foz do iguazu

Our first full day in Brasil we finally went to Iguazu falls. For those that are still not on gmail, it has been part of my gmail chat name for some time (the wiki page). I was anxiously waiting our arrival. I cannot even begin to try and explain the beauty of these waterfalls. They are the second largest in the world and just leave you speechless from the minute you first see them around the corner.

the group before the jeep tour

We were taken on a jeep first to go a little through the jungle. Our guide told us a little information and interesting facts and then left us at the boat spot. We all boarded, took off our clothes to our bathing suits, put our life vest on, and waited to be stunned. You are on the boat for about 10 mins leading up to the falls and they do some boat tricks, etc, and then you get a little glimpse of the water around a turn and the adrenaline starts going! Billy, the New Yorker with us, said he heard that the negative ions from the water gives you some sort of ¨high¨or something, makes you giggley and happy, something....I think he was right...
We were driven under one of the falls on the boat and then dropped off to just wander up trails and stare at the amazing-ness and beauty from any and all angles. It was truly indescribable. I wish I had better pictures right now to share, but these are the only two that would upload. More will be coming, I promise!
Vale and I on the boat and Valentina, Charley, Ann, Carly and I next to the falls:



After what can only be explained as an amazing experience, we headed back to our hotel and showered and relaxed a bit before heading out to our first Brazilian BBQ. Valentina and I were sitting at the end of the table with Todd and Fawn (an older couple from the US) across from us. Turns out we chose the right seats! We were trying anything and everything they brought to our table. Tastings that night included: delish steak, pancetta wrapped chicken, chicken and turkey testicles, pork, chicken hearts, and some piña grilled with cinnomon on it....just to name a few... Included was an unlimited salad bar, rice, polenta sticks, fried banana, and a table full of desserts. The four of us probably ate more than everyone else combined. Everyone had finished their dessert and were ready to leave while we were still gesturing si to the servers who were masterfully cutting and serving the meats using one hand. It was amazing. I still think I am pretty full from that dinner two days later.....seriously.....

Portugese is extremely difficult for me to try to understand/read/speak. I was ok with my Spanish, getting by just fine...but Portugese is just so difficult!! Man, I want to learn it now...

ja to no brasil

Our arrival in Brasil was kinda crazy. We arrived on Saturday morning and had been to three different countries in 24 hours (Uruguay, Paraguay and Brasil). We got to our hotel in Puerto Iguazu on the Brasilian side of the border early in the morning. We dropped off our bags in the hotel and headed to Paraguay for a few hours of shopping. It is famous for cheap electronics and just cheap shopping in general. I felt like I was back in Mexico with people all in the streets trying to sell you crap and putting fake Adidas socks and sunglasses in your face. I bought a five dollar watch so that I could lay off asking Valentina or others for the time for a day or so and what I think were legit Pringles, but may have been immitation for a snack. It was too hot and muggy outside to wander and inside was mainly electronics (like Vaio computers for $650).

Valentina and I were over it after about an hour of avoiding tripping on people and ignoring salespeople. So, we sat down and watched everyone and tried to figure out why they were buying huge fleece blankets when it´s about 90 degrees outside and only getting to get hotter. Or why they were wearing some of the interesting and definitely unique outfits...

We headed back to Brasil, crossed the border from Paraguay that was really a carbon copy of the TJ border...aka people walking back with lots of cheap crap, tons of traffic and people selling stuff between the cars.

We came back to Brasil and went for a delish feijoada. It was essentially a buffet of a bunch of different meat stews, beans, rice, salad, etc etc. It was yummy! We also had caipirinhas and Vale and I had caiprifrutas. It was awesome. There were 15 of us at the meal, we each had the buffet, minus one veggie, and at least one drink each. The total bill for 15 people? $160 US. Amazing.
AT THE FEIJOADA:

Our tour leader, Carlos, arranged for us to have a party at one of his friend´s houses on our first night in Brasil. It was such a great party. There is another GAP tour currently in Iguazu, so they were also there. We had a huge BBQ with the best steak and sausage and beers and caipirinhas and music and dancing and good conversation all night. It was great. After, of course, we hit up the local club. It was definitely interesting since it was ¨ladies night¨and they decided to have some random strippers dance for all the women. It was pretty ridiculous and should´ve ended an hour before it began. After though, we danced the night away...

