Chillin' on the Chile Coast

Following our Colca Canyon trek we have been taking it easy along the north coast of Chile.

The border crossing from Tacna, Peru to Arica, Chile was uneventful. For $12 we went in a 'shared' taxi (they go when the taxi is full.......3 in the front, 3 in the back) but it proved to be a good move because it was about 20 km's and the taxi driver took care of the paperwork so we only had to go through customs with our backpacks and passports, and then we got dropped off close to our hostel in Arica on the coast. We stayed there for 2 days and got some rest and laundry done (which most hostels will do for you at a very cheap rate....$2-3 per kilogram).

The next day we took a 22 hour bus ride south along the coast to La Serena, another nice beach town. The seats reclined into beds so we got some rest along the way when we weren't watching the 6/7 movies that they showed along the way........no repeats on any of the buses so far. While we were in La Serena we took a full day tour of the Elqui Valley (an hour inland) where we visited 2 Pisco distilleries/wineries, a huge dam (to support agriculture in the valley vs. power), a small museum dedicated to a very bright young lady and Nobel prize winner (Gabriela Mistral), and had a tasty lunch of Pastel do Choclo (cream corn, chicken, hard-boiled egg, olive done in a casserole) where everything was cooked in solar ovens. That evening the tour finished with a trip to the Observatory Mamalluca where, under clear skies, we had great views of the stars, galaxies, nebullas and the rings around Saturn.

We then took a 6 hour bus ride further down the coast to Valparaiso which is close to the central part of the country and 100 km's from Santiago where we will go to next. Because of the city's age, we have noticed more damage from last month's earthquake - nothing too serious but supporting our decision to not travel further south down the coast.

Yesterday we got our exercise in walking around the city which is built on hills facing the ocean. Many of the roads are cobblestone and there are many ascensors (a small cab/escalator on rails) to assist people getting up and down the steep slopes. We took one for the experience (50 cents) but the other times we walked up nearby steps (160 on the one we counted). The slopes provide wonderful views of the city and the ocean in this interesting port city (300k population). The homes are painted bright colours which on their own would look unpleasant but together it is an appealing visual against the hillsides. There is also a tremendous amount of grafitti, most of it tastefully done, and an incredible number of homeless dogs. The dogs are very tame, often sleeping in the middle of sidewalks, and the locals feed them but they haven't toilet-trained them yet so you have be very careful where you step.

Today we took a local bus to Vina del Mar, 15 minutes up the coast where there are nice beaches and many condos. It is a resort city for the well-to-do from Santiago. Tomorrow we will spend another day walking around Valpo before heading off to the capital city, Santiago, on Friday.

Back to Civilization

We just finished an amazing 3 days in the Colca Canyon and are now resting our weary bodies in the seaside city of Arica, Chile, just south of the Peruvian border. It was a wonderful way to finish off our first visit to Peru where we will return to again in June to finish our adventure at Machu Picchu.

Our canyon journey started off in Arequipa, a beautiful city where we felt very safe walking around enjoying the history of the area, including a Convent (Santa Catalina.....still operational) in the middle of the city which was self-sufficient within it's own walls.....a city within a city. We stayed for a few days at a fabulous hostal (Amazing Home) 5 blocks from the main plaza, but in a quiet subdivision, run by a very helpful, young Peruvian man. We enjoyed our time there and returned for another night following 0ur trek into the canyon.

Our Colca Canyon trip started with a 3 am pick-up at our hostal, allowing for a 4 hour drive to the rim of the canyon where we had a stopover to watch condors flying beside the canyon walls. After driving further along the rim of the canyon we started our hike down at 9 am. The Colca Canyon is actually deeper than the Grand Canyon but fortunately not at the point where we entered it. It was still quite a work-out. On our first day we hiked about 12 km's (mostly downhill) and stayed overnight with a local family in a very small village (dirt floor in our room). There are no roads into the villages we hiked through so all of the locals grow their own food, and have to do the same hike we did with their donkeys if there is anything that they require from the closest town........they tend to be very fit people and they seem very happy but they look older than they really are. All of their cooking is done over a wood fire and Ruffina, our host, made us a lovely dinner which included a chicken based noodle soup followed by an avocado and lime salad, and a rice and sweet potato dinner. In the morning our excellent guide, Carlitos, made us a banana pancake breakfast.

The next morning we hiked 4 km's along the base of the canyon, arriving at a place beside the Colca River known as the Oasis for hiking tourists to have lunch (or stay overnight for the 'rushed' trekkers who only have 2 days) and a swim in several pools surrounded by the beautiful canyon vistas. After lunch and a hammock rest the hardest part of the trek commenced....... 6 km's of steep switchbacks rising 1200 metres to the 3200 metre (almost 10,000 feet) top of the canyon at a small town called Cabanaconde where we had dinner and stayed in a hostal overnight. It was very easy to fall asleep that evening!

Our third day had very little hiking involved which was a good thing because we had difficulty moving our tired and sore legs. The Machu Picchu trail will not be as strenuous but we will still need to get in better shape since the distance will be almost twice as long (43 km's vs 22 km's) over 4 days. We had several more rim stops along the way back (more condors) that also included a lunch in one town and a stopover at a hot springs which felt great on our aching bodies.

