Team Snickers

Well, well, well. I know it has been FOREVER, and I have been getting a lot of requests for more blog. I am finally here to tell you about my winter vacation. Wow was it crazy. I also have had some exciting experiences since I have been back in Chile. So brace yourself, this ones gonna be long...

As I mentioned before, for my winter vacation, I traveled with 4 other volunteers to Machu Picchu, Peru. Before we left, we really had no plans except that, and our trip really became so much more. Because of the unorganized bus system here in Chile, it is impossible to find out the schedule of buses in other cities and book things in advance, really. All we knew when we left Tocopilla was that we were meeting up with two of our friend in the Northern most city, Arica, and then somehow getting to Peru. I have never been on such a spontaneous trip. I really didn't know what was in store for me, and I was pleasantly surprised with the trip of a lifetime.

Jackie, Melissa and I decided to leave for Arica a day early so we could see the city before we met up with the boys to cross the border. The city was nice. Bigger than Tocopilla for sure, and with more money. The world surfing finals were in Arica last year, so of course the beach is beautiful and they cater to tourism more than any other city in Chile I have been to. Of course we ate at McDonalds, because we are dying for a good burger (how sad), and even met up with some other volunteers that happened to be there on their way up North. The really stand-out thing about my experience in Arica was our hostel. After my experience last summer in Europe, I have become pretty savvy at hostelworld.com. I tend to know what to look for when booking hostels, and this one seemed fun, I guess, and of course, it was cheap most importantly. The people who worked at the hostel were young Europeans who were obviously crashing for a few months in Arica. One of them strolled in from the beach when we arrived and the other we had obviously woken up. They didn't wear shoes, there was beer bottles scattered throughout the common area, and a painting had fallen on the floor. There was no sign of any other people staying there, so needless to say, I think these people are enjoying their lives. The man that ran the hostel was the icing on the cake. He had some sort of crazy accent and LOVED to say "mother fucker." Sorry for the profanity, but it really helps describe his character. It pretty much seems like he just invites all his friends over every night and they just drink and be merry. He was very hung-over the day we were there, because he said Sundays were for resting. He was quite the character, and actually ended up giving us some very useful tips on our journey north. Never would I have thought that a Brazilian with long hair who permanently smelled like alcohol could have been such a treat in my life, but I don't think I'll be forgetting him or that night anytime soon.

We only stayed one night in Arica and arose very early to meet our friends at the bus station and start our international travel. Roberto (our hostel man) and many other people told us that taking a bus over the border is not worth it because it is more expensive and takes much longer than simply taking a taxi. Oh, and by taxi he means a 1970-something Buick. Much reminiscent of Jeffrey Harris's old beauty. So we squeezed 5 people into this car with all of our backpacks and at one point had to give the driver our passports (very nerve-wrecking experience) while he filled out our paperwork to cross. It only takes about an hour to cross both the Peru and Chilean borders for most people. We, of course, are different. Because of the Visa's that are in our passports, we are technically Chilean citizens for the next year. In order to leave the country we need two things: our passports and our Chilean carnets. No one ever told us anything about this, of course, and Jackie didn't have her carnet with her. Needless to say, we had to leave Jackie at the border and she met us a day later in Arequipa.

If you are traveling through Peru at any point in your life, and you are taking a bus, I highly recommend the company "Cruz Del Sur." Throughout our trip, we had some VERY interesting bus experiences. We were ripped off at some points by companies, and given the biggest culture shock of our lives on one of our bus rides. We always had a pleasant experience with Cruz del Sur, even playing a game of "Bingo" on one of our longer voyages. That was one of the greatest surprises of the whole trip. My friend Andrew almost won, but was beat by some European folk, dang. I have gotten used to having an attendant on bus trips. At first it was very odd, but now I appreciate the fact that they bring be juice and blankets.

Our first major city that we went to was Arequipa. This is where both Melissa and I did the bulk of our Peruvian souvenier purchasing. I am now the proud owner of an orange-peruvian fanny pack, a sweater made out of llama fur with llamas on it (warmest thing I've ever put on in my life) and a very bright hand made hat (earflaps were very necessary in the cold).

