Lima, Lots of Bird Poop, & the Nazca Lines

I’ve already discussed the food and a brief introduction to Peru in the last blog, so I’m just going to jump right in.

A few highlights of my time in Peru… part 1:

Lima:

My tour of Peru both started and ended in Lima.  I had about two and a half days in the beginning and one day at the end, which I think was sufficient to see the main sights and do some souvenir shopping.  Lima is an interesting city.  Much of the city is big, poor, and dangerous for tourists.  Traffic is terrible and mass transit is useless.  But the hub of tourism – the Miraflores neighbourhood – is swanky swanky swanky.  It feels like a scene right out of the nice parts of Miami.  Perfectly safe to walk around even at night, my accommodation and most of my meals were located in Miraflores and the adjacent neighbourhoods.

I visited the historical centre of the city, exploring the catacombs beneath the Monasterio de San Francisco and Lima’s cathedral, where the remains of Francisco Pizarro are buried.  Pizarro was the Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca empire.  He had been buried there for ages, but in 1977 another set of bones was found during excavations and DNA testing proved that the newly found bones were actually Pizarro’s bones.  The bones were switched out.  Not at all a hot mess…

Lima doesn’t disappoint in the museum arena.  The Museo de Arte de Lima (oddly shortened to MALI) houses a great and not-too-overwhelming collection of mostly older artifacts and artworks spanning the history of Peru.  Further away from the centre of the city, the Museo Larco  is a massive private collection of artifacts of the ancient cultures of Peru.  The main draw:  the Erotic Gallery, featuring all sorts of sculptures, vessels, and more depicting penises, vaginas, and all sorts of sexual acts.  The ancient Peruvians – Inca, Nazca, and the rest – were a kinky peoples.

The Circuito Magico de Agua is an awesome fountain, music, and light show.  It cost 4 soles – less than $2 – and was by far the best fountain, music, and light show I’ve seen – even better than the one in glittering Dubai.  The Choco Museo – a chain of chocolate restaurants and shoppes (each with a small museum inside) around Latin America – has a location in Lima and we decided to finish off our travels with a chocolate making class.  Yummy!  And fatty!  Lima also had plenty of souvenir shopping, though I bought the majority of my souvenirs in Cuzco.  Details to follow.

Paracas:

A few hours south of Lima lies Paracas – a small coastal town with two claims to fame.  The first is a giant geoglyph in the shape of a Candelabra carved into a hillside in the desert just down the coast.  Archeologists are unsure of its origin, but many believe it is likely related to the Nazca Lines.  A bit further out are the Islas Ballestas.  Though uninhabited by humans, this island group is inhabited by any and every type of bird you can think of:  penguins, boobies, terns, cormorants, pelicans, seagulls, oystercatchers, vultures, and more.  The birds practically cover the islands like carpet.  With that many birds in the area and that many birds flying overhead, it felt like an Alfred Hitchcock movie.  I was also concerned about getting pooed on.  Speaking of poo, the island’s main industry is guano mining.  The bird shit builds up and up and up, and every few years humans come over and mine it for fertilizer.  We also saw sea lions and so much krill that parts of the water looked red.

The only other attraction in Paracas is an odd “museum” that we went to.  Our group entered an elevator with seats in it, which then took us up and down showing us various dioramas of life in the area.  The entrance is through a restaurant.  The whole thing is mind-blowingly odd.  I’m also unsure of just how safe it is…

Ica:

Our group stopped in the town of Ica on the way from Paracas to Nazca.  There, we visited a Pisco winery – a type of brandy made by distilling wine.  We did a sampling and then realized that we hadn’t had lunch yet.  Who’s ready to party?  Not far down the road is the Huacachina Oasis – an actual oasis in the desert.  These things actually exist!  Who knew???  Giant sand dunes surround the whole area, but this little spot has a lake and lush vegetation all around it.  It is quite built-up with tourist accommodation and restaurants and adventure sports like sandboarding.  I decided to just have lunch and watch the topless men try to walk the tightrope that was installed over the lake.

Nazca:

Home of the famous Nazca Lines, this is definitely the most mysterious site that I’ve visited on my gap year.  Giant lines and figures are carved into the desert and they weren’t discovered until the 1960’s when someone took the first flight over the area.  They are believed to have been carved by the ancient Nazca people (before the Incas) as a way to appease the gods during a great drought which brought the downfall of their civilization.  There are plenty of straight lines carved into the earth as well as a series of trapezoids.  But more elaborate figures are the showstoppers here:  a whale, monkey, spiral, dog, hummingbird, condor, spider, parrot, heron, and more.  There’s even an astronaut!  Well, it’s not quite an astronaut but it sort of looks like an astronaut so that’s how it’s called these days.  Carvings of a tree and a pair of hands are visible from a viewing platform, but the rest are only visible from the air on scenic flights.  We had a tiny 8 seater plane and just like my tiny sightseeing plane in Botswana, I was moments away from spewing uncontrollably.  The plane rotated almost 90 degrees to the left to give that side a good view, and then 90 degrees to the right to give the other side a good view.  And that happened for every geoglyph that we saw.  I’m getting too old for this shit.

The Nazca people are famous for more than just the Nazca Lines, though the lines do steal the show.  Our group visited a pottery workshop where old Nazca pottery is restored for museums, and new pottery is made for tourists.  Just like in the gallery in Lima, there was plenty of erotic pottery on display for tourists to buy.  More impressive was the Chauchilla Cemetery which features a remarkable collection of mummies from the Nazca era.  Grave robbers took a lot of the relics in the past, but guards now protect the site and plenty of remains are still on display.  Finally, Cahuachi is believed to be the most important Nazca site and was only discovered relatively recently.  The pyramids at the site are currently being excavated.  It was interesting to see how similar styles stretched down to South America from ancient Mexico and Central America, but to be honest, these aren’t nearly as impressive as the Aztec pyramids at Teotihuacan.

My tour of Peru continued from Nazca up into the highlands of the Andes, starting with Peru’s second largest city and onto the world’s most hilariously named lake.  You can guess it.  More about those locations in the next installment.  But first, let me take a selfie.

With Denise and Lenora at our chocolate-making class!

To see more photos of my time in Lima, follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100421835200701.1073741928.3000370&type=1&l=2002f2e270

To see more photos of my time in Paracas, Ica, and Nazca, follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100422481834841.1073741929.3000370&type=1&l=c83400d2d4

Intro to Peru, Peruvian Cuisine, & an Alcoholic Drag Queen

The final new country of my gap year: Peru.  The fabulous Lenora – my eternal friend and regular travel companion – again joined me for this leg of the tour.  Peru is unlike many of the other Latin American countries I had visited in that it has a high percentage of indigenous people.  While a few other countries have higher, I mainly stayed in the capital cities in those places so I didn’t get to see as much indigenous culture as I would have liked.  Being at the end of my time in Latin America, my Spanish was getting pretty decent, and I was surprised to find that it was almost useless in some places in Peru where the local Quechua and Aymara languages are much more common.