In front of the club:
(Jugo, Felix, Charley, Carly, Me, Vale, Carlos)

I love Brasil.

Uruguay

We left Buenos Aires way way too soon and headed for Colonia on about an hour boat ride. Colonia is a small town in Uruguay. We arrived with our city high from Buenos Aires and were greeted by a sleepy town with not much to do but stroll and climb the faro or lighthouse. So, of course, that is what we did.

However, we did enjoy a delicious lunch, Valentina and I split a delish steak and a salad and some vino. Whilst we were living in ecstacy (due to the yummy food), an older man sparked up a convo after overhearing our English, even noting a certain California accent. We ended up chatting with him for quite some time about his travels and the US, etc etc, and then he generously treated us to some helado. After we left him we headed to the ¨old town¨which consisted of some stones and an old canon. On our way there a very older man, we´ll call him Old Man River for this entry, randomly started conversation. He was heading down to start fishing and offered to take a picture of us with a tiny little island in the background. He then said ¨las chicas italianas tienen cultios bonitos¨. We then continued on....

The next day we headed to Montevideo, the capital. We went down to the main market by the sea and explored the city. The buildings were beautiful and the city was very clean and the people very nice. The next day we went to Punta del Este. A beach town that is very famous during the summer because there are a ton of parties. A local told me it is like spring break (what he saw on TV at least). Right now, it´s not summer yet, so there were no crazy parties, only hot hot sun. We were there for awhile and everyone definitely got a little rosy, some (mainly the Irish guy) got more red than the others!

The following day we arrived in Salto. Apparently Salto is ¨famous¨for it´s day spa. We were all so excited to get massages, maybe a facial, or manicure, etc etc. What we didn´t expect was that the last time the spa was used was maybe 1980...maybe... My massage consisted of a woman rubbing some oil around on my back and legs. Was it nice? Yes. Worth $15? Maybe. A real massage? No. I think one of the highlights for me was the oil smelled like an oil we get from Hong Kong that we simply refer to as ¨the birdie bottle¨. I think it´s a type of eucalyptus oil...

Uruguay was not the most exciting of places, but I´m thinking of it as a type of ¨layover¨before Brasil. I wish it was more Buenos Aires time, but now I´m into Brasil, land of caipirinhas and feijoada (two things I´m already loving...)

B.A. Dreamin....

It has been less than 12 hours since I left Buenos Aires and I am already ready to get back there! It is such an awesome city and I could definitely see myself spending a longer amount of time there in the future...

We arrived bright and early Friday morning and were greeted with a near death cab ride experience. I guess in BA they have lanes painted on the streets, but no one cares and just drives wherever they want. I was scared and I have driven with my father and been to Roma and driven with my father in Roma and still thought we could die. Our driver cut across probably six lanes to make a turn and we almost died about 16 times in those ten seconds. But, we arrived safe and sound and in Valentina and my customary fashion, we wasted no time and hit the town right away. We walked and walked and made our way to one of the famous neighborhoods called La Boca. It is famous for it's brightly decorated buildings and tango shows in the streets. It was a really cool spot. We then walked around the busy downtown area and made our way to Ave. Florida, a famous shopping street. We, of course, being the good tourists that we are, contributed to the Argentine economy and bought some good good local stuff!!! Now our problem is where to put all our amazing purchases (but that's just a sidenote)...

In Argentina, people do not eat until 10pm or later. We, of course, needed to wait until all the locals were going to be eating to head out, so we waited and enjoy a glass of wine at our hotel and took our time. Vale, Elizabeth (friend from Scotland) and I finally headed out and went to a wonderful restaurant called Siga La Vaca. One of my friends from SD who was born in BA suggested it and an Argentine man and son we met on our flight over, so we figured it MUST be worth a dinner. This place was packed and it was late! I mean, families, old people, everyone was there to get some grub after 10pm. I loved it!!! Sure enough, we were not disappointed. It's essentially an all-you-can-eat Argentine parrilla with tons of different types of meat waiting for you to choose it right off the grill! Plus, salad bar, french fries, bread and a bottle of wine per person. As you can probably guess, I ate until I could no longer move and it was just heavenly! Then, we forgot about dessert and I had some crepe-like panqueques with dulce de leche (a new obsession) and Valentina had to help me finish them off....
Obnoxiously full, we headed to a bar that my friend from SD suggested because his friend owned it. I had told everyone else in our group about it, so they were all waiting for us there. We had a few drinks and chatted and then headed to another bar close to our hotel. This was all necessary because no one even thinks about going out dancing until 2am. So, we were patiently waiting! Valentina's friend from Italia, Alessio, is in BA learning the tango so he can go back to Firenze and teach it there. So, we met him at the bar and he ended up taking us to this awesome local hot spot to tango at 330am. The spot appeared to be a local community center or theatre and at night, the basement turns into this underground haven for tango dancers. I was just mesmorized by the beauty of the dance and the energy between the couples. I could've watched them all night! We also watched two folklore dances, one was called la chacarera and the other I'm not sure of the name, but the dancers waved napkins in the air (they are really supposed to use their shirts, but this was a family place...). I was in love with la chacarera. It was such a cool dance. I want to watch it/do it everyday now!

