Travel

From Cusco to Machu Picchu-Mystical, mindboggling, marvelous, magnificent!

Leaving Arequipa was done so with huge excitement, for now we were heading to Cuzco-the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, and the gateway from which we would be visiting one of the most enigmatic sites of world archaeology, Machu Picchu. Through the process of accurate planning, it would also be where I would be celebrating my birthday-bonus!

One of the things that we have had to be mindful of as we have travelled is getting ahead of ourselves-yes Machu Picchu is just around the corner, but prior to that we have the quite majestic city of Cuzco to explore first. As mentioned earlier, the city was the capital of the Inca Empire between the 13th and 16th centuries-until the Spanish conquests of South America, although the actual date of construction of Cuzco is thought to be in the 11th century. As such, in the Old Town there are pre-Columbian buildings, plazas and churches round every corner, and the atmosphere feels thick with history. With the city being the gateway to Machu Picchu, its UNESCO World Heritage Site status and the numerous Inca ruins and wonders throughout the Sacred Valley, it’s no surprise that Cuzco is absolutely swarming with tourists like us…Yet somehow it manages to maintain its dignity and charm! Yes you will be pitched for food, massage, trinkets and alpaca clothing numerous times each day, but it’s ok-no problem!

At 3,400 m above sea level, altitude sickness is an issue for some and so you are quickly introduced to the wonders of chewing coca leaves or drinking coca tea. And yes we are talking about the raw ingredient for cocaine, although it’s important to distinguish between the drug and the plant. Coca leaves are something of a national treasure in Peru, and for thousands of years South American indigenous cultural groups have used the coca leaf in many of their significant ceremonies, as well as using it as a day to day supplement. Everything from improving oral hygiene and alleviating altitude sickness, to increasing stamina and improving your all round work ethic(!). Indeed if you believe everything that Wikipedia has to say (as I am guilty of sometimes), then you will also find that the Spanish actually encouraged the use of coca leaves to increase the productivity and reduce the appetite of their newly acquired slave workforce!
From personal experience I can vouch for the fact that neither Jo or I had altitude sickness-and nor did we tire over the next week or so hiking up and down various Inca trails…Whether that can be attributed to the benefits of coca or not I cannot say, but it was the the only adjustment that we made to our diets-I’ll leave it with you to come to your own conclusions!

So, what about Cuzco then? Well it is everything that you will read about it! Enchanting, historic, beautiful, magical-there are many superlatives that you can describe this city, and it deserves each one of them. You simply have to look around you to see the mountains that surround the city, and then the historic buildings at closer quarters-there’s enough here to keep you captivated for as long as you may wish, with no fear of it losing it’s sense of mysticism.

And we only really scratched the surface of the city….

Just your average Sunday afternoon in Cuzco
Can’t do a post without a good ‘street’ shot!
Stone of Twelve Angles, a mystery of ancient stonework
Gets even more enchanting upon nightfall…
Captivating!
Nice!

 

One thing that you are never going to struggle with in Cuzco is finding a tour operator to take you to Machu Picchu-there are LOADS of them! In fact, choosing who you are going to spend your money with is one of the most difficult things about the place….More specifically-finding a tour operator who will accept anything other than cash! Fortunately we were introduced to ‘a guy’ by our AirBnB host, and (spoiler alert!) it was awesome!

Ideally we would have like to have done the full Inca trail, but you really need to book that in advance and have a set schedule-as were prepared with neither, we had to go for an option that was feasible as and when we got there! On good advice from a friend from our first placement way back in September, we opted to go for the Inca Jungle Trek-which goes a little something like this:

DAY 1: CUSCO – ABRA MALAGA – SANTA MARÍA 65km Mountain Biking.

Starting at 6 am, we were driven by minibus through the amazing sacred valley of the Incas.  Passing the indigenous town of Chinchero with amazing views of Vilcabamba and Vilcanota mountain range, enjoying the panoramic views of the small towns in the sacred valley. Eventually you reach Abra Malaga pass at 4350m, and at this point we started the mountain biking down to Santa Maria town at 1435m. Biking starts high in the Andes with the majestic view of the snow-capped Veronica mountain.

Senor Jones reporting for duty!
Senorita Hicks ready and waiting!

DAY 2: SANTA MARIA – QUELLOMAYO – SANTA TERESA – COCALMAYO HOT SPRING 22km Hiking.

Another 6AM start, although this time it is people power as you set off on the most challenging of the hikes. After just 45 minutes from our hostel we get onto the original Inca trail that used to connect Machu Picchu with Vilcabamba considered the last Inca capital, hiking through plantations of bananas, Coca, yucca, coffee, and many other ‘unknown’ fruits! 3 hours hiking on the original Inca trail with magnificent views of the Vilcanota valley and panoramic views of the hills before a lunch pit stop at Quellomayo. From there we continued the hike along the Vilcanota River for another 3.5 hours until we arrive at the ‘cable car’ to get to Colcamayo hot springs. The ‘cable car’ is actually a platform on steel cables across the river-and let’s just put it this way, it would never pass H&S sanctions in Blighty! Anyway, once you had braved the river crossing you find yourself at the stunning natural and outdoor hot springs.

Team Picchu!
The Inca Trail!

DAY 3: SANTA TERESA – HIDROELÉCTRICA – AGUAS CALIENTES 19km Hiking.

