Hello all! Crystal and I are sitting here in a internet cafe in Puerto Montt, Chile a day before getting on a boat that will take us through the fijords of southern Chile to Puerta Natales and Patagonia! Chile has been pretty amazing so far. We spent a few days in Santiago to explore the city and meet up with a friend from Salt Lake that happened to be in the area. The city is a mix of modern skyscrapers and colonial architecture with a crazy tourist scene.
From there we took off for the coast and Chile´s surf capital, Pichilemu. Pichilemu is the home of the surf break Punta del Lobos where pros come from all over in the winter to paddle into some of the huge southern swells that hit the point. We stayed a sweet hostel on a farm with a beachfront view and spent a few days relaxing and drowning in the surf. For the record, so far, Pichilmeu is home to the undisputed contender for the title of ¨Best Empanada.¨ Trust us, we have done our research. I for one, though, am holding out to crown a winner until Argentina however. We concluded our stay with a big BBQ, argentina style, thanks to our new friends Nico and Luis. The Gato (boxed wine) kinda clouds the night a bit but I´m sure it was a good time for everone involved.
Once we had a our fill of emapanadas and salt water we took off on an overnight bus to Pucon, a mountain town at the base of a volcano. There we escaped to nearby Parque Nacional Huerquehue where we hiked, swam in lakes and were tormented by huge acrobatic trout munching on bugs while we sat on the shore without rod nor reel. The park was a great rest from the tourist haven of Pucon.
And that brings us to Puerto Montt and what is hopefully the best and certainly most anticipated part of our voyage as we head south to the ruggedness of Patagonia. As of right now we are having a hard time loading photos but will try to get some us as soon as possible. We love you all and hope all is well wherever you are.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Hello to our friends!We are currently in Copacabana, Bolivia (and no, it´s not the Copacabana the song was written about...I was disappointed too).
For the last two weeks we have been in Peru and it has been a whirlwind!
We got off the plane at about midnight and decided to skip Lima and go straight to a beautiful historic town called Arequipa. Arequipa is known as the alpaca capital of the world and it´s backdrop is the volcano El Misti. After a fourteen hour bus ride we finally arrived to our first hostel! We spend our time there slowly acclimating to the elevation and the new world we had just entered. In Arequipa, we decided to take a wonderful cooking class where we got to learn how to make ceviche and pesca ala macho (bomb!).
After a couple days in Arequipa we were ready to head to Cuzco, the gateway to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. We spend our time there prepping for our trek and celebrate our 2 year anniversary!! After our mini adventure of finding a good backcountry pot and buying food at the local mercado we were ready to head out.
The classic trek that most people do to get to Machu Picchu is the Inca Trail. Unfortuately due to the volume of tourism, the Inca Trail is highly regulated and you need to do it on a guided tour which we decided against. Instead we opted to do the Salkantay Trail. An alternative route to Machu Picchu where no guide or permits are necessary. The trek entails four LONG days starting in the jungle of Mollapata, up and over a 15,000 ft. pass underneath the snowy peaks of Navado Salkantay, back into the rainforest of La Playa and the Sacred Valley. For this trek, most people still rent horses or a guide due to the intensity of the terrain. Out of about 50+ people starting the trek on the same day as us, there was only two others doing it unguided and unsupported. We later found out that the guides were highly doubting our ability to finish or even get past day one! It was a difficult trek with extreme ups and extreme downs (in terms of terrain, not our moods!). A major concern for us was the high probability of getting altitude sickness of some sort because we were going to be so high. Luckily, neither of us experienced anything besides small headaches and exhausted bodies. Did you guys know the uphill gets really...really... really hard at 15,000 ft?
We wrapped up the trek in Aguas Caliente which is the city below Machu Picchu. We woke up at 4 AM the next day to catch the earliest bus up, hoping to catch a glimpse of Machu Picchu without many people. After taking pictures at the classic viewpoint of MP we headed up for a 2,000 ft. climb to the summit of Machu Picchu Mountain where we could see a large portion of the route we had just walked.
Even though it´s been a few days since we finished, our bodies are still aching from the trek. Our bodies were craving for rest from the difficult trek but we needed to continue on our journey to our next country-Bolivia!
_________________________
So due to technical difficulties, it looks like we´re not going to be able to post pictures on the blog.. SORRY! And also becuase of this, we´ve postponed posting this Peru entry and now we are over and done with Bolivia and currently in Santiago, Chile!
It seems so quick and already we are feeling like we are pressed for time. Dang these countries are too big and beautiful...