We got home pretty late that night, so we slept in Saturday and then hit the streets! We went out to Recoleta, but had to be back at our hotel for a meeting at 6pm. This left us all of about one hour to explore the awesome market and everything around Recoleta. As we were getting ready to head back, we needed to obtain some monedas for our bus ride back to our hotel (the bus is 1 peso and it has to be in coin form. Well, little did we know, finding monedas in Buenos Aires would be like trying to find a goldfish in the Atlantic ocean. And no, I am not exaggerating. We went to probably 30 vendors, restaurants, stores, bars, etc etc asking for change or just ONE peso. Long story short, we never found one and ended up pleading our case to the driver and he let two American girls ride the bus for free that day! We headed back to our hotel and officially met our new tour guide, Carlos.

Carlos is from Sao Paolo, Brazil, but currently lives in Parati. He is going to be amazing, we can already tell...he is excited to take us into Brazil and is extremely fun! That night we went on a walk and then headed to La Estancia for dinner at 1030pm. It was recommended by my dad's friend and Vale and I are all about the recommended spots... and of course, we were not disappointed. I think I have eaten more steak here than I ever have in my whole life (and that says A LOT since steak is def my fav food). Vale and I both got bife de chorizo, medium rare, and we shared papas frittas and an ensalada mixta. We each got a mini bottle of wine as well, I got red and she got white (she doesn't like red) and our meal was just delectable. The restuarant is set up so that you can watch the cooks cutting and cooking all the meat from the windows. I'll definitely post some pics as soon as I can. We had some more panqueques for dessert and then headed back to our hotel. Everyone was at the bar we went to the night before, so we headed there to meet up with them. There were about 8 of us, chatting and having some drinks and then we decided we needed to DANCE! Finally!!!! A girl on our group had been living in BA for 6 months and suggested we try The Roxy because it was ¨famous¨. It was definitely not somewhere I would choose to ever go to again, but it was really fun because there were a lot of us and we all were dancing to the cheesey pop and old songs. We ended up staying there until it closed at 730am, talking to locals and other visitors. We watched the sunrise behind the club and still did not head home...it was awesome! We made it home to get some breakfast and then went upstairs for what could only be called a nap.

Sunday we woke up around 1pm and headed straight out the door! We walked around the Congress building down to the Recoleta again since we didn't get enough time there. We went to the famous cemetary there, saw Evita's tomb amoung others, and then continued our walk. There is this awesome fountain/light/sculpture in the middle of a park there and it's of a tulip. I am obsessed with it. During the day, it's open to the sun and then at night, it closes and is lit up red. I just loved it! We then headed to San Telmo for a recommended market on Sundays.
Now, we had been walking all day, on little sleep from the night before, and of course, my bum thigh kicked in and started to bother me. When we finally reached what we thought was the famous mercado, I must admit, I was pretty pissed. Half the stalls were already closing and they were literally selling old crap. Luckily, we still wandered around and exited through another door. It was then that we were greeted by a street PACKED full of people and vendors and street performers. There were guys playing the drums and tons of people walking around and visiting, dancing in the streets and painting or making things to sell. It was awesome and definitely worth the walk! It actually turned out that San Telmo was super close to our hotel, so we headed back after exploring the scene.

