I still can’t see myself living there. It’s too spread out, traffic is horrendous (1 hour backup getting into LAX at 11pm on a Friday) and its very status conscience. I still don’t like those parts of LA, but I started to discover some of the more laid back, interesting parts of the city.  As my friend Weber put it, “LA is a magical place that gets a bad rep in my opinion from a little bad traffic and a few fake people.”

This trip, I mostly stayed in Santa Monica, Venice and Marina de Rey, with a quick trip south to Long Beach and a day in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. I really enjoyed Santa Monica: its reasonably priced, has great restaurants and interesting places to go out. I went to the 3rd street promenade and had some creative food at Misfit. The highlights were a lobster slider with fresh tomato and a creamy aoli and a spicy chorizo mussel dish. Another big plus: most restaurants and bars have GREAT beer on tap. Much bigger variety than in other big cities I go to.

I spent new years in Marina del Rey at a friend’s beach house, then went out to a great bar with over 50 interesting beers on tap at decent prices. I went out in Santa Monica and found people to be more laid back than downtown or Hollywood, which is much more my style.  People seemed much more approachable and willing to just have fun.

On new years day, my parents took me whale watching. They’d gone on the same trip last year, but they only saw dolphins. This year, it was a beautiful sunny day and we headed out of Long Beach. We saw huge pods of dolphins as soon as we cleared the breakwater and were steaming out looking for grey whales. The captain sighted a grey whale off in the distance, but got a radio report that there were a group of killer whales five miles away. The passengers voted to go chasing them. 45 mins later, we found them.

We found a big pod including a mom and a young baby. It was incredible to see them up close, surfacing, coming close to the boat. The captain said he’d been doing these tours for 10 years and had only seen killer whales one other time in his life. I apparently have very good luck looking for animals: when I was in south Africa we saw the ONLY cheetah in the national park, and the ranger who was taking us out had never seen him before in his year-plus working there.

On Jan 2nd, I organized a pre Rose Bowl party for 25 friends and family outside the game. We set up shop around 945 in the golf course that’s just north of the stadium with thousands of other tailgaters. I really liked the setup, even though there were thousands of cars, they spread it out enough so that we each had our own spaces. The weather was perfect an it was great to see my friends from all over who I hadn’t seen in a really long.

We spend the day eating, drinking and playing games, then headed into the stadium. I ended up sitting in the Oregon section with two of my friends and although we were the only red people in our section, all of their fans were really nice to us. We had a lot of fun talking back and forth and besides for the final result, I couldn’t have asked for a better game. Just like last year, a few badger mistakes cost them the game. I’d love to see a Wisconsin-Oregon series again like from 2000-2001. We hung out in the golf course for a few hours after the game waiting for the traffic to clear; the weather was perfect.

Although the Badgers lost for the second year in a row, I’ve got a newfound appreciation for LA and am excited to check it out again sometime soon.

                          

We stopped our first night in Chillan, a medium sized town about four hours south of Santiago.  We didn’t see much since we were just staying over, but the town center looked really interesting.  The next morning, we got up early and started to drive south again.  After a few hours, we got off the main highway and drove toward a huge volcano, shrouded in clouds.  I hadn’t seen clouds many times since I’d been in Chile, so it was an interesting sight.

As we got closer, the weather started to get worse.  We drove through Villarica and it started to drizzle.  The clouds obscured the volcano.  We knew it was off season and that it might be rainy in Pucón, but we had hoped it would stay dry.  After a beautiful drive along the lake we got to Pucón, a small touristy town of about 25,000 people.  Since it was off season, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

People had told me that the food in the south was way better than in Santiago and I was not disappointed.  The food was amazing!  We started out by sharing grilled lamb and halfway through our meal, it started to pore.  It was cold out and none of us had any rain gear in the restaurant, so I ran back to the car to drive it around.

One problem.  The car didn’t start.  I had left the lights on.  We tried a push start, but couldn’t get it to work.  I asked a police officer if he could give me a jump, he said he didn’t have cables, but taxis did.  I asked a collectivo, he said he didn’t have any cables.  I talked to four different taxis, all of whom said they couldn’t help me.  I even offered to pay.  Finally, one taxi told me that if I bought cables he would help me.  Five minutes later, I had the cables, but he had driven away.  I walked back to the car, cables in hand and luckily a nice guy stopped and agreed to help out.  After about an hour, we were on our way.  Since the battery was dead, we had to drive around for awhile, which was alright because it was raining.  This would become a recurring theme.

We stayed the night in Pucón and walked around as the clouds started to clear.  We decided to take a walk on the beach.  Just before sunset, it started to drizzle.  Luckily, that meant we got to see a rainbow.  And not just any rainbow.  A double rainbow.

