Semillitas (little seeds)

Colca Cañon: (end of August) I made a 3 day trek of Colca Canyon with 2 German girls and a pair of Auzzies. Don´t be too impressed by the 3 days...you cover the same ground as the 2 day trek but in 3 days, which I was definitely glad of, as it afforded plenty of time to relax and enjoy the journey as well as the destinations. Colca Cañon is supposedly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, but I don´t believe it... Anyway, we spent our first night in a little village at the bottom and the 2nd in a place called ¨The Oasis,¨aptly named with its palm trees and swimming pools filled from nearby water falls. On the second day of hiking we happened upon a village festival and wound up dancing and drinking chicha (a regional alcohol, in this case made out of corn) with the locals, who were dressed up in colorful embroidered outfits. The last day, we awoke at 4:45am and climbed out of the canyon which took about 2 and a half hours--straight up. It was a killer. I´m not sure which was making me feel worse: the altitude climb or the low blood sugar, but I felt vomitous a good portion of the day. That night, after returning to Arequipa, the group reunited at a restaurant called ChiCha, which is owned by the most famous chef in Peru (possibly all of Latin America): Gaston Acurio. Then the 2 Aussies and I dragged ourselves to a local pub to drink some anis and mojitos before calling it a very long day.

Meat drying in the sun in Colca

Santiago: Chile is wonderful and surprisingly different from Peru (I know, I shouldn´t be surprised). Most notably, it is more expensive, more modern, more green, and the stray dogs are a lot healthier! The biggest drawback is that the food is not as good as in Peru despite being about double the price. They eat a lot more bread here (I´ve been told they are second only to Russia in per-capita bread consumption), and like in the mountainous areas of Peru, they eat a ton of dairy.
I have enjoyed being a sloth here in the palace of my parents´former exchange student´s family. They have a Spanish style home that is laid out on one floor with each room having a sliding glass door to the ample and lush garden area. ¨The garden¨ consists of a pool, hammoc, a set of wicker table and chairs, tons of green plants, flowers, and fruit trees, and 5 cats who live like kings.

On my first day I visited the home of Pablo Neruda, rented a bike and biked around--to the various parks (including a Japanese garden) and boulevards, the Plaza de Armas, and up Cerro San Cristobal to get a nice view of the city. Another day I went to La Moneda (their White House) which is much more accessable because the Presidenta (a woman: Michelle Bachelet) does not live there (business only...though still I am surprised at how close you can get). There are several art exhibitions in the basement which you can visit (which I did). Another day I visited one of the many fine wineries of Chile with Veronica and Manuel (my Chilean parents) and tasted lots of yummy wines and cheeses. I´ve spent a lot of time just hanging out with the family: going grocery shopping and running errands with them, etc. One night we had a party and I´d like to reiterate that South Americans really know how to party. Even though Chileans are supossed to be the least lively, the group of adults and kids were up until 3am drinking wine, eating sopapillas, and raucously playing a board game.

The day after the party, we went to Valporaiso, which is west of Santiago on the coast. The city is full of artists and remnants of English presense (as oppossed to southern Chile which is very German-influenced and Santiago which is very Spanish). I loved strolling the colorful streets with all the art work: murals, sculptures, clever graffiti, etc. We had coffee and cake at one of the many cafés tucked into the windy brick streets. Basically it was a lazy sea-side weekend, with lots of snoozing, wine, rich food, and nice walks. Yum!

Valporaiso

Just another wonderful family dinner of coffee, hot chocolate, and creamy cakes (Pictured at Café con Letras en Valpo)

Now I´m back in Santiago, making ¨chocolate pie¨(my rendition of brownies) with my 13 year old Chilean sister. On Wednesday I officially start my trek north.... (first to Arica by plane, then Pisco-Paracas-Chincha and Lima by bus, and finally Ioway!)