Finding positive reports on the internet about Land Adventures we decided to book the trek with them and we were not dissapointed. The entire 3D/2N trek only cost $55 per person, plus a $12 canyon entrance fee. As it turned out, no one else booked the same trek starting on the day that we did so we ended up with our own personal guide for the 3 days, and Carlitos was treat to be with..........he had made over 200 treks into the canyon, was very knowledgable, and his English was good. On top of that, Land Adventures is a very eco-conscious company, sending their guides into the canyon twice a month to clean up refuse and using several different village homes for overnight stays and meals to help the locals have a better life. It was indeed a wonderful experience that we will never forget.

Tomorrow we will enjoy an ocean beach walk in the morning and then embark on a 22 hour bus ride down the Chile coast to La Serena where we will relax for several days by the ocean. The bus we have booked has seats that fully recline into beds (laying flat) and they constantly show movies (english sometimes but usually in spanish with english subtitles). Bus attendants serve meals along the way. We are bringing some Chillean wine (good and cheap) with us.

Adios...............miguel & pocahontas

The Mystery of the Nazca Lines is still intact

We came to Nazca to try and uncover the mystery surrounding the Nazca Lines.........a striking network of over 800 lines, 300 geometric figures (geoglyphs), and some 70 animal and plant drawings (biomorphs) spread over 500 square km's of arid desert that can only be appreciated from the air in a plane due to their size. These lines date back to Paracas and Nazca cultures from 900 BC to 600 AD. So how could they create these magnificent (and very large) surface drawings at a time when they couldn't truly appreciate the finished product? Different theories exist.......an astronomical calendar mapped out by sophisticated mathematics, ritual walkways, representaions of shaman's (witch-doctor's) dreams, and even extraterrestial landing sites. Well, our research hasn't taken us very far. We tried to fly over the Lines which almost everyone does when they come to Nazca. Unfortunately, a pilot's strike has just started grounding all the planes. Apparently, there was a plane crash 2 weeks ago (the pilot had a heart attack) and so the government made a hasty decision requiring a co-pilot to accompany all future flights to prevent a similar disaster. However, since the pilots use Cessna aicraft that only hold 4 passengers for the one hour flights there was much local concern surrounding the added cost and 25% loss in revenue (one precious seat) resulting in the strike. So no flight for us. Then we attempted to go to the Planetarium last night where they were going to explain the various theories about the Lines and let everyone come to their own conclusion. Just as our lecture was about to begin there was a city-wide power failure......so we collected our refund and quickly hailed a taxi back to the safety of our hostal. The mystery remains but I'm sticking with my own personal theory that some had ingested way too many cocoa leaves. We are going to try the Planetarium again tonight before taking an overnight bus to Arequipa and the Colca Canyon to do some hiking.

Before coming to Nazca we spent 2 days in Pisco on the ocean where we took a morning boat tour to Isla Ballestas, known as the poor man's Galapagos. For anyone who doesn't have the time or money to visit the Galapagos, this is a must-do if you are on the coast south of Lima. For $25 pp we saw many species of birds (boobies, pelicans, terns, cormorants and more), sea lions with their pups and Humbolt penguins, along with local fishermen pulling up their nets overflowing with fish. In the afternoon we went to the Paracas National Reserve to explore the history of the area. Unfortunately, Pisco was destroyed by an earthquake in 2007 and they are still recovering from the devastation (zoom in on the dome of the picture of the local church)......many people still live in their busted up homes since they have no insurance and very little money. I gave some $ to a helpful, older deaf man at the bus station who had lost his hearing and home in the earthquake, and had been hired by the bus company to do small jobs around the terminal. I'm sure there are many others than could use our help.

All for now, we'll provide another update after hiking thru the canyon.

Exploring Lima

Backing up, we spent our final day in Huanchaco roaming around the beach town, hiking up the hill to the catholic church built in 1540 (still operational) and then went for an afternoon dip in the ocean to cool off. The surf was immense, and after several tosses into the sand, despite standing in knee deep water, Pocahantas decided it was time for a shower to get all the sand out of her bathing suit.

The next day we took a bus further down the coast to another smaller beach town, Barranca, where we were able to take a taxi 25 km inland (along a mostly deserted dirt road) to the 4700 year old ruins (carbon-dated to 2627 B.C.) of Caral. It was another smoking hot day but well worth the 5 km hike to see the start of civilization in the Americas that mirrored the timing of the Egyptians / Mesopatamians, and who also built pyramids to honour their Gods. Another amazing find from the past 50 years that they only started to excavate 15 years ago (and at a very slow pace).

