Mid-Semester Break: Peru

The program has reached its halfway point and five friends and I celebrated in Peru. We first flew into Lima only because it was much cheaper to fly into Lima, rather than Cuzco. Somehow a day or two before we embarked for Peru, we found reasonably priced one-way flights to Cuzco from Lima. However, the flight didn't depart until 5:45 am and we got into Lima a little after 1 (maybe later, it is all so hazy now).

By the time we got into Cuzco I was so disoriented and culture shocked. While in the Lima airport, I felt as if I was still in Santiago. It's modern, it's international, it's big... not much variation there. But Cuzco's airport looked like a dumpy bus terminal. It was tiny too! We had cabbies and Sacred Valley/Machu Picchu tour promoters pull us gringos every which way and with your typical airport hustle and bustle, I just wanted the hell out.

I was happy when we found a hostel and when I put my bag down. Because we planned to do a lot of moving around on this trip, we all brought large backpacks for our clothes and such. It was a bit of a nuisance because it was such a giant backpack. I had to fit eight days of things in my bag, plus souvenirs (couldn't resist). The hostel that we decided on was kind of a shit hole, but none of us minded. So what if they were going to put us in a room without a lock on the door? I mean, WE WERE ONLY IN PERU! My other two friends that were also in Cusco at the same time as us were going to stay at the hostel we stayed at, but they would've had to stay in the room with the pad-locked door. I didn't blame them for going elsewhere. They probably got hot showers too, which was not included in our hostel.

That aside, Cusco is a lovely city with towering churches and historical architecture. A good number of the buildings in Cusco still have traces of Inka craftmanship as the stones that line the bottom half of buildings were from previous buildings before Spanish colonization. Well, that was very nice of them.

The next day was Sacred Valley, a big area outside of Cuzco with tons of different ruin sites. We had to book a tour with an agency and I am not too sure if we got any kind of deal or not. I loved it though. I don't know what else we could have done in Cuzco that could be any cooler. We were supposed to go to four ruin sites, but the spring days in Cusco don't seem to last as long as they do here in Santiago. The ruins of Pisac were awesome. So vast and well planned out. Little things from their irrigation systems to their perfect 90 degree angles on EVERYTHING are really amazing. Once again, bravo! There were other ruin sites, but I think Pisac was the most impressive.

Machu Picchu was everything that it was talked up to me. We were there all day and we didn't see everything. Ugh. For the last hour at Machu Picchu while we were looking for our friend Austin, there was this really obnoxious guy (American) who was jumping from ruin to ruin like it was a playground. I mean, he didn't do any damage, but it was this principle. He was such a jackass. When the other tourists called him out on his wrongdoings, he was such a smartass. In his crackling voice, "What, am I gonna ruin the ruins?!" No asshole, but you are in one of the most precious places on earth and you obviously don't have as much respect as the others. Actually, I was told that the administrators of M.P. may close it for good in the next few years.

Lake Titikaka was the highlight of my Peru trip. If you aren't familiar with the lake, it is set in both Peru and Bolivia and it's massive! It is the highest lake in the entire world also. The altitude is so high, travelers advise you to prepare for the altitude in Cusco, which is a little bit lower than the lake. One of the girls on the trip got really bad altitude sickness and she stayed on the boat for the majority of the trip.

When we arrived, we really didn't know what to expect. All we really wanted to do was rent kayaks and take in its beauty. That didn't happen. Instead, we did a two day, one night tour. We booked it at a hostel in Puno, which we found out later was a sex motel. What kind of hostel allows travelers to rent out a room for an hour and take showers? I didn't realize that it was a sex motel until my roommate Lena told me about the clientele that strolled in during our brief stay. Yea... a little unnerving to think that I napped on a bed in a sex motel. Oh, Peru.

The tour that we found was fantastic! 20 dollars per person and just the boat trips from island to island was worth the money. The coolest part of the trip was staying with the native family. I got to practice my spanish and get as close as possible to their culture.

