In the land of the Inkas

After a lovely yet short reunion with Julie and Thibault in Puno, I took an 8 hour bus ride to Cusco and so far, it was the nicest trip I had. There were plenty of space and the scenery was incredible – it beat the scenery going from Santiago to Buenos Aires.
At the central square, Plaza de Armas, I met up with Catherine who had just arrived from a beautiful and hard 5 day trek in the south of Chile, Patagonia. It had been so hard on her knee that she almost couldn’t walk down stairs. When we planned the trip in October/November we both wanted to do the 4 day trek on the Inka trail to Machu Picchu (which you have to buy months in advance), but when we saw the prices (300 dollars was the cheapest) we agreed not to do it. And how lucky were we considering the state of Catherine’s knee. 

We had a whole week to explore Cusco, visit Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley and the nearby ruins of Sacsayhuaman, so we decided to start off light with exploring the city. Cusco center is very lovely with a mixture of Inka and colonial architecture.

Narrow street in Cusco

The light breaking through the raincloud on Plaza de Armas

Despite it being very touristic I absolutely loved it. We were there just before Christmas (from the 16^th to the 23^rd of December) and decorations started coming up. The weather was a mixture of sun and rain – when it rained  it got rather cold, so I slowly started getting in the Christmas mood. That peaked on a rainy day when we stopped at a café for shelter and I ordered what mistakenly tasted like gløgg, which is hot red wine with spices and orange that you drink for Christmas in Denmark. At that particular moment I missed Denmark and Christmas, but the rest of the time I didn’t miss the fuss Christmas always is back-home.

View from the Puca Pucara ruins

One day we talked up to the Sacayhuman ruins. Walking around there we bumped into a tourist group only consisting of two Peruvian guys and their very enthusiastic guide. The guide started asked us if we would mind being in a photo with the two Peruvians. The two guys didn’t say anything – I wondered if they ever actually wanted a photo with us hahaha. Kind of the same thing happened to Tom and I in Copacabana. We were sitting at the dock when a group of about 10 Bolivians asked if they could take a photo with us. I think we ended up being in a photo with every single one of them. That has happened before in Egypt and China, but I never expected it to happen here since they seem more used to “blondes”/foreigners. When we continued to the Quenqo ruins, the two Peruvians had “escaped” their guide and asked if we should go together. We went to Puca Pucara and Tambomachay as well. Afterwards we walked down which took about 2 hours – one of the guys told us about the “interesting” food you can get in Peru. Not only do they serve guinea pig, but he had also tried getting cat served! 

Then finally the big day came: the 20^th of December, where we were going to Machu Picchu. You have to buy the entrance tickets days in advance according to what you want to see. We had considered buying not only for the ruins but as well to climbing Huayna Picchu (the mountain that you see in every picture of Machu Picchu). But Catherine’s knee was still bad so we just bought for the ruins. We had bought an early train that took 3 hours making its way through a beautiful mountain pass. We finally arrived at Machu Picchu at around 11 AM and we had the return ticket at 4 PM. To climb Huayna Picchu you need at least 2 hours and to see the ruins you need another 2 hours, including transport down to the train station, so we realized how lucky we had been not buying the entrance ticket for Huayna Picchu as well – we would never had made it all.

Well, the Machu Picchu ruins are difficult to describe. I can for sure say that it is the most breathtaking and unbelievable thing I have ever seen in my life (note: I have been to the Great Wall in China and the Pyramids in Egypt). It is so awe-inspiring that humans have built a city in between mountains. My eyes couldn't fixate on one thing and they were almost “spinning around” to take it all in. A Dutch girl in Isla del Sol had told me that you don’t need to go to Machu Picchu, you can just see it on picture. That is so not true!! (but here is one

Machu Picchu ruins with Huayna Picchu mountain

We didn’t have perfect weather, it shifted from raining to cloudy, but either way it was spectacular and more than worth the while and money. And then when you learn more about the place and the Inkas in general it becomes even more impressive. An example is their astrology knowledge and how they used it when constructing buildings. In Machu Picchu there is a “P” temple where the sun light enters a window and lights up a stone only on the 21^st of June and December – the shift from rainy season to dry season and vice-versa. In Quenqo they have cut a stone that only on the 21^st of June gives the shape of a condor on a wall. Another thing that impressed me is the fact that the Inka buildings are earthquake proof. Machu Picchu still stands and during the devastating 1650 earthquake in Cusco many “modern” colonial building while the Inka buildings still stand. 