I am not the typical traveler in Peru. I don't have REI gear dripping from head to toe, and I don't own a North Face fleece. Me and my True Religion Jeans, American Apparel Hoodie and brown slip-on Vans became quite the outdoorsman during this adventure, and I must say, they held up pretty well. The only REI thing that came in definite help was my backpack. Poor Melissa had a rolly-suitcase that was not her friend by the end of our trip. There are no elevators in South America.

Anyway, Arequipa. This city is very pretty. It's the first definite sign in Peru of the tourism industry. It was really crazy to see that since I have been living so far from that culture for quite a while now. Our first night there, we ate in the main plaza ("Plaza de Armas," the same name for every big plaza in South America) on the very top on the roof of a building. This was awesome. Our server was so excited to have Americans at his restaurant and even gave us Ponchos when it got cold. A great welcome into Peru. Peruvian people are very very nice. For example, the people at our hostel accidentally booked our room before we came into Arequipa, and instead of telling us we were SOL when we got there, they gave us rooms that were brand-new (literally they were putting in the light sockets when we checked in) and would normally cost 5 times what we paid, and they even gave us a discount from our original price. It seemed like Peruvians really go out of their way to make people feel welcome, and let me say, it does indeed work.

The coolest thing that we did in Arequipa, however, was horseback riding through Incan Terrace farms. These farms were over 500 years old and still today, no modern-day equipment was used to keep them running. Being on horseback really gave us the chance to see these farms up close and how they actually work. It was really incredible.

We only stayed in Arequipa one night, and by this point we had Jackie again, phew. Then we took a night bus up to Cusco. Coldest experience of my life. Thank god for the llama sweater, that's all I really have to say about that. Cusco is a cool city. Very crowded and full of tourism, but that makes it easy to find things to do. The altitude finally started affecting me there, and I had an extreme case of the sniffles, nothing much worse than that though. This is where the Snickers comes in. There are many remedies to deal with altitude sickness. We were all very scared to get too sick. I was definitely after seeing the state my dad came home in last April, so we took all the necessary precautions in order to keep well. This included a lot of coco-leaf tea, coco candies and massive amounts of chocolate. Chocolate later translated into Snickers bars, and Snickers bars later translated into breakfast or lunch. I was really excited when I could find ones with almond.

There was about 15 volunteers from English Opens Doors in Cusco at the same time as us. It was awesome because Melissa actually spotted them when we were eating dinner at the coolest restaurant ever one night. Our Chilean phones didn't work in Peru, so there was no way of getting in contact besides the awkward facebook messages that we were sending each other in an effort to meet up, and who knew when we would have internet access. Anyway, this restaurant we found in Nick's rusty trusty Frommers book (if your traveling peru get the Frommer's book. It's very helpful). It was the first real restaurant I had really been to since Santiago. They took our drink orders separate from our food orders and everything. There we ate alpaca, and it was very yummy, and I had chicken-skewers with peanut sauce. Boy do I miss peanuts (mostly peanut butter). The food in Cusco was generally pretty good. I think this had a large part to do with tourism, but that was fine by me. I got to have flavors that I have not had since I was in the states, and that was nice.

We stayed in Cusco for a few nights before we went to Machu Picchu. The week we went was the start of the high-season, so we could not book a trip right away. We visited the ruins, Saqsaywaman (sexy woman, that's not what it actually means, but how it's pronounced instead), and I lost my breath every 10 steps because of the altitude, what a wimp. Booking tour in Peru is a very interesting experience. Throughout our trip, we realized that people book tours and take your money but don't actually put any of the work into it until the day you plan on traveling, ie: bus/train tickets, hostels, things like that. This means that even though someone may have told you that you are taking this bus at this time and visiting these things, they really have no idea and you will most likely be taking a different trip because when they finally get around to getting bus or train tickets, they are already sold out. I'm not sure if that exactly made sense, but that's what happened to us, and to several other people that we met. Everything turned out alright though, and soon enough, we headed to Aguas Calientes as a one-night stop before catching the sunrise at Machu Picchu.

