Week 39: Salt flats, Sucre, La Paz, Bolivia

10/10

After getting up earlier, we packed up the rest of our things, made coffee, and hurried to finish anything else we needed to do.

The bus came and picked us up for our border crossing before leaving us with our 4×4 and our guide, Luis.we met our newest friends before finally leaving San Pedro de Atacama.

The border crossing was a longer process for us, Americans, then for everyone else and it also didn’t help that they wouldn’t take a slightly, and I mean slightly, torn bills. Fortunately for us, they let us pay in Bolivianos, but unfortunately for us, that meant we didn’t have money for the rest of the tour’s expenses. (It costs $160 USD for a ten year Bolivian Visa for Americans.)

We finally crossed the border after meeting our guide and having breakfast and started our way to Uyuni.

The first stop were the green and white lagoons. It was explained to us that the lagoons each have different minerals like Borax (used for cleaning materials) and salt. Both of them for being so close together were very unique in their colors!

We stopped by Dali’s Desert to see a very interesting landscape that reflected some of the work of the artist. 

Afterwards, we went to the Polques hot springs and enjoyed a nice dip in the warm pool! It was cold outside but the pool was really nice and we warmed up pretty quickly. 

After changing we headed to Geysers Sol de Mañana and spent just a few minutes there since it was smelly and most of us had seen the bigger set of geysers in Atacama. 

We loaded up and headed to the red colored Laguna Colorada which was even more amazing than the pictures show. It’s way larger than the pictures give it credit for and it was filled with flamingos! 

Our sight seeing day was pretty much over and we finally stopped by a little town and stayed in a small hostel. 

They gave us tea to warm us up and then after a while of hanging out we had a very nice dinner! We were all cold and the electricity was only on for 3 hours so we hung out a little bit longer and then went to sleep during the cold night. Unfortunately, many of us couldn’t sleep since it was so cold and dry that it hurt to breathe!

Fortunately the spectacular day overshadowed the bad sleep!

10/11

 The first stop we made was the tree rock. There were random boulders and rocks throughout the desert which was mainly from vocanic eruptions and glaciers. 

These rocks were worn down into interesting shapes and sizes and so we spent a little of the morning climbing on the rocks and taking pictures.

We drove through the Siloli Desert which we were told pretty much only got snow as moisture.

Our next stop were the Lagunas Altiplánicas where we could see 3 different types of flamingos. Almost all the girls had to go to the bathroom, but there was no where to hide or use the bathroom so we ended up making a bigger connection when we held up a scarf as shelter as we rotated using the restroom! 

After that incident we went to a small view of the Ollagüe Volcano. Since it was just a view we didn’t spend too much time there. We also stopped at a rock field that was many many miles wide. Our guide said it was caused by multiple volcanic eruptions. My favorite was the rock shaped like Sid the Sloth.

Our last views of the day was an extra little lagoon that was surrounded by more amazing rocks as well as the Chiguana Salt Flat.

That night we stayed at an amazing salt hostel. We hung out and watched people watch soccer. Luke wasn’t feeling well at all so he took a nap and then took his temperature. It was 101.2 so we only woke him up for the spectacular sunset and for dinner. 

We were going to shower but the girls had cold showers and you had to pay for them so we skipped out. 

Our guide gave us a bottle of wine that we all shared as we heard about the current animosity between Chileans and Bolivians. He also told us he wanted to leave by 4:30 so we quickly hurried to bed. 

This night of sleep was way better than the previous night’s!

10/12

Waking up at 3:50 was a little difficult but we made it on time to watch the sunrise on the salt flats of Uyuni. It was extremely cold so we watched the sun rise and then quickly went back to the car. Then we headed to the Inca Huasi Island that is essentially a mound of cacti in the middle of the salt flats. We spent about an hour wandering around and checking out the views before heading down for an amazing breakfast!

After another 50km drive we finally got to a place where we could take all the cool pictures. We spent a lot of time trying to get them perfect! 

It was another long drive before we saw the first salt hotel and so we stopped there to take some pictures. It was disappointing not to see the American flag in the mix of all the flags they had there.

Afterwards, we arrived in the small town of Colchani. They had a lot of souvenirs available and so we wandered around looking before having a nice lunch.

We packed up and left towards Uyuni, our final stop. We stopped a little at the Train Cemetary before he dropped us off at the agency.

We said our goodbyes to Luis, and the rest of our group went to find bus tickets to our next destinations. Once that was done, we found a place to all grab a beer and wifi before going our separate ways. We made plans to hopefully meet back together in La Paz.

Our newest German friend, Johanna, joined us for this part of the trip so we booked a room at the same hostel and took a bus to Potosí. It was hot, loud, and filled with screaming, singing, and crying children. It also had dogs on board.

This bus ride was definitely not a good first impression of the people here in Bolivia but we hoped to change our minds once we got some food, rest, and a warm bed.

