A la Playa!!!

A big item on my to-do list was the beach in Viña del Mar. On Sunday it was 85 degrees and perfect beach weather. Diego gave me a beach recommendation and Katy and I decided to go for it. We took the bus from Santiago to Viña del Mar and then a micro to Reñaca. We stopped at a typical greasy Chilean restaurant for lunch and chowed down on a completo gigante and a churrasco with fries. The completo was much bigger than my hand but somehow we managed to finish everything. Once we felt sufficiently disgusting we headed to the beach and took in the sunshine. After an hour we could already see sunburn lines so we lathered ourselves with sunscreen but it was too late; the hole in the southern ozone took advantage of our reflecting white skin. The beach was fantastic and I loved soaking up the sun while thinking about the cold weather in Boston.

Midnight Sushi

At 7:30 Meera, Katy, and I decided that we would spend another hour working and then eat sushi in an all you can eat restaurant that we have been wanting to try. We called Maca and invited her and met up with her at 9. She and Rodrigo didn't like the place that we suggested so we were flexible and decided to go to a different place. We arrived at Meera's suggestion at 10:45 but it was too expensive so we walked to Rodrigo's suggestion at 11. We sat down and got ready to order and then the waiter told us that they were out of avocado. Several people were really unhappy about that so we decided to leave. It was 11:30 and we still didn't have any sushi.. Maca, Rodrigo, Katy, and I went and got their car and called in an order to a place in Plaza Nunoa. We waited until 12:15 for it to be ready and then drove to Becca's apartment. We were starving and devoured 110 pieces of sushi among 7 of us..

Time is Ticking

On Tuesday I realized that there are only 2 weeks of classes left. After classes end I will be heading to Patagonia and to Buenos Aires and will only have a few days in Santiago. Where has time gone?? I am not ready to be done in Santiago!! With that in mind I made a list of everything I still wanted to do and got down to business.

Tuesday after dance I walked from downtown to Bellavista with several friends. We ate at a wacky Peruvian themed restaurant and then explored the neighborhood before touring Pablo Neruda's house. I am very familiar with Bellavista at night- it is the clubbing district of Santiago. But by day it is a tranquil, tree-lined neighborhood full of restaurants, cafes, and boutiques. There is a lot of street art and it is easy to imagine why Santiago's small number of poets and artists live here.

Pablo Neruda's Santiago house (he had 3 houses) is on a hill in Bellavista. The house is built in several sections on the side of the hill and has great views of the city framed by the Andes. The house is not as eclectic as his house in Isla Negra because a large section of the house and several of his collections were burned during the coup in 1973 but it is still full of unique and thought-provoking items.

La Serena

The last Tufts trip of the semester took us 8 hours north to La Serena. On Friday we took the bus, stopped in a small beach town for lunch, and then bused another 4 hours to reach La Serena. We had free time to hang out on the beach but it was a little cold so not very many people went swimming.

Saturday we had to visit the routine small plaza, church, and cemetery. Seriously, every Tufts trip has included these 3 boring visits. We also visited an artist, a solar oven based restaurant, and a dam before arriving at lunch (always the highlight!) at Pisco Elqui. We ate a great lunch on a patio at the pisco distillery and then toured the facilities. Pisco is distilled from wine and mostly used for Pisco Sours. The best part of the tour was drinking Pisco Sours and watching and extremely cheesy film about a grape's life as it was turned into Pisco. Afterwards we visited Mistral's tomb (another necessary part of a Tufts trip: dead poets) and then drove to another small town. At night we went up to an observatory on top of a hill because the night sky in La Serena is the clearest in the whole world. We got to look through top-notch telescopes and were able to see Jupiter with 2 rings and 3 moons as well as stars that appeared to be single stars but were really 100s of stars in a cluster. The observatory was like elementary school science class on steroids!

We spent most of Sunday on the bus but we stopped in a beach town for lunch. We had shrimp empanadas, fish, rice, ice cream, and fruit juices, which would have been great except for the 9 people that ended up with food poisoning. I would like to thank my stomach for not succumbing!!

