A sun shines in Lima...

Talor: Why do all the planes arrive at the same time? After an uneventful four-hour flight, landed into Lima Airport at 11:00pm and raced to Immigration, hoping to go through quickly. Got there and saw a gazillion people on line... argh! Took us over an hour to get our stamps then went to get our bags, and for some unexplainable reason, the bags from our flight hadn't even come out yet... doube argh! Took us another 45 minutes before we went out to the main terminal where there was sheer chaos as the airport was packed with people at close to 1:00 in the morning. We had made a reservation at the Hostal Iquique to avoid walking around Lima at midnight looking for a hotel. We arranged for transport with the hotel and felt relieved to spot our driver who was holding up a sign with our names on it.

With only three days left on our trip, we decided to relax and spend it in Lima despite not liking it much the last go-around. There were only two things I was hoping for... a bit of sunshine and a nice comfortable place to settle into for the duration. Got lucky with the first as we saw the sun peeking through the fog around 10am the following morning, but not so lucky with the second. In three days, we moved three times... argh again!

Hostal Iquique looked nice when we checked it out online, but was disappointingly small in person. It would have been totally doable if it weren't for the surly staff. During breakfast the next morning, there was ridiculously only one table available for all the guests and after one quick coffee, they were pushing us to leave so the other guests can have their breakfast before we even started eating ours. This was the first time we were faced with out-and-out rudeness in Peru, but I refused to go anywhere until I was ready. So had another cup of coffee while I got dirty looks from the staff and they set up more tables for the other guests. Why didn't they do that before? Afterwards, we packed our bags and left without a thank-you, and headed to the ultra-touristy neighborhood of Miraflores, with upscale hotels, big casinos, fancy shops and expensive restaurants. Though not exactly our style, it is one of the few safe neighborhoods in Lima. Went to the Hostal El Patio and checked into the only room they had available, a double with a teeny-tiny kitchenette. At $50/night, it was the most we'd spent on housing on our entire trip! Ironic that it was in Peru, one of the cheapest countries in South America. Though the room wasn't all that, the common areas were absolutely lovely, and they had a 16-year old dog who, when not napping in the sun, liked to kiss. Unfortunately, they were completely booked up the next day and didn't have a room for us so we were forced to move again... more arghs!

Now we are at our third and final resting place, the Hotel Maria Luisa, where we have a Junior Suite with a mini-kitchenette. There is no common space, but no matter, the two rooms are large and comfortable, so much so that we got takeout pizza and ate it while watching tv... in bed!

On Friday, we finally met Adrian and Jodi, a couple of fellow travelers who we “met” online and had been corresponding with. They were on a similar path as us, but we somehow never managed to meet. They invited us to a party at their friend's house where we spent a fun night drinking rum, dancing and exchanging travel tales.

The rest of the time was all about chilling out and getting ready to go home... well, not home exactly since we'll be homeless for awhile, but just the familiar. Not looking forward to the cold or the culture shock, but can't wait to see the family and friends I've missed for almost a year! Can't believe it's been that long!

Erik: I couldn't believe how rude the staff were at Iquique, and Talor had to restrain me from making some sort of a scene. We'd only had a few hours sleep since we'd gotten in so late, and all I really wanted was a long, relaxing morning of sipping coffee and making plans. What we had was just the opposite. El Patio was very nice, if very expensive, but we still had our slush fund trip savings, and we'd vowed to stop worrying about budgets until we got home (which was the best decision we'd made in a long time.) Moving so often was annoying, but we really had little else we wished to do. I guess we were already in going-home mode and just weren't interested in museums or walking tours. Perhaps we were a bit burned out as well?

It was really funny/strange/exciting to finally meet Adrian and Jodi. Adrian had found our blog online ages back – in Guatemala I believe, and contacted me as we seemed to be following the same path, though Talor and I were a couple of weeks ahead of them. We nearly met up in Granada, Nicaragua, until the heat and strikes drove us off to the corns, so we missed them. How odd that after 11 months of traveling so near each other, that it worked out without any effort to finally meet up 2 days before we went home! The party was fun, and it was great swapping travel stories with them. Turns out we'd both been in the same plaza in Cancun on the same night – perhaps 100 yards apart – way back at the beginning of the trip. I hope we'll keep in touch and that we can meet again soon.

So now, as I write this, we're sitting in our room with 12 hours until our midnight flight back to the states. I'm excited and anxious at the same time. Oddly, I don't feel as if the trip is really ending, and I guess it's not, as we'll still be living out of our packs in cramped quarters in NYC, as our apartment is still sublet for some time. So trip continues, albeit it in much more familiar territory. I hear it's snowing up a storm there now, and here I am in shorts and sandals! It's bound to be a bit of a harsh homecoming...especially as we've no home.
Our final set of photos of photos from this trip. (Bet y'all are relieved!):

Lima (2), Peru

Ciao, Chile!