Once we got to Potosi, we were dropped off on the side of the road. We had to cross the street to get to the bus terminal but it looked like everything was closed.

Unfortunately, by the time we got there, there were no busses left to go to Sucre. There were only random people yelling at us and offering their cars to Sucre. At first both Johanna and I were iffy but at the price of $50 Bolivianos we decided that the 3 of us were okay to go with one guy. 

He was nice enough to take us to a good restaurant and let us eat before we continued on our way to Sucre.

The road was very windy and I had a hard time not dozing. After a few hours, he finally dropped us off at our hostel and quickly went to bed!

10/13

We got to see Sucre at night, but it’s completely different in the morning! It really is a beautiful city and all the building are white! We had a measley breakfast and then were invited to go to the 7 waterfalls by another Brazilian girl named Cathleen. Luke and I were getting ready but had to have a little discussion before we were ready. 

We spent half the morning looking for transportation to the 7 waterfalls and after getting a price of $200 Bob we decided to see about going the next day.

Luke had heard about the Dinobus to the dinosaur footprints and museum in Sucre and fortunately we had perfect timing. 

The bus showed up a few minutes later and after checking the prices, grabbing some snacks, and waiting for the girls to stop by an ATM we were on our way to the dinosaur museum!

We were on the first floor of the bus and they played a BBC show about dinorsaurs which switched from Spanish to English every once in a while. It was great to get a ride there and back plus TV for only $30 BOB (less than $5 US). 

When we got there, Luke had to borrow shoes since he couldn’t wear flip-flops down to the footprints. We spent a wonderful time at this museum looking at fossils, sculptures, information, and one of the biggest reserves of dinosaur footprints on the planet. I felt like a kid again!

Afterwards, we decided to stop by a Chifa & Thai place that had a meal for only $19 Bob that included fried wontons, soup, a big meal of your choice, and a small dessert! It also helped that it was soooo delicious (the quinoa was excellent) and that it had the fastest wifi we’ve had in a long while. 

Afterwards, we were really exhausted and then started to feel awful. My head was splitting (worst headache I’ve had in years) and Luke wasn’t doing too hot either. 

We skipped the meeting with the girls to go watch the sunset to rest. We only left to get more water and some pizza. We ate a tiny bit and drank a lot of water, popped some pain meds, and went to sleep early. 

10/14

We woke up completely symptom free and very refreshed. We packed even more water since we were at such high elevation and left with the girls to see the waterfalls after yet another sad breakfast.  

We finally found a bus that would drop us off close to the 7 waterfalls, but we still had to walk down an unknown and slightly treacherous trail all the way down. One of our group fell and he hurt his feet pretty badly but we pushed forward. We finally get to the “river” and see that it’s pretty much empty! 

We decided to continue forward and finally found the refreshing pools and waterfalls.

Luke and the girls went to go swimming in another area up a ways while me and our Dutch friend stayed behind with a group of Bolivian students having a cookout.

We got free food! Unfortunately, Cathleen fell into the water with her entire bag and got everything wet! Once we all met up we decided to go back. One wew ere in the center of the city we split up and Luke and I had lunch at the same restaurant from before. We also bought bus tickets for that night to head to La Paz. We headed back to the hostel, hung out, and then headed to watch the sunset at the Mirador a few blocks away. 

It was a nice sunset. We grabbed burgers on our way back, grabbed a taxi, and finally loaded up on the full bed, all nighter bus to La Paz.

10/15

After a long night of bus rides through curvy roads, we finally get to La Paz around 7:30 (12 hours!). We decided to have breakfast at the station before heading to our newest hostel. After eating a lot, we finally get a taxi to our hostel.After waiting until around 10, we finally get checked in early to our 3 bed dorm.

After settling in and taking a small nap, we decided to go around the city a bit. After a bit of nagging, we stopped by the supermarket to pick up some much needed contact solution, pain medicine, personal hygiene supplies, etc. Then, we visited the market place, the witches’ market filled with dead llamas, and a few other streets. We also finally got both of our hair cut and Luke’s beard shaved for about $10 total. 

Luke bought me some earrings (super cute) and booked his tour to do Death Road by bike. Obviously, I would’ve died so we decided to split ways on Monday. 

We went back to the hostel and hung out for a little before heading to the market down the street to pick up groceries for dinner. 

We picked up fried chicken on the way back. I made homemade mac and cheese with the friend chicken. We hung out on the wifi before going to bed. Luke went to bed earlier than I did since I was loaded up on caffeine. I went to bed a few hours later.

10/16

This morning, we slept in just a little bit. We spent most of the morning alone. I did some reading and journaling and Luke did some research on the rest of our trip.

After lunch at a Chinese place where Luke finally got some searched out trout, we decided to stop by a market Luke had read about. 

It. Was. Massive.

You could find literally anything you needed there like car parts, clothes, food, cell phones, baby carriages, and more!

After wandering a few hours, we decided to go to a Lucha Libre show. It was really funny after I got used to the humour of the show and we spent the next few hours there!