Wednesday, November 4

I decided that Wednesday was the kind of day that you always see in admissions catalogues. "A Typical day in Santiago" or "A Study Abroad Student's Daily Life". And you never believe that it all is on the same day.
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9:30 -wake up and go for a jog in Las Condes- I don't particularly love jogging but I do like getting some exercise after all of the greasy food that I eat here. And jogging is a great way to see different neighborhoods and people watch.
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11:30- meet 2 other students to do research for Foro de Salud- The health classes that I was going to teach fell through because of recruitment and scheduling issues. I am using my English teaching position as my internship for credit but I am still trying to stay involved with the Foro organization. Today I met 2 other girls and we worked on their research on the morning after pill. We went around to pharmacies in one district and asked if they had the pill, if you needed a prescription, and how much it cost and then recorded observations. I was surprised about how available the pill was even though the cost varied a lot between pharmacies.
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4:30 -Spanish Quiz- We had quiz number 4 in my Spanish class at U Catolica today. The quiz was on vocabulary, subjunctive triggers, and direct and indirect articles. The class has really helped me cement my grammar skills and nicely compliments my experiences with spanish outside the class.
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7:30- Maca's Birthday- We celebrated Maca's 22nd birthday with her, her family, her university friends, and some of Rodrigo's friends. It was an interesting mix of people because the ages and life stages were very spread out. There was lots of food and great cake!
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12:30- Miercoles Po- We helped clean up after Maca's party and hung out with her until it was an acceptable time to head to Miercoles Po. This week's theme was Mardi Gras and it was held at the ex-fabrica, an old factory that has been turned into a great disco. Within 30 seconds of arriving we ran into Diego and several of his friends..surprise! It was a really fun party with great music and lots of dancing.

Asado with my Students

Last Monday when I went to my high school to teach English some of my students invited me to their class asado (Chilean bbq). Apparently it is acceptable to skip a whole day of school to have an afternoon bbq at the English teacher's house. I decided that it would be really interesting to see how the kids act outside of school and of course, there would be delicious food.
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I immediately found the house because of the loud reggaeton music that was flooding the street. The kids let me into the teacher's house and told me that she had gone to the store. Interesting choice to let 15 wild kids stay in her house alone. I was a little disgusted by the way the raw meat was being cut without cutting boards and without washing the knives but I pretended not to notice. I washed the strawberries that I brought but everyone told me that I had to cut of the stems and let them sit in sugar before they would eat them. Again, I went with it. We ate steak, choripan (sausage in bread), salad, potatoes, and berries and drank fanchop (beer and orange soda).

After eating the English teacher closed all the blinds and turned the music up and told the kids to start dancing. There was some chanting and eventually the English teacher and I had to dance for everyone's entertainment. All the couples starting dancing and I was surprised how much they considered to be appropriate in front of a teacher. I was given regaetton dance lessons before the whole show was over. It was a very entertaining experience and one that gave me a window into "flaite" (gangster-esque) youth culture.

Halloweekend

Happy Halloween!

Our celebration of this non-Chilean holiday started early-Tuesday afternoon. Katy and I baked delicious chocolate cupcakes and frosted them with brown, white, orange, and green Halloween designs. There was a ghost, a spider, a bat, a witch hat, 2 monsters, a black cat, etc. We gave them to Diego for his birthday. Giving them to him was a little bit of a scene because we showed up to his apartment in bunny and zebra costumes on our way to a Halloween party. The Halloween party was thrown by Miercoles Po', the organization that has parties at different clubs every Wednesday night for foreigners and Chileans. This week's party was aptly themed Halloween Po'. (Po is a word that Chileans say at the end of every thought: "Si po, huevon, vamanos a Miercoles Po).

On Friday Katy and I went to Patronato- a funky fashion neighborhood reminiscent of Harajuku- and found costumes. The best part about our costumes is that we bought them at normal stores and the people there would not consider them costumes. After costume hunting we met up with Giorgette, a girl from our dance class, and went to an Arabic restaurant with her. After lunch I met up with Javiera, my tandem partner, and we went to ice cream and sat outside to enjoy the sun.

Friday was also Aaron's birthday so we celebrated. It was a fun mix of Americans, Chileans, Australians, and Europeans. We all met at a hostel and after awhile walked to a club in Bellavista. It was another succesful night of dancing! We ended the night Chilean style by eating chorillana at 4:30am.