Just before getting "attacked"

After two and half hour tour around the ruins, two kind of odd things happened. First, a woman  asked me if I was “that girl from Australia’s Next Top Model”. “No, I am from Denmark and NOT a model” hahaha. Next, I wanted a picture with a lama so I decided to feed one with an apple. I kept a good distance since I am scared of lamas and such. Catherine succeeded getting one shot of me before the apple fell out of my hand and rolled down the hill. Me thinking “that was that” I didn’t pay attention to the lama before suddenly seeing its head right next to mine. Everything from that point on happened in slow motion but according to Catherine in reality quite fast and in a highly entertaining way. As said I just saw a lama coming towards me so my “survival” instinct took over and I started running down the small stone steps screaming “FUCK, fuck, Fuck, FUUUCK” in front of a crowd of people that originally had gather to see the feeding of the lama. They were now in for some heavy swearing on my side – UPS! Both Catherine and I wished that she had gotten a video of the episode.

The last two days we spend seeing the city – we went to the exciting market in San Pedro market where you could get anything from vegetables, meat and cheese to chocolate, flowers, clothes. 

Flowers at the San Pedro market

We just settled for a fresh and delicious juice. The last day we saw Sacred Valley with an organized tour group. Once again the Inka constructions impressed us, but the favorite part (just like at Tiahuanaco) was the scenery. People had warned us about going in December because it is the rainy season, but this meant that the landscape was  brilliantly green (as you can see in the photo from Puca Pucara. We saw about five rainbows when returning from the Valley to Cusco. I tried getting it on camera. Another advantage about going in the rainy season is that it is the low season which means fewer tourists and thereby lower prices. So I wouldn’t warn people about going at that time of year – I would actually recommend it.

Rainbow :)

I left Cusco the 23^rd of December for Santiago to celebrate Christmas and say my final goodbye to Chile….

Bolivia: La Paz, Copacabana and Isla del Sol

Then I was off to Bolivia!
I arrived at El Alto airport; the highest located airport in the world at 4000 meters, so concerned about getting acute altitude sickness I frantically ate ALL my coca caramels - all 20 pieces in 10 minutes. 

View of mountains from El Alto airport

But besides feeling short of breath when going uphill, I luckily didn’t get altitude sickness  despite staying at 3000 meters on average. I hadn’t reserved a hostel in La Paz, but chose to check-in at the Loki Hostel. I had some doubts about choosing this one (due to the self-proclaimed name “Loki: the Party Hostel in La Paz”), but I was persuaded by a “get one free night” offer. On the day I arrived, the hostel was celebrating their “One million nights” so party was in order. In my dorm there were four other girls and we really hit it off from the start and ended up playing a game of pool – which we surprisingly won, despite the fact that we'd had a couple of drinks already, that I suck at pool and that the girls on the other team were cheating big time! That night I got a taste of what my time will be like until I return to Denmark on the 27^th of January: every conversation with someone new start the same way with exactly the same three questions: 
- "Where are you from?" 
- "Where have you been before you came here?"
- "Where are you going next?" 
The typical backpacker/hostel conversation starter, a bit tiring, but inevitable.

Colonial street in La Paz

 The next day I met up with Tom who had arrived with bus from Toro Toro National Park. We spent that day walking around La Paz and catching up. Many say La Paz is dirty and ugly, but I like it. Yes, it is dirtier than other cities, but at least it is not contaminated like Santiago – in La Paz you can see the stunning snow-capped mountain range. It is hectic and interesting and the old colonial streets are nice. 

We went to the Witches’ Market where you can get all sorts of weird stuff - mostly for offerings and/or medical purposes. I bought a penis candle to give later to Nick. 
- "It is used to attract the man you desire", the women in the shop told me; winking and grinning at me. 
- "No, it’s not for me; it’s for my friend."
- "Right…" 
Of course she didn’t believe me. When later returning to Santiago, that candle became a funny center of attention. When entering Chile you have to declare everything that is animal and plant. I declared my candle (since it might had been considered plant); better to do it than receiving a massive fine (the Chilean customs are very strict!). So when my backpack was scanned, huge grins came on the faces of the three male officers. I can just imagine them seeing a penis-shaped thing showing up on the monitor. 
- "What are you declaring?" they asked me. 
- "A candle." 
- "Right…." 