Despite having a similar amount of time as in Colombia and in Chile, I feel like I saw a LOT more of Peru, mainly because I was on an organized tour which whisked me, Lenora, and seven other random travellers around the southern half of the country.  We started along the coast in Lima before moving into the desert, the snowy Andes, and the Amazon rainforest.  Every day was something new.  The elevation in parts of the country was ridiculous – more so than in Colombia or Ecuador – and I had to actively fight off altitude sickness by staying super hydrated, drinking coca tea, and mostly abstaining from alcohol.

Also, Peru wins the award for worst driving in Latin America.  It wasn’t as bad as most of Asia, but it could give a few of those countries a run for their money.

I usually finish off blogs for any particular country with a talk about the food, but I’m defying the trend here and starting with the good stuff.  Mainly because the one question I keep getting asked is: “Did you eat guinea pig???”

The answer:  Yes, yes I did.  Come on – I’ve eaten worms and ants on this trip so why say no to guinea pig?  Cuy asado (roasted guinea pig) is a popular dish so I had to try it once.  Luckily, one was ordered for our whole group to share so I didn’t have to eat a whole one (or pay for a whole one) by myself.  It came out whole just like I expected and it looked gross just like I expected.  I got a leg piece.  I could see its tiny little foot with its tiny little claws on my plate.  I had a few bites, but there wasn’t too much meat on it.  Maybe it tasted like chicken, but I’m not entirely sure.  It’s hard to determine the taste when you know exactly what you’re eating.

Alpaca is another common meat for tourists to try.  And only tourists.  Locals don’t eat alpaca.  It’s sort of like Fosters in Australia:  nobody knows where to even get it but tourists manage to find it, drink it, and think it’s cool.  Anyway, I had alpaca meat cooked a variety of ways.  Some of the more interesting meals I had were alpaca ravioli, alpaca meatball pizza, and – the best – an alpaca burger.

Breaking away from the weird animals, a lot of the meals I had were pretty basic and pretty similar to other Latin American foods, mainly consisting of grilled chicken with rice or French fries.  While there are some very typical Peruvian foods, the locals (especially those outside the cities) really only have access to the basics.  We made fried bread during our homestay at Lake Titicaca.  It was sort of like a sopapilla.  Aside from this bread, the other bread we had almost everywhere around the country wasn’t all that great.  Another great thing we had in the homestay was fried cheese.  It was almost like haloumi and when I asked what type of cheese it was, I was told it was just “fried cheese”.  I’m ok with that.  Rice is common, and quinoa is a very popular grain as well, often cooked into a soup.  They eat lots of vegetables, and lots of corn.  There are dozens of types of corn available.  If you think that seems excessive then let me share this bit of information with you:  Potatoes.  Lots of potatoes.  There are something like 4,000 types of potatoes grown in the Andes of Peru.  FOUR THOUSAND.  So, basically, in summation:  fuck you, Idaho.

Potato is the main ingredient in the causa – a big chunk of peeled, cooked potato with toppings like chicken and vegetables.  I think this is their equivalent to the baked potato in the USA, but obviously without all of the butter and cheese and bacon and other things that transform a somewhat basic and healthy food into an artery-clogging masterpiece.

Trout is a common fish in the country and is abundant thanks to it being introduced into Lake Titicaca.  I tried my first ceviche in Peru.  Most ceviche includes shellfish which is a no no for me, but trout ceviche is quite common and Phill-approved.

My absolute favourite dish in Peru is aji de gallina.  I had my fist aji de gallina in Santiago, Chile (Peruvian food is super popular in Chile) and I thought I was going to die from how heavy the dish was.  It’s a chicken dish served with huancaina sauca, a spicy, creamy, thick yellow sauce, over rice.  Some of the fancier tourist restaurants play with the recipe and make it into a fusion dish, such as aji de gallina ravioli, but the traditional aji de gallina is delicious without the gimmicks.  The aji de gallina in Peru didn’t seem as heavy as in Chile, which means that either it was cooked more authentically or I was just getting used to it.

Every meal deserves a drink, and I had a few good ones.  Inca Kola is a popular soda, but it is too sweet for me (how old am I???)  It sort of reminds me of a mix of bubble gum flavour and Mountain Dew.  Mate Inca is a tea that helps with altitude sickness, as is coca tea – made from the same leaves that are processed to make cocaine.  Apparently I’ll probably fail a drug test now that I had a lot of the tea, but it doesn’t have any effect like cocaine when you chew the leaves, drink the tea, suck on the coca-infused candies, or eat the coca-infused biscuits and chocolates.  Pisco Sour is a common cocktail made from pisco – a brandy made by distilling wine.  Every city seems to have its own beer, but I had only two of them during my time in Peru:  the Arequipeña (from Arequipa) and Cusqueño (from Cusco).  Very creative naming.  Finally, my favourite is chicha morada, which aside from being a fermented purple corn drink, would also be a great name for a drag queen.  And just like the drag queen, the chicha morada drink can be alcoholic or not.

For fruits, I tried a granadilla which is reminiscent of a passionfruit but sort of looks like a cross between a red apple and an orange and a coconut.  Or something like that.  Lucuma is a popular tropical fruit that tastes like caramel and therefore I only consumed it in milkshake and ice cream form.  And speaking of dessert, I have two words for you:  queso helado.  It translates to “cheese ice cream” but it was not cheese ice cream.  It’s only called that because it looks like cream cheese.  It is actually flavoured with honey and cinnamon and happiness and is a specialty of Arequipa.

Finally, it wasn’t all about Peruvian food, but it sort of was.  Peru has a large amount of both Chinese and Japanese immigrants and their cuisines have evolved and merged with Peruvian cuisine.  Chifa is the name for Chinese-Peruvian cuisine which consists of a lot of stir-fried noodles and rices.  I had a lot of this.  Nikkei is the Japanese-Peruvian cuisine but I had a ton of sushi in Chile and was sort of out of the mood for this in Peru.  Sad.  Of course I had Mexican food, which was decent in Lima, but everywhere else insisited on making tortilla chips out of wontons.  WTF?  Peruvians:  you are surrounded by dozens of types of corn and you make Mexican-style chips out of wontons?  Ugh.  I guess the Asian influence extends deeper into Peruvian cuisine than I thought.   Last (literally our last meal in Peru) but certainly not least:  CREPES & WAFFLES!  I had it in Panama and Colombia and Chile, and I got to go to Crepes & Waffles one last time in Peru.  I had my favourite Mexican chicken crepe and Colombian coconut lemonade, and got a sweet manjar blanco (Peru’s version of dulce de leche) waffle for dessert.  YESSSSSS!!!!

