Argentina

Argentina was my favorite country I visited, due to its breathtaking views of the Andes, beautiful people and the European feel of Buenos Aires (plus, the Spanish was a breeze to understand after Chile). The capital is known as the “Paris of the South” and that was definitely how it felt because of the architecture of the buildings, wide streets and general layout of the city. It was raining the last two days I was in BA and was actually SNOWING in Mendoza, but even that couldn't damper the beauty of the cities.

Beautiful Andes

The first city I went to was Mendoza, which is about seven hours from Santiago in the west part of the country. I couldn't believe that when I woke up the first day there was snow on the ground... I actually looked at it and just laughed out loud. My parents are always telling me about how disgustingly hot is it in Virginia, which is something I cannot even fathom right now! The cold was especially painful because I did not pack adequate cold weather clothes (I was in denial that it would actually be that cold down here during 'summer'=not smart). Anyway, I did a tour of wineries and an olive oil factory the first day. All the wines were delicious, which makes sense because Mendoza is one of the wine capitals of the world, and I actually drank red wine! (Dad, are you proud?) The next day, I did a tour of the Andes, which was absolutely amazing. There were a few mishaps during the tour, however. We had to wait four hours to get to the mountain because there was an accident (and this was after leaving the hostel at 6:30 a.m.). Also, there was a girl in the group who got sick (like...puking sick...), and we had to keep stopping on the side of the road. We're also in this tiny van, so I'm trying my best not to breathe in all the sick vapors circulating around...(typical me). I did feel bad for her though, is there any worst place to be nauseous than on a windy road through mountains? The sights were absolutely unbelievable, my favorite of the trip.

Second, I moved on to Buenos Aires. It was a beautiful city, very similar to Santiago but without the mountains in the background. The first night I went out to eat steak (a must there!) at a sweet restaurant with these two guys from Scotland who I had met in Mendoza. The steak was delicious, as I figured it would be. The next two days were rainy, so I couldn't do the bus tour of the city, unfortunately, but still had fun hanging out with the Scots more and going to a tango/dinner show the next night. The dancers were amazing and put on a great show. I don't think I can ever get used to the late eating schedule here. Peru is okay because dinner is around 8 or 9, which I can handle, but in Argentina no one eats until at least ten. The night life is on a whole other level than the US, with clubs/bars getting started around midnight and not finishing until early morning, around 6 a.m. With all this being said, I definitely had the most fun in the capital city.

View from La Plaza de Armas

The last city I went to in Argentina was Salta, in the very north of the country, which I wasn't crazy about. I did another mountain tour (can't get enough), but after the Andes, nothing could even compare. There were some pretty sites, but overall I could have done without it. The actual city was nice, though, with a pretty pink building in the middle of their Plaza de Armas.

Mooooo

I wish I had more time to visit Argentina because it so, SO BIG and there are tons of things I wish I had time to see. Patagonia, Iguazu waterfalls, Bariloche, wildlife preserves in the south...all of this just gives me an excuse to come back :)

CHILE

Chile was the first stop during my journey, as it borders Peru to the south. I took a colectivo taxi across the border to Arica, the northernmost city in Chile, which is in the middle of a very arid, dry and desert-y terrain but is right on the Pacific Ocean as well. I actually got dropped off at the bus station after a six hour bus ride, waited 20 minutes and got on another bus headed for La Serena...which lasted 22 hours. It's funny because as I write this I'm on a bus and have spent so much time on them, over 100 hours in two weeks, that 22 hours doesn't even sound painful to me anymore--I've built up great public transportation endurance ;-) Flying anywhere in South America is extremely expensive and buses here are not only very comfortable (with better food and service than airplanes) but are extremely inexpensive as well. I also avoided paying over $100 in both Chile and Argentina that apparently is supposed to be paid in the airport upon arrival. 

