Going South

After we left Arequipa, all the path until Santiago felt like a blur.

It was fast. It was a bit stressful. It was filled with bus stations, desert roads, bland food and small bus seats.

On a bus

The road out of Arequipa.

Ridiculous phone company is allowed to advertise on the side of a mountain.

We went through Tacna, then Iquique, then La Serena in three days, spending one night at each place.

Being a bit broke already, it didn't feel right to stay for longer (also, we didn't fall in love with any of the places where we stopped, so it wouldn't have been justified to stay).
.

First we got to Tacna. It seems like a place for business people to go from Perú to Chile and vice-versa. There was an IPerú info point (which we visited in our desperate search for breakfast places), and even they didn't have much information on what to do in Tacna... possibly because there isn't much?

The main square in Tacna.

We love taking photos like tourists in not-touristy places.

Out of Tacna, nice sunset in the desert.

Iquique, on the other hand, was a treat for the senses... in a special way.

We arrived at night and the first thing we saw from he bus window was a man pushing an empty stroller and dressed with beach shorts and a long brown jacket. I jokingly said "Either the weather here is really moody, or that guy is crazy".

As we were getting off the bus an old lady across the road walked around yelling at herself.

While walking around the strangely eerie streets of the city centre, many people around looked and acted definitely crazy (the way they dressed, moved, talked and sang to themselves).

It seems like there's an open-door mental institution close to town; so there.

We found a cheap-ish room in a strange hotel (once again that "Hotel California feeling"), that was huge, noisy and horribly lit. We were on the 5th floor. I felt I was inside a Charles Bukowski story.

It was really late but we needed to get something to eat, so after dropping our bags we enjoyed some more crazy random night walkers around the touristy pedestrian street (sorry, no pictures).

The morning after we repacked and went for breakfast. Gone were the days  of being indignant about the low coffee quality in Chile, but this was a bit too much:

That's right: an empty cup with an INSTANT coffee
sachet, and hot water/milk on the side.

It was mild, it was tasteless, it reminded us of the reasons why we got grumpy in Chile. Do you want the cherry on top? The mugs say ESPRESSO and have a little coffee beans pattern.

Me, obliviously waiting for my café con leche.

We killed some time walking around...

Iquique touristy centre.

Chey looks at some real estate.

"A good coffee... enjoy it here!" wtf Chile.

Pretty tram is now decoration.

Cat chilling under the tram car. Cats make everyhing 200% better.

My vehicle of choice.

Afterwards, we spent a few hours sitting in a nicer café we found close to the bus terminal, ready to leave for La Serena on the first bus available.

That smile says: yay! Wifi and not-instant coffee!

La Serena was probably the nicest bit between Arequipa and Santiago, though faithful to our Chile experience thus far, it was extremely difficult to find good budget accomodation.

Every place we saw seemed to be run by a grumpy old lady smelling of moth balls and stew, and none of them seemed to like us wanting to see the rooms (probably because they were mostly dark, humid caves).

The mandatory touristy photo.

Finally we found a sort-of OK place (of course run by an old lady, but this one was sleepy rather than grumpy) and were able to charge our electronics, wash some clothes, rest and go out to see the sights.

We had a lovely stroll by the beach, where we tried to find beer (which somehow was extremely difficult).

La Serena sea side.

Lighthouse.

Strolling down the beach.

Sunset swings.

Sunset lighthouse,

About La Serena I also have to say: they have a place with great coffee (in Chile!!!!) and we found AMAZING veggie sushi for dinner, right next to our "hospedaje".

We only had Santiago left, or so we thought, before getting back to the Argentinian side and some rest from all the moving around. The adventure felt almost over.

Our 15 favorite things of 2015

Bye bye, little 2015...
You're 5.000 candles in the wind.

As I sit in our little (borrowed) Patagonian home and listen to the night silence, only broken by dogs in the distance... I come to think about the year that's almost over.

It's insanely cliché to write an *end of the year blog post* but d'you know what? I like cliché sometimes. And New Year is a very special day for me and always has been.

I love that for a day I get to fully forget that I'm a skeptic and logical person, and fill my life with awesome nonsense traditions and rituals, and soak myself into magical thinking.

And this 2015 was nothing short of magical.

Even if we faced worries and struggles, we also spent a full year of adventure, and that's something to be proud of. No "new year resolution" of mine could've fantasized of a year as full as the one we just went through.

So in the spirit of New Year, New Beginnings and Magical thinking, here is -in no particular order-...

My favorite 15 things of 2015 (and I doubt I'll ever be as cliché again):

*Hitchhinking through Argentinian Patagonia

The most random of our adventures: getting all the way to the end of the world and back, meeting awesome people, making friends, facing the crazy desert wind and feeling the road belonged to us and us alone.