The last few days were spent in Lima floating from vender to vender. However, I still don't know how we made it there. One piece of advice to anyone traveling in Peru. Be wary of the buses. If a bus says it takes 19 hours to get somewhere, it will probably take 26 like ours did from Puno to Lima. Yea.... if you do decide to take a bus bring something that will keep you occupied and bring water and your own food.

(Pathway on an island in Lake Titikaka)

(Pretty sure you've seen this before, but I am proud that I took this photo)

(Pisac=great)

(feeding the llamas at a farm we stopped at during the Sacred Valley tour)

Monumento Natural El Morado

My weekend at El Morado, a national park here in Chile that is about 2 1/2 hours east. Just on the other side of the Andes was Argentina. I swear, I will share pictures of Argentina when I make it there. But with all this natural beauty, I don't need anyplace else.

Where you see the group and I walking is where we set up a tent to sleep in for the night. It was so cold! Next time I decide to camp in the Andes, I'm bringing a thicker sleeping bag. Maybe it was the tent that we had brought with us. It was Swiss.... It had to have also been the most complicated tent to put together...ever. I'm just happy that we were able to camp where we did because technically no one is allowed to camp within the park. Isn't that absurd? The man who we paid to enter the park said that camping has been prohibited for 2 years at El Morado. Oh, well. We did.

There was supposed to be this gorgeous lake at the end of the hike we went on, but the elements got in the way - the snow was too high and the wind was too strong. Half way through the hike, we had to follow footprints in the snow to guide us in the right direction. However, I don't even know if we ever were. How typical... lost in Chile. Story of my life.

*All photos by Anna Frisk

Gay March Takes Over the City

While my roommates were drinking and dining in Mendoza, Argentina this weekend, I needed to find some things to do while in Santiago. Friday was a pretty quiet night for me. Went to my first ballet and it was fantastic! I have been bragging about it all weekend. Not because it was so great, but because it was insanely cheap and they gave out free cookies and NesCafé. Yeah, say what you want about NesCafé, but I was pleasantly surprised to have to offered to me free of charge.

Saturday afternoon was quite eventful. There was a massive gay pride/march/congregation that began at Plaza Italia (Santiago's Time Square) is about a 1o minute walk from my apartment. I was told by a friend that this event on Saturday wasn't even Santiago's official Gay Pride, but with the turnout of Santiaguinos and foreigners like myself, you couldn't help but think that it was. There were thousands of attendees, drags and trucks-turned-floats galore! Some of the drags walking about were so scantily dressed that I can't even post the pictures that I took of them. Blogger might kick me off.

Snapped this one in front of the Universidad de Chile theater where I saw the ballet.

Other protesters came out to voice their stances on the death penalty and other issues hot in Chile.

There is this scandal in Santiago right now that Chile's first woman to win a Nobel Piece Prize is a lesbian. It's on the cover of every major news publication this week with headlines like, 'Gabriela era una Lesbiana!' This kinda stuff doesn't seem like a big deal to my American readers, but it is eyebrow raising news in this conservative nation.

Gabby & her supposed mistress. Thanks, Google for the image!

How We Spent Independence Day: Pichilemu, Chile

Pastel de Choclo (CHILEAN CORN & MEAT PIE)

We see this dish everywhere in Chile - even at the grocery store in the frozen food aisle. Somehow I have not managed to order it when I go out, but every time I see people gorging their faces with it, I wish I was doing the same. Overall, I haven't really had too much luck with the food here. So tonight, I'm staying in with the roommates and we're making this mystery dish that Chileans seem to love. Prep time is about an hour and you need a blender or some kind of food processor. Enjoy!