The next day we went to see the Inka ruins at Tiahuanaco, where the most impressive thing was actually the landscape. We were at about 3500 meters, but in plain land so you could see very far – on the right hand side it was raining and on the left hand side the sun was shining. 

Rainy on the right hand side

Sunny on the left hand side

What we came to see as well in Copacabana and Isla del Sol, was that the clouds lay low and the sky is incredibly blue. I have never seen so blue sky before in my life. 
Returning from Tiahuanaco we drove through the neighborhood El Alto where the poorer people from La Paz live. 

You would see a lot of women in the traditional outfit with the bowler hat. The guide told us that the dress and its colors are an indigenous tradition while they started using the bowler hat after the Europeans came – there it is a fashion for men, but here only the women use it. Around El Alto you would see a dummy hanging from light posts. They use it as a scarecrow to warn potential burglars that they won’t hesitate from taking the law (and the gun) into their own hands. A sad and true side to life in La Paz.



After a couple of days in La Paz we took a bus to Copacabana, a town on the shores of Lake Titicaca. It is a very touristic place with bad food and lousy service, except from one good pizza place and one excellent breakfast café (where I got havregrød!!!! The Danes will understand). I have never experienced worse service than the one we got in Copacabana; in one place in particular that became the crown jewel example. After waiting for 40 minutes for the food at an almost empty restaurant, the waiter brought Tom the correct thing, but me the wrong one. Despite us telling him this, he didn’t say anything. We had to tell him to take it back and bring me the right one. After 40 minutes more and two beers, Tom's patience was gone and he asked about my food. The waiter, without even looking at Tom, told him that the kitchen was closed. Tom yelled at him, but without reaction or result, and we left the place only paying for the two beers. 
But the soundings of Copacabana are beautiful. 

View of Copacabana town

At the hilltop - on top of the world

We walked up a hill by the town that had a wonderful view of Titicaca. Every Sunday there’s a Catholic/Inka ceremony on the top of the hill to get good luck, so you could buy fake money, miniature cars and babies to get luck in whatever you wanted. 




























The next day we took a boat to Isla del Sol, an island in Lake Titicaca. We got off at the south tip of the island and did a 4 hour trek to the north tip. On the way we saw some amazing landscape.  

Isla del Sol

Isla del Sol

I had my (almost full) backpack with me and we were at about 3500 meter’s altitude so I struggled to keep up with the experienced trekker Tom. Tom, being a guy, of course did not understand my packing. Yes, I DO need a hairdryer and not one, but TWO scarves and no, I canNOT survive without them hahaha. At Isla del Sol we checked in at a hostel on the shore. They don’t have running water so my only “shower” in two days was a swim in Lake Titicaca. We soon realized that the kids were in charge of the tourism on the island. They acted as shop managers, cooks, waiters and guards at public toilets. In the evening the adults came back from working in the fields. The restaurants had some kind of weird agreement so only one place was open at night which resulted in rather overcrowded restaurants and lack of dishes on the menu card – all I ate for two days was different versions of egg, tomato and bread. One night we shared a table with an Argentine couple. They had come, because the date was the 12/12/12 and has special meaning in Inka religion, in which they believed. Tom and I had noticed an Inka religious dancing circle ceremony earlier that day when we visited Inka ruins. We saw more white Western people than local ones so we just disregarded it as being a stupid touristic thing to make them feel “indigenous” and “spiritual”, but apparently it was something real. We hadn’t even notice that it was the memorable date; all we noticed was this pretty double rainbow. 