Talor: Got off the bus from Valpo and headed straight to Barrio Brazil, and the Hotel Castellana, where luckily we got the same room we had before. With everything being so familiar, it kinda felt like coming home...

The next three days, our last in Chile, flew by as we walked around everywhere enjoying the sunshine, and snacking on smoked cheese, chirimoya ice cream and fresh fruit from the mercado. Spent another fun day with our friends, the Torres'... took them to lunch at the Vacas Gordas where we gorged on steaks, fish and seafood, then visited a sports mall where we saw people surfing on an outdoor pool with waves. Ended the day back at their house chitchatting over ice-cream.

As we boarded the plane and took-off for Lima, I sighed as I thought about all that I would miss... the beauty of the country, the amazing fish in the south, taxi-drivers who don't honk at you, the civilized drivers who actually stop so you can cross the street, drinkable tap water, safe and peaceful towns and cities, kuchen... but above all, the warm and generous hospitality of the people. Hopefully, we'll be back...

Erik: Yes, I was sad boarding the plane for Lima. I was glad, though, as well, that we'd economized well over the months in Peru and Bolivia, and were able to treat ourselves and our friends a little better this time around in chile. We ate well, rented a car, did some organized activities, and had a big, blowout lunch with our friends with pisco sours, wine, steaks, etc. What a great time, especially compared to our last visit in chile, when we ate mostly empanadas and completos because of the sticker-shock of chile's higher prices. How relaxing it was to really indulge and enjoy ourselves without worrying much at all about budgets. It didn't hurt that the sun was out and the trees and plants in bloom, which made exploring santiago a pleasure this visit. To top it all, we really splurged and found a cheap flight to Lima, saving ourselves over 50 hours of tiring bus rides north.

Still, I was sad rather than excited to be going to Lima. Our time was running out, we already knew the city and weren't too infatuated with it – so our few days there were likely to be more of a winding down period rather than a last bit of exciting travel.
Our final set of photos from Santiago:

Santiago (3), Chile

Back to Valpo...

Talor: After much deliberating, we figured life is short, and though buses are far more economical and eco-friendly, we gotta do what we gotta do... soooo, we decided to take a 4-hour flight from Santiago to Lima rather than spend a week traveling by bus before getting on a plane for home. That meant we only had 6 days left in Chile... doh! How to spend that time... how about a weekend in Valparaiso? We loved it back in August, so we thought it's gotta be even better now that it's Spring and not so cold. Weeeeell....

Took an overnight bus and 14 hours later, we arrived into a city shrouded in fog. Somehow things just don't look as pretty when the sun's not shining. Casa Liesel, where we stayed at before, was full, so we settled into a comfortable enough room with a shared bath at Rincon de Valparaiso. And soon enough, the fog burned off and we set out to visit our favorite places...

First stop, of course, was Kanibal for a completo grande (humongous hotdog topped with sauerkraut, chopped tomatoes and smothered with guacamole). Went to say hello to the cicerones (street dogs) by the bus stop, but they were all too busy napping in the noonday sun. So we grabbed a couple of mini-pies and went to say hello to Maria and Miguel at Casa Liesel. Then in the evening, went to the historic Cinzano's for drinks and the music stylings of old men in formal wear. Had a nice time chatting with Nick, a young British traveler, and Carlos, born and bred in Valparaiso. But the place never filled up with raucous revelers dancing and singing like the last time we were there... o well.

Walked around the next day trying to shake off the hangover, but felt uninspired. Blame it on the piscos the night before or blame it on the fog that didn't burn off until about 3:00 in the afternoon, but for whatever reason, the city just didn't have the magic that we felt the first time around. Maybe it was going from the loveliness of the quaint little towns in the south to a large city, or the comfort of a 3-bedroom cabana to a double with a shared bath. Even the cicerones didn't seem interested in guiding us through the city. Maybe they sensed that we already knew our way around? Don't know, but the next day, the sun never came out so we decided to leave and spend our last few days in Santiago. Ironic, huh? Back in August, we loved Valpo and hated Santiago, but now in December, it's the other way around... who woulda thunk?

Erik: I had my trepidations about returning to Valpo – things you really love the first time around, whether places, food (dare I say people?), are rarely as nice the second. I didn't want our nice memories of valparaiso tainted by a bad visit, but I don't think they were. The city just wasn't new and exciting anymore, which is understandable. The fog didn't help either. Anyway, I still had a good time. The winding-down/return home parts of trips are always the most difficult, and now we have to accept that we'll not be seeing any new places for a while. But man am I looking forward to seeing family, friends and having a slice of NYC pizza...

