17 Dec, 04
SO!!! We`re in Chile!! After another series of long bus rides in southern Peru, we hopped into an old Cadillac (complete with crushed red velvet interior) and were sped over the border with relative ease. Just about the same time that I started getting fed up with traveling. I simply couldn´t take it anymore. South America is fabulous, don`t get me wrong, but it is also a place where you feel like you are constantaly being ripped off...everything has two prices, one if you are a nacional, and one for the gringos...as terrible as that sounds, it is true. All at once, I simply became tired of having to constantally be vigilant about my luggage, about my purse, about what I`m being charged for a meal or for a bed....Why can`t things just have fair prices?!
Anyhow, so we were safely delivered to Arica (a city in northern Chile) to a hostal that tried to charge us too much, but we talked him down on the price (however, when we checked out he tried to charge us more...). The city itself is a cute little beach community that draws a lot of rich Bolivians. Then next day we went the beach...it was so nice to smell the ocean again (made us miss San Diego!).
Thursday, the 16th we flew from Arica to Santiago and then down to Punta Arenas the southern tip of Chile. The first thing that we noticed when we got into town at 8 PM was that the sun was still high in the sky!! It was really wierd to walk back to our hostal at 11 at night and have the sun still be up. The area down there is very weather beaten, all of the trees and branches are constantly bent to the side.
Today (17th Dec) we took a bus north to Puerto Natales. The ride was amazing, the ocean with snowcapped mountains in the background. We`re staying at an adorable little place called Casa Cecilia right in town. We have decided to go into Torres Del Paine National Park tomorrow (18 Dec) early morning to camp. Then next day we`ll be ice climbing on Grey Glacier and then we`ll backpack through the park for the next 5 days! Right now we`re planning to head out of the park on the 23rd. Then head up to Glacier National Park outside of Calafate, Argentina on Dec 24 and spend Christmas there!
Can`t wait to be out in the mountains again!! We bought gloves and hats today, I hope we`ll be warm enough, we didn`t bring our cold weather gear, and it`s pretty cold here...good thing we have warm sleeping bags!
Hope that everyone has safe travels!! Besos, Lisa Marie