Later that night, we had another amazing meal. This time we split venison stew and a wild boar dish with veggies.  It was hearty, warm and filling.  Perfect for a cool and rainy night.  The next morning, it was raining again and we planned to take a drive toward Argentina, but when I tried to start the car, it was dead.  The guy at the hotel jumped us and we decided to drive around to other towns to charge it up again.  The weather started to clear in the afternoon and we drove through a bunch of small towns and ended up in Villarica, a less touristy town 20 miles from Pucón.  We stayed above an italian restaurant, walked around the city and ate some great fish at a small restaurant.

The next morning, the car started up like a charm and we took a drive toward the Argentina border.  We drove through a bunch of smalls towns and were pretty much the only tourists.  Each town was a a little different and the weather was perfect.  Curarrehue was a hidden gem.  We walked around, checked out the Mapuche museum and then walked into a bakery on the main plaza for a small snack.  We smelled something amazing and I asked what it was.  The baker, Elisa, brought out fresh baked meat empanadas and we decided we had to have some.  They were amazing, the best I’ve had in Chile.  After we finished, she came out with the fried version.  Amazing again.  Next, we tried some bakery and check out some local canned fruits and jams.  Everything was wild picked, nothing was farmed.  After a few minutes, she emerged from the kitchen with some amazing berry spread.  The baker had been invited to London and Dublin a few years back to make all of her food at the embassy and I can see why they picked her.

After we finished, we got back to the car and what do you know? Another dead battery.  I asked a guy at the only gas station in town and he said he couldn’t help me, but there was a mechanic just down the street.  As I walked up, all the workers and truckers stopped and just sort of stared.  I don’t think they were expecting a family of tourists.   The mechanic was out to lunch, so I went back up to the gas station and sat there until someone agreed to give me a jump again.  Thankfully, this was the last time we’d need our jumper cables.

We drove through the beautiful mountain valleys, past crystal clear lakes and shaded passes under the bright sunlight.  We came to little town called Huife and decided to turn around.  As we were driving back, I saw a sign for a restaurant that was advertising fresh trout, turkey and venison, so we had to stop.  We were the only people around, besides the waitress/cook and the food was amazing.  Rich, savory and fresh.  It was a great decision to stop.

We stayed another night in Pucón and the next day, the weather was really nice and went up the volcano.  It is a huge volcano that has a history of erupting, sometimes destroying the surrounding towns.  It was cloudy in Pucón, but we emerged from the clouds into bright sunlight about halfway up the volcano.  The clouds looked like icing on a cake, covering the valley.  We took a hike up the volcano and started when it was bright and sunny.  It was amazing to see the evidence of past lava flows and the destruction it wreaked on the vegetation. About an hour later, the pea soup had descended and we couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of our faces.  Luckily, the trail was very well marked.  The fog was eerie and outlined the trees perfectly.

The next morning, we drove back to Santiago, capping a great trip to the south.  Although the weather and car trouble were less than optimal, it was an outstanding trip.  I’m really glad my parents got a chance to visit and got to spend some time sharing where I’d been living for the past six months.  I really loved the area around Pucón.  The combination of lakes, mountains, lush green scenery and amazing food is pretty hard to beat.

                          

Tiago, Jake and the Machine

We took a 3.5 hour flight south to Punta Arenas and then a 4 hour bus to Puerto Natales.  Since we had some no planning and it was the low season, we needed up having to rent a jeep instead of taking the buses.  We stayed over in Puerto Natales then set out really early to get to the park.  We drove in on a wet, gray day and went past deep blue water and glacier carved landscapes.  We arrived at the edge of Lago Pehoé and took the catamaran across the incredibly smooth water.  The weather was warm, but rainy and the water was an amazing shade of light blue.

We arrived to the other side and checked into a refugio.  It was super nice, but seemed to be expensive, about $50 per night for a bed, but the location was unreal.  We walked down the path, through the rain down toward Galcier Grey.  Jake and I had to turn around, as it was getting dark, so we didn’t get a close up look at the glacier, but the walk was beautiful.  We got back and ate dinner in the warm lodge.

We slept in the next day and woke up to amazing weather.  It was a little cooler, but sunny and clear.  We took the ferry across the lake, got back in the jeep and drove across crappy roads toward the base of Torres del Paine.  The water was unlike any other color I’ve seen, except maybe in the Swiss Alps.

