Home Sweet Home

Sacred Valley, Peru

Machu Picchu, Peru

I loved seeing the Andes stretch across South America. Busing to and from Argentina was my first opportunity to the mountains up close. They looked like huge, solid rocks contently settled in the middle of the hundreds of lakes, with jungle vegetation slowing creeping up their sides. In Chile and Argentina, I went caving. Then in Peru, I went on a short hike. But--as much as I loved the Andes--I still  smile when I wake up in the morning and see this greet me in my window...

Chacos, how I love thee

Santiago, Chile: Catholic University
Niebla, Chile: "Lover's Beach"
Valdivia, Chile: UACh botanical gardens
Chiloe, Chile: Ferry to island
Valdivia, Chile: Contemplating feeding the sea lions, but too cheap to buy them salmon
La Union, Chile: Catching crabs
Cusco, Peru: some ruins
Machu Picchu, Peru: some more ruins
Valparaiso, Chile: Plaza de Armes
Vina del Mar, Chile: museum
Santiago, Chile: another museum

Ain't Nothin' Like The Night Life

Late parties and long nights have prompted me to take some pictures of the city at night. I normally take quite a few before I can capture one that I like, but they are some of my favorites of all my traveling photos. Here are just a few examples. Valparaiso at night.

Too Many Photos. Too Little Time.

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with posting on the blog. I haven't in a couple days due to a lack of internet or time...or both. Here is a glance at some of the things we saw in Valpariso and Vina del Mar--my futile attempt to summarize a beautiful city in just a few photos.

Bring on the Ugly Pictures

In traveling to a new city (or new country) everyday, we have become quite familiar with sleeping in an upright position, eating junk food and well...not showering. Producing some of these lovely photos.
Preparing for our 24 hour bus ride from Bariloche, Argentina to Santiago, Chile.
After touring Vina del Mar and Valparaiso for 14 hours.
Flying to Peru.
In the Lima airport. Our favorite place in Lima (and the only place we have seen so far).

Why have a blog, if not to post horrible photos of yourself?

Back in Chile

For those wondering, Tiffany and I survived the 24 hour bus ride. We are in Valparaiso for a day and a half, then going back to Santiago on Monday...then PERU!

Been There. Climbed That. Spit Off The Top Of It.

Bariloche

Valdivian Spoons

Surprise Me!

Tiffany and I knew we wanted to have a gathering before we left Valdivia. We set a date and place (Sunday at the park) then, like anyone that wants to advertise an event, we made a facebook group. The day before our arranged party, Rodrigo told us that our party was not going to be at the park, like we had planned, but at his house. Ok, we thought. That is fine as long as everyone knew the changes. He assured us that everyone would know.

The morning of our party, Pia told us that our party is not going to be on Sunday, but it was going to be on Monday. Ok, but we would have to tell everyone again because Rodrigo just told them something different.

Moments later, Rossio told us that the party was actually going to be at the church and not at Rodrigo's home. Huh? Ok ok ok. Now that we had changed the time AND place of our party hours before it was supposed to happen, we relied on our friends to inform the masses.

When we arrived to the party that we had originally planned, we were quite happy to see that it had turned into a surprise party...for us! I have never planned my own surprise party, but I might consider doing it more often. It was great. We played Spoons and ate treats and took a GREAT series of photos.

Hot Water

After our trip through the caves, we were completely soaked. COMPLETELY!

The professors took us out to lunch then we prepared to go to what they continually called "a spa". They described it as a place with "naturally hot water". We have been known to get lost in translation. I will admit it has happened more than once, so we were pretty sure they meant "hot spring". We were fully expecting to stop on the side of the road somewhere in the mountains and jump into a hot pot.
However, this time the professors knew what they were talking about. They brought us the Menetue spa in Pucon. It is a nice resort in the Andes with naturally hot water pumped into baths. Here is a picture of us minutes after handed our towels and caps. I guess we won't doubt our professors anymore.Why our two professors would want to go to a spa with us, I am not sure. But I wasn't about to question it. We were warm. We were happy.

"Guano is a self-sustaining ecosystem"

This weekend, our professors brought us to the Eureka Volcano, nestled in the middle of the Andes and closer to Argentina than Valdivia. At the foot of the mountain are lava caves. They are the only tourable lava caves in South America and we were happy to get out of the poring rain and into the caves. Unfortunately, there wasn't any guano in the caves. The only animal that survives these beasts are small crickets. With or without guano, these caves were Planet Earth material.

There were different types of lava formations. Some looked like cow dung
and others looked like chocolate.
The caves were fully lit and professional then when we hit the end, they turned off the lights and we had a moment in the silence. You couldn't tell if your eyes were open or closed. It was my favorite part of the tour. So for all those curious what it looked like, I included a picture.

Black and White is Always More Dramatic

We went out to a dance/fiesta at the stake center on Friday night. It was in the stake center cultural hall; therefore, all of the photos we took that night had the horrible yellow tint to them. You know the one that I am talking about? The one that makes your pictures looked aged about 20 years or a product of the 80's. After fruitless editing on the computer, I decided that void of any color was the way to make them presentable.
As I walked into the dance, I had some MAJOR flashbacks to youth stake dances in Maple Valley. Disco ball. Paper streamers. Old music. Practically empty, even after we showed up the traditional 30 mins late. Yep--just like I remembered it. I surveyed the refreshments table and prepared for a night of light snacking, occasionally singing along to the music, and carefully calculated trips to the restroom to break up the time.

However there are a few major differences between dances in Chile and the stake dances of yesteryear:
1. Lights remain on. Turning them off would lead to risque dancing.
2. The music is all salsa latin music. Reggae salsa. Mexican salsa. Samba salsa.
3. Instead of Red Vines and M&Ms, they have crackers, cookies and soda pop set out on the long rectangle tables. meh.
4. Everyone dances in two long lines and not the traditional American circles/clump-things
5. You dance with the same person for extended periods of time, not just one song. This can last for half an hour or the entire length of the dance. (Not dancing for an extended period of time insults your dance partner as I came to learn.)
6. The dances last much longer. We were lucky to leave at about 2 am.
7. And everyone at the dance--get this--actually dances. Weird, huh? At one point, I counted only 2 people standing along the wall of the room.
Nadia and Rocio are some of our favorite Chileans. They were the most fun at the dance! They were eager to learn "American dance moves" and loved mimicking all of the youth stake dance classics ("the sprinkler", "the shopping cart", endless jumping for no reason, etc.)This last photo was after the dance contest. As you can see in the back of the picture, Tiffany and Pablo moved on to the next round. Jaime and I lost. Next time I will win. Next time I am in Chile and forced to participate in a dance contest....next time...