It was reallllyy cold by the time we left so we hurried to the telerifico down to the center and walked back. 

We weren’t hungry when we got back so we decided to hang out just a little bit longer. I tried warming up my mac and cheese #fail. So afterwards, Luke wandered the city and I picked up some cheeseburgers. 

We ate our burgers and watched Nacho Libre and then soon went to bed since Luke had to be up early for his adventure!

Week 38: Valparaiso, San Pedro de Atacama; Chile
Monday 10/3:
We woke up in Valparaiso and ate breakfast. We decided to stay another night but we moved to another hostel. After packing we took a bus and then walked up one of the many stairways through the hills of Valparaiso to our hostel. It has been full all weekend but when we arrived there were only a few other people there and we had a whole dorm room to ourselves. There was also a nice balcony and big tv in the living area. We set off walking around and checking out some street art and tourist attractions. We returned to make a snack of guacamole and fruit salad with homemade tortilla chips. That night we watched Netflix on a big hostel tv , worked on Instagram photos, and ate stuffed squash for dinner. 

10/4: 

I booked a flight from Santiago for the following day so we decided to spend one more day in Valparaiso. We slept in, then hung out around the hostel working on blog posts and such. We found out about a great free concert in the evening. We walked to Pablo Nerudo’s house. He’s a famous poet and politician from Chile. It was close to ten dollars per person to enter and it wasn’t that cool. We also visited a museum about a cartoonist named Lukas. We found a bus back and finally found a cheap restaurant where we ate two Italiano (topped with tomatoes, guacamole, and mayonnaise) hot dogs each. Then picked up some white wine and pineapple ice cream before walking back to our hostel. We attempted to make a famous Chilean drink called terremoto (earthquake) but were missing an ingredient or two. We relaxed a bit and then went out for a free outdoor concert which featured an orchestra and a band that was a mix between rock and Andean folk music. It was quite entertaining and in a great setting with tons of locals. We stayed for the concert and then walked back among a huge crowd of people. We ate some leftover fruit salad and then headed to bed. 

10/5:

The next morning we woke up early and left the hostel by seven. We trudged down the hill and caught a bus that took us close to the bus station. From there we caught a bus to Santiago within two minutes. When we arrived in Santiago we caught a shuttle to the airport after thirty minutes. We were checked in and waiting with two hours to spare. The flight had beautiful views of snow covered mountains turning into desert. After a two hour flight (much better than the 20+hour bus ride) we landed in Calama, a desert town near a huge copper mine. We took a taxi into town, ate some fried chicken, and then waited for a bus. The bus to San Pedro de Atacama took an hour or two but the ride was beautiful. Once we arrived we hiked awhile to a hostel that offers camping. We found a good spot and were even offered a mattress to put under our tent (a lifesaver on the rocky desert sand). We walked the town and asked about tours, found an atm, and then went to dinner at a nice place nearby. We were worn out after a long day and headed to bed. 

10/6: 

We slept in a little to avoid the cold desert night but we were soon greeted by the hot desert day. We bought some groceries and ate cereal, yogurt, kiwis, and coffee for breakfast. Then we set off hiking to some ancient ruins just outside of town. It was very hot and dry but a beautiful hike. We walked through the ruins and then to the top of a hill next to it. We ate tuna and crackers for lunch at the top. We hiked back down and relaxed in the shade. After signing up for the Moon Valley tour that afternoon we made another trip into town. We headed to the tour agency at four and were soon driving through other worldly landscapes. We stopped at several different places including a field with rocks carved by sand and wind, a huge sand dune, a cave, and a great lookout point for sunset. We met some nice girls from America and had great tour guides. After our tour we ate Mac and cheese in our hostel. It tasted like fruit loops for some reason so we bought some ramen noodles and eggs to eat instead. I drank wine instead of water and started feeling bad so I went to bed. 

10/7:

We relaxed a bit the next morning and I attempted to rehydrate and adjust to the elevation and dry climate. We ate cheese omelette for breakfast. We went to town and signed up for a tour that afternoon to the seven altiplano lakes. We found an open air restaurant with a three course meal for $5 per person. We headed to the agency and found that nearly everyone else on our bus was Brazilian. After driving for an hour we entered the salt flats. They were beautiful on their own but had the most amazing lakes scattered throughout. Apparently they were only discovered in the last five years. The water was so blue but extremely salty. We were allowed to swim in two of the lagoons. They have five times the saltiness of the ocean, and like the Dead Sea, everyone floats. The water was cold and it was windy but after swimming we were completely dry, though covered in salt crystals, in a matter of minutes. At the end of the tour we were given snacks and Pisco sours (Pisco is the national alcohol of Chile and Peru and is a strong liquor made from grapes, then mixed with sugar, lime juice, and generally egg whites). We signed up for the geyser tour the next morning and bought groceries on the way back. We ate ramen with eggs, peas, and leftover chicken. Chile is by far the most expensive country we’ve visited, especially the food and lodging. Because we spent a fortune on tours we did our best to eat cheaply and get our calories from beer and wine, the only things cheap in Chile. It was now Friday and the campsite filled up. I’m talking tents stacked wall to wall. Some people in the campsite partied loudly until about four in the morning. This was frustrating as we had to be ready for the shuttle at 5 am the next morning.  

