Peru and the final days

School wrapped up quickly at the end there, but it felt agonizingly slow. I went to see a concert by a guy named Manu Chao, a french-born every-romantic-language singing leftish raggae rocker. We had a Thanksgiving celebration, to which I brought a sort of pumpkin pie.

Then I saw Peru. I took a bus from Santiago to the border, a 30 hour ride, and hung out at the Chilean beach/border town Arica. My travel companions and I, Matt and Daniel from UW-Madison, crossed the border and took an overnight bus to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The ride was a nightmare, far worse than any other, even though it was only 9 hours. The combination of intense body odor, extreme variable temperatures, altitude gain and rapid velocity plus curvy roads made me want to hurl. We spent a few nights taking tours on and around Lake Titicaca and getting used to the altitude. We crossed over to Cusco by bus, and saw the amazing landscape of the high plains.

Peru is different from Chile. The people look different, the spanish is crystal clear (compared to Chile anyway), and the buildings seem a bit more crumbly. Lima didn't have a subway, marking clearly the infrastructure differences. Chile and Peru have a history of violence and conflict, and as such still disagree. I love Peru, and thought it was a really important comparison to my time in Chile.

In Cusco I parted ways with Matt and Danielle, and met up with a group from Lima. Cusco is the Inka's old capital city, and has these amazing walls made from rocks without cement. The expert masons there just made every rock fit perfectly. Then the Spanish just built stucco and wood walls right on top. The cathedral maintains the base walls from the Inka high temple. Three UW students and a German student plus me went on a three day trip to Machu Picchu, where my passport and camera got soaked. The camera is not in good shape, but I got to swap the memory card into other cameras, so I have some shots there. Biking down mountains, hiking in the jungle, hot springs, and of course the insane ruins of Machu Picchu made for three very full days. Our guide Vicente, was really awesome too.

I made it to Lima at the end, for one night with my friend Alyse. She took me around with her friend Nina, and I basically had the best 24 hour stay you can ask for. We saw the basic sites (Plaza de Armas, the sea, downtown) and spent the night dancing and drinking weird jungle drinks. It ruled. In my experience, Chilean pisco sours taste just the same as Peruvian pisco sours.

I made it home with about 12 hours to spare before my folks were set to arrive. My blurred and splotched passport somehow presented very little issue at the immigration checkpoint. Mimi and Steve are now here, and we have already been to Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, seen the basics of Santiago, and did some horseback riding in Cajón del Maipo. Beaner arrives tomorrow and the four of us have some big plans for the south of Chile.

I likely won't post again until January, so enjoy the holidays and the time off. I leave for the states shortly, so see you soon!