Nunca Chao, Siempre Hasta Luego

After a full day of traveling I have finally made it back to Colorado.  It's a funny feeling being here.  I'm very, very happy to be home and to see my family, but I also miss Chile and everything about it.  It was a life changing experience, and I am so grateful to have had this opportunity.  I met some truly amazing people, a few who I now consider to be some of my closest friends.  I saw some extraordinary things that I will never forget and visited some places that I never thought I would.  I lived with the most incredible host family and forever they will be in my heart.  There is a saying in the Chilean culture: "nunca chao, siempre hasta luego."  It means: never goodbye, always see you later.  And that's exactly what it was when I left...a see ya later.  I will be back to visit and to explore all that I was unable to in the short five months I was there.  

So thank you Chile for all that you have given me.  You have changed me in a way that I never thought was possible, and I am a better person for it.  

Chi, chi, chi, 
Le, le, le
Viva Chile!   

Nos vemos

Last Stop: Valpo

Our first few nights in Valpo, we stayed in Hostel Casa Aventura.  It was a great hostel with an awesome breakfast!  Eggs, toast, fruit, and REAL coffee.  We then just bummed around the city, taking acensores, eating chorillana, and drinking pisco sours.      

We then decided to stay the night in Algarrobo, which is a little town outside of Valparaiso.  It is also home to penguins and the largest pool in the world!  And thanks to my wonderful mom, we stayed in a very nice hotel right on the beach.  The first day there, we walked around town, ate a few empanadas, and went to see the San Alfonso pool.  We really wanted to swim, but since the pool is only for hotel guests we figured it most likely wouldn't happen.  As we were taking pictures from outside, I noticed a guard and decided to ask him if it was possible to just buy a day pass.  He told me that it was a little late in the day for that, but to come back tomorrow and he'll see what he can do.  So we flagged down a colectivo and headed back to the hotel.  Funny story about this particular colectivo ride...
As I was getting out of the colectivo, I felt something drop, but looked on the ground and didn't see anything, so I shut the door and she drove off.  It wasn't until about an hour later that I noticed I didn't have my camera.  Panicking, I ran out of the hotel room and searched the street...no camera.  I then was able to track down the same colectivo driver and I searched her car but again...no camera.  Thankfully Sean took some pictures of the trip, including Machu Picchu so we weren't at a total loss.  

The next day in Algarrobo, we went back to San Alfonso, paid an entrance fee and were able to swim in the largest pool in the world!  It was pretty neat.  We then headed to the dock to see if someone would take us out on their boat to see the penguin island.  We soon found out that unfortunately the boats only run on the weekends.  No penguins for us :(

Guess we'll just have to go back another time!

We then made our way back to Valpo and stayed a few more nights in Cerro Concepcion.  We did a little last minute souvenir shopping and then before we knew it was time to leave.  Nano and Carmen dropped us off at the bus station where we said a very emotional "hasta luego" and boarded the bus.           

Peru/ Machu Picchu

After about a two hour wait at the Santiago airport on December 1^st, I was finally able to give Sean a hug!  It was so exciting to see him after 4 ½ months.  

 We then hopped on a bus and headed to our hotel.  We stayed in Santiago for two nights just to explore the city.  We visited the zoo, ate some great food (aka pastel de choclo) and had a wine tasting at the Concho y Toro Vineyard.  

After a few busy days wandering around Santiago it was finally time to head to Peru!  We woke up at 4:00am on December 3^rd and caught a taxi to the airport.  We were told we would have to pick up our bags and go through customs in Lima, which we weren’t worried about because we had a 2 hour layover.  We arrived in Lima a little later than expected, but got our bags right away and flew through customs.  We thought we were doing fine on time, but we were wrong.  Since it was less than an hour before our flight, they wouldn’t let us recheck our bags.  So we were frantically trying to get on a later flight when one of the LAN employees told us that if we were to make it to the gate in the next 10 minutes we could check our bags there.  We ran like there was no tomorrow, made it through security in 5 minutes and barely made it to the gate in time.  We boarded the plane and about an hour later we were in Cusco.  

We took a taxi to our hostel (Loki) and got situated into our room.  The view was absolutely amazing from the bedroom!  We could see all of Cusco.   

  

We went down to the bar (which was located in the hostel) for a Corona and some stir fry.  As I was eating, I kept noticing Loki advertisements for “bloodbombs.”  I was curious as to what it was and made the mistake of asking the bartender.  Turns out when you ask what a bloodbomb is, the only way to find out is to take one.  It’s vodka, Redbull, and a little bit of grenadine…doesn’t sound too bad, right?  Well it is.  NEVER DO A BLOODBOMB.  

Our day continued with a visit to the San Pedro market (the oldest open air market in Cusco).  Combined, we ate dinner for about $3 USD.  The prices were incredible!  We also did a little souvenir shopping there.

 

The very next day we were off to explore Machu Picchu.  Once again, we awoke at 4am and hopped in a taxi.  The taxi took us to a little bus station, where we were crammed into a van with a bunch of locals.  After about a 2 hour drive, we arrived in the little town of Ollantaytambo.  From there we took Perurail to Auguas Calientes which took about 1 ½ hours.  Finally we took a 30 minute bus ride to the top of Machu Picchu where we met up with our guide.  We had a wonderful walking tour and then had the rest of the day to explore on our own.  Machu Picchu was breathtaking.  I can’t describe how incredible it was to be there and to witness, firsthand, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  It was truly an amazing day. 

We didn’t get back to Loki until midnight, so we just headed straight to bed.  

We took a walking tour the next day, and then went out to a nice dinner.  Sean ordered the “Cuy al Horno” (guinea pig) and I ordered the alpaca.  Both of which were very tasty!  The guinea pig tasted pretty much like chicken and the alpaca was a little similar to pork. 

  

Our last full day in Cusco, we took a quad tour through the Sacred Valley.  When we started the trip it was a gorgeous day, but about an hour into it we found ourselves in the middle of a torrential downpour.  We stopped to view a few more Incan ruins (and warm up a bit) midway through, and then it was time to head back.  We arrived at the starting point about 2 hours later, completely drenched and covered from head to toe in mud.  Definitely a successful tour. 

We packed up our things that night, and headed back to Chile the next morning.