Saturday was Halloween so of course we had to dress up and go out! I was a zebra, Katy a leopard, Becca Cleopatra, Emily Lady Gaga, and Meera ??? (maybe a drag queen). We got ready together and then split ways because we were going to different parties. It was a fun night even though we didn't end up dancing. Highlight of the night: getting asked out by a Chilean cop. Not professional behavior!

The Driest Desert on Earth

Last weekend Becca, Meera, and I went to the Atacama desert in Northern Chile. The Atacama is the driest desert in the world! We left our apartments at 5am and caught the sunrise just before take-off. The view out of the plane was spectacular.

Day 1 in San Pedro we went to Valle de La Luna and Valle de La Muerte. The valleys were bathed in scorching sun and had panoramic views of the desert. We hiked through a canyon with salt covered walls and then went through a narrow cave. We climbed up a sand dune to watch the sunset and the colors reflecting on a volcano across the valley.

Day 2 we went to one of the world's largest salt flats and watched flamingos walk around the salt mounds. Then we headed up up up (to more than 14,000ft) to visit the high plains lakes. The road into the mountains was one of the bumpiest roads I have ever experienced. The lakes were a spectacular bright blue and contrasted with the desert sand and snow peaked volcanoes.

Day 3 we woke up at 3:45am and drove 2 hours on another of the bumpiest roads I have ever seen. It was impossible to sleep so I stared out the window at the stars and the blackest sky I have ever seen. We went back up to 14,000ft to visit El Tatio Geysers at sunrise. We were standing in the sub-freezing geyser field when the sun came up and illuminated the steam and boiling water that was spewing out of the ground. We bathed in a hot spring near the geysers then visited a desert village and ate llama on the way back to San Pedro.

Route of the Terremotos

I thought that our "Club de Comilones" (eating club) was pretty funny until last week when Katy's host brother invited us out to drinks. It turns out that he and his friends also have a club. There's is "Route of the Terremotos" and they go around to different drinking dens in Santiago to sample Terremotos (earthquakes). Terremotos are famous drinks that are made out of wine, hard alcohol, and pineapple ice cream. We went to a really dingy bar with them and drank alongside all of the old, lonely drunkards. Then we went to the clubbing district and had some drinks on a patio before going to a disco. We had some great conversations about cultural differences in friendships and dating in Chile and the US. It was a great chance to practice Spanish, for them to practice English, and to gain a little more insight into Chilean culture.

Pomaire for Becca's Birthday

Saturday I went to Pomaire, a small pottery village, with Becca, Maca, and Rodrigo. We really went just to be comilones and eat pastel de choclo and empanadas de pino. Pastel de choclo (in the picture) is a baked dish full of corn and chicken. It is sweet and salty and absolutely delicious. The empanadas in Pomaire are half a kilo and are bigger than my face.

After devouring lunch we walked around town and went to an artist's stand to learn how to make traditional pottery. We all made a few pieces with the artist's help and then tried some on our own. We took all of the pots home, even though mine will definitely be moving to the garbage.

After Pomaire I went to Becca's house to celebrate with her family. We had completos (second time this week!) and this chocolate, manjar, condensed milk, whipped cream, strawberry cake that Katy and I made. After eating we went to a bar and met up with friends from Tufts to finish off the birthday celebrations.

Soccer Game... Futbol Frenzy!

Wednesday after Spanish class my friend Diego invited Katy and I over to his apartment to watch the Ecuador vs Chile soccer game. When we arrived Diego's friend was in the kitchen cooking (and be cooking I mean "cooking") completos. Completos are a Chilean favorite and are hot dogs with tomatoes, avocado, onions, ketchup, mustard, and mayo. Our completos were served with mango sours and piscolas. Piscola is a mix of pisco and Coke and is the drink of choice for young Chileans. We watched the soccer game with Diego and about 5 of his friends and everyone was pretty intense about the game. I don't think it could have gotten much more Chilean: futbol, completos, and piscola. After Chile won the game we could hear the whole city go crazy. We went out on the balcony and looked out over all the people running through the streets chanting, waving flags, and honking horns.

