ONLY HE THAT HAS TRAVELED THE ROAD KNOWS WHERE THE HOLES ARE DEEP (Chinese proverb)

There we are. Santiago, capital of Chile,where the gap in the ozone layer is the most apparent. It doesn´t offer that much, so I am taking my time to write. We are staying at a friend of a friends´house and that is quite relaxing, for a change. It was about 40 hours to get here by bus from La Paz (with a few stopovers in the middle, like a visit to an observatory. Chile has plenty of desert and many observatories, the biggest in the world even, where my friend Jaron is currently working!)

La Paz is what it promised to be: chaotic. The capital of Bolivia, the highest in the world, is not a pretty town, but it is a pleasure to walk in. Half of it is an open air market and we wandered hours through the streets of it.

But first things first. After half a day of hearing the bus was surely going to come the next hour, we went to another town to catch it there. There we bought tickets for the 11 am bus the next day. It did of course arrive at 14:30. Luckily we were kept company by Tess and Anthony from Sheffield who had had the same crazy plan as us. In Santa Maria we had to catch the bus to Santa Teresa, which only came at 4 o´clock at night. Exhausted, but happy, we finally set off towards Machu Picchu. Three hours of walking in the mountains and 3 hours of following the train tracks (mainly looking down to step on the beams). We could feel we were already in the tropical rainforest; the weather was sticky and we were surrounded by palm trees. At arrival Sylvia and me did apparently not feel tired enough and we climbed a steep mountain. We almost reached the top after 1hour and 45 minutes, but we needed to turn back, as it would be too dangerous to return in the dark. A beautiful view, but no glance at the site from another angle...
The next day we got up at 5 to climb MP. It normally takes about an hour 15mins., but I was so tired and had not properly recovered from a nasty migraine a few days before, I could hardly climb the stairs and it took us many hours to arrive.
So...what is MP? It is the biggest site where Inca ruins were found. What makes it special is the spectacular view. It lies on a mountaintop, surrounded by high peaks. We stayed there all day and were the last to leave, seeing Lamas and vicuñas (by now we know they are not all lamas, there are also alpacas and vicuñas). We are still scared of their big teeth and their fame for spitting at people.

The way back went a lot faster...we just had to walk a few hours on the rails (Tessa and Anthony had given up by then and bought a train ticket) and after that we got a lift on the back of a truck.
Back in Cusco we tried out the nightlife. This part of tourism is fairly new to us. There are pubs and clubs that are just filled with tourists. As our days are long and active and the alarm clock going off at 6 is no exception anymore, we often don´t make it into the night..We had fun, but in all honesty going out with my mates in London is more enjoyable and the salsa level in Amsterdam is def. higher! This to my surprise, as all you ever hear in Peru is traditional love songs and salsa..

Oh and let me mention I had my stage debut in Peru. We went to a touristy folk dance show and I was (un) lucky enough to be picked out at the very end to dance with a guy. I am contemplating now whether to take this career further or not.

To conclude our stay in Peru we went to Lake Titicaca, the biggest in the world above 2000 meters. We visited the Islas Flotantes. 35 tiny islands, made of reed that grows in the lake. Also the small houses and boats are made of it as well. Overly touristy, but peculiar and springy.

The Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca was more beautiful and we spend time on the Isla del Sol with David and Petra, a Brazilian couple from Sao Paolo we had met on one of our long hikes and with whom we travelled to La Paz.

In short: of what we have seen of Bolivia and Peru was very beautiful. The food in Bolivia is better and the people are friendlier. Even when you are innocently playing with kids in the street in Peru they will ask for money and if you don´t give any, they´ll lose interest. Bargaining was always a necessity (I left that to Sylvia), as we were always charged double the regular price. It is not a nice feeling and at one point made me lose my temper (it did help). Having said that, it is ambiguous. We do have a lot more money to spend than they have. The prices are cheap. The kids are an important source of income.

Going from the poorest to the richest country in South America is interesting. It feels a lot like Europe here, in Chile. They also look like Europeans. We have been walking around in awe in the huge supermarkets with many different brands, enjoyed the fact you know hot water will come out of your shower and that toilet paper was a given.
Chileans don´t seem to be too loved by their neighbouring countries; The Argentineans we met called them ´cold´ (and the Chileans call them arrogant) and the Peruvians (our campaining friends told us) feel robbed by them. Apparently the Chileans more or less own the mines in Peru, but don´t pay taxes over it, Pisco sour is known as a Chilean drink, but in truth it is Peruvian and the train to Machu Picchu is owned by Chileans, who charge ridiculous prices for it. The village of Santa Teresa is putting money together to build a bridge, so they can break the monopoly and have their own bus going there, so they can earn some money on tourists as well..

My impression: so far Chileans have been charming with us!