Finalmente...Peru y Bolivia

Well I've made it back from Peru and Bolivia and let me tell you, it was a great and beautiful trip! Our first stop was Arequipa, Peru. It's the second most visited city in Peru I think, after Cusco and for good reasons! After a day of traveling from Arica, CHile to Arequipa our first full day we made it to the Santa Catalina monastery. This monastery was huge, and is essentially another city within the city of Arequipa. It was also very colorful and beautiful as you can see in the first two picture below. In the monastery I felt the serenity and the peaceful lives that the nuns lead in this city as everything was clean, quiet, and beautiful. I also felt that the walls were restricting and baring down on me while I was within. While the walls kept everything unsafe, dirty and bad outside, it also kept everything inside removed from reality. 

Santa Catalina:

On our second full day in Arequipa we woke up at 2:15 am to go on a full day tour of the Colca Canyon, which was a three hour drive away from Arequipa. The tour was beautiful and worth the early morning wake up! The canyon is considered the deepest canyon in the world by National Geographic, and I personally would consider it one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The canyon is still inhabited by small farming communities. The walls of the canyon are mostly pre-inca made terraces where these communities today still grow quinoa and potatoes. It was an incredible day and I feel as though it makes up for not making it to Machu Pichu. 

This first picture is at the highest point in Peru at 4,910 meters! The stacks of rocks that are sort of visible are wishes made by the Quechua and Aymara people of Peru.

The terraces that were everywhere along the valley

from the point where it is deepest!

 

On the drive home, the canyon changes from hilly and rough rock to soft grass plain-land. We saw many llama, Alpaca and Vicuña along the side of the road.

From Arequipa we took a bus to Puno, Peru on lake Titicaca. Our original plan had been to go straight to Bolivia but we weren't able to make it across the border in time before it closed. Which is weird right? The border closed at 6pm! But lucky for us it did, because we got to see an amazing culture from the lake. The Uros Islands are a group of floating islands in which a community of 2,000 Aymara live. It takes about a year to make an island of reeds in which 4 or 5 families live on. It was amazing to see and experience the island life, even for an hour or so. These are some of my favorite shots from my time on the Islas de Uros. 

 

Then from Islas de Uros we went to Copacabana, Bolivia and the Island of the Sun! Copacabana was a sleepy little beach town with really good trout and a lot of tour agencies. This picture is the amazing view from our hostel! Because we were detained in Puno, we only had a afternoon and a morning in Copacabana so we weren't able to spend a full day on the Island of the Sun which was a disappointment but we were able to see quite a bit!

Here is a picture from our walk along the Island of the Sun. It was a beautiful little island filled with Aymara indigenous people who speak the Aymara language more than Spanish. 

And then from Copacabana we took a bus to La Paz, Bolivia and two hours later we caught an overnight bus to Uyuni where we began a three day tour of the Uyuni Salt Flats and surrounding desert. It was a lot to do in little time and we were exhausted when we arrived in Uyuni but it was amazing! Our tour group there was our guide/chauffeur/chef Iver, two guys from Italy who didn't know each other previously, a swedish kid who was spending 6 months in South America, and the three of us girls.

Our first day was the day of the Salt flats

Our second day was the day of the lagoons in which we saw tons of flamingos

 
Our third day was the day of the rocks

It was a beautiful tour and a beautiful time. However, the three of us upon reflection, realized that the tour was very uncomfortable in terms of the relationship with the Bolivians and the tourists. OUr bolivian tour guide was working extremely hard all day to make sure that everything was perfect for us tourists, while being payed relatively very low wages. The money we payed was no where near how much the tour should have cost. And us, the tourists, getting carted around taking pictures and having a jolly old time. It instigated a lot of discussion between us as we struggled to identify our roles and responsibilities in changing this system of injustice and inequality. 

From Uyuni we took another night bus to La Paz, Bolivia. This is a view from the top of La Paz looking down into the valley that the city was built within. La Paz is the highest city in the world and trust me, altitude is no joke. Also, the pollution combined with the altitude made for very difficult breathing. The city of La Paz was very interesting and a very good experience for us to have I think. Bolivia is 60% indigenous and the indigenous culture is very strong. So is too however, poverty. It was very difficult to see the little boys and girls dancing on the side of the street in their dirty little shoes and faces, while walking on through as our terroists our day as tourists. 