Aguas Calientes is a smaller town. It's only purpose is a place for people to stay during their travels to the lost city, at least that's what it seemed like. Throughout our travels, our little group came to a realization that the boys like to walk a lot more than us girls did. So midday, the three Tocopillans went to the marcado to go souvenier shopping, and the boys went on a three hour hike to a waterfall or something. Then Melissa, Jackie and I went to some hotsprings and met up with the boys for dinner. It was nice that we had people that liked to do the same things as each other, because we were all able to get what we wanted out of the trip.

Finally, we made it to Machu Picchu. We took the first bus in the morning and arrived at the bus station at 5am. We had strategically packed our backs so we had stuff for the cold morning, and went as far as having flip flops for the afternoon when it heated up a bit. Machu Picchu is truly a wonder. We were there early enough that it wasn't swarming with people and we could really take it all in. We were there for about an hour before the sun started rising over the ruins so we explored everything outside of the city part before. Then we had to get a good seat to see the sun break over the ruins, and that was definitely worth it. Our obsession with dogs even came in handy while waiting for the sun when we saw a long dog who had walked all the way up to the ruins himself. It is just amazing how the city is literally in the middle of the Andes. How anyone found it is a wonder to me on it's own, and how it was built makes my head hurt. We had a little tour for a few hours with a guide who told us a bunch of interesting facts and showed us optical illusion sort of things in the rocks. He brought us into a room and made us sing into holes in the wall and hear our voices echo, and he told Melissa and I that we were laying on a human sacrificial rock when we had sprawled across it to take a picture. This was not the last time we heard that, because later in the day when the boys were on a hike that was way too long, and the girls decided to take a nap amongst the llamas and ruins, a tour guide walked by saying "these terrace steps are where Incans used to sacrifice llamas and lambs in old times, and today it is where these senoritas nap." It was pretty funny, and I slept so well that I was snoring...of course. We had a good day at Machu Picchu. We were all impressed by the sheer wonder of it, but also how it has been preserved. It doesn't seem like a tourist attraction while you are there, and they have kept up the integrity of the ruins. Before I left, I got to stamp my own passport with the Machu Picchu stamp, and at that point my day was made.

After Machu, our train back to Cusco wasn't until 9pm. Since we went at 5am, we had a lot of time left when we got back into Aguas Calientes. Unfortunately, we had to check out of the hostel before we left in the morning, but we were very exhausted. So what did we do, you ask? Oh, Melissa, Jackie and I slept on benches in the city. Very classy indeed and we were joined by a family all wearing purple a few hours into it. Then we had a tour debacle at the train station when our company was trying to get us on to an earlier train. This included us sitting there for about two hours and meeting some kids from all over South America, one of which who had ripped her pants from her butt to her knee. We finally got back to Cusco at about midnight after we spent the rest of our night in Aguas Calientes at a restaurant where you could watch movies. We watched Harry Potter, and of course, now I am re-reading the books. We didn't stay in Cusco for long, because the next morning at 7am, we headed to the bus station to make our way to Puno and Lake Titicaca.

We had booked our tour for Lake Titicaca in Cusco, so things were pretty much figured out for us when we got there. Our tour of Titicaca was quite the trip. We visited two floating islands and spent the night on an island saying in houses with no electricity or running water. Floating islands are man-made and have straw as the ground. The houses are actually made out of straw as well, and the one we visited had six families living on it. I'm not exactly sure why people choose to live on these islands away from any sort of civilization, but it's really quite crazy. We were shown how they were built by the president of the island, and then taken into their houses and shown around. We then took one of the man-made water taxis (a straw boat), and joined halfway by a little boy who just climbed on from another boat. On one of the floating islands they sold Snickers, so that was convenient, and that would be the last bit of food that wasn't a starchy carb for the next 24 hours.

