Bolivia & Chile

Well it has almost been two weeks since our last blog and we have been having a ton of fun!! We have been pretty lucky throughout our trip. I am feeling 100% better from being sick in La Paz and it feels great to get back to traveling and enjoying South America.

 -Again we are not able to upload our pictures and have trouble finding any pictures that capture what we have seen so we have taken a few pictures from online. We can´t wait to share the Photos we have taken along the way with everyone.

After we left La Paz we headed to Uyuni Bolivia to do a Jeep excursion to the salt flats. This is one of the most talked about tourist sites. We heard many stories about the bus ride being one of the scariest in South America but we knew we needed to get to the salt flats one way or another. When we pictured a scary bus ride we thought it would be winding roads over steep cliffs. It was actually just the opposite... It was a very bumpy drive. TEN HOURS of the ride was on dirt roads that had recently been re formed by the heavy rainy season. We took the overnight bus in hopes to sleep but woke up about 3 am to the bus shaking back and forth heavily. We were not able to go back to sleep for the remainder of the trip. Imagine turbulence on a airplane for 8 hours straight with no end in sight. When the sun came up and we arrived in Uyuni we were both very relieved. The town looked to be small and run down and not offering much. We decided to splurge on a nicer room since it was 8 am and we wanted to get a good amount of sleep before heading out on a 3 day jeep tour. We found a great hotel run by a very friendly American fellow named Chris. He was originally from Boston and his wife was a local to Uuyni. The met in the states while going to University. Our hostal had some really nice touches rare for South America. They had tons of recycling and solar powered showers and lights. We also had a great breakfast with Eggs Benedict, pancakes with maple syrup and pomegranates. We set out to look at all the tour agency´s for the jeep trip and find the safest and best option. While eating lunch we over heard two guys with heavy British accents (they were from London) and decided to ask them advice about the trip. They had not been on the tour yet but were planning the same tour as us so we decided to join forces and try to book the tour together. We ended up booking a tour and really stressing that it would just be us four in the jeep. Th company agrees to do their best. The next day when we met for the tour we found they had stuck two Argentinian girls who were similar ages to us in our jeep. At first we were not so happy about it. The Jeep did not come with a guide (just a driver) and the car was not as new and up to date like we had promised. But for less than $100 per person for 3 days, two nights of lodging and 3 meals a day all included we could not complain to much. We still went along with the trip as planned. We first visited a train junk yard with tons of old trains from many years ago then we headed out to the Salt Flats... During the rainy season (about two months of the year) the salt flats are covered in about 3 inches to a 3 feet of water. This gave a amazing picturesque reflection of the blue Sky's and the mountains in the background. We went to the middle of the salt flats and stoped at a very basic hostel that was made totally out of salt. We got a chance to walk around on the salt flats and take many pictures with our new friends. We then headed back to Uyuni to switch drivers and make the 3 hour journey to our hostel. We REALLY ended up enjoying all of our jeep mates company and getting along with them very well. We took turns playing each other music from our I Pods and then opening a bottle of wine for the end of our Jeep trip. We stayed in a Very basic dorm room style accomidations in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, The next day we awoke around 7am to find our driver was still asleep and seemed to be hungover while all the other tour groups drivers were up and had started to serve breakfast. We then spent the next day driving around a mountainess area looking at many different color lakes and a petrified tree.We ended at the Red Lake and our hostel at about 4 in the afternoon with nothing much to do but drink and have more fun with our new friends. It ended up being a really funny night. We awoke the next mourning at 4:30 AM to conclude our tour and then get dropped off at the border of Chile. We had to get up early in order to catch the gysers which we were told only were in full effect in the mourning. It was FREEZING COLD and there was a tiny but of snow on the ground. We reached 5,000 metres (Over 15,000 feet) there were bubbling mudd was coming out of the ground and really steamy gysers shooting up in the air. It was really neat but we were all so cold that we only spent a few minutes there. We then drove on another hour and stoped at a amazing hot spring that fed out into a lake. We lounged in the hot springs while our driver cooked us breakfast and had a really relaxing time despite the chilly weather. We then got to see 4 more lakes included a turquoise blue lake and then headed off to the border of Chile. The Driver droped us off with a mini van that would take us the remaining hour to San Pedro Chile and we said goodbye to our recent travel buddies.