After breakfast in Santa Teresa we set off on our hike to the hydroelectric power plant for 2.5 hour hiking on the road along the Vilcanota River. During the hike we see the power plant of Santa Teresa and Hidroelectrica. Before long you have the first view of Machu Picchu then we hiked along the train truck for 3 hours to Aguas Calientes town-the gateway to the mighty Machu Picchu.

Despite the hangovers-spirits were high
We made it this far at least!

DAY 4: AGUAS CALIENTES – MACHUPICCHU – OLLANTAYTAMBO – CUSCO

The most important day, and the earliest start! Up before the crack of dawn (4.30AM) to start the 1.5 hour hike up to the hidden city itself. On arrival there is a two hour tour with the guide and then we had the rest of the day to explore. Then you have free time to explore Machu Picchu by yourselves. We booked to climb Machu Picchu Mountain as well, which is a further 2 hour climb to majestic views of the ancient city from above! Machu Picchu is located in the middle of nowhere and up on the granite mountain edge, there is no any records about Machu Picchu of the Incas time. It is not mentioned in any of the chronicles of the Spanish conquistadors and archaeologists. Machu Picchu was under the dense vegetation until July 24th 1911. When the American historian Hiram Bingham ‘discovered’ it and called it “the lost city of the Incas”. We spent 8 hours exploring the city, before reluctantly going back to Aguas Calientes town.

 

The entire 4 days turned out to be as amazing as you would hope, and we had a really great group of people to share our experiences with. It didn’t start out so rosy though, to begin at Abra Malaga we were met with heavy rain, freezing cold and limited visibility-not the perfect conditions for a downhill bike ride! Still, after about an hour and a half the weather started to clear and soon enough we were hurtling down the mountain roads with little/no fear! It was exhilarating, however the biggest adrenaline rush actually came that evening in Santa Maria when Jo and I were attacked by wasps! We had taken some time to walk around the village and explore the surroundings when we found a path that lead down to a bridge over the river. As we walked down the path suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my head, and then another on my hand-so I start thrashing around not knowing what was going on-and Jo was soon in the same predicament. As it turns out, Avispa’s (South American wasps) are absolutely relentless, and will dive-bomb and attack you fearlessly! Fortunately the stings die down pretty quickly, but we didn’t know that and were soon running for our lives! Obviously this kind of incident couldn’t go unseen, and as we hightailed it away from the wasps we turned the corner to find a group of elderly locals watching on with some bemusement…funny now, scary at the time!

Day 2 saw me begin a two day celebration for my birthday, for as it turned out I shared my birthday with one of the other guys in the group, and how lucky we were to be able to visit the hot springs! The days hiking was superb, our guide was super knowledgeable and shared a lot about the fauna and flora, local customs and lives of the Inca’s. The Inca trail itself was stunning, and after a full day of hiking arriving at the hot springs were absolutely magical-as you will see from the pictures. Having had a couple of hours to really enjoy, relax and soak, we eventually dragged ourselves away and ended up having something of a night out in Santa Theresa-the entire group insisting that we all party past midnight to see in our birthdays! And party we did…hard! It was great, a really good giggle, but it made day 3 a little more challenging given the huge hangover and long walk ahead! Still, we survived the hangovers and made it to the wonderful town of Aguas Calientes-with excitement levels at maximum for the culmination of our journey the following day. Jo and I made an effort to hit the hot springs in Aguas Calientes as well-although they turned out to be something of a disappointment in comparison to the gorgeous tranquillity of the previous day’s experience! With an early rise in order, bed time couldn’t come soon enough-for now we were here, and Machu Picchu was waiting… The hike up to Machu Picchu itself was a lot more challenging than I was expecting-and hour and a half of relentless ‘Inca steps’ at 4.30AM really does get the heart racing and the core body temperature up-it really feels like your ‘earning’ the right to see this wonder. Of course there are other options-you can take a bus, or even a train-but for us that wasn’t a consideration. Much can be said about how you feel when you finally arrive and look over the city for the first time, but no words would do it justice-it was quite overwhelming. Something that we had seen pictures of throughout our lives was finally in front of us-and it was majestic, emotional, magical…Something that we are lucky enough to now have etched into our memories…..Which is quite lucky really, cos my camera had started playing up and I had managed to get water on the lens! Still, frantic times trying to dry and fix my camera to get some shots to help with the aging memory!

Visibilty was a little dodgy!
From Machu Picchu moutain
Ahhhhhhhhhh
Selfie??
Is that the clouds clearing?
Brilliant!
On our exit from the moutain-above the rainbows!
Photographer trying her best to cut me out!
Santa Theresa hot springs, ‘mazin!
Parrot!
OUr ‘Inca’ guide
Boggling!
Rave ready!
Alright geezer??
The top of Machu Picchu Mountain
Some critters along the way…
Ahhhh, sunshine!
Jungle ready…
The site of the Avispa attack!!!
Bewildering!
Aaaaaaand, relax!
Stone doors, great!
Ooooooooh

 

 

 

En route to Peru-Arica:Tacna border ‘fun’….

 

Having been well and truly baked in the desert, it was time to start our journey into country number three on our mini South American tour-Peru. Llamas, Machu Picchu, coca leaves and artisanal markets ahoy!
From San Pedro we boarded a trusty, dusty and tired looking night bus and headed for the Arica:Tacna border crossing. Unfortunately the only company that does this journey is Turbus, and so our hands were forced to return to the company who had dealt with our last journey in such a botched manner. Anyway, this time they actually managed to get us to our destination with no hiccups, but fear not, for the travel challenges were to be waiting for us on arrival at the bus station in Arica!