We set off up the path at about 215pm with the goal of walking about 1.5 hours, dropping off our bags at the refugio and then going another 2.5 hours to the top, then back 2 hours down.  After one hour, we realized that the refugio was closed for winter and that if we wanted to see the top, we’d have to go all the way up and down before about 8pm when it got dark.  A slight hitch in the plan, so we booked it and did a fast pace up and back down.  We knew we’d cut it close, but it was our last day so we were willing to push it.

The walk was beautiful.  A combo of the pacific northwest and the great smokey mountains, but bigger and more colorful.  It was fall, so the trees were red, orange and green.  We crossed glacial mountain streams on small wooden bridges and went up and down the small hills through the forrest.  We were moving fast and with our packs, so it was pretty tiring. The last hour was 300 meters up in about 1km.  It was super steep.  After struggling for a bit, I had to take my pack off and walk to the top.

We got to the top and saw the torres with a small glacier lake below.  It was a little cloudy, so we didnt see all of it at once, but it was completely worth it.  It was amazing to hear the water rushing down the mountain sides directly from the melting glaciers.  We hustled back down the valley as the light was beginning to fade.  We had to make sure we were mostly out off the trail by the time it got dark since we didn’t have any big lights with us.  The sun was setting over the valley and we were getting close to the bottom.  The moon rose and the stars were beautiful as we walked the last 20 minutes in the dark.  My body ached from the pace, the pack and generally being used to living in the city.

Patagonia is a beautiful special place.  I wish I had more time to explore and I would love to come back some day and see the rest of the park, Calafate, Bariloche and the rest of Chilean and Argentine Patagonia.  We drove back to Natales and ate a lamb grill while waiting for the bus.  The town is basically base camp with tons of coffee shops, restaurants and places to buy/rent gear.  It was a cool town, but we didn’t get to see much.  It was a quick trip to Patagonia, about as short as we could do it.  I really enjoyed going out of season, as the weather was perfect for hiking and there were hardly any people.  It would have been nice to do a full 5-6 days, but with 3 days actually in the park, it was definitely worth it.  One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to.

                          

La Serena Apartment

We stayed at an apartment on the beach that we found on AirBnB.  Yanette, the owner, was incredibly nice.  She’s been living in La Serena for about 25 years and also owns a wine producing property northeast of the coast.  She brought us amazing grapes and raisins as a thank you for renting that were truely the best I’ve ever had.  They were sweet, plump and way better than you can get in the US.  The grapes we get less sweet, because they have to harvest them earlier to ship them to the US.

The drive up is on a four lane highway, mostly along the coast.  It reminds me a bit of highway 1 in California, with lots of hills, twists and turns.  The small towns all have goat cheese sandwiches and fruit stands along the highways, while we only have McDonalds and Taco Bell in the US.  So much better here.  I wish I had rented a little bit better car because it would have been great to go up the hills and around the bends in a real car.

Our first day, we walked down the beach and got lunch at a small restaurant.  For $7, we got a seafood empanada FULL of every kind of seafood you could think of.  Next, a seafood soup filled with oysters in a spicy cilantro broth.  The main course was fried reinata with sweet tomatoes and then dessert was super ripe honeydew melon.  Great value and great food.

Next, we went over to the Coquinbo fist market and bought mussels, scallops and a full dorada.  The fisherman cut it up into huge filets so we could cook them on the stove top.  We also got an assortment of fruit and veggies from a little stand and came back to the beach apartment to cook.

We created an amazing meal.  We started with a seafood soup with dorada, assorted seafood, aji, potato, carrots and other veggies.  Next, pineapple and pepper ceviche with mussels, scallops and dorada.  It was great.  The main course was dorada a la plancha with a salt/curry rub, curried veggies and a pineapple salsa.  Dessert was vanilla ice cream with a sweet grape and white wine sauce.  It was a great way to end the day.

Forrest and Sarah, Punta de Chorros

The next day we tried to go to Punta de Chorros to sea an island full of penguins.  After a beautiful 2 hour drive through the mountains and across a few dirt roads, our little car finally stopped at a restaurant where we had some fresh fish.  The highlight was their home made olive oil, infused with garlic and hot peppers.  We each ended up buying a half litre bottle for about $7 to take home.  Amazing.  Unfortunately, when we got to the fishing dock, the fishermen told us that they couldn’t take us because the sea was too choppy.  I think he was just being lazy and didn’t only want to take a group of 4, but it was still a great day.  We watched the waves crash on the rugged Pacific coast and then made the drive back to La Serena.