Double rainbow on the 12/12/12

While having dinner with the Argentine couple, a old woman (at least 75) came up to our table and started talking about “the end of world” (the 21^st of December) and how tired she was of all these fake, young, Western hippies who came to the island to party and pretend to care. Tom and I (despite us not falling into this category) just shrank 30 cm in the chairs fearing that she might start yelling at us. Fortunately she didn’t. She just started drinking our beers haha. She was actually a rather entertaining cool hippie grandma – I might end up like her when I’m 70 haha. 
After two nights, we took the boat back to Copacabana where we just chilled at the shore with a cold beer and went for walks around the hills. After two relaxing days Tom and I said goodbye; I left for Puno in Peru and Tom had to get back to Santiago to take his final exam. After a short, but lovely meet-up with Julie, Thibault and Natascha in Puno, I took a 8 hour bus to Cusco where I met up with Catherine where the world ended (NOT) and a dream came true: Machu Picchu!
Until the next one and HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)
xoxo
Mette

How I spent my last month in Viña with family and "family"

Well everybody, this is an attempt to memorize and sumarize my last month in Viña del Mar.

After Buenos Aires, my parents came to visit me. When Jennifer's parents visited earlier that month I could really feel how much I had been missing my own and the feeling just grew and grew day by day. So when the day finally arrived I was so excited to see them again. They only had one whole day in Santiago before coming to Valparaíso, so I had created a walking tour (a very long one) with all the must-see places and restaurants in my opinion. I thought that there was no way that they would be able to do everything on the list, but it turned out that they DID. They loved it so if anybody is interested, just let me know and I can send it to you. Here you can see the map I drew in Paint (hence the badly drawn numbers and route). 

Santiago walking tour

The day my parents arrived in Valparaíso, I went to look for them at their hotel which was on a square. I was heading right towards the hotel when suddenly on the square in the middle of the crowd of tourists, I saw my mom's face! Surprise! It was weird and great to see them again after 5 months! I was only missing my younger brother Niels who had just finished one month's work at Isle of Skye at a hostel.

The next couple days I had a great time with my parents even though the weather wasn't perfect. After visiting Pablo Neruda's house, the rain ideally stopped. The sun came out and the sky was so blue that we got a spectacular view from Paseo 21 de Mayo. And for the first time I took a lift to one of the hills. Every time I wanted to go they had been closed, so I was just as excited as my parents about taking the lift. 

Mom and dad on the lift

Me and mom on horseback

After having dinner at my apartment with the roomies, we all went out for drinks at our favorite bar, 3er Tiempo, and had the (in)famous drink Terremoto. The next day we went horseback riding in Ritoque as I had done earlier in the year with Thibault and Julie. My mom had not shown the biggest enthusiasm about going, but she didn't say anything until the night before where she actually told me that she was afraid of horses. But after 10 minutes on the horse she yelled to me "I love this!" so I took that as a stamp of approval.  
They both enjoyed the 3 hour horseback ride on the beach with lovely sunny weather and the day ended with great empanadas in Concon. Sadly, time was running out and my parents were off to San Pedro de Atacama and later Buenos Aires.

Nicolas jumping in the pool

The weather wasn't perfect during their visit, but every week it seemed to improve. The first weekend I really felt that the summer had arrived was in Los Andes where Julie and I visited our Chilean friend, Nicolas. Somehow we (mostly Julie) had understood his invitation as being for just one day so we hadn't brought anything more than money and water. We quickly realized that we had been invited spend the WHOLE weekend! We stayed at his parents' house who were the MOST welcoming people ever! We went to their beautiful summer cottage with a pool and view of the mountains. There we had a barbecue and a party. The day after, Nicolas' parents took us eating at a local restaurant (where I finally tried Chica - Chilean drink of fermented fruit) and we saw real Chilean rodeo. I was rooting for the cow by the way! 

Rodeo Chilean style - go cow go!!!

As the semester was coming to an end, the exams were getting closer. They all went well; I had dreaded especially one where Julie and I had a presentation in Spanish in front a classroom full of Chileans. As if that wasn't giving us enough nerves already, a Chilean girl was laughing and mocking us during our presentation! But as they say: "The one who laughs last laughs longest" for a week later we received our grade, and as the only ones in the course we got the top grade - so in your face, random Chilean girl! hahaha :D

Julie opening her birthday present from me at the surprise party

All this time, since the trip to Buenos Aires, I had been planning a surprise party for Julie and Thibault. Her birthday was on the 21st of November and his on the 3rd of December. I had been organizing it through Facebook and got Paula and Nick to come the apartment and prepare everything, while Jennifer and I had convinced the two to go out for sushi. I was so nervous the whole day and especially during dinner that ended too early so suddenly Jennifer and I had to stall time. We started talking about getting ice cream even though it was a cold night. On the way home Jennifer and I, in desperate try to stall time, were rambling and walking very slowly. I feared that Thibault had start to suspect because he started speeding up and was looking at me funny. But they had NO clue! When they opened the door they were so surprised - Thibault's initial reaction was backing out off the door saying "But it's not my birthday yet!"
 

