Out and about in Lima: Mistura on the Costa Verde

Every October Mistura comes to Lima. Mistura is touted as the food festival of Peru (though I think it's the only food festival of Peru?) I had just returned to Lima from Uruguay  the night before, and so I was able to attend the very last day of it with my friends Nadya and Kevin, and their daughter Emma. We hopped in a cab to get down to the Costa Verde, where the grounds of Mistura were located. And in the typical Peruvian fashion we arrived at the entrance it was a complete circus. It took us about fifteen minutes to first determine which was the line for purchasing tickets, and which was the to get inside the gates with your recently purchased tickets. Once that was taken care of we got in the nebulous line/mob of people and waited..... 

And waited some more.

And waited just a little more.

Finally after about twenty minutes of waiting the line started moving. Apparently the grounds were at capacity so they had to wait for people to exit before they could allow more in. (Makes sense... but still annoying) 

All of the signage and graphic design was really well done. 

Once we got past the maze that was the entrance we entered a complete mob of humanity... and I put my phone away. The festival was massive and sprawling with different sections devoted to different types of Peruvian cuisine from the coast, mountains, and jungle. There was a massive beer tent displaying the recently developed craft beer scene that's taken hold in Lima, and Peru in general. I honestly was really underwhelmed by the whole event, and extremely overwhelmed by the crowds. I guess I expected the event to be a little better organized... though I shouldn't have since nothing is particularly  well organized here in Peru. And I was also extremely disappointed to figure out that my entry ticket didn't also come with food tasting. You had to purchase tickets for food separately. Most of the food stands did not take cash, so that was yet another line we had to wait in to get food tickets. Once again, I wish I had been made aware of that before I waited in line for twenty minutes to order a cheese empanada. 

The four of us did not stay long because many of the food stands were running out of food (makes sense since it was the last day...) and the crushing amount of humanity was beginning to get really old really fast. Overall- and I may get angry comments for this- I'm not really quite sure what the big deal over Mistura is? You can easily get all the same food, for much cheaper, at the food stands around Parque Kennedy or at the Mercado Uno in Surquillo. I don't know that the appeal is of having to wait in massive lines for pretty subpar comida criollo that I could easily have purchased in Miraflores for half the time and half the hassle. 

At least now I can say I went, and that's the point right? 

Iguazu Falls & Montevideo

I realized I completely forgot to continue to update on the rest of our September trip! After we spent a couple days in Bariloche, we hopped back on a plane and flew up to Iguazu Falls. The falls are part of the Iguazu River that makes the country borders for Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. We stayed at a hotel in Argentinian town of Puerto Iguazu. I don't have any photos of Puerto Iguazu because it was kind of a dump. It's essentially a tiny jungle town and there were hardly any restaurants to eat at. I was glad we only stayed here for one full day- to see the falls. We arrived in the late afternoon, and the next morning we got up bright and early to drive to Parque Nacional Iguazu. From there we had to buy entrance tickets, and then a ticket for the small train that would take us to a point to walk out on board walks over the river to where the falls are. 

The first (of many more) coati sightings of the day.

As we walked through the park entrance we immediately saw huge pack of coatis roaming around looking for food along the pathways.  Coatis are cute, but apparently pretty aggressive when it comes to getting food from tourists, the ones that live in this park have become pretty conditioned to being able to get food from humans so they really are not shy at all. I also saw a capybara, but I wasn't able to get a good photo of it as it was hiding the undergrowth. 

Spotted this cool giant heron as we walked along the boardwalk to the waterfall

First sighting of the falls. Even though it was really misty I was still able to sense how big and deep the falls were. 

Facing the Brazilian side of the falls. 

Getting "rained" on from the heavy mist from the falls... but of course you've got to get a selfie in at one of the natural wonders of the world, right?!

This bird was really pretty and I was excited it got close enough for me to snap a photo of it, until it dive bombed me to get at the granola bar I was eating. I cooled on that bird after that. 

More coatis on the hunt for unwitting tourists. 

We had to walk along more trails to get back to the entrance of the park, and I think these views from the sides had to be my favorite view over the part where we stood on the board walk right over the falls. We also walked all the way down to the river itself. And we got the opportunity to take a small little speed boat out to the falls, it took us right under them as well and we got absolutely soaked. It was kind of like being on a theme park ride. 

Cute little lizards sunning themselves on the walkway. 

After our (thankfully) very brief stay in Puerto Iguazu we flew back to Buenos Aires and hopped on the BuqueBus Ferry that would take us across the Rio de la Plata to Montevideo, Uruguay. 