The next morning, we left early and headed into Valle del Elqui.  It started out cloudy, but it soon burned off to reveal a narrow valley filled with fruit trees, pisco distilleries and vineyards.  Every Chilean I had talked to had told me that I had to go to Valle del Elqui if I was going near La Serena and they were 100% right.  It was beautiful.

pisco factory

We stopped in Vicuña, the birthplace of Gabriela Mistral and strolled around their town square.  We ate lunch while listening to music in the town square and then had some fresh pecans and homemade icecream from a little shop on the square.  We continued onward and finally stopped in Pisco Elqui, the hear of Chile’s pisco growing region.  We toured the Mistral pisco distillery and got to see the whole process.  The tasting was interesting.  The really aged pisco tasted almost like a whiskey and was supposed to be served over ice or alone.  I’m used to piscola, so it was quite different.  After, we continued down the curvy road to Alcohuaz, doing the last 15k on a tiny dirt road.  It was a beautiful drive, ending at an eco lodge called Casona Distante.

Alejandro, Palta Sour

This place is amazing.  It’s in the middle of nowhere, no cell reception and is beautiful.  It’s on 40 acres of land in the middle of the valley and is a functioning grape growing operation.  They sell their grapes to Capel to make pisco and still raise animals and other fruit.  The lodge is built mostly of wood and the rooms are beautiful.  They have an open kitchen where you can watch or help prepare dinner and our chef Alejandro was awesome.  We got lessons on Chilean cooking and drink making and talked about food, politics and Chile.  His palta (avocado) sour was amazing, especially after adding some aji.

Casona Distante also has a nice observatory and the owner helped us look at nebulae and Saturn.  You really can see it’s rings!  Looking up into the sky and seeing millions of stars is amazing.  The night sky there was only bested by my trip to Bolivia, as we were about 2500 meters higher, so the sky was clearer.  The next day, we hung around the lodge and checked out the river that runs through the valley.  It was relaxing and beautiful, but unfortunately, we had to go back to Santiago at the end of the day.  I would have loved to stay longer, but it wasn’t possible.  I highly recommend going to Valle del Elqui for a long weekend, it was one of my favorite places I’ve been so far.

                          

Restaurants

Santiago has some great restaurants, but you have to search to find them.  Google doesn’t help (all the sites are flash, so google doesn’t read the content) and there’s no Yelp here.  Here’s what I’ve uncovered in my time here:

Pad Thai – Manuel Montt.  Great Thai restaurant with a good selection of beer and authentic Thai dishes.  Their outdoor courtyard in the back is a great place for a meal.  They let you order the dishes from 1-5 on the spicy scale and I got a 3.  The waiter warned me that it was going to be super spicy and tried to get me to go down one level, but in the end I wished I had gotten a 4.  Great food.

Cuidad Vieja – Bellavista.  Amazing, interesting sandwiches and not too expensive.  Lots of beer on tap and in bottles.  Plus they have this smoked, spicy red sauce instead of ketchup made in Valdivia that in unreal.

Tiramisu – Las Condes/El Golf.  Great thin crust pizza.  A little on the expensive side, but a cool atmosphere and top notch food.  It’s always packed, no matter when you go.

Fajita Express – Providencia/Pedro de Valdivia.  For $5 I can get a big burrito and a coke.  My goto cheap restaurant.

Machu Pichu – Providencia/Manuel Montt.  Jesse and I were walking around near our hostel when we first came to Santiago and ate here our first night, as it was the first restaurant we walked by.  We’ve been back a bunch of times.  Every dish on the menu is good, but the ceviche mixto is amazing.  It comes with a candied sweet potato, which is great.

El Naturista - Centro.  Vegetarian restaurant with two locations close to my office.  I love their pebre, which goes really well with all of their dishes.  My favorite is huevos rancheros with tons of pebre.

La Piojera – Centro.  I hesitate to include La Piojera, since I’ve only gone once, but it’s a great time.  They have their famous terremotos, which are made of white wine, pineapple sorbet and some light liquor.  They are good, but I loved the meat and the hot sauce at La Piojera.  And it was cheap.

Barandiaran – Providencia/Manuel Montt.  A little more expensive than Machu Pichu, but really good.  They have a swimming pool and a beautiful terrace in their courtyard.  They do a little more upscale peruvian.

El Huerto – Providencia/Orrego Luco.  Vegetarian.  The best salads in Santiago, hands down.  Their homemade wholewheat bread and their very vegetabley pebre are great.

Domino – Everywhere.  My other goto fast food restaurant.  It’s how fast food should be.  Good ingredients, lots of choices, not expensive.  They have surprisingly good salads as well.  Underrated: get the vegetarian sandwich (avocado, tomato, cheese) with a “pila” of eggs.  It’s about $4 and really good.