*The cats of Valparaiso

Valpo is full-on mesmerizing, with its rad street art, its labyrinth-like stairs, the port feeling and the view of the ocean; but as the Crazy Cat Lady I am, the number one highlight from there was the beautiful assortment of multi-colored cuddly cats everywhere.

*The sunset in Uyuni

                                                                                  The best I've ever seen.

*Our amazing San Pedro experience

...That I have no photos of, but if you're curious here's the post where I talk about it. It was mystical, it was wonderful, and it brought me back to me, if that makes any sense.

*My amazing birthday dinner in Montevideo

Chey went crazy to spoil me and we ended up at the best restaurant in the city, having the best dinner of the whole trip (I also got a present and flowers, hey!).

*Getting to spend time with my beloved sisters

Need I say more? The short season we spent here brought the 4 Demattei sisters together for the first time ever, and being here in El Bolson for a while I got precious time with the two of them who live here.

*Astor

The other perk of staying here for a season was borrowing Astor, one of my dad's cats. He's adorable, cuddly, very talkative and my number one (and only) musical fan, who joins me every time I play the ukulele.

*Feeling like a Disney Princess at Iguazú Falls

I mean... the butterflies! They followed me! I just... can't.

*Camping up the mountains with the whole thing for ourselves

The most incredible camping spot, a lake on top of the mountain, a big fire. We also got a fair bit of march flies, but what's life without a little challenge?

*Realizing that distance means nothing

With friends here in Argentina, back in Australia and scattered around other places. The travel factor revealed (again) the most genuine relationships. An I won't say more because I'll get cheesy and believe me, you don't like me when I'm cheesy.

*Sailing the Beagle Canal at the end of the world

A small sailing boat, the icy waters, the wind that I could swear smelled like Antarctica... and Dulce de leche liqueur. What else can you ask of life.

*Our Secret Valley of Awesome in Huaraz

A 9 hour hike got us to the most Disney-ish landscape, where wild horses, cows and chinchhillas frolic. We also frolicked. It was great. Ant to put the cherry on top, on the way back we got a lift from the sweetest Peruvian police officers.

*Paragliding in Lima

Adventure at its finest.

*Seeing a post-zombie-apocalypse world in Río Mayo

One of the funny things about traveling is that sometimes the crappiest bits are the best bits. Don't you agree? Rio Mayo was definitely one of the crappiest, bestest places through the whole trip. And definitely the windiest.

*Peruvian food

My love, there's only you in my life.


And these are Chey's!

*First interactions in Spanish

Ever since we came to El Bolsón, Chey's Spanish keeps getting better and better. He's now able to actually pass like a resident  gringo.

*Summit of Piltri

The first of many mountains we conquered together. And alfajores.

*Uyuni Salt Flats

Seeing the otherworldly landscape of the worlds biggest salt flats, taking those lovely -albeit ridiculous- perspective photos, and (again) seeing the best sunset ever. 

*Iguazú falls

Even if it's a mandatory tourist attraction, there's a good reason for it. One of those "you have to be there to understand" kind of places, because no photo will ever do it justice. And a perfect day too.

*The boat trip through the Beagle Canal

I actually made Chey say his top 15 without telling him mine, so where there's a coincidence it's just because it was that epic. 

*Dancing tango

Embracing the culture and the dance of the embrace, we spent many nights at the local Milonga, where Chey proved that he might be a gringo, but he can dance.

*Paragliding in Lima

Another epic one. See above.

*Secret Valley in Huaraz

See above... hey! we were on the same trip!

*The wine adventure in Mendoza

Riding bikes through the Wine Road while getting more and more tipsy, great weather and the best wine of our lives. 

*The train ride to Uyuni

I like them, but Chey has a fascination with trains. This particular train ride was actually pretty special between the landscape, the tiredness and growing altitude, the time spent in the dining carriage with just the waiter guys and their loud cumbia... It's weird, but it felt just right.

*Hitchiking Patagonia

Another epic one.

*Our kind-of-still-high dinner at the vegan place after San Pedro

The San Pedro ritual itself was transcendental and meaningful, but actually he makes a very valid point. It was a funny (to say the least) dinner, and on top of our state, they brought us that funny yin-yang soup with the flowers!

*Building the deck in Valparaiso

According to Chey, the daily walk, the going to little kiosks to get drinks/lunch and the feeling like a local (and the view!) more than balanced the hard work under the raging sun. And he made a pretty rad deck.

*Rio Mayo

As I said, another proof that experiences don't have to be travel-guide-worthy to be top memories.

*Christmas in August

We were so expecting to get snow in El Bolsón when we got here, at the beginning of winter, but it didn't happen. Only when we had lost all hope, we woke up one morning to big fat snowflakes falling. So we played Frank Sinatra's "Let it snow", and then went up the hills to make the most of it. 

