March 10, 2013: Water, Desert, Mountains & Buses

It feels like ages since I left my familiar country and language and landed on my fifth continent. It has only been a week since we arrived in Lima, Peru but during that time we have traveled over 2,600 miles--most of the distance has been in a bus... or two, or four. We have driven far and long, from one country to another, along coast, through arid desert to the feet of tall, green mountains. Twenty-four hours has been the longest stretch (so far) that we have spent in transit at one time. It sounds awful, I know, but these South American buses are more comfortable than any plane I have been on. They are equipped with air conditioning, wonderful declining seats, plenty of leg room, and Spanish-dubbed Hollywood movies. I highly recommend renting Taken Two and watching a dubbed Liam Neeson dodge bullets and beat up bad guys--very entertaining the first time you watch it, not so much the second or fourth time you´ve seen it.

As of now, until we travel north, the buses are behind us. Our goal is to continue further south by hitch hiking to trail heads--slowly making our way through the Patagonian parks. The longer I sit--basking in the warmth of the late afternoon sun, drinking tea and gazing at an impressive, active, snow-peaked volcano--the less appealing the interior of a vehicle sounds. So for now I will put talk of the future on hold and will enjoy the present while relating a few moments/highlights from the past week.

Sunday--(Our first day in Lima) We felt the warmth of the Equator while we walked through the streets of Mirar Flores. We saw many wonderful sights--a pre-Incan ruin in the middle of town, an art show in a flower-rimmed park, and the great Pacific Ocean crashing methodically on the rocky Peruvian shoreline. 

Monday--I was abruptly awakened in the middle of the night by an underwear-clad, headlamp wearing, boy friend wielding a bath towel as a executing device--we had left the window open during the night to capture the breeze and had let a militia of mosquitoes into our room. Bonus highlight: not getting¨birthday malaria¨.

Tuesday--We arrived in Arica: a hole-in-the-wall border town in northern Chile. We had a room in a hostel, but we got fumigated by chain-smoking Frenchmen/women who were posted out side our window. We ended up setting up our tent on the hostel roof. It was a lovely night in the southern hemisphere.

Wednesday-- We went for a barefoot run along the beach and made a delicious salad with ingredients bought from the local market before jumping on another bus south.

Thursday--We walked the streets of Chile´s second oldest city--La Serena.

Friday--During our morning run we met Roger--a stray dog who instantly loved us. Despite his efforts to adopt us we had to say good bye. My heart is still broken when I think of the Chilean dog I had to leave behind.

That evening we went to an observatory in the mountains and studied the star-dusted sky. I saw Jupiter through a telescope as well as star clusters, galaxies, and Alpha Centauri. It was a beautiful night.

Saturday--We saved our ¨continental breakfast¨ of bread and cheese and fed it to stray dogs. We took a bus to Santiago--our first glimpse of greenery and glaciated mountains since leaving  Montana and the north west.

Sunday--We arrived at the bus station in Pucon at 8 AM. It is a beautiful sunny day. I am sitting next to David who is currently pouring over an English/Spanish dictionary. We are living in the present.

Tomorrow we´ll summit Volcano Villarrica at dawn and then thumbs up--we´ll make our way south hitch-hiking and disappear for a while into the wilderness. I´ll write again when we get off the trail and try to add pictures. Until then, ciao.