As is so often the case, tiredness is a significant factor in the multiplication of stress, and reduction of patience. Our next travel challenge would be money related, as in the fact we didn’t have any….The process was supposed to be simple, arrive at Arica domestic bus station, walk about a 100 metres to the ‘international terminal’ (sounds A LOT grander than what it is!), catch a collectivo that will take you over the border to Tacna for around $10. Simple. That is, unless you find that you cannot access any money. As I previously mentioned in an earlier post, my bank card works in any cash machine in the world, apart from Chile. The long and short of it is that for some unknown reason the online money transfer that we had done the day before hadn’t cleared-so we couldn’t use Jo’s bank card, and my credit card wasn’t letting me use the cash machine (it would later transpire that this was a ‘security’ measure for unusual activity-even though they knew where  was!), and there we were, sleep deprived, hungry and irritable, sat at the international terminal scratching our heads trying to work out a way to find our $10 transfer fee. No money for coffee, no money for breakfast, and no access to internet…ARGH, a whole bag full of first world problems!
After a hour and a half of trying various cash machines, hoping that the money would clear, we had a light bulb moment-Jo still had some sterling left. Problem solved, all would be fine, we could just change this money at the Cambios and everything would be alright..

Oh, hang on, what do you mean you won’t accept sterling?!?

I was crushed, from the highs of finding my solution, to the horror of someone in a currency exchange centre telling me that they wouldn’t accept sterling…It’s supposed to be the GREAT BRITISH POUND?!
US Dollars? No problem.
Euros? Of course!
Argentinian Pesos? Hand them over..

Great British Pound? No thanks mate, not worth nowt here…*
(*but in Spanish, obviously!)

I couldn’t believe it, I was frantic, frenetic, fussed and frazzled-how were we going to get out of this place?! By now about two hours had passed and the queue for the departure tickets had grown to the equivalent to that of a queue for a Beatles concert in the ’60s. Desperately I was trying different money changers, all with the same answer; until one of them suggested that if I went to the main money changers in the town centre then I may have more luck-finally some progress! Then I was hit with the fact that this would be a 40 minute walk, in the ever increasing heat-helpfully people suggested that I take a taxi or a bus, I don’t know whether my glare translates so well into Spanish as I tried to explain to them that obviously

I don’t have any money for taxis or buses, that’s precisely the reason I need to get this sterling changed!!!

 

40, sweaty minutes later I had located the central area where most of the money changers were located, victory was wthin my grasp-or more accurately, the Queens head on a nice crisp £20 note. I approached the window, enquired as to whether they would change sterling…Yes, yes they would-result! With laughable excitement for the miniscule transaction that was about to occur I handed over ‘Liz’ and awaited my prize. II turned around while the cashier was ‘doing his thing’ so that I could take in my surroundings, seeing around me for the first time because of my previous single focus on our ‘troubles’.
“Senior”, I heard, it was done-I turned to receive the trappings of victory I looked down at the transfer tray…and there it was, a £20 note staring back at me.

Um…excuse me, I think there has been a mistake, you seem to have given me back the sterling that you’re changing for me?!

But no, this was going to be a true testing of my patience, tolerance and calmness-you see, they wouldn’t accept the note because it had some writing on it. You know the kind of thing, someone had obviously been counting up their mounds of money at some point in this notes history and they had scribbled a running total on the top corner-as far as this money changer was concerned that invalidates the note?!
Truly believing that I was on the cusp of a ‘Falling Down’ moment, I snatched the note back and set off in search of a money changer who was less ‘fussy’. Fortunately for me, and the people around me, my next attempt proved to be successful-and this whole load of stress and worry simply dissolved. Finally we would be able to transit into Peru!

Another 40 minutes later, and two cups of coffee in hand, I finally returned to Jo waiting patiently at the terminal. We got our collectivo, and then simply had to suffer a terrifying high speed car journey through the border and into Tacna!

But we had made it, we were there-VIVA PERU!!!
Now to find our way to an actual ‘next stop proper-Arequipa.

From the beach of El Quisco to the Atacama Desert

Having spent a few days in Valparaiso, and with a couple of weeks teaching for the English Opens Doors program approaching, we decided to get some much needed coastal time under our belts. Over the entirety of our travels, the surprising thing is that we haven’t seen more of the sea-so we headed to the Chilean coast and  El Quisco. Most famous for being home to another one of Pablo Neruda’s haunts, Isla Negra, El Quisco proved to be the perfect tonic to the concrete jungle that is Valpo, a few stunning sunsets perfect to massage the soul and move us forward to our next volunteer placement. Aimless meandering up and down the stunning coastline certainly didn’t disappoint, and we even managed to happen across a Pablo Neruda artistic reserve on the cliff tops-the kind of place that you would never find if you were actively looking for it!  Walking around this hidden gem you find a number of sculptures hidden amongst the foliage, most impressive were the eerie stone faces that look over the shores, listening to the waves crashing on the rocks far below-it’s easy to understand how an artist would use this place as a source of inspiration: 

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Stunning scenery, great seafood, a perfect little cabana just 5 minutes walk from the beach-you couldn’t really ask for much more-apart for time! Alas that wasn’t something that we could afford ourselves, and in the blink of an eye our lazy couple of days were over, and we were headed back to Santiago once again-over the following two weeks we would be teaching assistants for the English Opens Doors Summer Camps. Nothing too taxing, we would be working with Chilean teachers delivering a number of activities for students who had enrolled in a free summer English language program- they’re run over the whole of Chile, so deep down we were both kind of hoping to be sent to Patagonia, alas that was not to be. For my first week I was placed in Los Angeles (Chile, not California!), and Jo in Concepcion-then for the second week we were both back in Santiago. With little spare time to explore the respective cities there’s not a lot I can tell you about the districts; as for the camps themselves-we got to work with some great people in an extremely positive and enthusiastic summer camp environment-so more great teaching experiences under our belts. The only negative being that we had to comprise a lip dub to Justin Bieber’s Sorry, which still haunts my dreams now…If I never hear that song again it will be too soon!

