Skiing in the Andes!

Last weekend I went skiing for the first time in about 5 years... in the Andes!  I went with a couple of friends from my program to El Colorado ski resort, which is about an hour out of Santiago.  We got up super early and took the metro to the ski rental place, where we got our skis/snowboards and a ride up to the mountain.  It was absolutely beautiful, and I forgot how much fun skiing is!  All of us were at about the same mediocre level of skiing, so we were all able to keep up with each other.

El Colorado looks out on Santiago, so we would've been able to see the city if there wasn't so much smog!  It gets worse as the day goes on, but when I would look at the city from the mountain all I could see was a giant basin of black haze.  Gross!  But it was so nice to be in the fresh air.

In front of the smog! :

Riding the ski lift:

The whole group after a long day of skiing:

I would love to go again, but the snow is almost all melted from the mountains!  Even though I just went last weekend, it's obvious that most of the snow is gone.  I was lucky to have gone when I did, though--the first Friday of off-season at a student discount=$30 for an entire day's lift ticket (with no lines!) at the most popular ski resort in Chile!  

Peru: the súper flaite way! (Puno to Arica- Part III)

The next morning, Edgar, Jessica, and I woke up in our hostel after sleeping for about 12 hours apiece, and were eager to go out and explore some more.  We packed up our backpacks, grabbed some breakfast, and walked around a little before we grabbed another sketchy 10/23-person van back through the Sacred Valley.  We were curious, though, as to what the rest of the Sacred Valley was like, so we stopped in every little town on the way, and caught sketchy buses/vans when we wanted to go to the next place.  Peru was celebrating its independence, so there were celebrations everywhere, and it was awesome to see!

Celebrations:

We finally made our way back to Cusco, and after some trouble with the hostel that we were staying at (they made us pay for an extra night, even after we called and canceled, and had our stuff stored in the back... I threw a fit, but I couldn't even think of Spanish fast enough and just ended up yelling at the owner in English), we walked around Cusco for a while longer, said our goodbyes to the lovely markets and food, and embarked on a night bus to Puno.  This bus ride was by far our most flaite experience--not only was I sitting next to 4 live chickens, but there was a cat in the seat in front of me and a girl sleeping in the aisle (when the National Police came on, they had to step over her several times to check for valuable goods).  We also stopped about 25 minutes before Puno in the middle of nowhere and the bus company made us sprint to another bus (without any of our luggage that was under the bus) that would take us to Puno.  When we finally got to Puno, we found a hostel, took warm showers, and passed out for a few hours before we got up early to take a tour of the Titicaca islands.  The islands are on Lake Titicaca, which is on the eastern side of Peru, and is half in Peru and half in Bolivia.  All of us were pretty anti-tour group, so we contracted the cheapest company possible to just take us out to the islands.  It ended up being an amazing day, filled with market food, floating islands (the man-made islands are basically reeds on top of 2 feet of dense dirt, and float on the lake), shopping, and lounging on boats.  It was wonderful!

Entering Uros, the main floating island:

Uros:

What the islands are composed of:

Islands:

The crafts made on Uros.  The people literally told us, "Please buy our crafts.  If you don't, we won't have any money, and our children won't be able to go to school and get educations."

Getting boat rides from one island to the next:

Sooo relaxing!  Especially after a long week of no sleeping, hiking, and Machu Picchu-ing!

Another island of Uros (Quechua is the language that they speak on Uros):

It was absolutely beautiful.  That night we went to an independence day celebration (because it was July 28th that day--the actual day of independence for Peru) with live music and festivities.  However, I wasn't feeling too hot (I had consistently been ordering the cheapest menu items in order to save money.  Not one of my most intelligent moments) and I had to go home early, which I was a little bummed about.

The next day, we got up early (again) and explored Puno more.  There wasn't much to do, but we DID encounter a giant slide!  ...Needless to say, we had quite the exciting day after the slide.