After the soccer game they wanted to teach us a drinking game called Cuarto Rey. Fortunately for us we already knew how to play because it is basically the same as King's Cup. We swapped rules and had a great time playing categories and choosing impossible topics for each other. After Cuarto Rey we blasted reggaeton, the boys sang along, and we had a dance party in the living room. Katy and I have our work cut out for us: learn the lyrics to all the most popular songs! In the taxi on the way home Katy and I agreed that it was one of the most fun nights we have had in Chile.

Mendoza, Argentina

This weekend I got another stamp in my passport. Monday was Dia de la Raza and we took the long weekend to cross the Andes into Argentina. Thursday night, after going to the wrong bus station, asking for directions several times, and walking to the right one, we took an overnight bus from Santiago to Mendoza. At 2am the bus reached the border and we all had to get up and stand outside for an hour. It was freezing. We were in the middle of the Andes after all. But in my dazed 2am stupor I managed to get all my documents in order but not to bring pants and a jacket. After freezing for an hour we got back on the bus and slept until sunrise.

Day 1 in Mendoza we walked all around the city. Mendoza is one of the calmest cities I have ever visited (that doesn't say that much though because I tend to visit chaotic places). The city is full of plazas, fountains, and trees. We kept a Chile vs Argentina tally while we explored.

Chile: creatively hideous hair styles, hotdogs, money.

Argentina: trees, pretty people, variety of cow parts served at nice restaurants.

On 2 we rode bikes from winery to winery and learned how to properly taste wines. We visited 3 bodegas and 1 distillery and chocolate factory. It was all in good fun until Katy crashed her bike and ended up with a bloody knee. When we got back we met up with my Tufts friend who is studying in Mendoza and my Camp Reed friend who is studying in southern Chile and went to a classy Italian dinner. Afterwards we went to a less than classy gas station patio to enjoy more Argentine wines.

Day 3 we headed out to Rio Mendoza to go rafting. I was so so excited to go rafting for the first time. Unfortunately we had to wait a long time, the water was freezing, and the rapids were not very intense. I remembered to bring my positive attitude though and I had a great time! The highlight was definitely the 80s-style wetsuits we all got to wear.

On Monday morning we went to the bus station for the ride back to Chile. We got on the bus and after 20 minutes they announced that we would be waiting another 25 minutes for some people who were late. An hour into the ride we hit a line of parked traffic. There was a demonstration against logging and in favor of tourism that had closed the only road across the pass. After sitting for an hour we started moving again. The demonstration ensured that we all arrived at the border at the same time and we had to sit for nearly 3 hours before entering customs. After customs we slowly made our way down the switchbacks and got stopped at several police check points. The 7 hr bus ride ended up taking 12 long, long hours. At least we had spectacular views of Mt. Aconcagua and really bad movies dubbed in Spanish to entertain us!

Everyday Life

The last couple days have been full of simple, but very fulfilling, activities with friends. On Tuesday I had my Chilean Folklore dance class. The teacher is energetic and full of positive energy and never ceases to entertain us. We had spent a lot of classes learning the cueca before Chilean Independence Day but on Tuesday we moved on to a new dance from the northern part of Chile. It involved holding holds, chasing after each other, and clapping and spinning circles. As funny as this is in itself, it is always more entertaining when we don't understand the directions and do the wrong ridiculous movement.

After dance we headed to La Vega for lunch. I had been to La Vega (the fruit/vegetable market) several times and had been waiting for an opportunity to eat in the hot lunch section. Katy and I went with another friend from our class and shared Lomo Saltado, Fried fish, potatoes, salad, soup, and drinks for less than $3 per person. Cheap and delicious! The best part of La Vega is the atmosphere. I love watching all the different people come and go, eat lunch, buy fruit, peddle toys, sing songs, and meet friends. La Vega is also a place to observe Chile's stark social contrasts. The freshest and highest quality fruit is sold in La Vega; however, if you are a wealthy Chilean you would not be caught dead shopping there. When I told some of my Chilean friends about eating lunch in La Vega they immediately asked if I had food poisoning.

That night Becca, Katy, and I made Butternut squash soup for Becca's family. I had asked several people how to say butternut squash and nobody could tell me a word other than the word for pumpkin. Little did we know that butternut squashes are only for decoration in Chile! Becca's family thought it was pretty strange when we served them as a soup, but they did admit that it was really tasty!