Ok, that’s all for the introduction and food.  Next up, details of my travels around Peru.  But first, let me take a selfie.

I took a selfie with a 5-month old alpaca named Mateo.  What cool things have you done with your life? That’s what I thought.

Links to more photos of my time in Peru will follow in the next blogs.

Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

I don’t even know where to start.  Every time I blog, I first go through all my notes and pictures and make an outline to help me draft my entry.  Of all of the blogs I’ve written on this trip, this outline is by far the longest.  Funny enough, the place I’m writing about is the tiniest of the places on my gap year.  So, I’m just going to get into it.  There’s a lot to cover.

Easter Island – famous for its large statues called “moai” sitting on their platforms called “ahu” – is known as Isle de Pascua in Spanish and Rapa Nui in the local Polynesian language.  Rapa Nui is not, however, the original name for the island.  Its original name in the local language is actually a longer name that means “naval of the world”.

Rapa Nui is part of Chile, but it is anything but Chilean.  Not that Chilean is a bad thing, but Rapa Nui is just not Latin American in the least bit.  It’s Polynesian – just like Tahiti, New Zealand, and Hawaii.  Rapa Nui sits at the southeastern corner of the Polynesian Triangle that spreads across the Pacific Ocean and is considered a part of Oceania rather than South America.  While its closest major landmass is indeed South America, it’s actually a six-hour flight from the nearest airport:  Santiago.  This makes the airport on Rapa Nui the world’s most remote.  The fact that Rapa Nui is part of Chile seems like an accident of history.  The island was first settled by a Polynesian king from a nearby island well over a thousand years ago.  I use the term “nearby” extremely loosely as the Polynesians were excellent seafarers and would have travelled at least two and a half thousand kilometres in wooden boats just to get here.  There’s even evidence that the Polynesians interacted with the Inca of Peru.  Whether the Inca travelled to Rapa Nui or the Rapa Nui people travelled to the Inca empire is unknown.

The Dutch were the first Europeans to discover the island in 1722.  It was Easter Sunday when they first set eyes on the landmass, so they named it Easter Island and that name has stuck.  The Dutch arrived to find the island in a bit of disarray.  Historians and anthropologists believe that the tiny island became overpopulated – possibly with as many as 15,000 or maybe even 25,000 inhabitants (there are currently only about 7,000 people there including seasonal workers).  This overpopulation led to competition for food, land, and other resources, which then led to intertribal war between the Rapa Nui people.  The Dutch explorers estimated that the population of the island was only 2,000 – 3,000 when they arrived.  As part of the war, the massive moai statues that surrounded the island were toppled down one by one during the conflict.  A passing French ship recorded the last standing moai – the largest – in 1838.  The island’s population was further decimated by a series of raids by Peruvians where they captured natives to be deported as slaves.

The English visited Easter Island, as did the Spanish, naming it San Cristobal Island.  Much of the island was privately owned by this time.  The island was annexed by Chile in 1888 and later leased to a British wool company which basically acted as the island’s government for many decades.  Chile came back into the picture in 1953.  The Rapa Nui people gained Chilean citizenship some time later and finally gained some level of autonomy as recently as 2010.  While economic dependence on Chile has quelled any push for independence, there are plenty of disputes between Rapa Nui and Chile, most notably those concerning land rights, tourism controls, and an influx of Chilean migrants.

Today, tourism is booming despite the cost and distance.  As mentioned before, all of the moai were toppled during the war, but many have now been raised and restored to their (almost) former glory.  The island has only one town – Hanga Roa – but I was easily able to venture outside the town and around the island in various different ways.  I did an organized tour one day, rented a bicycle another day, and rented a van with a group of people from my accommodation.

A few highlights of my time on Rapa Nui:

Camping hostel:

I stayed at a camping hostel.  It is a unique concept and executed very nicely.  I had my own little tent and there is very clean bathroom block and fully-equipped kitchen on the premises.  I also hung out mostly with some of the people that were on my flight (we all had shared transport from the airport).  There were six Chileans and one Peruvian and only one of them spoke a little English (but not too much).  It was good Spanish practice.  Hola Jean Carlos, Alexis, Elcira, Javier, y Lisette (y tus padres!)  Espero que ustedes estan leyendo este articulo con la ayuda de Google Translate!

Hanga Roa:

The little town has only a handful of attractions.  There are various maoi that have been restored within walking distance.  As the town is on the west side of the island, the coastal area where the moai are is a perfect place for watching sunset, which I did on three of my nights.  The pink and red colours were stunning.  The museum in town is exceptional and was a great starting point for my tour of the island.  It has a rare female moai on display, as well as excellent signage and displays on Polynesian culture (including something like a hangi dinner and many other similarities with New Zealand), geography, and wildlife (with several similar birds to the Galapagos).  The airport is right near town.  You may not know this but I’m an airplane and airport geek.  The runway was built long enough to be an emergency landing spot for the space shuttle and it was so eerie to see this long ass runway totally empty – not a plane in sight – after the daily flight came and went.  Also in town is a church and some fairly lacklustre souvenir markets.

Rano Raraku:

This archeological site was one of the first major sites I visited.  It’s actually a volcano and was the quarry where the giant moai were carved.  As the carving ceased during the war, the volcano exhibits many moai in different stages of construction – many still attached to the rock and not yet carved out of their initial spots.  This is the only place on the island where some moai were technically left standing – though they weren’t finished yet so it doesn’t quite count.  One of the moai that was a work in progress would have been the largest on the island had it been finished, coming in at 20.5 metres tall and likely weighing between 190 and 200 tonnes.  It is still attached to the volcano on its backside and was never lifted.  The inside of the crater features more moai being carved, which means they had to get these giant statues first out of the crater and then down to the coast.  How they did it back in the day is a guess, though many scientists have theories.

The site is also home to a seated moai.  The seated moai is super rare as there are only three.  Nobody knows if these are primitive moai or if these were more advanced at the end of the moai era just prior to the war.

Tongariki:

Quite possibly the most famous site on the island, Tongariki features fifteen restored, standing moai on one long ahu.  The tallest of the lot is 9 metres high and weighs 76 tonnes.  One of the moai even wears its topknot (possibly representing a hairstyle or hat).  The topknots are separate pieces that go on top of the heads and are carved out of a different volcanic rock.  The Japanese archeologists that restored the site did not want to put the topknots back on the moai as they had been badly eroded.  The local workers decided to take it upon themselves to use their big machinery after hours to reattach one of the topknots as they wanted to see what it would look like.  The archeologists discovered it the next morning and let it stay.