Having loitered in the central region of Chile for long enough, we now had some time to be tourists for a while, and from the recommendations of many, we were headed North to San Pedro, before making our way into Peru. San Pedro is the gateway from which to explore the Atacama Desert, something that neither Jo or I had considered before our trip to South America-but it is thought to be the oldest desert on earth, the oldest continuously dry region on the planet, (it has experienced extreme hyper aridity for at least 3 million years!) and is the home of the other worldly terrain of the Chilean Valle de la Luna. Not surprisingly at one point NASA tested their Mars landing equipment there and looked for signs of life in the earth of the desert-finding none …..You could say that this place is barren!
First we had to get there though, and it turned out to be ‘one of those journeys’. I feel like I haven’t had a proper travel moan for ages, this trip certainly gave me fodder for a paddy of epic proportions. It was simple enough in theory-there was a direct bus from Santiago to San Pedro. It was a night bus so we would get some form of faux chair/bed, hop on, fall asleep, arrive in San Pedro-easy! Alas that wasn’t to be the case in this instance. The chain of events that followed can’t really be explained properly as no one explained anything to us during the whole journey! What I can tell you is that our simple one bus journey evolved into a mammoth four bus marathon! First up our bus just stopped at one station and was there for what seemed like an age, there appeared to be some problem with the door-so we had to wait until a mechanic could come and fix it. Fast forward an hour and a half and we were set to recommence our journey, off we go again all happy and relieved that things were sorted. At some point during my broken slumber we shuddered to a halt and informed that we would now be changing buses, on some random street at an ungodly hour in the morning. Ok, so a grumble and a little bit of a moan, but the other bus was there so we quickly changed and got ourselves comfortable again….For about ten minutes, when the new bus pulled into another bus station and kicked us off! We were simply told that we would need to catch another bus to San Pedro-as our bus was now out of service! With our extremely limited Spanish, and the help of a fellow traveller, it looked like we would have to wait at this bus station for three hours for the next bus to San Pedro, or take another two buses which would get us there sooner-so we opted for the latter, adding an unwelcome 4 hours onto the total journey time. Eventually we made it-30 hours later-but for sure my patience with people when I’m tired and travelling is limited, and it hasn’t gotten any better over the last year and a half!

Having finally arrived during the dark of night, we managed to get a taxi (a random 4X4) to take us out to our ‘desert base’ and soon we settled into our tent excited about what San Pedro had to offer; yes, that’s right, we were going to be braving some camping in the desert. The Atacama is also home to the imaginatively named Very Large Telescope (VLT), for the very reason that there is nowhere better on the planet to look at the midnight skies. Unfortunately my camera isn’t up to the job of demonstrating the displays of stars that we were treated to each night, so you’ll have to take my word for it-it was spectacular, and as we were camping outside of the town where there is zero light pollution-we were treated to a wondrous show each night. 

When we actually managed to get into San Pedro the next day we discovered the town itself to be quite the tourist haven, with dusty ‘Mad Max’ type streets and adobe buildings-you really feel as if you are experiencing a time gone by-all be it truth be told I think that nowadays it purely exists as a tourist destination. That doesn’t take anything away from being there though, it really is a funky little town. 

Adobe Church photo – as oposed to Adobe photoshop…
Dust and dogs mostly…Oh, and tourists!
The campsite had some good views dring the day as well!

Like everyone else arriving in San Pedro, you walk around a few tourist shops, have some food, and then set about organising your activities for the next couple of days-there are loads of tour agencies doing various excursions, from sand boarding and quad biking, to nightly stargazing walks. Our focus was on a visit to the unique Valle de la Luna, and to go and visit the nearby geysers. After exploring a few  options with the local travel companies you soon work out that they’re all very similar and you just need to negotiate yourself the best deal. Having gotten what we thought was a great deal, the next day we were on our way to explore the moon like landscape that the desert presents-quite simply it was absolutely gorgeous, a myriad of colours and surreal rock formations melting and pouring into each other-it was a little like being in a lava lamp: 

I’m happy cause there’s salt!
Epic!
I’m on top of the wooooooooooorld!

The entire day was breath-taking, the only downside being that our tour guide quite simply didn’t speak any English-it ended up being quite comical and forced us to try to use what little Spanish we had acquired to decipher the general gist of his tour. After a full day in the desert, the evening held nothing more than a beer or two and early to bed in the sweltering pod of heat that was our tent-but not for long, for at 4.00AM we would be getting picked up for the following days visit to the geysers. Now, for what happened next I blame on tiredness, although others may point to stupidity, I’ll leave it up to you to decide. As is the very nature of the Atacama, it’s hot….Really hot. So, 4 AM one morning getting ready to go and visit some geysers, where we have been told there are hot springs, Jo and I promptly dressed some nice lightweight shorts and t-shirts. It didn’t really occur to us that we would be going to 5,300m above sea level at the crack of dawn, and at that time, at that height, it may be just a little bit Chile (pun intended!!). It didn’t really sink in until we were surrounded by people on our minibus dressed for winter, looking at us as if we were crazy fools-and as such we arrived at the geysers to the amusement of many….Little freezing gringo couple-how funny! Anyway, aside from that the geysers were, again, spectacular, other worldly, wonderful….I run out of original superlatives so forgive me for repeating myself! The amusing thing is that unlike the UK there is  no real health and safety, merely the casual observation:

if you see a hole in the ground, try not to stand on it….