Wednesday I had to go downtown to try to find an Argentina travel guide. I succeeded in finding a spanish copy but didn't buy it when I found out that it was $60. I checked out some of the other books and they were all expensive. Lesson learned: If I want to be literate I will need to move back to the US.

For lunch I met up with Maca and we went to a soda fountain near Plaza de Armas. She recommended the churrasco and I took her advice (minus the mayonnaise). It was a hamburger-style sandwich with sliced beef and heaps of mashed avocado. I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk to Maca and we had a great time hanging out, eating lunch, and walking around downtown. I had a little time to kill before class so she showed me a neighborhood I had never seen where they sell all sorts of beads and craft supplies- (mom, it was like a mini Sham Shui Po! I'm pretty sure it is all imported straight from there anyways.)

After Spanish class Becca, Katy, and I met Maca and Javi to make fajitas and have a Sex in the City party. The fajitas came out really well and Sex in the City was hilarious. It's a funny show in general but when all of the phrases are translated into spanish it is even better! This led to a quality conversation about all sorts of modismos and chilenismos.

Fin de Semana!

This weekend was super busy and super awesome. As a side note, Chileans say “super” before every adjective. “Chuuuta, ella es super bacán.” Now I can’t stop saying super. Anyways, this weekend was full of great food, great drinks, and great people.
Friday- I met my tandem (English-Spanish language practice) partner at Bravissimo for ice cream. I love Bravissimo and Javiera, my tandem partner, is really nice. After ice cream we walked around the area and chatted. When I got home Maca called and invited Becca and I to an asado/Chilean bbq. I told them about how I ate helado with my pareja. Apparently pareja made it sound more like I went on a date with a girlfriend. Spanish fail #94840482094. The asado had really great food and we got to meet some of Maca’s friends. Afterwards we headed to Manuel Montt (a trendy bar neighborhood) and went to a bar with Maca, Rodrigo, and several Tufts friends. The menu was full of ridiculous sounding drinks and I was a little embarrassed the 3rd time I had to repeat Coco Loco Malibu in a Chilean accent to the waitress. But the quality of the drink made up for it!

Saturday- When I woke up I went into the kitchen to eat breakfast and my host mom invited me to Estación Central. She said we were leaving right away and apparently she meant it because before I was even out of my pjs she was waiting outside the door. Estación Central is a busy section of walking streets that is full of China import shops. Many people from the provinces buy bulk goods there to sell outside of the city. Apart from all the Asian kitch I also saw lots of live poultry, several animal hides, and Halloween costumes. In the afternoon I got dressed up and went to Ben’s house for a wine and cheese party. We sampled classy wines out of plastic cups and ate gourmet cheese alongside Chilean candies. Then we walked to Plaza Nuñoa for Happy Hour before heading to Javiera’s Bingo fundraiser for Scouts. We were a little out of place in dresses but nobody seemed to mind. After Bingo we went to my friend Christian’s b-day party and learned some Brazilian dance moves.

Sunday- by Sunday I was ready to sleep! I slept in, ate lunch, planned a spur-of-the-moment trip to Mendoza for next weekend, then went to Parque Arauco to wander and eat.
Great weekend! I love being busy, having a great mix of friends, and feeling more settled in Santiago!

Fracaso (Part 2)

Once I get over one failure there is inevitably another one waiting for me. Wednesday evening was the first night of our health education series for teenage girls. We had met twice to plan the class, I had been to the store to buy supplies, and the location was confirmed. I was worried about arriving on time for the first session so I asked to leave early from Spanish. Elite Universidad Católica is located in an upper-middle class neighborhood on one side of the city and my education series- which targets low-income girls- is located in a poor neighborhood on the other side of the city. To get there I had to walk 10 min, take a micro, transfer to the metro, change lines, take another micro, and walk 10 min. I left an hour before the workshop started but it took nearly 90min so I still arrived late. When I got there I walked into the room and there were no girls. Apparently the center had not realized that the high school nearby does not get out until 8pm on Wednesday nights and any girls that were interested were still in class. Fail.

The bright side: They were very impressed that I had arrived at all because it is a challenging place to find and I had to ask for help several times. At least my Spanish is good enough to survive! Also, I got a ride back and spent an hour chatting and learning new words with my 2 Chilean co-teachers.