Family

Well as you all know,  I've been severely neglecting my blogging duties and I cannot say I have a good excuse! Maybe I've just gotten used to writing about major events and traveling that I have forgotten how to write about the small, yet still important events. Because in the past three weeks or so, nothing really eventful or special has happened here in Valparaiso. However, more than anything, I've started to feel really at home in my home and in Valparaiso. However I realize this is a very relative statement. Obviously I feel more at home now than I did before because even a month ago I felt more at home than I did the month before that, and before that, and...etc. You get the picture. Maybe the difference here this time is that I think I've become a real part of my family here. I realized this the other day when my host brother and sister started bickering back and forth about something trivial and for the first time in 4 months, I said something about it. I didn't yell, or get upset, I just said "you guys I'm tired of this you guys need to stop this senseless bickering". Well, I said something along those lines in Spanish, not quite sure what the word bickering is. But anyways, it felt like a totally brother and sister thing to do, to speak up and say something to the other one and to tell them to stop. And it hit me in that moment how close I've become with my family here.

My host mom has become one of my closest friends here and I'm so thankful that I was put in this family. I was feeling sad the other day about how little time was left and she instantly knew something was wrong. She wrapped me in her arms and let me cry and told me we would make something yummy for dinner and that we would all spend the night together. Of course... we made completos. She also gave me a silver bracelet that her mother had given to her for her 15th birthday and I can't even stress how big this is. Her mother passed away 6 years ago and she never stops talking about how special and wonderful of a mom and woman she was. She considers her mom her best friend and she misses her terribly all the time. So the amount of love that she showed me with her giving the bracelet was just extremely touching. I've feeling very much loved from this family and I have so much love for them and my heart is going to break when I have to leave them all in january.
Now for my other family, my Casa de Colores family...they are just where my spirit lies here in Chile. I spend about as much time in this house as I do my own. I know exactly what needs to be put out at night for our daily "once", starting with the plates, the silverware, the cups, the bread, butter, jam, manjar...etc. And I mean, I know...it's setting a table, whats the big deal? But it's like the house has become my own. I had the same feeling yesterday as I was cooking our thanksgiving meal (more to come later) that the house has become my own, because I knew where everything went in the kitchen, all the spoons, knifes, butting boards etc. And it just feels really good to feel that security and comfort in the place that you are.

Anyways, this Casa de Colores family of mine decided that we should do a thanksgiving meal to celebrate thanksgiving and sort of the end of the semester. Me and the three other gringa girls that  spend a lot of time in the house decided to embark on our first thanksgiving without experienced cooks... for 22 people. And I'm gonna say it right now, we did a spectacular job. We went all out and did a whole turkey rubbed down with rosemary butter, garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans, an herbed green bean casserole, roasted asparagus with salt, pepper and a little cheese, stuffing, gravy and a carrot mash to replace sweet potato pie. Also latkes!! We made all of this in one day, in this tiny little kitchen, with little to no mishaps. For dessert we had two blueberry cobblers, two pumpkin pies, an apple pie and a peach cobbler as well. We made these the day before, which ended up being a really, really good idea.  Out of the 22 people, only 5 of us were not Chilean and so for most people there, everything we ate was the first time they had tried it. And we got great reviews! Everyone really enjoyed it and ate almost everything, which is impressive considering how much we had. In accompaniment, we had borgoña which is red wine mixed with strawberries and a little sugar. I'm so happy and so proud of what we accomplished!

Thanksgiving pics!

We also had a little "secret santa" event where we all pulled a name from a hat and we bought/made a little gift that we presented during our meal. It was a great event that really just pulled the whole night together. 

I'm off to Peru and Bolivia for the next 12 days and I'm sure I'll have lots to write about upon my return! Happy thanksgiving :)

Buenos Aires, the Paris of South America

Hola mis amigos!!  After a busy, busy week in Buenos Aires, I have finally recovered enough to share with you guys about my trip. Let me just start by saying that I am sorry for how many pictures I am going to put up, we went to SO many places and they all seemed so cool and important that I needed to put them in here. I really didn't do my homework before going to Buenos Aires and so I learned a lot about Argentine history while I was there. To start off, this is la Casa Rosada which is the executive mansion and presidential office of Argentina. This is also the house were Eva Duarte de Peron made her famous speeches to the poor people of Argentina.  Eva or "Evita" was the first lady from 1946-1952 of Juan Peron. Anyways, her picture and her presence was everywhere throughout the city, and I think most people think of her when they look at this "pink house" which we decided is the wrong name and should be called the Salmon House. 

On our first day we ended up just staying in our hostel and recovering from our overnight stay in the Santiago airport. Our second day we ended up making our way to Palermo which is the ritzy part of the  city with a lot of parks! This picture is from the Botanical Garden where there were tons of cats just lazying around. I won't lie, I missed the stray dogs of Valparaiso while we were there! Cats are just not the same. On day two we went to the MALBA which is the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires which was AMAZING! I saw a self-portrait of Frida Kahlo and some amazing art by Antonio Berni who I think is one of my new favorite artists. Unfortunately a museum is a museum and I couldn't take any pictures.

