. Our favorite wine was the Casa La Joya 2007 Reserve, Carmenier. On the bus ride back to Santiago, the cute guy next to me starting talking to me. He didn't speak any English, and I don't speak Spanish. It was a funny conversation, and we all laughed. After a day of wine tasting, we were happy :)
The next day we went to Valparaiso, a cute, artsy tourist town two hours NW of Santiago. The town is located on steep hills by the sea... it felt a little strange... the streets were filled with dogs and graffiti... and everything was expensive. Some jewelry and clothing had 5th ave price tags! From Valparaiso, there was only one company that offered tours of Casablanca Valley, and they were rude and corrupt. Casablanca Valley is known for their white wines. Our tour started at Viña Mar. Sarah asked me about the strange looking riddling racks. So I explained how champagne was made, and the guide asked me to lead the rest of the tour in English! I really enjoyed Viña Mar's Sauvignon Blanc. citrius.. lemon... a fair amount of acidity.. muy bien! Next we stopped at Indomita. Their sommelier let me have a taste of the reserve chardonnay 2007, which was delicious, but the girls wanted to drink more Sauvignon Blanc. After the vineyards, we went had empanadas and went to the beach... what a great way to end the day :)
On my last night in Santiago, we cooked brinner (aka. breakfast for dinner), an old ritual we did often in NY. We started off with a bottle of Morande Sauvignon Blanc, and then opened up a cheap bottle of bubbly wine... and enjoyed huevos y queso. mmm!