That night I went out with a Buenos Aires local for some drinks and a mini city tour. We hit up another recommended neighborhood, Las Cañitas, for a mojito! I wish I could've spent more time in that neighborhood because there seemed to be a lot of bars and restaurants. We had some very interesting convo about the differences between BA and SF and life in general in Buenos Aires for someone my age.

I'd say Buenos Aires has only two vices: 1. water constantly dripping on you from the air conditioners from 1800 and 2. little kids that do sketchy things. Valentina and I had an encounter one night walking home from dinner on a major avenida...suddenly we were surrounded by what seemed like 50 7-10 year-olds, but may have really been about 10. Still, they really went for Valentina, but I pushed on out of my way because I had no idea what he trying to pull. They were clearly not exactly private-school-kids and Valentina thought she was going down...luckily, she pushed through the pack and we made it out all right. We later learned from a cab driver that Valentina had before our boat to Uruguay that there are thousands of homeless children in Buenos Aires. Most of them boys, and they form small gangs, known as ranchadas, and commit petty thefts and do crazy drugs. You can read more about them here: http://www.edmundriceinternational.org/page26/page27/page27.html
After reading the article, some of our encounters with the children made a lot more sense.

We had a ferry to catch this morning at 9am from Puerto Madero. We were meeting in our hotel lobby at 645 to leave. Valentina and I planned on staying up the whole night, but I got back at 2am and was waiting for her in the hotel and passed out cold on the bed and she came back and didn't want to wake me up. Around 3 I woke up and we chatted for awhile until both of us passed out. I woke this morning at 645 to Vale shaking me and saying, it's 645, we overslept! Luckily, 645 was early and so we didn't miss much, but we did throw all our things in our bags and head straight down, dirty hair and all....

Quickie

Hellooo from Buenos Aires!

Just wanted to say that a better post will be coming soon, but the internet is from 1901 here and is so ridiculously slow and my computer is the first one ever made so it's giving me a headache from staring at the screen.


BUT, I have survived the longest bus ride in history (I know Davide you beat me, but longest in my history) and am in love with BA.


I'm off to maybe dance some tango in the streets or eat some yummy steak...update coming soon....



Hasta.

Bariloche

Last night was of course...OBAMARAMA. We rang in the beginning of a new start right....with lots of vino, chips, friends and songs. That's right, we managed to somehow create about over 20 songs in celebration of the man! Hits included: "obama, you so fine, you so fine, you blow our mind, obama, o o obama" "sweeet o-ba-ma - wa wa wa...." "it's fun to stay with the o-b-a-m-a, it's fun to stay with theeee o-b-a-m-aaaaa, he has everything that you're to enjoy...." etc etc. Be on the look out for a cd soon!
We were joined in our celebration by some other Americans from another GAP tour that was passing through Bariloche. They were doing the same journey (Santiago - Rio), but in reverse. In their group were two couples of over 50-year-old Americans and they were drinking and getting into the Obama spirit with the rest of us! It was quite a great night...

We arose the next late morning to winds and drizzle outside. We are in Bariloche, the mountains in Argentina, and so are welcomed by the beauty of the lake and mountains, but also the not so perfect weather. Still, we headed out to explore the town a little more. We made a quick stop to the bottom of the hill from our hostel to a beautiful steel BBQ set up right at the top of a park. A local was grilling up some meat and filling the streets with the most delicious smells. Valentina and I split a churrasco and choripan (sausage sandi) yesterday and today I was looking forward to another juicy churrasco to start my day. Whilst enjoying my sandwich a dog found us. Yet again, we thought he would be disinterested after I finished my meat, however, he followed us up close. Another one of his dog friends joined him and we tried to ditch them many many times, however, were extremely unsuccessful. Our tactics included: running across a busy street, hiding behind cars, and even running into a store. We thought we lost them after a few minutes of "browsing" around the store, until Valentina looked outside and he was WAITING for us. That's right, waiting for us to leave. He could smell us....after waiting a few more minutes, he finally went across the street. The rest of the day we were on doggy look out and watching our back at every corner.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the town and of course....shopping. We definitely helped the Argentine economy by buying up the stores and making some solid purchases. The only question is how will we manage to fit all our purchases in our tiny backpacks throughout this trip. I guess only time will tell.

A local shop owner was nice enough to share her homemade matè with us. Let's just say that that stuff cleared all our sinuses. Vale didn't care for it, but I kinda enjoyed it. You could tell that stuff carries a lot of nutrients and cures any pain you're in. Awesome.