We have now made our way to Lima, a huge 7M+ city. We are staying in Miraflores, a nice neighbourhood where we can safely walk around, and situated close to the ocean which has some lovely views. Yesterday, we had a tasty paella lunch near JFK square where we came across some seniors doing the mamba in the park with a surrounding crowd of 200 appreciative onlookers. We have a short video which is too big to post but the men were especially entertaining. Today we had a nice walkabout that included a visit to the Museo de la Nacion where they have an interesting, but slightly disturbing, photo exhibit of the history of the communist Shining Path movement, which cost many lives during the 1980's in Peru. It is an important part of their history however and did lead to more responsible government in the end.

Tomorrow we are heading 200 km's south by bus where we plan to spend a couple of days exploring the Reserva Nacional de Paracas and Isla Ballestas, which is known as the poor man's Galapagos.

Buenos noches.

Speed bumps on the Trans Canada?

Since our last post we have been on some exciting bus rides travelling through Southern Ecuador and the north coast of Peru. We suspect the bus drivers are all former grand prix drivers (or wanna-be's). Double, solid yellow lines around mountain curves seem to have no meaning to them........they simply honk their horn and start passing. The buses, usually double-deckers with great views for longer trips, are the biggest vehicles on the road so the slower trucks and smaller cars seem to give way to them when a confrontation looms. We have been travelling along the Pan American Sur (their version of the Trans Canada along the west coast of South America) and the only thing slowing the buses down are speed bumps as they enter small towns along the way. It has been an exciting and cheap (approx. $1 per hour of travel) way to get around.

Our first stop in Peru was in Chiclayo, a nice colonial style city with a population of about 600K people. We took a full-day tour to some nearby ancient Moche (00 -800 AD) and Chimu 800 - 1400 AD) pre-Inca ruins, where we were able to view the 750 year-old tomb and remains of the Lord of Sipan along with some amazing gold, silver and copper artifacts. Most of these items were just discovered in the past 25 years and they have much more excavation still to do (which seems to be moving along at a snail's pace).

We are currently staying in a surfer, beach town, Huanchaco which is 600 km's north of Lima, and just west of Trujillo (700 K city). It is a nice break from the busy cities and a chance to watch the sun go down from the terrace balcony of our hostal......Rhonda enjoyed the view so much that a bottle of wine disappeared while I was sipping on my cerveza. This morning we took a local bus to the nearby Chan Chan ruins, one of the largest Chimu cities discovered (30 - 50 K people) and we hiked around 5 km's of the old city, another Unesco world heritage site uncovered less than 50 years ago with more scientific work underway.

We will spend one more day relaxing in this wonderful paradise town (27C and sunny) and then we will continue our trip down the coast. Adios.

Galapagos - another world within ours

Our last minute decision to go to the Galapagos turned out to be a brilliant one........it was everything we anticipated and more. Fortunately, the effects of the Chile earthquake were minimal on the islands. They made preparations for a potential tsunami (closing the airport and businesses, moving people to higher land, etc.) but it turned out that the water receded only 20 metres and extended an extra 20 metres so it wasn't much more than an immediate tide change and the impact to the people and wildlife was almost non-existant. When we arrived the following day everything was back to normal and there was no trace of any damage.

Our catamaran was well equipped with lovely cabins and the guide and crew were wonderful. It got even better when we started touring the islands and interfacing with the wildlife, which were anything but wild. Giant tortoises, marine and land iguanas, sea lions, lava lizards, crabs, blue-footed boobies and frigate birds seemed as interested in us as we were in them. We often had to step around them on the narrow tourist paths (strictly adhered to in order to minimize our footprint), and many times they would approach us, seemingly to pose for pictures. It makes you wonder what we have done in North America to make animals & humans so intimidated of one another. It was truly an awesome experience.

We visited 5 islands (Santa Cruz, Espanola, Sante Fe, Plaza, Seymour) and each one had something special to offer. The Galapagos islands are close to the equator so the daily temperature was 30C and with high humidity it was energy sapping but after our a.m. and p.m. island walking tours (average of 2 hours each) we were able to swim around the boat (water temperature was 27C) or go snorkelling. The snorkelling at Isla Espanola delivered a wonderful display of colourful marine life but the highlight was at Isla Santa Fe where we encountered a huge school of black-striped salimas. Our excellent and knowledgeable guide, Luis, estimated that there were over one million of them packed together....the black mass of fish 5 metres below us was almost 100 metres long, 20 metres wide and 10 metres deep.......but the best part was watching several 5-6 foot black-tip sharks make their way in and out of the school. Our guide didn't seem to be too worried about the sharks (even diving below the school and coming back up through the middle of the school) so we remained calm, but a little more cautious! In fact, a similar size shark had passed closely by Rhonda the day before, seemingly disinterested with so many healthier choices nearby.

All in all it was a great four days. We met some interesting people from around the world - Austria, Belgium, Germany, U.K. and the U.S., and had the opportunity to have interesting conversations during our time together.

Following an early morning hike on our final island where it was mating season for the birds (the frigates and boobies were performing for potential mates) we were taken to the airport for a flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, located on the coast. Having enjoyed the tranquility of the islands we decided to skip the city life there and took a 4 hour bus ride through the Andes Mountains to Cuenca, a smaller colonial style city in the southern part of the country which we will explore today. Tomorrow we will start travelling towards Peru.