Boom!
Get the feeling that we should stay away from any random holes in the ground!
Red sands, blue skies, volcanic action inbetween
Can you tell that we’re cold?

Arid desert, bubbling volcanic pools and hot springs, but still San Pedro wasn’t quite finished-to complete our stay we grabbed some mountain bikes to go and explore Pukara de Quitor, a pre-Columbian stone fortress overlooking the San Pedro river. With Machu Picchu looming in our futures it was a great introduction to the wonders that lay ahead. The ruins date back to the 12th century, and were built initially as a defence against internal threats from neighbouring villages and communities-upon the Spanish invasion they took on a more significant role in the defence from  these foreign invaders. It was to no avail though, as signified by two huge stone heads, carved into the rock in memory of the Pukará de Quitor leaders beheaded by the Spanish when they sacked the town in 1540. A few hours walk in the sweltering heat would stand us in good stead for future excursions, and obviously provided some more camera fodder!

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And so it was that we prepared to leave Chile for Peru,  with a feeling of a fair amount of unfinished business-as with Argentina, we have barely scratched the surface!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full of verve and visual-Valparaiso

Last year we were staying on a piranha farm in Northern Thailand, and Christmas day actually involved a pretty gruelling Thai boxing class….This year was not to be so strenuous! This year we would be indulging in cocktails, wine, food and street art in the enigmatic city of Valparaiso, Chile.

It is the 6th largest city in the country, yet the greater Valparaiso Metropolitan Area is the second most populous, and it lies just 70 miles from Santiago. Today it is the most important port in Chile, and indeed is one of the most important South Pacific ports, but a far cry from its signifiance pre Panama Canal. In the second half of the 19th century, the city served as a stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, earning it the names “Little San Francisco” and “The Jewel of the Pacific”. All of this would change with the opening of the mighty Panama Canal-which had a huge impact on the ship traffic that Valparaiso would see, and ergo the port based economy took a heavy fall.Since then Valparaiso has reinvented itself, its myriad of mazy streets providing inspiration for artistic and cultural expression. In 2003 the historic quarter was given UNESCO World Heritage Site status due to its improvised urban design and unique hop scotch of hillside architecture sprawling away from the coast. It’s difficult to put into words the landscape that you are faced with upon arrival, the city literally leaps from the sea and crawls up the surrounding hillsides. A series of 26 old and rickety funiculars are scattered around the city giving your legs the option to circumnavigate the steep inclines that you face at every corner! Street art meets your gaze everywhere, a lot of it breathtaking, but equally so much of the grafitti is just a collection of banal tags. This explosion of colour on the walls, combines with the crazy streets and perilously balanced buildings certainly gives the city something of an ‘edge’, especially when placed against the contrast of previous experiences in the sleepy town of EL Monte, and the modern and cosmopolitan Santiago. But this is something that the city never denies, in fact this edginess is positively embraced. Probably the best way to describe to you Valparaiso is to quote the famous Chilean poet-diplomat Pablo Neruda, a hugely influential figure in Chile-and someone who had quite a magnificent home on the hillsides of Valparaiso. On visiting his home, one of the things that you have to do while visiting the city, you apprecite what an eye for design and detail that he must have had, plus the fact tht he was a bit of  party animal-with a pretty cool bar just off his living room! Wonderful art deco design features, couple with the most superb panoramic views of the quagmire of streets falling away down the hillside to the docks nestled far below-the perfect fodder for artistic inspiration I would think:

Ode to Valparaíso
by Pablo Neruda
(translated by Molly Allison-Baker)

VALPARAÍSO,
what an absurdity
you are,
how crazy:
a crazy port.
What a head
of disheveled
hills,
that you never finish
combing.
Never
did you have
time to dress yourself,
and always
you were surprised
by life.
Death woke you up,
in your nightshirt,
in your long johns
fringed with colors,
naked
with a name
tattooed on your stomach,
and with a hat.

(read the full version of the translated poem here)

Christmas turned out to be a funny time to be in the city, the streets much quieter and calmer than we were expecting-as it transpired it was the perfect time to go on a tour of discovery of the balmy alleys and streets, in search of some of the much lauded graffiti that adorns the walls, roofs and passageways around the city…What you find is a myriad of amazing artwork:

Loads of ‘mindful’ artwork
Moshi?
Not sure whether this is ‘as intended’, or whether loads of detail got added
No blending in for this guy!
The giant twins
Amazing realism giving birth to a abstract colourful chameleon
Moody, cool
Mushroom heaven…..
Colourful streets-an art lovers dream!
Dog making good use of one of the street shelters!
Winding your way through the alleys and streets-rt appears everywhere
Huge murals adorn the sides of apartment blocks
Where there’s art, there be tags
On the streets of Valpairiso
Every spot covered on the way down to the ocean
Woof!
Watching over the city
One of my favourites
Love this wall!