After a long day of shopping, nothing beats a nice pot of fondue to complete the day. We had some cheese fondue and had a big steak to dip in and french fries. Heavenly. We sure aren't messing with any bad food yet on this trip...

Speaking of food, the chocolate in Bariloche is quite famous apparently. As you probably know, I'm not a big chocolate fan at all. Yet, there is something in this chocolate that makes it melt in your mouth. My favorite is a mini sandwich looking one with Dulce di Leche in it - white or milk chocolate with little waffer slices and then layers of dulce di leche. It truly is awesome. I want to bring about 10 pounds home with me, but a. I don't know how that will last and b. I def don't want to carry the 10 pounds, only eat them.

Tomorrow we're on a 20 hour bus ride to BUENOS AIRES....pray for me.

Hasta.

Llao Llao Hotel, Me, Valentina, Elizabeth:

Into Argentina...

Our last day in Pucòn was spent exploring the rest of the city. Enjoying the mountains and fresh air. We had a big BBQ with most everyone on our trip. It was a really great night! We had tastey hamburgers and listened to some music outside. We then hit the town expecting to find some fun bars for Halloween, and only got a few beers at a bar. Valentina and I hit up a late night spot to have a yummy churrasco (thinly cut steak on a bun with lots of avocado, mayo, lettuce, tomatoe)

The BBQ:

We took a 7 hour bus ride to Puerto Varas where we spent only two nights. We arrived on the weekend and it was a sleepy mountain town, so most things were closed. We took a day trip the next day to Chiloè island. We got to take a great boat tour with the local fisherman that included great chances to see the penguins! This island is the only place in the world where Humbolt and Magellenic penguins co-exist. They were so cute and we saw tons of different types of birds on the tour. We were lucky with our weather because apparently it rains about 250 days a year in Puerto Varas.

The Boat Ride & Penguins:

We left Puerto Varas on another long bus ride to Bariloche, finally Argentina. This place is just gorgeous. The air is so crisp and the views of the mountains and lakes are truly incredible. I've been hiking a lot and exploring what the city has to offer. It really has been great.

I've also been hanging out and trying to spend more time with the other people on our tour. We really are an ecclectic and diverse group. We are very comfortable with each other and have been doing a lot as a group, or a small group.

Tonight we celebrate Obama's victory with vino, beer and just about anything else in the hostel we could find! There is another GAP tour staying here, so we teamed up with them to celebrate! We enjoyed our first delish Argentinian steak and headed back to drink and party!

We have a 20 hour ride to Buenos Aires this Thursday....not excited about the trip, but SO excited for the destination!

Casualties

An ongoing list of injuries and illnesses:

*Francesca's elbow
Cause: slippery steps in the hostel made from real wood and sandals with no traction.

*Valentina throwing up
Cause: unknown, but thought to be from a shishkebab purchased from a sketchy street vendor in Valparaiso who tried to kiss her after she bought it and may have sprinkled some sick dust on it as well....she is better today

*Francesca's toe
Cause: steps that blend into the ground at the Baquedano metro stop

*Francesca throwing up
Cause: unknown, but consequences included staying in hotel for 24 hours and watching lots of Dr.90210 and Sunset Tan

*Valentina's butt
Cause: an ¨easy¨ bike ride that turned into a three hour rough ride through rocks and hills

*Francesca's thigh
Cause: originally from a five hour hike up a snowy mountain and falling awkwardly into a snow hole. Then magnified when she tripped over an uneven pavement in Pucòn to twist the thigh opposite

Top 5: Chilean Comida

Top 5 Food in Chile:

1. Como Agua Para Chocolate
2. Empanadas de mariscos y camerones
3. Avocado, avocado, avocado
4. The shish kebab that made Vale spend all night in the baño
5. Last night in Chile...juicy steak with rice pilaf and salmon cooked with peppers, onions and yummy cheese

VOLCANO

I climbed a 2,847 m Volcano today.

OUR GROUP AT THE TOP!

It was unreal. As I start to even think about it, I cannot believe that I ever made it down and am now here to tell you about it. We were picked up around 7am from our hostel, I think about 11 of us total went. We are all excited and ready to go. Little did we know...