Fiesta de Zapallos

Last Sunday morning I went to the feria with my host mom and sister. The feria takes place every Sunday and sells produce, fish, meat, and used clothes, electronics, and anything else that you could think of. My host mom told me that it represents a more diverse group of Chileans because the prices are a lot lower than the grocery store. The market was crowded and we hopped back and forth between vendors to buy kilos upon kilos of fruits and vegetables. I bought zapallo, which is a relative of the pumpkin, so that Becca, Meera, and I could have a fall feast.

After lunch I went to Jumbo (the supermarket) and bought more ingredients for our “Fiesta de Zapallo.” Claudia and Javiera seemed very skeptical when we told them what we were planning. We spent several hours in the kitchen and made a spiced pumpkin soup, homemade raviolis with a pumpkin and ricotta filling, and pumpkin pie. After devouring the results Javi and Claudia agreed that pumpkins do make delicious meals!

El Teniente Copper Mine

The most recent Tufts-sponsored trip was to El Teniente, one of the world’s largest mines. We took into the mountains south of Santiago and stopped at the Teniente gate to get dressed and learn about safety. We wore hard hats, lights, goggles, breathing mechanisms, orange jackets, tool belts, and boots. Honestly, dressing up was one of my favorite parts of the day.

Our guide took us into the mine in a van and then we got out and went into the control center. The mine uses technology to drill in the tunnels that are not safe enough for people. There are computers with cameras that you can control with joysticks. The machinery and drills are also controlled by joysticks. We got to sick in the chairs and drill through rocks, cyber-style!
We also visited a cave with the biggest crystals I have ever seen and a tunnel with a rock crusher that was smashing boulders. After the tour we had lunch with some miners in the cafeteria underground. When we got out of the mine it was snowing and we had to walk around a ghost town and look at old houses, streets, etc. The mine was awesome but the ghost town was a little boring.

Fracaso

Life is not perfect. Sometimes that is hidden behind numerous successes and joyful moments, but other times it is quite clear. The other morning reminded me that there are times when plans do not work out and ideas never move past the idea phase.
My day started out with a 10:45 meeting for my internship at the Juan Gomez Millas campus in ñuñoa. I had a class downtown at 12 so I had tried to move the meeting up but I was assured that we would be done by 11:20. I budgeted an appropriate amount of time to get to the campus and I arrived 5 minutes early. I figured that nobody would be there because Chile does not run on time so I found a seat and waited. After 20 minutes I started worrying that I was confused and had not understood the email in Spanish. I started walking around and I ran into my boss. She was just arriving and she called to see where the other girls were. The other two, who work in the building, were just running late. The meeting finally started at 11:15. I had to leave at 11:20 so that was not very useful for me.
When I left the meeting I asked the girls for directions. They are Chilean so I figured they might have better directions then the ones I found online. False. They told me to take any micro south front the front of the campus and then to get off at Irarrazaval and take the metro. I hopped on a micro in the right direction and asked the driver if he could tell me when to get off. Turns out this micro did not go to Irarrazaval. So I asked him if it went to any metro stations. My answer: “Más o menos.” (more or less.)Very helpful. A nice lady asked me where I was trying to go and when I told her she looked surprised. She said that she was getting off near a metro and that I could walk with her. She was very friendly and we chatted about different getting lost experiences. I never would have found the metro without her help because we were on the micro for at least 20 minutes and then had to walk several blocks in a Santiago neighborhood that I was completely unfamiliar with. We ended up at a metro station that I had never heard of and she warned me not to talk on my phone or look lost. I thanked her and headed towards el centro.
When I got to my class building I got a text from a friend that said that class had been moved and that it was now on the 3rd floor. I went to the 3rd floor and started looking for a dance room but I only saw offices. A women asked me what I was looking for and told me that to get to the other side of the floor I had to go down to the 2nd floor, walk across the building, and then go back again.
I am very familiar with the Spanish verb fracasar. Fail. But not every fracaso is a negative experience. This time I got to meet a really nice Chilean woman and see a neighborhood that I would not otherwise have seen.

