Yo,
We made it to Chile with no problems. We thought there might be a 100 dollar fee at the border, but luckily the info we received was a lie. We spent the first 3 days in the northern city of Arica. The city had a nice feel to it. The people are friendly and they had a few decent beaches lining the city. Our time was spent checking out the chilean beach scene and getting our first tastes of Chilean food. Rumbles was excited to arrive in Chile which made the food taste better for him. He was raving about the first set lunch, like it was the best thing he's tasted since his last Pho meal. It is crazy to think how different Chile is from Peru and Ecuador. Everything is clean, and cars actually stop for you when you cross the street. It didn't feel right at first, everything being so calm that is. Chileans have been friendly so far, although they have more to do and are on the move a bit more than Ecuadorians and Peruvians. With that said, its tougher to practice spanish since I don't feel stopping people on the street.
After Arica, we took a 28 hour bus ride down to Valparaiso which is on the coast a couple hours from Santiago. The drive down was pretty sweet going through the Atacama Desert. Its crazy how much untapped coastline there is in Chile. Valparaiso is a pretty cool city that is full of artists, artwork, and loud colors. it isn't very backpacker friendly, but the surrounding region is pretty nice. the past 5 days, we have been chilling here, and in Vina Del Mar which is the city directly north of Valparaiso. Vina Del Mar has some nice beaches, so we took advantage of a little more beach time. Being late fall here, the weather is a bit more mild and the beaches are fairly empty. It has definitely been nice relaxing here after traveling so much recently. We have even cooked up some meals since Chile has some quality grocery stores.
Tomorrow we head for Santiago
J and P
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
peru
yo,
sorry i haven´t written in a while. we have been on the go living life in the fast lane. I have to mention one other thing about banos, ecuador. they love hoops there which brought a smile to my face. even the middle aged women ball all the time and i was fortunate enough to get in on a game. rumbles didn´t want to get crossed over so he just stayed on the side line. probably a good idea. Ecaudor is a great country and I recommend anyone to go there.
after banos we had a treacherous journey to the amazonian city of iquitos, peru. travel in ecuador is so slow and it took forever to get to peru. finally when we made it to peru, the whole country just seemed like a big scam. people were more agressive than Ecuador and we got different answers from everyone. kind of a nice change of pace, but still frustrating at times. to give you a taste, we pulled up to a bus station and some of the local workers opened up the car door and tried to pull out my bag while the car was still moving. they managed to get both of rumbles bags on different buses. so classic!
the next leg of the journey was a two day boat through the amazon to iquitos. for the journey we had to buy hammocks for sleeping. pretty sweet experience, but not comfortable. at 500 am the first morning they blasted peruvian music videos. such a load of bullshavik. the food was cooked from river water as well which was incredibly dirty. we paid 16 dollars each for food and the journey so we can´t complain. so cheap and well worth it considering the scenery along the amazon is gorgeous.
luckily when we made it to iquitous everyone was friendly and we scored a sweet 5 day amazon trip with an indigenous guide, Octavio. we saw quite a bit of wildlife, went on a few walks, went spear fishing, pirana fishing, and relaxed. We ran into Ice Cube there as well. He said he enjoyed his time, but is ready to get back to the LA traffic and his cellular phone.
After Iquitous we flew to Lima, and took a posh overnight bus to Cuzco which is the base area for Machu Picchu. buses can be a pain sometimes, but seeing all the scenery makes it all worth it. Cuzco was a great city, but definitely overpriced and touristy. up to that point we hadn´t been around too many tourists, so it was funny seeing that much white skin outside of the states. so many whities trying to get a piece of Machu Picchu. Sadly there is only one direct route to Machu Picchu and its costs a whopping 96 dollars minimum on a train and the entrance fee is 45 dollars to Machu Picchu. This train company has a monopoly so it can charge crazy prices. so gay. we took the train home part way back to Cuzco, but we found about a great cheap way to go there. so, we ended up taking a 5 hour bus ride to Santa Maria, and then a car to another city called Santa Teresa along a ghetto road hugged against the mountain side. such a great road. on the way we picked up an overdramatic American women who didn´t like the driving tactics of our driver. From Santa Teresa we took a van to the traintracks, and walked 2.5 hours along the tracks to aguas calientes which is the city below machu picchu. the whole journey took 10 hours, but it was a lot of fun. that whole area around Machu Picchu was so beautiful. some of the best ive ever seen. the next day we woke up at 4 am to get up to Picchu by sunrise. We opted to hike up instead of take the bus. it was so much fun hiking in the dark with our headlights. surprisingly, Picchu exceeded our expectations. neither of us like tourist sites that much, so we expected to be bored after an hour. the scenery and the city are both incredible. the best tourist site ive seen. yes, I know what your thinking, ¨Did they take pictures?¨ crumbs managed to take a few along with some vids, so we will try and post them soon.