Aside from my organized tour here, I also went back super early the next morning with the hostel crew to watch sunrise over the giant statues.  It was here that I saw one of the most remarkable sights on the island:  a guy smoking weed while laying down and pitching a tent in his little shorts if you know what I mean.  Later, he began doing yoga, took off his shirt, and blasted music.  Terrible tourist.  But he was pretty hot.

Anakena:

This archeological site is actually on a gorgeous beach.  I went with my tour to learn about the history of the site.  The row of restored moai on the main ahu on the beach are the best preserved of any on the island because they were buried underneath the sand and thus protected from the elements.  They all still have their topknots and well-defined facial features.  Another moai further down the beach stands alone.  At 3 metres tall and 45 tonnes, the solo moai is shorter and wider than most of the others – leading experts to believe it is more primitive.  This moai is special because it was the first to be lifted back to a standing position in 1956.  Dubbed the “Norwegian experiment” (because it was led by a Norwegian team), it took 18 Rapa Nui men a total of 16 days to lift the statue without machinery.  It was an experiment – not a true restoration.  The first true restoration on the island was in 1960.

I also went back to Anakena beach the next day with my new friends to take a swim in the gorgeous Pacific waters and have lunch on the beach.

Te Pito Kura:

Another archeological site, Te Pito Kura hosts the tallest statue moved from the quarry – a 9.5 metre moai (12 metres if you include the topknot) weighing in at 88 tonnes.  It sits a distance of 7 km from the quarry.  How did these people move it?  This statue – being the tallest – was the one that was the last to be toppled during the war.  The site also includes the “magnetic rock”.  This large, smooth rock has a magnetic element and will mess with your compass.  Locals believe it has what they call “mana” – like a good life force – and that touching the rock can help you gain fertility or cure ailments.  Unfortunately, the rock has been walled off because some tourists are fuckwits.  I’m looking at you, aroused stoned topless yoga guy.  The local legend is that the first king brought the rock with him from his previous island, but scientists believe the rock is likely from Rapa Nui based on its composition.

Orongo:

The most unique site on the island consist, Orongo consists of a big ass volcano crater and ruins of the only religious ceremonial village on the island.  The village – built on the super steep volcanic rim – was built for the followers of the bird-man cult which dominated the island through the warfare time.  Part of the village ruins have been restored.  A small museum talks about the bird-man cult and the annual bird-man competition, were the Rapa Nui men would swim out to nearby islands and wait for migratory birds to lay their eggs.  The man who got the first egg won.  The islands are visible just offshore, though getting too close to the edge is scary given the 300 metre drop off from the rim of the volcano to the ocean below.

Other archeological sites:

I visited a few other sites on my organized tour and my day with the bicycle.  Akahanga is a site with a lot of toppled moai.  Vaihu also has toppled moai with scattered topknots and a circular ceremonial centre.  Vinapu features a wall built in the style of the Incas and provides some of the strongest evidence of encounters between these two ancient civilizations.

Pure sex:

Wait – did I just say “pure sex”?  I don’t know where that came from.  I meant to say “traditional dance show.”  Sorry.  On my first night, I went with my little group to the Kari Kari “Cultural Ballet”.  The show is sort of like the one I saw in the Maori village in New Zealand, and I imagine it’s not too far removed from a luau (I’ll get to Hawaii one day).  The only difference:  the Rapa Nui men are hot.  HOT.  FUCKING HOT.  Like, OMG HOT.  How have these men been kept a secret?  Now, I don’t recall the Maori in New Zealand being all that impressive, but that may be because a lot of them have rugby player builds and I’m just not into that.  But these men – these men were thin but toned.  They were sweating while they did their traditional dance.  Also, I saw balls.  BALLS!  Do you know why I saw balls?  Because these men were barely wearing anything at all.  No shirts.  No shorts.  Just little coverings on their man parts.  While some had underwear on underneath, at least one was freeballing under his little covering.  With all that dancing and all that flopping, the berries were bound to pop out to say hi.  I also saw buns.  Like, the back was a thong.  OMG.

One lucky bitch got pulled up from the audience and these gorgeous men all danced around her in a circle.  I hate her.  At the end, there were opportunities to take photos with the dancers.  Many of the men lined up to take pics with the lady dancers (yes, there were lady dancers in skimpy underwear and coconut bras but fuck if I was paying any attention to them…) and all the women were lining up to get pics with the male dancers.  I debated it, but it’s not as liberal as other places and I didn’t want to be that creepy gay guy.  In hindsight, fuck all that.  I should have done it.

All those men.  Polynesia has shot up my rankings.

Food:

Like everything else on the island, food is super expensive.  Unfortunately, that means I didn’t spring for one of the traditional Polynesian dinners which seem to be exclusively at the swankier places.  There are a handful of reasonably priced little restaurants on the island, and I did end up eating at the same few places more than once during my four days there.  The only real traditional food I ate was a poe – a banana brownie that has no chocolate.  It was good, but I was disappointed.  The guy said brownie so I was expecting at least some chocolate.  The poe can also be made with pumpkin or other fruit or vegetables… but not chocolate.  I also had a beer from the Mahina brewery which is local to Rapa Nui.

Transport:

I just want to say that my flights to and from Rapa Nui on LAN’s (Chile’s main airline) Boeing 787 Dreamliner were wonderful.  I had a window on the way in and got amazing views of the island on approach.  I also had the last row, which I chose because it was the only window seat available.  The last row was actually a 2-3-2 configuration rather than a 3-3-3.  I had a ton of extra legroom, a foot rest, more of a recline angle, room on the side of my seat where I could set my bag, and two tray tables (one on the chair in front of me and one in my armrest).  I could keep my laptop out during meal service.  The staff were super friendly in both English and Spanish and the food was pretty good too.  After that experience, I opted to choose the back row for the return leg too when I checked in.

I had originally thought that I wouldn’t need much time on Easter Island because it’s small and it’s basically just moai after moai of archeological sites, but there’s a lot I didn’t get to do:  a bunch of hiking, one whole side of the island, different beaches, and more.  Maybe I’ll go back one day or maybe I’ll opt to explore different Polynesian islands first.  Who knows.

After Easter Island, I headed back to Santiago for a few more days with Claudio before jetting off to my last new country of the gap year:  Peru.  But first, let me take a selfie.