Empanadas on the beach in Reñaca

But then his birthday did arrive - and must I say: He was treated like a king! Julie had been making brunch for him and what a feast: homemade buns, Nutella, French toast, fresh pressed orange juice, scrambled eggs, and bacon, LOTS of bacon. Later that day we went to have empanadas on the beach in Reñaca and a quick swim since the waves were huge that day. 
 








 

And then my last week in Viña had begun. I had planned a going away party and Nick came a few days earlier to help out, be great company and enjoy the beach. The day before my party, Thibault, Nick and I did a good hike all the way to the top of Valparaíso where the view was breathtaking.

At the top of the city

That day I realized how much I love that city! It's so exciting, beautiful and different from any city I have ever visited. Now I regret not living there for the whole semester. I got sad that day because it was the last time I'd go to Valpo - but I'll be back in the future!
Speaking of sad - my going away party and the day after packing up my room was too sad. The party went well, but at the end of the night when the alcohol intake had peaked, people started getting teary-eyed including myself - outside of the bar Journal I was crying so much that Nick had to carry me to a taxi. After finish packing all my bags, the waterworks started again when I had to say "good-bye" to Julie, Thibault and Jennifer. I know I'm going to see Julie and Thibault again in Brazil, but it was still difficult. 

Nick and I headed back to Santiago where we had sushi, daiquiris and a good chat before me leaving for La Paz at 4.30 am the next day. 

And so my trip around South America had begun. I'll write about that in my next blog!
Until the next one
XX
Mette    

Buenos Aires

I had almost lost all hope that I would be going to Buenos Aires because it was too expensive until Julie convinced me to go with her and Thibault. The only problem was that they wanted to go by bus. As I wrote, after the 24-hour bus ride to San Pedro de Atacama, I had sworn on my life never to do something similar again. Well… Julie can be a very convincing person, so I ended up going.

The bus ride was “only” 20 hours long, we had bought the luxury seats and the ride was through the Andes Mountains so it was less torture than the first time. 

View on the bus ride

But I still prefer flying!

Even though Chile and Argentina might seem similar to some people, you quickly notice the difference. They have slow service in Chile, but it’s nothing compared to the Argentine one. We discovered that at the Chilean/Argentine border where we waited a VERY good while. It’s not only slower, but also more inefficient than the Chilean service. We were told to fill out a Baggage Claim which was of “the utmost importance”. Well apparently not, because the Argentine officials never asked to see it and furthermore they did a very superficial checking of our luggage. On the Chilean side of the border we all had to stand in a line, every bag was scanned and the Baggage Claim had to be filled out correctly or else you got called over. 

Another thing is the Argentine political reality which couldn’t be more different from the Chilean one. The Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is corrupt and her party, the Justicialist Party, is the only real political party at the moment. The opposition parties are small and have a difficult time getting through to voters. I took a photo of a wall graffiti that I think expresses this pretty well. 

“Cristina o nothing” – as an Argentine voter you don’t have a good choice between politicians. You vote for Cristina or vote blank; voting for the opposition is almost like voting blank, since it somewhat pointless.  

On top of that, Buenos Aires is filled with political propaganda from Cristina, her late husband/ex-president Nestor Kirchner, Perón and Evita Perón. “Be strong, Cristina” one said with a picture of her hugging her late husband. 

 

 

Or this one which roughly translated says: “Each one should produce at least what they consume.” Peronism is still alive and breathing like the Madonna depicting of Evita – there’s a 20 meter tall picture on a building showing her kissing baby. For me it was so interesting to see (since I study Latin American society, politics and history) so I kept talking about it and showing it to Julie and Thibault, but their reaction was just: “Ah, okay…” I missed my study-group from CBS (Maja, Laura and Sofia) to nerd out about this.