Kintaro – Bellas Artes.  There are a ton of sushi restaurants in Santiago, but this one has the fewest amount of rolls with cream cheese.  If you go with a big group, they have a “sushi/sashimi boat” that comes with about 100 pieces for about $45.  It’s a good place to go before going out.  You can buy a bottle of pisco for $12, which is $2 more than in the liquor store.  Every Santiago sushi spot has rolls made of avocado, which are my new favorite.  I’m going to miss those back in the US.

Fuente Alemanda – Pedro de Valdivia and Plaza Italia. The best lomitos in Santiago.  They come with lettuce, tomato, sauerkraut, avocado, mayo and I always add tons of spicy mustard.  The bread makes the sandwich.  They are huge though and you can split them between 2 people.  Kind of touristy, but worth it.

The one in the background had less mayo...

El Chaguito – Providencia/Manuel Montt.  Ok, so not a restaurant, but Jesse and I go here 2-3x per week to buy all of our fruits and veggies.  It’s 50% off from the supermarket and waaay better quality.  We can get a huge amount of fresh produce for about $10.  They get their fresh deliveries on Mondays.

A $5 produce run. Liquor not included.

Bars

Orego Luco – Providencia.  This is a small street just of Av. Providencia near Pedro de Valdivia that has about 8 bars with outdoor tables.  It’s full every night, except Sundays.  Almost every bar has 2×1 drinks until 12am.

Any outdoor bar on Pio Nono – Bellavista.  This area is sort of like a seedy version of the terrace in Madison.  There are tons of bars with plastic red tables and chairs.  You can get a litre of beer for $2-3 and hang out with friends.  You’ll see all sorts of characters walking by, but be wary of anyone who starts randomly talking to you in English right away.  They are likely shady characters.

Most of the bars on Manuel Montt, just south of Av. Providencia.  There are tons of bars and restaurants on Manuel Montt that compete for your business.  The outdoor ones have the best settings, but the smaller ones have the best drink deals.

El Kika – Providencia/Pedro de Valdivia.  Ok, so this is less than a 2 minute walk from my apartment, but it’s got good beer, cheap food and lots of outdoor seating.  One of my friends asked me “how can you possibly live there, I’d be at elkika everyday!”

Parks

Cerro San Cristobal – Cerro San Cristobal dominates the northern skyline of the city.  It’s a really nice walk up the hill and once you get to the top you get a great view of the city and the Andes to the east.  There’s also an elevator type thing if you’re too lazy to walk.  Entrance is at the end of pio nono, but I like to walk down Pedro de Valdivia to the other entrance and walk up from there.

Cerro Santa Lucia – A large hill in the middle of Santiago with a cool old castle/look out point on the top.  Great views of the city and shorter walk up than Cerro San Cristobal.

Cerro Santa Lucia

Parque Metropolitano – Connected to Cerro San Cristobal, I love to walk up Pedro de Valdivia to the foot of Parque Metropolitano and sit in the shade.  It’s a great place to get away from the noise of the city and get some work done.  It’s also a great place for a bbq during the weekend.

Mercado Central – Very touristy, but if you avoid the guys trying to get you to eat at their restaurants, they have an amazing selection of fresh seafood for super cheap.

Seafood! Check out hose prices!

Parque Bustamante – This park runs for a few miles from the Salvador metro stop all the way down town, along the river.  I love walking though the park on my way to or from work.

Parque Bustamante, near Salvador metro

Plaza de Armas – The Santiago Cathedral looks like it was transplanted right out of Europe.  Really cool architecture.

Plaza de Armas. Notice the police/protesters for the Obama visit.

My rooftop – I love reading, working and hanging out on my rooftop and those of my friends.  What a great feature for an apartment complex!

I have a little more than a month left in Santiago, so if I’m missing one of your favorite places, tell me!  I’ll be sure to check it out before I go.

                          

Bolivia is poor in large part to losing a huge swathe of land, including its access to the sea, to Chile in a war in the 1880s.  They also lost huge mineral deposits in the mineral rich northern part of what is now Chile.  There is still huge animosity between Chile, Bolivia and Peru, much of it stemming from this war in the 1880s.

Our four day trek took us through amazing terrain, culminating in the salar de uyuni, which is the worlds largest salt flat.  I went with five people from the San Pedro trip and  we booked our trip in city center a few days before we wanted to leave.  Our package cost $180 and included all transportation, three nights accommodation, four days of meals and a tour guide.  US Citizens have to pay $140 to enter most South American countries because we slapped a fee on South American citizens after 9/11 (really dumb), but I got away with only paying a portion of the fee at the tiny border crossing with some well placed…words.