To see more photos of my time in Easter Island, follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100414063140971.1073741927.3000370&type=1&l=56086734ec

Punta Arenas, Imported Ice, & Middle Chile

I took two proper side trips from Santiago while in Chile.  One of them – Easter Island – I booked months in advance because I really really really wanted to go.  Obviously.  The other, however, was a fairly last minute decision (as in, I think I booked flights about three or four days in advance).  Chile is a big country, and by big, I mean long.  LONGGG.  So there were many options in many different types of climates.  There was the desert up north at San Pedro de Atacama, but I figured I could more easily hit that up one day when I visit Bolivia, as it’s fairly close to the border.  There was Chiloe Island with its UNESCO-listed churches, but recent trouble in the local fishing industry has caused protests and a bit of upheaval, so I decided to skip that… for now.  Then, there was Punta Arenas.  At the bottom tip of Chile, in the beautiful region of Patagonia, lies this little city which is the gateway to some gorgeous national parks.  The only problem was:  the national parks – while technically do-able on day trips – are about a minimum 5 hour drive away – so better on overnight expeditions.  I only had 3 days to spare, so that wasn’t going to happen.  It was also verging on winter and not the best time of year to visit, though cheaper because it was pretty much the opposite of peak season.  Punta Arenas is known for its nearby penguin colonies, but those mostly clear out in March as the penguins migrate or feed or something. This was late May.  So, really not the best time to go.

But I went anyway.  Why?  Because I wanted to.  I’ve always wanted to travel to one of the Earth’s southernmost cities just to see what’s down there on the bottom.  Plus, I’ve discovered that I like the cold.  It’s nice and refreshing after being in so many disgusting hot climates on the trip.  Being late May, it was cold in Punta Arenas, but not snowy yet – so actually really lovely to walk around.  The city does have some sights itself and I did manage to swing one super cool day trip.  Overall, I am super pleased I went to Punta Arenas despite it being off season.  This was my Patagonia starter trip.  Next time I’ll definitely spend more time in both Chilean and Argentine Patagonia.

A few highlights of my time in Punta Arenas:

Museums:

Despite the city’s small size (roughly 127,000 people live there), it boasts quite a few good museums.  My favourite was the Museo Regional Salesiano Maggiorino Borgatello which is by far the largest and most comprehensive, both in name and contents.  It features displays on the history of Patagonia, stuffed local animals, and many other random relics of all aspects of Chilean and Patagonian culture.  I also really enjoyed the Naval Museum of Punta Arenas.  Here I learned about the country’s naval history (obviously) including much detail on the War of the Pacific (which Chile fought against Peru and Bolivia), lots of Antarctica stuff asserting Chile’s claim to part of it (they even have Antarctic ice on display in a glass freezer), and lots of historical information on Cape Horn (the southernmost part of the Americas which is surrounded by treacherous waters making it difficult and dangerous for passing ships).  Speaking of ships, the Nao Victoria Museum features a full-size replica of Ferdinand Magellan’s ship (the Nao Victoria) along with Darwin’s Beagle and the Ancud – the ship that claimed the region for Chile in 1843.  An excellent audio guide walks visitors through the ships and gives a plethora of history about the region, the boats, and the famed explorers.

Less interesting, but still interesting, was the Museo Regional de Magallanes which is housed inside the Braun-Menendez Mansion, which itself is an old Russian consulate.  The building is half museum, half preserved mansion, and is a great way to see how the rich and famous of Punta Arenas lived a hundred years ago.  The museum section is fine, but part of it was closed and I think the Museo Regional Salesiano does a better job.  Similarly, the Palacio Sara Braun is smaller and not as exciting as the Braun-Menendez Mansion, though the majority of the house has been turned into a swanky hotel and restaurant with only a handful of rooms still preserved as they were.

Finally, there was the Museo del Recuerdo which was quite possibly the worst museum of my gap year.  It’s basically a junkyard.  For real.  A big yard filled with old farming equipment which is supposed to be historical.  But not.  It also has a collection of old buildings on display but they are locked and not open to the public.  I walked 45 minutes to get there.  What a waste.

Monuments:

Punta Arenas is known for its monuments, and it has monuments for everything.  Monuments for firefighters.  Monuments for mermaids (I’m pretty sure).  A monument of a condor and one to the wind (seriously) and a monument to the discovery of oil and one that was a gift from Uruguay and several of famous people and one to the indigenous people (which is totally good).  And a big “monument to the act of possession” (when Chile claimed the region as its own).  That monument features mermen with abs and a dog and a goat (WTF?).  It’s the most bizarre thing, and the most ridiculous part about it is that it’s the largest of the monuments and features prominently on the coast.

The most famous monuments in the city are the monument to the shepherd and the moment to Ferdinand Magellan.  The monument to the shepherd is one of the city’s main attractions and sits in the median of a big road that isn’t quite in the centre of town.  It features a shepherd, his horse, his dog, and a herd of sheep.  It was constructed because sheep farming is a big industry in the area and this makes the monument super famous.  Right.  Ok.  The monument to Ferdinand Magellan sits in the middle of the city’s main square – the Plaza de Armas – and features not only Ferdinand Magellan (who discovered the Strait of Magellan on which the city sits) but also some indigenous persons, including an Ona person who has his leg hanging off the side of the monument.  Legend has it that if you kiss the toe of the Ona, you’re guaranteed to return to Punta Arenas one day.  I kissed the toe.  Gross, I know.  But I definitely want to come back one day!  I think it’s safe to say that the monument to Ferdinand Magellan is the most appropriate and monument-like monument in the city.

There was also the Cementerio Municipal which was very pretty and full of nice sculptures and memorials, but pales in comparison to the Cementerio de la Recoleta in Buenos Aires.

Pretty views:

The town has some pretty views.  I checked out the viewpoint Mirador Cerro de la Cruz to take in views of the city both in daytime and at night.  A walk along the waterfront was also nice, and I even hopped onto the beach to stand in the Strait of Magellan for a minute.

Fuerte Bulnes:

Fuerte Bulnes lies 60 kilometres south of Punta Arenas and just 30 kilometres north of the very southern tip of the American continent.  I took a day trip down to this historical site.  The original was built in 1843 and was Chile’s original settlement in Patagonia.  The site, however, had terrible weather and was abandoned and destroyed shortly after its founding.  Punta Arenas replaced it.  The current “Fuerte Bulnes” is a recreation of the original, complete with all wooden buildings based on historical records of the time.  Punta Santa Ana – just a short walk on a trail south of the site – is the furthest south I’ve ever been – and further south than most of you readers have ever been, unless you’ve been to Ushuaia, Argentina or on an Antarctic expedition.  Nearby, a lovely museum (including a café and gift shop) tells the story of the settlements, the strait, and the indigenous peoples.

In retrospect, Chile should have known that the site was crappy.  Just 2 kilometres away lies Puerto del Hambre (Port Famine), the original Spanish settlement in the region founded in 1584.  The 300-person strong settlement was visited by an English ship just 3 years later.  There was only 1 survivor.  Bad weather, freezing temperatures, lack of vegetation, and little fresh water spelled doom for the original Spanish settlers.  Hence the name:  Port Famine.

One more monument:

I thought some of Punta Arenas’ monuments were a bit silly, but then I saw the monument marking the middle of Chile.  Now, this blog is about Punta Arenas.  Which is at the bottom of Chile.  This monument was not in Punta Arenas.  It was further south – right near Fuerte Bulnes.  So, the “middle of Chile” is a mere 30 kilometres from the bottom of the American continent.  By that measure, the middle of the United States is at Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the middle of Australia is at Hobart, Tasmania.  Right.