San Pedro Chile

We arrived in San Pedro, Chile a very pretty desert looking town. We were told it had not rained in San Pedro in the last 1000 years which was a nice change from the mountain rainy season in Bolivia. The town had a lot of charm. We could immediately sense the more modern feel and pretty fashionable people. We then found the prices in this tourist type town were pretty similar to American prices. We paid $35 for a basic hostel room with a shared bathroom and shower (which was not top of the line to be honest). We also found a decent dinner would cost about $30 for two people which was a shock to us since we had been spending about $10 for dinner in Bolivia. We were walking down the street and all of the sudden we ran into our friends (Andrea and Thomas) we had met a month earlier in Huacachina, Peru. They are a great couple who lived in Atlanta Georgia although Andrea was from Mexico and Thomas from Germany. They urged us to get in the car with them and head to the salt lagoons where we were told you could float. We decided not to pass up any opportunity and jumped in their car. When we reached the salt lakes they were pretty with snow capped Volcanic mountains in the background. We jumped in the heavily salty water and had a really fun sensation floating right away. You could not really stay upright and the water forced your body to float with little effort. It was really neat. We spent an hour or two just lounging and relaxing at this spot only then to realize we had a flat tire. After about 15 minutes to change the tire we were back and on our way. Kim and I were very ready to get out of the tourist trap of San Pedro and get back to the beach at sea level. We said our goodbyes and thanked Andrea and Thomas and headed out on a midday bus to the coastal town of Iquique, Chile.

 Iquique Chile 

After being on our rather nice chilean bus for about 7 hours it decided to break down and leave us on the side of the road. It was tough for us to understand the Chilian spanish accent on of the driver (as well as many other Chilians). I soon found a nice looking dreadlocked Chilian who was on our bus and asked him if he knew what was wrong. He said the engine was having problems and it would be a few hours. The nice Chilian named Miguel ended up taking it upon himself to make sure we got to Iquique. A new bus came about two hours after the original had broke down and we were back on our way. Miguel then asked if we had reservations in Iquique (which was something we were worried about since we were now arriving at 12 at night). When we told him no he told us he was the owner of a surf hostel located right on the beach with nice rooms, TVs and a Kitchen. Miguel even got us a ride from the bus terminal and we were met with his friends and family having a BBQ on their rooftop terrace where they had tons of meat, beer and wine going around. We ended up staying for 5 days at Miguel's hostel and cooking many meals on their rooftop Terrence overlooking the ocean. On our fourth day we awoke to the news of the earth quake in Japan and everyone was talking of a Tsunami. Miguel told us he would keep us informed but we would know many hours before if there would be a Tsunami in our area. At around 7 oclock we were told that everywhere near the beach was going to be evacuated and we would have to pack up our stuff and head to higher ground. Miguel made sure that everyone from the hostel stayed together for safety and he stayed behind to protect the hostel from people trying to loot during the evacuation. We stoped at a store on the way to higher ground and loaded up on wine and beer and headed to a park. We met a really nice Chilian family who told us the park was not the safest area for tourists at night and invited us to their home just a few blocks away. We spent the next few hours drinking and meeting our new friends. The father of the family even brought out his guitar and sang Chilian revolution songs to us... The evacuation was not cleared until 3am where we tiredly returned to the hostel. The next day we needed to leave Chile to stay on our budget and head towards Manchu Picchu. We stopped one night in another beach town called Arica, Chile which we found to be no where as nice as Iquique. We are now in Arequipa, Peru on a layover before we leave for Cusco. We are VERY excited about Manchu Picchu. We have a first class overnight bus booked leaving at 9pm tonight. We will update you on our trip as soon as we reach Lima. After Lima we plan to head up the coast to Equador and spend some beach time before returning to the states at the end of April. Much love to our friends and family as well as the people of Japan. Until next time.