I think it was the hardest, most amazing, tiring, long, discouraging, inspiring, unreal thing I have ever done in my entire life. Period. Ever. I did not realize how huge this volcano was. Its Volcano Villarrica in Pucon, Chile. We were lead by three guys, Oscar, Joaquin, and Felipe. Oscar was my guide, we were the middle group, I struggled a lot! Man o man did I think I was literally going to DIE. Never make it to the top, let alone back down! He said he climbs the mountain 5-6 times a week. INSANE. He guessed he´d been up around 3000 times. Awesome guy. The peak just seemed to get further and further away.

We were wearing snow gear, heavy boots, big backpacks with tons of goodies inside, aka mouth warmer, shields, lunch, etc. We had pickaxes to assist ourselves, or save us if needed...The hike to the top took about 5 hours, in the snow, with the sun on our faces, with my legs feeling like I would never walk again. But....we made it....

The view at the top was absolutely breathtaking. Even at our stops on our way up, the view was just incredible. You could see for ages and there seemed to be perfect nature in all directions. Our town was a little grouping of buildings in the FAR FAR distance and we were surrounded by snow and silence. It was unlike anything I have ever described before.

I now know what it feels like to win a gold medal in the olympics, because arriving at the top of the Volcano was the most amazing feeling. This volcano is still active, last exploded in 1984. You could smell the activity, like sulfur on a hot day. And you couldnt see the actual lava, but you could take a good look into the hole.

Going back down the summit was probably the most fun part! You literally SLIDE down. On your bum. Literally. Our guides would lead and create a path and you would just GO. Like a bobsled! It was SO MUCH FUN. You really could pick up some speed out there! It was hilarious after struggling so much to get up the damn thing, we just played and sled right on down! Feel the wind in your hair and take off. So much fun.

Tonight, we´re going to sit in the thermal baths under the stars for as long as our bodies will allow. It will be heavenly...although the hike already took care of that.......

Pucón, Chile

We arrived in Pucón after an 11 hour bus trip. It actually turned out to be not that bad, we left Santiago around 1120pm and arrived around 10am. It´s the cutest town ever, everything is wood and it´s surrounded by lakes, mountains and volcanos! Reminds me of Tahoe. TODO the activities are outdoor. Rafting, biking, you name it....

We did the zip line or canopy on our first day. It was so much fun. We did a total of 11 lines across the river, through the trees, it was beautiful. And such a good adrenaline rush! Waiting to go I think was a little bit scarrier because we stood on these wood, man made platforms, that swayed in the wind. Still, it was great fun! Below is Billy heading down and Vale and I ready to go!

We´re staying in Hostel Willy, a very cute little hostel. Valentina and I got hooked up with our own room and private bath, I think because Daniele loves us perché siamo le ragazze italiane e possiamo parlare con lui! Dunque, last night we grabbed a quick bite and then we went and hung out in our common room. It was great fun! I taught people Spoons, the card game, and we played that most of the night. It was so funny; they all loved it!!!!!

Pucón is awesome.

Some Updates....

Ninfa, our hostel owner, invited us for a private breakfast at her house about a block up from where the hostel was. We were expecting a mansion because she seemed like the Queen of Viña. We were pleasantly surprised when we were greeted by a gorgeous mural on the steps leading up to an outdoor patio. Her house seemed like the closest thing to a mansion we'd be staying in on this trip...turns out it was her B&B. We got the hostel when a block up the road, people were staying in luxory.

Ninfa was an amazing woman, born in Concepcion, went to high school and studied in Pennsylvania for a year and then graduated from college. She lost her son in a car accident three years ago and then was diagnosed with cancer. She bought the building that was our hostel after her diagnosis to have a place to leave to her children. After chemo, she went to the doctor and he said ´¨you are amazing and perfect¨so she had this house and wasn't dying....so she decided to turn it into a hostel. Ever since she's been taking in travellers. She was an amazing woman full of stories and spoke English perfectly.

We met two German travellers at the B&B and forgot to ask their names, but they offered us a ride to the train station! Of course we hoped right in and headed back to Santiago on the bus. Another bus ride = another nap. Something interesting about the bus rides is that the drivers have what appear to be assistants. They collect the tickets, sit next to the driver, load the bags, and apparently close the blinds if you pass out on your ride. Greg, maybe you could come get that job?