Because Chile claims a huge chunk of Antarctica, the bottom of Chile (in their minds) is the South Pole.  The top of Chile is the border with Peru.  So the middle of Chile is the halfway point between the South Pole and the Peruvian border.  This just happens to sit near Fuerte Bulnes.

Come on, Chile.  You have it together in so many ways.  Stop being ridiculous.

Food:

The restaurant scene in Punta Arenas was… almost universally lacklustre.  I say “almost” because I did have a really good pizza and brownie sundae dinner at La Mesita Grande (which, quite comically, translates to “the big little table”).  I had a nice soup at a restaurant called La Luna, and there was a nice chocolate café in the middle of town (hot chocolate in super cold temperatures = WIN).  But everything else sort of sucked.  Basic sandwiches.  Bad coffees.  Only white bread.  Can I skip all meals until I get back to Santiago?

So, I visited Punta Arenas without visiting any national parks and I’ve managed to fill up 2.5 pages of blog.  I’ll stop now.  But first, let me take a selfie.

To see more photos of my time in Punta Arenas, follow this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100412603361381.1073741926.3000370&type=1&l=3096267137

Gap Year Q4 Summary

I’m still technically traveling so I won’t do a full year recap yet, but the little gnomes that compute my statistics have been hard at work on Q4!  And yes, I’m behind on the blog as usual.  There will be more blogs on Chile and Peru (and even Seattle!) coming up!

Total time spent:  91 days and 91 nights

Start:  Afternoon of Wednesday, April 13 at Quito Airport

End:  Afternoon of Wednesday, July 13 at Seattle Airport

Continents visited:  3

1.  South America:  81.7%

2.  North America:  12.4%

3.  Oceania:  4.4%

In transit between continents:  1.5%

Regions visited:  4

1.  South America:  81.7%

2.  North America:  7.9%

3.  Central America:  4.5%

4.  Polynesia:  4.4%

In transit between regions:  1.5%

Countries visited:  8

1.  Chile:  24.58 days / 25 nights  (27.2%)

2.  Peru:  22.33 days / 22 nights  (24.4%)

3.  Colombia:  21.67 days / 22 nights  (23.9%)

4.  United States:  7.33 days / 7 nights  (7.9%)

5.  Panama:  4.08 days / 4 nights  (4.5%)

6.  Argentina:  3.75 days / 4.5 nights  (4.4%)

7.  Paraguay:  2.75 days / 3 nights  (3.1%)

8.  Uruguay:  2.00 days / 2 nights  (2.2%)

In transit between countries:  2.5 days / 1.5 nights  (2.4%)

And just for fun – time spent in countries that drive on the:

1.  Left side of the road:  0%

2.  Right side of the road:  100%

Border crossings:  10

-  8 border crossings by air

-  2 border crossings by ferry (Argentina to Uruguay and back)

Airports visited:  16 (up from 10, 13, and 15 in Q1, Q2, and Q3, respectively)

Panama City, Cartagena, Medellin, Armenia, Bogota, Buenos Aires (Ezeiza), Buenos Aires (Aeroparque), Asuncion, Santiago, Punta Arenas, Easter Island, Lima, Cusco, Puerto Maldonado, Fort Lauderdale, Seattle

*My flight from Punta Arenas to Santiago also landed to pick up and drop off passengers in Puerto Montt, but I didn’t get off the plane so it doesn’t count.

Airlines flown:  7 (compared to 5, 6, and 9 in Q1, Q2, and Q3, respectively)

Copa, Avianca, Aerolineas Argentinas, Sky, LATAM (formerly LAN), JetBlue, Alaska

Accommodation:

1.  Friends & family:  27 nights  (29.7% - Santiago, Asuncion, USA)

2.  Airbnb:  17 nights  (18.7% - Colombia)

3.  Hotels:  13 nights  (14.3% - Peru as part of a tour group)

Other types of accommodation:  hostels (11 nights in Panama City, Cartagena, and Montevideo), guesthouses (10 nights in Buenos Aires, Punta Arenas, and Lima), camping (7 nights on Easter Island and the Inca Trail), lodge (2 nights in the Amazon jungle), homestay (1 awkward night near Lake Titicaca), and in transit (including 1.5 nights in airplanes, 1 night on a bus, and 0.5 nights in an airport.

Bathroom situation:

1.  Private bathroom:  49 nights  (54%)

2.  Shared bathroom:  42 nights  (46%)

And now, for some less statistical lists…

Top 7 Experiences (in chronological order):

I know I did a Top 6 for the first three quarters, but I just can’t narrow down the best for Q4.  So I’m adding one to the list.  And besides, this makes it Top 25 for the year instead of a random Top 24.  So yeah.

1.  Colombian wedding – I met Martha & Thiago in Namibia last July and they invited me to their big straight wedding!  The food was delicious, the dancing fun, and their friends and family were so nice.  I was so pleased that I was in the right region at the right time!

2.  Buenos Aires – I’ve already gushed about it, but I fucking loved exploring Buenos Aires.  It’s a gorgeous city and I can’t wait to get back to explore more!

3.  Santiago’s museums – Santiago had the best museums in Latin America.  As a nerd, I was in my happy place.  Thank you, Chile!

4.  Punta Arenas – Near the bottom of the planet lies this little city.  It was cold and refreshing, and it was so pretty – I felt like I was in Scandinavia.  I will return one day – I even kissed the toe of a statue to ensure that!

5.  Rapa Nui – Easter Island was interesting, friendly, and beautiful.  There was history, scenery, and a great swimming beach.  Bring on more Polynesia!

6.  Inca Trail – I was a bit nervous about this rough four-day hike, but I did just fine and enjoyed actually exercising and feeling healthy-ish for the first time in ages.  It was also the best way to get to Machu Picchu.  I felt like I really earned my visit at the sacred Inca site!

7.  Seattle – I hadn’t been back to Seattle in four years so I was long overdue to visit my old home city.  It was just so nice to see all of my old friends again, and my good mate Elcid (from Australia) even came to meet me there for the week!  We ate at all of my favourite restaurants, had a trivia team reunion, and took advantage of some new laws that had been passed since my last visit…

Bottom 5 Experiences (in chronological order):

7 tops but only 5 bottoms.  Something isn’t right here.  Or is it?

1.  Ridiculous heat – Just like in parts of Asia, the heat in Panama City and Cartagena was ridiculous.  I could have melted at any given moment.

2.  Bus ride between Medellin and Salento – Despite the driving being fine, the road being smooth, and the trip being not entirely too long, the curvy road made me come close to vomiting.  Fun.