We entered Bolivia and were immediately in the Eduardo Avaroa national park, a joint venture between the Bolivia government and the European Union.  We drove past laguna blanca, a perfectly clear lake that reflects the sky.  It was a beautiful and a great start to the trip.  We drove across bumpy dirt roads, sometimes covered with water from the melting snow on the mountains.  Our guide told us he had never seen snow on the mountains in February in his three years of guiding, so again, we were incredibly lucky.  The mountains and stark landscape were stunning.

Next, we got to a hot springs at the foot of a mountain lake.  We were at 4800m, which meant that there was only about 44% as much oxygen compared to sea level.  It made breathing difficult and we all got light headed after 20 minutes in teh hot springs.  the lake was full of colors and we could see lightning over the tops of mountains far in the distance.

After another few hour drive, we got to laguna colorada, which has blood red water.  We ate homemade soup and fresh veggies for lunch, prepared by our guide.  After lunch, we took a walk to an overlook point and watched the flamingos and the scenery.  It was incredibly windy and I was glad that I bought a wool sweater the day before.

My head hurt from the altitude, so I tried chewing some coca leaves, which is supposed to relieve your headache.  You mash 6-10 leaves in between your lip and your gum and let it sit there.  You can add bicarbonate and it releases more of the drug.  30 minutes later, I felt a little like I had ADD, but my headache was gone.  We also tried coca tea, which sort of tasted like seaweed in sushi restaurants.  Both clearly helped.

We spent the night at the hostel overlooking laguna colorada.  The night sky was absolutely stunning, even better than San Pedro.  The stars twinkled and I think I could see more stars that I’ve ever seen anywhere else in the world.  The combination of the altitude and lack of light pollution showed how truly small we are.  A shooting star topped it off and told me it was time to go to bed.

The hostel was cold, but my sleeping bag kept me war.  We had been warned not to drink alcohol or eat meat, but I had a very small glass of wine, maybe 2 oz, with dinner and woke up with a splitting headache.  The thin air makes alcohol really hard on your body.  The bathroom was really bad, so I just went outside when I had to go.

The next morning, we drove across the bolivian altiplano, stopping at strange, beautiful scenery every few minutes.  We ate a snack at a string of lagoons that reflected the mountains perfectly and continued past landmarks that looked like Dali paintings.   That afternoon we dined on llama, eggs, veggie soup in a town of 150 in the middle of nowhere.  The food was fantastic, balanced and healthy.  The eggs were from chickens running around the parking lot outside and tasted different than the factory eggs we get in the States.

We ended the day in Uyuni, a town of 20,000 near the Salar.  We ate dinner in a massive thunder storm.  I didn’t have a raincoat, so I used a trash bag, which an 8 year old Chilean on the trip thought was hilarious.  I told him it was the new fashion, straight from Santiago, and he couldn’t stop laughing.  The hotel was nice, with flushing toilets and a shower.  We had time to check out the town, which is bustling with energy.  It had rained, so there was water in some parts of the dirt roads.

Kids were having tons of fun with squirt guns and water balloons, throwing them at their friends (and random people) of the opposite sex.  I got crushed twice by 6-10 year old girls yelling “get the gringo” as they were laughing and playing.  I was really tempted to buy a squirt gun and join the battles, but we didn’t have time.

We went to bed early sot hat we could get to the salar the next day.  We first stopped at a cemetery for trains, which has a bunch of 80-100 year old trains that used to run between Chile, Bolivia and Argentina.  They were cool looking and full of history and our guide told us there are plans to build a proper museum.  After a bit, we finally got to the salar.

The salar is a huge salt flat that sometimes is covered by 1-3 inches of water.  We were extremely lucky to visit while it was flooded.  It was unbelievable.  Like nothing I’ve ever seen.  It went on for miles, nothingness, like a mirror.  I could see the curve of the earth.  You loose all perspective and it looks like people are taking their next step off the edge of the world.  You can also take funny photos.  The weather was hot, the water warm, the salt crystals were sharp on my feet.  We ate llama chops for lunch while sitting on top of our jeep.  It was truly beautiful, like nothing I’ve ever seen before.  It was the highlight of the trip.

We started to drive back and things got a little sketchy.  Our tour company didn’t have any pickups at the border scheduled for the next day, so they sold us to a different tour company.  They split up our group of 6 in two two groups of three, mostly so they could fit extra paying passengers into the jeeps.  They put us in separate hostels, without telling us they would and then were very light on details about what was happening with our friends.  It was sketchy, but everything was completely fine and would have been fixed with a 5 minute walk+helpful two sentences from our guides.