I was reaching for my camera at every turn, always eyes wide open, a smile at the corners of my mouth. Valparaiso certainly isn’t a pretty city, but it is captivating!
As for Christmas day, we had rented an apartment for the festive period, so with the opportunity to use a kitchen we did what seemed most apt…..Cocktails, red wine, beer and steak and chips!

Aside from street art and steak, we travelled up the coast a little to Viña del Mar-the neighbouring seaside resort, a little bit like the younger yet more responsible sister…Which fails to charm in the same way as the gritty streets of Valpo-but would serve a purpose should you be seeking some beach time and a swanky night out!

Getting back to Valparaiso and I cannot help but feel that our experience of the city was somewhat an oddity-the Christmas period giving the whole place a much more lazy and sedate feel than the reports I hear from others. I think if you were to visit at New Year you would get an entirely different perspective-but for us a few days in our little apartment were perfect, a very Merry Christmas!

Scurrying into El Hormiguero…(The anthill)

From our first week in the bustling metropolis that is Santiago, we were ready to get ourselves back to volunteering in somewhat more sedate surroundings-and the El Hormiguero in El Monte proved to be just that! Another placement that we had found through the HelpX website, with the simple yet tantalising description:

In the midway between Santiago and the surf-paradise Pichilemu, we have our creative centre “El Hormiguero” (the anthill).

We are exploring in eco-building, natural pools, aquaponics crops, arts, music and any interesting expression of new lifestyles.

With our eagerness to find alternative lifestyles, building methods and my much coveted ‘life skill acquisition’, on the face of things this place looked like it could tick all of the boxes-and so we had three weeks or so to find out-El Monte here we come!

So then….where to start? Well as always, the adventure begins with a journey, in this case a mere 1 hour bus into the unknown. We managed to get on the right bus, we just had a little hiccup with getting off in the wrong spot-probably a twenty minute or so walk from where we should have been. In theory no problem, but with your backpacks on and the midday heat beating down on your head, that twenty minutes takes on a whole new significance! Still, nothing that couldn’t be fixed with an empanada and fresh juice stop-and so our first introduction to the charm and friendliness of El Monte washed over us. Yes that’s right, you wouldn’t expect a vendor of empanadas and fresh juice to be a significant meeting, but the man in the square of El Monte was an absolute ray of sunshine and he would continue to shine for our entire time at the anthill! At this point it’s worth pointing out that El Monte is not exactly a destination for tourists, or for want of a better word, Gringos! As such we kinda stick out like a sore thumb, but that only served to encourage kindness and warmth from pretty much everyone we met over the following three weeks or so.
I digress, back to our journey…once we had located the main square, we had basic walking directions that would take us to the anthill and so we hit the road for another twenty minutes or so until we saw the palm trees-the significant landmark that would signify our arrival at our destination. You see, the anthill, aside from the description as given above, is a palm tree farm!

Well baked, slightly sweaty and reddened in the face, we negotiated our way to the entrance to find our hosts for the build up until Christmas, and for sure what we found was both intriguing and bewildering. Soon enough we were offered a beer and set about getting to know Vicente and Martina, some German guys that were already there volunteering, and also the various animals that we would find ourselves growing to know and love. Alpacas, emus, a donkey, a peacock, two peahens, chickens, ducks, dogs and cats-to say there was some variety is an understatement! And all of this in the setting of a traditional adobe farm, albeit it with some wonderfully quirky design features. Impossible to describe effectively with words, a montage seems most fitting to give you an impression of the location:

Tropical surroundings!
Palms everywhere, more dangerous than you would think!
What you looking at?!
Peaches on tap!
A bed wearing wellies in a water garden, obviously!
Rod Hull nowhere to be found!
Ruca and Jo
The natural swimming pool in the walled garden-perfect for the end of a super hot day!
There was a donkey, a sheep, an Alpaca and a peacock…You provide the punchline!
All who sail in her be safe!
The adobe built farmhouse that would be home
If you go down to the woods today…..
The palm tree ‘forest’!

As I’m sure you can see, this place was quite special, and it would only get more magical. It turned out that our period of volunteering coincided with Martina and Vicente’s wedding, which they were going to be having at the farm! So it was up to us all to landscape and decorate the grounds in readiness for 400 guests to celebrate their union-and what a fantastic few weeks it turned out to be. Initially we had to clear the palm tree forest of all debris as that was where the ceremony and meal was to be-and this was the worst job of all! It may surprise you to know that palm tree leaves are pretty damn sharp, and all of us suffered greatly with significant punctures and lacerations caused by these pesky leaves! Fortunately for us we were there at the tail end of this job, the German guys had been pretty much focussed on the forest for their entire stay, and it was really starting to take its toll on their enthusiasm!
Still, once the forest was cleared there was more varied work to do, and luckily for us it was the period of time where you could really see the transformation taking place.
After a few days of us being there, we were also lucky enough to welcome the arrival of a couple from Leeds, Rob and Charlie, a couple who happen to have extremely similar ideals and plans as ourselves-albeit they are a little further down the line than us. This proved to be amazing, we shared so much, and I would say that they have became close friends. They were both extremely knowledgeable about various alternative farming methods and construction ideas, and it was fantastic to just sit and talk about hopes and plans (not dreams, plans!).