Arriving in Santiago on Sunday, especially Oct 26, which is election day. Todo and I mean todo is closed... Not even like in Italia on a Sunday, everything. We sat in a park for awhile and witnessed a little boy ¨taking care of business¨ on the wall of the play station. That was interesting...he then did it again later, closer to the bench we were sitting on and his dad said ¨no¨when we looked at him with glares of disgust, but still neglected to stop him. Interesting.

Dinner was a total of 2.250 pesos, or about $2 each for some chicken and what we thought were little potatoe balls, but about 95% of them were empty. Still, a yummy dinner.

I got sick and was in our hotel all day Monday. Didn´t leave once. Valentina left to meet Santi, one of her friend´s from home, Sasha´s, cousin. He gave her some pointers and ended up explaining the make-out obsession here. Apparently about three years ago, some girl was caught on a camera phone doing something inapporpriate and it was posted all over YouTube. YouTube is huge here, so it turned into a sort a sexual liberation and so all the teens are into PDA.

We met up with our group. Our leader is an Italian from Roma named Daniele. I think it´s really hard for him because no one else speaks Italian or even Spanish and his English is not so great. So when we arrived, he instantly became our best friend. He chats it up with us any moment he can. He´s been travelling for awhile and will be our leader until Buenos Aires, where he will go back to La Paz and start the tour again!

Most of our group, apart from the two of us, a Scottish girl (DAVIDE, she´s from Glasgow! and amazing) and another American (the only other one), Billy. Everyone else has been travelling for a really long time, including Peru, Inca Trail, Bolivia. Most are English and there´s one Australian and a guy from Brazil. I think I might be the youngest! They are all so interesting and so up for anything. Can´t wait to learn more......

Valparaiso

P.S. to my previous post. After our yummy dinner at Como Agua Para Chocolate we had our first injury. I was walking down the stairs around 1am and Vale was on the computer. I was wearing my sandals (aka no grip) and the stairs were authentic wood, probably straight off the trees. Well, I was heading to the bathroom and slipped right on my elbow and culo. The entire hostel got quiet and I was down for the count...NOT okay. I think my elbow might be broken in ten different places, BUT the show must go on....

If we have learned two things from being here for all of three days it would be:
1. Teens love to make-out on the streets, benches, in the sand, on the grass, on the bus, anywhere they possibly can
and
2. Stray dogs LOVE me. And probs Vale too. Last night after a few Escudos we headed back to our hostel only to be followed by a huge scary brown stray dog. There are probably stray dogs every ten feet here, but usually they're passed out, looking dead. This one followed us the ENTIRE walk home and I tried to run and it just got excited and followed. Then, this morning, on our way down to the boardwalk, a black one followed...the WHOLE time. Even when petted by some crazy man and his child, he came after us. We even walked on the rocks on the water and he tried to get up there! We had to fake him out to ditch him....I don't think he realized that I hate most dogs, let alone some strange homeless ones with sketchy white spots on them.

We went to Valapariso today and spent the day walking and looking at the colorful houses. The highlight was definitely going to the market and buying a ton of fresh avocados and tomatoes for a tastey dinner of pasta al pomodoro and guacamole with fresh bread. I could eat the avocados here everyday, all day. I have never seen them so perfectly green and fresh....heavenly.

Tomorrow we're heading back to Santiago and maybe heading to Isla Negra first to check out Pablo Neruda's house that looks like a ship...first, breakfast with our hostel owner at her house! I'm sure yummy things are to come...

Hasta luego.

The Arrival!

We have been in Chile for only three days and it feels like we've been here forever!