3.  I lost something – I hardly ever lose anything of mine. I had lost a snorkel in the Galapagos and had to pay $40 to replace it, but it wasn’t mine, and I didn’t forget it – it just wasn’t tied to my backpack tight enough.  While changing money at the Bogota Airport, I set down the bag with my green ceramic elephant souvenir that I bought in a market in Armenia, Colombia… and forgot to pick it back up.  I was already through security when I realized my mistake, and the dude on the walkie talkie said it wasn’t there anymore.  I was so mad at myself!  Luckily the elephant was only 30,000 Colombian pesos, which is roughly US$10, so it wasn’t a huge deal, but I was more upset that I actually lost something.

4.  Paraguay’s visa fee – US$135 to enter Paraguay and they didn’t even provide any decent tourist attractions.  Bah, humbug!

5.  Lake Titicaca homestay – Our homestay on Lake Titicaca was just awkward.  No, I don’t want to herd sheep and it’s hard making small talk when the family speaks no English and barely speaks any Spanish (they spoke the native Aymara language).  I also want a flushing toilet.  Sigh.

With the exception of the lost elephant which I was really kicking myself about, there were no major mishaps in Q4.  Woohoo!

Top 3 Places I Could Live (in preferential order):

1.  Seattle – I spent the last week of the official year in Seattle with friends, and I had forgotten how much I love the city.  I just wish it was a few miles north in Canada instead of the USA.

2.  Buenos Aires – I’ve already gushed about how much I love Bs As.  I want to move there.  One day, when my Spanish is better…

3.  Santiago – I LOVE LOVE LOVE Santiago, but it’s in third place because of the constant threat of earthquakes and, more importantly, the air quality.  I would constantly be sick with allergies.

Top 3 Places to Visit Again (in preferential order):

1.  Buenos Aires – 3.5 days was not enough.  Not nearly enough.  Take me back for more!

2.  Patagonia – Punta Arenas was a starter, but I really want to go to the national parks in the region, and go when I can see penguins!  The next South America trip is going to be heavy on Patagonia.

3.  Polynesia – Rapa Nui (Easter Island) was fascinating and I can’t wait to see what the other islands of the region hold.  Anyone want to go to Tahiti?  Cook Islands?  Samoa?

Top 3 Accommodations (in preferential order):

1.  Colombian Airbnbs (Colombia) – Yes, I’m cheating here, but I had 4 Airbnb accommodations in Colombia and I loved them all.  They weren’t badly priced either.  Good work, Colombia!

2.  Lina’s Tango Guesthouse (Buenos Aires) – This cute little guesthouse in the San Telmo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires was exactly that… cute!  The owner was a doll too!

3.  Camping Tipanie Moana (Rapa Nui) – This place is a camping hostel – a cool concept.  The tents were nice, the staff helpful, and the bathrooms clean.  It wasn’t loud, but it was social and I made some friends to hang out and practice my Spanish with!

Just like in Q3, I stayed in a few friends’ homes in Q4.  They were obviously my favourite accommodation (not only because they were free!) so I’m not including them in this list.

Q4 makes this one year!  Gap year over!  But I don’t have a job yet… so I’m still traveling, albeit domestically in the USA.  Maybe I’ll go somewhere else new too?  I have no idea.  What I do know is that I wouldn’t mind a Q5 of the gap year, though I really ought to get back to reality.  I’ll get my CV out there soon, but first, let me take a selfie.

With the “Bienvenidos a Panama” sign in the background, this was the first selfie taken of Q4 – right when I arrived at Panama City airport.  Instead of taking an expensive taxi, I figured out the unmarked path to the main road to take a cheapo bus.

Chicken Sushi & Other Chilean Delicacies

No location is complete unless I discuss the food, and with 3.5 weeks in Chile, I had plenty of time to sample the goods.  Let’s be honest, the only real reason you are reading this blog is for the nitty gritty on the grub.  And by “you”, I mean you, Jenny.

A few highlights of my food in Santiago and the rest of Chile:

Restaurants:

One of my 103 Things is a restaurant called La Piojera.  Once a hot spot for diplomats and the rich and famous, today the restaurant is filled with businessmen entertaining out-of-town visitors and… tacky tourists like me!  The small traditional menu left me with limited options (damn you, pork!) but I settled on a cazuela – a traditional Chilean beef soup.  Delicious!

I also ate at El Pollo Caballo, a restaurant which serves traditional type chicken dishes.  The name translates to “the chicken horse” and its logo is a rooster riding a horse.  This is the main reason I asked Claudio to take me here.  I’m a sucker for a horse cock!  Elsewhere in the world of restaurants, I ate at Crepes & Waffles about a dozen times over my two weeks in Santiago.  I also walked into the first Wendy’s in Chile only to find that they didn’t have the Frosty dairy dessert.  Fuck you, Wendy’s in Chile.  I walked out.

Drinks:

For any of you wine drinkers out there, you know that Chile is famous for its wine.  Claudio took me on a day trip to Viña Cousiño-Macul – a winery close enough to the city to take the metro and a five minute Uber ride.  We toured the winery and sampled a few of their products before purchasing quite a few bottles to bring back to his house.  For more traditional drinks, I ordered a mote con huesillo which is a peach drink with some sort of husked wheat or barley or sweet corn in it.  I don’t know exactly what was in the cup, but I scarfed it down with my spoon and drank what was left of the peach.  A terremoto – which translates to “earthquake” in Spanish – is cheap ass wine fortified with hard liquor and topped with sorbet.  They called it the terremoto because it feels like the earth is shaking after you drink one.  For champions, another drink which translates to “aftershock” is available after finishing the terremoto.  I was not a champion.  Speaking of alcohol, pisco is a super popular liquor in Chile.  Much like the pavlova dispute between Australia and New Zealand, Chile constantly fights with Peru about where pisco is from.  Peruvians claim that it’s from Pisco, a city in Peru, which makes sense.  But Peru stops making sense when they ban Chilean pisco from entering the country.  Come on… get over it.

While terremotos and pisco sours are nice, I need a coffee in the morning.  I found a few decent cafes in Santiago which served coffee that was good, but not quite as good as in Australia.  Starbucks, however, was advertising and pushing hard the flat whites, a very Australian thing to do.  For those Americans reading this, a flat white is sort of like a latte but different.  It’s an Australian invention and they’ve launched it globally and every Starbucks in Chile had a big sign that said “Que es un Flat White?” (“What is a Flat White?”)  I am super pleased that Australia is taking over the world.  Speaking of Australia taking over the world, Boost was also present in Chile!  Again, for the Americans reading this, Boost is basically the Australian version of Jamba Juice.  I was super stoked to see Boost, but super disappointed that they didn’t have my favourite drink:  the Green Tea Mango Mantra.  Bah, humbug!

A local soda named “Pap” made me giggle for a while.  It’s papaya flavoured soda.