Back to the work, Martina and Vicente have a booming landscaping business work on projects throughout Santiago…reason that their business is booming? Well, they’re pretty damn creative, that’s why-and so we were tasked with the job of implementing their creative ideas, on their property, for their wedding…No pressure! Working with Rob and Charlie was brilliant, and in our time there we managed to build two beached areas, a water garden, some mighty fine gates, got involved with some adobe walling, and an immaculately decorated venue for the wedding-as well as Rob and Charlie getting to grips with a number of bridges, sprucing up a gypsy caravan, relocating the aquaponics and generally being open to our constant questioning!

In addition to all of the work at the farm, we were blessed with the wonder of El Monte, for here we would find warm and friendly folk who would fall over themselves to make us welcome. The daily Christmas market in the local plaza, and free capoeira lessons at the wonderful local community centre. Despite the fact that there was no common ground in terms of language-it turned out to be possibly one of the most friendly martial arts clubs I have ever been to, they even started having lessons in the town plaza for eveyone to watch. We loved it, and soon enough Rob and Charlie were hooked as well-a welcome distraction from the work at the farm for sure!

Twice a week we would get our capoeira on, and the rest of the week was dedicated to graft, and the occasional two litre bottle of El Gato wine!! The work was full on, after all there was an immovable deadline to meet-so it wasn’t as if we could leave it to the next volunteers if we didn’t finish-so finish we did…Culminating in a spectacular wedding!

There was some toil in the creation of these gates, but eventually we were victorious!
Picture perfect for a wedding
Getting aesthetic with wood
And I present to you our first water garden creation!
Two alpacas, a front garden beach and Rob & Charlie!
The bride getting on down with the band!
Adobe wall…Suits you sir!
Tadaaaa
Rocking well into the evening.
Rob & Charlie enjoying the fruits of labour!
A truly awesome dance off by the bride and groom.
For in the woods there be a wedding…
Haduken!
Tadaaaaa!

It was a fantastic ending to our time in El Monte, after three and a half weeks we had made some special friendships and enjoyed a magical time at the farm…Now Christmas was upon us, and the grafitti laden streets of Valpairiso awaited!

My, it’s a bit Chile…

Argentina fading in the wing mirrors, and the magnificent Andes looming ahead, it could mean only one thing-we were bound for Chile. Absolutely my favourite border crossing to date-from Mendoza it’s a 7 hour bus journey to get to Santiago, straight over the Andes, and it’s absolutely fabulous. You begin with a drive through the flat lands and vineyards of Mendoza region before you soon start climbing up the mountainside and dipping in and out of tunnels as you twist and turn up to the majestic mountain range that runs pretty much the entire length of the border between Chile and Argentina, as well as running through Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia. It’s the highest mountain range outside Asia, over 4000 miles long, and as you make your way towards the border you pass by the mighty Mount Aconcagua, which at it’s peak rises to an elevation of about 6,961m and is the highest mountain in the Western hemisphere. It was breath-taking just to get near it on a bus journey, and just a week following our journey one of our friends was actually going to be climbing it! Just another 15km or so on from passing the mountain and you reach the border, where you have to step off the bus into snow and icy winds; obviously I was wearing shorts and t-shirt and was completely unprepared for exiting at the border, a schoolboy error some may say! The border crossing itself was extremely straight forward, although worth noting that Chile has extremely strict controls on what you can travel into the country with-so definitely worth checking what you have in your bags before making the crossing, otherwise the danger of a hefty fine. Specifically you can’t take any organic materials across the border, no honey, fruit, vegetables…as well as your stash of weapons and drugs!!
So, safely through the border we started the descent from the border via a series of no fewer than 27 switchbacks! Quite the introduction to Chile!

And so our journey begins, the Andes teasing us in the distance
As the mountains loom ever closer, excitment levels increase
Certainly not without its spectacular scenery!
Soon enough the roads start to twist and turn
The snow is upon us
The Andes!
Exit Argentina-my it’s Chile up here!!!
So, this is the way down then…..

Before we knew it we were arriving in the thriving metropolis that is Santiago, time for a week of sight seeing in the capital before our next volunteer placement in El Monte. We weren’t simply going to be wondering the busy city street though, as is our eagerness to learn Spanish, we soon found ourselves a week long Spanish language course to see whether we could give ourselves a little bit of a kick start. Queue 5 hours a day in a hot classroom getting somewhat frustrated with my inability to just pick up a language with no problems…Obviously Jo was much better prepared than I was, and certainly got to grips with more than I have managed.

That’s not to say we didn’t manage to explore the city-Santiago is a vibrant, busy, thriving and colourful city, with a whole load of awesome museums and enchanting street culture to charm and seduce you. From the multi coloured buildings lining the streets in the  district of Bellavista, housing numerous bars and restaurants for late night entertainment; to the many green spaces and museums that provide a platform for arts and cultural expression-it really does seem to have something for everyone. Not forgetting the backdrop of the Andes to put things in a different perspective. Amazingly, as of the census from 2002, a massive 35% of the population of Chile live in the capital-which certainly makes for interesting etiquette on the metro during rush hour!

Santiago!!
Samurai exhibition at one of the many amazing museums
Chess competition in Plaza de Armas
Surrounded by the Andes
Did I mention the street art?!
So many beautiful parks in the city
Street art Bellavista
Great to walk around and find art like this!
Pre colombian history museum
Bellavista architecture
Ahhh, the love locks bridge santiago style!
Blues club….Nice!
Some interestiing charactors to be found here!
I think that’ll do nicely!