Valpo round 2 pics:

Valparaiso (2), Chile

On holiday in Puerto Varas...

Talor: I really hated leaving Chiloe, but time was running out and so we needed to start heading north to avoid the mad dash to the finish line. Our next stop, Puerto Varas, was a 3 ½ hour bus ride away. We read that it was touristy, but after more than a week of inactivity, Erik needed a physical diversion, and PV offers a variety of options from hiking to kayaking to other water sports so we headed there.

At first blush, I didn't like it. Though it was cute, it seemed like it was trying too hard. The main strip was lined with quaint, but very expensive restaurants and tourist shops, and at the end of the drag was a huge modern casino. I guess the city is doing well because everywhere we looked, there were large fancy hotels under construction.

But then we discovered that life up on the hill was somewhat more normal, and prices far more reasonable. Little did we know that it was a holiday weekend (most people we asked couldn't even tell us what the holiday was), and found a lot of places all booked up. The first night we stayed at the German owned Casa Azul that had a Japanese garden and a young, frisky Weimeraner. Though they served up a big breakfast in the next morning, including a delicious muesli and freshly baked multigrain biscuits, the prices they charged for the tiny rooms didn't seem worth it. So we moved onto Erika's and took a bright and cheerful corner room that was absolutely spotless. The next morning, we chatted with Erika over breakfast, drinking coffee and eating her homemade kuchen. And though all was comfortable there, I really wanted to have a kitchen so we moved once again, right across the street, to Cabanas Roller, where we splurged on a 3-bedroom cabana with a living room, a full kitchen and a dining room. We settled in and called it our home for the next 3 days.

With only so many days left before having to return home, we thought let's really go all out and make a proper holiday of it! And so we did... we rented a car and spent a lovely day doing a tour of the sights around Lake Llanquihue. So often during our trip, there were times when we were on a bus or a train, I wanted to stop and explore, but couldn't. With a car, we could do just that. We made up our own tour and stopped and go'ed whenever and to wherever we wanted... what luxury! Made ourselves a picnic then headed out in the cheapest, dirtiest rental car ever!

It was a perfect day as we visited all the little towns around the lake. Our first stop was at the Ensanada Hotel, an antique grand hotel that was more like a quirky museum. Then onto the park at Petrohue where we hiked to the waterfalls. After that, we had a picnic lunch on a deserted black sand beach with a view of Volcan Osorno. Back in the car, we drove up to the bottom of the Volcano with breathtaking views of the lake. Took the secondary roads to the town of Cascadas where we hiked through the woods in search of another waterfall, but never found it. As we drove back, we saw an amazing sunset, then ended the evening with a delicious dinner of fresh fish at La Olla.

Spent the rest of the time just exploring the town and chatting with the friendly folks... walked along the waterfront, picnicked on the beach, drank motes (a refreshing drink made with sun-dried peaches), visited funny little museums, and stopped and smelled the roses... literally. Life is rough, huh?

Before saying good-bye to the South of Chile, we took a bus to the port town of Puerto Montt and spent the day walking around. Headed to the mercado and had a fabulous lunch at Apa where they served up huge portions of eel stew and grilled salmon as we watched the locals casting lines into the water. For dessert, we got a bag of cherries on the way to the main plaza and shared them with a mangy dog who seemed to enjoy them as much as we did. Then headed to the mall where we got online with free wi-fi while indulging in ice-cream at the food court. In the evening, we boarded a night bus for Valparaiso, and I couldn't help feeling sad as we rolled away... sigh.

Erik: Yes, Puerto Varas was very touristy, shiny and new compared to little fishing villages we'd been in. I spent all of 15 minutes in the huge, glitzy casino, but won enough money at blackjack that I didn't feel guilty splurging on an afternoon of “canyoning.” I guess I'm getting old, and adventure sports aren't my main diversion, so I'm not too ashamed to admit that I'd never heard of the “sport” before. Basically, they dress you up in a thick, head-to-toe wetsuit, in which you then hike up a mountainside to get to a remote river gorge. There you don crash helmets and go sliding down rocky river canyons like a water slide, or jump off 40 foot cliffs into the small ponds below. It was fun! And to top it off, we repelled down a waterfall cliff over 180 ft. high. I'd never repelled before, and it was good-and-terrifying as I slid down the thin rope over a high, sheer cliff, only a few feet from a raging waterfall. Talk about adrenaline! The only downside was my stupidity in bringing the camera along. I packed it in a waterbag, but it got a little wet each time i took it out, and by the end it had died on me. Oops. At least we had 2 with us, and the trip is nearly over...

Renting the car was another high point. I hadn't driven in nearly a year, and really enjoyed it – and it was so liberating after 10 months of bus rides. It's a bit rough on the daily budget, but well worth it. Next trip we'll do it more often...