10/8: 

After a sleepless night we put on our warmest clothes, which were shorts because our jeans were being washed (I know we should have thought that one through). We huddled in our sleeping bag on the side of the road and looked at some amazing stars. We hopped in the van/bus with more Brazilians and were soon back to sleep. We arrived before sunrise, paid the entrance fee, and parked near the geysers. While they prepared breakfast I went running through the below freezing temperature snapping pictures amongst the most amazing geysers. There are over 80 in the area and are the third best in the world after Yellowstone and somewhere in Siberia. They’re also some of the highest in the world at over 13,000 feet. I ran back to the van, grabbed a coffee and sandwich, and huddled under the sleeping bag with Sarahí. The sun began to rise so we headed back into the geyser field for some amazing pictures. It was truly amazing to walk through clouds of steam, hear the hissing and bubbling geysers, and watch the sun creep over the mountaintop. There’s a hot spring on site where swimming is allowed. I was excited and hopped in. Unfortunately it was pretty cold except for one area where the boiling geyser water flowed in and threatened to scald your skin. I didn’t stay for long and soon we were back in the van. We passed some amazing scenery and animals like the vicuña (Andean camel) and flamingoes. We stopped in a tiny town were were tried lama meat skewers (quite tasty) before heading back. That afternoon we made sandwiches and attempted to nap but it was too hot. We tried to figure out our Bolivian visa and Uyuni tour and ran around all afternoon trying to get everything done. We decided to stay in town the next day because we didn’t quite have everything ready. We ate a delicious and massive dinner that wasn’t too expensive. Then we went sandboarding at night. It was a lot of fun with lights and a DJ at the bottom of a 300 foot sand dune.  It was a bit difficult to get the hang of but we had a great time. We came back to the town around 1 am and then headed to a party in the desert. There was live music, a bonfire, and incredible stars. We left after awhile and made it to bed by 4 or 5 am, utterly exhausted. 

10/9:

We slept in till eleven and the. Made eggs with ham, cheese and chard. We hung out in camp before going to town to finish arranging our entry to Bolivia. It took a lot of the day but eventually we had everything ready. Sarahi went to the meteorite museum. We ate sandwiches and worked on blog posts but had awful wifi. We ate leftovers from the restaurant the night before. Then we packed and went to bed early. 
It was a phenomenal week. Though Chile is a bit expensive, we saw and did so much in just a few days. Check out next weeks post about our continued trip through the desert to the Uyuni salt flats! 

Week 37: Chiloe Island, La Ensenada, Valparaiso; Chile
Monday 9/26: 

We woke up a bit later than planned, ate cereal for breakfast, and then packed our bags. The weather was a bit rainy so we decided to wait it out. However the rain got worse and the kind hostel owner called to the other side of the island. It was raining there as well and bad conditions for camping. So we decided to stay another night in a cozy room rather than camping in the rain. The hostel owner shared his lunch of meat and beets with us. It was delicious. Eventually we wandered through the rain down to town. We visited the famous church which is made almost entirely from wood. The museum was closed and we couldn’t find anything else to do. So we bought some deserts and found a collectivo (shared taxi) which took us up the long hill near our hostel. We bought a few grocery items and then stayed in our hostel for the rest of the night. I made spiral noodles with tomato sauce for dinner and it was excellent. We watched some tv together and then headed to bed. 

9/27:

The next morning we decided against camping. Sarahi wasn’t feeling the best and we were worried about mud or more rain. So we hopped on a bus and crossed the island in an hour and a half arriving at Chonchi. We entered the national park and hiked for a bit but weren’t super impressed. There’s a beautiful beach to the north of the park but 20 kilometers one way makes for a long day and we didn’t arrive until noon. And we had heard of the Muele de las Almas (point of souls I think) and decided to head there. It’s at least 15 kilometers south of the park and there’s no public transport. So we sat by the road hitchhiking, because without a lift we could never walk the whole way and back before the last bus back to our room. Eventually we did get a lift but only for a couple miles. Then we set off on a long hike and realized we did not have enough time to walk there and back before the last bus or even darkness. Luckily a nice Chilean couple picked us up and we all went to the Muele de las Almas together. From the parking lot it was still a 45 minute steep hike in mud but the views were great. Eventually we reached the destination, took a bunch of pictures, ate a picnic, and rested before heading back. We set off walking down the road again and after several miles the same nice couple picked us up! They really saved us twice. They drove us to northern part of the 20 km long and very wide beach. It was beautiful but super windy. In the end the Chileans drove us the whole way back to Castro, where our hostels were. We returned to the hostel and found out that the following day the fisherman/ entire island were blockading the island in protest against government management of fishing areas. Because there are no bridges we were stranded, possibly for days. Luckily the blockade did not begin until 9 am, meaning we could get up at 5 am and make it on a ferry in time. We decided to have one more seafood dinner and went to a nice restaurant on the coast. I had a whole roasted congrio (conger eel) which is delicious and one of the highlights of Chiloe. But Sarahi had 24 oysters au gratin that were so amazing! It was a meal we will never forget. After dinner we hiked the long way back up the hill and were soon in bed after walking over 14 miles in the day. 