Top of the slide:

That day, we also went to a fertility temple outside of Puno.  We had read that it was a great temple, but it ended up being a little box of rock penises.  How exciting!  Not really though.  What was actually exciting was a llama we met there that played soccer.  Well, it played soccer with us for a while (it kicked the ball back and forth!) until it finally just collapsed over the ball, made a weird screeching noise, and then spat at whoever came close to it.  Hahaha.

Fertility temple:

Llama! Before:

...and after (it wasn't very happy...):

We eventually made our way back to Arequipa, where I got really sick (food poisoning!  ugh!), and then eventually made our way back to Tacna, over the border again, and into Arica.  We spent a day and a night in Arica before taking another 28-hour bus ride down to Santiago again.  It was so nice to be back in Arica!  I hadn't even realized that I had missed Chile, but it was nice to use soap (Peru has NO soap, especially in public bathrooms), eat at a restaurant, and not fear for my life every time I crossed the street (drivers in Peru are insane!).  We went up and visited yet another Jesus statue (because what is a trip to South America without a trip to a religious statue?!?), walked around for a while, ate, and the next day, headed back to Santiago.

Jesus statue in Arica, Chile:

How to tell you are back in Chile: no more sun!  As soon as we were driving over the border from Peru to Chile, the fog started up again.  Arica, Chile:

 It was an amazing trip and I was so happy to be able to experience so much... especially for so little money!  We definitely took a hard route by choosing to bus everywhere, but it ended up working out for the best for all of us.  Yeah, Peru!  Oh, and Chile.  Chile is cool too.

Peru: the súper flaite way! (Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu- Part II)

After our epic stay in Cusco, the next morning we made our way over to Ollantaytumba and the Sacred Valley.  Normally, you can hire private cars to drive you from Cusco to Ollantaytumba for about 15 soles (~$5) a person, but again, my trip was super flaite, so we weren't going to pay $5 for a ride.  We ended up taking a super sketch bus from Cusco to Urumbamba, and then piling inside a 10-person van to Ollantaytumba.  It cost about 4 soles total, but the 10-person van was a little unnerving when there were 23 people piled into it at one point.  

The van:

...And even though you can't tell (I was sitting in the middle of the van), there were a LOT of people in there... luckily the windows were open!

We finally got to Ollantaytumba, though, and literally fell out of the van on our way out.  Ollantaytumba is the last town that you can drive to between Cusco and Machu Picchu, and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL as well!  There are ruins on giant hills that surround the city, aqueducts, and Spanish architecture.  The town itself is a little expensive, but amazing at the same time.

We met up with 6 other people from my program in Ollantaytumba.  After spending some time there (and trying some llama... another interesting experience, haha), we took a train through the Sacred Valley to Aguas Calientes, which is the town closest to Machu Picchu.  Aguas Calientes is a SUPER touristy town with not much to do except for shop and eat.  But, it is beautiful, of course!

Aguas Calientes:

Our whole group:

That night, we went out for pizza as I had met a group of Peruvian teenagers on the train that told me that the pizza in Aguas Calientes was "the best in all of Peru!" We tried it (I got llama pizza... haha), but it ended up not sitting very well in my stomach, or in the stomachs of everyone else... that night, I went to the actual "Aguas Calientes" of Aguas Calientes... the hot springs!  I have been to hot springs before, and I was expecting these to be similar... instead, I found myself in what looked and smelled like people soup.  It was so nasty!  I got in for Peruvian fare, though, which made it a little better... haha.

People soup!  Eeeew:

After our lovely experience in the hot springs, we made our way back to the hostel, showered thoroughly, and went to sleep.  We woke up the next morning at about 1:45 am so that we could leave our hostel as soon as possible.  Aguas Calientes is the closest town to Machu Picchu, so most tourists stay there before they embark on their Machu Picchu adventures.  We got up super early because we wanted to climb Waynapicchu, which is the mountain that you see in almost every picture of Machu Picchu.  They only let 400 people a day (200 at 7am and 200 at 10am) into Waynapicchu because of erosion from tourists, and there is always a huge line to get in--there is a LOT of competition for those 400 spots!  We hiked to the base gates of Machu Picchu, and did stretches with these Brazilian guys before the gates opened at 3.  After that, it was every man for himself... luckily, since we had gotten up so early, there weren't a lot of people with us, but there was still competition for the first couple of spots!  It ended up taking me about 50 minutes to climb to the gates of Machu Picchu--it was ALL stairs, and Machu Picchu is at a pretty high elevation, so by the time I got to the top I was SO sweaty and hot!  But, it was about 4 am when I got there, so I immediately cooled down and was then freezing until the gates opened at 6... haha.  We watched the sunrise from the gates of Machu Picchu, though, got our tickets stamped for Waynapicchu, and entered Machu Picchu.  It was so amazing to actually be there!  I felt like our entire trip had been leading up to Machu Picchu, and we were actually THERE!  Waynapicchu opened at 7, so we had about an hour to walk around and take pictures without tourists (because, believe me, that was the ONLY time we had the opportunity to take pictures without tourists), and watch the sun come up over the Sacred Valley.  So beautiful!

At 1:45 at the bottom gates of Machu Picchu:

Machu Picchu without people!  Que raro!

Machu Picchu, with Waynapicchu in the background:

After walking around, we waited in line to go up Waynapicchu.  At about 7:30, we were finally allowed in and we started our hike... I know it doesn't look like it from the pictures, but Waynapicchu is ridiculously tall and steep, especially because from Machu Picchu you have to hike down to the base of Waynapicchu before you can start to climb.  It took about an hour to climb to the top, and it was ALL stairs.  On one side there would be a handrail, and on the other side was just cliff.

I am in all of these pictures because I like to prove to you that I was actually there... haha.

Starting up Waynapicchu at sunrise:

So steep... this was our entire way up! :

Halfway up Waynapicchu, looking at Machu Picchu:

The group (well, some of us... we all pretty much went at our own pace and I don't always wait for people when I hike) at the top of Waynapicchu:

...And at the top of Waynapicchu, there are all of these Inca ruins:

We stayed at the top of Waynapicchu to eat lunch and converse with other foreigners that were there.  I realized on the top, though, that it was only 9 am, and I had hiked all the way to the top before I was usually even awake.  It was an amazing view from up there, with Machu Picchu on one side and the valley on the other.  Being on top of Waynapicchu was definitely my favorite part of my entire trip, and I would highly recommend getting up early to climb to anyone thinking about going to Machu Picchu!  It was intense, but again, incredibly worth it.

After staying on Waynapicchu for about an hour, we climbed down through Inca ruins and more stairs and explored Machu Picchu.  You can hire a tour guide at the gates of Machu Picchu, but I didn't want to pay for a tour guide, and neither did anyone else in my group.  And besides, the tour guides were herding their groups around like sheep, and I would rather explore by myself.  So I went off with a couple of energetic people and we saw every landmark at Machu Picchu... by the end, it got pretty intense because I was still SO tired from barely sleeping and hiking all the way up there, but I still saw everything.  Machu Picchu is really amazing, but there are SO many people there at certain times of the day!  Around noon, it got unbearably crowded, and you could barely walk anywhere without walking into someone's picture.  But we still saw everything!

Ruins:

The view from the top of the guardhouse on Machu Picchu! :

Machu Picchu and Waynapicchu: DEFEATED!  haha:

After seeing everything we could in Machu Picchu, we eventually made our way back down to Aguas Calientes.  It took about half an hour by bus to get to the bottom, and had taken us about 45 minutes to an hour to hike up that morning... it was a long way down haha (I just want to give perspective on how high up Machu Picchu is).  We made our way back to our hostel, packed up all of our belongings, grabbed some ice cream as it was HOT that day, and took a train back through the Sacred Valley into Ollantaytumba.  I pretty much passed out on that train, only to wake up for the food they served.  By the time we got back into Ollantaytumba, I was absolutely exhausted and just wanted to fall asleep, but on our mission to do as much as possible, we forced ourself to walk around the city for a couple more hours before we finally went back to our hostel and passed out.  It was an amazing experience and I was so happy to be able to climb Waynapicchu!  That was definitely my favorite part of my entire trip.

Well, that's it for my update for now... I'll continue with part III in a couple of days!  :)