We arrived in Santiago Thursday morning around 9am. Our flight was very nice and we got to sit next each other. We pretty much passed out after attempting to watch some horrible movie. We landed in Santiago with open eyes and an eagerness to explore! We were staying in Hotel Luz Azul off the Los Heroes metro stop. Easy to get to and really great staff! We checked in and left right away to start exploring. With little idea where to go, we looked at two lists I had from friends (Aubrey and Melissa) and chose one to start with - Cerro San Lucia. We hike up to the top for a great view of the city (although it's no SF or Firenze skyline). We wandered around the entire city that day, eager to make the most of our first day. We made it to Plaza de Armas, La Vega Central (a giant and amazing fruit market), Mercado Central (a huge fish market where we had lunch and our first taste of Pisco Sour - the national Chilean ¨booze¨ as Melissa explained), and ended at Cerro San Cristobal. Aubrey wrote that we should climb Cerro San Cristobal and that it's a ¨bit of hike, but it's worth it¨. What she forgot to mention was that it was the longest hill of my life. Granted, we're pretty sure we entered the wrong way, we seem to have gone the way the cars are meant to enter, so the street was LONG with little to NO incline. It felt like the road to no where and I wanted to turn around around sweating my face off and thinking that the damn road was just going to wind up to nothing! But, we trekked on and finally made it half way (after what felt like 5 hours in the hot sun) to a lift that took us the rest of the way to the top (thank God because even that ride was like 15 mins). It was a great view of the city however and definitely worked my buns into shape! We took the lift back to the bottom and wandered back to the subway to get back to our hostel. On our way we picked up a nice bottle of vino and enjoyed that for a bit before heading to dinner.



Aubrey also suggested going to a restaurant in the Barrio Bellavista called 'Como Agua Para Chocolate', adding that we would not regret it in all caps, so I figured we HAD to go. Aubrey forgot to mention that it would be the best meal of our entire lives and we would leave feeling like we were carrying ten babies because it would be so amazing that we would not want to stop. Well, it was amazing. We each had a Caipiroska and just the bread and this spread was AWESOME. Then we had like a cheese fondue with baby shrimp in it and chips. Finally, we stuffed our faces with fajitas that came with beef, chicken, and shrimp with rice, beans, best guac EVER, and tortillas. We each tried to shove as much as we could in, but left feeling like we should've shoved more in! It was awesome, and thanks Aubrey for the best meal of our lives!



The next morning we headed to the bus station to go to Viña del Mar. We were excited and hoped to head to the beach immediately. We rocked out to ¨Vamos alla Playa¨ on Vale's ipod to prepare ourselves. The bus ride was about two hours and we passed our for a majority of it. When we woke up, we were welcomed by the FOG and coldness of Viña del Mar. We thought maybe we went back to San Francisco. Bummer. No beach today, just overcast and cold. We arrived in our hostel - Hostel Reloj de los Flores - put our stuff down and went out to explore right away. We walked all along the boardwalk and headed up to the main street to catch the bus to Con Con. The buses here are quite amazing - they work like a taxi in the states, meaning you can wave it down wherever the hell you want on the street! There are 'paradas' or stops, but they mean little to absolutely nothing. The driver flashes its lights at you and you either confirm that you want on or you ignore. O, another thing, the drivers are about 40000 times worse than in Italia, meaning that they don't stop or slow down for ANYTHING, not even an elderly woman carrying her grandchild. Trust me, we are not playing around on the streets!

So, we headed to Con Con after a recommendation from a woman at our hostel. Let's just say that Vale and I were expecting people and were quite surprised to find about two people in restaurants and the rest of the 'town' was left to the pelicans. And even the pelicans were boring and did nothing. O well, Con Con actually turned out to be one of our favorite spots thanks to one thing - EMPANADAS. We had a fresh empanada con mariscos y camarones. Heavenly. I was on the hunt for them after Melissa described them as 'sweet juicy seafood heaven' and Im pretty sure there is no other explanation. We hunted for some de jaiba (crab) but didn't find some until dinner that night.

We headed back to Viña to hit up the casino, expecting a great time there. Little did we know, that you have to pay 3.500 pesos just to ENTER. Rip off, so we stood at the balcony in awe of what must've been millionares playing. They have crazy chips here and the dealer for one game controls a giant paddle. It was amazing and we were very intreged. Also, instead of alchohol at the tables, they all drink coffee and maybe a coke or two...crazy people!

We went to a bar/restaurant in the Hotel Viña del Mar (where the casino is) and some drinks and a plate of mixed empanadas. We sat at the bar and chatted it up with the pizza maker and a bartender, both named Sebastian. They suggested a bar to check out later, but I didn't have my ID, so we went to a local bar and had some Escudo and tried to fit in best we could. We were missing low riding jeans and a mullet. O well, next time.

Benvenuti!

Hi Everyone,

I've decided to keep a blog instead of constantly sending emails so you can check in whenever you can and keep up with my travels!

Comment away and I hope you enjoy the ride...

xoxo,
Francesca