9/28:

We woke up at 5:30 in the freezing cold long before the sunrise. We quickly packed any loose items and set off on the long hilly walk to the center of town. We caught the last bus we could and have never been so grateful for a seat on a bus. We fell asleep as the sun rose and then saw the fisherman blockade beginning as our ferry was the last to cross. We arrived in Puerto Montt an hour later and took a quick bus to Puerto Varas. We bought some groceries and then took another bus around the massive lake to a small town on the far side called La Ensenada. This town is surrounded by three volcanos and borders a lake you can barely see the other side of. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. We camped essentially on the beach and just at the base of volcano Osorno. It was 75 and sunny and I quickly changed into shorts and a tank top, then of course went barefoot on the sand. The campsite was pretty cheap, had bathrooms with hot water, electricity, a light in the campsite, and even wifi! Not to mention that we were the only campers and the view was incredible! We were in heaven. I swam in the freezing cold lake. We relaxed on the beach and played cards. We drank cheap wine and walked around the tiny town. Then we had the most amazing sunset of our lives. You can look at the pics and judge for yourself! We took hundreds of pictures. For dinner we reheated leftover pasta and sauce and grilled a couple sausages. Though we bought a cooking pot finally, we had no utensils so I had to carve sporks out of driftwood. It was a delicious meal. I drank more wine and fell asleep after one episode of Sarahi’s favorite show Once Upon a Time. 

9/29:

The forecast called for rain so after a breakfast of scrambled eggs, tea, and coffee, we packed up our campsite. After relaxing a bit we rented kayaks to take on the lake. It started sprinkling right as we set off but then stopped and the weather was cloudy but nice for several more hours. We kayaked for about two hours and it was spectacular! The water is blue but extremely clear and there was almost no wind so reflections of mountains on the lake were amazing! We saw a couple fish and several birds, as well as some sort of lake oysters. We returned the kayaks and the owner of the campsite told us about a whitewater rafting trip that afternoon with two open spots. He offered a good price so we said yes. We ate crackers and pate (imagine puréed hot dogs in a can, it’s an Argentinian thing but it’s not for us) and rested until it was time to leave for rafting. The other two rafters were a young couple from Belgium. It was their first time rafting and Sarahi’s second. The river was the same color as the lake and just as cold. It offered beautiful views and solid class three rapids. But the water was freezing, the wet suits did not keep us warm and by the end it was rainy and windy. We were soaked already from the huge waves but we were a bit relieved when it was over. We went back to our campsite for hot showers and fresh clothes. We waited for an hour in cold rain for a bus and headed back to Puerto Varas with our new Belgian friends. We hoped for a night bus to Santiago and arrived at the bus station at 8:55. We were on the bus to Santiago by nine and sound asleep shortly after. It was an amazing time and I will forever miss La Ensenada. 

9/30:

We arrived in Santiago at about 9 am and were on a bus to Valparaiso by 10. We arrived at the Pacific coast again at noon. We walked two blocks to a hostel that luckily had two spots for us. Little did we know but a music festival “Mil Tambores” (thousand drums) was in town for the weekend. There was barely a single room available in the whole city, but we found one slightly overpriced room for the next two nights. Our hostel was on the second floor over a meat shop and there were fruit and veggie stands everywhere. It made the hostel stinky and loud in the mornings but allowed for great eating! After showering and shaving we found lunch nearby and then walked down to the beach. The “beach” was actually huge boulders along the ocean but we watched the sea lion colony just off shore. Sarahi dropped her glasses and they fell down among the massive boulders. We figured they were gone but I managed to climb underneath a few of the boulders and by some miracle found the glasses! We left the “beach” after another hour or two and headed to our hostel. We bought some strawberries for $1 per kilo and snacked. We relaxed at the hostel for awhile and made some new friends. We all hung out for awhile and then Sarahi and I walked to a food truck for some good sandwiches. We went to bed shortly after. 

