Ben and Holly's Big Adventure: Chilly Chile and Lake Titicaca

After Ecuador but before Cusco...

We met up with our friend, Reid, in Santiago, Chile. In addition to being a great travel amigo, Reid also served as a Chilean tour guide, chorizo-avocado sandwich and ramen chef, card game teacher, tennis competitor (clay courts!), Copa South America futbol enthusiast, Pisco connoisseur, kitten alarmist, downloader of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and expeditioner in search of the gnarliest sailor bar in Valparaiso (success!).

Also part of our Chilean adventure:

great views of the Andes,
discovering beautiful (and trippy) graffiti in hilly Valparaiso,
uninteresting nautical-themed Pablo Neruda homes,
new friends at the hippodrome,
wobbly bike rides through the mystical Elqui Valley,
overnight buses,
strep throat (Holly) and nasty coughs (Ben and Reid),
an astonishing number of couples making out,
huge protests that led to looting near our Santiago hostel (newspapers did a better job articulating the purpose of the protests than the actual protestors we chatted with...still cool to see such huge demonstrations only 20 years after Pinochet), and
chilly Chilean nights (Santiago - a city with modern infrastructure - felt like Europe...in winter).

Smoggy Santiago, surrounded by Andes

Valparaiso, the original San Francisco treat

The rawest drunken sailor bar in Valpo

We saw a lot of llamas on this trip, but this was the only pink one

La Serena, a sleepy beach town with no visitors during winter

It doesn't matter who won or lost this epic 4 hour battle - as long as we had fun

Wobbling through the Elqui Valley

"What do we want?" "No sé!" "When do we want it?" "Now!"

We were also treated to some, um, memorable local food - classic Chilean street food (oscar meyer hot dogs with mayonnaise or mountains of fried pork/french fries/egg/mayonnaise) is best enjoyed (only enjoyed?) after a busy day drinking. Fortunately, we spent much time winetasting, exploring Pisco vineyards, and experiencing the terremoto. Overall, a great time in Chile.

The flight from Chile to Bolivia was stunning - Atacama desert, jagged Andes rising with the plane, salt flats...we were too mesmerized to pull out our camera though. We spent the first days in La Paz acclimating to the altitude (almost 12k feet!), checking out lucha libre in El Alto, and buying more warm alpaca clothing. Our next stop was Copacabana (on Lake Titicaca, not Brazil...next time!), where we hid from the touristy town center in our nice hotel (fireplace, huge skyroof for absurd stargazing, hammock) and hiked the surrounding hills.

We also spent a few nights wandering Lake Titicaca's islands (Bolivian and Peruvian). Our Titicaca island time included lots of hiking to prep for the Incan Trail, a homestay, and constant comparisons to Greece (dusty hillsides with many donkeys and great views of deep blue waters).