Boy o boy has it been a while. I'm so sorry I haven't posted more, but hostel wifi and one computer between the two of us doesn't add up well for successful blog writing. Let's see... Since I last wrote in Bariloche, Argentina, we've been to Buenos Aires, Iguazu falls, back to Buenos Aires, day trip to the Tigre Delta in Argentina, back to Buenos Aires, flown to Arica chile, crossed to Tacna Peru for 1 night, spent four days in Arequipa, Peru and arrived to Cuzco, Peru yesterday. Dear lanta there is a lot to tell.
BUENOS AIRES
Buenos Aires was very beautiful, filled with European architecture brought over by the Italian and French colonizers. The city is covered with beautiful buildings and elegant streets and is also home to the widest avenue in all of South America! The difference economically there from Chile was staggering. The subways in Argentina vary drastically, based on where they go. The clanky residential ones are from the 70s or 80s, covered in graffiti and blue velvet upholstery. However, the train that goes to the government sector of the city is completely silent, air conditioned, maybe 5 years old and even has an electronic imagine of the stops, where a little green light flashes to show you which stop you are at on the map.
The current president is famous for her corruption and everyone wonders where the money said to have gone into "repairs" on the older lines really went. Repairs were obviously not made. On a free walking tour of the city that we took, our guide informed us of the disparity of the current economic situation. The currency of the Argentinian peso has dropped ten times in the past decade. He explained, those one hundred dollars you saved up as a kid, ten years later by the time you wanted to actually use it was worth only ten dollars. Can you imagine? In the past decade families have lost whole fortunes and pretty much all the hard work put into savings had disappeared, unless those savings were in US dollars. Walking anywhere is Argentina, "cambio" is screamed at you from every store. This is their way of saying that they do money exchange on the "blue market", the current black market in Buenos Aires that exchanges foreign currency at a higher exchange rate, giving tourists more pesos for their bills and allowing the Argentinians to survive. The Argentinian government has made it illegal to take out US dollars because they are worth so much, so people are bending over backwards trying to get any dollar they can from tourists.
Going on walks, visiting parks, seeing congress, other governmental buildings and seeing a ballet in el Teatro Colon, we really felt like we got to know Buenos Aires. It is a beautiful city that unfortunately is sinking in a mountain of debt. Two days after we left the debt payment collapsed on top of the country as the government was unable to pay off their huge debt. Prices flew up and we can only imagine how it is now... We got out just in time.
The Congress building
On a paddle boat in a park
Geese in that park, the geese made me think you Grandma Bertie and her geese!
The Ballet in Teatro Colon
This is an old theatre that is now a bookstore!
IGUAZU
After a short flight from Buenos Aires, we found ourselves completely immersed in jungle in Puerto Iguazu. After spending the afternoon at the hotel next door to our horrible hostel we ate at the hotel's buffet where Andrew impressively ate 3 gigantic plates and I cried with laughter at his expression when we realized it might not be an "all you can eat buffet".... But don't worry in the end our check was only for two plates :) The next day, we spent allllll day in Iguazu National Park, arriving half an hour after opening and leaving an hour before it closed. I think it may have been one of the happiest days of my life up to this point. The falls, hidden deep inside the jungle, were one of the most impressive sights I've ever seen. They go on foreverrrrrrrrrr. We're not talking a big waterfall, were talking HUGE waterfalls lining the cliffs for as far as the eye can see. It was truly incredible. We just kept saying, IT'S SO MUCH WATER! And what's crazy is that huge amount of water is still falling off that cliff as you read this sentence. And this one. It just doesn't stop! It was really special to be able to spend that day with Andrew, just sitting in wonder by the falls and hiking to the bottom of them, taking a little boat under them, and hiking to anther little fall where we saw monkeys swinging from the trees above, ants the size of my pinky toe and even a toucan! I couldn't stop smiling the entire day :)
This just about sums up our relationshipThat puff of white right below the wing is the mist coming up from the power of the falls. We could see if from the plane
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AREN'T THEY AMAZING! There is also a permanent rainbow from the mixture of the sun and mist
PERU
After about a week in Buenos Aires, we flew to Arica chile, the most northern city right on the border, where we then drove an hour to Tacna Peru. Tacna is really nothing special except for a rest place/outlet to the rest of Peru. We quickly got out of there an took a 7 hours bus, which was quite a joy considering there was no air conditioning, we drove through straight up desert the whole time, oh and I forgot to mention I had a fever and sore throat and chills the entire time. Yet surprisingly, it wasn't horribly awful because Andrew is the greatest friend in the world and just kept me distracted from my misery and made me laugh and just made it not so bad ha. That being said, my sickness kinda made our time in Areauipa Peru a little dull.... Until our last day there I was really just not feeling, well with a slight fever and chills the whole time so I wasn't really able to go see anything :/ we did do a cooking class though, where we made a traditional areauipan dish called rocoto relleno (peppers stuffed with a mixture of meat, tomatoes, onions and some other spices) there was also a dish resembling scalloped potatoes and a nice fresh salad. It was really fun to learn how to make it and before hand we got a tour of the central market, with fruit tastings and an explanation of why there were dried baby llamas hanging from some stands. Yes. Dried. Baby. Llamas. Apparently people don't like to kill animals to sacrifice to the pachamama (mother earth) so they instead buy dried baby llamas to use so that they don't feel so bad. Make sense to you? It sure didn't to me haha. Our last day, we also did a free walking tour and saw the most completely preserved mummy in the world! She is named Juanita and was found in the volcano near Arequipa in 1995. She is said to be from the Incan people, who used her as a sacrifice to the pachamama around 1440. We saw her and it was crazy! Since she was concealed in the ice of the volcano for so long, her skin and hair and everything is completely preserved! You could see the skin folds on her hands and her hair is still attached to the head! It was insane! Look up "Juanita mummy in Arequipa Peru" if you want more information. It's fascinating! They used to sacrifice children because they were thought to be pure and clean, the most beautiful and pure sacrifice you could make. The children were chosen super young, taken from their families by the spiritual leaders and prepped to be sacrificed later on.
Our cooking class!
beautiful presentation of the salad... by Andrew of course
Rocoto Relleno
LLAMAS!
We also have barely cooked in Peru because the food is sooooooo good and cheap. What you see here plus ANOTHER plate of the arroz con pollo cost three dollars.... total....
View on our walking tour
One of the old churches in Arequipa, the detail was incredible!
I know I'm missin so many little details about this past leg of the trip but I tried my best to put as much in there as I could remember! We head to MachupicChu tomorrow and the 5th so that should be just about the best birthday present known to man. I will make sure to send another blog about all of that before we leave Cuzco on the 8th and head to our final destination, Lima. I can't believe it's almost over, yet also very ready an excited to come home to all of your wonderful people..... And Jorge's.
Love you all and will be there in less than 2 weeks!