10/1:

After a decent breakfast I hung out with my new friends and then we packed up our bags. We walked to the market and bought quite a bit of vegetables and fruit, like 10 pounds for $4-5! We also found some great ceviche to go. Our hostel was full so we tried to take an Uber which never arrived. We walked to where we might find a taxi and eventually took a collectivo, which is a complicated shared taxi system based on zones that we can’t seem to figure out. We arrived at a house owned by a nice old lady who loved to talk. We had a nice big room with a comfy bed. We ate ceviche and fruit. Sarahi stayed in for some r&r while I went on a hike. I attempted to go to the beach (an actual but tiny beach) but it was closed. So I walked to the top of one of the many hills in Valparaiso. The view over the harbor was nice. I returned to our place and we bought some groceries. We cooked squash stuffed with cheese, ham, and more. It was great but took a long time to cook. We watched Netflix and drank some wine. We went out to near the center of town and checked out a three story bar with two live bands. One was good the other was bad. It was fun but the party didn’t start until at least 1 am and we were too tired to continue for long. We took a bus close to our place and walked back. 

10/2: 

We slept in after our late night. The woman of the house made us breakfast. Then we made some great sandwiches with tomatoes and avocados for the road. We walked down to the nearby road where the all day parade of the festival was taking place. We were surprised to see many women with pretty much nothing but body paint dancing in the parade. There were hundreds of groups and thousands of members of the parade. The street on both sides was packed with people. It was an awesome time and we stayed until the parade ended around eight. We enjoyed our sandwiches and some beer and bought some fries. We took pictures of the sunset and then headed back to our place. I ate leftover sandwiches, we watched more Netflix, and went to bed.

 
It was an amazing week! One of my favorites. We saw so many different landscapes and types of people. We moved around a lot and did quite a bit but it was all worth it! If you ever go to Chile definitely check out La Ensenada! Chiloe Island is amazing as well. 

9/19

After an early morning to pack up our bags and campsite, we headed to the bus station to grab some breakfast and check on our AirBnb in Santiago.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t check it since there was no WiFi available anywhere and we had to load up on the bus.

The bus ride through the Andes was gorgeous! We soaked up the mountains since we were about to leave them for a while.

The border between Chile and Argentina was one of the longest crossings we’ve had in a long while. They didn’t check for drugs, they checked for apples. One of the security guards asked if he could stick a tube in my bag to test the dog and it contained an apple scent! He got it.

After that, we finally spent a few more hours on the bus and made it to Santiago.

We ended up taking a taxi to our apartment, but it took a while since it was the last day of the weeklong celebration of Chile’s independence and the roads were all blocked off. 

After finally making it to our nice little apartment. We took the metro to a new part of the city. Unfortunately for us, literally everything was closed in the area we were in. It felt like an end of the world scene and it was kinda freaky.

We wandered over to another area where we were hoping to go up to the Cerro San Cristobal which has an entire view of the city, but the lines were packed. We decided to skip out on that and headed back to our apartment. 

On the way, we spent a good hour looking for groceries and beer since everything was closed.

We finally found some but also ended up finding a Chinese restaurant that seemed decent priced. 

We watched the sunset from the top of the building and played a Spanish card game since we had mistakenly bought a Spanish card deck earlier that day.

That night, we ended up ordering Chinese food and watching some Family Guy before going to bed.

9/20

We spent most of the morning and some of the afternoon on a walking tour and afterwards we ended up making some amazing friends with the other couple in the tour with us. 

We had lunch with them, tried Pisco sours and some lomo a lo pobre. All of it was delicious and with the company we had the afternoon was perfect!

Afterwards, we split up. We did the same round we did the day before only this time everything was just starting to close! We went by the famous Varga market to see all the fresh fruits and vegetables, stopped by the modern art museum and the classical art museum, and then we finally went up the Cerro San Cristobal to watch another pretty sunset.

It was pretty cold by the time the sun was down so we ended up heading to our apartment. We made quesadillas and soup and then went to bed.

9/21

We got up a little earlier than usual, made breakfast, and tried to see the other bits of Santiago before we left the city.

We stopped by the Pre-Columbian museum which was fantastic and then we went to the fish market to have some food at a restaurant recommended to us. Luke had the fried fish and I had the crab cake (which was more like crab dip). After eating that delicious meal, we finally went back to pick up our bags and headed to the bus station for an over night bus to Puerto Montt. 

9/22

When we got to Puerto Montt the next morning we quickly loaded up on a ferry to Chiloe Island and the city of Ancud. 

We had been hearing about all the amazing seafood in this region so after seeing the town’s museum we stopped by a restaurant and tried Curanto, which was clams, mussels, chicken, beef, pork, and 3 different kinds of potatoes all cooked together in an underground pit, and congrio, which is conger eel and delicious. 

After that, we decided to go find a campsite we read about that over looks the ocean. We hiked up and found one a great campsite for a slightly expensive $6500 pesos each. The view was worth it though. 

We set up and then left again to wander the town. Unfortunately, a lot of things were closed so we ended up heading back after buying groceries and then setting up our fire for our campsite. 

We made tea and sausages, potatoes, and onions and soon went to hide in our tent. It was so cold but we slept nicely in our warm little tent.