Jumping Alpaca

Crazy alpacas in Machu Picchu

Chinchero homestay

The next morning we took a colectivo back to the Sacred Valley for our homestay in Chinchero. Chinchero is a small town that relies mostly on animal husbandry, livestock, and handicrafts. We met our host dad at the bus stop, walked to the house, and met our host mom and 7yr old sister Milagros. After settling in they took us to their store where we met our older host sister. In the late afternoon Milagros took us to the town’s Catholic church and then to the Incan ruins. Along the way Milagros’ little cousin started following us. When we got to the ruins the little girls announced that now we were going to play. They started gathering twigs and grass for ‘food’ and we played ‘house’ with them. We cooked pretend cuy (guinea pig) and drank lots of chicha morada. I was playing right along and then I realized how special the moment was. We were playing ‘house’ with two Quechua girls on Incan ruins with a spectacular view.

For dinner our host mom made lomo saltado and we ate with Milagros. Everyone went to bed early because the day starts early in Chinchero. In the morning we ate egg and corn pancakes and had the most delicious whole milk, unpasteurized hot chocolate I have ever tasted. Then we walked around the market in the main square and learned how to dye alpaca wool to make yarn for sweaters and hats. We said goodbye to the family and headed back to Cusco in the late morning.

Puno- Lake Titicaca

After arriving back in Cusco from Machu Picchu we had several hours before our overnight bus to Puno. We got a recommendation for a local chifa (Chinese-Peruvian fusion) restaurant and tried it out. As soon as we walked in I could feel China. The restaurant was small, dimly lit, crowded, cheap, had stools instead of chairs, plastic menus, and a few red lanterns. We asked for help ordering and ended up with great wonton soup, fried noodles and rice, and some meat dishes.

Our bus departed at 10pm and was awful. We had nice seats but the Israelis behind us were talking the whole time. The bus was too hot and we couldn’t get them to turn on the air. The road was curvy and gaining altitude and people were getting sick throughout the night. If I managed to sleep at all during those 7 hours it was for half an hour maximum. We arrived in Puno at 4:30am and sipped on coca tea for 2 hrs in the bus terminal. This was probably the lowest point of an otherwise amazing trip.

At 8am we boarded our boat and headed out on Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable body of water. Our first stop was the Uros or floating islands of the Aymara people. This was too touristy for my liking but it was interesting to learn how the people make the islands, boats, houses, schools, food, etc. After an hour we loaded the boat again and headed (very slowly) towards Amantani Island.

When we arrived in Amantani we were paired with our host family and started the trek, yes trek, to our house. I was not feeling very well and the long, hot, uphill hike did not make me feel better. When we arrived at the house I got in bed and stayed there all evening. I think that I had a combination of altitude sickness, exhaustion, and bacteria from food. Amantani is more than 4000m (13,000 feet) above sea level. Our Quechua family was very nice, spoke good Spanish, and cooked great meals. I did not know that so many types of potatoes and tubers existed until eating dinner with them. I unfortunately missed a hike to the top of the island and a dance where I would have gotten dressed up in traditional clothes but I decided to sleep so that I would feel better for the rest of the trip.

In the morning we went to Taquile Island and learned about their customs. Taquile’s inhabitants are still very traditional and maintain rules about intermarriage. You can tell whether or not young men are single or taken by the style of hat that they wear and how they wear it. We walked up and across the island and had lunch in a restaurant in the Plaza.

When we got back to Puno the first thing we did was try to change our bus tickets for the earliest possible bus. After the awful overnight experience we wanted to get it out of the way as early as possible to that we could still get a hostel when we got back to Cusco. We changed our tickets for a local bus at 6pm. This simple decision turned into one of my most interesting experiences in Peru. I was wearing two jackets and had my money, passport, and camera split between my inside pockets and socks. As I found my seat a group of Peruvian women in traditional dress was hustling on and off the bus with boxes, bags, blankets, cushions, food, children, and anything else you could think of. They crammed the boxes and bags under their seats then piled them up on top of their seats and covered them with blankets. After everything was loaded they perched on top of the huge stacks and settled down. About 30 min into the ride a really big lady comes over to me and asks if the empty seat next to me is taken. There were lots of other free seats on the bus so asked her if she wouldn’t mind sitting somewhere else. She took that as an invitation to sit down and started moving boxes into my seat. Between her body size, the boxes, and the blankets I was left pushed up against the window. I thought it was kind of amusing though so I let the situation enroll.

