Chile sin Carne

For starters this time around, some pics of Joo and Kiwi modeling their dream vehicles... and then several more shots of the parade (before we started joining in)...

And then a few more pictures from Arequipa, Peru that I didn´t have time to load last time... this was JooYeon finally figuring out the secret of Peruvian cafe con leche... it´s a clever little three part cup with the water on bottom, the grinds next, and an empty container on top. As the water boils, the vapor rises through the grounds and creates an extra rich coffee syrup that can then be poured into a cup of hot milk... but it´d be easier and tastier for me to just make a cup for you whenever we next meet!

And a couple shots in and out of our mansion guest house, which was really hard to capture on film, so you can´t tell that it´s anything great except for the look on JooYeon´s face (the volcano in the background is Misty.)

Well, we did in fact make it out to Chile as planned. We had treated ourselves with a final 7 hour bus ride on the illustrious Cruz del Sur, the Rolex of Peruvian buses (it was only 1$ more per ticket). JooYeon loved it as we had our own enclosed waiting lounge and, most importantly, a secure hold for our luggage.

There remained some tense moments at the border town, the final chance for Peruvian thieves to steal our goods. I guess that sounds kind of racist... I should clarify that the general populace of Peruvians were absolutely wonderful, kind, and lovely. I had just never had to watch our possessions and doublecheck safety concerns in all of my travels (although India came close). I even started taking pictures of people we talked with and cars we rode in to have evidence for if and when things went wrong. Then again, I guess all of this comes with the territory whenever there are economic differences between people. And ideally, if I weren´t as attached to my possessions, it wouldn´t bother me as much. The love of money... I remember getting two detentions in fourth grade for refusing to write a report on money because I felt it was so evil. But much more than possessions, I think I´m a lot more conscious of dangers this time around, since I´m travelling with Joo instead of alone...

And, although this would actually belong much further up in the blog with the Arequipa parade, my scroll function on this computer doesn´t happen to be working, so here is a quick clip of Kiwi joining in on the parade dancing...

In any case, we all had a WONDERFUL time overall in Peru, with loads of good memories and experiences, but it was still a bit relieving to cross the border into Chile, where our economic battles were more likely to be with the price tags. Or so we thought. But Peru had gotten deeper into our blood than we realized, as was made clear when JooYeon first saw our room we´d reserved in Arica, Chile. (Even I was surprised how dirty it was, as it had specifically been advertised as clean by the lonely planet.) She immediately made her sour lemon face and proceeded to sing about 50 verses of ¨Take me to Arequipa¨to the tune of ¨Take me home country roads¨, and asked me several times if I remembered how clean Heather´s bed had been back in Arizona.

I found myself really enjoying the first day (and night) in Chile, even though nothing particularly special transpired. Granted, we are still in the border town of Arica, and so I´d imagine the cultural differences between Chile and Peru thicken further inland, but it´s certainly a different country. I remember being curious about Chile ever since reading La Casa de Los Espiritus by Isabel Allende in my EMU Spanish class - it´s had a quirky history due to it´s very eccentric geography. In Arica, we walked around a pedestrian street, near the beach, and down a market which was the thinnest and longest market I´ve ever seen (designed after Chile itself perhaps?)

In India, the cars stop for the cows in the road. In Peru, it´s the goats or the dogs. In Arica, Chile, they have to stop and swerve for the pelicans which absolutely refuse to move for them!

Until next time... may your dreams be free of IBBs!