Santiago!!

What an amazing city was Santiago, or so we thought for the 24 hours we  were there... We hadnt planned on stopping in Santiago but  little did we know last weekend was a holiday weekend and bus lines were sold out everywhere!  We stayed at a fricken sweet hostel, so many people from all over the world!!     We met some folks from Europe, the States, South Africa and South America...  we had arrived early Friday morning, checkin in and our room was yet to be ready so we decided to hit the ciitty!! Elvis had told us there was a huge statue of jesus... or so he thought... up on a hill over looking Santiago, after being on a bus for 34 hours...yes 34... we were totes for a hike... and this hike  ended up being wayy harder then i thought, I   got poison ivy, but Dominic  fixed it quick with some aloe vera! thank jesus for aloe vera, oh and the statue was definitly not jesus, it was a women... virgen Mary haha...oh Elvis!     



                                                                                    (Cut out brits Head in this one haha Sorry Brit)

We didnt spend much time at the top of the mountain, we were both mucho hambre ...aka very hungry ... so we set on foot for some good chilean food, after being sick of eating seriously chips, cookies and hamburgers for days.blah. We  stumbled upon a sweet little market area that was so far out of the tourist trap and ate at a shanky lookin place, but weve heard that hole in the wall places are totes stelar! and it was! but im so confused as to what chilean food actually consists of, we had lentils and rice... hmmmm. but it was good none the less and the first real meal we had had in days!  we spent the rest of day wandering the city, we met several strangers so  eager to speak English which was refreshing and at night our hostel hosted a barbeque! Again we indulged on what didnt seem to be Chilean food, more like american barbeque food, but hey cannt complain plus they served free wine...and man let us tell you the wine goes down waaay to wonderful here hehe. A bunch  of people went out dancing that night but Dominic and I had to get up around  5 am to catch a bus so we hit the hay early... 6 am the next morning we hopped on another 16 hour bus ride south to Puerto Montt!

Serious Bussen

          We just arrived at a lively and welcoming hostel in Santiago, they are feeding us breakfast now cafe con leche and toast with cheese. We could not be more content and happy!! so great! I am a little sad that we are leaving at 6 AM for Puerto Montt but all the locals say it is muy Bonita, a rainy port city that they say is compareable to SEATTLE!!! haha we will be right at home. Since we dont have much time in Santiago ( my favorite city so far, more public transit and less dirty looks then Lima) we are gonna shower and hoof it looking for unique agriculture and a place for lunch before we get on another bus. It will be good to stretch our legs after having put in over 40 hours on busses traveling further and further south. I know 40 hours sounds bad, missing our first bus sounds worse, and having the bus we got on break down in a desert that looked like the moon sounds miserable... But we have been enjoying every minute of our journey and have been kept safe by the wonderfull people that seem to be god sent.  

Crossing the boarder from Peru was super sketch, after jamming us onto an old bus (dominic and I being the only two white folk) we proceeded on driving 40 minutes to the Chilean and Peruvian boarder... ill just say, because I was literally unable to understand, muchas (heh) drug dogs and mulitple bag checks and scans, we had a close call when we thought we had lost our Peruvian tourist card, but luciky I had stashed them in our little safety pouch...amen for the safety pouch!!  Everyone that we met along the way who spoke english, or lack there of, continued to tell Us ¨Trust No One¨ which isn´t the most reassuring thing to hear repeatedly when travelling in a country where the language barrier is immense! BUT.. Carlos Fischer saved our lives! (not literally, but pretty much) he was in his fifties or so and totes took us under his wing! I loved him, he paid for part of ticket to Santiago, bought us cafe con leche, bummed us cigs and made sure we also knew what was going on.  I think he might be rich? but eh who knows, when we arrived in Santiago he paid for a mini trolly for our luggage to be brought to the Tur Bus station from the internacional station... what a guy heh. He helped us get our next set of tickets to Puerto Montt then kissed our cheeks (not doms just mine now that I recall, lucky me hehe) and said Chao! Muchas Gracias Carlos, forever you will be in our hearts!  I didnt think that bus after bus, hour after hour after hour could be so tolerable... although I am little nutrient deprived (we seriously would starve if we didnt eat meat... to many hamburguesas y papas fritas ...blah) so Elvis (haha the name of the guy running our hostel) recomended some local markets and danky places to eat and drink some cervesa and chilean wine!! woot woot! Cant wait to explore Santiago friends and cant wait to see what this journey has to come! Chao!!

Pisco in Peru

We made it to Peru!

The last couple days in Chicago were totes the best though the two of us experienced anxiety like never before..well sort of.  But were in!! We couldnt possibly feel th way we did two days ago from here on out... however I am doubting that thought in our minds a tiny tiny bit.

Our entire travel time yesterday flew by (hehe)... from Chicago to Houston the ride was quick, we sat next to a man named Chris, he was nice but I started to think he thought I was hitting on him or something?  I always feel challenged to speak to people sitting next to me on the plane but his wife was peepin at me so turned to Dom and we both passed out.  We didnt have much of a lay over, about 50 minutes in Houston and boy Texans are different.  The flight from Houston to Lima was full and the man next to us (Mike as we later came to know) was huuuuge, not like fat huge just a massive man, he was forced to sit spread eagle the entire flight and this man made Dom look super small.  Wwe became friends though, sort of, he gave us some advice on Peru and helped me on the bookworm game I was playing because neither dominics or my tv worked for movies! sad news...

We got in at about 10:30 Pm, its nice because there is no real time change so no jet lag. even though me and brit were practicing our spanish on the way over and purchased a little handy translator, we were a little overwhelemed by how fast and how much spanish was being thrown at us by taxi drivers and custom officers. we got into a little black car that luckily dropped us off at our hostel no problemo, and felt like we needed to see a little bit of this foriegn city... pisco sours! and a pulled chicken sandwich that brit ate most of haha. we are rested and getting ready to get on a bus today headed for tacna... StAY TUNed folKs.

Preperations!! eeek.

6 days till we leave!! Yay! October 4th, this coming Monday, we will be flying 14 hours to our first of many destinations... Lima, Peru yaaahooo!! Time for the grunnge. heh.  

     Were trying not to have many expectations for our journey, besides long bus rides, yerba matte, and humitas ! yummm.   

          

         Last days in the city spent kickin it on the sofa. getting RestLess.

        Indulging in on our most favorite treats before we venture off for 80 days.

Let the count down continue

Map of Peru. We will head south from Lima to Arequipa!