Brisbane to Chile to Peru

Hi all!
I know this first blog has been a little while coming, but I´m afraid that´s how it´s going to be for most of the trip as we are going to be on the move a lot. Sara is also sitting down on the computer next to me writing her own blog so apologies if we double up on the information. There will also be no photos posted this time as none of the internet cafes here in Arequipa will let me upload my photos from the camera and the two times I´ve tried to sneakily plug it in to the computers I´ve crashed them... oops! I guess it´s not a good sign if you see sparks when you touch the USB port... anyway, I shall add photos later when I find somewhere to upload them.

Well... I guess I´ll start at the beginning...

So, we left Brisbane for Sydney last Saturday (18th Oct), where Alex and Nat picked us up from the airport. They took us to a great little Japanese place for dinner and it was fantastic to catch up with them over a few beers and some sushi! We then headed back to Alex´s apartment near the Northern beaches where we prompty crashed.

Here we go... ready to leave in Sydney

We woke in the morning to a spectacular view of the water in time for a coffee on the balcony and breakfast and then off to the airport for the long haul. Thanks again Alex & Nat, we had a great time with you guys!

The flight stopped over in Aukland for an hour or so, then on to Buenos Aires. We had about 4hrs hanging around the airport there before heading on to Santiago. All of the flights were uneventful and after 24 straight hours of travelling, we were absolutely wrecked by the time we reached Santiago de Chile and apreciated the transfer we had organised to our Hostel.

We reached Hostal de Sammy at about 10pm. It was a little disconcerting as the driver wasn´t really sure where it was and we ended up being dropped outside a small wooden door in a large whitewashed concrete wall with no signs. However, we rang the bell and were soon inside the large house which had been converted to a hostel. Despite the puppy poo from one of the 2 untrained puppies that call the hostel home, it was relatively clean and had all the amenities we needed... and at the right price. At that point though all we could think about was finding our beds and crashing.

After a not so good nights sleep for me (still on Aus time), we forced ourselves up at 10:30am on Monday (20th Oct) so as to make the free breakfast of banana pancakes, fresh banana bread and eggs... muy rico! We then set off on foot to explore a little of Santiago. We walked up the main street, which had a nice park-like strip up the centre. Past hundreds and hundreds of students lying around on the grass (we saw more universities than we could count), the presidential palace, and many statues, including one of the stone totem-like men from Easter Island.

Eventually we reached the Mapocho River (looks more akin to a large sewer than a river) and on through the lively bar-filled area of Bellavista and to the base of Cerro San Cristobal, a mountain near the centre of the city with a statue of the virgin Mary on top. The Funicular (a tram/dolly car that travels at a ridiculously steep angle up the mount), which we had hoped to take to the top was out of order... typical! As those that have travelled with me before will know, I have a habit of turning up to sites and attractions whilst they´re closed.

There was nothing for it, so we legged it up the mountain with some directional assistance from a friendly mounted park ranger. From the top was an AMAZING view. A city that spread to the horizon in some directions and to the base of the Andes in others. The Andes themselves in the background still had a dusting of snow on top and were spectacular.

On top of Cerro San Cristobal with the view behind

After descening the mountain we went for a stroll through the Plaza de Armas, where there were many people playing chess, and the main shopping district and then it was time to jump on the Metro to go meet up with my friends from work Vanessa and Oliver.

We met Vanessa who promptly took us to a British pub for a beer, but we made sure we drank Chilean beer (Escuda). Oliver joined us and it was on to a restaurant for a fantastic meal and our first pisco sour! Very very tasty!! Also very dangerous as I think all four of us had slightly sore heads the next morning.

Dinner with V&O

Tues morning started similarly to Monday... another bad nights sleep and forced awake to catch the free breaky before 11am. V&O had offered for us to stay at their apartment, so we packed our gear up from the hostel and met V there. What a sight! Their apartment (on the 17th floor) had a view as good as, if not better than that from Cerro San Cristobal. With an amazing view of the mountains. You could even see the nearby ski resorts in the distance thanks to the beautifully clear weather we´d been having.