Anyway, Bolivia was short and sweet. We went from Cuzco to Puno, Peru which is the border town to Bolivia. We thought we were going to stay in Puno but ended up not getting the best vibes there so we immediately hopped on another bus straight across the border to Copacabana, Bolivia. There we spent a few days hanging out by Lake Titicaca and walked across the Isla del Sol which was the birthplace of the sun and the Incas. We even tried our first Trucha (trout) from Lake Titicaca... Delicious! We really enjoyed Copacabana but the rest of South America calls so we got out of there and headed straight to Uyuni, Bolivia where we took a three day jeep tour across the Salar de Uyuni which is the larget salt flat in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_de_Uyuni
Check out the wiki page.. haha
This tour also took us to the border of Bolivia and Chile which is how we got here!(via a 24 hour bus from the border to Santiago. Yes, I said 24 hour bus)
And now, we slowly making our way down south to the Chilean part of South America.
Sorry to make this short but minutes on the computer is precious here.. We will write soon. We are both doing well and are healthy & happy. We have met and come across wonderful, kind people and are excited about our time in Patagonia. We will write soon! Much, much love.. tw & cl
For the last two weeks we have been in Peru and it has been a whirlwind!
We got off the plane at about midnight and decided to skip Lima and go straight to a beautiful historic town called Arequipa. Arequipa is known as the alpaca capital of the world and it´s backdrop is the volcano El Misti. After a fourteen hour bus ride we finally arrived to our first hostel! We spend our time there slowly acclimating to the elevation and the new world we had just entered. In Arequipa, we decided to take a wonderful cooking class where we got to learn how to make ceviche and pesca ala macho (bomb!).
After a couple days in Arequipa we were ready to head to Cuzco, the gateway to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. We spend our time there prepping for our trek and celebrate our 2 year anniversary!! After our mini adventure of finding a good backcountry pot and buying food at the local mercado we were ready to head out.
The classic trek that most people do to get to Machu Picchu is the Inca Trail. Unfortuately due to the volume of tourism, the Inca Trail is highly regulated and you need to do it on a guided tour which we decided against. Instead we opted to do the Salkantay Trail. An alternative route to Machu Picchu where no guide or permits are necessary. The trek entails four LONG days starting in the jungle of Mollapata, up and over a 15,000 ft. pass underneath the snowy peaks of Navado Salkantay, back into the rainforest of La Playa and the Sacred Valley. For this trek, most people still rent horses or a guide due to the intensity of the terrain. Out of about 50+ people starting the trek on the same day as us, there was only two others doing it unguided and unsupported. We later found out that the guides were highly doubting our ability to finish or even get past day one! It was a difficult trek with extreme ups and extreme downs (in terms of terrain, not our moods!). A major concern for us was the high probability of getting altitude sickness of some sort because we were going to be so high. Luckily, neither of us experienced anything besides small headaches and exhausted bodies. Did you guys know the uphill gets really...really... really hard at 15,000 ft?
We wrapped up the trek in Aguas Caliente which is the city below Machu Picchu. We woke up at 4 AM the next day to catch the earliest bus up, hoping to catch a glimpse of Machu Picchu without many people. After taking pictures at the classic viewpoint of MP we headed up for a 2,000 ft. climb to the summit of Machu Picchu Mountain where we could see a large portion of the route we had just walked.
Even though it´s been a few days since we finished, our bodies are still aching from the trek. Our bodies were craving for rest from the difficult trek but we needed to continue on our journey to our next country-Bolivia!
_________________________
So due to technical difficulties, it looks like we´re not going to be able to post pictures on the blog.. SORRY! And also becuase of this, we´ve postponed posting this Peru entry and now we are over and done with Bolivia and currently in Santiago, Chile!
It seems so quick and already we are feeling like we are pressed for time. Dang these countries are too big and beautiful...
Anyway, Bolivia was short and sweet. We went from Cuzco to Puno, Peru which is the border town to Bolivia. We thought we were going to stay in Puno but ended up not getting the best vibes there so we immediately hopped on another bus straight across the border to Copacabana, Bolivia. There we spent a few days hanging out by Lake Titicaca and walked across the Isla del Sol which was the birthplace of the sun and the Incas. We even tried our first Trucha (trout) from Lake Titicaca... Delicious! We really enjoyed Copacabana but the rest of South America calls so we got out of there and headed straight to Uyuni, Bolivia where we took a three day jeep tour across the Salar de Uyuni which is the larget salt flat in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_de_Uyuni
Check out the wiki page.. haha
This tour also took us to the border of Bolivia and Chile which is how we got here!(via a 24 hour bus from the border to Santiago. Yes, I said 24 hour bus)
And now, we slowly making our way down south to the Chilean part of South America.
Sorry to make this short but minutes on the computer is precious here.. We will write soon. We are both doing well and are healthy & happy. We have met and come across wonderful, kind people and are excited about our time in Patagonia. We will write soon! Much, much love.. tw & cl
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