Mendoza

Some Mendoza grapes on the vine. Tried them-delish!

I met up with my travel buddy Kellye Kuh in Mendoza, Argentina yesterday. We are traveling through Argentina and Brazil together. I took a gorgeous 6 hour bus ride from Santiago on Monday morning to Mendoza. Along the way I saw Mount Aconcagua- the highest mountain in the Americas! Upon arrival, I just walked around the city, shopped and lounged by the pool. It is soooooooooooo hot here. Such a shock from Peru, and North America. I ended up giving away/throwing away quite a bit of cold weather clothing.

Today Kellye and I did a biking wine tour to the vineyards around Mendoza where the world famous Argentinian malbecs are produced. We had such a blast!

Wine from our tasing at the Alta Vista winery.

Kellye and me at the vineyard.

What a gorgeous vineyard view!

We are about to leave our hostel in Mendoza and hop on the 15 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires. Thank goodness for Ambien. In BA we plan to hang out and meet up with Britt Cambas, our other travel partner. We are also going to a Beyonce concert. WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE SAINTS WON THE SUPBERBOWL

Who dat say they gone beat dem Saints!!

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS. SUPERBOWL XLV WINNERS!

Watched the game in Santiago and managed to teach an entire bar of Chileans the ¨Who Dat¨ chant.

Santiago and Valparaiso with Maria

So I flew into Santiago from Arica, Chile and visited my friend from summer camp Maria Bingemann. She lives in Santiago these days and works for the Chilean ski resort Ski Portillo. I was also her first official visitor! We hung out in Santiago for a night, then headed to Valparaiso for the weekend. We spent Sunday night in Santiago as well.

View of the port from our hostel

We went out on Saturday night to a club called the ¨Hueveo¨aka egg. It was pretty fun. The band Cafe Con Leche played.

Me and Maria dancing at the club.

Made it to Chile

After the craziest 24 hours of my life I am here! I took an 10 hour overnight bus from Puno to Tacna on a road that the Lonely Planet suggested travelers not take. But, it was quicker than the other option and it seemed like a lot of people were doing it as well. However, I was the only gringo in sight from the time I got on the bus in Puno to the border crossing (after the bus) into Chile.

Needless to say, all went well and I made it safely. But there were some times on the bus where I frantically started praying as we sped through turn after turn in the dark. Once the bus arrived in Tacna, Peru I took a collectivo taxi across the border. That was the most fun! I squeezed into a 2001 Ford Taurus collectivo taxi with 6 other people. Of course, I got the worst seat in the car...the front middle. And the cherry on the top...the driver drove 140 km/hr the whole way there!

Once across the border, I heade to my hostel a short walk from the beach here. They also upgraded me to my own room and bathroom. A real treat. The weather was gorgeous here and I spent the whole day at the beach. Such a welcome change from the cold and wet weather in Peru.

Not only is the weather different, but so is the quality of life. Chile seems much more European, is cleaner and more developed. Houses, stores and cars are also nicer. Crazy what a big difference a few miles across a border can make.

All is good except a French couple in my hostel that is sitting next to me at the computers right now won´t stop making out.

The beach 5 mins from my hostel
People love McD´s all over the world. The main pedestrian street in Arica.

Lake Titicaca

So after lots of stressing I decided that it would be safe for me to head to Puno (the town at Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian side). I took a bus called the Inka Express. It´s a tourist bus, so we stopped at several sites and towns along the way. I met a nice guy who just graduated from U. Florida who was traveling alone as well. We decided to stick together in Puno and it made the trip much nicer to have a friend around.

Puno was unexciting for the most part. Visiting the islands around Lake Titicaca is the main attraction. We did a 2 day 1 night tour of the islands. First we stopped at the floating Uros islands, where people live on islands that they make and have been making for hundreds of years. After that, it was onto Amantani island 2 hours away. We stayed overnight with a family here and experienced the real island life. They lived the same way generations before them have. They have some solar power, but eat little to no meat and all farm for their income. My Amantani ¨dad¨ had never been anywhere except the island and Puno! The next day included a visit to Taquile island.

The Uros

The view from my family´s home on Amantani Island

Our family dressed us up in traditional clothes.

A little girl on Taquile Island.

Me on Taquile Island

Tuesday was the feast of the the Virgin de la Candelaria in Puno, this is the town´s patron saint. Check out the pics below.

last week in Cusco! Goodbye

So, thank goodness the rains have abated and things are getting back to normal. My friends stuck at Machu Picchu were airlifted out today and I am headed out to Puno/Lake Titicaca tomorrow. This week was somewhat tumultuous because of the weather. Turns out there is absolutely no way I can get to Machu Picchu. I had a small break down when I figured this out because I´ve come all the way to South America and can´t see the number 1 tourist destination on the continent. After a day or two I accepted this and decided I´ll return next year and do the Inca trail to Machu Picchu with Alixe or Teddy (sis and bro). I was able to take a Cusco city tour and tour the Sacred Valley where many Inca ruins are located. Part of the Sacred Valley is closed off because of the rains...in Pisac an entire bridge collapsed because of the high water!

Saqsayhuaman ruins above Cusco city. This was an Inca fortress. It is HUGE! This pic is only a small portion.

Me at Q´enquo ruins outside of Cusco. They used to sacrifice people in there!

Tatiana, me and Jordanna at Tambomachay. This was an Inca sacred water worship site.

A view of Cusco city from Saqsayhuaman.

Today was also the last day with my girls at the orphanage. I was surprisingly sad to leave them. This last week I have gotten close to several of the girls. But I know that they are in good hands, and there is a steady flow of volunteers who come to help them. I brought them a cake as a little goodbye present for them and they gave me a handmade purse. It will be such a great way to remember my experience.

The cake maker managed to misspell every word on this cake.

The girls and me with the cake I brought.

These girls are UT fans! Hook ´Em!

Besides volunteering and touring, I´ve managed to squeeze some partying in as well. I´m sure most of you aren´t surprised! I was out this week and recognized a guy. I wasn´t sure from where. We started chatting and turns out he is from New Orleans and went to Saint Martin´s my year. We were both totally pumped about the fact that THE SAINTS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!

Samantha and I at Club Inka Team last night.

Machu Picchu train situation photos

Here are some pics from my failed trip to Machu Picchu. Thankfully we did not make it. There are still over 1,000 stranded tourists who are running out of money for food and water!

This is when we left the train and headed to the bus.

This is the bus we got on to get us to Ollyantaytambo. Unfortunately, we didn´t make it much farther past Ollyantaytambo before another landslide.