The next morning we drove back to the Chilean border and back into San Pedro.  It was an amazing trip that included things I’ve never seen before.  It gave me time to recharge and think about what really matters in life.  No internet, TV and other modern conveniences.  It was great.

Here’s a few tips for those who would like to go in the future:

1. Get a good guide.   If coming from Chile, you buy your tickets in San Pedro.  We used Colque Tours and I was happy about it.
2. Bring a sleeping bag.  The hostels can be frigid at night.  I’m glad I brought mine.
3. Bring lots of layers.  It goes from cold in the morning to hot in the afternoon.  My $12 wool sweater was a great purchase.
4. Bring at least 5L of bottled water per person.  We brought 7L/person and finished it all in five days.
5. Bring toilet paper.  The bathrooms are pretty bad in most of the hostels and usually don’t have any.  I went outside and so did most of the girls.
6. Bring snacks like chocolate, nuts and cookies for quick energy on the road.  The altitude and wind takes it out of you.
7. Chew coca leaves and try coca tea to relieve your headaches.  Don’t drink alcohol until the 2nd or third day.
8. Try to get a group.  There were many cars that were international mixes who couldn’t communicate with the guide or each other.  There was a car of 4 Koreans and 2 Hungarians, none of whom spoke Spanish or English.  It wouldn’t be nearly as fun as our car that had 7 people who could communicate in English/Spanish.  If you’re solo, try to join a group where you’ll be able to share a language.
9. Offer your driver snacks, he’ll love you for it.  Tip him at the end.
10. Get Bolivianos in Chile, the exchange rate is much better and you’ll have them to use at the border if necessary.

                          

I think it would be extremely hard to do San Pedro on your own because of the terrain, weather and impossibility to get around.  Over our four days, our guides drove rugged buses and 4x4s over mountains, volcanoes, salt flats, desserts and much more.  The network of mostly dirt roads can be deadly for even the most experienced drivers who know the area.  The roads were lined with little shrines to mark previous accidents.

San Pedro the town is a bit strange.  It’s in the middle of nowhere, with the closest airport about 1.5 hours away in Calama.  It’s made up of restaurants, hostels, bars and tchotchke shops.  It’s a tourist trap, but the scenery more than makes up for it.

I saw more weird/stunning things in four days that I think I’ve seen anywhere else in the world.  Our first day, we went for a drive to Valle de la Luna, aptly named because it looks like the surface of the moon.  We played around on huge sand dunes and sprinted down to get to the bottom.  Liberating.  People were sand boarding, which looked cool, but I bet hurt a lot.

We went to the amphitheater to watch the sun set, which was absolutely unreal.  The sky was on fire.  It was truly the best sunset I’ve ever seen, even better than Cape Town.  We hiked through a cavern and looked at the star filled night sky while the moon came up in the sky.  The night sky in Northern Chile is the best in the world and there are international telescopes all over the place.

The second day, we went for a drive through small towns and ended up at two lakes at the foot of a perfectly conical volcano.  It was beautiful.  There were lots of flamingos, which are pink because of the creatures they eat.  They eliminate the beta carotene via their feathers, hence the pink.  The redder the flamingo, the older (or fatter) he is.  We ate lunch at a tiny town of about 100 people where they grew all of the food in a garden out back.

Lunch was quinoa, rice, bean soup, followed by potato, bean and quinoa main dish.  It was hearty, spicy and good.  that night we ended up at a flamingo sanctuary, where we saw our second amazing sunset in a row.  It reflected off the water and outlined the flamingos against the backdrop of the mountains.

We got up at 330am the next day to find it raining.  We took a 2 hour ride up to about 4500m to see hot springs and geysers.  The mountains had a fresh coat of snow, which almost never happens.  We ate breakfast high above the geyser field under the cover of the snow capped mountains.  We hung out in the hot springs to warm up.  Before we left, we check out the active mud vents and sulfur vents.  Since we were so high up, it was a bit hard to breathe if we did any sort of extended exercise.

In the afternoon, we went to the eyes of the desert, which are two random holes in the middle of the desert believed to be caused by meteor strikes.  These two perfectly circular holes are about 40 meters across and super deep and filled with water.  We jumped from about 20 feet up into the refreshing, salty water.

Next, we went to Laguna Cejar, the saltiest lake in the world, even more than the Dead sea.  We floated around and enjoyed the sun.  You can’t even go under water if you try and it was comical to see people try.  When we got out, we had to get hosed down because there was so much salt on us.