Monteverde is a pretty sleepy city compared to other places that we've been, and where we currently live in Lima. It was nice to slow down and just hang out here for the last couple days of our epically long trip. While Sean was visiting at the Embassy I took walks along the Rambla- a walking path along the water similar to the Malecon here in Miraflores. 

Cool sculpture along the Rambla 

The whole time I was walking along the water I didn't see a single person. It was so quite and peaceful which was nice change from walking the Malecon back at home. 

Absolutely deserted beaches. 

This apartment building/restaurant (I couldn't quite figure out exactly what it is) decorated like the prow of a ship was pretty neat. 

On our second day in Montevideo Sean and I walked over to Ciudad Vieja- the historic part of town- to check out some of the museums. And, as per usual, most of the museums were closed or undergoing renovations. The one museum that was open was called the Museo de los Andes, which is a small private museum that document the horrific plane crash of a Uruguan Soccer team in the 1960s... it was a very sobering place to walk around. After that, we had lunch and walked back along the Rambla to our hotel. 

A pack of dogs patiently waiting for their dog walker to pick them up. 

A window display from the Museum of Carnival, I wanted to go but it was closed when Sean and I walked by it. 

And, thus, ended our time in Uruguay. We had a good time and it was great to be able to catch up with Sean's DLI friend Andrew, who is currently doing his IRT in Uruguay. 

Thanks for reading! 

On to Argentina!

After five days in Chile it was time to for Sean and I to move on... So we hopped on the Andesmar bus that took us up, over, and through the Andes from Chile into Argentina. This bus ride went much more smoothly than our last bus trip in Peru. The scenery was fantastic- so many breath taking vistas, and mountains beyond mountains. I was so busy taking it all in that I forgot to take any photos! Except for a handful of blurry ones from the bus window. 

On our way out of Santiago....Take me to Portillo! 

That is seriously what the road looked like on the route through the mountains...

Finally! We've made it to Argentina!

It wasn't for another thirty minutes after we crossed the border that we actually made it to the official Argentinian border crossing. And here we spent a really fun and freezing two hours getting off our bus, lining up to have our visas checked, getting back on our bus, only to get off again with all our luggage... and then after they did a cursory check (i.e. idly rifling through bags at random) did we get back on the bus for good and lumber on to Mendoza.

At this point our first stop in Argentina was Mendoza... and I took approximately zero pictures during the day and a half that we stayed there. Which isn't to say its not a beautiful or interesting place, we were just busy walking around and drinking as much wine as possible. The wine is great here, but the city itself is kind of like a ghost town. There is not much going on besides tours of vineyards. And many of the buildings had a run down look to them. Plus, it was about 85 degrees which was an awful shock coming from far cooler temperatures in Chile.

From Mendoza we flew to Buenos Aires. While Sean spent the day in the US Embassy I met up with two of my friends, one of whom lives in BA. So, she took Naomi and I on fun walking tour of the city.

After dropping off the guys at the Embassy we walked through the meticulously maintained rose garden, although there were no roses in bloom as it was early spring. 

From the rose garden we walked over to the Japanese Garden.

Buenos Aires is one of the nicest cities that I've been to so far in our travels. It has tons of well maintained green space, and it doesn't feel as dirty as other cities (I'm looking at you Lima.) And over all it just had this sense of being a well cared for city which made it pleasant to walk around. 

I would love to live in one of those buildings over looking the Japanese Garden.

Reflecting pond in the Japanese Garden.

A fancy capuccino! Every cafe I went to served a more and more elaborately prepared cappuccino.

An exhibit on Paraguayan art at the Museo Bella Artes.

A giant bench! 

The next day Sean had a free day, so on the recommendation of our friends, we walked over to explore Recoleta and find Evita Peron's grave.

A bit of England in Argentina? 

I was really captivated by the endless rows of elaborate mausoleums.

Taking BA in on foot and discovering the city has it's own "Washington Monument"

Visiting the grave of Argentina's national hero: José de San Martín

The Floralis Generica, a really cool giant flower sculpture that opens and closes throughout the day.

Evita.

Buenos Aires is an absolutely fantastic city that I completely fell in love with. I definitely did not want to leave (and I hope we get to go back for a longer trip some day soon). I loved that nearly everywhere we walked in the city we'd find some kind of art- whether it was sculpture, a monument, or an excellently curated art museum- I really appreciate a city that takes some civic pride and uses art to help make it a beautiful place. 

That night our friends took us to their favorite restaurant, called La Carniceria. So, if there is one thing you should know about BA, and the Southern Cone in general, it's that they take their meat seriously. And as I'm sure you can infer from the name of the restaurant, we were in for a meat experience.