Latest Adventures!!

Well, we have made it to La Paz Bolivia our current home. We have been here for about 2 weeks now. We have done so many things since our last post. I know people are anxious to hear about what we have been doing. I will start from when we left Lima almost a month and a half ago.

* The pictures below are not our original pictures. We are unable to upload pictures at internet cafe´s so we found a few pictures online to give you the gist.

Hunt, Pedro, and I left Lima and took a 4 hour bus to Ica, Peru. From there we took a 20 minute taxi to a small beach town called Paracas. This was a very cute touristy town. We stayed at a hostal called Mar Azur. It had a rooftop bar with the best view of the water. The main reason we stopped in this little town was for a boat ride to Islas Ballestas. These are 3 small islands located in the middle of the ocean where sea life is abundant. There are sea lions, penguins, pelicans, and all sorts of other birds. It was quite a site. This area is very protected by the Peruvian coast guard. There is a home on one of the large islands where an officer lives for three months at a time and watches over the area. These islands are a large producer of guano. When I arrived I didn’t know what this was but as we approached the islands you could smell it from miles away. Guano is the bird poop they harvest every 5 years and use for fertilizer. This is an extremely large income for the area and guano is a highly demanded product worldwide. It was really astonishing to see these islands and all the nature that thrives on them.

Our next stop was this amazing desert oasis town called Huacachina. This place was another sight in itself. Stuck in the middle of a desert this small lake was spectacular. We found an amazing hotel with a pool right in the center of everything. Hunt and I took a dune buggy ride which included sand boarding. It was something neither of us had ever experienced before. It was a really nice place to meet other travelers. We met a few different couples we became close with. One was from Canada and the other was a German/Mexican couple. They were awesome. We extended our stay in Huacachina to 3 nights and 4 days. The only down side to this stop in our trip was Hunt and I both got sand fleas. Those little suckers really made us miserable. It is a beautiful spot though as you can see in the pictures below. 

So despite the beautiful semi expensive area of Huacachina we decided to get on the move again. We took a 12 hour overnight bus to Arequipa. This large city is located 2900 meters high in the Andes. In Arequipa we stayed at a beautiful family run hostal called Casa Solar. It was located right in the center of the city. This beautiful hostal was the presidents house over 300 years ago. Restored and in prestige condition every little detail astounded us. The whole building was made of local white volcanic rock. We felt safe and very lucky to reside in such a historic spot. Arequipa is a very large city and you could defiantly feel it by the hustle and bustle every time we hit the streets. We did take a wonder opportunity to see the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. This monastery was over 400 years old. The whole place took up a few blocks in the center of the city. This was an amazing sight to see. It was only opened to the public in the 1970´s. Hunt took lots of pictures we will share with you later. Below is Arequipa.

We left Arequipa in a hurry to get to Puno, Peru for the Festival de la Calenderia.This was AMAZING. This annual festival (similar to Carnival) is one of the most impressive things Hunt and I have ever experienced. This festival was full of colorful costumes, music, and beer. It went on for the whole time we were there. Parades start as early as 6am and last until midnight almost every night. It was so neat to partake in the festivities. We ended up booking a room right on the main plaza so we had a front row view of the Parades. Many times it provided us with one of the few dry places to watch the festivities ( you can see our hotel in the backround of the 2nd picture). Puno is also right on Lake Titicaca so we were able take walks to the lake and see all the local artisans as well. 