Another thing you don’t see in Chile is obvious black market trade of money on the street. Fred brought us to the street Florida to change Chilean pesos to Argentine ones – they are really hungry for dollars and you can actually earn a good deal of money. I had imagined a dodgy street, but it is the main shopping street in Buenos Aires. The place we exchanged was a newspaper stand. Three people were in line before us, but not holding any newspaper or magazine in hand. It was SO obvious that they were only there to exchange money. The funniest thing, though, was that a police car with two officers was right around the corner and they did nothing. They were most likely there because the man had bribed them to protect his business. For 10 Chilean pesos we got 1 Argentine peso whereas the official rate was 10 Chilean pesos for 0.85 Argentine pesos. So that was a great deal! But I would never have done it if I hadn’t been with Fred who knew where to go. Some dealers bring you to their apartment and even some rob you afterwards. 

Fred lives in very nice house with three other exchange students in the neighborhood Villa Crespo. That neighborhood was relatively safe compared to others. We had been warned about Buenos Aires. Nothing dangerous happened to us, but three times a group tried to steal from us on the metro. The metro is Buenos Aires is 10 times worse than the one in Santiago. It’s hot and it’s packed all day long. So it’s easy for thieves to steal from you without you noticing it. Two times they tried to steal from Fred and one time from me. The first time three people had closed in Fred in a half circle. They were pretending not to know each other, but every time Fred tried to get passed them, they closed the gap. Then he felt a hand in his pocket, but he quickly discovered it and pushed his way through the circle. On the next stop they all three got off. The second time we had already noticed the group. I had seen them talking together on the metro stop and then later standing apart acting like strangers. In the metro the woman of the group had a long scarf that hid her hand.  She was standing right next to Fred when I saw her hand moving under the scarf. Fred already seen it and had both of his hands in his pocket, holding on to his belongings. At the next stop they got off. The third time a guy put some water on me while a “friendly stranger” aka his friend offered me a tissue to wipe it off. But I had read about this in my guide book, so my reaction was just to back away from them, hold on to my bag and yell to Julie: “They are trying to f…. rob me!”.

Fred was the perfect guide. He showed us all the must-see places and we still had time to go out two nights. 

We saw: 

The presidential palace

Puerto Madero

Avenida 25 de Mayo

Bosque de Palermo with a lot of roller skaters and joggers.

 The Sunday flee market in San Telmo with tango dancers in the street

We went to a milonga (a tango bar), but a local one because Fred’s roomie is tango enthusiast and showed us where to go. After watching people dancing tango, I missed going to dance class so much, and I might start up salsa again when I return.

 La Boca. It’s a colorful neighborhood, but a very dangerous one as well. 

There are only three streets you can walk on that as a tourist. Every year some tourist goes outside these streets and get robbed, mugged and sometimes killed. For me, this made La Boca kind of artificial. I was only safe because there were four police officers at every street corner. It was apparent that no one lived on these three streets; it was all for the tourists. It had a kind of Tivoli/theme park feel to it – like these figures you could see everywhere.

Gastronomically speaking Buenos Aires wasn’t big deal for me since I’m a vegetarian. One night we went to a restaurant called “Las Cabras” which is famous for their steaks. It’s so popular that we had to wait 2.5 hours to get a table. While the others were eating, I sat at the end of the table feeling very entertained just by watching people try to finish their plate. 

Thibault getting ready to eat.

  

Besides the 500 gram steak there was also rice, French fries, a fried egg and cheese and mashed carrots. Impossible for a human being to eat it all, but of course that’s excluding the eating machine Thibault who finished his plate as the only one. 








Fernando desperately wanted to finish his steak which he did it after pushing himself. 

The poor guy is clearly suffering

What I’m going to end the blog with is our afternoon at the wine tasting that turned into a good drunken night. Our wine guide was a guy at our age. Normally the guide doesn’t drink along with the guests, but we kind of clicked with him I think, because at the end of the tasting he was tipsy as well. 

  


Officially we tried four wines, but the guide kept bringing more in, so we ended up trying six or seven. He explained very well how to distinguish and taste the wines, but at the end of the tasting we were so tipsy that all of that was forgotten haha.

All in all I really liked Buenos Aires, despite it being 30 degrees and humid as hell every day. You clearly notice the European influence, not only in the architecture, but also feeling of the streets; there are for example a lot more street cafés and outdoor serving than in Santiago. I could have ended up doing my exchange in Buenos Aires, which would have been nice, but I’m still happy that I chose Viña del Mar.

XX

Mette