Currently, we are at lake titicaca chilling for a few days before heading down to Chile.
enjoy life!
Sun Boys
sorry i haven´t written in a while. we have been on the go living life in the fast lane. I have to mention one other thing about banos, ecuador. they love hoops there which brought a smile to my face. even the middle aged women ball all the time and i was fortunate enough to get in on a game. rumbles didn´t want to get crossed over so he just stayed on the side line. probably a good idea. Ecaudor is a great country and I recommend anyone to go there.
after banos we had a treacherous journey to the amazonian city of iquitos, peru. travel in ecuador is so slow and it took forever to get to peru. finally when we made it to peru, the whole country just seemed like a big scam. people were more agressive than Ecuador and we got different answers from everyone. kind of a nice change of pace, but still frustrating at times. to give you a taste, we pulled up to a bus station and some of the local workers opened up the car door and tried to pull out my bag while the car was still moving. they managed to get both of rumbles bags on different buses. so classic!
the next leg of the journey was a two day boat through the amazon to iquitos. for the journey we had to buy hammocks for sleeping. pretty sweet experience, but not comfortable. at 500 am the first morning they blasted peruvian music videos. such a load of bullshavik. the food was cooked from river water as well which was incredibly dirty. we paid 16 dollars each for food and the journey so we can´t complain. so cheap and well worth it considering the scenery along the amazon is gorgeous.
luckily when we made it to iquitous everyone was friendly and we scored a sweet 5 day amazon trip with an indigenous guide, Octavio. we saw quite a bit of wildlife, went on a few walks, went spear fishing, pirana fishing, and relaxed. We ran into Ice Cube there as well. He said he enjoyed his time, but is ready to get back to the LA traffic and his cellular phone.
After Iquitous we flew to Lima, and took a posh overnight bus to Cuzco which is the base area for Machu Picchu. buses can be a pain sometimes, but seeing all the scenery makes it all worth it. Cuzco was a great city, but definitely overpriced and touristy. up to that point we hadn´t been around too many tourists, so it was funny seeing that much white skin outside of the states. so many whities trying to get a piece of Machu Picchu. Sadly there is only one direct route to Machu Picchu and its costs a whopping 96 dollars minimum on a train and the entrance fee is 45 dollars to Machu Picchu. This train company has a monopoly so it can charge crazy prices. so gay. we took the train home part way back to Cuzco, but we found about a great cheap way to go there. so, we ended up taking a 5 hour bus ride to Santa Maria, and then a car to another city called Santa Teresa along a ghetto road hugged against the mountain side. such a great road. on the way we picked up an overdramatic American women who didn´t like the driving tactics of our driver. From Santa Teresa we took a van to the traintracks, and walked 2.5 hours along the tracks to aguas calientes which is the city below machu picchu. the whole journey took 10 hours, but it was a lot of fun. that whole area around Machu Picchu was so beautiful. some of the best ive ever seen. the next day we woke up at 4 am to get up to Picchu by sunrise. We opted to hike up instead of take the bus. it was so much fun hiking in the dark with our headlights. surprisingly, Picchu exceeded our expectations. neither of us like tourist sites that much, so we expected to be bored after an hour. the scenery and the city are both incredible. the best tourist site ive seen. yes, I know what your thinking, ¨Did they take pictures?¨ crumbs managed to take a few along with some vids, so we will try and post them soon.
Currently, we are at lake titicaca chilling for a few days before heading down to Chile.
enjoy life!
Sun Boys
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