Recipe

Excursion One: Pomaire and Isla Negra

It's been a pretty long week of mundane activity here in Santiago. I haven't really been engaging with the city's offering because I have been battling this on again, off again, stomach flu. After lunch with my new Australian friend, I was supposed to go to the doctor on Monday. However, I chose not to go because I got lazy. Maybe I should have gone because the rest of the week was terrible. Every time I would eat anything, I would start to get this nasty bloat in my lower abdomen and become extremely listless. I think I napped everyday after school this week. Normal? I don't think so. I have never really had stomach problems in the past. In addition, this week I have been trying to hold off on the excessive wine consumption (very difficult to do in Chile). By Thursday, I had enough of being a boring homebody so I decided to have a few drinks of wine with the intention of going out. It made me feel so much better! Who would've thought wine would cure stomach aches?

My program took its first day excursion today. It was a two-destination excursion to Pomaire and Isla Negra. Pomaire was our first stop. We were only there for a few hours, but because Pomaire is such a small town, a few hours is all you need. It is a pottery mecca! It was impossible to go into a shop without seeing something made of clay. One of the most popular artifacts was the three-legged pig, which is supposed to bring you good luck. There was also heaps of ornate jewelry too. I don't know how I didn't buy anything while in Pomaire. Oh wait, I did by some bowls for the apartment because I accidently broke some a few days ago while putting them away in the cabinet. But nothing for me or anyone. The people were fantastic! So friendly and curious just like Santiaguinos. I managed to get a few pictures of the locals.

Our next stop was this small coastal town called Isla Negra (Black Island). I didn't really do too much research on the town before I went, but last night before we left for the excursion I was told it wasn't an island. So sad. However, it is coastal and we did get to enjoy the breeze from the Pacific. Its main claim to fame is its inhabitants. Well, a former inhabitant, in particular. The poet Pablo Neruda once lived in this gigantic beachfront home and we had the opportunity to explore it! He also has a house somewhere here in Santiago, but this home is his most well-known. The house looks like an Applebee's with how much shit is on the walls. There were some thematic rooms like a seashell room near the back entrance to his home, but most of what was found in the remainder of his house was a large mixture of artifacts he collected on his travels. I didn't get to take any photos of the interior, but I sneaked a snap of his sailboat that is displayed on his back patio.

Had some bad food today (which is a common occurrence here in Chile) so I am sipping on Chile's finest vino tinto. Staying in tonight because today is the anniversary of the start of the vicious coup d' etat led by Pinochet back in 1973. My poet-neighbor friend told me that it is a day where protestors all over Chile come to its capital to let its government know why it sucks. There are known to be a few random acts of violence and I don't want any part of it.

Goooaaaalllll!!

Everybody knows that South Americans go nuts for soccer and now that the World Cup is approaching, things are going to get a little interesting, especially here in Santiago. It's Venezuela vs. Chile and the game is to take place TONIGHT. It's going to run fairly late, so don't think that I will be able to muster up enough energy to see the final score. I will just have to look on-line for the results in the morning. My roommates and I wanted to try and see if we can buy some nosebleed tickets from a scalper, but she started feeling sick this afternoon and I got sleepy.

It has been a pretty lazy day here at the apartment. Last night ran a little late because we threw a party at our apartment for all of the students in the USAC program and some people I have met while living in my apartment. After the party got too big, we all shuffled out of the apartment to go out for drinking and dancing in Bellavista. Bellavista is just over the Mapocho River across from the Bellas Artes Museum or as I like to call it, my front lawn: Parque Forestal.

The most lively street in the neighborhood of Bellavista is Pio Nono. It is about six or seven blocks of funky bars, dive bars, discos and dancehalls. There's always something to do and it isn't hard to find cheap drinks and food. After days where I would visit San Cristobal, the big hill of Santiago with the virgin on its peak, I would have to walk down Pio Nono and during traditional happy hour time, I noticed that the bars would attract a lot of young locals.

I ended up going to this club called Tunnel, but it isn't located in Bellavista. My roommates tried to drag me over the river while we deliberated in the house, but my neighbor in my apartment suggested Tunnel, so I went. I had a good time! However, it felt like I was at a club back in the States, but the music was a bit outdated - not too far behind, to give it credit. Though next time I am going to search harder for a more authentic discoteca.