Views from V&O´s apartment

Now, we knew our bikes would be arriving approximately 4 weeks after us, so our plan was to use this time to see some of Peru and northern Chile, thus allowing us to skip that area towards the end of our trip. This decision was also made easy, when I came to the realisation, that there was not a lot worth seeing in Santiago itself. Even the guidebook´s top activities almost all required leaving the city to the ski fields or Maipo canyon or the wineries etc etc. So once we had settled in at V&O´s we set off to the bus terminal to organise tickets to Arica (the Northern most city in Chile) for the next day. After wandering the streets near the bus terminal through some local markets for a while, we organised our tickets and headed back to the apartment to cook dinner for V&O. Had a wonderful night enjoying food, beer and wine with the amazing view!! THANKS AGAIN VANESSA & OLIVER!! You guys are so incredibly generous! I hope we can return the favour some day.

YET ANOTHER restless night sleep, but amazing to wake up and watch the sun rise over the Andes!! We packed up, farewelled V&O and boarded our bus, ready for the 30hr bus trip ahead. The trip took us through some of the most rugged and desolate landscape that I have ever seen. It began with rocky mountains covered in cacti and yellow and purple wildflowers and with the occasional fruit farm (sometimes on incredibly steep slopes on the side of hills). Then we hit the water and a rocky coastline. We past a couple of beach towns, but the beaches were nothing to get excited over (that may be because I´ve been spoilt for the quality of beaches I´m used to). Then, as we turned inland, the terrain became dryer and dryer and we were passing miles and miles and miles of desert, only broken by the occasional town or subterranean river with farms nestled in the riverbed or occasionally patches of odd trees. We stopped occasionally in a town here and there to pick people up or drop them off and Sara and I usually took the oportunity to jump off the bus and stretch our legs. Several times I thought to myself that I was glad we wont have to ride through this desert. It would take us many days and be ridiculously boring, however there were also several times I craved my bike, so I could jump off the main road and go for a spin... maybe following some of the random tyre tracks that head off up one of the hills.

I awoke on the bus on Thursday (23rd) after the best night´s sleep I´d had yet (strange but true) to see the sun rising over the desert and a small town to one side all lit up... quite a staggering view. We continued through the desert and I was gazing out our window at the flattest section on desert yet... not a hill all the way to the horizon, when suddenly the bus started heading downwards. I looked out the other side of the bus to see and amazing valley/canyon that we were heading down the side of. It must have been several kms across and hundreds of meters deep. The walls like giant sand dunes. There were several crosses lining the road on the way down and a truck carrying tomatoes had overturned recently just at the bottom. People were still there trying to salvage what they could among the strewn tomatoes and broken crates. We continued up and down the side of a few valleys until reaching finally reaching Arica at about 3pm.

Northern Chile from the Bus

We were undecided whether to stay in Arica for the night and set off for Tacna (Peru) and Arequipa in the morning or to continue on. In the end, we decided that since the sun was still high in the sky and since we were offered collectivos to Tacna as soon as we got off the bus that, despite the exhaustion, we´d continue on. Our collectivo driver (Jose Luis) assisted us with finding the paperwork for the border crossing into Peru and once he´d rounded up enough people to cram into his car we set off for Tacna. We were lucky in that Jose Luis´car was actually one of the nicest and although he crammed 2 young Colombians in the front seat, we shared the back with just one other woman, so it was a reasonally comfortable drive and an easy border crossing and we were into PERU!

We arrived at Tacna at about 3pm (2hrs difference between Chile & Peru) and we immediately booked our bus to Arequipa for the next day. We could have taken an overnight bus, but we were both craving a shower and a beer. We legged it into the centre of town with our gear and found a cheap hostel for the night, showered and headed off to look for a pub. There were relatively few in the town and only one that was open at that time, so it was an easy choice. After sharing a jug of Cristal cervesa and some people watching we could both barely keep our eyes open, so it was some quick food and off to bed again.

Finally... enjoying a cold cerveza in Tacna

Friday, saw us on another bus to Arequipa. The scenery was very similar to Northern Chile, though slightly more mountainous as we climber to 2400m and arrived at Peru´s second largest city and a tourist mecca. We´ve now been here for a day or so and having a great time, though I shall save Arequipa for another entry.

Adios amigos and I´ll hopefully get some pics up soon!