9/23

This morning, we decided to wander around the area we were in and stop by to see some of the beaches. We saw a lot of beautiful coastline and some wildlife – which we were hoping were penguins but actually weren’t.

We stopped by the information desk to ask more about the island and got a lot of information on where to go, which busses to take, and which areas were worth travelling to.

After getting all of that, we went back to our campsite and broke down our tent. Then, we grabbed some more seafood for lunch at this really cheap restaurant. It was so delicious! Since we wanted to go to the penguins, we took the bus at 4:00 to the area. It took over an hour for a 15 km ride because the bus took the long way.

When we finally got there, it looked like everything was closed or closing but we got really lucky as usual.

One of the owners of a restaurant had a spare room where she let us stay for only $16k. It had everything we needed included the tour run by her husband to go see the penguins – only at $7k ($10) each!

We quickly got on board since they were loading up pretty much after we dropped off our bags and away we went!

It was a good 30 min tour where we saw a load of different birds like 2 different kinds of penguins, pelicans, ducks, swans of the sea. We even saw one lonely sea lion!

Afterwards, we wandered around that little area and looked for a grocery store or something but everything seemed completely closed. 

Since we still had time before sunset, we decided to hike up to one of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. We were accompanied by a couple dogs and a very curious calf.

It was really cold and the sun didn’t set until about 45 minutes after so we tried to do some yoga to warm up but the dogs kept jumping on Luke!

The sun finally set even though it wasn’t a great sunset, it was still pretty.

We finally went down and hoped to find some food. Fortunately, we found the only restaurant that looked open. 

We got some seafood soup, empanadas, and some wine. After dinner, we went back to our room and hung out for a little before going to bed.

9/24

This next morning, we tried to hike to another beach a few kilometers away, but couldn’t really find the trail. The only road to the beach we wanted to see was an extra 15km out of the way.

We snacked at the mirador over looking that beach and then went back. Fortunately for us, a gentleman was driving to the location we were going so we hopped in and rode the rest of the way down.

Our host gave us free brunch, so we hung out there eating and drinking tea until we were ready to wait for the bus.

There was only one bus heading back that day and there were no busses available the next day, so we were getting pretty nervous that we missed it after waiting an hour for it to show up.

Some of the guys thought it had passed already, but fortunately some other travelers were told a different time – 3:30 vs 2:15.

So we finally got the bus back to town. When we got back, we decided to move on to a different town called Curaco de Velez. 

Luke had read about a campsite where we could stay, but unfortunately it was closed. After asking around, we discovered that there was nothing open since it was low season – not even restaurants.

Fortunately for us, there was a guy that let us stay in his backyard! After walking to his house and setting up our tent, we saw the beginnings of an amazing sunset!

We quickly hurried down to the lake in the town and watched that amazing sunset for a long while. Afterwards, we tried to pick up some groceries and stopped by a coffee shop in hopes of finding food, but had to resort to sandwiches and chips.

We soon went to sleep.

9/25

We woke up to find that our tent was soaked! After packing up early we headed to Achao to see the oldest church on the island. 

We accidentally walked to the wrong one but it was a nice walk! We finally made it to the old church which was very beautiful. Afterwards, we ate at a nice restaurant and had some more fresh seafood before heading to Dacalhue to check out their Sunday fair. There were a lot of neat products and we bought a few souvenirs to send home!

After that, we headed to Castro. We had an Airbnb that we waited for at the bus station but finally gave up and walked to the place at the top of the city.

We finally made it there and figured out we were both at different bus stations! We bought spaghetti and made dinner that night after enjoying some wonderful hot showers and washing some of our clothes. 

We were excited to be in a warm place and hung out there for the rest of the evening.

Week 35: Mendoza, Uspallata, Puenta deal Inca; Argentina

9/12: After a big breakfast in our hostel we said goodbye to new friends and took our stuff across town to a cheaper hostel. After checking in we packed some snacks for lunch and took a local bus to Maipu, a suburb of Mendoza. Once we arrived we rented bikes and received a map for our self guided wine tour. We cycled along the road for a few miles before reaching the first vineyard. This was the cheapest one and we tried six wines for only $7! None of them were too great but the view from the patio we had all to ourselves was amazing! We headed on to the next vineyard which had better wine but was a bit pricier and didn’t have the best view. We tried a few more types of wine and then ate our picnic at a shady area on the property. We pedaled on for a couple more miles and found another vineyard. We got a bottle of wine here but were sitting in the shade and getting cold. So we took our bottle and continued. Then Sarahi told me she really wasn’t enjoying the biking so we ended our tour and headed back to the bike shop. It wasn’t as fun of a day as we had hoped. We went back to our hostel and then headed out to dinner. The restaurants we wanted to visit were closed but we found another one and had some nice steak and pasta. 