We ended the day at salt flats to watch the sun set.  It was a great scene with the mountains in the background.  The salt flats had a bit of water on them, so they reflected everything.  Luckily they were only a preview to the salt flats of Uyuni.  On our last day, we went for a drive up to the Bolivian border and through the mountains.  The weather was amazing.  Rain, snow, hail, sun, lightning in a short period of time.  We saw an amazing red sunset, capped off by more flamingos and Vincuñas, which are sort of like llamas.  The beauty and force of nature was humbling and reminded me how lucky we really are.  I’ve never seen colors and such quick changing weather like that.

That night, we packed up to head out to Bolivia the next morning.  It was an incredibly interesting trip and not very expensive.  If you’re going to San Pedro, I recommend 3-4 days, it’s worth it.

near the bolivian border

                          

We stayed at an awesome hostel, right on the beach, about five minutes walk from the town center called Pichilemu Surf Hostel.  The owner is a Dutch guy who bought the land about 20 years ago for $12,000 and built the hostel himself.  He had to completely rebuild in the last year after a tsunami wiped out his beach front property after the huge earth quake from a year ago.  Many buildings were damaged in Pichilemu and a few were killed, including a few tourists.  We saw the evidence on a beach where the only thing that remained of beach front restaurants was the floor.

The seafood was phenomenal and cheap.  Fisherman hauled their catch in and came right up onto the beach to sell their catch.  They were selling 3 whole fish, cleaned and filleted for $2.  They has fresh shrimp, crab, barnacles, conger eel and even a little shark.  We stopped for a super fresh white fish ceviche on the beach for about $2 and later that night shared a pastel de jaiba, which is sort of like a crab/cheese casserole.  I had fried conger eel, which is really a white fish that tastes sort of like cod.  It was truely awesome food.

We watched the sun set over the pacific each day and then drank cheap beer and wine either by a fire or at one of the local bars.  We met new friends at bars and everyone went to the beach to drink, play music and have fun until 7am.  It was my kind of town and I wish I could have stayed for longer.  If you like to cook and go to Pichilemu, rent a cheap cabin with a kitchen and take advantage of the amazing seafood!

                          

As always, San Francisco food did no disappoint.  We checked out Dosa, which had amazing Indian food, a decent restaurant in Chinatown and walked all over the city.  The real gem of the visit was Chocolate Covered.  We stayed with the owners Jack and Marilyn at their house in Noe Valley, which was a great break from hotels on many of my previous trips.

Chocolate Covered

Jack was Jesse’s Dad’s college roommate and he’s now the owner of the best chocolate shop in San Francisco and the best I’ve ever been to in the world.  He only carries top quality chocolate bars.  Although the store is small, it’s packed with interesting, high quality chocolate from all over the world.  He also makes hand made boxes with San Francisco landmarks and street signs, which have been a huge hit.  It has the most 5 star ratings on Yelp that I have ever seen and it deserves it!

My favorite chocolate was a spicy chile dark chocolate, followed by a salted, spicy dark chocolate.  The store is a treasure, so do yourself a favor and check it out if you’re in San Fran and you like chocolate.

                          

LA is HUGE.  I knew it was big, but coming on the airplane, you can see it stretch for miles and miles.  You need a car if you want to go anywhere.  Even in places like Santa Monica, which I enjoyed, require car trips to get anything.  We went out two nights in Hollywood and I really didn’t like the vibe.  People were so concerned with image, which is my polar opposite.  I really don’t like the focus on money, appearance and wealth.  Everyone is keeping up with the Jones.  Some guys skipped the line at a club because the bouncer said they spend $10k per week at the bar.  That’s insane, probably stupid and potentially wrong.  It’s foreign to me.

I got the chance to hang out with my friend Won, who I had not seen since college in Madison.  Won is from South Korea but decided to keep his US citizenship when he turned 25 when Korea made him choose between the US and Korea.  He joined the air force and now helps manage advanced satellite programs out in LA.  We had a great dinner in Santa Monica, then went to the Rose Bowl, where I had the chance to see my friends Bryan and Melissa, who I hadn’t seen since their wedding.  Luckily, the two tailgates I wanted to go to were right next to each other!

The Rose Bowl is an amazing setting, but the facilities are really old.  The sun setting over the san gabriels was amazing, but it was really hard to get there, the wait for beer/bathrooms was really long and everything was EXPENSIVE.  It was still completely worth it.  After the loss, Won took me to an amazing Korean restaurant, which helped ease the pain.  We had noodle soup, korean bbq ribs and other delicacies.  It was a perfect end to the day.

I can’t see myself ever living in LA, because I really value living in a walkable city and I really dislike the image you need to project in LA.  I’m sure I’ll be back to visit, but I much prefer San Francisco.

Rachel, Won, Melissa, Bryan and Me