On a side note, my favourite drink discovery while in Latin America was the Vanilla Rooibus tea from Starbucks.  It was all over Latin America but it’s not at Starbucks in the USA.  WTF, Starbucks???

Dessert:

Yes, I had dessert.  Because I fucking love dessert.  And that dessert took the form of ice cream from two places in Santiago:  the super famous Emporio La Rosa and the less famous Heladeria Mo.  I liked them both equally.  Emporio La Rosa claims that they are one of the 25 best ice creams in the world.  I’m not sure where that comes from, but their ice cream was super delicious.  Heladeria Mo was also super delicious and I think their variety of flavours was superior to Emporio La Rosa.

Chilean food:

In addition to the cazuela, my Chilean food staple was empanadas.  Lots of empanadas.  Empanadas are found all over Latin America but they originate in Chile.  And I could eat them all day long.  Seriously.  I also had a homemade sopapilla made my Claudio’s mum.  Yummy!  And that’s about all I can think of when I think of super traditional Chilean foods.  And the reason for that is…

International food:

Santiago has a ton of international food.  It’s a big city and it’s pretty cosmopolitan so this fact shouldn’t come as a surprise.  I had Mexican food in Santiago (surprise!) and Chinese food.  I had plenty of pizza and Italian food, went to a vegetarian restaurant, and devoured a handful of churros.  But I mainly stuck to the most popular Chilean foods, which are Peruvian food and sushi.  Let me explain.

Peruvian food:

Ok, so the USA has Mexican food.  Australia has Thai food.  And Britain has Indian food.  Chile is greedy and they’ve adopted two types of cuisine as their own:  Peruvian food and sushi.  Everywhere you go, you’ll see Peruvian food.  And sushi.  Not in the same restaurants, of course.  Peruvian food is ubiquitous.  It’s hard to walk a block without stumbling on a Peruvian restaurant.  They are everywhere!  And this is fine.  Peruvian food isn’t too spicy which sits well with Chileans.  Peru is also next door so there are quite a few Peruvians in Chile to cook their cuisine.  I didn’t complain, though I only had Peruvian food once because I was heading to Peru next and figured I should save the Peruvian food for when I’m actually in Peru.

Chilean chicken sushi:

Sushi, on the other hand, was put into my mouth a hell of a lot of times.  Like, a lot a lot.  Mainly because there weren’t too many restaurants around near where I was staying except for a decent sushi joint.  Like Peruvian food, sushi is everywhere in Santiago… and Chile in general.  It’s not Japanese quality, but it’s still pretty good.  The funny thing is that the most common type of sushi that I saw was chicken sushi.

I know that’s weird, but let me explain.

Once upon a time, there was a problem with the fish around the coast of Chile.  I think there was algae or something that the salmon were eating and therefore made them unfit for human consumption.  Or something like that.  So, faced with a lack of salmon, and with tuna being very expensive in Chile, sushi restaurants began to substitute with chicken – cooked chicken of course (because only in Japan can people get away with eating raw chicken and not die).  People apparently liked the chicken sushi and it stuck.  Also in Chilean sushi are rolls are that lightly cooked.  They bread the outside of the roll and lightly cook it.  I don’t think it’s fried because it wasn’t oily or greasy at all, but they somehow cook it and make it warm and a wee bit crispy on the outside.  Who knew?

I like Chilean sushi.  A+ for taking a cuisine and making it your own without totally destroying it.  I’m looking at you, Cuban pizza.

Ok, now that I’ve talked about the food, I can get back to our regularly scheduled programming.  I visited two more locations in Chile:  Punta Arenas and Easter Island.  Those blogs are coming right up.  I don’t have a selfie of me eating Chilean food (because my hands are always full of food and not my phone or camera) so this will have to do.

To see more photos of my food in Santiago, see my other Chilean albums.  I didn’t have enough to make a complete album.  Santiago food was super good, but let’s be honest:  it was no Mexico City.  Nowhere is.

Santiago Side Trips & 1 Dodgy Poet

I’m devoting a whole separate blog to Santiago side trips because I didn’t have room in my Santiago blog for them.  That’s piss poor editing on my part.  This is a short one, so enjoy.

A few highlights of my time just outside Santiago:

Pomaire:

This little town is a short drive from Santiago. It’s known for its pottery, which mainly consists of lots of ceramic pigs.  It’s also known as the world record holder for largest empanada ever.  This fact was far more exciting than ceramic pigs.  While I didn’t have the world’s largest empanada while I was there, I’m certain I could work magic on it.

Valparaiso:

Valparaiso is a port city about 1.5 hours away from Santiago and the second largest metropolitan area in the country (after Santiago).  Once an important stopover for ships after they passed around Cape Horn or through the Strait of Magellan, Valparaiso went into decline when the Panama Canal opened.  But the city found a bit of a renaissance when its historical centre was named a UNESCO World Heritage site and tourists began flocking to see it.  I took a free walking tour which gave an excellent history of the city.  The colourful houses that fill the historic centre of the city were painted with leftover paint from fishing boats.  Boat owners painted their boats bright colours to help avoid accidents in the area’s thick fog.  The homes are mainly constructed of corrugated metal leftover from cargo containers.  The containers were filled with rubbish and used to balance ships passing around the treacherous waters of Cape Horn.  They were then dumped in Valparaiso and the locals took advantage of the free materials.  Valparaiso is also home to lots of street art, the oldest Protestant church in Latin America, and the oldest Protestant church in Latin America that was allowed to have a cross on it (before that, only the Catholics could advertise their churches).

While in Valparaiso, my friends and I visited La Sebastiana – the Valparaiso home of Pablo Neruda.  I mentioned in my last blog that Pablo Neruda – the famed Chilean Nobel Prize-winning poet – also had a home that I visited in Santiago.  In fact, he had three homes.  During my visit to two of these three homes, I began to question just how good Mr. Neruda actually was.  He was a communist and was a friend of communist president Salvador Allende, but Allende’s work during his time in office included taking homes from the rich that were deemed unnecessary or too big.  Yet, Neruda was allowed to keep his three homes.  Interesting.  It left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth as I put two and two together.  Aside from this, his house in Valparaiso was gorgeous.  It was nautical themed due to the poet’s love for the ocean and had sweeping views of the city and the coast beyond.

Viña del Mar:

Adjacent to Valparaiso lies Viña del Mar.  While Valparaiso is a bit gritty in places, Viña del Mar is an upscale, more residential city.  It’s beaches, promenades, and restaurants were reminiscent of Miami.

And that’s all.  See, I told you this was a short blog.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll start drafting a much more important blog:  one about Chilean food.  But first, let me take a selfie.

To see more photos of my time in Pomaire, Valparaiso, and Viña del Mar, see my Santiago photos linked from the last blog.