Luckily they also served fish on their menu, so I was able to continue with my haphazard pescatarian/vegetarian diet (it's been hard maintaining down here!) And you can see in the bottom right photo, that they served me an entire fish! With head and spine still attached! But, just look at the cuts of meat they served everyone else.... absolutely insane, right? Although La Carniceria, is one of the newer, hipper restaurants in the area, they did not skimp on portions. And most places we went to in Argentina (and Uruguay, for that matter) served equally as hulking slabs of steak.

And thus ended our time in Buenos Aires, in the morning we were off to Iguazu Falls! 

First Stop: Chile

In mid-September Sean and I embarked on a pretty epic journey to the Southern Cone. We flew into Santiago and immediately bopped an hour or so north (by plane) to the San Pedro de Atacama desert.

I had no expectations for the Atacama desert. Other than it being hot, dry, and probably like deserts I had been to in the U.S.

However I was completely charmed by gorgeous and varying landscape and breath taking views. 

On our first full day in Atacama we got up at 5 am to drive out, with our guide that we booked through the group Cosmo Andino, to the geyser fields to watch the sun rise. It was well below freezing and dark when we arrived, and at first you can't really see anything, as your eyes adjust you being to make out the steam wafting up from the ground, the pre sunrise light makes everything look like another planet. It feels like another planet. I couldn't feel my toes or fingers after five minutes of walking around the geysers, but seeing the sun rise over the ridge line and turn the landscape from grey to purple to orangey red made it all worth it.

After we had some breakfast, we hopped back in the van and drove into the valley to go for a hike in Cactus Valley.

A brief stop back in town for lunch and then we hopped back into the van with our new favorite guide Francisco to venture into Death Valley.

Snaps of lunch (zucchini ribbons rolled around queso fresco and sundried tomatos. Dinner- swordfish with yucca puree and mint & camu camu sorbet.

Looking across Death Valley (also called Mars Valley)

Peering down into the valley... soon we'd be walking down along the valley floor.

Bakasana (crow pose) on the precipice

Sand dunes that we ran down, you can also rent snowboards and go 'sand boarding' down the dunes, but that didn't seem like much fun to me.

Salt flats in Death Valley 

Waiting for the sun to set in Death Valley 

We hiked up and along a ridge line to get the best views of the sunset.

Watching as the landscape slowly changes while the sun sets behind the Andes.

That evening we hopped back in a bus and headed out into the desert to an astronomy lab run by a Canadian expat to take a 'tour' of the night sky. We got to look through 10 different telescopes trained on different locations in the sky. And we learned quite a bit about astronomy in the process.

The next day Francisco took us to Antofagasta up in the mountains and Laguna Miscanti. But first we stopped at Salar del Carmen to see some flamingos!

Flamingos!

More flamingos!

A volcano in the distance, and las piedras rojas in the foreground

More piedras rojas

Another salt lake, but this one also contains large amounts of lithium too.

Just two goofs being goofy by the lake

Sean posting by Laguna Miscanti

We hiked around Laguna Miscanti for a while, at points it was hard because there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. There are active volcanoes in the area so we could see them smoking slightly in the distance which was both really cool and really eerie. 

That night we collapsed into bed in our cute little yurt/hut hotel room and passed out fully satisfied that we had properly explored and experience the Atacama Desert. I, for one, can't wait to go back in the future.

Our private hotel room/yurt/ hut

A few friends I made while staying in San Pedro

The only photo I took of the town of San Pedro... We tried to go visit the church, but it's being renovated.

The next morning we hopped on a flight back down to Santiago. I was pleasantly surprised at how modern and (dare I say it) American-ish the city it. Coming from Lima, it was kind of refreshing, to be honest.

We got very luck as it had rained the day before we arrived washing away most of the notorious smog that plagues Santiago. 

The next morning we headed to the Bellavista neighborhood to explore Pablo Neruda's house and the Museo de Bellas Artes. As we strolled around I felt as though we were in an old European city. 

View of the courtyard in Pablo Neruda's house 

One of the many charming and mismatched buildings. 

Yes! LUSH!!!

Snapshots from walking around the historic center of Santiago for the day. The cathedral, a fruit tart from lunch, the government building, and the Plaza des Armas.

And then we took a day to do a little skiing a Valle Nevado! 

Gondola selfie

At the summit 

Everyone was taking photos of each other at this point.

It was such a great day because hardly anyone was on the slopes, so it was like having the place to yourself.

Next stop, Argentina!