After the crazy festivities of Puno we took a 3 and a half hour bus ride to the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. The boarder charges Americans (only) $135 US dollars to come in. It wasn’t a big deal we just got our visas and went on our way. About 30 minutes later we arrived in Copacabana, Bolivia. It was another beautiful beach touristy town high in the mountains. This was one of the first places we could really feel the altitude ( we were about 12,000 plus feet above sea level). The altitude affects everyone different but here it really made us feel sick. We only explored this town for two days and one night before we hoped on a bus to La Paz. 

Below is La Paz

While in La Paz, we first stayed at the ¨Wild Rover¨ hostel which was a fun lively experiance. It was a fun youthful english speaking hostel where we made lots of friends from all over the world. This hostel ended up being a little too much for us after a week so we decided to spend an extra $10 and get a nicer hotel room in La Paz. We have been staying in La Paz for longer than planed because  Hunt got a pretty serious infection. It had to be removed by a doctor who made him go on anti biotics. Now we are well rested and just about ready to head south and explore the Bolivian Salt Flats. After that we will head over to Chile for some hot beach time! We are both ready to be back in summer and down at sea level. We miss lots of things about America, mostly our family, friends and especially the FOOD but this experiance is one we will sure never forget. 

Salud everyone!!!

Kim and Hunt

ready to head south

Hey everyone we are writing to you again from Lima. We are packing our backpacks to head south. We spent the last week relaxing in style at the Mayorga's Beach house about 1 hour south of Lima. We had a great time eating amazing food and meeting lots of the Mayorga extended family. Pedro and I even purchased some boogie boards to ride some of the really huge waves. We paid about $15 per board at a roadside stand which seemed to be a great deal until we got to the beach. We realized there were some holes in the boards (that needed to be duck taped) and they barely floated our bodies. Nonetheless we still had a great time with them. We are now planning to head south to Puno, Peru (next to LAKE TITICACA) where we will celebrate "Carnival". We also have some really exciting news that Pedro has extended his flight and is going to take on some traveling with us! It will be great to have a great friend and fluent spanish speaker along for a portion of our trip. I am not sure the next time we will have internet to blog but hopefully it will be soon.

Below are some pictures of the Mayorga beach house and the last week in Peru!


Much love to all,
Hunt, Kim and Pedrito

Latest Posts

Hi Everyone. We are having trouble updating our blog because of slow internet here in Peru. Start at Vivas Los Mayorgas Part One. Sorry about the confusion! 

Vivas Los Mayorgas Part 4

For lunch we ate at a restaurant called El Crusesero. By the number of customers it seemed to be a local favorite. There were only three items on the menu. Hen soup with wheat grains, Cuy (which is deep fried GUINEA PIG) and a dish called churky which is deep fried pork slices that look like jerky. LoLo ended up ordering a few of everything for all of us to share. At this type of restaurant your food can take between 1-2 hours to arrive since the guinea pig is alive when you order it. We ordered some beers and started playing a Peruvian game called Sopito (meaning frog). The object of the game is to throw copper coins at holes in a board for different amounts of points. Kim ended up scoring the most and winning the game!

Our first dish of wheat grain and hen soup arrived. Next up was the famous CUY (guinea pig). This was graphic and new for Kim and I but we both agreed to try it. CUY tasted similar to duck or rabbit. The Cuy still had the head and teeth attached. We have to admit it was not our favorite Peruvian dish.
The following day we woke up early to head back to Lima and decided to stop in Barranca, Peru. This beachside town is about 200 km from Lima. We stopped here at a Ceevicheria right on the beach. We ordered ceeviche and Tacu tacu (which is rice pan fried with pea’s and fried seafood). We soon learned that we were eating octopus, sea snail, and a variety of local white fish. It was VERY good.

After leaving Barranca Peru, LoLo asked us if we would like to take a 90 min detour and go see the original city of Caral. Caral is the OLDEST civilization in all of South America. They Caralino’s lived from around 3000 bc to 1800 bc. There is a whole village being excavated here from when it was discovered in the 1960’s. They have been excavating this site since 1994 and they probably have another 30-40 years before everything is uncovered. Another neat fact about this civilization is there were lots of artifacts found. They found flutes and horns made from stone, as well as combs made from shell. The unique thing about this civilization unlike other civilization’s of this era, is the Caralinos had no weapons or signs of military presence. The buildings of Caral where made using vegetable meal and fibers to create adobe bricks. This allowed their buildings to last over 5,000 years. 