La Serena is a beach town about six hours north of Santiago and I wasn't there too long because it was more of a stop over point-I did, however, see 'Eclipse' there and learn that my cousin was in labor, so there are good memories there :-)

The beautiful city of Santiago was next on my itinerary, and I absolutely fell in love (...until I met its competition, Buenos Aires). Santiago is the cleaner, more old-fashioned looking, prettier yet smoggier, more mountainous version of New York City. Not to mention, I stayed at an awesome hotel there with a great breakfast buffet and steaming hot water (I took a bath for three hours), so that added some points to the city as well. There's this thing called a funicular there that is similar to a huge cable car that goes up steep tracks to a look-out point where you can see the whole city. The smog is definitely the downside of the city, but once you get over that you're left with beautiful buildings sprawled out with the snow-topped Andes mountains in the background. I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around, trying to understand the español chileno, which is beyond difficult to understand due to their different pronunciation and very quick sentences.

The last city I visited was San Pedro de Atacama, in the north part of the country, which boasts some of the most beautiful landscape in Chile. The town raises out of the desert...there literally isn't even a bus terminal, the bus just pulled off into the dirt and stopped. Even though I'm biased because I loved the Andes so much, the montañas here were second best. I woke up at 3:30 (yet again...) to go on a tour of the famous geysers they have there. Daybreak is the best time to see them because of the low temperatures (it was -15 degrees Celsius)--they explode when the hot magma under the surface comes in contact with the cold air, so the bigger the difference in these temperatures, the  more impressive the geysers. There are over 30 of them in this one area and even though I was absolutely freezing (I want VA humidity asap!), it was well worth seeing, especially since I've never seen anything like it before. There's a hot spring there too where people were actually swimming (it's verrry hot, 185 degrees F) and it's supposed to be very healthy for you as well, if you believe what they say. On the way back, we stopped at a frozen river and saw wild vicuñas (a smaller, endangered llama), llamas and burros, and we also went to one of the smallest towns in the world--literally only seven people live there.

Chile is worlds apart from Peru. For one, the infrastructure is more developed and I felt like I was in actual 'civilization again.' (note: this is only the differences from Cusco, I'm sure Lima is completely different) The fashion there is also more up-to-date and people dress more 'in style.' For me, Cusco is how I imagined South America before I came here-indigenous people and more poverty. In Chile, however, the people are a lot whiter. I could pass off as a chilena (and was actually asked if I was!)...and we're all aware of my paleness. I honestly felt, especially in La Serena, that I was in the States. Now if only their Spanish wasn't so aggravatingly hard to understand...

The Amazing Machu Picchu

No amount of description could ever possibly do this Wonder of the World justice. Looking at the ruins from the famous mirador or look-out point, the 500 year old Incan Empire was absolutely flawless in its beauty and perfection. Nestled in between the mountains with dozens of llamas adorning its lawn, it was like nothing I've ever seen before or will every see again.

                                             The mountain to the right is Wayna Picchu!

July 4, 2010 started very early for us...3:30 in the morning early. We had taken the train the day before to Aguas Calientes, the town where buses leave from to go up the mountain to Machu Picchu. We got up that early so we could climb Wayna Picchu, the huge mountain (about 9,000 feet at the summit) that is always in the background of the famous picture of the ruins. Only 400 people are allowed to climb up every day, so we had to make sure we took one of the first buses up in the morning. I was the 92nd person in line at the ruins and we got tickets in the first group to Wayna Picchu, which meant we only  had from 7am to 10 am to go up and down, after that the second group would start up. It was extremely (extremely!) steep, but there was a path the whole way with built-in steps so it was bearable.  As soon as I got to the top, however, my burning thighs from the climb and aching eyes from the few hours of sleep I got were forgotten as I took in the spectacular view. Machu Picchu from that high up was teeny tiny and it was an incredible feeling to be that high up in the mountains looking down on such a remarkable wonder. After we came back down, we had a guided tour that gave us some more insight on the history of the place.

                                                        Tiny MP in the background

It was also interesting to note that MP is only 8,000 feet above sea level while Cusco is over 12,000, and I could actually notice the increase of oxygen in the air (climbing Wayna Picchu at Cusco's altitude may not have happened...)

On the way up we met this couple who were quite odd...the woman was some sort of shaman (I don't even honestly know what that is) and she had brought with her on the climb this crystal stick with all these jewels on it so she could capture all the "great energy" from the top. It took all I had to not burst out laughing at all the things she was doing...especially when she got to the top and started waving it around in the air....

Machu Picchu was no doubt one of the most impressive sights I've ever seen in my life, and these pictures, as incredible as it makes the place look, can never accurately depict how amazing this Wonder of the World actually is.