Day three was a rainy, rainy day and we made our way to the Mercado de San Telmo which is the neighborhood we were staying. Definitely my favorite indoor market I've been too. The whole place was basically an antique/collectable/vintage place with a few fresh veggie and fruit stands. I got a little tin box to use as a memo keeper and a really cool old pink shirt that is blinged out but needs some serious work at a tailor shop. 

Day four we made our way to the Recoleta cemetery! It was the 31st which was cool cause we got to be all spooked out on Holloween. It was a beautiful and impressive cemetery full of tons of creek and cracks and secret doors and passageways, just like a cemetery should be. It was dark and rainy that day too so it just added to the affect. 

scary and beautiful all at the same time

After the cemetery we made our way to this amazing bookstore that was in an old theatre. They did a great job making it look spectacular and beautiful and it was nice to escape the rain and curl up with a book for awhile. 

 Our next day we ended up making it out to La Boca which is near the port where boats used to come in and sailors would go for fun and craziness. It was PACKED with tourists and it was a bit overwhelming so we didn't stay too long. But the colors were really fun and the houses were cool to look at. It was definitely a brothel neighborhood when it was still in action. We almost didn't make it to the place actually, we took a wrong turn and thankfully we ran into a resident who warned us not to go down that street. Surrounding the area was the not nice part of la Boca and was very run down. It was interesting how that extremely poor neighborhood was surrounding this tourist trap where people were walking around with 1,500 dollar cameras around their necks, only seeing the part they wanted to see. 

Here's a view of "la Boca" which means mouth. It was very warehouse-like and run down looking but still had some charm

 We tried to make it out to the nature reserve that morning but it had rained all day the day before and so they closed it unfortunately. However we still got to see some beautiful trees and marshlands. 

Sunday we made our way to "la Feria de Mataderos" which I think was my favorite thing we did. There was music and dancing and so many beautiful arts and crafts and yummy artesian cheeses, meats honey's and chocolates. This woman was dancing by herself for a while to the Argentine cueca which is much slower and more romantic than the Chilena cueca. OH NO I forgot to talk about the TANGOOO! En la Boca we saw a few couples dancing the Tango and it was a beautiful dance albeit slow and romantic. I really had no idea the Tango was such a slow dance. I think the only vision I've had of the Tango comes from the movies which is always very fast and sexy. The tango we saw, which I'm 100% sure is more authentic, was very slow, sad, and serious. Anyways, getting to see these traditional dances was really fun and made the market a lot of fun. 

We also made it to the Feria de San Telmo which was HUGE. It was at least 6 or 7 blocks long with both sides of the street filled with vendors. It was much more grungy and the stuff they were selling was not as "beautiful" but I found a really cool back made out of an old vhs box and I don't think I could have found it anywhere else if not this crazy, jumble of people, things, music and drugs (so many vendors smoking weed).

These next couple pictures are some interesting art and signs that  come from when we went to Plaza de Mayo which is right in front of La Casa Rosada. These signs are from Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo which is a group of mothers who have protested for years the disappearance of their family members at the hands of the government during la Guerra Sucia from 75-78. We missed the actual mothers by a half an hour which was SO disappointing, especially cause we had planned on seeing them and had just read the wrong time. But these banners were up in the plaza and it seemed like they had been their for a while and were permanent-like.  The second picture is a graffiti mural right on the outskirts of the plaza full of anti-consumerism/anti-imperialism images. 

 And just a little section of some of the food we had/made during the week! Our first night we stopped at this little Italian looking/seeming pasta shop and bought fresh gnochi pasta with a sauce and mixed it with some sauteed zuchini and eggplant. Our hostel's kitchen was fairly well equiped and we had a great time cooking for ourselves throughout the week.

Also, about a block away from our place there was this delicious empanada store where we bought ten for two of us and shared them all! The difference between Argentine and Chilean empanadas are size and filling. In Argentina they are filled with all different kinds of fillings: cheese, ham and cheese, spinach, roquefort, regular "carne" and all other kinds of delicious kinds. It is custom to eat around 6 I think, and 3 for a snack. 

We also enjoyed very much the ice cream/gelato of Argentina. This was only one of the times we got ice cream but we got 1/2 a kilo for three of us! But we said we weren't eating lunch for the week so that made it ok to eat whatever we wanted. I mean, how often are you in Argentina with gelato available right?

On the night we went out to a "Parilla" we chose cheap and got three entree's to share, a main meal and a bottle of wine all for around 25 USD! And it was SOOOO good.  I got a bife con chorizo which is th emost common piece cut of meat at a Parilla.

This is a provoleta which is a big slice of provolone cheese, grilled with some herbs on top!

Anyways, after a successful trip to Buenos Aires, it's time for my last three weeks of class here in Chile before a  month and a half of traveling and many more pictures! I can't believe everything here is already coming to an end, it seems unreal and like it's not actually happening.  I hope you enjoy the pictures and can taste the food from your computers. Love and miss you all.