We headed back to modern Lima later that afternoon. Weren’t resting long before we went out in the Barranco district to Celebrate Hunts birthday. We ate on a balcony with some friends over looking the famous Bridge of Sighs. We stayed up very late that evening and paid for it the next day. In the morning we stocked up Pennys car with food and spirits and headed off for some relaxation at the Mayorga’s new beach house. We were astonished when we walked into their mind-blowing beachfront property. It has a truly spectacular ocean view with HUGE sand dunes in the background. We have been cooking tons, drinking’s tropical fresh fruit drinks, and getting lots of sun. Penny made the best bloody Mary mix from scratch. It was a process for her to make but it tasted simply amazing. She brought them to us on the beach. You can see how much we enjoyed them in the picture below. 

We are having a great time here in Peru (much thanks to the wonderful Mayorga family!!!!!!!) and getting such a lifetime experience thus far on our trip. We have become VERY accustomed to the “siesta” (afternoon nap). We both now require one every day.

We are so lucky to have such great friends and family to help us along the way. After dealing with a loss of Hunt’s best friend this week we truly know why we are making the most out of every amazing day on this earth. Carpe Diem! We know we are so blessed and lucky! We are consistently working on our Spanish and getting better every day.

Until next time
Hunt and Kim

Vivas Los Mayorgas Part 3

The village of Yunguy and Lake Llangunuco

Yunguy is a small village that was wiped out by a massive mudslide in the early 70’s. Pedro’s great aunt was one of only 92 survivors (2500 parished) from the village. We got to see what remained from the area on our way up to Lake Llangunuco. The only building to survive was the front wall of a church and a few palm trees next to it. If you look close you are able to see them in the picture below. 

Lake Llangunuco is on of the most beautiful lakes we have ever seen. The lake is located in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range. The actual lake is in the picturesque Huascaran National Park. The lakes have emerald colored water and huge glaciered mountains around it. We rented a boat and got to see the surrounding mountains from the middle of the lake. It was simply fascinating.

The following day we woke up at 8 am to have a great breakfast of local egg’s and cheese prepared in an omelet by Lolo. Our breakfast also include fresh Mango’s and bread from the market. All of the food from the market comes from the surrounding farms. Some farmers lie their produce on tarps and sit on the street while others have  more official stands. Most people in Caras don’t use refrigerators so they buy fresh local food often. Kim and I ate anything offered to us trying to be as careful as possible about not drinking the local water. This was ironic because we ate almost everything the Mayorga’s ate but at the end of the trip LoLo and his brother Chino were the ones with a stomach bug.

Later that day LoLo wanted to show us a farmhouse that has been in their family for years. This property originally had multiple working plots of farmland neighboring it. All the plots have since been sold off. Now the only part still in the family is the house.

The property was several miles outside of town but we decided to take in the scenery and walk along one of the village’s dirt road. On the way we stopped at our first old Inca ruin built around 1430. This ruin was a fortress strategically built on a large hill overlooking the whole valley. This placement allowed the Incas to control the population below. You could see the whole valley of villages and farms. (PICTURES BELOW).

The scenic walk had many picture worthy points including massive Agave plants. Kim used her photography skills to take some amazing shots of flowers.

One of the main differences we have noticed in Peru is all the street dogs. In almost every city or village there are dogs running around free, some alone and some in packs. This was tough for the both of us as dog lovers because we wanted to pet and hold every one. Many of these dogs have lived on the streets for years and don’t have homes. They live off scraps from the market or restaurants. Some are protective over their area and some are scared of humans.  It was very hard but we learned it was in our best interest to ignore them so we didn’t get bit.