9/13:

The next day we ate breakfast in our hostel and then packed a day bag. We bought some sandwich supplies and wine and hopped on a bus to the Cachueta hot springs. The bus ride was beautiful and only took about an hour. It cost around $7 per person to enter but the price included access to around 15 pools of varying temperature, picnic tables, and an amazing view. We ate a great picnic down by the river and drank some wine. Then we lounged around the hot springs all day and moved to different temperatures as they became hot cold or crowded. We left as the springs closed and had to wait outside in the cold for a bus. Eventually we caught the bus, walked back to our apartment in the cold ( maybe I should have worn more than flip flops, a swimsuit, and a tank top) before heading to dinner at a middle eastern restaurant we had heard good things about. It was overpriced but tasty. After eating we were exhausted and headed to bed. 

9/14: We woke up and ate breakfast, dreading checking out of our hostel and moving on. We decided to stay one more night and after breakfast we went grocery shopping. We spent a lot of money but purchased tons of groceries and some other necessities. We made a huge salad and some grilled cheese for lunch. That afternoon we walked around the city and went to a museum on the other side of town. That night we cooked a ton of food and prepared some of the groceries for travel. We ate fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. We put the leftovers in the freezer for the following days travels. We tried to watch a movie together but were quickly asleep. 

9/15: 

After breakfast we packed our bags and cooked some pasta (for pasta salad!). We walked to the bus station and found a bus to Uspallata. It was another beautiful bus ride near the hot springs but then we reached an amazing blue lake we had never heard of. We almost got off the bus there hoping for a campsite but we chickened out and stayed on. We found a sign for Uspallata and got off the bus but then realized we were still several miles away. It was hot and we had water and food for camping so it was a miserable walk. Luckily the one taxi in town stopped and we caught a ride for the best spent $3 of my life. We found a beautiful free campsite in the heart of the town but still quiet. We set up camp, ate pasta salad (delicious by the way), and enjoyed being in nature once again. As it grew dark we wandered the town, which only took ten minutes, and bought some beer and sausages. We returned to our camp to build a fire and cook our dinner of sausage onion and potato wrapped in foil and roasted . It grew quite cold by the time we finished eating so we took shelter in our tent and quickly fell asleep. 

9/16:

After a very cold night we stayed in our tent until the sun warmed it up. After a breakfast of fruit and granola bars we read and relaxed. We added tons of vegetables to the pasta salad and extra ranch dressing. It made an amazing salad and we ate a ton. Then we set out on a hike. A couple of cute dogs came to our campsite and we became friends so they accompanied us on the hike. We walked down the road looking for a museum. We couldn’t find it so gave up and headed down a scenic path. Luckily it led to the museum! It wasn’t too big or exciting but the views out back were great. We collected rocks for awhile and took pictures before returning to our campsite. We wanted to buy some hot dogs for our new friends but the store was closed for siesta. We went into a coffee shop for awhile and when we came out the dogs were gone. We bought hot dogs anyway. That night we ate salad as well as some leftover sausage and veggies. There was an amazing sunset! We watched Lord of the Rings in our warm tent before bed. 

9/17:

We woke to a beautiful day and packed up camp after breakfast. We ate hot dogs for lunch and then hiked to town. Here we found that the next bus onwards was four hours later. So we returned to the coffee shop and watched “Seven Years in Tibet” starring Brad Pitt on Netflix. It’s about a German hiker who is a prisoner during World War Two and forced to flee into Tibet where he learns from the child Dali lama. It was partially filmed in Uspallata, and the coffee shop, named Cafe Tibet, was inspired by the movie and decorated in accordance. It was a great movie and a very fitting location for watching. We kept “recognizing” mountains throughout the movie. We finally took the bus to Puente del Inca. The bus broke down and it was dark and freezing when we arrived. We were surprised to see snow on the ground. But nothing was open, even the “open year round” hotel. We had taken the last bus and were worried about freezing to death in our tent. But we found the only open hostel with very nice people and even hung out with the park rangers that night who fed us amazing food like stuffed pumpkin. Though Puente del Inca is only ten minutes from Chile, the busses do not stop here so we were forced to return to Uspallata the next day.  We were very happy for beds and blankets because it was truly freezing at night. 

9/18:

We made breakfast (of tea, crackers and dried fruit) and then hiked. A few feet outside our front door is Puente del Inca, a naturally formed stone bridge with many colors due to hot spring minerals. We hiked along the train tracks and had cool views. Then we found the national park and talked to the Rangers from the night before. We hiked through the snow to get a nice view of the mountain and some frozen lakes. Aconcagua mountain is the highest outside of the Himalayas. It has huge glaciers and made a spectacular view. We hiked back out of the park, waited with our things and read for awhile, and the took the bus back to Uspallata. We went back to the free campsite, pitched our tent, bought bus tickets for Chile the next morning, went to dinner where we ate baby goat (delicious), went to the coffee shop, and returned to our camp site for well earned sleep. 

It was an amazing week full of activities and camping! Our clothes smelled horrible and our bodies aches after the camping and hiking and bus riding but it was well worth it!