Basically Santiago proved to be a wonderful introduction to Chile, next stop the sleepy town of El Monte and a few weeks volunteering at ‘The Anthill’…And what a surprise that turned out to be!

Salta, La Rioja and the Talampaya Canyon

Having said our farewells to the our ‘family’ at Aldea Luna, and having the fortune to get a lift to the bus stop from Martin and Anabella, our travels resumed and we set about having a few days of tourism before our next volunteer appointment in San Rafael. The unexpected expense in Argentina being a significant factor in restricting just how much sightseeing we were going to get to do. Still, we had 5 days and so we planned to go to the picturesque town of Salta, then onto La Rioja and the Talampaya National Park.
We easily managed to get ourselves back to Jujuy bus station and then a mere two hour wait for the bus to Salta-the perfect amount of time to catch up on a little bit of internet action-and eating some meat empanadas after our month of enforced vegetarianism!

Unlike the adventures across Asia, the journeys here lack much in the way of drama or terror-we soon arrived unscathed and not in the least bit stressed in Salta, and made our way to our hostel. It was here that we were greeted by the most delightful host, with no English and our very broken beginner Spanish-it was rugby that united us! As soon as I had managed to establish the fact that I was Welsh, the smiles were unstoppable as we shared in England’s demise at the World Cup, and Argentina’s emergence as an upcoming rugby superpower-oh how they are benefitting from inclusion in the Rugby Championship. Anyway, I digress, as it was late we managed to organise food to be delivered to the hostel and we ate and crashed, before rising early to discover the quaint and eerily quiet streets of Salta…It took a while for us to realise that it was Sunday, and not until the following day to understand that Sundays really are rest days in Argentina. It actually turned out to be to our benefit, as we explored Argentinian street vistas uninterrupted for the first time.

One of the ‘attractions’ of the city that we had highlighted as a must visit was the MAAM Museum, which is the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology, and the home of the ‘Children of Llullaillaco’ in the Cryopreservation Laboratory. Basically these are mummified remains of Inca children that were sacrificed to the gods on the mountains of Lullaillaco 500 years ago, and as per the altitude and hence low temperatures they are the best preserved Inca mummies that have ever been discovered.
These remains are now actually kept frozen in the afore mentioned museum, and at any given time one of the mummies is on display. While it sounds pretty macabre and potentially bad taste, the exhibition is excellent-giving a real insight into the customs of the Inca’s and the background for these ‘sacrifices’. The children that were sacrificed were believed to have been the most intelligent and attractive, often from families of high standing in the communities. Even more surprising is the fact that the children were actually left on the mountain tops while they still alive, albeit sedated with coca leaves and a maize beer, and left to die in their sleep. Surrounding the bodies a number of artefacts and other offerings were found, rich collection Incan treasures laid out assumed to be part of the sacrifice to appease the mountain gods.
On our visit the youngest of the children to be found was on display, ‘El Nino’;

The boy
His age is around seven years. He sat on a grey tunic with legs bent and his face in-resting on his knees. A blanket of brown and red half covered his head and body. Like all men of the Inca elite he wore short hair and a trim white feathers, supported by a sling wool wrapped around the head.
He is dressed in a red garment; has in his feet leather moccasins light-coloured with brown wool appliqué; It has anklets animal skin with white fur on his right wrist and wears a silver bracelet.
His fists are clenched; The face is not visible and his eyelids are half closed.

With time limited before our start date at our next volunteering project-we left Salta after a couple of nights and headed onto La Rioja, with a view to visiting the Talampaya National Park-another UNESCO World Heritage Site for us to add to our already impressive list-the only place on the Earth’s surface where you can see all stages of the Triassic geological era, which witnessed the emergence of the first dinosaurs.
Our first challenge was getting there, as on our arrival in the pleasant surroundings of La Rioja we discovered, to our dismay, that any organised trips to the canyon were going to be way over budget! The canyon being around 3 hours bus journey from La Rioja, the trips we found were coming in at over £100 each-quite significantly more than expected. Not to be put off, we eventually found a way to get there for about half that cost-local style!! Basically this involved us getting a local bus and getting them to drop us off on the main road through the desert near the entrance, and in comparison to some of the adventures we had in Asia-it all went like absolute clockwork….Although not without a fair amount of apprehension on my part obviously!

So having negotiated our way there, we soon found ourselves amongst the sheered red boulders that had fallen from the walls of the canyon around us, upon which were a gallery of 1, 000 year old rock paintings, made by the Ciénaga and Aguada peoples who inhabited the area. The pictures ‘apparently’ depict various animals although I was pretty certain that they were more indicative of alien invaders….Riding llamas obviously!! At one point during the tour you are brought round to the botanical garden of the area where you find a huge carob tree, which is thought to be more than one thousand years old, as well as twenty or so different native cacti, shrubs and trees.
All in all the area was absolutely spectacular, as you will see from our photo journal…

The obligatory selfie…Look how long Jo’s arm is!!
So…this is where the bus dropped us off!
We made it! We did it local style!
ALIENS I TELL THEE
More evidence of aliens!
I’m thinking that all of these rock paintings were aliens…Seriously-look at them!!
So, you’re really dropping us here then….
Desert all around
Baking hot day, some red rocks and the desert-nice!
Very straight roads round here….
‘The Monk’
Stunning sceneries all around…Did I mention it was hot?!

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, our time was up and we hit a night bus to Mendoza ready to begin our next HelpX placement in San Rafael….La Carmelita here we come!