All in all the south of chile is a spectacular place, and we were very sad to leave.

Our pictures from Puerto Varas:

Puerto Varas, Chile

Our photos from Puerto Montt:

Puerto Montt, Chile

Chilling on Chiloe...

Erik: The first day of December, and we're in the warm, summery weather and long days in southern chile. The further south we go, the longer the days get and the better the weather seems to be. By the time we got to the island of Chiloe, it wasn't getting dark until nearly 10pm, which really threw off our internal clocks. We were eating dinner as it got dark, which seemed normal until we finished dinner and realized that it was time for bed!

The bus ride to the small fishing town of Ancud on the northwestern coast of Chiloe Island took about 4 hours – 45 minutes of which was on a ferry – bus and all – over the island.

We found a cabana (stand alone cabin with kitchen, etc.) in Ancud, which was very nice and one of the more affordable housing options. The town was very small, with little to do except wander the waterfront and surrounding coast, and eat local seafood. We did take a tour over to the penguineras – penguin colonies about an hour away. They were very cute – the first time i'd seen penguins outside of a zoo. Two penguin species shared the small islands on the protected bay – Humboldt and Magelan, though they're quite difficult to differentiate one from the other.

After a few days in Ancud, we grew a little restless and caught a bus even further south to the tiny port town of Chonchi, where there was even less to do! We spoke with the local tourism officer, Nicolas, who was very friendly and recommended that we go out to the national park, about an hour's bus ride away.

The next day we caught the bus out to the park. We took one trail which took us through a dense, subtropical marsh forest – interesting and a bit spooky. After a picnic lunch, we took another short trail out to the beach on the pacific shore. A little ways into that hike we were joined by a very friendly dog who accompanied us the rest of the way out to the beach. It was very hot out, and he would run ahead to the next shady spot along the trail and wait for us there – then run along to the next bit of shade. He reminded us of our “cicerone” dog guides in valparaiso. He accompanied us all the way to the flat beach with roaring surf, where we found a herd of cows lingering. I'm not quite sure why they were there – there was no grazing for them. They were in the middle of a makeshift football pitch on the beach, so it seemed that perhaps they were playing an incredibly slow match of cow soccer.

I couldn't resist the pacific and went for a quick, chilly swim in the water – it was so nice to be back in the ocean again!

As we started to head back, our dog guide came with us a short ways, but then decided he was happy at the beach and plunked himself down in the middle of the only other people on the beach and took a nap – fickle!

Back in town that evening, the city's tourism officer, Nicolas (who'd recommended earlier that we go to the national park) drove past, and stopped to say "hi" and ended up inviting us up to his beautiful house on a hill overlooking the bay. We had drinks, listened to jazz, and discussed chile, korea (he'd travelled there twice), etc. He had a wonderful young dog, Theo, who'd had a mishap with Nicolas's horse and was suffering from broken front leg. Poor thing! There really is nothing to compare to south american hospitality! Gigi's family in Bolivia, the Torres family in Santiago, and Nicolas in Chonchi - how lucky we were to have met all these wonderful, generous people!

I'd hoped to catch the ferry from Chiloe over to Chaiten in Patagonia, but it turns out that service has been canceled because there's an erupting volcano in the way! We could see the huge pillar of ash and smoke from Nicolas's house, which is 100's of miles away. Wow. Oh, well, I'll have to leave the patagonia pin in the map for the next trip!

Talor: I wish you could see what I saw on Chiloe... it is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. The towns of Ancud and Chonchi were cute with modest homes painted in bright colors and lovely gardens with flowers blooming. But just a short distance outside of town, the fields of green and yellow with trees and wild flowers growing everywhere... well, it was simply breathtaking! Though I kept taking photo after photo, they do not begin to show what it was like. Guess I'll just have to remember it all...

Though we took day trips to see the penguins and to the national park, there really wasn't much to do so we wandered around town, watched kids break-dancing by the water, ate really fresh fish and seafood and sampled a whole lotta kuchen. A word about kuchen (pronounced ku-hen), my newest obsession... there's quite the variety, and at times, they are like cake, and at times, like pie. Sometimes they have a creamy middle, but most times not. They're always filled with a layer of fruit (berries, apples, bananas or quinoa). The best are the ones with the crumbly buttery top. And when you get one with just the right combination of pastry to fruit to crumbly top, it is heaven! One of the first orders of business when I get home is to find a kuchen recipe.

Anyway, with friendly locals like Nicolas, who invited us to his beautiful home on a hill for a drink and a chat, we were really enjoying life on the island. I thought, “why don't i live here?” then remembered that it gets bitterly cold in the winter and the months are dark and long... o well, nowhere is perfect. Time to move on...

We have way too many photos of Chiloe...

Isla Chiloe