An hour later the entertainment increased as we were joined by a travelling candy bar salesman and his clown puppet. His candy was called Killate- which in Spanish doesn't mean anything- but in Spanglish is the command for kill you! If that wasn't enough to creep us out on a dark local bus he kept going around asking for money and then saying "Don't worry, I won't rob you or murder you. I'm just trying to make money."

Several hours later, while I was dozing off, all of the women starting frantically moving boxes around, taping boxes together, and covering them with blankets. They filled the seat next to me, covered it up, and asked me to sleep on it. I pretended not to understand Spanish and watched as they jumped back into their seats. The bus stopped and a police officer from a road block entered, walked down the aisle with a light, questioned a few women, then left. As the bus pulled away all of the women relaxed. The road got really curvy as we neared Cusco and the women started chewing coca leaves like crazy. We arrived in Cusco at 1:45am and headed straight for our hostel to sleep.

Machu Picchu

We arrived in Cusco, Peru in the afternoon and as I pulled my backpack off the conveyer belt I got my first taste of high altitude. I felt short of breath just from walking to the van and loading my bag. The altitude did not make me feel sick but I was constantly aware of my breathing as we walked around. I appreciated the coca tea when we arrived at the hostel!

The first night we went all out for Peruvian food. We ordered aji de gallina, alpaca brochette, quinoa soup, and cuy...aka whole roasted guinea pig. The guinea pig came cut in half with the innards and brain exposed and still had teeth and claws. I dug right in and was fairly impressed with the taste of the meat but was put-off by the number of small bones that I had to sort through.

I woke up early the next morning in anticipation of Machu Picchu. When I used to think about South America the most frequent images that I would see belong in Peru. For me, the Indigenous groups, high peaks of the Andes, and Amazon jungle lowlands of Peru epitomized South America. I've learned a lot more about the continent since then but I was excited to be in Peru and experience these images.

We walked to the colectivo station and found a taxi that was headed to Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is a small town in the Sacred Valley that serves as the starting point for many trips to Machu Picchu. The ride to Ollantaytambo was spectacular and my face was glued to the window the entire time. We climbed up a ridge beside Cusco and were able to see the entire city before descending into the next valley. As we drove (sped) along the road we passed small towns, traditional farms, and incredible mountain and valley views. Ollantaytambo sits on the Urubamba River and has Incan ruins alongside traditional Peruvian houses. The hour-long PeruRail ride follows the banks of the Urubamba River and goes from dry mountain valleys to a semi-jungle landscape. We had the front seats on the train and enjoyed the best view out of all the passengers.

The next morning in Aguas Calientes we woke up at 3:00am and were outside in line for the bus by 3:45. We took advantage of the entrepreneurs that were selling coca tea and sandwiches while we waited for the first bus to depart at 5.

The bus climbed some of the steepest switchbacks I have ever seen on the way up to the Machu Picchu entrance. We made it in time and were among the lucky visitors that got tickets to climb Waynu Picchu at 7am. As we made our way to the start of the hike we watched the first rays of sun come over the mountains and move across the Incan ruins. It was absolutely spectacular and worth waking up at 3am to see.

The climb up Waynu Picchu was challenging and steep but rewarding. As we reached the top we found ourselves walking along rock cliffs that plummeted into the valley below. I was a little unnerved but once we reached the very top we were away from the cliffs. From high above Machu Picchu we could look down on the alpacas sleeping in the ruins. We picnicked near the top before climbing back down to explore the ruins.

We spent another night in Aguas Calientes but were unable to sleep in because the check-out time was 9am. Our train was at 2pm so we perused the handicrafts market and had a long lunch (that we bargained for and ended up paying $4 for an appetizer, main course, dessert, pisco sour, and juice). When we arrived at the train station we were told that our train had been changed and that we would have to wait another 2 hrs. As we sat down another train pulled in and started to load. We went back to the ticket booth and asked why we couldn't be on that train but were simply told that we couldn't. Since that is not an acceptable response we asked another employee and started arguing our case. Everyone else with our tickets had been notified in advance of the change and did not have to wait. As the man got more and more frustrated with us I was presented to "the boss" and we managed to get seats on the train. Take that PeruRail; three girls can travel alone.