It was a happy year, and here's to a happier 2016! Have a great one, you all, and thank you for following our adventures.

Adri+Chey

Back for good!

We've been pretty busy with other things... visitors from all over, making plans for the near future (exciting plans, yo!), and basically living life.

All that meant I abandoned this wonderful little blog of ours for a short while, and it made me sad every time I thought about it, all alone and cold in the snow (?) like a little kid in a Dickens novel.

So, now that life got a little bit of a "normal" feel again, the blog is back!

I'll resume posting as normal (especially because one of my New Year Resolutions will be "to blog more"), beginning now.



In other news, the 8th of December was our one year aniversary of the South American trip!

It feels crazy to think it's been a full year since we last saw Brisbane, because many times it feels like it was just yesterday we were drinking beers at Caxton St. and planning this adventure.

And still, it's true! A full year, 40 towns and cities, 37 lifts, 5 countries, 3 lost items of clothing, countless random situations and awesome people, delicious meals and endless strolls searching for veggie options, hikes and full days of getting lost, hours of waiting by the road, pisco sours, fun traditions, and random adventures.

 

Here's to many more.

A sweaty, happy birthday

 When Chey turned 26 he was in Huaraz (with me!), and it was the day after that unbeatable awesome secret valley of amazingness.

He had a birthday while traveling South America, though, which I still think is pretty epic.

That morning we got up at a normal hour, had a nice breakfast and decided to visit some ruins not too far from town.

He was relaxed about birthday fun, sice he said his Australian birthday (the day before) we had had a great time, so now we could relax and do whatever.

We bought some snacks and then took a cheap taxi towards the ruins.

Our taxi driver was really nice and chatty, and he told us about Huaraz history, Andean food, and plenty of things to do and places to go to (all of which will have to wait until our next visit).

Huaraz born taxi driver.

He dropped us outside the ruins (can't remember the name, Perú has way too many!) and left.

But when we made it to the entrance, the caretaker lady told us that it was Perú's "National Museum Day" or something of the sort, and therefore all of the ruins and museums were closed.

Right on the day we had decided to go visiting ruins (insert frustrated face emoticon here).

Part of the ruins we only got to see from behind a gate.

We didn't let it affect us too much though, and after sitting down to enjoy the view of the surrounding farms and sharing some crackers with a friendly puppy, we decided to walk down to the closest village and take a bus to the hot springs close-by.

A nice farm next to the ruins.

It was a lovely, sunny day.

Eeyore looks for shelter from the sun.

 That thing people say, "it's not about the destination, but the journey" keeps proving to be true in every step of our trip. And it was just like that here.

The walk downhill we were surrounded by tiny farms, tall gumtrees (the smell of them keeps reminding Chey of home), and the cutest farm animals.

 Sometimes I get the feeling that Perú is mainly made of countryside, and I love it.

A pretty green graveyard.

More cute donkeys.

So, we got to the village, took a bus and then a taxi. 

Turns out, the famous "hot springs" of Monterrey are man-made, a bit dirty, and too crowded to be relaxing. Instead of going there, then, the taxi took us further away from town. And further. All the way to Chancos.

Stuff we saw on our way to Chancos.

More stuff.

 We ended up driving down a dusty gravel road, it was a long way.

We managed to get a RIDICULOUS (cheap) price for such distance.

And finally we arrived to the community baños termales (thermal baths) in Chancos. A super local place, where they built sauna-cave-rooms carved out of the mountain, and the thermal water is fully natural. And it's crazy cheap.

Locals wait for the baños, or sell food outside them.

 It's basically a natural sauna, where mostly local old ladies (but some families as well) take their own medicinal herbs and spend 20 minutes getting rid of toxins and just relaxing, which sounds really foreign in a place where everything seems to be hard-work-culture.

They also have hot water pools, but it was way too sunny to enjoy them.

At the entrance.

 We patiently waited for our turn to get into one of the most tame sauna-cave-rooms. Only 48° C.

 I didn't really know what to expect, but it ended up being a great experience, kind of like a spa but without the pretentiousness.

I was guessing the rooms would be a communal space, but luckily every spot is private for you and your family group, so we had our 48° room just for ourselves.

There will be no photos here, because the cave darkness of the place doesn't really allow photos to be taken.

 And also because nudity.

Twenty minutes in there flew, and after a cold shower to get fully rid of all the toxins and bad stuff your body expels with the steam and the heat, we headed outside feeling lightheaded and light-muscled.

Local lady sells crafts outside the baños.

We stayed at the community place for a while, hunting for a place that served any non-meaty meal, but had no luck in that regard so we ended up heading back to Huaraz for a birthday dinner.

Which we had at an AWESOME place called Chilli heaven.
Please disregard how awful I look in this picture.

It ended up being quite a good birthday for Chey, and altogether another beautiful day in Huaraz.