When we arrived at the island we spent the night at, there was about 25 traditional Peruvian women waiting for us. Peruvian women wear very bright colored skirts, white blouses with colorful embroidery on the front, these black scarf things and usually have a colorful blanket tied to their back that is holding something, most commonly, a baby. Many of the women didn't speak Spanish even, only Kechwa. Our host mom spoke Spanish, but she lived with her parents and her mother didn't. Her six year old daughter spoke Spanish and Ketchwa and was even learning English in school. The mom made us lunch and dinner in her clay stove, while sitting on her knees and washing dishes in buckets. We had potatoes and rice and cheese that squeaked when you chewed it. Although there was a lot of animals on the island, they didn't slaughter them, but just used them for fertalizer, dairy and wool. We ate A LOT, and talked a lot with our host mom as well. She was very nice, and a hard worker. Of 8 kids, she was the only one still living on the island, and that is because she isn't married. At night, they dressed us up in the typical Peruvian outfits and took us to a little party with a band and dancing. This experience was really incredible. Her daughter really loved hanging out with us, and they even gave us their address to write to them in the future. This was something I never thought or knew that I would ever do, and I am so happy that we did. I still can't believe that people still live like these people do today, but they seem very happy and content with their lives on the island.

Our journey back to Puno took about 4 hours by boat. There was a lot of people crammed onto our boat, and we thought that was normal until we were stopped by the Lake Titicaca Coast Guards. We all had to put on life jackets (although there wasn't enough for everybody, hello Titanic) and our driver got fined 90 soles and got his license taken away for having 13 more people on the boat than was allowed. Oh, this is just Peruvian tourism for you. By the time we got back, we were tired and ready to get back to Chile. We arose early the next morning and embarked on what was the most colorful bus ride I have ever been on in my life.

Taking a bus from Puno to Tacna (the border city to Chile, a lot like Tijuana) is not something that a lot of tourists do. We didn't have a bus ticket before we left, so we just went to the bus station in the morning hoping to find something. We found a bus right away very conveniently, but this was not a bus that is meant for tourists. This took us only about 5 minutes into our journey to realize, and we were on this bus for 10 hours. We were the only people on the bus that weren't Peruvian, and by Peruvian I mean carrying a baby on your back with a mini-bowler cap and long braids. The two seats behind Melissa and I were filled by two mothers with two babies. One mother sat in the aisle for most of the trip feeding her baby, and when she was not there, her breasts were exposed while she was breastfeeding, or sometimes they were just out. About three hours into the voyage, a very old woman came on the bus with a walking stick that was actually a stick and decided halfway on her way to her seat that she didn't want to sit that far back, so she planted herself in the middle of the aisle, on my feet. She sat their very content for about 2 hours until Melissa had to get up to go to the bathroom. It took about 4 people to get her up off the floor and she finally made it to her actual assigned seat. There were three people on the bus who stood up and made speeches, basically asking for money. One did magic, he was okay. One evangilized then talked about eating right and gave out books, and the last one sold skin care products and even had a portable microphone. We stopped many times on the bus, and one time everyone had to get off. This was a fruit checkpoint meaning that you aren't supposed to take fruit passed this point. Although everyone was supposed to get off, only about 20 people did, and all the women who did (besides the gringas), lifted up their skirts on the side of the road and went to the bathroom right there, although there was a bathroom in the bus. And, as soon as the bus took off again, the woman in front of me pulled out an orange and started eating away. Good thing there was a fruit check. This bus ride was probably the most culture I experienced my entire time in Peru, and I could not help but laugh then entire 10 hours. Needless to say, there was no Bingo on this bus and they didn't play the movie "Herbie: Fully Loaded" like our others. Although it didn't smell very good and I was forced to keep the back of my seat up the whole time due to the 4 people that were sitting in the 2 seats behind me, I would not trade that experience for anything in the world.

I was very happy when our bus was finally pulling into Tocopilla 24 hours after we boarded our bus from Puno (the Peruvian one being only 10 hours of the journey). The three of us were greeted by none other than sweater dog, but no one had changed his sweater. We think his family was on vacation, and as of today, he is no longer wearing a sweater. I am starting to get worried...

Well, that pretty much sums up my trip to Peru in the longest blog post ever. I am going to leave you with that for now, although I must write about my school's anniversary celebration that started last night. But it is going on for three weeks, so I will spare you for now, but get your mind thinking about it by mentioning that last night at midnight there was a full on marching band at my school playing happy birthday for all of the teachers that were there for the anniversary dinner, myself included.

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Here is a link to the pictures from my trip. I didn't put them in the blog because there was too many I wanted to share. I hope you enjoyed this post, because I really did enjoy my trip. Chao!